Month: September 2007

Charisma Carpenter on The Apprentice 7?

TV Guide reports that Charisma Carpenter may be one of the contestants on the upcoming celebrity edition of The Apprentice. Charisma is most well known for her 7 year role as Cordelia Chase on Buffy The Vampire Slayer and later on Angel. She has also been featured in recurring roles Charmed and Veronica Mars.

I’d say this beats the three [bleep]ing messes previously reported as being possible candidates, although from a ratings standpoint, even a drunk out of shape Britney apparently brings in the viewers if the VMA’s are any indication.

Big Brother 8 Episode 30

In episode 29, Zach nominated both Dick and Danielle, Dick was delusional and believed he was the greatest player in the history of the show, and Danielle whined. Jameka was in there somewhere.

Looking back at Zach’s statement, I sure hope the jury’s not watching it. Telling people they’re dominant = not smart. Danielle’s upset that Zach went back on his word. Danielle. Who along with her father have screwed over every word they ever had. Dick still thinks they had the toughest game in the house. Yeah, with the combination of America, the banner plane, hidden code in letters from Dick’s son, nonstop support from the producers, and cheating in competitions… the deck was really stacked against them. Dick then makes fun of Zach not winning competitions, which was smart since he didn’t need to do anything to draw attention to himself. Because Dick won so many himself apparently.

We finally get to see the mystery jury house, which they used to show every week. Still doesn’t resolve the question of what they were trying to hide by not showing it before.

It’s time for the final power of veto. Whoever wins is safe and casts the only vote to evict whoever they want. If Zach wins, he can choose who is safe and who casts the vote. It’s the two clues matching one person challenge we normally see around this time in the game. Dick’s just putting up random nonsense as quickly as possible. But he’s ahead of Zach, who initially doesn’t even know what he’s supposed to be doing. Danielle wins veto, which means that, short of a miracle, Jameka’s a goner. As could be expected, Dick’s as bad a winner as he is a loser. He’s completely convinced either he or Danielle has won. Up against Zach, they have some chance, but at the end of the day, nobody on the jury likes either Dick or Danielle, not even a little. Zach’s about as oblivious to Dick’s attacks as Jen was.

Here’s the live veto meeting. Danielle uses the power of veto to save her father, surprisingly enough. If she were in danger, she never would have even considered it. Nonetheless, it was a nice gesture, despite the lack of risk. Jameka goes up in Dick’s place. Dick votes to evict Jameka.

Despite her initial hesitation about being surrounded by people of another race, Jameka was very happy with her experience. Watching these goodbye messages, I take back what I said about Zach being an idiot. In retrospect (considering Jameka didn’t win veto), he didn’t throw away a vote. He gained (or at least cemented) a vote from Jameka, which has the potential to also significantly impact all of Jameka’s friends in the jury (aka everybody). Well played. The part about him being an idiot for not evicting Danielle when he had the chance still stands, though.

The endurance part of the three part HOH competition starts tonight. A rabbit goes around in circles, and people must jump over him while keeping their hands on their keys. After the commercial break, here comes the rain. In season three, the end results were determined by rain, as it proved to be too cold for Danielle to continue.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live blog of Big Brother 8 episode 31, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on CBS.

Jonny Fairplay Expecting Child

On the things you don’t want to hear about list, this probably ranks pretty high, right near stories about Sanjaya. TMZ reports that Survivor’s Jonny Fairplay (Jon Dalton) is expecting his first child with Michelle Dreighton of America’s Next Top Model. She is currently in her 17th week.

“Michelle and I couldn’t be more happier [sic] and I wouldn’t LIE about that!” says Jonny. Fairplay is best known for his appearance on Survivor’s seventh season, in which he told a lie about his grandmother dying.

Big Brother 8 Episode 29

So apparently 60 minutes is an hour and a half tonight. BB8 should be underway around 8:30/7:30c. Don’t you just love CBS Sundays in the fall, where every single week they can never start on time? Tonight it was tennis. I’m sure football, golf, basketball, and professional Scrabble will have their day at some point. [/rant]

We left the hamsters in episode 28 after an extremely rushed hour and the boot of two of the season’s better players. Jameka was eliminated from veto, after what CBS later confirmed was indeed a bounced ball due to another poorly designed competition (yet still no redo?). At the end of the hour, Zach had the perfect opportunity to break up two relatives. He failed to do so. Did he not trust Eric to go along? Is he just an idiot? Was he hoping to be safe this week by sticking with them? Time will tell, but the decision has the potential to bite him. There wasn’t enough time for another HOH competition on Thursday, so we will find out the final four HOH and nominations tonight.

Danielle tells us she couldn’t care less about Eric and that it’s nothing personal. While I agree, this is the same chick who’s been whining for the last two months straight about some guy she knew for a couple weeks. She then proceeds to tell us that Zach, the guy who (foolishly) just saved her ass, is only still around because she dragged him there. She and Dick follow that up with plans to turn on Zach, again jumping ahead of themselves, as if the HOH competition has already happened. Granted, either way, it’s not like they haven’t pissed off every single jury member already, and both continue to play with the knowledge they’re hated enough that they’d make a good second place choice.

The HOH competition is a memory task based on new memory wall pictures taken throughout the season. At least it’s something somewhat different, even if it’s still largely dumb luck. Zach gets question 1 right. Everybody gets questions 2 and 3 right. Danielle and Zach get question 4 right. Danielle gets question 5 right, tying her with Zach for the lead. Everybody gets questions 6, 7, and 8 right, so it’s a tiebreaker question between Zach and Danielle. Zach guesses one higher than Danielle and is the new HOH. If he’s smart, he’ll nominate Jameka and Danielle or Dick. Based on his veto move last week, I’m not so sure he meets that qualification, though. On one of these questions, Dick whispered the answer to Danielle. Yeah, I’m still believing this game isn’t rigged.

Dick tries to remain upbeat and positive about the situation and the odds of winning veto. Danielle is her usual self (read: the exact opposite).

None of these people seem to get it. It doesn’t matter who goes up on the block in the final four. Whoever wins veto casts the lone vote, unless the HOH wins it, in which case that person decides who casts the lone vote.

Zach decides he wants Dick or Danielle to go. He also figures out that neither of them will take him to the final two with them. Hello?! Where was this logic on Thursday night when you had a surefire way of kicking her out? People always talk about Marcellas. We ain’t seen nothing yet until this season. This whole damn house is full of Marcellas’, with the exception of Jameka, who made the best move this year (5 weeks of no HOH meant 5 weeks of safety). Danielle tries to convince Zach people had his back, while they all treated him like an outcast for a month or more.

Danielle thinks it’s amusing Zach thinks he can win. Funny, I think it’s amusing she thinks she can win. Yeah, she won a bunch of competitions. And did what else? I’ve got a challenge for her: pick a mood that’s not either excessively smug or whiny.

Jameka is safe. Dick and Danielle have been nominated for eviction. Going back to my original series of questions, I’ve found the answer: Zach’s an idiot. He just threw away their votes for no reason. As much as I’m trying to like Zach and agree with much of what he’s saying, he just keeps making dumb decisions.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live blog of Big Brother 8 episode 30, which airs Tuesday at 9/8c on CBS.

Fall Shows We’re Covering

The fall television season is almost upon us. The majority of the shows will be starting this month, some as early as this week. While dingoRUE has historically been primarily a reality TV blog, this season is the time to kick things into high gear. Reality TV will still be a large focus, but scripted TV shows will also be appearing on the site. Here are the shows I expect will be covered:

American Band (Fox, Friday, 8PMEST, October 19)
America’s Next Top Model (CW, Wednesday, 8PMEST, September 19)
Beauty and the Geek (CW, Tuesday, 8PMEST, September 18)
Bionic Woman (NBC, Wednesday, 9PMEST, September 26)
CSI: New York (CBS, Wednesday, 10PMEST, September 26)
CSI: Vegas (CBS, Thursday, 9PMEST, September 27)
Extreme Makeover Home Edition (ABC, Sunday, 8PMEST, September 30)
Heroes (NBC, Monday, 9PMEST, September 24)
House (Fox, Tuesday, 9PMEST, September 25)
Kid Nation (CBS, Wednesday, 8PMEST, September 19)
Prison Break (Fox, Monday, 8PMEST, September 17)
Reaper (CW, Tuesday, 9PMEST, September 25)
Supernatural (CW, Thursday, 9PM, October 4)
Survivor: China (CBS, Thursday, 8PMEST, September 20)
The Biggest Loser (NBC, Tuesday, 8PMEST, September 11)
The Race (ICTV, Wednesday, 9:30PMEST, September 19)

Hopefully you will enjoy the mix of old and new. But is your favorite show missing from the list? If so, and you’d be interested in writing recaps on it, send an e-mail to webmaster [at] dingorue.com, or leave a comment to this story.

Survivor South Africa: Malaysia Episode 3

In episode 2, the useless/lazy part of the Bajau tribe turned on the three members who were doing the work. They were at least smart enough to keep Dyke around, instead opting to take out one of his allies, Nicola. The bad news is that this meant that Elsie stuck around, and I’m sure we’re not done hearing her big mouth.

Hein and Dyke are understandably upset by the tribe’s rather odd strategy. They plot to slow down their amount of work as revenge. Maybe somebody else on the tribe will actually do something to help. Hein wants to call a meeting because he thinks the girls are acting like schoolchildren. Dyke acknowledgs he comes across as rude, abrasive, or obnoxious. “At times I can be. At times anyone can be.” Angela returns to them making promises and not fulfilling them. It’s a damn good thing she hasn’t made any promises because she hasn’t done anything the whole time she’s been there.

The reward challenge is a dash through the sand to grab numbered coconuts. This has the potential for lots of shoving, but kicking, punching, biting, and scratching are not allowed. The winner will get flint, which should be helpful since neither tribe has fire (similar to the last season of Survivor in the US, fire must be earned and is not just given to a tribe for going to tribal council). The tribes must choose each time which person from their tribe will compete in that round. Irshaad beats Rijesh to go up 1-0. Lorette (the black belt… whose wise idea was this matchup?) beats Amanda to take the lead 2-0. Hein uses his weight and strength to get the coconut from Mandla. He drops the coconut, but Mandla’s just lying on the ground, so Hein scoops it back up and brings the score to 2-1. Next up, it’s Angie against Elsie, and by some miracle, Elsie wins, tying the score at 2-2. The last matchup is Nichal against Grant, who is outmatched by probably 100 pounds. Nichal receives a warning about holding Grant when the coconut is free, reminding him to play the coconut, not the player. Nichal disregards this warning and is disqualified, costing his team fire and giving the challenge to Iban.

Despite the loss, everybody seems to be getting along when they get back to camp. People are actually being nice to each other. Dyke’s not buying it. It’s not long before the other 5 are sleeping in the middle of the day, while Dyke and Hein continue working.

Iban’s got a positive vibe, with genuine relationships building (so they say), a winning streak, and now fire. Their problem is that they don’t have anything to cook. Mandla hurt his knee in the reward challenge when battling with Hein. In season 1, we saw something similar, where Sanele had to quit because he was injured during a challenge… a challenge that also involved running through the sand and diving at people, which was also in episode 3 and also a reward challenge for flint. The good news for the tribe is that Lorette does end up catching an actual fish, rather than the goldfish she caught previously.

Hein catches a bunch of fish. He then promises to build a fire. And here we go again with the whining about him not building a fire yet, this time from Rijesh. So I ask again: what’s Rijesh done? Nichal bets him 500 rand. Angela offers a 100 rand contribution toward that 500. She tries to get the others go along. With some arm pulling, Elsie is in for 20 rand ($2.75US). Hein says the time is not right strategically to make fire.

At the immunity challenge, the teams start on platforms in the water. The setup is similar to the reward challenge. Tribes pick two people to dive and grab a ball from underwater (only one ball that they must fight for). The first tribe to touch the post gets a point. Dyke and Rijesh square off against Irshaad and Viwe in round 1. Dyke and Rijesh take the lead 1-0. In round 2, Amanda and Angela face Lorette and Angie. The ladies learned from the last round and are now blocking the post at the shore to make it more difficult to score. The lame thing about this challenge is you don’t have to get control of the ball. All you have to do is have one hand on the ball and one hand on the post, even if all three other people are fighting for the ball at the same time. Amanda does just that, and Bajau finally wins something.

Following the immunity challenge, with the knowledge that he and Dyke aren’t in immediate danger of going home, Hein attempts to make fire. Once again, the lazy people on the tribe who haven’t done anything doubt him. In over 100 international versions and 14 US seasons, no contestant has ever made fire on their own. Samburu managed to make fire in season 3 using Kim P’s suggestion of a telescope lens, and Michelle did so last season with Yau Man’s glasses, but nobody has managed to do it with just what’s available in the wild. So here we have another Survivor first. Hein did manage to get a fire going, using just natural materials available on the island. Hopefully the whiners who aren’t doing anything to contribute to the camp will shut up now, and perhaps they’ll even reevaluate their strategy of getting rid of valuable members who actually want to work.

With Bajau losing so much, I almost forgot about how useless Lisa was in episode 1. Now, of course, she’s back on the chopping block again. She has apparently turned over a new leaf, but she was a complete idiot for admitting she was being lazy on purpose for the first couple days. Angie believes Viwe is a bit of an outcast, so he’s the other choice for elimination tonight. Lisa’s too lazy to even campaign for herself, sending Angie and Grant to do the work for her. Lorette, the swing vote, chimes in to say that Viwe is working when asked but Lisa still isn’t.

When questioned about it at tribal council, Lorette says there is a slight improvement, but there is much more room for improvement. Viwe says he believes alliances don’t exist, even though he is in an alliance with Lisa, Grant, and Angie. Grant (a lawyer) says while voting that he doesn’t trust Viwe because he’s a lawyer.

It’s time to vote:
Lisa
Viwe
Viwe
Lisa
Viwe
Viwe

Viwe is voted out by a vote of 5-2, and Lisa is saved yet again. Well, they went ahead and dumped a member of their alliance like I suggested. Too bad it was the wrong one, and they didn’t realize Lisa is dragging them down and will continue to do so.

In the previews for next week, Rijesh continues to believe he’s so smooth that nobody’s noticing what he’s doing, and tribes get scared by their treemail.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Survivor South Africa: Malaysia Episode 4, which airs Wednesday at 8PM South Africa time (GMT+2) on M-Net.