Following yet another victory by the men, Trump still wasn’t unable to fire Nely in The Celebrity Apprentice Episode 4 and was instead again forced into firing someone who wasn’t particularly willing or able to defend themselves, with Jennie Finch taking the cab ride home.

The women are hoping for Carol to get fired. Omarosa says it’s personal and calls her a twit.

As the winning project manager last week, Vinny Pastore is able to give $50,000 to the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer in Mitchell Berke’s (his daughter’s stepfather’s) name.

Donald Trump’s giving the women another chance before shaking up the teams again. Tito Ortiz is at a fight, so he’s excused for the week (seriously?). Trump suggests that Carol Alt be the project manager for the women. The men suggest Piers Morgan.

The challenge is for Crocs shoes. They will create a recycle campaign, where the donated used shoes will be used to make new shoes to give away.

Carol thinks this is a heart campaign. If they lose, she’s willing to take the bullet, which wouldn’t be the first time she’s thrown herself in the line of fire.

Piers wants to focus on Lennox Lewis again. Trace Adkins comes up with the slogan: wear them, share them.

The guys think the women’s brilliant idea to win is spying. In retaliation, Piers sends Vinny outside to spy on them, staging a fake fight. Taking it one step further, Vinny goes to the women and tells them he can’t work for Piers. They take a vote, not sure whether he’s playing them or not, but ultimately decide that they need him and take him on board.

Vinny’s asking the girls a bunch of questions seemingly to stall. He really wants to push Carol’s celebrity status and is coming up with some ideas, though.

Omarosa reluctantly is complimentary of Carol’s ideas and ability as a project manager.

The guys base their design on something easy to move, cheap, and simple to design.

Eventually, Vinny gets to the point where he’s aggressively pushing in an effort to help them, as he’s actually taking offense at having been put in the position he was, one he willingly and happily agreed to.

Despite that, Vinny passes the guys all the notes about what the girls are doing. Stephen Baldwin doesn’t think it’s the right thing to do. As with last week, he and Piers are on opposing sides of the fence and not getting along particularly well.

In the car ride over, Vinny spills the beans to Marilu Henner. He says he’s not a rat any more and is now on their side. She doesn’t know whether to trust this or not and says he thinks he’s still on The Sopranos. Switching sides in this game is a dumb move. While alliances perse aren’t as necessary as they are in, say, Survivor, it doesn’t hurt to have people who trust you. If nothing else, you certainly at least don’t want to make people hate you and be out to get you.

Ivanka says she’s sort of into sabotage but that it can sometimes backfire. She doesn’t mind that the guys did it and on the contrary is disappointed in Empresario for being desperate enough to have accepted Vinny on their side.

Like Baldwin, Trace also doesn’t agree with the plan. He didn’t say anything but thinks he should have protested some.

Piers and Stephen go up to Nely and try to get under their skin even further, telling them they know the slogan and the campaign. The girls are now doubting Vinny. Piers thinks it’s hilarious, which it is.

Carol calls Marilu and tells her to keep an eye on Vinny. She’s not sure whether to trust him but doesn’t particularly care. She just wants to keep working and get the job done. Omarosa now wants to destroy him, and she calls him to confront him about it. He doesn’t answer the question and tells her to just trust him. When she presses him, his response is that he told Marilu, but she says he didn’t tell her that he’d fed the men all their information. Omarosa fires him. He tries to plead his case, but Marilu is disappointed and doesn’t want to hear it. He’s worried that now neither the girls nor the guys want him on their side. Duh. I could have told him that long before it all came out.

Now Vinny’s pissed because he feels the guys sold him out. He wants Piers to go home. Piers tells him he did a great job. Instead of playing nice and pretending things are good, he argues with Piers and gives him a lecture about the mafia.

The next day, he’s still whining about it. He refuses to do anything to help them, and he admits that he told Marilu he was a spy and hopes they win. Eventually, Piers throws him out after much shouting. While he’s standing out in the hallway, Trump shows up and tells him to stick around and discuss it in the boardroom.

The women have a heartfelt campaign with the slogan “Share the Love.” They have a plain green bin, which is a lot more expensive and difficult to make because it’s a giant six foot shoe.

The men have a much more vivid bin that’s just a box, one which clearly displays the people the shoes will be going to, and everybody really likes the slogan. However, they raise concern that the campaign wasn’t quite as extensive or complete (the women had T-shirts and pamphlets).

The teams are sitting in the boardroom, and Vinny enters, with nobody happy to see him. They go over the events that happened. Not much new comes out of this exchange. We do learn that the girls weren’t actually spying as originally thought (so they say, and it’s believeable). We also learn that Piers called Vinny a very fat Italian, not a fat Italian.

Don, Jr. asks Stephen who he would prefer to continue forward. He says Vinny, as does Trace. Lennox says Piers because he realizes that this is about winning, not whether Piers is too aggressive.

Vinny basically says he wants the girls to win out of pity, which again doesn’t win him any favors with either side.

The executives thought Hydra was fantastic, but they loved Empresario. I was more impressed with the guys myself. Apparently the rest of the campaign was quite strong, or perhaps it was the heart they showed. The girls refuse to give Vinny the credit he deserves for coming up with the ideas he did and pretend that they would have come up with them on their own. With that and with everything else that’s happened, Vinny quits. The Trumps give him a hard time about it, which is pretty much as expected, since Donald Trump is well known as someone who hates quitting (regardless of the fact that last year he announced he quit this show). Trump poses the question: if he fired Piers, would Vinny stay? Vinny says yes.

When Trump asks Stephen what to do, he says he’s okay with losing more if it saves his integrity, so Piers should be fired. Piers responds that Stephen’s a hypocrite just trying to get rid of the strongest competition.

Lennox says that it’s a mental game and that Vinny’s not mentally strong enough to survive in this game.

Vinny interrupts all this drama and once again says he’s resigning due to what’s best for him and for the team. It’s interesting, though, as the team seems to be falling apart, rather than embracing the fact that they’ll be able to continue with their strongest members. Tito sure picked a good week to miss… he’s got some catching up to do here.

Pretty good episode, but in the end, I think this was only the logical outcome. Even if Piers were fired, Vinny made his bed by getting nobody to trust him.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Celebrity Apprentice Episode 6, which airs Thursday at 9/8c on NBC.

Apparently ABC was not paying attention to the fact that nobody liked her, but anyway DeAnna Pappas, who was rejected by Brad Womack in the season finale of The Bachlor 11, will be The Bachelorette in the fourth season, which will air this summer.

The twist of all vs. one led to some intense gameplay in The Biggest Loser Couples Episode 4, but after all the planning and a group effort to throw the weigh in, Mark & Jay’s first place finish (and immunity) allowed them to be safe, causing Paul & Kelly to choose to eliminate Bette-Sue & Ali.

Maggie & Jenn are upset that they were told previously that they don’t work hard enough, so they go to Paul & Kelly to take their frustration out on them. Way to make allies. They’re lucky to even still be there. The next day, Jenn’s still whining about it, this time to Bob.

Brittany uses food as a crutch to escape sad events in her life. At an early age, her abusive father died, and she immediately started gaining weight following that. She has a talk with Jillian, which helps to bond them.

This challenge isn’t for the teams. It’s for the trainers (this is supposed to be shocking, but it was obvious from a mile away). Whichever trainer wins the challenge can choose which teams they’ll train with. Harsh. The challenge is running up escalators. The first to do it 10 times wins. Bob takes an early lead and never looks back, finishing three ahead. Hardly seems like a fair challenge, but I wonder what would be a fair challenge between these two without giving one the edge. The logical thing to do here is to pick the teams who picked him, but there are only actually two of them. Jillian gets the most emotional of anyone during the pick ‘em.

Bob’s blue team:
Jackie & Dan
Mark & Jay
Roger & Trent

Jillian’s black team:
Bernie & Brittany (one of the two teams who picked Bob)
Paul & Kelly
Maggie & Jenn

Bob’s stacked his deck pretty nicely with top teams, and he’s also got the two most blatant weigh in throwers from last week, giving them a big edge this week. Such a poorly planned twist, and it gets even sillier considering the partners will vote in blocks. Despite his suggestion that Brittany and Jillian are close and should work together, Brittany, like Bernie, considered it a slap in the face. Jillian looks at this as an opportunity to help the underdogs win.

So now that the challenge is over… it’s time for another challenge. The teams must stay on the escalator for as long as they can. The winning team splits $10,000, regardless of which members are actually left standing in the end. Trent and Paul are told to not bother and just get off right away. Kelly’s out at 3 minutes, followed closely by Jenn. Jackie’s out at 5 minutes. Roger’s out at 8 minutes. Maggie’s out at 10 minutes. Bernie’s next out at 12:30, leaving Brittany to fend for herself against three competitive guys. After a tough fight, at the 24 minute mark, though, she’s finally off the escalator. Blue team wins the challenge.

Bob starts with yoga. Jillian wants people to punch stuff.

When they walk into the kitchen, there’s soda everywhere. They’re amazed by just how much empty sugar calories they drank in a year. One of the cups has a star on the bottom. Whoever picks the star, on the bottom of one of the 240 cups, can pick one player on the other team and make their weight not count for the next weigh in. Not worth it, but preventing the other team from getting it may be. Nobody budges. Alison narrows down the odds, telling them the star’s not in the orange cups. When there’s no interest, it’s also not in the grape soda, making the odds even better, down to 110 cups. Still no takers. Alison shows them the cup with the star is one of the ones in front, which probably would have been grabbed quickly. As Jillian says, who cares about soda? They may have gotten them with food, or perhaps a prize that sucked less.

They will weigh in as a team. Of the team that’s below the yellow line, one person will have to say goodbye to their partner. Brittany points out at the weigh in that she’s upset by Bob not choosing her and that he should have stuck with them.

Jay: 253 pounds (-5)
Mark: 230 pounds (-5)
Trent: 366 pounds (-9)
Roger: 309 pounds (-10)
Jackie: 206 pounds (-8)
Dan: 251 pounds (-13)
Total: -50 pounds, 3.00%

Jenn: 223 pounds (-6)
Maggie: 211 pounds (-7)
Bernie: 236 pounds (-5)
Brittany: 199 pounds (-2)
Kelly: 240 pounds (no change)
Paul: 263 pounds (+3)
Total: -17 pounds, 1.22%

It’s a bigger blowout than I had expected. Jillian believes they’re having some food issues and will need to focus on that next week. As the biggest loser for his team, Dan is The Biggest Loser player of the week; as the biggest loser for her team, Maggie has immunity. Despite her numbers this week, Jenn’s the obvious target here.

Votes
Kelly: Jenn
Paul: Jenn
Maggie: Kelly
Jenn: Kelly
Brittany: Jenn
Bernie: Jenn

After some disappointing weeks, Jenn’s finally eliminated on one of her better weeks, and Maggie is the first person in the game to lose a partner. Jenn leaves on a positive note and wants her team to keep fighting. From her starting weight of 254 pounds, Jenn is now down to 201 pounds, for a total loss of 53 pounds.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Biggest Loser: Couples episode 6, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

Omaha, Nebraska turned out to be as uneventful as could be expected in American Idol 7 Episode 5. Aside from the last audition of the night, Leo Marlowe, there wasn’t much worth discussing, unless you were looking for freaks and weirdos, which, granted, is half the appeal of American Idol.

Tonight we head to Miami, a city that presumably has more promise than the last two did, for the first time since season two.

Accomplished belcher Shannon McGough has won a lot of made up local Idol competitions. She sings Crybaby by Janis Joplin. Simon tells her it was like the Hungarian Janis Joplin and that most people don’t know what they’re talking about, which is why it’s good she’s come to see him.

Robbie Carrico is a former boy bander turned rocker, or so he says. I’m not seeing any rock in this performance, but he’s got a good voice.

Venezuelan Ghaleb thinks he’s Marc Anthony. For some reason, Paula thinks he’s good, and so does Randy. I don’t get it. Just as I was wondering what’s in Paula’s Coke cup, Simon lifted it up and asked for someone to check, thus perpetuating the stereotype that she’s a drunk (oh, like it’s not true).

Best friends Corliss Smith and Brittany Wescott audition together. Corliss wants Randy, while Brittany loves Ryan and/or Simon. Both sing older songs and sound good, and both go through to Hollywood.

Single mom Suzanne Toon hasn’t sung in three years since she got pregnant. She sings I Can’t Make You Love Me, and she does well.

Ramiele Malubay is a Filipino-American looking to follow in Jasmine Trias’ footsteps, who has had a lot of success, particularly in the Philippines. She sings A Natural Woman. Now Simon’s sipping out of Paula’s cup and says no, but the other two say yes.

Syesha Mercado thinks happy thoughts, despite a difficult childhood with her father, who’s recently recovered from drugs and alcohol. She sings Aretha Franklin’s Think. A bit over the top but wow.

While rejecting one of the contestants, Simon says he’s tempted to tell him to come back in a dress. Uh oh. Somebody’s gonna blow that all out of proportion.

Julie Dubela, 16, was in the top 20 in American Juniors (apparently another failed Idol spinoff). Never heard of it, but it suggests she’s talented. Or so I thought anyway. Not bad but not ready either. Simon asks if she’s been called precocious, which doesn’t matter since she doesn’t know what it means. They don’t offer her any constructive criticism, but that’s arguably because with her attitude she couldn’t accept it anyway. I think she was better at age 12.

The very last contestant, Brandon Black, obviously can’t sing. His “unique” entrance doesn’t impress the judges any. He sings I’ll Make Love to You and tries to act sexy. Better off trying to make them laugh instead. Then he sings an original song, I Am the Next American Idol. He follows this with some tricks with his hat and another attempt at being funny. The judges hate him and walk out of the room.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of American Idol 7 episode 7, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on Fox.

This time last year, The Apprentice’s future looked uncertain, and it wasn’t long before Donald Trump threw a tantrum and quit the show. The combination of a celebrity twist, decent time slot, and writers strike have changed all that, though. The Celebrity Apprentice has seen the show’s best ratings in years, and NBC has announced that The Celebrity Apprentice 2 will begin in January 2009.

Craig Plestis, Executive Vice President, Alternate Programming, Development, and Specials, NBC Entertainment (I remember this guy from the last time I had to write his ridiculously long title) said, “This revved up installment of “The Apprentice” has been a game changer for the series. As the rest of this season unfolds, you just keep watching, these episodes have been more thrilling than any season before. There were times when I was screaming at the TV set, literally, and the live finale will leave you on the edge of your seat.”

“Everywhere I go, people come up to me and ask about ‘Celebrity Apprentice.’ Viewers are clearly connecting, but beyond the terrific ratings, it’s really the charities who are winning the most. Our celebrities have raised over a million dollars to date. We are so glad NBC has decided to continue this franchise.” Said Mark Burnett, executive producer of The Celebrity Apprentice.

There wasn’t a great deal going on in South Carolina in American Idol 7 Episode 4, but we did get a glimpse at the potentially annoyingly perky Amy Catherine Flynn, along with a couple of loud siblings Michelle and Jeffrey Lampkin. It was largely an uneventful city, as half the people who got through were fairly unimpressive, while half the people who got rejected were better than the people they normally let go to Hollywood.

Tonight, American Idol heads to… Omaha, Nebraska?

Chris Bernheisel is up first, and we already know he sucks before he even opens his mouth in the audition room because we heard him practicing. He sings Kelly Clarkson’s Since You Been Gone. Or at least tries to. After being rejected, he auditions for reporting on the finale. Simon accepts him and wants him to tell the local Fox affiliate to let him in. We all know Simon’s just looking for someone to replace Ryan Seacrest. Fox 42, if you’re watching, you’re pretty much stuck.

Jason Rich is from a town in Iowa of about 500 people. He sings Keith Whitley’s When You Say Nothing at All, which sounds good, but he can’t remember the words past the first sentence. On his fourth try, he finally gets it. Good enough to go through to the next round.

Rachel Wicker wants to arm wrestle Simon. Simon’s chicken and says no. She sings Don’t Tell Me by Lee Ann Womack. Simon thinks she sounds old and rejects her, but he’s outvoted, despite Randy’s concerns about her half yodeling.

Goth former pro wrestler Sarah Whitaker is clearly looking for attention and not much more. Simon’s able to muster a “You’re just really strange.” Seacrest questions why she didn’t get through, and they offer him the chance to be a judge, so he swaps with Paula.

This gives Samantha Sidley a chance for camera time she wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. It’s not long before they throw him out of the room and have to tell him “other door.” Taking Ryan’s lead, the judges let her through. Her getting through leads to a montage of people who don’t suck, which Seacrest is quick to accept credit for.

Angelica Puente, who moved out to live with her grandmother due to problems she’s had with her father but still wants to make him proud, sings The Power of Love by Celine Dion. She’s nervous and told she sounds too much like the original, but there are worse things. She gets through to the next round.

David Cook says he brings something a little different to the show (different meaning similar to Chris Daughtry). He’s a rocker with a good voice.

Johnny Escamilla, “one of the weirdest guys you’ll ever meet,” is up next. Oh, do we even need to watch this to know what’s going to happen? Simon hates… everything.

One last person to prevent Omaha from being pointless, Leo Marlowe. He sings A Song for You and has one of the better voices we’ve heard thus far.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of American Idol 7 episode 6, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on Fox.

In an attempt to gain approval from her peers, Jessi jumped off a building, walked on water, and got caught doing it in Kyle XY Season 2 Episode 15. Kyle managed to convince everybody it was all just a trick, which Jessi ultimately was okay with, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t still have a mischievous side to explore.

The Trager family decides to do some spring cleaning. Josh just dumps everything without thinking, mostly so he can goof off while everybody else cleans, but Kyle likes all his stuff. While they’re outside finding out that in addition to everything else Kyle’s great at throwing a football, Amanda steps out of a cab. She’s greeted in a way only Kyle can: all the car alarms on the block go off at the same time. When they start talking, Kyle senses she’s troubled. She delays his question until a later time and says “We need to talk,” leading to warnings from Lori and Josh about that phrase being bad news.

Once Lori’s done cleaning, she asks for permission to boycott an assignment from her guidance counselors about who she really is (guidance counselors give assignments?). Josh suggests a paper about how she’s sarcastic, moody, and cynical (she says she’s not a cynic).

Jessi comes to see Kyle and wants some more lessons. She brushes off the fact that she hurt herself jumping off another roof. He wants to wait until after he’s done seeing Amanda. That talk, though, is pretty brief. As the others were afraid, she’s got bad news for him. She tells him she can’t see him any more, and her mother forces her inside, upset at the news that Amanda wants to drop out. Kyle’s told he can’t see or speak to her until she returns to the music conservatory. Yeah, because that type of excessively restrictive attitude will really help matters.

Kyle’s got a plan. He doesn’t need to see or speak to her. There’s text messages (phone’s been confiscated). There’s e-mail (blocked by parental controls). So when all else fails, he plays the guitar outside her window (d’oh… Stephen stops him). The alarm code’s even been changed to keep her in the house.

So it’s on to plan b. Kyle, Lori, and Josh are discussing the next move, when they find out an eavesdropping Jessi can do anything Kyle can do. They decide they can utilize her, sending her to ring the doorbell. Amanda’s mom isn’t too happy, saying “You’re Lori’s trampy friend.” Jessi responds, “No, that’s Hillary.” She slams the door on her face, telling her to pass a message to Kyle, “Nice try.” It’s really all just a ploy to get close enough to get the code to the alarm, though. The next step is to get the shades pulled down in Amanda’s room, so Lori throws pebbles at the window, resulting in a quick response from her mom.

Jessi wants Lori to know she didn’t mean to do what she did and is there to help now. Despite the initial resistance, Lori may be willing to meet her half way.

Kyle begins phase two on a set of Christmas lights. This leads to the electrical system, which connects to the neighborhood transformer, which leads back to Amanda’s house. After knocking out the lights in her house, Kyle uses a projector and writes the alarm code and a meeting place on his window to send her a message, an idea he got from Amanda’s favorite Romeo & Juliet scene. Phase three involves Josh in a wig in Amanda’s room, praying not to get caught.

When they meet, a romantic dinner is setup for them. Even Hillary pitches in by cooking (she’s secretly a Top Chef fan), modifying their menu to what she wants instead of what was requested. Kyle eventually brings up the reason he brought her there, and she tells him that her feelings for him could never change. Everything’s going great until her insane mother shows up and catches them. She forces her to get in the car to head off for a flight back to school. As she’s leaving, we find out an increasingly jealous Jessi is the reason the plan didn’t work.

Kyle, Josh, and Lori get grounded, but Jessi’s not quite off the hook. Taylor busts her as she’s sneaking back in. Just as it looks like she’s about to be punished, though, he turns out to mostly be concerned with the big plans he has for her, which they’ll discuss in the morning.

Amanda never got on the plane. She knocks on Kyle’s window looking for a place to hide.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Kyle XY Season 2 episode 17 Grounded, which airs Monday at 8/7c on ABC Family.

While some are quick to point out that Survivor’s ratings are fading (Survivor: China, the best edition of the franchise in years, marked the first increase in viewers from a previous season since Palau), it’s still one of the top 20 shows on TV 8 years after it premiered. With that in mind, Variety reports that CBS has renewed it for an additional two seasons through the 18th.

“‘Survivor’ is a show that defies ratings gravity,” CBS’ Ghen Maynard said. “It is truly remarkable feat to be winning your time period in all ratings categories after 15 editions.”

Jeff Probst will continue hosting, and casting has begun on Survivor 17.

Yet another team with only one person’s heart in the game was eliminated in The Bigest Loser 5 Episode 3, as despite Amanda’s best efforts, Neill slacking off irritated the rest of the teams. At the end of the episode, Alison posed a question: if they could vote out one team, right now, who would that be?

She gives them an hour to think about it. They can only discuss it with their own teammates. Maggie and Jenn feel guilty because everybody voted for them to stay, which means they have to vote against someone they feel helped save them. They decide they want to go for the strongest team. Jackie wants to target Mark and Jay, but Dan suggests this is a risky strategy as it sends too strong a signal considering they may not actually go home. Her response, which is equally worth considering, is that if they don’t vote for them, they risk getting the most votes themselves. Mark & Jay and Roger & Trent employ a similar strategy, considering the teams who have been below the yellow line. Paul wants to vote for Mark & Jay. Kelly wants to at least consider Roger & Trent, an argument that Paul can’t really debate, so he says he cares more about the fact that Trent needs to be there.

Votes
Paul & Kelly: Mark & Jay
Bernie & Brittany: Mark & Jay
Maggie & Jenn: Paul & Kelly
Mark & Jay: Paul & Kelly
Roger & Trent: Maggie & Jenn
Jackie & Dan: Maggie & Jenn
Bette-Sue & Ali: Paul & Kelly

With three votes, Paul & Kelly have been chosen. I’d like to say I can understand the logic behind these votes, but the majority of them don’t make a great deal of sense. That’s probably because there are alliances on both sides who are more concerned about voting out people not aligned with them than people who are going to put up bigger numbers. Kelly gives what is essentially a goodbye speech, but Alison tells her she’s not going home. It’s all vs. one. For the next week, everybody else’s only competition is the yellow team. If they have a greater percentage of weight loss than all the other teams combined, they can choose who goes home. If they don’t, they go home. A lot of power but also a lot of danger, particularly considering how big a week they had last week as The Biggest Loser team of the week. Then again, last week was a big week for everybody following a bad week two. They can pick one trainer to focus exclusively on them. They pick Jillian. Paul’s ready for battle. Game on.

Now they get a bit of good news. They hike up the hill to choose what they want as their reward for winning last week. Paul has a one track mind focused on gameplay. She’s going on and on about sheets and phone calls and other stuff that’s not going to make as big a difference as a gameplay option, especially in a week where they either win or go home. He repeatedly insists on gameplay. She comes up with a compromise, where if they win and get a reward next week, he’ll have to consider one of the other options, which won’t make any sense then either, but whatever. The reward is an additional two pounds at weigh-in of their choice, which obviously will be this week.

Jillian tries to talk some sense into Paul and his warrior spirit. While he should definitely fight to stay, she’s concerned that they’ll run the risk of alienating everybody else. Not taking the hint, when asked by the other teams what they won for a prize, they say they can’t tell them.

Aside from being a paid advertisement, the breakfast segment has a point: don’t skip breakfast, or your metabolism will pay the price.

The challenge is running across balance beams above water, grabbing pegs, and filling in a board. Every player must get at least one peg. If this were about running, Paul & Kelly would be in big trouble, but since the key is balance and multiple people on the other team have little balance, they have a shot. They are playing for letters from home. Mark gets across with relative ease. Paul’s a ways behind, but Bernie struggles, allowing Paul to get a good lead. Roger does a decent job but is unable to come close to the gap Bernie’s created. However, Jackie goes faster than anybody else, but even still is only able to bring their team behind by one. Trent’s struggling even more than Bernie did. A 400 pound guy and a balance beam don’t mix well. It’s pretty clear the gap is now too big to close, as Paul is now two ahead. Kelly’s on the sidelines waiting for her one turn, and he has absolutely no interest in letting her go. Trent gets to the middle and falls. He must return to the start. By the time Jay starts, he’s behind by five pegs. Paul & Kelly win the challenge. Kelly’s thrilled to get the letters, but Paul couldn’t care less. He’s more concerned about what he’s there to do, which he should be. As an interesting gesture, they agree to forego the letters in exchange to allow the other team to all get letters. Not only does it keep them focused, but it’s a chance to earn some points with the other teams.

Now things are starting to get interesting. Dan & Jackie, Paul & Kelly, Bernie & Brittany, and Maggie (but not Jenn) form an alliance. The plan is to throw the weigh in because this represents the best opportunity to get rid of Mark & Jay, who if left in the game are one of the biggest threats and unlikely to go below the yellow line. Bob not so subtly suggests that gameplay would suggest throwing the weigh in but says he doesn’t want to be blindsided.

We then switch gears from the gameplay aspect of things to the warm fuzzy tearful letters from home. But it’s not long before it’s time to get back in the game and head to the scales. Before the weigh in starts, it’s revealed that Mark & Jay have one last hope. The team with the highest percentage of weight loss this week will be immune. Since half of the teams, including two of the stronger teams, planned to throw the weigh in, they have a good chance.

Bette-Sue: 224 (-7)
Ali: 198 (-8)
Total: -15 pounds, 3.43%

Roger: 331 (-12)
Trent: 375 (-13)
Total: -25 pounds, 3.48%

Bernie: 241 (-7)
Brittany: 201 (-2)
Total: -9 pounds, 2.00%

Bob gets suspicious, but Brittany pulled a -1 in week two when she was trying. Not sure where Bernie learned to throw a weigh in, though.

Mark: 235 (-14)
Jay: 258 (-10)
Total: -24 pounds, 4.64%

Maggie: 218 (-3)
Jenn: 229 (-7)
Total: -10 pounds, 2.19%

No suspicions seem to arise here.

Jackie: 214 (-2)
Dan: 264 (-1)
Total: -3 pounds, 0.62%

If ever there were a dead giveaway, this is it. Nothing like Neil gaining 17 pounds last season, but this has been such a strong team that it’s not like some of the girls whose low numbers can just be dismissed. Mark wants revenge.

Group Total: 2.81%

With the 2 pound weight prize, Paul & Kelly need more than 12 pounds lost to survive.

Paul: 260 (-9)
Kelly: 240 (-8)
Total: -17 pounds and -2 pounds, 3.39%

Without the group effort to save them, Paul & Kelly probably would have been toast. Mark & Jay are safe, though, throwing the original plan out the window. With that said, there is one team that is not in the alliance with them and also voted for them at the top of the show: Bette-Sue & Ali. Logically, though, Roger & Trent are a bigger threat.

They vote out Bette-Sue & Ali. They go out on a pretty sour note at the table, but their confessional after that almost makes up for it. Bette-Sue is now down 49 pounds to 212 pounds from her starting weight of 261. Ali is now down to 173 pounds from 234 for a total of 61 pounds.

Next week, it becomes an individual game. Someone will lose their partner.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Biggest Loser: Couples episode 5, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

After coming in last three times in a row, Terri & Henry were finally eliminated in The Amazing Race Asia 2 Episode 9, while Rovilson & Marc and Adrian & Collin continued their dominance, placing first and second as per usual. Meanwhile, Paula & Natasha got screwed over by a poorly planned intersection, causing them to have to wait for 5 hours and fall way behind the rest of the pack.

First: Rovilson & Marc (11:44pm)
Second: Adrian & Collin (11:58pm)
Third: Ann & Diane (12:33am)
Fourth: Vanessa & Pamela (12:37am)
Fifth: Paula & Natasha (5:05am)

Teams will head by train to Budapest, Hungary, 443km away

First train (via Vienna, 5:00am, arrives 90 minutes earlier): Adrian & Collin
Second train (direct, 7:30am): Rovilson & Marc, Vanessa & Pamela, Ann & Diane, Paula & Natasha

If it were an airport, they’d have probably been in deep trouble, but since it’s a train station, Paula & Natasha have plenty of time to catch up to the others. Adrian & Collin, with their smart play, are far enough ahead that they should be able to come out on top for a change.

The first destination is Batthyany Square on the Danube River. The clue there tells them to drive to Magyar Farm, 20km outside Budapest. Manual cars. Before the race, learn them, love them, or at the very least be semi-competent driving them. We’ve seen it before, and we’ll see it again. Not good news for some of these teams.

The detour is a choice between pitch or pull. In pitch, teams must stack hay onto a cart and deliver it to a farmer. In pull, teams must milk a goat and collect 200ml of milk. Given the choice of a highly physical task or a task involving animals (notoriously difficult to work with), the physical task typically is the better option.

Pitch: Adrian & Collin, Paula & Natasha, Ann & Diane (after switching from pull), Rovilson & Marc
Pull: Vanessa & Pamela (after seeing the others doing pitch)

Despite their early problems with the manual car, Paula & Natasha manage to arrive in second place. Rovilson & Marc, who are the only team of the four comfortable with the driving, get held up while trying to find the place.

The clue given at the detour is for the road block. They will travel to the nearby town of Visegrad to Canopy Fun Extreme and complete multiple sections of the flying fox course. There’s also some basic addition involved, which may be tougher for some than others, but it could actually be the most difficult part of the whole thing.

Road block (in order of arrival): Adrian, Natasha, Diane, Marc, Pamela

Adrian gets it wrong on his first attempt but is correct the next time and still well ahead. Natasha also gets it wrong her first time. This gives Diane the advantage, or so she thinks. Ann took off to familiarize herself with driving the car. A worthwhile thing to do as we’ve seen from Pamela & Vanessa’s trouble this leg, but just bad timing to do it. Because of this, Marc is allowed to go ahead and do the road block, which is one at a time, first come, first served. Marc is the only one to get it right the first time. Diane is incorrect on her first try. Natasha’s second attempt is correct. Pamela is incorrect on her first try. Diane is correct on her second attempt, as is Pamela.

Teams will proceed to the Hercules Fountain featured on the 1000 forint Hungarian note. From there, they will head to the pitstop for this leg of the race, Salamon Tower Lower Castle, where they must take the correct entrance, which proves a bit of a challenge. While this gives us some drama, it’s still pretty obvious who will win this leg. Rovilson & Marc go the right way and rush into the tower incognito (hidden behind branches). These two are always good for a laugh. Like Adrian & Collin, Pamela & Vanessa also go the wrong way.

First: Adrian & Collin (win Nokia N95 and Nokia N73)
Second: Rovilson & Marc
Third: Pamela & Vanessa
Fourth: Ann & Diane
Fifth: Paula & Natasha (non-eliminated)

This leg was Pamela & Vanessa’s to lose, and beyond the car troubles, Vanessa’s nervous breakdowns are getting old. They didn’t spend a great deal of time on what happened to the other two teams, but it’s obvious they had difficulty finding the Hercules Fountain. Unlike the previous two non-elimination legs, I’m pleased with this one. Paula & Natasha ran a good leg and had just one mishap. They must come in first next time, or they will receive a 30 minute penalty. They’re hoping their allies will come through and yield another team (the moms) if a yield does come up. If nothing else, this leg shows us that nothing’s ever for certain and that one little thing can have a huge impact.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race Asia 2 episode 11.