Month: May 2009

Hell’s Kitchen Season 5 Winner

Hell’s Kitchen 5 Episode 14 was essentially a filler episode, with the only useful information we learned being who the teams are for tonight’s finale. Danny chose Ben, Giovanni, and Carol. Paula chose Andrea, LA, and Lacey. Tonight, either Danny Veltri or Paula Dasilva will be crowned the Hell’s Kitchen season 5 winner.

Danny didn’t get Lacey. He is very pleased. Paula, not so much. Saddling someone with Lacey is a hell of a handicap.

Carol is not happy being on Danny’s team. Yeah, he’s not happy to have you either. He just took you because he didn’t want Lacey. Carol would rather see Paula win.

Giovanni would rather be at home. He couldn’t care less. He’s still bitter that he wasn’t good enough to win.

Next we get a Lacey montage. Someone tell the producers she’s really not that interesting. She hates her team, knowing they hate her back.

Ben realizes it’s not about him. Well, he’s trying to realize it anyway. He plans to support Danny, who he feels is the underdog.

Lacey’s creme brulee is curdled. She’ll have to start that over.

Andrea refuses to let Paula down. Oh, I’m sure it’ll happen sooner or later.

Ramsay thinks Paula’s pasta is delicious. He is worried about her halibut being dry. That’s a danger zone. Andrea will have to cook that properly. The banana creme brulee is not creme brulee. She can’t serve that.

Danny’s duck needs to be cooked more in his duck salad. Ramsay likes the filet. The dessert is undercooked.

Paula’s restaurant, Sunergy, receives a good review from Chef Ramsay. He does not seem quite as impressed with Danny’s restaurant, Velvet Hammer, not to be confused with an adult video. What’s up with the fish on the wall?

Lacey realizes she could screw everything up. Ya think?

Danny’s staff is having good communication, which is something Danny made sure would happen. By comparison, Paula’s team is pretty silent.

Andrea overcooked a scallop, and Lacey put it on the plate and turned it over, apparently hoping to hide it from… someone.

Carol’s backed up on appetizers. Danny thinks Carol sucks.

Paula is waiting for Andrea to cook the halibut. She’s never done that before. It’s obviously overcooked, but she asks if it’s too dark anyway. Her next try needs a little longer.

Danny sends out his first entrees, while Andrea continues to struggle.

Giovanni’s monkfish sauce is way too salty. He still doesn’t care and just wants to go back home. Not doing himself any favors if he bombs on national TV.

Lacey’s all confused. She says that Paula’s menu is too complicated. Everybody is screaming at her from all directions, but she’s not getting anywhere. The entire team will try to bail her out.

Paula’s starting to find her way, two hours into the service.

Danny finishes getting out his food first, but Paula manages to finish off her service strong as well.

LA says that it’s a toss up. She thought Paula had it, but Danny rocked.

Chef Ramsay has made his decision, which he calls the most difficult one he’s had to make in Hell’s Kitchen.

Danny and Paula step up to their doors. Danny’s door opens, and he is the Hell’s Kitchen season 5 winner. At age 23, he proved to be the prodigy he said he was. Paula gave him a run for his money, performing consistently throughout the season. Ramsay says that Danny grew more than any other chef he’s ever seen, and he now has the talent and maturity to be a great head chef.

Hell’s Kitchen Season 6 has already been announced, and it’s coming in July.

Survivor: Tocantins Episode 13

Debbie tried to turn on Coach, which in turn resulted in her getting voted off in Survivor: Tocantins Episode 12.

JT tells Coach that Debbie was plotting against him. He thanks them for protecting him. Uh, they weren’t protecting you. At least Coach has finally realized he’s no longer in control of this game.

Coach says he’s struggling with asthma and back pain. This is Coach, though. It’s hard to tell when he’s telling a story. His lips are moving, so it’s a safe bet.

For the challenge, they will race through a maze and build a pole to raise a sandbag, while their feet are shackled. Reward is comfort: bed, shower, feast. JT takes the lead. Everybody follows him except Taj. Taj is incorrect as JT builds on his lead. Coach is attached to JT’s hip. JT is first through the maze with Coach right behind. Erinn, Stephen, and Taj appear to be out of it, but they complete the maze eventually. Now everybody is working on their pole. JT’s still got a lead. He grabs his sandbag and starts swinging. JT knocks over his first target of three, then his second, then his last. JT wins reward. No volunteers to go to Exile. Despite complaints about his ailments, Coach is being sent there. He plans to not eat or build a fire, probably because he’s incapable of doing so. Erinn looks forward to this being his excuse for losing immunity. Obviously, JT’s taking Stephen with him on reward. Will the girls finally realize how close these two are and form an alliance with their arch enemy?

Taj is unworried about JT and Stephen. She plans to go to the finals with them. Erinn also plans to go as far as she can with JT and Stephen.

JT and Stephen take a private plane to the governor’s retreat. After getting cleaned, they get a Brazilian barbeque with all they can eat. They’re convinced they will be in the final two. JT would like to take Coach to the final three with them, knowing nobody will vote for him. They discuss Erinn’s little speech at the end of the challenge, and say it makes them want to keep her less.

Coach returns from Exile with his cane. Taj would like to see some mental institution come pick him up. Although he said he was so happy without any nourishment, he immediately asks for some water.

The immunity challenge will be to balance between two walls with their bare feet on footholds. They cannot use their butts, backs, or hips. After 15 minutes, they move down to a smaller foothold. Everybody is still in it. After another 15 minutes, they drop to the final foothold. Erinn falls when moving down. Everybody else is still in, and they’ll go until one person is left standing. Stephen is next to fall. Taj follows him. JT would step down if Jeff gives him a steak and beer. Coach tells him he should step down, then, unless he’s planning to vote him out. Coach looked fine until Taj told him to not hurt his back any more. Now he’s intensely struggling. He falls at about 50 minutes, then collapses to the ground. JT wins immunity. Coach says that, if medical looks at his back, he won’t be there. Jeff doesn’t push the issue, knowing there’s an excellent chance Coach is trying to get an acting gig.

JT reassures Coach he’s safe and that they’ll get rid of Erinn. Stephen says he’s not so sure what he wants to do, regardless of what promises JT has made to Coach.

Erinn says she never feels secure. The rest of tribal council is Coach babbling endlessly. The jury goes to sleep.

Votes
Coach
Erinn
Erinn
Coach
Coach

With three votes, Coach has been voted out. You’ve been with him this long. I would have kept him in. That jury hates him. Let’s see if Erinn and Taj can come up with some way to take control of this game next time. They’ve sure had enough chances.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Tocantins episode 14 and the Reunion special, where we will find out who the Survivor: Tocantins winner is, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

American Idol Season 8 Episode 38

The top three performed in American Idol 8 Episode 37, and tonight one more will go home to determine the final two.

Just over 1 million votes separated the top two, out of the 88 million votes that were cast.

Seacrest tells us there’s a busy night. Busy night of filler.

56 minutes in, and it’s finally time to start typing.

The first person to move on to the finale is Kris Allen.

Joining Kris in the finale will be Adam Lambert.

Danny Gokey will be heading home.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of American Idol Season 8 episode 39, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on Fox.

Lost Season 5 Episode 17

In the first hour of the season finale on Lost Season 5 Episode 16, Ben found out he was going to be the one killing Jacob, Sayid got shot by Richard, and Kate, Sawyer, and Juliet got off the sub and returned to the island to stop Jack.

Richard has led them to a big foot. That’s where Jacob lives.

Jack agrees to give Sawyer 5 minutes to talk.

Now it’s Jack’s turn to meet Jacob. It was after his first major operation, when as usual he was having difficulty with his father.

Sawyer tells Jack the story about how his parents died. It was a year ago. With that in mind, he could have prevented it, but he didn’t because what’s done is done. So what does Jack want? He had her, and he lost her. He’s okay with the fact that, if what he does works, he and Kate will be strangers, and she’ll be in handcuffs. That said, it’s time for a bloody battle between Sawyer and Jack. Juliet has to intervene, telling Sawyer that Jack is right. She’s changed her mind and no longer wants to stop him.

Following her flashback as a child receiving news of her parents getting a divorce, Juliet says she changed her mind when she saw him look at Kate. Maybe they were never supposed to be together, even if they love each other. If she never meets him, she never has to lose him.

Jack asks about Aaron, even though Kate told him to never do so. She came back so that he could be with his mom. Perhaps she wouldn’t have actually given him up for adoption.

Hurley’s first meeting with Jacob was when he was being released from jail, despite confessing that he killed a bunch of people. Jacob tells him maybe he’s not cursed. Maybe he’s blessed. Maybe he’s also not crazy. Either way, he should be on the plane.

What happened to the rest of the statue? Ben says it was like that when he got there. Richard doesn’t want both John and Ben going to see Jacob at the same time, but that’s too bad. They go inside, and Locke gives Ben a knife.

Miles poses a question: has anyone considered that Jack is going to cause the thing he’s actually trying to prevent?

Stuart’s reinforcements have arrived to form a defense to kill Jack, who’s standing in the woods watching them. Unbeknownst to Jack, he’s got back up. Live together, die alone. The van shows up with reinforcements. When the situation’s under control, Jack gets closer and drops the bomb. So where’s the explosion? Chaos ensues as everything metal gets sucked into the hole, but that was hardly what they anticipated. A bunch of the Dharma people get killed, which is the good news, but then Juliet begins to get sucked into the abyss. Sawyer tries to save her, but she lets go.

Ilana arrives to find Richard and the others waiting outside the big foot. She wants to know what lies in the shadow of the statue, and she has something he needs to see. They open up the box. It’s John Locke’s body. So if that’s Locke, who’s in there with Jacob ordering Ben to kill him? Jacob tells Ben that he has a choice. Ben has noticed that Jacob has finally decided to stop ignoring him. He wants to know: what about me? Jacob responds: what about you? So with that, Jacob’s been stabbed. Before he’s kicked into the fire, Jacob says that they’re coming.

Having fallen to the bottom of the hole, Juliet seems fine. Relatively speaking. She’s not dead or anything. She begins smashing the bomb with a rock hoping to set it off. Well, looks like there’s the explosion they were hoping for.

Lost Season 6 will be coming in early 2010 as previously announced. As planned, it will be the final season of the show.

Lost Season 5 Episode 16

Jack and Sayid managed to find the hydrogen bomb in Lost Season 5 Episode 15. So their question is: now what? Meanwhile, Sawyer, Juliet, and Kate got on a sub to leave the island, and Locke’s off looking for Jacob so he can kill him.

Two guys whose identities may or may not be revealed are waiting on the beach for the boat to come their way. One’s named Jacob. The other will remain a mystery.

Kate looks to have gotten her bad girl ways started early, shoplifting a lunchbox from a local store. Avoiding a run in with her mom and the cops, Jacob agrees to pay for it.

Kate wants to get out of there. You’re kinda on a submarine and in the ocean. Sawyer doesn’t really care if Jack blows up the island.

Faraday has left detailed instructions how to remove the plutonium core and how to detonate it. This does not seem like a good idea to Richard. They have about two hours to get this to the swan station.

Dr. Chang stopped the drilling because the temperature went up 60 degrees. Stuart doesn’t care. He wants to keep going.

Richard wants to know how Locke’s alive. Locke responds that Richard should probably be the one able to explain it to him.

Locke intends to “deal with” the rest of the passengers from the flight that brought him there.

Lapidus is waking up from having been smacked in the face. He wants to know what’s in the box, so they agree to open it. So what is in the box?

Jacob also pays a visit to a young James Ford, who’s in the process of writing a letter to Mr. Sawyer after his parents are dead.

Sawyer would like to stick around, but the blonde’s not going to let him. Juliet beats up one of the guys, and then she frees herself and the others. They make the captain go back to the surface at gunpoint. He’s instructed to proceed on course once they’re gone, and he doesn’t have to worry about Horace contacting him because he now no longer has communications ability.

Richard asks Jack if he knows Locke, and he says that he does know him and not to give up on him.

Speaking of Richard, he’s also leading John Locke to Jacob. Locke wants to know why Ben didn’t tell Richard about his plans for Jacob (the part about killing him dead). Ben’s playing nice because his dead daughter told him to do everything he says. Well, that’s good news then. Locke’s not going to kill Jacob. Ben is. Now he doesn’t have to convince him.

Sayid also gets a visit from Jacob, though he’s not as young as the others were. Just then, Nadia’s struck by a car.

Richard has decided he’s gone as far with the boys as he wants. He strikes Eloise to knock her out and tells them they’re on their own. They enter a house and hear the place is under alert, so they dress up as members of the Dharma Initiative to try to hide in plain sight. That works for about 10 seconds before Roger shoots Sayid. Jin and Hurley show up in their VW to drive them off.

Sawyer, Kate, and Juliet arrive on shore, and they’re greeted by Vincent. Then Bernard and Rose. They’ve just been living there in the jungle for the past few years, and they didn’t want to be found. They don’t seem overly concerned about this whole being blown to bits issue the others are trying to prevent, but they do give them directions to the barracks.

The group of people Frank’s walking with, who say they’re the good guys, have found the cabin.

Jacob’s next stop is to a bandaged up woman named Ilana, who agrees to help him. She’s the woman leading Frank’s group.

Ilana enters the cabin, but he’s not there and hasn’t been for a long time. Someone else has been using the cabin, so they’re going to burn it down. Yeah, set fire to a place in the middle of the jungle.

Jacob finds John Locke lying on the ground, then he touches him and he’s okay.

Locke and his group have returned to their old camp, where they’ll be resting for the night. Ben acknowledges that he was just pretending the day they first supposedly met Jacob. He didn’t want him to know he’d never seen Jacob, so he lied. That’s what he does. Considering Ben got cancer, watched his daughter get shot, and then got banished from the island, Locke’s pretty sure he may well actually want to kill Jacob.

Sun finds the baby’s crib and Charlie’s ring, which makes her think about Jin. They, too, have met Jacob, on their wedding day.

Sayid, who’s busy bleeding, wants to modify the bomb and be there at the moment of the incident. They’ve got a flat tire, though, thanks to the trouble they’ve run into: Sawyer with a gun.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Lost Season 5 Episode 17 The Incident, Part 2, which airs next on ABC.

American Idol Season 8 Episode 37

Allison Iraheta was eliminated in American Idol 8 Episode 36, which brings us down to three.

The top three will be allowed to perform two songs tonight. Yeah, the producers apparently finally feel they have enough time to allow this and get the show done on time.

Danny Gokey
Song: Dance Little Sister by Terrence Trent D’arby (chosen by Paula)
Randy: Let the games begin. Lot of energy, sounded good.
Kara: Tone in the money spot, but a little too much gyrating. Am I going to remember that performance tomorrow?
Paula: Really good.
Simon: Desperate dancing. Vocally very good. Biggest problem was the saxophone solo in the middle.
Numbers: 1-866-IDOLS-01 or 1-866-IDOLS-04 or 1-866-IDOLS-07

Kris Allen
Song: Apologize by One Republic (playing piano) (chosen by Randy and Kara)
Randy: You could have a song like this that could sell millions of records.
Kara: Really competent performance. Wanted it to be more your own.
Paula: *random rambling*
Simon: Competent version of the original, but not quite as good. Kara and Randy didn’t hold up to their responsibilities.
Numbers: 1-866-IDOLS-02 or 1-866-IDOLS-05 or 1-866-IDOLS-08

Adam Lambert
Song: One by U2 (chosen by Simon)
Randy: Still in the zone. Unbelieveable vocals. Don’t know if I loved the melody.
Kara: Unbelieveable. Your own version. See what I mean, Simon?
Paula: One brilliant song. One superb performance. One American Idol.
Simon: Brilliant song choice. Brilliant performance. If you’re not in the final, it will be one of the biggest upsets.
Numbers: 1-866-IDOLS-03 or 1-866-IDOLS-06 or 1-866-IDOLS-09

Now the contestants get to make their own song choices.

Danny Gokey
Song: You Are So Beautiful by Joe Cocker
Randy: Showed that you’re here because you can really sing.
Kara: Everything you didn’t do in the first performance, you just did. Stunning.
Paula: Beautiful performance.
Simon: Didn’t need rearranging but a vocal masterclass.

Kris Allen
Song: Heartless by Kanye West (playing guitar)
Randy: Liked that version better than the original.
Kara: Why didn’t you do that with Apologize? Bold, brave, and fearless.
Paula: This is what keeps you relevant.
Simon: Had written you out after the first song, but that has all changed after that.

Adam Lambert
Song: Cryin by Aerosmith
Randy: One of the best ever on this stage. Should make a rock album.
Kara: Amazing. We’ll see you at the finals.
Paula: Set the bar so high. We’ll be seeing you next week.
Simon: Everyone should not assume you will be in the finals but vote for you based on talent.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of American Idol Season 8 episode 38, which airs Wednesday at 9/8c on Fox.

The Biggest Loser Couples 2 Winner

The Biggest Loser 8 Winner
The Biggest Loser 6 Winner
The Biggest Loser 5 Winner
The Biggest Loser 4 Winner
The Biggest Loser 3 Winner

Father and son Ron Morelli and Mike Morelli, the last remaining team, fell below the yellow line in the final weigh-in in The Biggest Loser Couples 2 Episode 18. America’s vote will save one of them and put him in the final three with Tara Costa and Helen Phillips.

Tonight’s show is three hours. Three hours? Seriously? It normally takes an hour to weigh in the final four with a two hour show. How much more filler can you possibly add? It’s not like there’s a lot to cover. Apparently NBC is desperately waiting for Leno.

The first order of business is to find out who America voted for. Unsurprisingly, America has picked Mike. He looks like he’s down around 50%, so he should prove to be stiff competition. Now that we’ve found that out, we know the final three, and one of them will be The Biggest Loser season 7 winner.

Allison has a new twist for tonight. Two people are competing for the final spot on next season’s show, and America will be able to choose who should make it. The first contestant is Erinn, a senior in college who weighs 239 pounds. She recently ended a relationship of two years, not wanting her boyfriend to look at her or touch her. The second contestant is Amanda, a 19 year old who weighs 257 pounds. She didn’t bother to go to prom because she didn’t think anybody liked her, but she tries to hide behind a smile. Bob and Jillian are in a backstage gym waiting for them.

Jerry has dropped from a 62 inch waist to a 39 inch waist and eliminated all of his diseases and medicine (including the medicine that caused him to collapse the first show).

Nicole hopes to get into her wedding dress tonight, a size 8.

Over 166,000 people pledged their weight loss to support the Pound for Pound Challenge. In total, they pledged 2.9 million pounds so far. Continuing this project, for every pound pledged this summer, General Mills will donate one pound of food up to 1 million pounds.

Now it’s time to start the weigh-in for the at home prize.

Estella: 159 pounds (-83, 34.30%)

Jerry: 192 pounds (-177, 47.97%)

Damien: 245 pounds (-136, 35.70%)

Nicole: 146 pounds (-123, 45.72%)

Carla has apparently decided she no longer hates Joelle.

Sione: 226 pounds (-146, 39.25%)

Filipe: 229 pounds (-135, 37.09%)

Carla: 251 pounds (-128, 33.77%)

Joelle: 229 pounds (-80, 25.89%)

Jerry came from left field here as someone who probably surprised a lot of people. At 64 years old, he’s still got the lead after about half the others have weighed in.

Blaine: 249 pounds (-116, 31.78%)

Dane: 258 pounds (-154, 37.38%)

Mandi: 171 pounds (-92, 34.98%)

Aubrey: 194 pounds (-55, 22.09%)

Aubrey’s current weight reflects a 3 pound gain from when she left campus.

Cathy: 198 pounds (-95, 32.42%)

Kristin: 193 pounds (-167, 46.39%)

David: 350 pounds (-42, 10.71%)

Dan: 312 pounds (-142, 31.28%)

People were questioning Dan’s commitment when they kicked him off the show, but he’s done a great job on his own, although his partner has struggled.

Laura: 199 pounds (-86, 30.18%)

Shanon: 191 pounds (-92, 32.51%)

Ron: 238 pounds (-192, 44.65%)

Nicole, Kristin, and Ron gave him a run for his money, but the oldest contestant in the show’s history, Jerry, who left in week two, has managed to lose the most weight at home and win the $100,000 prize.

We’re two hours through, and yet this has not been much more fillerific than usual. With one hour left, though, here comes the filler. An hour to weigh three people.

Tara’s coming off her record breaking season. She won 12 challenges (the most for anyone), lost 135 pounds on campus (the most ever for a woman), and never fell below the yellow line for 18 straight weeks.

Tara has decided the weigh-in will be in order from lowest percentage of weight loss to highest percentage of weight loss on campus.

Before that, though, America’s vote has decided who will appear on the next season. Amanda has been chosen.

Now it’s time for the final weigh-in of the season, and all three of them look like they’ve made great progress.

Helen: 117 pounds (-140, 54.47%)

Mike: 181 pounds (-207, 53.35%)

Tara: 139 pounds (-155, 52.72%)

For the third season in a row, there is a female Biggest Loser. Helen Phillips is The Biggest Loser Couples 2 winner. If NBC had written this script, I’d imagine they would have ended it differently, but Helen deserves credit for a job well done.

The Biggest Loser may be in its 7th season, but it’s proving increasingly to be one of NBC’s biggest successes. It came as no surprise when NBC renewed the show for season 8.