November 2010 – dingoRUE

The Biggest Loser Season 10 Episode 11

Falling below the yellow line up against one member of the alliance, Lisa was eliminated in The Biggest Loser Season 10 Episode 10.

At the next weigh in, there will be two lines: one yellow, one red.

Frado thanks everybody for keeping him there. Any other season, they would have been smart enough to vote him out.

The three alliance members are pretty well convinced they are unbeatable, and at this point it seems they have good reason for their cockiness.

Olympian Nastia Liukin is there for the challenge and to promote Subway. The winner of today’s pop challenge will win $10,000 from Subway. It includes 5 different exercises, and after each exercise one person will be eliminated. They will do 1 mile on the StreetStrider, half a mile running, 1000m on the rowing machine, jump rope 100 times, and climb 500 feet on Jacobs ladder. The leaders are all pretty close as Frado and Elizabeth bring up the rear on the StreetStrider, and ultimately Elizabeth is the first person to be eliminated. Ada runs away from the others on the run. Frado again finds himself in the bottom two, but he outruns Mark. The boys are confident that they can oturow the lone girl. At the halfway mark, it appears they may be right. For yet another event, Frado is battling for his life, this time against Ada, and again he is successful. None of the boys know how to jump rope, so this will come down to who can trip their way through it first. Frado has met his match and is eliminated. That leaves Patrick and Brendan competing for the prize. Brendan is off to an early lead on the ladder, and that does not fade as he wins the challenge.

Elizabeth tells us it would be a huge mistake to underestimate her. Then I’m making a huge mistake.

Bob doesn’t believe that Brendan is giving 100%, so he’s going to ride him throughout their workout.

Being this close to the finals, they begin to discuss what they will do with their winnings. Brendan would like to get his students outside the inner city. Mark made a promise to his father that he will travel with him. Patrick no longer needs a new car, so his plan is to pay down his debt, which has been growing since he has been unemployed this year. Ada would like to start some sort of foundation to provide positive reenforcement for kids.

When he started, Frado needed 6 shots and 12 medications to try to control his diabetes, which was out of control. He is down to just one drug, and Dr. H has decided that today is the day he can come off that one as well.

At the beginning of the season, they competed in a challenge. Some of them did 500 steps; some of them ran a mile. Today, they will be doing both, weighing exactly what they did back then. After each 100 steps, they will drop the amount of weight they lost in the corresponding week. Then they will run, dropping weight at checkpoints along the way. The winner of the challenge will receive a 1 pound advantage and a $25,000 home gym.

Ada starts off in the lead. Her nearest competitor is Elizabeth, as the boys are dragged down by all the excess weight. She is followed by Brendan. Mark’s in last place, but that 41 pounds of weight he dropped the first week may kick him into gear once he’s dropped it. Ada retains the lead through the next round, and now Brendan has pulled into second. Frado has dropped down to last place. Elizabeth drops down to fifth. Ada continues her dominance of the challenge, in first place the entire time, and she’s off to the run, which history tells us she will also win. Brendan remains in second. Patrick is third, about a minute behind him. It goes without saying that Ada has won the challenge. She is followed by Brendan, Patrick, Mark, Frado, and then Elizabeth.

Bob still wants Brendan to lose that “can’t” word from his vocabulary, and he’s afraid that red line has its eyes set on Elizabeth. Jillian’s still not convinced that Ada’s in the place she needs to be, in spite of the progress she’s made thus far.

Following their last last chance workout, it’s time to start determining the final four. Tonight, half the people will fall below the yellow line, and one of those people will be below the red line. The person with the lowest percentage of weight loss will end up below the red line, and that person will immediately be eliminated.

Ada: 179 pounds (-6, -1, 3.78%)
Elizabeth: 192 pounds (-4, 2.04%)
Mark: 292 pounds (-7, 2.34%)

From this point forward, one person will be safe, and one will not.

Patrick: 279 pounds (-12, 4.12%) – putting Elizabeth below the yellow line
Frado: 248 pounds (-15, 5.70%) – putting Mark below the yellow line
Brendan: 260 pounds (-5, 1.89%) – putting himself below the red line, while hitting the 100 pounds lost mark

In an unexpected turn of events, Brendan has fallen below the red line, and he is eliminated. That leaves Mark and Elizabeth below the red line, and the outcome is obvious. Mark is the biggest threat of the season, having lost both the highest percentage and highest amount of weight. On the other hand, Elizabeth has been carried through the season by people who believe she is weak, with tonight marking her eighth time below the yellow line. Mark’s convinced that the boys will have his back, but Elizabeth knows that trust in this game can be fleeting.

Votes
Ada: Mark
Patrick: Mark

With two votes, Mark is not The Biggest Loser.

Brendan is down 125 pounds to 237 pounds today. He plans to run the Boston Marathon again (so apparently he ran it at some point before then), with the hope of beating his previous time of 4 hours and 58 minutes.

Mark is down from his starting weight of 421 pounds to 248 pounds today, for a total weight loss of 173 pounds. He’s finishing his journey with his cousin, who has lost 100 pounds herself, and with the assistance of Sunshine from season 9.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 10 Episode 12, which airs Tuesday at 9/8c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 17 Episode 10

After they were one of the two teams double U-turned in The Amazing Race 17 Episode 9, Chad & Stephanie were eliminated.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Jill & Thomas – 8:25AM
Second: Nick & Vicki – 1:59PM
Third: Nat & Kat – 4:05PM
Fourth: Brook & Claire – 5:15PM

Jill & Thomas didn’t see any teams in the last leg, and they still haven’t seen anybody, so they are unaware of who was eliminated, if anybody. They are currently a ridiculous 5.5 hours ahead of the second place team. Nick says that Vicki’s calmed him down. If that’s the case, I’d hate to think what he was like before. Brook & Claire are looking forward to facing Thomas, who U-turned them. They don’t blame Jill at all.

Heading from a land of extreme poverty to an ultra-modern urban jungle, teams will now fly more than 3500 miles to Hong Kong. Upon arrival, they will make their way by bus and ferry to Cheung Po Tsai Cave.

The next flight does not depart until 11:55PM, so everybody will be on the same flight, whether they’re 9 hours behind or not.

Jill & Thomas get the first bus ahead of everybody else, but their lead is short-lived as the female teams get on the first ferry with them. Vicki’s asthma kicks in, however, which means that she and Nick must take the next ferry, which comes in half an hour. She apologizes for something happening to her body that she could not control, but he doesn’t care. Then she starts crying, and he just wants her to shut up.

Brook & Claire continue their bickering that we first got a glimpse of last week. Claire says she can’t run because she’s not an athlete, but Brook wants her to try harder. As with last week, it’s ultimately irrelevant.

From the cave, teams will travel by ferry to Cao Lun, where they must locate the Majesty Chinese Restaurant (they went all the way to Hong Kong to go to a Chinese restaurant). The road block involves food, but it’s not a gross eating challenge. Rather, they must use chopsticks to find 1 of 5 items in a buffet that are fake, created for window displays. Any real food they pick up, they must eat. As the fake food items are taken, it’s going to make it that much harder for those who are trailing to finish.

Road block (in order of arrival): Nat, Thomas, Claire, Vicki

Nat and Thomas manage to find their fake food, but Claire’s left behind and still searching. She feels like she’s going to vomit. I’d suggest doing so then. Once you’re done doing that, you can then return to the task at hand. After she’s through in the bathroom, she heads back to the table, where she seems to have no trouble finding the fake food. That leaves just two items for the already there but still behind Vicki. Eventually, Vicki finds herself in the bathroom as well. Nick suggests they should just take the penalty, but Vicki doesn’t want to quit.

The next stop is a statue of Bruce Lee. The detour is a choice between ding ding or sampan. In ding ding, teams board a 100 year old tram system known as the ding ding, then they must ride and search among thousands of signs, looking for three that when put together reveal the location of the next pit stop. If the ride ends before they know where to go, they’ll have to make a return trip and start again. In sampan, teams pick a wooden cage with two parakeets and board a sampan, a water vessel used for trade. Then they must search among hundreds of boats for one with a registration number matching that attached to their bird cage.

Sampan: Nat & Kat, Jill & Thomas (switched from ding ding), Brook & Claire, Nick & Vicki

Neither of these searching tasks is particularly appealing, but the sign searching task seems the most troublesome. Unless they were given some clue we are unaware of, I don’t see how it is even possible. They’re already in last place to begin with, but once they get on the boat, Nick lies down. He doesn’t care. He’d much rather take the 6 hour penalty than participate in this task. Vicki’s on her own if she intends to get through this. When he wakes up, she’d like to keep trying, but he still insists this is all a waste of time. Not wanting to quit but unable to do this on her own, Vicki gives in, and they take the penalty.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Statue Square (the three signs they were supposed to look for were pit stop, statue, and square, as if they were supposed to figure that out) in the center of Hong Kong.

First: Nat & Kat (win a trip to Rio de Janeiro)
Second: Jill & Thomas
Third: Brook & Claire
Noneliminated: Nick & Vicki

When they arrive at the pit stop, they are given the bad news. This is a nonelimination leg. Great, so that means at least one more leg with Nick and his sorry attitude. In addition to their current last place status and 6 hour penalty, they will also have a speed bump to contend with.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 17 Episode 11 I’m Surrounded by Ninjas, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Apprentice Season 10 Episode 11

Continuing her reign of obnoxiousness, Stephanie was finally eliminated in The Apprentice Season 10 Episode 10. With today being Thanksgiving and all, every other show is taking a break for the week, but luckily nobody watches The Apprentice anyway (the lack of competition may actually result in a viewership increase for a change).

With Liza partnerless, Brandy moves back over to her team. Brandy fears that Liza has not been very strong, but she does have a lot of experience defending herself in the boardroom.

They will be going to PA to work at QVC, selling products on air.

Clint is the project manager for the men; Liza is the project manager for the women.

On the helicopter ride over, Steuart tells Clint he reminds him of his father, which Clint takes to mean that he’s too immature to be The Apprentice. While they talk, Brandy and Liza just sit in silence.

At the meeting, the boys come up with a strategy to pretend they want a watch, when in reality they want the purse. Liza says she’s interested in the watch as well, to which Brandy just responds that it’s Liza’s decision to make as the project manager.

After the teams are done discussing their plans, they have to negotiate for both items and time slot. Both teams come up with two items, and Clint thinks he’scan just bark orders and the girls will follow. He tells Liza to let him know both their items they want and then negotiate from there. Brandy declines, offering one item at a time. Not that this matters because Clint just pretends he wants both the same items they want, although he wants neither.

Following that, the issue of time comes up. Again, Clint asks the ladies to go first, but Brandy’s not going to let him steamroll them that easy, so she declines to answer. Clint would like to present last. He offers a compromise: you pick the product first, and we get the time we want. That works for Liza. She chooses the watch, and the girls will present first. Once the negotiations are done, Clint lets them know that all sounds good… and they’ll take the purse.

Although they just got duped, the women are comfortable with that decision, thinking the men have bit off more than they can chew with that $100+ handbag. The women markup their $30.56 watch to $69.50, a compromise between Liza’s higher price and Brandy’s lower one.

Clint is having a little too much fun with this purse. He’s probably going to buy a few of them himself. Clint does not want to cross the $200 line, a 50% markup, although Steuart would like to go higher. They settle on $194.97, with a plan to sell the installment payment plan, three payments of $64.99.

We have heard the phrase profit margin about 5 times because that’s what the contestants seem to think the point of the task is. It’s not. I’m not even entirely sure any of them understand the concept. It’s all about net profits, regardless of margin. With that in mind, the girls will have to sell more products than the men, which at least Brandy realizes.

One person will have to be the guest host along with QVC’s professional host, while the other person will be the producer. Realizing he doesn’t exactly have the look to go with the products they’re pushing, Clint defers to Steuart as the guest host, just hoping he can gain some composure instead of laughing like he has been (not that Clint isn’t amusing). Liza appoints Brandy as the presenter because only 7% of QVC viewers are African American. What a copout answer. Brandy has no complaints. She will do whatever the boss wants, and she really does not want to make any decisions.

From there, those who were picked as producers will have to go behind the cameras and figure out what they have to do. Liza’s initial fixation is on the Isaac Mizrahi sign that she has Brandy keep moving. Once they actually get on air, Liza is spitting out a bunch of words, which seems to be working, at least at first. After a while, they just decide to ignore her. When all’s said and done, they run out of time, which Liza takes on her own shoulders.

Unlike the women, the men had plenty of time to prepare their presentation because they got the later slot. Steuart seems quite comfortable with the product. They manage their time effectively as well.

Isaac thought Brandy seemed very natural, perhaps redeeming herself for her last two bad presentations. Although Steuart was very smooth, their pricing is the big question mark. That said, he’s not so sure that the watch was not undervalued.

Brandy thinks Liza did a good job, though she disagrees with Liza’s reasoning for choosing her as a presenter. Interestingly, the other team had an African American host and a male guest host, with a male producer feeding his presenters words like supple and snuggle.

The women sold 77 watches and made $2,998.38 in profit; the men sold 25 handbags and made $2,174.25 in profit. If you ask me, both of these men should be in the finals and not going home yet, but they made a critical mistake of choosing a product that was simply too expensive.

Not that the fact that the women won matters any because one of them will still be fired, bringing us down to a final two. Effectively, this was just a pointless task and a waste of time.

Steuart does not believe that Clint has a Metropolitan savviness to him, and might not do that well in New York. Juan agrees Steuart would fit in better than Clint with the Trump organization. Catherine, however, thinks Clint’s experience will be beneficial.

Clint accepts the blame for the price they chose, with the caveat that Steuart wanted to go even higher. I’m not sure to what extent it really matters because whatever price they chose, the product was going to be too high to be an impulse purchase. They would have been better off with the watch or the belt.

Steuart is fired. No explanation given. Since leaving the show, he has just gone back to running his business.

Now the women can head back into the boardroom…

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Apprentice Season 10 Episode 12, which airs Thursday at 10/9c on NBC.

Hell’s Kitchen Season 8 Episode 12

Sabrina finally met her demise in Hell’s Kitchen Season 8 Episode 11, in spite of the fact that there are still worse people left than her. Granted, I’m not sure whether any of these people should actually win. Maybe Jillian. Too bad Russell has an attitude problem because he’s probably the top chef.

Trev says that the fun and games are over. Oh, so he wasn’t just screwing around before?

They all head downtown to cook in LA Market, or rather outside of it in food trucks. Customers will be sampling five dishes, one from each of them (each chef’s signature lunch), and they will then vote for their favorite. Trev tries hitting on women, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he finishes last. Nona tries southern hospitality. Russell is just lucky they even have to taste them all because they’re not thrilled when they hear octopus.

61% of the people agreed that the worst dish was Russell’s. After his resounding loss, he’s still convinced he made the right choice. On the other end of the scale, 40% voted for Gail’s salad as their favorite. 2% behind was Nona. Trev is angry. Still. For her reward, Gail will get a makeover from an annoying stylist to the stars. The others will stay behind and do some cleaning.

Russell has his typical attitude of not caring about anybody other than himself. Jillian’s onboard with this plan, not caring whether Gail sinks or swims, mostly just hoping that she sinks.

Jillian is assigned to the fish station. She’s never cooked scallops, but she feels confident because she has seen it done a lot. No need to practice even. That plan does not pay off. She doesn’t think they’re cooking, so she just keeps cooking them. They’re now overcooked. And again. Each time, Nona has to restart her lobster spaghetti, which takes 7 minutes. On her third try, Jillian gets the scallops right. However, the spaghetti is crunchy, and can be started again. At least Jillian has figured out the trick to cooking scallops: just count to 90.

It doesn’t end there, though. She may have figured out how to cook the scallops, but now she doesn’t know how to cook halibut. For a change, Russell is actually helping somebody who is struggling, and he continues to assist Jillian. When Jillian gets on track, Gail doesn’t have the garnish that she needs anyway.

After receiving undercooked beef from Trev, Ramsay gets fed up with everybody, and he walks out of the kitchen with Scott. Well, then, that should decrease the amount of unnecessary screaming if nothing else.

But wait. This is just the opportunity Russell wanted, to be able to boss people around. He rejects Trev’s meat, all of it, which Trev considers wrong. Believing he can take a shortcut, Trev merely refires the meat, allowing both Russell and Nona to tell him his meat is dead. After his tantrum is over, Ramsay returns and reassigns everybody to different stations, with a warning that the first mistake means dismissal.

One of the reassignments is Gail going to the fish station, which Jillian just got done learning, and Gail has bombed on twice before. She can go upstairs, leaving all the rest of the diners (one whole table) in the hands of the four who remain. Then Jillian gets sent away.

Following yet another poor service, they can each pick two people for elimination. After being subjected to Ramsay’s stunning lack of ability to build confidence in his subordinates, Gail votes for herself. Trev votes for Jillian. Russell would like to get rid of everybody other than Nona.

The first nominee is Gail. The second nominee is… um… Trev.

What has Trev got left that Ramsay hasn’t seen? Excellence, he says. Now might be a good time to show that then. Even just not sucking would work. The person leaving Hell’s Kitchen is Gail.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Hell’s Kitchen Season 8 Episode 13, which airs Wednesday at 9/8c on Fox.

The Biggest Loser Season 10 Episode 10

Jessica was eliminated in The Biggest Loser Season 10 Episode 9. The remaining contestants have made it to makeover week.

As part of makeover week, the contestants will appear in People Magazine. They’ll also all get visits from home (and act surprised about it). This should burn through about an hour.

Once that’s over, for tonight’s challenge, they have a choice between the easy way or the not so easy way. The train is worth 1 point; walking the stairs is worth 5 points. First player to 100 wins the challenge. Reward is a new car, a Ford Edge. On their first trip, everybody immediately heads for the stairs. Brendan, Ada, and Patrick start off fighting for first place, already tired after one trip, though. Everybody goes back up the stairs for the second time. Ada and Brendan open up a lead over Patrick on the second leg. Elizabeth is the first person to hit the trolley, obviously, after two attempts at the stairs. Ada and Brendan have been running together, but after a few laps, Ada pulls ahead of Brendan. At the midway point, with 50 points, Ada has a 5 point lead and has been climbing for 40 minutes.

Having lapped most of the others, it seems Ada’s got this one locked. Rather than taking her hard earned victory, she stops at the top of the stairs. Brendan catches her and stops, too. They have decided they want to get the car in the right person’s hands. Boring. The right person is the strongest competitor. Do you stop losing weight at the end because somebody else needs $250k more? They have decided to hand the car to the person who would have been third, Patrick. Everybody else follows, but after 70 points, Elizabeth has decided to not finish.

Unlike the others, Ada did not get a visit from her family this week. Walk away I say. Not worth bothering with people who can’t be bothered with you.

At the last chance workout, Elizabeth hops on the stairmaster to complete the challenge she did not finish the night before.

Patrick: 291 pounds (-10, 3.62%)
Elizabeth: 196 pounds (-5, 2.49%)
Brendan: 265 pounds (-7, 2.57%)
Ada: 185 pounds (-5, 2.63%)
Mark: 299 pounds (-10, 3.24%)
Lisa: 228 pounds (no change)
Frado: 263 pounds (-4, 1.50%)

Frado and Lisa have fallen below the yellow line. Frado’s obviously the bigger threat, though his relationships with the rest of the house are solid. If they’re smart, the others will break up Frado’s alliance. Otherwise, the threesome will continue to control the game.

Votes
Brendan: Lisa
Elizabeth: Lisa
Mark: Lisa

With three votes, Lisa is not The Biggest Loser. She has lost 89 pounds so far. As her first step toward paying it forward, she has decided to help somebody who wanted to be on the show but did not make it.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 10 Episode 11, which airs Tuesday at 9/8c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 17 Episode 9

Unable to find their way around Oman, Gary & Mallory were eliminated in The Amazing Race 17 Episode 8.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Chad & Stephanie – 11:10AM
Second: Jill & Thomas – 11:27AM
Third: Nick & Vicki – 12:57PM
Fourth: Brook & Claire – 1:36PM
Fifth: Nat & Kat – 3:37PM

Before departing, they are warned there is a double U-turn at some point, a race first. Chad & Stephanie plan to U-turn Nat & Kat. Jill & Thomas feel they are targets.

Teams must now fly 2,000 miles to Dhaka, Bangladesh, a city of 7 million with a population density of about 50,000 people per square mile. This is the chaotic poverty stricken leg of the race that will serve as a culture shock. There’s apparently only one flight a day (so they’re told), so it looks like all teams will be on the same flight, even the team that starts 4.5 hours behind. They must have screwed up pretty badly to be that far behind, and perhaps it really was as close as the editing wanted us to believe.

Not wanting to merely go on the same flight as the others, Nat & Kat decide to go to Dubai. From there, they’ll take their chances. They will either get incredibly lucky, or this will be the nail in their coffin. Not worth the risk if you ask me, whether Dubai International Airport is one of the world’s busiest or not.

The flight everybody books first arrives at noon. Jill & Thomas manage to get a flight that arrives at 5AM. Rather than keeping it to themselves, they celebrate quite noticeably. This tips off Brook & Claire, so they go ask the same agent, but the flight is full. Nick & Vicki manage to snag a flight that arrives at 8:40AM, just as Brook & Claire are trying to negotiate for it.

As for Nat & Kat’s gamble? Their flight arrives at noon. They would have been better served trying to secure a better flight rather than just heading to Dubai and hoping, but ultimately it didn’t cost them anything.

The first destination is a sugarcane craftsman in Sundarban Square Supermarket, who will show them how to make sugarcane juice that one teammate must drink.

The detour is a choice between balanced meal or balanced bricks. In balanced meals, teams pick up midday snacks, 30 containers of which will be hoisted on a ship. In balanced bricks, they will use their heads to transport 100 unbroken bricks from a supply barge to a nearby shop.

Balanced bricks: Jill & Thomas
Balanced meals: Nick & Vicki, Chad & Stephanie, Nat & Kat, Brook & Claire

The first detour appears far more physically demanding, particularly to the female contestants.

After the detour, they find the double U-turn, which is stupidly placed. We know who the first two teams are. That’s not going to change. It’s going to be Jill & Thomas and Nick & Vicki, who are already hours ahead of everybody else, that will be doing the U-turning. Now it’s just a question of which of the trailing teams will not be U-turned. Jill & Thomas have U-turned Brook & Claire, just not wanting them around any longer since they’re a threat. Vicki’s stunned to see anyone has been U-turned at all because the first of the teams are so far ahead, so although they otherwise would U-turn Chad & Stephanie, they forgo the opportunity and just don’t choose anybody. Well, that makes things interesting. Them not using the U-turn just means one of the three trailing teams can. Nat & Kat arrive at the U-turn board next, and they are left with the choice of either not using it at all or U-turning Chad & Stephanie. They opt to U-turn Chad & Stephanie, who we last saw bringing up the rear behind Brook & Claire.

Both Brook & Claire and Chad & Stephanie will have to go back and do the brick detour. Of the four, this should suit Chad the most. But Brook’s going to finish this task or die trying. Claire gets an A for effort, but that’s not enough for her to keep up with Claire’s Energizer power. This is the most volatile I’ve seen this team, but the argument doesn’t last long, as they realize it’s counterproductive.

From Dhaka River Port, they will take a bicycle rickshaw, one of the primary means of transport in the area, to Nazira Bazaar. Speaking of cycle rickshaws, the road block is to assemble a rickshaw.

Road block (in order of arrival): Jill, Nick, Nat, Brook, Stephanie

For all the drama that was the double U-turn, all three of the trailing teams are now on the same task. Nonetheless, the race comes down to how Chad & Stephanie got lost earlier, whether they blame the doctors or not.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Lalbagh Fort, a 300 year old castle built as a palace fortress.

First: Jill & Thomas (shocker, win $7,500 each)
Second: Nick & Vicki
Third: Nat & Kat
Fourth: Brook & Claire
Eliminated: Chad & Stephanie

As the last team to arrive, Chad & Stephanie have been eliminated from the race. Good thing he got that proposal out of the way last week.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 17 Episode 10 I Hate Chinese Food, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Apprentice Season 10 Episode 10

Two people were sent home in The Apprentice Season 10 Episode 9. First, Anand was sent home for being an idiot, a cheat, and a liar. Then Poppy was eliminated for being too girly and not abrasive like her team members.

Brandy’s guard is up because she doesn’t trust her team members to not turn on her should things go south.

The net result of Poppy’s firing is that Liza and Stephanie are stuck on a team alone together. This is a perfect recipe for disaster, which is exactly what Trump wants.

As part of his reward, Clint has received a $5,000 gift card for Pier 1 Imports.

Today, the contestants will be working with AT&T and Flo TV. Their task is a 30 second TV commercial for AT&T Mobile TV. They will be judged on creativity, representing the brands well, and a clear and concise message.

Stephanie will be a project manager for her team; Steuart is the project manager for his team.

Stephanie’s concept is to shoot inside a sports arena and an office setting, putting people in situations they don’t want to be in and escaping through their TV. Liza suggests having a mom and her kids in the park as well, but Stephanie doesn’t care. Her philosophy is that she’s a one man show. Again. The problem with Stephanie is that she thinks she’s so great, but she just keeps sucking, so it just comes off as delusional. Liza is just her secretary for this task, and none of her ideas will be acknowledged.

Brandy is assigned to the presentation, Clint will handle the creative, and Steuart will do the editing. While in the bathroom, Clint comes up with a concept that he loves, which Steuart begrudgingly accepts because he doesn’t have any ideas. They will do an odd man out scenario, with one guy who doesn’t know what’s going on because he does not have Flo TV.

Liza is unable to find any type of sporting location or any type of office location, so their photographer/director is just standing around staring at them. I bet she would have no problem finding a park. This leaves Stephanie scrambling to create a makeshift office, and she’s trying to deal with a photographer who doesn’t seem to like her. Can’t imagine why.

Clint has decided he has to be the star of the commercial, the odd man out. He talks about how many hats he has to wear, although that could have been limited some if he didn’t insist on the camera time. They are shooting in multiple locations, which may put them in something of a time crunch, but at least they have picked sensible locations that are easy to nail down.

Back to Stephanie and her stupid location ideas. There are no sports stadiums available. Therefore, they are stuck doing an indoor sports stadium complete with a backdrop that looks fake. Rather than switch to a more sensible location, she insists on running with what she has, no matter how long it takes to modify it. Her director calls her work the high school version. Don Jr. sees that Stephanie has sidelined Liza, which means that Stephanie will get most of the credit or most of the blame.

After he’s done acting, Clint wants to retain control of the task, but Steuart wants to go with the original plan, which is him handling the editing. As the night winds to a close, Steuart doesn’t feel great, but he doesn’t have any choice but to go with what they have because it’s way too late to do anything about it.

Liza and Stephanie have 27 seconds already with their office scene, so they make a decision together (how unusual) to just scrap the lame indoor outdoor sports scene. That said, Liza doesn’t like the office scene either. Then Stephanie complains in her confessional that Liza doesn’t know how to work as a team. Wait. Liza doesn’t know how to work as a team? I thought it was Stephanie who started off as a dictator unwilling to listen to Liza.

Although Brandy may have nailed her presentation the first time with the fashion show, she hasn’t delivered in her two efforts since then, and is now fumbling over her words. On the other hand, Stephanie delivers a decent presentation.

The executives liked the production value of Stephanie’s commercial, whereas they thought the other team did a good job of product message and where it could be bought (in spite of Clint’s thoroughly cheesy acting).

Stephanie wanted to prove that she could manage a task and get along with Liza. She also wanted to prove that she doesn’t lie. She and Liza got along really well in this task. Really? Liza agrees. Huh? I guess their definition of getting along is biting their tongues to avoid a shouting match, which it seemed they did a fair job of.

Trump doesn’t get the whole concept of showing an office setting. He doesn’t want his employees watching TV during a boardroom. Stephanie blames lack of props for how this turned out and, hence, Liza.

The judges liked Stephanie’s/Liza’s presentation and energy. However, the premise was flawed, lacking common sense. It also took too long to get to the brand, about 18 seconds into the commercial. Liza told Stephanie they should have the brand in the beginning, but that idea was vetoed.

On the other side, the executives loved that they put the brand up front, the creativity, and the reasons they provided for why the product would be a worthwhile purchase, as well as where it could be bought. They disliked that it was a bit campy and the inconsistent brand messaging (to be fair, I’m confused whose brand is supposed to be getting promoted based on all the names being thrown around anyway).

Clint, Brandy, and Steuart easily win. For his reward, Steuart will be meeting with Cathie Black of Hearst magazines.

Stephanie felt as though she was a team of one, which happened because she designed it to happen that way.

Steuart starts yelling at the TV. He’s as tired of Stephanie as I am.

The office setting concept they originally discussed was modified, which Liza found surprising in the editing room because she was out getting props and had no idea what was going on. As much as Stephanie wants to blame Liza for her prop shopping, Stephanie’s failure to communicate with her about the changes wouldn’t have left her with the knowledge of any necessary prop changes anyway.

Don Jr. says that Liza didn’t contribute very much, but ultimately she was not allowed to contribute anything either. Granted, even her prop shopping left something to be desired.

Although Trump is not happy with Liza either, Stephanie is fired. In her cab ride, Stephanie takes one final opportunity to call Liza incompetent. Good riddance. Can’t even leave with a shred of class.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Apprentice Season 10 Episode 11, which airs Thursday at 10/9c on NBC.

Hell’s Kitchen Season 8 Episode 11

Trev may have been voted by the others as the weakest link in Hell’s Kitchen Season 8 Episode 10, but that didn’t prevent Ramsay from getting rid of Vinny instead.

Having received black jackets, everybody goes to bed happy. Except Trevor.

The first individual challenge is to create an amuse bouche to make a great first impression. They will be judged on presentation and taste. Each of the 5 judges will judge from a scale of 1-10 in both categories, for a maximum score of 100.

Gail’s sesame chicken spring roll looks good. She gets 44. They also enjoyed the taste, awarding her 43, for a total score of 87.

Sabrina has cooked smoked salmon, but mostly she just has a crush on one of the chefs, until she finds out he doesn’t like her presentation, resulting in the need to make fun of him and his Frenchness. Her presentation score is 35, which has eliminated her from the running. The garlic’s a bit much. 35 here as well, for a total of 70.

Jillian’s grilled pita bread and vegetables is called boring. She gets 32 for presentation and 33 for taste, for a total score of 65.

Nona has cooked shrimp and grits. Really? Her presentation gets a 34, and the taste is 33, for a total of 67.

Russell gets a perfect score of 50 for presentation. With his score of 50 for taste as well, he scores a perfect 100.

Unless Trev is perfect, Russell wins. We know Trev ain’t gonna be perfect. His odd looking frog legs get a 31 for presentation, and the taste also gets a 31, making him a last place 62.

Russell will be going out to lunch at LA Market for his reward, and he chooses Gail to go with him since she placed second. The others will prep and clean up. Trev uses this as an opportunity to continue with his anger.

Nona will do tableside service. Jillian would rather get rid of Trev instead.

Sabrina starts off with poorly cooked risotto. Gail’s scallops are not any better. Then Trev follows suit with his lobster spaghetti. This leads to Russell offering to help for a change, which Trev declines, and then, in need of his 15 minutes of fame for the season, Scott begins yelling.

Sabrina and Russell get on Trev’s case for his refusal to keep counting down. This battle is going nowhere fast. Neither Sabrina nor Trev is going to work together, so Ramsay wants the entrees to begin. That doesn’t help. Gail’s fish is stuck to the pan.

Finally, the chefs are getting up to speed. That is until Sabrina’s salad gets rejected.

Next problem: Jillian’s salty mashed potatoes. Then Gail delivers watery salmon that’s supposed to be grilled, which is followed by Russell’s undercooked beef.

One more mistake, and they’re done. That mistake comes courteousy of Russell with his raw meat, and everybody can get out of the kitchen.

After having a service in which nobody was unscathed, they must all make nominations. Trev blames Sabrina. Russell blames apps, so he nominates Trev and Sabrina. Jillian agrees. Trev nominates Gail and Sabrina. Sabrina nominates Trev and Gail. In closing, Jillian says that she got no communication from Gail on fish, but Russell tells her she can’t change her vote. After Sabrina makes her pitch to Jillian, she decides to change her vote: Gail and Trev. The person who apparently hoped to not vote, Nona, will be the tiebreaker. We know she’ll pick Trev, and she’s been wanting to get rid of Sabrina for weeks, even when she didn’t do anything wrong.

Trev is the first nominee; Sabrina is the second nominee. That said, and in spite of the fact that she can’t stand Trev, Sabrina thinks Gail should go. A crying Sabrina is dismissed.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Hell’s Kitchen Season 8 Episode 12, which airs Wednesday at 9/8c on Fox.