Month: December 2011

The X Factor Season 1 Episode 22

The top 5 performed in The X Factor Season 1 Episode 21. Tonight 1 more will be sent home.

Josh Krajcik is safe. Chris Rene is safe. Melanie Amaro is safe.

Marcus Canty and Rachel Crow are in danger of elimination. The judges need to take a hint and quit playing favorites. This is Marcus Canty’s third trip in a row to the bottom two, while Rachel is there for the first time. Sure, this is certainly an opportunity for them to take out a threat, and therein lies the flaw in The X Factor format.

LA votes to save his act with a vote against Rachel. Simon votes to save his act and votes against Marcus. Paula votes against Marcus. Nicole does not want to do her job as a judge, so she sends it to a tie with a vote against Rachel. In the event of a tie, America’s vote is the deciding factor. Rachel Crow has been eliminated, and Marcus is safe yet again.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The X Factor Season 1 Episode 23, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on Fox.

The X Factor Season 1 Episode 21

Astro and Drew were eliminated in The X Factor Season 1 Episode 20. Tonight the final 5 perform two songs each.

Melanie Amaro
Song: Someone Like You by Adele
LA: Really good.
Nicole: Looked and sounded like a rockstar diva.
Paula: Great way to open up the show.
Simon: Not karaoke. You would have a hit record with that version.

Marcus Canty
Song: Ain’t Nobody by Chaka Khan
Nicole: Brilliant job.
Paula: It’s an even playing field.
Simon: Very, very good performance.
LA: Vote, vote, vote, vote. (Since nobody’s going to.)

Rachel Crow
Song: Nothin on You by B.O.B.
LA: Such a little star.
Nicole: Perfect song for you.
Paula: Beautifully fearless. Your best performance in the whole competition.
Simon: Great choice of song.

Josh Krajcik
Song: We Found Love by Rihanna
LA: Could never see you really doing that song.
Paula: Nailed it. Never in a million years would have thought that.
Simon: Agree with LA. Plus the dance routine was ridiculous.
Nicole: Versatile, relevant, current.

Chris Rene
Song: Live Your Life by T.I. feat. Rihanna
Nicole: Sounds like your own song.
Paula: One of the most fun performances.
Simon: Doing brilliant.
LA: Took it, made it your own, wrote your own lyrics.

They botched the Pepsi Challenge and chose Jif. So instead of the songs America chose, the contestants will sing songs of their own choosing, which they had to pick last night.

Melanie Amaro
Song: When You Believe by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston
LA: You really thought of that last night, and it was that good today? Safe but amazing.
Nicole: Goose bumps.
Paula: When I close my eyes, I can hear Whitney and Mariah.
Simon: Sang incredibly.

Marcus Canty
Song: A Song for You by Ray Charles
Nicole: So honest, so much grace, and so much poise.
Paula: One of your best performances.
Simon: Good. But I’ve heard that before. A bit boring.
LA: Came back like a champion.

Rachel Crow
Song: Music and Me by Michael Jackson
LA: So inspiring. You’re the star we thought you were.
Nicole: Like an old soul in a 13 year old.
Paula: Every girl’s best friend and every parent’s daydream.

Josh Krajcik
Song: Something by The Beatles
LA: Ever so slightly karaoke but really good nonetheless.
Paula: So special, so grateful we found you.
Simon: Massive improvement. But you looked insane.
Nicole: Like the male Adele. Krajcik magic.

Chris Rene
Song: Original Song, I assume called Where Do We Go From Here? based on those words being repeated 128 times.
Nicole: Sky’s the limit.
Paula: This is what I’ve been waiting for.
Simon: Stroke of genius.
LA: Could not be more proud.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The X Factor Season 1 Episode 22, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on Fox.

Survivor: South Pacific Episode 13

Cochran was voted out in Survivor: South Pacific Episode 12. Tonight somebody actually has to start playing.

Cochran says he’s not sure he made the best move, but it’s not like he had a choice.

Before morning prayer, Edna would like to just excuse herself since she’s not really part of this tribe. At least her anger is polite in nature.

The competitors for today’s duel: Ozzy and Cochran. They will use grappling hooks to retrieve three bags and then use a ball to solve a table maze. The grappling hook part is obviously Ozzy’s to take, but the maze is anybody’s game. Ozzy manages to grab his third bag as Cochran is stuck at 1. In his first try, Ozzy comes just a turn shy of success, and Cochran’s right back in it, as his tribe that got rid of him pretends to be on his side. Cochran drops as well. Cochran makes it right to the middle but misses the mark. Seconds later, Ozzy wins the duel.

Following the duel, everybody gets visitors from home. Ozzy must choose someone to spend time with their loved one. He picks Albert, who will visit with his mom. His second choice is Coach, who visits his brother. Lastly, Brandon gets to visit his dad, but not his uncle. That’s something of an odd trio because they really don’t seem to mesh.

Coach promises Ozzy a trip to the final three. As a Christian man. Oh, he’s going to the finals with you, too?

Brandon’s dad doesn’t want him to be a dumbass. He’s there to win the money, not keep talking about religion. His grade for him on his gameplay: C. I’d say that’s being generous. Because his son is not willing to play, he approaches Coach to make sure he’ll take him to the end.

At the immunity challenge, they will keep flipping over board pieces and making moves as long as they still have room to move. Albert is the first eliminated. Brandon follows, after which he explains that his only goal was to make sure that “a particular person” can’t win. I think Edna has managed to crack your brilliant code. Rick’s the next one done. Sophie follows. Edna is the last one eliminated. Coach wins immunity with nobody coming even near attempting to knock him out.

Edna’s last hope is to get rid of Brandon, so she approaches Coach, Albert, and Sophie to form a foursome. As much as Coach tries to convince us this is a viable plan, I’m not buying it.

Votes
Edna
Brandon
Edna
Edna
Edna

With 4 votes, Edna has been voted off the island.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: South Pacific Episode 14, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 12

Now that A Michael Buble Christmas (wait, what?) is done, the final four return to compete. In an unusual show of voting based on popularity rather than taking out the potential threat this late in the game in The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 11, Sunny was eliminated.

Without enough time to fill in an entire episode, it looks like we’re in for a lot of filler tonight.

In addition to confronting his mom for letting his stepfather beat him, Vinny tops it off with a proposal to his girlfriend.

Unlike the others who are in the final four and are treating this like their jobs, Becky has gone back to the classroom and is working. Probably not the smartest way to win, but it has to happen eventually.

After some drawn out visits with the contestants at home, it’s time for the main event. The final four will all run a marathon. They will be joined by all the eliminated contestants. Whoever wins the marathon gets a ticket to the final three. In addition, there are cash prizes for the top 5 finishers. Bonnie sits out because she is having knee surgery next week.

Courtney starts off in the lead. Ramon and Jessica are together behind her. John is in fourth, and Patrick is behind him. Joe, Becky, Antone, and Sunny are running/walking together at the back. Jennifer, no longer on crutches, is in 10th. After about an hour and a half, Jessica’s stomach pain forces her to relinquish second place, and she tells Ramon to just keep going on his own. Courtney has been in the lead for 9 miles, but Ramon finally overtakes her.

15 miles go by, and the winds pick up significantly… in the middle of the desert with all the sand that entails. It’s no longer about running so much as hiding their faces. Awesome planning. Doesn’t look like it lasts long, though.

At the 18 mile mark, John catches Jessica. 20 miles down, and Dr. H pulls Vinny due to his leg pain. Joe meets the same fate about a mile later.

First: Ramon – 5:05:40 (wins $25,000 and a spot in the finale)
Second: Courtney – 5:09:01 (wins $10,000)
Third: John – 5:15:38 (wins $7,500)
Fourth: Jessica – 5:17:25 (wins $5,000)
Fifth: Patrick – 6:24:29 (wins $2,500)
Sixth: Sunny – 6:45:29
Seventh: Jennifer
Eighth: Antone – 7:15:29
Eighth (tie): Becky – 7:15:29
Tenth: Mike
Eleventh: Johnny
Twelfth: Debbie

The oldest contestants keep running throughout the night and keep it until they finish after about 10 hours.

At the weigh in, the original final four will now face the scales. Two people will be above the red line, while the other two will fall below and be eliminated.

Becky: 162 pounds (-10, 5.81%)
Vinny: 286 pounds (-28, 8.92%)
John: 267 pounds (-29, 9.80%)
Antone: 293 pounds (-30, 9.29%)

Having fallen below the red line, Becky and Vinny have been eliminated. That puts Antone and John in the finals with Ramon, as the testosterone level busts through the roof. As things stand currently, John has an edge, having lost 40%, but the others are doing well with Antone at 34.45% and Ramon at 32.86%.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 13, where we will find out who The Biggest Loser Season 13 winner is, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 19 Episode 11

After trailing for all of The Amazing Race 19 Episode 10, Bill & Cathi were eliminated.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Andy & Tommy – 3:46AM
Second: Jeremy & Sandy – 4:20AM
Third: Ernie & Cindy – 4:35AM
Fourth: Amani & Marcus – 4:40AM

Dressed as characters from The Adventures of Tintin, which is apparently a famous comic book, they have to figure out who the guy in the picture is and who they are supposed to be. It’s a matter of bumping into the right person on the street, as even an Internet search leaves Andy & Tommy thinking they’re Charlie Chaplin, who is not a comic book character.

After heading by train to Amsterdam, they will fly to Panama City, Panama, more than 4000 miles away. With a flight across an ocean, they’ll all be bunched together. This presents an opportunity for the teams to utilize their knowledge of the local language, with prominence of words like rapido.

Upon arrival, they hop in some canoes to cross the pitch black waterways to a local village. They sign up for 1 of 3 times 20 minutes apart the next morning. Their appointments are for tattoos, which are sending them to San Francisco Bay Towers.

7:00 – Andy & Tommy
7:20 – Jeremy & Sandy
7:40 – Amani & Marcus, Ernie & Cindy

A 40 minute deficit in a leg to determine the final three. Lame.

The road block is to walk a tightrope 35 stories above the city. Participation in this road block is predetermined based on number of road blocks already performed.

Road block (in order of arrival): Andy, Sandy, Cindy, Amani

The detour is a choice between filet or sole. In filet, they will deliver exact amounts of assorted seafood to different vendors in the largest fish market in Panama. In sole, they must make a pair of sandals.

Sole: Andy & Tommy, Jeremy & Sandy, Ernie & Cindy
Filet: Amani & Marcus

The cab drivers have been working together for a while, and Amani & Marcus get brought to the wrong detour as a result. This is the point where you say screw it and switch. Instead, they head back to their cab to go to the other detour, when they’re already in last place. The luck of this is that they end up at what seems to be the simpler detour, allowing them to hop into second.

In Cathedral Square, they have to figure out that the pit stop for this leg of the race is Panama Viejo, which is written on the dress of one of the dancers in the square or symbolized in their necklaces.

Because all of the medallions say Balboa, Andy & Tommy want to head there. So much for that lead. That allows all the other three teams to be bunched together in what amounts to first place for the time being.

The good news for Andy & Tommy is that Ernie & Cindy are headed to Balboa, too, as are Amani & Marcus. Jeremy & Sandy are going to the image he sketched that’s one of the belts, whatever it may represent. This is sufficient for their cab driver to know where to go. Once again, the cab drivers are working together, so what would have been a lost cause for one of these teams looks like it will just screw over Andy & Tommy. Seems it’s acceptable for cab drivers to just drive their passengers to somewhere random without the need for them to actually complete or understand the task.

First: Jeremy & Sandy (win a trip to Turks and Caicos)
Second: Ernie & Cindy
Third: Amani & Marcus
Eliminated: Andy & Tommy

Ironically, the result of their earlier lead and the 20 minute gaps that seemed so unfair to the trailing teams is that they weren’t bunched up with the teams whose cab drivers were helping each other all day. Andy & Tommy, the team that won 6 legs this season, has been eliminated. All the other teams are happy to have beaten Goliath. Aside from Jeremy & Sandy, they didn’t. Their cab drivers did.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 19 Episode 12, where we will find out who The Amazing Race 19 winner is, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

The X Factor Season 1 Episode 20

The top 7 performed in The X Factor Season 1 Episode 19. Tonight two more acts will be sent home again.

Chris Rene is safe. Melanie Amaro is safe. Rachel Crow is safe. Josh Krajick is safe. That give us 4 of the top 5, leaving 2 of the remaining 3 acts in danger.

As the person with the lowest number of votes, Astro has been eliminated. He’s lucky he got this far. At least his exit is classier than his near miss from a couple weeks ago.

The two remaining acts, Marcus Canty and Drew, are now at the mercy of the judges’ votes. For Marcus, this is his second week in a row in the bottom two. This marks Drew’s first trip to the bottom two, but her days are numbered regardless, particularly since the judges don’t care for her and have the goal of giving Simon a hard time.

After pretending he could go either way, LA votes to keep his act and votes against Drew. Simon blames himself and votes to keep his act with a vote against Marcus. Nicole votes against Drew. Paula makes it three votes against Drew. Marcus has now been extended his third life as the judges ignore the voting as usual.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The X Factor Season 1 Episode 21, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on Fox.