Author: Shane

The Amazing Race 14 Episode 11

Following much drama in which Jen was afraid to swim with a life vest, The Amazing Race 14 Episode 10 ultimately ended as a to be continued leg.

Jaime & Cara thought they had a chance to come in first for a change, but apparently not. On the cab ride to the “pit stop” Jen is still crying. She’s so over China. Well, then, Phil’s got particularly bad news for you.

Jaime & Cara don’t care who else is with them in the finals. Margie & Luke obviously would like to see Kisha & Jen eliminated.

Teams will search the shops of a street mall for a Travelocity roaming gnome, which they will need to keep with them until the real pit stop.

From there, teams will need to go to Gu Gong Xi Bei Jiao to find some electric bicycles, which they’ll ride past the Forbidden City and across Tiananmen Square to Dongdan Subway Station.

Jaime hates the cab driver, much like she’s hated everybody else on this race.

The detour is a choice between Beijing Opera or Chinese waiter. In Beijing Opera, teams will make each other up and get fully costumed. In Chinese waiter, teams will take orders in Mandarin and recite them back to the chef, then serve the dishes, which should be an easy task for the Chinese speaking Tammy & Victor.

Chinese waiter: Tammy & Victor
Beijing Opera: Kisha & Jen, Margie & Luke, Jaime & Cara

Margie & Luke quickly get into an argument at the makeup task. He doesn’t know what he’s doing, and she’s getting frustrated with him, even though it really doesn’t matter if he makes her look like a clown. Jaime & Cara have been taken to the National Opera instead of the Beijing Opera. Now they have to try to find another taxi, and they’re upset and acting like ugly Americans. Yeah, that’s new. Kisha & Jen, who hate China as well, are following suit in that respect.

A U-turn is coming up. Tammy & Victor are the first ones to arrive at it, and they have decided to U-turn Jen & Kisha because they do not want to end up in a footrace with them. They found the U-turn location no problem, but everybody else seems to be getting lost. Margie & Luke find out that the location is inside the opera house, the place they all came from. With that information, they’ve managed to find it before the others, and they find out that Tammy & Victor have done their dirty work for them. Kisha & Jen finally decide to return and start all over, dumb lucking their way into finding the next clue. Jaime & Cara decide to stay where they are, for fear they’ll be told to just go back there again. They eventually decide to return to the opera house. Upon returning there, now they’re arguing with each other instead of just hating the locals.

Because they were U-turned, Kisha & Jen will need to complete the Chinese waiter detour before proceeding.

From there, teams will head to a street market for their next clue. The road block is a gross eating task: grasshoppers, larva, scorpions, and starfish. Similar to the task we saw in The Amazing Race Asia 3 Episode 1.

Road block (in order of arrival): Victor, Margie, Jen, Cara

Victor finishes the road block before anybody else even arrives. Jaime & Cara have made up a lot of ground on the eating task, so it’s down to the cab ride, but they are a couple minutes behind. Because she chugged so much water to get that food down, Jen has to stop to use a port-a-potty before they make a dash for the finish line, and according to Phil, that made the difference.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Niao Chao.

First: Tammy & Victor (win a trip to the Galapagos Islands)
Second: Margie & Luke
Third: Jaime & Cara
Eliminated: Kisha & Jen

Kisha & Jen have been eliminated, bringing us down to the final three.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 14 Episode 12 This Is How You Lose a Million Dollars, where we will find out who The Amazing Race 14 winner is, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

Hell’s Kitchen Season 5 Episode 13

Somehow, Andrea survived in Hell’s Kitchen 5 Episode 12, and Ben was sent home.

The final three are allowed to spend ten minutes with their family.

They will be serving lunch to 100 very special distinguished customers. They have 90 minutes to cook 100 small tasty portions.

Andrea’s flustered, as usual.

Their customers are chefs from across the area, including executive chefs with the highest honors. If they were expecting a bunch of kids to judge their food, they were wrong. This is going to be a tougher group than usual.

The guests will sample each of the dishes and vote for their favorite and least favorite.

Over 76% thought one dish was the worst. Danny loses the challenge, perhaps his poorest moment in the series thus far. Over 76% also chose one dish as their favorite. Paula wins the challenge. She will be given the full Hollywood pampered treatment for her reward.

As for the losers, they will clean and set the dining room ahead of the service. Then they get to do the laundry.

Following her makeover, Paula gets to do a live TV talk show.

Meanwhile, the others get a part two as well. They get to clean some more, while watching Paula’s debut.

Paula’s risotto is very nice. Andrea’s first appetizer is nicely cooked as well.

Paula is the first one to get the chance to run the kitchen. She’s stumbling and nervous initially.

Her first test is the carrot puree. Gloria has substituted the squash puree for it. Paula doesn’t notice. Ramsay has her taste it again. She notices it tastes like squash.

Scott brings up the next sabotage. He made spinach soup instead of watercress soup. This time she catches it.

Now it’s Danny’s turn. He believes he should nail this because he does it every night at home, but he’s fumbling initially as well.

He gets his test right off the bat. JP has sabotaged the first ticket. Danny didn’t notice.

He’s feeling insecure at the pass because he knows Ramsay is scrutinizing everything.

Danny’s next challenge was unplanned. Andrea gave him well done scallops, which he sends back.

Then Gloria gives him his next test. Rock hard potatoes. He doesn’t notice again.

After a rough start, Danny has recovered and is becoming more confident.

Now it’s Andrea’s turn. She’s aggressive, which is working.

Her first test is the wrong fish. It’s halibut, not dory. She doesn’t notice.

She bounces back a dish to Gloria because it has too much salt. Then she bounces the sauce back to Scott and tells him it needs to be seasoned. He responds that she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. She keeps sending him back more and more dishes. He hates her guts.

After the service is over, Ramsay is smiling. That’s new.

They will go back upstairs and come to a decision who should not be in the final two. Andrea votes for Danny because of his performance that night. He will vote for her since he’s been stronger than her throughout the competition. Paula votes for Andrea also because of her performance throughout the competition, and she agrees that Andrea was too aggressive at the service.

Paula has made the finals.

Andrea has used up her ninth life, and Danny joins Paula in the final two. A worthy finale.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Hell’s Kitchen Season 5 Episode 14, which airs Thursday at 9/8c on Fox.

Survivor: Tocantins Episode 11

Coach’s plans fell apart as Tyson was voted out the first chance the others got in Survivor: Tocantins Episode 10.

Coach and Debbie have no hard feelings. So they say.

JT tells Debbie he’s still with her and wants to go to the final four with her. He says that Erinn and Sierra will be the next ones gone.

She proposes an alternate plan. Ally with Erinn and Sierra, pulling the beyond fractured Timbira tribe back together to outnumber Jalapao. Gee, why didn’t they think of that two weeks ago?

The challenge is to see how in tune they are with the rest of the tribe. Somebody usually gets offended by this challenge. They have to guess whose name came up the most often. Reward is to be taken to a natural spring with a local family.

Who has not lived up to their potential? Coach.
Debbie, Coach, Erinn, Sierra, and Taj get a point.
Erinn strikes Sierra. Debbie strikes JT. Taj strikes Debbie. Coach strikes Sierra. Sierra strikes Coach.

Who would squander the million dollars the quickest? Sierra.
JT, Debbie, and Erinn get it right.
Debbie strikes Erinn. JT eliminates Sierra. Erinn strikes Debbie.

Who would never survive on their own? Debbie.
Stephen, Debbie, Erinn, and Taj get it right.
Taj strikes Coach. Erinn eliminates Coach. Stephen eliminates Debbie. Debbie strikes Erinn.

Who would you trust with your life? JT.
Everybody gets it right.
Taj strikes JT. JT eliminates Erinn. Erinn eliminates JT. Stephen strikes Taj.

Who is most likely to stab you in the back? Sierra.
Taj and Stephen get it right, bringing Taj down to 1 and Stephen down to 2.

Who would you least like to see win this game? Sierra.
Stephen wins the challenge.

Siera took a beating during this challenge. Most likely to stab someone in the back, least liked to win the game, most likely to squander the money, and first one eliminated. If anybody was hoping to win her as a vote, they’ll need to try harder than that.

Erinn is headed to Exile Island to keep the island under wraps just in case a new idol pops up. Taj will join Stephen on the reward, as will JT. No hiding where the core alliance in the game is.

No new clue on Exile, no fire, no food, no water, and pouring rain. Erinn’s pretty miserable.

Sierra hasn’t decided where she’s going to head with this. Coach thought she said she was going to be loyal. To the guy who tried to vote her out last night? While trying to get Sierra on her side, Debbie begins arguing with her rather than remaining calm. Time to come up with a new plan. Coach hopes to get JT on his side instead.

JT agrees with Coach to go to the final four with Debbie and Stephen. Coach tells him that Sierra wanted to get old Timbira back. He’d have to be dumb to believe that.

Sierra tells Stephen that Coach and Debbie wanted to renew the Timbira alliance. Stephen goes to Coach, who throws the other two under the bus and says that it was their idea, not his.

It’s still raining, so it’s time for an immunity challenge. They will each toss a grappling hook to retrieve three bags. The first three people will navigate a ball through a table maze. JT is the first to hook a bag. Taj and Debbie get a bag. Stephen gets his first bag, as does Coach. Sierra also gets a bag, leaving Erinn the only one without a bag. Coach gets his second bag. JT manages to grab his second bag. Coach gets his final bag, as does JT. They move on to the next round. Erinn gets her first bag, bringing everyone else even to compete for the last spot. Debbie gets her second bag. Stephen gets his second bag. Debbie gets her final bag. Debbie, Coach, and JT move on to the final round. This is about accuracy rather than speed. Coach gets off to a lead. JT’s catching up to him. Debbie’s out of it, but anybody could fall at any time. JT starts taking some risks to take the lead but loses his ball. Coach wins immunity.

To prove her point, Sierra confronts Coach out in the open about lying. Time for some screaming. Based on the shouting match that ensues, JT and Stephen seem to believe Sierra.

This continues at tribal council, as Sierra tells the truth again, leading to one of Coach’s typical rants.

Votes
Sierra
Debbie
Stephen
Sierra
Debbie
Sierra
Sierra

With 4 votes, Sierra has been eliminated. Dumb move voting out someone nobody likes and keeping around the people who can’t be trusted. Perhaps the most interesting vote is the Stephen vote, which came from Erinn, someone who’s clearly as completely out of the loop as she was on her old tribe (either that, or she’s smarter than she looks and is trying to create panic). Also interesting is the second Debbie vote, which was Taj.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Tocantins episode 12 The Ultimate Sacrifice, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on CBS.

American Idol Season 8 Episode 34

The top 5 sang in American Idol 8 Episode 33, and tonight one more will be sent home.

Matt Giraud goes to the right side of the stage.

Danny Gokey goes to the left side of the stage. Allison Iraheta joins him.

Kris Allen joins Matt on the right.

Adam Lambert takes a look at both groups. Which group does he think he belongs in? Oh not this again. He decides to join Allison and Danny.

Wrong group. Allison and Danny are safe. Adam joins Kris and Matt in the bottom three.

Kris can return to safety.

Adam is safe in what would have otherwise been a major upset. Two weeks after being saved by the judges, Matt Giraud has been voted out by America, marking the third time the voters have chosen to send him home.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of American Idol Season 8 episode 35, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on Fox.

Lost Season 5 Episode 14

Lost Season 5 Episode 13 was the story of Miles, who found out that the doctor from the videos is his father and was reunited with Faraday as a boy.

Eloise goes to see Penny in the hospital, claiming that her son Daniel was responsible for Desmond being shot.

Flashback to 30 years earlier as Faraday meets up with Miles. He wants to know who told Jack to get on a plane. It was his mother Eloise, who Faraday says was wrong.

A young Daniel is told that he doesn’t have time for distractions like playing the piano because he has to focus on his mind.

Back to Jack in a panic. He goes to see Sawyer, who’s got one of his security guys, Phil, locked up in the closet since he got a video of him and Kate taking Ben out to the hostiles.

Faraday makes his way underground into what will be the hatch. He asks Dr. Chang to order the evacuation of every man, woman, and child on the island, warning of a catastrophic accident. His reasoning behind this request: he’s from the future. By the way, Miles is his son, and he’s also from the future. Miles denies this.

Back to the future. Daniel is graduating from university and making plans to eat with his overprotective mother, who warns him that the women in his life will always be terribly hurt by his work always coming first. He tells her that he just got a new research grant from some industrialist, Charles Widmore.

Sawyer considers where they’re living now to be home, but they have no choice but to leave. They have two choices: get on the sub or head into the jungle. While they’re voting, Faraday knocks on the door and asks where he can find the hostiles. One of them is his mother, who can get them back to where they belong.

Flash forward to Faraday watching a plane crash on the TV and crying because of it, when he gets his first visit from Widmore. He came to offer him a new opportunity. The people on the plane are not dead, which he knows because he put it there. He can tell him that because come tomorrow he won’t remember that he was told. His new offer is to send him to the island to heal his mind and memory.

Sawyer doesn’t want to tell Jack where the hostiles are. So he asks Kate. Juliet gives them the code for the fence and tells them to go.

Daniel meets Charlotte as a little girl. He instructs her to listen to Dr. Chang when he tells her to go on the sub and leave the island.

As they’re grabbing guns, a shootout starts. Dan gets hit in the crossfire, but they’re able to shoot their way out of it and drive away.

Eloise tells her son it’s very important that he accept Widmore’s offer to go to the island.

Faraday tells Jack that this is their present. Any one of them could still die.

An alarm sounds as men with guns come to see Sawyer. They’ve been infiltrated. Upon checking the closet, they find Phil. Sawyer and Juliet are can get on the ground with their hands up now.

Daniel’s looking to prevent the entire chain of events that led them all there. He’s realized they can change their destiny by destroying the energy under the hatch. If they do that, Desmond won’t fail to push the button, and the plane won’t crash. How’s he going to do that? By detonating a hydrogen bomb. Yeah, that sounds safe.

Eloise tells Penny that for the first time in a long time she doesn’t know what will happen next. The nurse comes to get her, and Desmond is in recovery and doing okay. Then Eloise goes outside to leave, when she meets up with Charles, who says that Daniel’s his son, too.

Upon arrival at the hostile camp, Daniel is told that Eloise isn’t there. He asks for the bomb. As he’s counting down and warning Richard with his gun, Eloise shoots him from behind. Bad news, mom, you just shot your son.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Lost Season 5 Episode 15 Follow the Leader, which airs Wednesday at 9/8c on ABC.

The Celebrity Apprentice 3

As we approach the end of The Celebrity Apprentice 2, NBC has announced that the show has been renewed for season 3. The Celebrity Apprentice 3 will air midseason next year, presumably around the same time it launched this year (March).

We’ll probably have to wait until early next year before learning who will be in the cast, but based on the not playing with a full deck Rivers duo we saw this season, I would expect to see at least one family duo.

“‘The Celebrity Apprentice’ is the ultimate business and reality show at the top of its game and has exploded in popularity this season while also raising an impressive amount of money for charity,” said Paul Telegdy, Executive Vice President, Alternative Programming, NBC and Universal Media Studios. “It’s a valuable franchise and proven competitor and we’re thrilled to have Mr. Trump and Mr. Burnett back to create another brilliant season.” ”

‘The Apprentice’ and ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ have been an amazing adventure for me and, obviously, a very popular show with the public,” said executive producer Donald Trump. “Its Emmy nominations and great success have translated into a wonderful experience. Working with Mark Burnett has been terrific, and I am greatly honored that NBC has renewed us for yet another season, our ninth.”

American Idol Season 8 Episode 33

Anoop Desai and Lil Rounds were sent home in American Idol 8 Episode 32, which brings us down to the top 5 performing tonight.

Tonight’s theme is the rat pack era. Since everybody from that time is dead, the surprise mentor for the week is Jamie Foxx, the guy from In Living Color who’s apparently now a singer. According to Seacrest, this is the perfect mentor for this week.

Kris Allen
Song: The Way You Look Tonight from Swing Time
Randy: Your best performance to date. Mad nice vocals.
Kara: Set the technical standard so incredibly high.
Paula: Near impeccable.
Simon: Good. A little bit wet (aka not dry). Safe. Don’t get the feeling you can win the competition.
Numbers: 1-866-IDOLS-01 or 1-866-IDOLS-06

Allison Iraheta
Song: Someone to Watch Over Me from Oh, Kay!
Randy: Loved it.
Kara: Ain’t nervous for you any more. Not a one trick pony. If that doesn’t land you in the finals, I don’t know what will.
Paula: Alluring and very tender.
Simon: Don’t feel the self belief from you. Horrible feeling you could be in trouble.
Numbers: 1-866-IDOLS-02 or 1-866-IDOLS-07

Matt Giraud
Song: My Funny Valentine from Babes in Arms
Randy: A little pitchy. Didn’t all quite come together.
Kara: Didn’t feel the emotional connection.
Paula: Pure, simple, really impressive.
Simon: The only authentic song tonight. Brilliant.
Numbers: 1-866-IDOLS-03 or 1-866-IDOLS-08

Danny Gokey
Song: Come Rain or Come Shine from St. Louis Woman
Randy: Could actually have an album of songs like that.
Kara: You had swag tonight (that’s a good thing).
Paula: Stellar.
Simon: Proved a point. Best vocals from you in weeks.
Numbers: 1-866-IDOLS-04 or 1-866-IDOLS-09

Adam Lambert
Song: Feeling Good from the Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd
Randy: A little too Broadway for me, but another good performance.
Kara: Shocking in a good way.
Paula: You make me feel better than good.
Simon: Get the feeling you want to win.
Numbers: 1-866-IDOLS-05 or 1-866-IDOLS-10

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of American Idol Season 8 episode 34, which airs Wednesday at 9/8c on Fox.

The Biggest Loser Couples 2 Episode 17

In a tie vote, Kristin was voted out in The Biggest Loser Couples 2 Episode 16.

Allison shows everybody a video that lets them see how far they’ve come. Then she tells them this is their last week on campus.

Their workout is a trip back as well, showing them how much easier everything is now than it used to be.

Then Tara and Helen put on some clothes that they never thought they’d fit in. Mike also realizes that he’s able to fit into his goal outfit already.

After that, it’s a visit to the doctor. Helen has lost 106 pounds of hydrated fat, and her biological age has decreased from 60 to 50. Filipe has dropped from 58 inches to 43. Mike is down from a 65 inch waist (he thought it was 56 inches) and has dropped 54% of the area of his waist now. Ron couldn’t even fit in the MRI machine the first time. In addition to his fat loss, his blood tests are now normal.

Today’s challenge is to run over 16 hills of sand while pulling all the weight they used to weigh. They will start off with all their weight that they initially weighed, removing the weight they lost that week at the top of each hill. The winner will get $10,000 or a 1 pound advantage. The second place finisher will get whichever prize the winner doesn’t take. Filipe gets off to an early lead, followed by Mike. Tara’s stuck on the first hill, struggling to even lift the weight she’s lost. After the fourth hill, she overtakes Helen to get into third place. Mike takes the lead at week 7, and Tara goes into second on that same hill, leaving Filipe behind. Tara grabs the lead as she approaches the end and doesn’t look back. She wins the challenge, and Mike comes in second. As with the first challenge, Mike heads back to help his dad finish this challenge.

It’s train the trainer day. Bob loves the chance to be pushed, and he wants to see Jillian scream and cry.

The final five contestants have lost over 600 pounds in what’s been the longest season ever. Now it’s their chance to earn themselves a spot in the final four. First, Tara needs to make a decision. Unlike last week, Tara takes the pound, which gives Mike $10,000.

Ron: 289 pounds (-9, 3.02%)

Filipe: 234 pounds (-10, 4.10%)

Helen: 154 pounds (-7, 4.35%)

Mike: 224 pounds (-11, 4.68%)

Tara: 169 pounds (-8, -1, 5.08%)

Tara now holds the record for the most weight lost by a woman on the show, while Mike holds the overall record.

That puts Ron and Filipe below the yellow line, despite having strong weeks. The choice here is obvious.

Votes
Mike: Filipe
Helen: Filipe

With two votes, Filipe is not The Biggest Loser. He initially plateaued when he got home but has lost 13 pounds since getting back. A few weeks after his return, his dad had a stroke, which has inspired him to start weekly workouts with his family and friends at his house.

For everybody else, they will be going home for 30 days, and then they will return for one more weigh-in before the finale.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser 7 Episode 18, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.