Shane

Hell’s Kitchen 5 Episode 3

Ji injured herself in Hell’s Kitchen Season 5 Episode 2. Regardless, she stood on her feet and completed the task without complaining. The women ended up losing in a close race. Colleen and Lacey, a pair of disasters, were nominated, but Ji ultimately decided to leave due to her injury.

Andrea wishes Lacey would twist her ankle.

The chefs get to bed at 3am. They’re awakened at 6am.

Nobody has a heart condition or fear of heights, so they’re good to go once they grab their barf bags. It’s a meat processing plant. They should probably be paying attention. Lacey says she isn’t.

They get back to the kitchen to meet Chef Ramsay, where they need to know their meat. First, they must identify the meat, then they must identify where it is from the cow. Ben goes first for the men and gets 1 wrong. Andrea gets 2 wrong for the women. Giovanni’s attempt for the men fixes the mistake. Paula is able to correct the mistakes for the women. The men try first to get the cow parts and get 3 wrong. Colleen gets 3 wrong for the women. Seth tries for the men and brings it up to 7 wrong. Robert drops it to 6 wrong. Lacey brings the women to 6 wrong. Ben wins it for the men.

For their punishment, the women will have to butcher some sides of beef. Once they’re done lugging the cow corpses off the truck, they have to butcher them, then eat the less popular parts. Tongue, kidneys, hearts, and liver. It’s not long before everyone is throwing up. Andrea’s drama seems to actually be uniting the team.

The men will do some wine tasting and dinner at a steakhouse, and they will travel via private jet. Robert gets to wear his wedding shoes now, which he wasn’t able to do before since he had to postpone his wedding to come on the show.

Hell’s Kitchen is a steakhouse for the night. There will be two seatings. One team will cook; one team will serve. Then they’ll switch. The men opt to cook first. Giovanni is confident because he works in a steakhouse. It takes the women 20 minutes to get the first ticket in. Obvious sabotage, which probably is not the wisest move. Charlie’s cloth catches on fire. Somebody might want to step in before he burns the place down. Ben has the brownies and cheesecake ready before the appetizers are out. Giovanni is leading the meat station. He’ll need to cook his meat completely, and many of his steaks appear to be coming back. Lacey forgets her table until JP tells her. They’re running out of filets, down to just one left. Seth doesn’t know how to cut them, so Charlie has to show him. Chef’s not only not impressed but aggravated that he wasted so much of the meat. The men started on a low note and have continued on that note throughout.

The women are up next. Charlie’s not sure whether he took one of his table’s orders, but they have time to kill anyway since there’s nothing coming out of the kitchen. Chef Ramsay has Colleen repeat her tongue twister of an order list again and again and again knowing she has to screw it up eventually, which she does, so he uses this opportunity to tell her something’s wrong with her. 45 minutes in, the salads have started leaving the kitchen, but Coi has made raw shrimp. Charlie’s spilling food. At least it’s just on the table and not on their clothes. With less than 30 minutes left, Andrea’s starting to get the steaks out. Steaks are coming back, but Chef Ramsay says the customers are wrong and that their steaks are cooked perfectly. See if those customers come back in a real restaurant if you tell them that.

The teams will be examined on cooking, service, and feedback from the customers. Charlie is the worst waiter; Lacey is the worst waitress. Despite how they’re supposedly judged on other factors, it comes down to the team that served the most entrees. The women finally win. LA is disappointed by not being able to get rid of dead weight.

Seth wants to take out the strongest guys. Then he’s the strongest guy. Yeah, once he gets rid of like everybody else. Giovanni’s starting to get some votes, but some people also blame him for being a steakhouse guy and doing so poorly on the steakhouse task.

Despite the talk, the nominations come down based on performance. Seth is the first nominee because of his lack of experience. Charlie is the second nominee because of his performance during the task.

After J makes the nominations, Seth wants to go down the line because he doesn’t agree that that’s what everybody wanted.

Ramsay doesn’t care whether these are the actual nominations or whether J just made them up in his mind.

Charlie believes he should stay because he has more experience than Seth. Seth agrees that he has a lot less experience and is looking for a mentor. Then he goes on and on. With that said, Charlie is going home. Ramsay’s looking for a head chef, not a prep chef, and nice guys don’t get to finish.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Hell’s Kitchen Season 5 Episode 4, which airs Thursday at 9/8c on Fox.

Survivor: Tocantins Episode 2

Survivor: Tocantins Episode 1 immediately started with the tribes being told to turn two teammates into outcasts. Jalapao chose Sandy due to her age; Timbira chose Sierra because she was already sick. While Sierra worked to get back in the good graces of her tribe, Sandy didn’t make an effort and instead searched for a hidden idol that she apparently never found. Regardless, thanks to Carolina’s mouth and poor performance in the challenge, she was the first person voted out, sparing Sandy for the time being.

Jalapao’s already talking about how Sandy’s the next to go.

Since the other tribe got all the food, Jalapao is getting desperate already. Time to eat the termites. Sydney declines. She’ll eat one at a challenge, but not in real life, whatever that means.

Sierra still wants to find the hidden idol. Since they didn’t go to tribal council, she will still get an opportunity to use it. In need of some help, she goes to Brendan, who was the only one who didn’t vote against her the first day. They’re away so long that Debbie comes looking for them. They tell her they’re building a firepit. They don’t even have to lie to the others, as Debbie tells them that they’re going to have a beach fire. Now that this has happened, Sierra has given up on the idol.

Coach and Candace are clashing because they’re similar. They like to pick things apart and aren’t afraid to argue. She predicts his ego will be the death of him.

Taj tells her tribe she’s married to Eddie George. They seem to know who he is, so I’m going to take their word for it. He recently retired from the NFL, which is a dangerous thing to acknowledge since people who don’t need the money run the risk of getting booted.

The rain welcomes them to the challenge. Three members will go through the water to grab a ball, then work together until they can shoot the ball into a basket, while members of the other tribe will attempt to stop them any way they can. First to three wins immunity and fishing gear. Debbie sits out for Timbira. Taj, Stephen, and Sydney go against Sierra, Candace, and Tyson for the first round. It’s obvious this will be a very aggressive challenge with no holds barred. Candace intercepts the ball and scores for Timbira. Joe, JT, and Sandy are taking on Erinn, Brendan, and Tyson. Tyson scores for Timbira to take the lead 2-0. The next round is all women: Candace, Sierra, and Erinn against Taj, Sydney, and Sandy. Taj completely takes over initially but can’t make the shot, but Sydney recovers to keep Jalapao alive. The men are next up: JT, Joe, and Spencer against Brendan, Coach, and Jerry. Brendan tosses the ball away, and it’s recovered by JT. It’s tied at two. The last round is between Stephen, Sydney, and Taj against Sierra, Candace, and Tyson. Candace tackles Taj to get the ball for her team, but both Candace and Sierra miss their shots. Sydney recovers and misses. Stephen barely manages to escape the clutches of the recently sickly Sierra to score the point and win for Jalapao.

Additionally, Brendan will be going to Exile. But this year there’s a twist, which hopefully doesn’t suck. He can grab one member of the winning tribe to join him. Hmm… interesting. He will take Taj with him.

Stephen says JT has emerged as the tribe leader, and they’re surprised that two people so different are getting along as well as they do. They have luck seeing fish, if not catching them.

At Exile Island, each person must choose an urn. Brendan gets a clue. Taj gets nothing. Okay, now that part of it is lame. But the twist continues. The person who gets the clue can choose whether to go back to their own tribe or to go to the other tribe, which could be a potentially huge move (but hopefully the tribe they leave doesn’t later whine and whine and whine about it like Ozzy and his crew did during Cook Islands). Brendan’s not at all interested in going to the other tribe. Taj insists on helping him find the idol. He’s lucky he took her, or he wouldn’t have been able to figure out that the idol’s where they live (at least now she knows, too). She tells him she hasn’t bonded with anyone yet, but he believes they’re creating a good bond here. They agree to work together to get sent back and find the idols.

Coach, who one would assume is one of the better people to have in such a physical challenge, surprised Candace by his lackluster performance at the challenge. Probst brought this up during the challenge as well, so it’s not just her, but Coach wants to get rid of her instead of Sierra.

When he gets back, Brendan tells his tribe the story about how there are two urns… and he didn’t get the one with the clue.

As much as she hates Coach, Candace knows it’s too early to cut him.

Coach tells Sierra and Debbie that he’s going to vote for Candace and keep Sierra safe, so they need to vote with him.

Sierra gets trashed as expected at tribal council. Candace knows that sometimes she talks too much, the kiss of death last week. For some reason, Erinn seems to be trying to distance herself from the tribe, saying she doesn’t know that she can trust any of them.

Votes
Candace
Sierra
Candace
Candace
Candace
Candace

The tribe buckled pretty easily to Coach’s will, and Candace has been voted off the island.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Tocantins episode 3, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on CBS.

Kyle XY Season 3 Episode 6

A weekend getaway turned serious in Kyle XY Season 3 Episode 5. Nicole got into a car wreck, and in order to save her, Kyle had to agree to join Latnok.

Jessi asks Lori to not say anything to Kyle about her seeing Cassidy. Lori agrees, in exchange for blackmailing her with keys to her apartment.

Stephen and Nicole have received the hospital bill, as exhorbitant as can be expected. Imagine if the doctors had actually saved her life.

Kyle goes to visit Latnok as planned. It’s at the university, which gives them space in exchange for bragging rights about their advances in science and technology. Cassidy has told the others Kyle’s a boy genius but not much more. Mark’s among those he meets.

Andy is back and may possibly have changed her mind about jumping Josh’s bones. The may possibly part seems to have passed, but it’s back again once Lori walks in the room without knocking. At least it was her and not mom.

Lori knows they can’t pay the hospital bill because they walked her through the family finances last year.

Kyle wants Mark to tell Lori the truth. Perhaps Latnok can assist with the family’s problem. By chasing grants, Mark cleared more than $80k last year. Cassidy asks Kyle to go home, sleep on it, and if he’s not back in the morning then that’s that.

Josh works a minimum wage job. Lori doesn’t work at all, but maybe she could take her guitar and work on a street corner. Josh suggests losing the guitar. Kyle’s got a better idea. He calls Cassidy and will be back tomorrow.

Kyle plans to join a hoverboard competition. He’ll have 36 hours to prepare. Nate, who believes he’s the top dog there, has been trying to do this for over a year and is still working out the bugs.

Lori tells Amanda that Jessi’s over Kyle, so maybe she doesn’t have to be.

Josh plans to sell everything he owns online. Andy will be his boxer/shipper. He will be using Jessi’s apartment, which he blackmailed out of Lori by inferring things (he’s got nothing on her, but she’s a very guilty person). Andy’s happy to help, if they can get to the reward part first. Alone in the apartment with no chance of getting caught. A lot of couples would kill for that chance. Perhaps they would pay for it instead. Josh has a new scheme, which does not involve jumping his girlfriend.

Kyle is working on his board and gets a kiss from the girl who he helped with her science experiment. Her tomato plants doubled their growth in 12 hours thanks to him.

Lori has decided to not go to college to save money. Her mom who just got out of the hospital and has a weak heart isn’t having it.

Jessi has been given some instructions from the others. Lori doesn’t want Nicole to strain herself, and Kyle doesn’t want her to worry. She reveals that Kyle’s working with Latnok, and Nicole wants him to end things. He can’t.

One of Josh’s friends calls to cancel a 10:30 appointment. The guilty looking Lori knows what’s going on. The 10:30 arrives. It’s mom and dad. There go Josh’s plans.

Nate doesn’t want Kyle to take over. He refuses to help Kyle by sharing his supplies.

Amanda brings over some lasagne. It’s for the family, even though her eyes are darting around looking for Kyle. Her favorite person Jessi answers the door. She doesn’t have a new boyfriend, even if Lori told Amanda that.

Cassidy wants to know how they can earn Kyle’s trust. Considering his project has been wrecked, they probably can’t. Nate ruined it and doesn’t care. Kyle walks out and is going to take care of his family.

When he goes home, he still wants to make a hoverboard, though he doesn’t have any good materials for it. Josh suggests cheating, but Kyle has a pesky problem with having morals.

Jessi has been getting money from Sarah for expenses. She offers to pay rent. Nicole realizes that everybody knows about the bill. She wants to be the adult and take care of the bills, but Kyle blames himself for the accident. He’ll fix the problem by finishing the project and winning the competition. Stephen offers to help. Eventually, Nicole agrees to help as well, and it turns into a family project. They test it out, and it works. Briefly. The magnets aren’t pure enough. They could get some from Latnok, but Nicole doesn’t want Kyle to ask. With Sarah’s checks, there’s another alternative. Jessi tracks down an online supplier to get the magnets cheaper, so at least now they have a chance.

Some of the people from Latnok show up to help Kyle. He can trust them. None of them are named Nate. Mark’s one of them, and since Lori’s there, he tells her that he’s part of Latnok. Kyle and Nate are on stage at the same time showing off their hoverboards. Josh just hopes nothing explodes. Nate keeps going higher so he can beat Kyle, but it’s not quite enough. Round one to Kyle, who wins $50,000. Nate promises round two.

Now Josh is rearing to go, but Andy isn’t. He may have escaped having to sell the house and move, but she’s going to Cleveland.

Nate arrives at The Rack, where he meets Amanda. Round two.

Kyle’s still upset with Jessi for having been manipulated by Cassidy into getting him to join them. To regain his trust, she tells him that Amanda came by the other day and probably still likes him. But she wants him to be with her instead.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Kyle XY Season 3 Episode 7 Chemistry 101, which airs Monday at 9/8c on ABC Family.

Lost Season 5 Episode 6

Ben was able to gather some of those who left the island in Lost Season 5 Episode 5. Sun, Jack, and Desmond were with him to meet Faraday’s mother Eloise, though Kate (and by extension Aaron), Sayid, and Hurley were not.

Jack wakes up on the island and hears yelling. He runs to see what’s going on and sees Hurley drowning, so he dives in to get him. Then he sees Kate and wakes her up.

To get to this point we have to go back to the meeting with Eloise. She takes them to the lamp post, which is how the Dharma Initiative found the island.

The room was built over a unique pocket of electromagnetic energy, which connects to other pockets around the world. The people who built the room were only interested in one: the island. They theorized, correctly, that the island was always moving, which explains why they were never rescued (I thought it was because they were 1000 miles off course, kept dying, and were kidnapped and/or tortured at random). The equations tell them where it is going to be at a certain point in time. The windows, while open, provide a route back. Their window closes in 36 hours.

Desmond doesn’t want to go back to the island. He’s just there to deliver a message that Eloise needs to help her son. She tells him that the island isn’t done with him yet. His advice to Jack is to ignore what she has to say, then he leaves.

Flight 316 from LA will go through the window, and they must all get on it. Eloise wants the others to assist in getting everybody back to the island. Otherwise, the result would be… unpredictable.

She’s got a special treat for Jack: John Locke’s suicide note. He’s going to help them get back as a substitute for Christian, which will require Jack to get something of his father’s and give it to Locke. This will produce conditions as close as possible to the original crash.

Jack gets a phone call, and then he goes to meet Ray, his grandfather. He tells him he might be going away for a while, then he finds some shoes in his room, which belonged to his father. Just what he needed.

Then he pays a visit to Kate, who’s decided to go with him to the island. She’ll go with him as long as he never asks her about Aaron again. Apparently, she wants to get back together with him, too.

When Jack went to get his father in Sydney, he didn’t have good shoes, so he just figured he’d put some old white tennis shoes on him because: who will look at his feet anyway?

Ben has been… sidetracked. Code for someone beating the hell out of him from the looks of it. Jack will have to go pick up Locke’s body. On arrival, Jack removes Locke’s shoes and replaces them with his father’s, which he considers crazy but is doing it anyway. He doesn’t care to read the suicide note.

Jack’s at the airport with Locke’s body and sees Kate, then Sun. Sayid walks by, and Hurley’s there, too. Hurley has bought all the seats. 78 of them anyway. He doesn’t want those other people on the plane. They can take the next one. Ben manages to get on the plane in time, showing up with a sling. Hurley doesn’t know why Ben’s there. Ben doesn’t know how Hurley’s there. As for the other people who did manage to get on the plane, Ben doesn’t care what happens to them. Kate tells Jack they’re just all on the same plane… they’re not together.

The captain comes on the radio. It’s a familiar voice, Frank J. Lapidus. Jack wants to talk to him. When he sees who’s on the plane, he realizes something. They’re not going to Guam.

Jack’s got the suicide note back because they found it stuffed in his pocket. He wants to read it now, he thinks. Ben tells him that Locke’s death was not his fault and leaves to give him some privacy. It’s brief: “I wish you had believed.”

Then the plane hits some turbulence. And now it’s time for the plane crash they all intentionally got themselves involved in. There’s a flash, and it’s back to the start of the episode.

So where’s the plane? Sun and Sayid? Ben?

They see the VW bus, and out steps Jin.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Lost Season 5 Episode 7 The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham, which airs Wednesday at 9/8c on ABC.

American Idol Season 8 Episode 13

The guys did well in American Idol 8 Episode 12. Oh, and there were some girls singing, too.

Let the filler begin. One hour, two minutes of which are actually necessary. Three people will be proceeding to the top 12.

Casey Carlson is not in the top 12.

Stephen Fowler is also not in the top 12.

Alexis Grace, who seemed quite overrated yesterday, is the first member of the top 12. Not a surprise since she really didn’t have much competition from the other girls.

Ricky Braddy is not in the top 12. Only thing I can think is his lack of previous appearances stood in his way because he’s good enough to be in the top. Jackie Tohn is also not in the top 12.

Anoop Desai is up next against Michael Sarver. Anoop is out. Michael is going through, presumably leaving room for one last guy (Danny). Michael’s performance wasn’t too good, but I agree he is a likeable guy. Only 20,000 votes separated these two, and I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of Anoop.

I thought Seacrest was getting ready to eliminate Carly Smithson and Michael Johns, but apparently they’re just there to sing.

Stevie Wright, Brent Keith, and Ann Marie Boskovich have been eliminated.

That leaves Danny Gokey up against Tatiana del Toro. Unless America has taken leave of their senses, it will be Danny, and just as importantly, not Tatiana. As expected, Danny rounds out the three who proceed to the top 12. Tatiana actually wasn’t that bad, just in need of some prozac.

One more group of 12 will sing next week: Megan Corkrey, Kris Allen, Mishavonna Henson, Matt Breitzke, Allison Iraheta, Matt Giraud, Jasmine Murray, Kai Kalama, Jesse Langesth, Adam Lambert, Jeanine Vailes, and Nick Mitchell/Norman Gentle.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of American Idol Season 8 episode 14, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on Fox.

American Idol Season 8 Episode 12

Last week we found out the American Idol 8 top 36.

Tonight the first 12 will be performing for America’s votes. Only three of them will go through, meaning 9 will be sent home, though of those 9 there is a chance they will be back for the wild card show. The highest scoring guy will go through, the highest scoring girl will go through, and the next highest vote getter, presumably meaning an uneven number of guys/girls for the first time since George Huff was in the final six with a bunch of chicks in season three. Tonight’s theme is the Billboard 100 since the chart began.

Jackie Tohn
Song: A Little Less Conversation by Elvis Presley
Randy: Way to start season 8 off. Not blown away by the vocals but entertained.
Kara: Can work the stage. Not the best vocals.
Paula: Not boring. A true performer.
Simon: Played the clown. Ungamely, gimmicky, great opportunity blown, the trousers aren’t even any good.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-01

Ricky Braddy
Song: A Song for You by Leon Russell
Randy: This is what I’m talking about. Unbelievable, beautiful tone, nice voice.
Kara: Killed that. Amazing.
Paula: Proud that America gets to see how talented he is. Deserves to go very far in this competition.
Simon: Very, very good, but not jumping out of his chair like the other three. Needs more charisma and self belief.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-02

Alexis Grace
Song: Never Loved a Man by Aretha Franklin
Randy: Found the soul and pain.
Kara: The genie is out of the bottle.
Paula: So much soul, passion, and confidence for a 21 year old.
Simon: By a mile the best contestant so far (of the three). May be the dark horse. Reminiscent of Kelly Clarkson (huh?).
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-03

Brent Keith
Song: Hicktown by Jason Aldean
Randy: Liked the return to country roots. Very good choice.
Kara: Likeable but a little safe.
Paula: Safe but a potential country western star.
Simon: Forgettable. No impact.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-04

Stevie Wright
Song: You Belong with Me by Taylor Swift
Randy: Not hot. Safe. Better than the song or the performance.
Kara: Identity crisis.
Paula: Not the Stevie Wright they knew.
Simon: Terrible. Out of tune. Looked nervous. Out of her depth. 0 chance of getting through.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-05

Anoop Desai
Song: Angel of Mine by Monica
Randy: Song was a little sharp.
Kara: Agreed with Randy but believable as an artist.
Paula: Brian McKnight feel. Here for a while.
Simon: Too grown up. Too serious.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-06

Casey Carlson
Song: Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic by The Police
Randy: Not good. Kind of weird. Completely wrong song. Weirdly karaoke. Lost.
Kara: Wrong. Overdone. Flat.
Paula: Beautiful girl… but. Didn’t work.
Simon: Trying to find something positive. Atrocious singing. Worst song choice and arrangement. Shouldn’t have been allowed to sing that song. Karaoke.
Numbers: 1-866-IDOLS-07

Michael Sarver
Song: I Don’t Wanna Be by Gavin DeGraw
Randy: Can definitely sing but a little rough start. Not sure about the performance.
Kara: Crowd pleaser song but not his best performance. Likeable.
Paula: Real good job.
Simon: Tricky one. Likeable guy but not the best vocal, albeit better than some earlier. Hopefully America gives him another shot.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-08

Ann Marie Boskovich
Song: Natural Woman by Aretha Franklin
Randy: Not the right song choice. Fell below what some others have done (like Kelly Clarkson the week Simon finally noticed her).
Kara: Too big a song. Old fashioned.
Paula: Better than Hollywood week.
Simon: Good for a hotel singer. Voice is not good enough for the song.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-09

Stephen Fowler
Song: Rock with You by Michael Jackson
Randy: Different vibe. Wrong place for him.
Kara: More connected at the piano even without the lyrics.
Paula: Should have proved he could sing the David Cook song at the piano. Kiss of death.
Simon: Would have been better off forgetting the lyrics. Corny.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-10

Tatiana del Toro (oh geez)
Song: Saving All My Love for You by Whitney Houston
Randy: Some impressive moments.
Kara: There were moments. Character or artist?
Paula: Most talked about contestant on the show so far, one way or another. Not used to the normal acting girl. Beautiful closing note.
Simon: Drama queen. Desperate to be famous. Surprisingly not bad song. Better than expected. Lose the current non-psycho personality.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-11

Danny Gokey
Song: Hero by Mariah Carey
Randy: Redeemer of the night. Blazing hot.
Kara: Danny is the hero. Great.
Paula: Sold out arenas.
Simon: Good. Not fantastic.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-12

The guys pretty much carried the night. Most of the girls fell flat, though one of them will get through and take the spot of one of the much better guys.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of American Idol Season 8 episode 13, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on Fox.

The Biggest Loser Couples 2 Episode 7

When the black team fell below the yellow line, the house chose to send Blaine home at his request in The Biggest Loser Couples 2 Episode 6.

Unlike before when they were one of only two teams left standing, now Dane’s all alone and the only one who doesn’t have a partner.

Alison tells them that only two teams will get access to the gym this week. They will have to climb the hill and grab one of 130 keys. If their key opens the lock, they will be granted access. If not, they’re stuck doing it outdoors for the week. I’m all for this little excursion outside, but I’m not a big fan of splitting it where some people have gym access and some don’t. Everyone takes off at a jog, except Ron, whose knees are bothering him. Tara is first up the hill, but ultimately it doesn’t really matter since this is a challenge of dumb luck rather than speed. Shanon’s just out for a leisurely stroll, not overly concerned whether she gets the prize or not. Ron’s struggling, but he just keeps going, whether he’s the last one up or not. The others all want to help him out, but he insists he’s alright on his own for the most part. Like Tara, Sione’s a bit of a machine, lapping people, but to no avail. After 7 trips and no luck, Tara throws up, then continues running. Shanon’s sixth key is lucky, so Shanon & Helen will have access to the gym. With over an hour having elapsed, the teams keep going and hoping for that last key. Michael ends up getting the second key, making Mike & Ron the other team with gym access.

Tara fears that she won’t be able to compensate for Laura this week.

Jillian is thankful that the other team was dumb and sent Blaine home instead of Dane, against Bob’s wishes. Dane’s shocked, too. Bob tells his team they kept a really big threat in the house and shouldn’t ask for his input if they’re not going to bother taking it. The good news is that both of the groups in the gym this week are on Bob’s team.

Jillian hates the out of doors. It’s icky. She has an alternative idea. They’ll construct a home gym in the living room.

Following their workout, Helen & Shanon decide to turn part of the gym into a lounge.

Bob’s outdoor team is working out on/with lawn furniture. You don’t need a gym. Just grab a chair. Kristin says she’s got aches and pains in places that haven’t hurt her since week one.

Jillian’s doing an aerobics class in the living room, going back to 1980s VHS tapes that used to work during the latter part of last century. She’s worried that Tara’s not herself today and pushes her, causing Tara to toss the weights down, pout, and try to escape. Jillian won’t let her quit. Tara knows that, if she falls below the yellow line with Laura, she’s definitely the one going home, but Jillian wants her to know that she shouldn’t sabotage her workouts, the one thing that will keep her there.

When he gets into the members only gym, Bob is amused by what they’ve done but wants them to get away from their vacation and step it up.

The next thing on Bob’s agenda is a commercial, the TRX Suspension trainer, a portable suspension training that will allow them to turn the trees into their gym.

Thanks to some sprinklers, some of the contestants are able to turn the yard into a mud pit.

A line of rowing machines confronts them at the challenge. They must row fast enough to get their light to turn green. If their light turns yellow, it’s a warning they need to speed up. If their light turns red, they’re out, along with their teammate. Tara continues to doubt her partner. While the doubt is valid, it can’t be helping either of them any that she’s so open about it. Dane and Laura are the first two to go yellow. Both of them eventually recover, as Ron goes yellow. Ron is eliminated, along with Mike, and knows he’s the anchor on his son. Aubrey goes yellow next, followed by Shanon. Aubrey is eliminated, along with Mandi. Shanon’s bouncing up and down from yellow to green. Cathy is next to go yellow, followed by Kristin, who quickly recovers. Cathy also recovers. Shanon, however, has finally gone red, along with Helen. While attempting to strategize on the best plan to get her mom back into this, Kristin very quickly goes from green to red, so she’s eliminated along with Cathy. Laura drops down to yellow briefly, as does Filipe. They’ve hit the 15 minute mark. Both Laura and Filipe are bouncing up and down to yellow. Filipe is eliminated, along with Sione. Dane’s the only one who’s been looking pretty comfortable lately, and he’s left up against Laura and Tara. Dane drops back down to yellow but recovers. Laura finally drops down to red, and Dane wins immunity after 24 minutes. Laura breaks down crying after it’s all done, knowing she let Tara down.

Ron knows he’s not being pushed hard relatively speaking. Bob says he’s probably at about 30% of where the average person in the house typically is. He’ll never give up, though, and will continue to fight through the pain so his son can stay there.

Bob takes his team (minus Ron, who’s staying in the pool, which should hopefully be a good workout that’s good to his knees) to the beach. It’s not just a day at the beach. It’s last chance workout time.

Over on Jillian’s side, Tara continues to be unable to focus on her workout.

It’s time for the weigh-in.

Dane: 325 pounds (-4, 1.22%, immune)

Kristin: 289 pounds (-12)
Cathy: 263 pounds (-1)
Purple Total: 552 pounds (-13, 2.30%)

Filipe: 291 pounds (-7)
Sione: 296 pounds (-9)
Blue Total: 587 pounds (-16, 2.65%)

Laura: 241 pounds (-8)
Tara: 222 pounds (-7)
Green Total: 463 pounds (-15, 3.14%)

Hopefully now Tara will stop complaining about Laura to the point where she can barely finish a workout.

Mandi: 210 pounds (-5)
Aubrey: 216 pounds (-7)
Yellow Total: 426 pounds (-12, 2.74%)

Helen: 205 pounds (-6)
Shanon: 238 pounds (-3)
Pink Total: 443 pounds (-9, 1.99%)

Mike: 307 pounds (-10)
Ron: 354 pounds (-7)
Brown Total: 661 pounds (-17, 2.51%)

Immunity has played a role again. Dane is saved from being below the yellow line because he’s immune, so Helen & Shanon fall below. Shanon feels she would do better at home, so Helen requests that Shanon go home instead. Done. And here I was hoping to see whether Jillian’s team would do in the same position Bob’s team was in last week. Shanon says she’s just trying to give her mom what she wants and is not sure whether she really wants to go.

Votes
Laura & Tara: Shanon
Filipe & Sione: Shanon
Mike & Ron: Shanon
Kristin & Cathy: Shanon

Per her request, Shanon has been sent home, which may or may not have been what she actually wanted. Shanon is down from her starting weight of 283 pounds to 198 pounds today. Her mom being at the ranch means she’ll have more time with her since she’ll be healthier. Shanon’s now training to be in the roller derby.

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

American Idol 8 Schedule Change

Update: American Idol has been preempted for another Presidential address Tuesday March 24. It will air Wednesday and Thursday instead.

Effective March 11, American Idol Wednesday editions will air one hour later at 9/8c. Lie to Me will be bumped up to American Idol’s current time slot, making room for Idol to go head-to-head with ABC’s Lost.

Update: American Idol has been preempted for a Presidential address on February 24. The next 12 contestants will sing on February 25, with the special results show on Thursday February 26.