Author: Shane

The Amazing Race 12 Episode 7

One of the teams that had looked the strongest, Azaria & Hendekea, were unable to work together and fell apart in The Amazing Race 12 Episode 6 and were eliminated after accidentally booking business class seats. Nathan & Jennifer hate each other (more) but still came in third.

Due to the football overrun, the show’s delayed about 25 minutes (as usual). A live blog will begin once 60 Minutes is over.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Ronald & Christina (2:19am)
Second: Kynt & Vyxsin (2:55am)
Third: Nathan & Jennifer (3:45am)
Fourth: TK & Rachel (5:37am)
Fifth: Nicolas & Donald (7:06am)

Next stop is Ancona, Italy by ferry via a bus from Split, Croatia.

Ronald says all the Italian he knows is that prego means please. Christina responds, “Isn’t prego a… spaghetti sauce?”

Bus 1: Ronald & Christina, Kynt & Vyxsin, Nathan & Jennifer
Bus 2: TK & Rachel, Nicolas & Donald

The gap between buses doesn’t matter. Everybody’s on the same ferry to Italy.

The next clue is in Empoli. They’ll receive a message by (product placement alert) Blackberry but can’t use it for any other reason. Nathan & Jennifer apparently get the most direct instructions on how to get to Empoli. The other teams get the most known way but perhaps not the most direct. Rachel forgot the route info clue where they stopped earlier, putting her and TK quite a ways behind, but they’re going a more direct way as well. The message on the Blackberry is a message from home.

To make matters worse, the less direct way is also jammed with traffic, and they can’t even go the exit they needed to go on because the road’s closed down. Nicolas & Donald just stop and wait for the road to open. The others decide to keep going. Kynt & Vyxsin get completely lost. Ronald & Christina seem to be doing okay.

Nathan & Jennifer arrive at Empoli first, waiting for it to open at 7am. Eventually behind them are TK & Rachel, also showing up before 7. While they’re in the air for the road block, Ronald & Christina show up, with Nicolas & Donald seconds behind them.

Kynt & Vyxsin are still completely lost, and she’s starting to have a breakdown.

The road block is to look for the next destination while soaring above the city in an ultralight (sneak peak of the road block).

Jennifer wants to do the fast forward (the only fast forward on the entire race). Nate declines. Ronald has no interest in doing the fast forward and gets very vocal about it, which is upsetting to Rachel, who can’t believe how he’s treating his daughter. Nicolas & Donald opt for the fast forward. They must get a permanent tattoo of FF (for fast forward), which is made a big deal, but ultimately they don’t seem overly hesitant and do complete the fast forward.

Road block: Nathan, TK, Christina, Vyxsin

Nathan finishes the road block easily, as does Christina. TK is unable to finish after 30 minutes and must land and then try again. He lands a second time after an hour. At that point, Kynt & Vyxsin show up. TK still doesn’t get it a third time, but Vyxsin gets it on her first try like the others. On his fourth attempt, TK finally gets it.

The next stop is the town of Vinci, the birth home of Leonardo da Vinci.

The detour is a choice between invention or tradition. In tradition, they must create a replica of a crane designed by Leonardo da Vinci. They’ll assemble it and use it to lift a stone, then place a mirror and read a clue. In tradition, they must learn a local flag routine.

Tradition: Nathan & Jennifer, Ronald & Christina, Kynt & Vyxsin (after immediately switching from invention)
Invention: TK & Rachel

Jennifer takes control like she did with the dancing challenge, while Nathan struggles to pick it up but eventually does with her help.

On the way to the detour, Kynt & Vyxsin get into an argument while driving over, well, it’s not really clear why they’re fighting, aside from being frustrated with all the driving they’ve been doing that day. Kynt forces her to get out of the car and let him drive. Too bad he has no clue how to drive a stick and screws up the car. His response is to keep telling her to shut up. They leave the car there and run to the detour, hoping the replacement car will be there when they get back.

TK & Rachel finally catch a break, after having a horrible leg, and they notice they’re no longer in last… then they get a flat tire. When Kynt & Vyxsin finish the detour, they do have a replacement car, which he wisely lets her drive.

The pitstop for this leg of the race is the Boboli Gardens in Florence.

First: Nicolas & Donald (win a trip to Cancun)
Second: Nathan & Jennifer
Third: Ronald & Christina
Fourth: TK & Rachel
Fifth: Kynt & Vyxsin (non-eliminated)

This is the first of two non-elimination legs. The penalty is a new twist in the race, a speed bump, which is a task that only the non-eliminated team must complete (please don’t blow this up into a bigger deal than necessary like with the U-turn). Nathan & Jennifer finally find out that if they work together they do a lot better (memo to Jennifer). Kynt & Vyxsin, however, who have gotten along the entire time, find out what it’s like when a team fails to cooperate, much like the fate Azaria & Hendekea suffered last week.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 12 episode 8 Honestly, They Have Witch Powers or Something, which airs Sunday at 8/7c(ish) on CBS.

Jessica Simpson Movie Earns $384

In its first day of release, Jessica Simpson’s Blonde Ambition, which opened at 8 Texas locations, had a per theater average of $48, for a total of $384 on its first day yesterday, according to Fantasy Moguls. The movie will be released on DVD on January 22 and is essentially a straight-to-DVD release, but it appears they were just putting it in theaters just to say they did. Definitely a case of “Why bother?” since only a couple hundred people will actually see the movie before it comes out on DVD.

The Amazing Race Asia 2 Episode 5

Sophie & Aurelia were unable to make up their 8 hour gap in The Amazing Race Asia 2 Episode 4 and were eliminated. Marc & Rovilson continued their dominance, while Terri & Henry fell even more apart than before.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Marc & Rovilson (12:46am)
Second: Adrian & Collin (2:49am)
Third: Paula & Natasha (3:44am)
Fourth: Ann & Diane (3:47am)
Fifth: Daichi & Sawaka (4:04am)
Sixth: Pamela & Vanessa (4:26am)
Seventh: Henry & Terri (5:06am)

The show switched Pamela & Vanessa/Terri & Henry, saying Pamela & Vanessa departed last, but it appears to have just been an error.

The next stop is Tokyo Japan, 8839km away, where they will first head to Shiba Park. Japan is the home country of Daichi & Sawaka, who have thus far been largely toward the back/middle of the pack. There is concern from the teams that the language barrier may be problematic.

Marc & Rovilson believe this game is about momentum, which is clearly something they have. Their lead is even more pronounced now than it was in the last leg, though the airport should take care of that.

Everybody is discussing how they dislike Ann & Diane, or at least Diane.

All teams get on the same flight to Japan.

Upon arriving in Japan, Daichi & Sawaka hide from the other teams so that nobody follows them. It’s unclear what this achieves, as everybody gets on the same train anyway. With the exception of Terri & Henry, who have difficulty because of the language. However, it does allow Daichi & Sawaka to at least not be on the same car as everybody else.

Marc & Rovilson take the Yaminote Line and break off from the pack. Daichi & Sawaka go to Hamamatsucho and will get a cab to Tokyo there. By thinking differently, they are the first two teams to arrive at the park. The boys forget to get a map, though, but Daichi & Sawaka know exactly where they’re going. So they let them pass and just follow them there.

Teams must travel by rickshaw to the Sony Building in Ginza. There, teams must convince a member of the public to sing the traditional Japanese song Sakura with one of them while being recorded on a Sony HD Handy Cam (yeah, Sony’s a sponsor, too). They must also sing it correctly. Since Sawaka knows the lyrics, as does Ann, this is easy enough for them to make sure it’s right. Not so much for the other teams, like Marc & Rovilson, who can’t find any Japanese people (in Tokyo).

The next stop is the youth fashion center of Japan, Shibuya Mark City, where they will look for a Cosplay (a combination of the words costume and play, centered on dressing as fantasy characters from anime and video games) girl matching the photo in their Sony Cybershot camera (there’s a fine line between product placement and hitting someone over the head, and they’re flirting with that line).

The detour is the choice between catch it or cart it. In catch it, teams must make their way to a restaurant and catch 40 goldfish using traditional paddles made of rice paper, which disintegrates in water. In cart it, teams must pick out a traditional yukata (casual kimono) from a dry cleaner and deliver it by foot to a local address, navigating the confusing streets.

Catch it (in order of obtaining the clue): Paula & Natasha (switched from cart it), Vanessa & Pamela, Terri & Henry
Cart it: Daichi & Sawaka (switched from catch it), Marc & Rovilson (based on a coin flip), Ann & Diane (unable to find catch it), Adrian & Collin

With the exception of Daichi & Sawaka, everybody’s having trouble finding anything. Terri’s ready to quit (again). Once they arrive, though, she finds the fish task to be calming. That’s new.

The road block is at Icebar Tokyo, and they must decipher an ice puzzle to figure out where they’re going next. The puzzle can potentially spell out more than one Japanese city, so it’s not entirely straightforward. Should be fairly easy for anyone who knows Japanese cities, though. It spells out Fukuoka, where they will travel via Shinagawa train station.

Road block: Sawaka, Rovilson, Ann, Adrian, Paula, Vanessa, Henry

Despite Terri & Henry wandering around for quite some time, they’re still able to catch up to Pamela & Vanessa, as Vanessa’s having difficulty coming up with the city. Due to the fairly poor design of the challenge, Vanessa finishes first of the two, but Henry just looks at her answer when she leaves and gets it right after her.

The pyramid at Fukuoka International Congress Center is the next stop. The earliest train is at 6am, which should allow for some bunching. All teams board the same train, for a trip all the way across Japan of 1100km. Because of this, the rest of the leg becomes largely moot, and the deciding factor in finishing order is all about one taxi ride.

Not that that matters because as time ticks away and nobody’s even gotten to the mat yet, it becomes more and more obvious that this is a to be continued leg. Diane & Ann are the first to get to the Congress Center and receive the news that they must continue racing.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race Asia 2 episode 6, and don’t forget our live blogs of The Amazing Race 12.

Lindsay Lohan: Jamie Lynn’s Pregnancy Is No Big Deal

Most people are reacting (and perhaps overreacting) to news of Jamie Lynn Spears being pregnant. Lindsay Lohan doesn’t seem to care, though. When asked by OK Magazine what she thought, Lindsay responded, “Not much… Why do people think it’s such a big deal?”

Granted, this is coming from someone who’s already been in jail (kinda) and rehab at age 21.

Nickelodeon Considering Teen Pregnancy Special

Following on the heels of Britney’s 16-year-old sister Jamie Lynn Spears being pregnant, the Associated Press reports that Nickelodeon is considering doing a special about teen pregnancy. The network is talking with veteran newswoman Linda Ellerbee.

“I think it’s important that something be done,” Ellerbee said. “But I think it’s important that it be done in a measured way, and not just to feed the beast of news stories… This is a great opportunity for parents at this moment to talk about this — more important, to listen to their kids about this.”

A spokesman for Nickelodeon confirmed the discussions but said a decision has not yet been made.