Shane

The Amazing Race 12 Episode 6

Following Shana & Jennifer’s use of the U-turn, the producers really tried to overplay the impact of the new U-turn twist in The Amazing Race 12 Episode 5. By the way, did I mention there’s a new U-turn twist? And a team… used it? So anyway, following the excessive amount of drama over the elimination of a team that didn’t have a prayer with or without the U-turn twist, we saw Shana & Jennifer, who disagreed over whether to use the U-turn, not be able to agree on anything else either. Eventually they were both eliminated. Speaking of Jennifers, Nathan called his teammate Jennifer a bitch. This isn’t going to be pretty.

As usual, there’s a football overrun delay. I’ll begin a live blog in about 25 minutes when 60 Minutes is over.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: TK & Rachel
Second: Kynt & Vyxsin
Third: Ronald & Christina
Fourth: Azaria & Hendekea
Fifth: Nathan & Jennifer
Sixth: Nicolas & Donald

Only a 42 minute gap between teams. Unlikely to make a difference.

Next stop is Dubrovnik, Croatia, which is 900 miles away.

TK & Rachel discuss how they keep cool heads. The other couples could learn something from them.

Nathan & Jennifer are using this race as a test of their relationship. Somebody tell them that never works.

Ronald & Christina are working together with Azaria & Hendekea, giving them the information they called ahead to get.

Kynt & Vyxsin go to a travel agent instead of waiting around. Everybody else gets paranoid and wants to do the same. Ronald, the great communicator he is, goes over to them and screams at them. Christina has to apologize for his behavior and ask him to not do that again.

Azaria tells Hendekea not to give him her attitude. He insists on handling things and tells her to be quiet. His expert handling of the situation gets them business class seats, which they can’t use.

Despite all the chaos to book flights, everything arrives at 11:20am, and for that matter, the flight that leaves earlier has a tighter connection, making it a less ideal option. Granted, either of them could be unpredictably problematic.

First flight: TK & Rachel, Nicolas & Donald
Second flight: Kynt & Vyxsin, Ronald & Christina, Nathan & Jennifer
Third flight: Azaria & Hendekea

Azaria & Hendekea are now too late to get on either of the first two flights. While they’re rebooking their flight, they’re told that the first flight, with the tight connection, will be delayed.

The second flight touches down at 11:20am, on time. The other flights are, well, not that lucky.

The road block is renovating city walls damaged by a civil war. Only certain rocks will fit into the wall, so it’s pretty much a puzzle. Apparently a fairly easy puzzle.

Teams must then make their way to the Fort of St. Lawrence right in front of them, where they will ride a zipline to the other side.

The detour is a choice between short & long or long & short. In short & long, teams rappel down from the roof of the fort to the base, follow a marked path and scale a wall, then navigate the streets to the plaza. This is less physical but has the potential to be more confusing. In long & short, teams use a tandem zipline to the water below, then choose a fishing boat, row around the area, and head to the plaza that’s less far away. This is more physical.

Short & Long: Kynt & Vyxsin, TK & Rachel
Long & short: Ronald & Christina, Nathan & Jennifer, Nicolas & Donald, Azaria & Hendekea

Ronald doesn’t want Christina to teach him new tricks. Nathan’s looking forward to the physical aspect of this challenge, even though he doesn’t know how to row a boat. He and Jennifer are beginning to continue falling apart. She wants to talk; he just wants to paddle. Then she says, “I hate you. I hate you… I hate you with a passion.”

Teams must then travel 4 miles to the pitstop for this leg of the race, a stone cross that overlooks the city. Already? That seemed like a pretty quick leg to me.

Nathan & Jennifer are unable to get a cab because they’re damp. Ronald & Christina, however, don’t have any problem getting the same cab. Somehow, this is Nathan’s fault, and Jennifer believes it relates to their terrible relationship. “I am so miserable.” Yeah, no kidding.

They hitchhike to the pitstop. Not good, as their safety can’t be guaranteed in an unknown pedestrian vehicle. I don’t recall a penalty resulting from this in the US version, but on the first season of The Amazing Race Asia, one was assessed, causing the elimination of Sahil & Prashant, to everybody’s delight.

TK & Rachel land at 2:39PM. Nicolas & Donald get in at some time that’s a secret. Azaria & Hendekea land in last, apparently not too far behind Nicolas & Donald.

First: Ronald & Christina (they win a catamaran)
Second: Kynt & Vyxsin
Third: Nathan & Jennifer (they were in second but were made to return to the place where they hitchhiked, though it may just be because they didn’t take a taxi as instructed)
Fourth: TK & Rachel
Fifth: Nicolas & Donald
Sixth: Azaria & Hendekea (eliminated)

Azaria & Hendekea were a strong team, but ultimately they failed because he was more interested in being in control than thinking smartly. The first flight delay that did cause a situation in which they were at least reasonably close is a good lesson for future teams, though. Just because a flight leaves earlier doesn’t mean it’s better. Nicolas & Donald appear to be on their last legs and are limping along. Nathan & Jennifer unfortunately will probably continue to place well, but their relationship’s dead when all’s said and done.

Next week’s show will be preempted for the finale of Survivor: China.

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

NBC Midseason Schedule

Monday
8-9 American Gladiators (premieres Sunday January 6)
8-9 The Baby Borrowers (as of February 18)
9-10 Deal or No Deal
10-11 Medium

Tuesday
8-10 The Biggest Loser
10-11 Law & Order: SVU

Wednesday
8-9 Deal or No Deal
9-10 Law & Order: Criminal Intent
10-11 Law & Order

Thursday
8-9 Must See Comedy
9-10 The Celebrity Apprentice
10-11 ER
10-11 Lipstick Jungle (as of February 7)

Friday
8-9 1 Vs. 100
9-10 Friday Night Lights
10-11 Las Vegas

Strike Talks Halted

There had been various degrees of optimism from time to time, but it looks like it will be a long cold winter. Variety reports that strike talks have been called off, with no indication of when they will resume.

The AMPTP accused the WGA of a strategy of stalling negotiations rather than trying to reach a deal. “Their Quixotic pursuit of radical demands led them to begin this strike, and now has caused this breakdown in negotiations,” the AMPTP asserted. “We hope that the WGA will come back to this table with a rational plan that can lead us to a fair and equitable resolution to a strike that is causing so much distress for so many people in our industry and community.”

The WGA doesn’t believe they are being offered a fair share of the new media pie. “The AMPTP insists we let them do to the Internet what they did to home video,” said John Bowman, WGA negotiating chairman. “We received a similar ultimatum through back channels prior to the discussions of November 4th. At that time, we were assured that if we took DVDs off the table, we would get a fair offer on new media issues. That offer never materialized.”

The Biggest Loser 4 Episode 13

The red team was finally completely eliminated in The Biggest Loser 4 episode 12, giving the black team girls firm control over what happens next (as long as two of them don’t end up below the yellow line). They’ve played the game well, even if they haven’t performed particularly well or had the best attitudes.

Blue team’s concerned they’ll be ganged up on. They should have thought of that before wiping out red.

Jillian and Bob wake their teams up early in the morning and tell them they’re going to work today because they’ll need to find the time to squeeze that in their day when they’re back in the real world.

Kim never thought there was any chance for Bryan to survive the vote. When she walked into the room, she knew she was going to get a message from him. He leaves her an emotional message about how much he appreciates what she did for him.

Before going to work, Bob gives them a message of getting food prepared for yourself at home. This way, you’re not stuck relying on fast food, although some fast food’s pretty good as quality meals go. Jillian wants them to do a pre-work workout, but since they don’t have a lot of time, she wants to up the intensity. Bob makes sure it’s a good cardio session.

More than one of them are hoping for an office job, but what fun would that be for the producers? In actuality, they’ve got jobs at a pizza restaurant, not only a place for potentially some hard work but worse yet a way to seriously boost their cravings.

As soon as they get home from a long day at work, it’s time to workout some more.

The challenge involves speedbags and a trampoline. In each three minute round, they’ll have to jump and hit the bag as many times as possible. The player with the least amount of hits is eliminated, and the others will move on to the next round, where the bags will be raised. Hollie’s been having ankle problems, and Bill was complaining about his knee earlier. The prize is a one pound pass, which is potentially huge considering the numbers they’re currently putting up.

Round 1
Julie: 167
Isabeau: 141
Hollie: 132
Bill: 119
Neil: 117
Nicole: 115

Round 2
Isabeau: 161
Hollie: 148
Julie: 133
Bill: 114
Neil: 113

Round 3
Hollie: 116
Julie/Isabeau: somewhere in the middle
Bill: 25

Round 4
Hollie: 71
Julie: 44
Isabeau: 27

Hollie wins the one pound pass. She hopes this will help because she is the slowest weight loser in the house and was below the yellow line last week.

Hollie: 196 pounds (-5, plus the pass, 2.99%)
Julie: 168 pounds (-3, 1.75%)
Bill: 213 pounds (-9, 4.05%)
Neil: 288 pounds (-10, 3.36%)
Isabeau: 225 pounds (-5, 2.17%)
Nicole: 211 pounds (-1, 0.47%)

Neil’s weight loss to date is 133 pounds, a new record, beating Erik’s 124 pound weight loss. As for his teammate Nicole, who is this season’s strongest female next to Kae, it’s pretty obvious how the vote’s going to go down from here.

Votes
Neil: Julie
Hollie: Nicole
Isabeau: Nicole

Today Nicole weighs 188 pounds, down 91 pounds from her starting weight of 279. She’s smaller now than she was at age 13.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Biggest Loser 4 episode 14, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Amazing Race Asia 2 Episode 3

The Amazing Race Asia 2 Episode 2 was fairly predictable due to the leg’s design. Both of the bottom two teams, either of whom it would have been great to see go home in the previous episode, struggled to not be eliminated. In the end, dating/bickering couple Edwin & Monica were the first team to be eliminated from the race. Rovilson & Marc continue to be a force to be reckoned with, which was pretty obvious pre-season.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Rovilson & Marc (2:42am)
Second: Paula & Natasha (2:47am)
Third: Diane & Ann (2:49am)
Fourth: Pamela & Vanessa (2:51am)
Fifth: Adrian & Collin (2:52am)
Sixth: Brett & Kinaryosih (3:21am)
Seventh: Aurelia & Sophie (3:50am)
Eighth: Daichi & Sawaka
Ninth: Terri & Henry (4:29am)

Next stop is Central Pier in Hong Kong, which is 1117km away and the home town of Sophie & Aurelia. All teams are bunched up on the same flight.

Terri says she’s getting angrier and angrier but that this is unusual because she’s normally not like this and just keeps it to herself. At least she didn’t blame it on the editing.

When they arrive in Hong Kong, the next stop is the Standard Chartered Bank in Causeway Bay, where they will count the local currency. This type of task has the potential to be particularly irritating. A quick glance at the clock tells us why. Two hours go by without anybody having finished. Daichi & Sawaka are finally the first to complete the task. Rovilson & Marc are second. Vanessa & Pamela are third. Ann & Diane are fourth. Terri & Henry are fifth, with Paula & Natasha right behind. Brett & Kinaryosih are next. Sophie & Aurelia finish eighth. Adrian & Collin are in last.

Apparently, the only reason they went to Hong Kong was to go to a bank. The next destination is Auckland, New Zealand, 9139km away. All teams are once again on the same flight. Once there, they will go to Howick Historical Village. When they arrive at the village, they’ll search through the buildings for various items and take pictures of them. There seems to be quite a bit of teams helping other teams on this task.

Marc & Rovilson tell us real men ask for directions. They stop to ask and find some people willing to take them all the way there.

The road block is a bungy jump off the AJ Hackett Auckland Harbour Bridge, 40 meters above the water. A problem for some people, but Rovilson & Marc both want to do it badly. Natasha’s thrilled as well. Most teams assume “take the plunge” means going underwater. They assume wrong. Terri, who quickly volunteered, gets particularly upset at Henry because she chose to do it. All teams, with the exception of last place Brett & Kinaryosih, appear to arrive within a close time frame of each other, though it is first come, first served.

Road block: Rovilson, Diane, Natasha, Sophie, Terri, Collin, Vanessa, Sawaka, Brett

The detour is a choice between wall and waka. In wall, teams must drive to Birkenhead Leisure Centre and scale a rock wall. In waka, teams must drive to Lake Pupuke and select an outrigger canoe, traditionally known as the waka ama, and paddle the course and collect flags.

Wall: Rovilson & Marc, Collin & Adrian
Waka: Paula & Natasha (switched from wall), Terri & Henry (switched from wall), Vanessa & Pamela (switched from wall), Ann & Diane (switched before going to wall), Daichi & Sawaka, Sophie & Aurelia (switched from wall), Brett & Kinaryosih (switched from wall)

Obviously, Rovilson & Marc blow right through the task. Natasha starts crying and is afraid of short heights, whatever that is, and they eventually head to the waka task instead. Terri tries the wall task for about two seconds, so they switch to the other task, where the boat capsizes. They’re not alone, though, as other teams have problems with their boats flipping over as well. Sophie stubbornly insists on Aurelia sticking with the wall task. She considers calling her a wimp to be motivational. Later, she says it’s just really hard not to be mean to Aurelia.

The next stop is Ascension Vineyard in Matakana, an hour outside of Auckland. Teams will receive their next clue after going through the former Kingseat psychiatric hospital, reputed to be more terrifying than The Exorcist. It’s now more commonly known as Spookers Haunted House.

Pamela & Vanessa are driving along, just heading straight and minding their own business, and out of nowhere, they’re sideswiped by someone apparently not paying attention to them. The other driver insists they stick around and wait for the police to arrive, which takes up about half an hour.

Sophie & Aurelia, arguing the whole time, go to the wrong Matakana. There are apparently two within a similar distance from Auckland. Considering the round trip time, this could potentially be up to a couple hours wasted. Sophie tells Aurelia she would rather quit the race than to trust her ever again. At this rate, I’m hoping they’ve lost enough time for Brett & Kinar to catch up because this is ridiculous.

Just outside the haunted house is the Forest of Fear, which for some reason is also the pitstop for this leg of the race.

First: Rovilson & Marc (win free gas for a year from Caltex)
Second: Adrian & Collin
Third: Ann & Diane
Fourth: Paula & Natasha
Fifth: Terri & Henry
Sixth: Daichi & Sawaka
Seventh: Vanessa & Pamela
Eighth: Sophie & Aurelia
Ninth: Brett & Kinaryosih (eliminated)

Brett & Kinaryosih, who performed reasonably well if not spectacularly thus far, just completely hit a brick wall this time. The initial seemingly easy task of finding a marked car proved problematic. They did hopelessly poorly on the historic village task. She was unable to complete the wall task, which was the case with all the women. Then to add to the problems, they hit an hours of operations problem with the boats and had to just skip the detour altogether. They’re pulled into the pitstop by the production crew. They wanted to do three things in the race: always have fun, be good to each other, and never give up. Hard to see such a likeable team leave considering some of the others who remain.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race Asia 2 episode 4, and don’t forget our live blogs of The Amazing Race 12.

Survivor: China Episode 12

James pressed his luck one time too many in Survivor: China Episode 11 and was booted off the island with two idols in his back pocket. We’re getting down to the nitty gritty now, with some of the key playmakers still in play.

They start talking about being homesick. So obviously the reward will be family visits.

Todd seems to be married to the current final four plan, though he thinks it would be smart to take him out.

Erik’s mom, Amanda’s sister Katrina, Peih-Gee’s dad Lawrence, Todd’s sister Brandy, Courtney’s dad, and Denise’s husband Robert are their partners for the reward challenge. Reward is a boat trip, meal, and phone call home from other family members, to be followed by an overnight visit at camp. Todd receives a message from his sister that his other sister had a miscarriage. Everybody’s blindfolded and must make their way through a maze to meet up with each other in the center. Denise and her husband are the first to meet up, and they’re really the only team to actually be in the running to win this. She must pick two people to go along with them: Todd and Amanda.

While they’re eating, Denise gets a call from her oldest daughter.

Back at camp, they’re more than a little skeptical of Todd’s story about his sister. It does smell of Fairplay, but he tells us he’s telling the truth.

Peih-Gee is pissed off that Denise didn’t return the favor by inviting her on reward.

Amanda says she doesn’t want to backstab anyone. Any more. They’re leaning toward dropping Denise in the final four because they know the jury’s as upset with Courtney as they are with them.

Denise has a chat with Peih-Gee in an effort to patch things up. At the end of the day, Peih-Gee really can’t afford to be mad at Denise.

At the immunity challenge, they are attached to a rope that runs the length of the course and must go through a series of obstacles, passing over/under them. At the end of the course, they’ll have a question and must pick the correct one and bring it back to the start. They need three questions right to win. Todd is the first to get a lock undone. Amanda’s right behind, and Peih-Gee’s still in this. Erik’s way behind but misses his first question anyway. Todd gets his next question right, but Amanda gets hers wrong and is now a long ways out of it. Peih-Gee gets her second question right. Todd gets his third question wrong, putting Peih-Gee in the lead. Peih-Gee wins immunity. Do they get rid of the country boy or turn on each other?

Todd thinks this vote is easy. He wants to vote out Erik. Peih-Gee and Erik will vote for Todd and try to get Denise to swing. They offer her final three. She thinks her odds of getting to the final three are better but doesn’t like her odds of winning as much should she get there. Peih-Gee has a lot of enemies, but Erik sure doesn’t.

Peih-Gee makes a very open pitch at tribal council. Denise acknowledges that she feels like she’s on the bottom of the four.

Votes:
Erik
Todd
Todd
Erik
Erik
Erik

Erik has been voted out. He didn’t play a particularly aggressive game, but he was good at it nonetheless.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: China episode 13 Hello, I’m Still a Person!, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on CBS.

Watch Survivor: China Online

Kid Nation Episode 12

Taylor became a useful member of society in Kid Nation Episode 11, or so we were told. Her contributions, however short-lived they may be, were the result of a reward, one which distracted almost the entire town, an arcade that people quickly became addicted to. In order to get things under control, there’s a new sheriff in town, Sophia.

Sophia claims land in the center of town and tells people they must pay her to go on that land, primarily in an effort to screw with their minds. This is why I like Sophia.

The journal tells the council to head west and explore to meet some people who have been there for centuries. While they’re all gone, they decide on a plan to keep the town running. Sheriff Sophia will be in charge. Nobody in the town is happy. The town council isn’t concerned with the objections.

They see some teepees and meet up with Native Americans.

Back in town, the level of fear of Sophia is fading, and people are happy with the job she’s doing. Taylor hopes Greg gets lost on a mountain and a pack of coyotes eat him so Sophia can stay in charge.

At the showdown, each district will have their own homestead, complete with a house (four walls and a roof), chickens, an alpaca, and a flag. They must move everything west. This very physical challenge is missing the council, some of the more physical kids there. Red district gets off to an early lead. Green’s pretty close to them. Yellow may or may not be dying. Green’s first to build a house, and now red’s right behind them. Green district gets back with the animals and flag and edges out red for the win. Blue district eventually get it together and are the cooks. Yellow district finally figures things out and finishes at the buzzer.

Reward is a choice between monument of their efforts that will stay in Bonanza City forever, or a hot air balloon ride over the town. Since the council is not around, Sophia will choose on her own. The town heavily supports the balloons. She decides to choose the hot air balloons because it’s a once in a lifetime experience.

The town council returns in time for gold star nominations. Jared, Migle, and Alex receive nominations. Zach nominates himself, but Greg just laughs him off. His initial reaction is to leave crying, but he returns to confront them and tell them they’re terrible people. Greg pretends to be sorry, which makes DK angry. Greg wants Alex to get the gold star because he’s smart, something suggested by the people they met on their expedition.

This meeting starts off the same as the last one. The arcade continues to create problems. They decide to close it for good. In its place, they all gather around the camp fire and discuss how they need to cherish the limited time they have left in Bonanza.

Alex wins the gold star. He has a message that age doesn’t matter and that a 9 year old shouldn’t give up when faced with older competition.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Kid Nation episode 13 We’ve All Decided to Go Mad, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

Reaper Episode 10

Sam wasn’t making any ground with Andi in Reaper episode 9, so as luck would have it, he hit it off well with the Devil’s mistress’ daughter Cady, who may or may not be the Devil’s daughter as well.

Cady and Sam are dating now. She shows up to see him and says there’s been a death in the family: her pet goldfish. A pet goldfish that she pulls out of her pocketbook to show him. The boys show up and want him to ask her if she’s the spawn of Satan. She thinks they’re nice but overprotective, and they’re not afraid to dance with each other just to keep a closer eye on her.

Andi wants to know what’s wrong with her. They tell her the truth. For some reason, she finds it hard to believe.

The Devil fakes Sam out, pretending to be Cady, and calls him to talk about enjoying being naked and biting the heads off live chickens.

Two robbers got into an argument over the money they stole 14 years ago and shot each other dead. One of them’s back from Hell and has a multi-million dollar home with the money, which was never found by the authorities.

Sam, Sock, and Ben go to the new house, pretending to test for radon. As usual, the use of the vessel, a lighter this time, is poorly planned, and the soul escapes by running through a wall. They catch up to him, and he offers to make them rich. He says there’s more where that came from and pulls out a box… that contains a gun. He shoots, but Sam reacts and sucks him into the lighter. He wasn’t lying, though, there really was plenty more where that came from, and they find a box of money where the rest was.

The vessel has been rejected. They must fill out a form. Typical response time is 6-8 weeks.

Sock and Ben believe they’re entitled to the money. Sam’s not convinced and wants to do the right thing with the $6 million in stolen cash.

Cady never knew her father, who she suggests was part of Huey Lewis.

The Devil tells Sam the vessel was only half full (or half empty). The second criminal broke out of Hell, too. Not one to beat around the bush, the Devil warns Sam that the second soul is the dangerous one. Oh, and he should spend the stolen money.

Sock and Ben broke into Sam’s room to take some of the money and spend it. Sam’s afraid they’ll end up like the two robbers, killing each other over the money. They agree to not spend any more. Sock then reveals he burnt down Josie’s apartment shortly before they broke up and has now bought everything that burned in that fire. He’s just trying to make amends but would be happy if she were to thank him in a naked or partially naked way.

They find out there was a third robber, one who’s still alive and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He’s out now, so they go to where he works but find out he was hauled off for something to do with a bank robbery.

Sock comes up with a plan to prove Cady’s the Devil’s daughter: finding a 666 on her body. He saw it in a movie. She thinks they’re just trying to protect Sam and promises she’s not going to steal him from them. Sock asks to see her naked… not because they want to but because they have to. Her counteroffer: they need to get naked, too. They agree and don’t see a 666, so apparently now she is Devil free.

The third robber is now free again. He was a bank manager but had a gambling problem. He met up with the robbers and thought they were fun, but they were just setting him up. He claims he was framed but that nobody believed him, not even his family.

Sock brings Josie what he bought for her with the money. She immediately thinks it’s stolen merchandise. Of course it’s not stolen merchandise. The money was just stolen. She’s not interested in his gifts.

Ben and Sam ask Ted, who used to have a gambling problem (and apparently still does), where they could find some high rollers. They slap a stack of money and say the need for $10K just to get in is no problem. He’ll take them if they stake him.

Josie goes to Andi and is suspicious that something must be up because the boys are acting strangely all the time. Andi’s noticed it, too.

Ted doesn’t last long before being assaulted, but the others stick around to gamble. They sit down at the soul’s table and wait for him to get sick of them. He leaves when they slap down money that he recognizes, and he goes through the wall, taking Ben with him. He threatens to kill Ben if they don’t bring him the rest of his money.

They bring a bag and set it on fire. It’s not money, though, just Sock’s underpants. The soul falls for it, and they capture him as he’s distracted.

They decide they don’t want the money any more and leave it at the donut shop where the ex-bank manager works. The Devil warns Sam he’ll just waste the money gambling and will be homeless in a year. While they’re talking, Cady walks in, and she admits to Sam that she doesn’t actually know who her father is and that it may be the Devil. Sam wants to convince her otherwise. As the flowers wilt behind them, he can’t figure out why she keeps unintentionally killing things, though.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Reaper episode 11.