Author: Shane

Survivor: Worlds Apart Episode 2

After proving to be a bad liar almost immediately after getting to camp in Survivor: Worlds Apart Episode 1, So was voted off the island.

There are problems with clothing already. Dan lost his underpants and had to create makeshift pants to wear instead. Max simply prefers to be naked, and Shirin follows his lead. Then on the No Collar tribe, the girls go skinny dipping, and Nina at 25 years their senior for some reason gets upset that she was not invited, so she says.

As his tribe plays “basketball”, Mike wants to keep working. While doing that, he loudly complains about the others who are not helping him.

Vince continues his obsessions with Joe, a battle that splits the tribe down the middle.

At the challenge, they will dive into the water, swim to a platform, maneuver the buoys free from the various platforms, swim to the final platform with them, and then shoot baskets. Kelly and Nina sit out. No Collar and Blue Collar are way ahead of White Collar. Until Will gets in the water and stays there basically until it’s a lost cause. After struggling for most of the challenge, White Collar takes the lead when Joaquin hits the water. The hero of the challenge, Joaquin is also making all of the baskets for his team, and White Collar wins immunity and fishing gear. Blue Collar places second.

After Will blew the challenge, Nina and Vince comment how he’s looking tired, cost them the challenge, and will continue to do so. But Vince would rather have the numbers than worry about all that.

Joe plans to split the vote just in case Nina finds an idol. Does it look like Nina is looking for the idol? Perhaps she is, but I’m not getting that sense. What a stupid plan. That’s an easy way for one of them to be sent packing. When Will reveals the plan to Nina, she informs him that Vince has been discussing how he seems tired, an equally stupid move because now she, too, seems to be trying to make it so the vote does not go her way.

Interestingly, the guy who should be going home will now cast the deciding vote.

Votes
Jenn
Vince
Nina
Jenn
Vince
Vince

With 3 votes, Vince has been voted off the island. No matter how creepy and cancerous he may have been, I’m not sure keeping around weaker challenge participants is going to help them go forward. The only person this vote made sense for is Will, who has an alliance of sorts with the other three plus one with Nina, so he took out his only threat, which Joe allowed him to do with this silly split vote proposal.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Worlds Apart Episode 3, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Amazing Race 26 Episode 2

Having made a poor detour decision in The Amazing Race 26 Episode 1 and refusing to switch, Jeff & Lyda were eliminated.

After sleeping in computer cubicles, teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Jelani & Jenny – 5:30AM
Second: Jeff & Jackie – 5:33AM
Third: Laura & Tyler – 5:45AM
Fourth: Aly & Steve – 6:14AM
Fifth: Harley & Jonathan – 6:52AM
Sixth: Bergen & Kurt – 7:10AM
Seventh: Mike & Rochelle – 7:15AM
Eighth: Hayley & Blair – 7:33AM
Ninth: Matt & Ashley – 7:36AM
Tenth: Libby & CJ – 8:20AM

Teams must catch the bullet train to Nagano, Japan. If they’re staying local, it doesn’t look good for the directionally challenged team that is way behind everybody else.

The blind date teams are all getting along for now. They are mostly just focused on the race, except for Kurt, who apparently came on the race to find his first boyfriend.

Rochelle views this race as a fast forward for their relationship of several months. That never ends well.

The road block requires teams to figure out how to open a trick box.

Road block (in order of arrival): Jeff, Tyler, Jelani, Aly, Mike, Harley, Bergen, Ashley, Hayley, Libby

Just what you need when doing a puzzle. Loud banging drums and gongs and whatever other instrument makes a lot of noise. There is certainly a skill to this task, but it’s something you could get in a few minutes or hours, though it doesn’t feel like it’s terribly complicated.

Before moving to the detour, one couple will pull a ticket for a date night at the pit stop. Ugh. This leg’s winners are Harley & Jonathan.

The detour is a choice between chair or share. Share requires teams to feed each other noodles using chopsticks. Chair requires teams to push each other around an Olympic speed skating track in 3:55 or less.

Share: Laura & Tyler, Jelani & Jenny, Jeff & Jackie, Harley & Jonathan, Bergen & Kurt, Libby & CJ, Mike & Rochelle (switched from Chair)
Chair: Aly & Steve, Matt & Ashley, Hayley & Blair

Share is clearly the better one because the other one you have to do over and over again until you get it within the time limit. It’s not like they’re eating a gross food here either. Who could have trouble eating noodles? Kurt. Apparently.

Of course, if you’re a winter Olympian like Aly & Steve, picking the other task makes sense. Then again, the gold medal hockey stars took forever on the hockey task last season on TAR Canada, but in that case skating was not the only skill required. It does not make as much sense for Mike & Rochelle, as she reluctantly gets pushed into switching by her partner after she falls and goes to see a medic.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Patio Daimon, a storage facility turned restaurant complex.

First: Jelani & Jenny (win a Fitbit wellness kit, a very lame promotional placement, and some other stuff)
Second: Laura & Tyler
Third: Aly & Steve
Fourth: Harley & Jonathan
Fifth: Bergen & Kurt
Sixth: Jeff & Jackie
Seventh: Matt & Ashley
Eighth: Mike & Rochelle
Ninth: Hayley & Blair
Eliminated: Libby & CJ

Well, that was a pointless leg. The editors tried to make it seem like Libby & CJ had a chance, but they were so far behind the others with tasks that would not have made enough difference for them to be able to catch up. The outcome was pretty obvious from the time when all nine other teams were on their train rides and Phil announced where they were going without bothering to wait for the final team to depart.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 26 Episode 2, which airs Friday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Amazing Race 26 Episode 1

The 11 teams that make up The Amazing Race 26 cast for some reason this time consist of half that are dating and half that are just random strangers who are blind dating. Weird. At least it won’t be any worse than the Family Edition.

The single men line up on the starting line, where they will meet their partners for the first time. This will not end well. That’s probably the plan. Let’s find a way to manufacture drama and get more screaming pairs.

From the starting line, they immediately end up crawling through the mud. This is typically reserved for a challenge in some far off country, but they’re throwing them into it right away. There are eight tickets for the earlier flight and three tickets for the later flight (departing 45 minutes after the first) that will presumably be battling for last.

And they have selfie cams this year. Just what the world needs more of.

Hayley & Blair, Mike & Rochelle, and Libby & CJ end up on the second flight bound for Tokyo, Japan.

The detour is a choice between syncing steps or samurai sake. In syncing steps, they will join a techno pop group and learn their choreography. In samurai sake, teams must memorize 10 drink names from a large selection and deliver orders accordingly.

Syncing Steps: Jelani & Jenny, Laura & Tyler, Matt & Ashley, Aly & Steve, Jeff & Lyda, Bergen & Kurt, Mike & Rochelle, Libby & CJ, Hayley & Blair
Samurai Sake: Jeff & Jackie, Harley & Jonathan

Almost everybody opts to do the dancing, except for those who don’t feel comfortable, Jeff and New Kids on the Block member Jonathan. I’m not sure you could really call this dancing, though. In any case, it seems like the harder of the two tasks, in some cases by far.

We’re already on a blind double U-turn. Jeff & Jackie do not U-turn since they think they are in first. Jelani & Jenny and Tyler & Laura do the same. Harley & Jonathan also decline, as do Aly & Steve. Bergen & Kurt pile on. Having struggled with the detour to the point of just about having a breakdown, Mike & Rochelle U-turn Jeff & Lyda, the only team they know are behind them. Seeing this, nobody else needs to use the second one.

After nearly 4 hours and 23 attempts, Jeff & Lyda finally finish the detour. They’re going to kick themselves when they figure out how easy the other one is. They decide to U-turn the long ago finished Jeff & Jackie rather than the once again lost Libby & CJ.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is… a parking space. The lawyers are quicker to figure out what the term “vicinity” means, allowing them to leapfrog the lead team.

First: Jelani & Jenny (win express pass)
Second: Jeff & Jackie
Third: Laura & Tyler
Fourth: Aly & Steve
Fifth: Harley & Jonathan
Sixth: Bergen & Kurt
Seventh: Mike & Rochelle
Eighth: Hayley & Blair
Ninth: Matt & Ashley
Tenth: Libby & CJ
Eliminated: Jeff & Lyda

Having struggled on the detour perhaps more than I have seen on any previous one, Jeff & Lyda have been eliminated. They made a very critical mistake. They refused to switch from a futile detour, possibly viewing doing so as quitting. But that’s the point of a detour, that you have a choice.

It was interesting to see the blind daters take the top three spots. It won’t last, but some of them could continue to work well together.

This was a great night of reality TV. Alas, The Amazing Race moves back to Friday nights after this.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 26 Episode 2, which airs Friday at 8/7c on CBS.

Survivor: Worlds Apart Episode 1

In its 30th season, Survivor remains as compelling as ever. The Survivor: Worlds Apart cast consists of 18 contestants with the new twist being white collar vs. blue collar vs. no collar.

White Collar (Yellow/Masaya): Carolyn, Joaquin, Max, Shirin, So, Tyler
Blue Collar (Blue/Escameca): Dan, Kelly, Lindsey, Mike, Rodney, Sierra
No Collar (Red/Nargarote): Hali, Jenn, Joe, Nina, Vince, Will

Each tribe picks one person to represent them: Joaquin, Dan, and Will. They choose So, Mike, and Jenn to join them. When they get back to camp, each pair will separate and make a decision for their tribe.

The decision they must make is between honesty and deceit. Honesty will earn them a large bag of beans; deceit will earn them a small bag of beans with a hidden immunity idol clue. The first two tribes choose to be honest.

Sierra doesn’t trust that story and starts spreading rumors that they screwed them and took the clue.

So has some skepticism, but Joaquin without question wants to lie and pushes the decision that way. He views this as an advantage, and he’s going to take whatever he can. Is it really? Having less food than the other tribes sounds detrimental. As a result of this plot, they agree to be in an alliance. They lie and say they chose the non-existent neutral option, which nobody believes. In response, Carolyn, Shirin, and Max form an alliance of their own.

Blue Collar gets fire within a couple hours. Pretty impressive. Not to be outdone, Joe makes fire for the No Collar tribe as well. Okay, this is getting a little silly now. Vince’s immediate reaction is jealousy because he fears his crush Jenn will now be after Joe instead.

Mike eats a scorpion. He’s now vomiting on day 1. That’s probably not a good thing.

Lindsey has already decided she does not like Dan, who seems to be talking down to her as they build the shelter. This quickly puts him on the wrong side of the female members of the tribe.

Carolyn doesn’t need a clue to find the hidden immunity idol. She just keeps an eye on So and then looks where she is looking because they all know she’s got the clue.

The first immunity challenge sends them through some obstacles before they must choose between keys to unlock locks or knots to untie. All three tribes choose the keys. Then they all change their minds. Another set of obstacles follows as Blue Collar falls way behind. The big choice is which puzzle they want: 5, 10, or 50 pieces. Each averages about the same amount of time to solve but utilizes a different set of skills. No Collar chooses 10 pieces, White Collar chooses 50 pieces, and Blue Collar picks 10. Shirin is terrible, allowing the last place tribe to catch up. No Collar wins immunity and reward. Blue Collar places second. Reward is a fire-making kit for first place and flint for second. That means White Collar is still fireless, though they will get it after Tribal Council.

So successfully accomplished her part of the challenge of untying knots, which would make one of the other two women the target. Whether that’s a fair comparison to doing a puzzle, probably not.

Joaquin and So lie again, telling Carolyn she is not a target. Tyler informs her she is a target, and her response is that she knows they don’t have the idol because she does. This turn of events makes So her target.

Carolyn opts not to use her idol, and I’m not sure how much sense it would have made to use it at the first vote anyway, although telling someone seems equally questionable.

Votes
Carolyn
So
Carolyn
So
So
So

With 4 votes, So has been voted off the island. For the sake of challenges, they could use her a lot more than either of the other two women, but she lost any credibility with that early lie.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Worlds Apart Episode 2, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Biggest Loser Season 16 Winner

Woody fell below the red line in The Biggest Loser Season 16 Episode 17 and was eliminated, bringing us down to a final three of Toma Dobrosavljevic, Rob Guiry, and Sonya Jones.

They rushed through just about every other episode, but now when they probably need it least is 2 hours to conclude the season. I am prepared for lots of filler, though they usually do a pretty good job with their finales.

Now we start the weigh in for the at home prize. What order are we going in? Random I guess.

Damien: 296 pounds (-92, 23.71%)
Emmy: 212 pounds (-48, 18.46%)
Lori: 210 pounds (-91, 30.23%)
Woody: 274 pounds (-124, 31.16%)
Scott: 246 pounds (-120, 32.79%)
Andrea: Andrea: 174 pounds (-70, 28.69%)
Jackie: 225 pounds (-66, 22.68%)
Zina: 226 pounds (-37, 14.07%)
Chandra: 270 pounds (-71, 20.82%)
Blake: 154 pounds (-97, 38.65%)
Mike: 249 pounds (-150, 37.59%)
Gina: 177 pounds (-65, 26.86%)
Vanessa: 299 pounds (-67, 18.31%)
Matt: 231 pounds (-155, 40.16%)
JJ: 225 pounds (-167, 42.60%)
Rondalee: 187 pounds (-93, 33.21%)
Jordan: 180 pounds (-143, 44.27%)

The Biggest Loser at home winner of the $100,000 prize is Jordan.

Now for the grand prize of $250,000. Or maybe not now but eventually since 40 minutes remain in the show.

Sonya: 139 pounds (-144, 50.88%)
Rob: 245 pounds (-238, 49.28%)
Toma: 165 pounds (-171, 50.89%)

By 0.01%, The Biggest Loser Season 16 winner is Toma.

With the move to Thursday and the continued weird scheduling, this season’s ratings have been rather lackluster. Better than last year’s doomed comedy block but not by much. It’s cheap to produce, but I’m not sure that’s enough. If it could retain these ratings on a Friday, that would probably work. I’d like to see NBC do a reality TV night with this and The Apprentice, which is still entertaining despite the fact that Trump tends to fire people who bring the least drama or who refuse to play his games rather than using the task as any basis. In any event, I’m not holding my breath for another season next year. NBC seems to have happily sacrificed this show.

The Biggest Loser Season 16 Episode 17

After falling below the red line in The Biggest Loser Season 16 Episode 16, Lori was eliminated.

Here to promote The Today Show is Jenna Wolfe. She will workout with the contestants while pregnant, and Bob will train the new trainers.

They return to the Los Angeles Coliseum, where the season began. Their challenge is to put the weight back on and then shed it. They will run up and down thousands of steps, stopping at 16 different checkpoints where they can deposit the weight they have lost each week. Reward is a 1 pound advantage and $5,000.

With the least amount of excess weight, Sonya takes the lead. Woody’s just about staying with her at first, but he falls behind. At the 7th checkpoint, Toma manages to take the lead, and he never looks back. Rob takes his time to slowly get through the process, but he does finish what for all of them is an emotional challenge that serves as a reminder of how far they have come.

Speaking of which, their next task is to watch a recap of their progress throughout the season.

After the last last chance workout, it’s time for the final weigh in, where the top three finishers will head to the finale.

Toma: 199 pounds (-3, -1, 1.98%)
Rob: 302 pounds (-13, 4.13%)
Woody: 270 pounds (-4, 1.46%)
Sonya: 163 pounds (-6, 3.55%)

His comeback is short-lived, as Woody falls below the red line and has been eliminated. From his starting weight of 398 pounds, he is down 148 pounds to 250 today.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 16 Episode 18, where we will find out who The Biggest Loser Season 16 winner is, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 26 Cast

The Amazing Race 26 cast consists of 11 teams of 2 each with a pre-existing relationship. Oh, wait. This time, there are 6 dating couples and 5 single blind date couples. Meh. This is not The Amazing Race I know, but I guess they get points for being different.

The Preexisting Dating Couples:

Name: Aly Dudek
Age: 24
Hometown: Milwaukee, Wis.
Occupation: Olympic Athlete *won bronze at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics in short track speed skating

Name: Steven Langton
Age: 31
Hometown: Boston, Mass.
Occupation: Olympic Athlete *won 2 bronze medals at the 2014 Sochi Olympics in bobsledding

Length of relationship: 7 months

Name: Harley Rodriguez
Age: 41
Hometown: New York, N.Y.
Occupation: Group Fitness Trainer

Name: Jonathan Knight
Age: 46
Hometown: New York, N.Y.
Occupation: Entertainer (New Kids on the Block member)

Length of relationship: 7 years

Name: Jeff Magee
Age: 57
Hometown: McCall, Idaho
Occupation: Airline Pilot

Name: Lyda Grawn
Age: 49
Hometown: Scottsdale, Ariz.
Occupation: Flight Attendant

Length of relationship: Known 20 years, dating 4 years

Name: C.J. Harris
Age: 26
Hometown: Tuskegee, Ala.
Occupation: IT Technician

Name: Lebya Simpson
Age: 25
Hometown: Tuskegee, Ala.
Occupation: Medical Support Assistant

Length of relationship: Known for 15 years, dating for 10

Name: Matt Cucolo
Age: 30
Hometown: Scarsdale, N.Y.
Occupation: Hairstylist

Name: Ashley Gordon
Age: 28
Hometown: Scarsdale, N.Y.
Occupation: Hairstylist

Length of relationship: Known 10 years, dating 3 years

Name: Rochelle Nevedal
Age: 29
Hometown: Kalkaska, Mich.
Occupation: Contract Engineer

Name: Michael Dombrowski
Age: 26
Hometown: Traverse City, Mich.
Occupation: Truck Stop Manager/Pro Wrestling Promoter

Length of relationship: 2 years

The Blind Date Couples:

Name: Hayley Keel
Age: 28
Hometown: St. Petersburg, Fla.
Occupation: Registered Nurse

Name: Blair Townsend
Age: 31
Hometown: Jacksonville, Fla.
Occupation: Navy Physician

Name: Jackie Ibarra
Age: 27
Hometown: Las Vegas, Nev.
Occupation: Professional Dancer

Name: Jeffrey Weldon
Age: 26
Hometown: Tampa, Fla.
Occupation: Account Executive/Sales

Name: Laura Pierson
Age: 29
Hometown: Los Angeles, Calif.
Occupation: Talent Booker

Name: Tyler Adams
Age: 26
Hometown: Santa Monica, Calif.
Occupation: Mobile App Developer

Name: Jenny Wu
Age: 32
Hometown: Los Angeles, Calif.
Occupation: Blogger and Lawyer

Name: Jelani Roy
Age: 32
Hometown: New York, N.Y.
Occupation: Lawyer

Name: Bergen Olsen
Age: 23
Hometown: Sunnyvale, Calif.
Occupation: Human Resources Project Manager

Name: Kurt Jordan Belcher
Age: 24
Hometown: Butler, Ky.
Occupation: Pageant Consultant

The Amazing Race 26 premieres Wednesday February 25 at 9:30/8:30c on CBS before moving back to Fridays.

Survivor: Worlds Apart Cast

The Survivor: Worlds Apart cast consists of 18 castaways divided by collar (white collar, blue collar, and no collar).

White Collar (Masaya Tribe)

Tyler Fredrickson, 33
Current Residence: Los Angeles
Occupation: Ex-Talent Agent Assistant

So Kim, 31
Current Residence: Long Beach, Calif.
Occupation: Retail Buyer

Carolyn Rivera, 52
Current Residence: Tampa, Fla.
Occupation: Corporate Executive

Max Dawson, Ph.D., 37
Current Residence: Topanga, Calif.
Occupation: Media Consultant

Shirin Oskooi, 31
Current Residence: San Francisco
Occupation: Yahoo Executive

Joaquin Souberbielle, 27
Current Residence: Valley Stream, N.Y.
Occupation: Marketing Director

Blue Collar (Escameca Tribe)

Kelly Remington, 44
Current Residence: Grand Island, N.Y.
Occupation: State Trooper

Sierra Dawn Thomas, 27
Current Residence: Roy, Utah
Occupation: Barrel Racer

Mike Holloway, 38
Current Residence: North Richland Hills, Texas
Occupation: Oil Driller

Lindsey Cascaddan, 24
Current Residence: College Park, Fla.
Occupation: Hairdresser

Dan Foley, 47
Current Residence: Gorham, Maine
Occupation: Postal Worker

Rodney Lavoie Jr., 24
Current Residence: Boston
Occupation: General Contractor

No Collar (Nargarote)

Jenn Brown, 22
Current Residence: Long Beach, Calif.
Occupation: Sailing Instructor

Hali Ford, 25
Current Residence: San Francisco
Occupation: Law Student

Joe Anglim, 25
Current Residence: Scottsdale, Ariz.
Occupation: Jewelry Designer

Nina Poersch, 51
Current Residence: Palmdale, Calif.
Occupation: Hearing Advocate

Vince Sly, 32
Current Residence: Santa Monica, Calif.
Occupation: Coconut Vendor

Will Sims II, 41
Current Residence: Sherman Oaks, Calif.
Occupation: YouTube Sensation

Survivor: Worlds Apart premieres Wednesday February 25 at 8/7c on CBS.