reality tv – Page 101

Survivor: South Pacific Episode 7

In a tribe split down the middle, Mikayla was voted out in Survivor: South Pacific Episode 6.

Edna, Coach, and some guy named Rick (is he new?), who were the idiots who sided with Brandon (to be fair, Edna had no choice), feel he is a liability. Ya think? Edna believes this is a good thing. If her name comes up again next time, so will his. Rick is worried Brandon will completely botch the merge. He probably will. Coach, however, wants to remain loyal, until such time as he deems it necessary to put a bullet in his head.

Christine is in a duel with Mikayla. They will take apart a crate, use the planks to build a bridge, take the bridge apart, and solve a puzzle with some of the planks. Christine is the first person to make it to the bridge and the first to complete it. During this, Albert is giving Mikayla whatever help he can give her. He does not support his other former teammate, who is bitter anyway. In cases like this, it normally comes down to who’s the best puzzle solver, although this puzzle doesn’t appear particularly complicated. Mikayla thinks she has it. Not quite. Christine is correct and stays alive. So is anybody happy with this result?

Christine’s former tribemates look annoyed. More importantly, Ozzy is afraid of Christine’s winning streak. He has a proposal: send somebody to Redemption to beat her. Ozzy volunteers. Works for me.

Coach says he is not worthy about 10 times in a row. I know. So after they’re done praying for God to help them find the hidden immunity idol, they “search” for a while, and return to camp, deciding to let everybody in on the secret, minus the part about finding it weeks ago. Brandon views this as divine intervention, a sign that the man upstairs really does watch reality TV.

They head to the immunity challenge dressed as pairs of warriors. Reward is a preview of Jack & Jill starring Adam Sandler plus, more importantly, popcorn, candy, soda, and hot dogs. One set of twins will be the callers. The other two sets of twins will be tied together and blindfolded and must go through obstacles to collect bags of masks. One set will empty the bags and, using only their sense of touch, pair up the masks into matching pairs. Coach & Rick and Jim & Cochran are the callers. Upolu starts off with the lead. They increase this lead by a good margin with the second bag, but it evaporates with the third bag. Savaii takes the lead but blows it when they get tangled up in their ropes, and the blame for this falls universally on Cochran. Upolu is in the lead after all four bags are returned. Then Coach starts praying for victory. Really? Upolu wins immunity and reward. You know what that means. Time to pray some more. Meanwhile, Ozzy flies into a rage and starts hitting things.

In spite of Ozzy’s earlier brilliant plan to get voted out on purpose and give away his idol, Cochran no longer feels safe, what with Ozzy’s latest temper tantrum added to an anger management problem. So apparently, Cochran has volunteered to go to Redemption for the good of the tribe. At least that’s how Ozzy tells the story.

The next morning, after some dreams about going away (I await it as well), Ozzy wakes up, goes to get his immunity idol, and puts it around his neck. He again makes his offer to head to Redemption. Keith is the most vocal against this. What if the merge doesn’t happen when they think it will?

If Ozzy is sent packing, the plan is for him to go to Christine and say they tried to vote out Cochran, but he played the idol and saved himself. They’d like to turn Cochran into a double agent. After they almost voted him out and have treated him like something of an outcast for most of the game, his odds of actually flipping and not just pretending to flip are good. This seems to benefit him more than anyone.

After the vote, Ozzy hands the idol to Cochran, who promises to return it if he comes back.

Votes
Ozzy
Ozzy
Ozzy
Ozzy

With 4 votes, Ozzy has been voted off the island. As dumb a move as this is, if it actually works, it can be easily pointed to as one of the better strategic moves in the game, something Ozzy never had in his last two seasons. It would be hard to classify this as a smart move, but it’s still a huge move that makes things interesting.

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

The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 6

After the red team fell below the yellow line in The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 5, Courtney was eliminated.

It’s Halloween at The Biggest Loser. Minus the begging strangers for candy.

Every year, the average American spends $44 on Halloween candy. There are 20 million pounds of candy year sold annually. Really? Who likes this stuff? Additionally, the average American eats 24 pounds of candy a year.

Speaking of candy, it’s time for temptation. Each pound of candy is a 1 pound advantage. Everybody will weigh in together. It’s all for one week. All they have to do is lose 100 pounds, or 10 pounds per person. If they do, everybody will be safe for one more week. To get a head start, they can eat up to 10 pounds of candy. 1 pound of candy each seems like a fair trade to me.

Because everybody’s working together this week, that allows the trainers to train whoever they want. Still, Bob has a concern: keep everybody safe so his dominant team doesn’t run the risk of being picked off.

Jen’s distracted by not being able to workout with Bob. I get a feeling you won’t be doing that when you get home either.

Showmance is brewing in the house between Ramon and Jessica. I don’t think I’ve seen this before on this show. Generally they just get together after the fact. Anna’s worried this will serve as a distraction.

Inside the maze filled with hundreds of apples, they will have to gather 150 pounds of apples within 10 minutes to receive a 5 pound advantage on the scale. For a 10 pound advantage, they will have to gather 200 pounds of apples. The trick: they must be out of the maze by the time the 10 minutes expires, or they will lose the advantage and receive a 5 pound disadvantage. So the question becomes: who is The Mole?

After 3 minutes, they’re at 30 pounds, nowhere near the pace they need to be. They hit 75. Then 100. Seems they’re figuring things out. But whatever happens, Antone’s not going in the graveyard. They hit 150 pounds with 2 minutes left. With 50 seconds left, they feel they can make it, so they head back in for another 12 pounds. With 1 second to spare and refusing to drop any apples, they make their narrow escape. The final total is well over 200 pounds of apples, giving them a 10 pound advantage, which knocks their goal down to 90 pounds.

This week, Bonnie has stopped whining because she decided she likes Bob.

In spite of playing a trick on Bob to the contrary, they didn’t eat any of the candy. Based on the trade off of 1 pound for 1 pound, I can’t say I agree. 1 candy bar a day won’t hurt you, particularly when you’re in the gym for 6 hours a day and quite likely struggling to eat enough calories each day anyway.

Bob has Jessica give Antone a piggyback ride. That was unexpected.

At the weigh in, their goal is 90 pounds of weight loss.

John: 344 pounds (-10, 2.82%) – over 100 pounds lost in 6 weeks, tying the record
Antone: 369 pounds (-8, 2.12%)
Joe: 286 pounds (-8, 2.72%)
Sunny: 232 pounds (+5, 2.20%)
Jennifer: 270 pounds (-4, 1.46%)
Bonnie: 228 pounds (-1, 0.44%)
Becky: 203 pounds (-1, 0.49%)
Vinny: 367 pounds (-5, 1.34%)
Jessica: 209 pounds (-4, 1.88%)
Ramon: 302 pounds (-2, 0.66%)

After a bloodbath, they fall short of their goal of 90 pounds by 68. Anna warns the lovebirds about getting distracted, but they are not alone. As The Biggest Loser of the week, John is the only person safe from elimination. Never having been to the elimination room, the black team holds half of the votes and should be able to make the end decision. The only way something could go wrong for them is if the red and blue teams unite to vote out Sunny.

Vinny uses this opportunity to pick a fight with Jennifer because he doesn’t like her. His excuse: she didn’t say something when Dolvett told them to (she did). Then he storms out of the room. Put a little more effort into your feuds if you wish to create them. This is just stupid. The potential problem for her is that her team doesn’t like her either, so are they dumb enough to vote her out or let her get voted out by not voting as a block?

Votes
Vinny: Jennifer
Jessica: Jennifer
Ramon: Jennifer
Jennifer: Ramon
John: Ramon
Joe: Jennifer
Antone: Jennifer
Sunny: Jennifer

With 6 votes, Jennifer is not The Biggest Loser. Their first time in the elimination room proves the black team’s not the brightest group. From her starting weight of 330 pounds, Jennifer has lost 102 pounds to 228 pounds today.

And I just realized The X Factor is on tonight. What the hell, Fox?

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 7, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 19 Episode 5

After falling apart on the detour, Liz & Marie were non-eliminated in The Amazing Race 19 Episode 4.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Andy & Tommy – 10:07AM
Second: Justin & Jennifer – 11:01AM
Third: Jeremy & Sandy – 11:44AM
Fourth: Laurence & Zac – 11:45AM
Fifth: Ernie & Cindy – 11:52AM
Sixth: Amani & Marcus – 11:53AM
Seventh: Bill & Cathi – 12:22PM
Eighth: Liz & Marie – 1:35PM

Laurence wants to be the boss of his team because he’s older. Ernie wonders why the scholarly Cindy loves him.

After taking a taxi ride, teams will have to ride elephants up the river. An interesting form of transportation, but not the fastest one.

The road block will lead them to a waterfall and a Thai flautist, and they’ll have to search a pool for a clue. Seems simple enough.

Road block (in order of arrival): Andy, Justin, Sandy, Laurence, Marcus, Cindy, Cathi, Marie

From there, they will head to a local shop and disassemble a spirit house and deliver the pieces to a temple.

The second road block requires them to reassemble their spirit house as they found it. The person who did not do the other one will have to do this one, which looks more complicated. The problem here is they need to have paid attention upon arrival initially.

Road block (in order of arrival): Tommy, Jennifer, Zac, Jeremy, Ernie, Amani, Bill, Liz

Before they can do the road block, Liz & Marie have a speed bump to perform. In addition to being over an hour behind the last place team (and 3.5 hours behind the leaders) already, it looks like they’re sticking in or around Thailand for this leg. Their speed bump is to wash and clean up after their elephants.

Not having paid attention, Tommy has to take a ride back to the place where they got the house. I don’t think he will be alone in that. Justin & Jennifer have a plan: use their driver’s camera and take a picture before they disassemble it. Cheap but within the rules of the race. Sandy & Jeremy take notes. Laurence vetoes Zac’s suggestion of doing the same. When he gets to the road block, Zac realizes he needs to take notes, and his father blames him. After all, Laurence would have been able to do this without taking notes. Ass. Marcus & Amani also take notes. Ernie’s in a bit of a hurry, overruling Cindy’s desire to study. Therein lies the difference in that relationship. The trailing two teams take notes.

After getting ripped off by the local cab drivers, teams will now travel 550 miles by bus to Bangkok. A 13 hour bus ride with an early morning arrival presents an equalizer for most, but still does not look sufficient for the twins to catch up. With no money to spare, Liz & Marie give the driver all they have, which he agrees to accept, and then drives them to meet up with the bus that took off but stopped ahead.

First bus (departs at 4:30PM): Andy & Tommy, Justin & Jennifer, Jeremy & Sandy
Second bus (first class departs at 4:30PM): Laurence & Zac
Third bus (departs at 5:30PM): Amani & Marcus, Bill & Cathi
Fourth bus (express bus, departs at 5:30PM, arrives first): Ernie & Cindy
Fifth bus (departs at 8:00PM): Laurence & Zac
Sixth bus: Liz & Marie

Zac asks whether a first class bus is a problem. His father again disregards his concerns. After they leave, Zac again speaks up, and this time Laurence listens, so they have to run 3 miles back to the bus terminal. By that time, the other buses are already leaving. Just about any penalty would be better than the 2.5 hours they just lost.

Upon arrival in Bangkok, they will feed the fish at the Bangkok Noi Canal. Once the fish feeding is done, they’ll head to the next pit stop. Really? Just a bus trip and then done? Farewell, twins. In addition to the fact that they have no prayer, they also have no money, and are told they’re 5 hours walking distance away from their destination. So they’ll walk because unlike the producers of this show who felt stripping people of their money was appropriate for years, they feel guilty asking poor people for money. Granted, there’s always the tourists at the bus station. Or perhaps a kind taxi driver willing to give them a free ride, which is what they opt to do. A second cab driver also gives them a free ride to the pit stop.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is M.R. Kukrit Heritage Home. It seemed like Ernie & Cindy had this in the bag, but they made the mistake of hopping out of their cab. Meanwhile, for what must be hours, Jeremy & Sandy struggle to get to the location, which allows Laurence & Zac to pass them, at which time Phil tells them the first class travel rule only applies to air travel.

First: Amani & Marcus (win a trip to Bali)
Second: Bill & Cathi
Third: Ernie & Cindy
Fourth: Justin & Jennifer
Fifth: Andy & Tommy
Sixth: Laurence & Zac
Seventh: Jeremy & Sandy
Eliminated: Liz & Marie

As the last team to arrive for a second leg in a row, Liz & Marie have been eliminated.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 19 Episode 6, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

Survivor: South Pacific Episode 6

Remember when Ozzy had control of the game? Me neither. But what little control he did have went up in smoke in Survivor: South Pacific Episode 5 when the tribe once again took out the girl he was hoping to be his main ally, Elyse.

Ozzy tells his tribe that he’s on his own and a free agent. That should work out for you about as well as your last two very poor attempts at winning this show. He also tells the tribe he’s got the idol. Like the idol twist that he got so stupidly wrapped up in during his first season, he’s pinning all his hopes in redemption.

Jim is pleased with Ozzy’s hissy fit. It shouldn’t be very hard to get rid of him now.

Brandon gets a clue to the hidden immunity idol. Coach and Albert let him think the idol is still up for grabs. Coach withholds information and then lies, but he’s still playing honorably. I don’t care if you’re going to lie. Just be honest about it.

Before the duel, Christine starts crying. Oh, not this again. Feel free to throw the challenge and head to Ponderosa if it’s that bad. In the meantime, blink once if you’re being held there against your will. Twice if an almighty deity is the one holding you hostage. The duel is shuffleboard. After a couple shots, Christine gives her tribe the finger. She is the first to score, then Elyse ties it at 1. Christine takes the 2-1 lead. Elyse knocks herself off to give Christine the 3-1 lead. Elyse makes it 3-2. Then ties it 3-3. Christine wins her fourth duel. In her words, unfortunately.

Coach wants to get rid of Mikayla next rather than Edna, who’s not part of the alliance but is part of his alliance.

So after pouting for a day, Ozzy realizes he’s a big baby and has no choice but to try to work with somebody on his tribe.

For the challenge, they will assemble a wheelbarrow, push it through obstacles, and use it to collect coconuts. The remaining tribe members will take the wheelbarrow apart and use the pieces to build a slingshot and fire coconuts at targets. Reward is a visit to the sliding rocks, a natural waterslide, for a picnic. Edna sits out for Upolu. Both tribes assemble their wheelbarrows at the same time, but Upolu takes the lead when Ozzy and Dawn can’t figure out how to steer. As Savaii continues to struggle, Upolu takes the 1-0 lead. Savaii finally builds their slingshot and ties it 1-1, and Coach wants Mikayla to quit. Upolu takes the 2-1 lead. Savaii ties it 2-2, and Coach again asks Mikayla to sit out. Upolu retakes the lead. Savaii ties it 3-3 and then takes the lead with 2 more points as Jim and Keith continue to perform well. Savaii wins immunity and reward.

Now that the challenge is over, Coach has a new plan. He wants to get rid of Mikayla. Oh wait. That’s the old plan. The explanation, however, is new. She was not coachable in the challenge. I didn’t realize coaching somebody meant telling them to quit repeatedly.

Albert believes he can get Coach to change his mind about the vote and get rid of Edna instead. He wants to get rid of the weak link and also the smarter player who Coach thinks he’s controlling. Even Brandon says he wants to keep Mikayla but won’t because he’s going to keep his word.

This leaves Coach, Brandon, and Edna on one side and Albert, Sophie, and Mikayla on the other, making Rick the deciding vote.

Those who want to vote for Edna argue that loyalty is more important than strength for after the merge; those who want to vote for Mikayla argue that strength is more important to get to the merge with numbers.

Next up, Brandon’s mouth. First, if people are going to vote against loyalty, go ahead and vote him out tonight. Good idea. Second, he doesn’t trust either Mikayla or Edna. He wants to get rid of Mikayla, but he’s going to keep his word. To an extent, I can appreciate his word meaning something, but does anybody really want to be allied with a guy who says everything he thinks?

Votes
Mikayla
Edna
Mikayla
Edna
Mikayla
Edna
Mikayla

By a vote of 4-3, Mikayla has been voted off the island.

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

The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 5

As the blue team fell below the line again in The Biggest Loser 12 Episode 4, Bonnie case the sole vote to eliminate Mike.

In other news, I see that X Factor is on again tonight. C’mon, Fox. How do you expect this show to gain any traction when you can’t pick a schedule? MLB’s on when X Factor is supposed to be on (and my Tivo tapes the wrong thing). X Factor’s on when MLB is supposed to be on (and my Tivo doesn’t tape anything). I don’t know. Maybe X Factor’s not really on right now, but I don’t care enough to check. Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, sometimes an hour, sometimes two, sometimes 90 minutes. I await your 38 minute Friday night special showing.

One person will get to go home this week. The trip home comes with immunity, making the prize actually worthwhile. But there’s a catch. That person’s weight will be the only weight to count for the whole team. In addition, the trainer will go with them, leaving the team to fend for themselves. Playing with fire there.

The challenge is dumb luck. By order of weight loss percentage, they will put their name on a board. Then a chip is released from the top of the Plinko board, and whoever’s name it hits is the winner, for lack of a better term. John hopes to avoid the prize, as he realizes the winner may end up losing. Joe doesn’t want to win it either. Sunny, however, hopes to win. Vinny and Bonnie do as well. Sunny wins. As the person with the lowest percentage of weight loss on her team so far, this is probably not good news for them, although the good thing is that she’s still among the top six with her four team members (only Ramon is up there with them). Bob warns her this is not a vacation.

With that in mind, he hopes to beat her down at the gym. She falls off the treadmill. Good. He wanted her on the ground anyway. Having four other people there with you at least gives you somewhere to hide. Nowhere to hide this week. During their time at the gym, she remembers thinking she was being laughed at by people in her exercise class.

Rather than going to the donut shop with her son when she’s driving him to school in the morning, she has a different idea. Time for a Subway commercial.

The challenge is to run through a string maze with glasses and put the remaining liquid in the cylinder on the other side. The blue team’s goal line is half as high since they have half the players. Every person on the winning team will be able to send one person to The Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge.

In addition to the challenge, we get a reminder of the dangers of soda. The glasses they carry are 20 ounces and are filled with orange soda containing the equivalent of 17 teaspoons of sugar. Joe says he drank 8-10 cans of soda a day. 1200-1500 calories right there, not too far shy of the total amount he actually needs. If he were to drink water or at least diet soda instead, he could cut out a large chunk of calories and not miss it.

We already know the blue team’s going to place last, as Bonnie provides some comic relief even to herself. After she collapses, the comedy turns to drama (and of course a commercial break), but she’s fine. Red team starts off with a bit of a lead and keeps it to finally win a challenge. Ramon will send his sister to the resort. Courtney will as well.

Sunny’s family brings her to dinner at a BBQ restaurant. Bob’s going to have to figure out how to order as healthy as possible. Sunny learns a lesson here. You can’t eat BBQ every night. Oh. Then they make Bob ride a bull and put on a cowboy hat.

Earlier in the season, Sunny was complaining that she didn’t fit in with the team. Now it’s Jennifer’s turn.

Then we go to Dolvett. He doesn’t want his team to laugh. Ever apparently.

Over on the blue team, Bonnie’s getting tired of Anna. Feel free to leave then.

Bob grew up on a farm in Tennessee, where Miley Cyrus and all the Montanas are from. Last chance workout will incorporate that farm life, complete with 110 degree weather (but it’s a dry heat).

At the weigh in, the only number that really matters is Sunny’s. Oh, and Bonnie hates Anna because being pushed makes her angry. Bob supports his fellow trainer because she’s right.

Vinny: 372 pounds (-10, 2.62%)
Jessica: 213 pounds (-6, 2.74%)
Ramon: 304 pounds (-7, 2.25%)
Courtney: 231 pounds (-6, 2.53%)
Red Total: 1120 pounds (-29, 2.52%)

Bonnie: 229 pounds (-4, 1.72%)
Becky: 204 pounds (-8, 3.77%)
Blue Total: 433 pounds (-12, 2.70%)

John: 354 pounds (-12, 3.28%)
Jennifer: 274 pounds (-8, 2.84%)
Joe: 294 pounds (-7, 2.33%)
Antone: 377 pounds (-4, 1.05%)
Sunny: 227 pounds (-14, 5.81%)
Black Total: 1526 pounds (-45, 2.86%)

Following Sunny’s massive weight loss (that puts her in second place for the season), both as a team and with the twist, the black team wins their fourth weigh in straight. That puts the red team in danger. They were all pretty even, but Jessica, who would have been the easiest to eliminate, is narrowly granted immunity from tonight’s vote. The logical move here is the elimination of Courtney. Vinny seems the most willing to go home, albeit the least ready physically.

Votes
Jessica: Courtney
Courtney: Vinny
Vinny (following an annoying rant that just keeps going): Courtney
Ramon: Courtney

With 3 votes, Courtney is not The Biggest Loser. From her starting weight of 270 pounds, she is down 65 pounds to 205 today. She wants to be able to pay it forward with her sister.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 6, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 19 Episode 4

In a close dash for the finish that left multiple teams racing to not finish last, Kaylani & Lisa were eliminated in The Amazing Race 19 Episode 3.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Andy & Tommy – 8:17AM
Second: Laurence & Zac – 8:28AM
Third: Jeremy & Sandy – 9:40AM
Fourth: Justin & Jennifer – 9:41AM
Fifth: Ernie & Cindy – 9:42AM
Sixth: Amani & Marcus – 9:46AM
Seventh: Bill & Cathi – 9:56AM
Eighth: Liz & Marie – 10:05AM

Teams will now fly north to Phuket, Thailand. There is no direct flight. The first two teams just head to Jakarta and hope they’ll find something there, while the others confirm that this is the correct way to go.

First flight (departs at 9:40AM via Jakarta): Andy & Tommy, Laurence & Zac
Second flight (departs at 12:45PM via Jakarta, arrives in Phuket at 6:50PM): Jeremy & Sandy, Justin & Jennifer, Ernie & Cindy, Amani & Marcus, Bill & Cathi, Liz & Marie

In spite of their 3 hour lead, upon arrival, not having prebooked their connecting flight, the top two teams are told that the flight to Phuket is booked, so they’ll have to go to Bangkok and then to Phuket, with an arrival in Phuket at 7:40PM, putting them almost an hour behind. It shouldn’t matter, though, since this time of night they’re bound to hit an hours of operation anyway.

Liz & Marie fail something pretty simple. They don’t exchange their Indonesian money for Thai money.

Upon arrival at Nonthasak Marine, they find out the dock opens at 8AM. That’ll put everybody together. Liz & Marie get lucky and get a cab driver who is willing to not take any money, since they don’t have any that’s of use (and probably didn’t tell him before arrival). If they were smart, they’d use this 12 hours of downtime to go back and exchange money.

The detour is a choice between coral reconstruction or beach preparation, two tasks representing the rebuilding of Thailand following the 2004 tsunami. In coral reconstruction, they’ll construct a coral nursery, load it on a kayak, and place their coral into a nursery. In beach preparation, they’ll collect 20 chairs and 10 umbrellas with their clue’s icon and set them up to the beach club’s standards.

Coral reconstruction: Andy & Tommy, Justin & Jennifer
Beach preparation: Ernie & Cindy, Liz & Marie, Laurence & Zac (switched from coral reconstruction after being unable to look at the road signs), Jeremy & Sandy (switched from coral reconstruction), Bill & Cathi (switched from coral reconstruction), Amani & Marcus (switched from coral reconstruction)

The detour provides ample excuse for Jennifer & Justin to bicker, as usual, although it never seems to impact their standing in the race. Jeremy & Sandy aren’t getting along so well either.

Initially, the beach chair task seems the most difficult simply because they’re searching through stacks of them just to find the ones that are theirs. But after some of them attempt the coral task, they realize that they need to be stronger swimmers. As they switch to the beach task, the already strong winds pick up and blow everything around. Although the twins were among the first to arrive at this task, they’re on the verge of a breakdown and depart well behind everybody else.

From here, teams will use a compass to head north for 13 minutes to locate the island on their medallion, Soap Island. So that means you have to be able to read a compass, which Ernie can’t do. Laurence & Zac, who have sailed around the world, also struggle.

The road block is to climb the island rock. Bill & Cathi opt to have him do it because they suspect they’re going to be eliminated soon anyway.

Road block (in order of arrival): Andy, Jennifer, Zac, Amani, Jeremy, Ernie, Bill, twins

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Koh Panyi, a floating village built more than 200 years ago.

First: Andy & Tommy (win $5,000 each)
Second: Justin & Jennifer
Third: Jeremy & Sandy
Fourth: Laurence & Zac
Fifth: Ernie & Cindy
Sixth: Amani & Marcus
Seventh: Bill & Cathi
Non-eliminated: Liz & Marie

As the last team to arrive, Liz & Marie have been non-eliminated. Next week they will have to complete a speed bump.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 19 Episode 5, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

The X Factor Season 1 Episode 7

Following the reveal of the top 32 and a thoroughly disappointing groups category (one of the main things that’s supposed to differentiate this show from American Idol) in The X Factor Season 1 Episode 6, the judges were assigned their categories to mentor. Simon got the girls, LA got the boys, Nicole got the over 30s, and Paula got the groups. The men were happy. The women, not so much.

Tonight the visits to the judges’ homes begin. Simon’s happy for these girls. After all, they get to work with him. Paula puts on a brave face and pretends getting the groups was good news.

Each judge gets an assistant: Nicole has Enrique Iglesias, Paula has Pharrell (who?), Simon has Mariah Carey (or at least he was going to if her plane was able to make it), and LA Reid has not Bieber but Rihanna.

The contestants start things off by performing in front of the judges and their guest mentor (in Simon’s case, himself, but he manages to round up a few helpers).

Brian “Astro” Bradley performs first. LA’s concern: will America vote for a rapper? I can’t imagine they will, but the good news is anyone who wants to has just one choice.

Simone Battle at least remembers the words, but she’s not the best.

The Anser, from the very mormon Salt Lake City, feel like fish out of water, but they put that behind them and perform well.

Dexter Haygood performs Crazy in Love by Beyonce, minus the lyrics. Didn’t see that one coming.

Skyelor Anderson may not look like your typical country singer, but he does sound the part.

I didn’t quite get Tora Woloshin and remain distracted by all the body art and piercings, but digging past that she’s got a decent voice. Simon says it all sounds right, but there’s just something missing.

Part of the carnage in the girls category in boot camp involved the elimination of some talented individuals while others who were not as good got through. The explanation we later found out was that two new groups have been formed. First among them is pop country group Lakoda Rayne: Cari Fletcher, Dani Knights, Paige Ogle, and Hayley Orrantia. I like them, but they feel like something is off about their first performance together as a group.

In her first audition, Stacy Francis even got a standing ovation from Simon, which doesn’t happen often, but then she overdid it in boot camp with an annoyingly long note. Tonight she returns to good form, but the question is how marketable she could be in today’s market.

The Brewer Boys have been singing together since they could talk. Good. Probably not good enough.

LA has decided to give Phillip Lomax a Rihanna song… to sing in front of Rhianna. He turns it into a Sinatra version, but how big of a market is there for a crooner?

Elaine Gibbs became a wedding singer for the sake of stability. Now she hopes to break into the industry in a bigger way.

Nobody ever thinks Caitlin Koch is a rugby player. After all, she’s an American. Simon loves her.

Nick Voss was another one who forgot his words at boot camp. He does not have that problem tonight, but LA’s seen him better.

4Shore first impressed LA Reid with a song he wrote, End of the Road. You can tell these guys have been doing this together for a while.

I don’t know who James Kenney is, which is a big disadvantage on a show like this. Enrique could see him being a rock star.

Justin Bieber fan Drew Ryniewicz is the last one to perform tonight. Not the best song choice, but that doesn’t stop it from sounding good.

After the rain delay debacle, we’re left with a special Sunday night episode next.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The X Factor Season 1 Episode 8, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on Fox.

Survivor: South Pacific Episode 5

As the biggest outcast in her tribe, Stacey was sent packing in Survivor: South Pacific Episode 4.

We start off with more crying from Brandon. What is this, Big Brother?

Stacey, who hates everybody anyway, warns Savaii to look out for her old tribe. By the way, the name of the guy running the tribe is Benjamin. Her sour grapes, while mildly amusing, are just that. The duel is to keep catching balls in a chute. They start with one ball, and more will be added as time goes by, up to six total. Stacey quickly disregards Probst’s advice to be careful about spacing. Not long after, she is out, and Christine stays alive.

Coach tells his tribe to not call him Benjamin to his face, or he’s going to go nuts (again?).

Ozzy asks how to spell Cochran. That’s not a good sign.

Hearing the story about how Benjamin is in charge, Ozzy says that, if he were smart, he’d get rid of Albert soon. Does that mean Ozzy’s going to target somebody strong on his tribe?

Realizing he’s in trouble, having been pointed out as one of Coach’s top allies, Albert goes and finds the clue to the hidden immunity idol. After searching for a while without any luck, he reveals the clue to Coach and Sophie. Coach is the one who ends up finding it. Hope handing it away pays off for you, Al.

Cochran’s getting tired of Ozzy. Me, too. He calls him a lazy ass who just has a few moments of brightness each day.

At the immunity challenge, they are greeted by a roasted pig. It’s not for eating, though. Rather, it’s for chewing with their hands tied behind their backs. All these challenges leave me with a sense of deja vu. Reward is veggies, spices, bread, and another clue to the idol (both of which have already been found). As gross challenges go, this is up there with the best of them. After they’re done, time for weighing. Savaii has 22 pounds and 12 ounces of meat and bodily fluids. Upolu weighs in at 22 pounds and 14 ounces. Upolu wins immunity and reward by 2 ounces. The difference: Mikayla scooped a piece of meat off the ground that Rick deliberately left there. In addition to their reward, they also get the bucket of meat.

Dawn says the back of one of her molars is gone. If true, that could be a game ender. Tooth pain in the middle of nowhere. Bad combination. Ozzy’s also got a chipped tooth and a dislocated jaw, and everybody else has cuts in their mouths. Cochran warns them they’ll get herpes.

Cochran hopes to prove he’s a worker bee, but is that enough to save him? His hope is that he, Dawn, and Jim will be able to pry Elyse and Ozzy apart. Jim hopes to sway Keith to vote their way. Perhaps he can use Ozzy’s theory of voting out strong people prior to the merge to sway him. Keith and Whitney now have to make the deciding vote between either Cochran or Elyse.

Here’s the dilemma. They want to betray Ozzy, but they still want to be allied with him. With Jim having shifted, the alliance is fractured regardless. Seems to make more sense to just go with the majority. Cochran doesn’t care if Ozzy thinks everybody is against him. That’s exactly what he wants him to think.

Votes
Cochran
Elyse
Cochran
Elyse
Dawn
Dawn
Elyse

Whitney and Keith chose to keep the blood off their hands by throwing votes Dawn’s way, but the damage is done either way. With 3 votes, Elyse has been voted off the island.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: South Pacific Episode 6, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.