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The Amazing Race 18 Episode 8

In another uneventful departure, Ron & Christina were eliminated in The Amazing Race 18 Episode 7.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Flight Time & Big Easy – 2:07AM
Second: Zev & Justin – 2:12AM
Third: Kisha & Jen – 2:53AM
Fourth: Gary & Mallory – 3:30AM
Fifth: Jet & Cord – 3:35AM
Sixth: Kent & Vyxsin – 3:44AM

Teams will now fly to Vienna, Austria, a city more than 40 degrees colder than where they are now. Everybody arrives at the same travel agent, and they are all there together, with the opportunity to all get on the same flight. The cowboys opt for the later flight rather than take the risk of the tight connections. This puts them 25 minutes behind unless something happens to the others. Meanwhile, Kent & Vyxsin continue their bickering ways.

The first flight is not delayed, which once again puts Jet & Cord in the position of scrambling to catch up.

After a shameless plug for the new Ford Focus (which the leg winners will win), teams find out they must make to Schloss Schallaburg. The backup camera’s nice (I don’t know how I ever drove without one), but the lack of navigation system isn’t helping them find that castle too quickly. They go there merely to be told to go to a library in Vienna. It was a beautiful building until Flight Time decided to pee on it.

Vyxsin has a request for Kent: stop acting like a chick.

The detour is a choice between long hard walk and quick and easy meal. In long hard walk, teams will transport a couch 1 mile from a museum to a school, both of which Freud worked at. In quick and easy meal, they will pick up meals and eat all the food during one 12 minute rotation of the ferris wheel. If you don’t get the eating done in one shot, you’re not going to be able to do it in the second shot, so you will have to switch. At least the food is pretty good, but there’s a lot of it. Couch moving is less of a risk.

Long haul walk: Kent & Vyxsin, Flight Time & Big Easy, Kisha & Jen (switched from quick and easy meal), Zev & Justin (switched from quick and easy meal), Jet & Cord, Gary & Mallory (switched from quick and easy meal)

All three teams that tried the food failed. Although successfully completing this would have given them the lead, you’d think if they took more than 5 seconds to consider it they would have just all opted to go where they ended up anyway instead. Once they got there, they should have at least figured out there was just too much food. The wasted time is the break Jet & Cord needed to catch up. Since they’re stronger than most of the teams, they should be able to pull up to the front of the pack.

As for the couch moving, the Globetrotters do fine, and in the process the cowboys make up two spots. Justin’s left doing most of the work while Zev acts as the supervisor. Then there’s Kent, who whines a lot, while Vyxsin tells him to suck it up. Ultimately, in spite of the complaining, this seems like a pretty simple detour, albeit a tiring one.

From there, teams will drive to Salzburg. This drive presents the opportunity for Kent & Vyxsin to continue their negativity. She says she’ll never speak to him again if they get eliminated today. Promise?

The road block is to sweep chimneys. Seems simple enough. Gary & Mallory are hoping for something that will let them catch up, but this will not be it. Their only hope is that somebody gets lost.

Road block (in order of arrival): Big Easy, Zev, Vyxsin, Kisha, Cord, Gary

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Villa Trapp, the real home of the Von Trapp family from The Sound of Music.

First: Zev & Justin (each win a 2012 Ford Focus)
Second: Flight Time & Big Easy
Third: Kent & Vyxsin
Fourth: Kisha & Jen
Fifth: Jet & Cord
Noneliminated: Gary & Mallory

Darn. I was hoping to see Kent & Vyxsin never speak again. Unlike the last time when they were eliminated in leg 8, this time, Gary & Mallory finish last, but they are not eliminated and must complete a speed bump next week.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 18 Episode 9, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

American Idol Season 10 Episode 27

The top 8 performed in American Idol Season 10 Episode 26. Tonight one more will go home.

As per usual, the judges loved everything, and this time they really loved Casey for some mystery reason. I give up trying to figure out who’s going home because it’s not as if this panel is providing any direction. Let’s just sit back and enjoy the moderately acceptable singing that we’d skip past if this were radio.

Scotty and Lauren are actually quite good together. I could see these two collaborating with each other at some point. They are joined by Casey and Haley in the lineup first. Haley could easily be in the bottom again, but I’m on the fence about Casey because the judges so humiliatingly fawned over him. Scotty is safe. Lauren is also safe. Haley is in the bottom three, and Casey is safe.

James, Jacob, Stefano, and and Paul are up next. Obviously, James is going to be safe. It could be any of the other three below the line. I fear it will not be Paul, though. Stefano is in the bottom three. Paul joins him.

Either Stefano Langone, Paul McDonald, or Haley Reinhart will be going home. I don’t know. Does it really matter which? Haley is safe, so this will mark the first time a girl is not sent packing this season. I didn’t think it was going to happen, but Paul has finally been eliminated.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of American Idol Season 10 Episode 28, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on Fox.

American Idol Season 10 Episode 26

American Idol Season 10 Episode 25 really emphasized one reason why Simon Cowell was such an important part of the show. Steven thinks everything is beautiful/perfect. Jennifer is only slightly more useful. Then there’s Randy, whose only criticism aside from pitchy is boring, which he called Thia and Pia, both with the same result of getting them booted when they previously were not in danger because the parrots in the audience started having that same opinion. Pia’s exit last week was called one of the most shocking ever, but the warning signs were there, whether it was still surprising or not. If they’re that afraid of a contestant leaving, they probably shouldn’t use the save the first time the opportunity presents itself, and they should go for the jugular on the weaker contestants rather than offering up occasional random critiques when the mood suits them. If Alabama’s own Paul McDonald isn’t any good, feel free to call him on it. Simon would have.

This week is movie week, and Seacrest hopes people are still watching.

Paul McDonald
Song: Old Time Rock and Roll by Bob Seger from Risky Business
Steven: I liked it.
Jennifer: So great to watch.
Randy: First number at the Paul McDonald concert.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-01

Lauren Alaina
Song: The Climb by Miley Cyrus from Hannah Montana The Movie
Jennifer: Loved hearing you sing that.
Randy: The Lauren we first saw is roaring back. Like that was written for you.
Steven: Beautiful.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-02

Stefano Langone
Song: End of the Road by Boyz II Men from Boomerang
Randy: Just slayed the song. And I know Boyz II Men.
Steven: You know how to milk a song.
Jennifer: It’s about being a great performer. You now understand that.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-03

Scotty McCreery
Song: Cross My Heart by George Strait from Pure Country (we get the hint)
Steven: Just love your voice.
Jennifer: Everybody wants us to be tough with you guys. (Or at least offer some criticism of some use.)
Randy: Love it when you return and stay with your roots. A star is born.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-04

Casey Abrams
Song: Nature Boy by Nat King Cole from multiple movies (against Jimmy’s advice)
Jennifer: You don’t have to be a pop star. (Well, that’s good then.) I hope America got that. (I don’t.)
Randy: Real true artists on this show. I hope America gets this. Genius.
Steven: My mama sang this to me when I was a little baby.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-05

Haley Reinhart
Song: Call Me by Blondie from American Gigolo
Randy: Didn’t love the beginning. Kinda karaoke.
Steven: Agree, but you nailed the chorus.
Jennifer: Love the end. Agree with Randy but afraid to say anything about any of the girls.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-06

Jacob Lusk
Song: Bridge Over Trouble Waters by Simon & Garfunkel from The Pursuit of Happyness
Steven: How well you put together a song is just incredible.
Jennifer: Pulled the chills out of me.
Randy: Perfect, perfect, perfect harmony.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-07

James Durbin
Song: Heavy Metal by Sammy Hagar from Heavy Metal (Jimmy hates it)
Jennifer: Killing it dead.
Randy: Just at a James Durbin concert.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-08

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of American Idol Season 10 Episode 27, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on Fox.

Survivor: Redemption Island Episode 9

Matt returned to the game in Survivor: Redemption Island Episode 8 and was promptly voted out again.

Having been blindsided twice by the same people, Matt feels like a moron. The good news: this is all part of God’s plan. He’s using Matt’s stupidity for his glory.

The idiots on the Zapatera tribe are worried that they have no chance seeing as how aggressively the other tribe is playing. This from a tribe that threw a challenge and has regretted it ever since.

Ralph pulls the girls aside to say he’s voting for them rather than Rob if they make it to the finals. I’m not sure which of them he’s talking to, but it doesn’t really matter since Natalie makes sure Ashley is the one to get Rob’s suspicion.

Rob wants his group to hate the other tribe and be arrogant about it. He won’t do that, but they can.

Phillip shows up at the challenge with a feather on his head, which appeared out of thin air. They will dig to retrieve a club and smash a tile, spit water in a bowl from a water trough after crawling underneath it, and lastly solve a block puzzle. Grant, Rob, Ralph, Mike, David, and Julie move to the second round with the water trough. Grant again finishes first, followed by Mike and then David, narrowly beating Rob. As we all know, David is the best puzzle solver on the tribe, or so he’s told us. Except he places last. Grant wins immunity. Phillip knew this was going to happen. He had a visit in a meditation that a former Ometepe member would get luck from the feather.

The target is going to be a threat, either Mike or David.

Zapatera thinks Phillip is on the bottom. He says he likes being there. Not a tribe to try to take advantage of this, Mike calls him insecure, and David says he’s a lunatic.

Why the heck is there another 35 minutes left to go anyway?

Votes
Phillip
Phillip
Phillip
Phillip
Phillip
Mike
Mike
Mike
Mike
Mike
Mike

With 6 votes, Mike has been voted off the island.

They were banking on somebody quitting or getting injured, but that didn’t happen (I’m sure you could borrow someone from this season’s The Biggest Loser), so that brings us to part two and another elimination.

Phil realizes that he’s in a position now where people may want to keep him around just because nobody will vote for him.

David says this is not a lot of fun because nobody’s willing to play the game. On the contrary, the other tribe is playing, playing their numbers advantage.

At this next challenge, everybody is given the opportunity to feast on cheeseburgers. They will hang from a bar for as long as they can. After 20 minutes, they are allowed to use their legs only. Who feels safe enough to eat rather than play? Phillip and Steve will eat. Not the two I would have expected. Everybody else will play. Rob’s the first one out. After 20 minutes (and 5 burgers) have elapsed, they’re going to have to take their arms away. How long can you stay upside down? Julie drops. Then Grant and Ralph. The remaining four have been up there for 45 minutes. David drops, leaving just the Ometepe girls. Andrea asks to be given immunity, and Natalie and Ashley agree to do so.

Ralph finds some dead fish on the beach. Rob warns them not to eat them, but Zapatera insists it will be a good idea. Rob hopes his tribe will fall in line, but after a while, Grant steps in and grabs some. He wants to prove Rob’s not the boss, but I’m not sure that’s the wisest move. Unless Grant finds some way to make it otherwise, Rob is the boss.

Rob says their choices for this evening are David or Steve. So it shall be. David’s the biggest threat left, and Steve wants to go anyway.

Votes
Rob
Rob
Rob
Rob
David
David
David
David
David
David

With 6 votes, David has been voted off the island. That puts three people on Redemption Island.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Redemption Island Episode 10, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Biggest Loser Season 11 Episode 15

Falling below the yellow line in The Biggest Loser Season 11 Episode 14 as the last remaining member of her team, Courtney was eliminated, along with her trainer Brett.

For the next two weeks, the contestants are heading to New Zealand. This is pretty much where they go to scare everybody. Get ready to jump off cliffs and bridges.

One person will be upgraded from economy to premium economy based on guessing at a simple question. How tall is the Sky Tower in Auckland? My guess: most of these people don’t even know what country Auckland is in. The correct answer is 1,076 feet tall, and Austin is the closest.

The Sky Tower is the highest structure in the southern hemisphere. It is also the site of their first adventure. Cara is there waiting for them. There’s an elevator going up, but that’s for regular people. They will be taking the 1027 stairs up. Bob greets them at the top. There are two ways down: climb back down the stairs or be dropped off the tower like Jillian is warning them not to do. The 280 pound weight limit eliminates Moses and Rulon, and Jay’s heart condition eliminates him. Everybody else but one is up for it. Ken doesn’t have any interest in facing his fear of heights, but Bob makes him an offer to face the fear together, hoping he’ll say no anyway. No such luck. They’ll both be jumping.

For Moses, this is a special place. His father was shipped off to New Zealand for school, and it was there that he decided to go to the United States.

After they get done jumping off the building, they get on a boat that raced in America’s Cup.

Ken wants to address some concerns he has before they workout. He’s not sure he is on the right path. His suggestion to Cara: Bob and Jillian are the experts, and maybe he should be with them. Already trying to prove herself as the new girl on campus, Cara takes this perhaps as angrily as can be expected. At least for today, he’s all hers, as the rest of the green team has joined Bob and Jillian for now.

Their next challenge is a 5K… New Zealand style. No treadmills this time. Rather, they will be heading through creeks, sand dunes, and the beach. They will run as a team, so they have to stick together. A helicopter ride awaits the winning team. Green team takes off quickly. As big as he is, Rulon’s leading his team nonetheless, but they’re only as fast as their weakest link. Jay’s hamstring starts acting up. He doesn’t want to give up or walk, but he’s not going to be able to run either. The blue team’s starting to catch up as they hit the sand dunes, which are no longer about who can run fastest. It’s here that the blue team has the opportunity to pass the green team as Ken falls behind on the hill. Now it’s a question of whether he can make up for it in the run. Black team, meanwhile, makes it up the hill with the other teams in sight. In the end, the blue team wins the challenge. Olivia and Irene have decided to let Moses go on the helicopter with his daughter.

As they head into the last chance workout, Bob warns them that trips are notoriously bad news for weight loss.

Olivia: 172 pounds (-2, 1.15%)
Irene: 161 pounds (-3, 1.83%)
Moses: 286 pounds (no change)
Blue Total: 619 pounds (-5, 0.80%)

Jay: 272 pounds (+2, 0.74%)
Rulon: 311 pounds (-7, 2.20%)
Hannah: 164 pounds (-4, 2.38%)
Black Total: 747 pounds (-9, 1.19%)

Kaylee: 172 pounds (+4, 2.38%)
Austin: 255 pounds (-8, 3.04%)
Ken: 247 pounds (-6, 2.37%)
Green Total: 674 pounds (-10, 1.46%)

For Jay, this marks his first hiccup throughout the competition. Even after a few months, Kaylee and Moses both continue to struggle when they’re outside the familiar environment of The Biggest Loser campus. Ultimately, the weight gains from two of the contestants didn’t matter, as big numbers from some of the players outweighed the smaller numbers the blue team put up.

With Irene being The Biggest Loser on her team, she is immune. That means it’s between Olivia and Moses. A tearful Olivia tells us she should stay because she wants to be a mother. At 5’9″, she’s within spitting distance of a healthy weight, whereas Moses still has a good 100 pounds to drop. Who needs to be here more? Crying or not, I go with Moses. Nonetheless, hearing this story, Moses has decided to leave. Whether they do it for noble reasons or not, I’m tired of these people quitting every week.

Votes
Hannah: Moses
Jay: Moses
Austin: Moses
Kaylee: Olivia
Ken: Moses

With 4 votes, Moses is not The Biggest Loser.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 11 Episode 16, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Celebrity Apprentice 4 Episode 6

Aside from the fact that his whole team cited Gary Busey as the person needing to be fired in The Celebrity Apprentice 4 Episode 5, Trump instead fired Richard Hatch without giving him a chance to defend himself, in spite of his oft-used reasoning for firing people being that they don’t fight for themselves.

The men aren’t happy that Gary’s still around. Then again, La Toya, who did a great job last week, still feels like the women don’t want her around either.

The task is to create a glass box or, uh, something, for Australian Gold sunscreen. They will be judged on creativity and originality, brand messaging, and marketing theme outside the box.

La Toya will be the project manager for the women because either way she’s in the line of fire regardless. Mark McGrath will be the project manager for the men.

The men are focused on hot chicks, but eventually they come up with a pirate theme. Their treasure will be the half dressed girls. Gary’s never seen a pirate movie like this. Surely there’s a NC-17 movie along these lines, though.

La Toya doesn’t have any ideas for a theme, nor any decision what sounds good.

The executives say that their demographic is anyone and everyone that loves to have fun outdoors. Thanks for narrowing that down.

After their meeting, John Rich joins Gary in his protest for the pirate theme, but the others are stuck on it. Probably too late to change anyway.

Lil Jon has been put in charge of costumes, props, and Gary.

La Toya makes her decision: she wants a man and a woman inside the box painted gold. The smart thing here would be to make Hope, the Playmate of the Year, that woman. Hope volunteers to do just that, but La Toya would rather have her do the accounting and shopping. Surely she can play do both roles.

Star has a concern. They are more than double their budget for printed materials. La Toya doesn’t care. She wants everything they have can get, whether they have the money or not.

The women go shopping, but none of them have any idea what they’re supposed to be shopping for because they still don’t understand the concept. La Toya shows up at the designers without a plan. She starts giving them random ideas off the top of her head.

Lil Jon has decided to leave the koala bear outfit behind because it’s not exactly like the one the company uses for their mascot. Having heard the execs stress how important the koala is to them, the women, however, make sure they get the koala suit.

Ivanka likes the way Mark is leading, although she doesn’t think he’s the idea generator. She views the women’s idea as safe and obvious, which leads La Toya to want to add something else, though she doesn’t know what.

La Toya calls the shoppers to ask them to buy 125 bags of sand, 50 pounds each, so 3 tons of sand. This does not sound at all insane to her.

The morning of the event, La Toya has decided to add a winter element to the summer theme. A little late for that, even if it is more original.

Don Jr. is confused by what he’s looking at when it comes to the women, but he likes the brand integration. La Toya says there’s no togetherness. The never shy NeNe says La Toya is not good, and she’d be surprised if they win, just hoping that the guys suck. The men, meanwhile, have a defined theme, a lot of energy, and are mostly a cohesive unit.

Meat Loaf greets the executives for the men. Gary drags them off to the side, and he won’t let them leave. Somebody better go save them before he talks any more. The others come up and try to distract them, but he refuses to stop babbling, shoving Mark aside.

NeNe thinks La Toya was just okay. Marlee says her energy and style were different, with less control.

Mark says that, if they don’t win, he’ll take full responsibility for the loss.

For the women, the executives liked the messaging, use of the mascot, and the motto, but they did not like the public interaction and not making Hope wear a bikini. For the men, they liked the crowd interaction, the job they did with the product, and John’s chant, but they didn’t like the pirate theme, lack of a mascot, or Gary’s presentation.

The women may have been safe and boring, but the men thought too far outside the box, so the women have won. As the winning project manager, La Toya will receive $20,000 from Trump and $20,000 from Australian Gold for her charity, AIDS Project Los Angeles.

In spite of their win, NeNe doesn’t take time to celebrate, instead opting to get into a screaming match with herself about La Toya.

Mark’s willing to fall on the sword as the project manager, but this is yet one more opportunity for everyone to gang up on Gary. Meat Loaf strongly defends Mark and goes after Gary. Lil Jon agrees.

Ivanka doesn’t think Gary cost them the task, but nonetheless he is viewed by the team as a liability. The women don’t think Gary’s going to go, as he knows what he needs to do in the moments he has clarity, mostly in the boardroom. John echoes those sentiments.

Mark will be taking only Gary back into the boardroom with him. In regular The Apprentice, the reward for that is being fired. Let’s see how it works out here.

The men have brought up an issue they had during the meeting with the executives, two of whom were women. Gary said the product makes him feel very sexual, which made everybody uncomfortable. He doesn’t remember saying that.

Once again, Trump does not care that Gary is a loose cannon. On the contrary, he likes it, for the sake of the drama it creates. Having come up with the losing theme, Mark has been fired.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Celebrity Apprentice 4 Episode 7, which airs Sunday at 9/8c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 18 Episode 7

Following a breakdown on the road block, Margie & Luke were eliminated in The Amazing Race 18 Episode 6.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Gary & Mallory – 1:18PM
Second: Jet & Cord – 1:52PM
Third: Ron & Christina – 1:53PM
Fourth: Zev & Justin – 1:54PM
Fifth: Kent & Vyxsin – 1:55PM
Sixth: Kisha & Jen – 2:03PM
Seventh: Flight Time & Big Easy – 3:45PM

Teams must now fly to Varanasi, India. It’s pretty safe to say everybody will be on the same flight. That safe bet, however, is not what some teams stumble upon. Cord says he’s just going to take the ticket agent’s word this is the earliest flight. It sure is the earliest flight… for that airline.

First flight (arrives at 10:45AM): Gary & Mallory, Kent & Vyxsin, Kisha & Jen, Flight Time & Big Easy, Ron & Christina, Zev & Justin
Second flight (arrives at 11:45AM): Jet & Cord

Varanasi’s a lot smaller than Kolkata at just over 1 million people, but that doesn’t make it any less hectic. Every vehicle is honking nonstop, but that’s not stopping the cows, elephants, and various assorted animals from roaming the streets.

The road block is a search for holy men using pictures. They will have to find all six men and arrange their six clues to learn the meaning of life, which they must tell to the final sadhu.

Road block (in order of arrival): Kent, Big Easy, Jen, Gary, Ron, Justin, Cord

In this season of giving the enemy a helping hand, Big Easy lets Jen follow him for a time, and later helps Justin. Kent then decides to follow Gary, although Kent quickly takes off once he has all the clues. Can’t blame him, but I wouldn’t be so keen to help him again either. While they’re waiting for their partners to complete the task, Mallory, Vyxsin, and Christina see cowboy hats. This is especially bad news for Ron & Christina as Ron wanders around aimlessly.

For those who are curious, the meaning of life is: once you’re over the hill you pick up speed.

The detour is a choice between feed the fire or feed the buffalo. In feed the fire, they must make 50 traditional fuel patties out of buffalo manure, slap them on a wall, load a stove with patties, and light a fire to boil milk. In feed the buffalo, they will pick up a large load of hay to deliver it to the address they have been given.

For the sake of cleanliness and somewhat improved smell, avoiding the manure task seems the wisest. At least they have been provided with gloves. Undeterred by her previous time wearing this outfit in manure in Russia, Mallory has again decided to wear it, only to be in the manure again.

Feed the buffalo: Zev & Justin, Flight Time & Big Easy, Jet & Cord, Ron & Christina
Feed the fire: Kisha & Jen, Kent & Vyxsin, Gary & Mallory

Whatever happens at the detour, once again the road block has already been the deciding factor. Jen throws a bit of a tantrum, and Vyxsin jumps out of the water taxi (probably the fastest way) and into the water that’s probably not intended for humans. But it’s all irrelevant in spite of the drama that an effort is made to create.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Ramnagar Fort.

First: Flight Time & Big Easy (win a trip to Hawaii)
Second: Zev & Justin
Third: Kisha & Jen
Fourth: Gary & Mallory
Fifth: Jet & Cord
Sixth: Kent & Vyxsin
Eliminated: Ron & Christina

Ron & Christina have been eliminated, but they say they’re closer than they were before.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 18 Episode 8, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

American Idol Season 10 Episode 25

The top 9 performed in American Idol Season 10 Episode 24. Tonight one more will go home.

It’s anybody’s game. Unless James, Scotty, or Pia go home, I won’t be very surprised by whatever happens. I can’t see that happening, but this leaves us with a lot of choices. Haley was the bottom three queen, but she’s come on strong, especially last night. Paul’s worster support seems to be on its last legs. Jacob’s struggling to be the stand out he was initially. Lauren’s kind of just there, but for her sake hopefully somewhere in the middle. Casey fell hard and already got voted out once. Stefano, meanwhile, wasn’t even voted in to begin with, relying on the wild card to make it to the top 13.

Stefano Langone, Lauren Alaina, and Casey Abrams step forward first. Lauren is safe. Casey is also safe, leaving Stefano in the bottom three.

Paul McDonald, Pia Toscano, and Scotty McCreery are up next. Scotty is safe. Paul is safe. Really, America? Really? That means Pia is in the bottom three.

James Durbin, Haley Reinhart, and Jacob Lusk are the final group. Because he’s got a following already built, James is safe. Haley is also safe. That makes Jacob the final person to join the bottom three.

Stefano, Pia, and Jacob have formed the bottom three. Pia notwithstanding, this is not too unexpected. Jacob is safe. Stefano is also safe. That means that Pia is leaving us. The judges are angry. Should have saved their save.

Okay, contestants. Reality check. Thia was told to do up tempo by Randy. She obliged. She was sent home the following week, having never previously been in the bottom. Pia was told to do up tempo by Randy. She obliged. She was sent home the same week, having never previously been in the bottom. Ballad singers, do what you do best and don’t focus on impressing Randy by listening to his bad advice. Granted, when he keeps harping on his opinion that you’re boring, he’s pretty much torpedoing any chance you have anyway since it’s not like another judge on the panel is capable of countering him without Simon around any more. But you may as well go down swinging.

In his parting (cut off by Tivo) plea, Ryan asks the audience to stick around this season. So begins the damage control.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of American Idol Season 10 Episode 26, which airs Wedensday at 8/7c on Fox.