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Survivor: Redemption Island Episode 2

In one of the best tribal councils ever, Francesca got voted off the island in Survivor: Redemption Island Episode 1 after she and Kristina devised an ill thought plan to try to rid themselves of Boston Rob.

Francesca believes she was on good terms with everyone in her tribe and can still win the game. Really?

Phil tells Rob that until he goes to Redemption, Rob owns his vote. In turn, Rob plans to vote Phillip out of the game while sticking to his alliance.

Russell has set his sights on his second target, Krista, and once he believes he has her lined up, he goes in search of an idol. You’ve seen him play before. Don’t expect any changes. While Russell searches, Ralph picks up some rocks, accidentally finding the idol without trying.

Matt and Andrea are starting to get close. Rob views this as potentially a problem because a pair can be strong in this game. So he wants to join forces with Natalie.

Phil promises to outlast any man on the other side. He’s not so sure about the women, however. For today’s challenge, they will swim to a platform, climb it, smash a tile, and retrieve a key. Once they have all 5 keys, one person will use the keys to open a box and get a ball. The remaining two tribe members will use that ball to break 5 tiles. In addition to immunity, they are playing for fishing gear. David sits out for Zapatera. Grant starts out strongly for Ometepe. Ashley retains that lead, and Matt extends it. Andrea continues the trend, followed by Boston Rob, who grabs the fifth key with nearly a one lap lead. Somehow, Natalie is unable to open her box before Stephanie, giving Zapatera the lead. Ralph and Phillip finish off the challenge with ball tosses. Phil goes up 1-0. Ralph ties it, then scores three more times. Phillip makes it 4-2. Then 4-3. 4-4. The last person to score is Ralph, and Zapatera wins reward and immunity. Matt congratulates the opposition, which Rob does not like.

Russell grabs the reward basket because he knows there will be a clue. He grabs the clue and tucks it away, in full view of Ralph. Later, Ralph asks whether there was a clue. Russell goes from maybe to no, and regardless, he doesn’t like how Ralph is coming at him.

Kristina says she plans to play her idol tonight.

As outmatched as they may be physically, the fact that Matt shook the other tribe’s hands leads Rob to want to vote him out. They pretend to Matt and Andrea that they are splitting the votes between Phillip and Kristina. Unwilling to trust Phil, for good reason, but nonetheless still wanting to test him, Rob plans to put his hand on the shoulder of the person to vote for.

Phillip is fully prepared to be eliminated, go to Redemption Island, and beat Francesca.

Just before the vote, Rob puts his hand on Kristina’s shoulder. Not a tough sell for Phil.

As planned, Kristina plays her idol.

Votes
Kristina (does not count)
Kristina (does not count)
Phillip
Phillip
Matt
Matt
Matt
Matt

With 4 votes, Matt has been voted off the island, and Andrea is quite shocked. Still don’t understand the logic behind this move.

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

The Biggest Loser Season 11 Episode 8

Having been sent to the other team to fall, that’s exactly what Jay did in The Biggest Loser Season 11 Episode 7, as his new team got rid of him without much hesitation.

Before they can leave the elimination room, Alison has some bad news for them: two people will be eliminated this week. The team that loses the weigh in will send someone home, and one person will fall below the red line, regardless of which team they are on.

Brett says he never felt any black team vs. red team. Well, perhaps he never felt it from Jay and Jen, but it obviously was there from the rest.

With the trainers aware that two people are going home this week, they look to push their contestants. The red team goes to an MMA training facility to get a mixed martial arts workout. They seem quite obsessed with this fighting as a workout philosophy. As long as it works I suppose. Meanwhile the black team stays back at the ranch and learns just how fast they can run, which Jillian uses to drive a point across: what else in your life are you doing half assed?

Seeing his daughter as vulnerable, Moses wakes up Kaylee each morning for some early training.

Bob has a simple tip: keep a daily or weekly log of your workouts. Writing it down and seeing your improvements will keep you on track.

They meet Alison on the field and see a bunch of huge balls. Hannah says she’s great with balls. Moving on. As a team, they will have to get all six balls from one side of the field to the other and through the uprights. They can’t let the balls hit the ground, they can’t hit it twice in a row, and they can’t catch them. To further complicate matters, they’ll be wearing boxing gloves. The team that wins today’s challenge will get a 3 pound advantage at the weigh in. Arthur and Sarah will sit out for the black team. Red team is the first to score a point. As the black team continues to struggle to get it together, the red team takes the 2-0 lead. Then 3-0. And 4-0. 5-0. Finally, the black team figures it out, scoring their first point. Regardless, it’s obvious what the end result of this challenge will be, as the red team wins the challenge.

Thinking they’re pretty likely to lose, Marci and Deni have decided they are ready to go home and would be willing to sacrifice their stay for the younger people, even if it means intentionally falling below the red line. Jesse is not onboard with this plan, regardless of whether everybody thinks Arthur’s at a huge risk of being below the red line. There’s no reason Arthur should fall below anyway. He may have had a huge weight loss last week, but that was after weeks of poor performances. He should be able to lose double digits easily each week until the finale. This discussion leads to much shouting from Jesse. He has issues that he needs to deal with, one of which apparently includes controlling his temper.

Now they start off the high stakes weigh in.

Austin: 299 pounds (-7, 2.29%)
Ken: 291 pounds (-5, 1.69%)
Justin: 270 pounds (-7, 2.53%)
Rulon: 367 pounds (-4, 1.08%)
Kaylee: 180 pounds (-7, 3.74%)
Moses: 322 pounds (-11, 3.30%)
Jen: 213 pounds (+2, 0.95%)
Red Total: 1942 pounds (-39, 1.97%)

Arthur: 406 pounds (-9, 2.17%) – over 100 pounds lost
Olivia: 202 pounds (-4, 1.94%)
Sarah: 204 pounds (-4, 1.92%)
Irene: 195 pounds (-3, 1.52%)
Hannah: 193 pounds (-1, 0.52%)
Courtney: 256 pounds (-2, 0.78%)
Marci: 182 pounds (+1, 0.55%)
Jesse: 241 pounds (+3, 1.26%)
Deni: 204 pounds (+8, 4.08%)
Black Total: 2094 pounds (-11, 0.53%)

A bunch of low weights this week, three of which were intentional. The older people on the black team all decided to throw the weigh in. In the process, they have not only guaranteed that one of them will go home instead of red team member Jen, but they have also guaranteed that a second one of them will be going home because the black team had no prayer of winning. Furthermore, they have also put the black team at greater risk going forward because they took their two person lead and flushed it. This decision may work for the moment, but it’s not a viable plot if their goal is to keep their kids in there longer. Moses had an alternate theory and lesson for his child: give it all you got. That would explain why he and his daughter were the biggest losers for the week.

As the person with the greatest percentage of weight gain this week, Deni has fallen below the red line and has been eliminated.

Votes
Courtney: Jesse
Sarah: Jesse
Olivia: Jesse
Hannah: Jesse
Marci: Jesse

With 5 votes, Jesse is not The Biggest Loser. From his starting weight of 293 pounds, Jesse is now down to 227 pounds. His plan is to walk every Saturday and get his community to do it with him. From her starting weight of 256 pounds, Deni is now down 86 pounds to 170.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 11 Episode 9, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 18 Episode 1

The Amazing Race 18 cast consists of 11 teams from previous seasons who have unfinished business, whatever that’s supposed to mean. The intent is not so much an all star season as it is to just bring back a random mix of teams who have been on the show over the past three years that may have performed well, dumb lucked their way to the end, or merely went down in flames early on.

For a change, the race is starting on time tonight. We start off from Palm Springs, CA, the second windiest place on Earth (but still one of the hottest).

I see Kent is going by his real name this year, even if Vyxsin is still calling herself something that cannot possibly be a real name. Zev & Justin hope to not lose their passport again. Both Ron & Christina and Margie & Luke tripped up at the final road block. Jaime & Cara were bitches who hated everybody, including each other. They plan to be the ugly Americans again.

The team that places first during this first leg will win the express pass. Apparently, Zev & Justin believe they are part of team Globetrotter during this first leg, or so their T-shirts say. Phil warns the teams they will not just be given their first clue. No, they’ll have to earn it by searching through the desert for a paper airplane from Queensland And Northern Territories Aerial Services, which unbeknownst to most of them is Qantas. At least nobody will be eliminated at the starting line. However, the first 8 teams will make the first flight, while the other teams will be on the second flight, landing 90 minutes later. Ah, but the final team will not only get that 90 minute penalty, but also automatically be U-turned in the next leg.

From here, the teams will head to Sydney, Australia. Kisha & Jen are the first team on the second flight. Amanda & Kris hope the strategy of trying random airlines will work. Mallory, meanwhile, starts praying. Prayer works slightly quicker than randomness, and Amanda & Kris have been U-turned, ironic considering that’s what eliminated them last time.

Bad news for the first flight. A man on their plane had a heart attack. They will be making an unscheduled stop in Honolulu due to the medical emergency, which also means time to refuel.

Flight 2 lands first at 10:20AM. The flight that was originally scheduled to land first actually lands at 10:47AM, nearly half an hour later, which means all those teams that thought they had an unbeatable lead are not scrambling to avoid elimination. Ron & Christina, Mel & Mike, and Jet & Cord miss the first train, placing them at the back of the pack. Missing the second ferry puts Jet & Cord in dead last.

After they land, the teams will take a ferry to Oceanworld in Manly. The road block is to search for a hidden compass while swiming amongst sharks and stingrays, then decipher a sentence written out in nautical flags.

Road block (in order of arrival): Mallory, Kisha, Amanda, Margie, Flight Time, Cara, Justin, Vyxsin, Christina, Mel, Jet

A handful of teams realize that cooperating will give them a leg up, so Kisha & Jen work with Amanda & Kris, while Jaime & Cara work with Margie & Luke. So many teams from season 14 should bode well for them. But there’s a problem. Working together, Margie and Cara still can’t get the puzzle right and are turned away. Also keeping it among seasons, Zev & Justin pass on the answer of their clue to Flight Time & Big Easy, who assumed they could not finish the clue but somehow pick it up along the way. When the option presents itself, Justin refuses to help Jaime & Cara and Margie & Luke, although it wouldn’t hurt to make a couple more allies along the way. Nonetheless, Ron & Christina and Mel & Mike decide to help out Jaime & Cara and Margie & Luke. That will leave just Jet & Cord and Kent & Vyxsin battling for last, with both teams deciding that only half the clue is sufficient. Jet & Cord head back, while Kent & Vyxsin just ask Margie for the answer. This sharing answers nonsense is lame. I don’t assume we will be seeing a similar task to this in the future.

The clue will lead them to join the crew and help sail a 16 foot skiff along a water course, where they will find their next clue.

In what seems like a pretty quick leg, the pit stop for this leg of the race is Shelly Beach.

There’s a reason this seemed quick. Although Gary & Mallory have been granted their express pass for placing first, they are still racing, or at least they will be once Mallory stops yapping. Amanda & Kris are in second, which puts them in a decent position for now, but they still must contend with that U-turn.

First: Gary & Mallory
Second: Amanda & Kris
Third: Kisha & Jen
Fourth: Zev & Justin
Fifth: Flight Time & Big Easy
Sixth: Jaime & Cara
Seventh: Margie & Luke
Eighth: Ron & Christina
Ninth: Mel & Mike
Tenth: Kent & Vyxsin
Eleventh (and way behind): Jet & Cord

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 18 Episode 2, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Amazing Race 18 Cast

The Amazing Race Season 18 (Unfinished Business) brings back 11 teams from five of the past six seasons, half of whom are from season 14, running the range from those who finished second all the way down to those who finished ninth.

Amanda Blackledge & Kris Klicka
Engaged Couple
Season 14, 8th Place

Gary Ervin & Mallory Ervin
Father and Daughter
Season 17, 6th Place

Jaime Edmonson & Cara Rosenthal
Former NFL Cheerleaders
Season 14, 2nd Place

Jet McCoy & Cord McCoy
Cowboys
Season 16, 2nd Place

LaKisha Hoffman & Jennifer Hoffman
Sisters
Season 14, 4th Place

Kynt Cothron & Vyxsin Fiala
Dating Goths
Season 12, 5th Place

Margie Adams & Luke Adams
Mother and Son
Season 14, 3rd Place

Mel White & Mike White
Father and Son
Season 14, 6th Place

Herbert “Flight Time” Lang & Nathaniel “The Big Easy” Lofton
Harlem Globetrotters
Season 15, 4th Place

Ronald Hsu & Christina Hsu
Father and Daughter
Season 12, 2nd Place

Zev Glassenberg & Justin Kanew
Friends
Season 15, 9th Place

American Idol Season 10 Episode 10

American Idol Season 10 Episode 9 brought us gropu night in Hollywood. Tonight we see the final cuts in Hollywood.

Forgetting the words yesterday, Haley Reinhart just barely made it through. Her improved performance of the day puts the judges in a better mood. Ashton Jones also performs well, and at least now she’s not stuck in a group with Ashley Sullivan. Thia Megia, the girl from America’s Got Talent, continues this trend.

Now we move on to the bad performances. Adrian Michael, Caleb Johnson, and Frances Coontz struggle to get in sync with the live band.

Clint Jun Gamboa is lucky he’s a good singer. If this is a popularity contest (it is), he’s going to struggle after getting rid of Jacee on group night, which left him looking like an ass. We go from him back to the ladies, as Kendra Chantelle and Sophia Shorai give solid performances.

Carson Higgins may be goofy, but he’s got the talent to back it up. He chooses My Prerogative of all songs, and he does it as a band number, which seems to work. Chris Medina, meanwhile, tries to turn it into a guitar solo song, and is ultimately left unsatisfied with his performance.

Julie Zorrilla, Colton Dixon, and Robbie Rosen play keyboard, while Caleb Hawley and Brett Loewenstern play guitar. Casey Abrams opts to drag a stand up bass with him. People will remember him for this, even if the instrument turns out to be quite pointless in the end.

Jacqueline Dunford is sick and off to the hospital. Before going there, she decides to leave the competition. That leaves Chelsee Oaks, who lost Rob Bolin last night, alone there without her best friend or her not best ex boyfriend.

Lauren Alaina chooses to sing I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing again. At least the licensing rights are probably cheap. Jacob Lusk put his name on the map last night, and he continues with a performance that results in a standing ovation. John Wayne Schulz is still in the competition after his poor group night performance, and he’s got Jennifer Lopez singing along with him as he sings.

Ashley Sullivan is freaking out. Again/still. I grow tired of the drama. Unable to remember the words, she tries restarting, which doesn’t work, leading to more tears.

Stefano Langone, Jovany Barreto, and Jacee Badeaux all perform well.

Scotty McCreery is hopefully going to sing something new tonight. Nope, that song isn’t on the list, so he’s chosen to sing I Hope You Dance. He’d probably sound good if he could remember the words. Tatynisa Wilson, too, stumbles over this song.

Now it’s time for the judges to deliberate and split the contestants into four rooms.

Room 1 is moving to the next round. This includes Jacee Badeaux, Ashley Sullivan, Brett Loewenstern, Robbie Rosen, Lauren Alaina, James Durbin, and Casey Abrams.

Room 2 has been eliminated. Room 3, too, has been eliminated. This is the end of the line for Brielle von Hugel, Corey Levoy, Mark Gutierrez, and Chelsee Oaks.

Room 4 will be advancing to the next round. Thia Megia, Carson Higgins, Julie Zorrilla, Jovanny Barreto, Rachel Zevita, and Scotty McCreery are among this group.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of American Idol Season 10 Episode 11, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on Fox.

American Idol Season 10 Episode 9

Hollywood week got started in American Idol Season 10 Episode 8. 168 contestants survived the first two days. Tonight we continue with the group performances.

The day 1 contestants, thinking they were so smart, began forming groups immediately after getting through, picked their songs, and started practicing. Seeing this, the producers decide to mix things up. The groups must be a mixture of day 1 and day 2 contestants. I have an idea. Don’t tell them what songs they’re going to sing in groups. Then you won’t have to worry.

Tiffany Rios still has a big head. Nobody wants her in their group. Apparently not realizing what he’s getting himself into and unable to locate a group, Scott McCreery makes the mistake of asking her to be in his group, but he sees all he needs to realize she’s crazy. Somehow, Tiffany manages to grab someone from another group to form one of her own.

Jordan Dorsey takes charge of his group, both insulting them and also refusing to let anyone join until he comes across Shane Golden.

As for the still unestablished groups, they’re left wasting precious time due to the silly mixed day nonsense.

Scotty McCreery finally stumbles upon a group including Jacee Badeaux.

At 11PM, group formation chaos comes to a close. Since Tiffany and her partner can’t find anyone to subject themselves to her, the producers “let it slide” and let them be a twosome because they created this mess to begin with by not doing something so simple as anticipating people may form groups early if you give them the opportunity to do so.

James Durbin is unimpressed by the presence of stage moms that are with some of this season’s younger contestants.

Rob Bolin and Chelsee Oaks formed a group with Nick Fink and Jacqueline Dunford. Then Nick got eliminated, so Jackie plays third wheel to two exes who don’t get along all that well.

Ashley Sullivan returns to the drama. Having cried throughout the season, Ashley’s about ready to have a breakdown. She’s done. Sorry, guys in her group.

Scotty’s staying in his group, but now with another day 2 person, they decide to axe Jacee (or at least Clint Gamboa does). With 1AM approaching, he’s going to have to go elsewhere.

Jordan Dorsey is thinking of leaving his group. I say let him. He’s been a controlling ass anyway. Lauren confronts him and finally gets him to make a decision, and he agrees to leave.

After hours go by, Ashley has finally made a decision to stay. This is going to get old.

Jacee has been wandering around for a while but finally stumbles across a group without a day 2 person just before 3:00. He doesn’t know the song they’re singing, so he’d better get busy learning.

The first group of the day is a trio from New York whose names Seacrest attempts to pronounce: Pia Toscano, Alessandra Guercio, and Brielle von Hugel. Steven says they slammed it. Randy calls them all amazing, and they all made it through.

Jordan Dorsey’s new group is up next. He joins Robbie Rosen and some other people on stage. Jennifer calls it good. They will all go through. Just what we needed, for Jordan to get even more arrogant.

Jordan’s old group follows him. This group includes Adrian Michael and Lauren Turner. They, too, are all through.

Tiffany Rios and Jessica Yantz are the lone duo of the day. Randy stops them before they cause him any more pain. It’s the end of the line for them.

Kevin Campos’ group is about to start performing. Too bad he’s still sleeping. After he wakes up, he joins Jovany Barreto, Jorge Gabriel, and Karen Rodriguez for some singing. Whatever happens, Kevin’s going to have to take this more seriously. Jovany and Karen are advancing, which by Steven’s math is three people.

Then a group of nameless girls gets up to sing to Steven Tyler. They’re a hit with the audience, if only I knew who they were. Lauren is the only one who moves on.

A fivesome of Nashville auditioners has come together, including Colton Dixon and Matt Dillard. Colton is the only one to survive.

Shannon Livewell, Briana Tyson, Janelle Arthur, Alyson Jados, Caitlin Koch, and Paris Tassin get themselves into a bad day montage. Emily Anne Reed, Adrienne Beasley, Courtney Penry, and Aaron Gutierrez have also been eliminated.

Keeira Lyn Ford, Ashley Sullivan, and Ashton Jones are up next. Their group is through to the next round, and Randy says they are the best harmonized group so far.

James Durbin, Emma Henry, Danny Pate, Caleb Johnson, and John Jordan are the first up to sing Somebody to Love. Strong voices but bad harmonies. Caleb and James will be staying.

The next group to sing this song is the youngest group, with moms in tow: Keonna Evans, Jalen Harris, Sarina-Joi Crowe, Felix Ramsay, and Deandre Brackensick. Steven Tyler says this is as good as it gets. Everybody is through to the next round.

Steven Clawson (reading his hand), Corey Levoy, and Hollie Cavanagh have a poor performance, but taking into account their prior performances, Corey and Hollie go through. Corey asks why.

Two groups decide to perform without music, as if that’s really a big handicap considering that’s how they got here to begin with. First up are Dan Noguchi, Lara Johnston, Julie Zorrilla, Melissa Lucas, and Casey Abrams. Julie and Casey advance.

Da’quela (you can’t just stick an apostrophe in a name) Payne, Matthew Nuss, Naima Adedapo, and Jacob Lusk have a much better performance. All move to the next round.

Caleb Hawley, Devyn Rush, Chris Medina, and Carson Higgins are up next. All but Devyn make it.

Denise Jackson, Stevie Cain, Natalie Hanson, Brett Loewenstern, and Jacee Badeaux perform next. Jacee sounds okay but is lost. Nonetheless, the group is advancing.

Jacee’s original group goes next. Scotty McCreery apologizes for not sticking up for him. His group also consists of Monique de los Santos, Frances Coontz, and Clint Jun Gamboa. Although they probably didn’t win any fans for getting rid of Jacee, their performance shows that it may well have been the right decision, and they move to the next round.

The final group of the night is Rob Bolin, Chelsee Oaks, and Jacqueline Dunford in a threesome that the ladies want to dominate, while Rob has no interest in actually being a performer. Rob is a complete disaster. The other two are, well, better than that, good enough to continue while Rob goes home.

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

Survivor: Redemption Island Episode 1

16 new contestants form the Survivor: Redemption Island cast alongside Boston Rob and Russell Hantz. Will Rob win the million in his sixth attempt? (Admittedly, he should have won Survivor: All Stars, although win or lose he still won, and he should have won The Amazing Race 7.) Will Russell win a single vote?

Phillip says he’s a former federal agent. Yeah, the producers ain’t buying it either. Matt says his faith is everything, and his entire life revolves around it. Oh ~~God~~ geez. Surely they will make it so he clashes with someone. I just hope he doesn’t think God cares about who wins this game. Mike believes that his time in Iraq trained him to win something like this. While he may have the survival aspect down, the key is how to avoid the person sleeping next to you stabbing you in the back.

After everyone lands, they are introduced to Rob and Russell. Rob is greeted with applause, but Russell is greeted less warmly, albeit with the knowledge that he’s a contender.

They draw for buffs. Rob is on the Ometepe tribe, and Russell is on Zapatera, so now the tribes will be:

Ometepe (orange): Andrea, Matt, Francesca, Kristina, Grant, Phillip, Natalie, Ashley, Rob
Zapatera (purple): Mike, Ralph, Krista, David, Stephanie, Sarita, Julie, Steve, Russell

Lastly, it’s time to announce the redemption island twist. When they are voted out, they will live alone on redemption island, not leaving the game unless they lose the duel. At some point, the last man standing will reenter the game.

Probst tosses them some maps and warns them it will be raining a lot out there in Nicaragua.

Ralph has done all this stuff. If they listen to him, he’ll build them a decent shack, and probably an outhouse. Over on his tribe, Boston Rob takes control of the construction, which he has experience in before he became a reality TV star for a living.

Phillip is already starting to rub some of the girls the wrong way. At first, I thought it was just Francesca, a lawyer, always a bad sign regardless of the fact of how much she keeps rambling, but since someone else agrees with her, I’ll consider it as a problem.’

Kristina begins her hunt for the hidden immunity idol, surprised nobody else is doing the same. Her searching through their belongings is not lost on Boston Rob, who lets her know. He then talks to Phillip, commenting on how many girls there are there, and how they need to be watched. Hearing this, Phillip goes to Kristina, telling her this and that he will stick to the girls. Easier said than done.

Is Stephanie lucky girl #3 for Russell? That’s the plan, or so it seems. The others quickly see this. Someone comments how Russell’s not a threat. I have bad news for you then. He’s managed to eliminate more people than you can shake a stick at.

After realizing it probably won’t be as simple as just looking in their bags, Kristina later goes searching and finds the hidden immunity idol. She believes this will help her eliminate Rob. Good luck with that. Her alliance to help her achieve that: Francesca and Phillip. Great, two people who neither seem stable nor like each other.

The first immunity challenge is to push four blocks along tracks to build a base of a temple, run up the steps and use an axe to chop a series of ropes, run up another set of steps, and race to complete a block puzzle. Zapatera starts off the pushing with a bit of a lead. They extend this on the second block and then significantly more on the next block, when they lap Ometepe. Ralph starts rope chopping, while Ometepe continues to struggle. They’d better pray the other team struggles on the puzzle, or at least that Rob’s good enough to catch them up. Zapatera’s lead shrinks quite a bit, but not enough for the others to make up for their poor start. Zapatera wins immunity and fire.

As weak as this tribe is, they would be dog dumb to get rid of Boston Rob. Nonetheless, Kristina wants to do just that. She tells Francesca she has the idol, and she wants them two plus their buddy Phillip to vote for Rob, while the rest of the tribe votes her out and she burns the idol. Francesca warns her this is a stupid plan, and they should get rid of Natalie instead.

Rob wanted to vote Francesca out because her big mouth started yapping right away, telling Probst from minute one she didn’t trust Rob. After thinking about it, he doesn’t trust Kristina, who was digging for the idol right away. As a precaution, he’d like to split the vote between the two, just in case Kristina has the idol. Just to be clear, don’t switch your vote, unlike the idiot last season.

Phil wants an answer. Who does Kristina have lined up to vote with them? Nobody. She thinks the idol will do all the voting for them, so she shows it to him.

At tribal council, Phillip says that Francesca and Kristina asked him to vote for Rob. Well, there goes their whole plan up in smoke, not that it was a good one to begin with. Oh, and by the way, Kristina has an immunity idol. Awesome. Kristina acknowledges that she considered voting for Rob but wouldn’t do it, not yet. Rob has a proposal then: give him the immunity idol, and she can stay. She can’t do that. Good luck to you.

Kristina has decided not to play the idol. She should be safe, barely, for now, unfortunately.

Votes
Kristina
Kristina
Francesca
Phillip
Francesca
Phillip
Kristina
Francesca
Francesca

With 4 votes, Francesca has been voted off the island. So many mistakes in her brief three day stay.

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

The Biggest Loser Season 11 Episode 7

One week after his wife went home, Q was eliminated in The Biggest Loser Season 11 Episode 6.

For the challenge, they will be tied to a rope. All they have to do is untie themselves first. Cowboy Justin thinks this is right up his alley. The winning team will receive the only key to the gym. Arthur will sit out for the black team. The red team manages to get free first.

Although the black team contestants are afraid of what’s to come, Bob is not too terribly afraid, since they have trained without a gym before. It’s not like they are always going to have access to a gym when they go home. Jillian, meanwhile, says the teams are like the Care Bears against an NFL team, and she jokes about how the prizes are decided since her team last week only got videos from home. Granted, for whatever strange reason, the players always act like someone died when they get the videos, having been away from their families for multiple numbers of days and/or weeks.

Perhaps worse, the black team has a lot of tension and negative energy. That’s not going to help them out any more than missing the treadmills.

During his workout, Rulon throws a temper tantrum. For someone who seems to have been doing a great job all season, he refuses to listen to his trainer, complaining that she’s stacking the deck against him by expecting more out of him (a former gold medalist who’s easily the strongest person in the house) than others on his team. Additionally, he does not want to take an emotional journey here. If he doesn’t want to address why he’s there, he may as well not bother because he’ll just be right back to that stage again in short order.

Arthur’s making some supper. He wants his team to help him decide between steak and chicken sausage. For them, either of these foods is a great big problem. His only option, they say, is fish. He’d also like to cook it in olive oil, which they warn him would be more calories than the meal itself.

Tonight’s challenge will be to push a 24 ton train 800 feet. Alison says that strength isn’t everything. Yeah it is. Red team’s got this won already. Anyway, along the way they will have to answer six trivia questions. If they are wrong, 15 seconds will be added to their time. The winning team will get to pick one player from the other team whose weight will not count. Deni sits out for the black team. They’re not going to have a lot of time to think about their answers, as they will have to toss the bags off the moving train that’s not slowing down. Black team (minus Arthur, who’s running behind the train and trying to catch up) finishes in 2:05, and they are worried they have missed multiple questions. Red team goes second, and they’re left with a scenario in which two girls throw the bags while six guys push the train, a completely opposite group composition to the other team. Red team crosses the finish line in 1:35, an advantage equivalent to two wrong answers. Black team got four questions wrong. That’s a win or at least a tie for the red team unless they got everything wrong. With one and only one question right, the red team wins.

Whether he wants to or not, Rulon has decided to start to open up to his trainer. Her fear is that, without a competition, he’ll gain his weight back, but he says he’ll compete against himself.

Hoping to boost Arthur’s confidence following the train challenge, Jillian has some fun planned for him. They’re going to revisit day one, pushing the truck around. In contrast to the first time when it took the whole team, he’s now able to do it on his own.

Having won the challenge, the red team will be able to choose one member of the black team to sit out, but first the red team will weigh in.

Jay: 308 pounds (-9, 2.84%)
Jen: 211 pounds (-7, 3.21%)
Moses: 333 pounds (-7, 2.06%)
Kaylee: 187 pounds (-3, 1.58%)
Justin: 277 pounds (-5, 1.77%)
Rulon: 371 pounds (-11, 2.88%) – over 100 pounds lost
Austin: 306 pounds (-10, 3.16%)
Ken: 296 pounds (-11, 3.58%)
Red Total: 2289 pounds (-63, 2.68%)

I’m not sure it necessarily matters who the red team chooses to sit out since there is no particularly obvious choice, but they decide to have Irene’s weight loss not count.

Irene: 198 pounds (-6, 2.94%)

Deni: 196 pounds (-5, 2.49%)
Sarah: 208 pounds (-4, 1.89%)
Olivia: 206 pounds (-2, 0.96%)
Hannah: 194 pounds (-7, 3.48%)
Marci: 181 pounds (-6, 3.21%)
Courtney: 258 pounds (-7, 2.64%)
Jesse: 238 pounds (-8, 3.25%)
Arthur: 415 pounds (-20, 4.60%)
Black Total (excluding Irene): 1896 pounds (-59, 3.02%)

For the first time this season, the person with the most to lose has finally stepped up to the plate, winning the weigh in for his team. Had the red team selected Arthur, they would have won, but I can’t blame them considering his performance thus far.

This week, the red team does not have it quite so easy, not having someone they hate to get rid of. The one person they can’t vote for is their team’s Biggest Loser, Ken. The simplest thing now is to get rid of one of the newbies, Jay or Jen, regardless of them outperforming most of the others on the team. Jay has asked that his daughter be allowed to stay.

Votes
Moses: Jay
Kaylee: Jay
Austin: Jay
Jen: Kaylee
Jay: Rulon
Rulon: Jay

With 4 votes, Jay is not The Biggest Loser. From his starting weight of 400 pounds, Jay is down 111 pounds to 289. His biological age has decreased by 7 years to 64, and his risk of diabetes, stroke, and heart attack are down significantly.

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