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The Amazing Race 17 Episode 7

In yet another thoroughly predictable outcome, Nick & Vicki were noneliminated in The Amazing Race 17 Episode 6.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Jill & Thomas – 8:30AM
Second: Brook & Claire – 8:36AM
Third: Michael & Kevin – 8:40AM
Other departures not revealed.

6 legs in, and Jill still doesn’t feel part of her team.

Seems nothing has been learned from the last few legs. No flights yet again. There better be an hours of operation or something because otherwise this is the most obvious outcome in the history of most obvious outcomes.

Teams will travel by taxi to Avtovo Circus. Once they arrive, the circus is closed. It’s closed long enough for all the teams to be bunched together. The detour is a choice between circus band or circus clown. In circus band, teams will learn a Russian folk song on accordians. In circus clown, they will have to learn a plate spinning routine, and keep at least 10 plates spinning simultaneously for at least 10 seconds.

Circus band: Nat & Kat, Gary & Mallory, Chad & Stephanie (switched from clown)
Circus clown: Michael & Kevin, Brook & Claire, Nick & Vicki, Jill & Thomas (switched from clown to band to clown)

Nat & Kat decide to turn the keys into numbers, a nerdy solution but a good one nonetheless. This task may well be the easiest because they can play as slowly as they want as long as they play the right notes in the right order. A quickly impatient Thomas bails and goes to the other task without giving a great deal of effort to the first one. Nick, who claims he learned from his first blow up, is calling Vicki a dumbass before long. Chad decides plate spinning is stupid. He and Stephanie come up with a numbering concept like Nat & Kat, but there’s no way Thomas is going to learn all of the song, so he opts to head back to the place where he lost his patience earlier.

From there, teams will have to figure out they are looking for Bank Bridge, based only on the description that it has creatures with golden wings surrounding it. It’s not so much a mystery as just asking their cab drivers to take them there.

1 Vladimirskiy Prospekt Tower, a historic building, is their next destination, which they will reach on foot by asking locals for help. Two team members can then go to the top and figure out that their next stop from there is the Church on Spilled Blood. They may not pay a taxi to lead them there, a part of the clue that Michael & Kevin miss. As the first two teams to arrive at the tower, Nat & Kat and Nick & Vicki decide to work together. This works out well for both teams, and the fact that they take a while to find it is completely irrelevant because everybody has to wait for them before they can go up. Nick lies about what he finds to the other teams. Kevin trusts him, but Claire doesn’t want to take him for his word. This works out because Kevin decides Nick may have lied to them. Thomas and Mallory are the next pair up, leaving Chad & Stephanie in last place. As with the other pairs who climbed up together, Thomas and Mallory decide to work together. Stephanie can’t find it, so she sends Chad up to take a look, and the fact that he found it and not her will serve as an opportunity for him to rub it in. He’ll do so in the cab ride over, which will cost them a penalty.

Michael & Kevin didn’t learn from their first penalty, and now they drag Brook & Claire into the penalization with them, taking their cab yet again. However, Brook & Claire discover the error and have their cab driver turn around so they can walk as they should have.

The riddle continues, as they head to Peter and Paul Fortress. Trying to get there will lead Nick to calling Vicki a moron. This team is just waiting to self implode.

The road block is to master a Russian game, gorodki. Using a wooden bat, teams have two tries to clear all the pins before they’re reset. They must clear three different pin formations each.

Road block (in order of arrival): Kat, Michael, Brook, Nick, Stephanie, Thomas, Gary

When Kat gets her first formation done apparently in one try, I’m thinking this won’t be so difficult. Then she gets another. Brook does fairly well, and Gary and Thomas blow right through it. However, Kevin quickly regrets letting his dad do this road block, but that’s par for the course for this team. He’s in a battle for last with Stephanie, but regardless, the penalties will screw them over. Michael makes his way through the last couple pretty quickly after spending an hour on the first one, leaving Stephanie behind with an increasingly agitated Chad. Not that Chad was calm to begin with.

After completion of the road block, Michael & Kevin argue with their cab driver. When Stephanie does finish, Chad makes the executive decision to screw the bags and just take off running. This is enough to get to them to the mat in sixth. The problem is that they have not paid their cab yet, so whether he has all their stuff or not is moot because they have to go settle up. That now puts Michael & Kevin in sixth place. The problem is they broke a couple of rules. They had a taxi lead them to the tower, and then they took a taxi to the church. That’s a 30 minute penalty for each infringement, which should be enough to cost them the race. Like Michael & Kevin, Chad & Stephanie broke a rule, taking a taxi from the tower to the church, resulting in a 30 minute penalty. In spite of that, Michael & Kevin’s 1 hour penalty is enough to save them.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is the Peter and Paul Fortress.

First: Nat & Kat (win $5,000 each)
Second: Brook & Claire
Third: Nick & Vicki
Fourth: Gary & Mallory
Fifth: Jill & Thomas
Sixth: Chad & Stephanie
Eliminated: Michael & Kevin

I would have expected their inability to complete a task to be their undoing, but it was ultimately the inability to read their clues that caused Michael & Kevin to be eliminated.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 17 Episode 8 Ali Baba in a Suit, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Apprentice Season 10 Episode 8

After being called out for being a liar (she now wants an apology… good luck) in The Apprentice Season 10 Episode 7, Mahsa was fired.

As much of a (well deserved) hard time as I like to give Trump, I’m halfway through The Apprentice New Zealand, and it’s a trainwreck. This Terry Serepisos is a piece of work. I might have to start going easy on the Donald.

Brandy is not unhappy that Mahsa is gone. On the contrary, this was quite the easy way of getting rid of a tough competitor.

Not realizing she got away with another lackluster performance, Stephanie isn’t keeping her mouth shut. Instead, she returns to the suite with much yelling, as per usual, this time at the other team (specifically, Anand).

Brandy and Liza are switching teams with Clint and Steuart. I’d say the boys got the worse end of that trade.

The task will be to do a 4 page ad for Donald Trump’s line of clothing. Hard to get more self serving than this. The ads will be judged on creativity, brand integration, and the overall presentation of the work.

David is the project manager for his team; Brandy will be the PM for her side.

When Clint thinks of Donald Trump, he thinks power, wealth, and sexual prowess. I really did not need to know that. Brandy is thinking along the same lines, suggesting the morning after scene, with a woman wearing the man’s shirt. Every time she hears her team use the word sex, Liza questions whether it’s really appropriate.

Brandy and Steuart arrive at Trump Soho to find that there are no models. Good thing they are there and not Clint and Liza because Brandy makes the call that they will have to model instead, a nice boost to Steu’s ego. I don’t know that Steuart’s as good lucking as he thinks he is, but Liza assures Clint he has no worries because Brandy has great legs.

The other team has to choose six models. David has a man crush on the first guy through the door, and he doesn’t care who else he sees as long as they get this one guy. David’s thrilled to have Stephanie on his team because she loves the way things are going. However, neither Poppy nor Anand are happy. They think the model that David loves has too small a neck for the shirt he’s wearing.

Eric Trump is worried that this whole selling sex concept is too racy, even for his dad. Liza doesn’t like how this is all unfolding either.

David tasked Anand and Poppy with the job of getting food (the same task he found so insulting one or two tasks ago), which they say they did not have time to do. With Don Jr. there, this is perfect timing for David to harp on the issue.

Later, David does not want any input from anybody on the pictures. He wants to figure out what he likes himself. Then others can offer input, which he can freely ignore if it does not agree with his conclusions. Dismissing Anand to the other side of the room, he has decided he hates him.

Brandy does the presentation for her team due to the previous praise she received for her runway presentation. This time, she’s not quite so strong, stumbling over her words some.

David goes into the presentation without any real practice. Their concept is to mute the models, making everything black and white but the clothing. His presenting seems much smoother.

The judges think that both teams did a great job, although neither project was without its flaws.

Liza thinks that Brandy did an amazing job as project manager.

Clint did not miss David. However, Stephanie was happy to have him.

David says that 90% of the task was his, so it’s hard to say who was weak, but Poppy had the least involvement. She’s a puppy who just follows Anand around. Her response is that David is very demeaning.

In spite of his crush on the model, David will not be coming out of the closet tonight. Trump points out what everyone else but David noticed: the shirt David’s cover model wore did not fit him.

Brandy’s team wins, and their ad will be used in a Macy’s campaign. It was great work, imaginative, and beautiful. For her reward, Brandy will meet with the head of Macy’s, Terry Lundgren.

The result here is obvious. David took over the whole task and did not want any input from anybody. He’s got to go. Granted, he’s had to go for weeks.

Although Trump first points out David’s model mistake, Poppy will not get through this unscathed. Her last page had all the products, but it lacked the details about them, with all the pictures being too small anyway. In spite of that, Stephanie could not see Poppy being fired. There goes David’s hope of having any support.

David will be letting Anand go back to the suite. Interesting. The reason Stephanie’s going back to the boardroom? She said David should be fired. He didn’t just say that, did he?

David, you’re fired. Well, that was quick. Not a lot of discussion surrounding that. At least he leaves with a modicum of dignity, though.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Apprentice Season 10 Episode 9, which airs Thursday at 10/9c on NBC.

Survivor: Nicaragua Episode 8

After Marty handed over his idol to less than smooth talker Sash in Survivor: Nicaragua Episode 7, his tribe got rid of his ally Jill.

They receive treemail telling them to pack up and follow a map to their new home. Merge already? Espada is given a box, which they cannot open until they have the key.

Benry wants to get rid of Alina already, before they even get to their new home. Alina proposes that the six of them stick together to wipe out the others, but nobody cares.

Inside the chest is a feast and a paper telling them they have merged. Back to trying to take control, Marty names the tribe, Libertad.

Both being from North Carolina, Jane and Chase are bonding already.

NaOnka tells us she woke up this morning very irritable. Just this morning? Feeling she was short changed on her share of the breakfast, she takes the flour, puts it in her bag, and leaves… all in full view of Holly. She decides to bury it in the ground. Crazy psycho bitch. Not content with that, she takes a bunch of fruit, cooking supplies, and eating supplies.

Alina realizes that the people who pretended to be on her side are all liars. Speaking of liars, she’s talking with NaOnka. Here, have a whole orange and calm your nerves down. You can cut it with the knives I stole in the pot I also stole.

When everybody starts looking for all the missing stuff, Holly confronts NaOnka, who claims she put it all back. Alina keeps her mouth shut, later telling Alina along with Chase that she should come clean. So she does admit she’s a liar, claiming she was doing it for the tribe by rationing for them. If she’s going down, she’s not going down alone, saying Alina was with her. NaOnka’s allies don’t care and plan to stick by her anyway.

Marty’s target is Jane. May as well get rid of her since she ain’t gonna be on his side regardless of what happens.

There are two individual immunity necklaces up for grabs. Each person will have two metal handles they will use to keep tension on a steel bar. Last man and woman standing win immunity. Purple Kelly and Dan are out within about 3 seconds. Alina’s not far behind. Brenda is next. Then Benry. Sash follows, with NaOnka close behind. I thought this was an endurance challenge, but it seems pretty damn quick. Holly is eliminated, and Jane wins immunity for the women. She can drop, but what if she wants to beat the men? Go for it. What a stupid way to draw attention to yourself. Marty is out. Chase is eliminated, and Fabio wins immunity for the men. Fabio agrees to drop his rather than participate in Jane’s silliness.

The original plan may have been to get rid of Alina, but Jane’s not going to vote with them because she will vote Marty no matter what, even if that means giving up the numbers. Sash has a problem with this. He doesn’t want to go back on his word to Marty. Wait. Wasn’t your word to give him the idol?

Dan has a warning for Marty that Chase is going to try to blindside him. Marty takes this information to everybody else, saying that Dan told him what was said.

Alina approaches Fabio for his support to get rid of Marty. Who should go first? NaOnka. Tell me about it. Alina’s fine with this random vote because it would mean one more vote not for her.

Marty calls Jane out at tribal council, warning the others that they can’t beat her in the final three. If she makes it to the final three, he will vote for her, which she takes surprisingly poorly.

Dan has another issue to raise. NaOnka and Alina stole food. Interesting how Alina is getting blame for this when she just ate some of the fruit. NaOnka denies that Alina took anything, but she says she’s been punished because nobody talked to her following her theft.

Sash will not be playing the hidden idol he didn’t give back to Marty.

Votes
Marty
Marty
Alina
Alina
Alina
Alina
Alina
Alina
Alina

For all the talk of a Marty vote, it’s not even close. With 7 votes, Alina has been voted off the island.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Nicaragua Episode 9, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Amazing Race 17 Episode 6

In yet another ridiculously predictable conclusion, Katie & Rachel were eliminated in The Amazing Race 17 Episode 5.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived, or at least that’s what I’m assuming because they only show the first team to depart.

The first team’s departing at 8:26PM (and it’s still light outside), but with the train station not opening until 6AM, all the teams will be bunched together. Undeterred by the sign telling them it’s closed, Nat & Kat knock and find out that the first train to get them to the airport in Stockholm does not arrive until 10:26AM.

Another day, another argument between Chad & Stephanie. They get the last taxi. It’s her fault, as usual.

For all the drama, all the teams get on the same flight to St. Petersburg, Russia.

The detour is a choice between classical music or classical cinema. In classical music, teams will listen to three different compositions on gramphones, then figure out which three pianos in the ballroom full of pianos are playing the same compositions they heard earlier. In classical cinema, teams go to the first place a movie was screened in Russia, where they will search through piles of film clips to find the one matches the movie playing on the screen.

Classical Music: Chad & Stephanie, Nick & Vicki (switched from classical music to classical cinema to classical music)
Classical Cinema: Brook & Claire, Michael & Kevin, Jill & Thomas, Gary & Mallory (switched from classical music), Nat & Kat (switched from classical music)

Kevin thinks that having made some Youtube videos will help him in this task. He thinks wrong. Nonetheless, they seem to have picked the easier task because I can’t see how an untrained ear (or someone who hasn’t at least heard these songs before) could pick out the music with any amount of ease. Brook & Claire were in the lead, but that’s quickly blown by their cab driver, who puts them in last.

Chad & Stephanie are incorrect on their first guess. And their second guess. Gary & Mallory join the incorrectness. Then Nick & Vicki and Nat & Kat. Chad & Stephanie again, but she doesn’t want to take the hint and switch. Nick & Vicki are wrong again. Gary & Mallory as well. Then Nat & Kat again. One by one they’re bailing and heading to the other task, but Stephanie insists on sticking around. They’re wrong again. Then again. Do they want to go yet? No. Wrong again. Still not leaving. How about after they’re wrong again? She still insists on staying. This pays off, as they finally get it right. I’d call it dumb luck more than anything because sticking around until you basically had no choice but to finish the task hardly seems like a wise move.

Thomas has the easy theory about the movie they’re watching. Just look for Russian words in the clip because those pop out. Somehow, this works. The other teams are not having so much luck, repeatedly getting denied. Brook & Claire eventually get it, to put themselves back into second place. The teams sticking around at the music place are just killing time now. Seeing words at the top like Thomas did, Kevin solves the task. Now it’s time to see just how long it takes for the other task takers to start getting the hint. Gary & Mallory are the first to get a clue and switch. Talking with Nick & Vicki about how the other detour is stupid, Nat & Kat decide to switch detours with them. Nat & Kat are out first, leaving the other two battling for last. Mallory is behind them, leaving the Vegas couple behind.

Nick suggests going back to the piano thing. This will not end well. They are at least able to finish the task, though. Their only hope is a nonelimination.

The next stop is the location found on their film can or record, Palace Square. From there, they head to Alexandraovskaya. This takes them to the sticks, and they’re about to find out why.

The road block is to become babushkas and put in a proper day’s work in the fields. They will put on traditional (female) clothing and then plant a row of 50 potatoes, fertilizing their crop with a very generous helping of cow manure.

Road block (in order of arrival): Brook, Kevin, Jill, Nat, Stephanie, Mallory, Nick

This is dirty work that will take some energy, but it’s pretty straightforward and hard to screw up too much. The hardest thing is finding out where to go, with none of the locals speaking any English. Mallory does find a new friend, though, who would like her to come in for some vodka. Then she gets to climb through the manure after Stephanie sabotages her by tossing the shovel up the mound (why was the course designed to allow for sabotage?).

The pit stop for this leg of the race is St. Isaac’s Cathedral.

First: Jill & Thomas (win a trip to Sao Paolo)
Second: Brook & Claire
Third: Michael & Kevin
Fourth: Nat & Kat
Fifth: Chad & Stephanie
Sixth: Gary & Mallory
Noneliminated: Nick & Vicki

This is really a struggle this season to create a leg that we don’t know what the outcome will be. The only question is elimination or nonelimination. The answer is that Nick & Vicki have not been eliminated.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 17 Episode 7, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Apprentice Season 10 Episode 7

David was an ass as usual in The Apprentice Season 10 Episode 6, but Trump’s not going to fire him because he finds him entertaining. The women opted to try to sell their pedicab rides at Wall Street, a terrible location. Although Stephanie was the reason why they chose that location, Trump blamed Kelly, firing her instead.

Back in the suite, Mahsa’s telling the story of, well, I don’t know. She’s just rambling. One of the blondes, Brandy I suppose, doesn’t think anybody’s arguing with her. She’s arguing with herself.

Stephanie finally admits she was tasked with location. Now that the firing is done. Her plan is to back down some because she doesn’t want to do everything again, especially if she does it as badly as she did last week.

Mahsa would like to prove that her buddy (for now… she’ll turn on her like she turned on Tyana) Stephanie is great, so she wants to tell the guys exactly who sold what. Brandy takes issue with this, and Steuart is quite amused by the cat fight that ensues. Mahsa’s ready for a fight. These people are not her friends. I noticed.

The task will be to produce a backers audition aimed at getting investors to put up money for their musical. They will be judged by some people whose names I’ve never heard. They will be judged on their marketing materials and the overall presentation of their audition.

Liza will be the project manager for the women; Steuart will be the project manager for the men. Liza stepped forward pretty much just to say she did. She has no interest nor experience in Broadway or anything along those lines. Stephanie doesn’t understand why she doesn’t just rent it on TV. Apparently, you can do that.

Once again, Stephanie claims to be the expert, refusing to recognize anybody else’s strengths or input.

When the audition begins, David is tasked with ordering lunch, and he’s promptly dismissed to go outside to do that.

Last week, Stephanie was mad because she was given too much to do. Okay, you can go and do marketing this week then. Not happy with that either. Liza’s attempts to get the abrasive Stephanie and Mahsa separated from the rest of the team just upsets Stephanie.

Steuart wants the team to be up on stage introducing the talent at each step. David disagrees. Of course. Strangely enough, Clint agrees with David. Somehow, he gets the backing from the project manager as well, with the caveat that he will be blamed if they fail.

When Don Jr. arrives, he asks what’s going on. Liza doesn’t know, so Brandy steps up to explain. On the other team, Ivanka encounters the same thing. This seems like David’s task.

Liza doesn’t really like Mahsa’s and Stephanie’s efforts because they didn’t listen to her. Stephanie still can’t believe she’s there doing this, badly.

On the way over to the audition, Liza still has not completed her introduction, all three sentences of it. When they arrive, Liza’s disappointed by the poster Mahsa and Stephanie have created. The men produce a far better chalkboard poster, which they are all happy with.

Clint gives David his props. The production is right on the money to him.

His introduction may have went smoothly, but Steuart is stumbling over his words the next time he gets on stage. I wonder if Trump still thinks it would be a good idea to have him be a presenter, like he did when he fired Wade. The judges are also disappointed that he didn’t seem that excited about his presentation.

For the other team, the judge in the middle felt the music was great, but perhaps the stage direction was not up to par. Liza’s presentation went over better than Steuart’s did. Their information pamphlet is simple and straightforward. However, it lacks any information, so there is no way to follow up and do something like send a check.

Brandy thought Liza was a very good project manager, although she would have liked to see more involvement from Stephanie.

Mahsa thought Liza was fine. That’s almost a compliment.

Steuart gives David credit for his performance. Clint agrees.

Anand thinks Steu did a pretty good job.

Trump likes what the men did with their promotional material. He’s not as happy with what the women did, to which Mahsa responds that it’s Liza’s fault. Stephanie also blames Liza for not babysitting her enough.

Stephanie wanted to be the PM, but Liza hadn’t done it yet, so she let her do it. Fair enough. Then she digs herself a hole. She claims she would have done it had she known it was musical, which Trump calls a lot of crap, calling what she says a lie.

One of the judges loved the men. One of the judges loved the women and felt Liza did a great job. The tiebreaking vote goes to the men. David gets congratulated for his comeback, and Steuart will be meeting with Larry Young, the President & CEO of Snapple.

Poppy thinks the biggest problem was not including their contact information.

Mahsa again blames Liza, then turns the discussion into a conversation about herself. This leads to an angry and shouting Brandy, a change of pace for this typically composed contestant.

Last week, before the boardroom, Mahsa told the men how much they made, and she responds that Clint told her how much the men made. It’s a good thing Clint is back in the suite because he ain’t happy.

Well, that doesn’t last long. Clint comes stampeding back to the boardroom, ready to go for another epic fight. His defense is that he made $370, but he was out riding the whole time and had no idea what the team made as a whole. This is all a lie. Mahsa says that Clint’s the liar, and she hopes that Brandy will come to her defense. Brandy’s got the pitchfork out ready to join in. The men stand united behind Clint, however.

No need for Liza to bother bringing Stephanie and Mahsa back with her to the boardroom. Mahsa is fired for her disloyalty. That was weird and about as random as can be expected from Trump, although she was on her way out anyway since she and Stephanie weren’t taking the hint that Liza wasn’t going home.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Apprentice Season 10 Episode 8, which airs Thursday at 10/9c on NBC.

Survivor: Nicaragua Episode 7

Two people were sent home in Survivor: Nicaragua Episode 6, Kelly B and Yve.

Dan feels like teflon. Nobody’s ever going to target him, even though they should. Not convinced by their losing streak, they plan to get rid of Alina next.

Marty’s theory is that he has big cajones for not playing the immunity idol. No, he’s just stupid. He’s mostly angry at Jane for turning on him, not that he wouldn’t have done the same to her.

At the reward challenge, one member of each tribe will be a defender, standing on the perch in the water and trying to block balls from getting past them. The winning tribe will get a Nicaraguan farm experience, with horseback riding and fresh breakfast. Jane sits out for La Flor. Fabio and Chase are the defenders. NaOnka scores against Fabio to take the lead 1-0. Jill scores against Chase for a 1-1 tie. This is starting to look easy. Benry scores to take the lead 2-1. Marty throws the ball right directly at Chase, so somebody finally misses. Holly also misses. Purple Kelly scores against Chase to tie it 2-2. Dan makes the most pitiful throw yet, unable to perform the challenge correctly because he can’t jump. Remind me again why they haven’t voted him out. Sash doesn’t get blocked, but he doesn’t score either. Alina scores against Fabio to take the 3-2 lead for Espada. Brenda misses. Before we continue with the challenge, Fabio has to use the restroom in the pool. NaOnka scores to pull ahead 4-2. Jill scores to make it 4-3. Benry scores, and Espada wins reward.

Jane couldn’t care less if everybody else on her tribe is lazy, so long as they feel she’s important. They’re more than happy to take advantage of her.

After catching her fish, Jane has weirdly decided to hide in the woods and cook one of them for herself.

During their meal, Alina and Holly get all emotional and start crying. NaOnka views this as an opportunity talk about Alina behind her back, as if she needs an excuse.

Two members of each tribe will stand at the top of a tower and roll cannon balls down a chute, while four other tribe members use ropes to aim the chute at the other tribe’s tiles. First tribe to break all five of the other tribe’s tiles wins immunity. Sash sits out for La Flor. Benry and Alina are up top for Espada; Brenda and purple Kelly are up top for La Flor. Benry’s first toss misses. Kelly S takes the early lead for La Flor 1-0. Alina connects on Espada’s second attempt, while Brenda misses to tie it 1-1. Benry scores to take the 2-1 lead, as Kelly misses after listening to the people on the ground who think they know what they’re talking about but don’t, although she and Brenda are equally clueless. Alina connectes again to take the 3-1 lead for Espada. Brenda misses. Benry connects again for a 4-1 lead. Brenda then misses again. Alina just misses. Kelly scores to make it 4-2. Finally getting a challenge where their deliberate attempts to make themselves weaker don’t matter, Espada wins immunity.

Since it worked so well last time, La Flor again plans to split the votes to try to flush out the idol. Then Brenda and Sash come up with an alternate plan of having Marty give them the idol. Really?

Sash’s oh so brilliant pitch: you give me the idol, and I’ll look you in the eye and tell you you’re not going home tonight. So he’ll just go home next time then? This idiocy is not lost on Marty. Seeing that he’s an idiot, Sash makes another promise. If they lose immunity again next week, he’ll give him back the idol. Okay, what if they don’t lose then?

In spite of Sash’s efforts to botch this, Marty agrees to hand over the idol. What has he got to lose?

Pot stirrer Probst poses a question. If the idol is really a group idol, does Sash want to give it to Brenda to hold on to? No. Perhaps if there comes a time when he loses trust in them, er, when they lose trust in him.

Votes
Jane
Jane
Jill
Marty
Jill
Marty
Jill

Is there a logical reason why they still split the votes in spite of having the idol? Probably not, but the eighth person voted out of Survivor: Nicaragua is Jill.

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

The Biggest Loser Season 10 Episode 6

With the contestants newly divided into blue against black in The Biggest Loser Season 10 Episode 5, Rick was voted out.

This week, it wil be up to the opposing team to decide which one person’s weight will count for the other team.

During the workout, Frado agrees to give Jillian one more effort. Sort of. She tells him to just jump off the treadmill three times, but he doesn’t listen. So then he falls. Her thought after this happens: this would never happen with Bob. Frado seems to have decided to be a rebel because he doesn’t get along with his dad, although he loves him anyway. Time to move on, dude, and stop fooling yourself. No need to punish yourself since your relationship with your parents is unhealthy.

Curtis Stone is joined by Lorena Garcia, whom I have never seen on The Biggest Loser or The Celebrity Apprentice. Aaron, Jessica, Lisa, Elizabeth Patrick, and Anna will be cooking with them. The other six will judge the dishes, without knowing which dish belongs to which team. The winning team wins 10 seconds at the challenge. The chefs are not allowed to touch the food. Aaron has not really been cooking since he last saw Curtis. Elizabeth is uncomfortable with cooking, having found it easier to just buy fast food.

Anna is assigned to make a shrimp ceviche martini, while Aaron will be making grilled shrimp, papaya, and peanut salad. Patrick cooks tuna tacos, and Jessica is cooking some tuna as well, grilled ratatouille. Elizabeth will make yogurt and grilled peaches, while Lisa also cooks yogurt and peaches. They’ll have to make sure they are done before the time limit expires.

Frado thinks there are people on his team who can’t cook, so his strategy is to pick the appetizer he likes the least. After tasting the martini, he says it was disgusting. He and Adam are in charge of judging the appetizers. Frado chooses Anna’s dish, while Adam chooses Aaron’s dish. In each case, they have backed their teammates, bringing us to a 1-1 tie. Frado’s lack of confidence in his team paid off because he thought the ceviche was worse than the salad. Ada picks the ratatouille, and so does Mark. No points for Patrick, allowing the blue team to take the 3-1 lead. Jesse chooses Elizabeth’s ice creamy peach cup, and so does Brendan. That brings us to a 3-3 tie.

With that, the tiebreaker is for the judges to accurately guess how many calories are in the dessert for their team. The black team’s strategy is to argue, which leads to Frado pouting and stepping to the side. He doesn’t care. Ada’s frustrated having to deal with children. Their guess is 185. The blue team guesses 109 for theirs. The winner is the blue team, as they are 9 calories over, whereas the black team is over by 45 calories. They will win 10 seconds, whatever that means. Even though it means he lost, too, Frado is happy to see Brendan lose.

Adam suggests that the obvious choice to weigh in is Elizabeth, who has been at the bottom of the pack pretty consistently. Patrick assumes that will be their choice as well.

Over on the other side, they want to choose Jessica, feeling that will be a pretty fair match against Elizabeth.

The team that wins the challenge has the option to block the other team’s first pick at the weigh in. With the black team having Ada and a bunch of big guys, the blue team really does not have a choice two, so they would probably have to default to Anna if they lose. The challenge will be dragonboat racing, 500 meters out and 500 meters back. Blue team will have a 10 second advantage from the cooking challenge. Jessica and Anna will do the steering, while the rest of the teams paddle. With their 10 second advantage… the blue team gets nowhere pretty quickly. By the time they start going straight, the black team is just about to catch them. Blue team has a slight lead heading into the turn. In the turn, the blue team takes a while to get it right, but the black team does it right, taking the lead. In a race down the final stretch, the blue team regains control to win the challenge by 6 seconds, so the advantage paid off after all. Brendan’s upset by how they celebrate their win.

Although everything will boil down to her this week, Elizabeth doesn’t seem to be giving it her best effort. Perhaps if Jillian can force her to have a breakthrough, she can get more out of her.

As much talk as there is from the trainers about how much they’re all in danger, nobody’s remotely thinking of nominating somebody like Mark, who strategically could throw the weigh in and just put up bigger numbers next week.

Adam has opted to not use his advantage, so it will be 4 pounds next week.

The blue team has chosen Elizabeth as expected. Jessica is chosen for her team, with the black team using the words “first pick” because they think it will be vetoed. The choice is to not block her nomination, however. I’m not sure there’s so much difference between her and Lisa (or even Aaron for that matter) that it really matters either way.

Anna: 283 pounds (-3, 1.05%)
Ada: 211 pounds (-4, 1.86%)
Brendan: 302 pounds (-11, 3.51%)
Patrick: 337 pounds (-9, 2.60%)
Frado: 294 pounds (-14, 4.54%)

Elizabeth: 213 pounds (-5, 2.29%)

Scoring better than the other two girls on her team, Elizabeth has lost a respectable, albeit not overwhelming, amount of weight.

The black team says their second pick was going to be Jesse. What?

Jesse: 296 pounds (-9, 2.95%)
Mark: 336 pounds (-16, 4.54%)
Adam: 322 pounds (-13, 3.88%)
Lisa: 244 pounds (-8, 3.17%)
Aaron: 398 pounds (-9, 2.21%)

Jessica: 244 pounds (-4, 1.61%)

Two people on the blue team lost less than Elizabeth, and Jessica is one of them, leading to the blue team losing the weigh in. If they chose to use the block and the black team voted for Jesse instead (seriously?), they would have won. Not only that, but had this been a team weigh in rather than a one person chosen by the other team weigh in, the blue team would have won by a comfortable margin of 7 pounds. They may have won the weigh in, but they lost the game.

As the biggest loser on his team, Mark is safe from the vote. Jessica doesn’t think she should be going home just because she had a(nother) bad week. Adam might want to consider getting rid of that target on his back, his “advantage” that keeps growing each week.

Votes
Mark: Adam
Adam: Jessica
Lisa: Jessica
Jessica: Adam
Jesse: Adam
Aaron: Jessica

With half of the blue team playing an individual game already, wanting to vote out one of their strongest players, we have a tie. Therefore, the black team will choose who to eliminate, and they can pick anybody other than Mark. Obviously, this comes down to a choice between the two strongest: Jesse and Adam. Jessica says that, if they’re leaning toward sending Adam home instead of her, they should just send her. This pitch should have been made to her own team before they played their hand so badly.

By the black team’s vote, Adam is not The Biggest Loser, a decision which three people on his team will be happy with, although it no doubt weakens their chances. From his starting weight of 402 pounds, Adam is now down to 264 pounds. He hopes to be an inspiration to the community and is working along with to YMCA to achieve that.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 10 Episode 7, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 17 Episode 5

Stumbling their way through the detour, Connor & Jonathan were eliminated in The Amazing Race 17 Episode 4.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Nat & Kat – 6:00AM
Second: Gary & Mallory – 6:04AM
Third: Brook & Claire – 6:05AM
Fourth: Michael & Kevin – 6:30AM
Fifth: Jill & Thomas – 6:48AM
Sixth: Nick & Vicki – 7:11AM
Seventh: Chad & Stephanie – 8:12AM
Eighth: Katie & Rachel – 8:34AM

Thomas always envisioned himself with somebody who didn’t go to cosmetology school like his current girlfriend Jill. She continues to try to hope to be able to prove herself to him as part of this team.

Teams will now drive across the border into Narvik, Norway. No airport again then. Bad news for the trailing teams. They will search for a gondola station, and then ride to the top of the mountain.

Up a mountain. This is bad for anybody afraid of heights. Nat is already crying on the way up, without being aware of what’s actually in store, but she has given Kat permission to push her off the ledge of necessary. When they get to the top, there’s a fast forward. With three teams within 5 minutes of each other, this could be a rough one, but seeing as how they’re 2.5 hours ahead of the last place team, it should not be game ending to just go for it and see what it’s all about.

The fast forward is a gross eating challenge. This is a challenge that could theoretically take hours. Their task is to eat an entire sheep’s head, a traditional Norwegian Christmas ritual. Nat & Kat will be doing the fast forward. Kat’s a vegetarian, who hasn’t eaten meat in 22 years. Tastes like money. Money that makes you gag. It’s got to be hard to eat something that’s staring back at you, whether you eat its eyeballs or not. Neither of them end up having to vomit, a disappointing result for an eating challenge. Having departed over an hour later, Nick & Vicki decide it would be smart to go for the fast forward. Really? When they arrive, they’re confused whether the fast forward is gone or not. The phrase “fast forward taken” is lost on them.

Drive yourselves to some place that nobody can be bothered to try pronouncing, even the supposedly educated college guy Thomas, and search for your next clue. The road block is one that will actually scare somebody who’s afraid of heights, stepping off the bridge and rapel to the water below. When they’re at the end of their rope, they will have to signal for one of two boats for their clue, then use a mechanical ascender to pull themselves 130 feet back to the bridge.

Road block (in order of arrival): Kevin, Gary, Claire, Thomas, Vicki, Chad, Katie

Brook happily volunteers Claire for this task. It doesn’t seem to be that difficult a task, just one of overcoming your fear. That is, until they start the climb back to the top. The hardest part is going to be finding the upper body strength to make it back up. The first three guys make it up after a little bit of a struggle, but Claire offers us the first glimpse of drama over the bridge. This is bad for the other female team, Katie & Rachel, who are currently in last place and nowhere in sight regardless, although they are pro athletes who should be able to hang a little better than most people.

From there, teams must locate a remote field in Harvika. The detour is a choice between bike or boat. In bike, teams choose a pair of mountain bikes, taking note of the color of their bicycle lock, and ride a course to a sign, where they have to memorize the combination color coded to match their bicycle lock. Then they go back to the start and use the combination to open their lock and retrieve their next clue. In boat, teams make their way to a fishing boat, direct a captain to a spot on shore, and disembark. Then they must deliver two large cod and a chainsaw on foot.

Bike: Jill & Thomas, Gary & Mallory, Nick & Vicki
Boat: Michael & Kevin, Brook & Claire, Chad & Stephanie, Katie & Rachel

Jill doesn’t know if it matters which color they choose. I knew somebody was going to ask that question. Thomas bails her out by having read the clue. Nick tells us he’s competitively raced BMX bikes all his life, but then when he starts riding, Vicki has to wait around for him to catch up. Chad has no patience for Stephanie, not that he usually does.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Ankenes Marina. Seems to be tricky to find because more than one team drives right by, circling back to the bridge they came from. And Thomas was so sure he wasn’t driving in circles. Kevin just tails him, hoping Thomas knows what he’s doing. They stop and ask for directions, sorta. In this race full of obstacles, it’s the car door that gets in Brook’s way, as she cuts her face open on it, but she just goes up to chat with Phil as if nothing happened.

First: Nat & Kat (win a trip to Costa Rica)
Second: Gary & Mallory
Third: Jill & Thomas
Fourth: Michael & Kevin
Fifth: Brook & Claire
Sixth: Nick & Vicki
Seventh: Chad & Stephanie
Eliminated: Katie & Rachel

Can we get a flight next week please? This was far too pitifully obvious. As the last team to arrive (because they departed in last), Katie & Rachel have been eliminated.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 17 Episode 6 Run, Babushka, Run, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.