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The Amazing Race Asia 3 Episode 4

Natalie proved to be one of the poorest casting choices ever in The Amazing Race Asia 3 Episode 3. After whining nonstop and apparently sabotaging their stay on the show on purpose, she was finally put out of her misery and was eliminated alongside her actually useful partner Pailin. Natalie’s efforts (or lack thereof) once again allowed Niroo & Kapil to hang on by the skin of their teeth. On the opposite end of things, Henry & Bernie managed to win another leg.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Henry & Bernie – 2:04AM
Second: Vince & Sam – 2:05AM
Third: Ida & Tania – 2:08AM
Fourth: AD & Fuzzie – 2:10AM
Fifth: Geoff & Tisha – 2:14AM
Sixth: Mai & Oliver – 2:19AM
Seventh: Niroo & Kapil – 3:00AM

Kapil tells us that people are now reacting to their position (that would be last) because they’ve seen how they can impact the others.

They will be flying to Taipei, Taiwan. Nobody has the hometown advantage, but Vince & Sam have the language barrier under control. They’ll have to kill 6 hours at the airport first. Ida & Tania opt to return to the hotel instead, which proves wise since there’s just one flight, and they’re rested and well fed. The journey of only around 3000km will take all day.

The detour is a choice between shoot it or shape it. In shoot it, teams must find their clue in the Miniatures Museum of Taiwan and photograph it. The museum contains countless lifelike miniature displays. In shape it, teams must make their way to a night market and create shapes out of an ancient Chinese puzzle called tangrams. The two-sided game is also called 7 boards of cunning. Neither option sounds particularly appealing. Either search for something, which could take hours, or try to solve a puzzle, which could take hours.

Shoot it (in order of arrival): Mai & Oliver (with the assistance of a local), Geoff & Tisha, Vince & Sam, Henry & Bernie, Niroo & Kapil
Shape it: AD & Fuzzie (switched from shoot it after having been told the museum’s closed)

Mai & Oliver have clearly seen a season or two of The Amazing Race. After getting a taxi to drive so they could follow him, they kidnap a local off the street to give them directions.

Henry & Bernie have difficulty with the traffic nightmare of being unable to make a simple left turn and are pulled over by a cop in the process. For their part, Niroo & Kapil have a nervous breakdown over, well, I’m not quite clear. Their keys get stuck in the ignition. Just leave it there and ask for a replacement. It’s not like it’s their car.

When they arrive at the museum, Mai suggests they all team up and work together and show each other when they find “it,” whatever “it” may be. As they all struggle to find their clue, AD & Fuzzie fly through the puzzle, which I’d have passed by as the more difficult detour. Having proposed working together, Mai & Oliver are the first to finish the camera detour, after which they pretend they can’t do it and are changing tasks. After some convincing, the others believe they have’t found it, but they’re still not happy with them because it looks like they quit for no apparent reason. Oliver says he doesn’t want to help Geoff anyway. The next person to find the clue is Sam, who inadvertently yells out “Ah!” and gives away the location, which allows Ida & Tania, Geoff & Tisha, and Henry & Bernie to complete the task.

While all this is going on, Niroo & Kapil say they quit and want to go back home. Huh? Kapil finally talks some sense into his father and tells him that they can just leave the car where it is, which is entirely true, as even if it does get stolen, it’s still not like it’s their car. Because of their delay, though, they don’t have anyone else’s assistance at the detour, and they’re on their own.

The next stop is the Institute for the Blind, where they must read a clue in Braille. One person is blindfolded and doing the reading, while the other person assists with the letters and writing. They can only communicate verbally, which Tisha has to keep a leash on Geoff about. Henry says he thinks Mai & Oliver already got the clue. Sam & Vince receive the clue that lets them present a check for $20,000 to the owers of the institute. Most teams blow right through this task, but Bernie struggles.

On this leg, there’s an awful lot of the paying a taxi to lead them going on. Most teams are picking up on the difficulty of driving around Taipei. Ironically, it backfires on Mai & Oliver on their way to the next clue, though, as their cab driver gets lost, which causes Oliver to lose it, but Mai remains calm.

The Braille clue tells them to go to Shenken, a small town in Taipei that’s popular for its enormous variety of food and drinks. Yeah, this pretty well sounds like bad news. It’s a gross eating challenge. In this road block, one person must eat one large bowl of stinky tofu, which contains duck blood, fermented tofu, spices, and vegetables. Let the vomiting and crying begin. This challenge seems particularly difficult for the women since not only is the food difficult to eat, but the amount of food is pretty substantial.

Road block (in order of arrival): Ida, Oliver, Vince, AD, Henry, Tisha, Kapil

Their earlier quitting looked to be for show, but this is a much larger gesture they can’t handle the race. Kapil takes one look at the bowl and doesn’t even make an effort, instead opting for the 4 hour penalty.

The pitstop for this leg of the race is City Hall Square in Taipei. Tania gets a police escort to take them there.

First: Ida & Tania (win N96 Nokia phones)
Second: Vince & Sam
Third: Mai & Oliver
Fourth: Henry & Bernie
Fifth: AD & Fuzzie
Sixth: Geoff & Tisha
Eliminated: Niroo & Kapil

With everybody else arriving around 2 in the morning, when Niroo & Kapil show up when the sun comes up, it becomes obvious just how far behind they’ve managed to get. That’s a moot point, though, as they have been eliminated. This is the second week in a row where the team already checked out of the race before they were ever eliminated.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race Asia 3 episode 5, and don’t forget the live blogs of The Amazing Race 13.

Survivor: Gabon Episode 3

Last week was a special two hour premiere event. In Survivor: Gabon Episode 1, the tribes started off with a school yard pick ’em. Kota led by Bob did not bad. Gillian, meanwhile, started Fang off on the wrong foot and ended up with one of the worst tribes ever. Following her complete inability to do anything useful at a challenge, her less than bright tribe voted out their physically fittest woman and kept Gillian around instead. Then in Survivor: Gabon Episode 2, they continued to get beat down in the challenges, and voted out Gillian a week too late.

Randy says his tribe sucks and that they’re complete idiots. Sadly, he’s pretty much right.

Fang is running out of rice. The tribe is willing to cut back to two meals a day, but GC isn’t interested in cooperating. He and Randy pretty well hate each other at this point, which is entirely intentional on Randy’s end.

Charlie hopes to get Bob as a fifth. Sugar and Ace appear to be working on a showmance.

At the reward challenge, one member of each tribe will be stationed at a post. Two members of the other tribe will take them from the post and drag them to try to score a point. Players can swap each round. They’re playing for blankets, a hammock, pillows, and a mat. Fang will sit out Ken. Kota will sit out Corinne, Jacquie, and Kelly. Dan is first on the post for Fang to be attacked by Charlie and Marcus; Ace is on the post for Kota to be attacked by GC and Matty. Dan is yanked off the post, but Ace ain’t budging. Kota scores a point, as Fang didn’t even get anywhere. Susie is on the post for Fang to be attacked by Bob and Sugar; Paloma is on the post for Kota to be attacked by Randy and Crystal. Paloma has no prayer here and is manhandled to tie the game. It’s back to the original matchup, except Marcus and Bob will attack for Kota, while Crystal and Matty attack for Fang. By some miracle, Fang wins the challenge. They send Sugar to Exile. She says they picked her because they think she’s dumb.

Kota’s not even waiting for the immunity results here. They’re already crossing Paloma’s name off the tribe.

Sugar opts for the clue instead of comfort. At least she gets a lot closer than Dan did, though. She grabs a clue, then uses it to find another clue, then uses it to find another clue, then uses it to find another clue (yeah, this could go on for a while)… eventually, she does end up finding the idol. Oh bloody hell. How easy is this thing to find anyway that the second person gets it? Just so we can see it used half a dozen times (to be immediately replaced).

Bob’s concerned that Ace is going to protect Sugar. Corinne offers Bob a deal: join them to make 5, and get rid of Paloma and Sugar, in whichever order.

The immunity challenge is for 6 people to slide down a slide, grab a puzzle piece, and bring it back. The remaining tribe member will solve the puzzle. Paloma and Sugar sit out for Kota. Bob and Ken will be solving the puzzle. Because of her height advantage, Crystal pulls ahead of Kelly to give Fang the lead. Corinne manages to pass Susie on the next go, though, giving Kota the lead. Charlie and GC go next, and Charlie extends the lead. Jacquie and Charlie are next, with Kota still dominating. Ace and Dan go fifth, with no change. For the final leg, it’s Marcus and Matty, with Kota a good half a leg ahead. It all comes down the puzzle, and the game geek beats out the physics teacher on this math puzzle. Fang wins immunity. Pretty unimpressive physical performance as usual, but at least they’ve got one team member with a brain.

Sugar, who may or may not be an actress, pretends she didn’t find it, but she tells Ace, who decides “This is ours.”

Everybody seems onboard with the Paloma boot. Paloma wants Corinne on her side, and just mentioning that she doesn’t trust Ace is enough to get her going.

At tribal council, Paloma doesn’t hold back, letting it be known Ace is not her hero and that she basically hates his guts and liver.

Votes
Paloma
Ace
Ace
Paloma
Paloma
Paloma
Paloma

Would have made a lot more sense to vote Sugar first, Paloma next to ensure the numbers, but the Paloma boot is hardly surprising.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Gabon episode 4 It Was Like This Christmas Morning, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on CBS.

America’s Got Talent 3 Winner

America’s Got Talent season 3 has been an eventful one, and now it’s been narrowed down to the top 5, all of whom have stood out from the beginning: violinists Nuttin But Stringz, singer Queen Emily, opera singer Neal E Boyd, singer Donald Braswell, and singer/pianist Eli Mattson. Tonight we will find out live who the 2008 America’s Got Talent 3 winner is.

Jerry Springer tells us that millions of people have voted and that this is the closest vote ever.

Now that 35 minutes of filler is done, it’s time to start unveiling the results.

In 5th place is Queen Emily.

Fourth place goes to Donald Braswell.

Finishing in third place is Nuttin But Stringz. That brings us down to just Eli Mattson and Neal E. Boyd. There was less than 0.5% between the two.

And the America’s Got Talent 3 winner is… Neal E Boyd. Following his performance of Nessun Dorma, which many thought was a lot better than Britain’s Got Talent winner Paul Potts, this is the result I was expecting. With this victory, he will get his own show in Vegas and is America’s newest millionaire. He gets congratulations from Placido Domingo, who’s happy to see that America embraced an opera singer.

America’s Got Talent 4 will be coming back in summer 2009 for another season, following this year’s success as one of the top shows of the summer.

The Biggest Loser Families Episode 3

Despite Jerry & Coleen’s overconfidence and subsequent putting themselves below the yellow line, Tom & LT were sent packing in The Biggest Loser Families Episode 2.

Everybody’s going on a trip to the Grand Canyon. Everybody’s skeptical that there’s going to be a catch. When they arrive, they find out they will be camping, though two of them will be camping inside.

They first go to a convenience store. It’s a temptation. The winning family that wins three packs of the sponsor’s gum will stay in an RV. If they get the closest to the correct amount of calories, they will get a pack of gum. If they aren’t closest, they’ll have to eat the snack.

Pink, purple, orange, and red are in to guess a chocolate covered caramel. There are 26 calories, and Ed & Heba come closest. Because they won the last round, orange must continue. Pink, purple, and red are in again. Next up is string cheese. It’s 80 calories, and Ed & Heba are again right, winning their second pack of gum. No takers since orange already has this locked up, so the others bow out and let them have it. It’s a hot dog on a bun. It’s 240 calories, and Ed & Heba lowball the answer so that they win. They will be getting the RV.

Nobody’s impressed with the workout facilities at the campsite, and they’re not trying very hard to improvise either. Much better to just sit around and do nothing.

At least there’s a challenge. One family member paddles in a kayak. After 90 seconds, the other family member must pull the ropes of their opponents’ kayaks back. The reward if they win will be their very own RV. Shellay makes the mistake of believing she can just throw the rope into the water all at once, which obviously creates knots. The order of teams (furthest first) ends up as: orange, red, yellow, brown, pink, purple. Pink is the first one pulled back. Purple was clearly going to be pulled back as well. Brown and yellow are next. It’s between red and orange, the two that got the furthest out. Red ends up losing, and Ed & Heba win the challenge, an indication that them being the only team to put a guy in the boat may have been a wise idea.

Ed & Heba plan to dominate the competition. While that’s good if it works, one bad week, and they’re gone because they’re a threat.

Jillian thinks she’s being Punk’d when they tell her about the trip. Maybe she’ll get to meet Ashton. She wants to show them how to cook in advance for the week so that they’re always ready. As for the lack of exercise, she’ll have to punish them for that later.

Both Jillian and Bob use their last chance workout as a lesson: they don’t need a gym to get a good workout. They could have easily not been lazy and made an effort at the canyon.

Jerry’s been having trouble with his leg, but he’s been trying to not complain. Jillian sees him limping and sends him to the medic. He has to go to the hospital on the medical staff’s advice, as he may have an infection or blood clot. It turns out that he does not have a blood clot, but he does have a torn hamstring.

Jillian’s beating up Michelle because she wants to convince her that she has to speak up and let her voice be heard. She wants her to be able to say things like “Stop hitting me, crazy person.”

Alison points out the obvious: Ed & Heba are making themselves targets. Then she’s got a surprise. Nobody will be voting. Only one family will fall below the yellow line. There’s more. Only one person from that team will be going home. As a family, they will decide which one stays and which one goes. Harsh.

Amy: 204 (-5)
Phil: 290 (-10)
Total: 494 pounds (-15, 2.95%)

Vicky: 220 (-3)
Brady: 301 (-5)
Total: 521 pounds (-8, 1.51%)

Michelle: 220 (-3)
Renee: 242 (-6)
Total: 462 pounds (-9, 1.91%)

Heba: 274 (-6)
Ed: 299 (-10)
Total: 573 pounds (-16, 2.72%)

Amy: 213 (-6)
Shellay: 198 (-3)
Total: 411 pounds (-9, 2.14%)

Coleen: 195 (-7)
Jerry: 360 (+2)
Total: 555 pounds (-5, 0.89%)

Coleen had an awesome week, but her father struggled with an injury and the camping trip. The question is whether he sticks around because he needs it more than most, or heads home to heal and then continues forward on his own. Since they are below the yellow line, they’ve gotta decide who should go home between the two of them.

The arguments presented are as expected. He doesn’t think he can put the full effort forward considering his injury, and he also wants to see his daughter make herself better so that she doesn’t end up as unhealthy as he is. She wants him to stay because she knows that he has a real health issue that needs to be addressed.

The other teams have nothing but positive things to say about Jerry & Coleen. In the end, they have decided to vote out Jerry.

Jerry has managed to eliminate his blood pressure medicine in three weeks, which he’s been on for 15 years. The doc is back to talk with him because he was so far gone when he began. He’s off most of his medicine, and his back and knees are better. Today, Jerry is down 70 pounds from his starting weight of 380.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Biggest Loser Families episode 4, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 13 Episode 1

CBS decided they’d had just about enough of The Amazing Race and relegated it to once a year status while leaving it off the fall schedule last year. It took all of about two weeks to realize that was a really stupid idea, and this year the show’s back right where it should be after an 8 month hiatus. We ended last year with TK & Rachel as The Amazing Race 12 winners, in a less than climactic finale, though at least the best team won for a change.

The Amazing Race 13 cast is a new group of 11 teams racing around the world for the $1 million prize. Tonight’s one hour premiere should be every bit as confusing as every other time they’ve tried to jam way too much into one hour, but it should still be entertaining nonetheless.

The LA Coliseum in Los Angeles, CA is the departure point for the race. Ken & Tina are trying to use this race as a way to see whether they should get divorced or not, meaning they’ll probably be fighting the whole time. Anthony & Stephanie, likewise, are a big risk to be the bickersons. Mark & Bill view this as just a game on the biggest game board you can imagine.

8 of the 11 pitstops are elimination points. It’s time to start with a mad dash up the LA Coliseum steps. When the get to the top, they find out that their first trip will be Salvador, Brazil, and they will only be able to travel on one of two flights.

Anita & Arthur believe they’ll be seen as old hippies. Yeah, well, pretty much.

Tina has Ken driving very aggressively. It gets them pretty close to the front of the pack, but this type of aggressiveness has a tendency to backfire eventually. Aja & Ty don’t get aggressive… they just get smart and take the carpool lane.

The concept of a marked counter proves too much for Aja & Ty, though, which allows a bunch of other teams to get ahead of them. Other teams have the same problem.

First flight: Mark & Bill, Ken & Tina, Terence & Sarah, Nick & Starr, Aja & Ty, Kelly & Christy
Second flight: Toni & Dallas, Andrew & Dan, Anita & Arthur, Marisa & Brooke, Anthony & Stephanie

Teams on the first flight via American are expected to arrive three hours prior to teams on the second flight via United. Typically, on the first leg of the race, anyone on the first flight is safe, while the others battle for elimination. The good news, though, is that the American flight has been delayed by about an hour and a half, but it’s still quite a gap.

Starr pitches an alliance to Ken & Tina, a “loose alliance” for “two legs.”

When they arrive in Brazil, teams will make their way through the busy streets to find a sandwich shop, O Rei Do Pernil, where they will become baristas. They’ll take their carts through the streets and deliver them to a waiting local, without anything falling off. The next trick is to figure out that they’re speaking Portuguese rather than Spanish. Lucky thing the two languages are close enough because nobody seems to get this.

They’ll spend the night outdoors at a military base, where they’ll get one of three departure times upon arrival. Nick’s just happy to be in front of Ken & Tina, their alleged allies.

Andrew & Dan are the lucky team to not still be stuck with the second plane, the rest of whom get the last time slot.

9:00 – Terence & Sarah, Nick & Starr, Mark & Bill, Ken & Tina
9:30 – Aja & Ty, Kelly & Christy, Andrew & Dan
9:45 – Toni & Dallas, Anita & Arthur, Marisa & Brooke, Anthony & Stephanie

Dallas takes his shirt off, which leads Starr to want to jump his bones. Terence, meanwhile, appears to have issues with his girlfriend not paying enough attention to him and gets jealous about her talking to other teams, including the old hippies.

The next destination is Pelourinho, the historic center of Salvador. The next clue is located at a church. On the way there, Sarah decides she hates Nick & Starr. I’m not really sure why. Apparently she thought they were ignoring her or something (because they’re in a race or something).

The detour is a choice between hard way up or soft way down. In hard way up, teams make their way to a stairway that they must climb on their hands and knees. When they reach the top, they must answer the mystery question correctly, or walk around the city streets back to the bottom of the stairs and try again. In soft way down, they must climb down a cargo net to the street 240 feet below, an easier task if they can overcome the fear.

Soft way down (in order of arrival): Nick & Starr, Ken & Tina, Mark & Bill, Terence & Sarah (having wasted some time looking for the staircase), Kelly & Christy, Toni & Dallas, Aja & Ty, Marisa & Brooke, Anthony & Stephanie, Anita & Arthur
Hard way up: Andrew & Dan

The mystery question turns out to be: how many steps have you climbed? Most times contestants have difficulty with that even when they’re climbing standing up. Andrew & Dan are wrong the first time, but they get it right on the second go. This doesn’t look like quite as dumb a decision as I thought initially, but it was still silly to pick hard way up.

The pitstop for this leg of the race is Forte Sao Marcelo, which once defended the city from pirates.

First: Nick & Starr (win a trip for two to Belize)
Second: Ken & Tina
Third: Terence & Sarah
Fourth: Mark & Bill
Fifth: Kelly & Christy
Sixth: Toni & Dallas
Seventh: Andrew & Dan
Eighth: Aja & Ty
Ninth: Anthony & Stephanie
Tenth: Marisa & Brooke
Eliminated: Anita & Arthur

I wasn’t expecting a lot from Anita & Arthur, but I expected them to make it past the first leg.

Nick & Starr look like they’re going to be a strong team, and Ken & Tina will be as well, particularly if they stick with Nick & Starr. Terence & Sarah should also be strong, but they are showing the most potential to implode. Mark & Bill were more impressive than they may have appeared at first glance.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 13 Episode 2 Do You Like American Candy?, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Amazing Race Asia 3 Episode 3

A gap in flights created a three way battle for last in The Amazing Race Asia 3 Episode 2, and Isaac & William were eliminated from the race. Mai & Oliver gave up their first place lead with a short-sighted decision for comfort that caused them to drop to the bottom of the pack, while Natalie whined about how life’s so difficult when you’re a drama queen.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Henry & Bernie – 5:00AM
Second: AD & Fuzzie – 5:35AM
Third: Vince & Sam – 5:40AM
Fourth: Niroo & Kapil – 6:02AM
Fifth: Geoff & Tisha – 6:35AM
Sixth: Ida & Tania – 7:08AM
Seventh: Pailin & Natalie – 11:30AM
Eighth: Mai & Oliver – 11:38AM

We’re still seeing the sizeable gap left over for the last two teams, one big enough to not be easily erased unless they get lucky at an airport or hours of operations.

From Ho Chi Minh, teams will head by bus to Hue, which at one time was the capitol of Vietnam. This 1000km trip will take about 25 hours.

Bernie believes it’s a 25 minute trip. She’s in for a surprise, as are Niroo & Kapil who believe it’s 90 minutes. It’ll seem even longer for those teams opting for a cheaper, non-air conditioned bus.

First bus (arrives first): Henry & Bernie, Niroo & Kapil
Second Bus (arrives third): AD & Fuzzie, Vince & Sam, Geoff & Tisha
Third Bus (arrives second): Ida & Tania
Fourth Bus (arrives way last): Pailin & Natalie, Mai & Oliver

When they finally arrive in Hue, teams must make their way on foot to Caltex. It’s an hours of operations of 9:30, which will eat away at about 3 hours of the lead over the last two teams.

Natalie’s not happy she’s not on Top Model. She claims she didn’t sleep on the bus, but Oliver says she’s a liar. She also says she didn’t sign up to race around the world, apparently. To make matters worse, neither of the last place teams is particularly happy that they’ve been walking around aimlessly for about an hour trying to find the Caltex. But the good news, except for Natalie who wants to be eliminated, is that their bus was apparently fast enough that the other teams aren’t that far ahead any more.

Once Caltex opens, they must replace the tires and change the oil on a marked Jeep. The women all complain they don’t know what they’re doing, but most of them are troopers and get through it. With the exception of Mai (who lets Oliver do the work, which he’s fine with since he does this kind of thing at home) and Natalie (who flat out refuses to help her partner for the most part, even though she really could use it).

When their work is approved by the driver, they will drive to Khai Dinh Tomb. Henry & Bernie, who finished the task third, break down on the way to their destination, so they could be in trouble. Meanwhile, Geoff & Tisha are generating the wrath of Ida & Tania (and vice versa).

The road block for this leg is to travel to the tomb of Emperor Minh Mang, where they will gather 7 coins representing the 7 emperors of the Nyuen dynasty. The grounds are 28 hectares (69 acres) and could prove difficult to search. They must make sure to note who the coin represents because if they get it wrong they will need to go back to the other tomb so they can get the correct answers and try again.

Road block (in order of arrival): Niroo, Vince, Ida, Henry, Geoff, AD, Oliver, Natalie

Geoff & Tisha know they’ve made a mistake since it would have been better to have her do this. Mai doesn’t even consider doing it. Natalie for some reason volunteers (sabotage?).

While Geoff’s doing the road block, Tania and Bernie take the opportunity to confront Tisha about him. She wants them to talk to him and work things out. They don’t care or want to. I think it’s safe to say they’re bringing this on themselves.

Henry is the first to finish the road block, and he agrees to help Vince to an extent, though he screws over Niroo and tells Vince to help Ida next. So Niroo goes around begging (aka annoying) everybody trying to get them to help him, first Ida, then Geoff, before finally realizing he should just go back and try to figure it out himself. Oddly enough, though, Vince left his coins in the right order when he left to help whoever happened to look (nobody in particular apparently). Ida, meanwhile, received AD’s pile in order, though she mixed it up. When Ida does figure it out, she says that Niroo should have just waited for her to finish so that he could get some assistance. Oliver finishes the task but says he can’t do anything more afterward because he’s too dehydrated, which would essentially make his team useless. Niroo finally finishes, and still nobody has noticed that Vince left the answers. Natalie can’t figure it out. She goes into the corner and pouts for a while, then decides, without consulting her partner, that she will quit and take the 4 hour penalty, which she rationalizes by saying at least she’ll get some extra sleep. She really doesn’t care. Pailin’s supportive, rather than smacking her upside the head (which I’d like to see).

The detour is a choce between sticks and stocks. In sticks, teams must make 10 incense sticks, which may look deceptively simple. In stocks teams must thresh rice stocks into kernels to fill two baskets, which will be physically draining.

Sticks (in order of arrival): Henry & Bernie, Vince & Sam, AD & Fuzzie, Ida & Tania, Mai & Oliver, Niroo & Kapil, Pailin & Natalie
Stocks: Geoff & Tisha (switched from sticks)

The next destination is Quoc Hoc Park where they will get their clue from a cyclo. Henry & Bernie, who finished the detour first, are having more car trouble, but only one team manages to pass them. They’d better hope they don’t need that Jeep for too much longer.

Once they arrive at the park and figure out that the clue is on a cyclo and not in a box, the teams must ride the cyclos to the next pitstop. The cyclos are dangerous and difficult to control.

First: Henry & Bernie (win HD Handycam camcorders)
Second: Vince & Sam
Third: Ida & Tania
Fourth: AD & Fuzzie
Fifth: Geoff & Tisha
Sixth: Mai & Oliver
Seventh: Niroo & Kapil
Eliminated: Pailin & Natalie

I liked Pailin, but good riddance to Natalie. She checked out of this race days ago. Pailin should have never agreed to let her do the road block, although if Pailin did it, she would have just been delaying the inevitable. Pailin’s disappointed. Natalie’s mostly just relieved that she’s done suffering.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race Asia 3 episode 4, and don’t forget the live blogs of The Amazing Race 13.

Survivor: Gabon Episode 2

Following an abysmal job of constructing a tribe in Survivor: Gabon Episode 1, the lackluster Fang tribe got beat badly in both challenges, and then foolishly decided to vote out Michelle, a negative but relatively strong part of the tribe.

Marcus and Charlie have a strong bond, but Marcus would like to add some additional players to the fold, so they’re looking toward the women.

GC’s growing into his leadership role, but Randy hopes to sabotage him and let the tribe self destruct, as if that will take a lot.

Marcus approaches Corinne to see where she’s at. She likes Jacquie, and he was already thinking about that. She’d like to be in an alliance with them and Charlie. They all gather together to discuss their strategy, including who should be the fifth (lesser) partner.

GC was awakened early by all the snoring. He decides to do laundry, then a few people join in. Gillian lets him and the others know she doesn’t want to hear them talking that early in the morning. GC (Golden Child) hands over his leadership because he doesn’t want to be the leader any more. Nobody else wants to be the leader (still). Dan tells the camera he’d like to be the leader, as long as he’s a silent leader and nobody knows about it.

Immunity’s back up for grabs. The tribes will push a large boulder through a series of gates, retrieve keys, and use their keys to open the locks. They’re playing for fishing gear and one person to go to Exile. Kota will sit out Paloma. Steep hills and heavy boulders doesn’t bode well for Gillian, who the tribe tells to get out of the way and not bother pushing (and we go back to the really great decision of keeping her in the game last episode). Kota is the first to get their first key, but it’s pretty close. Kota is also through their second key first, but it’s still a close race, as both Bob and Ken are doing a good job with the knots on the keys. There are six keys but only three locks, so it may come down to dumb luck. It’s a much closer challenge than the last two, but Kota still ends up winning immunity and reward. Dan has been sent to Exile Island.

Kota, which is flying high after their three wins, puts the new fishing gear to quick work.

Dan has a choice between clue or comfort. He takes the clue. The first very vague clue. He has no luck finding it.

Some of Fang is demoralized. Some are just happy they sucked less worse than they suck normally. They are finally starting to realize that Gillian is weighing them down, though. Duh.

Gillian hopes to get the older people together against the younger ones. She wants to target Ken.

Randy and GC have constructed a fishing line out of Randy’s glasses and GC’s shoe strings. They’re hoping that a bit of protein will help them out. The makeshift fishing line works, and they manage to catch five small fish.

Dan realizes he made the wrong choice on Exile. The tribe believes he’s acting strangely and has the idol. They’re considering voting him out instead of Gillian. Are you kidding me? Even if he has the idol and is shifty, lack of strength is their biggest problem.

Dan, perhaps the first person to wear a tie to tribal council, empties out his bag there and says he doesn’t have the idol. He tells the tribe he’s not a liar and isn’t lying to them. He asks them to not be dumbasses and try to flush out the idol.

Votes
Gillian
Ken
Gillian
Gillian
Gillian
Gillian

Talk aside, at least they ultimately turned out to not be complete morons. One tribal council too late, Gillian has been voted out.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Gabon episode 3 She Obviously Is Post-Op, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on CBS.

Survivor: Gabon Episode 1

Last year, a half all-star cast proved to be the recipe for success in Survivor: Micronesia. After years of poor casting, seasons 15 and 16 were a nice turn around for the aging series. Now, a new Survivor cast heads back to Africa with Survivor: Gabon. This marks the first return to Africa since season 3 Survivor: Africa, which ended up being one of the harshest environments Survivor has ever been to.

Unlike the dustbowl in Kenya last time they were in Africa, the area where they’re shooting in Gabon, a small nation of 1.5 million people in western central Africa on the equator, appears to be a lush green environment.

In Gabon, the elders typically make the big decisions. The two oldest people Gillian and Bob are in charge. They will be choosing tribes and can pick either a man or woman, without having to rotate like they usually do in these situations. Then each person picked will be able to choose the next tribe member.

Bob (Kota): Ace, Sugar, Marcus, Charlie, Paloma, Kelly, Jacquie, Corinne
Gillian (Fang): Crystal, Susie, Matty, Randy, Dan, GC, Ken, Michelle

The picking order makes pretty much no sense.

Now that the teams are selected, it’s time for the first challenge. There are two individual immunity idols at the top of the hill, a bag of rice, and an extra bag of corn and beans (the first tribe across will get this). GC and Marcus rush ahead and get individual immunity. Michelle, the last one picked, is the first woman across (and not happy with her new tribe). Try as he might, Matty can’t push (literally) his tribe fast enough, and Kota wins the challenge and the extra food. It’s not even close, and Fang looks in trouble when it comes to physical challenges. Their first three picks (Gillian, Crystal, and Susie) were not the way to build a good strong team in that respect.

When they arrive at camp, they see there’s some shelter (more or less) already established. As with the last time, there are supposed to be some wild animals roaming around.

Bob’s turning out to be the leader, potentially a dangerous strategy, but as long as he keeps everybody happy with him and doesn’t get bossy, it should work out to his benefit.

Gillian tries to maintain a positive attitude in the face of her team sucking. She wants to find some elephant dung and eat the edible parts remaining in it (oh, c’mon, this is even too much for Survivor).

Ken is a geeky professional gamer who’s not too good with women, but he seems to be getting along well with Michelle.

Ace believes he’s already got the game won, but he’s rubbing people the wrong way already.

Charlie has found a connection with Marcus, which may or may not be primarily based on his “deep blue beautiful eyes.”

The very first night, the promise of wild animals comes true. There are elephants right near them.

Randy gets a “scratch” on his head (aka something gushing blood). Nurse Gillian is no help, but the medical team comes out. They stitch him up, but he is warned that there’s a risk of infection.

Michelle is wondering where the sun is since they’re on the equator and all. She’s also still not happy with her team, apparently forgetting that the other team didn’t want her either.

At the immunity challenge, 6 tribe members will be belted together. They’ll race through a swamp, over a cargo net, and through an obstacle course to collect three bags of puzzle pieces to bring back to their puzzle solvers. Susie, Gillian, and Randy will solve the puzzle for their team, while Bob, Paloma, and one of the blondes (Kelly?) solve theirs. Kota is the first to find a bag of pieces and then their second and third. Fang’s still digging, having found their first. They were pretty close during the rest of the task, but finding the pieces is proving problematic. It’s not even close. Again. Kota solves the puzzle before Fang even gets their puzzle pieces, and Kota wins immunity.

Fang lacks a leader, and they’re worried about it.

Michelle’s name is the first one to come out as a boot pick, since she’s too negative. Considering they’re so weak as it is, though, there are much more sensible options. Randy wants to push for Gillian to go because she’s weighing them down the most. He will be able to get Michelle and Ken on his side. He’ll need more than that, though.

Dan tells Probst they did okay. Jeff calls them a disaster and says they’re in denial. Michelle tells the truth, which won’t win her any friends. Apparently, though, it’s all her fault for not yelling at people to motivate them.

Jeff wants somebody to step up and be the leader. No volunteers. GC, however, is wishy washily open to be the leader after he is volunteered by someone else. The tribe votes and elects him as leader.

GC retains his individual immunity, not that he was in any danger anyway, but everybody else is fair game.

Votes
Michelle
Gillian
Michelle
Michelle
Michelle
Michelle

This team made a lot of stupid decisions this episode, and that’s a really nice way to cap off the stupidity. Michelle has been voted off the island. At least they’ve got fire.

Survivor: Gabon Episode 2

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Gabon episode 2, which airs next on CBS.