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The Biggest Loser 5 Episode 11

Bernie took the bullet for his partner Brittany and was voted off in episode 10 after he offered immunity to her rather than taking the more logical approach.

Now that we’re down to the final 6, it’s obviously time to… go back to the final 8. All 14 previously eliminated contestants are back, and two of them will get a second chance.

Paul says he doesn’t know why he’s there, but the rest of them are fired up, except Bette-Sue who would rather see her daughter Ali come back. Neill claims he’s no longer a lazy whiner. Jackie notices a big difference in Dan, then he reveals the tattoo.

The women are up first.

Jenni: 229 pounds (-38, 14.23%)
Mallory: 175 pounds (-42, 19.35%)
Amanda: 158 pounds (-46, 22.55%)
Ali: 167 pounds (-67, 28.63%)
Bette-Sue: 212 pounds (-49, 18.77%)
Jenn: 206 pounds (-48, 18.90%)
Jackie: 182 pounds (-64, 26.02%)

Ali is the woman who will be returning to the show, and well deserved. This time last year, Kae was at 29.33%, and she had a lot more time at the ranch. It would have been very interesting to have seen Ali’s transformation unfold on screen, though if she stuck around any longer the first time we would have been stuck with Bette-Sue as well.

The men are up next.

Lynn: 345 pounds (-64, 15.65%)
Curtis: 281 pounds (-100, 26.25%)
Neill: 262 pounds (-55, 17.35%)
Trent: 331 pounds (-105, 24.08%)
Paul: 233 pounds (-70, 23.10%)
Mark: 195 pounds (-90, 31.58%)
Bernie: 195 pounds (-88, 31.10%)

Mark returning to the show is as I’d expected. Not good news for the black team because it’s now 4 blue team members. He chooses to train with his team and Bob. Ali is over on the other side training with Jillian, but she’s not really solidly with either side, whether she’s wearing a black shirt or not. Of course, considering the competition, she’d be wise to take out the blue team boys as quickly as the opportunity presents itself. It also does mean, however, that she’s an easy target by her side if she has a bad week.

This is an interesting preview of things to come. Bernie’s currently got a commanding lead for the $100,000 at home prize. His only real competition would be if Mark or Dan or possibly Ali get eliminated.

Mark coming back has certainly helped to lift his team’s spirits. He quickly tosses his black shirt in favor of a blue one. On the other side of the spectrum is the black team. Ali didn’t particularly help them any, and she’s clearly their biggest female threat. What’s worse is they’re sitting around crying about how Bernie’s gone, which has Jillian worried. Jillian’s happy to see Ali, and Kelly hopes she’s the shot in the arm they need. Unlike Mark, she will continue wearing her original color.

While waiting for Mark to cook dinner, the old black team is sitting at their table, while Ali sits at the other table with the blue team boys.

The black team has a defeatist attitude, and it ain’t getting any better. Watching Jillian workout with Ali, the looks on their faces say it all.

Maggie has been eating because she’s depressed as a result of them going backwards. Has she learned nothing the past 10 weeks? How does she expect to keep the weight off if she just gives up this easily? Brittany doesn’t appear to be in that same situation. Instead, she’s whining half the day.

The challenge is to be human generators. They will use bicycles to convert their exercise into energy to light up lightbulbs. Only one person wins the reward. One person gets an extra vote, which will in theory give that side the chance to control the game (granted, two girls will probably be on the bottom, so that’s moot). Mark finishes first, followed by Dan, Jay, Roger, Maggie, and then Brittany. Ali and Kelly are eliminated. The others will all go on to more of the same in round 2. Mark again finishes first, followed by Dan, Jay, and Roger. The girls are out. Mark again finishes first, followed by Dan. They go to the final round. After Mark won the first three rounds, Dan manages to pull out a win and take the reward. While they pretend he’ll vote against the guys to create drama, it’s way too early for him to turn.

When asked at the weigh-in whether there’s a clear winner in the group, Brittany’s response is that it’s not anybody’s game because the girls have a slower metabolism and blah blah blah. It’s not fair. It’s just not fair. Allison asks if that means you give up. A fair question. Jillian responds that she should just “Leave the ****ing girl alone.” Allison wants Jillian to explain herself. Jillian says Brittany knows it’s impossible for her to win, and it’s not fair. I would have hoped Jillian would be above this enabling.

Ali: 160 pounds (-7, 4.19%)
Mark: 188 pounds (-7, 3.59%)
Dan: 207 pounds (-4, 1.90%)
Roger: 251 pounds (-8, 3.09%)
Jay: 209 pounds (-5, 2.34%)
Brittany: 172 pounds (-2, 1.15%)
Kelly: 202 pounds (-4, 1.94%)
Maggie: 184 pounds (no change)

A fitting result. The two girls who threw in the towel are below the yellow line. Despite the game supposedly being over already for the girls, Ali, whose weight loss is up there with the best of them this season, is the biggest loser of the week. Jillian is not happy about this being pointed out.

And that’s how this week ended. Apparently they couldn’t fit an elimination into two whole hours.

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

The Celebrity Apprentice Episode 11

It took about 10 episodes too long, but Omarosa finally went home in The Celebrity Apprentice Episode 10, suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of her arch nemesis Piers Morgan.

Trace Adkins is still confused, until they explain to him why Piers kissed him on the cheek.

In today’s sandwich selling task, they can’t use their rolodex. They must sell to the people on the street.

Trace will be the project manager for his team. He goes with a cowboy club sandwich. He and Stephen Baldwin make fun of how the other team will probably do the Lennox Lewis knockout sandwich.

Lennox Lewis is the project manager on the other team. Piers suggests the Lennox Lewis champ sandwich. They stop at Quiznos to get some ideas, and they modify their most popular sandwich.

Trace tells us the story about his charity, which is for food allergies, since his 6-year-old daughter suffers from them.

Piers is now on the same side as sleepy boy because this time he’s got a new target: Carol Alt. They blame her for being too slow with the advertising.

Piers doesn’t hide his disdain for the people of New York, who are in a big hurry and couldn’t care less what he’s saying most of the time. Lennox seems to be having more luck.

Empresario is selling their prime rib club sandwich for $2. It’s a good thing they’re not being judged on profit.

Carol says she liked Lennox as a project manager and loved working with Piers.

Trace and Stephen continue the Empresario lovefest. They’re going to have difficulty badmouthing each other if pushed to do so.

Hydra sold 313 sandwiches. Empresario sold 253 sandwiches. Hydra wins. Again.

Trace blames himself because he’s project manager and Stephen didn’t even make any decisions. Stephen says Trace is great. They agree they’ve been on a sinking ship. Ivanka suggests that the other sandwich was more generic, and, therefore, easier to sell.

Trace tells Trump to fire himself since Stephen did what he told him to do. But he tells Ivanka he’s stronger than Stephen going forward. Stephen agrees with Trace. The responsibility falls on the project manager. However, Ivanka is reluctant to agree because she’s seen Trace raise more money in these tasks.

Trump asks how many decisions Stephen made. He says he merely chimed in on Trace’s decisions.

Ivanka suggests firing Stephen because Trace is more qualified. Trump runs with this and fires Stephen, who had been expecting it. I was a lot more impressed with Baldwin when he was on Piers’ team.

Trump has repeatedly brought up how great Piers is. It’s tough to see a scenario in which he doesn’t win this show.

They’re not done yet. Trump calls the final four back into the boardroom. He informs them that two of them will be fired before the night is over (in the first minutes of next week).

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Celebrity Apprentice Episode 12, which airs Thursday at 9/8c on NBC.

Survivor: Micronesia Episode 6

A tribe shuffle threw a wrench into the game in Survivor: Micronesia Episode 5. I still have to figure out who’s on what tribe. What I do know is that the favorites on Malakal went stupid and voted out a potentially big contributor in favor of the weakest person in the game, with Joel singing his swan song. In the dumbest challenge design I’ve seen since the crushed hand incident in Survivor South Africa: Malaysia, multiple people were injured, most notably Jonathan, who had a stick puncture his leg.

Tracy tries to convince Erik he’s the next to go. I wonder if he’s dumb enough to believe this. Then again, Cirie is trying to keep the weakest members of the tribe so she doesn’t go herself, so maybe this will be the plan. They’re hoping to find someone to flip. Ami is the only real outcast on the other side.

Eliza and Jonathan are happy to be on a new tribe. They’re not at all above going against the favorites, who would have been quick to vote them out anyway.

The reward challenge is for two native Micronesians to come to camp and help them learn. Natalie sits out for Airai, as Jonathan insists he’s good to go. First they must swim out then toss bundles of wood to be carried back to the beach. When they get the wood back, they need to start building. They have 10 minutes to build a blockade in the other tribe’s tunnel. Once they’re done, they switch sides and tear down what the other tribe has built. Now they need to get through the blockade the other tribe just created. Malakal gets off to a lead while Airai struggles to get through. Despite the early lead, though, Airai comes from behind to win reward. They send Chet to exile island. I think I get the theory now: send someone weak up against one of your stronger guys. Jason goes to exile for Airai.

Immediately after the challenge, the doctor comes in to take a look at Jonathan’s knee. She tells him it needs antibiotics and surgical washout. It won’t be a quick fix. She warns him that it’s potentially fatal if it goes into his bloodstream. With that information, he agrees to go to the hospital, and he’s out of the game.

Malakal’s surprised that Chet was useless in the challenge (again). Unlike the other favorites who are bashing the fans, Ami doesn’t feel secure with the favorites, so she offers herself up to the fans to give them a majority.

Ozzy really hopes Jason finds the fake idol. Chet’s whining about his foot hurting, so he’s not going to search for the idol, but Jason will search. He finds… a stick.

Having won the natives for the night, Airai gets a feast.

Jonathan is doing fine now, but he’s definitely out of the game. This brings the tribes even at 7. Jason tells the others at the immunity challenge that Ozzy has discovered the idol. Nonetheless, Jason appears to believe that the stick is an idol. Did he learn nothing from last season? In the challenge, tribes must move their teams across the water with two poles. Instead of using two poles and going from one to the next, Airai instead decides to carry Eliza and Parvati across using just one pole. Good thing they have big man James. Malakal can’t copy the strategy. Too bad they don’t have Joel any more. Airai blows Malakal out of the water to win immunity.

Chet, who’s been saved repeatedly thanks to the stupidity of both of his tribes, tells his tribe to vote him out because he’s too injured to go on. Erik hopes he’ll stick with them one more time to blindside Ozzy, who won’t use the idol because he won’t see the immediate need. Chet says he’ll think about it.

At tribal council, Ozzy says he’s not the one going home tonight, so who has the idol doesn’t matter. He says if Chet doesn’t go home tonight, he himself has no business being there.

Votes
Chet
Chet
Chet
Chet

The favor they could have done themselves by getting rid of Ozzy and his idol is huge, but they’re in such danger in the challenges now that there’s not much choice here.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Micronesia Episode 7 Like a Wide-Eyed Kid in the Candy Store, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Apprentice UK Series 4 Premiere Date

I’ve been wondering for a while when The Apprentice UK Series 4 would premiere, and The BBC has finally let the cat out of the bag. The fourth season of The Apprentice UK will premiere Wednesday March 26 at 9:00 on BBC One.

A cast of 16 will be heading into the boardroom to win a job with Sir Alan Sugar. He will be greeting them by telling them what they’re in for. “This is a business boot camp. Mary Poppins I am not,” he warns the candidates. “I’m not going to hold your hand. I’m not going to tell you what to do. You’re on your own two feet.”

The Apprentice – You’re Fired! will be returning immediately after The Apprentice on BBC Two.

American Idol 7 Episode 21

Results will be posted live as they become available.

Carly Smithson is safe.

Michael Johns is safe.

Jason Castro is safe.

Syesha Mercado is in the bottom three.

Chikezie is safe.

Amanda Overmyer is safe.

David Cook is safe.

Kristy Lee Cook is in the bottom three.

David Archuleta is safe.

Brooke White is safe.

Ramiele Malubay is safe.

David Hernandez joins Syesha Mercado and Kristy Lee Cook in the bottom three.

Randy says it’s probably the right bottom three. Paula agrees. Simon says it’s spot on.

Syesha is sent back to safety. Between the two who remain, Kristy Lee Cook is safe. David Hernandez has been eliminated.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of American Idol 7 episode 22, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on Fox.

Big Brother 9 Episode 14

Last night on Big Brother 9 Episode 13, after James brilliantly got his ex-partner Chelsia nominated, she won the veto, which pleased him because he thought his plan worked out perfectly. Until Ryan decided to target the Sharon/Josh/Chelsia/James alliance and nominated James in Chelsia’s place.

In addition to the live eviction, tonight we will see one previously evicted person return to the game. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this particular twist. In season 3, Amy returned to the game at a critical point, shaking up the power structure in the house. Then in Big Brother 6, Kaysar made his way back to the house, essentially wasting a week. As I said last week, none of the evicted people are particularly likeable, with the exception of Alex, who may perhaps be neither here nor there but at least isn’t hated.

Chelsia goes upstairs to yell at Ryan, pretending she has some power in the house or something.

Sharon tells Sheila the story about how Matt kissed her, giving Sheila the impression Sharon will do just about anything to win the game. Neither Natalie nor Sheila are happy with this information. They gave James their word he’s staying.

Natalie wants Matt to tell her who’s going to the end with him. Then they get into yet another argument about how they don’t get along any more.

Jacob, Jen & Parker, Alex & Amanda, and Allison are in their own individual sequester houses, waiting for the opportunity to be voted back into the house. Parker & Jen seem to be getting along, but Alex & Amanda still hate each other. Alex hopes to go back because he blames Amanda for their eviction. Allison wants to get revenge.

Julie reveals that America has chosen Alex to return to the house as expected. He will get in a box. The house will need to vote whether to keep the person who’s evicted this week or the person in the mystery box. This is certainly a much more interesting scenario than previous votes back into the house.

By a vote of 5-1, James has been evicted from the Big Brother house. However, like last week’s evictees, he’s being given a possible second chance. I don’t think he should get one myself. He overplayed and got caught. While he’s leaving, nobody gets up other than Chelsia, at his own request. He didn’t have any interest in saying goodbye to anybody else.

In the house, the houseguests hear the siren sound and are told what’s going to happen.

Ryan-Mystery
Chelsia-James
Matt-Mystery
Sheila-Mystery
Joshuah-James
Natalie-James
Adam-James
Sharon-James

By a vote of 5-3, James will be returning to the house. Dumb move by Natalie. While it doesn’t put her in any immediate danger, it puts a huge target on her alliance, notably her on again off again buddy Matty. The side that dominated last week better pray they win HOH this week.

By the setup out in the backyard, it’s obvious it’s an endurance competition. Houseguests will remain standing upright while holding chains in Big Brother Disco. They lift up the machine and start slowly spinning it. The last one remaining will be the new Head of Household. If you want to find out who wins HOH before Sunday’s show, check out the Big Brother 9 spoilers page, where the winner has been posted.

James tells Julie that he feels great being back around all the people who voted him out, a sure sign that it was stupid of them to vote him back in. Regardless of how the house may have been divided, though, James has learned that the only person he can trust is Chelsia. Julie tells him that three people voted against him coming back.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Big Brother 9 Episode 15, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

Big Brother 9 Episode 13

Ryan’s HOH win led to the guys to form an all male alliance in Big Brother 9 Episode 12. At James’ suggestion, his former partner Chelsia was nominated, alongside the group’s main target, Sharon.

Josh doesn’t care that Sharon has been nominated, since it at least means he’s safe. James is happy with his decision but doesn’t want to see his partner go.

Sharon realizes the obvious: it’s guys vs. girls.

Joshuah wants to carry through on his deal with Ryan, but the problem is he wants to get rid of Matt first.

James assures Chelsia she’s safe. It’d be easier to guarantee if he didn’t personally set her up to get nominated.

Natalie continues to get more sick of Matt, who tells her first thing she needs to worry about is not getting evicted next week. James and Josh sees an opportunity to approach Ryan and promise him safety to take Matt out of the game. Matt eventually apologizes to her, telling her they’re still partners. If he’s smart, he’ll make sure to keep her close because she will do whatever he wants. After he apologizes, she spills the plan and tells them James and Josh were involved. He tells Ryan. There goes the male alliance. Even though I knew this was doomed from the beginning, this is shorter lived than I would have anticipated.

As planned, Josh suggests to Ryan that Matt get nominated, in exchange for two weeks of immunity. Instead of just playing dumb, Ryan tells Josh that Matt knows about the plan thanks to Natalie. Of course, Josh runs back to the others and tells them that Natalie told. If he turns on Matt, this all doesn’t matter, but if he doesn’t turn, getting the house to hate Natalie doesn’t help him out much.

Ryan chooses Adam to play in the veto competition as houseguest’s choice, thereby making sure Matt doesn’t get picked.
Chelsia randomly chooses Sheila.
Sharon randomly chooses Joshuah.

The girls, James, and Josh have a meeting to agree to give Ryan two weeks of safety if he gets rid of Matt. This plan will give him two weeks of security. After which time he’d be all alone.

Chelsia knows better than to trust any of these people. She’s still fighting for herself, as opposed to this plan.

The veto challenge is a billiards game on a modified pool table. The furthest from the veto hole loses each round. Sheila is eliminated in the first round but still gets a prize, the power of veto. Too bad she knows the people after her will be able to take it. Sharon is next eliminated. She also gets a prize, a brand new motorcycle (if nothing else, it’s worth selling after the show). She trades it for the power of veto. Stupid because then someone else will just steal the veto from her. Josh is out in the next round. He gets a letter from home and keeps it. Adam is eliminated next and gets $10,000. He trades it for the motorcycle. Sheila’s happy with this decision and feels less venemously toward Adam now. Chelsia is eliminated next but wins the slop pass, which she trades for the power of veto. Ryan is the last person standing, and he gets a unitard as his prize, which he can wear for one full week. He opts to trade this for Sheila’s $10,000, rather than the veto. Good news for Chelsia. Bad news for Sheila. Some definite potential repercussions for Ryan, as he’s running a risk this will leave a bad taste in people’s mouths.

Sheila’s pissed off that Ryan took the money, and she’s not one to let it go unknown. Chelsia warns that the single mom card will be taken badly by others. So Sheila gets pissed off at her, too. With that in mind, she wants to solidify a group to target Josh/James/Chelsia/Sharon. She tells Ryan she’s not mad at him. She’s got new targets in mind.

Chelsia removes herself from the block. Ryan needs to find a replacement nominee. His choice: James, who just simply overplayed. This turns out to be a shock to the house, but Matt’s thrilled and tells them it’s on. Ryan wants them to know he’s nobody’s bitch. Josh still thinks of himself as a genius.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Big Brother 9 Episode 14, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

Big Brother 9 Spoilers

Beauty and the Geek 5 Episode 1

In an effort to make this a ridiculously crazy reality TV night (Fox has American Idol 7, NBC has The Biggest Loser: Couples, and CBS has Big Brother 9… and if you explore further, you’ll find Reality Chat on TV Guide, America’s Next Top Model on VH1, High School Reunion on TV Land, True Life on MTV, Deal or No Deal on CNBC, America’s Funniest Home Videos on ABC Family, and Real Housewives on Bravo), The CW is jumping into the ring with the premiere of Beauty and the Geek 5. Check out the Beauty and the Geek 5 cast, which unlike last season does not include a male beauty and female geek since nobody liked that twist the first time.

This season, it’s not beauty and the geek. It’s beauty vs. the geek. What the point of that is I’m not real clear.

Greg is a gay geek (the clothing designer part in his bio gave that away). Joe tells us sex is overrated. Tommy collects sweater vests. Jim looks like he just stepped off a VW bus in the 70s.

Amber says she’s a 20. Someone slap her. Tara hits up daddy for money whenever she needs it. Kristina isn’t stupid… she just… doesn’t know stuff. Tiffany says her IQ is a little below average, probably around 200.

Amber lets Greg sleep in her room. All of the girls immediately like him. He’s afraid he doesn’t fit in with either group.

The girls get together to plot strategy. Amber doesn’t want to hear anything about it, choosing instead to get in her bathing suit and sit on Joe’s lap. She makes an alliance with him, even if she can’t remember his name afterward.

The challenge is about numbers. It’s about getting phone numbers from strangers. They’ll go to a Hollywood club full of hot guys and girls. To level the playing field, the girls are getting a makeunder, from fat to bad skin to bad clothes. Even still, it’s unfair because the girls may not be as pretty as usual, but they’ve got a lot more self confidence and people skills.

The task is sped through, with no clear indication of who did how well, just that everybody struggled to an extent. Mike will call all the numbers and make sure they’re actually real.

The real drama begins after the challenge. Randi and Amber try to prove they’re the most obnoxious of the group, getting into a screaming match. It’s a pretty close race.

The beauties won the challenge. Wow. Shocker. I hope all the challenges aren’t this lopsided, but I don’t see how they can make them much fairer. As with last year’s twist, it’s obvious from the first night it’s a stupid idea.

Having won the challenge, the girls will have to send 5 geeks to the elimination room. They want to come up with the four guys who they most don’t want to see have a chance of going home. Since he has a girlfriend already, Chris is sent to the elimination room. Tommy is as well, which doesn’t surprise me because he looks like the guy who’s the ringer of the group. Jonathan and Joe are more social than the others. John is the last one sent to the elimination room. That leaves Greg, Jason, Jim, and Matt as safe.

They’ll all get questions. The first person to answer right stays. If they answer wrong, they’re out. Tommy is safe from elimination, having correctly recalled a girl’s phone number from a video clue. Chris knows how to speak like he’s on AOL, saving himself. Jonathan is the next one safe. Joe saves himself by knowing that you can get someone’s attention with your eyebrows. John has been eliminated. Lame quiz format accompanies the lame twist.

Stay tuned to Beauty and the Geek 5 episode 2, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on The CW.