reality tv – Page 302

The Mole Returning This Summer to ABC

I’ve said on more than one occasion that ABC should bring back The Mole, particularly with the strike going on now. This summer, they’ll be doing just that, Variety reports, marking my first excuse in years to actually watch something on the alphabet network.

Stone Stanley Prods., producer of the first four seasons, folded in 2004, but Scott Stone is back with a new company and has achieved his goal of bringing the show back as well.

“This is a show we honestly love and people ask us about all the time,” said ABC Entertainment alternative series senior VP John Saade, though he says the timing is coincidental. “We were looking to bring the show back even when the writers were working.”

“If anyone asks me what my favorite show has been, I’ve answered ‘The Mole,'” Stone said. “Not surprisingly, this has been a passion of mine since the option lapsed three or four years ago. In my staff meeting every week, people would say, ‘Don’t even bring it up.’ I kept throwing it out that it was eventually going to be the right time. And it perennially ends up on lists of people’s favorite reality shows. That kept the fires burning inside me.”

He has suggested that there will be some changes to the show’s format. “We simplified it to where the people at home can play along,” Stone said. “And the quiz will be much shorter than in the past.” I’m getting a Mole Australia 5 vibe from that (not a good thing), but I’m definitely willing to give it a chance.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper, host of the first two seasons, is not available to host. Ahmad Rashad, who hosted seasons three and four, has not been asked return. “We’re looking for someone in the Anderson mode, a little mysterious but full of comedy,” Stone said. “It could be a breakout role for someone.”

The Amazing Race 12 Episode 9

Kynt & Vyxsin had a chance to change their fate in The Amazing Race 12 Episode 8 but chose to U-turn the wrong team instead of the team that they knew for a fact were going to get there right around the same time as them, which caused Kynt & Vyxsin to be eliminated from the race. That brings us down to the final four, and, well, there’s not really much good I can say about any of them, except for TK & Rachel, who are good racers and overall just calm people. Christina’s likeable, if only she had a different partner. Grandpa Donald’s been on a vacation, but to be fair, he is one of the older contestants. Nathan & Jennifer may arguably deserve each other.

In addition to the scheduling change from 8 to 8:30, there was also a football overrun of about 15 minutes, putting the start time at around 8:45. I will begin a live blog once 60 Minutes is over.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: TK & Rachel (1:25pm)
Second: Nicolas & Donald (1:33pm)
Third: Ronald & Christina (1:44pm)
Fourth: Nathan & Jennifer (2:38pm)

The next stop is Kishiwada Castle in Osaka, Japan, 4000 miles away.

Rachel suggests she has problems with self confidence but is able to feel better with TK around.

Ronald acknowledges his behavior has not been right (again… didn’t seem to matter last time, though). Christina’s excited to go to Japan because she lived there for half a year.

Nathan & Jennifer discuss not arguing with each other. Yeah, I heard this story before, too.

First flight (via New Delhi and Beijing): TK & Rachel
Second flight (via Hong Kong): Nicolas & Donald, Ronald & Christina, Nathan & Jennifer

TK & Rachel leave first, but it’s unclear whether they’ve made a good choice or not. Nobody knows where they are, and they don’t know where anybody else is.

With one less stop, the second plane arrives in Japan first. Uh oh. If TK & Rachel don’t catch up, this is a disaster waiting to happen, although it should be a NEL.

The next stop is Noda Station, where they’ll look for the cleaning man to give them a road block clue. On the way there, they’re discussing the confusing signs, and Christina says she’s never driving in Japan. We know what that means.

The road block is to become a taxi driver. They’ll deliver passengers 5 miles without assistance from the passengers or other drivers, and the address isn’t in English, so first of all they have to figure out where they’re going. The bunch of one way roads and signs all in Japanese don’t help.

Road block (in order of arrival): Jennifer, Christina, Nicolas, Rachel

Jennifer’s first concern is how she looks in the taxi hat. Christina’s not a good driver to begin with, and she relies on public transportation herself.

As the others are completing the road block, we’re finally seeing TK & Rachel, who seem to have gotten stuck with the plane that left first, rather than the plane that landed first. Unclear whether it was their error or not. The fact that everybody else is arriving at every task in the same order (Nathan & Jennifer, then Ronald & Christina, then Nicolas & Donald) and are within 10 minutes of each other doesn’t bode well.

The next stop is Kita-Mido Temple.

The detour is a choice between sense of touch or sense of smell. In sense of touch, teams must use miniature robots controlled by cell phones to play soccer, and each teammate much score a goal. In sense of smell, they need to find one real flower hidden among thousands of artificial ones, using only their noses.

Sense of smell: Nathan & Jennifer, Ronald & Christina, TK & Rachel
Sense of touch: Nicolas & Donald

The pitstop for this leg of the race is Tempozan Park in Osaka. Forgetting that he got bent out of shape about the cab dropping them too far from the airport terminal, Christina claims this is the first leg in which Ronald hasn’t lost his temper, but he has been pretty mild. Jennifer believes everything could cost them the race.

First: Ronald & Christina (each win an electric vehicle)
Second: Nathan & Jennifer
Third: Nicolas & Donald
Fourth: TK & Rachel (non-eliminated)

Thank goodness for non-elimination legs. A final three without TK & Rachel would quite possibly be the worst final three ever. It’s not even close, and this was rather an obvious episode. TK & Rachel are now 3 hours behind, and it’s night, so there won’t be hours of operation, leaving the airport as their only hope. Given what leg they’re on now, it’s pretty safe to say there will be a flight in the next episode. In addition to the current gap, they’ll hit a speedbump.

Nate’s Freudian slip regarding the finale is “The best team’s gonna finish last, and that’s gonna be us.”

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 12 episode 10, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS (should be on time for a change).

The Amazing Race Asia 2 Episode 7

Following a strong leg in their home country of Japan, Daichi & Sawaka stumbled and were eliminated in The Amazing Race Asia 2 Episode 6.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Rovilson & Marc (10:30am)
Second: Adrian & Collin (10:32am)
Third: Terri & Henry (10:43am)
Fourth: Vanessa & Pamela (10:46am)
Fifth: Paula & Natasha (10:47am)
Sixth: Ann & Diane (11:00am)

With the teams all being within half an hour of each other, it’s pretty tight already. Teams must drive to a soybean farm in Anseong, 80km south of Seoul. Rovilson & Marc get a police escort to the destination. The teams are having trouble adjusting to having to drive on the other side of the road. Marc comments, “I’m just used to driving in the Philippines, where you can drive on any side of the road.” The signs being entirely in Korean doesn’t help matters any. On the way there, Paula & Natasha get a flat tire. Ann & Diane, who had started off quite a ways behind the rest, spot Terri & Henry while heading there. Like Paula & Natasha, they hit (apparently) a curb, but they don’t get a flat from it. Not that it’s a news flash or anything, but Terri screamed at the top of her lungs as Henry drove.

The road block is to search through 1500 soybean jars. Some of the jars hide clues. One jar hides a $50 bonus in addition to the clue. Not a good task for the taller racers, as it means they’ll have to bend over more, leading to aching backs. Even though she doesn’t fall into this category, as usual, Terri needs to take time to pout.

Road block (in order of arrival): Rovilson, Pamela, Collin (gets the clue with the bonus), Natasha, Diane, Terri

The next stop is Woncheon Resort, an amusement park in Suwon, where they must find a flagged boat and paddle to a buoy to find their next clue. From there, they will head to the Korean folk village in Yongin, a living open air folk museum.

This seems to be a very good leg in terms of cooperative locals. From start to finish, multiple teams have been finding people willing to drive to the destinations and let them follow them.

Pamela does a remarkable impression of Terri on the way to the village. Vanessa makes a wrong turn, and they’re unable to get themselves to calm down and just keep yelling. Vanessa asks her to calm down and apologizes again and again, but Pamela just keeps harping on it. The (other) problem is that Vanessa keeps enabling this behavior, continuing to say she’s stupid and that it’s her fault.

The detour is a choice between too ho or too heavy. In too ho, teams must toss bamboo sticks into a cylinder from 4.5 meters away. In too heavy, teams must deliver 30 logs to a house using a traditional carrying device known as a jigei.

Too heavy: Adrian & Collin, Paula & Natasha, Ann & Diane (after trying too ho)
Too ho: Rovilson & Marc, Vanessa & Pamela, Terri & Henry

Surprising to see Rovilson & Marc opt for the task that’s not just sheer strength. Seems like a botched opportunity to gain some time, but regardless, they still manage to pass Adrian & Collin and take the lead. For some reason, Paula & Natasha choose to do the log carrying task, but that works out okay except for the few logs Natasha takes to the head. Despite this, though, she remains level-headed and doesn’t freak out.

At 8PM, as the other teams are either checked in or finishing up the detour, Terri & Henry are still looking for the boats. The good news is that, even though it’s dark, they still don’t run into an hours of operation problem.

The pitstop for this leg of the race is Peace Plaza Olympic Park in Seoul.

First: Rovilson & Marc
Second: Adrian & Collin
Third: Pamela & Vanessa
Fourth: Ann & Diane
Fifth: Paula & Natasha
Sixth: Terri & Henry (non-eliminated)

Toward the end of the episode, we get what’s apparently a goodbye video, but even with this build up, it’s still a non-elimination leg. There’s a montage of Terri yelling at Henry, then in the confessional, Henry starts crying, which is followed by her crying as well. When they’re given the news that this is a NEL, they’re probably the least excited team ever to not be eliminated. To make matters worse, mugging’s back. They got rid of it in the US version because it was a disgusting twist, but Terri & Henry will start the next leg with no money.

As usual, Rovilson & Marc get first, while Adrian & Collin get second. These two teams have to be in the finals.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race Asia 2 episode 8, and don’t forget our live blogs of The Amazing Race 12.

The Celebrity Apprentice Episode 1

After last year’s poor ratings, lame have/have not concept, and Trump quitting the show (ironic considering he blasted a contestant for doing the very same thing), the show’s future for a season 7 was uncertain. However, the powers that be got together and came up with a celebrity concept that will allow it to go on for now.

The Celebrity Apprentice cast is composed of: Trace Adkins, Carol Alt, Stephen Baldwin, Nadia Comaneci, Tiffany Fallon, Jennie Finch, Nely Galan, Marilu Henner, Lennox Lewis, Omarosa, Piers Morgan, Tito Ortiz, Vincent Pastore, and Gene Simmons. These are all actual celebrities. Or so we’ve been told.

The teams are divided between males and females. Omarosa speaks up right away and volunteers to be the first project leader, primarily so she can cover herself and say she took a risk. People don’t have a lot of trouble saying they don’t know/like her. Nely Galan’s more interested in dressing up with hats. While discussing Spanish words, though, they decide on a team name of Empresario. For the boys, Gene Simmons comes up with the name Hydra, which for some reason the others like.

Omarosa gets her way and is elected project leader because she’s been there before.

The Trump spawn are back. At least bring back Bill instead of either of them. After a poor showing from LA in general last year, we’re back to New York as with the first five seasons.

Stephen Baldwin is the project manager for the guys.

The first task is to sell hot dogs on the streets of New York.

Carol Alt, who’s from New York, selects the location for her team. Omarosa wants to sell based on solid business concepts and would prefer to ignore the fact that the other people on her team are celebrities. She puts her foot down and refuses to listen.

The other team realizes that it’s not about the product. It’s about the fact that they’re celebrities. They want to sell the hot dogs in conjunction with autographed photos. Gene Simmons proves what the value is behind it, making a call to request a purchase of a $5,000 hot dog. He gets a yes pretty easily. After that, they make a bunch of other calls as well, with some success. Omarosa better start praying with her $5 hot dogs.

Eventually, after getting bigger and bigger offers, the women start to receive requests to pay more money, starting at $10, $20, $100, $200, eventually up to $500 for their hot dogs. Obviously, their celebrity plays some role, but they’re not hitting people over the head with it, allowing them to do more volume with sales of lower priced hot dogs.

For the guys, it’s unclear whether the phone calls they made earlier will pan out. Not willing to deal, they’re shooting people down left and right because, even though they’re willing to pay for the hot dogs, they’ve only got a few bucks to do so.

Despite the shaky initial start, they turn things around and begin selling hot dogs for $100 without much problem.

In the middle of the task, Marilu Henner decides to ignore Omarosa and starts making some calls to her contacts. A little late for that, but she meets with some success, selling two waters for $5,000 each.

Gene’s contacts show up as promised with some $5,000 and $10,000 buys. Piers Morgan gets worried that if the girls get just one big name, though, this won’t end up mattering. With 10 minutes left, Jennie Finch’s call to David Wright pays off, and he buys out the rest of their cart (for an undisclosed amount, so it’s obviously either way too little or way too much).

Empresario made $17,000. Hydra made $52,286. Considering Omarosa’s lackluster strategy, the girls did pretty well, but they got killed. Piers already identified Omarosa as the weak link on the other team. She defends herself by saying she learned from the first season, where they were criticized for using sex to sell.

All the money that was raised goes to Stephen’s charity, the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund, since he was the team leader of the winning team.

The winning team can watch the boardroom session from the TV in the house.

Omarosa says Marilu, who used her celebrity status (contrary to Omarosa’s orders), did a great job. However, Tiffany, for not selling herself, is considered a weak link. Hypocritical since she just got done saying she didn’t want to sell with sex. Hiding her team behind hats didn’t help make them look any sexier. Tiffany’s not particularly aggressive at defending herself. If that doesn’t cost her tonight, it will eventually.

Trump thinks it’s about celebrity, not hot dogs. Nely thinks Omarosa’s a good leader, even if she made a disastrous decision that lost them the task before it began.

Carol, who picked the location, which Trump doesn’t think is very good, says she deferred to the team leader on the decision.

With that said, it’s obvious that Carol and Tiffany are going back to the boardroom with Omarosa.

Trump asks Tiffany if she’s intimidated by the other two. He seems to want Carol to hate Omarosa and is unhappy with answers that she doesn’t. When questioned, Omarosa tells him he should fire Carol because Tiffany’s got an open mind.

Again and again, they bring up Hugh Heffner, saying that Tiffany should have called him (despite Omarosa insisting they not use their celebrity status). This is ultimately the reason Trump gives for his decision, and Tiffany’s the first person to be fired. Who did Omarosa or Carol call?

Not entirely surprising. Omarosa should have been fired early in season 1 as well, but he kept her around because he felt it would mean ratings. She’ll be around for a while, no matter how miserably she screws up.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Celebrity Apprentice episode 2, which airs Thursday at 9/8c on NBC.

Survivor: Micronesia Cast

As previously announced, Survivor: Micronesia is a half star edition, featuring half people from previous seasons (all from seasons after All Stars but one, unfortunately) and half hardcore fans. The returning cast is rather lackluster, particularly in comparison to Survivor: All Stars, but it should still be a good season. Hopefully some of these people have learned something since the first time. The new season will premiere on Thursday February 7 at 8/7c on CBS. As always, stay tuned to dingoRUE for live blogs each show night.

Favorites
Jon Dalton (Jonny Fairplay), Survivor: Pearl Islands
Love him or hate him (and most people fall under the latter category), it’s hard to deny that he played a good game, and the dead grandmother bit was classic, albeit over the top.

Ami Cusack, Survivor: Vanuatu
Perhaps the most influential force in Vanuatu, until Scout, Twila, Chris, and Eliza pulled the rug out from under her (perhaps the best moment of that season).

Eliza Orlins, Survivor: Vanuatu
I can understand why the others didn’t like her, but let’s face it: when someone’s in a final four against Twila, Scout, and a member of the fat five, is there really any choice as to whom to root for?

Cirie Fields, Survivor: Panama
Are you freaking kidding me? Sadly, she’ll go far if she lasts the first few votes.

Jonathan Penner, Survivor: Cook Islands
A master of the game… if only in his own mind.

Ozzy Lusth, Survivor: Cook Islands
All brawn, no brain. Hopefully he can come up with something resembling a strategy this time.

Parvati Shallow, Survivor: Cook Islands
Parvati’s potentially one of the more dangerous (albeit under the radar) players, and really doesn’t have to change things up much.

Yau Man Chan, Survivor: Fiji
I found Yau Man to be one of the more overrated players in his season, but still a worthwhile addition to this cast.

Amanda Kimmel, Survivor: China
If only she got rid of Todd, things may have been very different. She was just as in control as he was, but not as blatant about it.

James Clement, Survivor: China
His previous journey was cut short early because he rolled the dice one time too many. He’s the likely early fan favorite yet again.

Fans
Alexis Jones
24
Motivational speaker
Beverly Hills, CA

Chet Welch
48
Beauty pageant coach
Ford City, PA

Erik Reichenbach
22
Ice cream scooper
Ypsilanti, MI

Jason Siska
22
Student teacher
Fox River Grove, IL

Joel Anderson
32
Firefighter
Avondale, AZ

Kathleen Sleckman
45
Golf course vendor
Glen Ellyn, IL

Mary Sartain
29
Real estate entrepreneuer
Emeryville, CA

Michael Bortone
34
Writer/actor
Los Angeles, CA

Natalie Bolton
32
Personal trainer/bartender
West Hollywood, CA

Tracy Hughes-Wolf
43
Commercial builder
Fredericksburg, VA

The Biggest Loser 5 Episode 1

With the new year upon us, NBC isn’t wasting any time getting us some new episodes. Tonight marks the premiere of The Biggest Loser 5, which for the first time is a couples (teams of two) edition. While waiting for the show to start, check out The Biggest Loser 5 Cast.

Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels will be returning to train the teams. Alison Sweeney returns as host. After two seasons, it doesn’t look like Kim will be back. Unlike previous seasons, it’s no longer black against blue. Rather, it’s every team for themselves.

Mallory and Curtis are married parents. Curtis is unable to get approved for health insurance due to his weight.

Maggie and Jennifer are ironically fat camp counselors, who say they don’t hire fat people in their camp.

Paul and Kelly are ex-husband/wife. Paul’s grandfather and father died in their 40s.

Jackie feels responsible for allowing her son Dan to get as overweight as he has.

The tenth and final team, Brittany & Bernie, has been selected from The Biggest Loser Club online. They have never met before.

The first challenge is a race up a hill and back down. They will be able to choose whichever trainer they want as they finish. They can only go as fast as the slowest member of their pair, and each trainer can only take 5 teams, so if they don’t get there fast enough, they’ll have to work with the other one.

Most of the teams seem to have already picked out who they want for a trainer. Jay and Mark are the first ones up the hill, and they’re the first ones down as well. Brittany & Bernie are next, working quite well together despite having just met. Before getting to the top, Bette-Sue drops to her knees and starts crawling. With this, they’re obviously the last to finish, and they’re probably the least happy about which trainer they’ve gotten.

5 of the first 7 teams pick Jillian.

Jillian:
Mark & Jay (black team)
Trent & Roger (grey team)
Curtis & Mallory (brown team)
Neill & Amanda (white team)
Maggie & Jenn (purple team)

Bob:
Brittany & Bernie (blue team)
Jackie & Dan (orange team)
Paul & Kelly (yellow team)
Lynn & Jennifer (green team)
Bette-Sue & Ali (pink team)

It’s time for the first weigh in. Teams will weigh in together.

Maggie: 239 pounds
Jenn: 254 pounds
Total: 493 pounds

Mark: 285 pounds
Jay: 293 pounds
Total: 578 pounds

Curtis: 381 pounds
Mallory: 217 pounds
Total: 598 pounds

Bette-Sue: 261 pounds
Ali: 234 pounds
Total: 495 pounds

Jackie: 246 pounds
Dan: 310 pounds
Total: 556 pounds

Lynn: 409 pounds
Jenni: 267 pounds
Total: 676 pounds

Neill: 317 pounds
Amanda: 204 pounds
Total: 521 pounds

Bernie: 283 pounds
Brittany: 221 pounds
Total: 504 pounds

Paul: 303 pounds
Kelly: 271 pounds
Total: 574 pounds

Roger: 363 pounds
Trent: 436 pounds
Total: 799 pounds

Jillian obsesses over the team twist. She wants to be their teammate and doesn’t like that their enablers are with them. She’s really impressed with Amanda, who didn’t quit or complain. Neill, however, needed to be slapped upside the head, which is why he initially wanted to be trained by Bob. Paul collapses, while one of the others training with Bob is throwing up.

They take a trip to the emergency room to meet with the doctor. 3/4 have high blood pressure. Half have obstructed sleep apnea. While there, they go to the morgue. Very subtle.

While discussing the pregnancy risks, it hits home with Kelly, who’s had multiple miscarriages. Bette-Sue’s having difficulty taking the fat discussion seriously.

In the next challenge, teams must drag giant balloons around a course. The team that comes in first will subtract two pounds. The team that comes in last must add two pounds, which displeases Bette-Sue most of all. Bette-Sue & Ali jump out to an early lead, but they’re too quick about it and fade early. Mark & Jay have the strategy of letting somebody else set the pace, then taking over once that other team tires. Jenn & Maggie likewise don’t want to start off too quick, but the problem is they can’t pick up the pace anyway. Curtis & Mallory set the pace and lead most of the time. Mark & Jay take a big lead toward the end. Bernie & Brittany give them a run for their money toward the end (despite the fact that Bernie’s puking as they head toward the finish line), but Mark & Jay still win. Bette-Sue & Ali manage to finish fairly well, with Maggie & Jenn losing the challenge and taking the 2 pound penalty.

Jenni’s upset with her father, who refuses to run with her. He’s quick to come up with excuses about how he has blisters on his feet (she responds that she does, too). When she confronts him, he repeatedly denies her request because his feet hurt. Suck it up. These excuses are why he’s the second heaviest person on the show. Despite his refusal to workout the prior night, however, he wakes up early the next morning and gets on the treadmill so he doesn’t disappoint her.

Bernie heads to the hospital because he can’t keep any food down. They tell him to just take things easier.

Now it’s time to see how the teams have done during their first week.

Paul: 286 (-17)
Kelly: 258 (-13)
Total: -30 pounds, 5.23%

Mark: 268 (-17)
Jay: 280 (-13)
Total: -30 pounds, minus 2 from the challenge, 5.54%

Curtis: 359 (-22)
Mallory: 203 (-14)
Total: -36 pounds, 6.02%

Roger: 343 (-20)
Trent: 407 (-29)
Total: -49 pounds, 6.13%

Jackie: 231 (-15)
Dan: 285 (-25)
Total: -40 pounds, 7.19%

Lynn: 390 (-19)
Jenni: 260 (-7)
Total: -26 pounds, 3.85%

Neill: 304 (-13)
Amanda: 190 (-14)
Total: -27 pounds, 5.18%

Maggie: 229 (-10)
Jenn: 242 (-12)
Total: -22 pounds, plus 2 from the challenge, 4.06%

Bette-Sue: 245 (-16)
Ali: 215 (-19)
Total: -35 pounds, 7.07%

Bernie: 266 (-17)
Brittany: 211 (-10)
Total: -27 pounds, 5.36%

This puts Lynn & Jenni and Maggie & Jenn below the yellow line. Lynn put up big numbers even though his heart’s not in it, but his daughter put up particularly low numbers despite a strong effort. He tells the others to go ahead and get rid of him, and he willingly packs his bags. He blames her for their loss. The two girls are probably less threatening, but the fact that Lynn can’t care less suggests he should be sent home regardless. The teams are being given an hour to make a decision of who to send home.

Paul & Kelly: Maggie & Jenn
Neill & Amanda: Lynn & Jenni
Bernie & Brittany: Lynn & Jenni
Jackie & Dan: Lynn & Jenni
Curtis & Mallory: Lynn & Jenni
Bette-Sue & Ali: Lynn & Jenni

I’m surprised they even got one vote in their favor. Jenni may have had a bad week with the scale, but Lynn gave up before he even got there. After six weeks, Lynn has lost 30 pounds, while Jenni has lost 20.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Biggest Loser: Couples episode 2, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 12 Episode 8

Kynt & Vyxsin went from a good team to a bickering couple in The Amazing Race 12 Episode 7 but lucked out and were greeted with this season’s first non-elimination leg. In a new twist, they must complete one extra task that the other teams don’t have to do.

As usual, the show is delayed due to a football overrun, about 40 minutes or so tonight. I will begin a live blog once 60 Minutes is over.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Nicolas & Donald (10:12PM)
Second: Nathan & Jennifer (11:55PM)
Third: Ronald & Christina (1:06AM)
Fourth: TK & Rachel (2:11AM)
Fifth: Kynt & Vyxsin (3:23AM)

Teams must fly almost 4000 miles to Mumbai, India, a leg of the race typically known for breakdowns, not that some of these people aren’t already close to breaking down as it is. Given the starting times, bunching’s likely.

Jennifer doesn’t want to be disgusted/embarassed by her and Nathan’s behavior any more. Ronald is hoping he’s a new man.

All teams start off together when the airport opens. Ronald & Christina have already reserved tickets. Kynt & Vyxsin walk around to various offices to see what they can get.

First flight (arrives 10:35PM): Ronald & Christina, Nicolas & Donald, Nathan & Jennifer
Second flight (arrives 10:50PM): Kynt & Vyxsin
Third flight (arrives 1:00AM): TK & Rachel

The first flight is delayed, and Kynt & Vyxsin arrive a bit ahead of everybody else.

Not that all the drama matters, since the hours of operation start at 6AM, so everybody’s even again. They must purchase a newspaper, where an ad will tell them where to go next (yeah, they waited all night to buy a newspaper). The next stop is Chauhan Tailors. Jennifer’s distracted by… everything. Nicolas & Donald are more interested in watching the other teams for hints rather than doing their own searching.

Before they can do the detour, Kynt & Vyxsin must first do the speed bump, where they perform a series of yoga poses.

The detour is a choice between paste ’em or thread ’em. In paste ’em, they must paste a 6 panel Bollywood movie poster to a wall. In thread ’em, they’ll go to a flower market and create wedding garland, threading 108 flowers in a pattern.

Paste ’em: Nicolas & Donald, Ronald & Christina
Thread ’em: TK & Rachel, Nathan & Jennifer, Kynt & Vyxsin

Rachel has experience with flowers and feels confident about the thread ’em task, which they complete pretty quickly. Nicolas & Donald likewise finish quickly. After starting the poster off too high to reach, Ronald mostly feels confident in his ability to yell at Christina, followed up by yelling at the judge. He reluctantly lets her take charge so it can be done right. Nathan & Jennifer very quickly get back to bickering. Kynt & Vyxsin appear to be back on track. Both of these teams finish within a couple minutes of each other.

TK & Rachel choose not to use the U-turn since they’re in front of the pack. Nicolas & Donald also choose not to U-turn. Ronald & Christina would have U-turned Nicolas & Donald but aren’t sure whether Nathan & Jennifer are ahead of them, so they choose not to use it. Whoever finishes first of the other two at the flower detour will probably be the one to use it. Despite finishing the final task last, Kynt & Vyxsin arrive at the U-turn first and foolishly waste it on Nicolas & Donald instead of Nathan & Jennifer, who they know for a fact are close to them. They pretty quickly realize this was a mistake.

The road block is navigating the streets delivering tanks of propane on a bike.

Road block: Nicolas, Ronald (despite his hernia), TK, Kynt, Jennifer

The pitstop is Bandra Fort. Nicolas gets sick on the way due to the physical exertion on the road block, even more reason why I’m wondering why the heck Jennifer’s doing it. Oddly, though, the physical part of the task doesn’t seem to be a problem for her. It’s actually reading the clue, which tells her to get receipts for deliveries (she also didn’t read the part of the clue about how to finish the detour). Lucky for them, Kynt is misled to believe the person accepting deliveries keeps a copy of the receipts, so he, too, has to go back and get all the receipts. Either way, Jen continues to whine and whine and whine.

First: TK & Rachel (win a trip from Travelocity)
Second: Nicolas & Donald
Third: Ronald & Christina
Fourth: Nathan & Jennifer
Fifth: Kynt & Vyxsin (eliminated)

Kynt & Vyxsin had a chance to turn this thing around but chose to U-turn the wrong team.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 12 Episode 9 I Just Hope He Doesn’t Croak on Us, which airs Sunday at 8:30/7:30c on CBS.

The Amazing Race Asia 2 Episode 6

The Amazing Race Asia 2 Episode 5 was a to be continued leg. With all teams onboard the same train heading to what we were deliberately misled to believe was a pitstop, everybody’s pretty bunched up, but there likely exists a few minutes between the teams. Now that we’re heading out of Japan, it’ll be interesting to see how it impacts Daichi & Sawaka, while Terry & Henri’s dysfunctionality should continue to hamper them regardless of country.

First: Ann & Diane
Second: Rovilson & Marc
Third: Adrian & Collin
Fourth: Paula & Natasha
Fifth: Daichi & Sawaka
Sixth: Terri & Henry
Seventh: Vanessa & Pamela

Teams must head to Hakata Port international ferry terminal, where they will catch a ferry to Busan, South Korea, a journey of 320km. So all teams are once again even.

Rovilson & Marc have decided to disguise themselves so the other teams can’t tell where they are. Oddly, the massive fake moustaches in random moving places isn’t working, though.

When they arrive in South Korea, they will travel by taxi to Jongro Taekwando Academy, where they will kick their way through three boards each in Korea’s national sport. Marc & Rovilson get the first cab and stop to get directions. It’s a one way street with no passing, which means that all the other teams must wait while they find out where to go. Natasha yells out the window that their cab driver knows where he’s going, so they should just follow them. Even though Natasha’s not actually sure her driver knows where to go, the boys fall for this and follow them anyway. It’s not long before they’ve lost all the other taxis, though, but that’s not a bad thing because all the other taxis are in chaos as well. Like in some parts of the US, the traffic lights are considered optional by some. At one point, Rovilson comments on his taxi driver, “He may not know where he’s going, but he’ll run at least 15 red lights to get there.”

Despite the trouble, Rovilson & Marc are the first to arrive at the taekwando school, for a task they’ll likely finish faster than most other teams. As much as there’s a theory that it’s not all about strength, a bit of strength doesn’t hurt any. Adrian & Collin are a couple minutes behind. Ann & Diane are just dropped off at some random location. Vanessa & Pamela arrive third. Spelling out the name of the street (Unro) makes Paula & Natasha’s cab driver think they’re going to the United Nations (UN). They eventually find it fourth by dumb luck (they spot it… the cab driver has no clue he’s passed it), and they bump into Daichi & Sawaka near the destination, who then arrive shortly after. For some reason, Daichi wants to use this same clueless cab driver again, but then again, all the cab drivers seem pretty clueless where this place is, so it might not be such a bad idea. Terri & Henry are the sixth team to arrive, which means Ann & Diane are in last and apparently nowhere near finding the school.

From there, teams must travel by taxi to the Jagalchi Market and search for a golden pig statue, symbolizing the Chinese year of the golden pig, which comes once every 600 years. As they’re leaving, Marc & Rovilson believe that their cab’s been stolen by Adrian & Collin. Marc & Rovilson are willing to play this as a race but think karma will come back to play a role. Their plan is to use the yield on Adrian & Collin if they arrive first. They believe that if someone arrives before them, they’re definitely going to be yielded, but Collin discusses how they don’t want to antagonize anybody, which is probably wise because yielding a team at the head of the pack probably won’t matter anyway.

Adrian & Collin choose not to yield. Now that their choice for a yield is not an option, Rovilson & Marc also choose not to yield anybody. Not knowing how far behind Ann & Diane are, multiple teams suspect them as being the ones who will yield people. Vanessa & Pamela don’t yield either. Daichi & Sawaka don’t realize Ann & Diane, who they would have yielded otherwise, are behind them. Terri & Henry throw away the yield on Rovilson & Marc, who are way ahead of them as usual. What sense does this make? When they arrive, Paula & Natasha can’t figure out what the heck happened here any more than I can. However, this does give Ann & Diane some false sense of security, as they believe that by some miracle Terri & Henry were actually ahead of Rovilson & Marc.

The detour is a choice between slither or deliver. In slither, teams must get two tokens from a tank of octopus. In deliver, teams must deliver food in the traditional manner (on their heads) to three addresses, potentially problematic since not all streets have names. Of the two choices, the slither task appears to be ridiculously simple by comparison. If they’re going to setup a detour, at least make it so the choices are remotely even.

Perhaps knowing just how much easier slither is, all teams choose to do that detour, with the exception of Daichi & Sawaka. After a while of doing deliver, dropping from fourth to sixth in the process, they switch to the slither detour as well.

The next stop is Nurimaru APEC House in Hyundai Beach. It’s late at night, but it appears the location is being kept open specifically for the teams, as there is no hours of operations problem.

The road block is lock and key in Yongdusan Park, where a gatekeeper will give them a key that will only unlock one padlock. If they break the key, they’ll have to start all over again. We saw this dumb luck road block in The Amazing Race 6, which took teams hours and caused Hayden & Aaron to be eliminated, but this looks like a much simpler version of that (nowhere near as many locks, and they’re not decades old). At this point, all teams are roughly even anyway, as everybody’s pretty close to first place Rovilson & Marc, and even Ann & Diane are still in it, as they arrive ahead of Daichi & Sawaka, who receive directions from Natasha in an attempt to get rid of Ann & Diane. Ann & Diane attempt to pull an Amber by pretending they got the clue in the wrong direction, but Daichi doesn’t bite, though Sawaka suggests they at least consider going that way since they can’t find it otherwise.

Road block: Marc, Collin, Pamela, Paula, Terri (uh, the clue said patience), Ann, Daichi

Marc gets it on the first lock. It won’t be that easy for everybody else, but perhaps this is just another example of this episode’s poor task planning.

The pitstop for this leg of the race is Beomeosa Temple, the most well known and largest buddhist temple in Busan.

First: Rovilson & Marc (they don’t appear to win anything, but they celebrate – quietly – nonetheless)
Second: Adrian & Collin
Third: Terri & Henry
Fourth: Vanessa & Pamela
Fifth: Paula & Natasha
Sixth: Ann & Diane
Seventh: Daichi & Sawaka (eliminated)

Rovilson & Marc continue to dominate regardless of the circumstances. Adrian & Collin, who have been finishing second behind them for a few legs, continue to perform strongly as well. Terri & Henry had a surprisingly good leg, apparently because they weren’t arguing for a change. Ann & Diane, who typically place third, had quite a rough leg after getting lost. Daichi & Sawaka shined briefly with the home country advantage, but that was short lived once they took the ferry to Korea. Still, they remain as upbeat as can be expected in the face of elimination.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race Asia 2 episode 7, and don’t forget our live blogs of The Amazing Race 12.