reality tv – Page 319

Survivor: China Episode 1

Throughout the week, CBS has been providing us with various Survivor: China videos to prepare us for the new season. The Survivor: China cast has also been revealed (name, age, location, occupation). Beyond that, we do know a couple tidbits. Obviously, the show will take place in China, which is a first for a major American television production. Also, CBS has finally acknowledged that Exile Island was a mistake and stupid (okay, I added the stupid part). It will be replaced by allowing the winning team to kidnap one person from the other tribe. From a strategic standpoint, I think this will add a whole new element to the game, something that Exile never did. Does this new person give away information, or are they more concerned with seeing what they can take away? It also will potentially help form cross-tribe bonds that would not be possible otherwise, so we may not be stuck with the traditional Pagonging. With that said, it’s time to jump right into a live blog of episode 1 of Survivor: China.

The Survivors start off in a temple. Jeff points out that it’s not a worship ceremony. Peih-Gee, who as the name probably gives away is Chinese, is especially touched by the experience. Courtney couldn’t care less. Yeah, she’ll be the spoiled brat of the season. Leslie, the Christian radio talk show host, gets up and walks out.

Going back to buddhist beliefs, they leave behind their worldly possessions, meaning their suitcases. Not good for the women with high heels or the one who doesn’t have a bra. Oh, and wet jeans? Can you say chafing?

Frosti, Dave, Jaime, Eric, Peih-Gee, Sherea, Ashley, and Chicken are on the yellow tribe, Zhan Hu. Jean-Robert, Leslie, Amanda, Courtney, Denise, James, Todd, and Aaron are on the red tribe, Fei Long. Everybody is given a copy of Sun Tzu’s Art of War.

When they get to camp, they find out they have received rice, something that’s normally provided when there won’t be much food available on the land. Courtney gets sick to her stomach by people being nice to each other. Because that’s a bad thing apparently.

Jean-Robert figures out right away that Todd’s the clever guy. Be interesting to see whether he’s right. Todd acknowledges he’s willing to do whatever it takes to win. Based on his pre-show interview, it does appear that he’s a student of the game who’s here to prove to people that Survivor is still Survivor, and based on that, he’s got my vote for sticking around a while.

Sherea immediately begins whining. Chicken tries to voice his opinion, but he does it in a way that’s perceived negatively, rather than offering up a solution. He then goes to the exact opposite extreme of pretending he doesn’t know anything about anything. Peih-Gee fears she’s on the lazy tribe that doesn’t want to do anything productive.

James, the gravedigger, is used to being alone. He’s worried that he won’t be social enough for this game, but in terms of work ethic and challenges, he should be a great asset. Leslie is very impressed by him and gives him some advice.

Ashley, who thought she was well prepared by her WWE wrestling experience, gets sick on the first night following a bad storm. Easy target if they lose immunity.

Fei Long decides to read Art of War before the challenge. After hearing the part about the commander, Todd volunteers Aaron to be the tribe’s commander. Can be a curse, but as long as someone’s not bossy about it, it could also be good.

Each tribe will carry a Chinese dragon/tiger through a maze, one person will go through an obstacle course and rejoin their tribes to continue through a swamp, and lastly a puzzle. The winning tribe gets immunity and flint, as well as their running shoes. It’s neck and neck through the maze. James has trouble getting unclipped, so they take off dead even in the obstacle course. Going into the next phase, it’s still even as James and Frosti return to their teams. Fei Long takes a bit of a lead going into the final stage, a puzzle of the correct order to put their poles in. Fei Long wins immunity.

On the Zhan Hu tribe, it’s Dave who takes the obvious leader role, likeable enough of it should work out well for him. Peih-Gee also tries to take a leadership role, but she does it in a less likeable way. She tries to get an opinion out of Chicken, who refuses to offer one. Ashley says she feels a lot better. Dave would prefer to keep Chicken around for his experience, even if he won’t share any of it.

At tribal council, Jeff Probst asks whether anyone wants to be the leader. Dave and Peih-Gee both raise their hands. Everyone says the decision will be based on contribution. Chicken acknowledges he doesn’t fit in but believes he’s worked. Ashley votes for Peih-Gee. Chicken votes for Ashley as promised. Peih-Gee votes for Chicken because he lived up to his nickname and is afraid to step up and do anything.

Votes:
Chicken
Ashley
Ashley
Peih-Gee
Chicken
Chicken
Chicken

Chicken is the first person booted out. Well deserved. He foolishly went too far out of his way to not be seen as controversial, to the point where he became no use at all.

It looks like James and maybe Dave are the two who are out of the gates early as potential fan favorites, and possibly Ashley if she’s popular with the wrestling crowd. Who’s your favorite so far?

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live blog of Survivor: China Episode 2, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Biggest Loser 4 Episode 2

In The Biggest Loser 4 Episode 1, we saw pretty much the most obvious outcome ever, with the person who started off as a dumb pick proving to be as bad as everyone thought, as Amber was eliminated after threatening to quit repeatedly.

We start off with the first weigh in for the black team.

Isabeau: 290 lbs (-8)
Julie: 216 lbs (-2)
Hollie: 244 lbs (-11)
Jez: 329 lbs (-16)
Jim: 350 lbs (-11)
Bill: 313 lbs (-21)
Total: -69 lbs (3.81%)

Jillian’s got her work cut out for her. By comparison, the red team lost 4.43%, and the blue team lost 5.81%. A couple of these people are just lucky to have not been picked because bootinig either Isabeau or moreso Julie would be completely justifiable.

Phil would like to lose the weight to be able to pass fire department tests. Julie wants to lose the weight to increase her odds of having another child. Amy is afraid of getting diabetes like others in her family. Patty doesn’t want to die young.

On the hike to the top of the hill, Neil has trouble with his knees. Bob advises him if he has a problem, he should turn back. He decides to just push through it.

More of the primitive training conditions in the desert. This workout consists of lugging logs around. Jillian looks forward to the air conditioned gym, as it will be like a walk in the park compared to working out in the 96 degree heat.

Brian grabs string cheese and Jell-O for his meal before a workout. Kim is unimpressed. She decides to make tacos out of turkey. Then it’s time for the pre-challenge workout, where Amy starts whining.

Next, it’s Hollie’s turn. During the workout on the beach, she falls and starts crying, but she gets what she’s working toward and gets up and finishes.

It’s climbing time. The next challenge is climbing stairs at a 10 story building (up and back down). The reward is immunity for one person. Neil is unable to compete due to his injury earlier. Ryan, also from the blue team, is unable to compete due to irregular blood levels. The red team must choose who to sit out, and they pick Lezlye. Kae gets off to an early lead for the blue team. Patty retains the lead. Bryan catches up a bit but is still behind. Phil takes a slight lead, but it’s neck and neck going into the home stretch. Phil inches out the win for the red team, beating out Gerry. Immunity is determined by who flips the correct switch at random. David wins immunity, though he probably wouldn’t need it.

Neil can’t stomach eating, but Bob emphasizes that the body needs food to lose weight.

Bob is thrilled with what he’s getting from his team and says they’ve pushed harder than anyone before. Kim is not so thrilled because her team, or at least the girls, keeps whining, so she’s going easier on them. She’s really impressed with the guys, but she lets the girls know she’s sick of them. Lezlye starts mocking her, and Amy just walks out.

Amy makes an alliance with Lezlye because she thinks it will help her stick around longer. I got a better way: work harder.

The black team makes their way back into the house in time for the weigh in. Upon walking into the weigh in, the blue and red teams are greeted by the black team waiting for them, ready for battle. Even Bob and Kim weren’t expecting the twist.

Blue Team:
Gerry: 256 lbs (-10)
Nicole: 265 lbs (-6)
Patty: 265 lbs (-2)
Ryan: 349 lbs (-10)
Kae: 200 lbs (-5)
Neil: 389 lbs (-10)
Total: -43 lbs (2.43%)

Red Team:
Bryan: 325 lbs (-6)
Amy: 285 lbs (-2)
Lezlye: 243 lbs (-3)
David: 344 lbs (-4)
Phil: 372 lbs (-5)
Total: -20 lbs (1.26%)

Black Team:
Hollie: 242 lbs (-2)
Isabeau: 285 lbs (-5)
Jez: 320 lbs (-9)
Julie: 213 lbs (-3)
Bill: 301 lbs (-12)
Jim: 334 lbs (-16)
Total: 47 lbs (2.70%)

With no help from the women on the team, the black team wins the weigh in. The red team, meanwhile, as a whole, did poorly this week, and they have lost the weigh in again. At just 6 pounds, Bryan is the biggest loser on the red team, so he is safe, as is David with immunity. Amy tries to talk David into believing Phil’s too big a threat to keep around. She then realizes he’s not getting rid of Phil, so she drops the alliance and works on her own behalf.

Phil: Lezlye
Lezlye: Phil
Amy: Phil
David: Lezlye
Bryan: Lezlye

By a vote of 3-2, Lezlye has been eliminated. Today, Lezlye weighs 200 pounds, down 55 pounds from her starting weight of 255 pounds.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Biggest Loser 4 episode 3, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

Survivor: China – A Day in the Life of Jeff Probst

Survivor: China premieres tonight, and I’m looking forward to it (or at least hoping it stops sucking). As usual, I will be doing a live blog from the east coast during episode 1. Anyway, in this video, we take a behind the scenes look at Jeff Probst’s day on day 15 in Survivor: China from waking up to after tribal council’s over.

Survivor: China – Tribal Build

Jeff Probst takes a behind the scenes look at tribal council.

Last Comic Standing 5 Winner

Jon Reep, 35, from Hickory, North Carolina received the most votes in the season finale, defeating Lavell Crawford of St. Louis Missouri to win the 5th season of NBC’s Last Comic Standing. As the winner, Jon will receive a contract with NBC and a Bravo comedy special, in addition to $250,000 in cash.

“I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you for getting together, voting for me. You know we did it, we did it! I did it for you and I can’t wait to come home and celebrate with everybody in Hickory,” Jon said.

As revealed earlier, Last Comic Standing has already been renewed for a 6th season.

Big Brother 8 Episode 33

Last night I did make a post about the Big Brother 8 winner but didn’t actually end up watching more than a couple minutes of the show for fear of it sucking worse than Beauty and the Geek 4. But I wanted to see the America’s Player reveal, and I figure this surely won’t be painful like Big Brother 8 episode 32 was, so I decided to go ahead and recap it, proceeding with caution.

We start off with Julie continuing to play up the lame estranged father/daughter storyline and pretending Dick isn’t delusional about having such a great team. C’mon, Chenbot, give us something not scripted.

The jury couldn’t care less whether it’s Dick or Danielle who walks through the door, as long as it’s one of them. Hope. Dashed. In walks Zach.

Eric is forced to participate in this ridiculous and stupid America’s Player one last time. Not only does he not get a vote, since he was only in the house for two and a half months, but to add insult to injury, he must also campaign for whoever America wants. Of course, America chose Dick.

The argument against Dick is obvious: he was so vile to every single one of these people with his unnecessary, pointless, and stupid in a game sense personal attacks that he doesn’t deserve to win. The argument against Danielle is equally obvious: she’s just a whiny brat who didn’t do anything but win competitions.

Jen begins talking about how she can’t condone what Dick did to her. Amber goes off on her because she called a truce with him (a truce that, briefly, got him to treat her like a human being). Oh, shut up, Amber. Eric manages to get the discussion back on track. Dustin asks whether they can look past the personal attacks. Considering Dick attacked Jen nonstop for weeks on end, I don’t see how or why she should. However, the rest weren’t quite as badly impacted by him.

Jessica points out that Danielle’s not any better than her father. She hated every single person on the jury and was nasty to all of them. She just wasn’t as vocal and abrasive about it.

Jameka says Danielle is the pimp, and ED is the ho.

Opening up the question period, Dick pretends they have had the hardest game of anyone in the house. Harder than Eric having to take stupid orders from America. Harder than Jen and Kail having to put up with Dick’s abuse. Harder than Jessica, Dustin, and Amber also getting screwed over than America. Harder than Zach, who was forced to play chess alone for a month because nobody liked him. He tries to convince them (or is he trying to convince himself) that he and Danielle were the best team in the history of Big Brother.

Amber’s question is completely irrelevant, but this is Amber we’re talking about. She asks why she should give Danielle a vote considering what she did to her boyfriend (the one she hasn’t mentioned in two months) on national television. She calls her a very pathetic person, which draws a laugh from the jury. It’s funny because it’s true.

Back to Dick pretending and telling his own version of the truth. He tells Jessica he never lied to her. Oh, that’s right. It was a “last minute decision.”

Eric asks a question with which Dick could earn some brownie points, but this is Dick we’re talking about here. Why does each jury member deserve to be in the final two? Dick says: Dustin doesn’t, Jen absolutely doesn’t, Amber never made a big move, Jessica made some moves but tried not to bloody her hands too much, Eric was the best player in the game (wow, a compliment), Zach came on huge at the end.

Zach asks Danielle to say something positive about the jury. What a load of BS. Much snickering ensues. Dick, no, he doesn’t even pretend. He just insults people, and even the positive comments are viewed as insults (or at least just simply not worth listening to).

Jen asks Dick whether he thinks the experience has helped him build a relationship with Danielle. Okay, which producer made her say that?

In Dick’s final speech to the jury, he talks about how he changed the game completely by… getting Eric to go along with what America wanted. He says he did a lot of the dirty work, and Danielle didn’t look too pleased with him saying that. Afterwards, Danielle begins whining because she believes he campaigned against her.

Jen wishes she could vote for anyone else. Jessica’s voting for the person she enjoyed most in the house.

Dick’s son, Vincent, says Dick’s always like this.

Jessica looks pretty hot, while Nick finally has a haircut that doesn’t make him look like a dork.

It’s now time to reveal the America’s Player twist. Most of them seem to take it pretty well, and for once, the recap is actually enjoyable, unlike that crap they had us watch on Sunday night. He immediately begins whispering in Jessica’s ear, and she says she’s not mad at him. I do wonder whether he already hinted to her about it at the jury house. Dick realizes he’s not as great as he thinks, but he’s probably happy that he was the most popular houseguest for most of the season. Dustin thinks he was voted out because he was a threat.

And lastly, it’s time to vote. Yay! Let’s put this season out of its misery and just hope they don’t make the rigging even more obvious next year (if we keep going down this path, Big Brother will be casting all the votes by the time we get to BB11).

Eric: Dick
Jameka: Danielle
Dustin: Dick
Jen: Danielle
Zach: Dick
Amber: Dick

Dick is the winner of Big Brother 8 by a vote of 5-2 (Jessica also voted for Dick).

When asked how she feels, Danielle says that she knows nobody believes her (which we don’t), but she’s completely ecstatic.

Julie asks if they want to be on The Amazing Race. Please. God. No. Didn’t you do enough damage with Family Edition? And so ends this season of it’s our show we’ll do what we want.

Kid Nation Episode 1

Before it even premiered, Kid Nation has already become the subject of a lot of seemingly baseless controversy. 40 kids, a damn big cast, must try to turn Bonanza City, NM into a bustling town, something adults failed to do back in the 1800s.

The leaders here are also kids. They are Mike, 11, a boy scout, Taylor, 10, a pageant queen, Anjay, 12, a spelling champ, and Laurel, 12, a student leader. This is the town council, who will at least temporarily lead the others. Nobody’s particularly impressed with them.

Any kid who can’t handle it is free to leave at the town hall meeting. Jonathan pulls out a star that’s worth its weight in gold, $20k, which will be given away each week to whoever they feel deserves it most. The leaders can’t tell anyone about this until it’s time to give the first one away.

The kids are dropped off by bus and must walk a few miles lugging what they need with them in wagons. It’s not long before people start arguing over who is or is not working and how hard. DK falls on the way but appears to be okay with just a muscle cramp.

When they arrive, there’s nothing waiting there for them. The ghost town is exactly as could be expected. It’s complete chaos with everyone running every which way.

They attempt to cook, with attempt being the key word, only to find out nobody actually knows how to even cook macaroni and cheese. They come up with the idea to get a cookbook and finally figure it out. Sort of.

Taylor, who seemed to be doing a good job, finally breaks down crying at the end of the day due to homesickness. Mike’s also concerned they weren’t prepared for the scale of what they were getting themselves into.

Breakfast turns out better. They figure out how to make pancakes, and some of the kids live on a farm and know how to work with farm animals. Apparently, some off the kids took too many pancakes, leaving others with nothing to eat. Mike steps up and takes charge, calling a meeting that he quickly loses control of. Greg, one of the older kids, tries to bully Mike and pushes him, then walks out. In the midst of the arguing, Michael comes forward and gives a speech that finally brings some order. Mike and Greg shake hands after the meeting, after which Greg says, “You haven’t seen me upset.” Uh oh. I sense someone who failed the psych test.

The leaders must divide into four teams. Who’s on what team? Uh… I don’t even know who’s who and don’t think I ever will. The revealing of the teams was complete random chaos as with everything else.

Laurel goes searching for Jimmy, who she learns has also broken down crying. She handles the situation really well and comforts him.

The blue team, the older team, grafitis their name all over everyone else’s bunkhouses. They suspect it’s the older boys, Greg and Blaine. Alex, a 9 year old, says it’s juvenile behavior.

On the third day, the host steps in and attempts to bring some order, revealing a job board to assign people jobs. The jobs will be determined by having a showdown district against district.

The challenge is to find the correct color water and pump it out of the ground to fill their bottles first. Everybody wants to beat the blue team. Blue pumps red in error, allowing red to gain the lead with strong teamwork and leadership, and in the end, the red district becomes the upper class (pay is $1, and they can choose what to do and where to pitch in). In second is blue, the merchant class (50 cents). Yellow, the youngest team, comes in third and are the cooks (25 cents). Green are the laborers (10 cents).

Because everybody finished, they get a choice of reward: 7 more outhouses (there’s only one now) or a TV. Most of the council is in favor of the outhouses, largely because the TV is a distraction. They make the decision to go for the outhouses.

The yellow district is cooking but doesn’t believe in (or don’t know about) the cookbooks. But somehow it works out anyway, with better food than they’ve had previously. They don’t appear very interested in doing dishes, and Taylor, who had been likeable, says, “I’m a beauty queen. I don’t do dishes.”

Next, it’s time for the blue team to open up the stores. The candy store gets a great reception. Sophia decides she wants a bike for $3, but as a laborer, she’s only got 10 cents, so she begins dancing for money and somehow manages to raise the funds she needs, including a nickel from someone who wants her to dance further away.

Jonathan asks if anyone is unhappy with how the leaders are handling things. The lone person who speaks out against the council is Sophia, who’s been complaining constantly, even if she does have some valid points.

The next question is whether anyone wants to go home, which will be asked at every town hall meeting. Taylor decides she wants to stick around, but Jimmy, 8, raises his hand to go home, bringing us down to 39 kids.

The council must decide who gets the gold star. They choose Sophia because of the work she’s been doing. As an additional reward, she is allowed to call her parents and tell them. The reveal made for good TV, and now everybody wants to work harder. At the end of the day, they all seem to want to come together and work as a unit, for now at least.

This was a good premiere, and hopefully people will shut up about all this child labor/endangerment crap now. Granted, there are so many kids that it’s hard to tell who’s who, which does make things a bit chaotic, but on the whole, it’s an enjoyable show about empowering these kids and seeing just what they’re capable of.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live blog of Kid Nation Episode 2, which airs at 8/7c on CBS.

Big Brother 8 Winner

Big Brother 10 winner
Big Brother 9 winner
Big Brother All Stars Winner

Hey, CBS. You suck.

Now that that’s out of the way, we can begin with the coverage of the final episode of Big Brother 8 where we’ll find out the winner, after which we will finally be put out of our misery for the year. But does anyone actually care? If you’re not a fan of Dick/Danielle, are you even watching the finale, and if so, is it more than just merely for closure or hoping Dick will be humbled when learning he and his daughter are not, in fact, the best team ever? If you are a Donato fan, does it really matter whether the demonchild in a man’s body takes the money and uses some of it to help his family, or whether his spoiled brat daughter keeps the money all to herself and uses it to get away from him once and for all (until she needs another loan)?

Just in case somebody does care, though, I will be revealing the winner live from the east coast. I’ll save the full recap for later, as I’m watching Beauty and the Geek 4 episode 1 instead. Yes, if I’m watching that show, which is guaranteed from the beginning to be a trainwreck, rather than the conclusion of Big Brother, you know something’s definitely gone wrong with the universe. And that something is CBS, America’s Player, and the random rules of favoritism. But I do have enough interest, for lack of a better word, of finding out who won to at least do a little channel surfing.

America has instructed Eric to get Dick to win. Shocker. Of course, not only does the jury dislike Dick, but they probably have plotted ways to kill him in his sleep, so this is no small task.

America – Dick
Jameka – Danielle
Dustin – Dick
Jen – Danielle
Zach – Dick
Amber – Dick
Jessica-Dick

Dick wins. Shouldn’t be more than about 5 minutes before Danielle’s overheard saying “It’s not faiiiiirrrrrr.” I’m surprised by this. I was expecting Danielle to win because of how Dick treated people, but at the end of the day, she ultimately was associated with him, and nobody liked her either. I wonder how much of a role Eric played in this decision.

And so ends a season that has been universally panned by critics and pissed off a lot of viewers in the process. The blatant rigging of this show just gets worse and worse every year. It was bad enough last year, but this year, it reached all new levels, and Alison Grodner, now on her own after Shapiro quit because he got all that hate mail last year for the HOH redo, was not ashamed to admit that they just make things up as they go. Despite all the controversy, or perhaps because of it, the show’s ratings were up this year, even if they’re still way down from their highs because of the damage that season 6 did to them. That said, I think we can expect to see a Big Brother 9.