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Big Brother 16 Episode 4

Caleb nominated Donny and Paola, and Frankie nominated Victoria and Brittany in Big Brother 16 Episode 3. Following the very first battle of the block, Victoria and Brittany were safe, while Frankie was put back into the potential nomination pool, having possibly made two new enemies for no good reason. As easy as it is to dismiss his HOH as stupid, the good news for him is that being the first HOH put him in a power position he would not otherwise be in, part of a jock alliance that likely would have ignored him. Of course, by this point, Devin has probably told everybody in the house about the alliance anyway.

Paola admits she’s usually selfish, but she says she would rather put Donny before herself. His water works, which seem genuine, are having the effect of causing sympathy, at least among some people.

Despite the fact that Donny just lost and was the first male to fall in the previous competition, the other guys are calling him a beast and a challenge threat. They also think he’s ex-military. Frankie sees this as further indication of Devin’s delusion, but now Caleb is being drawn into the spiral as well. Though Devin does not trust Donny and lets him know, Donny will keep trusting anyway.

Caleb must name the first four have nots of the summer. Hayden, Joey, Brittany, and Cody volunteer. Their room is an ice room, and the slop is in popsicle form.

Joey wants to salvage her all girl alliance, which has already fallen apart. Perhaps if she drags even more girls into the alliance, that will work better than what has already failed. This is a disaster that just paints a target on her, as Amber quickly informs her Bomb Squad alliance, which for some reason is still a thing, what’s happening. What Amber says doesn’t even matter because Joey tells Devin about the alliance she failed to start anyway.

The HOH and the two nominees will compete in the power of veto competition and choose one person each to participate by random draw. Caleb chooses Vicotoria, Paola chooses Zach, and Donny chooses Cody. None of them got their wishes.

They are the Miami Lice (ugh) squad and must reveal letters on each gooey bug in what will culminate in a spelling competition. Zach spells warning. Cody spells competively, which is not a word, and I think he may have just realized it. Caleb spells secialize, also not a word. Victoria likewise could not find all the letters. Paola spells a random non-word because she cannot find all the letters either. Donny spells splitters, a pretty good 9 letter word that is enough for him to win the power of veto. Yes, Donny just won a spelling competition, even if for no other reason than not a single person in this house can spell. This should help reenforce the belief that he’s a highly trained ex-special forces super fighter.

At the veto ceremony, Donny removes himself from the block. Caleb nominates Joey due to her inept attempt at starting a competing alliance. Good. Let’s start getting rid of America’s team. It was stupid when Eric was America’s player, as he lost the game because he was dumb enough to listen and handed it to a frankly terrible player. We don’t need a whole team of people ruining the game. That’s what the producers are for.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Big Brother 16 Episode 3, which airs Thursday at 9/8c on CBS.

Big Brother 16 Episode 3

Caleb became the week’s second HOH in Big Brother 16 Episode 2.

Because there are two HOHs, they get to share a room. Frankie has a plan to be as fake as possible and pretend that he likes Caleb, despite his prejudged notions that he’s a conservative hick.

Devin, who’s allied with half the house already, now proposes an all male alliance. The Bomb Squad jock alliance includes Devin, Cody, Derrick, Caleb, Zach, and because he’s the other HOH, Frankie. As for his alliance with Donny, that’s over, but he will continue to play along.

The nominations would historically take the entire episode, but now they have to get it done before half past the hour because there is more to come. They have to draw to determine who nominates first, and the second HOH will choose from the remaining nominees.

Nominated by Caleb
Donny
Paola

Nominated by Frankie
Victoria
Brittany

Caleb nominated the first male and first female who fell to reduce suspicion of an all male alliance, and Frankie nominated the first two people who fell. Victoria feels betrayed by somebody who made an alliance with her night one because her shirt matched his hair.

The nominations make sense, but they may be a glimpse of things to come. Rather than make a big move, which it’s really too early to do anyway, both play it safe and just nominate the weakest links possible who have the least chance of winning the competition and dethroning them.

Something I’m not sure I have seen before: the HOH starts crying after the ceremony. Caleb is almost the most broken up about these nominations. Frankie goes to console the only person who is more upset, Victoria, telling her he had no choice but to nominate her but does not want her to go home. She’s not dumb enough to fall for it.

Apparently not content with being allied with almost the entire house already, Devin tells Amber and Christine about his new alliance and wants them to join. After he tells them, then he wakes Caleb up and informs him that two new people have joined. Furthermore, Devin is afraid that Donny is a mastermind. These guys might want to reconsider and get rid of this idiot before he does any more damage.

The first battle of the block requires them to swing, fill their glasses with liquid, and throw that toward their partners, who can then fill a container on the other side. Donny’s having fun, but Paola has pretty much given up from the start. After being pathetic for a while, Paola starts to make things interesting, but it’s too late. Victoria and Brittany win, which means Frankie is no longer HOH.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Big Brother 16 Episode 3, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

Big Brother 16 Episode 2

A bunch of stupid twists started off the season in Big Brother 16 Episode 1, and Frankie ended up being the first person to win HOH this week.

For those of you keeping score at home, today is Ariana Grande’s birthday. You don’t want to pass up this opportunity, CBS.

They keep threatening us that this will be the most twisted summer ever. This will not end well.

The additional houseguests who will be entering the house tonight are Brittany, Christine, Jocasta, Victoria, Caleb, Derrick, Hayden, and Zach.

Victoria is orthodox… but does not dress it. Caleb is a metrosexual country boy, whatever that is. Brittany seems to be looking for a showmance now that her marriage is over. Christine is a BB fanatic. Derrick is a cop. Zach recently graduated from college, so now he just chills. He has been punched in the face before for having a big mouth. Jocasta thinks Jesus cares who wins this show. Hayden is goofy and thinks everybody will like him.

Paola wonders why a minister would come on Big Brother of all shows. Victoria delusionally believes she’s the hottest one there. Derrick pretends he’s not a cop.

Frankie is already worried about Caleb being too conservative within about the first five minutes based apparently on the words south and hunting. He’s probably right, but at least give the guy a chance. He’s not so worried about Victoria and is already making an alliance (or some sort of partnership) with her because she’s wearing pink.

Caleb doesn’t plan to throw any competitions, no matter how stupid that plan may be. In addition to the fact that Frankie is worried about him, so is Paola, who thinks he’ll go after the other big target in the house, which obviously would be her.

Donny’s plan is to just be funny. He does not want anybody to confuse him with someone who’s good at the game. I did not plan to.

Brittany and Derrick bond over the fact that they both have children.

Zach knows people from Frankie’s high school. He knows exactly what they are like. He does not clarify this statement, but Frankie assumes. It does not seem terribly far fetched if what we know about Frankie’s family is any indication, though such comments are about the worst first impression possible.

The second HOH competition is about to begin. They are going to be roasted on a BBQ and have to hold on as they spin around. Victoria is the first one to fall, so now Frankie is over her. Brittany falls after they start spraying them with sauce. Jocasta is next. Christine is the fourth person to fall and the last girl down. Zach drops next, and so does Derrick, both saying they don’t want to win. Neither Hayden nor Caleb have that mindset. Though Hayden puts up a good fight, it’s not even close, and Caleb is the second HOH.

Caleb just put a huge target on his back, but at the same time, he impressed a lot of people who now want to work with him.

Now here’s how the twist works. Both HOH winners will nominate two people. Additionally, there will be a new competition called the battle of the block, which is between the nominees, who have the opportunity save themselves while dethroning the HOH who nominated them. Yeah, it’s even more dumb than ever to win HOH.

The first member of Team America based on the public’s votes is Joey. I did not predict that. Joey seems likeable enough, though I don’t have any strong opinion one way or the other at this point. Of course, all of this was based on the online bio (hers states her favorite cast member ever was GinaMarie but is otherwise an okay read). She says she will happily accept and complete any task America assigns her. Eric was equally an idiot when he was America’s player.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Big Brother 16 Episode 3, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

Big Brother 16 Episode 1

It’s time once again for the show everybody loves to hate. This year is the first season in HD, which means the producers must be getting more comfortable with their ability to rig competitions without getting caught. Early reports suggest more “controversial” houseguests. I can’t wait to be “upset” about people being “racist” again episode after episode. That sure was fun last year.

Paola thinks she will manipulate all the men. Donny was the janitor at Kelly Pickler’s high school. Cody is a former pro soccer player, while Devin played baseball. Frankie is Ariana Grande’s sister, a name probably more popular with those watching Disney Channel than this show. Joey is extremely liberal and plans to be annoyed by high maintenance girls.

Paola has a crush on Cody already. She’ll need to get in line to compete with Frankie for him. Amber wants Devin, who wants Joey. As per usual, everybody is right around the same age group, except for the old man of the house, 42 year old Donny.

Only eight people (Paola, Donny, Cody, Devin, Joey, Frankie, Amber, and Nicole) enter the house at first, so they launch a plan to stick together. They create the first alliance of the season, the Crazy Eights. Then Devin creates his own side alliance with Donny, a very smart union because nobody will suspect it.

As much as she thinks she can manipulate the men, Paola’s wants a girl power alliance, and she is already threatend by how close Frankie and Cody are. She wants to give America hope that girls can work together. No, really. Mostly, Nicole is confused by their name, El Cuatro.

This year’s twist is that the HOH will not be safe just because they are HOH. What’s even the point of being HOH then? It’s usually pretty stupid to win to begin with because you just make enemies, but at least you don’t have to worry for that week.

The first HOH competition of the season will only feature these first eight people. Their task is to be the last surfer standing in what will involve a lot of walking and balancing on a rolling log. Paola is the first person to fall. Joey follows. Then sunscreen begins to fall from the sky, and Nicole falls. The log then starts going the opposite direction. Donny is the first man to fall, and Devin drops right after him. Cody follows. Amber says she then decided to throw it, and Frankie is the new HOH. In a weird turn of events that could only happen in this season, he immediately starts begging everybody to keep him safe.

Julie reveals the rest of the twist. A second group of eight houseguests will be joining them, and one of them will become HOH as well. However, by the end of the week, only one HOH will be left standing.

There’s also another twist, called Team America. This should be stupid. Three people will be part of a secret alliance to be controlled by America. I can’t wait for actual skill at playing the game to be interrupted by a popularity contest.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Big Brother 16 Episode 2, which airs Thursday at 9/8c on CBS.

Jillian Michaels Quits The Biggest Loser. Again. (Again.)

Jillian Michaels is planning to leave The Biggest Loser again and will not be appearing as a trainer during the upcoming season 16 according to a report from Us. The last two times she left the show, it lasted for less than a year before she ended up coming back.

Of course, the way things are going, it seems that NBC has completely given up on the show because it’s not called The Voice. With the awful scheduling and now dumping it in Thursday night deathslot, I’m not sure there will even be a show to come back to a year from now.

There is no word yet on who might be the replacement trainer. I don’t think they even really need a third trainer, but it does make sense to keep a female trainer in the mix.

Survivor: Cagayan Winner

How the heck did we end up here? Trish’s elimination in Survivor: Cagayan Episode 12 brought us down to the final four: Spencer Bledsoe, Tony Vlachos, Kassandra “Kass” McQuillen, and Yung “Woo” Hwang.

Strangely enough, two of the final four come from the Brains tribe, the most inept, incompetent, and frankly dumb tribe quite possibly in the history of Survivor. They turned things around after the tribe shuffle merely by sticking together, unlike the Beauties.

Even though I’m not sure he’s done much, Spencer has been insightful and has come a long way despite always being at the bottom of the totem pole. Tony and Kass have played similar games, making big, stupid moves that did not make any sense. They both seemed more interested in making good TV than playing strategically, but nonetheless they get points for controlling the game. Then there’s Woo. What, he’s still here?

Tony’s not particularly torn up about Trish’s exit, which he voted for along with everybody else. Though he liked her, he has no desire to take her to the end.

Not content with merely having voted out Trish, Kass is still going on about how she hates her.

For everybody wondering about the loved ones visit, it happens now. A boat randomly approaches them while they’re hanging around at camp.

Kass defends her game. She played like a man. So she’s not a bitch.

For the immunity challenge, they will stand on a pole high above the ocean and use a bucket to retrieve water and fill a chute, then they will head to shore to complete a puzzle. Kass is out of it right away and seems completely hopeless. Tony leads throughout and fills his chute first. Spencer is second. Who really thinks Tony is going to beat Spencer on a puzzle? Woo is not far behind them. Eventually, Kass figures out the first part of the challenge. And then, somehow, she finishes the puzzle first and wins immunity.

Kass plans to send Spencer home.

When they get back, Spencer pulls Tony aside to warn him that this year it’s a final two, not a final three. This is where being a super fan comes in handy. He’ll be happy with a fire making tie. Woo’s not so sure what will happen if there’s a tie. He thinks maybe they will have to draw rocks… or fight.

At Tribal Council, Spencer makes a further plea. He promises to take Tony to the end if he has the choice, and he asks the jury to not vote for him if he does not honor that promise. For some reason, Kass then tells Tony she has a better chance against Woo than she does against him.

Tony finally acknowledges that his stupid special idol is now dead, not that it mattered.

Votes
Spencer
Woo
Spencer
Spencer

With 3 votes, Spencer has been voted off the island. Great, now we’re stuck with two unlikeable people and one invisible one.

Woo and Kass agree to take each other to the final two.

The final immunity challenge is a large maze of turnstyles in which they will collect medallions then solve a cog puzzle. Kass takes the lead while Tony and Woo follow each other the wrong way. They keep following each other as she extends her lead. As Kass runs into the same dead end Tony and Woo did, Woo takes the lead, a bit ahead of Tony, who finally separated from him and went the wrong way. Kass is way behind, but she was a lot further behind during the last challenge. Though Kass gives him a run for his money in what Probst says is probably the closest finish ever, Woo wins immunity.

Tony tells Woo that he should take him because that would be the loyal thing to do. If he were Woo, though, he wouldn’t buy it and would rather take his chances with Kass. Woo’s dilemma is that he thinks Kass will be easier to beat, but he wants to keep his integrity, which would mean keeping his word to Tony.

Jeff asks Woo what Tony and Kass said to him at camp. Woo asks if they could just skip this and get to the vote.

Vote
Kass

With 1 vote, Kass has been voted off the island. I’m not sure that Woo has much chance against either of them, but bringing someone who you think will beat you because they are your ally is dumb. His rationalization for it is that the jury would respect it, and he also wants a more honorable win by beating someone better, as he would in a martial arts tournament.

Sarah gives Tony a hard time for breaking his promise. Then she asks Woo who he would vote for if she were in his spot, and he says he would vote for her.

Jefra continues the whining about how Tony blindsided her.

Morgan changes the story by being complimentary about how he was able to get people to follow him, and she also respects Woo for his decision last night.

Jeremiah goes right back to the original theme, calling Tony pathetic for lying on his wife and child.

Tony claims to Tasha that everybody else was coming after him first, which is why he turned on them, with the exception of Trish, who would have remained loyal to him to the end.

Though Tasha was calm, LJ is, like the others, upset by Tony.

Kass does not get the answer she was looking for when Woo tells her she did not deserve to sit there next to him.

Woo tells Trish that it was his idea to get rid of her. Then she proceeds to tear into Tony. She makes a big deal about him swearing on his father’s grave. Have you ever seen Survivor before? He says it was worth it.

Spencer says that Woo is like a dog, and Tony is his master. Then he makes a pitch to the jury why they should vote for Tony.

The jury’s decision is pretty clear cut, more than it usually is. Do they vote for someone out of respect for how he played the game, or do they make a bitter vote because they got beat?

Votes
Tony
Woo
Tony
Tony
Tony
Tony

The Survivor: Cagayan winner is Tony. It might have been interesting if he were up against someone who had done more, but Woo was just too under the radar to have won.

The Amazing Race 24 Winners

Leo & Jamal were another surprise elimination in The Amazing Race 24 Episode 11, leaving us with a final three I don’t think anyone saw coming.

I had counted Dave & Connor out early, but they have proved to be one of this season’s strongest teams, though they still think they deserve preferential treatment of not being U-turned because there is an old man on their team. I suspected Caroline & Jennifer would go far, if for no other reason that they can flirt their way to the top, though I also did not think we would be seeing them in the final three. Brendon & Rachel are no strangers to this position, having placed 3rd the last time they raced, and a couple of meltdowns notwithstanding proved to be one of the stronger, albeit not the most liked, teams.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Dave & Connor – 4:31AM
Second: Caroline & Jennifer – 4:38AM
Third: Brendon & Rachel – 4:52AM

Teams must now fly to their final destination city, Las Vegas, Nevada. Brendon & Rachel live there, and one of the country girls went to high school there.

They hop in a car in the airport and, upon arrival, are instructed to get out and dig. Even this leads to an argument between the teams. This should be a fun leg. Their task is to dig up a box that says property of David Copperfield. Brendon manages to pry his box open, and it contains a bunch of keys (50). The other teams await further instructions instead. They’ll find out at the road block that they need to open that box, which they should already know based on the instructions written on it.

The road block requires teams to be lokced inside a wooden crate, then free themselves using the keys they just dug up.

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

Though this is more interesting than most because of the magic and fire involved, it is ultimately just a dumb luck task of seeing who can get the right key first, though going through 50 keys does not seem particularly difficult regardless. Having opened up their box before arrival, Brendon & Rachel manage to jump into second place ahead of Caroline & Jennifer, with Dave & Connor still leading based on their early luck in the airport.

Brendon & Rachel have such a bad cab driver that they try to steal Caroline & Jennifer’s cab, but he does not take the bait. They were good judges of this driver because he manages to give the girls the lead, while the Brenchels fall back into last.

Upon arrival at The Mirage, their task is to replace all of the lights in the sign at the top of the building and count the number of bulbs used. Rachel used to work at this hotel, but the hometown advantage seems to be turning into a disadvantage.

Dave & Connor manage to jump back into the lead by a couple minutes by completing the task quicker than the country girls. Not wanting to deal with the other one again, Brendon & Rachel have dismissed their cab driver and will find another one.

The final road block requires teams to skydive from a helicopter at 10,000 feet after spotting the sign with their landing zone.

Road block (in order of arrival): Dave, Caroline, Brendon

At this point, there does not seem to be anything Brendon & Rachel can do to catch up to the two lead teams, who are neck and neck. This task does not seem to lend itself to catching up, and for that matter, the landing zone is the pit stop, meaning there is no time to be made up. Both of these road blocks, while spectacular, aren’t what I would expect in a race oriented show.

The Amazing Race season 24 winners are Dave & Connor. They were a strong team right from the beginning, despite their U-turn whining. Caroline & Jennifer have placed second, and Brendon & Rachel once again come in third.

The Amazing Race has been renewed for season 25. After 8 years in the Sunday at 8PM time slot, the show will now move to Fridays at 8. This is the night where networks send their shows to die. If there is good news in this announcement, it’s that there will no longer be concerns about football overruns, so the show will actually start on time for a change. CBS is also arguably more reliable on Friday nights than some of these other networks that cancel half their lineups every season.

Survivor: Cagayan Episode 12

There was a glimmer of hope these idiots would stop doing what’s best for Tony’s game in Survivor: Cagayan Episode 11, but it was short-lived as Tasha was sent home.

The reward challenge will be to dive into a pit of mud and see how much of that mud they can transport into a bucket. Reward is a pizza. Tony’s bucket is overflowing with mud at the end of the challenge, and nobody desires to bother weighing it to see whether he really won. He invites Trish to join him to eat pizza.

Tony has to burn both of his idols tonight, but he says he still has until the final four. Surely nobody is going to buy that. I don’t think they would rig the show that much, right? Of course, without the idiotic super power idol, he would have had no choice but to burn one of them last time, but he pretty much does not need to flush either of them until he is actually voted out. He can just keep them as souvenirs if he wants.

Woo told Tony that Kass was planning to flip. Tony tells Kass this. Kass then tells Woo. Woo denies it. She tells Tony. Tony gets upset and starts making animal noises, which is a new one. So now Kass is talking about turning on Tony. Oh, this again. This is all silly.

For the immunity challenge, they will untangle ropes, unlock ladder rungs, build a ladder and staircase, and solve a slide puzzle. Tony is the first to release his key and start on the ladder. Trish and Kass are behind him, followed by Spencer and Woo. Tony retains his lead building the ladder, and he is the first to complete the stairs as well. The only one who looks moderately competitive is Spencer, who would seem to have good odds to win on the slide puzzle. Tony just seems to be randomly sliding pieces around with no strategy or attempt to even think. Spencer wins immunity.

Immediately after the challenge, Trish attacks Kass because she was listening to her conversation with Woo and Spencer earlier. Great, now we get to listen to her mouth for a while.

Now that Tony’s been busted by Kass blabbing his “secrets”, Woo says he wants to get rid of Trish. You know, maybe.

Before the vote, Tony pulls out both of his idols. Then he plays his non-special idol (for himself, not his closest ally) because he is making an over the top effort to make a scene.

Votes
Trish
Kass
Trish
Trish

With 3 votes, Trish has been voted off the island. Even Tony voted for her.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Cagayan Episode 13, where we will find out who the Survivor: Cagayan winner is, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.