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The Biggest Loser Season 15 Episode 9

Ruben was eliminated in The Biggest Loser Season 15 Episode 8. Again.

They will compete in a challenge, and the team that loses will have to work in a diner all week long. The competition is simple: 4 multiple choice questions.

What percentage of full-time employees in the US are overweight or obese? 2/3.
Red and blue teams are correct.

What is the #1 source of food workers bring into the office? Fast food restaurant.
All three teams are correct.

Which occupation has the highest rate of obesity? Transportation workers.
White and blue teams are correct.

What percentage of administrative assistants have reported gaining weight on their job? 69%.
Red and blue teams are correct, and they are the winners, leaving the white team to work in the restaurant.

Since he’s not working, Hap gets to work with Bob. He knows he’s doing the workouts. The problem must be his diet, no matter what he claims.

Upon their return from work, they provide some cookies to the boys on the opposing teams, putting them in their bedrooms so they may or may not eat them in private.

Hap: 321 pounds (-11, 3.31%)
Chelsea: 181 pounds (-4, 2.16%)
Matt: 268 pounds (-9, 3.25%)
Bobby: 269 pounds (-3, 1.10%)
Blue Total: 1039 pounds (-27, 2.53%)

David: 294 pounds (-5, 1.67%)
Tanya: 208 pounds (-4, 1.89%)
Jennifer: 200 pounds (-7, 3.38%)
Rachel: 171 pounds (-7, 3.93%)
Red Total: 873 pounds (-23, 2.57%)

Jay: 201 pounds (-6, 2.90%)
Marie: 192 pounds (-6, 3.03%)
Tumi: 234 pounds (-9, 3.70%)
White Total: 627 pounds (-21, 3.24%)

Red team squeaks ahead of blue by just 1 pound. After his big 12 pound weight loss last week, Bobby has fallen below the red line and been eliminated.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 15 Episode 10, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 23 Winners

Leo & Jamal were non-eliminated in The Amazing Race 23 Episode 10, though they would have deserved to have been, setting the stage for tonight’s final four showdown to determine the winner.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Jason & Amy
Second: Tim & Marie – 2:25AM
Third: Travis & Nicole – 2:26AM
Fourth: Leo & Jamal – 3:19AM

Teams must now fly to Tokyo, Japan. Based on the departure time, everybody should be on the same flight. Worst case scenario is that some teams are 10 minutes behind. Arriving at the airport first, the three teams who are not Leo & Jamal agree to work together as a team of six. Ironically, Leo & Jamal somehow end up on the first flight, giving them a slight advantage over the others, which turns out to be worth a 5 minute head start.

The detour is a choice between knock it down or call it up. In knock it down, teams will participate in a wacky Japanese game show called Human Bowling. In call it up, teams dive into phone booths filled with fish to get a phone message.

Knock it down: Leo & Jamal, Tim & Marie
Call it up: Jason & Amy, Travis & Nicole

Despite the fact that the three teams are supposedly working together, Nicole & Travis and Jason & Amy plot at the detour to lose Tim & Marie because only two teams can partcipate in the detour at a time. Unbeknownst to them, Tim & Marie aren’t even doing the same detour, but they realize what’s happening as they see the others dash in the opposite direction.

Knock it down provides an opportunity for Leo & Jamal to be loud and obnoxious and for Tim and Marie to talk about hating each other. That’s new. The other detour puts Amy in a speedo. And Travis, too.

Leo & Jamal must complete a speed bump, in which they must capture two people dressed as a rhino. This should eat into that 5 minute lead they had.

The road block gives teams a chance to build a robot.

Road block (in order of arrival): Amy, Nicole, Leo, Marie

Amy and Nicole agree to work together at the road block. It’s here they find out that Leo & Jamal actually beat them there and were slghtly ahead, rather than missing their flight like everybody hoped. When she arrives in last place and asks where the model robot is that they are supposed to be looking at, Marie gets ignored by Nicole and Amy, no matter how much she yells. Leo helps her instead.

Meanwhile, Amy and Nicole are literally doing each other’s tasks. How is this not a violation of the rules? Not that it matters too much because neither of them seems to know what they are doing, and Marie jumps ahead of them, saying thanks a lot for the help as she leaves, while Travis mocks his wife for being weak. Eventually, Amy figures out what’s wrong, but she stays behind once again to help Nicole recover, while Jay gets annoyed. After about 10 minutes of helping Nicole, Amy leaves her behind to fend off Leo, who likewise is struggling. Her placing third is not good enough for Travis, who berates her as they leave the road block.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Konno Hachimangu Shrine.

First: Tim & Marie (win a trip to Aruba)
Second: Jason & Amy
Third: Nicole & Travis
Eliminated: Leo & Jamal

Completing the road block last, Leo & Jamal have been eliminated. Placing first again, Tim & Marie agree to put this trip and their Hawaii trip into a hat and go on them separately.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

Tim & Marie: 6:08AM
Jason & Amy: 6:15AM
Nicole & Travis: 6:22AM

Their final destination is Juneau, Alaska. All teams are on the same flight.

Marie explains that she has a contract, which Tim agreed to sign, that grants her a 60/40 split of any prizes they win. They are here for the money, not the relationship, since they hate each other.

Having carried a team that otherwise probably would have been eliminated by now, Jason & Amy discuss how all bets are off, and they will no longer help each other in the final leg. At the end of the day, despite how stupid it may have seemed that she was helping people as she limped along close to elimination, they are now competing with a team that on more than one occasion has come close to falling apart.

The road block requires teams to simulate a supply drop, hitting a target from a flying plane.

Road block (in order of arrival): Nicole, Amy, Marie

This is the type of task that’s bound to be a lot of trial and error with results that may be largely luck. Amy gets it on her second try. The other two are far more hopeless. Marie gets it on her 12th attempt. After 21 attempts, Nicole finally does it.

Teams must helicopter to a glacier and take place in an ice expedition. They have to rapel down the glacier, cross a ladder connecting the two sides, then climb their way up the other side. Then they’ll have to chip away in the ice for clues, most of which say try again.

From there, teams must paddle a tandem kayak to the marked island. This clue sends them via helicopter back to Juneau.

Their final task is to build totem poles spelling out the name of the currency from each place they went to. Amy took a lot of notes, but currency was not one thing she noted. Tim & Marie say they remember all but one, which they hope to remember by process of elimination. Nicole & Travis even manage to catch up to the lead teams. This seems like their kind of challenge, but they’re pretty far behind.

The end of North Douglas Hwy is the finish line for the race. It’s really hard to root for anybody other than Jason & Amy. Tim & Marie are a strong team, but they hate each other (in addition to her generally hating everybody). When they were winning, Travis & Nicole were likeable, but he’s become increasingly hostile over the course of the past couple legs.

The Amazing Race 23 winners are Jason & Amy. Tim & Marie place second. Then Travis & Nicole come in third. The results were already determined at the road block, and the rest of the episode was largely a formality.

The Amazing Race 24 will be returning in February. They are dubbing it The Amazing Race All Stars, for lack of a better word. They should just borrow a page out of The Biggest Loser’s book at call it The Amazing Race: Second Chances.

Survivor: Blood Vs. Water Episode 12

With Hayden unable to muster the votes to get rid of Tyson instead, Caleb was voted off the island in Survivor: Blood Vs. Water Episode 11.

When they return to camp, Hayden warns the tribe that they’re playing for second place to Tyson if they continue down the path they are currently heading.

The next morning, arrival at the duel provides them with the chance to watch a pouting Caleb. He’s upset that people lied. No, not in Survivor. Gervase tells him he’s a sore loser who tried to screw them first. Exactly. Hold the holier than thou nonsense when you’re the person most willing to backstab.

Their duel is a simple one: build a house of cards. Laura completes her house first. Caleb and Tina aren’t even close and are just trying to find out who can get highest in the half an hour time limit. Caleb goes from nowhere to somehow ahead of Tina, but then his house collapses with less than half a minute left. This allows Tina to place second by just waiting out the clock.

Laura gives the clue to Ciera, and this time she keeps it. She opens the clue with her group. Aww. Isn’t that special? Now Tyson, Gervase, and Monica know, too. Of course, Hayden spots them searching, so he has some hint where to look as well. Tyson ends up finding it again, but he is not so open to sharing information as Ciera.

For the immunity challenge, they will race through a series of obstacles while balancing a ball on a pole, adding a section of pole at each station, then toss sandbags to knock down more poles. Reward is ice cream. Balance tasks generally favor the females, but in this case it’s not so much about balancing their bodies as it is about balancing something on a pole. As with every other challenge, Monica takes the lead, while Katie and Ciera completely fall out of it. Gervase is giving it a good go and is right behind Monica as they get to the tossing section. Tyson eventually catches up to both of them. Monica struggles on the final section, and Gervase wins immunity and reward. He invites second place Monica to join him, which at Probst’s suggestion is as payback for the BBQ she gave away. His other choice is his left hand man Tyson.

It might have been smarter for Gervase to just say he picked the second and third place finishers, rather than making it seem as if he’s choosing his closest allies. This should suggest to Ciera that she’s the low woman on the totem pole. Hayden hopes to take advantage of this. He also wants to swing Gervase into a final three deal with them. Ultimately, he realizes this is completely hopeless because neither of them is even considering listening to him.

Ciera took no offense to not being chosen. Rather than just running with it, Gervase says he did indeed pick them because they are his favorites. Tyson at least tries to convince her she’s not at the bottom.

Votes
Hayden
Hayden
Monica
Monica
Hayden
Monica

For all his talk about Tyson being the biggest threat, Hayden has decided to target Monica instead, and in the process, he manages to swing Ciera into a tie vote.

Votes
Monica
Hayden
Monica
Hayden

Tied again. Haven’t seen this in a long long time because people are afraid of taking the risk. If they cannot come to a unanimous decision, they will have to draw rocks. Ciera makes it very clear she will not vote their way, so they do draw rocks. Hayden and Monica are safe, as is Gervase because he has immunity.

Katie, Ciera, and Tyson draw rocks. White means going home; black means safe. Katie draws the white rock and has been voted off the island. That sure made things interesting… but it didn’t work.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Blood Vs. Water Episode 13, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Biggest Loser Season 15 Episode 8

Following the elimination of Holley in The Biggest Loser Season 15 Episode 7, we were left with a “cliffhanger” that proves predictable in its lameness. Someone else is going home. Jay. Based on the spin of a wheel, he’s going home… to visit his family. Jillian is going with him, and his weight will be what carries or buries the white team.

Rachel had a record time on the swim team in high school, but she has not wanted to get into a bathing suit, let alone swim, in years. This former competitive athlete story is one with great potential to win this whole this whole thing, and she is indeed at the top of the leaderboard so far. Like her, Ali Vincent used to be a swimmer, and she was not that many years off her peak when she came to the show.

Ruben: 392 pounds (-2, 0.51%)
Jennifer: 207 pounds (-4, 1.90%)
Tanya: 212 pounds (-4, 1.85%)
David: 299 pounds (-7, 2.29%)
Rachel: 178 pounds (-5, 2.73%)
Red Total: 1288 pounds (-22, 1.68%)

Hap: 332 pounds (-2, 0.60%)
Matt: 277 pounds (-4, 1.42%)
Chelsea: 185 pounds (-6, 3.14%)
Bobby: 272 pounds (-12, 4.23%)
Blue Total: 1066 pounds (-24, 2.20%)

Marie: 198 pounds (-5, 2.46%)
Tumi: 243 pounds (-7, 2.80%)
Jay: 207 pounds (-12, 5.48%)
White Total: 648 pounds (-24, 3.57%)

With or without the twist, the white team easily won the weigh in. Even without their trainer, Marie and Tumi both put up top numbers. Ruben has fallen below the red line, again. Please, NBC, no more excuses to bring him back.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 15 Episode 9, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 23 Episode 10

Despite being at the front of the pack on the train, Ally & Ashley fell behind on the detour in The Amazing Race 23 Episode 9 and were eliminated.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Leo & Jamal
Second: Tim & Marie – 7:26AM
Third: Jason & Amy – 7:40AM
Fourth: Nicole & Travis – 7:42AM

They will now head to eat some king cobra. Each member will need to eat their own serving. When they arrive, they get a glimpse at their upcoming meal as the live snakes greet them. For the most part, this seems to be a pretty simple task. Everybody is grossed out, but nobody is gagging and throwing up. This has nothing on gross eating challenges of the past. Before they can even get to this task that Marie is most squeamish about, Tim & Marie go to the wrong place and wander around aimlessly for a while. Marie struggles some, but she doesn’t have much trouble either.

The road block requires them to cook a dozen hard boiled eggs in the hot springs.

Road block (in order of arrival): Jamal, Travis, Jason, Marie

Travis and Jason stay there for about 8 minutes, but it’s not long enough. Jamal decides to be safe and stay an extra 2 minutes, but that’s not long enough either. On their second attempt, Travis and Jason stay for 20 minutes. As they are leaving, Marie arrives, and Tim knows that the key requirement (patience) is not something that describes her. Unlike the others, she doesn’t even have a watch, but that doesn’t matter because it takes her a while to even figure out that the eggs go in the water rather than above it. For all the drama of not knowing what she’s doing, she is the only one to get it right on the first try.

Right from here, we go to the detour, which is a choice between paint your partner or turn over a new leaf. In paint your partner, they will make each other up as traditional Japanese brides. In turn over a new leaf, they will search the tea fields for a pair of clipping sheers.

Paint your partner: Jason & Amy, Travis & Nicole, Tim & Marie
Turn over a new leaf: Leo & Jamal (switched from turn over a new leaf to paint your partner and back)

Travis & Nicole just tailgate Jason & Amy because they figure she’s a makeup expert. Leo & Jamal do the searching task, which is just asking for trouble. Marie knows to avoid the searching, though she doesn’t wear makeup. Leo & Jamal finally realize their choice is futile and switch. When they realize they have to put makeup on and worse yet shave, they switch back, however. The good news for them is that, although Jason & Amy look great, the other teams are terrible, particularly Travis.

They descend 500 steps to the waterfall that is the pit stop for this leg of the race.

First: Jason & Amy (win a trip to Cancun)
Second: Tim & Marie
Third: Travis & Nicole
Non-eliminated: Leo & Jamal

Despite their stupid detour choice, Leo & Jamal have been saved by non-elimination.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 23 Episode 11, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

Survivor: Blood Vs. Water Episode 11

In this season dominated by couples, the trend continued in Survivor: Blood Vs. Water Episode 10, and the last pair was split up when Laura was voted off the island for the second time.

There’s a lot of talk about the vote. More specifically, there’s a lot of talk about Ciera’s vote because she voted against her mom. Nobody seems quite sure what to make of this, but even if blood is thicker than water, there was no point to voting against the group in what was ultimately a foregone conclusion.

Vytas, Tina, and Laura compete in the duel. Laura says the vote was okay, and she’s proud. She’ll be back anyway. Again. Their challenge is to free and then arrange boxes so that there are no repeating colors on any side. Vytas and Laura are more than a full box ahead of Tina as they get to the puzzle. Laura wins. Then she starts to help Tina, who has been struggling with this from the beginning. Tina beats Vytas by seconds. I’m not sure I get what just happened, though it does make sense to keep around the weakest link, but I don’t think that was the main reason behind the offer of help.

Laura gives Ciera the clue to the hidden immunity idol. She burns it.

Tyson wants to keep everybody against Katie. Despite not having done much of anything, the argument is that she has three guaranteed jury votes.

Not wanting to wait too long, Hayden approaches Caleb to target Tyson. They realize he has done the most damage in the game and should look good to a jury. Ciera agrees and makes a final three deal with them, but she thinks they are too sketchy since they are this willing to flip against people. She goes to Tyson with this information, promising to vote however he wants. He needs them out anyway, though perhaps not this soon. Caleb’s likeability has made him Tyson’s first target of the two.

Hayden and Caleb quickly become suspicious about Ciera the next morning. She’s not talking to them and won’t look them in the eyes, and then she goes off to get treemail with Tyson.

The way things are going, multiple people could use immunity. They will each hold a rope handle attached to a bucket, which contains 25% of their body weight. Probst offers up a BBQ for anyone who is not interested. Tyson, Gervase, and Ciera opt to eat. Monica wants to show the kids more than one badass lives in her house. Katie is the first one out. Caleb is next, saying his hands are starting to bleed. Doing that much damage to your hands can be dangerous for future challenges and just camp life in general. Hayden is next. Monica wins her third individual immunity.

Hayden’s worried that he’s on a sinking ship, the one he punctured. He wants to try to get back into Tyson’s good graces and all vote against Ciera because she’s playing both sides. Tyson doesn’t trust her, but he doesn’t trust them either. Out of the three, it seems clear that Ciera is the only one he can trust, at least for now.

Prior to the reveal of the votes, Tyson pulls out his hidden immunity idol… after spending some time going through his bag to try to find it. Ultimately a waste, but the timing was nonetheless smart.

Votes
Ciera
Caleb
Ciera
Ciera
Caleb
Caleb
Caleb

With 4 votes, Caleb has been voted off the island.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Blood Vs. Water Episode 12, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Biggest Loser Season 15 Episode 7

Matt was saved by Bob after falling below the red line in The Biggest Loser Season 15 Episode 6.

It’s Thanksgiving week, typically one of the worst for any of these contestants, most of whom used to consume 5-10,000 calories in a single day at this time of year before they started this journey. Now they can give back with the challenge. And then I walk away from the TV for a minute and apparently the challenge is over. Well, then. Anyway, the blue team won the challenge, whatever it was (loading trucks with boxes of food it seems), and they will be getting visitors from home.

With this visit, Hap gets to meet his new baby for the first time. Matt visits with his fiancee after having postponed their wedding in order to come on the show.

Bobby, who has now come out to the whole country, has yet to tell his father he’s gay, though surely he has been able to guess. To encourage him to talk about this with his dad, Bob discusses his sexuality for the first time in 15 seasons, acknowledging that he is gay, something that has been rumored for years but never confirmed nor denied.

Bob is worried that everything going on at the ranch this week may serve as a distraction for his team. We jump right from the visits to the weigh in with no yelling about last chance.

David: 306 pounds (-11, 3.47%) – over 100 pounds lost
Jennifer: 211 pounds (-9, 4.09%)
Tanya: 216 pounds (-4, 1.82%)
Rachel: 183 pounds (-12, 6.15%)
Ruben: 394 pounds (-7, 1.75%)
Red Total: 1310 pounds (-43, 3.18%)

Marie: 203 pounds (-4, 1.93%)
Jay: 219 pounds (-7, 3.10%)
Tumi: 250 pounds (-6, 2.34%)
White Total: 672 pounds (-17, 2.47%)

Matt: 281 pounds (-9, 3.10%)
Chelsea: 191 pounds (-6, 3.05%)
Hap: 334 pounds (-6, 1.76%)
Bobby: 284 pounds (-9, 3.07%)
Holley: 288 pounds (-3, 1.03%)
Blue Total: 1378 pounds (-33, 2.34%)

In a result that I don’t think anyone saw coming, Holley pushes her team into the losing column, and she falls below the red line.

But she’s not the only one going home tonight. Or next week anyway. Of course, that could mean anything, from double elimination to someone winning a trip to their hometown. Normally I would consider this a fake out, but there are only a few weeks but 12 contestants still left.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 15 Episode 8, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 23 Episode 9

After being U-turned by Tim & Marie in The Amazing Race 23 Episode 8, one of the least threatening teams bowed out of the race, as Nicky & Kim were eliminated.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Nicole & Travis – 12:38AM
Second: Jason & Amy – 12:52AM
Third: Tim & Marie – 1:15AM
Fourth: Leo & Jamal – 2:06AM (slept in)
Fifth: Ally & Ashley – 2:06AM

Jason & Amy have decided they want to keep working with Nicole & Travis. Marie remains delusional and argumentative even with her own partner. Leo & Jamal find out the reason they were U-turned: they lied about having used the U-turn themselves.

Teams will now fly more than 4000 miles to Bandung, Indonesia. Everybody will be on the only flight.

Their first task is to pick up two rams, watch them butt heads in a ram head butting arena, and load them back on the truck. They will then travel by train back to where they came from.

First train: Ally & Ashley, Travis & Nicole, Leo & Jamal
Second train (1 hour later): Jason & Amy, Tim & Marie

The detour is a choice between for the elephants or for the birds. For the elephants requires them to pick up food from a market, transport it on hand trolleys, and feed the elephants. For the birds requires them to pick up birds, bring them to a competition arena, and get them to sing.

Elephants: Leo & Jamal, Ally & Ashley, Jason & Amy, Tim & Marie
Birds: Travis & Nicole

Ally & Ashley show up at their final destination rather than the place they are supposed to start. Being at the front of the pack didn’t last very long for them. Eventually, they get into a shouting match but still refuse to switch detours, despite being the only team whose taxi won’t let them transport the massive sugarcane, which effectively puts them in last place.

The road block requires teams to properly assemble an angklung, a traditional Indonesian instrument.

Road block (in order of arrival): Nicole, Leo, Amy, Tim, Ally

Nicole can’t figure it out, so she goes to the judging area to try to peek at Leo’s. His response is that she’s a hypocrite, so he takes his apart so she won’t see it. Tim, who it turns out was in chorus and is very musical, manages to leapfrog Nicole, but he ends up a minute behind the lead team. Then Amy passes Nicole, too. Jason insists that Amy go back to help Nicole, then he gets frustrated that she takes too long to help. Not only did they just screw themselves in the event they end up getting lost, but it also would have been smarter to let them get knocked out in favor of the weaker team. This is the failure of the concept of an alliance on this race. Help people when you can… but not to your own detriment.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Bosscha Observatory.

First: Leo & Jamal (win $7500 each)
Second: Tim & Marie
Third: Jason & Amy
Fourth: Nicole & Travis
Eliminated: Ally & Ashley

I expected things to come down to the train ride, but these teams completely blew that expectation apart. Having fallen behind on the detour, Ally & Ashley have been eliminated.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 23 Episode 10, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.