American Idol Season 11 Episode 27

Deandre Brackensick was finally eliminated in American Idol Season 11 Episode 26. Tonight the top 7 perform songs from the past 3 years.

Skylar Laine
Song: Didn’t You Know How Much I Loved You by Kelly Pickler
Randy: Could have a hit with a song like that. Crazy hot.
Jennifer: Perfect pitch.

Colton Dixon
Song: Love the Way You Lie by Skylar Grey
Jennifer: Every song is your own.
Steven: Could have recorded that right now.
Randy: Stellar subtle performance.

Jessica Sanchez
Song: Stuttering by Jasmine Sullivan
Randy: Superb. At the highest degree.
Jennifer: Amazing opportunity to take America on a ride like they’ve never been.
Steven: Slay it every time.

Joshua Ledet
Song: Runaway Baby by Bruno Mars
Steven: Can sell a song like a work of art.
Jennifer: Not just the vocals. It’s about being a performer.
Randy: Unbelievable performance.

Hollie Cavanagh
Song: Perfect by Pink
Jennifer: Feel you fighting.
Steven: Not perfect.
Randy: A lot better than last week.

Phillip Phillips
Song: Give a Little More by Maroon 5
Steven: Really love the way you’ve changed and evolved.
Jennifer: Underwhelming. Seen this performance a couple of times.
Randy: Agree with Jennifer.

Elise Testone
Song: You and I by Lady GaGa
Randy: Elise is back. Very dope vocals.
Jennifer: Let go and kept control at the same time.
Steven: Turned it into genius.

The judges again refuse to name names. Simon would have.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of American Idol Season 11 Episode 28, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on Fox.

Survivor: One World Episode 9

Yet another guy got voted off the island in Survivor: One World Episode 8, as physical threat Mike was eliminated.

It’s time for a do it yourself reward challenge. Reward is a boat ride to a local BBQ. Troyzan, Jay, Tarzan, Kat, and Alicia are on the red team; Kim, Chelsea, Christina, Sabrina, and Leif are on the black team. Troyzan is the host. Their challenge is to toss a string connecting two balls and land them on numbered poles. Kat gives the red team a 2-0 lead. Tarzan makes it 6-0. Christina puts the black team on the board 6-1. 1 toss each, and we’re done. Well, that was thoroughly lame. Red team wins reward.

Jay, who really needs a shave, tells Kat he didn’t want to send Mike home, preferring to get rid of Christina instead.

The girls decide they want to send Troyzan or Jay home next. What a surprise. The guys would deserve this outcome due to their stupidity.

Jay wants to get rid of Alicia. He still thinks the alliance is on. Troy is onboard with this plan. The girls say they are, too, except for Chelsea, who just smiles and nods.

Feeling he can trust the girls, particularly Kim and Chelsea, Jay is under the impression that everything is fine. Troyzan does not have that same level of trust and feels he needs to win immunity to stick around.

The endurance immunity challenge is to stand barefoot on a small wooden perch with their hands tethered to buckets, suspended above their heads. Within about 2.3 milliseconds, Tarzan is out. Christina drops out seconds before the cookies and milk are offered, leaving them for Sabrina instead. Kim and Kat drop out for cupcakes and milk. Alicia wants whatever Jeff offers next, sight unseen, which turns out to be a bowl full of candy. Troyzan drops after about 45 minutes. Jay hops off for chicken wings and beer. Stupid. Three burgers, chips, and a beer does not tempt either Leif or Chelsea. Leif, however, is tempted by Chelsea’s philosophy that losing makes him less of a threat, so he’s out. Chelsea wins immunity and gets to share some food.

The plan is to split the vote between Jay and Troyzan, with Troy being the target because his head’s actually in the game, in spite of the fact that he was so easily fooled last week.

Troy wants to use his idol, and he wants to vote for Kim. Jay insists he’s safe, and he refuses to turn on Kim. His other possible voting options are two seemingly expendable players, Tarzan and Christina.

Kim, Jay, and Troyzan raise their hands as being in danger, a notable increase from when everybody felt safe. Kim’s reasoning is that Jay told her she is Troy’s target, and she didn’t have enough time to reshuffle her proposed 5-3 vote.

As planned, Troyzan plays his hidden immunity idol.

Votes
Troyzan (does not count)
Troyzan (does not count)
Kim
Jay
Alicia
Jay
Alicia
Jay
Jay

With 4 votes, Jay has been voted off the island, getting what he deserves for being an idiot.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: One World Episode 10, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Biggest Loser Season 13 Episode 15

Pretty much nothing happened in The Biggest Loser Season 13 Episode 14. Tonight, something will happen. Probably. Welcome to your new abridged 50/50 split The Biggest Loser.

We start off with a meet and greet with a woman who lives in a large white house. Michelle Obama talks about her initiative to fight childhood obesity, Let’s Move. Then she changes into her workout clothes and gets grilled by the trainers. I assume the Secret Service is also working out in the background, while wearing suits and dark glasses.

Before they go, the contestants receive a challenge. They are to get people to sign up for a healthy lifestyle program under their names at NBC.com. Whoever is the most popular will win the reward of a gym being built in their community.

Chris calls Roy, who tells her to come home. Selfish. Not that I get the sense she’s entirely opposed to it, and to be fair, she posed the question whether he wants her to come home or not. Her preferred method of dealing with this: find thousands of calories and eat, eat, eat. A burger, a couple sandwiches, a king size chocolate bar, a jar of peanutbutter… the parade comes to an end eventually I think. A little bit of cheating is understandable, but this is just a case of not caring.

Bob tells her she needs to make a decision. Either she continues to work on herself here, or she goes back and returns to being miserable Chris.

Heading into the weigh in, there are two people who were impacted by the challenge. Conda has a 1 pound disadvantage; Buddy has a 1 pound advantage.

Buddy: 260 pounds (-9, -1, 3.72%)
Kim: 162 pounds (-2, 1.22%)
Jeremy: 249 pounds (-11, 4.23%)
Conda: 205 pounds (-5, +1, 1.90%)
Mark: 196 pounds (-4, 2.00%)
Chris: 172 pounds (+2, 1.18%)

Following her binge eating, Chris gains weight and falls below the yellow line. Bob hopes she at least learned a lesson from this mistake. She is joined in the danger zone by Kim, the biggest threat at one time but seemingly closing in on her end goal.

Votes
Conda: Chris
Buddy: Chris

With 2 votes, Chris is not The Biggest Loser, as they choose to send her home like she wanted. From her starting weight of 240 pounds, Chris is down to 156 pounds today.

Stay tuned to dinguRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 13 Episode 15, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Celebrity Apprentice 5 Episode 8

The extended 3 hour The Celebrity Apprentice 5 Episode 7 did not lack for drama. First, Debbie Gibson was fired, in spite of losing project manager Teresa Giudice’s poor decisions. Following a tribe shuffle (because the women kept losing over and over again by listening to bad ideas from Aubrey and Lisa), Dee Snider, who has never been in danger during this whole process, found himself being fired rather than the one all the fingers were pointing at, Lou Ferrigno.

As if the double task and corresponding double firing weren’t enough, the real fireworks came from the boardroom of the second task, where winning project manager Arsenio Hall went off on new teammate Aubrey O’Day, like so many other people have been dying to do. For all her mean spirited antics, Aubrey could not take the heat when it backfired, and from the looks of it, got out of the kitchen.

Arsenio starts swearing about Aubrey. Lisa is offended. She doesn’t understand how anybody can use that kind of language. Like she has done all season, just got done doing, and starts doing at Arsenio. When her surviving team members return, she proceeds to swear at them, too.

Sadly, Aubrey is back the next day.

Their task is a 60 second commercial for Entertainment.com. They will be judged on creativity, product integration, and overall brand messaging.

Dayana immediately volunteers to be the project manager, without discussing it with anybody else. Teresa is the project manager for her team, which she just did last week.

Arsenio acknowledges the way he handled things was not right. At least he’s man enough to admit that. Sure, everything he said was accurate, but he could have done it with less anger. One good thing that came out of all of this: Aubrey’s shutting up for a change, rather than trying to ram her ideas down everyone’s throats.

Penn will be leaving, again, for a show.

Dayana’s team comes up with a love story facilitated by coupons. Lou isn’t saying much, but the one thing he does want to do is star in the commercial (he wants to be Dayana’s love interest). Oh. Again?

The other team is writing a dirty commercial, but they will be using their star power, complete with Paul wearing a sweater and glasses.

In case we did not get the hint before, Lou reminds us he wants to be in the commercial. Instead, Dayana assigns banners to him, a task he struggles to do. He’s not good with computers either.

Ivanka visits Teresa’s team, where Aubrey jumps in to explain what they are doing. She wonders if anything really got through to Aubrey, seeing as she’s still trying to take control.

Lisa and Dayana are getting along. Strange. Instead, Lisa has set her sights on Lou.

Dayana calls Lou her weakest link. Lisa agrees.

Lou still has a problem with what happened at the top of the show. If Lisa were a man, he would throw her through a window because she called him and Dayana useless. Lisa says this tactic of calling her out didn’t work, and it doesn’t ruffle her feathers. Her feathers seem ruffled.

Teresa declines to name a weakest link. She thinks all 5 of them should go back to the boardroom. Aubrey also refuses to name names.

Paul calls Clay the star of their team.

Breaking ranks, Lou says he liked the other team’s commercial better because they used more star power. I agree with their rationale for not putting anybody in their commercial. Dayana is an ideal leading female, but neither of the guys would have fit with her (nor would the star of their commercial have fit with her), no matter whether Lou thinks he is her appropriate partner or not.

The executives liked that Dayana’s team showed all the ways they could use the product, and that the story was relateable to a broad audience. However, they thought the story was a bit stale, the direction was a bit poor, and they didn’t really show how the app worked.

They thought the other team was creative, and showed how the app worked. But they were concerned it was borderline because how risque it was, and didn’t like the use of the word old fashioned, which may potentially alienate a base of their consumers that does clip traditional coupons (this from a company with .com in its name).

Teresa’s team wins, and she receives $60,000 for her charity, NephCure Foundation.

And so we continue the battle of Lisa against Lou, while the other two sit to the side and keep their mouths shut unless spoken to.

Since Penn was again not there for half the task (which would be a fair reason for him to be fired), Dayana will be bringing back Lou and Lisa.

Lou says whatever happens, it’s been a pleasure. Lisa does not share that same sentiment.

Lou would fire Lisa. No, wait, Dayana. She was the project manager.

Lisa would fire Lou, who brought no ideas to the table, then turned on his team in the boardroom.

We all know Trump’s opinion about disloyalty. Adding that to Lou’s lack of work on a pretty consistent basis leads to one conclusion: Lou is fired.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Celebrity Apprentice 5 Episode 9, which airs Sunday at 9/8c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 20 Episode 7

Having missed the fast forward and being given no chance to catch up in The Amazing Race 20 Episode 6, Joey & Danny were eliminated.

Last week, when whatever awards show preempted The Amazing Race was on, it had no problem starting on time. This week? Back to our regularly scheduled 50 minute delay.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Rachel & Dave – 9:15PM
Second: Art & JJ – 10:45PM
Third: Bopper & Mark – 10:55PM
Fourth: Brendon & Rachel – 10:56PM
Fifth: Nary & Jamie – 11:32PM
Sixth: Vanessa & Ralph – 11:35PM

They will now fly to Africa. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania to be specific.

Art & JJ want the dead weight (aka the Big Brother team) to drop off. If I were to suggest which team is dead weight, it would not be Brendon & Rachel, no matter how much Art & JJ hate them because they are bitter.

One thing they are right about is that Nary & Jamie are not teachers. They think they are cops or agents of some kind. Brendon doesn’t care whether they are teachers or not. They’re still nicer than Art & JJ. They can run faster, too.

At the airport, the Big Brother hate continues, as Vanessa and Rachel bicker once again. The guys try to get them to focus on their own teams, but I don’t see either of them backing down.

Then Art & JJ stir the pot some more, confronting Nary & Jamie directly about their jobs.

Upon arrival in Africa, the race is on to try to get on the earliest of three charter flights.

First flight (9:30): Art & JJ, Brendon & Rachel
Second flight (9:45): Bopper & Mark, Rachel & Dave
Third flight (10:00): Nary & Jamie, Vanessa & Ralph

The detour is a choice between marksmanship or courtship. In marksmanship, they must master the use of a masai weapon and shatter a clay target. In courtship, they join a traditional jumping ritual for 1 minute. A whole minute? In either case, it’s a nice opportunity to see the local culture, but there won’t be a great deal of struggle going on here. The bike ride up and down the hill is more of a challenge. Vanessa eventually gives up and just walks down the hill.

Marksmanship: Art & JJ, Rachel & Dave, Nary & Jamie, Vanessa & Ralph
Courtship: Brendon & Rachel, Bopper & Mark

Their next challenge is to construct a safari tent, complete with shower. Once they pitch their tent for the night, they can run to the pit stop.

But they’ll have to get there first. Since they’re in Africa, they will not be allowed to drive themselves, and the nearest taxi is hundreds of miles away. Instead, they are relying on safari transportation, with drivers they have to instruct. Art & JJ go the wrong way, dragging them toward the back of the pack, but with Vanessa having walked the bike portion of the leg, she and Ralph show up in last place. Still, this is anybody’s game, one that presents much opportunity for fighting if they take the bait.

Dave & Rachel use this time to argue, which they are good at. Typically it seems like she’s the one throwing the tantrum, but his temper is coming through here. Still, they have enough of a lead that it doesn’t matter as far as their standings in the race.

First: Rachel & Dave (win a trip to Costa Rica)
Second: Bopper & Mark
Third: Art & JJ
Fourth: Brendon & Rachel
Fifth: Vanessa & Ralph
Non-eliminated: Nary & Jamie

Without the strength or height of a male on their team, Nary & Jamie run far behind the other teams in their tent setup. They’re so far back that they stop on the way to the pit stop to look at some elephants. Unsurprisingly, they have not been eliminated. We have seen this before. They didn’t make them put up their tent for nothing.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 20 Episode 8, which airs Sunday at 8/7cish on CBS.

American Idol Season 11 Episode 26

The top 8 performed in American Idol Season 11 Episode 25. Tonight 1 will be sent home.

With results by duets, Jessica Sanchez and Joshua Ledet are the first pair. Joshua is safe. So is Jessica.

Skylar Laine and Colton Dixon are up next. Because they were both so good, they are joined by Hollie and Deandre. Now we’re seeing some people who will be in danger. Jimmy calls out the judges for their silly feedback of Deandre in which they said he was amazing. Deandre is in the bottom three. Colton is safe. Skylar redeemed herself this week, but Hollie returns to the bottom three.

That brings us down to Elise Testone and Phillip Phillips. Clearly Elise is the one in danger here, though I don’t think she’s going home just yet. Then again, given her lack of support, all it could take is one bad week.

That leaves us with a bottom three of Hollie, Deandre, and Elise. Hollie returns to the couches. The right choice. She’s certainly the best singer of the three, despite some hiccups.

Steven does not think America got this right. Jennifer thinks America got it half right. Randy agrees.

Deandre has been eliminated. Or has he? Please don’t waste the save on him. They do not, as Jennifer is overruled.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of American Idol Season 11 Episode 27, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on Fox.

American Idol Season 11 Episode 25

The night he followed Steven Tyler’s bad advice of not being funny any more was his last, as Heejun Han was eliminated in American Idol Season 11 Episode 24. Tonight the top 8 perform songs from the 80s.

Deandre Brackensick
Song: I Like It by Debarge
Jennifer: Felt super comfortable. Very natural.
Steven: You’ve become who you are. (Whatever that means.)
Randy: Used more of your natural voice, not just the falsetto. One of your best.

Elise Testone
Song: I Wanna Know What Love Is by Foreigner (after being badgered by the mentors to change)
Steven: Not sure that was the right song for you.
Jennifer: Not totally right.
Randy: Pitchy the whole song.

Phillip Phillips
Song: That’s All by Genesis
Steven: Love your individuality.
Jennifer: Not in your comfort zone at the beginning.
Randy: Great song choice.

Joshua Ledet
Song: If You Don’t Know Me by Now by Simply Red
Jennifer: We asked for a powerhouse performance, and that’s what we got.
Steven: Over the top. (Very.)
Randy: Wanted to stand up from beginning to end.

Jessica Sanchez
Song: How Will I Know by Whitney Houston
Jennifer: Such a natural performer.
Steven: So fantastic.
Randy: Whitney sings so effortlessly, but that’s what you just did.

Hollie Cavanagh
Song: What a Feeling from Flashdance
Steven: A little slow getting there. Pitch all over the place.
Jennifer: Forget what everybody tells you. Just feel it.
Randy: Stop thinking.

Colton Dixon
Song: Time after Time by Cyndi Lauper
Steven: So good you could do a record right now.
Jennifer: In sync with the band.
Randy: Made it your own. So current.

Skylar Laine
Song: Wind beneath My Wings by Bette Midler
Randy: Wow. Your best performance.
Jennifer: You just said do not count me out.
Steven: Best song for your voice. Beginning of a great career.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of American Idol Season 11 Episode 26, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on Fox.

Survivor: One World Episode 8

With the women voting against the men and the men following suit in Survivor: One World Episode 7, Jonas was eliminated because apparently he was a threat.

Jay and Troyzan have decided that the next vote needs to be a girl. They are worried about giving up the power. It’s a little late for that.

At the reward challenge, they will race down a waterslide, gather puzzle crates from the water, and solve those puzzles. The winning team will get a BBQ and some uncola. Jay, Troyzan, Kat, Alicia, and Chelsea go against Michael, Kim, Sabrina, Christina, and Leif. Tarzan is not chosen in the schoolyard picks, so he will not participate, to the disappointment of none. Jay and his team have a 1 piece lead as Christina heads back to work on the puzzle, not helping at all while the rest of her team carries their final piece. She nominates herself supervisor of puzzle building. This could have ended badly for her, but in the end they win as the other team squanders their lead and falls apart.

While the guys and Christina continue pigging out, Sabrina and Kim start talking strategy. They want to push the girls to the top and get rid of Mike.

Back at the beach, the losing team openly discuss their options. The men suggest Christina. The women here want to get rid of Mike, too.

As the wind picks up, Tarzan removes part of their bamboo wall to use for firewood. Here comes more yelling. He asks Chelsea if she’s happy with her breasts, since she seems to have a problem with plastic surgeons like himself.

Kim tells Troyzan that Mike wants to get rid of him. Doesn’t seem like it takes very much to get Troyzan upset or to buy a lie without questioning it.

At the immunity challenge, they will race across a bridge while maneuvering bags of puzzle pieces along a rope. The first four will move on to the puzzle stage of the challenge. Jay finishes first. Kim is second. Troyzan comes third. Mike was in it but blows it, and Alicia is the fourth to finish the first stage. This could take some time. I’m not sensing the smartest people have made it this far after what had been a largely physical start. The trick in this puzzle is that it can look right until the very last piece, which Alicia and Kim both find out the hard way. His slow and methodical approach pays off, and Jay wins immunity.

Chelsea asks Jay, right in front of Christina and Alicia, who supposedly are the enemy, what he thinks about getting rid of Mike. He responds that he’s scared of the girls. If they get rid of Mike, they’ll get rid of him next. Makes sense.

Mike tells us that he’d like to see a blindside because that’s always kind of fun. Good luck with that.

Jeff asks who is worried. Nobody raises their hand.

Votes
Christina
Christina
Tarzan
Tarzan
Mike
Mike
Mike
Mike
Mike

With 5 votes, Mike has been voted off the island. In a tribe divided, stray votes go to Christina (Tarzan and Mike) and Tarzan (Alicia and Christina).

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: One World Episode 9, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.