The X Factor Season 1 Episode 20

The top 7 performed in The X Factor Season 1 Episode 19. Tonight two more acts will be sent home again.

Chris Rene is safe. Melanie Amaro is safe. Rachel Crow is safe. Josh Krajick is safe. That give us 4 of the top 5, leaving 2 of the remaining 3 acts in danger.

As the person with the lowest number of votes, Astro has been eliminated. He’s lucky he got this far. At least his exit is classier than his near miss from a couple weeks ago.

The two remaining acts, Marcus Canty and Drew, are now at the mercy of the judges’ votes. For Marcus, this is his second week in a row in the bottom two. This marks Drew’s first trip to the bottom two, but her days are numbered regardless, particularly since the judges don’t care for her and have the goal of giving Simon a hard time.

After pretending he could go either way, LA votes to keep his act and votes against Drew. Simon blames himself and votes to keep his act with a vote against Marcus. Nicole votes against Drew. Paula makes it three votes against Drew. Marcus has now been extended his third life as the judges ignore the voting as usual.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The X Factor Season 1 Episode 21, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on Fox.

The X Factor Season 1 Episode 19

A double elimination in The X Factor Season 1 Episode 18 brought us the end of the road for Lakoda Rayne and Leroy Bell. Tonight the top 7 perform songs from Michael Jackson.

Josh Krajcik
Song: Dirty Diana
LA: That was cool, man. First time I’ve seen you step out of your comfort zone.
Paula: Show stopping performance.
Simon: Great spectacle. But overproduced. Your weakest performance so far.
Nicole: We like to take risks.

Astro
Song: Black or White, or something loosely resembling it
Nicole: First time I’ve seen you really enjoying yourself.
Paula: I think you could win.
Simon: That’s what someone your age should be doing.
LA: Proud. I like to think the Jackson family is as proud.

Drew
Song: Billie Jean
LA: Made it your own. I liked it.
Nicole: I like you. But not Simon.
Paula: Your best vocal performance but nothing visual.
Simon: Paula and Nicole are wrong.

Rachel Crow
Song: Can You Feel It
LA: Didn’t believe that you were really having a good time.
Nicole: Really good job but didn’t feel the connection.
Paula: Don’t think the song gave you justice.
Simon: You always put on a show, even on anti-Simon night.

Marcus Canty
Song: P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)
Nicole: You’re the whole package.
Paula: Beautiful homage to the late great Michael Jackson. The entertainer of this show.
Simon: Vocals weren’t very good.
LA: Inventive arrangement.

Chris Rene
Song: I’ll Be There
Nicole: Sounded the best you ever have.
Paula: Connected with the whole public.
Simon: A little shaky vocal but much better when the rap kicked in.
LA: Great job.

Melanie Amaro
LA: Felt that we were at a Melanie Amaro concert.
Nicole: One of the best performances of the season.
Paula: Flawless.
Simon: Could be not more proud.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The X Factor Season 1 Episode 20, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on Fox.

Survivor: South Pacific Episode 12

Another night of double eviction showed the end of a dumb tribe that played badly, as both Dawn and Whitney met their demise in Survivor: South Pacific Episode 10.

Sophie’s mad because Cochran’s getting along with her tribe better than she is.

Cochran pulls his tribe aside to ask for them to save him for just one tribal council. The entire rest of the tribe, even Rick, other than Edna, is there to weigh in (well, Rick doesn’t so much weigh in as just sit there). Coach and Albert support the move. Sophie does not.

Ozzy, Dawn, and Whitney are the competitors for today’s duel. They will balance ceramic dishes on the end of a long wobbly arm. With 11 dishes, Dawn is the first to fall. Had she chosen an alternate course, rather than siding with her doomed tribe, she may have had a good shot at winning this game, but now she is out. Whitney is the next to drop, and now she can head to Ponderosa to continue making babies with Keith, not to be confused with the guy she’s married to. Ozzy wins the duel and stays alive.

Ozzy continues to talk about how well suited he is to Redemption Island. He sure isn’t very well suited to being a castaway with the others.

Albert doesn’t care about camp life. The housework is not his problem. Rick refers to him as Prince Albert.

Coach is trying to make a choice. Does he stick with “the five”, or does he keep Edna and Cochran, who will never vote against him?

In the first stage of the immunity challenge, they will toss sandbags on crates. The first three will move on to slingshot coconuts at targets. Everybody gets on the board with Coach in the lead with two. Albert is the first to land his third and final bag. Rick, who we have seen three whole times tonight, is next. Cochran and Sophie have managed to hit their second targets. Sophie is the third person to head to the finals. Albert scores first. Then Rick. Then Rick again. Albert ties is at 2. Albert wins immunity and reward, a massage and an island shower. He chooses Coach to go with him. Because he can’t choose a third person to go and wants food for next time, Albert gives his reward to Cochran. This is a nice birthday present for Cochran, even if his birthday is not really in two days but rather in six months.

A new plan has formed. Edna, like Cochran, is on the bottom of the totem pole. If they can join with Albert and Coach to vote out some guy named Rick, that would save them and potentially get them to rise to the top. Albert gets wind of Rick talking about how he doesn’t do anything and calling him Princess Albert. Now it’s just time to convince Coach to flip.

Brandon opens his mouth at tribal council. That’s never good. Tonight, he’s voting out Cochran. Next time, he’s getting rid of Edna. He doesn’t plan to change.

Votes
Cochran
Rick
Rick
Cochran
Cochran
Cochran

With 4 votes, Cochran has been voted off the island. I don’t think this was as foregone a conclusion as his old tribe had hoped, but unlike the other tribe and their big stupid move, nobody around here wants to do anything, instead just coasting with the status quo.

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

The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 11

For the second week in a row, the person who went home requested it, as Ramon was eliminated in The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 10.

Everybody suits up for the challenge wearing all the weight they used to weigh. As they dash to each station, they will be able to remove the weight they lost for each week. Reward is a 1 pound advantage. Antone takes off in the lead. As the person who was shedding the most pounds the fastest, John, who nobody wants to win, closes the gap with Antone and is on his heels before eventually passing him and overtaking the lead as they round the turn heading into week 7. They are neck and neck as they come around the final turn, and John extends his lead to win the challenge and the advantage. Sunny places third, followed by Becky and Vinny.

They’ve now made it to makeover week. In addition, they will receive $5,000 each plus Progresso Soup for a year.

They start off with a shopping trip through Beverly Hills. Vinny’s told to ditch the overalls. John has to add some color other than black or blue to his wardrobe. The ladies dress not like old women.

Then it’s off to the hair stylist for apparently their first haircuts in 3 months with the men getting shaved for a change.

Once made over, they round out their Hollywood experience with a walk on the red carpet.

No longer too big for her wedding ring, Becky is once again able to wear it.

After their makeovers are done, they head into the gyms for their final last chance workout. Win or lose, this is their last night there until the marathon.

Sunny: 201 pounds (-1, 0.50%) – Bob wants to know what she’s been doing this week
Antone: 334 pounds (-8, 2.42%)
John: 296 pounds (-9, -1, 3.28%)
Vinny: 314 pounds (-10, 3.09%)
Becky: 172 pounds (-5, 2.82%)

Antone and Sunny have fallen below the yellow line. After the week she had, Sunny should be the one going home, but Antone’s the bigger threat.

Votes
Becky: Sunny
John: Sunny

With 2 votes, Sunny is not The Biggest Loser. From her starting weight of 277 pounds, Sunny is down 96 pounds to 181 today.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 12, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 19 Episode 10

The Amazing Race 19 Episode 9 was a to be continued episode. With the whole leg coming down to one task, all the teams are pretty well bunched together at the pit stop.

The first three teams had already completed the bodybuilding pose task before the last episode concluded, leaving Andy & Tommy and Bill & Cathi still strutting their stuff. The snowboarders get their required 12 points, followed by Bill & Cathi in last place.

Teams will now drive to the Ford Proving Ground in Lommel, Belgium. The road block at this Ford testing facility is to drive a Mustang through a series of performance maneuvers: accelerating to 100 miles an hour and then braking, completing a slalom course in under 16 seconds, and finishing with two victory donuts.

Road block (in order of arrival): Ernie, Jeremy, Marcus, Tommy, Bill

The speed part of the course seems simple enough. After that it gets a little trickier. Ernie misses by .9 seconds on his first try. Then he runs into the balloon at the end of it about 15 times. Eventually, Jeremy & Sandy catch up, so they have to take turns. Jeremy finishes in time but nudges the balloon at the end. This seems to be all the encouragement Ernie needs, as he completes the challenge on his next try. Jeremy completes it on his second attempt. Having been lost, Amani & Marcus finally find the location, and Andy & Tommy are right behind them. They both complete it in two tries, and at this point Bill & Cathi are arriving, so it’s still anybody’s game.

From there, they will drive to the city of Gent. The detour is a choice between water or waffles. In water, they will build a raft and search the waterways for two pieces of a clue. Waffle requires them to assemble a waffle stand and bake and decorate 18 waffles.

Waffle: Ernie & Cindy, Jeremy & Sandy
Water: Andy & Tommy, Amani & Marcus (switched from waffle), Bill & Cathi (switched from waffle)

Seeing Jeremy get frustrated with the waffle task, Amani & Marcus promptly switch detours. Upon arrival, Bill & Cathi make the same decision. The third and fourth place teams manage to leapfrog Jeremy & Sandy, who continue to struggle with their waffles.

Their next clue is at De Muur van Geraardsbergen. They will help a pigeon trainer release a flock of homing pigeons, which they must then follow to an address to retrieve their next clue, a picture of the next pit stop. This is more difficult than it sounds, as multiple teams get lost on the way.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is the Atomium, a model of the atomic structure of iron blown up 165 billion times.

First: Andy & Tommy (win a pair of Ford Mustangs)
Second: Jeremy & Sandy
Third: Ernie & Cindy
Fourth: Amani & Marcus
Eliminated: Bill & Cathi

In spite the problems the teams had with directions, the end result seemed pretty obvious from the beginning. Bill & Cathi have been eliminated.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 19 Episode 11, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

The X Factor Season 1 Episode 18

Tonight 2 more will be sent home.

Drew is safe. As the act having received the fewest number of votes, Lakoda Rayne has been eliminated. That marks the last of Paula’s groups.

Chris Rene is safe. Rachel Crow is safe. Josh Krajcik is safe. Melanie Amaro is safe, as Simon’s girls make it through the night. Somehow, that little punk with a bad attitude who can’t sing Astro is safe.

Leroy Bell and Marcus Canty fall into the bottom two.

LA votes to save his contestant with a vote against Leroy. Nicole votes to save her contestant with a vote against Marcus. Why do they even bother letting the judges whose acts are up there vote? Based on tonight’s performance, Paula votes against Marcus. Letting the public decide, Simon votes against Leroy. The act that received the lowest number of votes, Leroy Bell, has been eliminated.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The X Factor Season 1 Episode 19, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on Fox.

The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 10

After falling below the yellow line with Becky in The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 9, Bonnie asked to be voted out.

The average American eats over 4500 calories on Thanksgiving. This week’s Thanksgiving temptation offers $500 per pound lost, a home gym, and a 3 pound advantage. Under each dish is a number. The person with the lowest number picks first. One person could conceivably end up with all three prizes. Sunny is the only one who hesitates, though everybody ends up eating. John and Vinny only take one shot. Sunny doesn’t have enough time to eat more than one dish. Becky’s 96 is not impressive, but her 38 is better. Sunny gets 85. Antone gets 81 and improves it to 46. John gets 90, not to be confused with 06. Ramon’s 79 is enough for third, and his first number of 52 is an even better third. Vinny gets a 10.

As the winner, Vinny chooses the 3 pound advantage, which this week is probably good enough to keep him immune. Becky picks the home gym. That leaves Antone with the $500 per pound lost. Three prizes for three black team members.

Bob says to mark his words. John will gain everything back because he’s never satisfied.

The trainers treat the contestants to a Thanksgiving dinner Biggest Loser style. All the taste with fewer of the calories and less fat. Everybody tells stories of home, even Bob, who talks about his sister having struggled with weight her whole life.

They will race 1 mile on Jacob’s ladder. Again they have a choice. 6 months of The Biggest Loser meal plan, plus 6 months to give away to an eliminated contestant. $2500 to give and $2500 to keep. Lastly, there is a 1 pound advantage to keep and a 1 pound disadvantage to give away. Ramon’s leading with John behind. John then takes the lead. Sunny is in third. After 40 minutes, Sunny takes second place about 100 feet behind John, but it doesn’t look like his lead that we later find out is nearly 10 minutes can be eliminated. An hour and a half of climbing passes, and John wins the challenge. Sunny places second, followed by Ramon.

John takes the 1 pound advantage, the last thing everybody else wanted. Sunny picks the meal plan and gives Bonnie the meal plan as well. Ramon takes the $2500 and gives a matching amount to Vinny. That leaves everybody with a prize this week.’

Vinny has an offer that’s the least painless way to go: take 1 of his 3 pounds away. If John doesn’t do that, everybody will turn on him. Too late. Before the weigh in, he makes his choice: Sunny. She tries to paint it as if this makes him a bad person. How dare he take a pound away from somebody (which he must do according to the rules of the game)?

John: 305 pounds (-5, -1, 1.94%) – saying his goodbyes already
Antone: 331 pounds (-8, 2.36%) – $4000 richer
Vinny: 324 pounds (-11, -3, 4.18%) – over 100 pounds lost
Becky: 177 pounds (-5, 2.75%)
Ramon: 268 pounds (-5, 1.83%)
Sunny: 202 pounds (-5, -1, 1.93%)

The 1 pound advantage/disadvantage proves to be huge, saving John and putting Sunny in danger. Sunny again complains about how it’s Thanksgiving week and John should just give her a free pass at the expense of his own time on the ranch. Hate the game if you want, but this is not John’s fault.

Votes
Vinny: Sunny
Becky: Ramon
John: Sunny
Antone: Ramon

Antone thinks that John should have voted to keep Sunny because he put her in danger. Really? You people all openly want him gone. I don’t get why he should do your bidding to keep your friends around to vote him out next week.

In the event of a tie, the person with the lowest percentage of weight loss goes home. With 2 votes, Ramon has been eliminated. In addition to his 110 pound weight loss from his starting weight of 355 pounds, he has also chopped off the horrible long hair and facial hair.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 11, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 19 Episode 9

After getting lost on their way to the pit stop, Laurence & Zac were eliminated in The Amazing Race 19 Episode 8.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Ernie & Cindy – 9:01AM
Second: Bill & Cathi – 10:34AM
Third: Andy & Tommy – 10:39AM
Fourth: Amani & Marcus – 11:43AM
Fifth: Jeremy & Sandy – 12:08PM

Their first stop is the statue of fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen. The road block is to memorize one of his poems, follow the map on the front wheel of their bike, then recite the poem to a drama critic.

Road block (in order of arrival): Cindy, Cathi, Tommy, Amani, Sandy

Cathi can’t find the theater on the map. That would be the building with the arrow pointing at it. Tommy, meanwhile, drives off the map. Then there’s Amani, whose partner thought it would be great strategy to screw her up while she was trying to memorize the poem, but because she’s able to find the theater an hour faster, she ends up taking over second place. Cathi finds the theater next, but she misses one word, though I don’t think she realizes what went wrong. She returns and gets a pass on her next try. Tommy’s behind her, and she tells him he has to be dramatic. He fails. Sandy also fails to bring the drama.

Billund, Denmark is the birthplace of Legos and home to Legoland. Their task is to put together some Legos while spinning on the pirate ride, only while the ride is in motion. If they need it, there’s a barph bag. The snowboarders don’t mind, but the women aren’t having any fun. Jeremy & Sandy’s bigger problem is that they drop a piece and can’t find it, so they have to start with a fresh puzzle. By this point, Bill & Cathi are so hopelessly lost that they’re still not there.

Teams will now drive across the border into Germany and make their way to the Hamburg Train Station. From there, they will head 305 miles by train to Brussels, Belgium via Cologne. The next train is at 12:30AM. Everybody is equalized. Ernie & Cindy, who had been hours ahead, now face a problem. After they get tickets, they drop the ones to take them from Cologne the rest of the way, and they can’t afford to replace them. They didn’t save their receipt either. For all the drama, nobody bothers to check tickets, so they’re fine, but they had to worry for a while (or at least Cindy did).

Everybody will now strip down and do some bodybuilding poses to earn a score of 12 or more from 3 judges. Cathi says she wouldn’t take a shower in these clothes. The boys get speedos. Once undressed, they get to paint their partners with body oil. Then it becomes a memory game to get the 12 poses right. Ernie & Cindy manage to get 9 points their first time out. Andy & Tommy get a 4. Amani & Marcus get the 12 points necessary. Andy & Tommy try again and boost their score to a 5. Ernie & Cindy manage to get the 12 points they needed. Bill & Cathi get 3 points on their first try. Jeremy & Sandy score 13.

Parc Elisabeth is the pit stop for this leg of the race. So basically the whole damn leg comes down to this one bodybuilding task, with the rest of it being entirely irrelevant.

Ah, but there’s a catch. As the first team to arrive, Amani & Marcus win a trip to Panama. They will also be the first team to leave on the next leg of the race, which starts right now.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 19 Episode 10, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.