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The X Factor Season 1 Episode 16

The top 10 performed in The X Factor Season 1 Episode 15. Tonight 1 more will go home.

Leroy Bell is safe. Lakoda Rayne is safe, as all of Paula’s one acts are through to next week.

Chris Rene is safe. Melanie Amaro is safe. Josh Krajcik is safe. Marcus Canty is safe.

Drew is safe. Rachel Crow is safe, leaving Simon’s acts in the clear.

That puts Stacy Francis and Astro in danger. Stacy got ripped into last night, perhaps a bit too much. Meanwhile, it doesn’t seem people are buying the Astro hype. I guess it’s cool for what it is, but it’s just too one dimensional, though he’s arguably not alone in that respect.

Between the two, I don’t see how either can win, but going by the judges’ comments so far in the series, I’m assuming they’ll get rid of Stacy before Astro. LA calls Astro a quitter but sticks with his guy and votes against Stacy. Nicole votes for her act and ties the vote against Astro. Paula makes it two votes against Stacy. Simon doesn’t like Astro’s attitude either, to which Astro responds that he doesn’t want to perform for people who don’t want him here. Booing ensues, well deserved. Simon opts to send home Stacy because Astro’s got a better chance of winning, but he just threw it away.

Due to the holiday, the show will be on one day early next week. Creative scheduling again. At least this week we have some warning.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The X Factor Season 1 Episode 17, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on Fox.

The X Factor Season 1 Episode 15

After two weeks in the bottom, Stereo Hogzz were eliminated in The X Factor Season 1 Episode 14. Tonight the top 10 perform in rock week.

Leroy Bell
Song: We’ve Got Tonight by Bob Seger (this is a rock song?)
LA: Sound great but still not working it.
Paula: Beautiful voice. Needs to be more of a connection.
Simon: Nice song, good voice, unoriginal. Right now, you can’t win.
Nicole: Best you’ve ever sounded.

Rachel Crow
Song: Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones
LA: Can you sell records and tickets? Yes.
Nicole: Perfect song choice. Favorite performance from you.
Paula: Love how you are starting to connect.
Simon: I can see you winning.

Chris Rene
Song: Everything’s Gonna Be Alright by Bob Marley
Nicole: Not my favorite performance by you. Confused.
Paula: Doesn’t matter whether you are the best vocalist. You are original.
Simon: Great. If the theme were reggae music.
LA: Stayed on key.

Stacy Francis
Song: It’s All Coming Back to Me Now by Meat Loaf/Celine Dion
LA: Sang that song really well. I’ll leave it at that.
Paula: Least favorite song you’ve ever performed.
Simon: Horrible song choice. I wanted rock. That was a pebble.
Nicole: Glam rock diva.

Melanie Amaro
Song: Everybody Hurts by REM
LA: That was rock?
Nicole: Sounded beautiful. One of my favorite songs. Every time I hear it, I cry. Didn’t cry tonight.
Paula: Took us to church.
Simon: Reminded me of Adele, Alicia Keys.

Josh Krajcik
Song: The Pretender by Foo Fighters
LA: Authenticity, stage presence, right song, really rocked this house.
Paula: Best performance of the night by far.
Simon: Bloody fantastic.
Nicole: Ultimate rock star.

Astro
Song: Original rap song with I’ll Be Missing You by Puffy Daddy music
Nicole: Are you ready? Yes.
Paula: I don’t think you can suck.
Simon: More maturity and intelligence than some of the older contestants.
LA: Everything it takes to win.

Lakoda Rayne
Song: Your Love by The Outfield/Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac
LA: First time I’ve seen you have fun. Better. Not great.
Nicole: Found your lane. Country rock. Holding back a little bit.
Simon: Complete mess. Stupid choreography, gimmicky. Hope America sticks with you.
Paula: Great job. Most proud.

Drew
Song: With or Without You by U2
LA: Maybe the most original voice of any contestant. But still more of the same.
Nicole: Waiting for the tempo to pick up. Frustrated.
Paula: Take advantage of the genres to show diversity.
Simon: All about being unique and appealing to your fan base.

Marcus Canty
Song: Piece of My Heart by Janis Joplin
Nicole: Lit that stage on fire.
Paula: Take me in all the way.
Simon: Don’t think the song suited you.
LA: You rocked.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The X Factor Season 1 Episode 16, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on Fox.

Survivor: South Pacific Episode 10

Cochran’s old tribe got narrowed down quickly in Survivor: South Pacific Episode 9 with Ozzy being eliminated and then Jim following him.

Upon arrival at Redemption Island, Jim continues his whining. Apparently, there is something wrong with the other tribe sticking together. When can he and Ozzy be officially done already? Obviously, the other tribe has to implode eventually, but that time does not necessarily have to be now nor benefit a hot headed player who may have been able to get farther in the game if he kept his mouth shut once in a while.

Keith, Ozzy, and Jim head to the duel. Yeah, more duels, as if we have not had enough already. I got an idea. Why not just give Ozzy a free pass to the finals? It’ll save you the effort of having to give him 12 chances. The duel is an endurance test of balancing poles on their hands. Whoever wins sticks around. The two losers will be the first and second members of the jury. Brandon is rooting for Jim. Whitney is rooting for Keith. Anybody rooting for Ozzy? No. He’s what you call a free agent. Jim is the first one out. Keith is next. Ozzy stays alive.

With her numbers virtually wiped out, Dawn now acknowledges that she played stupidly.

For the immunity challenge, they will balance a bowl of rice on their heads and race across two teeter totters to fill a container on the other side. Aside from Brandon, the men predictably all fail on their first attempt, while Dawn and Sophie succeed. Whitney and Edna slowly makes their way across before finally dropping near the basket. Cochran is unsurprisingly the most awkward of the bunch. It continues shaping up to be a battle between Brandon, Dawn, and Sophie. Sophie takes the risk of filling her bowl as high as she can, and that’s enough for her to win immunity in spite of Brandon being faster than she is.

Probst warns of a twist at tonight’s tribal council.

Dawn and Whitney realize they’re on the chopping block. Brandon is a loose cannon. Rick is invisible, aside from that one time he cast the deciding vote. Edna is too attached to Coach. That leads them to Albert. Working in their favor, Albert doesn’t care about Edna anyway, as he tried but failed to get rid of her in episode 6. To get Cochran onboard, he tells him that he will be the target when they get down to 7. Albert then approaches Sophie, who voted with him to try to get rid of Edna last time when Mikayla got booted instead.

Coach sees that Albert is playing for jury votes, something that it’s a little early to be doing.

Dawn and Whitney discuss how the people in 5th, 6th, and 7th would be better off flipping than maintaining that status quo. Whitney reiterates that Cochran’s 7th. I’m not so sure of that. If using them for votes makes that much sense, wouldn’t using him for a vote make even more sense in another few nights? 5 and 7 are a lot more important votes than 9. I do agree, however, that there are problems over on that other side. Rick isn’t playing, which makes him unpredictable, and Brandon’s equally unpredictable. Coach and even Cochran for that matter may be in a good spot if they get rid of Dawn or Whitney, but I don’t know what Albert and Sophie plan to do.

I see we have a good chunk of time left as the vote looms. Something time consuming is about to happen.

Votes
Dawn
Edna
Dawn
Edna
Dawn
Dawn
Dawn

With 5 votes, Dawn has been voted off the island.

Now another immunity challenge and another vote. The immunity challenge is based on survival questions.

How much purified water should they drink each day to prevent dehydration?
1 gallon. You’d think everybody would get this right, but Albert, Edna, and Rick do not and are eliminated.

The coconut crab gets its name because its favorite food is coconut. True or false?
True. Cochran and Brandon are out.

The soft, edible flesh found inside a fallen coconut is called what?
Heart of palm. Coach is out.

You should not attempt to remove giant South Pacific clams from the ocean, as they are considered dangerous. True or false?
False. Whitney is out, and Sophie wins immunity.

Well, that was close, but now everybody should be able to breathe easily. Granted, I would think they were smart enough to have planned for this. After all, this was a scenario Cochran came up with in his confessional.

Votes
Cochran
Whitney
Whitney
Whitney
Whitney
Whitney

With 5 votes, Whitney has been voted off the island. Another productive episode.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: South Pacific Episode 11, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 9

Ending a week of twists, everybody jumped at the first chance to get rid of Joe in The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 8.

This week they will be competing in a pentathalon. First place prize is immunity; last place penalty is a 1 pound disadvantage. But first they’re going to singles.

Their first task is to rank the others based on how much they think they deserve to win the show. Vinny votes for his friends. Bonnie votes for the teachers. Ramon puts his biggest competition at the bottom. Sunny puts them in alphabetical order. John bases it on weight loss. Antone puts the biggest threats at the bottom.

The second event of five for the week is to run back and forth across a tennis court and place their covers over their opponents’ pegs. Once their three pegs are covered, they’re out. Antone and Sunny eliminate Ramon. Becky and Vinny get rid of John. Antone and John take out Vinny. Bonnie’s eliminated next. Sunny, who has been largely ignored so far, eliminates Antone. Then she finishes off Becky to win. Points are awarded based on the order they finished.

Sunny: 7
Becky: 6
Antone: 5
Bonnie: 4
Vinny: 3
John: 2
Ramon: 1

Dolvett finds himself struggling to push John, who doesn’t trust him, but it looks like his efforts are working as a sweaty John runs 9 miles an hour for 30 seconds.

Event number three is a trivia challenge.

What food group is the body’s best source of energy?
Grains and starches. Ex-NFL player Antone, who ate a lot of potatoes when he was training, is correct.

Which cheese has the least (fewest?) calories?
Mozzarella. Antone, John, Vinny, and Ramon all score a point.

Which of the following fruit contains the most sugar?
Grapes. Becky and Antone score a point.

How many calories must you cut from your daily intake to lose 1 pound a week?
500 calories. It’s simple math. 3500 divided by 7. Speaking of, math teacher Becky is the only person wrong.

2 tsp of sugar and 2 tsp of cream daily could add how much weight to the average person in a year?
10 pounds. That’s why I opt for skim milk and Equal. Becky, Vinny, and Antone are correct.

Which of the following foods has the most calories?
Onions. Twice as much as the other vegetables (mushrooms, asparagus, and broccoli). Antone is correct again.

How many calories can you save by using 4 oz. of lean ground turkey instead of 4 oz. of ground beef?
150 calories. Bonnie is correct, and Antone’s streak comes to an end.

After two events have been scored, the leaderboard is reshuffled. Antone’s strong trivia performance pushes him to the top, while Ramon remains at the bottom.

Antone: 11
Becky: 9
Sunny: 8
Bonnie: 7
Vinny: 7
John: 4
Ramon: 4

The fourth event involves hopping on a float and pulling themselves across a pool using ropes. Ramon finishes in 2:29. John completes it in 2:01 to take the lead. Vinny finishes in 2:08. Bonnie falls immediately after going 2.1 meters. Sunny takes the lead with a time of 1:24. Becky finishes in 2:10. Antone finishes in 2:09, making the difference between third and fifth just 2 seconds.

Antone retains the lead with Sunny bouncing back, while Ramon remains on the bottom.

Antone: 15
Sunny: 15
Becky: 12
Vinny: 12
John: 10
Bonnie: 8
Ramon: 6

Olympian Apolo Ohno joins them for the final event, a 1 mile run. Last place Ramon looks like he may be able to make a dent here. John’s also making a run for it. In third place, Sunny looks competitive enough that she should be able to overtake the leaderboard. On the other end of the scale is Bonnie, who will drop to last. Ramon finishes in a time of 9:10. John completes the course in 10:17. Sunny finishes in 11:10. Antone picks up the pace at the end to finish in 11:42, with Becky right behind him in 11:45. Vinny places sixth with a time of 14:42. Bonnie finishes in last place with a time of 26:28.

Sunny: 20
Antone: 19
John: 16
Becky: 15
Vinny: 14
Ramon: 13
Bonnie: 9

With four events tallied, there’s still the matter of the vote, which could potentially shake things up. Bonnie and Ramon are out of the running for the win, while Sunny and Antone will not lose. Unlike the other events, they will be scored based on the votes, from 0-7. Antone and Becky received votes from everybody. Sunny gets 5 votes. Bonnie, Ramon, and Vinny receive 4. John gets just 1, which does not bode well for his potential support down the road at the ranch. Whether they consider him a threat, not an ally, or some combination, he’s toast if he falls below the yellow line.

Antone: 26
Sunny: 25
Becky: 22
Vinny: 18
John: 17
Ramon: 17
Bonnie: 13

Antone wins the pentathalon and immunity. Sunny’s alphabetical order strategy seems to have backfired. I’ve seen that before. Bonnie receives a 1 pound disadvantage.

Antone: 339 pounds (-9, 2.59%) – over 100 pounds lost
Bonnie: 208 pounds (-5, +1, 1.88%)
John: 310 pounds (-9, 2.82%)
Vinny: 335 pounds (-10, 2.90%)
Sunny: 207 pounds (-9, 4.17%)
Becky: 182 pounds (-4, 2.15%)
Ramon: 273 pounds (-7, 2.50%)

For the first time this season, the yellow line is in play. The two remaining older team members, Bonnie and Becky, have fallen below the yellow line. Bonnie says she’s ready to go home, and she wants to see one of the three teachers win, one of whom is Becky.

Per her request, with 3 votes, Bonnie is not The Biggest Loser. From her starting weight of 254 pounds, Bonnie is down to 186 pounds today for a total of 68 pounds lost.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 10, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 19 Episode 8

A misplaced clue at the road block led to the elimination of Justin & Jennifer in The Amazing Race 19 Episode 7.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Andy & Tommy – 3:12PM
Second: Ernie & Cindy – 3:13PM
Third: Bill & Cathi – 3:26PM
Fourth: Amani & Marcus – 3:34PM
Fifth: Laurence & Zac – 3:36PM
Sixth: Jeremy & Sandy – 3:42PM

Teams will now fly 5000 miles to Copenhagen, Denmark, a location about as different to Africa as you can get. Everybody is guaranteed a flight to Amsterdam, but they are free to negotiate for a different one if they choose. Everyone other than Laurence & Zac chooses the pre-booked flight. Their flight is scheduled to arrive at 8:30PM. At that time of the night, it’s irrelevant, as an hours of operation is pretty much guaranteed, although that close to the north pole, it’s still light out then. The others arrive between 10:30-11PM, aside from Amani & Marcus, who have a morning flight with arrival at 8:20AM. They are greeted by a 7:30AM hours of operation, equalizing everybody other than Amani & Marcus, now over an hour behind. Seems they assumed the morning flight was the best they could get.

After climbing a bell tower, they are directed to the Frederiksborg Slot based on a couple of banners. If you don’t see all of the banners, you will not pick the right one. Jeremy & Sandy are headed to Rosenborg Slot, a restaurant, rather than the castle they are looking for. When they return, they meet up with Amani & Marcus in what now seems to be a two way race for last, though there’s still a double U-turn pending. On their way, they stop and ask for directions, something that Marcus refuses to do until his team is once again in last place.

The road block is a renaissance dance in period costume and music to match. They’ll have to complete three dance routines to finish.

Road block (in order of arrival): Zac, Ernie, Cathi, Andy, Sandy, Amani

Ernie gets through it pretty quickly, and so does Cathi. Not so easy for Zac, which allows Jeremy & Sandy to just about catch up to them. Meanwhile, Andy is being asked if he’s tried this before.

The detour is at Frilandmuseet and is a choice between all hopped up or all churned out. In all hopped up, they must lead a rabbit through a steeplchase course, which apparently is considered a sport in Denmark. In all churned out, they will make butter by hand. Given the option between animals or no animals, the choice becomes clear, though these rabbits seem pretty easy to handle.

Once again, Jeremy & Sandy find themselves lost, which allows them to be passed by Amani & Marcus, who after the U-turn find themselves in fourth.

All hopped up: Amani & Marcus
All churned out: Ernie & Cindy, Bill & Cathi, Sandy, Andy & Tommy, Jeremy & Sandy

Neither of the detours seems particularly challenging, each just requiring a couple of attempts. The real challenge of the day is finding anything.

From here, they will head to Karlstrup Windmill, where they find a double U-turn. They don’t need to U-turn anybody, but Cindy wants to win, so she will U-turn Bill & Cathi. Pointless to make enemies for no reason in a situation where it doesn’t matter anyway because you’re so far ahead of everybody. In turn, Bill & Cathi have U-turned Laurence & Zac because they know they were struggling on the road block.

Havet Ship, a cargo boat converted into a hotel in Copenhagen, is the pit stop for this leg of the race.

First: Ernie & Cindy (win a trip to Fiji)
Second: Bill & Cathi
Third: Andy & Tommy
Fourth: Amani & Marcus
Fifth: Jeremy & Sandy
Eliminated: Laurence & Zac

Unexpectedly, Jeremy & Sandy manage to find the pit stop before Laurence & Zac, recovering from last place and yet another directions blunder. After being lost for a couple hours, Laurence & Zac have been eliminated.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 19 Episode 9, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

Piers Morgan Quits America’s Got Talent

The last remaining original America’s Got Talent cast member is gone, as Piers Morgan has decided to leave America’s Got Talent so that he can focus on his work at CNN and the 2012 election coverage.

“I’ve been a judge since the show began six years ago, and I’ve loved every single second,” Morgan said. “I’ve discovered that juggling, to my surprise, really is a bit more difficult than I thought.”

As we’ve seen from the debacle that is now American Idol, judges can have a big impact on this show. Hopefully the producers can pick another judge like Piers, one who’s tough but fair. No fluff judges who are just there to be nice please.

The X Factor Season 1 Episode 14

The top 11 performed in The X Factor Season 1 Episode 13. Tonight 1 more act will go home.

Stacy Francis is safe. Astro is safe. Melanie Amaro is safe. Marcus Canty is safe. Leroy Bell is safe. Rachel Crow is safe. Josh Krajcik is the third of Nicole’s acts to be safe. Drew is the third of Simon’s acts to be safe. Chris Rene is safe.

Once again, the two acts in the bottom are Paula’s acts. Lakoda Rayne and Stereo Hogzz are in the bottom two. I think the public is sending the judges a message about the Stereo Hogzz, though I was not expecting Lakoda Rayne to be in the bottom.

LA votes against Stereo Hogzz. Nicole does, too. Paula refuses to vote. Lame. If Paula refuses to vote, majority rules, so with 2 votes, Stereo Hogzz will be sent home. After being told that, Paula votes against Lakoda Rayne. More lame. If you’re hired to be a judge, be a judge. Simon votes against Stereo Hogzz, who are going home.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The X Factor Season 1 Episode 15, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on Fox.

The X Factor Season 1 Episode 13

The first results show of the season saw new and large group InTENsity have to pack their bags in The X Factor Season 1 Episode 12. Tonight the top 11 perform songs from the movies.

Stacy Francis
Song: Queen of the Night by Whitney Houston from The Bodyguard
LA: Much better than I thought. Why did you do the third most popular song from the movie?
Paula: Never really liked the song, but you delivered.
Simon: Liked you last week as a singer. Didn’t like the dancing.
Nicole: Shined from within. (Whatever that means.)

Marcus Canty
Song: I’m Going Down by Rose Royce from Car Wash
Nicole: Magic.
Paula: Everything about you resonates star.
Simon: 1000% better than last week.
LA: I have a crystal ball with an artist’s picture in it, and it’s you.

Drew
Song: Fix You by Coldplay from You, Me, and Dupree
LA: Really good again, but I don’t know the difference between the three performances. And who ever heard of that movie?
Nicole: You’re just a little slice of heaven.
Paula: Honest performance every week. Song sits within a beautiful vocal range.
Simon: This is the kind of record you would make.

Leroy Bell
Song: I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For by U2 from Runaway Bride
LA: Finally got it right.
Paula: Been waiting for this performance.
Simon: Your best performance by a mile.
Nicole: Aside from being 60 years old, you’re just great.

Lakoda Rayne
Song: I Wanna Love Somebody Like You by Keith Urban from How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
LA: My favorite girl group in the competition. (Out of 1.)
Nicole: So natural, such good chemistry.
Simon: The group I always hoped and prayed you’d become.
Paula: So proud of you.

Astro
Song: Original Song with Lose Yourself from 8 Mile music and chorus
Nicole: You are a champion tonight.
Paula: That level of focus you have is what creates superstars.
Simon: Incredibly creative. Great role model.
LA: Could not be more proud.

Melanie Amaro
Song: Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson from This Is It
LA: Great singer. Not that inventive.
Nicole: Brilliant song choice. Made Michael proud.
Paula: Music heals the world, and your voice truly does that.
Simon: Bloody fantastic. Your best performance so far.

The Stereo Hogzz
Song: Ain’t No Other Man by Christina Aguilera from Get Smart
LA: Great job, but I didn’t know the song.
Nicole: Bananas. Favorite performance from you yet.
Simon: Not performing the record you would make. Need to be less cabaret.

Josh Krajcik
Song: With a Little Help from My Friends by The Beatles from Across the Universe
LA: One of my favorite voices, one of my favorite songs.
Paula: This is who you are. Amazing.
Simon: First half didn’t quite work; second half was great.
Nicole: Ready for a $5 million recording contract.

Chris Rene
Song: Original with music/lyrics from Gangsta’s/Pastime Paradise by Coolio/Stevie Wonder from Dangerous Minds
Paula: Glorious seeing you in your element.
Simon: Welcome back.
LA: Like a long way home, but we’re there now.

Rachel Crow
Song: I’d Rather Go Blind by Etta James from Cadillac Records
LA: You have your eye on the target. My favorite yet.
Paula: Best performance.
Simon: Like a mini Beyonce.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The X Factor Season 1 Episode 14, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on Fox.