Survivor: South Pacific Episode 8

In perhaps the riskiest but most lacking in brains move we have ever seen, Ozzy asked his tribe to vote him out in Survivor: South Pacific Episode 7.

Everybody from both tribes heads to the duel. Ozzy’s putting on his act about how he got blindsided, Cochran’s a traitor, and now Ozzy is a free agent. The other tribe is not buying it. The duel is using sticks and rope to make a pole, retrieve keys, and unlock themselves. The winner of today’s duel returns to the game. Either Christine wins the duel and we have to listen to her talk about how she’s always been a force, or Ozzy wins and we have to listen to him instead. Neither option particularly appealing. Christine is the first to give it a go. Her pole is not strong enough. She tries again but still no dice. Ozzy grabs a key but drops it. He tries again and grabs the first key. Then he grabs the second key. Then his third. Christine is dead in the water. Ozzy wins the duel to return to the game.

Now everyone can drop their buffs. It’s the merge. Everything seems to have worked out as planned, although they did just hand a lot of power to Cochran, an outcast who they told was going home the night before.

So Cochran goes into his act. Granted, he’s just saying things like Keith doesn’t like him and the tribe erupted at him after their last loss. This is all completely true. Anyway, Coach tells him he doesn’t believe their story, with a warning that his tribe’s voting 6 strong, so either vote with them or draw rocks. This from a tribe that two episodes ago was split down the middle. After this talk, Cochran tells Upolu what they already knew, but with more details.

As planned, Cochran returns the idol to Ozzy. That was kind of stupid, particuarly if he plans to switch sides.

Like Cochran, Dawn’s not terribly concerned with remaining loyal to these people who haven’t liked them anyway.

The first individual immunity challenge is generally endurance. Two people (one man and one woman) will leave with immunity. They will balance on a small perch while holding a coconut with two ropes, with more rope being added at regular intervals. Edna drops quickly, and Cochran is right behind her. Whitney is the first to fall in the second round. Sophie follows. Dawn wins immunity. Coach is out next. Rick’s been shaking for two rounds and finally drops. Jim and Keith both fall with seconds remaining in the second round. On to the third and final round. Brandon is out. Albert drops. Ozzy wins immunity.

Te Tuna is the new tribe name.

Savaii discusses targeting either Rick or Sophie. As for their own tribe, Ozzy and Dawn both have immunity. Then it comes up that maybe they should play the hidden idol as well. Jim suggests giving it to Whitney. Wait a minute. Who’s Whitney?

Double agent Cochran tells Sophie the whole plan, but she is not equally willing to share.

Now Dawn has decided she no longer wants to switch sides.

Giving up his unconvincing charade, Ozzy acknowledges at tribal council that he has the idol. After the vote, he plays it for Whitney.

Votes
Keith
Keith
Keith
Keith
Keith
Keith
Rick
Rick
Rick
Rick
Rick
Rick

In the event of a tie, they revote and can only vote for Keith or Rick. If it comes down to a tie again, they will draw rocks, and whoever gets the odd colored rock is out, something that happened to Paschal way back in Boston Rob’s first season in Marquesas. The odds are good (1 in 9), but that doesn’t make it a smart risk to take.

Votes
Keith
Keith
Keith
Keith
Keith
Rick
Rick
Rick
Rick
Keith

With 6 votes, Keith has been voted off the island. Cochran flipped, and his tribe is not happy. You idiots gave him both the opportunity and the reason in the first place. Brandon tells Jim that calling Cochran a coward shows why he flipped.

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

The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 7

After a disappointing performance by everybody in The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 6, the black team turned on one of their own, joining the rest of the house in voting out Jennifer.

Alison tells them to bring the shirts they had on day 1 so they can go on a trip down memory lane.

The black team talks about how they have stuck together throughout. Didn’t you just get done voting out Jennifer when you didn’t have to do so?

Once again, they line up according to age, and again they are split into three groups by age: the three youngest, three oldest, and three in the middle. Each group will be given three dishes they picked as their favorite dishes. The person who guesses closest the total number of calories of all three dishes gets to pick their trainer. The person who places second will choose from the remaining two trainers. When it’s over, the teams will be made up of one player from each group, a chopping that nobody is happy about.

The young team starts off with a salad (with plenty of bread and dressing, thereby negating any chance it may have to be healthy), a dozen tacos with a chaser of two burritos, and a country breakfast with some chocolate gravy. Jessica guesses 6200 calories, Vinny says 9000, and Ramon goes with 2570 (probably enough for one of those meals). Salad: 2249, tacos: 3100, country breakfast: 1747. Grand total: 7096 calories. Jessica chooses Dolvett, and Vinny picks Bob, leaving Ramon whining about how he doesn’t even want to speak to Anna.

The middle group goes next. Their dishes include a burger and fries, three double cheeseburgers, and some Mexican food. Antone guesses 7000, Sunny goes with 6500, and John says 5720. Burger and fries: 2165, double cheeseburgers: 2512, Mexican: 4162. Grand total: 8839 calories. With two big boys in the group, it turns out that Sunny’s meal is the one that blows everyone out of the water. Antone picks Bob, and Sunny switches to Anna.

The older group goes last. They chose a large pizza, veal cutlets and baked macaroni & cheese, and an Italian sampler. Joe guesses 8580, Becky says 6850, and Bonnie opts for 9114. Pizza: 2640 calories, veal and macaroni: 1793, Italian: 2975. Grand total: 7408 calories. Becky is the first to move on from her original trainer when given the choice, as she picks Bob. Joe chooses Anna, who Bonnie is happy to be rid of. Tired of her whining, too.

Black Team: Vinny, Antone, Becky
Blue Team: Ramon, Sunny, Joe
Red Team: Jessica, John, Bonnie

So of course the first thing out of Ramon’s mouth is that he doesn’t like Anna’s accurate comments about how his showmance with Jessica is a distraction. Likewise, Joe walks into this with a bit of a chip on his shoulder, and Anna isn’t helping matters any by telling him to be a man and get tough. The boys also hate tennis. At least Sunny seems to be onboard. After a workout and a chat about the obstacles Anna overcame growing up in the Soviet Union, they decide they will work as a team, which they would be silly not to do.

John doesn’t like change. But that’s what you’re on the ranch for, no?

Antone may have gotten what he wanted, but he’s distracted because his teammates are all gone.

Alison greets them with some slip and slides. They must unscramble the blocks they find at the end of the slide to spell out their prize. After grabbing their puzzle pieces, they’ll have to run back up and return it to their teams. The boys and Becky don’t have any trouble with the slides, but Jessica, Sunny, and Bonnie just creep along. Red team wants to go for whatever the dollar sign offers. Black team is going for the 3 pound advantage. Blue team is under the impression that they can win immunity, but that’s not how I’m interpreting it. Instead, they win immunity for one. After rock, paper, scissors, Joe wins immunity.

They aren’t voting off one of their own. Instead, the other two teams will be casting the deciding votes.

Bonnie: 221 pounds (-7, 3.07%)
Jessica: 201 pounds (-8, 3.83%)
John: 329 pounds (-15, 4.36%)
Red Total: 751 pounds (-30, 3.84%)

Vinny: 355 pounds (-12, 3.27%)
Becky: 192 pounds (-11, 5.42%)
Antone: 353 pounds (-16, 4.34%)
Black Total: 900 pounds (-39, 4.15%)

Sunny: 218 pounds (-9, 3.96%)
Ramon: 286 pounds (-16, 5.30%)
Joe: 271 pounds (-15, 5.24%)
Blue Total: 775 pounds (-40, 4.91%)

In spite of the rocky start, the blue team wins the weigh in. For the first time this season, Bob’s team did not win, but they did place second, leaving the red team at the bottom. As the person with the highest percentage of weight loss on the losing team, John is safe. That means it’s between Jessica and Bonnie. The former black team should be able to control the vote, although I thought that last week, too. Ramon is hopeful that the current blue team will control the vote and keep his showmance alive.

Votes
Ramon: Bonnie
Becky: Jessica
Vinny: Bonnie
Antone: Jessica
Sunny: Jessica
Joe: Jessica

With 4 votes, Jessica is not The Biggest Loser. From her starting weight of 254 pounds, Jessica is down to 185 pounds today and has lost 12 dress sizes to size 10. She looks to be a big threat for that marathon prize of a place in the finals.

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

The Amazing Race 19 Episode 6

Not having any chance to catch up in The Amazing Race 19 Episode 5, Liz & Marie were eliminated.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Amani & Marcus – 7:22AM
Second: Bill & Cathi – 7:23AM
Third: Ernie & Cindy – 7:24AM
Fourth: Justin & Jennifer
Fifth: Andy & Tommy – 8:06AM
Sixth: Laurence & Zac – 8:07AM
Seventh: Jeremy & Sandy – 9:22AM

The next destination is Lilongwe, Malawi in Africa. Obviously, there is only one flight, so everybody is equalized.

Amani & Marcus talk about their special needs daughter, and Jennifer is a special ed teacher.

They start off by heading to a tobacco warehouse, a product that makes the majority of the country’s income. The road block is to steer 10 massive bales of tobacco using only a dolly. The workers seem to be throwing a party and trying to run into them.

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

It quickly becomes hard to breathe due to the smell of all the tobacco, although Jennifer enjoys it because her father smokes. Laurence realizes he probably should have let his son do this, though he gets through it in a reasonable time. Bill may seem old, but he’s a farm worker, so he’s able to retain his lead over Marcus.

Memorial Tower is their next stop. The detour is a choice between all sewn up or not grown up. In all sewn up, they will use manual sewing machines to stitch a suit. In not grown up, they will visit a school and build two traditional children’s toy trucks, constructed with milk cartons and beer caps.

Not grown up: Jeremy & Sandy, Justin & Jennifer, Andy & Tommy, Laurence & Zac
All sewn up: Ernie & Cindy, Bill & Cathi, Amani & Marcus

The trick to the sewing seems to be mainly finding it, but ultimately both tasks seem pretty even.

They next head to a roadside furniture store, from where they will transport two handcrafted beds to Kumbali Village, the pit stop for this leg of the race. The locals carry just about everything, often on their heads, and the racers are carrying their beds for the night. In the process, Jeremy and Sandy get their truck swiped by the snowboarders. As for Laurence & Zac, they want to transport them in a taxi or some other random vehicle. Already in last place basically since the airport, Amani & Marcus hit another wall when their cab breaks down.

Justin & Jennifer have to go back because they did not pay their truck driver, apparently another cryptic loophole in this season, which costs them first place. Bill assumes they have to pay the driver, but Cathi incorrectly assumes otherwise, giving Amani & Marcus a bit of hope.

First: Andy & Tommy (win a trip to the British Virgin Islands)
Second: Justin & Jennifer
Third: Jeremy & Sandy
Fourth: Laurence & Zac
Fifth: Ernie & Cindy
Sixth: Bill & Cathi
Non-eliminated: Amani & Marcus

Amani & Marcus will need the beds they just carried because they are still in the race.

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

Survivor: South Pacific Episode 7

In a tribe split down the middle, Mikayla was voted out in Survivor: South Pacific Episode 6.

Edna, Coach, and some guy named Rick (is he new?), who were the idiots who sided with Brandon (to be fair, Edna had no choice), feel he is a liability. Ya think? Edna believes this is a good thing. If her name comes up again next time, so will his. Rick is worried Brandon will completely botch the merge. He probably will. Coach, however, wants to remain loyal, until such time as he deems it necessary to put a bullet in his head.

Christine is in a duel with Mikayla. They will take apart a crate, use the planks to build a bridge, take the bridge apart, and solve a puzzle with some of the planks. Christine is the first person to make it to the bridge and the first to complete it. During this, Albert is giving Mikayla whatever help he can give her. He does not support his other former teammate, who is bitter anyway. In cases like this, it normally comes down to who’s the best puzzle solver, although this puzzle doesn’t appear particularly complicated. Mikayla thinks she has it. Not quite. Christine is correct and stays alive. So is anybody happy with this result?

Christine’s former tribemates look annoyed. More importantly, Ozzy is afraid of Christine’s winning streak. He has a proposal: send somebody to Redemption to beat her. Ozzy volunteers. Works for me.

Coach says he is not worthy about 10 times in a row. I know. So after they’re done praying for God to help them find the hidden immunity idol, they “search” for a while, and return to camp, deciding to let everybody in on the secret, minus the part about finding it weeks ago. Brandon views this as divine intervention, a sign that the man upstairs really does watch reality TV.

They head to the immunity challenge dressed as pairs of warriors. Reward is a preview of Jack & Jill starring Adam Sandler plus, more importantly, popcorn, candy, soda, and hot dogs. One set of twins will be the callers. The other two sets of twins will be tied together and blindfolded and must go through obstacles to collect bags of masks. One set will empty the bags and, using only their sense of touch, pair up the masks into matching pairs. Coach & Rick and Jim & Cochran are the callers. Upolu starts off with the lead. They increase this lead by a good margin with the second bag, but it evaporates with the third bag. Savaii takes the lead but blows it when they get tangled up in their ropes, and the blame for this falls universally on Cochran. Upolu is in the lead after all four bags are returned. Then Coach starts praying for victory. Really? Upolu wins immunity and reward. You know what that means. Time to pray some more. Meanwhile, Ozzy flies into a rage and starts hitting things.

In spite of Ozzy’s earlier brilliant plan to get voted out on purpose and give away his idol, Cochran no longer feels safe, what with Ozzy’s latest temper tantrum added to an anger management problem. So apparently, Cochran has volunteered to go to Redemption for the good of the tribe. At least that’s how Ozzy tells the story.

The next morning, after some dreams about going away (I await it as well), Ozzy wakes up, goes to get his immunity idol, and puts it around his neck. He again makes his offer to head to Redemption. Keith is the most vocal against this. What if the merge doesn’t happen when they think it will?

If Ozzy is sent packing, the plan is for him to go to Christine and say they tried to vote out Cochran, but he played the idol and saved himself. They’d like to turn Cochran into a double agent. After they almost voted him out and have treated him like something of an outcast for most of the game, his odds of actually flipping and not just pretending to flip are good. This seems to benefit him more than anyone.

After the vote, Ozzy hands the idol to Cochran, who promises to return it if he comes back.

Votes
Ozzy
Ozzy
Ozzy
Ozzy

With 4 votes, Ozzy has been voted off the island. As dumb a move as this is, if it actually works, it can be easily pointed to as one of the better strategic moves in the game, something Ozzy never had in his last two seasons. It would be hard to classify this as a smart move, but it’s still a huge move that makes things interesting.

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

The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 6

After the red team fell below the yellow line in The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 5, Courtney was eliminated.

It’s Halloween at The Biggest Loser. Minus the begging strangers for candy.

Every year, the average American spends $44 on Halloween candy. There are 20 million pounds of candy year sold annually. Really? Who likes this stuff? Additionally, the average American eats 24 pounds of candy a year.

Speaking of candy, it’s time for temptation. Each pound of candy is a 1 pound advantage. Everybody will weigh in together. It’s all for one week. All they have to do is lose 100 pounds, or 10 pounds per person. If they do, everybody will be safe for one more week. To get a head start, they can eat up to 10 pounds of candy. 1 pound of candy each seems like a fair trade to me.

Because everybody’s working together this week, that allows the trainers to train whoever they want. Still, Bob has a concern: keep everybody safe so his dominant team doesn’t run the risk of being picked off.

Jen’s distracted by not being able to workout with Bob. I get a feeling you won’t be doing that when you get home either.

Showmance is brewing in the house between Ramon and Jessica. I don’t think I’ve seen this before on this show. Generally they just get together after the fact. Anna’s worried this will serve as a distraction.

Inside the maze filled with hundreds of apples, they will have to gather 150 pounds of apples within 10 minutes to receive a 5 pound advantage on the scale. For a 10 pound advantage, they will have to gather 200 pounds of apples. The trick: they must be out of the maze by the time the 10 minutes expires, or they will lose the advantage and receive a 5 pound disadvantage. So the question becomes: who is The Mole?

After 3 minutes, they’re at 30 pounds, nowhere near the pace they need to be. They hit 75. Then 100. Seems they’re figuring things out. But whatever happens, Antone’s not going in the graveyard. They hit 150 pounds with 2 minutes left. With 50 seconds left, they feel they can make it, so they head back in for another 12 pounds. With 1 second to spare and refusing to drop any apples, they make their narrow escape. The final total is well over 200 pounds of apples, giving them a 10 pound advantage, which knocks their goal down to 90 pounds.

This week, Bonnie has stopped whining because she decided she likes Bob.

In spite of playing a trick on Bob to the contrary, they didn’t eat any of the candy. Based on the trade off of 1 pound for 1 pound, I can’t say I agree. 1 candy bar a day won’t hurt you, particularly when you’re in the gym for 6 hours a day and quite likely struggling to eat enough calories each day anyway.

Bob has Jessica give Antone a piggyback ride. That was unexpected.

At the weigh in, their goal is 90 pounds of weight loss.

John: 344 pounds (-10, 2.82%) – over 100 pounds lost in 6 weeks, tying the record
Antone: 369 pounds (-8, 2.12%)
Joe: 286 pounds (-8, 2.72%)
Sunny: 232 pounds (+5, 2.20%)
Jennifer: 270 pounds (-4, 1.46%)
Bonnie: 228 pounds (-1, 0.44%)
Becky: 203 pounds (-1, 0.49%)
Vinny: 367 pounds (-5, 1.34%)
Jessica: 209 pounds (-4, 1.88%)
Ramon: 302 pounds (-2, 0.66%)

After a bloodbath, they fall short of their goal of 90 pounds by 68. Anna warns the lovebirds about getting distracted, but they are not alone. As The Biggest Loser of the week, John is the only person safe from elimination. Never having been to the elimination room, the black team holds half of the votes and should be able to make the end decision. The only way something could go wrong for them is if the red and blue teams unite to vote out Sunny.

Vinny uses this opportunity to pick a fight with Jennifer because he doesn’t like her. His excuse: she didn’t say something when Dolvett told them to (she did). Then he storms out of the room. Put a little more effort into your feuds if you wish to create them. This is just stupid. The potential problem for her is that her team doesn’t like her either, so are they dumb enough to vote her out or let her get voted out by not voting as a block?

Votes
Vinny: Jennifer
Jessica: Jennifer
Ramon: Jennifer
Jennifer: Ramon
John: Ramon
Joe: Jennifer
Antone: Jennifer
Sunny: Jennifer

With 6 votes, Jennifer is not The Biggest Loser. Their first time in the elimination room proves the black team’s not the brightest group. From her starting weight of 330 pounds, Jennifer has lost 102 pounds to 228 pounds today.

And I just realized The X Factor is on tonight. What the hell, Fox?

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

The Amazing Race 19 Episode 5

After falling apart on the detour, Liz & Marie were non-eliminated in The Amazing Race 19 Episode 4.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Andy & Tommy – 10:07AM
Second: Justin & Jennifer – 11:01AM
Third: Jeremy & Sandy – 11:44AM
Fourth: Laurence & Zac – 11:45AM
Fifth: Ernie & Cindy – 11:52AM
Sixth: Amani & Marcus – 11:53AM
Seventh: Bill & Cathi – 12:22PM
Eighth: Liz & Marie – 1:35PM

Laurence wants to be the boss of his team because he’s older. Ernie wonders why the scholarly Cindy loves him.

After taking a taxi ride, teams will have to ride elephants up the river. An interesting form of transportation, but not the fastest one.

The road block will lead them to a waterfall and a Thai flautist, and they’ll have to search a pool for a clue. Seems simple enough.

Road block (in order of arrival): Andy, Justin, Sandy, Laurence, Marcus, Cindy, Cathi, Marie

From there, they will head to a local shop and disassemble a spirit house and deliver the pieces to a temple.

The second road block requires them to reassemble their spirit house as they found it. The person who did not do the other one will have to do this one, which looks more complicated. The problem here is they need to have paid attention upon arrival initially.

Road block (in order of arrival): Tommy, Jennifer, Zac, Jeremy, Ernie, Amani, Bill, Liz

Before they can do the road block, Liz & Marie have a speed bump to perform. In addition to being over an hour behind the last place team (and 3.5 hours behind the leaders) already, it looks like they’re sticking in or around Thailand for this leg. Their speed bump is to wash and clean up after their elephants.

Not having paid attention, Tommy has to take a ride back to the place where they got the house. I don’t think he will be alone in that. Justin & Jennifer have a plan: use their driver’s camera and take a picture before they disassemble it. Cheap but within the rules of the race. Sandy & Jeremy take notes. Laurence vetoes Zac’s suggestion of doing the same. When he gets to the road block, Zac realizes he needs to take notes, and his father blames him. After all, Laurence would have been able to do this without taking notes. Ass. Marcus & Amani also take notes. Ernie’s in a bit of a hurry, overruling Cindy’s desire to study. Therein lies the difference in that relationship. The trailing two teams take notes.

After getting ripped off by the local cab drivers, teams will now travel 550 miles by bus to Bangkok. A 13 hour bus ride with an early morning arrival presents an equalizer for most, but still does not look sufficient for the twins to catch up. With no money to spare, Liz & Marie give the driver all they have, which he agrees to accept, and then drives them to meet up with the bus that took off but stopped ahead.

First bus (departs at 4:30PM): Andy & Tommy, Justin & Jennifer, Jeremy & Sandy
Second bus (first class departs at 4:30PM): Laurence & Zac
Third bus (departs at 5:30PM): Amani & Marcus, Bill & Cathi
Fourth bus (express bus, departs at 5:30PM, arrives first): Ernie & Cindy
Fifth bus (departs at 8:00PM): Laurence & Zac
Sixth bus: Liz & Marie

Zac asks whether a first class bus is a problem. His father again disregards his concerns. After they leave, Zac again speaks up, and this time Laurence listens, so they have to run 3 miles back to the bus terminal. By that time, the other buses are already leaving. Just about any penalty would be better than the 2.5 hours they just lost.

Upon arrival in Bangkok, they will feed the fish at the Bangkok Noi Canal. Once the fish feeding is done, they’ll head to the next pit stop. Really? Just a bus trip and then done? Farewell, twins. In addition to the fact that they have no prayer, they also have no money, and are told they’re 5 hours walking distance away from their destination. So they’ll walk because unlike the producers of this show who felt stripping people of their money was appropriate for years, they feel guilty asking poor people for money. Granted, there’s always the tourists at the bus station. Or perhaps a kind taxi driver willing to give them a free ride, which is what they opt to do. A second cab driver also gives them a free ride to the pit stop.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is M.R. Kukrit Heritage Home. It seemed like Ernie & Cindy had this in the bag, but they made the mistake of hopping out of their cab. Meanwhile, for what must be hours, Jeremy & Sandy struggle to get to the location, which allows Laurence & Zac to pass them, at which time Phil tells them the first class travel rule only applies to air travel.

First: Amani & Marcus (win a trip to Bali)
Second: Bill & Cathi
Third: Ernie & Cindy
Fourth: Justin & Jennifer
Fifth: Andy & Tommy
Sixth: Laurence & Zac
Seventh: Jeremy & Sandy
Eliminated: Liz & Marie

As the last team to arrive for a second leg in a row, Liz & Marie have been eliminated.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 19 Episode 6, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

Survivor: South Pacific Episode 6

Remember when Ozzy had control of the game? Me neither. But what little control he did have went up in smoke in Survivor: South Pacific Episode 5 when the tribe once again took out the girl he was hoping to be his main ally, Elyse.

Ozzy tells his tribe that he’s on his own and a free agent. That should work out for you about as well as your last two very poor attempts at winning this show. He also tells the tribe he’s got the idol. Like the idol twist that he got so stupidly wrapped up in during his first season, he’s pinning all his hopes in redemption.

Jim is pleased with Ozzy’s hissy fit. It shouldn’t be very hard to get rid of him now.

Brandon gets a clue to the hidden immunity idol. Coach and Albert let him think the idol is still up for grabs. Coach withholds information and then lies, but he’s still playing honorably. I don’t care if you’re going to lie. Just be honest about it.

Before the duel, Christine starts crying. Oh, not this again. Feel free to throw the challenge and head to Ponderosa if it’s that bad. In the meantime, blink once if you’re being held there against your will. Twice if an almighty deity is the one holding you hostage. The duel is shuffleboard. After a couple shots, Christine gives her tribe the finger. She is the first to score, then Elyse ties it at 1. Christine takes the 2-1 lead. Elyse knocks herself off to give Christine the 3-1 lead. Elyse makes it 3-2. Then ties it 3-3. Christine wins her fourth duel. In her words, unfortunately.

Coach wants to get rid of Mikayla next rather than Edna, who’s not part of the alliance but is part of his alliance.

So after pouting for a day, Ozzy realizes he’s a big baby and has no choice but to try to work with somebody on his tribe.

For the challenge, they will assemble a wheelbarrow, push it through obstacles, and use it to collect coconuts. The remaining tribe members will take the wheelbarrow apart and use the pieces to build a slingshot and fire coconuts at targets. Reward is a visit to the sliding rocks, a natural waterslide, for a picnic. Edna sits out for Upolu. Both tribes assemble their wheelbarrows at the same time, but Upolu takes the lead when Ozzy and Dawn can’t figure out how to steer. As Savaii continues to struggle, Upolu takes the 1-0 lead. Savaii finally builds their slingshot and ties it 1-1, and Coach wants Mikayla to quit. Upolu takes the 2-1 lead. Savaii ties it 2-2, and Coach again asks Mikayla to sit out. Upolu retakes the lead. Savaii ties it 3-3 and then takes the lead with 2 more points as Jim and Keith continue to perform well. Savaii wins immunity and reward.

Now that the challenge is over, Coach has a new plan. He wants to get rid of Mikayla. Oh wait. That’s the old plan. The explanation, however, is new. She was not coachable in the challenge. I didn’t realize coaching somebody meant telling them to quit repeatedly.

Albert believes he can get Coach to change his mind about the vote and get rid of Edna instead. He wants to get rid of the weak link and also the smarter player who Coach thinks he’s controlling. Even Brandon says he wants to keep Mikayla but won’t because he’s going to keep his word.

This leaves Coach, Brandon, and Edna on one side and Albert, Sophie, and Mikayla on the other, making Rick the deciding vote.

Those who want to vote for Edna argue that loyalty is more important than strength for after the merge; those who want to vote for Mikayla argue that strength is more important to get to the merge with numbers.

Next up, Brandon’s mouth. First, if people are going to vote against loyalty, go ahead and vote him out tonight. Good idea. Second, he doesn’t trust either Mikayla or Edna. He wants to get rid of Mikayla, but he’s going to keep his word. To an extent, I can appreciate his word meaning something, but does anybody really want to be allied with a guy who says everything he thinks?

Votes
Mikayla
Edna
Mikayla
Edna
Mikayla
Edna
Mikayla

By a vote of 4-3, Mikayla has been voted off the island.

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

The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 5

As the blue team fell below the line again in The Biggest Loser 12 Episode 4, Bonnie case the sole vote to eliminate Mike.

In other news, I see that X Factor is on again tonight. C’mon, Fox. How do you expect this show to gain any traction when you can’t pick a schedule? MLB’s on when X Factor is supposed to be on (and my Tivo tapes the wrong thing). X Factor’s on when MLB is supposed to be on (and my Tivo doesn’t tape anything). I don’t know. Maybe X Factor’s not really on right now, but I don’t care enough to check. Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, sometimes an hour, sometimes two, sometimes 90 minutes. I await your 38 minute Friday night special showing.

One person will get to go home this week. The trip home comes with immunity, making the prize actually worthwhile. But there’s a catch. That person’s weight will be the only weight to count for the whole team. In addition, the trainer will go with them, leaving the team to fend for themselves. Playing with fire there.

The challenge is dumb luck. By order of weight loss percentage, they will put their name on a board. Then a chip is released from the top of the Plinko board, and whoever’s name it hits is the winner, for lack of a better term. John hopes to avoid the prize, as he realizes the winner may end up losing. Joe doesn’t want to win it either. Sunny, however, hopes to win. Vinny and Bonnie do as well. Sunny wins. As the person with the lowest percentage of weight loss on her team so far, this is probably not good news for them, although the good thing is that she’s still among the top six with her four team members (only Ramon is up there with them). Bob warns her this is not a vacation.

With that in mind, he hopes to beat her down at the gym. She falls off the treadmill. Good. He wanted her on the ground anyway. Having four other people there with you at least gives you somewhere to hide. Nowhere to hide this week. During their time at the gym, she remembers thinking she was being laughed at by people in her exercise class.

Rather than going to the donut shop with her son when she’s driving him to school in the morning, she has a different idea. Time for a Subway commercial.

The challenge is to run through a string maze with glasses and put the remaining liquid in the cylinder on the other side. The blue team’s goal line is half as high since they have half the players. Every person on the winning team will be able to send one person to The Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge.

In addition to the challenge, we get a reminder of the dangers of soda. The glasses they carry are 20 ounces and are filled with orange soda containing the equivalent of 17 teaspoons of sugar. Joe says he drank 8-10 cans of soda a day. 1200-1500 calories right there, not too far shy of the total amount he actually needs. If he were to drink water or at least diet soda instead, he could cut out a large chunk of calories and not miss it.

We already know the blue team’s going to place last, as Bonnie provides some comic relief even to herself. After she collapses, the comedy turns to drama (and of course a commercial break), but she’s fine. Red team starts off with a bit of a lead and keeps it to finally win a challenge. Ramon will send his sister to the resort. Courtney will as well.

Sunny’s family brings her to dinner at a BBQ restaurant. Bob’s going to have to figure out how to order as healthy as possible. Sunny learns a lesson here. You can’t eat BBQ every night. Oh. Then they make Bob ride a bull and put on a cowboy hat.

Earlier in the season, Sunny was complaining that she didn’t fit in with the team. Now it’s Jennifer’s turn.

Then we go to Dolvett. He doesn’t want his team to laugh. Ever apparently.

Over on the blue team, Bonnie’s getting tired of Anna. Feel free to leave then.

Bob grew up on a farm in Tennessee, where Miley Cyrus and all the Montanas are from. Last chance workout will incorporate that farm life, complete with 110 degree weather (but it’s a dry heat).

At the weigh in, the only number that really matters is Sunny’s. Oh, and Bonnie hates Anna because being pushed makes her angry. Bob supports his fellow trainer because she’s right.

Vinny: 372 pounds (-10, 2.62%)
Jessica: 213 pounds (-6, 2.74%)
Ramon: 304 pounds (-7, 2.25%)
Courtney: 231 pounds (-6, 2.53%)
Red Total: 1120 pounds (-29, 2.52%)

Bonnie: 229 pounds (-4, 1.72%)
Becky: 204 pounds (-8, 3.77%)
Blue Total: 433 pounds (-12, 2.70%)

John: 354 pounds (-12, 3.28%)
Jennifer: 274 pounds (-8, 2.84%)
Joe: 294 pounds (-7, 2.33%)
Antone: 377 pounds (-4, 1.05%)
Sunny: 227 pounds (-14, 5.81%)
Black Total: 1526 pounds (-45, 2.86%)

Following Sunny’s massive weight loss (that puts her in second place for the season), both as a team and with the twist, the black team wins their fourth weigh in straight. That puts the red team in danger. They were all pretty even, but Jessica, who would have been the easiest to eliminate, is narrowly granted immunity from tonight’s vote. The logical move here is the elimination of Courtney. Vinny seems the most willing to go home, albeit the least ready physically.

Votes
Jessica: Courtney
Courtney: Vinny
Vinny (following an annoying rant that just keeps going): Courtney
Ramon: Courtney

With 3 votes, Courtney is not The Biggest Loser. From her starting weight of 270 pounds, she is down 65 pounds to 205 today. She wants to be able to pay it forward with her sister.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 6, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.