American Idol Season 10 Episode 22

The week after making the stupid decision to sing a Nirvana song, Casey found himself at the bottom in American Idol Season 10 Episode 21, but the judges decided to use their save to bail him out. Let’s just hope he’s done “taking risks.” Tonight the top 11 sing songs from Elton John.

Scotty McCreery
Song: Country Comfort (what, you expected not country?)
Steven: Nothing I can say…
Jennifer: Amazing instincts.
Randy: Seasoned so fast. Felt like I was at your concert.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-01

Naima Adedapo
Song: I’m Still Standing (as a reggae song complete with bad Jamaican accent… what the bloody hell is this?)
Jennifer: Not sure this song was suited for that. Better idea than payoff.
Randy: Kinda corny.
Steven: Good for you for picking a song that fits you.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-02

Paul McDonald
Song: Rocket Man
Randy: Couple little pitchy things but a very infectious quiet tender voice.
Steven: I like the character where you sometimes hit a note and sometimes you don’t.
Jennifer: Holding back a bit.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-03

Pia Toscano
Song: Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me (a ballad… good, stick to your guns)
Steven: Some people might have been wrong up here when we asked you not to sing ballads any more. That’s what you are.
Jennifer: Felt you more than I have before.
Randy: You’ve sung a ballad every time, and you slayed them every time. Just trying to get you to switch your gears. Heard some Whitney, Mariah in there.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-04

Stefano Langone
Song: Tiny Dancer (not Tony Danza)
Jennifer: Felt like you moved the crowd today.
Randy: Right on when you hit the high notes.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-05

Lauren Alaina
Song: Candle in the Wind
Randy: One of the greatest Lauren Alaina performances. Very nice, very sensitive, very pro.
Steven: Perfect. Beautiful.
Jennifer: First time everybody got to hear what we heard the first time we saw you.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-06

James Durbin
Song: Saturday Night’s Alright
Steven: Really good rock voice.
Jennifer: Think I’m at a show. Full performance of a great song by a great artist.
Randy: Great, great, great performance.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-07

Thia Megia
Song: Daniel
Jennifer: Really beautiful. Very well suited for your voice.
Randy: People can hear your beautiful voice but didn’t like that it was very safe. (News flash for Randy: she did up tempo last week, and it resulted in her being in the bottom three.)
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-08

Casey Abrams
Song: Your Song
Randy: So nice and so tender.
Jennifer: Proved why we saved you.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-09

Jacob Lusk
Song: Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word
Steven: First half of that song blew me away.
Jennifer: Made it your own. That last note, you don’t see that every day.
Randy: First half was brilliant. Pick one spot to go all the way, like Pia does.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-10

Haley Reinhart
Song: Benny and the Jets
Jennifer: That was it. It all came together.
Randy: Best performance of the night.
Steven: You sing sexy.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-11

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of American Idol Season 10 Episode 23, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on Fox.

Survivor: Redemption Island Episode 7

Unable to overcome her link to Russell in Survivor: Redemption Island Episode 6 Stephanie was not entirely surprisingly voted out.

David’s the first crack to have formed within the so-called alliance of six, having joined Stephanie to vote out Sarita, who he doesn’t like because she didn’t want him to do the puzzle at a challenge.

Stephanie’s already annoying Matt by talking too much. One way or another, they’ll be apart soon enough.

Phillip will be going to the duel, so Boston Rob wants to go with him as the babysitter. David and Ralph also go. The duel is a memory game to find 5 matching pairs of tiles. Somehow, Matt gets the very first tiles correct. He is not alone. Stephanie, too, gets a match completely at random. Matt takes the 2-1 lead. Stephanie botches the chance to tie. Matt takes the 3-1 lead. Stephanie makes it 3-2. Matt takes the 4-2 lead. Stephanie makes it 4-3. Matt misses the opportunity to win. Then Stephanie completely screws up as well. Matt wins 5-3. I’d rather see Stephanie win because she’s far more interesting, but kudos to Matt for his fifth win in a row.

Before departing, Stephanie tells Ralph that Sarita’s their weakest link, and she tells Rob to watch his back and not trust anybody from her tribe.

Phillip asks whether they want to withhold the information, but Rob says no. So once Rob tells the story, he’s able to tell them that Phil wanted to hide what they knew.

Meanwhile, David has become public enemy number 1, seeing as no more of Russell’s people remain.

Ralph says that it doesn’t take smart to win this game. That would be good news for him then.

Not content with merely being hated by everybody on his tribe, Phillip gets into yet another argument. He really wants the crispy rice. Too bad he ain’t getting it no matter how much of a tantrum he throws.

Both tribes will race through a series of obstacles to collect bags of balls, all six of which will be shot into a basket. Reward is a helicopter ride to a picnic on the edge of an active volcano. The tribes are about even through the hay. Ometepe has the first bag of balls as Sarita struggles. As Phillip stumbles, we’re back roughly even, and David manages to gain the lead on the second bag. Rob continues to have to push Phillip through the course. Zapatera’s still in the lead with their final bag, two brick walls ahead. Ometepe is the first to score. Grant then takes the 2-0 lead. Grant scores again for the 3-1 lead. Then it’s tied at 3. Zapatera retakes the lead and goes up 5-3. 5-4 as Grant scores again. Grant hits his fifth basket. And another. Ometepe wins immunity and reward.

For the time being, Phillip doesn’t hate his tribe any more. Once again, Rob gets the clue. This time he decides to just chuck it into the volcano.

As soon as David took over for Sarita in the challenge, the tribe not only recovered but took over the lead. Will they dangle the carrot of the weakest challenge person going home in front of us? Strangely, Sarita herself says she’s not sure she wants to lose the puzzle maker. I’m not entirely clear where this concept of him being the puzzle guy came from.

This tribe has just been ridiculously stupid when it comes to future planning, refusing to get rid of their weakest players while throwing a challenge on purpose. Granted, now is probably a good time to be thinking about the merge, whereas the past few episodes were just too early.

Probst says their problem is lack of unity. Ralph doesn’t even know the meaning of the word cohesive, literally.

Votes
Sarita
David
David
Sarita
Sarita
Sarita

Well, that was different. With 4 votes, Sarita, who didn’t even pack, has been voted off the island. In her place is someone who nobody trusts, an episode before the merge.

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

The Biggest Loser Season 11 Episode 13

Yet another person offered to leave the competition, as Justin was eliminated in The Biggest Loser Season 11 Episode 12. I grow tired of this lovefest.

Kaylee tries to explain her very poor attempt at throwing the weigh in, and now she wants to stick around. Why?

There were 11 teams when the season started. Or were there 12? Vance and his mother Leann are the white team. In order to get into the game, they need to beat Kaylee’s number of 25.32% lost.

Vance: 349 pounds (-30, 7.92%)
Leann: 270 pounds (-45, 14.29%)

Neither of them are allowed to be on the ranch. Well, that was completely pointless.

Two members of each team will hold a board and balance two balls on that board. They will have to transport 10 across the field. The team that places last will spend the week off campus. Where? The team that comes in first in this pop challenge will win a 1 minute advantage at the challenge this week. Green team takes the lead and is up 6-4 over the blue and black teams. Then 8-6 over black. Black team finally ties it at 8. Blue and red teams are out of it. Black team takes the 9-8 lead, then green ties them. Green team wins the challenge, closely followed by black. Blue and red are now tied at 6. Blue team wins or at least they don’t lose. Red team will be going somewhere that’s else for the week.

When they arrive at their mystery location, Courtney and Jennifer are given $1,000 for their budget. They get a menu of options and 15 minutes to choose. They’re up to $1050 after their first calculations, which includes such luxuries as $100 on massages and $200 on phone calls home, both a great big waste if they’re as disciplined as they should be. Rather than cutting those out, though, their focus is eliminating the $200 on having Brett come there for the day. Courtney bites her tongue and agrees to make this cut. Their $1,000 breaks down as follows:

Groceries: $300 (the cheapest food option)
Gym memberships: $300
Phone calls, $100 per hour: $200
Massages: $100
Dining out: $50
Unused: $50

Would have been better off taking Brett over the phone calls or the massages/restaurant. Or if you really want to waste money on phone calls, drop it to $100 and eliminate one of the other two things.

Moses doesn’t care for cardio. He misses boxing. Jillian is happy to oblige. It certainly doesn’t hurt to love the exercise you’re doing, but as far as I’m concerned, suck it up. You aren’t always going to love what you have to eat or the exercises you have to do.

Happy to have an Olympian on his team, Bob wants to prove to Rulon that he can do a handstand. He can.

To celebrate Easter, first we have to talk about the movie Hop. Anyway, the contestants will embark on the mother of all Easter egg hunts. There are 5000 eggs in the field, presumably 1250 for each team. They will have to collect 600 eggs in their color to win (400 for the red team). Each team that finishes will get to see an advanced screening of Hop, while the winning team will get tickets to the world premiere. Additionally, the person who finds the golden egg will get a prize worth its weight in gold.

The green team won a 1 minute head start at the pop challenge. This gets them off to a sizeable lead, about double their nearest competitor. Black team’s focus is the golden egg. Blue team’s largely focused on this as well. Olivia is the one to get it. In what turns out to be a close race, the green team beats the red team by seconds. As for Olivia, her prize is the only vote, as long as the blue team does not lose the weigh in.

With Olivia’s power, it’s clear that Hannah is safe. For the sake of team harmony, I don’t see her taking out Moses’ daughter either, so Kaylee should be fine unless she wants to quit again. If the red team drops, one’s safe, and the other is not. So that narrows things down to Rulon, Jay, Austin, and Ken, likely to be further narrowed down by whoever that team’s Biggest Loser this week is. All things considered, the options are pretty limited.

Olivia: 176 pounds (-4, 2.22%)
Irene: 170 pounds (-3, 1.73%)
Moses: 293 pounds (-7, 2.14%)
Blue Total: 639 pounds (-14, 2.14%)

Ken: 257 pounds (-6, 2.28%)
Austin: 265 pounds (-7,2.57%)
Kaylee: 169 pounds (-5, 2.87%)
Green Total: 691 pounds (-18, 2.54%)

Jay: 276 pounds (-6, 2.13%)
Rulon: 325 pounds (-5, 1.52%)
Hannah: 172 (no change)
Black Total: 773 pounds (-11, 1.40%)

Jillian calls Rulon out after the weigh in. He’s not sticking to his diet. Granted, the diet in this house is quite strict, enough to make anyone fall off the wagon, although Jillian does seem to have a more open mind than some of the trainers. I’m not entirely opposed to it seeing as he’s still going in the right direction, but he’s endangering his chances of remaining in the house, particularly in a week where one false move means sudden death. Meanwhile, Hannah lost nothing, knowing she’s safe. I don’t get it. Even if she’s not going home, her team going down to two is of no benefit to her.

Courtney: 232 pounds (-2, 0.85%)
Jen: 187 pounds (no change)
Red Total: 419 pounds (-2, 0.48%)

This saves Olivia from having to take out the gold medalist. As the smallest loser on her team of two, Jen has been eliminated. She said she’s learned a lesson that they still have to rely on their trainers at this point, but when all’s said and done, putting aside the fact that the menu decisions they made were really stupid, I don’t see one training session making up 4 pounds. From her starting weight of 278 pounds, Jen is now down 105 pounds to 173.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 11 Episode 14, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Celebrity Apprentice 4 Episode 4

After losing as project manager in The Celebrity Apprentice 4 Episode 3, Niki Taylor pretty much threw in the towel, refusing to blame anybody else, in spite of having the support of her team (Dionne Warwick notwithstanding).

Gary Busey is convinced he’s a good leader, no matter what his team thinks. He believes his win vindicates his claims, in spite of the fact that he still doesn’t know what the task was about.

The task is to create a 30 second commercial for ACN’s videophone. 450 representatives will vote based on creativity and originality, company brand messaging, and integration of the videophone.

NeNe Leakes will be the project manager for the women; Lil John will be the project manager for the men.

Dionne’s concept is to be the star of the video, and she will be communicating with an engineer elsewhere about her studio performance. After meeting with the execs, that concept that everybody loved is now dead because it lacks emotion.

Jose wants to know from the executives whether they can communicate with aliens. Apparently, there are people on his planet he’s missing. Instead, they will be going with someone calling their grandson, who’s getting hitched to a guy. Jose’s fine with playing the gay guy. John Rich isn’t onboard with this non-traditional relationship. He justifies what seems like homophobia by saying the potential market is too small.

The women have a deaf person on their team, in case you weren’t bashed over the head with that fact yet. So they will be doing a commercial in which one of the people is deaf.

Hope is not comfortable with making the presentation because she doesn’t think she’s strong enough with Powerpoint. So what does she want to do? Go get props. Meanwhile, La Toya will be there to fill space because she can’t see. It seems LASIK does that to you. So her job is to keep time.

Gary will play the grandfather in the commercial. He’s an actor, so we’re told. Now their task is to minimize his ability to distract everybody around him.

Having returned from the prop house, Dionne doesn’t want anybody giving her any input into how to arrange furniture.

The men have decided not to tell Ivanka what they’re doing.

As the women head over to the editor, NeNe wants everybody there, even though she plans to just utilize herself and Marlee. Dionne opts to leave and go to bed. Her excuse is that she’s old. Somehow, although he’s disappointed with Dionne for doing this, Don Jr. partially blames NeNe for it.

The women got the message from the execs, and they have managed to create an emotional commercial. Taking a risk, the men don’t have much emotion, but they do have a funny video that people are actually going to remember and could go viral.

Star’s a very professional presenter, but she doesn’t know how to work the room like Lil Jon does.

The voters thought both presentations were fantastic and that neither team should lose.

Richard says Lil Jon was the best. Meat Loaf and Mark McGrath agree.

Meat Loaf says nobody was weak, and there was nothing but trust. During this discussion, NeNe starts crying, out of nowhere.

Dionne says NeNe was superb. Star agrees, and so does Marlee.

The love session soon ends with Dionne, yet again. She doesn’t understand what she did wrong when she went to sleep early. Now over to you, Star. La Toya and Hope are her targets. La Toya says she did what was asked of her, which was not much.

By a vote of 53%-47%, the men have won. Very close result, and both teams did a great job. That said, the men at least worked well together, whereas the women continue to come apart at the seams, regardless of whether they created a good product. Lil John will be receiving $20,000 from Trump and $20,000 from ACN for his charity, The United Methodist Children’s Home.

Star doesn’t like that La Toya and Hope are followers, not leaders. In response, Trump doesn’t believe they should be taking control, since they are not the project managers. Marlee says they could do without La Toya. Rather than joining the bandwagon, NeNe says Dionne. Hope agrees. Dionne does, too. Works for me.

After badgering her about it for a while, Donald Trump grants the wish. Dionne has been fired. Proving it was the right decision, Dionne calls NeNe a coward when she leaves. Way to keep your head held high.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Celebrity Apprentice 4 Episode 5, which airs Sunday at 9/8c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 18 Episode 6

Kent & Vyxsin’s atrocious performance for two days in a row proved to be irrelevant in The Amazing Race 18 Episode 5, as Jaime & Cara were eliminated following a road block that they struggled with.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Jet & Cord – 2:14PM
Second: Gary & Mallory – 2:16PM
Third: Margie & Luke – 2:48PM
Fourth: Kisha & Jen – 3:43PM
Fifth: Kent & Vyxsin – 3:52PM
Sixth: Flight Time & Big Easy – 3:59PM
Seventh: Ron & Christina – 4:09PM
Eighth: Zev & Justin – 4:10PM

We’re staying in China. Yeah, it’s like the Family Edition, in China. At Jin Fu Yi Zhan Tea Shop, teams will take place in a traditional tea tasting. What they are not told is that the tea they are drinking will appear during a challenge later in this leg. Zev says that stop was pointless.

After they are teased with some tea, they are told they will be flying 900 miles to Kolkata, India (what’s up with all these Indian cities changing their names?). Is that good news or bad? Everybody’s on the same flight, and they’re going to set up camp and wait until 10AM for the task to begin.

The road block brings us back to that tea tasting that’s not so pointless any more, or at least it seems somewhat less pointless. Kolkata is the place where Chinese tea comes to India and Indian tea goes to China. Their task will be to find the papaya mango tea amongst hundreds of cups.

Road block: Kent, Jet, Mallory, Luke, Flight Time, Kisha, Ron, Zev

Ron is very quickly correct, making it appear that perhaps this is not as difficult as it may have appeared. After 6 or 7 cups, Jet finally gets the trick: you have to smell the tea. Everybody else has an alternate strategy. They just keep drinking and hoping that they don’t get water intoxication. Zev seems to think smashing cups will help. By the time two teams are remaining, Flight Time says this is the hardest thing he’s ever done, but they made a pact they’re not going to lose by taking a penalty again. Once he gets it, Luke breaks down crying, as he still seems to cope with difficulty the same as he did the last time they raced.

Continuing with this trend, teams will now find the Tiward Tea Stall for their next clue, and they are told this on the caps of their bottles of tea. Jen & Kisha wander around trying to find the place where they make Snapple. This strategy gets them somewhat in the right area it seems. After more aimless wandering, they finally decide to open their tea. Lucky for them, they were the third ones out of the road block.

The detour is a choice between Hindu art or Bengali literature. In Hindu art, teams must paint, dress, and adorn a statue of a Hindu god. In Bengali literature, they will have to deliver 8 stacks of books in a rickshaw with the words “school van” by providing directions to their driver. Attention to detail task sounds easier than navigating a city of 15 million. The good news, however, is that India has the second largest English speaking population in the world, making it fairly easy to communicate with the locals.

Hindu art: Kent & Vyxsin, Ron & Christina, Kisha & Jen, Flight Time & Big Easy, Margie & Luke
Bengali literature: Gary & Mallory, Zev & Justin, Jet & Cord

Regardless of what happens here, it seems the road block has already determined the leg, although the delivery task proves to be much easier and will rearrange the order some.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is the Fountain of Joy.

First: Gary & Mallory (win 1 million rupees, or over $20,000)
Second: Jet & Cord
Third: Ron & Christina
Fourth: Zev & Justin
Fifth: Kent & Vyxsin
Sixth: Kisha & Jen
Seventh: Flight Time & Big Easy
Eliminated: Margie & Luke

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 18 Episode 7, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

American Idol Season 10 Episode 21

The top 11 performed in American Idol Season 10 Episode 20. Tonight one more will go home, bringing us down to the top 10 contestants, who will go on to the tour.

The judges offered up criticism last night for the sake of merely offering up some criticism, except for Steven, who thinks everything is beautiful and basically just says “I agree with Randy.” Stefano closes his eyes while he sings, so they made him distractingly try to keep his eyes forced open, unsuccessfully. Two words: toothpicks. Pia’s awesome singing fell on deaf ears because they want her to move. Perhaps next week she can take some African dancing lessons and they will be happy, or they’ll bash her for pushing the envelope too far and not knowing who she is.

Regardless, everybody did well. So with that in mind, we pretty much have to go with what we know. Based on the last few weeks, it would be a safe bet that Haley and Naima will be heading to the bottom three again.

Lauren Alaina, Pia Toscano, and Scotty McCreery are up first. Of the three, Lauren’s the only one in any real danger, no matter how much Seacrest wants to Punk them. They are all safe.

Paul McDonald and James Durbin are next. As much as I’d like to think Paul will end up in the bottom three, he won’t, and obviously neither will James.

Jacob Lusk, Thia Megia, and Stefano Langone are next. Jacob’s obviously safe. I could see either of the other two being in slight danger. Thia and Stefano are both in the bottom three. I guess this is what happens when you follow the bad advice to focus on keeping your eyes open or sing an up tempo song that doesn’t do anything for you.

Haley Reinhart, Naima Adedapo, and Casey Abrams are the last trio. I don’t get Casey, but he should be safe. That would leave one of the other two lucky to be alive and not in the bottom three for a change. Naima is safe. Casey is in the bottom three.

So the bottom three are Stefano, Casey, and Thia. What the? I’d have seen any of them as merely having an outside chance of getting the bottom, let alone one of them going home. America’s keeping me on my toes here. Thia is safe. That puts Casey in danger. I knew he screwed himself over with that Nirvana song but didn’t think it was quite this bad. That said, he’s a good candidate for the judges’ save. He has indeed been saved. As a result, everybody remaining will go on tour.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of American Idol Season 10 Episode 22, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on Fox.

American Idol Season 10 Episode 20

Karen Rodriguez was voted out in American Idol Season 10 Episode 19. Tonight the top 11 sing Motown.

Casey Abrams
Song: I Heard It Through the Grapevine by Marvin Gaye
Steven: Perfect entertainer.
Jennifer: Nobody like you.
Randy: Whatever the song is, do you.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-01

Thia Megia
Song: Heatwave by Martha & The Vandellas
Jennifer: Great to see you let loose like that.
Randy: This new thing is a good thing. You can really sing.
Steven: (I have nothing original/useful to contribute, again.)
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-02

Jacob Lusk
Song: You’re All I Need to Get By by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
Randy: The great Berry Gordy is somewhere saying oh my God.
Jennifer: You moved me. You moved us.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-03

Lauren Alaina
Song: You Keep Me Hanging On by The Supremes
Steven: I don’t think you listen to anybody about anything, and I like that.
Jennifer: So much attitude.
Randy: Swagger on high. Ready.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-04

Stefano Langone
Song: Hello by Lionel Richie
Jennifer: Amazing. But want you to connect.
Randy: Definitely got the pipes. One of the better singers we have.
Steven: Just gotta pull back a little bit.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-05

This “open your eyes” ridiculousness is lost on me. It felt awkward watching him try to force his eyes open. I’d rather have him focus on something else.

Haley Reinhart
Song: You Really Got a Hold on Me by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
Randy: Started a little rough, but the Haley we fell in love with came roaring back by the middle.
Steven: That was beautiful. (Just like every other performance tonight that I have referred to as beautiful, so basically every other performance. Please buy me a thesaurus for Christmas.) Been looking for that since the first time I heard you.
Jennifer: Maybe the most soulful voice of anybody in the competition.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-06

Scotty McCreery
Song: For Once in My Life by Stevie Wonder
Steven: That was beautiful. Took a big chance. I loved it.
Jennifer: Great version of this song. Not your strongest vocal performance.
Randy: Smiling the whole time. Young lady killer.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-07

Pia Toscano
Song: All in Love Is Fair by Stevie Wonder
Jennifer: Again you kill us. Amazing vocals, beauty/image, feeling. Need to add more to your performance.
Randy: Phenomenal. Hit the notes dead on. Too many ballads.
Steven: Closest star in this American Idol universe. Beautiful.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-08

Paul McDonald
Song: Tracks of My Tears by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
Randy: Distinctive different kind of voice. Kinda took it to a cool kinda Paul kinda Rod Stewarty kinda place.
Jennifer: Most seasoned performer. Just need a good producer.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-09

Ryan points out that Randy has not said pitchy all night. But Steven has made up for it with his abuse of the word beautiful.

Naima Adedapo
Song: Dancing in the Streets by Martha & The Vandellas
Steven: That’s a beautiful thing. The whole package. You were beautiful.
Jennifer: First little goose bumps of the night.
Randy: Finally all of Naima showed up.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-10

James Durbin
Song: Livin for the City by Stevie Wonder
Jennifer: Serious business. Incredible thing to watch.
Randy: A little bit rough start but unbelievable when you finally hit your stride.
Steven: Great. Incredible voice. Perfect for your voice.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of American Idol Season 10 Episode 21, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on Fox.

Survivor: Redemption Island Episode 6

In a thoroughly anticlimactic show, one of Russell’s two allies (in this case Krista) was the next to be booted in Survivor: Redemption Island Episode 5.

Steve got some votes. Stephanie tries to be delicate when telling him he’s a weak link.

While the others are busy or at least pretend to be busy, Natalie and Ashley decide to have a spa day. If there were a Survivor After Dark, I’m sure we’d see bikini waxing.

Andrea & Natalie and Julie & Mike go to Redemption Island to watch the duel between Matt and Krista. For the duel, they will retrieve three bags with a grapling hook, then they will use a ball to solve a table maze. Krista’s first toss nets her a bag. Matt’s second toss makes it one each. Krista’s second toss is successful as well. Matt follows this with his second bag. Krista grabs her third and final bag. This hardly seemed challenging. Matt’s fourth toss gets him to the puzzle. Eventually, Matt overtakes Krista on the puzzle. Krista seems to be more interested in peeking at what Matt’s doing than concentrating, and her ball falls in the hole. Matt wins his fourth challenge in a row.

She hands him her luxury item on the way out, her bible. That’s the extent of what we get, but it does lead to some interesting jealousy from Andrea, who doesn’t like that he bonded with another girl so quickly.

Sarita says she has a cavity with bacteria in it. Seeing as David doesn’t like her, he hopes her complaining will help Stephanie move up a spot.

Phillip wants these young girls to work harder (and/or at all), while Boston Rob and Grant realize they’re not going to do anything anyway, so making waves with them won’t do any good. Rob’s perfectly content if they do nothing because that’s one more reason to vote for him at the end.

Stephanie apologizes to Steve if she hurt his feelings, and he buys it.

For today’s challenge, two members of each tribe will launch balls to the beach where the remaining tribe members will catch the balls. This is the opportunity Sarita needed to lose that tooth that’s been bothering her, but she will sit out for Zapatera. The winning tribe will go the mountains and enjoy a picnic lunch. David and Stephanie will launch the balls for Zapatera; Natalie and Phillip will launch the balls for Ometepe. Grant and Mike square off on the beach, Boston Rob and Steve go against each other, Julie and Andrea are in the back, and lastly Ralph takes on Ashley. Grant scores a point. Grant scores a second point. Grant scores a third point. Boston Rob steals one from Zapatera to take the 4-0 lead. Grant has finally decided to rip off his shirt so Mike will stop yanking it, a strategy that’s not working anyway. Grant scores again. Ometepe wins immunity and reward. Earlier in the season, I’d have thought this challenge favored Zapatera, but Grant easily beat Mike, Rob beat Steve, and Ralph couldn’t even outdo Ashley.

Rob spots another idol clue. He doesn’t want to take it, so he waits for someone else to notice. That someone else would be Grant. They go off to the side, but they are busted by Phillip. They show it to him, but he’s still upset that they have violated their “alliance” with him. He expects more respect. After all, he served his country for 4 years, 11 months, and 13 days.

There’s an outside chance Stephanie will not be going home tonight, a very outside chance. Sarita will not campaign for herself, but Stephanie will.

Ralph blames the shooters at the challenge for their loss. Sarita, however, can’t be blamed, seeing as she didn’t participate.

Votes
Sarita
Stephanie
Sarita
Stephanie
Stephanie (or Stifinie)
Stephanie

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

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