The Apprentice Season 10 Episode 10

Two people were sent home in The Apprentice Season 10 Episode 9. First, Anand was sent home for being an idiot, a cheat, and a liar. Then Poppy was eliminated for being too girly and not abrasive like her team members.

Brandy’s guard is up because she doesn’t trust her team members to not turn on her should things go south.

The net result of Poppy’s firing is that Liza and Stephanie are stuck on a team alone together. This is a perfect recipe for disaster, which is exactly what Trump wants.

As part of his reward, Clint has received a $5,000 gift card for Pier 1 Imports.

Today, the contestants will be working with AT&T and Flo TV. Their task is a 30 second TV commercial for AT&T Mobile TV. They will be judged on creativity, representing the brands well, and a clear and concise message.

Stephanie will be a project manager for her team; Steuart is the project manager for his team.

Stephanie’s concept is to shoot inside a sports arena and an office setting, putting people in situations they don’t want to be in and escaping through their TV. Liza suggests having a mom and her kids in the park as well, but Stephanie doesn’t care. Her philosophy is that she’s a one man show. Again. The problem with Stephanie is that she thinks she’s so great, but she just keeps sucking, so it just comes off as delusional. Liza is just her secretary for this task, and none of her ideas will be acknowledged.

Brandy is assigned to the presentation, Clint will handle the creative, and Steuart will do the editing. While in the bathroom, Clint comes up with a concept that he loves, which Steuart begrudgingly accepts because he doesn’t have any ideas. They will do an odd man out scenario, with one guy who doesn’t know what’s going on because he does not have Flo TV.

Liza is unable to find any type of sporting location or any type of office location, so their photographer/director is just standing around staring at them. I bet she would have no problem finding a park. This leaves Stephanie scrambling to create a makeshift office, and she’s trying to deal with a photographer who doesn’t seem to like her. Can’t imagine why.

Clint has decided he has to be the star of the commercial, the odd man out. He talks about how many hats he has to wear, although that could have been limited some if he didn’t insist on the camera time. They are shooting in multiple locations, which may put them in something of a time crunch, but at least they have picked sensible locations that are easy to nail down.

Back to Stephanie and her stupid location ideas. There are no sports stadiums available. Therefore, they are stuck doing an indoor sports stadium complete with a backdrop that looks fake. Rather than switch to a more sensible location, she insists on running with what she has, no matter how long it takes to modify it. Her director calls her work the high school version. Don Jr. sees that Stephanie has sidelined Liza, which means that Stephanie will get most of the credit or most of the blame.

After he’s done acting, Clint wants to retain control of the task, but Steuart wants to go with the original plan, which is him handling the editing. As the night winds to a close, Steuart doesn’t feel great, but he doesn’t have any choice but to go with what they have because it’s way too late to do anything about it.

Liza and Stephanie have 27 seconds already with their office scene, so they make a decision together (how unusual) to just scrap the lame indoor outdoor sports scene. That said, Liza doesn’t like the office scene either. Then Stephanie complains in her confessional that Liza doesn’t know how to work as a team. Wait. Liza doesn’t know how to work as a team? I thought it was Stephanie who started off as a dictator unwilling to listen to Liza.

Although Brandy may have nailed her presentation the first time with the fashion show, she hasn’t delivered in her two efforts since then, and is now fumbling over her words. On the other hand, Stephanie delivers a decent presentation.

The executives liked the production value of Stephanie’s commercial, whereas they thought the other team did a good job of product message and where it could be bought (in spite of Clint’s thoroughly cheesy acting).

Stephanie wanted to prove that she could manage a task and get along with Liza. She also wanted to prove that she doesn’t lie. She and Liza got along really well in this task. Really? Liza agrees. Huh? I guess their definition of getting along is biting their tongues to avoid a shouting match, which it seemed they did a fair job of.

Trump doesn’t get the whole concept of showing an office setting. He doesn’t want his employees watching TV during a boardroom. Stephanie blames lack of props for how this turned out and, hence, Liza.

The judges liked Stephanie’s/Liza’s presentation and energy. However, the premise was flawed, lacking common sense. It also took too long to get to the brand, about 18 seconds into the commercial. Liza told Stephanie they should have the brand in the beginning, but that idea was vetoed.

On the other side, the executives loved that they put the brand up front, the creativity, and the reasons they provided for why the product would be a worthwhile purchase, as well as where it could be bought. They disliked that it was a bit campy and the inconsistent brand messaging (to be fair, I’m confused whose brand is supposed to be getting promoted based on all the names being thrown around anyway).

Clint, Brandy, and Steuart easily win. For his reward, Steuart will be meeting with Cathie Black of Hearst magazines.

Stephanie felt as though she was a team of one, which happened because she designed it to happen that way.

Steuart starts yelling at the TV. He’s as tired of Stephanie as I am.

The office setting concept they originally discussed was modified, which Liza found surprising in the editing room because she was out getting props and had no idea what was going on. As much as Stephanie wants to blame Liza for her prop shopping, Stephanie’s failure to communicate with her about the changes wouldn’t have left her with the knowledge of any necessary prop changes anyway.

Don Jr. says that Liza didn’t contribute very much, but ultimately she was not allowed to contribute anything either. Granted, even her prop shopping left something to be desired.

Although Trump is not happy with Liza either, Stephanie is fired. In her cab ride, Stephanie takes one final opportunity to call Liza incompetent. Good riddance. Can’t even leave with a shred of class.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Apprentice Season 10 Episode 11, which airs Thursday at 10/9c on NBC.

Hell’s Kitchen Season 8 Episode 11

Trev may have been voted by the others as the weakest link in Hell’s Kitchen Season 8 Episode 10, but that didn’t prevent Ramsay from getting rid of Vinny instead.

Having received black jackets, everybody goes to bed happy. Except Trevor.

The first individual challenge is to create an amuse bouche to make a great first impression. They will be judged on presentation and taste. Each of the 5 judges will judge from a scale of 1-10 in both categories, for a maximum score of 100.

Gail’s sesame chicken spring roll looks good. She gets 44. They also enjoyed the taste, awarding her 43, for a total score of 87.

Sabrina has cooked smoked salmon, but mostly she just has a crush on one of the chefs, until she finds out he doesn’t like her presentation, resulting in the need to make fun of him and his Frenchness. Her presentation score is 35, which has eliminated her from the running. The garlic’s a bit much. 35 here as well, for a total of 70.

Jillian’s grilled pita bread and vegetables is called boring. She gets 32 for presentation and 33 for taste, for a total score of 65.

Nona has cooked shrimp and grits. Really? Her presentation gets a 34, and the taste is 33, for a total of 67.

Russell gets a perfect score of 50 for presentation. With his score of 50 for taste as well, he scores a perfect 100.

Unless Trev is perfect, Russell wins. We know Trev ain’t gonna be perfect. His odd looking frog legs get a 31 for presentation, and the taste also gets a 31, making him a last place 62.

Russell will be going out to lunch at LA Market for his reward, and he chooses Gail to go with him since she placed second. The others will prep and clean up. Trev uses this as an opportunity to continue with his anger.

Nona will do tableside service. Jillian would rather get rid of Trev instead.

Sabrina starts off with poorly cooked risotto. Gail’s scallops are not any better. Then Trev follows suit with his lobster spaghetti. This leads to Russell offering to help for a change, which Trev declines, and then, in need of his 15 minutes of fame for the season, Scott begins yelling.

Sabrina and Russell get on Trev’s case for his refusal to keep counting down. This battle is going nowhere fast. Neither Sabrina nor Trev is going to work together, so Ramsay wants the entrees to begin. That doesn’t help. Gail’s fish is stuck to the pan.

Finally, the chefs are getting up to speed. That is until Sabrina’s salad gets rejected.

Next problem: Jillian’s salty mashed potatoes. Then Gail delivers watery salmon that’s supposed to be grilled, which is followed by Russell’s undercooked beef.

One more mistake, and they’re done. That mistake comes courteousy of Russell with his raw meat, and everybody can get out of the kitchen.

After having a service in which nobody was unscathed, they must all make nominations. Trev blames Sabrina. Russell blames apps, so he nominates Trev and Sabrina. Jillian agrees. Trev nominates Gail and Sabrina. Sabrina nominates Trev and Gail. In closing, Jillian says that she got no communication from Gail on fish, but Russell tells her she can’t change her vote. After Sabrina makes her pitch to Jillian, she decides to change her vote: Gail and Trev. The person who apparently hoped to not vote, Nona, will be the tiebreaker. We know she’ll pick Trev, and she’s been wanting to get rid of Sabrina for weeks, even when she didn’t do anything wrong.

Trev is the first nominee; Sabrina is the second nominee. That said, and in spite of the fact that she can’t stand Trev, Sabrina thinks Gail should go. A crying Sabrina is dismissed.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Hell’s Kitchen Season 8 Episode 12, which airs Wednesday at 9/8c on Fox.

Survivor: Nicaragua Episode 10

Losing his last life, Marty was voted out in Survivor: Nicaragua Episode 9.

In a move of sheer stupidity, they have decided to move everything around the fire. There’s a thin line between protecting the fire and creating an environment for an inferno.

Holly is aggressively pushing for the elimination of Brenda, who believes she’s the king of the hill (with Sash being her queen). Jane’s running with this as well. Benry, Fabio, and Dan have to know they need to shake things up. NaOnka’s willing to do whatever she has to do, whatever that may mean. Chase would rather get rid of Benry. I don’t know what purple Kelly thinks because I’m not entirely sure whether she even talks.

For the challenge, they will be divided into two teams of 5. Using 4 barrels, 2 planks, and 10 feet of rope, they must make their way across the beach to the finish platform without touching the ground. Reward will be a trip to the Cerro Negro, one of the most active volcanoes, for some pizza and brownies, complete with volcano surfing, a concept that seems entirely made up. Chase, Kelly, Jane, NaOnka and Fabio are on the blue team following the school yard picking, and they are going against Sash, Holly, Brenda, Dan, and Benry on the yellow team. Blue team’s leading, and as the yellow team is failing to get it together, they all fall anyway. Unless the blue team screws up, which it doesn’t appear is going to happen, they’re going to run away with this challenge. Blue team wins reward.

When they return to camp, the losing team is greeted by the same scene we saw in Survivor: Amazon when Butch became obsessed with firewood and started piling it everywhere… their camp has burned down, and along with it will go all their belongings. Although their shelter is fine (the tarp notwithstanding), they surrounded the fire with every chest they had, and every chest they had is now ash. One of the chests had all of their food in it. To add insult to injury, the fire that they were so worried about keeping going is now out.

Chase tells Kelly she never really talks. Yeah, I noticed her being the most invisible player in the history of the game.

Now it’s time for some strategy. As Fabio starts talking, NaOnka says he needs to go off to the side with her. I wouldn’t go anywhere with her if I were you, dude. She may well throw you off the volcano. Her actual motivation is to tell him that everybody wants to get rid of Brenda. That works for him.

Chase warns Brenda that Holly and Ben are working to get rid of her. His basis for this is solely about trusting her, whether it’s the smart move or not. Unless he’s got the votes lined up, he’s backing the wrong horse. He goes to NaOnka to say that Benry needs to go next. In turn, she tells Benry that Chase cannot be trusted, and then she says the same to Jane and Holly.

For the immunity challenge, they will stand on a platform over the water while holding on to a rope. Every 5 minutes, they will move their hands further down the rope. Sash is first out, followed by Kelly. Holly falls next. Then Brenda, and from there it doesn’t matter too much because the stars have aligned against her. Dan drops next, with Fabio behind him. NaOnka falls. This leaves three people left standing when they move to the second knot. Benry falls. At this point, Jane’s starting to struggle, while Chase looks like he’s doing just fine. However, it’s Chase that loses his grip, and Jane wins immunity. Although the editing would lead us to believe otherwise (because the story of Chase falling before Jane is more interesting), Chase says he did not fall but rather was disqualified for some unknown reason.

Sash, who also believes he’s in complete control of the game, has finally found out about the plan to get rid of Brenda. He can either join the majority, or he can be an idiot like Chase has been. Chase’s concern is that Brenda’s departure means he would be playing with people he doesn’t trust. That’s Survivor. He has a warning for Brenda that it’s a done deal, with NaOnka having flipped.

Brenda’s last hope is to get Sash’s idol, so they can blindside NaOnka. That would address the immediate concern of her going home right now, but it also puts a huge target on Sash, without doing anything to secure the numbers.

At tribal council, NaOnka is called out as the one to jump ship. NaOnka denies responsibility, which is fair because it’s not like she’s the only one flipping. The whole tribe has flipped, well, aside from a couple of idiots.

Brenda says that scrambling is not worthwhile, and she really doesn’t have an interest in doing so. She’ll just let the cards fall as they may.

Votes
Brenda
NaOnka
Benry
Brenda
Brenda
Brenda
Brenda

Comeuppance. I was growing tired of Sash and Brenda acting like they were Survivor gods. With 5 votes, Brenda has been voted off the island. As for that lone Benry vote? That was purple Kelly, who’s apparently the most clueless person in the tribe.

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

The Biggest Loser Season 10 Episode 9

With the split into duos in The Biggest Loser Season 10 Episode 8, Aaron and Jesse were eliminated.

Now, we head to singles.

Bob tells Brendan he’s surprised he voted for Jesse. He thought there wasn’t gonna be any kind of gameplay. What about the person who keeps saying she wants to go home?

Everybody gets surprised with videos from home. No catch. Except that Ada is the only one who does not receive one. They asked several times but never got a call back. Ada’s not too surprised by this lack of support.

Patrick’s wife has been inspired by him, and she has been losing weight along with him. Elizabeth’s mother, too, is on the path toward weight loss. Not to be outdone, Mark’s cousin has lost 65 pounds, which would be a competitive number even on the ranch. Frado’s daughter tells him she’ll run the last 10 miles together if he makes it to the final four.

After hearing about Ada not receiving a video, the other contestants decide to make a video for her themselves.

Elizabeth never had the chance to finish her 500 step challenge. So Jillian will give her that chance today. No time limit. Just a goal of not fainting.

They see a pool. Lisa’s excited. Ada, however, has been haunted by her brother’s death. It’s not a swimming challenge, just a balancing act. One platform will be pulled out from under them, and they will have to balance on one foot. The winner gets a 1 pound advantage.

Frado gets to pick first, and he chooses Jessica, who will have to balance for 5 seconds, which she does. Jessica chooses Brendan, who falls. For her second choice, Jessica chooses Frado, who is eliminated because his left foot touches. Jessica’s third choice is Patrick. Having survived the first round, Patrick picks Elizabeth, who thought she has great balance. She doesn’t, and she gets eliminated. Patrick’s next choice is non-swimmer Ada. That’s the end of round 1, and round 2 will bring 10 second challenges. Ada picks Patrick, who barely made 5 seconds. His concern was warranted, as he falls. Ada’s next choice is is Jessica, who touches the platform behind her with the back of her opposite heel. Ada’s third choice is Mark.

For a big guy, Mark doesn’t seem to have any trouble, and he selects Lisa. A shaky Lisa chooses Mark because she can’t pick her girl, in spite of Mark’s protests about being fair. Mark returns the favor to Lisa. Back to Mark. Then Lisa. Up to 15 seconds. Then 20 seconds. The back and forth continues. Round 5 and 25 seconds. With Mark and Lisa going after each other, one of them’s going to give eventually, and that is Lisa. Now Ada’s back in the competition. She hangs on for about 17 seconds with much struggling, then she finally falls. Mark wins the challenge.

Jillian takes the contestants to Subway for a sandwich competition for a $500 gift card. They will be judged on taste and calories, to be decided by the others. Frado picks Jessica’s sandwich. Jessica and Mark vote for Patrick. Patrick votes for Lisa. Lisa votes for Patrick. Ada votes for Lisa, and so do Elizabeth and Brendan. With her 250 calorie turkey and veggie sandwich (the lowest of the bunch) and 4 votes, Lisa wins the free sandwiches.

When he walks into the last chance workout, Bob calls out Elizabeth’s name. She will be his focus for the workout because he’s tired of her just getting by.

At the weigh in, Alison points out that, after last week’s departure of two men, it’s now 4 men against 4 women. Not that the women are doing any better. They have just stopped dropping like flies as the men take out their biggest threats.

Mark: 309 pounds (-8, -1, 2.84%)
Patrick: 301 pounds (-10, 3.22%)
Frado: 267 pounds (-9, 3.26%) – 100 pounds lost
Brendan: 272 pounds (-8, 2.86%)
Elizabeth: 201 pounds (-4, 1.95%)
Jessica: 227 pounds (-1, 0.44%)
Lisa: 228 pounds (-6, 2.56%) – first time as an individual above the yellow line
Ada: 190 pounds (-8, 4.04%)

Jessica pretty much threw in the towel this week, saying she struggled following Jesse’s departure. She has failed to figure out how to do this on her own so far. Elizabeth joins her below the yellow line, marking her 7th time out of 8 in that position. The boys are going to have to pick a new strategy this week whether they want to or not.

Votes
Brendan: Jessica
Frado: Jessica
Lisa: Jessica

Elizabeth continues to get saved by her relationships, rather than her effort. With 3 votes, Jessica is not The Biggest Loser. From her starting weight of 282 pounds, Jessica is now down to 200 pounds.

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

The Amazing Race 17 Episode 8

In a slightly less predictable outcome, Michael & Kevin were eliminated in The Amazing Race 17 Episode 7 after penalties resulting from failure to read their clues.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Nat & Kat – 1:06AM
Second: Brook & Claire – 1:28AM
Third: Nick & Vicki – 1:29AM
Fourth: Gary & Mallory – 1:46AM
Fifth: Jill & Thomas – 1:53AM
Sixth: Chad & Stephanie – 2:45AM (they’re sleeping, though)

Nat was worried about her diabetes, but things are going okay. Claire is just trying to keep up with Brook. Nick does not have any intention of meeting new people on the race, and doesn’t care how friendly (or unfriendly) he comes off.

From Russia, teams will fly more than 4,000 miles to Muscat, Oman, where their first destination is Bura Al Mubkharah. Considering where they’re going, my assumption was that everybody would be on the same flight. How many flights could there possibly be to Oman? But everybody has to go through a connecting airport, and that’s where it gets dicey.

Already behind by over an hour, Chad & Stephanie sleep in 1 hour and 52 minutes past their start time. Lucky for them, they’re only about ten minutes behind the trailing teams, but they realize they’re in a downward spiral and not working together very well.

First flight via Amsterdam (arrives at 8:55PM): Nat & Kat, Brook & Claire
Second flight (arrives at 10:35PM): Nick & Vicki, Gary & Mallory, Jill & Thomas
Third flight (arrives at 10:45PM, but landing early): Chad & Stephanie

Upon landing, they will receive an ingot with an inscribed time, meaning first come, first served. They land in Oman at night, but it’s over 90 degrees and humid. Everybody’s going to be camping out for the night because they’ve got plenty of time to kill as they wait for the next morning.

7:30 – Nat & Kat, Brook & Claire
7:45 – Jill & Thomas, Chad & Stephanie
8:00 – Gary & Mallory, Nick & Vicki

Having recovered from their disaster of the evening before completely unscathed, Chad & Stephanie are now 15 minutes ahead of two teams. Perhaps now things are turning around. In spite all of the mean-spirited bickering, Chad still wants to marry her, so he proposes that morning before the task begins.

Gary & Mallory are relying on their map. Nick, however, feels that asking locals is a much better idea than reading a map. There’s potentially a flaw in each philosophy. Combining the two would be smarter. Eventually, realizing the map has led them astray, in spite of praying to God, Gary & Mallory decide to give up on it and just ask the locals.

When she stops and asks for directions, Vicki gets what she needs, then passes it on to Brook & Claire. Nick’s response is that he’s going to go home the next time she talks to anybody from another team. Good. Go home then. He hates people. I get it. At least be civil with your partner.

The road block for this leg of the race is to rappel 500 feet off Jabal Shams, the tallest mountain in Oman, and from there they must search hundreds of lamps for one containing a magic ring. Even those without a fear of heights find themselves getting nervous, except for Vicki who’s up for this kind of stuff more than anyone else on the race.

When they finally arrive, Mallory says they have been driving for almost 9 hours. I think that about spills the results of the episode right there then.

Road block (in order of arrival): Chad, Jill, Vicki, Claire, Kat, Mallory

After completing the road block, Nick & Vicki find out that one of their tires is leaking, and they have a flat. Time for another temper tantrum from Nick, although at least he knows what he’s doing and has a spare, so it’s not as bad as his whining would suggest.

From there, they will drive themselves to Nizwa to a giant stack of books. Well, I guess it’s easy to spot.

The detour is a choice between water table or wedding table. In water table, teams pump water from an ancient well, fill up a water truck, and take the truck to a designated house for delivery. Their driver is there only to drive, based on the directions they give him. In wedding table, they will go to an Arab market, purchase 25 frozen chickens and other ingredients for a traditional wedding soup, and present the soup to the bride and groom. This second task has no takers.

Everybody is having success with locals who not only are helpful but also speak decent English. Somehow, Jill & Thomas even stumble into the cousin of the guy they’re delivering water to, a clear sign the lead is theirs for the taking.

Water table: Chad & Stephanie, Jill & Thomas, Brook & Claire, Nick & Vicki, Nat & Kat, Gary & Mallory

Teams will now drive themselves to Muttrah Souq, a market where their task will be to search for Ali Baba.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Al Alam Palace. At this point, the only question is finish order of the first five teams because we know who’s going to be last. Although Gary & Mallory do get a glimmer of hope when they see Nat & Kat drive by, no amount of editing will make me believe they can come from behind. Nat & Kat must have screwed up pretty badly to make it this close, though.

Jill & Thomas arrive first. However, they have incurred a 30 minute penalty for paying a taxi driver to lead them to the pit stop. Must be a new rule. If teams are wise about their spending and have enough to pay a taxi, that should be an option available to them. It’s not as if it’s a no risk proposition, as we’ve seen plenty of times where taxi drivers lead people astray.

First: Chad & Stephanie (win a trip to Belize)
Second: Jill & Thomas
Third: Nick & Vicki
Fourth: Brook & Claire
Fifth: Nat & Kat
Eliminated: Gary & Mallory

As the last team to arrive, Gary & Mallory have been eliminated from the race. They ran a pretty decent race but just had one bad leg.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 17 Episode 9 There’s a Lot of Nuts and Bullets, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Apprentice Season 10 Episode 9

Having sort of redeemed himself somewhat the week before, David finally met his demise in The Apprentice Season 10 Episode 8.

Trump calls everybody back into the boardroom. He’s been given disturbing news that Anand has been text messaging people telling them to bring in money. Anand denies doing this, which would be a clear violation of the rules, and Donald Trump’s the only one allowed to cheat on this show. Just for clarification, he’s saying he did not do anything wrong? Correct. Would he like Trump to read him a text message? After hearing the text message read aloud, Anand comes clean. How honorable of him.

Now that he’s sitting in the boardroom facing Trump, he crossed the line. But otherwise, he didn’t?

Anand, you’re fired. Fair choice. No need to keep a cheater and a liar around.

Stephanie’s got her fingers crossed that Liza does not get put on her team. Request denied.

The teams will be designing and constructing an in-store display for Kim Kardashian’s fragrance. They will then go to work at Perfumania.

Clint will be the project manager for his team; Poppy steps up for her team.

Stephanie says that Poppy has no business experience, and Liza has no brains, so she’s with dumb and dumber. Oh, a task in which Stephanie thinks she’s the genius. Again.

The women have decided to go with a life sized Kim Kardashian that people can get their pictures taken with. Poppy wants to do lots of bedazzling, which Liza fears will look cheap.

The other team, lacking much in the way of girl power, hopes they can lean on Brandy. No such luck. She says she’s not as feminine as the other women in the process. Her realization is that, since they’re asking her for her approval on everything, she’s going to be blamed if they lose.

At her own request, Liza stays behind to do construction, while the other two head off to do some shopping and graphic design. Convenient for everybody. Liza fears that the stuff they’ve bought is tacky and not at all representative of Kim Kardashian.

The boys are thrilled with their display case. Brandy’s not overly convinced, but she’s going to have to live with it.

As a surprise to both teams, Kim Kardashian is there, and she will be helping make the decision as to who will win. Knowing this, Poppy takes the opportunity to overdo the compliments.

Clint believes the backlit acrylic made their project a winner, and because of that, Steuart was the star of the team. Brandy, however, was disappointing because she is the team’s female.

Steuart says Brandy was good, and Clint was great.

Poppy has compliments for both her teammates, but she will not offer an answer as to who did better.

Liza thinks the other team did a great job. Not so fast to compliment, Brandy says the other team’s project looks like arts and crafts, and Clint chimes in that it looks cheap.

The judges felt Poppy’s team’s display looked cheap, juvenile, and unsophisticated. On the other hand, for the other team, they loved the clean lines and elegance and the sophisticated and understated look. Obviously, Clint’s team wins. For his reward, Clint will be meeting with the head of Starwood Hotels.

Poppy came up with the sequins and the boas, which Trump calls a bad idea.

Why should Stephanie be fired? Because she backed the idea. Not a convincing argument.

Liza agrees with the judges. The idea was fantastic, but it didn’t look good.

Poppy needed to separate Liza and Stephanie. Yeah, no kidding.

The only thing the judges liked was that a photo could be taken with the life sized Kim. Whose idea was it? Stephanie’s. Except not if you ask Liza. She thinks it was a team effort. No, wait, maybe it was Poppy’s idea. Whoever’s idea it was, it was not Stephanie’s.

Ivanka wants Poppy to chime in. However, Poppy does not like to talk over people, particularly with two people already shouting at each other. Good luck lasting in a Trump boardroom. Typically, the loudest person is viewed as the most entertaining, and, hence, safe. Poppy is not overly sure whose idea this was, but she’s willing to take credit if that’s what Liza is saying. Regardless, her argument is that she did a great job leading, as she prevented conflict between Stephanie and Liza.

Poppy would fire Stephanie because she supported her. What is she hoping to accomplish by saying this?

Whatever the case, the tacky aspects of the task were Poppy’s ideas, and she is fired. Following her departure from the show, Poppy is now doing stem cell research, working to solve problems with muscular distrophy.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Apprentice Season 10 Episode 10, which airs Thursday at 10/9c on NBC.

The Vampire Diaries Season 2 Episode 9

Elena’s kidnapping led to everybody meeting Elijah, one of the original vampires, in The Vampire Diaries Season 2 Episode 8. They ended up killing Elijah, or at least that’s what they thought. Elena’s kidnapper, Rose, is now on their side, apparently.

Rose’s story is that Klaus, the oldest vampire in the history of time, is the one who wants Elena dead.

Elena’s plan is simple. She’s going to go ask for help from her murderous lying doppelganger. Alone. With offerings of some family keepsakes and a bottle of blood, Elena pries information out of Katherine. She first met Klaus when she fled to England, abandoning Bulgaria because she got throwed out. Klaus wants the same thing from Elena that he wanted from Katherine, to kill her. The curse was bound with Petrova blood, and the doppelganger was created as a way to undo the curse.

It was in England where Katherine met Rose and Trevor, who decided to save her because he loved her, whether that meant Klaus was going to kill him instead or not. Trevor’s hope was to run until he died, which he pretty much did. If Elena doesn’t want to die, she has another choice, turning herself into a vampire like Katherine did.

Bonnie runs into a new guy at school while Jeremy’s hitting on her. Luca’s father knew some Bennetts when he was doing his residency in Massachusetts. Does she have any family in Salem? Luca and his father are witches, too, or at least they’re warlocks.

Damon and Rose go to meet Slater, the guy who hooked her up with Elijah. So how do you get in touch with the oldest vampire there is? Craigslist. Whatever useful information Slater may have is irrelevant because Elijah breaks up their party before he can really be of much help.

Elena knows she’s not the only thing needed to break the curse. There’s the moonstone, a werewolf (Tyler), a witch to do the spell (Bonnie), and a vampire (Caroline). Better that they die than Katherine.

If a vampire breaks the curse, werewolves are stuck with the curse of the moon, and vice versa for the vampires and sun. The race is on to do it first.

Katherine has saved the best part of her story for last. Klaus killed her entire family. If Elena’s plan is to run, he will hunt down her friends, family, and anyone she’s ever loved. Meanwhile, Katherine, who happens to have the moonstone in her hand, is the safest one of all of them. No vampire would be stupid enough to go into the tomb.

Rose and Damon have decided that the smart move would be for the two of them to hook up.

In her breakdown, Elena says that everything that’s going wrong is because of her. Quite overdramatic.

Slater wants no part in any of this, but he did some digging. They can destroy the curse, but they need the moonstone and a witch. Luckily, as a guy who’s been going to college since ’74, Slater has a degree in theater, so he pulls off this convincing setup for Elijah. Somehow, Elijah can compel other vampires. He can even compel them into killing themselves by driving a stake through their hearts, which he does to Slater. Then out from the other room walks Luca’s father.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Vampire Diaries Season 2 Episode 10, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on The CW.

Hell’s Kitchen Season 8 Episode 10

Following a terrible service in Hell’s Kitchen Season 8 Episode 9, Rob was sent home.

Russell’s angry. Yeah, that’s new.

The next challenge is about communication and timing. Russell says they’re screwed because he’s the only one who communicates. If they’re to rely on his communication for this, they may as well quit now because his definition of communicating is yelling, without listening to a word. They will have 30 minutes to cook three dishes. Each person will get 5 minutes in the kitchen, and then they will have 15 seconds to communicate what’s been done to the next chef. Blue team will all go twice, while only two people on the red team will go twice, Sabrina and Jillian.

Sabrina apologizes for killing the lobster. Ariel, Ariel, save me.

Trev didn’t start the lobster, a fact that he has failed to mention to Vinny. Everything’s pretty well ready for Gail. All she has to do is put the salmon on. She doesn’t. On Trev’s second go, the lobster still hasn’t been started. Vinny, having 5 minutes left, decides to just poach the tail. Sabrina finally got the salmon Gail neglected in the oven. Jillian doesn’t really want to proceed, but she has no choice but to plate it with seconds left and hope for the best. Then she drops it after burning her hand.

A salmon dish without salmon isn’t going to win them any points. The men score a point.

The blue team has produced bland pasta, whereas the girls have seasoned theirs perfectly. That ties us at 1.

Trev also failed to communicate about the green beans, which aren’t cooked right. Same problem with Gail. That brings it down to the rest of the chicken dish, and the men finally win. The men get a cooking store shopping spree. The ladies will be dealing with delivery day. Had the salmon not been dropped, they would have won.

For the next dinner service, they will decide their own menus. Each team will come up with four appetizers, four entrees, and four desserts. Russell’s got ideas, but none of them are anything anybody wants to hear. Sabrina is having the same problem, as nobody has ever wanted to hear what she has to say.

Most of the chefs decide to go to bed early, but Trev and Vinny would rather stay up and drink. Just waiting for an excuse to do some more yelling, Russell comes down around 1:30 for the sole reason of doing just that. He finds them talking smack about him, although nothing they say is untrue.

Every customer will have the choice of ordering off the red menu or the blue. If it were me, I’d be going with the more interesting red menu. A pattern starts to form with the diners, who are all ordering red.

Nona’s risotto is undercooked. Not a good start, but her second try is good.

Blue kitchen is finally starting to get orders.

Russell gets his appetizers out, but Vinny forgets that he needs lamb for their current ticket. That lamb was for their VIP guest, the chef of the restaurant they ate at yesterday, who only ordered blue because they were with him. When Vinny delivers the lamb, it’s still not ready. For a change, Russell decides to be a team player, and he bails out Vinny. Only not so much. The chef is not happy with the food he receives.

Gail has no more luck on her first entree. Or her second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth tries at it.

Sabrina’s having trouble with hearing Ramsay, but her meat is cooked perfectly.

Vinny doesn’t want to deliver an undercooked bass. So much for that plan.

Effort number 7 from Gail is still no good. She can get out.

After the overall poor service, nobody wins. They can all think of one individual they do not think belongs in the final six. Russell nominates Vinny. Vinny nominates Sabrina. Jillian nominates Trev. Sabrina agrees. While Russell may be willing to turn on his teammates, the women are not. Trev nominates Sabrina. Gail nominates Trev. Nona falls in line.

Trev can step forward. He can take his jacket off because he needs to put the black one on. Another fake out nobody bought. Jillian is also in the final six. Nona as well. Russell, too. Sabrina joins them.

That brings us down to Vinny or Gail. I gotta go with Vinny here, but Ramsay disagrees. Vinny has been eliminated because they were backed up like never before, even though he didn’t get kicked out.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Hell’s Kitchen Season 8 Episode 11, which airs Wednesday at 9/8c on Fox.