The Amazing Race 12 Episode 2

The Amazing Race 12 episode 1 started off the way most seasons of TAR start off. Some of the weaker teams got a stronger than expected start, while a couple of the seemingly stronger teams fell behind, leading to a somewhat surprising, albeit welcome, first boot of Ari & Staella.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Azaria & Hendekea
Second: Kynt & Vyxsin
Third: TK & Rachel
Fourth: Lorena & Jason
Fifth: Nicolas & Donald
Sixth: Shana & Jennifer
Seventh: Ronald & Christina
Eighth: Kate & Pat
Ninth: Marianna & Julia
Tenth: Nathan & Jennifer

The next stop is Amsterdam, nearly 600 miles away. They’ll fly there and then take a train to find a bridge for their next clue. Kynt and Vyxsin say they’re happy being in the dark. Lorena and Jason are getting along… for now. Grandpa Donald is driving below the speed limit, driving his grandson crazy. One of the blondes is concerned about being an idiot. Kate & Pat are the first religious nuts who don’t believe God cares whether they win, so we won’t be stuck with more Weavers.

They arrive at the airport and have to wait around. Ronald & Christina and Kate & Pat get on the Internet and do some research, but in the process, Ronald gives Christina a hard time.

Azaria & Hendekea, Kynt & Vyxsin, TK & Rachel, Shana & Jennifer, Nathan & Jennifer, and Lorena & Jason get on the first flight to Dublin, where they will be able to get on the next flight to Amsterdam without any problems.

Nicolas & Donald, Kate & Pat, and Ronald & Christina must get on standby to get to Amsterdam. Nicolas is pushy and is made to stand aside at the ticket counter. Ronald takes issue with it and gives Nicolas grief. Nicolas just smiles at him and lets him talk. Only one of these teams are able to get on the first flight with the rest, Nicolas & Donald.

Marianna & Julia are left behind and don’t make the first flight, so they’re an hour and a half behind everybody else.

Azaria & Hendekea run onto the train and pay there. The others get tickets first and aren’t able to get on and must wait 10 minutes.

The detour is hunt it or hoist it. In hunt it, they search for two bikes with the color pattern that’s on the clue, normally an extremely frustrating concept. Hoist it is tying knots until they’re safe, then hosting things like TV sets to a window above them.

Hoist: TK & Rachel, Lorena & Jason, Shana & Jennifer, Kynt & Vyxsin, Nathan & Jennifer, Ronald & Christina (later switch to bikes)
Hunt: Azaria & Hendekea, Nicolas & Donald, Marianna & Julia, Kate & Pat

Lorena & Jason finish the detour first and make it look easy. Kynt & Vyxsin get done pretty easily, but the other two couples just argue with each other. Shana & Jennifer outdo most of the men hoisting the furniture. When Jennifer switches with Nathan and does the hoisting instead of him, they finished next. Hendekea & Azaria finish in 5th. TK finally gets it through his stubborn head and switches with Rachel, who like Jennifer is also able to do it where her partner failed. Nicolas & Donald are next. Christina’s already getting fed up with her father. It’s a fight for last between the last three teams. Marianna & Julia are 8th. Ronald & Christina are 9th. Kate & Pat are bringing up the rear.

We’re focusing on a pretty destructive dynamic for quite some time here between father and daughter Ronald & Christina. His theory that being polite to people apparently only applies to airline personnel. Other racers, including his own daughter, are fully exempt from that theory. He lets her know he’s not going to be all rosy and that she disappointed him. She asks him to change the fact that he’s hard on her.

The road block is ditch vaulting, where they will use a pole to successfully get across a 12 foot irrigation ditch. Jason finishes pretty quickly to retain their lead. Shana is next, followed by Jennifer who gets hateful about the all girl team that did it faster. Rachel finishes fourth, followed closely by Kynt. Donald says he thinks he can get across, which scares Nicolas, and then Donald strips down to his underwear, even more cause for being scared. Hendekea finishes sixth. Donald finally just barely gets across and is in seventh. Marianna & Julia finish quickly in eighth. Christina seems to be making some jumps just as well as the others, but they’re not counting. Ronald continues to give her a hard time. She finishes in 9th, and his immediate thought is that he could have done it better.

Teams must ride a bakfiet to the next pitstop.

First: Lorena & Jason (win sportbikes with three wheels)
Second: Nathan & Jennifer
Third: Shana & Jennifer
Fourth: Kynt & Vyxsin
Fifth: Azaria & Hendekea
Sixth: TK & Rachel
Seventh: Mariana & Julia
Eighth: Nicolas & Donald
Ninth: Ronald & Christina
Tenth: Kate & Pat (eliminated)

This is more like what I was expecting. The weak links settled down toward the bottom of the pack. Ronald seriously needs to snap out of it if he hopes to survive much longer.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race 12 episode 3, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Biggest Loser 4 Episode 9

In The Biggest Loser 4 Episode 8, we found out that, in addition to Neil’s weight gain, there were a couple other people who claimed to also be involved, but they just didn’t make it blatantly obvious. Isabeau whined nonstop about Neil’s actions, then she herself didn’t lose any weight on purpose. In the end, David was sent home.

This week is green week on The Biggest Loser. They’re all going to be doing some recycling, starting with their teams. They will be dropping down to duos. The challenge here isn’t a temptation, just a guessing game of how many calories are in a large meat pizza and a 32 ounce soda. Pizza’s deceptively high in calories (in addition to the 9 hour insulin spike it causes), so this can be an easy thing to underestimate. The person closest to the correct answer picks the first duo, then they both pick the second duo, then the next duo picks the third duo, then they pick the fourth duo, then there’s a last duo that’s stuck with each other.

Bill: 2145
Nicole: 3240
Kae: 2306
Julie: 2790
Hollie: 4079
Bryan: 3800
Amy: 4024
Isabeau: 3475
Ryan: 3460
Neil: 3496

Actual: 3253 calories

A high number, albeit lower than I would have expected. Nicole, who went with 3240, is the person who is closest. The teams are:

Nicole & Neil
Ryan & Isabeau
Julie & Bill
Hollie & Bryan
Kae & Amy

Neil wanted to protect Ryan but not too much. Isabeau wanted to pick a team that was an all black team. Julie and Bill wanted to protect Hollie. Kae got stuck with Amy, who was most vocal about sending her home, and wasn’t happy.

In keeping with the green week theme, they will not use machines that run on electricity this week.

While Kae’s out running, Amy’s on the couch sleeping. Bob immediately gets concerned about this pairing as well.

Kim’s upset because David’s gone, and she knows Bryan’s in serious danger. And to think just last week Jillian was going on and on about how the black team was being ganged up on. Kim’s very pleased with Bryan’s training but is frustrated with his nutrition. He’s only eating 1200 calories a day and three meals.

Kae’s concerns over her new partner continue to weigh on her. Bob decides to try to lighten the mood a bit, and he puts an X on her back.

Bob takes his team out of the gym and has them climb a huge hill instead. Jillian and Kim stay in the gym but just do things that don’t require electricity.

They show up at a challenge and are greeted by containers of food they used to eat a lot of, like 180 pizza boxes for Bill and Julie. Next to them are two trucks. What’s in the trucks is a much more shocking reality check. They are filled with the soda cans they used to go through. Not surprisingly, they all used to consume soda in excess, which is nothing but a bunch of empty calories. It’s 148,000 cans, which amounts to 2.6 tons and is a lifetime worth of cans for them. Of course, this can’t be done without being heavy on the lesson side, as it’s a reminder to them that next time they have a can they should find the nearest recycling bin. They are given half an hour to recycle their cans. Whoever recycles the most will win. The prize? Brand new hybrid SUV’s. Julie tells the story about how in order to become a stay-at-home mom, she had to get rid of a car. At the halfway mark, Bill & Julie are in first with 41 pounds. Kae & Amy, who are working as a team rather than each one individually, are in second at 40 pounds. Hollie & Bryan are at 35 pounds. Nicole & Neil are out of it at 22 pounds, with Isabeau and Ryan bringing up the rear at 20 pounds.

Isabeau & Ryan: 43.2 pounds
Neil & Nicole: 47.6 pounds
Hollie & Bryan: 75.4 pounds
Kae & Amy: 75.8 pounds
Bill & Julie: 98.4 pounds

Bill & Julie easily win the new vehicles. Black team has to drag Jillian down the hallway to see the prizes because she doesn’t want to know anything that doesn’t have to do with the weigh in. She’s impressed but still wants immunity.

Bryan expresses concern to Kim that he can’t eat when he’s full because that’s how he got fat to begin with. She tells him to just trust her.

Kae: 163 pounds (-5)
Amy: 245 pounds (-9)
Total: -14 pounds (3.32%)

Hollie: 212 pounds (-6)
Bryan: 278 pounds (-11)
Total: -17 pounds (3.35%)

Nicole: 229 pounds (-6)
Neil: 321 pounds (-18)
Total: -24 pounds (4.18%)

Last week, Neil’s 33 pound weight loss wasn’t particularly impressive since it was to be expected with the 17 pound weight gain the week before, but this week’s loss following that is very strong and puts him at the 100 pound mark, making him the 5th person in the show’s history to lose that much weight before going home.

Isabeau: 246 pounds (-9)
Ryan: 302 pounds (-6)
Total: -15 pounds (2.66%)

Bill: 242 pounds (-9)
Julie: 180 pounds (-6)
Total: -15 pounds (3.43%)

Despite Isabeau slacking last week, Isabeau and Ryan are below the yellow line, with Ryan putting up the lowest percentage of weight loss of anyone this week. Isabeau tells black team she trusts nobody, a slap in the face to the people who have been loyal to her all along.

Votes:
Kae & Amy: Ryan
Bryan & Hollie: Ryan
Neil & Nicole: Ryan

The fourth vote was probably for Ryan as well. Ryan returns home to his newborn baby. Today, Ryan weighs 265 pounds, down 109 pounds from his starting weight of 374.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Biggest Loser 4 episode 10, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

WGA Strike/Show Status

The networks were originally expecting to have shows continue airing into early next year, but with most hyphenates refusing to perform their non-writing duties, a lot of shows have been impacted earlier than anticipated, despite scripts waiting to be shot. It’ll be interesting to see the longer term consequences for these actions, particularly for the new shows that nobody seems to care about as it is or for returning shows that are fading, but for the time being, here’s the current status of various shows, thanks to LA Times. Keep in mind reality shows are not impacted by the strike and actually will probably be increasingly in demand as it goes on.

ABC
Big Shots – all 13 episodes
Boston Legal – 14 of 22 episodes
Brothers & Sisters – 11-12 of 23 episodes
Carpoolers – all 13 episodes
Cavemen – 12 of 13 episodes
Cashmere Mafia – Delayed due to strike
Desperate Housewives – 9 of 22 episodes
Dirty Sexy Money – 11 of 13 episodes
Eli Stone – all 13 episodes
Grey’s Anatomy – 11 of 22 episodes
Lost – 8 of 16 episodes
Men in Trees – 19 of 27 episodes
Private Practice – 4 episodes left
Pushing Daisies – 9 of 22 episodes
Samantha Who? – 8 episodes left
Ugly Betty – 13 of 24 episodes
Women’s Murder Club – 10 of 13 episodes

CBS
Big Bang Theory – 8-9 of 13 episodes
Cane – all 13 episodes
Criminal Minds – 11-12 of 22 episodes
CSI – 11-12 of 22 episodes
CSI: Miami – 13 of 24 episodes
CSI: NY – 13-14 of 22 episodes
How I Met Your Mother – 11 of 22 episodes
Jericho – all 7 episodes
Moonlight – 11-12 of 13 episodes
NCIS – 13 of 22 episodes
New Adventures of Old Christine – 8-9 of 13 episodes
Numb3rs – 12 of 22 episodes
Rules of Engagement – 9-10 of unknown episodes
Shark – 12 of 22 episodes
The Unit – 11 of 22 episodes
Two and a Half Men – 11 of 22 episodes

NBC
30 Rock – 10 of 22 episodes
Friday Night Lights – 15 of 22 episodes
Heroes – 11 of 24 episodes
Journeyman – 12 of 13 episodes
Law & Order SVU – 14 of 22 episodes
Medium – 9 of 22 episodes
My Name Is Earl – 13 of 22 episodes
The Office – In reruns in a week
Scrubs – 12 of 18 episodes

Fox
24 – Delayed due to strike
American Dad – 19 fresh episodes
Back to You – 9 of 24 episodes
Bones – 12 of 22 episodes
Family Guy – 14 fresh episodes
King of the Hill – 17 fresh episodes
K-Ville – 10 of 13 episodes
Prison Break – 13 of 22 episodes
The Simpsons – 17 fresh episodes

CW
Aliens in America – 17 of 22 episodes
Everybody Hates Chris – all 22 episodes
The Game – 10 of 22 episodes
Girlfriends – 10 of 22 episodes
Gossip Girl – 12 of 22 episodes
Life Is Wild – 12 of 13 episodes
One Tree Hill – 12 of 13 episodes
Reaper – all 13 episodes
Smallville – 12-14 of 22 episodes
Supernatural – 12-14 of 22 episodes

Daytime
Soaps will continue to run into the new year for ABC, CBS, and NBC. Ellen DeGeneres has returned. The View will continue uninterrupted.

Late Night
Mostly in reruns already. There is talk of guest hosts on some shows. Jimmy Kimmel will probably go into reruns but may do the show on his own. Nightline will remain in originals.

USA
Burn Notice – Production starts in January
In Plain Sight – Nearly wrapped
Law & Order: Criminal Intent – Second half of season will be impacted
Monk – Full second half of season
Psych – Full second half of season
Starter Wife – Production starts in March

Sci-Fi
Battlestar Galactica – 10 episodes and a two hour movie
Eureka – Will be impacted
Stargate Atlantis – Not expected to be impacted

FX
Dirt – Will be impacted
Nip/Tuck – 14 of 22 episodes
Rescue Me – Will be impacted
The Riches – 7 of 13 episodes
The Shield – Final season is written
Thirty Days – Not expected to be impacted

HBO
12 Miles of Bad Road – In production
In Treatment – Will not be impacted
True Blood – In production
The Wire – all episodes completed

Showtime
New Tracey Ullman series – all 5 episodes
The Tudors – 12 episodes completed

A Grip’s View of the Strike

From Dale Alexander, a key grip on The Office, via LA Times.

“Our show was shut down and we were all laid off this week. I’ve been watching the news since the WGA strike was announced and I have yet to see any coverage dedicated to the effect that this strike will have on the below the line employees.

“I respect the WGA’s position. They probably do deserve a larger percentage of profit participation, but a lengthy strike will affect more than just the writers and studios. On my show we had 14 writers. There were also 2 cameramen, 2 camera assistants, 4 hair stylists, 4 makeup artists, 7 wardrobe people, 4 grips, 4 electricians, 2 craft service, 4 props people, 6 construction, 1 medic, 3 art department, 5 set dressers, 3 sound men, 3 stand-ins, 2 set PAs, 4 assistant directors, 1 DGA trainee, 1 unit manager, 6 production office personnel, 3 casting people, 4 writers assistants, 1 script supervisor, 2 editors, 2 editors assistants, 3 post production personnel, 1 facilities manager, 8 drivers, 2 location managers, 3 accountants, 4 caterers and a producer who’s not a writer. All 102 of us are now out of work.

“I have been in the motion picture business for 33 years and have survived three major strikes. None of which have been by any of the below the line unions. During the 1988 WGA strike many of my friends lost their homes, cars and even spouses. Many actors are publicly backing the writers, some have even said that they would find a way to help pay bills for the striking writers. When the networks run out of new shows and they air repeats the writers will be paid residuals. The lowest paid writer in television makes roughly twice the salary than the below the line crewmember makes. Everyone should be paid their fair share, but does it have to be at the expense of the other 90% of the crewmembers. Nobody ever recoups from a strike, lost wages are just that, lost.

“We all know that the strike will be resolved. Eventually both sides will return to the bargaining table and make a deal. The only uncertainty is how many of our houses, livelihoods, college educations and retirement funds will pay for it.”

CSI: Season 8, Episode 6 – Who and What

Last week, the CSI team investigates the murder, which turned out to be an accident that was covered up by the production, of a horror queen, Weatherly Adams. This week, the CSI team is faced with multiple questions when they discover their case is part of the FBI’s 6-year-old serial killer unsolved case.

The episode starts with a lady playing a game board with a boy. Since the boy seems uninterested, the lady just leaves him in the living room as she takes a shower. A few minutes later, she hears the kid fall and shocked by a man that attacks her. The victim, Carmen Davis and the boy “Evan” were both left dead.

Greg and Catherine has been processing the crime scene for six hours. They receive a call from the FBI ordering them to stop, so as soon as Grissom came, the FBI lands down from the helicopter. Jack Malone introduces himself to Jim Brass, Grissom and the rest of the team. He discloses to them about a kidnapping that took place six years ago. The kid was kidnapped in the babysitter’s apartment, while the babysitter was left for dead and the FBI believes the dead kid is their missing kid.

Cath determines the murder weapon used is a hammer and Dr. Robbins confirms this by stating the cause of death – multiple blood force trauma – for both Evan and Carmen Davis. However, his examination also suggested that Carmen Davis was raped before she died.

At the crime scene, the team finds the vic’s ID on top of her credit card. However, Greg finds an empty jewelry box, while Stokes sees several pictures of Davis wearing jewelries. Warrick investigates around the desk and finds a list of poker player statistics (marking #273) and a laptop with several online gambling websites open.

Brown and Malone visits the nearest casino with poker competition to look for contestant #273. The man tries to run, but Malone catches him before he escapes. Brown obtains Tom Michaels’ finger prints and DNA while Malone interrogates him. Michaels admits that he listened to the voice inside his head rather than listening to Brother Willard, his spiritual adviser. Just as Malone gets pissed with Michaels, Brass stops the interrogation and a picture of the dead Evan falls. As it turns out, Tom Michaels was Evan’s father and Carmen Davis was his ex-girlfriend.

Wendy finds out that there were two semen donors from Carmen Davis – one from Tom Michaels and the other was listed in two unsolved cases in New York and Idaho.

At a jewelry store, the team finds Carmen’s missing jewelries. They acquired the video tape from the store to get a look at the suspect, but only a cap with Hartgreen Harvest logo was seen. At the nearest casino, they discovered the suspect wearing the same cap, but are still unable to get a clear picture.

Sarah finds herself in another crime scene when a bloody man asks for the neighborhood kids’ help.Sara and the police searches for the man’s house only to find his wife raped and dead, leaving the murder weapon (a hammer) behind and replaced it with a 45-auto gun. With the same crime scene patterns, such as the ID left above the credit card and covered raped victim, the CSI team links this crime scene with the first murder.

While Grissom and Sara was talking about the suspect, Grissom hears the sound of the railroad a few blocks away from the crime scene. He tells Malone that the two crime scenes were both near the rails and their killer is escaping through the railroad.

Stokes and Archie checks out the security cam from the South Point casino. Studies the suspect’s actions and sees that he was particularly attentive to a poster. They discovered that the suspect was calling information to get the home number and address of the waitress,Gina Ferantino. Unable to get what he wants, he gets pissed and smashes his hands on the phone booth.

Upon interviewing the manager of the casino, the team finds out that Gina met the suspect when he won 2,500 in the slot machines the day before. Stokes asks for the reward claim slip to get the suspect’s fingerprints.

The suspect, identified as Terry Lee Wicker, was once married to Gina Ferantino. A police car finds Ferantino’s car, but the suspect shoots him dead. When the team arrives, Grissom discovers that there is a railroad just 16 miles away from the latest crime scene.

As they arrive the railroad tracks, both Malone and Grissom searches the trains for Wicker. Unfortunately,Terry Wicker was smart enough to hire a homeless guy and pay him $100 to wear his cap and get on the train. Back at the railroad port, the team finds Ferantino’s car, where she was left dead in the compartment.

As it turns out, Terry Wicker visited Las Vegas for a reunion with his ex-wife and to pick up his kid (Coby) from school. The episode ends with Coby sitting in one of the trains while Terry Wicker sings to him.

Will the CSI team and FBI still catch this serial killer?

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of CSI: Las Vegas Season 8 episode 7, which airs Thursday at 9pm on CBS.

Watch CSI Online

Survivor South Africa: Malaysia Episode 12

I’m not sure whether Angie ever actually figured out which side she was on in Survivor South Africa: Malaysia episode 11, but in the end, she won immunity, so she was safe from everybody turning on her. Angela followed her buddy Hein out of the game.

Amanda hasn’t lost hope yet. She continues to scramble, questioning Lorette as to why the alleged alliance is really just Grant and Angie calling the shots, as it has been. At this point, for someone to take on the swing vote would be smart, as it’s final three rather than final four. Of course, there is the added danger of the jury being heavily stacked in Amanda’s favor, though a 5 person jury detracts from that. Lorette and Angie remain sick of each other. Now Mandla’s joining in. Angie hopes they’ll (continue to) be stupid enough to keep her around to honor their word.

Reward challenge is an interesting one. They will hang and support their own body weight while trying to remember a sequence of numbers. When all of them drop, they’ll then need to record those numbers. All of them will start the memory part of the challenge at the same time, so the longer they can hang on, the longer they will have to memorize and also the less time they will have to forget. Reward is a visit from family and friends. Mandla’s mom and sister, Angie’s friends, Lorette’s husband and best friend, Grant’s wife and best friend, and Amanda’s mom and sister are all there to greet them. And for some reason it’s sponsored by KFC. The winner will get a feast with their loved ones at camp.

Grant drops first, closely followed by Angie, Amanda, and then Lorette. A buff Mandla obviously hangs in the longest. Angie barely bothered to fill it out, not even making an effort to put something random. She’s first out. Amanda is out after another two numbers. Lorette is out after the first number of the second line. Grant’s next out, and Mandla wins reward. The thing about Mandla is that, despite how much of a physical threat he is, everybody’s so caught up in personality clashes they’re not even concerned about him. Everybody is happy to have someone new to talk with and seems to appreciate having Mandla’s family there.

The tribe has run out of rice and tapioca. Angie considers the hunt for new food sources a waste of energy. While they’re searching, Mandla says “I’ll let you into a secret” to Angie. Then he sees Lorette standing right there. So no secret is shared. Lorette gets (more) suspicious of Angie. In the process, Grant gets dragged into it. Angie ultimately shakes Lorette’s hand and promises to take her to the final four. Mandla offers his immunity idol to Lorette as a gesture to gain her trust, but she doesn’t want it.

The immunity challenge is called the abdominator. They are stretched out across a rack, hands on one set of bars, feet on another. After the first person drops out, they will move their hands one bar forward, then they will move their feet up further after the next person it out, then they will move their hands out further after the last. Grant’s out first. He is followed by Angie. Amanda goes to switch positions and drops down in the process, so she also is eliminated. Angie starts to root for Lorette during the challenge. Lorette asks Mandla to throw the challenge for her, and he does. A little too obviously, though, as Angie knows what happened.

Angie asks Mandla if he knows who he’s voting for. He says he hasn’t decided. She knows that means it’s between her and Amanda. Angie feels pretty safe because she got Lorette’s word, and she feels this is Survivor: Brady Bunch, where nobody wants to actually play the game.

Mandla uses the hidden idol because this is the last time he can use it.

Votes:
Amanda
Angie
Amanda
Angie
Angie

As much as I’ve disliked Angie, I was starting to like her. She and Grant may not exactly be playing the game well, but at least they’re playing, whereas Lorette and Mandla have just been along for the ride until now. Like he did with Lisa, Grant again found himself backing the wrong horse for too long.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Survivor South Africa: Malaysia episode 13, and don’t forget our continuing coverage of Survivor: China.