The Amazing Race 26 Episode 5

Weeks ago in The Amazing Race 26 Episode 4, the way behind everybody else with no chance of catching up Harley & Jonathan were eliminated.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Bergen & Kurt – 3:03PM
Second: Hayley & Blair – 3:06PM
Third: Aly & Steve – 3:12PM
Fourth: Laura & Tyler – 3:51PM
Fifth: Jeff & Jackie – 4:20PM
Sixth: Mike & Rochelle
Seventh: Jelani & Jenny
Eighth: Matt & Ashley

Jeff & Jackie and Laura & Tyler continue to get along, but Bergen & Kurt failed as a couple almost immediately while Jelani and Blair are having difficulty tolerating the hostility from their partners.

Teams must now fly more than 5000 miles to Munich, Germany. All teams are on the same flight.

Laura comes up with the idea to trade cars because she’s struggling with the driving, and in the process they leave their bag with presumably something important inside the previous car. The good news for them is that another team is bound to stumble upon it. Of course, they’ll have to wait around until that other team (Jeff & Jackie) shows up, though if they really wanted to be jerks the other team could guarantee their elimination by pretending they haven’t seen it.

They are not alone in this struggle. Have these people not seen this show before? You need to know how to drive stick. Bergen & Kurt eventually decide to forget about it, take a cab, and accept the penalty.

Meanwhile, Jeff & Jackie seem to be falling apart like all the other blind daters as she turns into a ranting lunatic. She tells him to shut up. He tries to tell her she doesn’t need to shut up, but eventually he agrees she should because she won’t stop for no apparent reason. Then there’s Hayley (or as Tyler calls her, the wicked witch of the west), who tells Blair he’s pissed her off to the point of no return. Like that’s difficult.

After getting dressed in lederhosen, they drive their Ford promotional vehicle to their next destination, a winter wonderland, where there task is to… promote Ford by driving in reverse. That leads them to a rowing task to retrieve the detour clue.

Here’s the catch for Bergen & Kurt. The challenge is they have to drive a car. They don’t have one. That means a 2 hour penalty.

Finally, Jeff & Jackie show up. They pretend they haven’t seen the fanny pack, but Laura & Tyler search their car and score what they were waiting for poorly hidden under the back seat. If you’re going to lie, lie better. Bergen & Kurt have one last hope remaining, the very lost and also unable to drive Mike & Rochelle, but by the time they leave, 45 minutes remain on the penalty.

The detour is a choice between stein or stack. In stein, teams must figure out how to carry 22 steins of beer all at once. In stack, teams must build a tower with a stack of 15 empty crates.

Stein: Aly & Steve, Matt & Ashley
Stack: Jeff & Jackie, Jelani & Jenny, Laura & Tyler, Hayley & Blair (switched from stein), Mike & Rochelle, Bergen & Kurt

This stein task seems silly easy watching the first team complete it, as Aly & Steve have no trouble at all. That result is misleading as she’s a lot tougher than most. And certainly less emotional than Hayley, who wants to switch to the other detour where they surprisingly start working together.

The road block requires teams to learn a wooing song in German. Failure means a bucket of water will be dumped on their heads.

Road block (in order of arrival): Aly, Ashley, Jackie, Jenny, Laura, Blair

This seems to be a pretty simple task, though Blair is the only one who does not get wet.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Lake Spitzingsee.

First: Aly & Steve (win a Ford Focus each)
Second: Matt & Ashley
Third: Jeff & Jackie
Fourth: Jelani & Jenny
Fifth: Hayley & Blair
Sixth: Laura & Tyler
Seventh: Mike & Rochelle
Eliminated: Bergen & Kurt

Bergen & Kurt screwed themselves by not making enough of an effort to either learn to drive prior to the race or trying harder during the race. Phil isn’t going to wait around for them any longer, and he greets them at the train station to eliminate them. Kurt is fine with them having given up. Bergen is disappointed, and I don’t think they’ll even be on each other’s Christmas card lists, let alone in a relationship.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race 26 Episode 6, which airs Friday at 8/7c on CBS.

Survivor: Worlds Apart Episode 7

The unstable Blue Collar tribe stuck together after throwing a challenge in Survivor: Worlds Apart Episode 6 and voted out Joaquin.

Now that Rodney’s bromance is gone, he’s probably not going to be quiet about it, though he claims he’ll be Mike’s bitch until the merge.

They walk to what they think is a challenge, but Jeff’s not there. They assume they have merged, and they have. Well, I guess Rodney’s relative silence won’t last long.

After getting excited about showing the others their camp, they find out there is no camp any more. They must build again as they did on the first day.

The Blue Collars were excited about the potential to control the game, but all it would take is for the other two tribes to get together to get rid of them. Rodney’s upset enough that blue isn’t looking like a great plan regardless.

Mike suggests a tribe name. Merica. Well. That could be the dumbest tribe name so far. Shirin, who just got done asking Dan if she should pee on his foot because he got stung by a jellyfish, is the voice of reason, picking on just how bad the name is.

Rodney was telling Mike that he wouldn’t have gotten stuck in some bromance. So to prove it, he plans to get rid of Mike as revenge.

The first individual immunity challenge is one of endurance in which they will hang on to poles. A Survivor classic, which has been won by a man 3 times and by a woman 3 times. Who it won’t be won by is the big guys. Dan drops immediately, and Will is right behind him. Tyler follows. Sierra, Shirin, and Kelly are next. They sure are dropping quickly. Half the people remain after 25 minutes. Mike drops, and Rodney is right behind him. Hali then falls, and so does the rain. After 55 minutes, the others are starting to weaken. Jenn is out. Carolyn follows. Joe wins immunity.

Joe would have been a good target, but he’s off the table now.

Hali’s name is spelled Hali? Apparently that was a thing in the 90s.

Jenn reveals to Hali that she has an idol. They have no way of knowing whether White Collar will really join them.

Before the vote, an uncertain Jenn plays her idol.

Votes
Hali
Jenn (does not count)
Jenn (does not count)
Jenn (does not count)
Jenn (does not count)
Jenn (does not count)
Jenn (does not count)
Jenn (does not count)
Kelly
Kelly
Kelly

That landslide of a vote does not bode well for her in the future, but Jenn lives another day. With 3 votes, Kelly has been voted off the island. For all his talk, Rodney remained loyal to Blue Collar.

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

Survivor: Worlds Apart Episode 6

Having let everyone know he was a “Survivor professor” throughout their time on the island, Max talked himself right out of the game and was eliminated in Survivor: Worlds Apart Episode 5. Being creepy and naked didn’t help him any.

Shirin thought she was in control of the game. Right up until the vote. Now she’s pretty sure she is all alone, but at least now she realizes that the correct strategy is not going to be being creepy and naked, too.

At the reward challenge, they will race up a tower and then launch sandbags at targets. Reward is food while watching a turtle migration. Dan sits out for Escameca. The physical part of the challenge starts off as can be expected with Escameca taking an early lead. Nagarote takes out the first target, but that advantage does not last for very long. After trailing, however, they make a comeback and win 6-5.

Sierra hates her old tribe again/still. So she connects with Joaquin, who lets her know she’s going to have to suck up to his new bromance Rodney. With Tyler, that gives them a foursome. She’s backed herself into the corner to a point where she doesn’t have a choice.

Rodney tells Mike about his plan. He wants to throw immunity so that they can get rid of Joe. This may also help to save Kelly, the lone Blue Collar member on the other side. Little do they know she’s not even a target.

This immunity challenge is a memory challenge in which they have to remember a series of objects in order. Any physical advantage is irrelevant here. Carolyn scores a point against Rodney. Hali takes the 2-0 lead against Sierra. Joe makes it 2-1 against Will. Dan ties it at 2 against Shirin. Mike and Kelly are both wrong. Then he tells her he’s throwing it, but she still can’t win. They reset back to 5 items instead of 6. Why is he being so blatant about helping her, not just throwing it but actually telling her what to do? In the end, Nagarote wins immunity as he had planned.

Now that he’s done as Rodney instructed, Mike has decided that he’s starting to not trust Rodney any more. He approaches Sierra to target Joaquin, who she said earlier she trusts most, seeing as they have been together for like a day.

Votes
Joe
Joaquin
Joe
Joaquin
Joe
Joaquin
Joaquin

With 4 votes, Joaquin has been voted off the island. Even after all that complaining about them that continued throughout Tribal Council, Sierra decided to return to her original tribe. I’m not sure that was the right move or the wrong move for her or, for that matter, if she even had a right move. As hot headed as Rodney is, if their goal was to split them up, he may have been the better vote.

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

Survivor: Worlds Apart Episode 5

As the Blue Collar tribe continued to argue, Lindsey was voted off the island in Survivor: Worlds Apart Episode 4.

Following the elimination of her closest ally in which she also received two votes, Sierra quickly drifts even further away from the rest of her tribe.

Now they can drop their buffs, bringing an early end to the twist as usual. Good, now they can stop pretending like collars drive every aspect of the game and life.

Blue (Escameca): Dan, Sierra, Mike, Rodney, Tyler, Joaquin, Joe
Red (Nagarote): Will, Hali, Jenn, Max, Carolyn, Shirin, Kelly

Sierra has been pouting about how much she hates her tribe. The bad news for her is that she’s stuck with three of them. Her choice now is whether she wants to stab them in the back and join forces with the other three.

On the other tribe, there are three from two tribes with a lone Kelly in the middle. Carolyn may need to put up with the two people she hates the most for a little longer.

They jump right into a reward challenge for kitchen supplies and sausages, and they will launch balls and catch them with nets. Max and Joe both score to tie it 1-1. Joe and Tyler both score to take the 3-1 lead for Escameca. Joe scores again to make it 4-1. Will scores, but it does not matter as Escameca wins reward.

Sierra minces no words about her old tribe. The others can use her for now, but she’s so bitter and hostile that it would be hard to trust her for long.

Shirin’s already driving Jenn crazy. Another one for the list. Carolyn hates her (and Max) so much that she’s already talking about jumping ship, regardless of the numbers. As time goes by, the chorus grows, and it seems like everybody hates both Shirin and Max, so perhaps it is wise to jump what is a sinking ship.

The immunity challenge requires them to place pots after transporting them then smash the pots. This is a very strength-oriented challenge, which heavily favors Escameca, a tribe with almost all men. This isn’t even a fair challenge. Escameca wins immunity.

Max talks about how he’s happy to have lost because he loves to see some blindsides. I suspect he is foreshadowing his own departure. Not only is he somewhat creepy, but he also knows everything about Survivor, down to things like apparently capricorns have won the most.

Shirin, who is delusionally thinking she is in control, wants to vote out Will.

Votes
Will
Will
Max
Max
Max
Max

with 4 votes, Max has been voted off the island. His random nudity and constant talking didn’t help him any, but he sealed his fate by being a Survivor professor.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Worlds Apart Episode 6, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

Survivor: Worlds Apart Episode 4

Having been an outcast for most of the adventure, Nina was voted off the island in Survivor: Worlds Apart Episode 3.

They try to explain to Will the reason for their dumb split vote, and he doesn’t believe them that he was not or at least is not the target.

Mike manages to catch a snake for dinner. At least for now, the people who were flipping out at him will pretend to be nice.

Their first challenge requires a caller to communicate to people who are blindfolded, navigating them through obstacles to collect various items. Reward is chickens and a rooster for the first tribe and 10 eggs for the second tribe. Tyler sits out for White Collar; Rodney and Michael sit out for Blue Collar.

One key part of this task is that after they collect the objects, they must raise them in a platform to the caller. This platform is very heavy and can fall very quickly. Probst repeatedly tells people to be careful. Eventually, a bleeding Kelly finds out just how dangerous this is. Despite the injury that will later require six stiches, she seems completely calm and wants to keep going after being bandaged.

So after the medical drama, No Collar places first, and White Collar comes in second.

They don’t waste any time killing their first chicken, claiming they are doing so because it’s Will’s birthday. Jenn does not understand why they need to kill to survive. Rather than stick around and watch, she instead goes to look for the hidden immunity idol, which she finds.

Lindsey and Rodney were fighting last week but then were on the same side. Now they get into another argument, this time with each other.

Shirin learned how to kill a chicken for Survivor. Somehow, Carolyn and Joaquin use this as an excuse to expand their negative opinions about her.

For the immunity challenge, they will be attached to a rope, must maneuver through a rope obstacle, and have someone navigate a ball through a maze while on a balance beam. Lindsey and Dan sit out for Blue Collar; Shirin sits out for White Collar as they had planned earlier. No Collar wins immunity as the other two battle to not lose. White Collar places second.

Rodney got confused at the challenge, which is as good an excuse as any for him to be the target. He admits to being a hot head, and that has been getting him in trouble.

Lindsey, who was fighting with him earlier, is the other potential target. She’s been just as hot headed as he is.

Votes
Rodney
Lindsey
Rodney
Lindsey
Sierra
Sierra

There is a three way tie, which will lead to a revote.

Votes
Lindsey
Lindsey

With 2 votes, Lindsey has been voted off the island. Between the two, I’d say they made the right choice.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Worlds Apart Episode 5, which airs next on CBS.

The Amazing Race 26 Episode 4

Harley & Jonathan were unable to book a flight until the next morning in The Amazing Race 26 Episode 3, leading to a predictable outcome where the only surprise was that they were not eliminated.

First: Mike & Rochelle – 3:26AM
Second: Hayley & Blair – 3:51AM
Third: Jelani & Jenny – 3:52AM
Fourth: Laura & Tyler – 3:54AM
Fifth: Aly & Steve – 3:58AM
Sixth: Matt & Ashley – 4:01AM
Seventh: Bergen & Kurt – 4:02AM
Eighth: Jeff & Jackie – 4:03AM
Ninth: Harley & Jonathan – 7:01AM

Matt & Ashley have changed from dating to engaged, so at least there’s a bit of variety among the team relationships now.

Teams must fly north to Bangkok, Thailand, keeping them within the same country for the time being.

Oh god. Is Hayley starting already? Does this chick ever stop complaining? We get it. He may need some lessons in listening. Pot, meet kettle. Talk less, listen more, or just don’t talk at all when it’s all negative. Give it a rest. It’s not even 4AM. I’m sure Blair doesn’t want to listen to this. He says he doesn’t care any more. Hard to blame him.

Harley & Jonathan are further behind than I thought, and the fallout from the last flight mishap continues. All the other teams get on the 6AM flight, putting them still hours behind. If they’re sticking to the same country, this just seems like a forgone conclusion that the end result will be the same as last time, except with an elimination.

The detour is a choice between water or wheel, and the main part of this detour is merely choosing which route they think will be faster, rather than which task. In wheel, teams must take a tuk tuk. In water, teams must take a longtail.

Before they can make their choice, Hayley & Blair must first argue about who is in charge. He told her she is in the lead because she won’t shut the hell up. She says she doesn’t want to take the lead because he won’t listen to her anyway. After instructing him to take the lead, she immediately interjects and takes over. They wander around for a while, and when he finally takes control back, they find the route marker.

Water: Laura & Tyler, Matt & Ashley, Aly & Steve, Bergen & Kurt, Mike & Rochelle
Wheel: Hayley & Blair (switched from water), Jeff & Jackie (switched from water), Jelani & Jenny, Harley & Jonathan

There are only five boats available, so the sixth team must either wait or switch detours. That sixth team happens to be Hayley & Blair. Great. We get to listen to her yell some more. He tries to ask for directions. She gets upset and continues her ongoing tirade. The trailing team must follow their lead, minus the one-sided bickering.

The good thing about the water detour is that there is no traffic, and they know for sure that the person knows where they are going. Knowing that, everybody wants to do that detour. Whether it’s faster or not, it should be less stressful and more relaxing. Along the way, each detour choice requires two stops.

Before their detour, Harley & Jonathan must perform their speed bump of making a grasshopper out of river reeds.

When they were winning, Jelani & Jenny were getting along very well. Now that they’re at the tail end of the pack, their communication is starting to break down.

The water detour is to eat a 1000 year old egg. Gross but only takes a couple minutes. The wheel detour is to sink a red ball in a game of snooker. Also simple. Not much point to either of these except to say that they have given them a task. Certainly not enough room here for Harley & Jonathan to regain any ground.

The second water detour task is to take part in a traditional Thai prayer. The second wheel task is to feed cats at a cat cafe. Both again interesting but neither very taxing. Except in Jenny’s case, as she is deathly afraid of kitty cats. Huh? At least Jonathan has a real problem, that he is allergic.

The road block requires teams to remove a transmission in an auto junk yard to search for a screwdriver. Half of them don’t even know what the transmission is, but it doesn’t really matter. The trial and error shouldn’t take long, and they all know at least they won’t place last.

Road block (in order of arrival): Tyler, Bergen, Steve, Matt, Blair, Jeff, Jelani, Rochelle, Jonathan

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Loha Prasat, a buddhist temple, which they must find based on the clue “Metal Castle”, which really is not as hard as they make it look. Find someone with a mobile phone and have them search for metal castle Bangkok Thailand. The cab drivers or other locals are going to determine the placement here. When it comes down to it, it does not seem the choice of water or wheel mattered too much. Although it doesn’t matter whether they place seventh or eighth, Jenny continues to turn on her partner, and she’s making enemies of other teams as well.

First: Bergen & Kurt (win a trip to Puerto Vallarta)
Second: Hayley & Blair
Third: Aly & Steve
Fourth: Laura & Tyler
Fifth: Jeff & Jackie
Sixth: Mike & Rochelle
Seventh: Jelani & Jenny
Eighth: Matt & Ashley
Eliminated: Harley & Jonathan

As pointless legs go, this was one of them. This was worse than last week. Never really having a chance to catch up because the tasks were so simple, Harley & Jonathan have been eliminated.

The next episode will not air until April 3 due to March Madness. Hopefully it is less pointless.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race 26 Episode 4, which airs Friday at 8/7c on CBS.

Survivor: Worlds Apart Episode 3

Vince proved creepy from the start, and the first chance they got in Survivor: Worlds Apart Episode 2, the No Collar tribe got rid of him.

Joe’s now upset because his stupid split vote plan didn’t exactly go the way he wanted. He’s just lucky Will didn’t decide to get rid of him.

Awkward as ever, Nina tells the tribe she knows they’re going to vote her out next, reminding them again that she’s deaf.

Shirin is unaware that nobody particularly has an interest in her tales of watching monkey sex.

Dan finds out that Rodney is extremely sensitive about mama jokes.

Not content with silently hating Shirin, Joaquin makes an extra effort to go out of her way to let her know he hates her.

In addition to his problem with mama jokes, Rodney explodes at Mike for talking about how he doesn’t work enough. Being calm and rational is not helping Mike any, though, as Lindsey blows up on him, too. This tribe is unstable.

The immunity challenge will have teams run back and forth with a large bucket full of holes to transport water. Lindsey sits out for Blue Collar. For some reason, Nina is essentially sitting out for No Collar as well, though they are not required to do that since they are not the tribe with more members. Blue Collar wins immunity and a comfort reward of chairs, blankets, pillows, candles, rope, and a tarp. White Collar places second and wins a tarp. As much as Blue Collar should go home because they are annoying, No Collar are stupid for listening to Joe’s strategy (or lack thereof), though the question is just how useful Nina would have been had she participated more, rather than just standing at the end of obstacles waiting to help plug up the holes there.

With Vince’s departure, the clear boot becomes Nina, the only person who voted with him last week. Her only option is to try to convince the others that Will sucks at challenges.

Nina blames what happened at the challenge on her being deaf. Again. No, they had no faith in her because she’s older and weaker, though regardless she could have contributed something toward the carrying.

Votes
Nina
Will
Will
Nina
Nina

With 3 votes, Nina has been voted off the island. I see they learned nothing from last week’s silly split vote, but the end result is the obvious one.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Worlds Apart Episode 4, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Amazing Race 26 Episode 3

Libby & CJ barely survived the first time, which led to a rather pointless The Amazing Race 26 Episode 2 in which they lagged far behind the others with no chance of recovery.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Jelani & Jenny – 4:35PM
Second: Laura & Tyler – 4:44PM
Third: Aly & Steve – 5:31PM
Fourth: Harley & Jonathan – 6:19PM
Fifth: Bergen & Kurt – 6:32PM
Sixth: Jeff & Jackie
Seventh: Matt & Ashley
Eighth: Mike & Rochelle
Ninth: Hayley & Blair

Jeff & Jackie happily share a room at the pit stop, while Bergen & Kurt acknowledge already that they are not going to be dating.

Teams must now fly south to Phuket, Thailand. There is no counter open at the airport, so everybody will wait until the morning, and they are all trying to get on the same flight, which is not going to be possible. Whoever arrives last to the counter is going to get screwed, which probably should be a lesson to not do that.

First flight (arrives 4:50PM): Matt & Ashley, Aly & Steve, Jeff & Jackie, Hayley & Blair, Mike & Rochelle
Second flight (arrives 9:10PM): Laura & Tyler, Jelani & Jenny
Third flight (arrives 11:59PM): Bergen & Kurt
Fourth flight (arrives 9:35AM): Harley & Jonathan

That’s a crazy big gap. Even if they get lucky with an hours of operation delay, they’re still behind the rest, which may not be entirely impossible depending on the tasks but still is very bleak.

First departure (8:30AM): Matt & Ashley, Aly & Steve, Mike & Rochelle
Second departure (8:45AM): Hayley & Blair, Jeff & Jackie, Jelani & Jenny
Third departure (9:00AM): Laura & Tyler, Bergen & Kurt

Based on these times, Harley & Jonathan are at least an hour behind the others, which is not bad considering they were 17 hours behind.

The detour is a choice between ski or tree. In ski, teams must survive one lap around a wave park. In tree, teams must deliver a meal through the treetops.

Tree: Jelani & Jenny, Matt & Ashley, Mike & Rochelle, Bergen & Kurt, Laura & Tyler, Jeff & Jackie (switched from Ski), Aly & Steve (switched from Ski), Harley & Jonathan

Both of these tasks may require multiple attempts. In the wakeboarding task, they’ll be falling a lot. In the waiter task, they’ll be dropping a lot of stuff. The waiter task proves much simpler, however. Multiple teams are finishing in one or two tries, while even the Olympic athletes have to stop wasting time on the sporting task.

Then there’s Hayley & Blair. He continues to ignore her while she tries to do things correctly. Which she goes on and on and on about. Even after they complete the task pretty quickly and are in 2nd place, she’s still going on and on and on. Try to move on, or just quit now. As much as he needs to learn to listen, he does not need to learn to listen to whining.

Their next task is to dress up and perform a cabaret show (in drag for the guys). Even Mike & Rochelle get the dance in a few tries, so it’s not that difficult. More bad news for Harley & Jonathan, as there is no road block.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Baba Nest.

On their way there, Matt makes a crucial potentially game ending mistake of leaving his fanny pack behind, but they realize where it is quickly and go back and find it. As he talks about how supportive Ashley is no matter what, this is the perfect set up for what comes next, a pit stop proposal. Is this like the new thing now? I’ve seen this 3 times in the last several months.

First: Mike & Rochelle (win a trip to Prague)
Second: Hayley & Blair
Third: Jelani & Jenny
Fourth: Laura & Tyler
Fifth: Aly & Steve
Sixth: Matt & Ashley
Seventh: Bergen & Kurt
Eighth: Jeff & Jackie
Non-eliminated: Harley & Jonathan

The bad luck at the airport won’t end their journey yet, as Harley & Jonathan have been saved by non-elimination, but I suspect there were lessons to be learned from the process.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 26 Episode 3, which airs Friday at 8/7c on CBS.