The Amazing Race 23 Episode 7

As the last team to depart from the singing road block in The Amazing Race 23 Episode 6, Tim & Danny were eliminated.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Nicole & Travis – 12:03PM
Second: Nicky & Kim – 12:09PM
Third: Leo & Jamal – 12:10PM
Fourth: Tim & Marie – 12:23PM
Fifth: Jason & Amy – 12:28PM
Sixth: Ally & Ashley – 1:00PM

Teams wil now fly to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. All teams are bunched together already, as the last leg seemed pretty simple.

First flight (arrives 5:50AM): Leo & Jamal
Second flight (arrives 6:00AM): Nicole & Travis, Nicky & Kim, Tim & Marie, Jason & Amy, Ally & Ashley

As the only team smart enough to book their own tickets before heading to the counter, Leo & Jamal have a 10 minute lead over everyone else, in addition to the fact that they speak some Arabic. Plus their first destination is a mosque, so of course this presents an opportunity to pray to god to ask about coming in first.

While at the airport, Jason and Tim kiss and make up, or at least they are keeping up the pretenses of doing so. Tim explains that dudes don’t stay mad at each other for more than 10 minutes.

The detour is a choice between sort it out or sew it up. In sort it out, they have to search through a variety of dates and create an elaborate display. Sew it up requires them to assemble a traditional fishing net. Unlike last week, both detours sound potentially difficult. The fishing task is outside in the sweltering heat, though, and that alone makes it seem the worse choice. However, this risk of suffering in the sun for an hour or two may potentially pay off as far as being the quicker task.

Sew it up: Nicole & Travis, Jason & Amy
Sort it out: Leo & Jamal, Tim & Marie, Ally & Ashley, Nicky & Kim

Nicky & Kim find the “secret” stash of other dates that nobody else is smart enough to notice. Leo & Jamal spot this and ask for their help, but they refuse. The reason they give for this is because Leo & Jamal have big mouths and will tell everybody, which is exactly what happens when they finally figure it out. Then they keep yelling and not shutting up the entire rest of the leg. Now that everybody knows, Nicky & Kim are left eating their dust. They are far enough behind that the other teams bail on them about 30 seconds before they reach the boat, putting them in last place by 15 minutes.

The road block requires teams to rapel 200 feet and get into a race car with a professional driver, keeping their eyes peeled for the name and time of the record holder. If they are incorrect, they will have to take another lap.

Road block (in order of arrival): Leo, Jason, Travis, Marie, Ally, Kim

The pit stop for this leg of the race is the champions podium at the race track, and based on the difficulty (or lack thereof) of this task, it seems Nicky & Kim will come in last, even though Ally does keep it a little interesting by being seemingly unable to understand the task for multiple laps. The good news for them is we’re about due for non-elimination.

First: Leo & Jamal (win a trip to Paris)
Second: Jason & Amy
Third: Nicole & Travis
Fourth: Tim & Marie
Fifth: Ally & Ashley
Non-eliminated: Nicky & Kim

Unsurprisingly, Nicky & Kim place last but are saved by non-elimination.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 23 Episode 8, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

Survivor: Blood Vs. Water Episode 8

Laura B told Vytas that she and her alliance were going to vote him out in Survivor: Blood Vs. Water Episode 7, which led to her getting voted out instead. Of course, word has it that much of her problem is that she was just an outcast from her tribe, a predictable scenario that is just one reason why Rupert should not have switched places like he did.

Tina’s informed Monica that she is number 5. That’s not a hard position to beat if someone on the other tribe wants to make an offer.

Laura B harps about how ridiculous it is that they got rid of her over Vytas. Though I can see the argument, the reality is that she has proved that she simply cannot be trusted.

Tonight’s duel will be the final one. Either John, Laura M, or Laura B will return to the game after winning it. Second place is no longer good enough.

It’s an endurance challenge. They will hang on to a pole for as long as they can. I think we can safely rule Laura B out of this or any challenge, but this seems like finally something John perhaps won’t easily run away with. Within seconds, Laura B is already sliding. After 20 minutes, John slips and decides to remove his shoes. Shortly thereafter, he slides all the way down, and he is out despite having won a number of duels. Laura B slides to about a foot above the ground, but Laura M has not budged this whole time. Laura M finally starts to slide. Having held strong for quite some time, though, she ends up winning when Laura B drops to the ground.

Before she officially reenters the game, Laura M and everybody else can drop their buffs. It’s a merge. In this merged tribe, there are three pairs: Aras & Vytas, Tina & Katie, and Laura & Ciera. I couldn’t have predicted any of these three pairs surviving this long. Aras & Vytas are just too dangerous, while Katie and Ciera have been the most dreadful competitors.

As we have seen for the last several episodes, Laura burns the clue to the hidden immunity idol.

Interestingly, though Ciera has been of no use this whole season, she may now be the key swing player. Either she can stick with her alliance (Ciera, Hayden, Caleb, Tyson, Gervase… the people without loved ones), or she can join the pairs alliance like her mom wants. Regardless, Aras doesn’t trust them at all, so his plan is to get rid of Laura in a pairs alliance plus two or three (Gervase, Hayden, and possibly Tyson). The twist with this is that, though Vytas does not think they need Tyson, Aras does. Too bad Tyson wants to get rid of Aras, and he’s hell bent on doing so, even if it means alienating Monica.

Hayden told Tyson all the information he knew about the idol, and Tyson uses that information to find the idol. He won’t be telling Hayden about this, however.

The first individual immunity challenge is a test of memory. They will have to repeat a series of symbols using a cube. Everybody is right on the first item. Monica is the first out on the next item. Caleb and Katie are out next. Tyson and Tina are out next. Hayden is the next to fall. After the first round, less than half the tribe has survived. Everybody is right on the first item. Laura is out next. Ciera follows her. Everybody is right on the next item. Gervase is out next, leaving the brothers to duke it out. They are both right on the next item. Vytas wins immunity.

Vytas was never in any real danger, and for that matter I’m not sure he will be in danger any time soon, making his immunity win largely irrelevant. He knows he doesn’t need immunity, but he wanted to beat his brother anyway. Of course, Aras feels equally as safe as Vytas does, completely sure he is in control of the game.

Where it gets interesting is that half the tribe has a plan of what needs to happen next, and few of them seem to be on the same page. Aras wants to split the votes between Laura and Ciera. Laura wants to split the votes 4-3 against Tina in case Aras has an idol. Then there’s Tyson’s plan to get rid of Aras, which does not involve a split vote.

Votes
Laura
Laura
Ciera
Ciera
Aras
Aras
Aras
Aras
Aras

Those votes didn’t quite play out how anyone anticipated, but the end result is exactly what Tyson wanted.

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

The Biggest Loser Season 15 Episode 4

Tanya fell below the red line after not losing any weight in The Biggest Loser Season 15 Episode 3, but the second trainer’s save was used to spare her.

For the Halloween episode, it’s time for a temptation. The person who wins the temptation wins immunity for their entire team. There is a field of 100 pumpkins. In 99 of them, there are treats, which may be cash or food. In 1, there is immunity.

I’m not even going to try to keep track of this because clearly they aren’t trying very hard to let me. We’re up to round 10 in about 45 seconds, and they’re running through people who I mostly don’t recognize without bothering to say most of their names. In the end, the blue team, which consumed the fewest calories, wins immunity. The red and white teams ate over 2000 calories each in their loss.

Jillian usually flips out when someone on her team eats, but she is surprisingly tame this week, shrugging off most of what her team has eaten, particularly the girls who did not eat much since their strategy was to pile the calories on to the boys.

Over on Dolvett’s team, they are dropping like flies. Ruben (who lost 3 pounds) and Tanya (who lost nothing) seem to be falling apart. Regardless, the reality is that they lost so little last week that it seems entirely unlikely that they could lose to the white team this week.

Bob has brought in some 165 pound weight lifting females to show Holley she can be strong without being fat.

The blue team is immune as long as none of them gained any weight.

Holley: 315 pounds (-4, 1.25%)
Matt: 315 pounds (-4, 1.25%)
Bobby: 317 pounds (-4, 1.25%)
Hap: 363 pounds (-5, 1.36%)
Chelsea: 215 pounds (-5, 2.27%)
Blue Total: 1525 pounds (-22, 1.42%)

Marie: 225 pounds (-4, 1.75%)
Craig: 350 pounds (-7, 1.96%)
Tumi: 280 pounds (-7, 2.44%)
Jay: 244 pounds (-9, 3.56%)
White Total: 1099 pounds (-27, 2.40%)

Rachel: 216 pounds (-8, 3.57%)
David: 347 pounds (-7, 1.98%)
Jennifer: 236 pounds (-6, 2.48%)
Tanya: 239 pounds (-3, 1.24%)
Ruben: 423 pounds (-5, 1.17%)
Red Total: 1461 pounds (-29, 1.95%)

The red team’s weigh in started off on the right track, but Tanya and Ruben continue to struggle. As the person with the lowest percentage of weight loss, Ruben has fallen below the red line.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 15 Episode 5, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 23 Episode 6

Brandon & Adam switched detours in The Amazing Race 23 Episode 5, and it was all downhill from there, culminating in their elimination after a double U-turn.

Teams depart in the order on which they arrived.

First: Tim & Marie – 8:33AM
Second: Jason & Amy – 8:34AM
Third: Nicole & Travis – 8:35AM
Fourth: Nicky & Kim – 8:48AM
Fifth: Tim & Danny – 8:51AM
Sixth: Leo & Jamal – 10:10AM
Seventh: Ally & Ashley – 10:18AM

Teams will now travel by rail 640 miles to Vienna, Austria. The trailing two teams are on a later departing train, but all teams have the same connecting train in Warsaw.

Leo & Jamal pretend they didn’t U-turn anybody, a lie that nobody believes. It would have been dumb of them to not U-turn somebody, even if their race wives ended up placing behind them anyway.

The detour at the opera house is a choice between light brigade or masquerade. In light brigade, they will need to assemble a chandelier. In masquerade, they will need to match the masks they are wearing with those of a dancing couple.

Maquerade: Leo & Jamal, Ally & Ashley, Tim & Marie, Nicky & Kim, Tim & Danny, Nicole & Travis, Jason & Amy

Nicole & Travis and Jason & Amy go for the fast forward, but Nicole & Travis realize that Jason & Amy are ahead of them and change their minds en route. They are warned on the clue that this is weather dependent. Although it is pleasant outside, it’s too windy for their 500 foot bungee jump. They now have to decide whether they want to stick around until the winds die down. Jason agrees with what he calls a dumb decision by Amy to wait. Eventually, they accept that they will not be able to jump today, returning to the race in last place

Not a single team shows interest in assembling the chandelier. The mask detour seems simple enough and very fast, though they all make some mistakes due to similar looking masks.

The road block requires teams to join the Vienna Boys Choir and learn how to sing a song in German. They will be judged on musicality and pronunciation.

Road block (in order of arrival): Leo, Ally, Nicky, Tim, Travis, Tim, Amy

Some of these teams would have enough trouble singing in English, let alone having to learn a song in another language. The boys in the choir struggle to keep a straight face. Travis is the first to finish on his second attempt, and if his rough performance is any indication, the bar isn’t set terribly high. Nicky confirms this with her complete inability to carry a tune, getting by mostly on her pronunciation. Tim and Ally struggle the most with the language, which makes the last place fight between them. It takes each of them five attempts to skate by.

Jason & Amy kept their cab driver waiting, but he doesn’t want to wait any more. He decides to remove their bags so that Nicky & Kim can get in instead. They’re allowed to steal the cab if they have no part in the bag removal. They decline to take the cab anyway, but Tim & Marie are not so noble. Going a step further, Marie wants to blame Leo & Jamal, who finished just before them. The silly thing about this is it’s not like it’s hard to get a cab here, and Jason & Amy lose no ground as a result. Because they’re not far behind, they learn at the pit stop who stole their cab, and shouting ensues.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is The Gloriette.

First: Nicole & Travis (win a trip to Anguilla)
Second: Nicky & Kim
Third: Leo & Jamal
Fourth: Tim & Marie
Fifth: Jason & Amy
Sixth: Ally & Ashley
Eliminated: Tim & Danny

With the detour being so easy, it all came down to the road block. As the last team to leave that challenge, Tim & Danny have been eliminated.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 23 Episode 7, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

Survivor: Blood Vs. Water Episode 7

After a tribe shuffle in Survivor: Blood Vs. Water Episode 6, Kat tried to go after one of her own tribe, who in turn got rid of her instead.

When she arrives on Redemption Island, Kat complains about and blames everybody other than herself. You were the one who got busted trying to get rid of a member of your alliance, remember? Overnight, denial/anger turns to depression, and she’s still crying when they get to the challenge.

Hayden is reluctant to switch, but Kat thinks she’ll lose the duel. She wants to switch, despite the fact that they both think he has the better chance to win the game, but she eventually agrees to let him play.

Their duel is to untie a machete to release bags of puzzle pieces. The knot untying is largely irrelevant, and the meat of the challenge is the puzzle, the fire puzzle Cochran won in the final immunity challenge. For Kat, even getting the bag open proves tricky. John runs away with it. Laura is trying to keep up with him by copying his puzzle but is still lagging well behind. Kat is starting to catch up, so the people who just voted her out tell her to look at Laura’s, which she thinks is cheating. Laura comes in second, and Kat has been eliminated. Monica gets the clue again, and she burns it again.

Aras is really happy that Gervase and Tyson came over to his tribe. Unbeknownst to him, Tyson continues plotting against him behind his back. While Aras meditates about his position of power, Tyson talks to the tribe about getting rid of Aras and/or Vytas.

For the challenge, four members of each tribe will be chained together. They will walk together to untie bags from underneath a platform. Reward is fried chicken. Ciera sits out for Tadhana. Because both tribes are crawling under the same platform, they just hold each other there until everybody has all their bags. Once they untie their bags, they have to toss balls that are chained together and land them on posts. The tossing comes down to Tyson against Tina. I think we know how this is going to go, though Tina does keep it interesting. Tadhana wins immunity and reward.

As with last week, Vytas is the target. What would really help here? If Laura B didn’t tell him in front of the whole tribe because she feels sorry for him and doesn’t think blindsides are acceptable. They don’t like that she made this decision on her own and clearly cannot be trusted to be part of the team and play the game.

Votes
Vytas
Laura B
Laura B
Laura B

As big of a threat as Vytas (or more specifically Aras and Vytas) is, Laura B is just not cut out for this game.

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

The Biggest Loser Season 15 Episode 3

Fernanda had the worst week on the ranch during The Biggest Loser Season 15 Episode 2, and since her weight was the only one to count for her team and there was a red line, she was eliminated.

They cannot use a single piece of equipment in the gym unless they pay for it first. Each team is given 500 Biggest Loser bucks. Blue team wins the dumbbells and kettlebells for $100. They also get jump ropes and rowers. White team wins treadmills for $250. Red team wins boxing equipment for $100. White team spends $180 on a mystery box, which contains large bags of flour and sugar. Wait, there’s more. They get a trade voucher, which they can use to trade their baking ingredients for anything else, and they pick the boxing equipment, leaving the red team with nothing.

Of course, at the end of the day, none of this ends up stopping anybody. Though having more equipment certainly helps, these trainers will be able to find a way around having little or nothing to workout with.

Then everybody starts crying for like 10 minutes about their past, families, and some other stuff probably.

And from there we jump right into the weigh in. I’m not sure anything actually happened this week.

Matt: 319 pounds (-6, 1.85%)
Hap: 368 pounds (-5, 1.34%)
Chelsea: 220 pounds (-3, 1.35%)
Holley: 319 pounds (-6, 1.85%)
Bobby: 321 pounds (-7, 2.13%)
Blue Total: 1547 pounds (-27, 1.72%)

Craig: 357 pounds (-4, 1.11%)
Marie: 229 pounds (-6, 2.55%)
Tumi: 287 pounds (-10, 3.37%)
Jay: 253 pounds (-10, 3.80%)
White Total: 1126 pounds (-30, 2.60%)

Jennifer: 242 pounds (-4, 1.63%)
Rachel: 224 pounds (-7, 3.03%)
David: 354 pounds (-6, 1.67%)
Ruben: 428 pounds (-3, 0.70%)
Tanya: 242 pounds (no change)
Red Total: 1490 pounds (-20, 1.32%)

Dolvett’s team had a disastrous week. With just two people to weigh in, they only needed to lose 9 pounds. It seemed like Ruben had it in the bag, but he only lost 3 pounds. Then Tanya lost nothing, putting herself below the red line. Dolvett uses his save to keep her in the game.

It seems like they’re all just going to use their save the first chance they get. Unlike singing competitions where they have to consider the person’s talent or popularity, here it’s pretty much set up where they’re just about forced to use the save right away.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 15 Episode 4, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 23 Episode 5

It seemed like a lost cause for the baseball wives in The Amazing Race 23 Episode 4, though Tim & Marie’s stupid decision to ignore their clue was helping keep things somewhat interesting. Regardless, it was a to be continued leg.

Their next destination via boat and plane is Gdansk, Poland, more than 1500 miles away. The boat leaves that night at 8:30, more than 14 hours after the lead team departs, allowing all all teams, including last place Nicky & Kim, to be bunched together.

On the boat, Tim & Marie agree to quietly give the express pass to Nicole & Travis. They hope this subtle exchange still will allow them to trick other teams into helping.

Multiple teams are having the biggest taxi meltdown of the season, struggling to find multiple destinations. Three teams (Tim & Marie, Leo & Jamal, and Ally & Ashley) are all together, and none of them have a clue where they are.

The detour is a choice between pose and polka. In pose, teams must copy the stance of a historic statue to earn donations from spectators. Polka requires them to learn a dance routine, and the all male teams will have to determine which team member will wear a dress.

Polka: Tim & Danny, Nicole & Travis, Nicky & Kim, Brandon & Adam, Ally & Ashley, Leo & Jamal, Brandon & Adam (switched from pose)
Pose: Nicky & Kim, Tim & Marie

Being attractive is no use to Nicky & Kim because they’re covered almost entirely from head to toe. So they resort to begging instead in what seems to be the easier of the two challenges. Not willing (or smart enough) to use the same tactic, Brandon & Adam have to switch.

In hopes of avoiding the U-turn, Tim & Marie use their express pass, though they are in fifth place at the time they use it. Seems to be an unnecessary waste, but it makes sense to avoid a U-turn when you have made a habit out of making people your enemies.

Regardless of which task they choose, they must continue wearing their ridiculous costumes until the end of the leg.

After their first detour task, they run into a double U-Turn. Jason & Amy decline to use it. Making good time finding the U-Turn, Tim & Marie do as well, mostly because they’re unsure who may have passed them. Nicky & Kim don’t use it either. Tim & Danny U-turn Leo & Jamal, who they know for a fact are behind them. Seeing this, Nicole & Travis don’t need to follow suit. In turn, Leo & Jamal know Brandon & Adam, who stupidly switched detours, are behind them.

The road block requires them to visit the longest residential apartment building in Poland, which is over half a mile long and home to over 6000 residents. Their task is to go around and bite into pastries until they find a rose paczki, though by the end many of them are just tearing them apart with their hands, which apparently does not warrant a penalty.

Road block (in order of arrival): Marie, Amy, Kim, Travis, Danny, Ashley, Leo, Brandon

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Sopot Pier, the longest wooden pier in Europe.

First: Tim & Marie (win atrip to Hawaii)
Second: Jason & Amy
Third: Nicole & Travis
Fourth: Nicky & Kim
Fifth: Tim & Danny
Sixth: Leo & Jamal
Seventh: Ally & Ashley
Eliminated: Brandon & Adam

By switching detours on a double U-turn leg, Brandon & Adam all but guaranteed their own elimination.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 23 Episode 6, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

Survivor: Blood Vs Water Episode 6

Redemption Island’s influence of the game only continued in Survivor: Blood Vs. Water Episode 5 as Laura M was voted off the island for being awesome at challenges.

Laura will not even entertain the possibility of taking her daughter Ciera’s place in the game. John, Brad, and Laura M compete in the duel. They cross a balance beam while untying bags of pieces then complete a puzzle (putting numbers in order) at the other end. Laura completes the first 10 numbers first, but there are a few bags to go. John and Brad are steadily falling further behind her. John manages to pull ahead of Brad on the third set of numbers. Laura wins the duel. John places second, and Brad has been eliminated.

Rather than giving it to her daughter, Laura gives the clue to Vytas. Following suit of the past couple times, he burns the clue because he doesn’t want that target.

Now they can drop their buffs. Time to reveal the new tribes.

Galang: Vytas, Katie, Monica, Tina, Laura B, Kat
Tadhana: Aras, Gervase, Tyson, Caleb, Hayden, Ciera

The new tribes split heavily down gender lines. Vytas is the only man on his new tribe; Ciera is the only woman on her new tribe. The family members now joined together are Katie & Tina, but otherwise everybody is still an individual. Tadhana is split 3-3, but Galang is split 4-2 in favor of old Galang members.

Hayden and Caleb quickly spill the beans about what was happening on their old tribe.

Tyson’s plan is not to maintain tribal lines. Rather, he wants to make sure that at least Aras is a bigger target than him. He already wanted to get rid of Aras before anyway.

If you thought the tribes were lopsided before, anything physical clearly favors one tribe over the other now. They will race out in pairs collecting fish traps from the water, returning them to shore to solve a puzzle. Reward is a picnic. I was thinking Gervase might give the women some hope, but he seems to have learned to swim. Tina and Laura B return without their fish trap and take forever to realize their mistake, which allows them to almost be lapped. Ciera’s the biggest (only) drag on her team, but they still have about half a lap lead as they head into the puzzle. After all that, it still may be possible for the puzzle to determine the challenge. Galang keeps completing the puzzle, and they keep getting it wrong because the patterns look more or less correct in different slots. Tadhana wins immunity and reward.

The outcome here seems obvious. You don’t keep a mother and daughter together on the same tribe. Rather than do that, though, they have two different options. First, all the women stick together and vote out their lone male castaway. Then there’s Kat’s plan: vote out Monica. This just serves to make Kat a target.

Votes
Vytas
Kat
Kat
Kat
Kat

With 4 votes, Kat has been voted off the island. She had an easy pass through presumably at least two weeks (surely they’ll split up Tina and Katie next, right?) but wanted to make a big move instead.

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