The Biggest Loser Season 15 Episode 2

In the super rushed The Biggest Loser Season 15 Episode 1, nothing of consequence happened because Jillian used her veto to save Craig after her fell below the red line.

Craig tells a story about how his father died when he was 32, just a couple years older than Craig is.

Dr. H has some news for Ruben. He has diabetes, which can be reversed, but he will have to put in the hard work to do so.

Bob’s facial hair is getting out of control. Somebody needs to participate in makeover week.

This week, only one person’s weight will count for the entire team. That person will be chosen by the roll of a die. The team that wins the challenge will get a second die so that they have two people to choose between.

At the challenge, they are tied together to run back and forth and roll dice dictating how many buckets of water they can use to fill a tank. Though speed has the potential to play a small role, the end result mostly comes down to dumb luck. The blue team ends up winning the challenge.

When he came to the ranch, Hap’s wife was 8.5 months pregnant. That makes today the first time he gets to see his new child by video chat.

The trainers roll dice prior to the weigh in. Dolvett hopes for Rachel or Jennifer, but he rolls Tanya, disappointing both himself and her. Jillian rolls Fernanda, the worst case scenario for both of them. Bob rolls Chelsea, who is not happy and Hap, which thrills both of them, so Hap will represent the blue team.

Chelsea: 223 pounds (-6, 2.62%)
Holley: 325 pounds (-10, 2.99%)
Matt: 325 pounds (-8, 2.40%)
Bobby: 328 pounds (-10, 2.96%)
Hap: 373 pounds (-13, 3.37%)
Blue Total: 1574 pounds (-47, 2.90%)

I will say this for these abridged episodes. It’s nice not to have to go to commercial 12 times during a weigh in.

Craig: 361 pounds (-11, 2.96%)
Marie: 235 pounds (-5, 2.08%)
Tumi: 305 pounds (-8, 2.62%)
Jay: 263 pounds (-11, 4.01%)
Fernanda: 236 pounds (-2, 0.84%)
White Total: 1392 pounds (-37, 2.59%)

Jennifer: 246 pounds (-9, 3.53%)
Ruben: 431 pounds (-10, 2.27%)
Rachel: 231 pounds (-8, 3.35%)
David: 360 pounds (-11, 2.96%)
Tanya: 242 pounds (-4, 1.63%)
Red Total: 1510 pounds (-42, 2.71%)

Tanya has a bad weak, but she gets lucky when Fernanda has a terrible week, though such a number is not overly surprising for week two. Even without the twist, the white team would have lost the weigh in. As the person with the lowest percentage of weight loss on the losing team, Fernanda has fallen below the red line.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 15 Episode 3, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 23 Episode 4

After Chester & Ephraim had multiple flight delays, there was no amount of editing that could hide the fact that they were going to be eliminated in The Amaing Race 23 Episode 3.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Nicole & Travis – 11:08PM
Second: Jason & Amy – 11:14PM
Third: Nicky & Kim
Fourth: Tim & Danny
Fifth: Brandon & Adam
Sixth: Leo & Jamal
Seventh: Ally & Ashley
Eighth: Tim & Marie

Teams must now travel more than 2000 miles by train and ferry to Svolvaer, Norway. Unlike the drama of last week, there is only one flight, so everybody will be bunched together. They arrive at 11:05 the following night, and the sun still has not set, nor will it apparently. Unlike most locations, this allows them to participate in a challenge right away rather than spend the night waiting. Of course, the potential problem this is creates is that there are few cabs, and most of the teams don’t want to run 1 mile.

The detour is a choice between hang your heads or hammer of the cods. In hang your heads, they must tie fish heads together and hang them out to dry. In hammer of the cods, they must collect 15 pairs of cod then pound them with a giant hammer to make 1 kilo of fish jerky.

Hang your heads: Brandon & Adam, Tim & Marie, Jason & Amy, Nicole & Travis, Leo & Jamal, Ally & Ashley
Hammer of the cods: Tim & Danny, Nicky & Kim

These two very physical tasks leave the two all female teams bringing up the rear. But Leo & Jamal pick a wheelbarrow with a flat tire, pushing them back behind the ice girls. Ultimately, the hammer task, where they must carry their fish rather than having a wheelbarrow to push them in, is the deciding factor in position, and the two teams who chose that stumble into last.

Throughout the task, Marie is being her usual self to both her partner and the other teams. Her threats about having an express pass don’t encourage Brandon & Adam to help her since she’s promised it to every other team, too.

On the other hand, Amy keeps stopping to help everybody, including Marie.

The road block is to jump off a bridge on a rope then disconnect and take an arctic plunge.

Road block (in order of arrival): Brandon, Jason, Tim, Nicole, Ashley, Jamal, Tim, Nicky

Their next task is to do an advertisment for Ford trucks by using one to pull a boulder. Surprisingly, this task proves to be a problem for some of the teams. Tim & Marie just drive away, saying there is no clue for their next destination, even though they were told in the clue that there is one. Nicole offers to help them in exchange for the express pass, which Marie is reluctant to do. Then there’s Ally & Ashley, who can’t drive stick, which is just stupid on this race because it will be a requirement sooner or later. Lucky for them, Danny helps them out, despite being in second to last.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Viking Longhouse.

First: Brandon & Adam (win $5,000 each)

Though the baseball wives are completely hopeless and Tim & Marie are wandering around aimlessly, none of that matters since it’s a to be continued leg.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 23 Episode 5, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

Survivor: Blood Vs. Water Episode 5

Flipping at the last moment, Caleb forced his tribe into a position where they had to decide whether they wanted to draw for a purple rock in Survivor: Blood Vs. Water Episode 4. Not wanting to take the chance, Vytas switched his vote to avoid a tie and ended up making the tribe weaker (again) by getting rid of Brad instead of the girl who keeps losing challenges.

Ciera’s plan now is to join forces with Katie and convince Caleb to join them in forming the weakest alliance ever.

Brad hopes that Candice will get over herself and acknowledge it’s just a game. No such luck. Apparently, not only is she mad at him because he led the charge to get rid of John, but she blames his wife for being one of five people randomly getting rid of her on day 1. Probst points out the obvious: she’s doing an awful lot of whining for someone who hasn’t spent a single second at either camp.

Laura M has decided to start flirting with Aras. He says he’s not falling for it.

When she gets to the duel, Monica offers to take Brad’s spot without even being asked, but he declines just as quickly. Candice, John, and Brad will compete in a duel to make a bridge and then a puzzle out of the bridge. Candice takes an immediate lead before slowing down. John is the first to finish the bridge, followed by Brad and then Candice. With a puzzle consisting of 8 pieces, this should go pretty quickly. John wins the duel. Brad places second. Candice has finally been eliminated, and now she will finally stop complaining. John gives the clue to Monica again, and she burns it again.

The immunity challenge is a giant slide and ring toss. This is the kind of dumb luck challenge that Tadhana might actually be able to win. Reward is steaks or fishing gear. Monica, Laura, and Laura sit out for Galang. Caleb gets Tadhana off to an early lead. Tyson ties it. Despite missing her ring on the slide down, Katie retakes the lead against Kat. Vytas makes it 3-1 against Aras. Tina makes it 3-2 against Ciera. Caleb scores again, this time against Tyson, to make it 4-2. Gervase gets beat again, as Hayden scores to win immunity and reward. They choose the immediate gratification of steaks rather than gear to help them eat for the rest of the game.

Laura B has been the outcast since the beginning. Her attempt to save herself is to tell Kat that Laura M and Monica were complaining that they had to sit out instead of her. I’m not sure this is entirely true, though it does not seem entirely untrue either.

Aras proposes getting rid of Laura M instead because she’s awesome at challenges (huh?), which may make her a good person to beat Brad at Redemption Island. Not this again.

Votes
Laura B
Laura M
Laura M
Laura M
Laura M
Laura M

With 5 votes, Laura M has been voted off the island as Redemption Island continues to control the game. It almost seems pointless to bother voting anymore.

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

The Biggest Loser Season 15 Episode 1

The Biggest Loser is back. Kind of. For season 15 (Second Chances 2), the show has been shrunk down to an hour a week and maybe a dozen episodes for just one run this year (it will not be back midseason as The Voice takes over its time slot because NBC sucks).

The 15 new contestants who make up The Biggest Loser Season 15 cast include the heaviest contestant this year, American Idol winner Ruben Studdard.

Bob, Jillian, and Dolvett were allowed to choose who is coming to the ranch. We start the show with a brief glimpse at the casting interviews followed by singing competition style process of elimination.

Rachel used to be a national level swimmer. Holley is a current Olympic weightlifter. Jay was a rodeo athlete (is that a thing?). Tanya gained 125 pounds while pregnant with her daughter, and her daughter was then born overweight.

David is unable to finish the first workout and is the first to be tossed out of the gym, though he probably will not be the last.

Jillian wants to get rid of Ruben’s disturbing back (and shoulder) hair.

After their initial workout, the trainers announce the teams they have picked. And they speed through it so fast with no logical order that I can’t even keep up and have to fill in all the names as the show goes by.

Jillian: Craig, Tumi, Rachel, Marie, Fernanda
Bob: Holley, Chelsea, Jay, Matt, Bobby
Dolvett: Ruben, Jennifer, Tanya, David, Hap

Speaking of speeding through things because the episodes are apparently too short, we don’t have time for a starting weigh in, so this is how things start.

Bobby: 358 pounds
Chelsea: 241 pounds
Craig: 385 pounds
David: 409 pounds
Fernanda: 250 pounds
Hap: 403 pounds
Holley: 351 pounds
Jay: 297 pounds
Jennifer: 266 pounds
Marie: 249 pounds
Matt: 356 pounds
Rachel: 260 pounds
Ruben: 462 pounds
Tanya: 262 pounds
Tumi: 319 pounds

There will be no yellow line tonight. Rather, there is a red line. Whoever has the lowest percentage of weight loss on the losing team will be eliminated.

This season’s twist is that there will be a trainer’s save. Each trainer will be allowed to save one person.

Then it’s time to rush through the weigh in. Breathe, people. You sure are making this impossible to live blog. If I didn’t have the starting weights, I’d be completely lost.

Holley: 335 pounds (-16, 4.56%)
Hap: 386 pounds (-17, 4.22%)
Chelsea: 229 pounds (-12, 4.98%)
Matt: 333 pounds (-23, 6.46%)
Bobby: 338 pounds (-20, 5.59%)
Blue Team Total: 1621 pounds (-88, 5.15%)

Ruben: 441 pounds (-21, 4.55%)
Jennifer: 255 pounds (-11, 4.14%)
Tanya: 247 pounds (-15, 5.73%)
Rachel: 239 pounds (-21, 8.08%)
David: 371 pounds (-38, 9.29%)
Red Team Total: 1552 pounds (-107, 6.45%)

Tumi: 319 pounds (-14, 4.39%)
Fernanda: 238 pounds (-12, 4.80%)
Marie: 240 pounds (-9, 3.61%)
Jay: 274 pounds (-23, 7.74%)
Craig: 372 pounds (-13, 3.38%)
White Team Total: 1429 pounds (-71, 4.73%)

The blue team didn’t do much better, but the white team ended up being dragged down by a couple of particularly bad performances. Craig has fallen below the red line, but despite her warning that she probably would not use her save, Jillian saves him. Not only does this make good strategic sense since he’s the only male on her team, but I don’t think anyone wants to see someone go home after just one week.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 15 Episode 2, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 23 Episode 3

Rowan & Shane outsmarted themselves in The Amazing Race 23 Episode 2 and ended up getting knocked out of the race.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Chester & Ephraim – 6:27PM
Second: Leo & Jamal – 6:39PM
Third: Brandon & Adam – 6:58PM
Fourth: Nicole & Travis – 7:11PM
Fifth: Jason & Amy –
Sixth: Tim & Danny – 12:25AM
Seventh: Ally & Ashley – 12:27AM
Eighth: Tim & Marie – 12:33AM
Ninth: Nicky & Kim – 1:00AM

Teams will now fly to Lisbon, Portugal.

First flight (arrives at 7:00): Nicole & Travis
Second flight (arrives at 7:00 with two connecting flights): Chester & Ephraim
Third flight (arrives at 10:00): Tim & Danny, Brandom & Adam
Fourth flight (arrives at 11:00): Leo & Jamal, Ally & Ashley
Fifth flight (arrives at 12:00): Nicky & Kim, Tim & Marie, Jason & Amy

I was thinking everybody was going to be on the same flight, but there is much drama at multiple airports. Chester & Ephraim arrive first, but their ticket agent books them on a flight for the wrong day. By the time she realizes it, Nicole & Travis have already taken the last seats on the flight. Then she does find them another flight that arrives at the same time but that has multiple connections. Upon arrival, they are delayed on both their original flight and the replacement flight. Meanwhile, Tim & Danny, deciding they don’t trust Leo & Jamal, try to hunt for an earlier flight, which they do end up finding. And then Nicky & Kim outsmart the other two teams on their flight and get put on standby first, allowing them to get on the earliest flight, and making Marie hate them. Jason & Amy are also on that flight, though Tim & Marie have no such luck.

When they land, they must head to the building on the painting they receive, Museu Nacional Dos Coches. The detour is a choice between tiles or miles. In tiles, they must assemble a life size puzzle out of tiles. In miles, they head to a giant map of the world to chart Magellan’s course and calculate the miles.

Tiles: Nicky & Kim, Brandon & Adam, Leo & Jamal (switched from miles), Ally & Ashley (switched from miles), Tim & Marie
Miles: Jason & Amy, Nicole & Travis, Tim & Danny

Tim & Marie debate whether they should use their express pass but ultimately decide against it, despite the fact that they have no reason to believe they are not in last place.

At the road block, they will fire arrows medieval style. Jason hits this on his first try, so I’m not sure how dificult it really is, even if most teams won’t be that lucky.

Road block (in order of arrival): Jason, Travis, Kim, Danny, Adam, Ally, Jamal, Tim

Considering the tasks that have been laid out, nothing seems so complicated that it will provide much of a challenge to the teams in the lead. There’s a reason the airport took up half of the episode, and that reason is that it’s all that really mattered. We return to this again as the other teams are landing, and Chester & Ephraim are facing yet another delay in a different country, making it blatantly obvious who is coming in last.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Castelo Dos Mouros.

First: Nicole & Travis (win a trip to Costa Rica)
Second: Jason & Amy
Third: Nicky & Kim
Fourth: Tim & Danny
Fifth: Brandon & Adam
Sixth: Leo & Jamal
Seventh: Ally & Ashley
Eighth: Tim & Marie
Eliminated: Chester & Ephraim

Unable to catch a break at the airport, Chester & Ephraim ended up taking a risk that didn’t pay off, and they have been eliminated. They are so far behind that Phil eliminates them in the airport when they finally make it to Portugal.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 23 Episode 4, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

Survivor: Blood Vs. Water Episode 4

When the tribe used his own strategy from the previous week against him, John was eliminated in Survivor: Blood Vs. Water Episode 3 because they wanted him to go to Redemption Island, guaranteeing that at least either he or Candice will be eliminated. Probably.

Like everybody else on Redemption Island, Candice now hates Brad. He’s going to have to try a lot harder than this toward the end if he hopes to secure jury votes. Unlike those who are shouting, John is able to at least keep a level head, expressing calmly actual reasons why Brad can’t be trusted.

For their duel, they will unravel a key to unlock puzzle pieces. John easily wins the challenge, an impressive showing that suggests he’s not only a physical threat but perhaps also a mental threat. For a change, Candice does not win, but she is easily running ahead of Marissa. Candice places second, and Marissa has been sent home. John gives the hidden immunity idol clue to Monica because his wife tells him to do that. She promptly puts the clue in the fire, and Candice mocks her for doing what she’s told, like what John just did.

The immunity challenge will have them paddling out to retrieve crates, building a staircase, and solving a puzzle. Reward is tea/coffee/pastries or fishing gear. Tina and Kat sit out for Galang, while the one armed Tyson does not. Tadhana makes a quick run out to the crates, and they keep that lead as they return to the beach. This lasts until two crates fall out of their boat, which allows Galang to pass them heading into the staircase building. Tadhana retakes the lead during that process, but it will all come down to the puzzle. Not having learned from before, Tadhana pits Ciera against her mother Laura for the puzzle building, and Galang wins immunity as usual.

Brad has a plan that’s different from what he normally does. He wants to target Caleb because that’s the only person left in the tribe who does not have a partner. The other men, however, realize that Ciera is worthless in challenges.

At Tribal Council, when Brad starts talking about it being smart to get rid of someone partnerless, Caleb blindsides everybody by telling the girls that he plans to write Brad’s name down.

Votes
Brad
Ciera
Ciera
Brad
Ciera
Brad

With 3 votes each, it is tied. The others will now revote.

Votes
Brad
Ciera
Brad
Brad

With 3 votes, Brad has been voted off the island. Once again, their goal was clearly not to strengthen the tribe because, although Brad is a snake, he was a contributor toward their largely dismal challenge performances.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Blood Vs. Water Episode 5, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Amazing Race 23 Episode 2

Having struggled through both tasks, Hoskote & Naina were the first team eliminated in The Amazing Race 23 Episode 1.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Tim & Marie – 2:52AM
Second: Nicole & Travis – 3:02AM
Third: Rowan & Shane – 3:08AM
Fourth: Chester & Ephraim – 3:13AM
Fifth: Nicky & Kim – 3:14AM
Sixth: Ally & Ashley – 3:20AM
Seventh: Leo & Jamal – 4:00AM
Eighth: Jason & Amy – 5:17AM
Ninth: Tim & Danny – 5:28AM
Tenth: Brandon & Adam – 5:34AM

Museo Corbeta Esmeralda is their first destination, which ensure that all teams are bunched together due to hours of operation. Once the place opens, they must find a phrase and say it in Spanish.

From here, they will head to the Irlanda salt mines, home to the world’s largest concentration of sodium chloride. The detour is a choice between mining or brining. Brining requires them to add salt to pool water until they can comfortably float. Mining requires them to break open boulders of salt in search of a clue.

Mining: Brandon & Adam, Leo & Jamal, Chester & Ephraim, Rowan & Shane
Brining: Nicole & Travis, Jason & Amy, Ally & Ashley (switched from mining), Tim & Marie, Nicky & Kim, Tim & Danny

The dumb luck tasks are normally bad news, but that doesn’t stop multiple teams from doing the mining. Before they can actually start the detour, though, they must take a bike ride to get there, which proves to be more difficult for some than others. It ultimately does not seem to matter too much which detour they choose.

A bus 24 hour bus ride will take them to their next destination of Santiago, Chile.

1st bus (departs at 1:30): Brandon & Adam, Leo & Jamal, Chester & Ephraim, Jason & Amy, Nicole & Travis
2nd bus (departs at 2:00): Tim & Marie, Ally & Ashley, Tim & Danny, Nicky & Kim
3rd bus (departs around 3:00): Rowan & Shane

Rowan & Shane, who arrived in time to take the second bus, believe they have outsmarted everybody and will be departing on the third bus instead. They later learn that this bus is just as slow as the others and they just screwed themselves out of an hour or so.

The good news for them is that this is a day long bus ride. Anything can happen. The first bus arrives on schedule. The second bus arrives second, but it’s 5 hours later. This puts the third bus only about 15 minutes behind.

We’re starting to see some early alliances form. Leo & Jamal have dubbed Ally & Ashley their race wives. Having played minor league ball, Tim knows the husband of one of the baseball wives, which allows Tim & Marie to forge an alliance with Nicky & Kim. Out of this, Nicky & Kim are likely to get an express pass while Marie’s ability to make everybody hate her at least hasn’t backfired with every single team.

The road block requires teams to play the role of shoe shiners, figuring out how to put together their equipment then pushing it six blocks. In the strangest road block I’ve ever seen, Rowan does everything correctly… except he is just working with some random street vendor rather than going where he’s supposed to go. Meanwhile, Nicky neglects to take the mat with her, and her pleas to her new ally Marie to give her the express pass fall on deaf ears. Still, though it creates some drama, just running back to get the rug is not enough to drop her behind Rowan & Shane

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Cascada de Las Animas. Leo & Jamal speak Spanish, so there’s no excuse for what just happened, but they try to stiff their cab driver, which causes them to give up the win for this leg. They both very loudly blame each other.

First: Chester & Ephraim (win a trip to Turks and Caicos)
Second: Leo & Jamal
Third: Brandon & Adam
Fourth: Nicole & Travis
Fifth: Jason & Amy
Sixth: Tim & Danny
Seventh: Ally & Ashley
Eighth: Tim & Marie
Ninth: Nicky & Kim
Eliminated: Rowan & Shane

After a couple of very bad mistakes, Rowan & Shane have been eliminated from the race.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 23 Episode 3, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

Survivor: Blood Vs. Water Episode 3

Rachel started to get in between the bromance in Survivor: Blood Vs. Water Episode 2, and that meant she had to go.

Colton thinks he’s in danger because he loves to be a strategist. I’m sure it has nothing to do with him being an ass (again).

Now we get to the other possible benefit to the Rachel elimination. When they get to the duel, Tyson is made the same offer the others were: she can get back in the game if he agrees to switch with her. She tells him to stay put because he has a better chance (logic Rupert should have used), but before sitting down, he picks a fight with the other tribe.

And then Colton starts crying out of nowhere. Huh? He says he doesn’t want to be there any more and wants to quit. Again. This is why quitters shouldn’t be allowed back. Probst says he didn’t really have appendicitis the first time but just wanted an excuse to quit. After a bit of back and forth, Colton decides he has officially quit for a second time. He does not want his fiance to go home, however, telling him he might actually have a chance.

At the duel, they must stack blocks along platforms while avoiding trip bars, allowing the domino effect to break a tile. Candice wins again. Marissa and Rachel are going back and forth, both unable to create an effective row of blocks. In the end, after more than 45 minutes, Rachel comes up short and is eliminated while Marissa places second again. Candice gives John a second clue to the hidden immunity idol location.

When they get back to camp, Tyson is now aware that Monica’s husband is a driving force behind Rachel’s elimination. That will make her an easy target.

He may have hid his first clue, but this time John decides to tell Brad about his latest clue. Strangely, after telling him, he says he wants him to stay behind while he goes and looks. So why bother telling him at all if that’s the condition? You could earn just as much trust by finding it and then telling him you have it. Unless you still can’t find it even with two clues.

The reward to go along with immunity will be comfort or fishing gear. Their challenge is a battle, and the first one to push the other off the platform wins. Brad beats Gervase to take the lead 1-0 for Tadhana. Laura B beats Katie to tie it 1-1. John beats Aras to retake the lead. Kat drops Ciera with one push, and it’s tied again. Hayden quickly drops Tyson to retake the lead, and medical has to come out and look at Tyson’s shoulder, which has been popped out but should heal given time. Tina beats her daughter Katie to tie it again. Aras gets hit with a cheap attack from his brother Vytas after letting him get back to his feet, but he still wins to give Galang the lead for the first time. Laura M beats her daughter Ciera, and Galang wins immunity again.

Katie and Ciera, who lost twice each, are the obvious targets for tonight’s vote. Afraid that Candice will continue to dominate Redemption Island, Brad has another idea. He wants to get rid of John instead. Most of this is just being done for the sake of proving he can do it, rather than it being the smart thing to do.

Part of Brad’s plan is to make all of his allies plus two girls to vote for John so that he can be the good guy and say he didn’t flip. Since he’s just told the majority his voting plans, they can now potentially get rid of him instead. Considering his clear disloyalty, I’d sooner drop Brad than John, though both are useful members that can eventually contribute to the tribe finally winning something.

Votes
Ciera
John
John
John
John

With 4 votes, John has been voted off the island. Not liking this Redemption Island twist. It is having far too much impact on the game.

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