America’s Got Talent Season 8 Episode 8

The auditions concluded in America’s Got Talent Season 8 Episode 7, and a pole dancer was perhaps the best act of the night. Now the 100 acts head to Vegas, and 60 of them will be chosen for the live shows.

Some acts will go straight to New York (Radio City Music Hall, which they are going to say over and over again), some acts will compete for a 50/50 shot to advance, and some will be cut right away. In order to know who is in what category, I’d need to be able to recognize without any hints these people who I’ve seen for two minutes each.

The danger acts perform first. David Ferman juggles stun guns while riding a unicycle. Brad Byers puts a hook through his nose and out his mouth, then uses the hook to pull people. Alexandr Magala swallows a sword and pole dances. Sam Johnson lights a hat on fire on his head, then he douses himself in gasoline and juggles on a unicycle on a tightrope. Rong Niu returns with her bowl and unicycle act, but this time she makes a mistake, though she does manage to land 5 bowls at the end.

The music acts are next. Forte, an opera singing group that just formed, has now reformed with a different singer joining their trio. Brandon & Savannah perform a cover song, rather than an original like they did last time. They consider their biggest competition to be older rock group American Hitmen.

They are followed by the kids groups, most of whom are also musical. 2Unique rap a Miley Cyrus song, from before she was famous for something other than fighting with her dad and shaving her head to look stupid. Lil Demon does some hip hop. Melody Caballero struggles through a contortion routine. Ruby & Jonas and Ruby’s brother D’Angelo and his partner Amanda keep their competition in the family. The older duo pulls it off without a hitch, but Ruby slips.

We’re done with music for now as the comics take the stage. Jimmy Failla falls flat. He says his act is not built for 4 people, but the problem is it’s just not funny. Eric Schwartz aka Smooth E has a little more success and at least gets some laughs. Taylor Williamson has the judges laughing before he begins, and he doesn’t even need to say anything for them to lose it. John Wing at 53 is able to make fun of the differences between today and the olden days.

Now more dance. Archbishop Molloy Step Team, Hype, and Art Spark are the groups. Kid the Wiz and Dylan Wilson are the solo dancers. They all perform to mixed reviews.

The acrobats go next. Tavi & Antonio perform their male erotic aerial act. “Accro” Brandon Rosario is the other pole dancer competing against the far more impressive Timber Brown. Duo Resonance have added a spinning trick to their dance, but they are disappointed by the results. KriStef Brothers have stepped out of an 80s workout video to act goofy and show off their strength and balance.

Not to be confused with the music acts, we conclude the night with the female singers. Skilyr Hicks sings another original song as she cries. Selena Mykenzie Gordon sings Martina McBride very well. Cami Bradley sings Summertime while playing piano. Deanna DellaCioppa was the first to sing but fell apart due to technical difficulties, but she returns to deliver a too emotional performance.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of America’s Got Talent Season 8 Episode 9, which airs Wednesday at 9/8c on NBC.

Big Brother 15 Episode 8

Elissa was saved again in Big Brother 15 Episode 7 as The Moving Company alliance fell apart and the bigger threat, Nick, was sent packing. Then Helen won HOH, ensuring Elissa’s safety for at least another week.

We begin tonight’s show with an apology from CBS. Why? The editing may be their fault, but you can’t control what people say or how others react to it. Regardless, no matter what, somebody’s going to get upset.

We start where we left off last week, with GinaMarie’s meltdown, like someone died. Once she’s done crying, she proceeds to yell throughout the house.

McCrae says The Moving Company wanted him to make a choice between Amanda and them, and he chose her. Spencer’s main reason for voting the way he did is because Jeremy’s an ass. Howard considered voting with them, but he says he wanted to create mystery over the fourth vote.

Realizing he sunk his alliance and is on the wrong side of the house, Jeremy starts his butt kissing immediately, even though he absolutely hates Elissa for reasons I still have not heard explained.

Kaitlin, Aaryn, and GinaMarie say they don’t even want to be here any more. Okay, cool. Leave then. Kaitlin feels like she’s back in high school being treated how she used to treat people.

Jessie says that Elissa is at least respectful, and maybe they should get to know her.

Candice enters her room to find a surprise. Aaryn threw her mattress and everything on it on the floor, for no apparent reason, and from what I can tell not necessarily aimed at any one person. But that won’t stop the drama. Strangely the voice of reason, Jeremy warns them they’re not making things better for themselves.

McCrae acknowledges to Amanda that he was in an alliance with the boys.

While Candice is consoling GinaMarie, who continues to cry, Aaryn takes the opportunity to apologize for anything offensive she may have said, and she seems somewhat sincere, to a point. Candice considers the apology to be dirt. We haven’t seen the last of this.

The have/have not competition is a hoedown. They have to transport spoiled milk across the yard and fill up their jugs. Howard doesn’t even care. Being on a team with Aaryn, GinaMarie, and Kaitlin, he’s with people he thinks need to suffer. McCrae is doing so badly that Howard is struggling in his efforts to fail, and his plans are spoiled. That makes McCrae, Amanda, Judd, and Jessie have nots for the week.

After the competition, Jeremy tells Helen about his alliance. He blames McCrae and Spencer for flipping, failing to realize that him threatening them was the beginning of the end. He’s completely fine with Helen putting Aaryn and Kaitlin on the block, thus concluding the selling out of all of his friends.

After being pushed, Howard finally stops lying about his vote. However, he continues lying about the male alliance, despite the fact that she is able to name every member of it. Just come clean, dude. It’s just way too obvious the cat is out of the bag.

Nominations
Elissa is safe.
Andy is safe.
Candice is safe.
McCrae is safe.
Amanda is safe.
GinaMarie is safe.
Judd is safe.
Jessie is safe.
Howard is safe.
Spencer is safe.
Jeremy is safe.
Aaryn and Kaitlin have been nominated for eviction.

Aaryn’s probably the biggest target in the house, but she’s hardly the biggest threat. She’s just the most divisive.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Big Brother 15 Episode 9, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

Big Brother 15 Episode 7

As the popularity contest continued to be the determining factor in who is “playing the best game”, Elissa again won MVP in Big Brother 15 Episode 6. She nominated Jeremy, but he won veto and removed himself. In his place, Nick was nominated alongside Elissa and Helen.

Last week, Elissa had it pretty easy. Though the chicks instantly hated her, The Moving Company had her back. Now the same girls are against her (and unable to realize they’re just giving the guys more power), and a member of The Moving Company is on the block.

Jessie, who really didn’t have to do anything last week or even choose a side, is now who Elissa considers her biggest hope. Along with Amanda, Candice, McCrae, Andy, Judd, and Howard, they feel they have the votes. Of course, two of these people have an alliance with Nick, one that has admittedly been on shaky ground after McCrae ignored them when he nominated Elissa and then Jeremy threatened them all to vote his way or else.

Howard seems pretty solidly aligned with them. The concern is that McCrae will do what Amanda wants. He acknowledges she’s his closest ally in the house.

Aaryn makes a lame but seemingly innocuous comment about the black fish and the white fish being segregated in the tank. While the others talk about her behind her back, Amanda opts to warn her how she’s being perceived. Rather than taking this onboard and possibly modifying her behavior, she says she’s not going to acknowledge it, nor does she care. Though she has a point that she is often prejudged herself because people consider her a Barbie, which can be both a help and a hindrance, you’d think she would at least not be so oblivious to how negatively people are reacting to some of her comments, if for no other reason than she doesn’t like how she feels when people assume she’s a dumb blonde.

Votes
Jeremy: Elissa
Kaitlin: Elissa
Andy: Nick
GinaMarie: Elissa
Judd: Nick
Spencer: Nick
Jessie: Nick
Howard: Elissa
McCrae: Nick
Amanda: Nick
Candice: Nick

By a vote of 7-4-0, Nick has been evicted from the Big Brother house. The same people who were blindsided last week are blindsided again, and Aaryn’s HOH accomplishes nothing as once again the MVP nominee goes home. I didn’t see that coming, not by that margin at least. Spencer and McCrae both voted against their fellow alliance member. So concludes The Moving Company, an alliance that was lame from the beginning.

Meanwhile, it may be Nick’s moment, but GinaMarie’s breakdown takes center stage. Nick feels Spencer has the power in the house, and he’s probably to blame for his eviction. They definitely took out a big threat, one who potentially could have gone very far in this game. Julie suggests he should have kissed Jessie for a vote.

Throughout the night, they are awakened by a loud noise so that they can memorize packages on a conveyor belt for tonight’s multiple guess (True/False) HOH competition.

Judd and Jeremy are eliminated on the first question. GinaMarie, Andy, Spencer, and Elissa are out on the second question. Candice is eliminated on the third question. Everybody is correct on the fourth question. And the fifth. And sixth.

It’s a tiebreaker question with five people still in the competition. They must identify the amount of cans contained in the BB Cola boxes. Everybody gives the same answer (168), except McCrae, who goes one higher. Now another tiebreaker, one with nothing to do with their overnight task. What was the total time in seconds it took Jeremy to win veto? Kaitlin has been impressive in this competition, answering without hesitation and first on almost every question (to the point where it looks fishy), but that won’t earn her any points. The correct answer is 895. With a response of 800, Helen is the new HOH. I am shocked. Shocked. The power has shifted back toward the side in the most danger last week.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Big Brother 15 Episode 8, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

America’s Got Talent Season 8 Episode 7

Buried in between a bunch of messes, country singer Jimmy Rose threw down the gauntlet in America’s Got Talent Season 8 Episode 6. Tonight is the final night of auditions.

Mestizo Ballet Folklorico dance with machetes, except for 3 year old Mateo who dances with butter knives.

Mel knows Timber Brown. He had a minute part in a show she was the star of in Vegas. He’s a pole dancer, which as we have seen on this show before requires a lot of strength and athleticism to do well.

Skilyr Hicks (14) is a singer/songwriter who started playing after her dad passed away a few years ago. Her emotional tale and song easily win over the audience.

Dr. Bob Baker is Howard Stern’s real doctor. Like what he does with Howard, he’ll be sticking his hand up the rear ends of puppets, such as his talking large intestine. Howard’s intro of him is the most interesting part of the act, but his bad puns turn out to be amusing but not enough.

Milton Patton may not look like a country singer at first glance, but he sure sounds like one. He’s a surprisingly decent singer.

The final audition of the season is retired Jetta, a terrible singer and dancer who quickly increases the sale of ear plugs.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of America’s Got Talent Season 8 Episode 8, which airs Tuesday at 9/8c on NBC.

Big Brother 15 Episode 6

Following Aaryn’s predictable HOH win in Big Brother 15 Episode 5, she predictably nominated Elissa and Helen for eviction.

Candice thinks the boys got Aaryn to do their dirty work, but she’s an emotional player who’s vindictive enough on her own without needing any encouragement to make the nominations she did.

Despite having just been nominated by Aaryn, Helen lets her know that she would still like to work together.

Now for the biggest shock of the week. Elissa is MVP. Why even bother voting? Unlike last week when she told McCrae, she decides to tell someone actually trustworthy, Helen. Of course, since the entire house can predict she’s MVP, it doesn’t really matter. They decide that their target is Jeremy, one of Aaryn’s strongest allies, despite supposedly having an alliance with The Moving Company.

In addition to Jessie stalking him, Nick now has a new girl crushing on him, GinaMarie. Perhaps the third time will be a charm.

As planned, Jeremy has been nominated for eviction by MVP Elissa.

Amanda and Nick have been chosen at random to join the nominees and HOH in the veto competition. Nick wants to win and save Jeremy, but GinaMarie does not want him to do that. She is not having much success convincing him. Elissa, however, tells him he has to throw it, promising to not go after him for 2 weeks, with a warning that he’ll be the replacement nominee if he doesn’t throw it. I’m not sure I understand this deal. If someone loses, how do you know they did not do it on purpose? Typically people don’t just go out first or even too early unless they are deliberately trying to look weak.

They get dressed up in onesies for the veto competition, and they find out that Britney from BB12 and BB14 is pregnant. The backyard is decorated like a giant nursery, which Andy feels is appropriate for these houseguests. Their challenge is to put together a mobile with 10 stuffed animals on it.

In a challenge like this, I’m not sure who has the advantage. Jeremy keeps talking about beast mode, but that doesn’t seem like it will help. I would guess it would be guys with the advantage because it’s essentially a construction task. Amanda is the first person to buzz in, but she has two bears just touching the ground. She is unable to reposition her animals before Jeremy ends up winning veto. Helen was behind him. Nick didn’t lose convincingly, but he was nowhere near winning either.

Elissa and Helen declined to backdoor Jeremy, and now it bites them. Kaitlin’s convinced that she is guaranteed to be nominated because Elissa is making this personal. Really? Elissa is the one making this personal? She went after the threat, not the person she repeatedly called a bitch for no apparent reason.

Jeremy threatens his alliance. Either they get rid of Elissa, or he’s done with them. Here’s your warning, folks. Cut this clown loose. He continues to prove his disloyalty.

Candice continues to push her theory that there’s an all male alliance, and she wants that broken up. So they can’t get rid of the dumbass. Now they can target someone actually dangerous, Nick. Elissa realizes that she’ll be breaking her word if she does this, even if Nick was trying hard during the veto competition but just sucked at it.

Elissa approaches Nick and asks if he’ll vote out Kaitlin. He’s not saying anything. Lie. Don’t lie. Whatever. Just commit. Maybe he’s not so smart after all.

At the veto ceremony, Jeremy removes himself from the block. In his place, the MVP has “secretly” chosen Nick as the replacement nominee.

Though it would seem Nick is the bigger threat, I don’t see how Elissa can get the 6 votes she needs to stay. Her closest ally is on the block next to her, there’s one alliance that hates her because they’re bitches, and there’s a second alliance that wants to save one of their own. Her only hope is the cracks in The Moving Company continue to grow.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Big Brother 15 Episode 7, which airs Thursday at 9/8c on CBS.

America’s Got Talent Season 8 Episode 6

Between San Antonio and Chicago combined, America’s Got Talent Season 8 Episode 5 left me feeling underwhelmed, with the first act of the night juggler David Ferman being the shining moment. Tonight the auditions head to Los Angeles.

Olivia Rox’s parents are both musicians, so she’s been performing since she was 2. I don’t get the choice of song or the wacky arrangement, but somewhere in there she manages to demonstrate her talent.

Ronald Farnham is a plunger thrower. His objective is to throw plungers so that they stick to people, which in itself is completely pointless. It’s even worse when he misses almost every one. At least Howie’s late and not encouraging him.

Tummy Talk is a group of three guys slapping another fat guy. So continues the pointlessness. Howard is the voice of reason, but that’s not enough to prevent them from going to Vegas. Now that Howie’s arrived, this is the type of act that’s going to advance.

Sensation is performing their act for their first audience ever. The projectors and lights make them more than just another dance group, though it falls short of most glow in the dark dance. Heidi was bored and not impressed with the dancing, but the other three vote yes.

Yasha and Daniela have been dancing since they were little, but now they’re 8 and 9. They start off being charming, even when she’s bossing him around, and they back this up with good dancing talent that admittedly gets a little lost behind their personalities.

Jimmy Rose has traveled there from Kentucky. I often wonder why these people don’t look at a map, as LA is about as far as he could travel to audition unless they hold auditions in Seattle or across an ocean. Great country voice (for a very good original song about being a coal miner) combined with a story about military service. He’s going to be tough to beat.

Abel builds and plays his own instruments, none of which are particularly entertaining.

Captain Explosion blows himself up. Just what Howard’s been waiting for. Yeah, he literally gets into a box and makes it explode. The problem with this is you really can’t see anything. Dangerous and sounds potentially interesting… but it doesn’t make for good TV. The judges watching it live weren’t impressed either.

Chloe Channell would rather be hunting, but she puts on a pink dress and sings Carrie Underwood instead. She has a good voice, especially for an 11 year old.

And now back to New York City.

Megan Amigo is a nanny/belly dancing contortionist. She believes Howard has a pure heart, so she’s not worried. The constant smiling and the song about getting happy are not enough to trick the judges, though, with the exception of Howie.

212 Green is a soul pop band from Harlem. Spice Girls is the reason they started singing, which is enough for Mel to call them her favorite, but the other judges are also impressed.

The final act of the night is Al Harris, a guy covered in bandaids. This will not end well. I wouldn’t have predicted he’s a prop comedian. His very bad puns manage to get a lot of laughs… but many many buzzes from the judges as he ignores them for a few minutes after they have already axed him.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of America’s Got Talent Season 8 Episode 7, which airs Wednesday at 9/8c on NBC.

Big Brother 15 Episode 5

Following the eviction of David, Big Brother 15 Episode 4 left off at the start of an endurance competition for HOH.

Nick pretends to GinaMarie that he has no idea what happened with the vote. Prior to the live show, Spencer told Candice that he was voting for Elissa in attempt to cover his tracks.

For the HOH competition, they have to make a choice. They can either go right for the big HOH jug, or they can fill the smaller jug first, which contains a larger cup that may provide them an advantage. Howard/Jessie, Judd/Nick, and Helen/Spencer try for the small jug first. Considering how big the small jug is, it doesn’t seem worth it.

Amanda is pretty much a lost cause. Candice is at least not crawling, but she acknowledges she’s not very graceful despite being a former NFL cheerleader. This leaves it as a race between Elissa & Andy against Jeremy & Aaryn. With the big cup, Judd & Nick pull into third place quickly. Having led for most of the competition, Aaryn & Jeremy win the HOH competition.

At least one team, probably more than one, cheated in this competition by just swapping cups rather than pouring the sauce as per the instructions, though the video is supposedly inconclusive. If Janelle were in the house, there would be a do over.

The Moving Company hopes Jeremy will take control, but he promptly hands HOH over to Aaryn. Her first task as HOH is to choose four people to be have nots. She asks who voted David out, as if anybody would admit it. Elissa, Helen, Candice, and Andy are have nots. Three out of these four were already in this position last week.

Andy is the first person to actually admit to voting out David, claiming he did that because he did not feel safe.

Who wants to see Aaryn’s HOH room? If the vote is any indication, maybe four people. Otherwise, people find it very creepy. They fear her first stuffed animal. Can’t sleep. Clown will eat me.

Jeremy has a plan for nominations. Elissa is a given. He suggests Helen as the other person.

In addition to slop, America has granted the have nots two food choices: liver and lima beans. As terrible as this may sound, I guess it beats just slop.

Historically, Big Brother has avoided showing its houseguests worst sides. They will typically pretend that racism, homophobia, etc. simply do not exist. In an unexpected turn of events, the spotlight shines on Aaryn for comments about blacks, gays, and Asians. Though what she says is hardly the most offensive thing we’ve heard in the house, it is enough to get Aaryn fired from her real life job as a model. I doubt this will last very long, but it will be a shock when she gets out of the house and learns because BB will not tell her (9/11 is the only time I ever remember the producers breaking this policy). With all that said, this particularly unlikable cast has quickly shown their bigoted sides, with more than half the cast expressing such views (GinaMarie, likewise, has been fired). How did everybody else escape this treatment?

Candice and Helen are suspicious about the guys’ alliance.

Jessie, who is sure she is the best looking person in the house, confronts Nick about why he hates her. He must. Otherwise, he would be in a showmance with her.

Helen proposes to Aaryn that they should work together because they are on opposite sides of the house. This strategy is suitable for one reason. Nobody would ever suspect them of working together. The problem is they will never trust each other.

Spencer would rather see Amanda as the target as opposed to Elissa. To accomplish this, Jeremy tells Aaryn that Amanda was the mastermind behind David’s eviction.

Nominations
Jeremy is safe.
Kaitlin is safe.
Andy is safe.
Nick is safe.
Judd is safe.
McCrae is safe.
GinaMarie is safe.
Spencer is safe.
Jessie is safe.
Amanda is safe.
Howard is safe.
Candice is safe.
Elissa and Helen have been nominated for eviction.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Big Brother 15 Episode 6, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

Big Brother 15 Episode 4

Elissa predictably won MVP in Big Brother 15 Episode 3 and nominated David for eviction, but perhaps just as predictably, McCrae ignored his alliance and put her on the block alongside David and Jessie.

Elissa thinks she’s going to need to be a little more open with some of these houseguests. Because that’s worked so well thus far with McCrae. She acknowledges to Amanda and Andy that she’s Rachel’s sister and MVP.

Jeremy and Kaitlin are starting a showmance of their own. Great, another couple with two members that have so far been unable to show any redeeming qualities other than being easy on the eyes.

Aaryn, David, Katilin, and Jeremy agree to wait until midnight to have a drink with the have nots. Rather than doing that, they crack at 11:19 and drink all the wine before the day ends. Perhaps this isn’t Survivor where you can get voted out because you eat an extra cherry, but this is nonetheless a scenario that could easily widen a rift between these already unlikeable people and the others. With Aaryn by his side, Jeremy aggressively asks that they place all the blame on him, lying about anybody else drinking.

Next up, Amanda crawls into McCrae’s bed. He is afraid of her, but that doesn’t stop the kissing.

The one use to Elissa is that she’s got a good shot at winning MVP. If they can keep her around, they can at least have some input over that third nomination each week. Spencer starts his campaign to make sure everybody realizes this. All he needs to do is round up 6 votes (fewer in the event of a three way split vote), 4 of which could come from the Moving Company, with people like Andy, Amanda, and Helen seemingly other easy votes.

Votes
Amanda: David
Aaryn: Elissa
Nick: David
Candice: Elissa
Spencer: David
Kaitlin: Elissa
Helen: David
Howard: David
Ginamarie: Elissa
Judd: David
Jeremy: Elissa
Andy: David

By a vote of 7-5-0, David has been evicted from the Big Brother house. Interestingly, Jeremy opted to go against the house and his alliance, instead siding with his showmance.

Amanda apologizes for having to vote out David because he hooked up with the biggest bitch on the show.

To celebrate Independence Day, they have a BB BBQ. It’s another endurance competition. They are competing in teams to fill jugs with sauce while running back and forth (each person runs half the length of the course). The winning pair must decide between themselves who will be the new HOH. Though they tell us the pairs were determined at random, everybody is partnered with someone who voted the same way they did (or who did not vote at all), with the exception of Amanda and Kaitlin.

The teams have been divided as follows:

Aaryn & Jeremy
Amanda & Kaitlin
Andy & Elissa
Candice & Ginamarie
Helen & Spencer
Howard & Jessie
Judd & Nick

Want to know who wins HOH before Sunday’s show? Check out the BB15 spoilers.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Big Brother 15 Episode 5, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.