The Biggest Loser Season 14 Episode 9

The house failed miserably to work together in The Biggest Loser Season 14 Episode 8, which led to Francelina falling below the red line.

One person will be leaving the ranch for the week. They will decide who with a friendly competition. Their job is to use their 25 pounds blocks to protect their friends. The person who is unprotected is gone, while the person who stacks the most blocks will win a 1 pound advantage.

Jackson is going to protect Alex. Gina figures she’s the target, but she’d like to see Jackson saved. Danni and Joe are going at each other. Jeff is the first one to be safe, followed by Alex. Jackson asks that nobody protect him, the only thing that will save Gina, as he wants to fall on the sword and prove he can do it on his own. He struggles to find people to support his request, but by seconds he is the one to lose the challenge. Gina promises she will be good this week. The 1 pound advantage goes to Joe, who beat Danni by 1 block after she fell.

Here’s the bad news for Jackson. He thought he was just putting himself in the firing line. Of course, it doesn’t end there. He has to choose someone else to go with him. Only not really. Jeff volunteers. The others are not off the hook, as they are warned they will have to face their fears this week.

Lindsay will hang out with someone (the guidance counselor at her school) who has diabetes so that she can learn what it’s like to have it. Biingo’s greatest fear: vegetables. Bob will try to trick him into eating them without him knowing it, which he readily does, even though he supposedly does not like them. Sunny is afraid that her mother will die because she’s morbidly obese. Jillian suggests they talk about this.

Gina acknowledges a pattern in her life where she feels she’s not getting anything out of a relationship, so she explodes, destroying those relationships. Jillian has brought her to her funeral because she’s killing herself and her relationships. She climbs inside a coffin and is told to rest in peace. Creepy.

The challenge will involve falling off the side of a building. They will have to hold 40% of their body weight for as long as they can. Reward is immunity. Jeff has been struggling since the start, and he is the first one to take the 7 story ride to the bottom after 5 minutes. Jackson follows him with much dramatic yelling. Alex and Joe are next. It’s not surprising that two women are the last ones left standing: Gina and Danni. Gina looks strong and hasn’t really budged, but as the clock ticks, she starts to fade. Danni, meanwhile, is just barely hanging on, eventually dropping to one hand, but it’s not enough. Gina wins immunity, guaranteeing herself a spot in the final five.

Danni once mentioned to Jillian that she’s afraid of singing in public. So she will be performing on stage at a small lounge. She’s better than half the people on these stupid singing shows.

As for Joe, he’s afraid of sharks. Bob takes him to go swimming in the ocean where there may be some, which could be anywhere.

Gina apologizes to Alex for her behavior the last week or two or eight, saying that they won’t see that version of her again.

After the last chance workout, they face their final fear of the week: the scales.

The weigh in hasn’t even started yet, and Jillian jumps in about people volunteering to go to the house in the suburbs, rather than having access to world class trainers and equipment.

Gina: 173 pounds (-7, 3.89%, immune)
Jackson: 250 pounds (-11, 4.21%)
Jeff: 295 pounds (-13, 4.22%)
Joe: 261 pounds (-12, -1, 4.76%) – 100 pounds lost
Alex: 187 pounds (-8, 4.10%)
Danni: 184 pounds (-10, 5.15%)

With Gina being saved by immunity, Alex ends up below the yellow line along with Jackson. He clearly took an unnecessary risk, but at the same time, I’m not sure he really could have done any better on the ranch than he did on his own.

Votes
Joe: Alex
Danni: Alex

With 2 votes, Alex is not The Biggest Loser. From her starting weight of 240 pounds, Alex now weighs 170 pounds.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 14 Episode 10, which airs Monday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 22 Episode 2

After a dumb luck task placed right near the pit stop proved to be the main determining factor in The Amazing race 22 Episode 1, three teams agreed to take the penalty together, leading to the elimination of Matt & Daniel.

Teams must now travel by water taxi to Motu Toopua Nui, departing at 7:30AM, which will put the top 8 teams in a tie, as the first team departs at 2:56, leaving the 2 teams with a 4 hour penalty fighting for last.

Jessica & John are trying to come up with an excuse why they should not give their additional express pass to Dave & Connor as originally agreed to by the alliance. My question is simple: why not? Who else are you going to give it to, and is this team you don’t want to give it to really that big a threat? The cut throat nature of the race is completely understandable, but making enemies just for the sake of making enemies on leg 2 does not sound like smart race strategy.

The first detour of the race is a choice between pick a pearl or take a trunk, both diving tasks. In pick a pearl, they must untie lines of shells and open them to find two red pearls. In take a trunk they must grab a trunk and construct an underwater picnic dining experience.

Pick a pearl: Dave & Donnor, Jessica & John, Bates & Anthony, Joey & Meghan, Pam & Winnie, Chuck & Wynona
Take a trunk: Mona & Beth, Max & Katie, Caroline & Jennifer, Idries & Jamil (switched from pick a pearl)

Looking to save 20 seconds, Dave & Connor take a shortcut… right past their snorkel gear. They realize this after the boat ride over, putting themselves in last place of this front pack.

Jamil & Idries get into a debate very quickly about whether or not to take the penalty. Idries asks Jamil whether he even wants to try. No, he does not. The other two teams are just an hour and 45 minutes behind, so this would be pretty much guaranteed last place. After much debate, Jamil decides to at least make an effort.

Apparently not realizing they are in a fight for their lives, Caroline & Jennifer ask Max & Katie to do the detour together. What they don’t realize is that this is all moot. The twins have at least made an effort, but it’s taking them an awfully long time, so long in fact that by the end of the detour they are in last place. Eventually, they switch to the other detour. There’s one added wrinkle to this. Pam & Winnie are completely lost on their jet skis. But I don’t get the sense this will amount to anything, as the twins are just too far behind everyone else.

Using a map and personal watercraft, teams will now guide themselves to Motu Tapu.

The road block is kicking a coconut while on stilts. They’ll have to go 35 feet and cross the goal.

Road block (in order of arrival: Joey, Jessica, Connor, Anthony, Beth, Chuck, Pam, Max, Caroline, Jamil

The pit stop for this leg of the race is down the beach.

As they’re running to the pit stop, Dave says he just ruptured his achilles. Really, that’s the first thought that comes to your mind when you have leg pain? John’s input when he hears this: maybe they aren’t stuck giving them the express pass after all. I guess we’re going to be listening to this drama for the next two episodes.

First: Bates & Anthony (win a trip to London)
Second: Dave & Connor
Third: Jessica & John
Fourth: Joey & Meghan
Fifth: Chuck & Wynona
Sixth: Mona & Beth
Seventh: Caroline & Jennifer
Eighth: Max & Katie
Ninth: Pam & Winnie
Eliminated: Idries & Jamil

Having struggled with the detour, Idries & Jamil have been eliminated, but they are pleased that at least they did not give up.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 22 Episode 3, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

Survivor: Caramoan Episode 2

Francesca (seriously, whose favorite is she?) was voted out first in Survivor: Caramoan Episode 1, again.

Dawn tries to explain things, apparently, to an angry Brandon. She ends up walking away after he refuses to listen. Afterward, he says he’s thinking about going Russell Hantz style on these people. That would be a nice change from the lame Brandon Hantz style we saw last time he was on the island.

Shamar says he’s trying to conserve his energy, just staying in the shade and relaxing. Get rid of this clown already.

The next morning, Brandon has changed his mind. He says he’s going to be a nice guy. More boring.

3 members from each tribe will hop on a raft, be pulled out to a platform by 3 other tribe members, and dive to grab bamboo sticks to release rings for a toss back at the shore. Reward is a fishing kit. Laura is sitting out for the Fans. Before they start the challenge, Shamar talks about how he’s just a fool.

They’re about dead even as they hit the platforms, but the Fans are hopeless when it comes to retrieving rings. Favorites have all 9 rings and head back as their opponents only have 2. By the time they have all their rings, the Favorites are already on shore with Malcolm tossing. Did you learn nothing last week? Reynold has the chance to win this if he can again outtoss Malcolm. Malcolm’s up 2-0. Reynold makes it 2-1, but they’re just too late. Phillip takes over to score the final point and win immunity and reward for the Favorites.

Phillip has decided he is the CEO of a spy corporation, Stealth R Us.

Shamar’s the obvious choice because he is both useless and annoying and not trying to hide it, but nonetheless he’s a number in a tribe split down the middle. If not him, the choice is one of the girls from the couples. Not sure it matters which one. Laura suggests Allie as the only one of them who’s actually thinking.

Reynold assumes there must be a hidden immunity idol. He searches for a bit and finds it. Before they head for Tribal Council, Laura sees a bulge in his pants, and she wonders what’s in them. While there, she says she’s not going to say who… while looking directly at Reynold. In response, he reveals his idol to the tribe. He claims he’ll play it tonight. Unsurprisingly, he puts it back in his pocket after the vote.

Votes
Shamar
Shamar
Shamar
Shamar
Allie
Allie
Allie
Allie
Allie
Allie

With 6 votes, Allie has been voted off the island. As useless as Shamar is, the sentiment behind the vote makes sense: two couples is a powerful alliance that needs to be broken. Reynold might have been better off to just pass the idol to Allie, though next week he’d still be outnumbered.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Caramoan Episode 3, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Biggest Loser Season 14 Episode 8

Now that they’ve gone to singles, it’s time to start voting out the threats. Michael was the first victim of this in The Biggest Loser Season 14 Episode 7.

Jeff continues to protest too much about voting for Mike, something he said he never would do. In doing so, he does share that he has a similar story to Francelina, as both of them lost their fathers at a young age.

This week, immunity is up for grabs… for everybody. If they lose 70 pounds as a group, they are all safe. If not, there will be a red line.

The pop challenge can lower the goal weight. Biingo, Sunny, and Lindsay are the ones who will be tested. They must answer 5 basic nutrition questions and then do 5 exercises (beating their previous results) for a potential decrease in the goal weight by 1 pound each. They get the first two questions right but are incorrect that the Mexican food has fewer carbs than spaghetti and bread. They then get the next two questions correct. In a retest of their physical abilities, they are obviously more fit than they were on day 1. In total, they decrease the weight goal by 9 pounds to 61, the same amount they achieved last week when Mike was still there.

Here we are week 8, and Gina’s still throwing hissy fits. After giving a bunch of excuses and saying she can’t during the workout, she walks out of the gym, using the excuse that Joe said he hates lawyers. Who doesn’t? So much for work together week.

Speaking of more of the same, then we get to see more of Alex slacking off. So Jillian asks Gina to do the running instead. She can’t either. Then she walks out again, this time returning back to the house. Jillian’s tired of working with these quitters, so now she walks out. After more yelling, we finally get to a breakthrough where Alex acknowledges that she’s tired of her best never being good enough.

They are given yet another opportunity to reduce the goal weight at the next challenge. They must dig through sand hills and cross to the finish line at the end of the pier within half an hour. With seconds to spare, as Gina falls to the ground, Joe picks her up, surprising her that he can be a team player, though she struggles to do the same. Their goal is now 51 pounds, which should pretty easily be achieveable.

Jared stops by to tell them that this season’s winner (plus a favorite past contestant chosen by a public vote) will star in a Subway commercial with him.

Ready for Love? Oh c’mon, NBC, we didn’t need another singing competition, and we don’t need another marriage competition. What next? Dancing? Skating? A bunch of half naked people living in a house spied on by cameras 24/7?

After a high climbing trust building last chance workout, it’s time to see whether they have managed to lose the weight they need for everybody to stay safe. The trainers have been unimpressed by the team effort put forth this week. Jillian just wants them to be weighed in before Gina says anything else.

Danni: 194 pounds (-7, 3.48%)
Joe: 273 pounds (-6, 2.15%)
Jackson: 261 pounds (-5, 1.88%)
Alex: 195 pounds (-3, 1.52%)
Jeff: 308 pounds (-4, 1.28%)
Gina: 180 pounds (-4, 2.17%)
Francelina: 211 pounds (-2, 0.94%)

They needed an average of 3.09% to hit the 51 pound goal. With only Danni hitting that mark, they fell 20 pounds short after a disastrous attempt at working toward a common goal. As the person with the lowest percentage of weight loss this week, Francelina has fallen below the red line and is not The Biggest Loser. Having not gotten caught up in the drama of the week, she receives nothing but kind words from everybody as she departs.

From her starting weight of 267 pounds, she is down now to 190 pounds for a total weight loss of 77 pounds. Now outside the ranch, she’s started dating Jeff.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 14 Episode 9, which airs Monday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 22 Episode 1

Another 11 teams form The Amazing Race 22 cast competing for $1 million.

The Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, CA is the starting line for the race.

Chuck loves putting dead animals on his walls. Bates (like his brother) is a former pro hockey player, and he’s got the missing teeth to prove it. Max and Katie have been married for three whole weeks. Dave and Connor are father and son who have shared everything, including cancer. Idries and Jamil are twins, as if I don’t have a hard enough time telling the contestants apart, but hopefully they’re a lot less annoying than last season’s twins. Joey and Meghan acknowledge they’re the cute/sweet Youtube team. Matt and Danielle work on the same fire truck together, saying they have already been a team for six years. Caroline and Jennifer are country singers of a band called Stealing Angels, which I assume nobody has ever heard of, and they’re looking for love (wrong show, but they’ll probably have better luck than The Bachelor).

The twist for the first leg is that the winner will receive an express pass for themselves plus a second express pass to award to another team before the end of the fourth leg. I see the unnecessary and not overly compelling $2 million twist is done.

Their first destination is Bora Bora. The 5 teams on the first flight will have a 1 hour advantage.

Knowing that there’s another express pass to be given out, Winnie & Pam set out to make friends. Katie will pretend to be nice, but Max says she’s not very likeable, with her chiming in to say she’s not at all likeable.

First flight: Chuck & Wynona, Idries & Jamil, Pam & Winnie, David & Connor, Jessica & John
Second flight: Max & Katie,

The twins suggest to the group that whoever comes in second should get the second express pass, forming an alliance with the teams on the first flight for no other reason than they are the teams on the first flight.

The road block is to skydive from a helicopter. Normally they save these kinds of tasks for much later in the race. Each helicopter can carry one member from each of two teams. Everybody seems to understand the rules, except for Mona, who skips a line on the signup sheet and puts herself last, which Katie quickly takes advantage of.

Road block (in order of arrival): Winnie, Jamil, John, Connor, Chuck, Bates, Caroline, Mona, Max, Matt, Meghan

From here, teams will travel by water taxi to Eden Beach, where they will immediately face another road block. Less scary, but it’s going to be a huge pain. Their task is to search for a clue in hundreds of sand castles, and whatever they destroy, they must rebuild. This could take hours, which is confirmed by only one team being finished by the time teams from the next flight start showing up. The dumb luck nature of the task further shows when the sixth team to arrive quickly passes the others.

Road block (in order of arrival): Jessica, Idries, Dave, Pam, Wynona, Anthony, Jennifer, Katie, Joey, Beth

With three teams still left in the sun after three hours, the teams come together and decide to all take the penalty, turning the results from blind luck to performance in the final task. Someone’s making a big mistake here.

Continuing their work in the sun, they must attach a float to a canoe, then paddle over a mile to the pit stop for this leg of the race, Motu Cafe.

First: Jessica & John (win two express passes)
Second: Bates & Anthony
Third: Dave & Connor
Fourth: Pam & Winnie
Fifth: Mona & Beth
Sixth: Joey & Meghan
Seventh: Chuck & Wynona
Eighth: Idries & Jamil
Ninth: Max & Katie
Tenth: Caroline & Jennifer
Eliminated: Matt & Daniel

They built their canoe the quickest, but Matt & Daniel were unable to stay afloat and have been eliminated. As for the other two teams, the four hour penalty will be assessed at the start of the next leg, putting them both in a continuing struggle for last.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 22 Episode 2, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

Survivor: Caramoan Episode 1

Remember when Fans Vs. Favorites meant players such as Parvati, Amanda, and Cirie? In Survivor: Caramoan, it means whatever group of nutjobs is desperate enough to do the show again. I don’t know whose favorites these people are, but they’re not mine.

The 10 returning players on the Bikal (purple) tribe are: Andrea Boehlke, Brandon Hantz, Brenda Lowe, Corinne Kaplan, Dawn Meehan, Erik Reichenbach, Francesca Hogi, John Cochran, Malcolm Freberg, and Phillip Sheppard.

They will face off against the Gota (orange) tribe, a group of 10 new players: Alexandra “Allie” Pohevitz, Edward “Eddie” Fox, Hope Driskill, Julia Landauer, Laura Alexander, Matt Bischoff, Michael Snow, Reynold Toepfer, Shamar Thomas, and Sherri Biethman.

The Survivors hit the beach and face the first challenge. Reward is fire plus 20 pounds of beans. After stripping down (Phillip brought even pinker underpants), they head into the water, where two people on one tribe must get a ring past two defenders on the other tribe. Fans take the 1-0 lead. Brandon and Andrea drag their way to a 1-1 tie. Phillip drags everybody to his goal and takes the 2-1 lead. Cochran does not get beat by a girl as the Favorites take a 3-1 lead. Malcolm and Reynold want to prove they are the most physical and naked on the beach, and Malcolm comes out ahead, giving the Favorites the win.

Shamar has decided he does not care about the shelter and lets his tribe know that they should be building a fire instead, as if the odds of that make it a more worthwhile task. It’s clear he’s got a mouth on him that is going to rub people the wrong way. In the end, for all his talk, he does help to deliver results, as the tribe ends up making fire.

Francesca points out one reason why I barely remember half of them. She was the first person out during her last season. Phillip screwing up her name and putting a q in it is more memorable than anything she did. She promises to eat a rock if she’s voted out first again.

Phillip says he’s learned a list of rules about how to play the game from Boston Rob. Unless one of those rules is don’t be crazy, he’s going to come up short again. Corinne and Andrea happily ally with him. His total alliance is 6 people, the last of which is Erik, who he bullies into joining them. Erik agrees despite thinking he’s a combative idiot loser who makes everybody crazy.

Reynold forms a final two alliance with Allie, saying he wanted to join someone who would not be obvious. Yeah, because nobody would ever suspect you going after the pretty blonde girl. Especially after seeing you cuddling on the first night.

Meanwhile, Eddie, telling us he’s the best looking person on the island, teams up with the other best looking person, Hope. He won’t be at all obnoxious. These two make a four person alliance with the other cool kids, Reynold and Allie. Like the other cute couple, their relationship has very quickly been exposed.

Knowing that there is a division in the tribe, Michael and Matt must decide which four to align with. I don’t see them as having any chance to break into the cool kids’ alliance, though either side would be happy to have the numbers for the time being.

I don’t know how the heck Cochran survived the first time, yet he’s back again. Even his toes are sunburned.

At the immunity challenge, they will toss crates off a tower, then use the sandbags inside to complete tosses. The first part of the challenge is pretty well moot, though Allie and Eddie put their team way behind on the final leg, far enough that Malcolm’s half way done with the bag tosses by the time they finish. But he never gets past that point. Despite the lead, Reynold jumps ahead of Malcolm to win immunity and flint for the Fans.

Francesca suggests getting rid of Phillip or Corinne, but mostly she wants revenge on Phillip. She tells this to Andrea, one of Phil’s closest allies. Francesca and Brandon are pretty comfortable that there’s no way Phillip could actually have the numbers on his side. So confident is she of this that she wants to split the votes. Phil is behaving too calmly, so he must have immunity.

He may not be worried about Phillip, but Brandon is terrified of Andrea. He’s on to the fact that she’s relaying information to the other side. Now a third name is into their equation. Since you’re about ready to leave and vote, you might consider making a decision. I thought you people were supposed to be experienced at this game.

Dawn and Cochran have agreed to work together, which went really well for her last time he voted her out.

Votes
Andrea
Andrea
Andrea
Francesca
Francesca
Francesca
Andrea
Francesca
Francesca
Francesca

For the second time, Francesca has been voted off the island first, burned by both Phillip and her overly aggressive gameplay. I again question how she is a favorite. Along with Erik and Brandon, Brenda joined the minority in the vote against Andrea, but as he promised, Phillip has the numbers, with or without Erik.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Caramoan Episode 2, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Biggest Loser Season 14 Episode 7

David’s injury finally caught up with him in The Biggest Loser Season 14 Episode 6 when he was voted out.

Gina thinks her team is stupid because she’s the biggest threat. I see she’s fully flipped into delusional mode now, which at least is better than the pity party.

They’re going to singles. For the first time, they will face the yellow line.

Now they get to face their first individual temptation. The week leading up to Valentine’s Day, Americans buy more than 58 million pounds of chocolate. Whoever eats the most calories worth of sweets gets a 2 pound advantage for themselves, and they can give the same advantage to someone else.

They compete in the dark. Francelina and Alex begin eating immediately. Danni starts exercising instead. Jeff grabs a few lower calorie items. As a diabetic, Gina’s not touching this food, though she doesn’t mind playing along. Jeff ate 3 pecan clusters for 270 calories. It’s between Francelina and Alex, both of whom ate just over 1000 calories. The winner is Francelina. If Alex had finished the brownie she was eating, she would have won. But she gets the 2 pound advantage anyway because Francelina awards her the additional advantage for coming in second. Danni now wonders whether she made the right decision.

Jillian wants to train the three people who ate something at the temptation, leaving Danni with Bob. Among them is Jeff, who already made it clear before he doesn’t like her and is willing to throw in the towel when working out with her. Despite a rough and seemingly unproductive workout, they do come to an understanding afterward when discussing his father’s death.

Biingo finds the boot as a new excuse why he can be lazy and avoid the new lifestyle they’re trying to teach him. His fracture has finally healed 6 weeks later, so now he’s ready to begin training for tryouts.

Reward for the challenge is a visit from the family member at the ranch for 24 hours. Since it’s Valentine’s week, they will again be able to share the love and pick another person. They get dressed up in glow in the dark clothes and will chase lights around the arena. Gina is the first one eliminated. Jackson is out next. The third spot requires stair climbing as well as a lot more running, and Mike is out. Jeff drops next. Then Alex. The final round is between the two people who have been neck and neck in each challenge (Joe and Danni) plus the person with the best strategy in this challenge (Francelina, who placed second to last every time). Danni places first when it really counts, and she wins the challenge. She gives the second prize to Gina. In addition, she gives her own prize to Mike.

Alex is busy making Bob angry at the last chance workout, while Gina’s confidence is again fading into more drama.

Francelina: 213 pounds (-4, -2, 2.76%)
Alex: 198 pounds (-6, -2, 3.92%)
Danni: 201 pounds (-6, 2.90%)
Joe: 279 pounds (-12, 4.12%)
Jeff: 312 pounds (-11, 3.41%)
Gina: 184 pounds (-9, 4.66%)
Jackson: 266 pounds (-13, 4.66%)
Michael: 353 pounds (-10, 2.75%)

What’s with all the tears over numbers in the 3% range, before the final results are even known? In the end, one of those sets of tears proves to be warranted, while Danni narrowly escapes despite not eating at the temptation.

Gina immediately says they need to get rid of Mike. Jeff is torn because he said he would never do that.

Votes
Danni: Michael
Alex: Francelina
Gina: Michael
Jeff: Michael

As the person with the lowest percentage of weight loss due to Francelina’s 2 pound advantage, in the event of a tie, Michael would be eliminated. With 3 votes, Michael is not The Biggest Loser. From his starting weight of 444 pounds, Mike is down 124 pounds to 320 today. He has turned his workouts into a family affair.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 14 Episode 8, which airs Monday at 8/7c on NBC.

American Idol Season 12 Episode 8

An all male Hollywood week began for the boys in American Idol Season 12 Episode 7 with some solo performances followed by group night. I missed the first few minutes of tonight’s show making preparations for snowmageddon, but it’s American Idol, so how much could I have really missed? Looks like we’re picking up on day 3, some more solo performances.

The contestants will receive immediate results. No waiting, no rooms.

Devin Velez (What a Wonderful World), Gurpreet Singh Sarin (Georgia on My Mind), Cortez Shaw, and Matheus Fernandes (Stronger by Kelly Clarkson) are in group 2. So apparently what I missed was group 1. They tell Matheus to stop talking about being short. To be fair, they’re the ones encouraging people talking about their otherwise irrelevant stories. Devin, Gurpreet, Cortez, and Adam Sanders are through to the next round.

Nicholas Mathis gives a somewhat rough performance. Papa Peachez tells us he’s not a puppet and has his own thing going on, which would explain his bad choice of nicknames. His performance has Nicki more disappointed still. Jimmy Smith has slightly more luck. Nick and Papa have been cut. Papa says he doesn’t like singing other people’s songs anyway.

Nick Boddington made it to Vegas last year, so he should be a lock to do so again. He decides to play the keyboard, and on top of that he’s a great singer. Charlie Askew is as awkward as ever, but his voice stands out despite that. They both advance along with JDA and Mathenee Treco. If Mathenee’s this good and auditioned in Oklahoma, why didn’t we see him instead of the ridiculous nonsense they chose to show?

Burnell Taylor and Marvin Calderon move to the next round after both singing Jar of Hearts.

Micah Johnson surprises with a Randy Travis song, but it’s not good enough to make it to the next round. Gabe Brown, Sanni, and Nate Tao have also been eliminated.

28 people have been chosen. Since they need to narrow it down to a top 20, 8 more will be cut next week.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of American Idol Season 12 Episode 9, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on Fox.