The Amazing Race 20 Episode 5

An early mistake left them trailing for the entire leg in The Amazing Race 20 Episode 4, but a non-elimination leg saved Bopper & Mark.

It would be really nice if this show started on time for a change.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Art & JJ – 8:57AM
Second: Rachel & Dave – 11:33AM
Third: Joey & Danny – 12:11PM
Fourth: Vanessa & Ralph – 12:27PM
Fifth: Nary & Jamie – 12:56PM
Sixth: Brendon & Rachel – 1:18PM
Seventh: Kerri & Stacy – 3:58PM
Eighth: Bopper & Mark – 5:54PM

Vanessa & Ralph say that, having both been divorced, they learned to vocalize what they want more, which may not necessarily be the best thing. Rachel is trying to remember that Brendon is her little bookie bear, not her enemy.

Teams will now travel by train to Ehrwald, Austria, then drive across the border into the oldest state in Germany, Bavaria.

There is a huge 9 hour gap between first and last place, a combination of both the fast forward and also the last place team having done so poorly, but the timing works out perfectly for them. The 10 hour train ride makes most teams spend the night at the train station, and their next stop doesn’t open until 8:30 in the morning. Not everybody is bunched together, but there are two packs a lot closer than they had been, with only the first three departing teams getting an early enough train to open up a lead.

The detour is a choice between fairy tale or champion male. In fairy tale, they’ll follow a trail of gingerbread, find the witch’s cottage, and use those pieces to complete the roof of a gingerbread house. In champion male, they have to style the beards of beard champions. You can’t make this stuff up. Seeing as it’s snowing out, the indoor task probably makes more sense.

Champion Male: Art & JJ, Joey & Danny, Rachel & Dave, Vanessa & Ralph, Nary & Jamie
Fairy Tale: Rachel & Brendon, Kerri & Stacy, Bopper & Mark

Before their detour, Bopper & Mark must complete a speed bump, which requires them to yodel. If previous speed bumps are any indication, this task takes about 10 minutes.

The first two beard teams retain their lead, but Joey & Danny chose the guy with the longest hair, a choice they blame for the other teams catching up. Ultimately, the task is not created equally for all players, as the different beards have different styling requirements.

Their next stop is Neuschwanstein Castle, the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty’s castle. At the castle, they have a choice between walking or taking a horse and buggy. The horse route is theoretically easier but slower. Rachel & Dave continue their standard fighting, while Vanessa tells Ralph to shut up, correcting him to tell him he couldn’t care less, which is probably true.

Aside from that, there are two castles. That means that Rachel & Dave and Nary & Jamie both just spent time on a tour for nothing. Bopper & Mark make the same mistake, minus the tour. In a pretty tight race, these errors are sufficient to shake up the standings. Adding to this, Mark thinks he’s going to have a heart attack from all that walking.

From there, they head to an ice hockey and curling rink. The road block is a game of eisstock-schiessen. They have to slide their Travelocity roaming gnomes across the ice to land them on a bullseye.

Road block (in order of arrival): Art, Joey/Danny, Ralph, Nary, Brendon, Rachel, Stacy/Kerri, Bopper

Most of the teams seem to get through this fine, but Nary’s noticeably struggling, having tried over 100 times by the time the trailing teams arrive. Another 100 or so tries later, they finally leave, now in last place.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Landhannes Farm, a 200 year old working dairy farm.

First: Art & JJ (win a trip to Thailand)
Second: Joey & Danny
Third: Vanessa & Ralph
Fourth: Rachel & Dave
Fifth: Brendon & Rachel
Sixth: Bopper & Mark
Seventh: Nary & Jamie
Eliminated: Kerri & Stacy

With Nary & Jamie navigating their way to the pit stop better, Kerri & Stacy have been eliminated.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 20 Episode 6, which airs Sunday at 8/7cish on CBS.

American Idol Season 11 Episode 20

After Jermaine Jones got booted from the show in American Idol Season 11 Episode 19, the top 11 performed. Tonight one more will go home. Probably.

Phillip Phillips, Skylar Laine, Elise Testone, and Joshua Ledet are up first. The judges’ overreaction to Joshua should keep him safe this week, as compared to last week when he was in danger, and Skylar and Phil should be fine as well. Among them, Elise is in the bottom three.

Colton Dixon, Shannon Magrane, Deandre Brackensick, and Jessica Sanchez are next. Colton should be safe in spite of his terrible song choice that nobody has ever heard of, and Jessica’s performance last week should carry her for a bit. The other two are a toss up. Deandre is safe. Shannon is in the bottom three.

Erika van Pelt, Hollie Cavanagh, and Heejun Han are the last group. Hollie should easily be safe. Heejun probably has the following because of his humor, in spite of Randy being the only person capable of providing a name of who should go and saying Heejun. That leaves Erika as the last person in danger.

So the bottom three are Elise Testone, Shannon Magrane, and Erika van Pelt. Jennifer is not happy that the bottom three includes Elise, and Steven agrees. Elise returns to safety.

That brings us down to Shannon or Erika. Erika is safe. Shannon has been eliminated.

The judges can use a save any time through week 5, but no way they use it here.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of American Idol Season 11 Episode 21, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on Fox.

American Idol Season 11 Episode 19

The judges voted out Jeremy Rosado in American Idol Season 11 Episode 18. Tonight the top 12 will perform, or at least 11 of them will. Jermaine Jones has been eliminated after they were too lazy to do spend a few bucks on a background check and have since uncovered his criminal record and outstanding warrants. Tonight’s theme is songs from the years the contestants were born (1983-1995).

Phillip Phillips
Song: Hard to Handle by The Black Crowes
Randy: After (kidney stone) surgery, sounding like that, I don’t even know what’s going on. Sound amazing.
Jennifer: So natural. Great song for you.

Jessica Sanchez
Song: Turn the Beat around by Gloria Estefan
Steven: Don’t stray too far from ballads. Rhythm was a little shady.
Jennifer: Lagged a little bit behind.
Randy: Song didn’t allow you to show your big old voice.

Heejun Han
Song: Right Here Waiting by Richard Marx
Randy: Pitchy all over the place. Felt like you were out of breath the whole time. Wrong kind of song for you.
Jennifer: Could tell you were struggling, but got really beautiful towards the end.

Elise Testone
Song: Let’s Stay Together by The Rippingtons
Jennifer: Feels good when it’s right, and that was right.
Randy: Elise is back.

Deandre Brackensick
Song: Endless Love by Luther Vandross and Mariah Carey
Jennifer: You can sing anything, but Jimmy steered you wrong. Not the right song.
Randy: Paled in comparison. Boring and very safe.

Shannon Magrane
Song: One Sweet Day by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men
Jennifer: Terrified for you, but you did a beautiful job.
Steven: Sing your best when you don’t try so hard.

Colton Dixon
Song: Broken Heart by White Lion (a song nobody knows)
Jennifer: Colton’s a lover. You look pretty when you sing.
Steven: Wrong song for your voice and your passion.
Randy: The song didn’t matter because you performed it dope.

Erika van Pelt
Song: Heaven by Bryan Adams
Steven: Too busy all over it.
Jennifer: The arrangement left us wanting more.
Randy: 8 out of 10. Be careful not to make too much out of a great song.

Skylar Laine
Song: Love Sneakin’ up on You by Bonnie Raitt
Steven: Haven’t heard you sing a song bad yet.
Jennifer: Really killed that.

Joshua Ledet
Song: When a Man Loves a Woman by Michael Bolton
Randy: Phenomenal. Incredible on every level.
Jennifer: Best thing I’ve ever seen on American Idol.
Steven: Most beautiful performanc I’ve ever seen.

Hollie Cavanagh
Song: The Power of Love by Celine Dion
Steven: A little pitchy here and there, but beautiful.
Randy: Blew it out the box.

Randy says Joshua is safest, and Heejun is in trouble. Jennifer agrees Joshua is safest and also Hollie and Phillip, but she declines to name names who is going home. C’mon, Jennifer. Pick a name. Joshua is safest, and so are a bunch of other people, but he also won’t name names. It’s like watching Paula and Nicole.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of American Idol Season 11 Episode 20, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on Fox.

Survivor: One World Episode 5

The women lost the immunity challenge in Survivor: One World Episode 4, but Colton went off the crazy cliff and was quickly followed by his tribe. They gave up immunity and voted out Bill because Colton hates him.

Following one of the most boneheaded moves in history, we head into a surprise, of sorts. We’re switching tribes. Surely this is not a shock that they would not keep men and women apart for long. The new tribes will determined at random by egg color.

Salani (blue): Michael, Sabrina, Kat, Jay, Kim, Chelsea, Troyzan
Manano (orange): Tarzan, Colton, Christina, Alicia, Monica, Leif, Jonas

I don’t know who half of these people are still.

For the challenge, rotating teams of four will carry a bucket with holes to fill another container. Reward is peanutbutter and jelly and coffee, and the winning tribe earns the right to continue living at the One World beach. Losers go to a new beach with nothing. Salani wins reward, perhaps the biggest reward we will see in this game.

Colton compares his tribe to peasants, as opposed to the Greek gods that just beat them. Privately, he is a little more honest. His new tribe sucks. If muscle is really such a big deal, why was the entire first 4 episodes of his game all about getting rid of the strong guys on his team?

In addition to their PB&J sandwiches, the new Salani catches crabs and a rooster.

Jay and Troyzan approach Kim, who needs to pick a way to go but either way should be in with the numbers.

Colton approaches Alicia to form an alliance with her. He wants to get rid of Christina, but she does not. This isn’t starting off well.

Alicia finds one of those well hidden idols in a tree. She tells Chelsea right away.

Manano also catches a chicken. Then it escapes. These people keep sucking worse.

Colton and Alicia chat again, and she agrees to do whatever he wants, which would be getting rid of Monica and then Christina.

At the immunity challenge, they will try to score baskets in waist high water. Michael takes the 1-0 lead for Salani. After missing half a dozen times, Michael takes the 2-0 lead. Monica makes it 2-1. Michael scores again. Salani wins immunity.

Tarzan’s bad challenge performance leaves Christina wanting to target her, but she doesn’t realize that she’s on the wrong side of the numbers. Jonas plays along with the plan to get rid of Monica, and he keeps Leif in the dark. Colton, however, does not. He tells both Leif and Tarzan what they’re doing. For Tarzan’s sake, he clarifies: they’re voting out the one in the pink bikini. Then he tells him again.

Colton tells us it’s hard being the leader of a bunch of idiots. He fits in so well, though.

At tribal council, Tarzan continues to struggle to remember the name of the person he’s planning to vote for, as well as that of Jonas. An alphabetical order voting strategy would come in handy right about now.

Votes
Tarzan
Tarzan
Monica
Monica
Monica
Monica

With 4 votes, Monica has been voted out. If their goal was to strengthen their weak team, they sure did not accomplish it, getting rid of perhaps their strongest member.

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

The Biggest Loser Season 13 Episode 11

Too many people got word of their all female final four plan in The Biggest Loser Season 13 Episode 10, and Cassandra was voted out.

They are now on their own as we head into singles, and the yellow line will be introduced this week.

Kim realizes that running her mouth at the elimination and for that matter the rest of the week has probably landed her in hot water. She says she’s comfortable that 1 pound Megan and 1 pound Chris will sink themselves.

At the challenge, they are tied to a ring in the center of a rink, and they’ll have to pull themselves toward a bell. There are nine prizes, and they can either keep the one they receive or take somebody else’s. Buddy must sit out for medical reasons, a stress fracture in his tibia. He automatically gets ninth place. They realize that this cannot be an individual challenge in spite of the whole nature of this week’s theory of depending on yourself. Jeremy and Conda team up, which allows Jeremy to take first place. Mark and Megan are battling, and he decides to help her take second. Then Mark takes third. Conda places fourth. Chris comes in fifth. With the two women in pink finally having the numbers, Kim gets sixth. Kimmy surprises herself and beats Emily.

Buddy receives a hat. Emily gets a phone for a day. Kimmy receives an autographed photo of Alison Sweeney. Kim gets a deluxe box of chocolates. Chris receives a 1 pound advantage, the first really good prize. Conda gets a dollar, which she trades for the 1 pound advantage. Mark receives an extra vote at elimination, as long as he remains above the yellow line. Megan gets a goldfish, which she trades to Conda for the 1 pound advantage. Jeremy can go shopping with a celebrity and a friend, which he trades to his sister for the goldfish, the worst first place prize ever.

Jeremy told Conda to pick one of the girls to go on a shopping spree with her. She chooses Kim. Not quite the direction I thought she was going with that. They go meet Jessica Simpson because she’s in the show that airs after this, which explains this evening’s 90 minute show.

Kimmy: 163 pounds (-4, 2.40%)
Conda: 221 pounds (-7, 3.07%)
Jeremy: 273 pounds (-9, 3.19%)
Megan: 198 pounds (-6, -1, 3.43%)
Buddy: 281 pounds (-8, 2.77%)
Kim: 176 pounds (-6, 3.30%)
Chris: 177 pounds (-7, 3.80%)
Mark: 204 pounds (-9, 4.23%)
Emily: 190 pounds (-5, 2.56%)

One member of the pink team managed to get by, but the other did not. Emily is below the yellow line with Kimmy.

Votes
Kim: Kimmy
Megan: Emily
Chris: Emily
Jeremy: Emily
Conda: Kimmy
Mark (2 votes): Emily

With 5 votes, Emily is not The Biggest Loser. From her starting weight of 264 pounds, Emily is down 90 pounds to 174. She asks Olivia for her help becoming an opera singer.

Stay tuned to dinguRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 13 Episode 12, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Celebrity Apprentice 5 Episode 4

With the men stumbling over a fashion task in The Celebrity Apprentice 5 Episode 3, project manager George Takei was eliminated.

Dee does not consider the decision the correct one because Lou needs to go.

This week’s task is to do a 10 minute presentation and 10 minute question and answer segment to introduce the new Buick Verano. They will be judged on informational content, brand messaging, and creativity.

Adam is the project manager for the men, in spite of Trump’s suggestion that it be Michael Andretti. He says he races vintage cars, so he feels more suited to this task than the pro racer. Debbie is the project manager for the women. Unlike last week’s task that was geared toward them, the women feel less comfortable with cars.

Aubrey continues to be the idea person for her team. Debbie’s not a fan, but she will use her to the extent she feels comfortable.

Adam’s a comic, but the executives are very reserved. They are open to some humor, allegedly, but his traditional style of humor is not going to fly with them.

Lou mostly just wants to tear his shirt off because that’s what he does.

The women listened to the executives, who emphasized things like safety and technology. That should set them on the right track, whereas Adam just wants to be funny.

Teresa, Tia, and Dayana are relegated to the uncool van, the one in which the occupants are disregarded while the rest of the team comes up with the concept. Tia calls and asks to be put on speaker so they can join the conversation, but they hang up and offer to call back once the idea’s already set. Apparently, Debbie cannot review her notes and have someone on the phone listening at the same time.

Adam’s made up his mind. He wants the others to heckle the presenters and say things like “You suck” and “Shut your pie hole.” He gets complaints from all directions that this is the wrong way to go, but he’s not listening.

The women don’t have anything written as the clock ticks down, except for Tia, whose ideas are immediately dismissed because she was not in the cool van.

With their own comedian on hand, the women are also heading down the comedy route, plus Debbie Gibson’s opportunity to sing a song that was popular 30 years ago. Then Aubrey gets up and pretends her mom died in a car that was less safe than the Buick Verano, or Verona as she calls it. Teresa’s up next with her whole family.

The men mostly have the Adam Carolla show on their hands, though Michael does get on stage for a bit and talk about his experience test driving the car. Their comedy bit does, mostly, go over well, and their car knowledge comes in handy.

Lisa likes most of what Debbie did.

Dee says Adam was amazing. Then Trump gives Michael a hard time for not being the project manager, and I can see why.

Lou thinks he should have been utilized more. Again.

Penn doesn’t think their presentation should have been funny because the executives shied away from it. They prefer witty, which would not be Adam.

Adam says that if they lose, he will not bring anybody back. Trump’s going to remember that.

Teresa and Tia felt left out. They didn’t know what was going on. If the women lose, Debbie would bring them back. The equally marginalized Dayana seems to have escaped the blame this time.

The executives liked how the women integrated the four key features, Lisa’s role, and Aubrey’s passion. They did not get a great sense of the brand, weren’t sure what Tia’s role was, Aubrey called the car a Verona, and they didn’t understand their concept, which the team doesn’t seem to understand either.

They thought Adam was engaging and had a command of the product, the Q&A was very good, and they loved Penn getting out of the car. However, they wondered why Michael was not more utilized, didn’t get a sense of the voice of this particular vehicle, many players had too marginal a role, and they felt a lack of sense of community on the team.

The women have won. Debbie receives $50,000 for her charity, Children International.

When they return to the suite, Debbie apologizes to Teresa for ignoring her, but Teresa’s not buying it.

Adam didn’t realize they were being judged on how many people on the team were utilized. I did not realize that either. It sure was not one of the criteria set out at the beginning of the task.

Paul calls Lou the weakest. Arsenio agrees. Lou says Michael was the weakest because he didn’t step up more in spite of his background. Trump repeats, for the 20th time, telling us he won’t say it again, he was shocked that Michael was not the project manager. The way they keep going on and on and on, the task didn’t matter. It all unraveled at the PM selection. The men should have just taken the day off.

Michael’s defense, a very sound one, is that this was not a car task. It was a marketing and presenting task. Based on his presence on stage, it was clear Michael was not at home in this environment, though his knowledge managed to shine through regardless.

Dee would fire Adam because it was his task. Michael would fire Lou, who is complaining about being underutilized but only says it in the boardroom.

Adam declines to select two people. Because of that, Trump will fire two people tonight. He has a pre-determined target in mind, and he’s not going to let him escape. Jackass. Just let Adam go. Didn’t you learn anything that night you fired four people, which was the beginning of the end of regular Apprentice? Nobody likes stunt firings. Let the rules be what they are. Don’t make them up as you go.

Because he refused to play Trump’s game, Adam has been fired.

Trump tries to twist Arsenio’s arm to make it seem as if would fire Michael. Arsenio still declines to agree. Aside from Lou, nobody has said Michael should be fired. Dee would still fire Lou. Not one to care that nobody is coming to his aid to back up this theory that he’s had for days, Trump fires Michael anyway. Two strong players down, and they still have Lou. The purpose of the show is supposed to be for the strong to survive to the end, but Trump went the extra mile to see how much he could do to cripple the men.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Celebrity Apprentice 5 Episode 5, which airs Sunday at 9/8c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 20 Episode 4

Losing the balancing act at the road block, twins Elliott & Andrew found themselves eliminated in The Amazing Race 20 Episode 3.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Art & JJ – 5:10PM
Second: Brendon & Rachel – 9:59PM
Third: Joey & Danny – 10:00PM
Fourth: Bopper & Mark – 10:08PM
Fifth: Nary & Jamie – 10:09PM
Sixth: Rachel & Dave – 10:10PM
Seventh: Kerri & Stacy – 10:45PM
Eighth: Vanessa & Ralph – 12:15AM

Teams will now fly 6000 miles to Turin, Italy. With evening pit starts, all teams will have to wait until the next morning to leave the airport, erasing the 5 hour gap Art & JJ built up over the second place team.

Bopper & Mark are the lone team to disregard the instructions to go the travel agent and instead head straight to the airport, so they have to turn around and head back where they started, which puts them in last place and on a flight an hour and a 15 minutes behind all the other teams.

Not having learned her lesson from last week’s last place finish, Vanessa continues to focus her energy on picking on Rachel. Then we have Rachel & Dave, who pick up right where they left off with their bickering.

The fast forward requires teams to land a model helicopter on their partner’s head, which is harder than the road block but just requires some patience. Art & JJ arrive first and head there, so Brendon & Rachel let them have it. The sixth team to arrive, Rachel & Dave give it come consideration, or at least Dave does while Rachel uses the opportunity to improve her skills at sarcasm.

The road block requires them to rappel 120 feet down the inside of the Lingoto Building. They have 2 minutes to grab their clues, or they will have to go again. This looks like it will be a very quick road block, which is not good news for the team that’s behind by over an hour.

Road block (in order of arrival): Rachel, Danny, Vanessa, Jamie, Rachel, Stacy, Bopper

Vanessa is the first to fail at the task and be sent back to the top to start over. Jamie follows suit. Both are successful in their second try. The other teams all make it on their first attempt.

Their next stop is Museo Nazionale Dell’ Automobile, where they will find their next clue in a 1916 model T, but primarily this is an opportunity for a commercial for Ford’s Active Park feature. You would think the car would park itself simply, but not simply enough for Brendon and Rachel to not begin arguing.

They must figure out that the building on the 2 cent euro, Mole Antonelianna, is their next stop. Most teams get it right away. Still fighting, Rachel & Brendon struggle to figure out the clue and instead talk about quitting the race and life in general.

The detour is a choice between clean that statue and name that salami. In clean that that statue, they must use the equipment provided to clean statues. In name that salami, they must taste 14 types of salami, travel half a mile, and identify the salami by the correct name. Here come the really bad double entendres.

Statue: Joey & Danny, Rachel & Dave, Nary & Jamie, Vanessa & Ralph, Bopper & Mark
Salami: Brendon & Rachel, Kerri & Stacy

The statue task turns out to be easier since all they have to do is give it one try, whereas the salami task is going to take multiple attempts. As all the statue people complete their challenge, Rachel’s meltdown continues, and so does the discussion of quitting, before they finally kiss and make up. I’ve seen this story a dozen times before.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Piazza Castello.

First: Art & JJ (win $5,000 each)
Second: Rachel & Dave
Third: Joey & Danny
Fourth: Vanessa & Ralph
Fifth: Nary & Jamie
Sixth: Brendon & Rachel
Seventh: Kerri & Stacy
Non-eliminated: Bopper & Mark

This leg was over with Bopper & Mark making their early mistake, but they have not been eliminated. Art & JJ have decided to split the money they won with Bopper, who is in the race for his daughter.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 20 Episode 5, which airs Sunday at 8/7cish on CBS.

American Idol Season 11 Episode 18

The top 13 performed in American Idol Season 11 Episode 17. Tonight the judges will listen to what America has to say and ignore it, making their own choice instead.

Hollie Cavanagh, Elise Testone, and Jessica Sanchez are first. We can safely assume Elise is in danger while the other two are safe.

Heejun Han, Colton Dixon, and Jermaine Jones are up next. Another obvious result in which Jermaine is in danger but the other two are safe.

Erika van Pelt, Shannon Magrane, and Skylar Laine are the next group. Erika and Shannon round out the bottom three for the girls.

Phillip Phillips, Joshua Ledet, Jeremy Rosado, and Deandre Brackensick are the final group of guys. Phil is safe. Jeremy once again fails to get America’s vote. Deandre is safe, which leaves Joshua in the bottom three guys.

Jermaine, Jeremy, Shannon, and Elise find themselves at the bottom. Steven asks if any of them deserve to leave. He answers Jeremy. Jermaine is safe. Shannon is also safe.

Now we head to the judges, who must decide whether to eliminate Jeremy or Elise. The most sensible pick here is Jeremy because the public is trying to send the judges a message. And so it goes. Elise is safe, and Jeremy Rosado has been eliminated.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of American Idol Season 11 Episode 19, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on Fox.