Survivor: South Pacific Episode 13

Cochran was voted out in Survivor: South Pacific Episode 12. Tonight somebody actually has to start playing.

Cochran says he’s not sure he made the best move, but it’s not like he had a choice.

Before morning prayer, Edna would like to just excuse herself since she’s not really part of this tribe. At least her anger is polite in nature.

The competitors for today’s duel: Ozzy and Cochran. They will use grappling hooks to retrieve three bags and then use a ball to solve a table maze. The grappling hook part is obviously Ozzy’s to take, but the maze is anybody’s game. Ozzy manages to grab his third bag as Cochran is stuck at 1. In his first try, Ozzy comes just a turn shy of success, and Cochran’s right back in it, as his tribe that got rid of him pretends to be on his side. Cochran drops as well. Cochran makes it right to the middle but misses the mark. Seconds later, Ozzy wins the duel.

Following the duel, everybody gets visitors from home. Ozzy must choose someone to spend time with their loved one. He picks Albert, who will visit with his mom. His second choice is Coach, who visits his brother. Lastly, Brandon gets to visit his dad, but not his uncle. That’s something of an odd trio because they really don’t seem to mesh.

Coach promises Ozzy a trip to the final three. As a Christian man. Oh, he’s going to the finals with you, too?

Brandon’s dad doesn’t want him to be a dumbass. He’s there to win the money, not keep talking about religion. His grade for him on his gameplay: C. I’d say that’s being generous. Because his son is not willing to play, he approaches Coach to make sure he’ll take him to the end.

At the immunity challenge, they will keep flipping over board pieces and making moves as long as they still have room to move. Albert is the first eliminated. Brandon follows, after which he explains that his only goal was to make sure that “a particular person” can’t win. I think Edna has managed to crack your brilliant code. Rick’s the next one done. Sophie follows. Edna is the last one eliminated. Coach wins immunity with nobody coming even near attempting to knock him out.

Edna’s last hope is to get rid of Brandon, so she approaches Coach, Albert, and Sophie to form a foursome. As much as Coach tries to convince us this is a viable plan, I’m not buying it.

Votes
Edna
Brandon
Edna
Edna
Edna

With 4 votes, Edna has been voted off the island.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: South Pacific Episode 14, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 12

Now that A Michael Buble Christmas (wait, what?) is done, the final four return to compete. In an unusual show of voting based on popularity rather than taking out the potential threat this late in the game in The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 11, Sunny was eliminated.

Without enough time to fill in an entire episode, it looks like we’re in for a lot of filler tonight.

In addition to confronting his mom for letting his stepfather beat him, Vinny tops it off with a proposal to his girlfriend.

Unlike the others who are in the final four and are treating this like their jobs, Becky has gone back to the classroom and is working. Probably not the smartest way to win, but it has to happen eventually.

After some drawn out visits with the contestants at home, it’s time for the main event. The final four will all run a marathon. They will be joined by all the eliminated contestants. Whoever wins the marathon gets a ticket to the final three. In addition, there are cash prizes for the top 5 finishers. Bonnie sits out because she is having knee surgery next week.

Courtney starts off in the lead. Ramon and Jessica are together behind her. John is in fourth, and Patrick is behind him. Joe, Becky, Antone, and Sunny are running/walking together at the back. Jennifer, no longer on crutches, is in 10th. After about an hour and a half, Jessica’s stomach pain forces her to relinquish second place, and she tells Ramon to just keep going on his own. Courtney has been in the lead for 9 miles, but Ramon finally overtakes her.

15 miles go by, and the winds pick up significantly… in the middle of the desert with all the sand that entails. It’s no longer about running so much as hiding their faces. Awesome planning. Doesn’t look like it lasts long, though.

At the 18 mile mark, John catches Jessica. 20 miles down, and Dr. H pulls Vinny due to his leg pain. Joe meets the same fate about a mile later.

First: Ramon – 5:05:40 (wins $25,000 and a spot in the finale)
Second: Courtney – 5:09:01 (wins $10,000)
Third: John – 5:15:38 (wins $7,500)
Fourth: Jessica – 5:17:25 (wins $5,000)
Fifth: Patrick – 6:24:29 (wins $2,500)
Sixth: Sunny – 6:45:29
Seventh: Jennifer
Eighth: Antone – 7:15:29
Eighth (tie): Becky – 7:15:29
Tenth: Mike
Eleventh: Johnny
Twelfth: Debbie

The oldest contestants keep running throughout the night and keep it until they finish after about 10 hours.

At the weigh in, the original final four will now face the scales. Two people will be above the red line, while the other two will fall below and be eliminated.

Becky: 162 pounds (-10, 5.81%)
Vinny: 286 pounds (-28, 8.92%)
John: 267 pounds (-29, 9.80%)
Antone: 293 pounds (-30, 9.29%)

Having fallen below the red line, Becky and Vinny have been eliminated. That puts Antone and John in the finals with Ramon, as the testosterone level busts through the roof. As things stand currently, John has an edge, having lost 40%, but the others are doing well with Antone at 34.45% and Ramon at 32.86%.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 13, where we will find out who The Biggest Loser Season 13 winner is, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Amazing Race 19 Episode 11

After trailing for all of The Amazing Race 19 Episode 10, Bill & Cathi were eliminated.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Andy & Tommy – 3:46AM
Second: Jeremy & Sandy – 4:20AM
Third: Ernie & Cindy – 4:35AM
Fourth: Amani & Marcus – 4:40AM

Dressed as characters from The Adventures of Tintin, which is apparently a famous comic book, they have to figure out who the guy in the picture is and who they are supposed to be. It’s a matter of bumping into the right person on the street, as even an Internet search leaves Andy & Tommy thinking they’re Charlie Chaplin, who is not a comic book character.

After heading by train to Amsterdam, they will fly to Panama City, Panama, more than 4000 miles away. With a flight across an ocean, they’ll all be bunched together. This presents an opportunity for the teams to utilize their knowledge of the local language, with prominence of words like rapido.

Upon arrival, they hop in some canoes to cross the pitch black waterways to a local village. They sign up for 1 of 3 times 20 minutes apart the next morning. Their appointments are for tattoos, which are sending them to San Francisco Bay Towers.

7:00 – Andy & Tommy
7:20 – Jeremy & Sandy
7:40 – Amani & Marcus, Ernie & Cindy

A 40 minute deficit in a leg to determine the final three. Lame.

The road block is to walk a tightrope 35 stories above the city. Participation in this road block is predetermined based on number of road blocks already performed.

Road block (in order of arrival): Andy, Sandy, Cindy, Amani

The detour is a choice between filet or sole. In filet, they will deliver exact amounts of assorted seafood to different vendors in the largest fish market in Panama. In sole, they must make a pair of sandals.

Sole: Andy & Tommy, Jeremy & Sandy, Ernie & Cindy
Filet: Amani & Marcus

The cab drivers have been working together for a while, and Amani & Marcus get brought to the wrong detour as a result. This is the point where you say screw it and switch. Instead, they head back to their cab to go to the other detour, when they’re already in last place. The luck of this is that they end up at what seems to be the simpler detour, allowing them to hop into second.

In Cathedral Square, they have to figure out that the pit stop for this leg of the race is Panama Viejo, which is written on the dress of one of the dancers in the square or symbolized in their necklaces.

Because all of the medallions say Balboa, Andy & Tommy want to head there. So much for that lead. That allows all the other three teams to be bunched together in what amounts to first place for the time being.

The good news for Andy & Tommy is that Ernie & Cindy are headed to Balboa, too, as are Amani & Marcus. Jeremy & Sandy are going to the image he sketched that’s one of the belts, whatever it may represent. This is sufficient for their cab driver to know where to go. Once again, the cab drivers are working together, so what would have been a lost cause for one of these teams looks like it will just screw over Andy & Tommy. Seems it’s acceptable for cab drivers to just drive their passengers to somewhere random without the need for them to actually complete or understand the task.

First: Jeremy & Sandy (win a trip to Turks and Caicos)
Second: Ernie & Cindy
Third: Amani & Marcus
Eliminated: Andy & Tommy

Ironically, the result of their earlier lead and the 20 minute gaps that seemed so unfair to the trailing teams is that they weren’t bunched up with the teams whose cab drivers were helping each other all day. Andy & Tommy, the team that won 6 legs this season, has been eliminated. All the other teams are happy to have beaten Goliath. Aside from Jeremy & Sandy, they didn’t. Their cab drivers did.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 19 Episode 12, where we will find out who The Amazing Race 19 winner is, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

The X Factor Season 1 Episode 20

The top 7 performed in The X Factor Season 1 Episode 19. Tonight two more acts will be sent home again.

Chris Rene is safe. Melanie Amaro is safe. Rachel Crow is safe. Josh Krajick is safe. That give us 4 of the top 5, leaving 2 of the remaining 3 acts in danger.

As the person with the lowest number of votes, Astro has been eliminated. He’s lucky he got this far. At least his exit is classier than his near miss from a couple weeks ago.

The two remaining acts, Marcus Canty and Drew, are now at the mercy of the judges’ votes. For Marcus, this is his second week in a row in the bottom two. This marks Drew’s first trip to the bottom two, but her days are numbered regardless, particularly since the judges don’t care for her and have the goal of giving Simon a hard time.

After pretending he could go either way, LA votes to keep his act and votes against Drew. Simon blames himself and votes to keep his act with a vote against Marcus. Nicole votes against Drew. Paula makes it three votes against Drew. Marcus has now been extended his third life as the judges ignore the voting as usual.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The X Factor Season 1 Episode 21, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on Fox.

The X Factor Season 1 Episode 19

A double elimination in The X Factor Season 1 Episode 18 brought us the end of the road for Lakoda Rayne and Leroy Bell. Tonight the top 7 perform songs from Michael Jackson.

Josh Krajcik
Song: Dirty Diana
LA: That was cool, man. First time I’ve seen you step out of your comfort zone.
Paula: Show stopping performance.
Simon: Great spectacle. But overproduced. Your weakest performance so far.
Nicole: We like to take risks.

Astro
Song: Black or White, or something loosely resembling it
Nicole: First time I’ve seen you really enjoying yourself.
Paula: I think you could win.
Simon: That’s what someone your age should be doing.
LA: Proud. I like to think the Jackson family is as proud.

Drew
Song: Billie Jean
LA: Made it your own. I liked it.
Nicole: I like you. But not Simon.
Paula: Your best vocal performance but nothing visual.
Simon: Paula and Nicole are wrong.

Rachel Crow
Song: Can You Feel It
LA: Didn’t believe that you were really having a good time.
Nicole: Really good job but didn’t feel the connection.
Paula: Don’t think the song gave you justice.
Simon: You always put on a show, even on anti-Simon night.

Marcus Canty
Song: P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)
Nicole: You’re the whole package.
Paula: Beautiful homage to the late great Michael Jackson. The entertainer of this show.
Simon: Vocals weren’t very good.
LA: Inventive arrangement.

Chris Rene
Song: I’ll Be There
Nicole: Sounded the best you ever have.
Paula: Connected with the whole public.
Simon: A little shaky vocal but much better when the rap kicked in.
LA: Great job.

Melanie Amaro
LA: Felt that we were at a Melanie Amaro concert.
Nicole: One of the best performances of the season.
Paula: Flawless.
Simon: Could be not more proud.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The X Factor Season 1 Episode 20, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on Fox.

Survivor: South Pacific Episode 12

Another night of double eviction showed the end of a dumb tribe that played badly, as both Dawn and Whitney met their demise in Survivor: South Pacific Episode 10.

Sophie’s mad because Cochran’s getting along with her tribe better than she is.

Cochran pulls his tribe aside to ask for them to save him for just one tribal council. The entire rest of the tribe, even Rick, other than Edna, is there to weigh in (well, Rick doesn’t so much weigh in as just sit there). Coach and Albert support the move. Sophie does not.

Ozzy, Dawn, and Whitney are the competitors for today’s duel. They will balance ceramic dishes on the end of a long wobbly arm. With 11 dishes, Dawn is the first to fall. Had she chosen an alternate course, rather than siding with her doomed tribe, she may have had a good shot at winning this game, but now she is out. Whitney is the next to drop, and now she can head to Ponderosa to continue making babies with Keith, not to be confused with the guy she’s married to. Ozzy wins the duel and stays alive.

Ozzy continues to talk about how well suited he is to Redemption Island. He sure isn’t very well suited to being a castaway with the others.

Albert doesn’t care about camp life. The housework is not his problem. Rick refers to him as Prince Albert.

Coach is trying to make a choice. Does he stick with “the five”, or does he keep Edna and Cochran, who will never vote against him?

In the first stage of the immunity challenge, they will toss sandbags on crates. The first three will move on to slingshot coconuts at targets. Everybody gets on the board with Coach in the lead with two. Albert is the first to land his third and final bag. Rick, who we have seen three whole times tonight, is next. Cochran and Sophie have managed to hit their second targets. Sophie is the third person to head to the finals. Albert scores first. Then Rick. Then Rick again. Albert ties is at 2. Albert wins immunity and reward, a massage and an island shower. He chooses Coach to go with him. Because he can’t choose a third person to go and wants food for next time, Albert gives his reward to Cochran. This is a nice birthday present for Cochran, even if his birthday is not really in two days but rather in six months.

A new plan has formed. Edna, like Cochran, is on the bottom of the totem pole. If they can join with Albert and Coach to vote out some guy named Rick, that would save them and potentially get them to rise to the top. Albert gets wind of Rick talking about how he doesn’t do anything and calling him Princess Albert. Now it’s just time to convince Coach to flip.

Brandon opens his mouth at tribal council. That’s never good. Tonight, he’s voting out Cochran. Next time, he’s getting rid of Edna. He doesn’t plan to change.

Votes
Cochran
Rick
Rick
Cochran
Cochran
Cochran

With 4 votes, Cochran has been voted off the island. I don’t think this was as foregone a conclusion as his old tribe had hoped, but unlike the other tribe and their big stupid move, nobody around here wants to do anything, instead just coasting with the status quo.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: South Pacific Episode 13, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 11

For the second week in a row, the person who went home requested it, as Ramon was eliminated in The Biggest Loser Season 12 Episode 10.

Everybody suits up for the challenge wearing all the weight they used to weigh. As they dash to each station, they will be able to remove the weight they lost for each week. Reward is a 1 pound advantage. Antone takes off in the lead. As the person who was shedding the most pounds the fastest, John, who nobody wants to win, closes the gap with Antone and is on his heels before eventually passing him and overtaking the lead as they round the turn heading into week 7. They are neck and neck as they come around the final turn, and John extends his lead to win the challenge and the advantage. Sunny places third, followed by Becky and Vinny.

They’ve now made it to makeover week. In addition, they will receive $5,000 each plus Progresso Soup for a year.

They start off with a shopping trip through Beverly Hills. Vinny’s told to ditch the overalls. John has to add some color other than black or blue to his wardrobe. The ladies dress not like old women.

Then it’s off to the hair stylist for apparently their first haircuts in 3 months with the men getting shaved for a change.

Once made over, they round out their Hollywood experience with a walk on the red carpet.

No longer too big for her wedding ring, Becky is once again able to wear it.

After their makeovers are done, they head into the gyms for their final last chance workout. Win or lose, this is their last night there until the marathon.

Sunny: 201 pounds (-1, 0.50%) – Bob wants to know what she’s been doing this week
Antone: 334 pounds (-8, 2.42%)
John: 296 pounds (-9, -1, 3.28%)
Vinny: 314 pounds (-10, 3.09%)
Becky: 172 pounds (-5, 2.82%)

Antone and Sunny have fallen below the yellow line. After the week she had, Sunny should be the one going home, but Antone’s the bigger threat.

Votes
Becky: Sunny
John: Sunny

With 2 votes, Sunny is not The Biggest Loser. From her starting weight of 277 pounds, Sunny is down 96 pounds to 181 today.

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

The Amazing Race 19 Episode 10

The Amazing Race 19 Episode 9 was a to be continued episode. With the whole leg coming down to one task, all the teams are pretty well bunched together at the pit stop.

The first three teams had already completed the bodybuilding pose task before the last episode concluded, leaving Andy & Tommy and Bill & Cathi still strutting their stuff. The snowboarders get their required 12 points, followed by Bill & Cathi in last place.

Teams will now drive to the Ford Proving Ground in Lommel, Belgium. The road block at this Ford testing facility is to drive a Mustang through a series of performance maneuvers: accelerating to 100 miles an hour and then braking, completing a slalom course in under 16 seconds, and finishing with two victory donuts.

Road block (in order of arrival): Ernie, Jeremy, Marcus, Tommy, Bill

The speed part of the course seems simple enough. After that it gets a little trickier. Ernie misses by .9 seconds on his first try. Then he runs into the balloon at the end of it about 15 times. Eventually, Jeremy & Sandy catch up, so they have to take turns. Jeremy finishes in time but nudges the balloon at the end. This seems to be all the encouragement Ernie needs, as he completes the challenge on his next try. Jeremy completes it on his second attempt. Having been lost, Amani & Marcus finally find the location, and Andy & Tommy are right behind them. They both complete it in two tries, and at this point Bill & Cathi are arriving, so it’s still anybody’s game.

From there, they will drive to the city of Gent. The detour is a choice between water or waffles. In water, they will build a raft and search the waterways for two pieces of a clue. Waffle requires them to assemble a waffle stand and bake and decorate 18 waffles.

Waffle: Ernie & Cindy, Jeremy & Sandy
Water: Andy & Tommy, Amani & Marcus (switched from waffle), Bill & Cathi (switched from waffle)

Seeing Jeremy get frustrated with the waffle task, Amani & Marcus promptly switch detours. Upon arrival, Bill & Cathi make the same decision. The third and fourth place teams manage to leapfrog Jeremy & Sandy, who continue to struggle with their waffles.

Their next clue is at De Muur van Geraardsbergen. They will help a pigeon trainer release a flock of homing pigeons, which they must then follow to an address to retrieve their next clue, a picture of the next pit stop. This is more difficult than it sounds, as multiple teams get lost on the way.

The pit stop for this leg of the race is the Atomium, a model of the atomic structure of iron blown up 165 billion times.

First: Andy & Tommy (win a pair of Ford Mustangs)
Second: Jeremy & Sandy
Third: Ernie & Cindy
Fourth: Amani & Marcus
Eliminated: Bill & Cathi

In spite the problems the teams had with directions, the end result seemed pretty obvious from the beginning. Bill & Cathi have been eliminated.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 19 Episode 11, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.