Interesting Strategy on Survivor

If you are going to go on Survivor (heck, any reality show, really), please be sure to watch some previous episodes. Because if you do that, you will learn a few things. Like the fact that in 13 seasons of Survivor, no contestants have ever made fire without flint. Or that you might want to be able to make a fire with flint once you earn it. And never, EVER throw an immunity challenge.

With four tribes, I was curious how the editing would play out. They essentially have twice as much footage as they usually do at this point in the show. So they can pick and choose the best scenes to craft their storyline. Which is why I’m going to make a bold prediction – I don’t think anyone on the “white” tribe will make it to the final four. They barely showed them. I know they exist, and there was the few moments about the floor of their shelter. But that was it. Hmmm…

With all that footage from four tribes, it seems like we lost a challenge. For the second week in a row, the challenge was a combination of immunity & reward. I hate this. First, I just like seeing challenges. But the strategy in a reward challenge and an immunity challenge is very different. And for a tribe that is going to make a ridiculous strategy decision to throw a challenge, you’re not just losing immunity, but reward as well. The challenge was a tough one – another nice combination of physical and mental. And it was nice that Jeff was able to correctly award the reward to the first two tribes, who seemed to finish at the same time. It is just absolutely ridiculous that the “Hispanic” tribe decided to throw the challenge. They probably would have lost anyways with Billy weighing them down, but in a game of numbers, it’s a bad move to make yourself down one. It never works out.

Not a shock that once Yul got sent to Exile Island, he found the idol pretty quickly. He’s a smart smart guy. What would be great is if the producers hid a second idol…Yul would think he is safe because he has it, yet someone else would have it too. Hee hee!

The best part of the night was easily tribal council. In the midst of talk of throwing the challenge and not pulling your own weight, Billy announced that he had met his true love – Candace from the other tribe. And this moment, boys and girls, is where tivo makes Survivor so much better. Because I got to watch Jeff’s reaction over and over and over and over. If you still have it on tape (and I’m sure it’s already on YouTube), it’s good every time. Somehow Billy thought that it was love at first sight, and that “I love yous” had been exchanged. Wow. I did go back and watch the challenge again – after Yul got send to Exile Island, Billy says something to the girls on the “white” team that he is going home. One of them (Candace, I suppose) says “well, we love you,” and he says back quietly “I love you.” Can you just imagine the reaction from Candace tonight. There she is, sitting watching Survivor with her friends, when Billy announces to the world that they are in love. Oh, please, let that video be on YouTube as well.

So Billy went home as planned. And I think that in the next two weeks we’ll see a tribal mixup – thank goodness.

The Biggest Loser Returns

Last night’s premiere of The Biggest Loser was excellent. Because I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. In the words of my friend Jim, there is nothing so captivating as watching fat people on a scale. Only in America.

This season started with a twist – 50 contestants, one from each state, who would be narrowed down to 14 after the first workout. It was kind of sad, watching all these morbidly obese people crying. They thought that they were coming to the ranch for actual help losing weight – instead they were sent home with a book, a dvd, and access to the same website that anyone in America can get to (for a small fee, of course). While it may have been good tv, it was just mean. Yes, I know that they are technically still in the competition, and someone will be headed back to the ranch, but it’s still mean. If they could lose weight on their own, wouldn’t they already be skinny?

Anyways, Bob is back, and hotter than ever. Whoo – I could watch him all day. And a new trainer. I wonder what happened to Jillian. Did she decide to not come back? Was she not asked back? Either way, the new trainer seems tough.

So far, I’m rooting for the blue team. And not just because of Bob – they seem to be far more together than the red team. I especially like Bobby & Amy – they seem like the two who could go to the end. On the red team, I like Kai and Pam. This could definitely be the year when a woman wins The Biggest Loser. And regardless of what happens, this continues to be one of the most inspiring shows on television.

Dancing With the Stars

I’ll tell you, I just don’t know what to say about Dancing With the Stars. The thing is, that I really enjoy watching it. I’m a big fan of dance, and ballroom dancing is actually a lot of fun to watch. But for whatever reason, I find that I have nothing to say. (I know, it’s shocking). I think that it has a lot to do with the fact that the dancers are B-list celebs and professional ballroom dancers that I’ve never heard from. I mean, as much as I loved Blossom and Saved by the Bell, I just can’t get behind rooting for Joey Lawrence or Mario Lopez. I think that that’s the biggest difference between this and So You Think You Can Dance? – the connection factor.

So, no, I have no predictions on who I think will go home tomorrow night. But I did enjoy the dancing a lot. So while I probably will give the results show a miss (especially since The Biggest Loser premier is on tomorrow night too), but I’ll tune in next week to watch the dancing again.

Expect the Unexpected on The Amazing Race

The Amazing Race is back, and oh is it good.

There are almost too many teams to root for. My early impressions…

I love Peter and Sarah. After so many teams (and maybe a few on this season) with boyfriends/husbands being really horrible to their girlfriends/wives, their relationship is so refreshing. He was so supportive of her going up the Wall; I kid you not that I was almost moved to tears. I also wasn’t offended by the fact that Sarah used her fake leg to get her on the plane early & help with finding a taxi. Things like that just even things out a big. Good for her for being confident enough to do that.

Another team I really like are Duke & Lauren. At the beginning I was thinking I would like them because of the inevitable arguments (did he really say that he was disappointed in her because she’s gay?). But I was impressed with how supportive they were of each other – I think they are a favorite for the final three. I think that Tyler & James will also go far – they are a strong team, and a force to be reckoned with. They just have to be sure to not get overly-confident.

Not a favorite? The moms from Alabama (Lyn & Karlyn). I admire their spunk, but they need to worry about themselves, not so much with talking smack about other teams. Erwin & Godwin annoy me as well. Did they really have water guns in the airport? I am SHOCKED that they weren’t detained or arrested. (but I loved the reaction of Tyler & James!)

The first leg was great. And while I didn’t like the use of the phrase “expect the unexpected” (a staple on Big Brother), it was a HUGE shock to see Bilal & Sa'eed eliminated in the middle of the first leg. I knew that there was going to be some show with a double elimination (they started with 12 teams instead of the usual 11), but would never have thought it would be so soon. That, and I was bummed that it was Bilal & Sa'eed who got the early boot. They seemed like really nice guys, and I so wanted to see them going through security. You just knew that they would be hassled…what with buying one way tickets a few hours before the flights take off. It’s sad, but true. I also liked that the first leg started in China. The vast majority of first legs have been in South America…there were a few in Europe and one in Virginia (the family edition). Going to China is not only a whole new continent to start on, but is a HUGE difference in time change & the accompanying jet lag.

In the end, I was glad to see David & Mary make it up the wall and stay in the race. And I was sad to see Vipul & Arti be the second team eliminated from the race. They were another team that seemed nice, yet we’re stuck with another week of beauty queens, cheerleaders, and Rob & Kimberly. So sad.

Some predictions for this season…Tyler & James, Duke & Lauren, and Peter & Sarah are the strongest teams. I also like Tom & Terry, since they seem to be flying under the radar a bit. Teams that I think will struggle a bit and lag behind are Erwin & Godwin and Rob & Kimberly. Mary & David may also struggle, but I’m hoping that they pull something out to stick around for awhile. Can’t wait for next week!

Survivor: Cook Islands Premiers

First, sorry for the delay in blogging about the first episode of Survivor: Cook Islands. We went to the Red Sox-Orioles game Thursday night; while it might seem strange to go sit in the rain and watch a meaningless game instead of staying in the warm, dry house to watch Survivor, it was the right choice. Turns out that meaningless baseball can still be excellent.

So on to the premiere of Survivor: “Race Wars”. I’ve been pretty vocal about how I dislike the whole concept of dividing the tribes by race. There is something very wrong about it, like we are moving backwards. And it really seems like a publicity stunt more than anything else. But I have to say, it was riveting television.

First, I loved how the season started. They’ve started the show so many different ways, and I was excited to see that Mark Burnett still has a few tricks up his sleeve. To give the tribes 2 minutes to grab whatever they could off the boat, and not have enough of each item to go around was brilliant. It set the tone for the season, and the scrambling has already had effects on the game. I also liked listening in to the conversations on the rafts and as each team landed. Right away, it seemed like Manihiki (the “black” tribe) was most likeable. And they were all about “representing,” whatever that means. I also liked Aitutaki (the “Hispanic” tribe) as well. Most interesting discussion? Definitely over at Puka Puka (the “Asian” tribe), as Jenny pointed out that they’re actually from very different cultures even though they are all “Asian.” You also have Cao Boi (“Cowboy”) at Puka Puka, who I can’t decide whether or not I like. Finally there is Rarotonga (the “white” tribe), which seems to be the most stereotypical of them all. I know that the producers are hoping that we all root for our own race, but I just don’t think I can root for that tribe.

We didn’t see a lot of footage of the tribes building shelter or trying to make fire. I’m guessing that at least a few of them know that in 13 seasons, no tribe has ever made fire without flint, so maybe wasting all that energy isn’t the best choice. There were so many other great moments that the basic shelter/fire/water stuff got left on the editing room floor. Like Cao Boi curing Brad’s headache. Sure, his headache is gone, but he’s now got a giant red mark on his forehead. I wonder which is worse? And then there was Flicka and the chickens…nothing like stealing chickens from another tribe to have a roller girl let them go before you can eat them.

The first challenge of the season is always a big one, and this season was no different. And while I loved the challenge (especially after spending the summer watching one lame trivia challenge after another on Big Brother), my favorite part was listening to Jeff Probst. How many times do you think he practiced saying the names of the tribes (which, by the way, he shortened all of) so that he wouldn’t accidentally yell “Black tribe! What are you doing?!?”? Or maybe he did slip up and they quickly edited that out. I’m just waiting for a moment like on the family version of The Amazing Race when Phil had to look at the Black family (not just their name, also their race) and say “Black family, you’ve been eliminated from the Race.”

So the Asian tribe came in first (after pulling ahead in the puzzle section…), with the Hispanic tribe a close second. And somehow the white tribe held it together long enough to come in third. In a strange twist, the losing tribe got to send someone to Exile Island (which, by the way, I’m totally stoked is back). They sent chicken-stealing Jonathan, noting that karma is a bitch, which, of course, made me laugh. One tv columnist thought it was “street justice”; I thought it was a good move strategically – they’ve endeared themselves to the Hispanic tribe, and they’ve weakened their closest competitor.

Another amazing part of this season is the tribal council set. It looks like it is on a boat, and it spectacular. Not a real surprise that the women stuck together and voted out Sekou. (who, by the way, I predicted would be one of the first out when the castaways were first announced…hmmm….). What was a surprise was that they were given flint to take home with them. I’m not sure why…in the past tribes have always had to earn fire or make it themselves (several times Probst has had them leave their torches behind until they make fire on their own). It seems unfair to the other tribes who won their flint earlier in the day. It just makes me think that a re-shuffling will come sooner rather than later.

Mike Boogie Crowned Winner of Big Brother: All Stars

Hooray for Chilltown!!! I’m so excited that Boogie was crowned the winner of Big Brother: All Stars tonight. The jury recognized that it was Chilltown’s game this summer, and that it was only right that Boogie won in the end.

A quick side note – I have no idea what happened to my blog from last week about the final three. I had a lot to say…it’s somewhere in cyberspace, I’m sure. The short version – thank goodness Boogie won HoH. I think Janelle would have taken him if she won, but Erika would have stuck with the whole misplaced girl power thing. That, and I felt so sad for Boogie being in the house without Will. (although as Boogie was tearfully admitting “we can dish it out but we can’t take it,” I did yell “Hey! There’s no crying in Big Brother!”)

So I loved the staged conversation between the jury members. Janelle was rightfully fired up about Erika, and I was shocked that there were people who thought she played a good game. I also think that Boogie’s answer to Danielle’s question was fantastic; just one more reason why he deserves the money.

Best moment of the night? Jase & Dianne’s mock Chilltown phone call, and the reaction of the jury members watching some of the calls from the diary room. The phone calls were my favorite part of the show – I would love to see just a tape of them!

In the end, the jury did the right thing and voted Mike Boogie the winner. And even though I was hoping it would be Will, I’m so pleased that Chilltown won another title.

Overall, I thought this was a good season. I know that there’s been lots of internet talk that it wasn’t nearly as good as expected, which, to an extent, is true. The challenges were repetitive, and there was definitely a sense that the producers were playing a much bigger role in the show than they should be. You could tell, too, that the houseguests were expecting something bigger and better than what they got, which led to some interesting game play. (could you believe how many times a houseguest “threw” a competition?) But in the end it was good tv, and I’m sad it’s over. Thank goodness all my favorites are coming back, or it would be a long long time till next summer.

The beginning of the end for Chilltown

Well, I was wrong about Big Brother. Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong. You didn’t think I could actually predict this one all the way out did you?

We’re entering the final week of Big Brother. I’m still not entirely sure why they decided to cut the season a few weeks short (hence, the two double eviction weeks) – at least here in DC it’s getting pretty good ratings. But we have another eviction tonight.

My favorite part of the show tonight was definitely the scenes from the jury house. That would almost be a better show – just shots of Howie arguing with everyone. At least James has Danielle to talk to now. But I can’t wait for Will to join them tomorrow. He’s going to have to sleep with one eye open…

Back to the BB7 house, the final PoV competition of the summer. I wonder what it will be? Oh, wait – it’s more trivia. At least tonight it was trivia with a vat of goo. The thing is, that if they hadn’t done trivia all summer, this might have been a neat challenge. But I’m so sick of trivia. And I’m sick of Janelle winning trivia. You have to hand it to her – she is the queen of trivia. And I wonder why the rest of them don’t “study” a bit – they have to realize what sort of odds there are that the competition will be trivia based.

Anyways, after Janelle won, Erika started scrambling. And like Will said early in the game, whoever talks to Janelle last might just sway her vote. But in the midst of her scrambling, somehow Erika figured out that she had been played by Chilltown. I just loved how the two girls sat and figured out that Chilltown had been telling them both the same thing. It was great – I just wish that they had talked about the whole “ninja” line. So when it came time for the vote, I wasn’t surprised that Janelle voted to evict Will. Sad, sure. But not surprised. What did surprise me was Boogie’s answer to the question of whether he and Erika will still be close after the game. I think he was convinced that she was leaving; now he’s stuck in the house with her and Janelle. Hmmmm.

One last note on tonight’s episode – I liked that during the first round of the HoH competition Boogie stepped off. I know he claims it’s a “Hatch-like” move (and, by the way, if you win Boogie, be sure to pay your taxes) – that both girls will take him to the final two since they can beat him. But the better part of the strategy is that it’s a 3 round competition. If the two girls last awhile in round 1, they will be much easier to beat in the other rounds vs. a fresh Boogie. Of course, that assumes that Janelle won’t accidentally take her hand off while talking to Boogie. Oh well.

Two more episodes to go…what will I do with my time once it’s over?

Final Four on Big Brother

We’re down to the final four on Big Brother: All Stars. The nominations don’t matter this week – it’s really all about the PoV. But we have to get the HoH first.

No surprise that tonight’s HoH competition was another trivia game. At least this one was not 50-50 (although did anyone else notice that the harder trivia and clearly defined number of questions was on the game that Janelle couldn’t play? All you conspiracy theorists out there, enjoy…), but the football theme was just silly. The best part of the game is through the first two questions, I was winning. That’s right – I got the first two questions right. Of course, just as I was thinking I was some sort of Big Brother genius, I got the rest of the questions horrible wrong. In the actual game, Boogie won his second HoH, and probably one of the most important. With Boogie HoH, Chilltown pretty much ensures that a girl will go home this week.

The other big storyline this week was “Project Double Date.” No question that the flirting between Will & Janelle is purely strategy. They both have significant others outside of the house, and supposedly on the live feeds Will talks a lot about how he hopes his girlfriend will forgive him. Will also sent a message to his girlfriend through Boogie’s HoH Diary that he hopes she understands that it’s just a game. Janelle might be taking it a little more seriously than Will is, but she’s also so much smarter than she lets on…it could all be strategy on her part as well.

The more interesting part of Project Double Date is Erika & Boogie. Aside from the fact that there is no doubt that there is a physical relationship between the two of them (nice montage, by the way CBS), there’s the rumor that they’re actually dating out of the house. Up until this week, I really thought there was something there. Now I’m not sure. In Erika’s mind, this is a real relationship. But Boogie keeps referring to it as just a showmance. And his revelation that “Erika is going to be very upset after the show,” and that “I’m going to hell,” he might just be playing her.

Quick side note about appearances…60-something days locked in the Big Brother house seems to be taking it’s toll on the houseguests. Boogie pointed out how Erika has started smoking again, and it looks like she has aged 5 years. Boogie looks like he has aged a bit too. And Janelle has switched to a 1-piece bathing suit that was much less flattering than her bikini…not sure if she’s gained weight or not, but it looked like it from that scene in the hot tub. Will, though, seems to look almost the same (except for desperately needing a hair cut) – guess there’s something to all that Botox, huh?

At the very end of the show, we finally find out what we already knew would happen – Boogie nominated the two girls for eviction. And even though Chilltown is making nice with Janelle, I’m sure they have thought it through that she is far more dangerous to go up against in the end than Erika. I was surprised that we didn’t have the PoV competition tonight though. I though that Julie had said that the live eviction show would be Tuesday this week. But maybe they (the producers) changed their minds. Just over a week to go till the finale…hopefully next week we’ll be celebrating a Chilltown victory.

Big Brother on Overdrive

Do you ever wonder how much of reality tv is actually real? Well, if you watched last night’s episode of BB7, you probably have a better idea.

Last night’s show (which, thank you channel 9 in DC, I had to watch this morning because I love sleeping more than watching Big Brother at 2:37 am) was billed as “Big Brother in overdrive” – a week’s worth of show in one live hour. Why did they do this? Well, the producers have decided to end the show earlier than planned. So they need to eliminate more than one houseguest per week to get them to the finale in less than 2 weeks. Of course, it doesn’t appear that they’ve actually told the houseguests this (which is why they told Neil Patrick Harris that they had more days left than they actually do, and why they were so confused after the second eviction). Because the show was live, the “coaching” that usually happens on the show was absent, and it was clear where it happens.

First, we had the first eviction of the night. Not a shocker that Danielle was voted out. She’s a much tougher competitor than George, and she would have been impossible to beat in the final two. She took it way better than I expected, and left in a way that would make her kids proud. I guess that her outburst on the last show was really fueled by the crappy wine they are always drinking.

Next we had another freakin’ trivia competition for HoH. And it was the same sort of trivia competition we’ve had all summer…low-tech, 50-50 questions. It’s such a disappointment, considering the caliber of challenges on Survivor. There has also been talk this season that the producers are giving Janelle an unfair advantage. For example, during the PoV competition this week, when each houseguest was sequestered in a room, Janelle was in the room with the memory wall. Having that time to study the wall is why she won PoV. And the HoH competition was strange too – Julie never said how many questions there were. So really, they could have ended it at any time (like when the person they wanted to win was ahead). Anyways, Janelle won HoH, and had four minutes to decide who to nominate. (this was strange too, since when George had to do a live nomination, he didn’t have any time to think it over)

After a quick talk with Will, we came back from commercials for Janelle to nominate Erika & Chicken George. And this is the point where you could start to tell that one of the things the producers do is talk over the “script” with the houseguests before each ceremony (you’ll notice that they are always alone before the ceremonies…). No time to do this, and there were long awkward pauses, and the houseguests clearly did not know what they were supposed to do next. This was also the point in the show where you could tell that Julie was starting to get annoyed with everyone.

Anyways, it was a good choice to nominate George & Erika. Even if Erika won PoV, George can go home. The only other choice, I think, would be for the girls to have teamed up to get rid of Chilltown. But since they both think they are part of Chilltown (and how funny was the whole ninja thing at the beginning of the show?), I guess they won’t be doing that any time soon. And, not a shocker, Erika won PoV. It was actually a good challenge – it was nice to have something other than trivia.

After another commercial break, we had another awkward live tv moment. Julie asked Erika a ridiculous question, she didn’t know what to say, and finally just said hi to her mom. She also hadn’t been coached to say “this veto meeting is adjourned”, and for whatever reason, Julie couldn’t move on until that was said. (and you think I’m OCD?...) So Janelle nominated Boogie, who looked sick to his stomach.

After yet another commercial break, Julie asked each nominee for a statement. Julie was clearly reading off the script, and George couldn’t believe she asked him for a statement 30 minutes after the last one. Mike got some free advertising (ha!), then promptly got the votes to stay. And, as promised, the producers had fried chicken waiting for George, along with a bad Col. Sanders imitation.

So the final four is Erika, Janelle, Boogie, & Dr. Will. (another live show glitch – somehow Erika’s picture on the memory wall was replaced with a black & white pic of Jase) I don’t see how someone from Chilltown won’t win the game. Both girls believe they are members of Chilltown, and they each have a showmance in full-swing. Every way I figure it, one of the girls will be going home next, regardless of who wins HoH/PoV this week. There are only three more episodes left (Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, & Tuesday…no episode on 9/10, season finale on 9/12), and then I think we’ll see a second Big Brother crown for Dr. Will.