Watching Reality TV

How could anyone forget the travesty that was last week’s episode?  You know, where Neil completely lost sight of the whole point of the show and chose to favor team dynamics instead of, oh, decent gameplay?  Good times.  My head still throbs when I think about it.

The teams are still understandably shaken by Neil’s betrayal.  He says not seeing this as a game is naive.  Whatever, dude.  Pretty much everyone else, though mostly the black team, is disgusted with him.  He insists that is wasn’t personal.  Julie doesn’t care, she’ll vote him out anyhow.  David apparently didn’t know Neil threw it until after the vote.  If he had known, he wouldn’t have voted for Jez. Kae is distraught, despite being on Neil’s team.  She doesn’t like this “game”, she is there to change her life.  Amen, sister.  At least someone on the blue team has a brain.  She wants to leave and packs up her stuff.

Bob comes to talk to the blue team and is surprised to see Neil there.  Kae reveals that she had second thoughts about leaving.  She decided, instead, to just focus on herself.  Bob believes the good will eventually outweigh the bad.  Neil is wanting to redeem himself.  Yeah, good luck with that one.  There is a meeting Neil tries to apologize to Isabeau, but she is pretty uninterested in forgiving him.   Kim is hoping the drama means that while the other teams are freaking out, that red team will be training.  Way to be on board, Kim.  Jillian coaches her beleaguered team.  She wants to get her team in the gym and get working.  Julie says the only way to defend themselves is to stay above the yellow line.  Function with integrity.  Meanwhile, Amy reveals to Jillian that last week the reason she didn’t gain any weight is because Neil pressured her.

So Amy wasn’t the only one to throw the weigh in.  Something about this doesn’t sound true to me, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.  Basically, though, there’s a red and blue alliance against the black team.  Jillian tells Amy to put the game aside and just focus on losing her weight.  Amen!  Gah, ya’ll.  Bob, meanwhile, is riding Neil very hard.  He’s still pretty pissed at him.  He wants to get Neil’s head back onto what it should be on, losing weight.  Not so much the game.  Hollie is worried for her safety in the game, she knows she’s a huge target as a member of the black team.  We arrive at the challenge, at a lake this time.  Allison greets the teams and tells them todays challenge is about endurance.  The team who hangs on the longest will win.  The winning team will receive the contents of a box, which she assures them is very valuable.   But it is something that will effect the game.  Jez lets go and he and Isabeau are out first.  Kae’s team is out next, so David and Hollie are out too.

Who is out last?  It’s Bill, Amy and Julie.  Dangit.  Bryan, Ryan and Nicole make it to the end.  So not right.  So what’s in the box?  A note saying that each person in the team gets a vote at elimination, instead of one vote for the team.  UGH.  To redeem it, they of course have to stay above the yellow line.  This just makes it seem like the production is TRYING to eliminate the black team.  Bob is very excited that his team has finally won a challenge.  Kim teaches David how to steam salmon and Bob tries to give Kae a pep talk.  She’s happy she has him, she trusts him.  And only him.

The last chance workout is intense.  Which is to be expected, considering the tensions running through the house.  At the weigh in, Allison waxes poetic about being gone from home and how much they’ve all lost so far.  Neil is up first for the weigh in and he lost (an almost predictable) 33 pounds.  No one is terribly happy, there is no clapping.  He acknowledges what he did and tries to apologize but again, it falls on deaf ears.  Isabeau goes up next and owing to an injured hip, didn’t lose anything that week.  Not like it matters.  And she knew it wouldn’t.  That’s a total of 33 pounds for the team and that’s a 5.26% of weight lost.  Yowzers.

Nicole is up next for her team and she lost 9 pounds, of which she is very proud.  I’m not digging her a whole lot, especially this week, but good for her anyhow.  Bryan goes next and he lost 8 pounds, very respectable.  Ryan goes last and he did gain a little last week (gee, I wonder why).  This week, he lost 13 pounds.  He gets some applause, but not a lot.  That’s a total of 30 pounds for the team and 3.48% lost.

Amy is up at the scale first, having not lost any weight last week.  This week she lost 11 pounds, which is very good and she does get some applause.   Bill goes next and he lost 10 pounds.  Another good number!  Julie goes up last and she lost 6 pounds and is very happy about it.  Her team is safe from elimination with a total of 27 pounds and 3.76% lost.  Nice!

Hollie goes first for her team and she lost 5 pounds which she hopes it’s enough.  Kae is up next and she lost 6 pounds.  She’s grateful but wishes it were more.  David goes last and all the pressure is on him.  He lost only 3 pounds.  Holy crapola.  That’s a total of 14 pounds for his team and 1.97% lost.  And his team is below the yellow line, on the chopping block.   And Bryan, Ryan and Nicole will each have a vote in the elimination.  Still, Kae has a greater percentage weight loss than anyone else on campus.  The team looks shaken.

Jillian isn’t surprised by the result of the weigh in, she’s very concerned for Hollie and wanting her to stay.  Amy thinks Kae should leave which I don’t agree with.  Better to earn the right to stay in the game than to manipulate your way to the end, right?  I guess that means the best choice here is David, though I don’t really want him to leave either.  Let’s face it, I only really want to see Neil, Nicole or maybe Ryan leave.  Boo.  At the elimination, all the teams looks sober and serious.   Neil repeats that what he did was wrong.  Mm.  His team’s vote is a result of neither of them wanting to vote out someone they have a bond with.  So it’s David.  Bill goes next for his team and explains that they regret also voting for David.  Not looking good for him.  Bryan votes next and explains that he voted alone and without outside influence.  He voted for Kae.  Makes sense.  Nicole voted for David and one is left to assume that Ryan voted for David as well, though it’s moot at that point.  So David is sent home.  Not a good outcome, but the best possible one, I suppose. David struggles not to cry as he says his goodbyes.

We get to see David come home for his son’s first birthday party and it’s quite the tearful homecoming.  David has lost 105 pounds since going on “Biggest Loser” and he’s looking a lot better.  Good for him.  I wish him the best of luck.

Remember last week when Marie fell down and then Mark Cuban was FINALLY eliminated?  Those were good times.

Anyhow, moving on to this week where the competition gets really stiff.  I’d like to predict a Marie Osmond exit, but she’s got quite a fan base so I can’t say for sure.  Besides, I should PROBABLY watch them dance first before I make any decisions, huh?

Anyhow, everyone looks cute tonight and once again Edyta is barely clothed.  Tonight we’ll be seeing a competitive routine as well as a group 50’s rock n’ roll routine later on.

First up, we’ve got Sabrina and mark and they’re dancing the foxtrot.  Oy, not one of my favorite dances, I must say.  I’ll be interested to see what she does with it though.  And yeah, she does it proud.  I mean, I can tell its the foxtrot by watching it, but it’s just interesting enough that I want to see more.  She’s elegant and graceful but as capable as ever with her own special brand of moxie thrown in.  Very nice.  Len said her performance was excellent but it was too aggressive.   Bruno agrees with Len, she needs to work on her finesse.  Carrie Ann doesn’t know what they’re talking about, she thought it was fantastic.  Scores?  9, 8, and 8 for a total of 25.  Decent, but lower than they usually have.

Jennie and Derek are next and they’re going to be doing the mambo.  Jennie is hoping she won’t as nervous as she has been lately.  Derek wants her to have fun with it.  She wants to psyche herself out.  And the routine is CU-UTE.  A lot of fun to watch and judging from Jennie’s smile, she seems to be having a great time with it.  It does seems a little strange and stiff in parts, but I think she did pretty well.  Bruno says she has steam tonight, that was dirty dancing!  Carrie Ann agrees, she unveiled herself and had a great time.  Len says it was an exceptional performance.  I would agree with all of them, it was my favorite of hers so far.  Scores?  9, 9 and 9 for a total of 27.  VERY nice.

Jane and Tony are up next and they’re going to be dancing the jive which should be a lot of fun.  And I hope its enough to keep Jane safe this week.  I’m still freaked about her being in the bottom two last week  Her outfit is super cute and the music is awesome.  We see a young side to Jane here, lots of smiles and bouncing around.  It’s not as energetic as it could be, as Sabrina would dance it.  But I think she does a good job.  Still, I worry about her.  I won’t lie, it wasn’t her best dance.  Carrie Ann says she enjoyed Jane’s vibrance but thought the dance wasn’t good enough for her.  Len said she was nifty for 50 (or whatever), but also didn’t think the jive wasn’t Jane’s cup of tea.  Bruno said she’s a class act but it wasn’t her most comfortable dance.  Scores?  8, 7, 7 for a total of 22.  Possibly her worst score ever.  OY.

Cameron and Edyta are up next and dancing the samba.  He’s worried he won’t feel it, but then Edyta takes him to Little Brazil and he gets an education on Brazilian dancing.  I don’t get Edyta’s outfit (besides being bare, it has a little Native American thing going on with it) and the music bugs me.  I don’t know how fast he’s dancing, since I think it’s supposed to be very fast, but it’s competent.  The end move was a little awkward, to be sure.  Len said it was good in parts but it didn’t capture the spirit of Samba.  Bruno says it was slightly bitter but there were good parts.  Carrie Ann thought it was misinterpreted by the other guys and thought they tapped into the feeling of the samba very well.  Very primal.  Scores?  9, 8, and 8 for a total of 25.  They’re happy with that.

Mel B and Maksim are next and they’re doing the rhumba.  This dance, apparently fits in very well with the relationship as they’re both very strong personalities. I think it’s a great dance.  I don’t care for the music, but the dancing is impeccable.  They end up at the judges table, Maks flirting with Carrie and Mel sitting on Bruno’s lap.  Bruno, of course, loved it and thought it was beautifully paced.  Carrie Ann agrees and says she was mesmerized and truly sensual.  Len thought it was it was perfected and won’t be rejected.  Scores?  10, 10, and 10 for a total of 30.  WOO!  Their first 30 of the season!

Marie and Jonathan are next dancing the paso doble.  Marie determined this week to come back from her fainting spell last week.  She wants to prove that she’s still a contender.  She’s got the act down, that’s for sure.  You know, say what you will but all of her dances are very well performed.  She picks a character and sticks with it, she’s got the drama down.  Some of the moves are almost amusing, consider her fall but really, I think it’s a great dance.  Not energetic, but unlike Jane’s dance, it doesn’t need to be.  Carrie Ann felt uncomfortable seeing her back on the floor again and she thought Marie played it a little safe.  Len liked the start with her “skirt business” but he felt like it got a little slow in the middle.  Bruno thought she started like Catherine Zeta Jones but ended like Catherine Zeta Cranky.  Scores?  8, 8, and 7 for a total of 23, just edging out Jane’s score.

Helio and Julianne are next dancing the cha cha.  He’s nervous after last weeks’ poor performance and Julianne promises a return to who he really is.  Their dance is very 70’s inspired and cute.  Helio is free to smile and be goofy all he wants. I think the choreography is pretty right on.  He’s a little on the stiff side, but mostly seems at ease with the dance.  Len says he has come back as the Helio we love.  Bruno thought he was regenerated, it was a great dance.  Carrie Ann said the Latin Booty was working overtime.  Scores?  9, 10, and 9 for a total of 28.  Very decent indeed!

Group dance time!  We get to see come cute footage of everyone practicing the dance.  We’ve got the jocks versus the greasers and it’s going to be a lot of fun, I think.  The dance is lots of fun and filled with some cute, cute moments.  Lots of dances and lifts and jumps.  Marie definitely falters a couple of times, and a few of them seem awkward dancing with everyone else out there.  But the jumps and flips are impressive.  A very fun way to close out the show.

Welcome to another installment of the “Roundup“!  I trust you all had a good weekend.  I just recently switched television providers and now have access to the Game Show Network which provides me with LOTS of reality TV reruns.  I’m never at a loss for something to watch!  But, I’m sure you want todays news so here goes:

• “Big Brother 8″s Eric and Jessica are still together, according to an article over at reality blurred.   Right now, it’s a long distance relationship as Jessica finishes up college in Kansas but they still get together for some weekends and for holidays and have plans to reevaluate things once Jessica is “free”.  Apparently, fans are very happy when they see them out and about together.  Sounds as if that’s going to continue, at least for a while.  I hope so, I know those long distance relationships can be tough.  Best of luck to both of them in the future!
• Perhaps you’ve heard that since “Viva Laughlin” was canceled, that “Amazing Race 12″ was bumped up from a mid-winter start to a premiere on November 4 (that’s next Sunday, to you and me).  This is fantastic news for Race fans out there like myself.  And, CBS has recently revealed the identities of the teams that will be racing.  We’re looking at older teams than we saw back in “AR 10″ (before the all-star version), with the average age being 32.  Seeing as how I’m knocking on 32’s door, I don’t think it’s THAT old, but these reality shows have been casting a lot of young people lately so it’s nice to see more “contemporaries”.  Actually, I don’t care how old they are, I just want wait to watch it.  I hope this season lives up to the hype!

That’s all I have time for today.  Don’t forget to watch “DWTS” tonight, we have another round of competition to look forward to!

Remember last week when Zhan Hu was naive and poor Aaron was booted out?  Good times.  Seriously, who throws competitions on purpose?  STUPID.  And they couldn’t even keep that under wraps.  Zhan Hu is ripe for extermination here.

We wake up at Zhan Hu to James getting busy and looking rather down in the mouth.  And you know, I would too if I were him.  I’d hate to be in a tribe full of a bunch of weenies.  He’s trying to keep busy and win the challenges because if they lose again, he’s gone.  Weenies!

Over at Fei Long, Jean-Robert is sawing logs, literally, while Amanda and Todd discuss the hidden immunity idol.  This idol is news to her, but she’s all on board for helping him find it.  His plan is to win reward and bring over Aaron or James (whoever survived) and have him give them the clue so they can find it.  And you know what?  It goes pretty much to plan.  Fei Long stomps Zhan Hu at the reward challenge, where teams had to find pieces of a puzzle.  Reward is a trip to a tea house, access to a shower and toilets and plenty of Charmin.  During the challenge, PG tries to get a message to Sherea that Zhan Hu is still allied with her and Frosti.  Sherea doesn’t say much in return, however. The competition is neck and neck but as I said, Fei Long wins,  mostly because they can actually finish a puzzle whereas Zhan Hu can’t.  And James is summarily kidnapped.

Apparently, the tea house is more than just “some refreshment” as Jeff promised.  Fei Long is just over the moon about the place.  They eat up over tea and laugh and have a great time.  Then they all settle down into their bathtubs and get clean (Amanda and Courtney share a tub).  Jean-Robert predictably makes a crude comment about it.  He gives Courtney the heebie jeebies.  James, meanwhile, shows off his heiney taking a shower and everyone cheers him on.  In stark contrast, the three remaining Zhan Hu members are sitting in their camp looking depressed.  Erik is tired of losing.  Maybe, just MAYBE, stop throwing challenges.  Might help with that a little.   They insist they threw the challenge to save Sherea and Frosti and now they’re not sure if that was a good move because Frosti and Sherea don’t appear to want to have anything to do with their former tribe.  And, can you blame them?  Todd approaches James about the hidden immunity clue, promising to save him.  James is very relieved to learn about this hidden immunity idol and he hopes it will save him, as Todd promises.

Back at camp, he shares the clue with Todd.  Todd knows exactly where it is then.  Amanda and Todd then Frosti joins in to help without really knowing what they’re after.  So they have to share the info with him.  And they have to trust him.  He promises them they can trust him.  Todd handed the idol to James.  The plan was for Zhan Hu to lose the challenge, they vote for James and he uses the idol so Jaime goes bye bye and her and Erik’s “bond” is severed.  Plus, he can grab the other idol at the other camp.  Todd shares the plan with Denise and Courtney, to encourage them to try as hard as they can at the challenge.

And what is the challenge?  It was bound to happen sooner or later.  It’s an eating challenge.  And not a happy eating challenge.  Traditional Chinese dishes.  Not General’s Chicken or Mu Shu Pork, either.  And no fried rice.  No, we’re talking about bird fetuses and chicken hearts and whatnot.  I’m not going to go into the details because I pretty much watched through my fingers.  I am pregnant here and my stomach isn’t as strong as it usually is.  The important thing to know is that Zhan Hu didn’t want to throw it, and try as he might, James couldn’t get it done for them either.  So Zhan Hu won the challenge and immunity.  Oops!

Denise feels awful for dropping the ball on the chicken fetus.  They are all pretty shocked and upset at going to tribal council.  And to them, the decision is a pretty easy one to make.  As much as they dislike Jean-Robert, he’s definitely loyal to them.  They don’t want to boot Frosti, after the whole immunity idol thing, so Sherea it is.  Courtney really wants JR to go but the rest of them aren’t feeling it.  I rather wish they’d keep Sherea and get rid of Jean-Robert, but I can understand their thought process here too.

Tribal council goes fairly predictably.  Courtney and Sherea vote for Jean-Robert while everyone else votes for Sherea and she is sent packing.  Boo!

When we last left our “DWTS” stars, Marie took a dramatic fall and I threated the heavens if Mark Cuban was not eliminated.  So what happened?  First, check out these handy, dandy recaps:

• TV Squad
• Buddy TV
• MSNBC
• Television without Pity

In grand results night fashion, this show is so full of fluff that I can see the cotton balls poking out the sides.  Of course, we had Jennifer Lopez performing some of her music which was fun and different for a change, but it’s amazing how unfamiliar her new “stuff” is.  I far more enjoyed her older and more familiar stuff.  Does this make me a fuddy duddy? And I can’t help but wonder why Lopez is making the reality TV circuit, last year with “American Idol” and this year with “DWTS.”

Mel B and Maks were invited to do the encore dance of their steamy samba.  I was glad to see that, after her unfairly being placed in the bottom two last week.  She was also declared safe fairly early long which also made me happy.  Perhaps that was her fans mobilizing for her.  She definitely deserves to stay in the show much longer.

And I’m frankly HORRIFIED that Jane Seymour was in the bottom two with Mark Cuban.  Cuban, I expected.  Anticipated, even.  Marie would have made more sense (if a little sad considering her fall the other night), simply because she was at the bottom of the scorecard along with Mark.  But why JANE?  I love Jane!  Jane has elegance!  Even the judges are a little disappointed to see Jane in the bottom two and Len expresses hope that she will remain on the show.

THANKFULLY, Len gets his wish and Jane is safe from elimination as Mark Cuban is eliminated.  And thank god for that, because I don’t think I could stand another week of him faux-dancing across the floor and thinking he’s all that.  I don’t know why I don’t like that guy, but I don’t.  Actually, I think I do know why I don’t like him and it’s pretty funny.  See, where I live there’s this guy who currently on trial for murdering his ex-wife and shooting a family court judge before going on the lam and he looks JUST like this guy.  I mean, it’s downright eerie.

So Mark has gone bye-bye and next week, we need to see Jane pull out all the stops.  I really don’t want to see her leave yet.  I’m not sure who I think should go next since I’m pretty happy with everyone who is left.  But I don’t want it to be her.  Not yet, at least.  Maybe Marie needs to depart next week.  What do you think?

Last week, the red team imploded and did the unthinkable: they let the blue team chose who to eliminate so of course they eliminated Phil, the toughest guy on the campus. This week, we anticipate Kim’s reaction as it is sure to please. I’m also interested to see if Hollie is back.

We start with poker chips. Actually, not so much poker chips as it is tiny wheels of cheese, pieces of candy and cookies. YUM. Alison tells them that after that day, no more teams. Everyone will be divided into trios. So, pretty much like having NEW teams. Whoever wins the temptation gets to pick the teams. They’re playing high/low, but instead of money, it’s calories. And whatever they bet, they have to eat. In order to get power, they have to eat. Jae begs out because she doesn’t want to eat the food. Good girl. Everyone else pretty much stuff their faces. Oh, and Hollie is back. It comes down to Jez and Amy and it’s pretty much disgusting. Who has the highest card? Jez had an ace. So he wasn’t bluffing or just being a glutton. Oh, he was being a glutton alright, but he had the card to back it up. So he gets to choose the teams.

First team: Kae, David and Hollie.

Second team: Amy, Julie and Bill.

Third team: Bryan, Nicole and Ryan.

Fourth Team: Jez, Isabeau and Neil.

The trainers come in and get a look at the new teams. Jillian looks horrified. She’s immediately suspicious and they all hear how the teams were chosen. Amy busts out at Kim about wanting her to be booted last week. Amy doesn’t want to work with her, obviously and approaches Jillian instead. Kim wants to talk to Amy and work it out. They go off to talk and Kim gives Amy the riot act. She feels hurt. And Amy doesn’t? So much for working things out.

Jillian picks up Amy’s pieces. It’s sort of wearing on the other people training with Jillian (namely the black team). Everyone just seems to be feeling kind of pissy. With that, we go to the challenge. It involves, again, some heavy lifting (or rather pushing). They have to push a giant arm with two teammates sitting on top around in a circle 75 times. Hmm. It’s really down to Bill’s team and Bryan’s team and Amy ends up winning it for Bill and Julie and they have each won a Bowflex to take home and work out with. It was pretty inspiring.

Bob coaches Nicole on what to eat for breakfast. Today’s product placement is Quaker’s Weight Control oatmeal. Yummy! The product placement is hysterical. But oatmeal is a good choice for breakfast.

Last chance workout! We see Jillian pushing the hell out of Amy and remarking that she doesn’t think that Kim pushed her hard enough. And Kim thinks that Amy will regret leaving her. This is SO high school. Stay tuned for the most dramatic weigh in yet!

So the trios go to the weigh in, sans trainers. The trios confuse me, frankly, since everyone is still wearing their old team colors. The team with the lowest weigh in percentage will fall below the yellow line. And when that happens, the other teams will get to choose which of the losing trio goes home.

Bill goes first and he has lost 7 pounds, fairly decent. Amy goes next and she has lost ZERO pounds. Ouchies! Guess switching to Jillian wasn’t that great a move, is it? Julie goes last for her trio and she lost 3 pounds. Not great. It’s not looking great for this trio. That’s a total percentage of 1.37% weight lost.

Bryan goes next and he lost 7 pounds. Ryan goes after him and he GAINED a pound. More ouchies! What IS it this week? Everyone just up and lost their minds, I think. Nicole goes last, needing to lose 5 pounds to beat the previous trio and she lost 4. Close but no cigar. The trios total percentage lost is 1.15%.

Kae goes next for her trio and lost 4 pounds. And she’s grateful for every pound this week. Hollie goes after her and lost 2 pounds. And she is visibly relieved. David goes last for his trio and he lost 8 pounds and his trio is easily safe from elimination. Their total percentage lost is 1.93%.

Jez goes first for the last trio and he lost 6 pounds. Isabeau steps up and she lost 4 pounds. So far, so good. Neil goes last. And you know what? HE GAINED. And not just one pound like Ryan. He gained 17 pounds. SEVENTEEN. Everyone is stunned off their rockers. Even Neil looked surprised. Jez looks pissed. There is a total weight gain of .77% so they’re obviously up for elimination. Holy dang.

Julie says her gut tells her something wasn’t right. Isabeau agrees. Is there a plan here? David confronts Neil about it, he wants him to explain himself to everyone. He adamantly denies having thrown the weigh in. To the camera, he confesses it shouldn’t have been that obvious. Apparently, he had promised the blue team that he’d keep them safe. And this is how he did it. Suspicion abounds. The blue team meets, and Bob comes to talk to them. And Bob? Is PISSED. Ryan gained a pound and then… Neil. Bob is flabbergasted. He tells Bob that it was a strategic move. Bob considers it a slap in the face.

Even Jillian is mad to hear of Neil’s weight gain. Everyone is pretty sure he just chugged two gallons of water before the weigh in. And basically, they want to vote out black team members, probably Isabeau in particular. It’s disgusting is what it is. She throws a barb at Neil and he chuckles at her in return. What an ASS. Jez feels completely thrown and depressed and lost.

The elimination comes up and everyone is very upset in that room. Well, everyone except Neil. Assmunch. Julie, Bill and Amy vote for Neil. Ryan, Bryan and Nicole predictably vote for Jez. David, Kae and Hollie voted for… Jez. Damn it. That’s about as unfair as it ever gets. But as he says, he leaves with his character and integrity intact.

How much has he lost since leaving the campus? He’s lost 103 pounds! He looks awesome. He says he’s happier and healthier. I sure hope so. Poor Jez. He didn’t deserve that.

Previously on “Dancing with the Stars”: Sabrina kicked booty while Carrie Ann PMS’d. Then Floyd was given the heave-ho.

Marie and Jonathon are up first doing the Samba. And I heard about what happens with Marie after her performance so I’m interested to see it for myself. Marie is her usual charming self and Jonathon is confronted with Marie’s fans and is impressed. She’s looking cute tonight in a pretty skimpy dress (skimpy for her, but fully clothed for Edyta). I think she’s doing real well and she seems to be owning the dance. I don’t dig the music though, but that’s my only complaint. She does seem out of breath when she’s before the judges. Len is giving his remarks when she drops like a ton of bricks to the dance floor. Tom cuts it right to commercial and everyone in the audience is dead quiet. We come back and Tom assures everyone that Marie is fine, she just fainted. Her first words after coming to? “Oh, crap.” Her scores are: 7, 7 and 7 for a total of 21 which is pretty low and it would have been nice to hear why they were so low. Marie explains that sometimes when she gets excited she stops breathing and this just happens sometimes. Uh. Okay.

Tom mentions that her fainting scared the crap out of him. I bet! Jane and Tony are next, back from last weeks “lift” controversy. They’re dancing the rhumba. Apparently Tony is something of a slave driver when he’s teaching her a new dance, and as much as she might get annoyed with him she appreciates his effort in the end because it seems to be working. She’s looking downright sexy in her skimpy red costume. Like Marie’s dance, it looks great to me and Jane’s form seems to be right on. She just embodies grace. Bruno says the lady has gone steamy and sexy but never raunchy. Carrie Ann says her lines were beautiful but she had problems with some of her turns. Len thought she had romance and class. Scores? 8, 9 and 9 for a total of 26 and she’s just thrilled to hear it.

Mark and Kym are up next doing the samba. I’m still amazed he’s still in the competition. I hope he’s gone this week but I’m not counting on it too much. It’s a very cute “genie” routine but again, I’m more impressed by Kym’s ability than I am by anything Mark is doing. He’s passable but nothing exciting. At times, he seems all but awkward. Carrie Ann “actually liked it”, but thought it was lacking technique. Len thought it was entertaining but that Mark needs to turn his feet out. Bruno thought it was his most entertaining dance to date, but he’s no Fred Astaire. The audience is surprisingly in favor of Mark and boos the judges whenever they dare say anything negative about him. Scores? 7, 7, and 7 for a total of 21. The samba’s aren’t impressing the judges this week.

Sabrina and Mark are next doing a rhumba and I’m almost surprised they’re not doing a samba. They’re still reeling from their perfect score last week. She going to try to be more emotional than she’s had to be in the past. She even got some coaching from Mark’s mom, of all people. I kinda dig her dress. I’m not used to seeing her dance so slow and it seems almost a little awkward in portions, as if she’s not used to dancing so slow either. She executes the technical moves perfectly though and I think overall the dance was very good.  The judges are impressed too, especially Bruno who can’t stop going on and on about it.  Scores?  9, 9 and 10 for a total of 28.  They’re obviously thrilled with it.

Next up are Jennie and Derek doing the samba.  They feel the pressure to live up to their great scores from last week and train hard to account for it.  She comes out in an outfit that reminds me of a canary stripper.  But the samba is obviously the best we’ve seen so far this evening.  I have a feeling this is more what the dance is supposed to actually look like.  I wouldn’t say it was perfect though.  Bruno thought it was great, but that she stalled a little bit halfway through.  Carrie Ann thought tonight was a rough night and she did see her stumble a little bit.  However, she thought Jennie did a great job considering.  Len agreed with me and thought it was the best samba of the night.  Scores?  8, 9 and 8 for a total of 25 which were very good scores.

Helio and Julianne hit the dance floor next doing the rhumba.   I still can’t get over how he reminds me of Sascha Baron Coehn’s character from “Talladega Nights”.  I’m convinced they based that character at least partially on this guy.  Seriously.  Anyhow, we see Helio taking Julianne for a spin in a super hot, super fast car and then practicing some dancing on the beach.  Niiiice.   Julianne’s dress is a touch distracting, but the dance is really good.  This is a great dance for Helio, he seems a natural for it.  He has to struggle not to grin though.  I really like it, it might be the best rhumba of the night.  Carrie Ann felt unsatisfied, surprisingly enough.  She didn’t feel any chemistry.  Hu-what?  Len actually agrees with her and thought there was no romance.  Too mechanical.  Bah.  Bruno agree with Len!  He looked in pain, apparently, according to him.  Oh puh-lease.  Scores?  8, 7 and 8 for a total of 23.  Bah again.

Mel B and Maksim are next with the samba, hoping to come back from their dismal performance in the audience vote.  I’m still horrified she was in the bottom two.   She was devastated and I feel bad for her.  Training was rough for them.  The Spice Girls as a whole plead for Mel to get some votes.  After the last samba, I feel I’m a poor judge but this does seem really good to me.  And… yes, they are dancing to a Spice Girls song.  Okay, that’s a little tacky.  Still, it’s a good dance.  And the technical moves seem right on.  Woo!  Len thought they are M&M, sweet.  Bruno thought they came back with a furor.  Best samba of the night (THANK YOU!).  Carrie Ann agrees and thinks its their best dance yet as well.  Scores?  10, 9, 10 for a total of 29 and the highest score of the night.  If they go home this week it’ll be a travesty.

Cameron and Edyta are next with the rhumba.  I’m still rooting hard for him.  The goal this week is to show Cameron’s sensitive side.  They want the judges to need a cold shower afterward.  And?  It definitely is sexy.  And the music is choice.  If Helio and Julianne lacked chemistry, these two more than made up for it.  Bruno says to lock up your daughters, there was incredible passion.  Carrie Ann thought the chemistry was right on.  And she had an issue with a lift (or lack thereof).  Len thought he was just as strong this week as last.  Scores? 8, 9 and 9 for a total of 26.  Should have been all 9’s, dangit.

And apparently that is it for tonight.  It seemed to fly by.  PLEASE DON’T VOTE FOR MARK.  I beg of you.

Yep, it’s time for another roundup. Sit back and enjoy the reality-filled goodness!

• There’s news about “Dancing with the Stars” today, as we’ve got wind of some celebrity cast wannabes. Apparently, Chris Harrison, the host of “The Bachelor” wants to be on the show, as does Paige Hemmis from “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”. So far, Chris hasn’t been signed onto the show due to scheduling concerns. Rightly so, as it might be a little strange for him to be on a show that led into his own show directly after. Paige says it’s “not if, but when” and that the only reason she hasn’t been on the show yet is because she was in the middle of “Extreme Makeover’s” shooting schedule for this season. But maybe in the spring…
• In other “Dancing with the Stars” news, it’s going to be a video game released for the Nintendo Wii and Sony Playstation come the end of the month. Look to see player interaction with the game (which the Wii is already somewhat famous for). This looks to be capitalizing on the fame of the “Dance Dance Revolution” games while also adding the flair of the ABC reality show. I think this game could be a big hit for the holiday season. Check out the video below to see a portion of the game in action.
• Have you heard there’s going to be a “Celebrity Apprentice”? I sure hadn’t. After last season’s dismal ratings, I thought “The Apprentice” was done for. But apparently, that’s not all true and expect to see this installment hit the airwaves later on this year (or early in 2008). There are already some names of celebrities being leaked, such as Carol Alt, Stephen Baldwin, John Cena, Marilu Henner, Lennox Lewis, Tito Ortiz, Vincent Pastore, Gene Simmons, and former Apprentice cast member Omarosa. Omarosa?? AUGH!
• Do you all remember hearing about FOX’s “American Idol” clone, “The Next Great American Band”? It premiered, apparently, and didn’t do so hot in the ratings. Apparently, this show is no “American Idol”. But as with most insanely popular reality TV shows, you can’t duplicate a hit very well so this doesn’t come as a large surprise. But it’s disheartening to hear that this show is doing particularly bad and that so many people who had their hopes up for it may have them dashed all over again.

Last time on Survivor: Dave was given the ol’ heave-ho by Zhan Hu.  And not one person was terribly surprised.  Right now?  I’ve got some recaps for you:

• MSNBC
• Buddy TV
• CBS.com
• TV Squad

Now for my impressions:  Zhan Hu wakes up and seems pretty happy to have Dave gone.  Gee, all the laying around they can do now!  Erik tells Jaime that his middle name is Taylor.  Hers is Nicole.  Why is this significant?  They’re flirting.  In another setting, they might go for something together.  And Erik tells her he’s still a virgin.  Hu-what??  Seriously?  Or is that just a line? Jaime wants to share information about the hidden immunity idol, which obviously he’s all for.  At Fei Long’s camp, Denise and James are working together.  He appreciates her work ethic.  And the fact she looks like a male truck driver?  (oops, did I just say that out loud?)  She wants to ride his coattails.  Nice strategy there.

They observe a boat coming ashore.  It is… fishermen.  They have a message.   They have to choose two “warriors” who best could win challenges and the fishermen will be sent to select two new tribe members for Fei Long.  What is the catch?  They speculate on that for a while, before settling on taking Frosti and Sherea from Zhan Hu.  Over at Zhan Hu, they’re doing the same thing.  Uh, duh.  They assume they will get two members and not give up any of their own, which is pretty foolish.  They select (predictably) Aaron and James.  I think they’re being pretty naive.  The boat comes to Zhan Hu and there is no one on the boat.  They’re confused.  They’re handed a scroll wherin they discover the “switch”.  Shocking!  LOL!  So Sherea and Frosti depart for Fei Long.  Over at Fei Long, they’re anticipating the switch and are unsurprised to see James and Aaron going to the other tribe.  They’re not happy though (and who would be?) because those are some strong guys.  This should definitely shake up the dynamic of the tribes, I would think.  Jean-Robert is the most upset, since James is his strongest ally.  Denise is pretty pissed too.  Jean-Robert takes this opportunity to plan to vote Sherea off when they (if they?) lose the challenge instead of voting himself off.  Because he’s knows he’s a big target.

Frosti and Sherea head to Fei Long and James and Aaron to Zhan Hu, passing in the lake.  The fishermen bestow the tribes with a little feast including some alcohol to enjoy.  James asks who the brain is.  They all are.  Of course!  Meanwhile, PG campaigns heartily for the “new guys” to be voted out.  Cuz that’s using your noggin.  Pick the strong guys to make your team strong and then get rid of them as quick as you can.  Frosti and Sherea get to Fei Long with their bounty and everyone is just thrilled to see the food.  Sherea is enjoying the switch so far, since she never felt a big bond with Zhan Hu.  Frosti is more nervous.  He was comforted to see how much the rest of the tribe seemed to dislike Jean-Robert.

Over at Zhan Hu, Aaron feels very comfortable with his new tribemates while James feels a lot more nervous.  So what does Aaron do?  He campaigns for James.  NICE.  Way to show some loyalty there.  PG feels that Aaron is pretty crafty, they’ll have to keep their eye on him.  She approaches Jaime for an alliance, since her current alliance partners are over at Fei Long.  She wants to vote off both James and Aaron.  She thinks the tribes will merge at five each and if they throw challenges and vote off their two Fei Long refugees, that gives Zhan Hu a distinct advantage after the merge.  Not bad strategy, but there’s a pretty big “if” in there.

It’s challenge time!  We’re going right to immunity, since the “switch” and the food that provided were sort of like a reward for everyone.  Sort of.  Whatever.  I didn’t produce the show, so I’m no expert here.  It’s an underwater challenge of sorts which I’ve always thought wouldn’t be so bad but then I don’t mind being underwater.  Will Zhan Hu throw it?  Amanda and Courtney sit out the challenge for Fei Long (shocker there) before the tribes get to work.  So far, the tribes look neck and neck and everyone is trying very hard.  Zhan Hu gets their boat loaded and on the way to the shore first (Jean-Robert nearly dumps their entire boats contents into the water).  Fei Long pulls into the lead and Jaime, with a secret smile on her face, is just taking her own sweet time with the puzzle.  Uh, yeah, they’re throwing it.  Obviously, Fei Long wins rather easily.  Only now does Jaime feign disappointment.  Jeff shames them on it before sending the tribes back home.

Aaron and James are disappointed.  James accuses Jaime of not being able to handle the pressure.  Jaime can hardly keep from laughing.  Same with PG.  OH GEEZE.  Could they BE more obvious?  And yet, they still don’t understand the challenge was thrown.  Erik is stumped as well.  He asks PG and Jaime about it and they tell him they threw it.  He’s shocked.  He’s not too happy about it either.  Not so happy that he won’t side with his original tribemates, but still.  Jaime thinks she can trust James more than Aaron, since maybe James doesn’t have as many ties at Fei Long (ha!).  PG tells James she can help him stay.  But he doesn’t trust them at all so PG thinks maybe he’ll have to go.  Aaron is pretty confident that James will go home and he plans to vote for him.

At tribal council, Jeff quizzes Zhan Hu about the switch.   Jamie is truthful in why they made the choices they did (to break Fei Long).  James admits to being upset to be separated from his original tribe.  Jeff calls them out on throwing the challenge and Jamie admits to it.  James looks infuriated.  James says he doesn’t understand their thought process.  They lose challenge after challenge and then lose a challenge on purpose.  It’s weak.  PG tries to say it’s about winning the war, not the battles.  James says (hysterically), “You’re not winning anything!”  HA!  So who will it be?  Jeff tallies the votes and the unlucky tribemember is: Aaron.  I’m surprised.  As vocal as James was, I expected it to be him.  Jeff calls them out on making assumptions that may or may not hold true before sending them back to camp.

Again, sorry for the lateness of these results, but “Biggest Loser” got the honors on Tuesday night as usual.  But I’m here, better late than never, to share the details of this week’s results show.  First off, in case you missed the show here are some excellent recaps:

• Buddy TV
• TV Squad
• MSNBC
• Television without Pity

On Monday, we had Sabrina and Mark in the definite lead with their perfect 30 with Mark and Kym dragging the bottom with their less than fabulous 22.  But, interestingly, Mark and Kym were saved from the bottom two yet again this week.  Instead, we had Floyd and Karina and Mel B and Maksim.  Mel B??  Seriously?  Floyd did decently on Monday night, pulling in a 23 from the judges (just one more point than Mark and Kym) but Mel B waltzed away with a 26 which was a very decent score.  HOW did she end up in the bottom two?  I’m insulted for her, she deserves better than that.  America!  Get off your duffs and vote for her!  And QUIT voting for Mark Cuban.  Jeezum crow.

Now that the field is being whittled down considerably, the results show is starting to drag and require more and more filler.  It wasn’t all bad though.  We got to see my favorite dancer, Wayne Newton, again!  He came on the stage to sing his infamous rendition of “Danke Schoen”.

Len Goodman chose Cameron and Edyta to perform their Paso Doble as an encore performance.  Possibly because there were no lifts?  It was an entertaining dance, with with the Super-Cam costume and Superman Theme music.  I’m just impressed they were able to put together a dance to that.  And I’m glad to see Cameron doing well, since I’m sort of rooting for him anyhow.

The difference this season is that there are so many good performers.  So many people who I’m rooting for.  It makes for some enjoyable television viewing, I can tell you that.  With the exception of Mark Cuban, I will be sad to see anyone else leave the competition from now on.

So at the end of the show, the bottom two were revealed.  As I said earlier, I was astonished to see Mel B in the bottom two.  Floyd, not so much.  I knew his time was coming but could only hope that Mark left before he did.  It wasn’t to be, however, because Floyd was eliminated from the competition.  Better him than Mel B, but still.  So next week, we have 8 couples remaining.  If Mark isn’t the person eliminated I may just scream.

Last week the black team suffered their first loss.  And it was a rough one, with Jim being sent packing on the eve of his shared birthday with brother Bill.  Ouch!

We’re whittled down to one hour so that is making me definitely VERY happy.  Hopefully, that means less playing around and less toying with me.  I can hope.  We start out with the black team getting a good pounding from Jillian.  She’s pretty upset about their loss last week.  But Kim is also working her team hard.  Let’s not forget Bob either, because he wants to win one friggin’ challenge already.  And what is the challenge?  Well, it’s at a beach, for one.  All challenges so far have been a race but this one is more about perseverance.  I’m not going to go into details but it involves moving heavy stuff.  The winning team will receive videos from home.  Ultimately, red team won despite being severely behind in the first two heats.  Blue team came in last, which is a blow.  Black gave it a good go, but ultimately couldn’t keep up with that tank, Phil.  They watch their videos and everyone is pretty much reduced to a crying puddle, even the guys (especially Phil!).

Jillian meets with her team at lunch and teaches them a little trick about how to keep from snacking while cooking; chew some gum.  Kim comes in while David is on the treadmill and tries to push him and he gets pretty annoyed at her.  He tells her to leave him alone several times and things get kinda heated.  She swears at him and he gets really insulted and walks off.  I kinda have to side with him, but at the same time, it’s the trainer’s job to push you so you’re gonna have to expect and put up with a certain amount of that, you know?

Speaking of pushing, Jillian pushes her team really hard.  Then, Jillian gets word that Hollie’s mother is relapsing with leukemia.  And she has to break the news to her.  Despite the devastating news to Hollie, this shows such a softer side of Jillian.  What does this mean for Hollie?  She’s going to go home and see her mother and will hurry back as soon as she can.  I’m not sure what all that means and when she’ll be back but there you have it.

At the weigh in, Allison fills everyone in on what’s up with Hollie.  Her mother did pass away, shortly after Hollie got to her bedside.  How desperately sad.  So I think this means black team won’t be considered in the weigh in?

Blue team goes first and Nicole hits the scales first.  She has lost 4 pounds, a decent amount.  Neil is up next and he has lost 10 pounds.  Fantastic!  Kae is next and she has lost 6 pounds, also very decent.  She looks downright giddy.  Ryan goes last and he lost 11 pounds.  Wow!  That’s a total of 31 pounds with total percentage of 2.74% loss.  Sweet!

Red goes next and needs to lose more than 34 pounds.  Amy goes first and she has lost 3 pounds.  David hits the scales next and he lost 5 pounds.  These aren’t such hot numbers.  Bryan goes next and feels the pressure.  He lost 4 pounds.  Phil goes last and he has lost 4 pounds.  YIKES.  I can’t help but think this reflects badly on Kim.  That’s a total of 16 pounds with a 1.28% loss.  Ugh.

Black team goes last (so they’re getting weighed in after all).  Hollie weighed in earlier apparently, and lost 3 pounds.  Isabeau goes next and she lost 5 pounds, which was more than Jillian expected.  Julie is up next and she has lost 4 pounds.  Definitely decent.  Jez is up at the scale and he lost 7 pounds which has saved the blacks from elimination.  Bill goes last.  He needs more than 15 pounds to beat the blues, but I’m sure that doesn’t really matter (besides being unreasonable).  He lost 11 pounds, which is close and a really good number.  That brings the blacks total to 30 pounds with a 2.36% loss.

Blue won the weigh in, red team is going to be eliminated and the blacks are safe.  Kim is pretty ticked off about it.  David is the biggest loser on the red team, but anyone else is fair game.  *gulp*  Guess winning that challenge didn’t help them much.  Kim thinks Phil and Bryan are carrying the team and urges the team not to vote one of them off.  This of course made Amy mad and she accused Kim of throwing her under the bus.  I think Kim has a point, but GEEZ.  She threatens them not to come to a tie.  I think Kim is having a rough week (her and Carrie Ann both!).   We go to elimination and with only four teammates, it doesn’t take long.  David voted for Amy, Amy voted for Phil.  Phil voted for Amy and then Bryan voted for Phil.  Which means we have a tie.  The worst possible scenario.  This means the blue team will decide who goes home.  Not cool.  (Oh, is Kim ever going to be pissed.)  Who have they chosen to eliminate?  Neil speaks for the group, and says they’ve decided to vote out the threat.  Phil is going home.  DUDE.  That sucks.  Dumb red team.  I didn’t want Amy to go, but I don’t think Phil should have to leave.  He breaks down in saying his goodbyes and there isn’t a dry eye in the house (that includes the blue team).  Poor guy.

How much has he lost to date?  He is 295 pounds, he has lost a total of 46 pounds since leaving the campus and a total of 108 pounds since the show started.  Nice job, Phil!  I still think he could have gone the whole way.

Remember what happened last week?  I hardly do, but that’s probably more because of pregnancy related amnesia than anything else. The important thing is that Wayne Newton was eliminated.  One can only hope that Mark Cuban will follow this week.  But maybe I should watch him dance first, huh?

Ah, Samantha Harris is back.  I miss Drew already.  Jennie is looking great tonight, Sabrina… not so much.  Edyta is, once again, wearing nearly nothing.  Mark and Kym are up first, doing the Viennese Waltz.  I think if he can do any dance, it’s probably this one.  But we’ll see.  It’s not so bad, I’ve seen him dance a lot worse to be honest.  Still, I think the other teams are going to blow him out of the water.  Not a bad start to the evening though.  As for the judges, Len, like me, thought it was a lot better.  His best dance, even.  Bruno thought he started well but he turned into “bigfoot in a suit”.  Carrie Ann thought he showed a lot of progress.  The scores?  7, 8, 7 for a total of 22 and they look pretty happy with that.

I can’t help but wonder when we’ll be whittled down to one hour?  Sabrina and Mark are up next, dancing the Paso Doble (which I just like to say, over and over).  Not digging her dress (nor the song selection for the dance), but it’s definitely energetic.  But, not having anything to compare it to, I think it was very good.  Great to watch and pretty professional too.  She’s a fierce dancer, that one.  Bruno says she was a little lynx on the prowl.  Carrie Ann said her hours of rehearsal paid off, it was perfection.  Len said his expectations from her are high, and this week he couldn’t find anything wrong with her.  WOW!  Scores? 10, 10, and 10 for a perfect 30.  WOW!

Jane and Tony are up next doing the Viennese Waltz.  She wants her waltz to be an impressionistic painting.  And then they… paint as they dance.  Mmm.  I dig her dress.  I think the dance is great, very elegant and graceful and I can only hope the judges agree.  It was just beautiful to watch.  Carrie Ann was bummed, because the feet came off the ground or some such and Tony argues with her about it.  Len tries to smooth things and Carrie accuses him of being soft and then Len takes it out on Bruno.  Wow.  Come on guys.  Len thought it was beautiful, a great job.  Bruno thought she looked like the queen of the fairies.   Scores?  8, 9, 9 for a total of 26 which is decent, considering Carrie Ann’s reaction.

Next we have Floyd and Karina doing the Paso Doble.  He was pretty pissed at being in the bottom two last week.  I can’t blame him because it totally should have been Mark down there, but whatever.  Floyd goes for this whole bullfighter thing which is dubious at best.  But the dance itself is pretty decent.  Not, say, as good as Sabrina.  But he’s doing better.  Still gets his head down more than he should.  I don’t know, it seemed like a really strange dance to me.  Len said he was scared (lol!) and he liked his passion.  Bruno said this was his dance, very good.  Carrie Ann, of course, gets on them about a “lift” she saw in the dance.  Geeze, Carrie.  Lighten up.  She saw a lot of improvement from Floyd.  Scores?  7, 8, and 8 for a total of 23 which is pretty good.

Mel B and Maksim are up next, dancing the Viennese Waltz.  She looks nice, the music is great and the choreography is really good.  I can’t really find much to complain about with this dance, it was just that good.  She was graceful and this is Mel B we’re talking about!  Bruno said he swept away to wonderland and he was surprised yet again.  Carrie Ann she brought out “sensual elegance”, though she did have some nitpicks.  (Carrie, CHILL!)  Len says she was a revelation, bloody good job.  Scores?  8, 9, and 9 for a total of 26.  Carrie Ann needs to freaking chill out.

Cameron and Edyta hit the floor doing the Paso Doble and Cameron is literally wearing a “superman” styled outfit as well as routine.  I hope he does well because I enjoy him.  They even use Superman music.  My husband muses that he thinks Edyta just likes being naked.  LOL!  As for the dance, I’m not a good judge, but I don’t think it’s terribly bad and has a great finish.  Carrie Ann actually looks happy and says he snapped her out of a funk (ya think?).  It was incredible, every bit of it.  Len said him and Paso Doble go together like fish and chips.  Bruno is excited (isn’t he always) and says that Superman is back.   Scores?  9, 9 and 9 for a total of 27.  VERY decent.

Marie and Jonathon are up next doing the Viennese Waltz.  Marie isn’t too confident since she admits to having a poor sense of equilibrium anyhow.  The dance is very good, if not exciting and Marie’s dance and its feathered hem are nicely distracting.  Sweet but unremarkable.  Len said she puts a feel-good factor in every dance she does.  It was “gentle”.  Bruno didn’t enjoy her character as much this week.  Carrie Ann actually liked it quite a bit for being as “sleepy” as it was.  Scores? 9, 9 and 8 for a total of 26.  Meh.

Jennie and Derek are up next doing the Paso Doble.  She’s confused about the dance of the bullfighter, is she the bull or the cape?  The dance is spicy and full of dramatic movements and the crowd just eats it up.  I thought it was pretty good, actually but my husband wasn’t impressed.  Bruno says she has improved so much and the choreography was superb.  Whatever they gave Carrie to chill her out must be wearing off cuz she mentions feet leaving the floor but she really did like the dance as a whole.  Len thought it was blooming fantastic.  Or something, I couldn’t quite understand.  Scores?  8, 10, and 9 for a total of 27.  WOW.  Decent!

Helio and Julianne hit the floor last doing the Viennese Waltz.  They’re nervous, based on the performance last week.  The music is great, I scan say that for sure.  I think it’s a pretty good dance, once you can get past Helio’s cheesy grin.  I mean, the dance seemed right on for me.  I couldn’t see anything wrong with it.  Carrie Ann says when Helio dances, he makes her happy to be alive (she’s teary eyed now?  Is it PMS?).  Len thought it was a beautiful job.  Bruno says they complement each other so well.  Scores?  9, 9 and 9 for a total of 27 which is extremely decent.

So that puts an end to tonight’s show and Carrie Ann’s bipolar-ness.  Hopefully, next week she’ll be a little more stable.

Yep, it’s that time again.  Did everyone have a good weekend?

• First off, we’ve got the revelation that Heather Mills competed in last season’s “Dancing with the Stars” because there was a rumor she was already cast.  Not the other way around.   Apparently, when a British tabloid published a rumor that Heather Mills (as in the ex-Mrs. McCartney) was going to be on the next season of “Dancing with the Stars”, the executive producers thought it wasn’t a half bad idea and offered her a gig.  And she went for it!  Of course, we all know that I didn’t care for Ms. Mills one bit and I would have been happy had the executive producers not seen that tabloid article.  Still, it’s interesting to find out that that is how she got on the show.
• In other “DWTS” news (and not necessarily happy news at that), Samantha Harris is back on the show tonight after her maternity leave.  *sigh*  I don’t enjoy her, I just don’t.  I think she’s too forced.  However, the MSNBC article says it is her clumsiness with the microphone that makes her endearing.  Uhm.  If you say so.
• The “American Idol” road tour has been fined for violating child labor laws.  Apparently, letting underage teenagers perform without the proper permits is against the law.  The tour was fined $5,000 for 16 violations and is agreeing to pay up with no contest.  You just know this is Sanjaya’s fault.  Okay, maybe winner Jordin Sparks has something to do with it too but I just love to blame Sanjaya.
• We’ve got some early and not so savory news for “Big Brother” fans out there:  According to a recent interview with ex-houseguest Jessica, Eric was told by the producers NOT to use the power of veto, keeping Dick and Daniele in the house when Jessica would have put one of them up for a certain eviction.  Jessica says that Eric was told, ‘Do not use it. You don’t have a choice. You are to keep nominations the same.’  I’m assuming this is something that Eric confided in Jessica since the show has ended.  You know, all I can say is GAH.

That’s all for now because now I’m all disgusted and stuff.  Stupid “Big Brother” producers… grumble.

I’m going to first treat you to some recap goodness.  Don’t you feel privilaged?

• Watching Survivor
• Buddy TV
• CBS.com
• MSNBC
• TV Squad

The short of it is that Leslie, the big Christian of Fei Long, was sent packing.

Jean Robert sure bugs, doesn’t he?  I think what rubs me the wrong way is the overconfidence.  Sometimes, it’s charming.  And sometimes it’s damn annoying.  He hasn’t figured out the whole charming part yet.  Courtney and him butt heads, moreso now that she knows he’s gunning for him.  I don’t know how I feel about her quite yet.  She seems decent but this early on it’s hard to tell.

Zhan Hu discovers their rice is rather moldy.  Uhm, EW!  Of course, they don’t have much choice but to go through, toss the moldy stuff and try to salvage the rest.  Sherea and Dave get into a little spat over the whole thing.  Okay, maybe the spat isn’t o little.  The rest of the tribe stands around and watches, expressionless.  Hmm.  Not the first time Dave has gotten into a spat with someone, is it?  The man is just plain hard to get along with, I think.  Frosti tries to tell him to tone it down, that he’s not doing himself (or anyone else) any service by being confrontational.

Fei Long gets a shock in treemail… both tribes are going to Tribal Council tonight.  Sounds as if it’s just a meeting through.  I’m not entirely sure what’s going on, but there’ll be a competition (tomorrow?) and the winning tribe will get food.  Which makes them all very excited.  So both tribes arrive to find a cleared spot for a challenge.  It involves transporting fireballs and igniting fireworks.  Suh-weet!  They’re playing for a fisherman.  He’ll come to their camp and teach them how to fish and will make them a righteous meal.  Meh.  I’d rather have a steak dinner but that’s just me.  Courtney sits out while the rest get to work.  The fireworks are muy, muy fabulous.  A nice change of pace (and no nakedness, which is also a nice change).   It’s a pretty clever and interesting challenge, I like the ingenuity here.  Fei Long pulls off the victory, though Zhan Hu could really have used it.  They chose to kidnap Dave, of all people.  That’s sort of a reward for Zhan Hu if you ask me.

Back at Fei Long, Dave is adjusting to life with the reds.  He says he feels like he’s on vacation.  If I were him, I wouldn’t be so happy because the last person to get kidnapped got booted out.  Or one of them, at least.  Sure, he says he’s spying, but I’m sure Zhan Hu will see this as another excuse to boot him out.  Dave gets his clue and has to decide who to share it with.  Everyone, meanwhile, thinks Dave is a “nutcase” (according to Todd).  So he thinks he can trust Todd (?) and gives him the clue.  Dave thinks he has a “loose alliance” with Todd, and that if Zhan Hu wins the next reward, that if Todd were kidnapped that he’d share the clue with Dave.  That’s a lot of “ifs” there, Dave.

Zhan Hu is taking this moment to bitch about Dave.  They’re quite glad to be rid of him for the moment.  Of course, the mood around camp is rather relaxed, now that the taskmaster isn’t there.  They’re realizing that, gosh, there’s a lot to do.  And what is Sherea doing?  Taking it easy, yo.  She doesn’t want to waste her energy, conserving it instead for the challenge.  Riiiight.

Meanwhile, Fei Long’s fisherman (and his family) arrive amid much fanfare.  And apparently, Jean Robert knows Mandarin so communicating is much easier than they expected it to be.  Basically, they’re going to make the birds fish for them.  They tie their necks so they can’t swallow the fish.  Then the birds come back and spit the fish back out for them.  YIKES.  But hey, it works.  James starts to feel like Jean Robert is barking orders at him, but he didn’t really fault him too much because he really sort of saved their bacon with the whole language thing.  They were also shown how to fish with their net and found out they’d been using it all wrong.  So the family helps them prepare a pretty considerable feast and everyone is practically giddy with it.

So we return to watch the immunity challenge.  Dave rejoins his tribe (rather reluctantly).  As usual, it is a physical and mental challenge.  However, it requires wearing traditional Chinese armor.  I’m not going to do a blow by blow (because I sorta suck at that), but it was an interesting challenge to watch.  Fei Long wins, fairly narrowly.  Zhan Hu goes back to Tribal Council after having a week off.  (Well, a week for us anyhow.)

Who to vote out?  Hmm, that’s a tough one.  Gee, no one comes to mind…  Obviously, the big target here is Dave.  For show, the rest of the tribe is also considering Sherea who is about as useful as a lump of wood at the moment.  They make a good effort, discussing her and her virtues.  Sherea feels the heat of this and starts to worry.  But not worried enough to stop laying around all the time.  DUDE.  Get up and get working.  It’s not rocket science.

At Tribal Council, Sherea is encouraged to bitch a little about Dave and talk about how nice it was without Dave there for that one glorious day.  Erik says Dave has great leadership qualities, which makes Sherea roll her eyes.  This is a tribe divided.  Jeff asks Sherea about people pulling their weight and she says it’s getting better.  Everyone looks a little surprised at this.  She thinks challenges are more important than camp life, but Dave insists that camp life is just as important as the challenges.  I’d be likely to agree with him.  Anyhow, everyone votes and save for one for Sherea from Dave, the rest of the votes are for Dave and he’s booted.  Bubye, Dave!  It was inevitable.

My wishes have been answered.  Life has returned to normal, or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof.  Wayne Newton has been eliminated, mercifully, from “Dancing with the Stars”.  In case you missed the landmark episode on Tuesday evening, here are some recaps:

• MSNBC
• Buddy TV
• Television Without Pity
• TV Squad

However, with all good news there must be bad news as well.  Tuesday night was Drew Lachey’s last night to cohost the show meaning that Samantha Harris will be back next week.  Say it with me: NOOOOOOO!!!!  Drew has been wonderful on the show. He has great chemistry with Tom and I have enjoyed the show so much more with him on it (and Samantha NOT).  I’m very disappointed by this news.  I was hoping (against all hope) that maybe Drew would end up staying for the rest of the season.  Then the producers would see how much everyone preferred Drew and would kick Samantha out and replace her with Drew in all upcoming seasons.  It was a fools hope, but there you have it.

Jennie Garth and Derek were chosen to repeat their tango and while I was a bit skeptical of it on Monday night, it was a lot better.  And actually worthy of the marks they received for it.  I was surprised that Floyd was in the bottom two with Wayne, rather than Mark Cuban.  Perhaps Mark has a larger fan base (owing to his blog) than I expected he would have.  That won’t last if he keeps on dancing like a doofus.  Even die hard fans can only take so much.  Floyd isn’t perfect, but he’s a far better dancer than Mark.

So next week we have the Paso Doble and the Viennese Waltz.  Hmm.  This could make or break some of these couples.  Should be a good show (even without Drew *sob*).