I’m not sure who I first heard make the analogy that reality TV was the modern day equivalent of the Roman colosseum, but truer words have never been said.  As I’ve mentioned before, I watch Big Brother (BB).  I’ve been a fan since season 1, but I have seen it sliding deeper and deeper into insanity with each passing season, and last night it really went to far.

For the past week, Chelsia, a 21-year-old girl from Iowa, has been up for eviction, and there is no denying she has not handled it well.   She has had two incidents of screaming at Natalie, a 28-year-old woman from Oregon, whom she blames for a lot of the problems in the house.  The worst incident was on Easter Sunday when Chelsia destroyed some eggs Natalie had painted for Easter, followed by more yelling about Natalie’s past.

Last night, presumably Chelsia’s last night in the house, she playfully tossed some grapes at Adam, the current Head of Household, and the guy who nominated her for eviction.  Adam did not take kindly to it and proceeded to throw Chelsia to the floor, hold her down, and rub the grape stems in her face, cutting her nose.  He then left the room and went to bed.  Chelsia declared it as being very creepy, but did not go file a complaint.  Today when the subject was brought up, Adam admitted he had done it out of anger, and also admitted that outside of the house he would have done more to her.

You can debate that Chelsia baited him with throwing the grapes, but I do not feel at any time was his reaction warranted.  There is never an excuse for a man that is nearly double a woman’s weight, and a good foot taller than her, to physically attack her.  Big Brother was horribly remiss in not even issuing a warning to Adam as houseguests are not allowed to physically attack each other.  I have emailed CBS and voiced my concerns over the situation.

This isn’t where all of this stops though for me.  I went to some of my favorite BB message boards today, and found numerous messages from users saying how Chelsia got what she deserved for being such a brat.  Excuse me?  I know she has been a bit of a terror this week VERBALLY, but that is no reason for him to have assaulted her.  People posted how they wish he had done more to her (I am intentionally not linking to messages as I will not give these people the satisfacton), how he was justified in his actions and that Big Brother is right not to give him a warning.

Have we come to this?  Have we come to the point where a 117 lbs woman (they all weighed themselves in the house) makes verbal comments to a totally separate person, and it’s okay for a 230 lbs man to throw her to the ground in a mixture of revenge and anger?  Mind you that this is the Adam I wrote about being fired from his PR job at the United Autism Foundation for referring to people with Autism as “retards”, so has already shown himself to be a a paragon of brains.

How can people possibly advocate this behavior? Again, since I have already had to make this clear a hundred times today, I do not advocate Chelsia’s emotional explosions, but you’d find it next to impossible to tell me what Adam did was deserved.  How far have fallen as a society where we think physical violence such as this is ever excusable?  Are we really headed for a day where someone must die to entertain us?  Shall we start a weekly wife beating show?  -announcer’s voice- “Tune in this week when John’s wife, Susan, will get what she deserves for mouthing off to her!”  Folks, if you think a man shoving around a woman is EVER necessary on a reality show, please seek help.

If you would like to express your displeasure to CBS, please go here and click “Feedback” on the left hand side.

It happened the other night, I was watching Big Brother After Dark on Showtime 2, and I realized I have officially become old.

As regular readers know, I have been a faithful viewer of Big Brother since season 1 (though I skipped season 2 as I hated the format change), and each season I complain about “the hamsters”, the Internet nickname for the Houseguests. Well, this year, I think the casting people finally went too far.

There has always been a sense that the producers hoped for “wild and crazy” times, and, true, we did get a streaking man last season (Zach), and back in Big Brother 4, we got full on sex (David & Amanda), but this season… let’s see, where do I even start?

The concept alone, “Til Death Do Us Part”, pairs each contestant with another one, and they work together, get nominated together, evicted together, and, oh yeah, have to sleep in the same bed. Now, this wouldn’t be so bad if they hadn’t matched everyone up with their “soulmate” that the producers picked for them.

We have Natalie, the former stripper/Hooters Girl, who had a boob job that looks like 2 oranges were shoved in to her chest. She has had two abortions, but attends church regularly. (I’m not making a judgment call on her abortions or church going, but don’t the two kinda contradict each other?) And thus far this season she has… er… “orally pleasured” her partner in the game, Matt, at least twice. (they’re pictured to the right here)

The most infamous Houseguest so far this season has to be Adam. Up until today, Adam worked in public relations for the United Autism Foundation. Notice I said “up until today”, because when Adam leaves the house, he will discover he has been fired from his due to referring to people with Autism as “retards” while in the house. It may have been excused as an off handed comment, but when some of the other Hamsters called him on such a comment, he said he could call them whatever he wants because he works with them. This comment also led to Lowes pulling ads from the show, so I’m sure CBS is none too thrilled with him either.

This is not to mention the massive make out party in the pool between Adam, Alex, Chelsia (who was topless), James (who was naked), Joshuah, Matt, Natalie (who was topless), and Sharon. This was all preceded by a strip off between Chelsia and Natalie which set off the entire night.

Yep, it’s official, I’m old. All this did was make me shake my head and wonder about these “kids” today.  This isn’t to mind all the talk of rampant drug use discussion (marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy), not in the house mind you, just in general, and you have to wonder where casting finds these people.  True, you have to be a fairly large narcissist to go on a show such as this, but this whole cast just takes the cake for insanity.

And I know what you all will say, “Sean, just stop watching!”, and I’m trying, but it’s like a train wreck!  I can’t not look at the gore!

No, don’t worry, this isn’t a return to weekly recaps of reality shows.  That is long dead.

When CBS canceled Viva Laughlin, there was a benefit to those of us who love The Amazing Race… we didn’t have to wait until January for the new season!  Instead, it starts tonight at 8 EST/7 CST.

This is the12th cycle of the five-time Emmy-winning series.   While I fully admit most reality shows are tripe, AR is a non-stop,nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat ride across the world.  It is also the only show I have thought many times of applying for.  Finding a partner with all the necessary talents we would need would be the rough part, AND stand traveling the world with them, would be a heck of a chore.  Never the less, it would be grand fun.

For those who already watch the show, good news… NO MORE NON-ELIMINATION PIT STOPS!  WOO! This has always been the flaw in the show to me, and it is now gone.  I couldn’t be more thrilled.

So, for those that don’t know the show, please give it a try.  For those who already know of the joys of AR… I am so ready!

Well, it’s over for the most part.  Though I’ve watched Big Brother 8 all summer, I’ve refrained from discussing it as I gave up doing reality recaps ages ago.

So why do I say it’s over, when it really isn’t?

The premise of this season was three people came into the house with people they had grudges against.  The two picture here are Danielle, and her estranged father Dick.  Over the course of the season, we learned that at some point Dick had loaned Dani some money, it didn’t go well, she stopped talking to him.  She was less than thrilled to see him come in the house, but they agreed to work together, and seemed to patch up their relationship some.

Well, teaming up obviously worked for them as they are the final two people who will face the jury, and walk away with 1st and 2nd place now.  They were not loved by their fellow houseguests, but, the rub is, now they HAVE to vote for one or the other.  My guess is Danielle will take first as Dick irritated EVERYONE in the house at some point, usually n purpose, and as part of his strategy.

These two  really divided the viewing audience with their tactics, but, I have to say… I backed them.  Their plans came off perfectly, Dick had every one in the house so mentally beat down, they were scared to try to take either of them out, and when they did try, Danielle would keep winning the Power Of Veto.

So, whatever you thought of them, they played their game, and it worked.  Congrats to them both.

A while back I was going through my Google Anayltics stats and noticed a lot of people surfing in here searching on information about Armando Montelongo. I had done an entry on him back in December of 2006, but it wasn’t what people were looking for.

I saw they were being a bit more specific were looking for stories about an episode of Flip This House they were calling “The Cathouse”. As I missed the episode when it originally aired, I finally hunted it down and discovered it was really called “Little House of Horrors“. Everyone had discussed how this was like the must see episode when it came to the Montelongos. Eh.

All the hoopla was over the fact that it seemed the Montelongo brothers finally called it quits with David, the “nice” one of the two, saying he didn’t want his name associated with this particular house.

See, Armando, in his usual fashion, was going for the cheapest way to flip the house he had purchased, the problem was, this time it was a bio-hazard. No, I am not exaggerating, it truly was a hazard. Who ever owned the house before him had not exactly kept it, honestly, I won’t even tell you the details, they were disturbing enough to watch. The house was a disaster, and unsafe for people to enter, let alone live in it.

After learning what would would need to be done, he tried skimp out on the clean-up since he only had $3,000 left in the budget. He got a quote for $18,000, talked them down to $13,500, and went with it. Even after five dumpsters were taken away, the house still had damaged walls, roach excrement, and a foul smell. Instead of pulling out the dry wall, he wanted to paint over it, and that’s when David and his wife walked out. Eventually Armando did have to rip out everything, but only when he learned the walls were filled with rat nests.

Here’s the thing that got me, according to everything I can fine, this really was the end of their partnership, but talk about going out with a whimper. “I don’t want my name on this project and I’m walking away.” Um… okay… really… that’s it? That was the WHOLE “fight” to dissolve the partnership? And apparently the brothers don’t even talk now. Over… one house. Okay, that makes PERFECT sense.

Anyone else thinking there’s a bunch of stuff we didn’t see? Yeah… I thought so too.

Since then, Armando has gone on to start ArmandoMontelongo.com, where for ONLY $997 he will teach you his “secrets” to flipping houses without even using your own money! Yes… it’s called “kiting” loans and it’s about as dangerous as can be if you have no clue what you’re doing. Oh… and low morals about people’s health safety helps too.

As I said back in December, I have no clue how anyone could buy a house from these people after seeing them on the show.  They do shoddy work (to my untrained eye), have no concern for the quality of work, and generally treat everyone like they’re there to serve at their pleasure.

Oh, and that brings me to another point: How does any contractor end up working with them?   How did the bio clean-up people afford to cut their estimate (which they swore they couldn’t do it for less then $18,000) by 25%?  I mean, I’m in business, I understand negotiation, but 25%?  Yeah, sure the fact the folks getting advertising on a national cable channel doesn’t help with that at all.

I know I said I was going to stop recapping reality shows, and this is not a recap, this is a “please… end it… end it now before anyone else suffers irreparable mental damage from viewing it” request. I watched Pirate Master Thursday night on CBS… I’m not proud, and it has taken me nearly 48 hours to be able to admit to this travesty.

You know it’s summer television time when the networks think it’s a good idea to unveil “Survivor Lite”, which it’s only additional claim to fame is “Hey! Look at us! We’re trying to cash in on the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies by taking Survivor and stripping out all the interesting challenges, and just focus on people talking… and talking… and talking some more!”

I don’t even know where to start! Could it be the one guy who was an obvious attempt to copy one of the all-time, most popular Survivor contestants, Rupert? I am sure Louie is a perfectly nice person, but, he is obviously just a Rupert-clone. And then you have contestants like John who was… well, he was voted off thank goodness… but he was just… mildly disturbing in a “Please… stop calling my house… we broke up three years ago!” sorta way.

There really is nothing else to say except that Mark Burnett, the same man responsible for Survivor, really threw a grounder with this one. I guess he just felt the need to get another show on the air, and in a fit of absolute laziness, he went with the idea of, not only ripping himself off, but ripping off one of the most successful movie franchises in the history of film.

Avoid at all costs.

Well, Amazing Race finally did what everyone knew they would do eventually…an All-Stars addition. I have had mixed feelings when Survivor and Big Brother did it, but with Amazing Race I think it will be pretty much like any other Race due to the fact there are so many variable that can’t be controlled.

Amazing Race 1
Joe & Bill - They may have come in third, but they never really impressed me.
Kevin & Drew - Old frat brothers, fun, but unimpressive racers.

Amazing Race 2
Oswald & Danny - The only team, as far as I know, to go sweater shopping while racing…they’re hilarious.

Amazing Race 3
John Vito & Jill - One of my all time favorite teams!
Teri & Ian - eh…Ian yells more than I like, but oh well.

Amazing Race 5
Charla & Mirna - Mirna…I’ll be blunt, she’s not a rocket scientist. Charla though is a dwarf, but has a spirit twice her size. Their elimination, and Charla’s speech at their elimination, is the only time I have ever seen the host, Phil, tear up.

Amazing Race 7
Rob & Amber - How many flippin’ times is CBS going to force these people down my throat?!? 2 Survivors, and now 2 Amazing Races. This is the *fourth* chance they have given Rob to win something, will someone please just give him a check already and put him out of my misery?
Uchenna and Joyce - The only team to win their season to come to All-Stars. I loved them, great team, great attitude.

Amazing Race 9
Eric & Danielle - A combination of 2 teams as they started dating after their race.

Amazing Race 10
David & Mary - Yep…Team Kentucky is back.
Dustin & Kandice -The Barbie’s are back. I actually kind of agree with this one, they were fairly smart racers.

Should be a fun race to watch, not all teams I would have picked, but oh well. At this point I’m rooting for John Vito & Jill, I absolutely loved them.

Yeah…I was writing my recap for Amazing Race 10, Episode 5 and…I’m bored with these recaps. I really doubt anyone reads them, so unless someone says “Sean! I count on your recaps!”, they are probably dead. I will do the occasional random commenting, but I think the recapping of every episode is dead. Blame the current Survivor, it’s awful.

Survivor Cook Islands had so much promise. Had a great opening concept, which they ditched after two episodes, and left us with what has to be the most unexciting cast ever. In there need to come up with five people from four different ethnic backgrounds, you can tell they really scraped to come up with enough people.

The morning after the last Tribal Council, where J.P. got sent home, the women of Raro awoke to find the men busily working on things around camp. Gee, I think they got the message they had been too lazy. Over at Aitu though, it seems they have their own lazy people in the form of Candice, Becky and Sundra. Cao Boi comments that he hopes his tribe keeps winning, but if they don’t, then those three will have to go.

Reward Challange came up and it was…

Both the tribes will split into three pairs, each of whom will stand on a platform. Each person on the platform will use one arm to hold onto a hook. Every two minutes members from the opposing tribe will load one of those pairs with five-pound bags. The more weight added, the harder it will be to hold on to the hook. The last pair holding their hooks and weight for their tribe wins Reward: fishing supplies, spices and bottles of wine. In addition the winning tribe will choose one person from the losing tribe to send to Exile Island.

The tribes took very different strategies: Raro split the weight amongst all three pairs, while Aitu decided to load down only one pair, Nate and Adam. Aitu’s strategy made no sense to me, and I was correct since Raro won with two pairs still in the game. They sent Jonathan to Exile Island, where, after much searching, he came to the conclusion that the hidden Immunity Idol has been found.

Adam from Raro caught an Octopus…well…kinda caught an Octopus as it wrapped itself around his leg and he just stabbed it. His tribemates get it off of him and Cristina gets all bossy about cooking it. Yeah, it was boring and she will be soon to go I’m sure. Over at Aitu, they are running out of food, so Cao Boi, Ozzy and Jessica set off to explore other islands for food sources and wander in to Raro’s camp by accident. They are less than thrilled to see them, and when Cao Boi asks for some spices and coconuts from the other tribe and is told “Adios” with nothing. Seemed fine to me.

Immunity Challange time:

The tribes must assemble stepping poles which they will use to transport two tribe members from one platform above water to another platform a short length away. Once both tribe members are across, all eight tribe members will climb up and over the platform, swimming out to a smaller tower. The first tribe to climb the last tower and get all eight tribe members on or above the top deck wins Immunity and is safe from Tribal Council.

This was kind of fun to watch just for the absurdity of it, and looked like Raro was going to win…until they all fell off their platform. Airu wins again, sending Raro to Tribal Council again. This time it was Stephanie who went for, again, making a stupid remark about wanting to go home.

The Amazing Race started with yet another new twist. Erwin & Godwin were the first to depart the Pit Stop and were instructed to take a taxi 20 miles to the Ly Thai To Garden in Hanoi. Now, here came the new twist, once there, they were to listen for their next clue. Oooooh interesting! So instead of having the clue written out for them, they had to listen and try to write down the Vietnamese names for themselves. A few of them thought to have their cabbies listen before they left, but even then there seemed to be some confusion.

So, the Cho brothers got a slow cabbie and ended up in sixth place, Rob & Kimberly screamed and got pissed at their cab driver (big surprise), but all the racers heard “Attention racers! Taxi across the Red River to Ben Xe Gia Lam. Then, take a bus to Ben Xe Bai Chay. Then, find the Hydrofoil Harbor.” So, everyone jumped in cabs and Rob & Kimberly ended up with ANOTHER “bad cabbie” (who knows who’s really at fault) and afte rhe drove around the block, they jumped out, paid him and got another cab driver to listen to the message. The funny part was no one could buy a ticket until 5:00 AM anyway, so all that running around was for nothing.

At 5:00 AM, everyone got on the bus and traveled 104 miles to Ben Xe Bai Chay and found the harbor. Once there, the teams found this legs Roadblock:

In this Roadblock, one team member had to use a mechanical ascender to climb 90 feet up the sheer face of a rock. Three racers could ascend the rock at any given time on a “first come, first serve” basis.

The teams raced for the boats and Dustin & Kandice again cut in line, cutting off Lyn & Karlyn. In a karmic joke though, Dustin cut her leg in the boat. Oopsie. The actual rock climbing was fairly uneventful except for Peter & Sarah’s not seeing eye-to-eye on her doing it, and his very relaxed attitude while she did do it.

As teams finished they had to travel 1.2 miles to Sung Sot Cave and wander the insides of the cave until the found their next clue. This clue led them to the Detour:

In Over, Teams ride a large boat known as a junk to a marked buoy, then row a smaller boat known as a sampan to a supply boat, load provisions, and row the sampan to a floating village and deliver the goods to the two addresses on the invoice. When finished, Teams must row back to the supply boat and present their signed invoice to the captain. In Under, Teams take a junk to the marked buoy, then row a sampan to a pearl farm, choose a line of buoys and harvest thirty oyster baskets by hauling them out of the sea and onto their boats. Finally, they had to deliver the baskets to a pearl farmer to receive their next clue.

Everyone took Under except for Lyn and Karlyn who took Over. One thing all the teams had in common, none of them knew how to row. I’ve always thought that was a fairly simple concept, but I guess not. The worst was Rob & Kimberly fighting, yet again, followed by Peter whining about how he just couldn’t take this any more…excuse me? Your girlfriend, who is missing a leg, just climbed a rock for you and you can’t collect some oyster baskets? What a loser! As the teams finished, they were instructed to return to their junks and travel 9 miles to Soi Sim Island. Rob & Kimberly came in first, winning jet skis, coming in last were Tom & Terry who could just never master the rowing and kept falling further and further behind. Too bad, I liked them.

Survivor Cook Islands started off in a new way this week with covering the losing tribe returning from Tribal Council BEFORE the opening credits. Threw me for a loop, but interesting. Ozzy was expressing his spoiled brat opinion about how disappointed he was that Cecilia got voted out. He felt it was unfair since they were living in his former camp and everyone was enjoying what the two of them had worked to build…whatever. It’s a game, you got outwitted, get over it.

When Candice returned from Exile Island, she got grilled by the new Aitu tribe as to why Raro picked her to be safe from the Tribal Council. There were heavy implications that her old tribemates were trying to save her. Well, my questions would be, how would she know? She didn’t talk with them!

Not eerything was rosy over at Raro though. As the women worked on fixing the floor of the hut, the men sat around doing nothing, and that was pretty much what they did all episode. The women were disgusted and the men were cocky about it. J.P. even expressed that he felt the men were all safe because the women needed them for their strength. Silly, silly men.

Reward Challange:

Each tribe will have two tribe members attached by belt to a rope, which snakes over, under and around a series of obstacles. The rest of the tribe will push and pull their two tribe members, attached to the rope, through the course. Once the entire tribe reaches the end of the rope, one person from each tribe will swim out to a barrel where they will retrieve a decoding wheel, bring it back to the tribe mat and use that decoder wheel to decipher one phrase. The tribe that solves the phrase first wins the Reward of three blankets, two pillows and one hammock. In addition, the winning tribe will send a member of the losing tribe to Exile Island.

Aitu wins and sends Adam from Raro to Exile Island. After returning from the the challange, Ozzy goes fishing and brings in enough fish to be nicknamed “Poseidon” by Yul. Ozzy is pleased by this, feeling he has solidified his place in the tribe. Meanwhile, J.P. makes himself in to even more of an ass, even beginning to annoy Pavrati, who feels flirting will carry her through the game. Anyone seeing the writing on the wall?

Immunity Challange:

Four tribe members from each tribe will assemble a stretcher puzzle and race though the jungle with the stretcher to the beach. Once there, one tribe member will swim out to rescue another tribe member shackled to the top of a mast. Both members will swim back to the beach while holding onto a life ring, place the rescued tribe member on the stretcher and race back through the jungle to their starting mat. There, the remaining three tribe members must build a fire tall and strong enough to burn through a rope and raise the tribe’s flag. First tribe to raise their flag wins Immunity and is safe from Tribal Council.

Aitu won. After the challange, Stephanie said she was the weakest link and should be sent home, but Jenny and Rebecca decided it was time for J.P. to go and were able to swing Brad to their side for a surprise ousting of J.P.. Good riddance.

Amazing Race began this week with the teams having to fly 2300 miles to Hanoi, Vietnam and find Hoa Lo Prison, AKA the “Hanoi Hilton“. All teams must travel to a downtown hotel first to book their tickets to Hanoi. As there is some time until the agent opens, and they can see there will only be four agents, the teams agree to form a line based on time of arrival. When the door opens, the teams file in and Tom & Terry, who were in fourth place, walk past the last available agent, while they are gone, Dustin & Kandice step up and use the agent. I can see both sides of the argument over who should get to use the agent, but they both argued about it for far too long.

The teams were also informed in their opening clue that they had $0 for this leg and were not allowed to beg for money or sell their items, they had to get by on what they had. I liked this new twist ALOT! Making them be resourceful on their own was a great idea. Once the teams arrived in Hanoi they jumped in cabs to the prison and Duke & Lauren made the first of several mistakes on this leg. Duke wanted a local to go with them to help, she agreed, but she took forever to get her checked luggage and then took them out of their way so she could be dropped off at her brother’s house. They then only had $11 left, which was less than the cab fare, but the driver agreed to accept only the $11. They also were last to the prison, but luckily it didn’t open until 8 AM, so the teams were evened up.

Once the prison opened, the teams were told to locate Sen. John McCain’s flight suit as he was a prisoner of the Hanoi Hilton for 5 years. Once located, they would receive their next clue. A tip of the hat to Tom & Terry and Erwin & Godwin for being the only teams to pause and pay their respects to the display. Yes, this is a race, but there are times where you should pause and take in the place you are.

The prison clue instructed the teams to travel one and a half miles to Hanoi’s Old Quarter and locate a marked flower shop. All of the teams took taxis to the interection, except for Duke & Lauren, who had no money, again putting them in last place. At the flower shop, teams received their Roadblock for this leg of the race:

In this Roadblock, one team member has to choose a bicycle with a basket of flowers and sell enough to make 80,000 Vietnamese dong, roughly five U.S. dollars. Whatever money Teams earn, they can keep.

Really not that exciting, and it went far easier than I thought it would. I liked the teams having to earn some money though. The next clue told teams to travel 30 miles by public bus to a tiny village named Vac and locate a Buddhist temple. As everyone rushed for the buses, Peter & Sarah got on the wrong bus in their hurry to get a leap on everyone else, this ended up putting them in last place. Once in Vac, the teams were told they could not ride on motorcycles from the bus station to the temple due to safety concerns…somehow Tom & Terry missed that part and accepted a ride, more on this later. Once at the temple, the teams found their Detour:

In Fuel, Teams had to travel to a nearby work station, take wet coal from a communal pile, and use a traditional press to create 30 coal bricks which are a common fuel source in Vietnam. In Fowl, Teams had to travel to a nearby courtyard and use traditional materials and local methods to build one birdcage.

Everyone opted for Fuel, but in another blunder, Duke & Lauren couldn’t find the site for Fuel, but found the site for Fowl. Erwin & Godwin did one unacceptable set of bricks, but figured out how to do better the second time and ended up coming in first. Tom & Terry were hot on their heels and came in second…kinda. Due to the motorcycle ride, they were penalized 30 minutes and were not allowed to check in. While they waited, 6 more teams check in meaning their 30 minute mistake put them in last place for the next leg. Duke & Lauren came in last and were eliminated.

Survivor Cook Islands just hit the snooze button for me. Not only did the “segregated” tribe trick come to an end way too soon, we’re already to doing full on repeats of previous challanges? Me thinks 13 Survivors may have finally been too much.

So the tribes show up to see Probst, expecting a challange. NOPE! Tribe swap! *snore* Only 2 episodes in and we swap them…sad, so sad. The new Raro is Nate, Rebecca, Stephannie, Brad, Jenny, J.P., Cristina, Adam and Parvati. The new Aitu tribe consists of Yul, Becky, Cao Boi, Sundra, Jonathan, Candice, Flica, Ozzy and Cecilia.

Folks, this episode bored me senseless. I can’t even stand to write about it! Immunity?

The tribes will be clipped together by a rope carrying 15 pound sand bags each. They will start on opposite sides of the course, racing through knee-deep water to catch the other tribe. If a tribe member drops out they must give their 15 pounds to someone from their tribe, doubling that person’s weight. The first tribe to tackle a member from the other tribe to the ground wins Immunity.

Oh gee, we did this EXACT same challange back in Palau! This one went a lot faster due to girls dropping out fast (as opposed to Stephanie in Palua who never gave up). Raro won, sent Candice to Exile Island. Aitu sent Cecilia home and my boredom level shot through the roof!

Amazing Race being on Sunday’s is killing my recaps! By the time I’m ready to recap, it’s Monday and a whole new week of news is firing up. Going to have to work on that.

Tyler & James were the first out of the Great Wall Pit Stop at 9:04 PM. Their clue instructed them to head to a bus stop and sign up for one of two buses leaving at 12:00 AM or 2:00 AM. The bus would take them to a train station where they would board a train and complete their 963 mile journey to the capital of Outer Mongolia, Ulan Bator. Once there, they needed to locate the Choijin Lama Temple where they needed to observe a traditional ceremony and receive their next clue.

The first bus ended up being Tyler & James, Duke & Lauren, Peter & Sarah, Rob & Kimberly and Dustin & Kandice. The 2:00 AM bus was David & Mary, Tom & Terry, Lyn & Karlyn and Erwin & Godwin. While the 2 AM bus people were understandably nervous, it was for nothing as the train station equalized them all. What a shocker…not.

At the train station in Ulan Bator, everyone raced for taxis and, as usual, some ended up with better drivers than others. Duke & Lauren and Peter & Sarah had drivers who “knew shortcuts”…yeah…that never goes well. With performances taking place every 10 minutes, they ended up in the second batch of teams. Once done viewing the dance, teams received a clue telling them to drive 43 miles in old Russian military jeeps to the village of Terelj. Once they located the riverbank, they were to mount horses and ride two and a half miles to a meadow where they would find their next clue.

I was shocked by how many caucasians the teams found that could help them with directions, but most of them ended up getting lost anyway. Imagine that. David & Mary got badly stucked in mud. Tyler & James got a flat and had no clue how to work the jack until a local helped them. (though several teams passed both these incidents) Once on the horses, everyone did surprisingly well except for when Kimberly got knocked off her horse. Their guide went after the horse and Rob sat on his repeatedly saying “I don’t know what to do!”…um…how about you get off your horse and see if you’re girlfriends ok? I know, wacky suggestion. Course, there was also the incident of Kandice falling off her horse and being dragged, but oh well! (she was fine)

Once every one got to the clue box they found this leg’s Detour:Take It Down or Fill It Up.

In Take It Down, Teams had to take down the canvas walls and roof of traditional nomadic shelters known as a gir, fold them properly and pack the materials onto a camel. In Fill It Up, Teams would have to take a cart pulled by an indigenous animal known as a hynik to a river, fill metal jugs with water, return to the nomad camp and fill a barrel with the water they collected. Once they filled the barrel to the designated line, a nomad would hand them their next clue.

I love when people flip-flop in a Detour. Peter & Sarah started on Tear It Down, changed to Fill It Up and went back to Tear It Down, which they finally completed. They weren’t the only team to flip, but the only one to flip a second time. As the teams finished, their clue told them to drive 47 miles to the Hotel Mongolia, but they had to ride back to their cars on their same horses and with all their safety equipment. Well, after Kandice had been dragged by her horse, she had no clue where her helmet was! So even though they finised the Detour in first, they didn’t leave until much later due to not being able to find her helmet. Other teams had car problems and learned they had to crank the batteries to jump them. Note to self…don’t buy used Russian military jeeps.

At the Hotel Mongolia the teams found the Roadblock for this leg.

In this Roadblock, one Team member had to use a traditional Mongolian bow to shoot a flaming arrow to ignite a target 160 feet away. After hitting the target, the Team could run to the Pit Stop at a pavilion on a hill.

Peter & Sarah ended up coming in first after Peter hit the target on his second try. They won a trip to Mexico for coming in first, but Sarah then dropped a bombshell of “There are things that I’m learning about Peter and I’m not always impressed with that. I make no judgments right now, but I’m making note of it.” Oh snap! Nothing like feeling judged as you race! In last place were Kellie & Jamie who had gotten lost and had various car problems all day. Though they tried the Roadblock, they finally gave up knowing they were in last. Yep, it was an elimination. Adios cheerleaders.

Survivor Cook Islands has a major problem…too many storylines. The editing seems too jumpy and we aren’t getting enough time with any tribe to get to know them. All we seem to get so far is heavily weighted editing to the tribe that will be sending someone home.

Manihiki received flint at their Tribal Council and, Nathan tries making fire with it, but is unsuccessful, it’s Rebecca who finally gets it done. I know I;ve said this before, but if you know you’re going on Survivor, wouldn’t you practice various ways of starting fire? 13 seasons and they still run in to this.

Things are not running smoothly at the Aitu tribe as Ozzy wants to catch some of the wild chickens, but Cristina has different ideas on how to do it. Ozzy’s attitude seemed to be very much a “You have no clue what you’re talking about because you’re old and a cop.” May have just been me, but I’m just not liking Ozzy’s attitude. Ozzy also seems to have a wild idea that his tribe should throw Immunity so they can get rid of Billy because he finds him lazy and doesn’t trust him. Why he doesn’t trust him is never 100% clear to me.

Puka Puka did bring up the concept of racism finally as they were trying to go to sleep because Cao Boi was making Asian jokes. It was a very odd moment as it was self-depricating humor, but it seemed to make everyone else uptight. Yul finally shut it down by saying It’s good to have a sense of humor but if it’s at the expense of a particular ethnic group, I don’t think that’s cool.”, but Cao Boi still didn’t seem to get the whole idea.

Jonathan returned from Exile Island to discover his Rarotonga tribe had been lazy in his abscence and nothing had been done to finish off their shelter. He tries to get them fired up about finishing it, but Adam fights him every step of the way like a whiny child. He couldn’t understand why they couldn’t just sleep on the ground…yeah, Adam? Read a camping book before you go on Survivor ok?

Due to inter-cutting between four tribes takes so much time, we again have a combined Reward/Immunity Challange:

Each tribe must remember a historical story of Captain James Cook. Tied together as a group, the tribe must make their way over and under logs and through a field of poles, gathering seven answer flags. Once they cross a two-line rope bridge over a pit of water, they must use the seven answer flags collected to solve five questions about the story. The first tribe to answer the five questions correctly wins Immunity and two large tarps as a Reward. The first three tribes to finish win Immunity and are safe from Tribal Council. The losing tribe decides who will go to Exile Island.

Since Manihiki was down one person, the other three tribes had to sit someone out, and since this one had to do with some agility, it’s interesting Aitutaki sat out J.P.…hmmm, me thinks the fix is in. Yep, it was. After some initial confusion, Puka Puka and Rarotonga tied for first and were both awarded tarps, Manihiki came in third and in a WAY obvious display of fixing, Aitutaki came in last. They sent Yul from Puka Puka to Exile Island where, you guessed it, he found the hidden Immunity Idol, a compass buried in the sand. As the tribes were being given their Idols, one of the oddest displays in Survivor history happened between Billy and Candice from Rarotonga:

Billy to Candice “I’m next.”
Candice “Well, we love you.”
Billy “I love you.”

Um…more on this in a minute.

It looked briefly like Ozzy might go instead of Billy as Billy and Cristina discussed dumping Ozzy instead. Cecilia said she would vote with them, but I’m not sure if she changed her mind for some other reason or because of Billy’s extremely awkward confession that he and Candice were in love and their exchange at Immunity proved it was mutual. First time I’ve ever seen Jeff Probst do a double take. In a vote of 3 - 2, Billy went…I think after that little display it was the best decesion.

Amazing Race is back, but man will it be difficult to replace BJ & Tyler in my heart from the last Amazing Race! I am sure a new team will win me over, but I shall always love BJ & Tyler…TTOW!

Departing from Seattle,WA, the 12 teams received their first clues instructing them to take one of two flights to Beijing, China:United Flight 875 departing at 1:22 pm or Korean Air Flight 26 leaving at 2 pm. Due to an accident on the interstate, most of the teams were delayed, but quick thinking Peter & Sarah opted to exit the highway and take surface streets. This slingshotted them around the accident and in to first place on the way to the airport. The United flight ended up being Peter & Sarah, David & Mary, Dustin & Kandice, Tyler & James, Duke & Lauren, and Lyn & Karlyn.

As planes are want to do, the United flight was late, evening all the teams up some. Once in Beijing, the teams had to find The Golden House resturant, once there they learned it was their first Roadblock, and it was one of my faves, a food one! I’ve always thought I would be good at these since whenever I’m in Tokyo friends try to throw weird foods at me and eat them all!

In this Roadblock, that person had to indulge in the delicacy of fish eyes, a common food in China. To receive the next clue, the Team member had to eat all of the eyes out of a bowl of fish heads.

It was interesting to see how inept some of these folks were at using chopsticks! Once through with this task, the teams were instructed to go the Forbidden City and locate a certain entrance. I have to say, I was amazed some of the cab drivers seemed to not know where it was, but I really hope that was due to the way the teams were saying it, because due to the siz of the Forbidden City, I can not fathom how anyone wouldn’t know where it is!

As the teams arrived, they found a kiosk with ime cards saying 7:00, 7:15, 7:30 and one saying “Last Team”…ruh-roh, that sounds ominous, and it was. As the last team to arrive, Bilal & Sa’eed were greeted by Phil and…eliminated! It wasn’t even a Pit Stop! It was just a new random elimination. Oh well, new way to keep the teams on their toes!

The next morning, the teams opened their clues and were instructed to ride on WWII motorcycles with sidecars and find a the pedicab manager at a certain intersection who would give them their next clue. As they were leaving, Sarah discovered her prosthetic leg was leaking hydrolic fluid. Not good. As the teams found the pedicab manager, they found he had the clue for their first Detour.

In Labor, Teams chose a pedicab and traveled one mile to the Run De Li Market where they needed to use traditional Chinese bricks and methods to pave a 45 square foot section of side walk in a specific pattern. In Leisure, Teams chose a pedicab and traveled two miles to Beihai Park to take part in a new Chinese relaxation exercise known as Taiji Bailong. They needed to successfully perform the routine of balancing a ball on a paddle in unison to earn their next clue.

Only two teams took Leisure, Tom & Terry and Kellie & Jamie. As I suspected, the coordination was difficult to manage and it did slow them both down compared to the teams who did Labor. Labor wasn’t difficult except the teams kept not noticing the grey stones they needed for the border. As the teams completed the Detours, their clues instructed them to make their way to this legs Pit Stop…the Great Wall of China! Once there, they needed to CLIMB IT! I didn’t even know they let anyone do that!

Tyler & James came in first, winning $20,000. Duke & Lauren came in second, but after that, there were some real triumps of spirit. Sarah’s leg was pretty much useless, and she had a heck of a time, but she made it. Mary really felt like she couldn’t do it, but she worked her heart out and made it. Both Lyn & Karlyn were unsure they could, but they pulled it off. All the teams did amazingly well, but someone had to go…so long Vipul & Arti. I never felt like their hearts were 100% in it anyway.

Fave teams for me so far have to be Duke & Lauren, estranged for a long time after Lauren came out to her father as a Lesbian, and David & Mary, a coal miner and his wife who had never been outside of Kentucky and Tennessee prior to the race. And in other news, why do we have one team on every race who fights and calls each other “baby”? This time it’s Rob & Kimberly.

By the way, since I don’t think any one REALLY reads these, I’m not going super detailed this season.

Survivor Cook Islands has premiered and it was a doozy. Yes, the tribes are broken up over ethnic lines, get over it.

Aitutaki - Latin Tribe
Billy - 36, Heavy Metal Guitarist
Cecilia - 29, Technology Risk Consultant
Cristina - 35, Police Officer
J.P. - 30, Proffesional Volleyball Player
Ozzy - 25, Waiter

Manihiki - African-American Tribe
Nathan - 26, Retail Sales
Rebecca - 34, Make-Up Artist
Sekou - 45, Jazz Musician/Recoarding Artist
Stephanie - 35, Nursing Student
Sundra - 31, Actress

Puka Puka- Asian Tribe
Becky - 28, Attorney
Brad - 29, Fashion Director
Cao Boi - 42, …not sure what he does, even the CBS website gives a lame explanation
Jenny - 36, Real Estate Agent
Yul - 31, Management Consultant

Rarotonga - Caucasian Tribe
Adam - 28, Copier Sales
Candice - 23, Pre-Med Student
Jessica - 27, Performance Artist, Rollergirl
Jonathan - 44, Writer/Producer
Parvati - 23, Boxer/Waitress

The 20 Survivors start out on a sailing ship and upon hearing a bell ring, they have 2 minutes to salvage as much as they can from the ship and get on to their rafts. There’s some stupidity involving chickens, folks, their chickens, you’ll get one meal out of them, go for the stuff that will last you longer like the huge bunch of bananas! Silly Survivors. We are quickly informed of the “social experiment” aspect of the episode, everyone heads off, there is the usual first episode BS of “Where are you from…oh so-and-so is already stupid.” Whatever. I swear there is a “Survivor Contestants R’ Us” store sometimes with just row after row of the same people with different outer shells.

Anyway, nothing of major interest happened in the first part of the episode beyond setting up camps and Jessica letting the two chickens escape by accident. Oopsie. Cao Boi removed some “bad wind” from Brad’s head…you had to see it. Sekou took a lot of breaks, much to the annoyance of his tribe. The tribes then headed off to the joined reward/immunity challange.

The tribes must race to assemble a puzzle boat using seven braces, then paddle the boat out and retrieve fire from a bonfire floating on a raft in the ocean. Then they must paddle back to shore and carry the boat braces and fire with them. After putting together yet another puzzle, they must use the braces to create a ladder, climb to the top of a platform and light their tribe fire bale. The first three tribes to the top win flint and immunity. As a bonus the tribe that comes in first wins a fire kit, kindling, waterproof matches and kerosene.

Puka Puka came in first, then Aitutaki, and finally Rarotonga. Manihiki would be heading to tribal council, but in a twist I didn’t like, they got to choose someoen to go to Exile Island. Um…why does the losing tribe get to do such a powerful move? Anyway, Sekou and Nathan decided to send Jonathan to Exile Island, which is now or 2 nights, due to his “stealing” all the chickens on the boat. Jeff Probst, in his “Let me point this out to you” way, mentioned he found it interesting that the MEN of the tribe made the decesion. Sekou and Nathan saw the writing on the wall and tried to swing Stephannie, but it didn’t work, and out went Sekou.

While everyone seems to be focusing on the horrors of the racial segregation of the tribes, I found it fascinating how they almost immeditely started SUB-segregating. Puka Puka did it along not only did it along age lines (poor Cao Boi), but also amongst Asian heritage. Manihiki, while saying repetedly that they need to “represent”, divided in to 2 camps of men vs. women. Some folks called this “he most boring debut episode of any “Survivor” ever”, I couldn’t disagree more! I actually found it one of the most intriguing.

I personally think the media is reading WAY too much in to the segregation of the tribes such as in this story.

The Asian tribe won the first “Survivor: Cook Islands” challenge: puzzle solving. The black tribe came in last. Oops.

Oh no! Not…PUZZLE SOLVING! In the entire history of Survivor they’ve never had puzzle solving before! That must have been done that just to favor the Asians! *blank stare* Come on people, perhaps it is those of us here on the outside that are being the racists?

Ok folks, politics have gone waaaaaaaaaaaaay too far when politicians are telling you who to vote for on a silly reality show like Dancing With The Stars. Tom DeLay, the former Republican House Majority Leader, recently sent out an email to his supporters telling them they should vote for country singer Sara Evans in the upcoming third edition of the hit show.

Sara Evans has been a strong supporter of the Republican Party and represents good American values in the media. From singing at the 2004 Republican Convention to appearing with candidates in the last several election cycles, we have always been able to count on Sara for her support of the things we all believe in. Let’s show Sara that same support by watching and voting for her each week to help her win this competition.

and

One of her opponents on the show is ultra liberal talk show host Jerry Springer. We need to send a message to Hollywood and the media that smut has no place on television by supporting good people like Sara Evans.

(Quotes from here, I can’t find a copy of the unedited email anywhere)

When we start voting along personal politics on a DANCING SHOW, I’m thinking the crazy train has gone off the tracks and is headed straight in to Nutty Land. (It’s just slightly pass Candy Land, but before the Gum Drop Forest) If you want to vote for Sara Evans based on her DANCING ability, go for it, but to vote for her “to send a message to Hollywood and the media that smut has no place on television” is just stupid. It’s not going to send anyone a message! I wouldn’t even be saying anything if DeLay had simply said “Hey, she’s my friend, throw her some votes.”, instead he turned it in to a war of politics and morals. I honestly don’t know a thing about her, but I know I would vote on ability, not beliefs.

I’ve said on this blog for ages that I like to remain politically neutral for the sake of my business, but anymore I really can’t stand either party. The endless bickering, pettiness, and shouting back and forth over utter non-sense has just turned me off to the whole political process. Nothing of real substance gets done any more, and though I know DeLay has left the House now, this is a perfect example of it. Dancing With The Stars is mindless, harmless, entertainment, and now it’s being turned in to a battleground for politics?

I don’t have any particular love for Springer, but I don’t begrudge him the niche he fills on television. Quite frankly, he doesn’t strike me as a dancer, he’ll be out in the first few rounds. I just hope Evans goes soon also so this silliness can be left behind. I watch DWTS (yes, I do watch it) to wind down after a long day at work, not to carry on a war against “smut” on television. My big question is when Tucker Carlson will get the backing of the National Bowtie Brigade. They must send a message to all non-bowtie wearers!

Before I delve in to this episode of 30 Days, let me just say the press reports of Morgan giving up on day 21 were BS. Nice work once again journalists! He did leave at 28 days, but that was in occurdance with serving 85% of your sentance.

Morgan Spurlock, series creator, did his one episode for the season by going in to the Henrico County Jail in Richmond, VA. This episode flowed much better than the majority of this seasons’s enteries, and I think it’s because Morgan knows what he’s doing. He knows how to immerse himself in the subject and not drift so much and how to ask questions those people around him. He explored different aspects of prison life from working in the kitchen, spending 72 hours in solitary, and transferring to another prison in the same system that focuses on drug rehab. All questions to ask yourself.

The episode was interesting, but really ddin’t go anywhere new that a dozen other documentries on prison life haven’t gone. Our prisons are stuffed beyond capacity, little to no help in sight, and a system that doesn’t really do anything but constantly feed upon itself. Two of the men Morgan got close to both got out around the time he was in, both said they hoped to turn over a new leaf, but at the end of the episode we learned both had been rearrested.

This episode was more of the type I like though as it could easily spark discussions about are our drug laws too harsh? Is it worth over stuffing our prisons if we don’t take the time to work with the inmates in any form, not giving them a structured life they could learn from? Are all we’re doing is keeping the cycle alive, and if so, for what reasons?

This weeks 30 Days placed pro-choice Jennifer, a 29 year old woman with a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology that works in a women’s health clinic, in a Christian, pro-life maternity home named His Nesting Place. During her 30 days there, she is supposed to follow the house rules, work in the pregnancy crisis center and take part in their pro-life activities.

Again, this episode fell on it’s face, but not for the usual lack of time, but more from neither side really being that engaged in the give-and-take of the format. Upon Jennifer’s arrival, she was asked by one of the head workers if she worked in a place that “sells abortions”. Oh yeah, this is going to go well. During the time Jennifer spent at their pro-life activities, she insisted on not standing with them and wearing a pro-choice shirt.

I am all for people standing by their convictions, but the whole point of 30 Days is to learn from each other. This season seems to be suffering from people who are either too attached their beliefs to listen (such as this episode) or they are too willing to give in (the New Age episode). Last season you had true immersions, like the Off-The-Grid episode, but this season it seems to be breaking their own rules left and right. I’m afraid the format of this show may be broken now, and I’m not really sure there’s a way to fix it.