Reality TV week of 10/31

Here's what happened on what I watched this week!

*The Amazing Race: The contestants went to Russia this week, where they had to do perhaps the silliest and easiest yet hardest tasks ever! They could either pick out 3 pieces on music being played in a room with about a dozen pianos playing all at once. I was thinking it was really dumb that they couldn't get it, but then again, I have a musical ear and can pick out the faintest music playing from across a room. (I'm a freak, I know!) Their other choice was to dig through a mountain of long strips of film to match them to a clip showing on a huge screen. The smart pairs tried to look for the words instead of the images in the clip and found the right piece faster.

From there, they had a challenge where one team member had to wear a babushka dress and plant a row of 50 potatoes. Kevin amused me, because he was so good-natured about wearing a dress and he was surprisingly good at planting potatoes. The real babushka ladies there were so awesome, cheering on people and being all around cute. After that was the pit stop for that leg of the race. Team Jumba (woo!) almost had first, until Kevin wanted to look around the building and his dad, Michael suggested (correctly) they check the field across the street. They still finished in 3rd place, which is respectable. The unfortunate last place team was the biker looking couple, Nick and Vicky. Luckily for them, this was a non-elimination leg! I am glad they are staying- since Vicky had an asthma attack in Ghana, Nick has been so much nicer to her and they have been working really well together. I wouldn't mind seeing the "newly dating" couple go- the boyfriend is so rude and mean that I don't even remember his name because I am so annoyed by him. They need to lose- and then that poor girl needs to dump his sorry butt and find a guy who will treat her right!

*Dancing With The Stars: This week had the 200th episode! That's a lot of sequins and spray tans! Is i any wonder they are scraping the bottom of the barrel for gimmicks? This week, the "stars" had to dance their own twist on a popular routine from seasons past. But first, they broke up into two teams led by former DWTS champions and Olympic medalists Kristi Yamaguchi and Apolo Anton Ohno. Team Kristi was Kyle Massey, Rick Fox, and Bristol Palin. Team Apolo was Kurt Warner, Jennifer Grey, and Brandy. Needless to say, Team Apolo got rave reviews. However, I thought Team Kristi's performance was better put together and more interesting. Guess I would fail as a judge!

On to the individual routines- Brandy scored the highest yet again. I swear, she could just sit in the middle of the floor for a minute and a half and get good scores. I did like her costume though. Jennifer Grey did ok but I think she is starting to unravel. Well, that and I didn't think she was really that great in the first place. I've never been too entertained by Rick Fox but he certainly held his own in his routine and didn't mess up. Kurt Warner bounced back from last week and did better than I expected. Kyle Massey did pretty good in a dance where he was supposed to be serious, but you could see his happiness radiating through his serious face. And Bristol Palin is improving from week to week- she does lack a bit of personality out there but her dance was clean and looked nice. I also like that she doesn't have to go out there in a couple of hankies coated in sequins to look beautiful- she looks classy covered up.

This week's elimination was another upset. Bottom 3 this week were Bristol, Kyle, and Rick. of course, Kyle being my favorite and Bristol growing on me made me hope Rick was going home, but I fully expected Bristol to have run out of time. Imagine my surprise (and hers!) when she was saved before the bottom 2! At that point, I was about ready to yell at the screen because I didn't want Kyle Massey to go home. Luckily, my tv didn't get a talking to, and Rick Fox got eliminated. A lot of people think the voting is rigged or crazy, but I absolutely think they got it right. Of course, I would like to see Brandy go home, followed closely by Jennifer Grey, but I know realistically that this won't be happening.

And remember what I said about crazy gimmicks? Next week they will have their style of dance to practice all week, but won't get the song until just before the show goes live on Monday night. Are you all thinking that this will be a train wreck? I know I am! I think this might be a bit too much for Bristol Palin to handle. I think with this challenge, Kyle will ham it up just enough to make it work, and Kurt might do surprisingly well too. I'm kind of dreading watching it and excited to see what happens at the same time.

*America's Next Top Model: The top 6 went from Venice, CA to Venice, Italy, and then Milan! It looks like a beautiful place! This was a weird episode because they didn't have the normal mini challenge at the beginning of the episode and went right to the photo shoot in Venice. They had to pose in groups of 3 with one male model in a gondola. They were stuck in corsets and hoop skirts in crazy humid summer heat. It cracked me up when one model was wondering why it was so humid there. Does she not realize that Italy and especially Venice is covered in and surrounded by large bodies of water?

From there, they went to Milan and saw their tiny but nice model apartment. They were whining about how tiny it was until Tyra showed up and explained to them that this was nicer than where working models normally live. The ladies then went to pose and walk for Missoni, which was pretty cool, except they looked like they were bundled up for a blizzard and nearly sweating to death. At panel, Liz and Chelsey nearly passed out from the heat- you can tell they aren't used to humidity!

Kayla shocked everyone and got best photo, Jane and Chelsey did well too. Ann did ok but needs to come out of her shell. Chris and Liz were bottom two- Chris because her photo came out weird and Liz because she complained the entire time. Liz ended up getting sent home, and Tyra told her to keep pursuing modeling because she is beautiful. Next week the girls pose as statues, which looks really cool! I hope this is Ann's comeback week! It looks like Jane has a rough week but I hope she hangs in there. I would be happy if Kayla goes home next, because she complains almost as much as Liz. I would rather see a girl win who really has a passion for the job, like Chelsey. Ann's still my favorite, though!


One more week until the new Hell's Kitchen! Woohoo! More junk tv for me to watch. Perhaps I should find a more useful or constructive hobby? :)
-duckyone.