Just chanced across this post from Inside Charm City on Twitter, which suggests that The Real World might be filming in Baltimore soon.

This is based on this post from New Media Mobtown, which says some professors received an email asking if any students were interested in becoming casting assistants. 

I'm going to see if I can track down more information, but in the meantime, has anyone else heard anything about this? Let me know!

Update: As pointed out in the comments, the referenced email says only that they are looking for casting assistants in Baltimore, which doesn't necessarily mean they will film here. Still haven't heard back from MTV yet, though.

 

Here's Bucky with the week's look at The Amazing Race:

(Guest Recapper’s Note:  Commenters kindly pointed out last week—and correctly so—that I have been letting my personal bias creep into my weekly recap.  This week, I'm going to try to be more objective about all the competitors and not overtly root for the determined, honest, competitive, intelligent, gorgeous and all-round wonderful Megan, who in many ways reminds me of both Wonder Woman and my sainted grandmother.)

This week’s leg begins differently than the past ones:  teams will compete in Prague, last week’s Pit Stop, so there won’t be any leveling of advantage by waiting around together at the airport.

Megan & Cheyne set off at 9:24 p.m. to get their first clue, which sends them to a museum.  Here, in a room that has a couple hundred ringing telephones, one competitor from each team will have to answer phones until he/she mentally “collects” five letters.  Cheyne insists that Megan perform the task, proving he is not the dope I’ve been accusing him of being.  Megan gets the five letters pretty quickly.

 

Sam & Dan are the next to depart.

After collecting all five letters, the competitor must report to an office, fill out a lengthy questionnaire (designed to make them forget the letters they collected).   At the bottom of the questionnaire are boxes where the competitor must unscramble the letters and form the word “Franz,” a reference to Prague native and author Franz Kafka.

Megan gets it on her second try.  Just reporting the facts here…

The Globetrotters depart the Pit Stop and Sam & Dan arrive at the museum; Dan will perform the task.

Brian and Ericka depart the Pit Stop last.

The Globetrotters arrive and Big Easy begins the task for his team.  Dan is struggling and asks Big Easy if he wants to work together, unscrambling the word.  Big Easy agrees.

Megan & Cheyne get their next clue and head to a cryogenic chamber, which is a big freezer where the temperature gets down to -180 degrees.  Spending time in here is supposed to be healthy for you, according to Phil’s narrative.  The teams will have to strip down to their skivvies and spend two minutes in the big freezer.  If they survive, they move on to the next task.  If they don’t, well, I guess they get to hang out with Ted Williams and Walt Disney.

Big Easy and Dan struggle with unscrambling the letters; Brian & Ericka arrive, but must do their Speed Bump first for not being eliminated last week.  This consists of going to an all-night club, learning how to mix an absinthe drink, then chugging it.  We learn that Brian doesn’t drink liquor.  Oh no!

Big Easy and Dan struggle with unscrambling the letters.

Megan & Cheyne make it out of the big freezer alive.  There were no cameras or microphones in there, so I cannot report with accuracy whether Cheyne whined the entire two minutes.

Big Easy and Dan struggle with … wait!  Dan thinks he has the answer … and he does!  But does he give it to Big Easy?  Nooooooooooooo.  The jerk tells the Globetrotter the first letter and then leaves.  (Is there anybody who didn’t see that coming?  Huh?)

Brian & Ericka finish the Speed Bump and get to the museum, where Brian begins the telephone task, while Sam & Dan head to the big freezer.

Megan & Cheyne arrive at the Detour which gives them the choice of:  Legend (build a golem, which is a sort of a religious scarecrow, only bigger and heavier, which they will then have to push a long way to a synagogue) or Lager (deliver 30 glasses of beer—on server’s trays--across several city blocks to a pub filled with unruly soccer fans.)  Megan & Cheyne choose Legend.

Sam & Dan get to the freezer; Brian answers phones.  (Unlike the other competitors, who just pick up the phone and wait to hear if there is a letter spoken, Brian actually answers each and every phone with “Hello?”)  When he gets the five letters, he takes some time to make a list of potential words … very smart.

Big Easy continues to struggle with figuring out “Franz.”  Megan & Cheyne build their golem.  Sam & Dan unfortunately survive the big freezer and head to the next task.

Brian, using his organized method, gets “Franz” pretty quickly; he & Ericka head to the next task.  Big Easy finally gives up.  He and Flight Time decide to take a four-hour penalty.  “WHAT?  You gotta be kidding me,” I yell at my television.

Sam & Dan arrive at the Detour and do Legend.  Brian and Ericka arrive at the big freezer and when they enter—I mean, the very second they enter…Ericka says her ankles are frozen.  The freezer door isn’t even closed yet.

The Globetrotters wait.

Megan & Cheyne finish their golem and start trucking it down the street to the synagogue.  Cheyne whines the entire way.  C’mon … you commenters who defended him last week can’t do the same this week.  He whined the entire way … ”Oh, it’s soooo heavy” … and Megan has to keep encouraging him and telling him how to push the thing down the street.

Sam & Dan begin building their golem, and start arguing and bossing each other around.  Dan knocks it over at one point, breaking its arm, which gives Globetrotter fans everywhere hope that when Sam & Dan deliver it to the synagogue, it will be rejected—who wants a broken golem?—and they will have to start over.

Brian & Ericka arrive at the Detour and decide to do Lager, because Brian “used to be a server.”   The Globetrotters wait.

Megan continues trucking both the golem and Cheyne down the street.  Sam & Dan argue.  Brian & Ericka begin the Lager challenge.  Sam & Dan argue. Megan & Cheyne deliver their golem to the synagogue and head for the Pit Stop.  Sam & Dan argue.

Brian & Ericka start delivering their first two trays of beers and, in the middle, drop most of them on the sidewalk.  Three survive and they hand carry these to the pub.

The Globetrotters wait.

Sam & Dan finish building their golem and start trucking it to the synagogue.  More arguing and yelling ensues.  Of course.  Along the way, they ask a taxi driver for directions to the synagogue, and follow his directions.  This, too, gives Globetrotter fans hope—that the taxi driver steered them wrong.

Brian & Ericka continue delivering beers, having to negotiate crowds of drunks in the streets who think the beers are for them.

Megan & Cheyne arrive at the Pit Stop, where Phil and a very beautiful Czech woman in a red dress tell them they are the first to arrive.  Cheyne launches into some blah, blah, blah about what a good team they are and how they work together well.  What a dope.  Sorry.  He is.

The Globetrotters wait.

Brian & Ericka continue to deliver beers, arguing about whether they should change to the Legend challenge, giving Globetrotter fans everywhere hope, etc, etc.  Ericka wants to switch but Brian doesn’t.  Brian prevails.

Sam & Dan get to the synagogue and the judges accept their golem.  I guess they figure a golem with a broken arm is even scarier than a regular golem.  Sam & Dan head to the Pit Stop, where Phil and the lady in red tell them they are the second team to arrive.

Brian & Ericka keep plugging away; by and by the Globetrotter’s penalty ends and they head for the big freezer, after having sat out for four hours.

Brian & Ericka finish delivering the beers as the sun is coming up over Prague.  They have worked on this challenge for the better part of the night.  They head to the Pit Stop, where they find Phil alone.  The lady in red has given up and gone home.  Phil tells them they are the last team in the finals.

Big Easy & Flight Time arrive at the big freezer, but their instructions say to go to the Pit Stop, where Phil boots them out of the race.

Let’s have it:  What did you think of this week’s episode?  And who do you think will win the whole shebang next week, when the race finishes in Las Vegas?

I'm still burned out from the DWTS finale, so this is going to be fairly minimalist today.

The couples in danger on this So You Think You Can Dance results show are Karen and Victor, Mollee and Nathan and Ellenore and Ryan. The third announcement actually shocks me. I thought they were golden after last night.

First, Nigel announces that Karen is leaving the show, adding that while she brought a lot to the competition, her solo felt like she was waving the surrender flag.

Then he shares that the decision on the guys is not unanimous. Randomly, Nigel says that Victor has grown as a person and a dancer in a way that reminds him of Kelly Osbourne on Dancing With the Stars. Victor is leaving, but Nigel tells Nathan that he voted for him to leave instead. 

I'm sad about Victor, but not that sad to see Karen leave. 

How about you?

 

I haven't gotten a chance to watch last night's Biggest Loser yet, but I saw this New York Times article and had to share.

It questions whether contestants have used dangerous means to maximize their weight loss, though they had a tough time getting people to talk on the record about it.

You can read more here.

What do you think about this news? I'm frankly not surprised. Somewhat surprised that they might take risks on the ranch, like not drinking much water for the 24 hours before weigh-in, but that they might make questionable choices once they're at home? Not really.

Tonight on So You Think You Can Dance, the Top 12 are fighting to make the Top 10 (and thus the tour). Also, this is the last time they'll definitely be dancing in these couples because next week they draw partners and styles out of a hat.

Ellenore and Ryan prepare for the Lindy hop with new choreographer Carla Heiney. Their performance is charming, retro, fun, full of lifts and tricks. I like the whole feel of it, and I really love Ellenore's outfit. (These dancing outfits can go wrong so quickly.) Adam Shankman says it was a fantastic start to the show and that they look "cute as all get out. ... I sound like my grandmother!" He mentions that Ryan has an injured back and handled everything well. Mary Murphy says she thought it was tremendous and a stunning routine. Nigel Lythgoe says, "I thought it was terrible ... that we haven't had Lindy hop on this season." Hardy-har-har.

Kathryn and Legacy are doing a jazz routine with Sonia Tayeh. It's wacky, as Sonia's routines always are, but it really uses Legacy's skills to his advantage -- there are a lot of moves that only he could have pulled off. The whole thing is sexy in a very weird way; I think this was a good draw of choreographer for the couple and vice versa. Adam immediately praises Sonia for the routine and for showcasing Legacy's bboy skills (see?). He says if they keep dancing like this, "you're going all the way!" Mary Murphy loves Legacy's crabwalks and the showcased moves, but she thinks the movements in between were pretty great, too, as were Kathryn's lines and movements. Nigel says that's one of his favorite routines of the season. He says Kathryn was sexy "without pushing anything" and that Legacy proved his musicality was amazing, better than anything he showed in Vegas. He agrees with Mary on the idea that these two are in the Top 10 for sure.

... OK, so a little bit off-topic, at least in terms of this just being a recap. But another fan of the show and I were talking about Legacy and how no matter what they've thrown at him this season, he's just grasped it, even when it's way outside his experience level or comfort zone. My friend's theory is that some dancers are just freaks of nature (that was his term) who can just be told and shown what to do and they automatically know exactly what to do with their bodies to make it happen. This is not to say he isn't working hard and practicing, too. His work ethic seems to be pretty high up there. This is a separate issue. I think most dancers have a really good sense of how to move their bodies in particular ways, but some people just seem to be preternaturally good at it, and I think Legacy is one of those people. I, on the other hand, have virtually no sense of myself in space, so I'm constantly running into things in rather spectacular ways. I'm jealous of the freaks of nature, it's true.

Karen and Victor are a new pairing after losing their partners last week. They're doing a tango by Melanie Lapatin, and it's intense and quite passionate. They convey the emotional side of it too, even in the the way they quickly look away from each other at the beginning. This is one of the first performances that Karen's been in when I actually spend most of it watcher her partner. Victor holds his own in this pairing, even though "sexy" is supposed to be Karen's wheelhouse. Adam says this partnership really ended up working out. He says it was really great for Victor, showing his poise, and Karen showed energy even in the stillness. Plus, great chemistry. Mary loved it, especially Victor's poise and Karen's movement. She also adds that the difficulty level was way, way up there, and they handled it. Nigel does talk with Victor about his back and his posture a bit, but he thought everything else was fabulous. He tells Karen that she has the same quality that Shakira and Jennifer Lopez have, that you can't take your eyes off them. I'm not saying she didn't do well, but my eyes were mostly on Victor.

Nathan and Mollee do a hip-hop dance with Jamal Sims that is about Alexander Graham Bell inventing the telephone. (Yes, seriously.) They dance to "Ring-a-Ling" by the Black Eyed Peas, and yeah, it's a little wacky, but it's a ton of fun, and they do really well with those elements. When it gets a little sexy or a tad raunchy (just a couple of moments), they don't quite pull it off, but the dancing itself is still good. Adam says that by and large, they really sold it. He especially thinks it was great to see Nathan do hip-hop because it was so obvious how much fun he was having. Mollee he thinks was having a little trouble with the choreography. Mary says it picked up steam as it went along and got better, despite a couple of bobbles. Nigel says he thinks they are both good dancers, but that they both need more mature partners because it felt a little twee. 

Noelle and Russell work with Tony and Melanie on the samba. Noelle interviews that it's really hard, except for the hip action, that she has that part totally down. I think she would have been better served to keep that to herself because in the parts of the performance that were exclusively hip-shaking, sure, she had it. But in others, where, say, they were traveling across the floor and she should have been shaking her hips at the same time, she didn't as much. And when you're dancing to "Hips Don't Lie" by Shakira, you're going to be held to a high standard. Again, not that it was bad. Just could have been better. Adam says it was "a little too nice," that because they are so sweet, they didn't get into the "nasty party" part of the dance. Mary says there wasn't enough compression and bounce in the foot, so it felt a little shallow. Still, she loved their performance level, especially Russell's spirit. But she was a little disaapointed. Nigel says Shakira, who is performing tomorrow, oozes sexuality, and he needed more from Noelle in that regard. He says it felt a little clinical. To Russell, he says it's crazy that he doesn't have other lessons. 

Ashleigh and Jakob are doing lyrical jazz with Sonia, about a time of contentment. So, I'll admit it. It took me a while to start to get Sonia's pieces, but I'm beginning to appreciate how they give a glimpse inside the mind of someone who thinks so differently from me. Does that make sense? I'm a little bleary after Dancing With the Stars tonight, too. Anyway, they piece is light and airy, as Jakob said they would try to be, and they dance it gorgeously. Adam: "That was so beautiful, I don't know what to say." He calls Jakob surreal and says it's his privlege to watch him. Mary says it's obvious they have so much fun dancing together because you can't fake that chemistry. She calls Jakob a technical genius and tells Ashleigh that it's no longer a surprise to see her doing well. Now they expect it. Nigel says this is now his favorite routine and professes his love for Sonia's work and for this partnership.

Ellenore and Ryan do a Broadway routine on the temptation of fame and fortune. I haven't been completely impressed by a Broadway routine in a while, but this one is great. Ellenore is fabulous as a puppet and Ryan delivers as her Svengali, too. Adam credits Spencer's choreography and says they totally nailed it. He adds that Ryan was good, but Ellenore was a rock star. Mary says Ryan dug in and got that character and she loved Ellenore, too. Nigel: "I loved the choreography, and I love you, too." Nigel wants to move six couples into the Top 10. I don't think that's going to work too well ...

Legacy and Kathryn work with Jean-Paul Generaux on a dance about a dancer who hasn't had opportunities and who is being guided by his guardian angel. The routine is lovely, but when the music gets very rock and roll, it just doesn't feel right for a Viennese waltz to me. They do a nice job with it, but it isn't as drop-dead amazing as the rest of the night. Before the judges even talk, Legacy is crying, and says he is glad to portray hope because that is his purpose on the show. "How can we be mean to you after that?" Nigel says. Adam says this was extraordinary attempt in ballroom for Legacy and that Kathryn was just gorgeous. Mary says they will both be OK, but no it wasn't the best ("The feet were just smacking around the stage"). Nigel says he can't be mean, but Legacy is lucky he's being judged by three people whose hearts he's stolen. 

Karen and Victor learn a hip-hop number with Laurieann Gibson, a routine about moving a mountain. I want to love it, but I kind of don't, and I can't figure out if it's the routine (I usually love Laurieann's work) or them or what. The lifts are great, though. Adam says there was a lot of commitment and intensity, but the music didn't really match for him, but they danced it well. Mary says it was OK, but there wasn't anything really memorable about it. "There's nothing to latch onto," she says. Nigel says there was no chemistry between them or with the music.

Mollee and Nathan do the show's first can-can, with Tyce DiOrio. It's fast and fun, but it just seems kind of manic and like Mollee and Nathan are trying to keep up with the music the whole time, especially Mollee. Adam compares them to hopping Energizing Bunnies, but he thinks Nathan had a slightly better showing. He keeps mentioning Mollee's ankle, and I wish either he wouldn't mention it, or we would be told exactly what's going on because the vague references are annoying and it sounds like he's making excuses for her. Mary says they CAN-CAN! She loved their energy and Nathan's turns. Nigel says that the original dance was scandalous because the women didn't wear their underwear under all those petticoats. Mollee says she wore hers, and Nigel says thank goodness. (Yeah, that would have caused much more outrage than Adam Lambert's AMA performance this weekend!)

Noelle and Russell doing a piece with Tyce in which they have to "paint" the story of their relationship across each other's bodies. It's airy and intense at the same time, somehow. Cat Deeley compares it to "a pottery Ghost moment." Heh. Adam says they were just gorgeous and loved the sequence of "asymmetrical chaos." He doesn't think they will be in danger. Mary says it was special and clever and seemed endless. She thought it was out of this world. Nigel says they needed to give us something to remember them by, and they did. He also says Noelle committed to every move and that Russell's technique gets better every single week.

Ashleigh and Jakob close the show with a cha cha with Jean Paul and Franz. This is, as you may recall, Ashleigh's dance of choice. She has a total blast, and Jakob keeps up with her. Adam says, "This is Ashleigh's world, and we're all just visiting." He says Jakob managed to make himself look like a ballroom dancer, even pulling the "hungry jazz" faces. (His favorite, he says, is the look of surprise: "You know the routine. Why are you surprised?" I LOL'd.) Mary says they blew it out of the ballpark with both numbers and that it was fun to see Ashleigh do her style. (Despite the fact that they are basically accusing them of cheesing it up quite a bit ... that's not just me hearing that, right?) Nigel says Jakob was the fish out of water, but he didn't show it. He also says that he was concerned with the chair involved that it would be -- oh no! -- another concept piece, but it wasn't just that. Makes me wonder how he feels about some of these other story dances, though. Anyway, he loved it.

What did you think about tonight's performances? Who's in danger? Who's safe?

 

 

 

 

So who's going to win this season of Dancing With the Stars? We'll find out tonight, eventually.

(Update: See a gallery of photos from last night's finale here.)

When the stars start coming to the stage -- all of them from the whole season -- it just makes me feel like this season has been going on forever and ever. Was Macy Gray really on this time around? Chuck Liddell? Kathy Ireland? That feels like eons ago.

During a montage of footage from last night, we suddenly cut to a shot of Miss Piggy's back (not a euphemism), and I'm thinking my DVR is having a problem. But it turns out it's the show with the problem, and Tom Bergeron shows up, makes a joke about it being live and throws it to a commercial. Then the montage starts over again after the break. (Last night, things happened. That recap is here.)

The other reason people are paying attention to this results show? Whitney Houston performs! She looks great, and she sounds pretty good, though she's definitely singing over the top of a vocal track. But she's having a good time. (Hey, SYTYCD fans ... is that b-boy Ryan I sight among her backup dancers? The hair sure looks like his, but I couldn't get a close enough look.)

 

 

 

Next we get a bit about the Losers Club, for the first person kicked off. Jeffrey Ross inducts Ashley Hamilton into the club with his sequined jacket and a roast and a dance. There might be some use of my fast-forward button here.

Time to look back again. Remember when Tom DeLay almost dropped Cheryl? When Aaron cried? When Tom had to leave? Really, it seems like 100 years ago. Kathy Ireland, Macy Gray and Debi Mazar get a chance to dance again.  Then, Tom DeLay gets that promised chance to do the Texas Two-Step that he couldn't do when he got injured a while back. Chuck Liddell and Mark Dacascos have a dance-off/fight-club performance.

Coach Carolla comedy bit. Fast-forward. 

Natalie Coughlin and Alec Mazo reprise one of their dances. "Is it too late to vote them back in?" Tom Bergeron asks.

Another look back. Melissa Joan Hart and Mark Ballas perform the salsa they prepared but never got to perform on the show. It's very cute, and she gets a standing O. 

Judges' take on the final three. Then, said three couples take the stage, to introduce more video bits. 

Kelly Osbourne and Louis Van Amstel reprise their Viennese waltz from week one, the dance in which Kelly first made her mark on the competition. Len Goodman says he will miss her the most because he has loved watching her. Bruno Tonioli says she comes from rock and roll royalty, but she's earned her place as a ballroom princess and found a new level of confidence. Carrie Ann Inaba says no one has ever touched her the way that Kelly does because it's all about expressing yourself and every time she was on stage, it was real.

Mya and Dmitry Chaplin reprise their jive. Bruno calls her Mya the magnificent and says she never dropped her standard all season and that she's got it all. Carrie Ann says every season someone sets the pace for everyone else from day one, and this season it was her, and that now, she's come out of her shell and she's a star. Len says he has never doubted her dance talent and says she was outstanding. 

Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson reprise their Argentine tango. Carrie Ann says she loved this as his final dance, that it was artistry in motion. Len says he's never lost his coming out and performing 100 percent. He adds that he finished strong. Bruno says he was in character and totally believable. 

Judges' rankings: Kelly and Louis get 26 points, Mya and Dmitry get 28, and (leading us to the final results?) Donny and Kym get 30 points.

No results yet, though. Louie Vito and Chelsie Hightower hit the stage to dance to "Puppy Love" sung by Donny Osmond. This is in reference to the fact that they are the youngest couple on the season. Then it's the Super Bowl champ dance-off, Jerry Rice vs. Michael Irvin. (It's also Anna vs. Anna, as Trebunskaya and Demidova face off, too.) The judges give the dance to Michael Irvin, but "the battle of the bodies" to Jerry Rice. They both get mirrorball rings. Goofy!

Aaron Carter and Karina Smirnoff reprise their quickstep to the Muppet Show song. This was a fun one. 

I think Miss Piggy would do an admirable job as Tom Bergeron's co-host. Just sayin'.

Competition mambo. Who's going to win? It's Joanna Krupa vs. Cloris Leachman vs. Jerry Springer vs. Steve Wozniak. It's Joanna, "in what appears to be a setup," Tom says.

Whitney Houston's back to sing "I Wanna Dance With Somebody." Nice choice. Suddenly, I'm flashing back to sixth grade, when my mom took me to see Whitney in concert in Houston (now I'm talking about Texas, not W's last name), and this was my favorite song. 

Finally, finally ... results. Can we find out who won this thing already?

In third place, it's Kelly and Louis. That's not a surprise. She's had a great storyline, a transformation, plus seeing her family in the audience as she's grown up, but she fell down in the final dance. She thanks America for voting her in week after week. Tom Bergeron says he loved seeing her each week and looked forward to seeing her perform each time, even though he doesn't want to share this since he doesn't like to play favorites.

But who is the winner? Who gets the mirrorball trophy?

And the winner is Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson. Nothing like finishing strong! Last night just totally pushed him over the top.

Samantha runs over to talk with Mya. She says she has had the time of her life. Donny pulls his wife out onto the stage, then his family. He and Kym hoist the trophy for the big win.

What do you think about the results?

(Photo courtesy of ABC)

Adam Lambert raised a lot of eyebrows Sunday with his performance on ABC's American Music Awards, enough that the network got about 1,500 calls of complaint, largely related to him grinding against the face of a backup dancer.

Good Morning America decided to can his appearance this week, and CBS' The Early Show was eager to snag him for a conversation and a performance. 

He'll be on live tomorrow morning. 

TV Week has the details.

So who's going to win this season of Dancing With the Stars? We'll get the first inkling of an answer in tonight's performance finale. (Oh, and you can have your say in our poll here.)

The first couple to take to the stage is Kelly Osbourne and Louis Van Amstel. Since we've got some time to kill, we spend the first part of the segment reliving the entire season's dances. After that, Carrie Ann Inaba comes in to work with them and give them some tips on their Argentine tango, mostly trying to get Kelly to be more comfortable with the intimate moments of the dance. It seems to help, as their tango is very intense, and their chemistry is better than usual in the more romantic dances. I feel like Louis is such a good partner and leader that he's guiding Kelly through this dance more than she's actually dancing it, if that makes sense. I mean, she does a pretty good job with it (though her posture is a bit off-kilter), but he's just so dominant. Head judge Len Goodman says Kelly epitomizes what this competition is about: as someone who has no dance experience, she has transformed into a dancer. He says she danced "right up there." Bruno Tonioli says she's been the revelation of this season because of her dedication and hard work. He didn't love her loose free hand, but it was still very good. Carrie Ann says she's proud of how far she came, especially with the emotional connection. Scores:  9-9-8, for a 26/30.

Mya and Dmitry Chaplin get a visit from Len while they are rehearsing for the paso doble. He pushes them to bring more and more intensity, more power, more aggression, more snap.  They bring that intensity to the dance floor in the performance as they dance to "We Will Rock You." That's purely me speaking as an amateur, though. Also, the audience looooves it. Bruno says it was fearless and flamboyant and amazing. Carrie Ann dubs her "the queen of the paso doble," adding that it was hot and dynamic. Len says the pressure in this final is crazy, but they came out "like the no-stress express." He says it's right up there with his favorite paso of all the seasons, Mel B and Maks'. Scores: 10-10-10, for a 30/30.

Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson work with Bruno on their cha cha, especially his technique. The tweaks from Bruno definitely help because during the performance, Donny just parties down and looks like he's actually having a good time, instead of looking like he's trying to sell the idea that he's having a good time, and a lot of his moves are sharper than they've been all season. At this point, I think, "Dang, he could win this thing." Carrie Ann wants to know where those hips came from, saying he had a breakthrough in the finals. Len says, "That was a cha cha cha!" Bruno says Donny is a credit to his profession, adding that "I shouted at him for an hour," and he took it all in and reacted like a professional. Scores:  9-9-9, for a 27/30.

Next is the "megamix," which has the three couples doing the same choreography side by side, part of it is Viennese waltz, part is samba and part is jive. They'll get ranked first, second and third and get scores accordingly. It's tough to judge this thing because your eyes are drawn to the three women in their sparkly costumes, but of course, Kym the pro is outdancing Kelly and Mya. I hardly notice Donny at all. But I do see Kelly have a bit of trouble with the jive. They all do well with it, though. I'm glad I'm not doing the scoring. Len says he thought it was going to be easy to judge, but he was wrong, which shows how close they all are. Bruno liked them all. Carrie Ann agrees with both of them and adds that Donny was holding strong with pros. Third place goes to Kelly (26 points), second is Donny (28) and Mya gets first (30).

Lastly, it's the freestyle! I love the freestyle!

Kelly and Louis are first, and they're dancing to "I Will Survive," which she says represents her journey on the show. (Especially the "at first I was afraid, I was petrified" part ...) Anyway, in rehearsal, Louis pushes her to do a bunch of different tricks, and in the performance, I'm kind of thinking she should have questioned him more because they have a few fumbles. (Also, the shoulders of her dress are killing her lines. KILLING. DEAD!) But to their credit, they just keep on pushing and smiling and having a grand old time. Bruno says she has never looked more beautiful and she delivered the glitz and glamor of the disco era. He adds that falling on the floor was actually part of the era. Ha! Carrie Ann says this is all about giving the audience what they want to see, and that's what they did, showing that when they fall, they get back up and when they forget, they keep smiling. Len says he thoroughly enjoyed watching them. Before the scores, Kelly says that one of the lifts ended up looking like "Louis pooped me out." Hahaha ... dying here. Scores: 8-8-8, for 24/30 and a total 76/90.

Mya and Dmitry go with a Hairspray-themed freestyle after a little discussion. It's fun and fast and technically really good, but I feel like they aren't connected with each other very much. (And, sorry to invoke So You Think You Can Dance, but this song will always make me think of Benji and Donyelle's amazing performance.) Not that I didn't like Mya and Dmitry's performance -- they were great. It just lacked a little edge of something for me. Carrie Ann says it was high energy and fun, "but not outstanding to me. ... It didn't showcase you, Mya, you're so much more than that." Len says there was a sameness about it, and it never went anywhere. Bruno says she had vibrancy and joy and never lost beat, but he was expecting something a little more spectacular, "but it wasn't bad." Scores: 9-9-9, for a 27/30 and an 87/90 total.

Donny and Kym decide on a Broadway-themed number to showcase Donny's strengths, but they want to surprise the judges with some lifts, too. It's got personality and speed and entertainment, but it's not my favorite. Not that it wasn't fun. Len says it was "an absolute  showstopper." Bruno calls him "Mr. Showbusiness at his best! ... You are the master!" Carrie Ann welcomes him to the hall of fame of the freestyle. Scores: 10-10-10, for a 30/30 and a total 85/90. 

What do you think the results are going to be? My prediction is that Donny takes home the trophy. Mya's been a stronger dancer overall this season, but Donny has a bigger fan base and he finished strong.

 

In case you haven't heard, Susan Boyle's album is out today. Her audition on Britain's Got Talent caused a worldwide sensation, and her album set preorder records on Amazon.com.

Here's what she told USA Today about the album.

Did you buy it? Have you heard it? What do you think?

Heeeeere's Bucky with his take on this week's Amazing Race:

This week’s leg begins with all of the teams heading to the airport to book a flight from Estonia to Prague, where they need to find a man in a Praga (after they figure out what a Praga is) for their next clue.  In the course of searching the internet for flights, eagle-eyed Megan spots a picture of a Praga, which turns out to be a Czech car.  This gives her a big advantage, which she needs to offset the fact that her partner is that dope Cheyne.
 
Everyone takes the same flight and when they arrive, Megan & Cheyne, Sam & Dan and the Globetrotters grab taxis and head for the city square where the Praga awaits.  Brian & Ericka follow the advice of someone on the airplane and take the subway into town.  This is a bold, make-or-break move on their part.

Megan & Cheyne arrive at the square first followed closely by Sam & Dan who, however, still need to figure out what a Praga is before they can … No! Wait!  They see Megan & Cheyne and decide just to follow them. (Recall that Sam & Dan whined and complained last week about the Globetrotters using this same “hitch your wagon to the right star” strategy.  So besides being whiners, Sam & Dan are hypocrites, too.)

Megan & Cheyne get the next clue first, followed by Sam & Dan then the Globetrotters.  All head for the first challenge where they choose between “Fast & Furious” (navigating a whitewater kayaking course) or “Slow & Steady” (traversing a ropes course.)
 
Meanwhile, back on the train, Brian and Ericka are sightseeing on the leisurely ride to town.  They finally figure out that their bold move was not a good choice, get off the train and hail a taxi.
 
Sam & Dan arrive at the challenge first and decide to take the Fast & Furious route to stardom.  Megan & Cheyne decide on Slow & Steady and harness up for the ropes course, followed in short order by the Globetrotters.
 
Sam & Dan turn Fast & Furious into their normal bickering routine when they capsize their inflatable kayak three times and have to start over after all three miscues.  I know we have Reality Check commenters rooting for them to win, but I don’t know why.

Flight Time traverses the ropes course first, followed by Cheyne, then Megan.  Big Easy struggles, because he has a lot of body to move along that rope.  Flight Time starts down the finishing tower and Cheyne yells at him to hurry up.  He accuses Flight Time of going slow on purpose, to allow time for Big Easy to finish the challenge.  If you replay the recording of this part of the show in slow motion, you can actually see the little light bulb go off over Flight Time’s head as he realizes Cheyne’s accusation is exactly the correct strategy to use.  Way to go, Cheyne.  Flight Time descends even more slowly.  Big Easy catches up; Megan & Cheyne and the Globetrotters get the next clue and head for the train station pretty much together.  On the way, Megan agrees to work with the Globetrotters to get to the next destination.
 
Oh, somehow, Brian & Ericka manage to get to the square, figure out what a Praga is, catch a taxi and arrive at the challenge as Sam & Dan switch tasks to Slow & Steady before one of them drowns.  They head out on the ropes as Brian & Ericka harness up.  Predictably, they commence to arguing about the right way to traverse the ropes, giving Brian & Ericka a chance to overtake them.  No, wait.  Ericka, just as predictably, struggles on the ropes and Sam & Dan regain their lead.

Back to the station where the newly allied Megan & Cheyne and Globetrotters are waiting for a train.  Suddenly, a taxi appears and Cheyne drags Megan off to it, leaving the Globetrotters to fend for themselves.  In the taxi, Megan lectures Cheyne about being rude.  Cheyne lectures Megan (who up to now has had to use a “hit the ball, drag Cheyne, hit the ball, drag Cheyne” race strategy) about how to win The Amazing Race.  Humpf.

Megan & Cheyne arrive at the Detour first, followed by Sam & Dan, who stole Brian & Ericka’s waiting taxi back at the ropes course, followed by the Globetrotters.  The task is for one member of the team to search the Prague Opera House for hidden miniature musical instruments which, when they find one and deliver it to “Don Giovanni” on the stage, will earn them the next clue.
 
Inexplicably, Megan agrees to let Cheyne perform the task.  Dan searches for his team and Big Easy for the Globetrotters.
 
It takes them all about the same amount of time to find a miniature musical instrument, so they head to the Pit Stop in that order, with Megan & Cheyne finishing first again and earning a Travelocity-sponsored trip to Lana’i, which is the best island to visit in Hawai’i, if you want my opinion.
 
Brian & Ericka show up at the Opera House as Sam & Dan are leaving and a moment of high drama ensues (over the stolen taxi) as they pass each other.  But, dang it, no blows are thrown. Ericka performs the task for them, taking so long that Brian has time to have lunch and “Don Giovanni” has time to take a nap before she finishes.  They arrive at the Pit Stop last and are immediately elimina… No! Wait!  This is a non-elimination leg, again.  So they are still alive and racing.

Next week we will find out who the final three teams are and it should be a doozy, because the Globetrotters still have to fulfill their vendetta against Sam & Dan from last week and now Brian & Ericka have to get revenge for the stolen taxi.  And Cheyne is due some payback for breaking the alliance with Big Easy & Flight Time.

What all that means is there is still hope that all the other contestants will do each other in and Megan will finish the race alone, and win the million-dollar prize for her cute, determined and polite self.

What did you think of last night’s episode?  Are there still any Sam & Dan fans out there?   

And now, the end is here.
And so I face that final curtain.

First off, before we get to recapping the Project Runway Season 6 finale, a big thanks to all the kind souls who found their way back to this blog each week to read my corny jokes. Being a sports writer, I don't often get to crack wise about pop culture, but these Project Runway recaps turned out to be just what the doctor ordered for me this fall. They often made me forget about the plight of newspapers and the stress of real life -- my wife and I are about to have our first kid, and it could happen at any moment, so I'm glad I got this knocked out in the nick of time so I wouldn't be typing away in a delivery room, trying to fit one last joke in between my wife's contractions.

I think we all pretty much agree the show has been pretty ... meh this season, and the judges' final selection only confirms those feelings, even if it was probably the correct one. But the snark has made it almost worth it! So buckle up, and let's take one more ride to Bryant Park, shall we? 

At the fair Hyatt Hotel, we lay our scene. Civil blood is about to make civil hands unclean.

Carol Hannah is brushing her teeth while Irina and Althea drink orange juice that I bet Tim Gunn got up at dawn to squeeze by hand. Carol Hannah is sick, sick, sick, and is trying to suck it up and stay on her feet.

"I feel bad, but there is really nothing I can do to help her," Irina says. Anyone who really believes Irina gives two thimbles worth of a damn about Carol Hannah's health at this point should really see if they can buy the Brooklyn Bridge from Bernie Madoff because I hear he's willing to move quickly on a deal if you'll pay cash.

Cut to a talking head of Logan, who says he’s impressed with and proud of Carol Hannah. He comes over and gives her a hug, which gets him an evil look from Althea and Irina. You know what? It seems obvious at this point that Logan is Jake Ryan from 16 Candles and Carol Hannah is Samantha. If only John Hughes had lived to see this play out in real life.

Gordana is barking at Irina like she's a military general tasked with crushing a revolution, and Irina is her first lieutenant, which is odd considering it's the other way around. “You have to finishing everything today," Gordana says. "You must!”

Carol Hannah is fighting off the flu like Michael Jordan in the 1997 NBA Finals, and Christopher is playing the role of Scottie Pippen as she cries into his arms. I wonder if in her dehydrated state if she thinks she's really hugging Logan.

It's time for a hair and make-up session with Collier Strong. Carol Hannah tells him her looks were inspired by gothic architecture and fairy tales, and I think we all know what that's code for -- make 'em look like Bella from Twilight, y'all. Now that I think about it, Strong looks like he could have been a vampire in a different era -- like the Buffy the Vampire Slayer era -- back when vampires were badasses instead of moody emo teens who wrote poetry and tried to work up the courage to hold your hand.

It looks to me like Irina is putting the finishing touches on a giant bear suit. Seriously, it reminds me of what Han Solo wore when he went marching into the sub-zero temps on Hoth to save Luke Skywalker after his speeder crashed. If one of her models tries to cut open Michael Kors with her light saber so she can crawl her skinny butt inside his guts for warmth, I’m going to be so pissed.

Tim enters the workroom wearing a stunning fuchsia tie and a stern look on his face. He wants to remind Irina that she's taking a real risk with her all-black collection, which looks like Phantom of the Opera crossed with the Road Warrior.

Minutes later, Althea is showing Tim an outfit with pointy shoulder pads that I'm pretty certain was inspired by the Michael Jackson movie Captin EO. (I saw it at Epcot Center in Disney World when I was in the third grade -- in 3D no less -- and I swear to God, it was like giving a 10-year-old LSD.)

But wait a minute: Althea is explaining the make-up she wants to give her models when Tim mentions that it sounds a bit too much like what Irina's doing. Irina rolls her eyes (of course she does) and then adds "That's Althea!" under her breath, which is pretty rich considering the judges had to zing her in last week's episode for fashion plagiarism. Somewhere in his parents' basement in Virginia, disgraced former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair is sitting around watching this in his underwear and wondering why he can't be a guest judge if this kind of hypocrisy is going to be condoned. (And yet, somehow, he'd still be as qualified as Lindsay Lohan.) 

Tim asks Althea if there is "anything else you’re getting concerned about?" and Althea bursts into tears.

I bet in the next shot, she belted out, "Yeah, I'm concerned Irina might stab me with a pair of scissors!" but the producers edited it out.

The next morning, Carol Hannah says she feels a little better, and that she doesn't think she's going to die after all. Irina and Althea seem a little disappointed, and it gets me thinking: Wouldn’t it be awesome to have an all-star season of previously bitchy Project Runway designers? Tell me you wouldn't love to see Irina talk smack about Santino and Kenley while occasionally making out with Jeffery?

Yo, models in the house! They begin their final fittings by dancing around in their underwear. (Ladies, must you throw yourselves at Logan like this?) I've mostly refrained from commenting on the models because I mostly like to pretend that their half-hour show, Models of the Runway, never happened. But let me just say that if Carol Hannah wins this thing, someone is going to need to explain it to her model, Lisa, like five times using flash cards and hand signals because I'm convinced Lisa would lose in a game of Scrabble to one of the workroom sewing machines. She is that dumb. She makes Carrie Prejean look like the president of the MENSA celibacy club.

Gordana is still having flashbacks to dictators of yesterday. "I know you see me with coffee, hon. But I working, trust me!" she tells Irina.

Tim gathers everyone around. He has a special announcement. "Do you know what’s about to happen?"

Everyone is silent. It pops into my head that Tim might announce that he's going to take everyone to a Knicks game. Oh, the horror, the horror.

"Tomorrow you're going to be showing at Bryant Park!" Tim squeals, and all the ladies squeal with him.

One more time, with feeling! Happy working song! Happy working song! Let’s all sing a happy working song!

Cut to the next day. It's 3:14 a.m., according to the Hyatt digital clock next to someone's bed. Seriously, who knew that Carol Hannah and Althea had to get up this early to put on all that eye make-up? I mean, it makes sense, but damn.

Everyone is ready to take on the world! Except ... Irina can’t open the door. It won't budge. I briefly wonder if the real twist this season is that Heidi has turned this into Saw VII, and the three of them are going to have to cut off one of their own limbs to make it out of the hotel room. (No wonder Nina and Michael wanted no part of this season! Jigsaw was obviously involved.) But, my fears are quickly put to rest when it turns out you just have to pull the door open, not push it. It seems Irina is a graduate of Gary Larson's School for the Gifted.

Cut to backstage at Bryant Park, where Tim is slowly losing his mind. None of the designers is ready, or even close to being ready. He is indignant. For the first time ever, I wonder if he might slap someone.

“This is crazy! We’ve got to go! We should be lining up!” he exclaims.

I feel so bad for Tim because he's one of the few people on this show whose standards never waver. I'm afraid he’s about to  snap like Michael Douglass in Falling Down. If that does go down, and there is a fashion God, you just know that Kenley Collins and Victorya Hong have to stumble into the crossfire.

Heidi makes her first appearance of this episode, coming onto the runway in what I can only describe as the worst outfit in the six-year history of this show. As I alluded to last week when I saw the preview for the finale, she looks like she got stuck in traffic behind the Straight Talk Express and had to borrow clothes from Cindy McCain just to get to the show on time. It's a shiny pink pantsuit and I feel blinded by its neon glow. Her giant butterfly brooch also appears to be contemplating an attack on her face.

Michael and Nina are on hand to collect their checks do their jobs and the guest judge for this week is someone named Suzy Menkes, who we learn is the fashion critic for the International Herald Tribune. She looks a little like Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but I'm just thrilled that between the Herald-Tribune and the Los Angeles Times challenge, I think Project Runway has done more for newspapers this year than I have. By the way, Michael is again wearing sunglasses indoors, a look that was either inspired by Kanye or the FBI poster of the Unabomber. I can't decide.

Collection time. Althea's goes down the runway first. She has lots of knits and sportswear. I've been ragging on her all year for the way her designs tend to lack bra support, but she seems to have reigned in the twins this time. Her collection isn't bad, but I'm underwhelmed, which sums up the way I've felt about her all season.

In the crowd, we see a quick shot of Nicolas, who has dyed his hair brown. I wonder if he's trying to hide from Georgian gangsters in Irina's family.

Carol Hannah's collection is next, and it's obvious she has some beautiful dresses, although I'm not sure what ties it all together. The sad truth about the final challenge on Project Runway is that whomever figures out some goofy accessory to go with their collection usually gets major points for "tying everything together" even if the accessory is kind of a joke, like Jay McCarroll's spray-painted, noise-canceling ear phones in Season 1. I'm at the point now where I believe if you got 13 paper crowns from Burger King on the way to Bryant Park and then put them on the heads of the models, you'd get credit for "tying together the collection." 

And of course, Irina has tied together her black-and-bearskin-rug collection with tiny hats that are a cross between equestrian helmets and infantry helmets from World War I. Lately, I feel like if I needed to hire someone to design a dress for Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) on the second season of Alias, when she was a badass female double agent, Irina would totally be my go-to girl. But that doesn't mean she deserves to win the overall Project Runway crown.

After the designs wrap up, we get quick comments from Epperson, Johnny, Shirin, Louis, Nicolas, and Ra'mon. I'm sort of curious why we didn't hear from Qristyl, but maybe they were handing out free vowels on the other side of the room and she didn't have time for a talking head spot.

Back at Parsons, the judges say they love everyone. Menkes appears to have forgotten to take the roller out of the front of her hair, which is something I thought only happened on the Flintstones. 

In addition to $100,000 and a spread in Marie Claire magazine, the winner also gets an all-expenses paid vacation to Paris. It doesn't say whether Logan will be there when you arrive, shirtless on the bed and eating strawberries, but I'm going to just assume that's how it's set up until I'm told otherwise.

This recap is swelling in size like Klum's pregnant belly, so we're going to cut right to the chase. Irina's collection gets high marks, but Nina does remind her that she was warned about an all-black series of outfits. Michael Kors also says he's seen the "warrior woman character" before and there is really nothing new here, but I get the sense they're just trying to throw me off the scent.

Carol Hannah's collection earns raves for several different pieces -- including her whipped together 13th look, which Heidi loves -- but also criticized for not having something to tie it all together. (See! Burger King crowns would have been perfect right here! Ta da!) Menkes does praise Carol Hannah for "having real desire!" and suddenly I think Menkes is quite the saucy English minx.

Althea earns props for being "plugged into the street" which doesn't make any sense, but Nina says she could see several of her outfits appearing in the pages of Marie Claire. Right next to the "20 New Sex Positions You Can Try Tonight" articles, I suspect.

The judges talk it over in a fairly uneventful conference session. But then begins my favorite part: The last bit of spooky drum music we'll hear this year. I can't help but wonder, who is mixing this stuff? And is it piped into the runway room when Heidi is putting on her SERIOUS FACE.

I keep imagining some poor guy in a sound booth somewhere getting screamed at by Harvey Weinstein: "More drums! I said I want more drums! Ok, now give me some xylophone! Damn it, I said more xylophone! Now give me some weirdo feedback that's a little bit like the sound check at a Pink Floyd concert!Yes, that's exactly what I want!"

Poor Carol Hannah. I guess she wasn't quite Michael Jordan with a case of the flu after all, because she is the first to get eliminated. If only she had grabbed those Burger King crowns like I suggested. I'm surprised Heidi decides she's going to kiss Carol Hannah even if it means maybe catching the swine flu. 

Suddenly it was down to two, so that means it's time to re-cue the scary bongo drum music.

"Dum, dum, dum! Dum Dum dumm! (More drums! More xylophone! More cowbell!)

Congratulations to Irina, says Heidi, and everyone's favorite ice queen melts down and cries openly on the runway. In a moment so awkward words cannot do it proper justice, Althea has to hug Irina twice, then sit there and wallow in her shame and disappointment as Irina gets heartily praised by the judges.

As Irina cries, I notice that even her nail polish is black. I'm sort of stunned her tears aren't made of crude oil.

"I’m definitely proud of myself," Irina says. "I think it does deserve a pat on the back because I had some stiff competition."

Sorry but ... what are you talking about, Irina? You talked trash just about everyone in the room for 12 weeks straight and now want to call them stiff competition? Egads. 

Suddenly Irina's father is crying. The silent black man is also up on stage, and so are Irina's mom and sister.

"I don't think I've ever seen my dad cry," Irina says. "I think he's finally going to take me seriously".

Suddenly Nina is crying. Twice, she wipes a tear from her face as Irina's dad bawls openly.

Well, if that doesn't sum it up, I don't know what does. Let the record show that Season 6 of Project Runway made Nina Garcia cry. I don't know if it was from empathy for the emotions of it all, or because she was in tremendous pain from watching such a weirdo season.

Still, I suspect I'll be back, one way or another.

Thanks again, kids. And as always, auf wiedersehen, baby.

I just can't wait to see what happens tonight on Survivor: Samoa after Russell's crazy blindside last week, his second in a row.

Russell thinks it was pretty awesome, comparing himself to Picasso and telling Dave and the other folks from his old tribe that it was "almost as great as my kids being born."

Shambo calls Laura a snake, evil serpent and all sorts of things. And then she pulls her smartest move ever (sigh) and basically makes it clear to John that she has flipped. Why? Augh!

In the reward challenge, there are two teams of five. One person lies face down in a cradle, and the other four maneuver them around with ropes as they grab 15 numbered flags in order and put them in a slot. It sounds easier than it looks like it actually is. The purple group (Natalie, Russell, Dave Ball, Laura and Brett) wins. They head out to a waterfall for a picnic lunch and spend some time with a product-placed phone, using it to take pictures.

Back at camp, Jaison talks up Monica to become the sixth in their group. He and Mick talk to her about Shambo being the fifth without mentioning her, but Monica's not dumb. She is pretty sure it's Shambo. Also, she wants to get rid of John. Well, that's not rocket science.

Then at the challenge, they finally stop taking MySpace-angles pictures of themselves and realize there are clues to the hidden immunity idol on  the phone. This includes a video of it being under a moss-covered rock. 

When everyone gets back to camp, Russell tells Jaison and they start looking for the idol. Dave follows him around, Laura, too. Russell runs away -- and you can basically tell that the camerapeople are like, "Craaaaap, we can't keep up!"

Oh, and seemingly moments after getting away from Dave? RUSSELL FINDS THE THIRD IDOL! Who is this guy?

(Side note: How about that Sunday CBS football commercial? First, it says that "Brett Favre leads the New York Jets" in their game against the "undefeated Titans." Favre? Jets? I know he changes teams a lot, but I'm pretty sure he's on the Vikings. Also, since when is 3-6 undefeated? Then the list of all of Sunday's games comes up, and every single matchup is wrong. They just ran LAST YEAR'S COMMERCIAL. The games they're talking about happened on Nov. 23, 2008. Bahahahahahahahaha! Well done, CBS!)

Back at camp again, Monica tells Laura that she thinks the Foa Foas have "at least two people" already on their side. (Is she counting herself as the second one?) She says she doesn't trust Shambo or John, and Laura's pretty sure she needs to win again or she's done for.

In the immunity challenge, they have to throw a rock at some tiles and break as many as possible. For every tile that breaks, they get one spear. The spears they will throw at a target, and whoever gets a spear the closest to the target gets immunity.

When Laura fails to break a tile, Shambo cracks up so rudely. That's just bad gameplay, but what else is new?

Only Jaison, Mick, Monica and Brett get to shoot the spear, Brett twice. Brett lands on the target, while Jaison and Monica miss completely. Mick lands closer to the center than Brett, and Brett's second shot is too far away, so Mick wins immunity.

Shambo tells Brett that she's voting for Laura tonight, regardless of what anyone else does. He seems disappointed. 

Laura and Dave come to John to figure out how to vote, and John interviews about how horrendous the analytical skills of his tribemates are. So much so that they decide to have Monica tell the Foa Foas that they will vote for John, while in reality she will vote for Natalie with her tribe. So in theory, there will be five votes Natalie, four John and one Laura. But will they trust her?

Russell's like mmm-hmmm, OK, lets her leave and then decides to tell John that his tribe is going to vote for him. But Brett tells him first. John looks not thrilled to have four votes possibly cast for him. He's mad. Then Russell talks to him on the side and says he's pretty sure they're being "swindled" into voting for John. They decide that it goes to a tie, then on the revote, John votes for Laura. Well, they kind of decide. John's last statement before tribal council is, "I don't know what I'm going to do."

At TC, Shambo says that Galu has been broken since Erik got voted out. Jeff talks to them about whether they are prepared to take it to a tie (after two ties, they draw rocks and somebody's out). Everyone's like, "Sure!" Jeff is incredulous, as he should be. But, man, he's excited to read these votes.

Russell, by the way, doesn't play the idol. They're pretty sure he has it, so that's enough to keep their votes away from him.

The votes start coming, and it's between Laura and Natalie. It's a tie. Laura and Natalie don't vote, everyone else has to vote for one of them. Is John going to flip? The other question: Will the person who spelled Laura's name "Luara" fix it on the revote? The answer is yes on both counts. OK, actually, these might be the best shocked faces at a TC this season, and you know that's saying something. 

People. This season is good.

 

 

John-John is back with a look at the ANTM finale ... 

It’s hard to believe that we’ve made it through an entire pint-sized season of America’s Next Top Model. I mention the size factor because it has been shoved down our throats the entire season. This year – as you remember – has featured models that are 5’7” and shorter. Tyra Banks and company used every free moment they could to remind us of this. I don’t even remember this much repetition for anti-drug campaigns growing up. Anywho, the models were shorter than usual this season.

Finalists Nicole and Laura started the season finale chatting about their beginnings. Nicole was talking about her awkward shyness. Laura spoke of her humble origins. She also dropped in a line about her being dyslexic, which was not really an issue the entire season. But the magic of editing suddenly turned Laura’s learning disability into a major plot point. (My guess is that a lack of overall conflict between both girls had the producers scrambling for some roadblock to make the finale more compelling.)

The dyslexia immediately became an issue when the girls learned that they had to shoot a commercial for Covergirl. Uh oh. Dyslexia + a script + nervousness= potential disaster.

The rest of the episode really seemed to flash by in a blur. Mr. Jay Manuel introduced last year’s winner Teyona, who noticeably stumbled over her own Covergirl spiel this episode. Nigel Barker joined the two finalists for a beauty shot. Nicole did a fantastic job posing with Nigel. Meanwhile, Laura was struggling with her commercial. She commented in a confessional that being nervous made her dyslexia worse. (Not a good thing at all.) Nicole also struggled with her own nerves during her commercial. Then Nicole started sounding snobby during her commercial takes, according to Mr. Jay. You could begin to see some daylight for Laura.

The two girls then shot their potential Seventeen Magazine spread. Both girls looked really good.

Going into the fashion show, both said they were confident about their chances.

The girls got to have some one-on-one time with Tyra. Nicole shared that she led a very sheltered life and was awkward growing up. Laura also shared her humble Kentucky beginnings. She started to cry when she talked about her family, and how she was called stupid by her teachers growing up. (Insert Tyra giving her Oprah-inspired wisdom. Blahahahahahaha)

Booted contestants Erin, Brittany, Sundai, and Jennifer were brought back to participate in the Julia Clancey fashion show. It was the first time that eliminated models were brought back to participate in the finale fashion show. (I guess Tyra wanted to give the “petite” models as much exposure as possible since it is so hard out there for shorter beautiful people. (Insert sarcasm here.)

Erin, Sundai, and Jennifer said they wanted Laura to win. Brittany said that either girl had a chance. (No duh, Brittany.)

This was probably one of the most lackluster finales ever.

Nicole had a horrible walk. She was anything but graceful. She stomped down the runway like Frankenstein or someone with inner ear problems. Laura looked like a seasoned pro. All those years of her walking down the aisles of Walmart paid off. She looked very comfortable.

The fashion show had an elements theme. The first runway walk was fire.  Wind, and water followed. Other than Nicole’s hunchback impersonation, the show went off without a hitch.

Afterwards, Tyra greeted them with words of encouragement. (Yawn.)

Later that night, Tyra reminded the hopefuls of the spoils: a contract with Wilhelmina models; a cover of Seventeen Magazine; and a $100,000 contract with Covergirl.

The three main judges proceeded to critique the entire body of work of each model this season.

Miss Jay Alexander-- who was so distracting with those redonkulously huge shoulder pads-- said Laura did “pretty damn well.” Tyra actually defended Nicole’s walk saying that it was a “signature walk.” Nigel said her walk insured that Nicole wouldn’t be ignored.

Then the judges combed through the entire season of photos. Both finalists got their share of positive feedback. Nicole’s Las Vegas photo was critiqued while Laura was praised.

Then it was time to watch the Covergirl commercial. Laura’s individual take was very good. Tyra remarked that she couldn’t notice the dyslexia. Nigel said some of Laura’s words were muffled.

Nicole was very likable, according to Tyra. Unfortunately, Nicole forgot to model, Tyra remarked. (Ouch.)

Both models received praise for their beauty shots photographed by Nigel Barker.

I had no idea who was going to win as the last commercial break came on.

After the judges did a little more pondering where they agreed that: America would love Laura; and Milan would love Nicole, they were ready to crown a winner. It was Nicole.

Laura wept. Tyra comforted her and remarked that she’s now a model. (Thanks for the affirmation, Tyra.)

After drop kicking Laura off the stage, Tyra turned her attention to Nicole.

“You are a star,” Tyra gushed. “You have it!”

Tyra and Nicole immediately went to do a photo shoot with Nigel.

This is the point where the dramatic voiceover was inserted of Nicole saying she had to embarrass herself to compete this season. She also said she’s a dork and America’s Next Top Model. Aw, there’s hope for everyone now. (Insert vomit.)

Well gang, it's finally here: The Project Runway Season 6 Finale. I think we're all in agreement this year was a bit of a mixed bag.

At times, the comedy was better than the actual designs, and much of that comedy wasn't intentional.

You can't specifically blame Lifetime or the Los Angeles locale, but it's clear that the return to New York will be good for everyone, especially if it means Michael Kors and Nina Garcia will be on the scene much more frequently. All that said, I'm still intrigued to see who wraps up the victory tonight: Irina, Carol Hannah or Althea.

I'm prepared to turn my snark meter up to 11 and have my wrap-up posted early Friday morning, but until then, leave your predictions below. What surprises do we potentially have in store? Will Irina scare the judges into giving her all-black collection a win? Will Johnny return to solve the mystery of the sputtering iron? Will Mitchell pop up to let us know he still hasn't learned how to sew? Will the winner get to make out with Logan?

While you ponder those thoughts, and many others, if haven't read this awesome interview with Tim Gunn from the Los Angeles Times you should definitely do so because it's just another reminder that he remains the heart of this show, through thick and thin -- the impeccably dressed, witty and gracious heart.

 

 

Greetings, Top Chef watchers. Liz and Justine here to chronicle the last week before the competition moves from its cozy home of Las Vegas to the finale in Napa Valley. Most of the fat has been trimmed from the ranks of the cheftestants but one more still has to be cut.

Enough with the cheesy cooking plays on words. On to the cooking! 

(Photo of Bryan Voltaggio presenting to the judges from bravotv.com)

The show barely starts before we're faced with two major fashion moments -- Did you see Bryan's sparkly silver rock-star belt? How about Kevin wearing a rosary under his T-shirt? Like all of the chefs, they're missing their families and doing it for them. Eli reveals to the viewers at home something Liz knew all along: that he's friends with past cheftestant and finalist Richard Blais! Eli was even best man at Blais' wedding! (Liz saw them compete together on Iron Chef America a few weeks back, so she was hoping they'd talk about that in this show.)

Quickfire

Today's guest for the quickfire challenge is Gavin Kaysen, noted young chef who has represented America in the ultimate culinary competition, Bocuse d'Or. We learn through some very retro looking stock footage that the Bocuse is like the Olympics of cooking (but they spared us any mentions of the most famous Olympian to date, Michael Phelps) where everything's meticulously prepared and served on giant mirrored platters. 

As the quickfire, the chefs must make a protein within a protein within a protein (think turducken ... Justine wanted someone to actually make one, but alas, they're more creative and snobby than that).

During the cooking, it's a chance for the producers to take us inside the heads of the chefs. Bearded Kevin says the Voltaggio brothers take risks with their food (welcome to the competition, Yukon Cornelius. Where have you been?). Michael Volt says there's not a lot for Jen to do left in the competition. But, probably much to his chagrin, when Padma goes to sample Jen's dish, she says "Welcome back."

And Jen wins! That was a huge shock, especially since she's been flaking out a lot in the past few weeks. Is she back on the fast track to winning? For winning, she gets an extra 30 minutes to cook in the elimination challenge.

(The most notable dish for Justine and Liz during the quickfire, though, was Eli's Scotch egg. We had never seen such a dish before going to this year's Maryland Renaissance Festival, where one of our traveling companions ate one. It totally grossed Liz out. She still feels the same way about Scotch eggs, even though dreamy Eli was cooking it this week.)

Elimination

It's time for the Top Chef Bocuse d'Or! This is arguably one of the most challenging tasks posed before cheftestants in any season, not because of what they actually have to cook, but becuase of the high standards they will be held to. They have to prepare one protein (their choice of either salmon or lamb) and two garnishes. You know, a typical garnish like a zucchini woven into a basket with something served in it. Or at least that's what Chef Kaysen wanted us to think about when he mentioned garnihses. They have to serve to a panel of 12 tough judges and members of the American Bocuse d'Or panel and noted chef Thomas Keller. The mention of his name alone was enough to make some of the chefs noticably cringe.

Off to Whole Foods! (Not that anything important or funny happened during the shopping trip. We just haven't been able to say that in what seems like a few weeks)

Back at Casa de Chefs, everyone's busy planning their menus. Everyone, that is, except Michael Voltaggio. He goes to bed instead of watching the painfully retro Bocuse d'Or DVDs. (Justine wonders aloud why they serve their dishes on mirrored platters? Liz thinks it's because they can't rely on a streak of gastrique and call it presentation.) Bearded Kevin asks for Bryan's advice on how to successfully sous-vide lamb. Bryan, as saintly as he is, helps the bearded one out, but mentions that some other chefs (like his brother) may not have been so generous with their knowledge.

While the chefs are busy in the kitchen, they're hit with a plot twist: Chef Tom says the winner will get $30,000 courtesy of the M Resort! A collective panic surges through the kitchen. 

During the service, the diners are harsh. They're holding the cheftestants to Bocuse d'Or standards and criticizing every little thing about the dishes. Bearded Kevin's dish was too simple (and what's with his random plug for sustainability? What is this, green week?). Michael's Mediterranean dishes didn't have enough flavor. Bryan's lamb was undercooked. Eli's lamb was also undercooked and carved poorly (at least he let his meat rest unlike Hector earlier in the season). Jen's food wasn't well thought out even though the food tasted good. 

The hits keep on coming: Chef Keller tells the cheftestants the winner will get a chance to compete on the 2011 Bocuse d'Or American team! (Justine wonders if they were holding out on that gem until they saw everyone didn't completlely screw up their dishes.)

Judges' Table

We're down to the wire, folks, so no top and bottom this time. Everyone's called before the judges. They reiterated the diners' comments and critiques, but no one's dishes really stood out as a clear favorite. 

And the winner is ... Bearded Kevin! Kind of a shock, seeing as how they were calling his food simple and he tried a technique he doesn't have that much experience with so late in the competition. But, as we know, simple doesn't always mean bad. Simple food can be good if done well. To gear up for the 2011 Bocuse d'Or, he gets a few cookbooks and chef's jacket from the son of the competition's founder. 

The judges then tick down the line of cheftestants, citing the redeeming qualities of the dishes (like how Bryan's would have been much better had he more time to cook). Michael gets a scathing review of his food, but apparently the judges were taking their season performance into account because Eli gets the boot. (Justine said he got Eli-minated, but Liz was too distraught to laugh. The loss is especially hard for Liz to take, since Friday is her birthday and seeing her man make it to the finale would have been the ultimate gift from Bravo. She shrieked in a combination of sadness and horror when he got sent home, and her dog appeared worried at the mournful cry.) 

Predictions

Who's going home next: We're down to the final four we've been predicting pretty much all season, so choosing who's going to get kicked out is tough. Justine thinks they'll get rid of Michael because he get distracted by his own arrogance. And, despite Jen's comeback this week, Liz still thinks Jen is a target, unless she's focused herself during their hiatus before the finale. 

Who's going to win it all: Justine thinks Kevin has a really good shot but is still rooting for Bryan, probably just because it ticks Liz off that she's rooting against her favorite. Correction: Justine is rooting for Bryan because he's the cutest. (Apparently the show changed to be called "Top Hot Chef" without anyone knowing.) 

Discussion

Will you be adding a huge mirrored tray to your holiday wish list so you can stage your own Bocuse d'Or competitions at home? Who of the eliminated cheftestants would you want to come back as your sous chef in the finale? Did you see Padma has bangs in the preview for next week -- are bangs back???    

Wade and Amanda Robson are, of course, responsible for the drop-dead amazing group number that opens tonight's So You Think You Can Dance results show. It's awesome -- the dancers portray statues in a museum who go a little bananas. Love it!

Abruptly, it's time for some results: Ashleigh and Jakob are, duh, safe. Kevin and Karen are, duh, in danger. Ryan and Ellenore are also safe, and so are Russell and Noelle. Channing and Victor are, however, in the bottom three. This leaves Mollee and Nathan and Kathryn and Legacy. Kathryn and Legacy are safe, so Mollee and Nathan are the third couple in danger.

Next, there's a performance by MD and Bollywood Productions -- tons of fun, of course!

Then the solos begin. Karen is first. She brings back the sexuality that was missing from her Broadway performance last night, but that's about all that's there. I'm thinking she's probably out. Kevin has more content, but it takes him a little while to get started. Channing continues her theme of being uncaged and lets it all out during her solo. Victor, too. Tons of turns! Mollee is ready and brings an amazing amount of energy to the stage. Same with Nathan. The last two, though, have moves that I have to rewind a couple of times and go, "Was that on purpose?" Nigel points out that they haven't ever seen anything like Mollee's cartwheel onto her knee -- so yes, that was. 

The musical guest to take up some time while the judges deliberate is Orianthi, who's played guitar with Carlos Santana and Carrie Underwood, among others. Now she's going for a solo career. We'll see how that goes.

The women in danger are up first. Nigel says they are unanimous on both decisions. He tells Mollee that she proved tonight that she can dance like a woman and proved what "dancing for your life" means. She's safe. He tells Channing and Karen that this is about performance and technique. He says that Channing's personality hasn't been coming out much until lately, and that Karen is a performer as well as a star. So Karen is staying and Channing is out. Bummer. I thought Karen's solo was pretty substandard.

Guys' turn. Nigel tells Nathan he learned "a hell of a lesson" this week and tonight he proved himself. He's safe. He tells Victor that his solo was strong, though he needs to not just turn-turn-turn (OK, he says pirouette). To Kevin, he says he always seems like he feels a little uncomfortable and though he is growing just by doing the routines, he isn't at the same standard as the other two. So Kevin is out, and Victor is safe.

I'm not shocked by that result since Victor and Nathan were so strong.

What do you think about the results?

Me, I'm off to watch Glee with the bonus of songs (or at least a song) by the Police. Wheeeee! </fangirlishness>

 

 

 

The best part about tonight's Biggest Loser? That half-hour holiday special that preceded it, making it the hour and a half program it ought to be.

Except that, hark! It's makeover week, and that's my favorite. That's OK, as long as they cut out all the repeating and not the glamour. After a fakeout in which the contestants thought they were getting makeovers and instead were told that they have to give speeches, Tim Gunn and Tabatha Coffey appeared to tell them, just kidding, it is makeover time.

Yay!

As it turns out, though, we didn't get enough Tim G. time for my liking. We see him briefly talking with all the contestants about what they are looking for, their struggles with finding clothes that fit and flatter, and so on. Then, there were glimpses of some of the contestants in the stylist's chair with Tabatha, mostly focusing on Rudy not wanting to cut off his beard.

The reveals were a little bizarre. One by one, each contesant came forward to see Tim, who was stunned by the transformation of each of them. Then he took each person by the shoulders, said there was one more surprise and turned them around to show them that their families were there. Awww, sweet! But this all happened backstage of where they were going to be giving speeches, which was awkward. The dominant emotion remained surprise and joy, though. But to a person, everyone looked great. Rudy shaved! Rebecca got an awesome haircut! Allen killed it in his suit! Danny lost the gray hair! Liz looked like a million bucks! Amanda rocked this gorgeous blue shirt!

Anyway, then it was time for all of those speeches. We only saw snippets of them, but Liz was the only one who was shown making a challenge to the audience. (It's possible everyone else did, too, and we just didn't see it, but it was probably the most effective moment in engaging the audience.) This got me to thinking, is there any other reality show whose contestants go on to become ambassadors in this particular way? You don't see Richard Hatch or Johnny Fairplay making speeches about how to start fires, backstab your friends and influence people. There's no Amazing Race seminars on how to book efficient travel or Big Brother houseguests giving tips on dealing with agoraphobia. But pretty much most Biggest Loser contestants seem to end up in a post-show career of helping people. (Not that there's anything wrong with that; it's just unique, I think.)

The speeches (during which we were treated to unflattering up-the-nose camera angles on the family members, the trainers, and Tim, Tabatha and Allison) struck similar notes, except that Rudy revealed that he began overeating after dealing with the death of his sister from cancer during his childhood. Cut to Bob and Jillian: Huh?

Back at the ranch, and dealing with their new hairdos in new ways, it was challenge time. The contestants had to pull themselves 700 feet across a canyon 200 feet up in the air. The first person across won a two-week vacation to this resort-spa that might be somehow associated with the show (I can't quite remember </sarcasm>).

Everyone looked a little intimidated, but Liz was losing her mind, unable to stop talking and making bizarre, fearful noises. When the challenge started, Rudy shot across the rope with Amanda close behind, and Liz? Liz started pulling herself across the canyon and just kept her eyes closed. Slow, but effective. I was really impressed she came up with a way to deal with her fear and complete what was before her.

After the challenge, Bob took a moment to pull Allen aside for a quick chat about why he isn't dominating the challenges since he's the fittest (oh, and also for an oh-so-natural product-placement moment). Allen as much as admitted that he's been throwing the challenges to keep the target off his back. Bob said that much gameplay usually backfires, but Allen assured him that he wasn't going to take it that far. Then, they somehow crammed five days of working out into one massive last-chance workout. Everyone was working hard and pushing themselves. Very little drama and yelling. T

Jillian talked with Rudy about why he hadn't discussed his sister's death, and he said he didn't think it was something he wanted to share in that way. She talked and talked with him and finally got him to realize/admit that when his folks' attention was so turned toward his sister during her illness that he felt abandoned and that he had some hurt he had to deal with.

And what comes after the last-chance workout? Weigh-in, of course. There were some big numbers and some small. All the women were hoping to land under 200, but only Amanda did, with a very satisfying 9-pound loss, her biggest of the season. Liz and Rebecca each only lost 3 pounds, which put them in the bottom two.

In the end, Rebecca was voted out, but the odd drama with Rudy carried over from last week. As he cast his vote, he said he didn't trust Rebecca. She asked for clarification, and he referenced her sitting in on the other team's voting meetings earlier in the season. She was rightly totally perplexed that he didn't ever talked with her about his feelings on this matter and then dropped it on her at voting. So it was a sad end for Rebecca on the show.

But in her makeover moment, she looked great! And she ran a half-marathon, too.

What did you think about the episode?

P.S. In case you missed Rebecca's appearance on Jay Leno last night, here it is: Biggest bombshell? She and Daniel are dating!

Guest blogger Carla here, recapping for Sarah, who is recapping "So You Think You Can Dance."

And then there were four ... who will be narrowed down to three. But first, the judges want to see Mya and Dmitry Chaplin's salsa from last night. Judge Len Goodman wants to see her "tutti frutti booty"? Really? I was "Gossip Girl"ing last night and missed this. (P.S. My dad -- Hi Dad! -- is rooting for Mya.)

Next up is a recap of last night's performances, followed by some results ... oh, wait, no. We're going to have to wait a bit longer.

Now for a time suck: The dancers talk about the other dancers' strengths. Whatever happens, they will be happy! It has been the times of their lives! (Pick another cheesy competition cliche and insert here: It was probably said.)

We're now treated to a dance performance of "The Be Italian" from the Weinstein Co.'s coming film "Nine." And after the commercial break, Alicia Keys! She's pretty phenomenal. I don't think I'll fast-forward through this one.

Next, there's a segment on pressure, which is basically the dancers lip-synching Queen's "Under Pressure." Really? Really? After that train wreck, we learn that Mya and Dmitry Chaplin are in the finals. No surprise there. I think they'll win it all.

Leona Lewis, clad in a fabulous white dress, follows with a song that is not "Bleeding Love." She's all right. But you know what is better? That Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson are in the finals. And that "jilted Bachelorette" Melissa Rycroft and Tony Dovoloni, who placed third on the show last spring, are performing a hustle as the Bee Gees sing "You Should Be Dancing." That wasn't sarcasm. I really liked Melissa last season, and who doesn't like disco? (OK, the disco part was sarcasm.) It's kind of a shame that she dances after the pros, though, because they are much better. She and Tony, however, do a fabulous lift at the end.

(Side note: Samantha Harris? Bad host or worst host ever?)

There's now a segment about putting together the pro numbers. It's compared to a kindergarten full of dancers with lots of different ideas, all of who bicker about the choreography during a short amount of time.

Two couple are left. Judge Len Goodman says Kelly Osbourne has taken dancing into her heart and that Joanna Krupa has been the most consistent. Surprisingly, Joanna Krupa and Derek Hough are out. Kelly Osbourne and Louis Van Amstel are in.

Joanna and Derek get to do a real final dance.

What do you think? I'm expecting a lot of disagreement!

 

Tonight's So You Think You Can Dance kicks off with childhood pictures of the judges -- "in the interest of fairness" -- because we're going to see childhood videos of the contestants tonight. Fun! Embarrassing, but fun!

The first couple of the night is Ashleigh and Jakob with a hip-hop routine by Tabitha and Napoleon. In the story of the dance, they're a couple and she's discovered that he cheated. I'm not always a fan of T&N's routines, but Ashleigh and Jakob perform it really well, including the acting part. The only thing I hate is Ashleigh's pants. Nigel Lythgoe says he loved their "gimmick," adding that Jakob is stepping up to choreographic challenges every single week and that he will make it to the Top 10. He says he originally thought Ashleigh had the potential for growth and would ride Jakob's coattails into the Top 10, but that she has grown far beyond his expectations. Mary Murphy says she was spellbound Ashleigh's passion was and that Jakob was totally on point. Adam Shankman Jakob is the biggest shoo-in for the Top 10 they've ever had. He also says he was one of the people who didn't believe in Ashleigh and that now he's a believer.

Karen and Kevin are doing Broadway with Spencer Liff. In rehearsal, they talk about how this routine is so difficult and complex and what trouble they're having with it. Liff interviews that he frankly thought it was going to be a cakewalk, and he was wrong. The performance is OK, but with all that buildup about how hard it was, it seems somewhat subdued. Still entertaining, though. Nigel welcomes Spencer to the show. He says it was a style that required humor in their performance. He says this was the first time she wasn't supposed to be sexual, and she didn't bring that humor or personality to it in that place. Yet, Nigel thinks Kevin brought even less to the stage, character-wise. Mary agrees that it needed to be so much more. "The whole thing seemed nice, and safe," she says. Adam says it was a challenging blend of movements and that it was amazing to watch Kevin get through it so well. He adds that he liked seeing Karen having to perform without being in "tigress" mode. He says it was a bump, but they are great.

Russell and Noelle are working with Eddie Simon on a second foxtrot, only this time, Noelle gets to perform it (she was injured last week, if you've lost track). Their dance is somehow smooth and groovy, and they're engaging with the audience more, too. Nigel says this was a whole new foxtrotting Russell, so much better than week one. He says Russell is a star and never ceases to amaze him. To Noelle, he says that she fights to get out of Russell's shadow, and she's getting there. Mary says Russell is so far outside his style, but he didn't look worried at all. She goes on to praise Noelle's technique and movement, saying how proud she is of them. Adam says the performance was exuding joy and confidence. He says it was fantastic and he loves them.

Channing and Victor are doing jazz with Tyce DiOrio, portraying blackbirds coming out to play. Tyce keeps giggling devilishly in the interview segment. It's cool and fun and weird, but there is a part in the middle that seems kind of ... normal, whereas in the rest, they are clearly portraying birds. It's like they break character, except that it seems like a problem in the routine, not in them. Nigel says this is the first time it looked like Channing enjoyed her performance, and thus he enjoyed it more. He says Victor hasn't shown as much growth as some of the other guys, saying he needs to keep pushing himself. Mary found it playful and quirky and she loved it. Adam says Channing is finding her way into the show, at last. He adds that the music alienated him a bit from the performance, but he got into it. He and Mary both agree with Nigel on the idea that Victor needs to continue to raise his performance level.

Kathryn and Legacy work with Tony Meredith on the paso doble. They bring passion and power to their characters on the stage, but I can't speak to their technique. As a regular old viewer, I'm pretty impressed overall, though they have a bit of strangeness with their last lift and the final move. Nigel says Kathryn is much improved from last week's juvenile performance, adding that she was absolutely magnificent. He says Legacy is always practicing, even in the hallway. He says that hunger, passion and need for knowledge is going to push him into the Top 10. Mary says Kathryn played it just right and that Legacy is "just crazy again this week." She's particularly impressed with his character and his growth. Adam says Kathryn killed it (in a good way) and Legacy is crushing the competition.

We get an update on the Dizzy Feet Foundation in the meantime.

Ellenore and Ryan are working with Travis Wall (WOOT!) on a contemporary routine. First off, Travis is amazing -- three seconds into this routine, and I'm riveted. And these two are great in this -- Ryan annoys me some, but his brute strength is helpful, and Ellenore brings a lot of character and personality, too. Nigel says there is a lot of luck -- that last week, they had an awful routine (sorry to the choreographer) and this week, they so lucked into having Travis. He says they also benefited from Ryan's hours in the gym -- that the lifts didn't show the preparation. He also says that Ellenore is "the sharpest tool in the box" according to the choreographers. He means tool in a good way. Mary says Ellenore is having star quality moments, for her beauty and her technique and her ability to get into the characters. She says that Ryan is an inspiration to ballroom kids who are afraid to get off the circuit and try something new. She gets so emotional she can barely speak. Adam says SYTYCD has just kicked in with the combination of Ellenore, Ryan and Travis.

The last couple of the night is Mollee and Nathan, and they better be good, following that last routine. They are doing pop-jazz with LaurieAnn Gibson. It's good, entertaining, fun. But it's just not at the same emotional level as the previous performance, and I think they suffer from that. Nigel says they dug much deeper this week than during last week's salsa, and adds that Mollee has the potential to be a great professional. He adds that Nathan is extremely talented, but that he needs to show growth because he has the potential to be one of the best dancers they have ever had on this show. Mary says it's good to have the dream team back again after scaring them half to death last week. Adam says he's with the other two on the props, but he wants to talk strategy. He tells Nathan that seeing him say in the interview about how he always got whatever he wanted was bad because this won't come easy to them. He wants the choreographers to push them to engage the audience more.

What did you think about the night's performances? There were some great moments from just about everyone, but I think it's pretty obvious that Karen and Kevin will be in trouble. 

 

Last week, we all had some confusion about why Shay Sorrells didn't get her makeover moment at the end of The Biggest Loser. Still not sure why that didn't happen, but she's kept on progressing. Here's video from the Today show this morning, featuring Shay, who has lost an additional 50 pounds since getting voted out, and Daniel Wright, who was also expelled during last week's double eviction:

 

 

I'm getting a late start on this recap thanks to the Ravens game, so this might be a little more concise than usual. But hey, maybe that's not a bad thing?

Anyway, it's semifinal time already. Except that when we see the opening credits, it feels like this season has been on forevah!

First up are Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson with the tango. He gets advice from Gilles Marini that he should make everyone uncomfortable. It makes sense in context, but Donny's on the cute end of the spectrum, Gilles at the sultry end, so what works for Gilles won't necessarily work for Donny. It's OK, not great, but the ending maneuver doesn't quite work. Donny sits down on the floor on the way to judging because he is so mad at himself. Head judge Len Goodman says his Argentine tango a couple of weeks ago was great, but this was not. Bruno Tonioli says he lost it completely and it went to pieces. Carrie Ann Inaba says there wasn't push and pull or light and shade, but he did handle the "costume misfortunes" of getting stuck in Kym's dress pretty well. Scores: 7-7-7, for a 21/30.

Next are Derek Hough and Joanna Krupa with the Viennese waltz. They look lovely (I even love Joanna's dress, and I usually think the costumes are pretty awful and gaudy). They are also helped by dancing to "Hallelujah," one of the best songs ever-ever. Bruno says this waltz had the grace of angels in heaven, but there was a slight hesitation throughout. Still, he says, fantastic. Carrie Ann says she was so raw at the beginning, and she has grown so much. Len says their hold when they are together is amazing, and that there was a little weirdness, but mostly it was a beautiful dance. Scores: 9-9-9, for a 27/30.

 

 

Kelly Osbourne and Louis Van Amstel have the rumba for their first dance. Kelly has to do a solo in part of the dance, and she doesn't look super comfortable in that part, but the rest is done well. Sharon is jumping up and down in the audience; it's so cute. Carrie Ann says she totally gets it, and that she was brought to tears by her performance. Len say she has turned into an "absolutely competent dancer," but he doesn't think this was her best. Bruno agrees that she's endearing, but that the rumba should have a relentless sense of eroticism and this didn't. Scores: 8-8-8, for a 24/30.

Mya and Dmitry Chaplin dance the waltz for their first performance of the night. Their dance is just breathtaking and, yes, in a different league than everything else we've seen tonight. Gorgeous. Len says he loved it and it had romance and total control. "It was an absolute joy to watch." "That was love set to music," says Bruno. Carrie Ann says she loved it too, but that she has the potential to get 10s every single week and she thinks they lacked a hair of connection in their hold. Everyone boos. Scores: 9-9-10, for a 28/30.

Donny and Kym return for the samba. Booty-shaking notwithstanding, this style is much more in Donny's comfort zone. He looks confident again! Mr. Heart on His Sleeve cheers for himself afterward. Bruno says he came back and nailed it. Carrie Ann says this was better but it felt a little sloppy. Len agrees with Bruno and says this was a metamorphosis. Scores: 8-9-9, for a 26/30, for a 47/60 total.

Joanna and Derek dance the cha-cha-cha. Augh, why the return of the fringed pants? The performance is OK, but it seems a little slow, a little restrained. Carrie Ann says they did a great job. Len says it was clean, quick and had great rhythm, but could have been more cheeky. Bruno calls her "natural sex" and says she has set a very high standard. Scores: 9-9-9, for a 27/30, and a 54/60 total.

Kelly and Louis dance the quickstep for round two. Holy speediness, Batman. They are ALL OVER THE PLACE to "99 Red Balloons," and the crowd is in love. Len says two people loved that: "your mum and me." Bruno says she was like Speedy Gonzales, though she missed one teesy step. Carrie Ann says she nailed it and that she stayed with Louis the whole time. Scores: 9-9-9, for a 27/30 and a total 51/60.

Mya and Dmitry are next with the salsa. In the intro segment, Mya calls her self "this Maryland girl," and I'm like, hey, wait a minute ... did I miss a local this whole season? But everything I have read about her places her in the D.C. area. Now I'm confused. They dance to a supercharged version of "La Isla Bonita," and it's FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC. So fast, so amazing, so good. Bruno: "SEN-SA-TION-AL!" Carrie Ann says it was hot beyond belief and that it was good -- and complicated. Len says he was mesmerized by her buttocks (I swear that's a direct quote). He says she should absolutely be in the finale. Scores: 30/30, for a 58/60.

Last is the "knockout round," in which the couples choose the style and the song, for total creative control.

Kym and Donny do the jitterbug. It's goofy fun, fast and silly, and thankfully shorter than the first two rounds. Carrie Ann says he has his mojo back. Len says two out of three isn't bad. Bruno says he's recharged. Scores: 9-9-9, for a 27/30, and a 74/90 total.

Joanna and Derek take on salsa. It's fun, too, but I feel kind of bad for them doing salsa after Mya's amazing performance. I'm a little worried that Joanna is going to shake herself right out of her outfit. Len says it was hot. Bruno says it was delicious and flirtatious. Carrie Ann says she generates heat and that it was excellent. Scores: 9-9-9, for a 27/30 and an 81/90.

Kelly and Louis cha cha to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." It's so cute, but it seems short compared to the others. Bruno says she had precise timing and finishing all her moves. Carrie Ann says she did a great job, especially with her hands. Len says she did three dances to a high level this evening. Scores: 9-9-9, for a 27/30 and 78/90.

Last we've got Mya and Dmitry also with the cha cha. More fast, more fun. Carrie Ann says it wasn't speaking to her. Len says he was disappointed because he wanted it to go on a bit longer. Bruno says it was like an action-packed trailer for a blockbuster. Scores: 9-10-10, for a 29/30 and a total 87/90.

OK, so who is cut tomorrow night? I feel like it should be Donny or Kelly but won't be because of their fan bases. I think Mya's probably safe with those amazing scores and that fab salsa will get people on the phone. So ... Joanna maybe?

What do you think?

 

 

 

Just a warning that my Dancing With the Stars recap will be a little late thanks to the Ravens' Monday Night Football game. (I know, I know, it's crazy that we're a one-TV household.) But I'll get it posted as soon as possible.

Bucky's back with a rundown on last night's muddy episode of The Amazing Race.  

This week’s leg of The Amazing Race begins with the Globetrotters, who finished first last week, departing at 2:23 a.m. to catch a ferry for a 16-hour ride across the Baltic Sea to Estonia.  They get to the ferry terminal and find that the next ferry leaves at 5:45 p.m.  This means, I calculate in my head, that they will arrive in Estonia almost a day and a half after they left the previous pit stop, even though it’s not all that far from Sweden to Estonia.  Why do the producers do that?

We learn that Sam and Dan have made up and agreed that bickering is no way to compete, which means that more bickering is on the way, I think.  We also learn that Matt has worn his black bandana, a signal to the other teams that he and his father mean business and are in the race to win it. 

In Estonia, the teams have to take a set of keys, figure out which one opens the door to the clubhouse of a secret Estonian society, go downstairs into the most secret part of the clubhouse and get a candelabra with a room number on it.  Then they are to go to the room and figure out how to read a secret scroll for directions to the next clue box. 

All the teams start working on this task, except for Gary and Matt, who have to perform their penalty Speed Bump for not being eliminated last week.  This turns out to be less like a penalty and more like a short vacation:  Take a five-minute sauna on a “saunabus,” which is just what it sounds like — a sauna on a bus.  Matt, however, walks around asking “What’s a saunabus?”  (That’s OK … I didn’t know there were places where they have saunas on buses, either.)  They eventually figure out what it is, find it and get into the sauna, where Matt is seated next to a very attractive Finnish girl dressed in a towel.  She looks at Matt with her sky-blue eyes and asks, “Why are you wearing that dorky black bandana?”  Ha Ha ha.  No she didn’t.  I just made that up.

Back at the secret clubhouse, all the teams eventually figure out how to read the scrolls and head to Pikk Hermann Tower Garden (the destination revealed when the scroll is held up to a candle) to find their next clue.  (Here I should point out that, for some reason, the wax thing with a wick is spelled “can-d-l-e” while the thing that holds them is spelled “can-d-e-l-abra”.  I hate the English language.)

 

The teams depart the secret clubhouse.  Gary and Matt finish the Speed Bump, depart the saunabus and head to the clubhouse, where Matt wanders around asking, “What’s a candelabra?”  I think maybe the black bandana is tied a little too tightly.  (However, during a commercial, I call Bucky Jr. and ask if he knows what a candelabra is.  He doesn’t.  Maybe it’s just because I’m old enough to remember Liberace that I do.) (Note from SKK: But, despite the weird spelling issue, it's not that big of a jump from candalabra to candle, right? When Matt was asking people if they were the "canDAluhBRA," I was cringing almost as bad as when hardly anyone could spell Chekhov last season.)

At the Gardens, the teams get their Detour choice:  Serve (play volleyball with some locals) or Sling (shoot a slingshot at a moose target).  They all choose Serve (and Cheyne informs us that Megan played volleyball in high school while he “has played some beach volleyball.”)

Megan & Cheyne arrive at the volleyball courts first and find they are really big mud (we think) pits.  However this doesn’t seem to hamper Megan and she beats the locals pretty much single-handedly, while that dope Cheyne moans, “I’m really tired.”  They head down a narrow wooden walkway to the Pit Stop.

Sam & Dan and the Globetrotters, who ended up sharing a taxi (and not willingly) arrive next.  Brian and Ericka arrive last and, since there are only two volleyball mud-pits, decide to switch to Sling rather than waiting for a volleyball court to open up.

Meanwhile, back at the clubhouse, Matt figures out what a “candelabra” is, finds the scroll, figures out how to read it, but doesn’t read the “Garden” part of the directions.  So they go to Pikk Hermann Tower and waste valuable time trying to figure out how to get in the tower.  Eventually they stumble onto the Detour clue and head off to do Sling.

Back at the mud-pits, neither the Globetrotters nor Sam & Dan are having a very easy time of it.  Sam & Dan seem to get points only when the local opponents miss, while Big Easy is totally mired in the mud, so his local opponents keep serving to him.  Finally, however, they win and head to the pit stop … BUT THEY HEAD THE WRONG WAY DOWN THE NARROW WOODEN WALKWAY!  They make this mistake even though neither of them is wearing a black bandana!

Sam & Dan win shortly thereafter and head the right way to the Pit Stop.  When the Globetrotters see this, they run, catch up to Sam & Dan and much elbowing occurs.  Somehow Sam & Dan survive the pushing and shoving to arrive at the Pit Stop first.  Phil brings Big Easy and Flight Time up on the mat, too.  He wants to see a rumble.  (Does anybody call it a “rumble” anymore?)  Words are exchanged, Big Easy says he is “6’3” and 260 pounds and a serious fracas is foreshadowed for a future episode.

Brian & Ericka complete the Sling Detour and are next to finish.

Finally, Gary & Matt arrive at the Detour, and Matt wanders around asking, “What’s a moose?”  No, he didn’t.  I made that up, too.  Gary & Matt finish this leg in last place and are eliminated.

I’m sad.

Who are you rooting for now?  I’d like to cheer for Megan and Cheyne, except I know that if they win, Cheyne will keep half the million-dollar prize, even though Megan has completed the last two legs single-handedly.

Oh, and Sam & Dan vs. Big Easy & Flight Time:  who ya got?

 
Thanks to all of the commenters who entered our contest for the most creative quickfire challenge. After much deliberation between Justine and me (now I know how Padma and Chef Tom feel!), we've narrowed the entries down to our favorites. I know we said we'd have 3 winners at first, but since there were so many clever concepts, we expanded it to five winners. Prizes include Season 5 of Top Chef (for all you Hosea fans out there), Season 1 of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (the UK edition), and a cookbook of our choosing from The Baltimore Sun's cookbook library (which may or may not relate to the challenges the winners suggested).

Check out the winners after the jump!

(Photo of Michael Voltaggio serving a recent quickfire dish from bravotv.com)

Our favorite quickfire selection is one of the most basic and useful to the home chef:

Or a $20 mystery basket challenge...30 minutes to create something wonderful from the common ingredients in the basket. If everyone has the same ingredients, the best Chefs dishes should stand out.
Posted by GrayGirl 

Next, this suggestion got at one of our favorite lines of all time (I think Chef Tom said it) -- "Who expects to win Top Chef by making a pasta salad?" 

Since pasta salads tend to get cheftestants eliminated, there could be a QF in which the chefs must produce a tasty and unusual pasta salad.
Submitted by Kathy

Thirdly, this quickfire made us think of what we'd cook to represent Toby. I vote it be something bland and cliche. :)

Draw knives with the judges' names on them - Padma, Tom, Gail, Toby or other former guest judges. The contestants would have to prepare a dish inspired by the person.
Posted by hal

Gotta love a challenge that requires cheftestants to keep a good attitude.

How about making a dessert in 20 minutes without complaining once about it?
Posted by linz 

Last, but never least, this QF tears the cheftestants from their world of fresh-from-the-farm ingredients and makes them cook like the common folk.

Make a meal out of only frozen foods. Meat, veggies, etc. They can be pre-thawed to save time.
Posted by Sarah

We can't thank everyone enough for entering. Keep checking back for our weekly recaps and musings on Top Chef.

(Winners, we'll be sending you an e-mail to make arrangements to get the prize to you.)

Well kids, I'm Kevin Van Valkenburg, sports writer in my spare time, but Project Runway blogger at heart. And as my favorite cheesy Swedish heavy metal band, Europe, would say...

It's the final countdown! (Da da da daaaaa! Da da da da daaaaaa!) It's the final countdown!

This season of Project Runway has been, I think we'd all agree, a bit uneven at best. A little soulless, even, almost like its Los Angeles locale. As much as I've enjoyed it for comedic purposes, ultimately we're left with three designers I can't quite figure out how to love, for either personal or professional reasons. I suppose if I wanted someone interrogated and waterboarded, Irina would be a great ally because she'd never flinch. (If this fashion thing doesn't work out, she definitely has a potential career as a villain-for-hire.) And I guess Carol Hannah is the dorky, but adorable little sister most of us never had. But as we wrap up this season with a two-parter in Bryant Park, I'm going to confess I can't wait for the show to get back to New York full time.

But the saving grace is that the penultimate episode each season -- where Tim Gunn knocks on your door -- is always one of my favorites, so as Michael Buffer would say, let's get ready to rumble recaaaaaap!

This episode begins with Tim and Heidi giving their usual cheery instructions, letting the designers know Tim will be dropping by, blah, blah, blah. But then, something surreal happens. Tim and Heidi go behind the silhouette screen and start freak dancing on one another. I'm nearly at a loss for words. It's like walking in on your parents and catching them passionately making out. I'm going to be traumatized for the rest of the episode.

Cut to talking heads by Althea and Irina, during which they express how much they'd like to murder one another and dump the other’s body in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. But of course, they pretend to be all Babysitter's Club BFFs to one another's faces.

"Althea and Carol Hannah are intimidated. They're expecting me to take the big guns to Bryant Park but I'm brining a tank. I'm taking the whole army," Irina says.

I think it's awesome that Carol Hannah's fantasies growing up probably involved Barbie and Ken sharing a South Carolina beach house and 13 kids, while Irina's seem more likely about leading the Georgian army to victory in battle over the Russians.
Fast forward several months, as the designers need time to put together their collections and Heidi needs time to get pregnant again. Tim begins by visiting Carol Hannah in the suburbs of New York City, where she's staying in a friend's house that looks like it could belong to the Drapers on Mad Men. I bet some nights when she's sewing, CH looks out the window and imagines John Hamm knocking on her door and caressing her check. It's a shame Don Draper seems like more of an Irina kind of guy, but you never know. He might hit it anyways.

Tim -- who, by the way, looks the way Irving Berlin looks in my head -- trudges through the snow, and greets Carol Hannah with a warm hug. She informs Tim she moved to Draperville because there were too many distractions in Charleston, and on the way up North, she stopped by Duke University for inspiration. The result was a purple mess that Tim calls an ice skating outfit. (See, this is what happens when you listen to Mike Krzyzewski, Carol Hannah. FAIL!)

Before Tim departs, he puts on an apron and lends a hand in the kitchen, because Carol Hannah's family has flown in from South Carolina to give him some southern hospitality. Watching Tim delicately make perfect biscuits with a wine glass only makes me wonder if there is anything he can't do. Seriously, the man could out-Martha Martha Stewart while wearing a tailored suit. I wish President Obama would appoint him to be America's Czar of Class and Fabulousness.

Carol Hannah's family talks about her journey from nerdy Southern girl to Project Runway finalist and her dad compliments her in a way that almost makes me cry. (In my defense, Christopher would have been bawling by this point.) Then, she and Tim go make snow angels in the front yard. At least that's how I'll choose to remember it.

Cut to the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where Tim is visiting Irina. She buzzes him in to her fourth floor walk-up instead of meeting him at the front door, which I can only assume is a power play. Irina's dog Princess meets Tim at the door and tries to warn Tim that Irina plans to tie him up and torture him into liking her designs, but Tim is either unafraid of the danger that lurks inside Irina's lair, or he doesn't speak poodle. I can't tell.

Irina tells us she's been making T-shirts inspired by Coney Island, where she grew up after her parents moved from The Republic of Georgia. Seriously, Coney Island? Was Irina's dad a carney? This is so disappointing. I always assumed he was like an arms trader or a thumb breaker for the Georgian mafia. I suppose he still could have been a point shaver who worked with Stephon Marburry. That would make me feel a little better.

The rest of Irina's collection looks pretty solid, although it has a lot of fur for my tastes. Tim meets up with Irina's friends and family at a restaurant, and it turns out that she has an equally beautiful sister. It makes me wonder if Lifetime would ever consider a “Keeping Up With The Shabayevas” reality show. I would totally watch that with Irina's dad, Aron, playing the Bruce Jenner role. He is everything I hoped he would be. The producers flash a picture of him holding his daughter at one point, and he was rocking a perfect Tom Selleck mustache.

Even though Irina's family speaks pretty passable English, Project Runway still decides to use subtitles when they talk, which seems a little offensive. Irina's mom recounts a conversation with her daughter she had recently where Irina mentioned she was stressed out, and Marianna Shabayeva told her "You have to win. You have no choice." It's hard to tell if this was meant as encouragement or as a threat. I guess it was lost in translation.

A handsome African-American gentleman sits next to Irina during the entire lunch, but he is neither identified nor allowed to speak. I assume he's Irina's boyfriend, but she has frightened him into silence. 

Next, it's off to Ohio where Tim is visiting Althea. For some reason, her studio is in the dingy loft (or basement, I'm somewhat unclear) of an industrial warehouse and I'm briefly worried that Tim might be walking into the Dayton, Ohio version of Fight Club. (Look out Tim! Althea's other personality might be evil Kenley Collins!)

Althea shows off her designs by trying some them on for Tim, which seems like the kind of advantage Jay McCarroll never had in Season 1. Tim doesn't seem too impressed with whatever it is Althea's doing, and honestly, neither am I. At one point, we see a sequined top that I bet Liza Minelli would love. I guess she'll just have to copy whatever Irina comes up with once she gets to New York.

At Althea's parents’ house, we meet her boyfriend, who seems to have borrowed a sweater from LaVar Burton's dressing room on the Reading Rainbow set. We do see some pretty cute pictures of Althea as a kid, and I briefly feel bad for not liking her very much. I quickly get over it though because I'm a bit unnerved by how much Althea's dad looks like Bob Bowman, Michael Phelps' swim coach. Having spent the last several years covering Phelps, I suddenly wish he could have been a guest judge this season, just because seeing him sit unshaven and sneering next to Zooey Glassner would have made my day. He couldn't be any worse that Lindsey Lohan.

Uh oh! Seems Irina can't use her Coney Island T-shirt design because it's trademarked and the producers think that will be a form of cheating. What a delicious bit of irony. J'accuse, Ms. Shabayeva! The alleged victim of design theft has been unmasked as a perp herself!

Even though Irina and Althea hate one another's guts, when they both arrive in NYC at the same time, they kiss one another on the cheek the way Tony Soprano and Phil Leotardo used to greet one another. They're staying at the Grand Hyatt, which seems like a bad choice by the Project Runway producers. That's a lot of Marriott points they're missing out on.

Irina and Althea sit down on the couch to wait for Carol Hannah to arrive. Here is a rough transcript of their awkward conversation:

Irina: Where do think Carol Hannah is? I would like to murder you before she gets here so there are no witnesses.

Althea: That's a good question. I hope Carol Hannah is O.K., and that she gets here soon so I can recruit her in a plot to asphyxiate you in your sleep. 

Tim finally arrives to inform the dueling divas that Carol Hannah has a stomach virus that is contagious. You can immediately see the compassion drain from both their faces as the prospect of Carol Hannah passing along her illness to them becomes apparent. 

"What if it's only two people?" Althea asks Irina after Tim departs.

"If it's just the two of us? We'll either become best friends or the worst enemies," Irina says.

Hmm. Which one to bet on? Such a tough call.

Cut to the workroom at Parson's. Oh New School, how we've missed you. And guess what? Carol Hannah arrives! She says she's spent the last two days barfing into a toilet. Irina and Althea nod with fake sympathy. Tim checks in to comment on the designers’ collections, and he turns up his nose (thankfully) at Althea's Liza Minelli tribute.

"Maybe if your grandmother were here, she could wear this," Tim says. Oh snap!

But Tim isn't done. He says Althea's collection has no cohesion because, while some of it looks fashion-forward, other parts of it look "borderline Hillary Clinton." Wait, is Tim suggesting Althea's clothes are what you wear if you want to make up a story on the campaign trail about dodging sniper bullets in Bosnia? I wish Gordana was here to set me straight.

Tim gives Carol Hannah some ho-hum advice, and she seems like she'll be mostly O.K., but the real entertainment comes when he gets a look at Irina's unfinished collection. It seems to have been inspired by Cormac McCarthy's novel, The Road. It's black on black with black trim. Even her two gray pieces, which I guess are supposed to lighten the mood, remind me of ash and soot and end of days.

This episode is so stuffed with awesome that I'm afraid I'm going to have breeze past the model casting. Here is a quick summary: All three designers chose tall, skinny girls. I didn't see that one coming.

Well, well, guess which fashion-crime fighting team is back together again and paying a surprise visit to our designers? Michael Kors and Nina Garcia. I'm suddenly liking Irina's chances a lot more since both Michael and Nina are dressed in black from head to toe. But I start having second thoughts when it appears that Nina and Irina are eyeing one another like jungle cats.

Michael then says something that I'm fairly confident is not so much design advice as it is his erotic Hugh Jackman fantasy. I swear to God, this is his verbatim quote: "In a weird way, think about taking us on a ride. The first look has to wow us. Wake us up! But then, let us take a breath. Down, up, down, up."

Nina warns Irina that an all-black collection will be difficult to judge editorially. And of course, Irina takes this advice to heart and vows to switch things up, because she knows somewhere down in her cold, black heart that Nina is right.

Just kidding!

"I disagree with Nina about having an all-black collection," Irina says. "I know she's a judge, but color just doesn't fit in with what I'm doing. I think I'm going to keep it the way it is."

There is a brief model fitting, and then a non-surprise surprise that everyone should have seen coming: Heidi arrives to inform the designers that they have to create one more look for the runway show. (At this point, wouldn't you just have an extra outfit stuffed in your bag? This has only happened the last five seasons.) Also, because Lifetime still needs to drum up a plot for Models of the Runway, the designers’ models will be casting for the 13th look. Somehow Heidi manages to convey all of this without cue cards, but the delivery is not pretty. She seems uncomfortable interacting with designers when they're not bending down to kiss her cheeks auf wiedersehen.

But wait! Another non-surprise surprise! Gordana, Logan and Christopher are here to help with the final outfit. The only suspense with the pairings was which designer was going to pick Logan first, Althea or Carol Hannah, and it turns out to be Althea. Chin Beard -- I'm sorry, Christopher -- ends up with Carol Hannah and the different generations of Bond Girl villains, Irina and Gordana, are again reunited. (Reunited and it feels so evil!)

Heidi and Tim kiss on the lips before Heidi leaves, and it's just as awkward as it was when they were freak dancing at the beginning of the episode. If I were Seal, I'd insist on DNA testing for his and Heidi's next kid, especially if it comes out with silver hair and impeccable taste in suits. 

Quick trip to Mood. Running, running, no one helping. (Glad to see the staffers at Mood: NYC are as haughty and lazy as the ones in Mood: L.A.)

Bryant Park looms, and the episode ends with Carol Hannah ralphing into the toilet. Althea puts ice on her neck, and then in the preview for next week, we get a shot of Heidi dressed like Cindy McCain in a gaudy pink pantsuit. Considering this was filmed last fall during the election, to me it looks like Heidi backed the wrong horse. Whose fashion-forward now, Heidi? We all know Michelle Obama Purple is in. Which means, unfortunately, you're out.

Until next week!

It's the final countdown! (Da da da daaaaa! Da da da da daaaaa!)

 

The first moment of pride in tonight's Survivor comes, surprisingly, when Natalie kills a rat for the tribe to eat. Jaison interviews how proud he is of her and how much she's changed. It's all a little ... odd. But man, they enjoy that rat!

The reward challenge is so complex that it takes even Jeff a couple of minutes to describe. The 11 people split into teams of five, with one person (Natalie) sitting out. The tribe that wins will go to a natural rock slide and eat a ton of food. Natalie has to choose a team to support, and if that team wins, she gets to go on the reward.

She picks yellow (which features Jaison and Russell and Mick). They lose, purple wins. (Shades of the rest of the entire season!)

At the reward, Kelly reveals that she is so scared of water slides. And yet, unlike some people, she goes for it anyway. At their feast, they learn that there is a new hidden immunity idol at camp. Hey, it turns out that no one from Foa Foa is on the winning team (Figures!), so they choose not to share that information with Foa Foa.  They all say they want Russell out, except that Shambo doesn't want him to leave.

Speaking of Russell, back at camp, he is on a mission to find that idol without a clue. AND HE DOES IT! He's like an Idol Savant! He says he's not going to tell anybody. So of course he tells Shambo. They plan for the Galu folks to cast all their votes for Russell, then he will play the idol so they will take out Laura.

The immunity challenge contains these keywords: bags, pegs, grappling hooks, rope, sequence, etc.

In the first round, it comes down to Russell and Laura to get the last spot in the second round and Laura just edges him out. She gets a slow start on the second round (against Mick and Shambo), but she figures it out in a way the other two don't and she smokes them. Laura wins immunity! Shambo and Russell watch their dream die.

The Evil Russell Alliance decides to go for Kelly. Oh, and Russell tells everyone else about the idol. He is smart about some things, not about others.

Monica starts to wonder about whether they've found the other idol, and Dave is like, "We can't worry about that right now." John points out that if he were them, he would have been looking for it like crazy. "It's not rocket science," he says. He, in case you've forgotten, is a rocket scientist, but it's still not quite as funny as it should be. Maybe because I can barely remember his name? They talk about how maybe they will vote for Natalie, and Russell is walking by. They were actually going back and forth on whether to vote for Natalie first or Russell first. Russell gets supremely paranoid, but can you blame him?

At tribal council, they talk about how voting for Erik cemented the tribe unity. He looks like he is barely able to follow the no-jury-talking rule. 

The TC talk is basically about how old tribal lines still exist and yes, the Foa Foa folks are looking for cracks among the Galu folks.

Before the votes are read, Russell plays the immunity idol, and the Galu folks look shocked. But they don't look upset, per se, so I'm thinking they went for Natalie. But the first vote is for Russell, and then they start to look upset. When the first vote for Kelly comes up, Monica looks relieved. Kelly is out.

So with Shambo flipped, it's a 5-5 game. It's actually close. Who would have thought??

Can we talk for a minute about how awkward it is that they show the Survivor Family Moment right after the person gets voted out? It's like, "Yay, we are rooting so hard for you, and you're going to rock!" Except that, whoops, the person is not really rocking.

Oh, and by the way, the last bomb dropped is that yes, the immunity idol is going back into play. Next week looks amazing!

 

 

Welcome back, readers. Justine and Liz are back and glad to see you survived last week's boring reunion snoozefest (we sat through it so you didn't have to). Our hopes are high for this week's episode since the previews showed Padma in a bathrobe, and we're hoping to see the last of Robin this week. But nothing's ever a guarantee on Top Chef.

Enough bashing the reunion show. On to the cooking! 

(Photo of Padma relaxing in a fluffy bathrobe from bravotv.com)

We open with Bryan missing his son – his 22-month-old Thatcher (how'd he come up with that name?) called him by his first name. Justine thought kids didn't start doing that till they were teenagers. We hope Bryan stays strong and doesn't let missing his family make his cooking flounder as so many in the past have.

A fashion moment: Eli wears ripped undershirts. (Liz, of course, swoons)

Quickfire

The chefs go to the Venetian and they get a phone call from Padma who wants room service. They get half an hour and whatever they can find in the kitchen, and they have to serve the food in the suite to Padma and guest judge Nigella Lawson. Eli calls Nigella “legit,” so you know it's somebody you should've heard of (also, she's hot).

Eli says he's not up early and makes a “great hangover breakfast” with his reuben benedict, Nigella says.

Michael is in the second pair of cheftestants to cook in the small kitchen, and he's stuck using Robin's station. Robin left the place a mess, so Michael says he spent 5 min. cleaning and then had only 20 min. left to actually cook.

Liz is most impressed that Michael can break an egg with one hand. Robin and Michael have a little tiff because he's trying to hurry and plate and she's in the way. Despite his distractions in the kitchen, Michael's huevos cubano seems to go over well.

Kevin the Bearded One makes steak and eggs. We're impressed that he has a coffee powder on the beef. He never ceases to amaze us, with his beard or his cooking.

Jen is making cream-chipped beef, or s**t on a shingle as she grew up knowing it. Bryan is making an 4-minute egg with polenta. What is with him and polenta? He's made it for several challenges. Nigella isn't too impressed with Jen's chipped beef. The vanilla is too strong in Bryan's dish, Nigella says. Darn.

On the bottom: Bryan and Robin

On the top: Kevin and Eli (the rueben had “wit”! Liz cheered)

The winner was Eli! (“Weeee!” says Liz)

Eli gets his recipe in the Top Chef Quickfire cookbook (the only one from this season). We figure the cookbook will be out just in time for holiday shoppers. Crafty product placement, Bravo.

Elimination

The cheftestants get to go on a field trip somewhere other than Whole Foods -- they have to create a dish inspired by a casino. They draw knives with the names of casinos on them, and they have to cater for 175 elite guests. (Eli has the crappiest casino of all time: Circus Circus – does that mean he has to make a dish inspired by really crappy hotel rooms?)

It surprises us that Bravo has taken this long to really incorporate Vegas into the show (and no, the actual showgirls at the beginning don't count because they were on the screen about 12.3 seconds).

Michael V. gets New York, New York casino, and he wants to give a tribute to the firefighters of the city. Liz, a New York State native, is upset when he says he wants to make chicken wings as a tribute to New York City firefighters. Chicken wings were originated in Buffalo, which is super far away from NYC. Liz doesn't doubt a NYC firefighter wouldn't appreciate a good wing, but there are many iconic New York City foods that would have fit the challenge better. <end rant>

Jen wears a camo tank top and goes to what looks like Medieval Times (except it's called Tournament of Kings). She has at least two rows to herself (Justine thinks the patrons were afraid of her camo tanktop). It seems like she's had a few too many giant beers to really get any inspiration by the Excalibur casino.

Bryan goes to Mandalay Bay and notices the shark reef and aquarium. There's a sign about sustainable fishing and gets inspired. On his way out, he gets a little shark for his son. Totally adorable. 

Robin considers herself an artist and loves the glass exhibits at the Bellagio. (Also, after she draws the Bellagio knife, she says she doesn't know anything about the casino. Hello! It's only one of the most expensive and iconic places on the strip! You knew it was Top Chef: Las Vegas. Do some research before you leave home.)

Bearded Kevin goes to the Mirage and mentioned how it seems like a tropical oasis. HE PETS A DOLPHIN! He says he's committed to slow foods … but we're not sure what that means. He doesn't believe in flashy food, but then he watches fire over the water. You can't escape flashy in Vegas, David the Gnome.

Eli enters Circus Circus and it's definitely the crappiest casino. Eli syas he didn't see one restaurant in the whole place, but Michael V. says they weren't supposed to go to the casinos to be inspired by the food served there. It seems Michael V. is jealous because he thinks Eli's casino has a clear theme that would be fun.

Did you catch the moment in the kitchen where Jen asks Michael V. to be her prince charming?!

Michael V. tries Robin's panna cotta and says it tastes like PB&J. Eli thinks that's “groovy groovy groovy.” Is that going to be your new catch phrase, because it'll be ours.

Judges' table

On the top: Kevin, Michael and Bryan

Kevin made sockeye salmon and there were many “mmms.” The tomato water was “stunning,” says Tom. The compressed vegetables were bright and flavorful.  

Michael's boneless chicken wing worried Liz for a while, but the judges liked it (except for Toby, but nobody cares about him). Michael made chicken wings that Tom said were “better than what we're used to.” Toby called his food “effeminate.” Get a life, Toby. 

Bryan made halibut, and the judges said the dish has “fantastic balance” and even Toby likes it (OK, so Justine appreciates his opinion when it benefits her TV husband). Nigella said his dish was “quiet and elegant.”

The winner is Michael. He wins a giant bottle of wine and a trip to the Terlato vineyard. (They zoomed in dramatically on the wine as the winners walked back into the stew room. Take that product placement, losing cheftestants!)

On the bottom: Jen, Robin and Eli (so few cheftestants left that everyone goes to judges' table) 

Jen's "sword in the stone" beef didn't go over well – the meat was tough. She says she didn't have a clear vision of what she wanted to do. Tom suggested that she use more spices, and Nigella says it was too tough that she couldn't saw through it. (In the stew room Jen says she's ready to go. She's been defeatist for weeks now. Judges, grant her her wish.)

Robin's stained glass panna cotta had “glass” sugar that didn't work, but she talked to the judges about it while she was first serving the dish and even showed it to them (but didn't put it on the plate). That was kinda weird. Random comparison of panna cotta to a 17th-century courtesan's thigh from that minx Nigella. That was also weird. The judges agreed that panna cotta is easy to make and she couldn't make it.

Eli made a caramel apple and peanut soup with popcorn on top. Padma didn't like it at all, and the texture didn't quite work. Toby's canned line of the night is “Like most people who've come to Vegas, he gambled and lost.” (Liz bets that when they told him the season was to be set in Vegas, he spent a week crafting one-liners that we'd all groan at.) The textures ruined the dish, Tom said. Padma didn't like the flavors and said she'd never like to eat it again. (Was the soup hot, or was it chilled? We couldn't tell, not that it would have been much more palatable one way or the other.)

AND ROBIN IS DONE! (Insert cheers of glee that could only be matched by the week Jerkface Mike packed his knives.)

Both Eli and Jen breathe a sigh of relief. Robin cries and says she deserves to be on the show. Robin has somewhat redeemed herself in Liz's eyes though because her poor showing saved Eli from an elimination.

Predictions

Who's going home next: Liz and Justine are in agreement that Jen may be the next to go. The competition is not going well for her, and a few times she's said she wants to go home. Top chefs don't have that kind of defeatest attitude, even though we're not saying the pressure of being on a national cable show wouldn't get to us. Liz thinks Jen may even get to the point where she asks to be sent home. 

Favorites: Our loyalties have not wavered. Justine backs Bryan; Liz wants Bearded Kevin to take it all. 

As a special treat for our loyal commenters, check out the contest we posted earlier this week where you could win DVDs of Top Chef Season 5 or Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, or a special treat from The Baltimore Sun cookbook library. All you've got to do is share with us a creative idea for an original quickfire challenge (we promise we didn't know Bravo was going to be putting out a cookbook compiling the best QF recipes!). To read the rules and enter, click here. 

Discussion 

What souvenirs would you get from Vegas for a 22-month-old? What's your favorite Las Vegas casino, and what dish would you make that was inspired by it? Which judge (guest or regular) would you like to share room service and fluffy bathrobes with?

(P.S. Did you see that Padma's a guest on 30 Rock this week? So excited!)

Finally, now that we're past the problematic baseball part of the So You Think You Can Dance season, viewer votes are playing a role in who goes home tonight.

The first real results show of the season opens with a crazy group number by choreographer Dave Scott featuring the Top 16. It's intense; that's all I'm saying.

After some babble with the judges, it's results time, and the first three couples come to the stage. Ellenore and Ryan are in the bottom three, we learn right off the bat. Victor and Channing are safe, and so are Legacy and Kathryn.

There's a segment that's like Jaywalking crossed with product placement. Goofy.

Then, more results: Ashleigh and Jakob are safe. Peter and Pauline are in danger, and Noelle and Russell are safe. Commercials, then more. Karen and Kevin learn that they're in the bottom three, and Mollie and Nathan find out that they're safe.

Nigel makes it known that he didn't like Nathan's immature response to judging last night (when he said, "I though it was hoooooooot!").

Dancers from Alvin Ailey perform, and duh, they are amazing.

Then, it's solo time. Ellenore reminds us of how quirky she is in hers. Ryan goes crazy on the floor, but he ends with a backflip that he almost doesn't make. Pauline's solo is OK, but it has a lot of walking for as short as it is. (Speaking of short, when she's next to Cat in her crazy heels, Pauline looks like she's about three feet tall.) Peter's tap footwork is amazing, but it does seem a little restrained compared to the rest. Still, he uses as much of the floor and engages the audience as much as he can. Karen gyrates and hip-shakes as much as she can in the time frame. Kevin's style is so interesting, but he has a relatively long stint that is all arms and hands, which feels a tad static. But then he does this crazy move where he basically falls backward that leaves me stunned.

Nigel tells all the dancers that ever single solos were lackluster. While he lectures them, the camera cuts back to the women, and Karen is standing there in a pageant stance. After some notes, Nigel tells Pauline that she is cut. Same thing with the guys, and Peter finds out he's cut, too. Sorry, tap dancers!

What do you think about the results? I'm not that surprised because they had a rough time last night.

 

What a heart-breaker on last night's Biggest Loser.

At the beginning, Allison let the contestants know that something new was happening: There wasn't just a yellow line, but there was also a red line. Whoever fell below the red line with the lowest percentage of weight loss would automatically go home, and then the remaining contestants would vote between the two who fell below the yellow line.

Double! Elimination! No! Voting! (For part of it!)

This caused a lot of panic, of course. And filler -- I swear, half of each episode of TBL is the contestants in one-on-one interviews narrating what we just saw and then recounting their feelings about it. "Allison told us there was a red line, and that's just so scary because that means I have no control." "A red line! My jaw hit the floor when she told us about the red line!" Etc.

It got worse when the pop challenge started. The contestants (well, the non-injured contestants) had to run over to a wall, remove a tennis ball, run back to a can and put the ball in it until they'd removed 50 balls. They learned that whoever won would win a 1-pound advantage in the weigh-in. And this led to more freaking out and more interview filler, a lot of it people doing math. "One pound! Do you know how much one pound can help in the weigh-in? Do you know how much one pound is?" "Two people are going home! That's 25 percent of the contestants! One out of four!" "Allen is halfway there, with 25 of the 50 balls!" It got so bad that my husband, who wasn't even paying attention, starting saying, "One tennis ball! Mua-ha-HA! Two tennis balls! Mua-ha-HA!" a la the Count on Sesame Street. Seriously, this show could be an hour.

Anyway, Allen won the challenge. (This is important later.)

When Bob and Jillian found out about the red line, they freaked out, too. In fact, they cleared the patio so they could talk about what this really means. And what this really means is, they are terrified for Shay because they are concerned for her health and, frankly, whether she's going to live. It almost felt like they were talking around the idea of whether they should give her extra attention, but they never really went there. But Jillian, especially, seemed terrified for her.

At the non-pop challenge, they went to the circus and learned they'd be jumping through hoops, quite literally. There was a hoop representing each contestant, and the other contestants had to leap through them. Once the counter reached 100 on their hoop, that person would be out. So it was one of those ranking challenges, the ones that always cause all sorts of dissension on shows like Survivor.  Shay and Rudy talked briefly at the beginning, with Rudy saying they had a "hoop alliance." But it became obvious that the "youngers" and the "olders" were targeting one another, which put Rudy and Shay on opposite sides. The last three standing were Shay, Rudy and Danny, and I guess Rudy felt he couldn't target Danny since they'd been working together, and Shay freaked. I felt like, on the one hand, she had to see that the group alliances were trumping everything, but on the other, Rudy acted like she totally misunderstood and that they weren't allied. But cue the replay, with the words "hoop alliance."

The last-chance workouts were even more intense and featured more yelling than usual, but everyone had the fear of the red line in their hearts and people worked hard.

At the weigh-in, Allison made a big show of talking to Shay about how she was "only" 17 pounds away from 100 pounds, and that if she reached it, she would be setting a record as the fastest loss of 100 pounds by a woman on campus on the show. (Kristin hit 105 in week 12 last season.) This should have telegraphed that Shay was on her way to a big loss, but somehow it didn't sink in. When 17 -- the number of pounds that she had to lose to hit 100 -- registered on the scale, I was psyched, but no one was happier than Shay, who jumped up and down and looked more genuinely happy than we've seen her all season. It was amazing!

But it only led to the aforementioned heartbreak. As everyone else continued to weigh in, the numbers stayed big and bigger, and Shay, even with 17 pounds gone, kept inching down the leaderboard (along with Amanda, who had a relatively small loss). Last to weigh in was Daniel, and then, poof, with only a 5-pound loss, he was out. And with him went Shay's support system.

This left Amanda and Shay battling it out, and since they were allies, it was even harder. Shay told her remaining fellow players that she needed to be there, for the sake of her life. Amanda had a hard time figuring out what to say in response, but she said she had fought in last season's finale to earn a place on this season and that she'd never stopped fighting.

When the votes came in, it was tied, and it came down to Rudy. He voted for Shay, and she was out. It was like a punch to the gut.

Later, we got Daniel's makeover moment, and the emotional rollercoaster continued, as he met up with his partner from last season, his best friend David. It was painful to watch David say he just doesn't have weight loss as a priority right now because other things are going on and that he doesn't feel unhealthy and that once he does, he'll start working on it. He was clearly defensive and felt judged, and, well, he was being judged by Daniel. I have a feeling these two are going to have to give each other some space for a while.

And then weirdly, we didn't get the makeover moment for Shay. What was up with that?

It's going to be a super quick recap today -- more of a recaplet -- because The Baltimore Sun's blogs will be undergoing maintenance at 10 p.m. for about an hour. Thus, I need to get this posted ASAP. If you can't comment, be patient. Once the work is over, things should be swell.

The judges want to see Joanna Krupa and Derek Hough's futuristic paso doble. I think it's future-tastic.

Who are safe first and in the semifinals? Joanna and Derek.

After a recap of Monday night's competition. Michael Buble performs. But, who's the next couple who makes it to the semifinals?

It's Mya and Dmitry Chaplin. No surprise there, since they got a perfect score last night.

Next up, "DanceCenter." Maryland's own Stacy Keibler, a former contestant, provides some commentary.

Macy's Stars of Dance time. Another former contestant, Sabrina Bryan, and Mark Ballas dance the paso doble in tiger costumes that apparently, you, America, picked. It's to "Eye of the Tiger," which you, America, also apparently picked. I'm not impressed. (Apparently, they had a fling off the show.)

After another performance by Michael Buble, we learn Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson are safe. And because we need to drag out this show, we have "Britain's Got Talent" superstar Susan Boyle, post-makeover, performing the song that made her a Web sensation -- "I Dreamed a Dream" from "Les Miserables." Her voice still rocks.

There will be no dance-off tonight. After another segment of "DanceCenter," we learn the news: Kelly Osbourne and Louis Van Amstel are safe, Aaron Carter and Karina Smirnoff are out.

What do you think of the results?

Finally, it's in the voters' hands on So You Think You Can Dance, now that pesky baseball is out of the way.

(Just a quick technical note, to get it out of the way: The blogs will be down for maintenance starting around 10 p.m., so while you might be able to read, you won't be able to comment during the downtime. Sorry for the difficulty; it sure wasn't my choice of times!)

The stars from last season, who are on tour right now, are in the audience tonight. The tour already stopped in Baltimore, but you can relive the experience in our photo gallery. 

They spend some time pimping the big fund-raiser for the Dizzy Feet Foundation, which you can read more about here. 

Karen and Kevin are first. Karen shares that she tried out with her husband, but he got cut in Vegas. Shortly thereafter, they decided to get a divorce. Ouch. Awkward to have to go public with that already. They're working on the Hustle with Maria Torres. As usual, it kind of feels like Karen is dancing circles around Kevin, though he is definitely there for her on some lifts and tricks. Adam Shankman says they made it work for them, and he disagrees with me and says he noticed Kevin for the first time in this competition. He says he could see their partnership growing. He adds that Karen performed with "wonderful restraint." Mary Murphy calls it a "Sadie Hawkins Hustle, with the lady leading from beginning to end." She credits Kevin with his performance. They're both still on the train. (You know the one.) Nigel Lythgoe says his friends back home must be absolutely shocked and that he himself is absolutely delighted. 

Ashleigh and Jakob share things people don't know about them. Ashleigh says she is a "book nerd" because she got good grades and interned for a congressperson. I find this annoying; real nerds own it, thank you very much. Jakob is really good friends with Jeannine Mason, last season's winner. They are doing jazz with Mandy Moore, and a cane. I want to like this. Really I do. But the prop usage is just really overwrought and labored. Not like they are having trouble with it, but the way the dance is structured. Adam says Ashleigh absolutely deserves to be on this show, and that it's been great watching their partnership grow. He found it to be a mature, studied and fiery performance. Mary agrees that it's a perfect partnership. She, unlike me, loved the prop usage. She calls Ashleigh a chameleon who is getting better every week and says that Jakob is brilliant. Nigel says this comes up to the standard of the table routine with Neil and Sabra. Mmmm ... I don't know about that. That's my all-time favorite, and this just isn't.

 

Pauline and Peter are doing the quickstep (aka the "kiss of death") with JT and Tomas. Peter says it's like a duck on water, with the top half of the body kind of still and the feet just going like crazy. The performance feels a little panicky, like they are so focused on getting the feet that they forget the characters a little. It seems like they just have smiles pasted on their faces rather than any real interaction. Adam welcomes the new choreographers and praises their adorable routine. He says they blew past the technical missteps with lots of character and performance and charisma. Hmm, not sure I'm in the same frame of mind. Mary says she expects a trainwreck with the quickstep, but she thinks they pulled it off. But she thinks the performance was great and full of joy. Nigel says it was not technically perfect, especially the running steps, but he says he didn't care because the performance was so amazing. I'm feeling like I've lost my mind because I felt like the characters weren't really there! But hey, it's not up to me or the judges. It's up to the voters.

Kathryn and Legacy have Broadway with Andy Blankenbeuhler. It's a very fun routine, very 1950s and cute. It is fast, which the dancers indicated they were struggling with a little in rehearsal, but in performance they seem to have it down. Adam loves the routine, but he isn't sure what the deal was with Kathryn's character. He didn't get that she was angry with Legacy, but more about being cute. Still, though, "there was no problem." He says there's no way Legacy should have been able to get through that, but he totally did. He gives him a note to watch some classic dancers for hand technique. Mary thinks it was missing just a little chemistry and that Kathryn got a little lost because Legacy is growing so fast week to week. (Side note: I wish she would stop calling people "brother.") Nigel says he was a little disappointed in Kathryn, like it was a little juvenile compared with her past performances. Regarding Legacy, he says it's like the show is an "alien transmogrifier" turning street dancers into complete dancers. 

Channing and Victor are a new couple, and they are doing contemporary with Stacey Tookey. The dance is about a couple in a struggle in their relationship. It's to "Be Be Love Love" by Rachael Yamagata, a song I literally cannot listen to without crying, so I am kind of already emotionally moved even before they are dancing. But they do really well, especially as a new couple with such an intense story to try to tell. It helps, of course, that it is in their style. But it's just lovely. Adam says this partnership is going to reinvigorate them back into the competition (his weird wording, not mine). He says Victor brought out some softness in Channing and that they both had quality of movement and emotion. "Good job!" Mary says they were beautiful together and that it was tremendous. She says it didn't quite take her to a level where it touched her soul, though. Nigel says he wasn't emotionally carried away by them, but technically, he was. He wanted more from them, though, since it was their style, and next week, they won't be in their style so it will be tougher. 

Ellenore and Ryan are doing hip-hop with Lil C. That is the shortest sentence that Lil C has ever been featured in. Ryan struggles with putting away his proper, ballroom-tutored side to get the appropriate swagger. In the performance, I think it's clear that Ryan's been trying, but his comfort zone is just more dignified, and that keeps kind of rising to the surface now and again. But entertaining, they are. Adam wonders who was more scared, Ryan or Lil C, when they saw who they were working with. He says it's a little hard because they are so nice and Lil C likes to get dirrrrtay. He says, though, that Ryan is the most transformed dancer of the night, crediting him for being able to open his chest and to get up and down from the floor so quickly. "It was not great, but it was really good," he closes. Mary says it wasn't great, but it was good and impressive.  Nigel, however, doesn't think it was good at all, that the style didn't suit them, and neither of them came up to it. He adds that it must have killed Ryan because he seems like someone who needs to be good at everything he does.

Mollee and Nathan drew salsa for the night, and they are working with Gustavo Vargas, a new choreographer on the show. They are doing more of a club salsa. The routine is really interesting -- there are some slowed-down a fluid parts that lead into some of the faster parts, and these two cute little-kid-seeming dancers manage to grow up a little more. It's really fun, though I think they lose their synchronicity a couple of times. Adam tells the audience to get ready to boo. He says it was a bad luck of the draw because it exposed all of their weaknesses, but every other week they were fantastic. He also thinks they will be OK because they are fan favorites. Mary says it wasn't sexified, it was french fried, but they are still the dream team. She doesn't think Nathan was suave enough and Mollee just looked uncomfortable. Nigel says it's a sobering night for a lot of the dancers because weaknesses are getting exposed. He says they started out walking on the wrong feet and it stayed off, plus their chemistry was missing. I'm not a dance expert, so I didn't see as much of the trouble (until they put it in slo-mo and showed it off). I didn't hate it as much as the judges did.

Noelle and Russell close the show with an African jazz routine with Sean Cheesman, in which Russell is a frog and Noelle is an African princess. It's so fast, so interesting, so fun, and they shine where some of the other couples have faltered. I wouldn't have known he was supposed to be a frog without Sean saying it. Adam says it was a curious blend of techniques and lot of joy and character and story to sell with the audience. Mary says it was crazy good and starts talking really loud. She calls Russell the king of Afro-jazz, and then the hot tamale train comes a-screamin'! I want them to wrap this up so I can post it before the blog maintenance starts. Come on, people! Nigel wants Sean to come back with more because he loved it (I'm kind of feeling for Gustavo). He says Russell is a star of this season, no question, and he's so happy Noelle scraped by this week.

What did you think? Let me know! You should be able to post comments after about 11 p.m. EST.

 

 Bravo.com

The Swag Faeries have granted our wish to give you some free stuff for faithfully commenting on our hatred of Jerkface Mike, our impatience with Jen and our swooning over the Brothers Voltaggio.

 The contest is simple: Come up with a great idea for a Quickfire. The idea has to be reasonable and, ideally, great. Delicious helps, too. (Don't expect to see your idea on an upcoming season, though: We have no ins with Bravo producers.)

We have some DVDs and cookbooks to give away to the top three ideas: Top Chef: Season 5, Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, myriad cookbooks and lots o' love. The winners get to pick their prize.

You have to leave the entry as a comment and provide a valid e-mail address so we can contact you (we won't share it, we promise).

Contest ends Friday at noon Eastern. Your time STARTS NOW.

(P.S. -- That picture is what Justine's heaven looks like.)

 

Tonight, the remaining competitors on Dancing With the Stars have to take on two performances each, one ballroom and one Latin. And yeah, they're kind of stressed about it.

The show starts with a video of the judges giving the final five advice. But how can anyone take advice from head judge Len Goodman when he's wearing that ridiculous shirt? Dress shirt with a white collar and cuffs, but the rest of it is lemon yellow.

The first couple is Mya and Dmitry Chaplin, with the quickstep. I'm hoping choreographer Dmitry lessens the gimmickry a little. But in rehearsal, Mya says she doesn't want to change what they're doing to please the judges and maybe end up alienate the audience. Ruh-roh! But actually, this is really charming, and they're interacting, and they seem to have upped the technique factor, too. Incidentally, I love when, during a performance, you can see the judges (usually Bruno) standing up and peering over the table to really see the footwork. This time, you can also see him tap-tap-tapping on the table in rhythm with the song to check whether she's on beat and then clapping for her after the sequence. Len says his priority is how you dance and her priority is the wow factor. He says he was disappointed tonight because he couldn't find anything to criticize. That was a fabulous fakeout! Bruno Tonioli: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is quality!" Carrie Ann Inaba says they made the difficult and intricate quickstep look easy. She loved it. Scores:  9-10-10, 29/30. A 10 from Len! They are thrilled!

 

 

Aaron Carter and Karina Smirnoff have decided to work on having as much fun and enjoying the experience this week. When Karina starts to feel ill, they start wearing masks, which looks bizarre. Their foxtrot is sweet and Aaron actually controls his manic energy. It's pretty great. Bruno says he can tell how much work went into it, but it felt a little tense and didn't have the "ease of flow to sell the foxtrot." Carrie Ann says they are watching every detail, and he was trying to achieve every detail, but they lost some fluidity as a result. Len says watching him dance is like watching his son in a toy shop: "There are so many emotions, excitement, joy, bewilderment. I am proud of you whatever happens because I think you've worked so hard and tried your utmost." Scores: 7-8-8, for a 23/30.

Have you ever wondered what would happen if someone injured themselves during the goofy intro segments? 

Joanna Krupa and Derek Hough are also doing the quickstep, so they spend some of their rehearsal time analyzing Mya's strengths and weaknesses. Their quickstep doesn't have the exact same natural flow to it, which is probably because Mya has more dance in her background. But it's still fast and fun and charming, too. (It's just a charming evening, I guess.) They get some oomph from starting in the audience and running down the stairs and ending on the stage stairs. Carrie Ann says these routines are really long (I thought so, but I hadn't clocked it; glad I'm not crazy) and are full of content, but she says while Joanna's top half looked great, her legs and feet were a little off-kilter and out of sync here and there. Len says this is not the standard for the quarter-final. Bruno says it looked like Joanna was running away from the scene of a crime. Ouch. Scores:  8-7-8, for a 23/30.

Kelly Osbourne and Louis Van Amstel weirdly haven't had a ballroom dance since the first week. Isn't that kind of strange? Kelly's goal is to do a foxtrot "that proves that I belong in this competition." She definitely recaptures some of her week 1 magic, finally looking comfortable and graceful on the floor again. (I wasn't 100 percent behind the judges' claim last week that she looked amazing out there.) Len says he had forgotten how much grace and elegance she had and that her posture was great, though her footwork was distracting. Bruno says she kept her focus. Carrie Ann says her secret weapon is that when she has a breakthrough, the audience goes crazy for her. But she needs to work on her spots on her turns, Carrie Ann cautions. Scores:  8-8-9, for a 25/30.

Last in the ballroom round are Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson. Donny says that he was burned out last week, and now he is starting over. They dance the Viennese waltz, and Donny does seem rejuvenated. It's quite lovely, though there is one part where Donny has his hands on Kym's face while they do turns and it kind of looks like he is choking her. Bruno says it was like watching a Lifetime drama, it was so dramatic and entertaining. Carrie Ann says it was mesmerizing and not over-performed. Len says they had lovely rotation, but it was "arty-farty." "What's wrong with a little farty?" Bruno asks. Scores:  9-8-9, for a 26/30.

Now ... Latin! Well, first, we watch the pros do some Latin dancing. And then we hear even more from the judges about what they expect to see. Because god forbid they decide to make the show an hour and a half when it's down to this few people. Each couple, by the way, has drawn a decade out of a hat that they have to evoke in their Latin performance.

Mya and Dmitry are doing a '70s samba. They are adding some disco style to the samba and working hard on the samba rolls, while Dmitry fights choreographer's block. They manage to mesh the disco and the samba really well, and it's a lot of hip-shaking fun. Dmitry's mustache, though, is a little over the top. Carrie Ann: "I believe it! I believe that you want to win this competition. ... It was beyond belief." Len: "Mya, you were absolutely on fiyah! ... You have produced two dances tonight ... with no gimmicks." Bruno says she did a mean samba with a Diana Ross break in the middle. (I'll ignore the part where he attempts to sing.) Scores:  10-10-10 for the first 30/30 of the season. Their total is 59/60.

Next are Aaron and Karina with a 1990s-themed samba. Aaron wants to do lots of choreography like he did when he was a child pop star back then and Karina tries to keep him reined in. She succeeds to an extent, but his manic energy is definitely back. Also, it seems like the '90s choreography doesn't mesh quite as well into the samba as the disco stuff did for Mya and Dmitry. Len says it was tough to follow a perfect score, but he sold it and worked his socks off. Bruno says the energy is "made good." Carrie Ann says she was thinking about his difficult times, but he smoothed out all the edges. Scores: 9-9-9, for a 27/30. Aaron pulls a TMI and tells Samantha that his little bobble at the end was because he is still getting over an illness, and he almost threw up. I've always thought that was going to happen on live TV at some point or another. Not tonight, thankfully. His total is 50/60.

Joanna and Derek are doing a future-themed paso doble. It is ... odd, but it kind of has to be. It's somewhat robotic at times, and because they are being emotionless, they lose a large degree of their chemistry. Plus, Joanna seems to lack some flair when she is out of hold. It's still very interesting and entertaining, though, so they will probably be OK. Bruno says it was a masterful reinvention of a classic. Carrie Ann says it was outstanding execution and that Joanna didn't miss a single step except for one little funky back-kick. Len says Bruno stole his word: genius. He says the theme was executed well and so was the actual content of the paso. Scores: 9-10-10, for a 29/30 and a total 52/60.

Kelly and Louis draw the '60s for their jive. They start out with a doll as a prop, and Kelly is running around trying to get it back from Louis, but I am relieved when the prop gets tossed away. The dance is so fast, it just seems really busy and at times like Kelly is trying to keep up. But they definitely have the fun factor (though Louis' wig doesn't do much for his hotness factor). Len says Kelly has been a revelation and that the pressure would get to her, but she has gotten stronger and stronger. Bruno tells her it's been such an achievement. Carrie Ann says that was one of her best performances and that she came alive, but she had a few weird moments in her turns. And yes, the doll thing went on too long and gave her the heebie-jeebies. Scores: 8-9-9, for a 26/30 and a total 51/60.

Donny and Kym have an '80s-themed paso doble, so they are going glam. And ... it's a little stilted and weird. Len says it was the most crazy-bizarre-scary paso doble he's ever seen, "a cross between Adam Ant and Adam Carrolla, but I liked it!" Bruno says it was campier than a drag queen's convention. Carrie Ann says she thought it was hysterical, but she thinks they went a little over the edge into insanity. She also thinks the costume took away from some of their lines. There's a small chorus of boos at this. Scores: 8-8-8, for a 24/30 and a total 50/60.

It was kind of a strange night, don't you think? But I do think Mya stepped up her game and really emerged as the front-runner. That '70s samba was definitely the strongest of the themed Latin numbers.

What say you?

 (Photo of Mya and Dmitry -- from last week -- courtesy of ABC)

 

 

Bucky's back with this week's recap of The Amazing Race. Take it away, Bucky ...

The teams leave the Amsterdam pit stop for their next destination, Sweden, in the usual staggered fashion—12 hours after they checked in—and head for the airport.  Sam and Dan are the first team to depart and determine that the next flight to Stockholm is in about 10 hours.  This, of course, means that all the teams will get to the airport, wait and end up on the same flight.

Nuh-uh.

It turns out that the first flight to Stockholm has only six seats available.  Brian & Ericka and Gary & Matt will have to take a later flight, so Sam & Dan, Meghan & Cheyne and the Globetrotters gain a two-and-a-half hour advantage from the get-go.

 

Along the way, we learn that Sam and Dan are cranky and that it’s Flight Time’s birthday.

After arriving in Sweden, the teams must go to an amusement park where one person has to repeatedly ride a 24-story thrill-ride until they spy a big arrow painted on a roof and pointing to the next clue box.  It is actually harder to explain than it is to accomplish, and every single team completes the challenge in one try.

The next clue directs the teams to a carnival booth ring-toss game where they must throw a ring around a cone and, if a Travelocity Roaming Gnome is under the cone, they earn their next clue, which is on the bottom of the Travelocity Roaming Gnome.  The clue on the bottom of the Travelocity Roaming Gnome directs them to a detour where their choices are to: a) use dynamite to blow something up (and I’m praying it will be their Travelocity Roaming Gnomes but, alas, it isn’t) or b) a task involving the Viking alphabet, which I can’t explain because nobody chose to do it.  And why would you?  Who in their right mind would pass up an opportunity to blow something up?  I wouldn’t, would you? (From SKK: Heck. No.)

The significance of the dynamite challenge, by the way, is that Alfred Nobel, a famous Swede, invented dynamite.  The significance of the Viking challenge is that, contrary to what Minnesotans might tell you, Vikings came from Scandinavian areas other than Norway, too.  Including, it turns out, what is now Sweden.

At the dynamite challenge area, the teams must fill sandbags and build a bunker to protect them from the massive explosions that are about to occur.  (Not a single team, however, hides behind their bunker when the dynamite blows.  What good is a big explosion if you can’t watch?)  Oh, and there is apparently an unwritten rule that each team must set its Travelocity Roaming Gnome on the bunker and work in such a manner that every television shot includes the little fella.

Blowing up the dynamite reveals a box that contains directions to the Road Block, which is an iconic challenge from TAR Season 6:  unrolling very large bales of hay to find very small flags hidden in them.  There are 180 bales of hay and only seven contain flags.  A flashback tells us that the previous time this challenge was used, one team spent 10 hours and never did find the very small flag. (SKK: I was so mad when I saw they were doing this challenge again. I still think that was one of the roughest moments in race history.)

Sam and Dan begin the hay bale challenge first, with Sam doing the work and Dan on the sidelines haranguing him for no apparent reason whatsoever.  They get, like, an hour’s head start.  Meghan and Cheyne start next with that dope Cheyne sending his girlfriend out to do all the hard work while he stands on the sideline weakly yelling encouragement.  The Globetrotters show up next and Big Easy performs the challenge because he’s big and that makes it easy.  Also, because it’s Flight Time’s birthday and this is some sort of a present.  I would have wrapped up a Travelocity Roaming Gnome for him, myself.  Brian starts next, followed by Gary who, Matt tells us, “works with hay a lot.” 

Big Easy finishes first and the Globetrotters head to the pit stop, where they are met by Phil and a Swedish folk music trio, one of whom is playing what has to be the coolest musical instrument ever invented, a nyckelharpa.  I know this because Great-Grandpa Buckstrom played the nyckelharpa, which is a fiddle with keys.  It makes wonderful music.  But I digress … (SKK: Was it just me, or was it a little weird that the pit stop was like 4 feet away from the final task? I know they do that sometimes, but it just seemed SO close.)

Meghan & Cheyne finish second, followed by Brian & Ericka.  Sam finds the small little flag in spite of all the “help” from Dan and they are fourth. (SKK: And Dan was having some kind of major guilt issues, crying about how he was being jerky [his words] to Sam. It was a little over the top.)

Alas, all of Gary’s experience with hay doesn’t help him; he and Matt struggle to the finish in last place, where Phil says, “I am sorry to tell you (dramatic pause) that the next leg of the race will be tough.”  Yes, this turns out to be a non-elimination leg.

I generally hate it when that happens, but I like Gary and Matt, so I’m OK with it this time.  How about you? 

On last night's Real Housewives of Atlanta reunion, Kim Zolciak sang her song "Tardy for the Party" live. Hmmm ... "sang" isn't really the right word. Even remotely. Ever stumbled into a karaoke bar? And everybody's drunk and tone-deaf and doesn't know it? Yeah ... well, the pained looks on the other housewives' faces make it worthwhile. In a can't-look-away kind of way ...

Greetings and salutations, PR fans. Before we get to the penultimate episode of Project Runway: 90210, a brief apology from me, your master of blogging ceremonies, Kevin Van Valkenburg. 

My "other" writing job (sports) and a tragic TiVo malfunction managed to get in the way of recapping the last two weeks, which made me feel incredibly guilty. After complaining about Michael and Nina missing multiple episodes this year, I essentially became them by letting other interests get in the way of what's really important: bad fashion designing recapped with bad jokes.

Bad form, that was.

And sadly, perhaps in an effort to punish me in absentia, Heidi and the Weinsteins decided to eliminate my two greatest comic devices, Nicolas and Logan. A part of me already misses Nicolas' crazy cackle, Logan's raw sex appeal, Nicolas' phony sense of entitlement, and Logan's ability to use his raw sex appeal to coast through 10 weeks of shoddy designs. 

It's pretty clear this has been a strange season for Project Runway. Sure, Irina has been a noble villain, serving as the producers' go-to designer for snark and sass in talking heads all season long. After all this time in Los Angeles, I'm starting to suspect she's actually Kobe Bryant's notoriously nutty wife, Vanessa -- seriously, look at the two of them here and here -- and that in the final episode, she'll strut off the stage in Bryant Park, slap a Kardashian (but hopefully not Bruce Jenner), and then sit down next to Kobe, Pau Gasol and the Beckhams.

There really hasn't been a counterweight to "Mean-a-Irina" (as Logan dubbed her last episode) at any point this year, which has made the season difficult to embrace. She and Nicolas traded a few barbs, but you mostly just prayed for mutual destruction whenever that happened. Personally, I would have loved to see Irina and Santino go at it for 12 weeks, if only because I'm certain Irina would have pointed out that Santino looks like a homeless orthodox rabbi, and Santino would have responded in kind. ("It's 5 p.m., do you know where Kobe is?") Alas, we'll just have to pray for a sequel to the Project Runway All-Stars show that aired earlier this year. By the way, you can order "Santino!" t-shirts off Rice's website if you like for just $40, which seems about $38 too much if you ask me, but who am I to say?

Let's get to the show, shall we? Time to find out who is going to Bryant Park!

The episode begins with Irina making excuses for why she's such a gigantic be-yotch. But instead of pointing out that she briefly joined forces with Althea to mock Logan's zipper turtleneck last episode, only to turn around and try to get Althea bounced on the runway by whining that her look had been plagiarized, she claims she's disliked by others because no one can handle her raw honesty. Also, for some reason, she won't get out of bed, preferring to lie there with the covers tucked to her chin so she can make evil eyes at everyone. (BTW, are we sure Logan isn't being held captive under those sheets? It would be just like Irina to belittle his designs but drug him and keep him in her bed to torture other designers like Carol Hannah.)

"I always say that I won't say anything behind your back that I wouldn't say to your face, but I guess people would rather you just say it behind their back," Irina says. 

Christopher informs us that boys' room is lonely, and then he laments the absence of talented male designers like Nicolas and Ra'mon, and marvels at the fact that he's still in the competition and they're not. If I were Epperson, and I was watching this while drinking away my sorrows at an Oktoberfest bar, I'd be pretty peeved Nicolas got name-checked and I didn't.

The Heidibot 3000 shows up to give us her usual cryptic spiel that always, always begins with a short " 'ello!" and ends with "byyyyyyyyye!" I don't know why it just dawned on me, but I'm certain that some poor failed screenwriter actually writes these little oracle bits for Heidi, because there is no way she's up late the night before crossing out words and making notes in the margins. Not with four kids, anyway.

Carol Hannah continues to win the award given out by my heart for "Most Adorable" by telling us her own heart beats really fast every time she thinks about going to Bryant Park. I'm starting to wonder if her earnest, Southern politeness might single-handedly redeem the entire state of South Carolina for Mark Sandford's "Appalachian Trail" non-hiking, and the whole Joe Wilson "You lie!" debacle earlier this year. She's basically Amy Adams from Enchanted, which is fitting when you consider Irina is obviously Susan Sarandon, the evil dragon queen.

Beam me up, Timmy! Our five remaining designers teleport to the The J. Paul Getty Museum, where Tim Gunn is waiting with a surprise guest. Hey, what do you know? It's LA mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the guy who cheated on his wife while she was undergoing cancer treatments! And then after he reconciled with his wife, he cheated on her again with a journalist! Seriously, Weinsteins, was Gary Condit not available?

"The fact that the mayor would take the time to welcome Project Runway really makes it hit home that this is a very serious thing," says Carol Hannah. 

I guess it could be that, hon. It could also be that he saw the way Althea constantly designs outfits with crummy bra support and wanted to see if he could offer some private, professional tutoring, but that's just speculation on my part. Villaraigosa, by the way, looks like he's wearing lipstick. He disappears after all of 15 seconds on screen. Places to go, people to bone, I guess.

The challenge this week is to use something from the museum as inspiration for an outfit of your choice. Tim leads the models and designers on a tour of the museum, and I think I realize for the first time that Althea is like 7 feet tall.

Carol Hannah decides she's inspired by a gigantic French bed, which I'm certain she likes because it's easy to envision poor Logan tied up and covered in rose pedals. Irina decides on a painting by John William Godward called "Mischief and Repose" that has something to do with the mixture of "fur and flesh." Christopher and his dynamic chin beard are inspired by mold on a fountain. Seriously. Gordana, who continues to play up the "I'm just a poor girl from Bosnia" angle, picks a painting the reminds her of the drab, depressing beauty of Europe. I sure wish Jack Nicholson or Robert Evans (or the two of them together!) had stumbled onto the lawn of the Getty Museum with a harem of 19-year-old models and passed out in Christopher's fountain. Now that would have been a true Los Angeles experience to be inspired by.

Mood, we hardly knew ye this year. I don't think it's even worth pausing to recap what happened between your endless stacks of fabric, other than to point out a sweet line by Tim, who corrected Irina when she said she was buying a ton of "rabbit fur" by pointing out that "It would have to be a really giant Scandinavian rabbit." 

It's time for everyone to drink a little Haterade and use their talking head to claw at the throats of everyone else. When Carol Hannah breaks up a fake fight between Irina and Gordana, Gordana tells my girl Carol Hannah "Too bad you not want to hear me. I not here to serve you!"

Me grammar, you no!

In a rare moment of candor, Irina confesses that her Georgian father is stressed out that she's not married and doesn't quite understand what she's doing with her life, so getting to Bryant Park would be a big personal step for her. Then Gordana tells us how she grew up dirt poor in Bosnia, and that she can't believe she made it this far when not all that long ago she was practically wrestling bears for money on the Serbia circus, or something like that. My goodness, who can predict what will happen next on As The World Of Failed Socialist Republics Turns?

Let's see if I can cover the next 20 minutes of the show in three sentences. Tim Gunn tells Irina not to dress her model in all furs like she's Raquel Welch in the movie One Million Years B.C. Irina makes some mean comments about everyone else's work. Carol Hannah says she feels like she's in one of those adventure movies where she's running really fast, but the bridge beneath her keeps breaking away and she's about to fall. (Sounds like Indiana Jones and The Crystal Skull to me, girl. And I feel your pain.)

Runway show. Michael Kors is, of course, not here. And really, why should he be? It's only the most important challenge of the year, but he'd rather be in a tanning bed somewhere getting rubbed with coco butter by a Hugh Jackman look-a-like.

Cindy Crawford is a guest judge this week, however, and I'm kind of impressed. If Heidi is the Joe Montana of the supermodel world, then Cindy is probably the equivalent of Dan Marino. I hope somehow Richard Gere just saw that sentence and felt at least as weird reading it as I did writing it. 

Althea's design looks like it was made with reflector tape. Carol Hannah has crafted a beautiful gold dress that should probably win. Christopher's algae inspired look seems like it's in danger to me. Gordana outfit, which she feels was inspired by angels, is pretty but also a little safe. Irina's outfit looks like something Robin Hood's girlfriend would wear to the Nottingham Spring Dance, and had to fight off a pack of wolves to get there. 

Heidi calls Althea's outfit a "mess fest." Crawford and Heidi demand Irina's model de-accessorize and she begins stripping on the runway. (Future career training?) Nina Garcia doesn't think Gordana has taken a chance with her designs, and later says she still doesn't know who Gordana is. (Maybe you should have shown up for more than four episode then, Ms. Garcia! Just kidding Nina, I still love you. BTW, if you still don't know who Gordana is, let me offer this quick primer: She's a sassy divorcee from Bosnia!) Carol Hannah gets tons of love for execution, but not inspiration. When he's asked if he's confident with his look, Christopher cries (of course he does), soaking his chinbeard with tears of defiance. 

Now comes the fun part. Each designer has to verbally make their case to go to Fashion Week, and also say which two designers should go along with them. It's like putting six raccoons in a bag for 12 weeks, shaking it up, then pulling them out and asking them to say at least one nice thing about two fellow raccoons. Considering the massive amount of eye make-up Carol Hannah wears, I think she has an advantage the further I can take this metaphor.

Gordana tells a story about shaving goats and designing fabric out of corn husks in Bosnia, but I may have gotten the details wrong because I'm no longer listening, having heard this story like five times already. She says she'd take Irina and Christopher.

Althea points out that she's never been in the bottom, then says she thinks Carol Hannah and (bites her lip) Irina also deserve to be there. 

Carol Hannah flips the script and dismisses her South Carolina roots as a reason to bring her to New York, and simply points out that she makes clothes women actually want to wear. She'd bring Christopher and Althea.

In a surprising turn of events, Irina gets choked up when trying to make her case, and it's like watching Darth Vader take of his mask at the end of Return of the Jedi. I think her tears are made of battery acid and motor oil. As much as it pains her to compliment anyone, she says she'd vote for Althea and Gordana to go to Bryant Park. 

Christopher manages to hold back tears long enough to recommend Carol Hannah and (gasp!) Irina for Fashion Week.

Gab, gab, gab, talk, talk, talk, Cindy Crawford still looks stunning at 43, Nina Garcia is the only judge unafraid to go against the grain, Heidi radiates sunshine, and suddenly it's time for our final judgment day.   

Irina gets the first nod, as expected, and zips backstage to begin plotting her next move with her advisers, Lord Voldemort and The Joker.

Christopher gets bounced, and when he goes back stage and breaks the news to Irina, he gets a hug and cries. I can't tell if it's because he's upset, or because Irina's icy embrace lowered his body temperature 20 degrees, but I suspect it's a little of both.

Carol Hannah gets the second nod, leaving the final spot up for grabs between Althea and Gordana. 

The scary music seems extra heavy on the drums this week, but when the final thump gives way to cheesy guitar strumming, it's Althea's name that gets called, not Gordana's. 

So there it is. After a season of misfit designers and high comedy, we're down to Irina, Carol Hannah and Althea.

Someone get Michael Kors out of the tanning bed! It's time for Bryant Park, baby.

 

The first thing I notice on tonight's Survivor is that Jaison so jacked up from his time on the show that he could barely walk down the stairs after tribal council during the "previouslies" footage.

The second thing I notice is that Erik say, "Sham-BO" instead of "SHAM-bo," like he just doesn't want to admit that it's supposed to rhyme with Rambo. 

Anyway, right off the bat Laura and Shambo get into this stupid fight over Laura's canteen, which had been given to Shambo when she sent Laura to the other tribe during the reward last week.

Suddenly, they're having a random meeting without Jeff, where they open a treasure chest, find blue buffs and realize it's the merge. Immediately, Foa Foa puts its strategy into effect and begins trying to connect with the folks from Galu.

Russell thinks he's got it in the bag: "I can already see I'm going to rule this group, I mean who gets grapes fed to them? The king does." Thanks a lot, Monica, for bringing us that sound bite from Russell with your actions at the feast!

Based on Brett's suggestion, the tribe renames itself Aiga, which means "extended family." How sweet.  Erik wonders, "What's Samoan for 'get the hell off my island'?"

Then Russell starts his aggressive strategy. He tells Laura that he has the idol and that he will give her the idol if she can get him to the final seven. But he starts making rules, including that one of the guys from her tribe has to go first. In an interview, Laura's like, "Um, hi, I have the upper hand; howsabout you try to stay alive?" I'm thinking he took that whole thing last week about her believing that men are superior very seriously.

She tells him, "You're coming in her with 10 percent, and I've got about 90."

Ruh-roh, Laura, you questioned the king, and lots of women on this show have already learned how well that works out.

Russell pulls the exact same spiel on Monica. She says she's in, but he doesn't believe her.

Then he shows the idol to John, too, and starts talking about how he doesn't trust Laura. Them's the golden words, or so it appears. John seems to full be on Russell's side.

Next, Russell starts talking with Shambo about Laura, and hey, that was easy since they hate each other in a high-school kinda way. 

The immunity challenge is actually not hard to describe for once -- it's T-ball! No puzzles, no mazes, no locks, no ropes, no balance beam. But there's a twist, and it's a good one. The men are competing against the men and the women against the women, meaning two people will get immunity.

Dave comes forward, and Jeff asks him if baseball is his sport. "No, making love's my sport." It's like half creepy and half hilarious, and I'm not sure how he manages that, but he does. It's like how his line about his tribemate "getting clotheslined by the clothesline" a few weeks back shouldn't have been that funny, and yet it was. John pulls off a crazy shot, landing his ball in the 5, which he had to do to beat Russell, and he wins the men's immunity. Everybody gets one shot only, and it seems a little unfair because each person seems to learn from the mistakes of the person ahead of them. Laura (the last to go, as was John) wins women's immunity.

Back at camp, Erik points out that man, those Foa Foa people just can't win anything, and this is going to be easy. Erik develops a plan that they are going to say they're going to vote for Russell so he plays the idol but they really vote for Jaison. John, though, thinks they need to get rid of Monica and get rid of the alliance between her and Laura since they can't get to Laura because of that darned immunity necklace. Erik decides hey, this sounds like a great idea, especially because when Laura is upset after her BFF is gone, she will turn to him. I'm not sure about that part of it, but whatever. The next part of the plan is: Tell Shambo nothing. Erik says, "I don't care who she votes for. I don't give a [gosh-durn] if she votes for Probst tonight." Ha! But Dave? Dave doesn't like this plan at all. Dun-dun-dun!

Erik goes to Foa Foa (minus Russell) and tells them they can stay if they vote for Monica but don't tell Russell and let him play the idol so it's flushed out. He leaves, and Jaison's like, Hmmm, anybody else get hit with that condescension bomb? Let's tell him, sure, sure, we're totally with you on that Monica plan and then go after him. 

Oh, how I love the merge. LOVE!

Natalie talks with Laura about voting Erik. Laura talks to Kelly. Kelly talks to Monica. They both talk to Dave. Natalie talks to Mick. Natalie talks to Russell. It's like tribal-council telephone, complete with confusion, courtesy of, duh, Shambo. Dave says, we vote for Erik tonight, and Shambo says: "Who's Erik? Our Erik?" This scheming is just amazing.

Russell starts to wonder whether the Erik talk is just a ruse to get him to play the idol. 

Erik plays the "it's almost too easy" quote that seems like it should guarantee that he's out, but let us not forget. He has the other idol!

In tribal council, Erik says, in front of everyone, that he doesn't see what Foa Foa brings to the table at all. Russell says he thinks they have a lot to offer and that Erik is going to be surprised. Hey, don't get him to play the idol. If you both play the idols, whatever random person Shambo votes for could actually go home.

Erik is such a jerk and basically says that Jaison in particular has nothing to bring to the table, that his resume is impressive, but his gameplay isn't. Jaison is hurt and upset. Erik says that's what he wants to see and that if he were his coach, he'd be glad to find that attitude. Jaison says what Erik doesn't get that is that he doesn't care what Erik thinks. Erik looks surprised to come across someone who holds this opinion, like it's never happened before.

Before the votes are read, Russell stands up and plays the idol: "Everyone knows I have it; I might as well play it." Erik, though, stays seated.

When the first vote is for Jaison, I'm actually surprised because I forgot that was the original plan. But then the Erik votes start pouring in. Shambo looks like she's still thinking, "Our Erik?" Yes, your Erik with the idol in his pocket. How'd that flush go for you, dude?

That was some Survivor magic right there. How boring would it have been if Laura hadn't won immunity and they had voted her out?

See ya, Erik! You don't have to live in a tree anymore! Hope that idol is a nice souvenir for ya!

Top Chef may have taken a break this week from regular programming, but that doesn't mean that Liz and Justine are taking the night off. This week, we've got a Top Chef reunion show, bringing back some of the strongest personalities from the previous five seasons of the show. The 11 cheftestants (plus Fabio, fan favorite from season five, playing host) who came back were some of the strongest and conveniently most dramatic on their seasons.

We're not banking on huge fireworks on this episode, but it will be good to catch back up with a few of our favorites. Justine wanted to see Richard, Hung, Fabio and Harold; Liz is excited about Marcel, Richard and Harold.

Enough of the nostalgia. On to the reunioning! 

(Photo of the charming Fabio by Getty Images)

Here's who is on the show, for those of you keeping score at home: 

Season 1: Harold (winner), Tiffany
Season 2: Marcel, Ilan (winner)
Season 3: Dale, Hung (winner), Casey
Season 4: Richard, Lisa
Season 5: Carla, Stefan

Notice that the winners of seasons 4 and 5 are missing? Stephanie may be legitimately busy, but we're thinking Hosea may not have wanted to show his face before much more competent chefs.

We're barely 30 seconds in to the show and Liz already admits that she had (still has?) a huge crush on Harold. He's gained a little weight (much of it in his face), but he's still cute. This might be the highlight of the whole show.

Ugh, Marcel the Hair attributes people hating him to his being so talented. (Justine hates him with a firey passion.) Liz wants to see a foam.

We all cheer when Richard Blais goes in. He opened a burger joint in Atlanta that serves liquid nitrogen-frozen milkshakes! Those crazy molecular gastronomists. If we go visit that restaurant, maybe Eli will pop in (Liz's wishful thinking).

Lisa looks terrible! And she's even smiling, but it doesn't matter. She always scowls.

Casey was nervous about seeing Carla because of how her contribution to Carla's meal tanked in the Season 5 finale.

Tiffany seems to have learned something from seeing herself on Season 1 – she owns the bitchy part of how she was perceived and said it was rooted in insecurity. We're sure the intervening years have helped, but she seems more reasonable.

Richard really misses competing, and he has a hilarious monologue where he demonstrates how he was "the guy always known for speculating." Oh, Richard. Why hasn't Bravo given you your own spin-off show? A how-to home molecular gastronomy special?

The challenge (if you can call it that)

It can't be a Top Chef show without expecting them to at least cook something. Each season has to prepare a dish (there are about two from each season plus host Fabio, so they're in pairs) based on a knife draw – the knives tell them what course they're making.

Course 1: Dale, Hung, Casey (course one: seafood)
Course 2: Harold, Tiffany (course two: more seafood)
Course 3: Marcel, Ilan (course three: more more seafood)
Course 4: Richard, Lisa (course four: meat)
Course 5: Carla, Stefan (course five: dessert)

The chefs weren't directly competing in the kitchen, and they all seemed to appreciate that.

The most distracting part of the show (but necessary for any reunion show) was the obligatory flash-backing to what happened on each of the seasons. We felt sympathy for Fabio, who had to ask them about things some people didn't want to talk about to justify the reunion show.

(Sorry, we missed a few minutes of the memories because our viewing companion fell asleep and was snoring audibly. We have video evidence.)

Lisa wanted to meet Stefan. They can go off to an island together and never come back as far as Justine's concerned. Each season has to have a villain, and those two, Marcel and Jerkface Mike will be very happy together.

Liz is excited for Dale's crab pirohi because she could make them. She's got the pirohi making apparatus in her kitchen cabinets. Justine's waiting. Dale's dish was voted a train wreck by Tiffany. Liz's pirohi never get that bleak a reception.

There are lots of shots of wine and champagne bottles opening. Harold confesses that chefs like to drink (cue video flashback of one of my favorite moments of his season where he pops open a little airline bottle of what appears to be gin during one of the challenges)

Fabio leads the former cheftestants through the highlights and controversies of their respective seasons. There isn't too much stuff that you haven't seen before if you watched all the episodes. We expected some drama from Casey and Carla, who were paired together during Carla's season finale. Casey suggested Carla sous vide her protein, a technique Carla hadn't tried before. The sous vide fail got Carla sent home. But on tonight's reunion, Casey said she felt she was being blamed for it. Carla didn't seem as burned by the experience as we were expecting. There goes any hope for drama on this reunion.There are a few funny moments with the stew room, but that's about it. (Even Liz fell asleep.)

All in all, it was pretty lame. Can't wait to get back to real cooking next week.

What was the most disappointing part of the episode for you? Did you fall asleep? Who would you have wanted to see invited to reunion dinner? (Liz wanted desperately to have Hot Sam from season 2 on the show, but had to settle for a few glimpses during the flashbacks when Cliff was trying to shave Marcel's hair)

.. this post from movieline.com, "The Biggest Loser desecrates the nation's capital: a photo essay."

Enjoy!

On tonight's Biggest Loser, the remaining contestants head to D.C. for a challenge, a lobbying session, another challenge, and a visit to the White House.

For the first challenge, each person had to get as many people as possible to head down to the Washington Monument to participate in a public workout with Bob and Jillian. Immediately, I'm wondering whether any of you went and what it was like. It looks like it was filmed this summer some time.

Allen managed to wrangle a bunch of firefighters, but in the end Liz gathered more people and won the challenge. 

After a quick detour to speak with some congresspeople about childhood obesity and health education, it was time for the main challenge for immunity. 

For the first part of the challenge, the teams have to run a mile around Constitution Garden. Liz's advantage is to skip one of the four rounds, but she doesn't get to find out that the other three rounds are first. She decides to participate. The top six finishers, including Liz, have to grab pennies off the Watergate steps and put them in their "bank." The first three people who get pennies to the line in their banks make the third leg. Liz opts to skip this part with her advantage. The last spot comes down to Allen and Rebecca, and it's so close that Allison Sweeney is jumping up and down in excitement. Rebecca takes it, and she's excited, too.

For the third stage, the four remaining contenders have to balance on a narrow ledge while holding a pilates ball over their heads. Daniel is out pretty quickly, and Liz follows fairly quickly, leaving Rebecca and Rudy to compete in the final stage. Rudy struggles for a bit because his feet are so big and the ledge so narrow, but you can't feel that bad for him since his giant hands helped him so much in the second challenge.

For the last stage, they are in front of the White House. Whoever takes 206 steps (representing the total number of contestants who have been on the show) first wins. Rebecca pushes hard and wins immunity, and she's pretty dang psyched. 

Allison then tells them they'll all get to go to the White House the next day. They meet with Sam Kass, assistant White House chef. The contestants get to pick some vegetables from the White House garden (which fellow Sun blogger Susan Reimer has written about quite a lot). 

Then you know what time it is? Last chance workout, of course! Torture torture, yell yell, grunt grunt, sweat sweat. 

Insanely, they actually do the weigh in in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Is it calibrated the same as the scale back at the ranch? Scary. Oh, did I mention that they aren't in teams any more? It's all about individuals now.

Rebecca, with immunity, loses 4 pounds but has no worries about the yellow line. Shay is determined to get under 400; she's at 402. She loses 9 and ends up at 393 and is so excited. Tracey loses 3, and she is not amused. Daniel wants to come back after two bad weigh-ins. He does, losing 11. Allen loses 9, Danny 12, Rudy 9. Liz only loses 3 after hearing she needs to lose 4 to stay above the yellow line. Amanda is the last to weigh in, and with 7 pounds, she's safe. This means Tracey and Liz are in danger.

In their please, Liz is kind of resigned and Tracey kind of apologizes for all her gameplay, so it's unclear what's going to happen. In the end, Tracey gets sent home, which isn't a huge surprise, considering some of the shenanigans of the past few weeks.

In her catchup interview, Tracey looks amazing. She goes back to California to rerun the mile that she collapsed after in episode one, landing in the hospital for days. She does it in 11:22 and in the end footage, it says she's training for a full marathon in December. Nice job!

Guest recapper Carla here to help Sarah out on Reality TV Tuesday. "Dancing With the Stars" kicks off this with a reprise of Monday's Team Tango. But what does the audience really want? Results. But next, we get a recap of last night's performances and scores.

First, we learn Kelly Osbourne and Louis Van Amstel are safe, and Lacey Schwimmer and Mark Dacascos are in the bottom three. (Of note: Lacey was ill last night, so Mark danced with Anna Trebunskaya.) Then, we get a performance by Colbie Caillat. What is it with women singer-songwriters flocking to "DWTS" this season?

Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson are safe, too. But Michael Irvin and Anna Demidova are, like last week, in the bottom three.

 

 

The Ballas Hough Band performs its single "Move." That's right: Mark Ballas and Derek Hough have a band. Which you all probably already knew. I'm not quite sure what to say.

And .... that's over. We then learn about the "rules of ballroom" -- the first rule of ballroom is that you don't talk about the trophy. FYI.

The next three couples have all sat atop the leader board this season. Mya and Dmitry Chaplin are told they are safe first. Joanna Krupa and Derek Hough are, too. That means Aaron Carter and Karina Smirnoff, who got two 10s last night, are not. Aaron makes a face.

Rod Stewart performs the, as Samantha Harris calls it, "all-time classic," "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" Just kidding. He sings "It's the Same Old Song."

Now for the BIG results. Michael and Anna are out. Lacey is surprised; she and Mark will be in the dance off with Aaron and Karina.

Lacey and Mark dance a cha cha. It's fun, and I can't help but like Mark. Judge Len Goodman says it was clean, sharp and rhythmic. Judge Bruno Tonioli says he can turn more tricks than Heidi Fleiss! Ha! He says what cha cha there was was good. Judge Carrie Ann Inaba says the flow from the tricks to dance was effortless.

Aaron and Karina dance a jive. It is fun, too, and, well, superior. Go, Nick Carter's little brother, go! Bruno says he can't believe the couple are in the dance off. He says the jive was just as good as last night's. Carrie Ann says she disagrees; it was better. Len calls him the comeback kid.

The judges unanimously want Aaron and Karina to stay. That means Lacey and Mark are out.

Sound off!

I thought we were getting back to normal on So You Think You Can Dance this week, but no, the judges are making the cuts again tonight, and viewer voting doesn't start until next week. Oh, well.

The first thing I notice is that Noelle, who was injured last week and couldn't compete, dances during the intro. I'm relieved for her, but I don't really know her style that well yet. But we'll see soon.

Have we mentioned yet that during the intro segment, when the tappers do their solos, they turn on the audio for a few seconds? It's ... necessary, but a little awkward. Maybe a little too loud or something.

Nigel Lythgoe makes a couple of announcements: First, Billy Bell, who had to drop out due to illness, can rejoin at the Top 100 in Vegas next season, and Brandon, who replaced him and then was immediately cut, can reapply next season. Both of those things are good news.

First up are Russell and Noelle. They're working with new choreographer Jamal Sims on a routine in which a lovey-dovey couple goes into a death match ... with tennis racquets. Intriguing. The performance is pretty fun and super-crazy-fast, but dance with tennis raquets is kind of odd. They have fun, though, which is fun for the viewer as well. The only thing that jumps out at me is that Noelle's still looks pretty happy and cutesy during some of the parts that are supposed to be death match. Adam Shankman says Jamal does a lot with character and that he felt like they were a little overwhelmed by the character and the speed a bit. Mary Murphy says Russell won the match, but yes, it is his style. She credits Noelle for showing no weakness despite her injury. Nigel says it was so fast that they didn't really "get hold of it." He also said he liked the Matrix slo-mo (which amuses me a little because I was thinking, "Hey, um, how long ago did The Matrix come out?" It was 1999, by the way).

Jakon and Ashleigh are doing a Viennese waltz with Tony Meredith and Melanie Lapatin. They are portraying a couple on their wedding day, doing their first dance. I'm not going to lie: Off-stage, Ashleigh kind of annoys me, but when she's dancing, she has my attention. She's helped by Jakob, who is just so good. You can't watch him and not understand what the judges mean when they talk about amazing extension and good lines. This translates into grace and power in this routine, which is simply lovely. Adam says they can do no wrong and that he's madly in love when them. He says Ashleigh is winning him over (so I guess I'm not alone). Mary says Jakob's dancing wasn't that great -- meaning his ballroom technique, which is of course her specialty, but, um, I didn't notice. Nigel says they are a beautiful couple, that they were great.

Victor and Bianca are working with Tyce DiOrio on a piece to music from The Color Purple. They are supposed to be a couple being moved by the spirit in church, and the routine is fast and full of energy. It is so fast that I feel like a little character and connection is lost, but they are fun to watch. I feel a little bad for Bianca because one of the notes they gave her last week was to make sure she works on keeping her shoulders down, but her costume has big ruffles on the shoulders, so it's tough to see whether she's actually doing that. Adam says it's very important to be a studied dancer and know what came before you. He feels like they danced it well, and, "I wanted to see you guys lose it," and he feels bad that it's a criticism on this particular show. Mary says it was a really, really good, but it didn't really go anywhere, and they lost character. He felt like they were doing choreographer instead of taking it to the next level. Nigel agrees that the characters weren't strong enough.

Mollee and Nathan work with choreographer Nakul Dev Mahajan on a Bollywood routine about a warrior prince who is going to war, and his princess is unhappy about it. The routine is very energetic (duh) and has some really interesting staccato movements that are a little different from the Bollywood routines we've seen in the past. They are so young that I was worried they would look like little kids up there, but they don't. Adam says they are an exciting couple and that Mollee is coming into her own and danced with maturity. Mary screams and says she adored the beginning and it kept getting better. Nigel says it was fabulous and credits them as well as Nakul.

Phillip and Channing are doing the samba with Tony and Melanie, who calls it a classic competition samba. Their performance is fun and has that party energy ... until they get to their lifts, which seem pretty labored. I like Phillip, but I think as a tap dancer he doesn't have to carry around his partner all that often, and it shows. Some of the lifts, it feels like the dance comes to a standstill, and that's pretty much the opposite of what you want. Adam says he could see them struggling with the style and that they just have to make it work and don't show the struggle. He credits Channing for her hip action and the support and connection the two dancers had. Mary agrees that she could see how hard they were working, which kind of obscured the party feeling, but their rhythmical actions were great. She says that if Phillip had been there 100 percent for Channing, it would have been great. Nigel says their chemistry didn't work and he felt like Channing looked like she was nervous before each lift.

Kevin and Karen work with Tabitha and Napoleon on a hip-hop routine about a mechanic and a hot girl who comes into the shop. Kevin interviews beforehand that he's hoping to shine since when they danced last week, no one could take their eyes off Karen. This is his style, but I think people are still probably watching Karen. I wanted to really like this because I like this couple, but something doesn't quite work for me. I, however, am apparently the only one. Adam says, "Well, Karen ..." and then falls off his chair. Hee! He thinks Karen, not a hip-hop dancer, tore it up. He thinks Kevin was fantastic, but he expected that. Mary says it was hot and Karen is still on the hot tamale train, and Kevin gets to join her. Nigel says Kevin is lucky because he picked his style out of the hat and that Karen moved parts of her body he didn't even know could move. "You're like an invertebrate, darling!"

Kathryn and Legacy have to take on a contemporary routine, news we learn going into the break, news that has me immediately worrying for Legacy. They work with Stacey Tookey about a woman struggling with fear. And the first thing I have to say is that my fears are unfounded -- this is gorgeous. Adam immediately thanks Stacey for the transformative power of her work. He says Legacy just turned a corner and pointed his feet and was dancing. Mary says it brings the hair up on her arms watching him dance -- seriously she says this seconds after I point out the goose bumps on my arm to my husband, which kind of freaks me out. She doesn't think anyone has shown this much growth this fast, and adds that Kathryn was fantastic, too. Nigel loves the routine. He says Kathryn has been under the radar, but she's proving her critics wrong and points out the moment during the Vegas round when he was touched by choreography for the first time. 

New couple Peter and Pauline are working with Wade and Amanda Robson on a routine about people who were discarded from an earlier draft of Starry Night and now they are tormenting Van Gogh. Whoa, deep. It's Wade, so it's wacky and fun, and despite their new partnership, Peter and Pauline work well together. Adam thinks this piece is going to be controversial, but that Wade always forces his dancers to be 1,000 percent committed, and they were, especially Peter. Mary says she loved the concept and the costumes, but she doesn't think it's going to take them anywhere right now. Nigel says it shouldn't because they should stay on the show. Nigel says Wade routines make a statement, whether you like it or don't, and you won't forget it. He adds that Peter needs to make sure he opens up his shoulders and that Pauline danced to her full extent for the first time.

Ellenore and Ryan are the last couple of the night, dancing the Argentine tango with Miriam and Leonardo. There are some crazy lifts, but the biggest attention-getter is that Ellenore's heel gets stuck in her dress for about a third of the performance, and she just keeps on going. Impressive. Adam says they were actually wondering whether they should stop them -- but they carried on with a laserlike connection. Mary says a moment like that is so distracting, and she didn't even stop once. They get a stand up and woo. Nigel says the public can't understand how difficult this kind of routine is and that no other couple could have done it better. 

The four dancers in danger are Noelle, Phillip, Victor and Bianca, who have to do solos and prove to the judges that they should stay. 

I feel kind of bad for Phillip and Bianca because their solos seem more laid-back just because they're tap-dancing, whereas Victor and Noelle look like they have left everything on the floor. 

Nigel thinks neither woman did her best in their pair dance tonight, and adds that they weren't unanimous. He tells Noelle that she danced for her life, and that is why she's staying, so Bianca is out. She's sad, and so am I. Nigel says this upsets him more than he can really let anyone know. He promptly says that Phillip is out, which is two tappers out, and it breaks his heart. Sigh. Phillip says that it's been a rollercoaster for him because his father died a week and a half ago, and that the support from the Top 18 has been amazing. Well, now everyone is crying. (Including me.)

 

Longtime Reality Check reader Bucky has graciously volunteered to guest blog about The Amazing Race, and I'm so glad because my typing muscles are more tired than the Poker Girls' hammer-swinging muscles. Take it away, Bucky ... 

Last Sunday’s leg began with everyone racing madly to the airport, where they found the next flight (to Amsterdam) wouldn’t depart until midnight. I hate it when that happens. So, they all hung out and got to know each other a little better, including the Globetrotters recapping the water tower drama and Sam and Dan coming out to the group.

Everyone arrives in Amsterdam where they face a task of counting all the bells in a landmark bell tower. (Wouldn’t you have loved to see Mika climbing to the top of the bell tower and disclosing that, in addition to heights and water, she has a fear of things that ring?) All the competitors, save Ericka, count the bells quickly and in just one try…there are 62…and hand a little slip of paper with the answer to the bell ringer guy who gives them their next envelope of instructions. Ericka counts 46. When she hands the slip of paper to the bell ringer guy he laughs, right out loud and says, "What the heck?"

Ha Ha Ha. OK … no, he didn’t do that. That’s what I did, sitting on my sofa, cracking up.

 

 

When I say that "all the competitors … count the bells," that’s not exactly true. The Poker Girls cheat, by getting the answer "62" from Sam and Dan and heading straight to the bell ringer guy. "Tsk, tsk, tsk," I think to myself. "Cheaters never prosper."

Everyone but Brian and Ericka heads to the Detour challenge, while Ericka recounts the bells so many times that I lose count and start feeling sorry for having mocked her.

At the Detour, the contestants have to dress in traditional Dutch costumes, grab bicycles and ride a couple of miles to either a putt-putt golf course set up in a farmer’s field, or to a little party where they will have to learn a traditional Dutch folkdance and eat traditional Dutch hors d’oeuvres. Oh, and if they pick the former, they have to swim across a traditional Dutch canal to get to the golf course; if they pick the latter, they have to hit a traditional Dutch carnival bell with a sledge hammer, making the bell ring.

Sam and Dan, together with Meghan and Cheyne choose golf and it turns out the clubs are wooden shoes attached to long sticks. The Globetrotters, Gary and Matt and the Poker Girls choose the dance contest.

After an extended period of time and drama, Ericka finally counts the bells correctly. She is relieved, but not as much as the bell ringer guy. Brian and Ericka rush right past the bicycles and start walking to the Detour challenge. Yes! Walking! In wooden shoes! No more sympathy from me!

Sam and Dan conquer the putt-putt course in short order and head off to the Pit Stop. Meghan and Cheyne have a little trouble because Meghan hasn’t played golf with wooden shoe clubs before, but she actually masters it pretty quickly and they are second to arrive at the Pit Stop.

Back at the dance, Matt and Gary are going great guns until Matt spies the traditional Dutch hors d’oeuvres, which is herring covered with diced onions. Gary says he doesn’t eat fish. What? They are from Montana, aren’t they? Home to some of the best fly fishing in all the U.S. Oh, well. They abandon the dance and head for the golf course.

Meanwhile, back at the bell ringing game, the Poker Girls are taking turns lifting the sledge hammer up to waist-level and letting it drop, send the bell-ringing thing only about knee-high, when it needs to soar to the roof line to ring the bell. They try this over and over and over and … well, I lose count again.

Gary and Matt finish their round of golf and head to the Pit Stop.

The Globetrotters do the dance, eat the fish and head to the Pit Stop. The Poker Girls give up on ringing the bell and head to the golf course. Ericka and Brian FINALLY arrive and decide to do the dance and eat the fish, which they do with surprising ease. But, being all tuckered out from the long walk, they borrow some bikes from some nearby Dutch people and pedal off to the Pit Stop.

The Poker Girls make almost as many attempts at hitting the big golf ball with the wooden shoe club as they had made trying to ring the bell. By and by they give up and return to the dance which means, of course, that they have to ring the bell before going inside. This time, the TAR producers provide an on-screen counter so nobody, contestants or viewers, will have to count anything else for the rest of the show.

Of course, the Poker Girls still can’t ring the bell and, in fact, are becoming exceedingly arm-weary trying. There is a small break where they hug and tell each other how much they admire the other. Then they decide TO GO BACK TO THE FREAKIN’ GOLF COURSE!!!!! Oh, sorry … I got carried away with all those exclamation points.

Ericka and Brain arrive at the Pit Stop, but Phil tells them they are going to have a 30-minute penalty for walking instead of riding bikes from the bell tower to the Detour.

What? This is — I’m sorry — just stupid. Admittedly, they didn’t follow the instructions. But the error they made didn’t give them an advantage … it put them waaaaay behind the other teams. I don’t like this penalty and if the Poker Girls show up in 29 minutes, I’m writing to the producers.

Back at the golf course (and remember, they have to, again, swim across the canal to get there) they flail away at the golf ball, but by now their arms are so tired they couldn’t flip a card that fills an inside straight flush if it meant winning the World Series of Poker. So they hug and cry some more.

Thirty minutes pass and Phil checks Ericka and Brian into the Pit Stop. Then he somehow magically appears at the golf course (and I think he changed clothes, too.) The Poker Girls — Tiffany and Maria — sort of officially and formally announce to Phil that they don’t think they can finish this leg of the race successfully. "No duh," Phil thinks to himself, "why do you think I came out to the farm field golf course instead of waiting back at the Pit Stop?" But he doesn’t say this, of course.

What did you think of this episode? At what points in the show did you actually get a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach, feeling bad for Ericka and the Poker Girls? And don’t you think that Phil should have had to swim across the canal, too, to get out to the golf course?

(Photo courtesy of CBS)

 (Andre F. Chung/Baltimore Sun photo 2008)

This goes out to all you Brothers Voltaggio! fans: They tell The Baltimore Sun's Laura Vozzella about the attention from hometown Frederick fans, the rivalry and being recognized at the grocery store.

Here's the story.

 And an oldie but goodie: Facts about the Brothers V.!

 

 

Tonight's Dancing With the Stars will feature an individual dance from each star and his or her partner, as well as a group paso doble or tango.

Louis Van Amstel is wearing the craziest pants I have ever seen, bright blue fringed trousers. Like COVERED with fringe. 

Michael Irvin and Anna Demidova are first, dancing the foxtrot. He's working so hard and definitely having more fun, but I feel like his arm movements are still too small and restrained and kind of awkward. Head judge Len Goodman says he's glad he made it through last week because his foxtrot was well done. Bruno Tonioli says his musicality has improved, but he needs to work on his posture and "funny arms." Carrie Ann Inaba says he was gracious, fluid and had content. She also likes the costume he designed for Anna. Oh, so Louis has Kelly to blame for those pants? Ouch. Scores: 8-8-7, for a 23/30.

Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson have the quickstep this week, and Donny's concerned because he had a tough time keeping up with Kym last week. I'm hoping neither of them gets an arm hooked in all the strips all over the top of Kym's costume. This week's dance, he keeps up much better -- there's less of the desperation he had going on last week -- and the style suits his style. Bruno says he's solid as a rock as a performer, but "nobody could cover up all the mistakes as well as you did." Carrie Ann says it was pretty good and his footwork was light, but he went wrong a few times. Len says he came out "full bore from start to finish, full of attack." He seems less concerned by the mistakes. Scores: 8-8-8, for a 24/30.

 

Mark Dacascos' usual partner Lacey Schwimmer is ill, so he's dancing with Anna Trebunskaya. He also got some training with Tony Dovolani, who happened to be in New York, where Mark was for work. After that, Anna came in since Mark couldn't exactly dance with Tony on the show. They're doing the samba. The dance itself seems OK, but I'm super distracted by Mark's goofy facial expressions. Carrie Ann says it was a total mess and completely disjointed and full of nervous energy. Len says they've had a tough week and a hard dance -- he says he didn't find it terrible, but it wasn't his best dance, but he coped well under the circumstances. Bruno says it was animal yes, but Brazil no. Scores: 6-7-6, for a 19/30.

Mya a Dmitry Chaplin are doing the foxtrot, and she says it is their first elegant dance since week one, when Len gave them a 5 (for no reason), so they're aiming to please him this time around. They get some tips from Cloris Leachman, who points out, rightly, that they need to work on their connection and actually look at each other a little more. Their dance is lovely and flowy, though I'm thinking Len might find a couple of parts of it kind of gimmicky. Len says he liked the parts that were in hold, but again, "too many gimmicks ... but probably you pleased the other two." So ... yes, what I was worried about. Bruno loved it, saying she looked a dream and danced like an angel. Carrie Ann says, "Len is officially smoking crack." She loved the dance, especially their footwork. Len is being so nice to some of the other stars and just so hard on Mya. What is the deal? Scores: 9-7-9, for a 25/30.

Aaron Carter and Karina Smirnoff are doing an absolutely insanely fast jive. I mean, really. And they're dancing to Twisted Sister, which, what? Anyway, as much as Aaron had fears about this dance (and its speed), he handles it well. In particular, the kicks and footwork work well with his loosey-goosey limbs.  Bruno says he kicked ass and that this was his best performance. Carrie Ann says he was like a little Road Runner. "It so good!" Len says it had enough energy to light up Hollywood, that it was wild but it was clean and fast but controlled and fun but not slapstick. He adds, "I was tempted to dust off my 10 paddle." Scores: 9-10-10, for a 29/30.

Kelly Osbourne and Louis Van Amstel are taking on the salsa, and Louis is pushing Kelly to the limit. She gets very anxious, but going into break, she mocks herself for crying. Their dance is much less "beige" than last week, but you can see Kelly still thinking some things through. If only Louis could get her to smile through the whole performance; when she's smiling, she just shines up on stage. But still ... it's a fun one. Louis' pants get even worse when he starts dancing -- it looks like he's wearing half of a Cookie Monster costume, but thankfully he tears them off halfway through. Carrie Ann calls her forward for a high-five. She says it was brilliant, elegant and unafraid. Len says he was afraid she was going to be a little girl, but she did well. He adds, though, that all aspects of the dance need to come up another level and Louis was right to push her. Bruno jumps up on the table and shakes his tail-feather. He adds that she needs to find the character and she'll be golden. She thanks him for calling her beige last week. Scores: 8-8-8, for a 24/30.

Joanna Krupa and Derek Hough have the rumba, the dance of love. They have this whole goofy segment of Derek having a fantasy about dancing with Joanna on the beach. It's so silly. Their performance, however, is not. They do a lovely job with it, but something about the choreography doesn't sit right with me -- there are some jerky movements that appear to be on purpose, but they seem out of place and a little awkward. Len says he thinks the dance fulfilled everyone's requirements. Bruno says she is a goddess, but had a little stumble. Carrie Ann says she often dances on the edge and seems like she could go wrong at any second, but she didn't have any of that going on tonight. Scores: 9-9-9, for a 27/30.

Team Paso -- Aaron, Mya, Mark and Michael -- are up first in the group dances.  Team Tango is Kelly, Donny and Joanna. (And their respective partners, of course.)

Team Paso dances to "I Hate Myself for Loving You," and they're fairly in sync and very powerful. Bruno says the dance was strong, powerful and dynamic, but they lost sync some. He adds that Mya and Dmitry stood out. Carrie Ann says that Mark redeemed himself from his individual dance, and Len credits Michael for bringing everyone together at rehearsal and getting everybody back on track. Scores: 8-8-8, for a 24/30.

Team Tango dances to "You Give Love a Bad Name," and I feel like they're operating at a higher level. Carrie Ann runs over and high-fives them and then spanks all the boys for the lifts. Len says tango was a little easier to be in sync because they are in hold, but nevertheless, this was superior. Bruno, well, in short, he loved it. Scores: 9-9-10, for a 29/30.

Team Paso's members might be in trouble tomorrow.

What do you think?