Reality TV Newsy Bits - 'Survivor' - 'Amazing Race' - 'BB7'

Get your bits here! Newsy bits! Fresh bits! Reality bits!

Some folks have asked for Survivor 13: Cook Islands spoilers and, to be honest, there isn't a heck of a lot of information out there. The odds-makers this season are more into betting about the tribes as a whole rather than specific castoffs. Some more in depth information regarding this week's upcoming episode can be found here. Web promo images are posted by the Survivor Fever site and you can find them here. Some of the "spoilers" talk about a romance. Well, duh... we saw last week's show. That's no spoiler!

One quasi-spoiler for next season (S14) is the proposed location. I found that information through a few different sources, so it could be it.

In Amazing Race 10 news, an early map image of the route traveled in May as they filmed can be found at this link. Celebrity Spider has an in depth article about the upcoming episode here.

For those who may have missed it, TVGuide.com had an interview with Big Brother 7: All Stars - Will and Janelle, about shomance.

And, but of course... if you're playing the AOL/Gold Rush game, meet up with fellow blog readers to share clues at this entry --> 'AOL/Gold Rush' Clues Meet Up

'Survivor 13: Cook Islands' - Newsy Bits

A new show airs Thursday, but let's not forget it was Sekou, first man off the island, last Thursday. Tonight he'll be on the Late Show with David Letterman. Now, I'm not sure how that will go. I thought he stopped having the castoffs on and he obviously was never thrilled about having to have them on. But, I'm a Letterman fan and I'm a Survivor fan, so I'll be watching.

The Survivor Fever site has a transcript of Sekou's The Early Show segment, and the Survivor Sucks site has the transcripts of the Survivor Insider videos from the CBS site up and ready for the reading

Off the Survivor topic a bit, but still newsy:

Blog readers are sharing clues and answering questions in 'AOL/Gold Rush' Clues Meet Up - the blog entry specifically for those playing the game. I hope one of our readers wins!

And, way way off topic... any American Idol fans out there? Do you recall the brouhaha with Paula and Corey Clark? Welp, he was arrested again... Former American Idol Finalist Arrested. What a gentleman and a scholar, eh?

'The Amazing Race 10' Season Premiere

It's back! The Emmy-winning Amazing Race had its 90 minute premiere and I wish it had been two hours.

They seem to have taken a line from Big Brother with an "expect the unexpected" sort of surprise this season. Unlike Survivor or Big Brother, they're calling it a surprise rather than a twist. Same thing, though, it's just semantics.

The teams were introduced and, honestly, I don't really think it was needed to show us Duke crying over his relationship (or lack thereof) with his daughter, Lauren. As I mentioned when I introduced the teams in a previous article, I think this looks like an interesting lot. Stop crying, Duke!

They started out in Seattle, in the rain... of course. This season, they hit the high gear right away with the destination being Beijing, China. No dilly-dallying about this season, no way, no how. Right off the bat, Duke/Lauren and Mary/David had trouble driving their vehicles. Note: If you apply to be on the show, test drive all kinds of cars so you don't look silly.

Teams vied for the first of two planes headed to Beijing. The first flight would arrive nearly an hour earlier and ended up containing Peter/Sarah, David/Mary, Dustin/Kandice, Tyler/James, Lauren/Duke, and Lyn/Karlyn.

By this point, Rob and Kimberly were already bickering while Mary pointed out that where she's from, it's customary for the man to be in charge. She wants David to listen to her. Okay, so... at this point I decided that these two teams are the teams I most want to hit the mat last early in the season.

At the airport, I believe it was the Cho brothers who started playing with squirt guns and all the teams were just fooling around when they got busted. Their weapons were confiscated as the Pretty (But Rough) Boys looked smug about it all. Hey, the Pretty Model Boys have been through rehab, so they're edgy. Or something.

Sarah and Peter plan to play the "disability card" as much as they can. Sarah pre-boarded much to the disgust of the other teams, Lyn/Karlyn, in particular. It turns out that the first flight was delayed a bit, but they still hit Beijing before the other six teams.

The teams had to take a taxi to the Gold House where they'd face the first Roadblock of the season. A Roadblock is a task only one team member must complete. This one was a traditional native food kind of challenge - a plate of fish heads and the challenge was to remove and eat all the fish eyes. While I'd never be good at most of the food challenges, this one really looked like they could swallow them whole. Maybe they couldn't have water? Hmm.

Most odd quote on the streets of Beijing: One of the Cho's said, "China is a lot like Korea, just more Chinese characters." I believe he was referring to the lettering on signs.

Once the fish eyes were successfully downed, the next clue led the racers to the Forbidden City where they had to find the Meridian Gate. I'm including informative links to those places as one of the things I love about this show is learning about the history of places I may never get the chance to visit. Amazing stuff, really.

There was a three-sided structure with lighted times - 7:00 AM, 7:15 AM, 7:30 AM and the last one, at the bottom, read "Last Team." Uh-oh! Phil had warned the teams that there would be some new surprises this season and even though they might think they know the game, they don't.

Sure enough! When Bilal and Sa'eed arrived to take the Last Team, they were instructed to see Phil on the mat. It was a surprise Philimination! They were shocked and didn't react overly well, but didn't do anything horrible. The other teams were both shocked and saddened at their departure. Me? I personally don't think they would have made it much further as they were quite out of shape.

In the morning, the teams headed out to their first Detour. A Detour is a choice between two tasks related to the country or area. This Detour was a choice between Labor or Leisure. In Labor, teams had to construct a section of sidewalk in a particular brick pattern. In Leisure, teams had to learn a native routine which was a graceful, balancing a ball on a paddle with choreography sort of thing. Ony Terry/Tom and Kellie/Jamie went for the latter.

Yikes! Things are not going well for my early favorites -- the Cho Brothers and Vipul/Arti! "Get it together!," I said to my television as they both fell behind. The darn television never listens to me. I should trade it in on a better model. Maybe then my early favorites would do better on reality shows. Yeah, that's it!

Oh, no... the Pretty Boys (not Terry/Tom) finished the Detour first! Trip 'em!

Ahem.

From the Detour, teams had to take a taxi to the Great Wall of China, then scale the wall on ropes with loops for hand and footholds. It looked a bit impossible and a few teams who are in decent shape even had trouble with it. Sarah almost crumbled, but made it. Lyn and Karlyn got their determination going and made it. Poor Vipul and Arti would have done fine - they both scaled the wall without serious issues - but they were so far behind after the Detour that it was a lost cause.

The order of arrival at the Pit Stop on the Great Wall of China was as follows:
1. Tyler/James - also won $20,000 for 1st place
2. Duke/Lauren
3. Peter/Sarah
4. Dustin/Kandice
5. Rob/Kimberly
6. Kellie/Jamie
7. Erwin/Godwin
8. Tom/Terry
9. Lyn/Karlyn
10. David/Mary
11. Vipul/Arti - Philiminated. (Sigh)

So far, I think my favorite team is indeed the Brothers Cho. I liked how they helped people and mentioned that helping is good karma. They didn't place well, but hopefully will get their act together next week. I really liked Arti and Vipul as they were so pleasant to each other and others, but they're gone.

I admire Sarah. She's now running the race on a prosthetic leg which is leaking hydraulic fluid. Peter can't fix that. I'm not overly thrilled that they're racing a race yet using the "disabled card." Lyn and Karlyn are right -- one or the other. I have knee woes myself. I can't run a race. I also am not considered "disabled enough" to be pre-boarded on an airplane. Yes, she has a serious difference, but if she's running marathons, she should board planes with everyone else, don't you think?

Speaking of Lyn and Karlyn, they crack me up. They surely say what they're thinking! I love it! I also get a kick out of Tom and Terry. Their happy dance at the Pit Stop was a hoot!

Over the next few weeks, I'll sort out my favorites and least favorites more. Right now, I could do without Rob and Kimberly, and David and Mary may push me to sneering.

Xie xie for reading through to the end folks. Yes, that's "thank you" in Mandarin.

'The Amazing Race 10' - East Coast Update - 9/17 - Pitstop Arrival Order/Philimination

As I posted earlier, in a new "surprise," Bilal and Sa'eed were eliminated.

The arrival at the PitStop after climbing the Great Wall of China:

1. Tyler and James - won $20,000 for first place
2. Duke and Lauren
3. Peter and Sarah
4. Dustin and Kandice
5. Rob and Kimberly
6. Kellie and Jamie
7. Erwin and Godwin
8. Tom and Terry
9. Lyn and Karlyn
10. David and Mary
11. Vipul and Arti - Philiminated.

Rats. I liked them. They were pleasant folks.

'The Amazing Race 10' - East Coast Update - Early Philimination

"Expect the unexpected," said Mary.

Bilal and Sa'eed were just eliminated when they were the last to arrive at a destination (not a pitstop) in Beijing, China. The teams were warned that "surprises" were ahead.