'The Amazing Race' Goes All Stars Next Season

They've done it for other reality shows and its coming has been rumored for some time. Now it seems to be inevitable. According to the TVgasm website, the filming of The Amazing Race 11 is to start next month. And, not only that, we're in store for watching a season of teams who have previously raced the race. Big Brother did the same, as did Survivor even earlier. Apparently the "all star" format is successful, but it's not always this fan's favorite.

So far, two teams from TAR5 are listed as participants in the new season. I fear neither team was too popular in their season, at least not according to the Internet buzz at the time.

Bickering and sometimes "Ugly Americans on Exhibit" Colin Guinn and Christie Woods are one of the teams revealed. Colin, of course, is most remembered for his infamous line, "My ox is broken!" That happened when an ox just didn't want to steer the way he wanted it to go. The couple argued their way to near the finish line only to be beat out by the Force for Good, Kim and Chip. Their motivation for undertaking the race at the time, other than the million dollars, was to test their relationship and possibly marry. Whether they're married or not these days is unsure. But, it's sure they'll fuss and fight through the All Stars season.

The other team linked to the All Stars version is cousins Charla Faddoul and Mirna Hindoyan. This is a team that many fans so wanted to cheer on, but they made it hard for the fans to do so. Mirna fretted, made her cousin handle all the tougher tasks, and obsessed about looking pretty for Phil Keoghan at the finish mat each leg. She also did her best to perpetuate stereotypes of little people with the way she treated Charla. At least, that's this show fan's perception. On the other hand, there's Charla, a little person. She can do a lot, but needs a better partner. Fans called them out for using the "Dwarf Card" to get ahead. Charla and Mirna were most recently seen on last years Battle of the Reality Stars (BRAVO). Their relationship didn't seem to change much over time.

Amazing Race ALL STARS or Amazing Race Villains? It could be worse. We could be in for another season of watching Jonathan and Victoria Baker. It would be better if these shows polled the viewers about what teams they'd like to see return if they feel they have to have all "all star" season. Better yet, I'd rather not see an "all star" season at all.

TV Newsy Bits - Saturday, October 21, 2006

Oh, my. Yesterday was a double whammy day here for me and I couldn't post to the blog. First, strong wind gusts brought down a tree practically in front of my apartment building. It actually fell on one parked car and one car which was driving by - a huge tree uprooted. Yikes! No one was hurt, though two vehicles will go to car heaven. But, my power was out through the evening hours.

Then, when the power returned, I tried to post and Blogger's servers were down. As I said, a double whammy. But I'm here now and here are the TV Newsy bits from the past few days:

• Reality to set in at NBC with shift to cheaper fare - Orlando Sentinel : Television
• Amazing Race and Survivor Cook Islands Finales Announced
• The First Fifteen Days Are Revisited Next Week on Survivor Cook Islands
• Cao Boi and Cristina on The Early Show - Also linked there are separate Reality News Online interviews with each castoff, worth reading!
• The mystery of Jae's death - USATODAY.com - Some of these very same questions went through my mind.
• Big Brother's Howie hits eBay with auction items from the show.
• Jack is Called On to Save One of "The Others" Next Week on "Lost"

I received some promotional goodies from TBS (the SuperStation). I'll hopefully have time to investigate them thoroughly over the weekend and give you the lowdown on two new shows set to debut next month - My Boys and 10 Items or Less.

And, but of course, we have The Amazing Race tomorrow night. The promos make me think a team I enjoy may be in trouble. Eek!

'Survivor 13: Cook Islands' - Ep. 6 -or- "When Good Voodoo Goes Bad"

Fourteen are left. Who will be voted off tonight?

Now, this was one rockin' and rollin', get down and get dirty, episode! All they would need is some jello (or mud) and it could have been held ringside for the big bucks.

The show opened with Raro on Night 14. Tension, hurt feelings, and verbal jousting were the order of the night. Understandably, Cristina's feelings were hurt because Adam called her out as "annoying" at Tribal Council. So, they argued. Brad thought it was insensitive of Adam, yet let them orally duke it out without his interference. Cristina cried. Adam didn't cry.

Then it was Day 15 and we were plopped into Aitu territory where Ozzy once again was being Poseidon Man, fishing for the troops. Despite his vow a few weeks back, he continues to supply his tribe with food he catches or climbs to get. Jonathan remarked about Ozzy's talents, but noted that Ozzy isn't anyone to be against after the merge. He's right. But, then again, Jonathan himself isn't one to be against after the merge.

The tree mail they received promised a feast to the winning team and talked about a well-balanced team being needed. The mail was in the shape of a mast. It didn't say whether the challenge would be Reward only or Immunity, but since it didn't mention bringing the Idol, it appeared to be Reward only to most of the tribe members.

Except for the Lone Cao Boi, that is. He wants to drag the Idol to everything as a "spiritual" thing, pride, a fellow member of the tribe, and a host of other reasons. Jonathan told him he was against bringing it because it would come across as gloating over their wins. Cao Boi got very abrupt. Fine, just fine. It stayed at camp.

Ah, it was time for the down and dirty at the Reward Challenge. I have no clue what the producers are doing. This one almost begged for injuries and it's lucky no one got hurt besides bruises, scrapes, and scratches. Cao Boi sat out as the odd man over. Then each tribe chose three members to cling onto a pole which was secured to the ground. Two members from the opposing tribe then had to remove them from the poles and drag them across the sand for quite a ways to the finish line.

Cristina fought dirty as they JessFlicka fought her. Chokeholds, hair-pulling, attempts at disrobing were the off-color moves during that battle. When it came time for the guys to move Ozzy, they just snagged him from the pole and carried him by the pants for a ways. He struggled, but couldn't beat them for long.

Oh? The prize? Well, the winners got a feast. But there's a hitch. Jeff told them that both tribes would each vote out a member tonight. The winning tribe would go to Tribal Council first, then feast and sit in the jury box during the losing tribe's Tribal Council. The feast was lamb shanks, bread, and apple cider. He also said there would be one more surprise. Every tribe member of each tribe gave the challenge their all, but in the end it was another win for Aitu.

Back at the Aitu camp, they were proud of their win, but worried about Tribal Council. Cao Boi came up with Plan Voodoo, an attempt to bring the hidden Immunity Idol into play and vote out one of the original Caucasion tribe members. He fears that, after the merge, the ex-Caucasian tribe will be a huge alliance and wants their numbers decimated. He also thought Jonathan had the Idol when it's actually Yul (the one to whom he was telling his plan) who has it.

Jonathan, meanwhile, wants Cao Boi out as the wild card. He has his points, too. Cao Boi has proved a bit bizarre and, though interesting, he can be annoying and problematic. The women seemed to be leaning a bit more towards voting out Jonathan, even Becky who's in the Becky/Candice/Yul/Jonathan alliance. Ozzy seemed a bit iffy about it all. I think he may have just been happy to be off the radar at the moment -- the ex-Latino tribe members have been dropping like flies. Only Ozzy and Cristina remain from that tribe.

Over at Raro, Nathan decided they didn't need lamb and he caught a nice-sized octopus for their own little feast. With tensions they way they are, Cristina was the largest target. She knew it, campaigned, and only had a decent response from Nathan.

Cao Boi, of course, brought the Immunity Idol to Aitu's Tribal Council. When Jeff Probst questioned him about it, he decided it could be another tribe member sitting there. He also told Jeff that people either love or hate him. That got a snicker from his tribemates. He rambled on about his voting choice being a chess game scenario looking down the robe. Deep, man, deep. Or not. He admitted that his plan was to expose the hidden Immunity Idol, something which may have been better left unsaid at Tribal Council, but that's Cao Boi for you.

In the end, it was bad voodoo for the Zen Master. Cao Boi was voted off with the only votes not for him being his own (Candice) and JessFlicka (Jonathan), his Zen Buddy Grasshopper.

Then it was time for Aitu to sit in the jury box and feast and Raro to hold their Tribal Council. The "Cristina annoying" bit was all rehashed; Jeff mentioned how many challenges they've lost (most of them). Then he announced a new twist right before Raro was ready to vote. Aitu would kidnap one of Raro's tribe members. That member wouldn't vote in the Tribal Council, but would also be safe from the vote. He also would quickly feast for a few minutes, then return with Aitu to their camp through the next Reward Challenge. They chose Nate.

Aitu, including the kidnapped Nathan, left before the votes were cast for Raro. Even Nate's vote couldn't have saved her. Cristina was voted out by all but two votes. She voted for Jenny, as did Brad.

A few random thoughts...

• Ozzy is the sole Survivor of the original Latino tribe.
• I didn't know Cao Boi had the sneakiness in him to come up with Plan Voodoo. Had Yul not had the Idol, it probably would have played out. But both Becky and Yul knew Jonathan didn't have it.
• While Cao Boi wanted to break up the original Caucasion tribe, he neglected to include his buddy JessFlicka in there.
• I know some might think it as racist on Cao Boi's part, but the Caucasian tribe is the only one that is still intact. I'd target them, too.
• My personal favorite remains Yul, though I'm also liking Jonathan more each week, too. Ozzy is a tremendous player, but he's so dang moody when things don't go his way. To me, he's a bit of a wild card in his own right. He's actually playing the people end of things much better the past few weeks.

'Survivor 13: Cook Islands' - East Coast Update 10/19 - Raro Tribal Council

Cristina was voted out.

A full recap/review will be posted late this evening. Stop back! :-)

'Survivor 13: Cook Islands' - East Coast Update 10/19 - New Twist

Nate was kidnapped by Aitu in new twist. He's immune from Raro TC and eats with them. He will be returned to his tribe at the next Reward Challenge.