Survivor: Blood vs.Water - September 25 Blog Party

Before we get into the show, I noticed some people are asking about the pool for The Amazing Race. I haven't heard from Margo yet, so I'm uncertain if she's going to be doing it this season. I should know before the premiere. I hope so, anyway!

Speaking of pools, here's our latest pool standings here on Survivor by that rockin' Lifeguard Laurie:

Galang Team
ARAS -- Donna in FL, MikesGirl
COLTON -- Gaylos, Nickelpeed
GERVASE -- Jackie, Pam in NJ
KAT -- Jig, Petals
LAURA B -- Buzzmaan, Laurie, SueGee
LAURA M -- AlbGlinka, JOKATS, rbennie
MONICA -- Becky, KayBeeRN, Russ
TINA -- Cheryl in NC, Lynn1, Terry in TX
TYSON -- Delee, meb

Tadhana
BRAD -- Brent McKee, Kelly D. Sharon N.
CALEB -- Glenn, ORKMommy
CIERA -- Andrea J, Karen in CA, Rochelle
HAYDEN -- Joanie, Quixotic Elf
JOHN -- Ed in Ohio, Nana in the NW
KATIE -- David, Margo, Zoetawny
RACHEL -- Donna in AL, Merrilee
VYTAS -- Donna NY, ML

Redemption Island
CANDICE -- Dusty, Monty924
MARISSA -- Jennas Mom, PDX Granny
RUPERT -- Brian, Kelsey NY, Sharon S.

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As tonight's show airs, I'll update this entry with the major happenings. Refresh the page to get the latest! But the real party (and reactions!) is in the comments area ... come join us!

Survivor fans ready?

Ah, long recap, but the Redemption Island duel is upon us now. The three compete stacking spools on a rack thingee. Gervase turned down a chance to take Marissa's spot. Winner chooses to give a clue to a hidden idol to anyone of their choosing. Loser is out for good. Top two stay to duel again for the return. Candice is first done! Marissa stays alive! Rupert is gonzo! He;s the first out this season! Candice gives her husband John the hidden idol clue.

Colton is already the way he was on his season. Ick.

Immunity Challenge -- Pushing a tribe member in a barrel, collecting balls, then they play a skee-ball kind of game for the win. Reward is fishing equipment. Gervase wins it for the returning players, second win in a row. He tells them it's for Marissa. (Yeah, like he really cares.)

Because John had the idol clue and balked about voting out Rachel as his broliance wanted him to do ... he may be up for a blindside. Eep.

Tribal council time. Lots of layers to the voting this year. The person they vote out can be replaced with the loved one, etc.

The tally -- John, John, Ciera, Rachel, Rachel, Rachel, Rachel.

Welp, the blindside of John didn't work. They're sending Rachel to Redemption Island where it's possible that Tyson might take her place.

Big Brother 15: That Amanda Zuckerman Podcast

Now, I'm still not a huge Amanda fan. On the show she did what she did and did it fairly well, though. In real life, I'm sure I'd find her much too abrasive and so not like the friends I cherish in my world. But my world's not hers and vice versa.

I watched the live feeds. I watched the shows on television. I'm never one to claim that I "hate" anyone on any of these shows. They don't personally matter enough to me to feel that strongly. They're there for my entertainment. Yup, some of them might think they're the puppetmasters, but it's really me. They entertain me or they don't. It's as simple as that.

Amanda was only entertaining to me when there was a brouhaha or even a kerfuffle at hand. Other than that, she cuddled, slept, ate in bed with her newly discovered love of her life pizza delivery boy.

Yet I found this way too long podcast she did with Big Brother Gossip interesting. She provided some inside info on the behind the scenes stuff, how much the Diary Room really influenced them and more. Be warned -- the podcast is about two and a half hours long. Really. I'm not joking. I had it on while doing housework and listened on and off to it over the course of two days.

Finally, some of the myths and rumors which fueled even more difficulties with this season can be put to rest. Amongst other things ...

• Amanda tried out for the show five times before getting aboard.
• Amanda only met Alison Grodner in the final interview of the casting process.
• Amanda had met Mike Boogie years ago when she applied for a job at a company he owned. She didn't realize who he was until years later. She also didn't get that job.
• Amanda confirmed (as I've said all along) that the Diary Room didn't tell the hamsters to do anything. Sometimes they could guess at things judging by the questions they were asked, but the DR (and production) kept them pretty much in the dark over most of the things going on with the other hamsters.
• That said, production did ask Amanda to stop bullying Elissa because Elissa was refusing to go to the Diary Room, etc. They didn't tell her she had to stop and admitted it was within the rules. 
• The infamous incident with Howard really happened. (Oh, my!)
• At the jury house, they each had two handlers with them at all times and weren't allowed to talk game.

Now, there's a lot more to it. If you have the time, it's interesting not even so much from the Amanda angle, but the fact that she spilled more behind the scenes stuff than anyone who's ever been on the show.

Oh, mind you ... she's still abrasive and so not my kind of person. Good luck with that, McCrae!

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - September 22, 2013

It's Sunday morning! Woohoo! Hey, wait ... what am I so excited about? That means it's the last day of my staycation. Wah. However, it's also time for my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken along the way.

I had all kinds of grand plans regarding what I'd get done and do this past week. While I did get some things done, I ended up goofing off most of the time. After three months of getting little sleep between work and covering the Big Brother 15 live feeds and show here on the blog, I was exhausted.

While I did get some of my planned errands done and I made a trip to Mindowaskin Park in Westfield to take photos and enjoy the peaceful tranquility there, I never did make it into the city. I was going to go into Little Italy in Manhattan for the Feast of San Genaro -- which was going on all week -- but I never got the energy to do so. Instead, I spent a good part of the time this past week stuck under a cat.

I need to go back to relaxing ... here are the photos!

Idyllic

I believe this was my favorite photo I took at Mindowaskin Park in Westfield. The footbridges over the water lend themselves to fantastic reflections, throw in three ducks and you got yourself a bit of tranquility!

Red eared slider

More about this little guy a bit later in the post ...

Reflecting on a duck

A duck and her reflection at Mindowaskin Park.

**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**

The Amazing Race: Meet the Cast Video

On September 29th, a week from this Sunday, we'll have the season premiere of The Amazing Race. Woot! In watching the videos and coming off such a nasty cast on Big Brother, I almost feel rejuvenated ... or something to that effect. It would be nice if BB went for quality and diversity rather than who looks good in a bikini!

Here's Phil's "Meet the Cast" video --



There is one team which is quasi-local to this area. However, I find them confusing. Why would ex-relationship kind of people go on a show like this where they're stuck together as a team and under such stress? The recent article on nj.com told us we can expect "a lot of bickering" by the ex-couple from Morristown, NJ. Oh, great. Just what I don't love on TAR!

Will you be watching?

Big Brother 15: The "I'm sorry if I offended anyone" Season

Although the cast interview at CBS.com aren't up as of this posting, you didn't really miss much if you missed them last night. Repeated apologies from the hamsters, really bad music, long lags in between interviews, very lightweight interviews with Jeff ... as poorly handled as the casting job was done in the first place for this season.

So, it's fitting.

I found written transcripts of backyard interviews by ET Online - check them out. EW.com has a lengthy podcast interview with the final three, too. They definitely got a bit more into things than did the CBS interviews.

All in all, I'm glad the season ended. Hopefully next year, I'll have a hamster to cheer on. I didn't even feel that way about most of the so-called "good" people this year. I liked Helen, then she went over the top. I liked Howard, but he seemed in his own game world and really didn't have a strategy, so he lost me. I liked Judd, but he would go weird at times. And so on.

I actually liked Evel Dick in his season. Yeah, I admit it. I also liked Ian Terry despite the fact he was a perpetual motion machine. Dr. Will made me smile and laugh. I could root for them despite their faults. But I never even liked anyone enough this season to declare myself a fan.

Time to move on ...