The Amazing Race 31 Blog Pool OPENS!

The new season of The Amazing Race starts NEXT Wednesday, 9pm ET/PT right after Survivor. That would be April 17. Mark those calendars! It's a CBS reality show smackdown kind of season ahead -- three teams from Survivor, three from Big Brother and five previous Amazing Race teams. I posted about the BB and Survivor teams on this linked post. I will post about the returning TAR teams soon.

But first … we have to get this blog pool opened!

Hey! Who's our Lifeguard? And what does the lifeguard do?

SueGee, affectionately known as SqueeGee, will be the lifeguard. She will randomly match up blog members with teams on the show. Beware, though, she has a whistle and knows how to use it!

Then what happens?

As the show airs, you cheer on your team. You cheer 'em on and on. (Even if you don't like 'em, you cheer 'em on.) Once (or if) your team is Philiminated, feel free to cheer on whomever you wish. Just don't run amok all over the pool!

What do I win if my team wins?

You win the much sought after … bragging rights. Yep, you got it. What? You thought this was about money? Nope. Money doesn't last. Bragging rights last forever even as future seasons air.

How do I get in on this action?

You need to sign up in the comments of this post and this post only. Submissions on any other post or on Facebook or Twitter might be missed. If you are here on Blogger under "Anonymous," you will need some sort of sign-off name. A first name is fine, a nickname, anything. Obviously we can't have a half-dozen "anon" entrants in the pool -- we wouldn't be able to tell them apart.

When is the deadline for signing up?

The pool sign up ends at noon PT, otherwise known as 3pm ET, on Tuesday, April 16. Sign up now before you forget! Stragglers can hang around the pool, but won't be able to swim.

Survivor: Edge of Extinction - Ep. 9 Blog Party

Good evening! Did you hear the news? Next Wednesday following Survivor, we'll have the season premiere of The Amazing Race! Three teams each from Survivor and Big Brother will be competing, as well as five previous TAR teams. Since this blog has fans from all three shows, it seems custom-made for us! I posted about the BB and Survivor teams on this here linked post. Watch out for the blog pool opening post tomorrow!

As for tonight, it looks (from promos) like a Tribal Council not to miss! Other than that, perhaps we'll learn more about Extinction … or not. I'll be live blogging the showing covering all the major events the best I can as the show airs here on the East Coast -- refresh the page to get the latest news. The real party is in the comments section. Please feel free to join in on the fun!

Here are the latest blog pool standings from Lifeguard Laurie --

Aurora McCreary - Ed in Ohio, marthalight
Dan DaSilva "Wardog" - Jackie, Nana in the NW
David Wright * - Dr_Celine, PDX Granny, Renee Buck
Gavin Whitson - Brenda, KelseyNY
Julia Carter - Donna in FL, Monty924, Jennifer
Julie Rosenberg - Delee, MikesGirl
Kelley Wentworth * - Donna in NY, Jenna G.
Lauren O'Connell - Brian, Krysta Gibson, Sharon N.
Rick Devens - Auntie Leigh, Merrilee
Ron Clark - Cherry Pie, Judi Sweeney, Rochelle
Victoria Baamonde - Indiana Jane, Karen in VS, SueGee

Jury & Extinction
Reem Daly - David, Terry is a Texan, Sharon C
Chris Underwood - Glenn Allen, Laurie
Aubry Bracco * - Cheryl in NC, Margo, Petals
Eric Hafemann - Bizaro22, Pinky, Shannon
Joe Anglim * - Carol C, Kismet

Survivor fans ready? Let's get this show going!

Coming back from Tribal, Ron and Julie's blindside has Wardog scheming even more. Gavin is in a tight spot with his ex-ally Ron. He thinks he's in with a new alliance. We'll see how that works out. David and Rick voted differently but are trying to get back in with Ron and Julie to take control of the game.

Joe is on Extinction. He's bored. He calls it The Great Slowdown. He thinks Chris might be thinking of the white flag. Meanwhile, Chris catches a stingray. Things lookin' better! Eric is determined to stay.

Back at camp, Rick tries to reason with Julie. David, Rick, Ron and Julie try to figure an additional number. Julie is ready to jump ship from the Kama people. Oh, geez. She breaks down in confessional and to them. It seems like her resolve might be dissolving. 

Wardog, Kelley and Lauren are also a trio to keep an eye on. Julia is worried about them.

Time for the Immunity Challenge. It's a repeat from David's season (in which he did poorly). Stand on narrow beam while balancing a ball on a grooved bow. As time goes on, move to narrower section of the beam.

Wardog out first. Julie out. Next round. Ron out. Rick out. Aurora out, Victoria out. Lauren out. Kelley out. Julia out. David out.

GAVIN WINS IMMUNITY!

He's sure he'll be sending David home tonight.

David's name is getting thrown around, as is Ron's name. Will Kama Strong be strong once again? Now Kelley's name is in there, too. Lots of distrust throughout. Gavin doesn't want Kelley voted out. He feels that the others who want Kelley out instead of David have betrayed him. 

David knows he's on the chopping block. He thinks that he and Rick need to use the idol. Rick agrees with him that he (David) is in trouble. Kelley too is worried. Now, we know she has an idol of her own.

It must be some Tribal ahead as they're heading to it just over a half-hour into the show. 

Tribal time! Jeff talks about trust and blindsides. Julie says she was blindsided last week and her game was blown apart. David likens Lesu to minnows being devoured by sharks (Kama). Gavin talks about the lack of trust and set plans chaning. Julie is crying, saying she thinks it will be another blindside against her or Ron tonight. Julie, giggling, says she giggled because Kelley gave her if the plan was still good. Now Lesu thinks they're the plan again. 

Now they're arguing about which tribe is the most dysfunctional. Wardog says he's confused. Julia calls Rick a passenger, after he called himself one. Rick says the seven who seem left out should get together and control the vote. David is just smiling. He thinks it's desperation and everyone is trying to figure out what is going on.

Whoa! They're talking all around. They tell David the plan was him. Julie is ready to jump ship! It's like all the scheming pre-Tribal is happening AT Tribal.

Still lots of confusion. They say they're ready to vote. I still can't make heads or tails of it all!

The tally … Eric matches the idol halves and David is safe.

David, Kelley, Julia, Julia, Julia, Julia, Julia, Julia …

Welp, I guess she's jumping ship, not Julie!

She chooses to go to Extinction and feels all kinds of betrayed by her Kama Strong.

The Amazing Race 31 starts April 17 - BB and Survivor Teams!

It's been announced that the new season of TAR will start following the airing of Survivor: Edge of Extinction on Wednesday, April 17. Now, I had absolutely no interest in that Million Dollar Mile (whatever) anyway. So, I'm glad it was booted to Saturday night in its death throes.

This upcoming TAR season was surely made for this blog and its readers! Why else would they have contestants from three CBS reality shows -- Big Brother, Survivor and The Amazing Race -- the three shows always covered here? 



From Big Brother, we have …

A sister team of Rachel Reilly and Elissa Slater, now ages 34 and 32 respectively. Rachel has an edge over many of the BB hamsters as she's been on TAR twice already with her husband Brandon. Her stats are: Big Brother 12, winner of Big Brother 13, The Amazing Race 20 and The Amazing Race All-Stars. It will be interesting to see how she does with her sister who was on BB15.

Engaged couple Nicole Franzel and Victor Arroyo, ages 26 and 28. Although not even a showmance in their one BB season together, they're engaged now. Her stats: Big Brother 16, winner of Big Brother 18. He was the hamster who kept winning comps to come back in Big Brother 18. I'm not sure how she'll do on TAR -- she's one of those lovable but kind of naïve sorts. I can see him excelling at any challenge thrown his way. It's a shame he can't do all the challenges himself on the show!

Here's quite the duo! Friends Janelle Pierzina and Britney Haynes! Now ages 38 and 30. Janelle was a BB fan favorite with three summers on the show -- Big Brother 6,Big Brother All-Stars and Big Brother 14. She was a tremendous competitor in BB6. Britney has two BB seasons under her belt -- Big Brother 12 and Big Brother 14. Not as big a player on the physical comps as Janelle, I think she has a very entertaining (and sarcastic) wit about her. I'll enjoy watching them race as a team together!



From Survivor, we have ...

Married couple Rupert and Laura Boneham. He's 54 now, she's 49. Rupert had a large fan base from his four appearances on Survivor --Survivor: Pearl Island, Survivor: All-Stars, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, Survivor: Blood vs. Water. Laura was on Blood vs. Water with him. While I think Rupert is a very admirable man in his business and personal life, I was never really a fan of his on the show(s). To me, his schtick was to roar and act like a pirate. Age-wise and competition-wise, I think they're going to be out of their league on TAR.

Friends Corinne Kaplan and Eliza Orlins, ages 39 and 35 respectively. Corinne was on Survivor: Gabon and Survivor: Caramoan. Eliza was on Survivor: Vanuatu and Survivor: Micronesia. I didn't realize that Eliza is now a public defender in Manhattan. No, I won't go there and get into trouble just to meet her. Don't even ask! This should be a pretty solid team. As an added bonus, if they go to China, Eliza can speak Mandarin! I enjoy the both of them and they just might be contenders!

Then we have friends Chris Hammons and Bret LaBelle, both from Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen-X. Chris is 40, Bret is now 44. Chris is a defense attorney while Bret is a police sergeant. I enjoyed both of them personality-wise on the show. But, if memory serves, neither was all that great at the challenges. It looks like Chris, in particular, has gained some weight. I can't knock a person for that -- glass houses and all that, y'know! But … excess weight against lean and mean teams often brings an early exit from the show … or a late arrival on the welcome mat.

I'll be covering the returning TAR teams in a separate post. But, I'll leave you with a little teaser. Who could forget Colin from TAR5 and "My ox is BROKEN!"?

Survivor 38: Edge of Extinction Ep. 8 Blog Party

I don't know about you, but I'm still a bit confused about how Extinction is going to work from this point forward. Sure, we know Wendy and Keith raised the white flag and are gone from the game. We know Aubry, Reem and Chris are on the jury. BUT … they had to go back to Extinction where Joe joined them. Jeff has said Extinction continues. So … those who don't win the return to the game challenge get another shot? (Maybe not a great shot because they're going up against Joe.) Will people quit or end up staying in just to be on the jury? May I go to be waited on at Ponderosa since they're obviously not using it?

Lifeguard Laurie's blog pool is getting just about as confusing. We've got three people in two places and only two people out of the game going into the eighth episode. Oy! Here we go:

Aurora McCreary - Ed in Ohio, marthalight

Dan DaSilve "Wardog" - Jackie, Nana in the NW

David Wright * - Dr_Celine, PDX Granny, Renee Buck

Eric Hafemann - Bizaro22, Pinky, Shannon

Gavin Whitson - Brenda, KelseyNY

Julia Carter - Donna in FL, Monty924, Jennifer

Julie Rosenberg - Delee, MikesGirl

Kelley Wentworth * - Donna in NY, Jenna G.

Lauren O'Connell - Brian, Krysta Gibson, Sharon N.

Rick Devens - Auntie Leigh, Merrilee

Ron Clark - Cherry Pie, Judi Sweeney, Rochelle

Victoria Baamonde - Indiana Jane, Karen in VS, SueGee

JURY & Extinction

Reem Daly - David, Terry is a Texan, Sharon C

Chris Underwood - Glenn Allen, Laurie

Aubry Bracco * - Cheryl in NC, Margo, Petals

EXTINCTION only

Joe Anglim * - Carol C, Kismet

Bye-bye

Keith Sowell

Wendy Diaz

Let's see how this is going to play out …

Ron is working on David and Rick. Joe is looking miserable over in Extinction. And, we're into a Reward Challenge. Race through obstacles, retrieve puzzle pieces, solve plank puzzle,  random draw for teams of six. Blue and yellow.

Victoria, Wardog, Julia, Gavin, Aurora and Rick (?) win Reward … Chinese dinner!

Over with the others, Kelley tries to bury the hatchet with David and gather some numbers. David likes what she's selling because they think the old Kama tribe is still the power led by Ron and Eric. Wardog is trying to get Rick to work with him. Now, Rick doesn't like being barked at by a Wardog. He doesn't trust Lesu. He's thinking it would be better to work with Kama. Uh-oh. Rick isn't going along with David. He even mentions that David should give him the half of the idol back. Yipes.

Aubry got the clue first on Extinction. Joe is confused and they're all looking for whatever the advantage might be. Step back … Aubry finds a key and a clue. She has an extra vote for someone in the game plus a practice.

Immunity Challenge time. No Extinction showing up this time. Balance on toes with a block wedged between head and frame. Block falls and eliminated.

Wardog out first. Eric out. Gavin out. Kelley out. Rick out. Julia out. Ron out. Julie out. After nearly a half-hour, Lauren said she's getting a bit dizzy. David out.

WHOA! Lauren passed out! Aurora is trying to convince Victoria that she needs the win because she was the only one left out of the vote. Meanwhile, Dr. Joe is tending to Lauren who's now conscious.

Victoria drops not due to Aurora's pleading. 

AURORA wins Immunity!

Not only did she win Immunity, she got the extra vote from Aubry!

Kama is talking about the "loved ones" visit. (My least favorite episode.) They're talking about getting either Kelley or Lauren out. Gavin thinks they should go after Lesu and, in particular, Kelley. Kelley and David think they're fighting a losing battle. Kelley knows that she and Lauren are targets, but she also knows they each have an idol.

Wardog tries to recruit soldiers. He thinks Kama is trying to get David or Rick vote is smart. So, now the buzz is about taking David out. Eric thinks David will be loyal. Ohh … now talk is on about getting out Ron or Eric. I guess we'll have another Tribal in which it's not sure who's going. 

Tribal Council time -- jury brought in and Joe IS on it. Hmm. 

Time for Jeff's Probsting questions. He starts off with Kama power questions. Kama 7 talk and Rick claims he was betrayed by Lesu and wants in on the Kama train. David claims he's just a passenger. Dang, Eric once again makes a goal of seeing loved ones. David doesn't like that goal and says everyone should be thinking of Day 39. Talks about making a move. Still no real clue and it's time to vote.

Eric votes Kelley. 

The tally:
No idols played.

Kelley, Lauren, Lauren, Kelley, Eric, Eric, Eric, Eric, Eric, Eric …

Bye-bye, Eric! Ron looks miserable. Heh.

Eric makes the choice to go to Extinction. No surprise there!

Survivor 38: Edge of Extinction Ep. 7 Blog Party

Well, well, well … we're seven episodes in (yes, last week was two episodes) and all of the castaways are still in it one way or another. From the promo shown at the end of last week's show(s), we're in not only for the merge tonight, but all of those on Extinction come trooping in as the Immunity Challenge is about to start. It's my understanding, although I might be wrong, that only one from Extinction will rejoin the castaways and continue playing the game. How they'll whittle the number down, I have no clue. Nor do I know if Extinction will end as the show is named after it. Hmm. However, I predict lots of folks out of the pool after tonight!

I did find out the status of Aubry's idol and advantage, though. Nope, no good. The clue that came with the idol read that it's no longer any good if she is voted out. I don't know if the advantage (extra vote given to her by Chris) had the same wording. But, Jeff Probst has said online and in articles this past week that neither is any good at this point because she was voted out.

As the show airs here on the East Coast I'll be live-blogging the major events and some events possibly not as major. Refresh the page to get the latest news. As always, the real party is in the comments area. Feel free to join in on the fun!

But first … the latest pool update from Lifeguard Laurie!

Manu Tribe
Eric Hafemann - Bizaro22, Pinky, Shannon
Gavin Whitson - Brenda, KelseyNY
Victoria Baamonde - Indiana Jane, Karen in VS, SueGee

Kama Tribe
Aurora McCreary - Ed in Ohio, marthalight
Joe Anglim * - Carol C., Kismet
Julia Carter - Donna in FL, Monty924, Jennifer
Julie Rosenberg - Delee, MikesGirl
Ron Clark - Cherry Pie, Judi Sweeney, Rochelle

Lesu Tribe
Dan DaSilva "Wardog" - Jackie, Nana in the NW
David Wright * - Dr_Celine, PDX Granny, Renee Buck
Kelley Wentworth * - Donna in NY, Jenna G.
Lauren O'Connell - Brian, Krista Gibson, Sharon N.

Limbo/Extinction
Reem Daly - David, Terry is a Texan, Sharon C
Keith Sowell - Donna in Alabama, meb, Skyriverblue
Chris Underwood - Glenn Allen, Laurie
Rick Devens - Auntie Leigh, Merrilee 
Aubry Bracco * - Cheryl in NC, Margo, Petals
Wendy Diaz - Janice, Jennasmom, tbc

Let's get it ON!

We're starting with … drop your buffs. The merge is on. Jeff starts talking about iconic Survivor moves and then yells "Come on in!" All of the Extinction crew arrives. One of the six will earn his/way back into game. Race through obstacles, untie bag, build bamboo pole, retrieve key, maneuver pole to long track to move ball up track, first one through wins.  Some earned advantages on Extinction. Chris had won bamboo and string. Keith gives a thirty knots disadvantage to Chris. Oh my gosh, Wendy is leading!

Whoops! Wendy dropped it, has to start again! 

RICK DEVENS IS BACK IN THE GAME!

One of my questions answered -- Jeff tells them that Extinction will begin once again. It will continue.

Whoa … Who wants to go back to Extinction Island? They ALL jump at the chance! I guess our blog pool peeps will all sort of be in it still.

The Merge Feast is on. Now, if original Kama stays tight, they have eight strong. Rick is trying to bond with people so he won't be the easy vote out because he had already been voted out. (Cue Big Brother)

On Extinction, some raise the white flag. Uh-oh. Reem, Aubry and Rick remain. I think.

Back at camp, Joe is worried about being targeted while others are indeed talking about taking the easy Rick vote.

Rick finds something in his bag. Note -- two halves of an immunity idol. He keeps one half, gives the other to someone else. He has to get through the first vote without it. If they both make it through the vote, it will become the power of one idol. He tells his closest ally and to-be recipient of the other half David about it.

Time for the first individual Immunity. Stand on narrow beam holding statue. As time goes on, go down the beam to a narrower area. Last one standing with statue wins.

Wind … Ron is out at the start! Gavin out. Wardog out. Rick out. Victoria out. Aurora out. Kelley out. Twenty minutes in and they go to the most narrow. Eric out. Julia out. David out. 

Julie, Joe and Lauren remaining. Ack! Joe out. Lauren out.

JULIE WINS IMMUNITY!

Kelley knows that the current plan is for the "easy vote." But she is concerned enough that she is considering that she might have to use her idol.

Julie is scheming to take Kelley out. She tells Rick that he's a target and he and David need to vote with them, no questions asked. Joe is worried that he might be a target. Ron thinks the Kama Six should vote him out while they can. 

So, it seems to be targeting Joe and Kelley more than Rick. How strong will the six be in the vote? And they hike off to Tribal.

Reem, Chris and Aubry are members of the jury? Jeff tells the others that they chose to return to Extinction. 

Jeff asks about original Kama, threats, idols and other Probsting questions, After Ron makes a statement about Kama being so strong, it's time to vote.

The tally:
Kelley does NOT play her idol.

Rick, Kelley, David, Rick, David, Kelley, David, Joe, Joe, Joe, Joe, Joe.

Jeff tells them Joe is the fourth member of the jury. Of course … Joe finds the Extinction stand and grabs the torch. He's not quitting!

He greets the other three back on Extinction. Hugs all around. Hmm … I guess this means no Ponderosa this season?

In the promo for next week, someone gets hurt. See you then!