The Amazing Race 31: Episode 10 Blog Party

We're getting down to the wire for the season now. It's all previous TAR teams and one rather surprising BB team left in the race. Who would have thought that Victor and Nicole would get this far?

Before we really get going here tonight, I'd like to remind you that the sign-ups for the BB21 pool are in full swing! You can sign up on this here linked post -- and only on that post, please. If you sign up on this TAR post, it might be missed. Sign up now while you're thinking of it!

I'll be live blogging the major events as tonight's show airs here on the East Coast. Refresh the page to get the latest update! As always, the party is in the comments area -- I hope to see you there!

Next week is the two-hour season finale starting at 9pm ET/PT after the second night of the BB21 season premiere.

Here are the latest blog pool standings from Lifeguard SueGee:

From Big Brother
Nicole & Victor -- Jackie, Jennifer, Jenna G

From Survivor
No One Has Survived!

From TAR
Colin & Christie -- Donna NY, Petals
Becca & Floyd -- Merrilee, Judi Sweeney, Glenn Allen
Leo & Jamal -- Kelsey NY, Indiana Jane, Cheryl in NC
Tyler & Korey -- Sharon N, Ed in Ohio

Philiminated
Art & JJ
Rupert & Laura
Corinne & Eliza
Janelle & Britney
Rachel & Elissa
Chris & Bret

Are we ready? Five teams remain. Who will be eliminated next?

Teams are flying to Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Tyler and Korey have won first place four times in a row. But, as we know, the only leg win which really counts is that final leg. This is one of those bunching up bits in which the teams all start out at the same time at their destination.

They have to ride a bike, then hike to get their next clue. They get tandem bikes which have a bit of a learning curve. It's Nicole's birthday, so she thinks they need to do well. 

Detour -- High or Dry. Raise a cow up a bell tower or go to a farm, vault across ditch, pick up cheese and eggs, go back across the ditch with all intact. The Dutch way to cross the water-filled ditch is a pole vault. Victor is great at it, Nicole not so much. And, the cows in the other part are fake cows.

Double U-Turn ahead! Yikes!

The first two teams there -- Colin/Christie and Tyler/Korey -- don't use the U-Turn figuring the Afghanimals were sure to use it. Leo/Jamal plan to get even and U-Turn Nicole/Victor if they can.

Aww, they did U-Turn Nicole and Victor who in turn U-Turned Team Fun. 

Team Fun is currently in last place. 

The teams must race by boat to the next Pit Stop. But Nicole and Victor are a bit lost looking for their cow. It looks like Team Fun is going to pass Nic/Vic as both teams vie for second to last place. Er, no … not so quick. Team Fun has to return to the Detour for another egg because one of their eggs were cracked. The suspense builds. Nic/Vic aren't doing well raising their cow.

They have to pull a boat from their boat in the race to the Pit Stop. So, it's not going to be easy to go through the canals. Leo/Jamal are having boat troubles while Nicole/Victor get to the last clue box before Becca/Floyd.

Pit Stop
1. Colin and Christie - won $7,500 each
2. Tyler/Korey
3. LeoJamal
4. Nicole/Victor
5. Becca/Floyd -- Philiminated

I really like them. 

BB21: The Ika ET Canada Interviews - Part 1

For those who might not know -- Canada not only has its own Big Brother show, they can also watch the USA version. Ika was on their version and, although she didn't win her season, she might have parlayed it into a more overall lucrative career with ET Canada. She interviews the new USA cast each season and, although her interviews are a bit formulaic, they're legally available on YouTube unlike the Jeff interviews for All Access which end up getting pulled. 

I will be posting these in four parts, four hamsters at random, along with a bit of commentary from me. Please feel free to voice your thoughts in comments!

But first … don't forget to sign up for the BB blog pool by going to this linked post. Only entries on that post will get into the pool. It's going to be a hot summer -- get in the pool now!

Hmm … I like that Analyse mentioned Daniele, Angela and Kaycee as admired and not Rachel. Heh. There aren't a lot of long-time show fans on this season. And, since she's only 22 and the show's been airing almost her whole life, ten or so seasons practically make her a superfan this season. That said, it doesn't seem like she has ever watched the live feeds or participated in anything online with the show. In my book, that makes her a bit of a pseudo-fan and she doesn't really know what she's getting into here. My jury is out on her.



Yes, Jack … you may face a situation where they might want to shave your head! Be very scared. Obviously a recruit, possibly for the Aquaman resemblance, mentioned in the Jeff interview, but not this Ika one. I would guess he's only been watching the show since he got the word he might be on it. At least CBS Access has all the seasons of the aired TV shows. But they don't have the live feeds from previous seasons stored. He deems like a nice enough guy. His eyebrows can look Vulcan-ish at times. He ain't gonna win.




A gay Broadway performer? Well, that's new and different. Heh. To be honest, I think I like Tommy as opposed to my first impression of the previous hamster with a similar background. Tommy is upbeat and pleasant. Of course, he does have the infamous Staten Island accent, often mistaken for New Jersey. For this season, he's a long-time fan of the show. Yeah, season 14 and on counts as long-time for this cast. No mention of the live feeds. I think he just might last a long time. I bet his social game will be very good!




The press calls her Isabella, but she calls herself Bella. So, she's Bella to me! Another recruit who tried to learn about the show after the "opportunity arose." It seems like she's probably only seen some of BB20. She's definitely going in oblivious. That said, I kind of like her. I think she's going to be fun to watch on the live feeds/ She seems to have an interesting and fun personality. Will she win it all? I doubt it. But, I'm here for the entertainment value anyway.

Big Brother 21: Blog Pool OPENS!

It's that time of year once again -- time for our summer obsession. BB21 makes its season debut next Tuesday evening. Between now and then I'll post the proposed scheduling and definitely more about our new hamsters.

But this isn't about that. Nope. This is WHO WANTS TO JUMP INTO THE BLOG POOL?

What's it all about?

Our esteemed and accomplished Lifeguard SueGee (AKA SqueeGee) will randomly match up pool entrants with the hamsters in the habitrail. Once matched up with a hamster, you need to cheer that one on until they're evicted or win it all. Yeah, even if they're obnoxious. Deal with it!

What will I win?

Well, IF you win, you'll be pleased to know there is NO CASH PRIZE! Nuh-uh. No way. That would cheapen the whole thing, don't ya think? Instead of paltry prizes, you get BRAGGING RIGHTS. Yep! From now through all eternity YOU will be a blog pool winner here. Feel free (and I encourage it) to put your win in your sign-off signature so that everyone can oooh and ahhh. Can't you hear the crowd now?

How do I get in on this wild action?!?!

You just need to sign up in the comments of THIS POST and THIS POST ONLY. If you put your name in on another post or Facebook or Twitter, it might be missed. If you come here as anonymous, you must come up with some sort of name in you comment. Otherwise, we can't tell the anonymous folks apart. Well, except for the unruly ones, maybe. 

When is the deadline for joining the pool?

The deadline for signing up is MONDAY JUNE 24 at NOON Pacific Time (that's 3pm ET). Don't put it off! Sign up TODAY!  

Big Brother 21: Cast Revealed Today!

Once again, the internet rumors were just that -- rumors, not factual at all. I thought it would be a cast of newbies as the television promos kept saying "total strangers." I should have posted my own rumors!

So, I did the exercise in aggravation known as the CBS All Access Live Feeds Big Brother cast interviews. Sigh. We sat through a blurred guy vacuuming and waited forever with a blurred Jeff Schroeder between interviews. They started late and went on forever -- mainly in wait time. Once the Ika interviews are online, I'll post them.

While I do like the newbies, BB is still casting one older person along with a bunch of kids. While this one does seem to have a good sense of humor, they're almost always out soon. We also have a gay Broadway dancer. Oh noes! Not a Frankie! Thankfully he doesn't come across like Frankie. We have a first in a plus-size model this season. We also have a good-looking man-bun dude. Hmm.

I'll be posting more on these new hamsters soon ...

Holly Allen, age 31

Cliff Hogg, age 53

Nicole Anthony, age 24

David Alexander, age 29

Analyse Talvera, age 22

Jack Matthews, age 28

Bella Wang, age 22

Jackson Michie, age 23

Christie Murphy, age 28

Nick Maccarone, age 27

Jessica Milagros, 30 (or so)

Ovi Kahir, age 22

Kathryn Dunn, age 29

Sam Smith, age 31

Kemi Faknule, age 25 

Tommy Bracco, age 28

The Amazing Race 31: Episode 9 Blpg Party

It seems like soon all we will have remaining on the show will be all previous TAR teams. BB hung in better than did Survivor, but now we're down to one team from each on the show. 

Speaking of BB -- if you missed it, I made this announcement the other day.

I'll be live blogging the major events as the show airs here on the East Coast. Refresh this page to get the latest updates! As always, the real party is in the comments area. I hope to see you there!

Before we get started, here are the latest blog pool standings from SueGee --

From Big Brother
Nicole & Victor -- Jackie, Jennifer, Jenna G

From Survivor
Chris & Bret -- Paula B., Megan in NC, SueGee

From TAR
Colin & Christie -- Donna NY, Petals
Becca & Floyd -- Merrilee, Judi Sweeney, Glenn Allen
Leo & Jamal -- Kelsey NY, Indiana Jane, Cheryl in NC
Tyler & Korey -- Sharon N, Ed in Ohio

Philiminated
Art & JJ
Rupert & Laura
Corinne & Eliza
Janelle & Britney
Rachel & Elissa

Six teams remain. Who will be eliminated next? Remember. all the non-Philimination legs have been run. 

Teams are flying to Croatia and there they'll meet up with a traveling gnome on the beach. Although the gnome is such ad placement, I always enjoy its involvement in the show. 

Colin and Christie have grown so much. Well, he has anyway. They're not holding grudges over the U-Turn votes. 

It looks like teams are actually going to be split on the flights for the first time I recall this season. So far it's split between two flights, but Vic/Nic seem to be being left behind. On noes!

Wow! They got a flight and might end up ahead of some of the teams on one flight! Yay! 

Bret and Chris make it there first -- they have to serve six drinks to beachgoers and collect their Roaming Gnome to get the next clue. Then they have to help the gnome deliver a loaf of bread to local monks.

Vic/Nic get in after the first few teams. The remaining teams have a delay even making matters worse for them. 

Bret/Chris first to Detour -- race up beach memorizing a tongue-twisting poem. Or, underwater treasure hunting.

Right now it's Bret/Chris, Tyler/Korey and Vic/Nic in the lead with all three teams at the detour. 

Vic/Nic are making progress on learning the poem while riding rough waters. Tyler/Korey give up the treasure hunt and are going for the poem. The remaining teams finally arrive in Croatia. 

Wow! Nicole and Victor take over the lead! But it seems like Tyler/Korey are right on their tails. Bret/Chris switch to the poem. They find out that's really hard too, so they head back to the treasure -- they do still have the coins they found there so far. But now the other teams are getting to the Detour. 

Roadblock - Who's ready to get their marching orders? Teams must keep track of five soldiers. Tyler/Korey got there before Nic/Vic. They liken it to a shell game trying to keep track of the soldiers.

Now Bret/Chris switch back. Meanwhile the last three teams are there at the Detour. 

Vic/Nic finish the Roadblock first and are heading to the Pit Stop. Now Tyler and Korey are heading there. It's a race!

Pit Stop
1. Tyler and Korey -- won a trip to Mexico
2. Nicole and Victor
3. Becca and Floyd

Yikes! Colin and Christie have to go back for their gnome after completing the Detour. Bret/Chris still doing poorly. 

Leo worked with Christie to do the Roadblock.

4. Colin and Christie
5. Leo and Jamal
6. Bret and Chris -- Philiminated.

They handle it well.