Donny Ketchum

I'm actually kind of surprised that he was dispatched so soon. But at the same time, it goes with the points @CletusMusashi and I made on Joaquin's thread regarding getting rid of big, strong men early. @CletusMusashi had said: And I had said: Sounds like Joe, Jenn, Hali, and, to an extent, Will were willing to take that bet. Nina, however . . . In any case, glad Vince is gone, because he'd have annoyed the crap out of the way the way Coach did in Tocantins. Glad that was nipped in the bud.

Yeah, Vince was easily going to turn into (Tocantins) Coach 2.0 if left unchecked. Glad that was nipped in the bud. And yeah, I like Joe for now, so I'm glad he was spared. Nina's such a poor player that no, @vb68, I don't think she realizes at all that she caused Vince's boot. And Will? I like him, but . . . Joe, Jenn, and Hali pretty much control the votes now, assuming they see each other as the core group. Will and Nina have become easy vote-offs whenever they get around to it, if they get around to them before a swap.

Wow. No thoughts on the last two episodes? I kinda liked how they gave everyone something to do the week Mike and Molly were left at home. Mike and Molly had their own storyline, of course. Joyce and Vince had a storyline, and although it was a small one, Carl and Victoria had their own storyline, too. They stopped focusing just on the two title characters. And this week, I kinda like how Mike finally stood up to Peggy, though it was funny that Molly felt terrible that she'd missed it.

I like Paul, as well. It can be hard to come out and give UOs. I also don't mind Serena and I do think she can be quite overzealous sometimes, but it doesn't bother me that much. I'm a Paige fan and wish the writers hadn't destroyed her the way they had since the whole thing with J.J. and Eve got started. I also, despite everything, still like Jennifer and blame the writing for her current characterization more than the character herself.

Yes. And since I actually still do like Jennifer, I don't care.

Nope. It was just season one that did that. I remember season two well, and the two teams were split by gender at the start.

All right. A day late, but the current team roster/cheat sheet: Team Adam Tonya Boyd-Cannon (3) Blaze Johnson (2) Deanna Johnson (4) Michael Leier (2) Bren’nae DeBarge (1)* James McNeiece (1)* Barry Minniefield (1) Nicolette Maré (1)* Lexi Dávila (2) Josh Batstone (2)* Jack Gregori (1) Team Pharrell Lowell Oakley (2) Meghan Linsey (3) Sawyer Fredericks (4) Anthony Riley (4) Mia Z (2) Kimberly Nichole (2) Travis Ewing (3) Noelle Bybee (1)* Ashley Morgan (2) Briar Jonnee (2) Team Christina Rob Taylor (3) Treeva Gibson (2) Gabriel Wolfchild (3) Joe Tolo (2) Sonic (2) Clinton Washington (1)* India Carney (4) Koryn Hawthorne (2) Katelyn Read (1)* Ameera Delandro (1)* Jeremy Gaynor (4) Team Blake Sarah Potenza (4) Cody Wickline (4) Joshua Davis (2) Brooke Adee (2) Kelsie May (3) Jacob Rummell (2) Matt Snook (1)* Bay Brooks (1)* Brenna Yaeger (2) Brian Johnson (2) Corey Kent White (2) Bolded names indicate new additions. The number in parentheses indicates the number of chair turns. And the asterisks indicate montaged contestants. As for the rejects, Jess Gallo's voice certainly was unique, and I think she'd have managed a chair turn had she picked a song that could've showcased her voice a lot better. I think the other rejects would've been out regardless, though. I was very shocked that Jeremy went for Christina. I really thought he'd go for Pharrell or, by some chance, Adam. I find it quite telling that Pharrell's only had one montaged contestant thus far. And what happened to Adam's King of the Four-Chair Turn? Thus far, Deanna's his only one. Blake, Pharrell, and Christina each have two. I'm surprised they ended this episode when there are still five slots left on the teams. One for Adam, Christina, and Blake each, and two for Pharrell. Apparently, the next new episode is the last few blinds and going into the Battle Rounds. And on a final note (for now), I find it very refreshing that they didn't end this episode on a four-chair turn, instead having it be a two-chair turn.

I think of her as a tad less disgusting because at least she was rightly disgusted when she found out her son was a rapist. I was just coming on to say that. I literally dropped my jaw when that revelation came out. They were probably among the worst parents to be seen. Even though we really didn't get to actually see them until their murders, I'm gonna throw in the parents killed in "Alternate." The father was molesting both of his daughters, apparently even into their adulthood, causing one of them to get DID, and their mother apparently knew and did nothing about it. So they killed them. Yes, killing is wrong, but having had to go through a whole life of that, I can't one-hundred-percent blame them for it. Was this the Katie that ended nearly every statement with "the end?" If so, at least her father wanted her away from her mother in the end. And I'll add the mothers in "Shaken" and "Poison." One mother kills her daughter with Shaken Baby Syndrome just because she wants a quiet night with her boyfriend. The other poisons her daughter because she's too difficult to take care of, and she gets off largely because of an overly-biased judge who likes that she's on his level of the social chain. And this was ten years after he purposely sentenced a woman he knew was an innocent of her own daughter's death to prison because she was beneath him on the social ladder. And later, after the poisoning mother gets off, she is re-arrested when she actually smothers her daughter to death, at the suggestion of the same biased judge. She was . . . I have no words. But Diane Neal is wonderful in this episode as she shows Casey's outright disgust and pure hatred toward that judge.

I think you're thinking about "Sick" in season three.

No, he's still a regular. His name just didn't appear because Ward didn't appear in the episode. The most we heard about him was a mention from Bobbi (who, by the way, has been upped to a regular).

I wouldn't say the whole team sank themselves, nor would I say that they took no advantage of Chrissa's removal. They did plow right through appetizers after she was sent out into the dining room, after all, and were charging through entrees at a good rate. The only ones who sank them were, again, Monique and Christine when they failed epically on the meat. They were one table away from completing their service and totally fucked up for everyone. And even though it was only their fault, Ramsay, for some reason, punished the whole team! I'm kinda over him doing that, whether for the men or the women.

@271days, I have to say that I'm enjoying reading your posts regarding this triangle. You and I seem to be the only two who actually get that Sonny is not perfect and is, whether intentionally or not, leading Paul on and giving him false hope for the future that may or may not truly be there. That is his doing, and his alone. Not Will's. Not Paul's. I'm just glad that his halo is finally being at least somewhat tarnished.

No.

This cast looks more competent than last season's, for sure. Not really any huge screw-ups in the dinner service until the entrees rolled around. I felt a bit bad for most of the women. They seemed to be doing a good job until the VIP table rolled around. That seemed to trip them up to a point where they couldn't get it together again. And to hear them talk after Ramsay kicked them out, they had one table left after the VIP table, and they would've won. So the men basically got lucky that Christine and Monique fucked up so badly. If we're basing the elimination on the service, I actually kinda thought that Monique or Christine should've been tossed. Likely Monique for not checking the oven. But Chrissa will do, too, since I don't think she knows what she's doing. But yeah, I agree with those who think Monique's not long for the game herself. I don't know. Even though I thought he didn't deserve to win HK12, Scott did win, and the women won that first week.

He's playing bad guys an awful lot. . . . Any chance of him ever playing a good guy or an ally to a good guy again?

Wasn't it established in one episode that because Alex has her shit mostly together, Phil and Claire don't normally see the need to worry about her? That's what I can clearly see being true about her, so I won't be surprised if that's why Phil and Claire don't spend as much time concerning themselves with her.

I think it's worth noting that when TWoP was still up and running, nearly everyone came down hard on Kass, Tasha, and J'Tia for blindsiding Garrett, a big, strong man, early in Cagayan. But as much as they wanted to keep him around, Garrett was trying way too hard to control the whole tribe, keeping everyone from talking and forming strategies, and Tasha and J'Tia knew it. They eventually realized that they couldn't trust him and got Kass to see that he wasn't trustworthy. So they took matters into their own hands and voted him out second. Not good for their muscle, but they got a new lease on life with the swap, anyway. (Or Tasha and Kass did, anyway. J'Tia's own uselessness got her voted out the week before the swap.) Last season had a similar situation on Coyopa, when Josh decided he couldn't trust John Rocker and got Alec, Wes, Jaclyn, and Baylor together to blindside him out of the game, despite him also being a big, strong man. The very next week, Natalie and Missy got Kelley, Julie, and Jeremy to betray Drew, another big, strong man, because he way-too-openly targeted the women of Hunahpu, costing said women any trust they could've had in him. And sure enough, Hunahpu didn't suffer for it much, as the tribal swap came up next, and they got some more big, strong men on their tribe, anyway. Point being? @CletusMusashi is right that an untrustworthy guy being kept around just because he's strong is nonsensical. If you feel a tribal swap is coming or may come soon, then don't hesitate to drop him. Just like those I listed above did. A swap just might mitigate any potential dangers like it did for them.

There was no alternate pair. So and her sister dropped out at the very last minute, so they had no time to scramble for another two-woman pair. That was why San Juan del Sur started with ten men against eight women. Had So and her sister dropped out with more time to find another all-woman pair, there'd have been an alternate pair to cast in their place.

@Noreaster, Damien is, like, Adam's only black success story. Nearly every other one he's dumped at the first opportunity. Kelli, Toia, and Ethan all say hi, in fact. As for those others you mentioned, I'm pretty sure everyone was referring to his past black contestants, not minorities, in general. And no, the other coaches haven't been stellar with black contestants, either, save for, well, the other black coaches, but that doesn't give Adam a pass for the exactly ONE African-American contestant he has gotten to a finale. Also, "weirdly?" His pitches are always all over the place. It's like he's so desperate just to beat out another coach that he'll say anything, and so far, I've seen more contestants cottoning to him and choosing anyone else who turns for them.

He . . . didn't really do that. It was just a joke. And only a very, very, very, very slightly funny one. But mostly bad.

To be fair to Belle (since someone has to be), she had no way of knowing it was Rumpel. If she did, I don't think she'd have taken the info at face value.

Current team roster/cheat sheet: Team Adam Tonya Boyd-Cannon (3) Blaze Johnson (2) Deanna Johnson (4) Michael Leier (2) Bren’nae DeBarge (1)* James McNeiece (1)* Barry Minniefield (1) Nicolette Maré (1)* Team Pharrell Lowell Oakley (2) Meghan Linsey (3) Sawyer Fredericks (4) Anthony Riley (4) Mia Z (2) Kimberly Nichole (2) Travis Ewing (3) Noelle Bybee (1)* Team Christina Rob Taylor (3) Treeva Gibson (2) Gabriel Wolfchild (3) Joe Tolo (2) Sonic (2) Clinton Washington (1)* India Carney (4) Team Blake Sarah Potenza (4) Cody Wickline (4) Joshua Davis (2) Brooke Adee (2) Kelsie May (3) Jacob Rummell (2) Matt Snook (1)* Bolded names indicate tonight's new additions. Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of chair turns. Asterisks mean that the artist was montaged. Kind of sad that we had montages again tonight, especially after the first two episodes avoided any unnecessary ones. But at least one of the montages were of contestants who got no chair turns. But I'm kind of miffed that one montage was just to make room for Adam's totally unnecessary attempt at attention-whoring with his own "blind audition." (Though at the same time, I kind of tittered when Carson included him in Christina's roster near the end of the show.) Nonetheless, I'm wondering if the montaged contestants who made teams were montaged because they either had no real tragic backstory, only had one chair turn, or both. Because a good number of the montaged survivors only seemed to get a single turn. Shocked that Adam's team is so black-heavy thus far. I don't see Barry or Bren'nae having much of a chance since the only black contestant Adam's had for the long-term has been Damien, and even his survival was questionable (to me, anyway). I was actually bummed that Hannah Ellis didn't make a team. She did sound a bit nervous, but I didn't think that should've barred her a chair turn. Loved India, the last singer. I'm glad she picked Christina, if only because it meant she didn't get onto Adam's team. Also, Christina finally got a four-chair turn! Actually, that's something that's surprised me. This blind audition round has been pretty light on four-chair turns, which is refreshing after last season was so heavy on them. We've only had six so far. Good episode, though discouraging to see Adam picking up steam in his rosters now.

. . . Still?

Michelle Hurd (the former Monique Jeffries) was in an episode of How to Get Away with Murder, playing an attorney who was opposing Bonnie in a case (since Annalise was out of the lawyering game for the week due to a brief emotional meltdown). While technically the same show, I did see an actor recycled for another role. Dan Lauria, who'd played the very nice, decent Peter Kurtz in "Damaged" in season four (the episode with the sociopathic adoptive daughter who had her little sister drugged, raped, and, after she found out, murdered, and her father begged for her not to get the death penalty despite her richly deserving it) came back nine seasons later as the evil, child-molesting basketball coach Ray Masters in "Personal Fouls" in season thirteen (Amaro's first episode, Rollins's second). It was amazing watching him portray an honest guy in season four and a total (though stealth) creep in season thirteen.

Wow, without boiling it? Maybe that was the problem. The amount of germs and bacteria in the water might've affected Shirin.