Bella

That explanation for cooking together makes sense, though it assumes that both partners have at least some rudimentary skill in that area. Mr. Bella sets the table, clears the table, loads the dishwasher, and otherwise stays out of my kitchen because I don't want him in my way. But even that would nudge the couples in the direction of sharing meals. The thought of the couples living together more makes sense, but it also presumes that the show's production types have learned something. Have they? They got out of NYC, which was a good move. But they still have the same "experts," which is the origin of many of the show's problems IMO. We'll see. I'm hoping that Season 2 was the nadir for this show.

ITA. The best advice would have been something like "you might be best off using the money for something other than paying off a low-interest loan." It's like I have a 0.9% interest rate on my car loan. If I came into some money, I'd be insane to pay off that loan because it's so friggin' low.

I don't remember if this is the same episode as the girls making pickles, but that and the Mini-Golf Humpage are the two segments (of the few I've watched) that stuck with me most. I simply could not believe he was doing that! The man is so bizarre. And Michelle has just given up on using her brain - did she donate it to science or something?

ITA. This sums up my POV perfectly. (Or, in DWTS-speak: "It's the best post on the Internet ever!") And on The Bachelor/ette everything is "the most romantic/amazing/shocking/dramatic/blah-blah-blah/whatever." And other shows have their own types of silly verbiage. If there were an Anti-Emmie awards show, I'd insist on a category for Most Ridiculous Hyperbole and another one on Most Over-Used Phrase. The best reality TV scene I've ever watched was the one in which a Real Housewife of Somewhere-Or-Other tossed her artificial leg across the table at someone. After that, the "best/sexiest/most amazing" dance is just words. Anyway, congrats to Bindi, and may all the contestants go on to have happy lives. As well as the pros, the judges, Tom, and we viewers.

I may be trainwreck-watching with you, CindyBee. How much worse could this be than last season? (Nobody answer that question!) Plus I look forward to snarking on the clueless "experts" and typing quotations marks around that word every time I use it.

I was impressed with Michael's leadership of the Red Team - I wasn't expecting him to be such a good manager. He also chose well. I won't miss Cody.

Last warning to discuss the show and its participants, and not move into other topics. This includes hybrid posts that are mostly off-topic.

I'm hiding posts that aren't strictly about the show and your opinions of the show. Discussing other posters and their various "camps" isn't going to fly here. Thanks.

Just a reminder: if you've expressed your opinion about a dancer a few times (let's say 3), you don't need to keep stating the same thing over and over again. We get it. You do/don't like/dislike him/her. Let's keep the conversation flowing and respect the range of opinions. Thanks!

I think there's something to this. While I'm not interested in backtracking through TAR history, it does seem that when a team takes a break, they're either not aware of how hard the Race is going to be or they're burnt out. Racers need to keep their heads in the game from the moment they start until they moment they're eliminated or win. A shift in focus can be quite damaging. And that Speed Bump was brutal compared to most past Speed Bumps. Functionally, it was as if the team was U-Turned twice.

I believe that comment about their sexuality was made in jest. In any case, it doesn't matter.

That's really too bad. I do think there are some Top Chefs who manage to keep high degree of quality. I can't speak highly enough of Bryan Voltaggio's Volt, for example. And Kevin Sbraga's restaurant in Philadelphia, Sbraga, is excellent as well. However, aside from appearing on TC Masters, Bryan V. hasn't been super-high-profile on the cooking shows, and I'm not sure that Kevin S. has appeared on national TV since winning his season of Top Chef.

I just hid a post that did not give credit to the source, which was RFF.

I sort of agree with this - no restaurant is perfect and they all have their misses. We experienced that at Perilla the last time we were there. Still, I believe in Harold's capacity to make great food and develop excellent restaurants, so I'm hoping he comes roaring back with something spectacular, even if he does shift gears for a while.

I was happy with Sister Alicia winning despite the fact that I was weirded out by her name, having spent 2 of my grade school years being taught by a different Sister Alicia. I was also pleased with the winner of the most recent military chefs competition.

In a word, logistics. And that word is from the site administrator.

There are still questions being raised about possible WanderWoman aliases posting here; we have had multiple recent communications on this issue. Please rest assured that the mods are watching this. Any soliciting for money will be immediately nixed, and if you receive anything behind the scenes seeking financial or material support, please contact the mods immediately. However, we've seen how big-hearted, kind, and caring everyone is here. We don't want that to change because of a couple of attention-seekers. Bad things do happen to good people, and a supportive post costs nothing. It's only giving good back to the universe, which is sorely needed. If you are suspicious of someone or find a poster's situation to be implausible, you don't need to respond to them. In that situation, we recommend that you use the ignore feature. The mods do not put posters on ignore, so we know what's going on here. Trust us, Big Sister is watching!

On Friday, we said not to discuss the flight issue. We had previously said on at least one other occasion not to go all stalker-y on this issue of figuring out where the plane was when. If it happens again, we are locking the thread. Indefinitely. Thanks.

Remember to source all spoiler information. If something looks like it's been borrowed without credit, we will remove it.

There's a weed called spotted spurge .... That could be his nickname once he's a teenager with acne.

This is where mileage really does vary, because I love, love, love Antonia. I would cast Antonia as a judge on every food show in existence. I do like her better on Restaurant Startup, but I'm just a great big fan of Antonia no matter what she does. OTOH, Jet and Simon are good, too. So I'm happy with all of the judges on this show.

The Reality Blurred article says that among these racers, they have ~33 million followers. The article also says that it has not been shown that these social media followers translate into television viewers. However, the math-y side of my brain kicked in. For sake of argument, let's say there's overlap in the 33 million so that there's only 15 million individuals following these racers. If TAR picked up 1% of those people as viewers, that would be another .15 million. The ratings have been in the 1.1-1.2 million range. So adding another .15 million would kick the ratings up more than 10%. And that might be good for the show and its longevity. This is all hypothetical of course, but I'm seeing more potential positives than negatives at this point.

That's sad. DH and I have visited Perilla 4 or 5 times and were hoping to return on our next visit to NYC. I hope we see him again in some capacity.

I'll watch the first episode of any season (with the exception of some of the all-star seasons). And this cast seems like it might hold some promise. We'll see.

I'll watch the first episode and go from there. The only season I didn't watch at all was one of the all-star seasons, the last one that the cowboys were in.