needschocolate

Do the jury members at Ponderosa get to see their loved ones? It would have worked better if someone besides Joe was saying it. Keeping a sure goat in the game lessons your chance of making it to the final because it lowers the number of FTC seats. But keeping Joe, who has won more immunities than anyone, in the the game does the same thing. And if you manage to make it to FTC, you would have a better chance of getting more votes than Abi than getting more votes than Joe.

I thought Abi's comment to her mother was rather awkward - something like, "You are my mother and my best friend." Maybe something got lost in the translation, but it was like Abi was introducing her mother, not talking to her, and she seemed to make it with no emotion, even though Abi seems to normally suffer from being too emotional. I was wondering if this was how she greeted him everyday when they got home from work - which would explain how he has such good balance. My initial thought was that, remembering how emotional he was when Val went to exile island, Jeremy didn't want anyone to know about the pregnancy because he was afraid they would talk about it all the time and it might make it harder for his emotions not to interfere with his gameplay. Probst never seems to ask the questions I want him to ask at the reunion, but I want to know why Abi thinks she is in danger of going home every TC. Does she think that she is such a threat that everyone wants her out? Does she think it is because many of the others don't like her? Does she realize she is a goat? I don't know if there was anything he could of said that would have saved him, but Joe could have definitely said something better than "Hey, you should vote Abi out because you could beat her." Perhaps he should have tried "Use my vote split up the Jeremy/Spencer alliance - this way you can split the votes" or "if you vote me out then it will be you next, because I won't be here as your shield anymore."

Let me know when she exclaims "Oh no! I just dropped my sugar piece! I don't know if I have time to make a new one!" By the way, you may want to put anything breakable out of her reach.

I guess there are only so many food carvers in the world and most of them are busy working on cruise ships. I watched part of some show called Outrageous Christmas - all about really large Christmas food items (giant chocolate santa, display of 1,000 gingerbread houses, etc...). Bronwen Weber was on because she made a life size, edible Christmas tree. It was gorgeous and she was as perky and pleasant as always. It made me realize how much I miss the old FN Challenges, the ones that were all about the cake, before they added stuff to cause drama, like making them find things in the middle of a swimming pool. I even miss Kerrie Vincent. As for the bickersons on the brown team - they were horrible. There has to be some bad history between the carver and the sugar artist. Then again, if there was, we probably would have heard about it all the time ("We were supposed to get married, but he/she cheated on me two days before the wedding. And now we have to work together!").

But this is the Holiday Baking Championship, not Cake Wars. I have a feeling "hit over the head with a crying pan" is going to become a well used phrase. Genius! Maeve annoys me because she seems to try too hard in her talking heads - the exasperated looks, the whining, and, especially, she tries too hard to be funny and clever. It is like she is playing a character and she is a bad actress. I agree on Steve - I feel like he thinks he is on Food Network Star - the helpful tips, the way he explains things, etc...

I assume the goat you are referring to is Abi, in which case, Kimmi might be aiming to replace the goat, not be the second goat. Kimmi seems to be a more pleasant goat to have around camp.

Well, now that you brought it up...I know we never saw him drooling after anyone, but I am pretty sure that the shorter Texan is straight. I think the taller one is too. They were pinging my "straight-dar"

I get the impression that every time they take their rest period, Diana is giving Justin lessons on how to behave in public. After the first leg, she explained that it is rude to be so loud and obnoxious, after the second leg, she said, "That was better, but you need to tone it down even more." In later legs, she taught him that it wasn't polite to yell at her in public, etc... After the last leg, she much have said, "You need to show more appreciation for the countries we are in and enjoy the experience for a few seconds, instead of racing as fast as possible. And, for me, these lessons are working, because I don't find Justin as annoying as I did a few episodes ago. Or maybe I am getting de-sensitized. I am glad James Earl's ,mom realized that her son is the same person she loved before she found out he was gay. I hope she also realized that he was gay back then too, she just didn't know it. She has come a long way and I hope their relationship stays strong. Chris would bring out the worst in me. Then again, Logan would bring out the worst in me too. Donnie Downer and Betty Bitchy - I hope they get married and stay together forever if only because that means no one else will have to put up with them. I am guess that when they watch this at home, Logan is saying "See, I did tell you where to go and what to do and you didn't listen to me!" and Chris is saying, "Maybe we should have done the other detour..."

Ciera kept telling everyone that they should be playing harder and should make moves. The one who did that the most was Stephen, and he was the next one out - and he would have been out instead of Ciera if Jeremy didn't use up one of his idols. For the record, I don't think that Stephen's actions had anything to do with Ciera, I think his obsession with getting rid of Joe lead him to do things that eventually made enough people suspicious of him and vote him off. But I wonder if Ciera's real goal in pushing people to play was the hope that they would go too far and make the others want to get rid of them - taking the target of her. Not that she necessarily gave it that much thought, maybe it was more of "Everyone wants me off because I am 'playing the game, I want someone else to 'play the game' so they will be the target." I don't think there was any chance that Stephen would put both of his votes towards Abi, I think if he was going to put both toward the same person, it would have been towards Joe. I think he only voted for Abi to guarantee she would go home and there wouldn't be a tie, if Joe had an idol (he thought Spencer and Keith were with his alliance/bloc) However, if he did happen to put both votes on Abi, I don't think Stephen would have won a run off between Abi and him. The original votes went like this --- Votes for Stephen - Abi, Keith, Kelley, Spencer Votes for Joe - Stephen (Joe), Jeremy Votes for Abi - Stephen, Tasha, Kimmi If there was a re-vote, Stephen and Abi wouldn't get to vote, but Joe would. Jeremy would switch and vote for Abi, giving her 4 votes, and Joe would vote for Stephen giving him 5 votes, and sending him home. Stephen wasn't done in by splitting his two votes, he was doomed by the decision to split the group's votes in the first place (and by Spencer and Keith flipping, of course). I thought Abi got there first, and stood there trying to figure out the answer. Stephen came up and sees that she doesn't know, so he picks up the wrong lid, she grabs one and leaves, and he then picks up the right lid and takes his. I think the best strategy is to try to come in second on any reward that has a prize of the winner going somewhere. The winner always gets to pick others to go with them and it almost always leads to trouble for the winner, if they pick people from their alliance, so they will often pick the one who came in second, in hopes to prevent the trouble. If you come in second, you have a good chance of going on the reward without creating problems in your alliance. I think you have hit upon Tasha's strategy in general. Keep saying something in hopes that others will start believing it is true - Keep calling Varner a traitor, keep talking about how selfish Joe was, etc...

I like how we are starting to have a collection of colored rocks - purple rock of doom, white rock of comfort, black rock of competition. I foresee a day when the rock colors become part of the urban dictionary - "That guy is so competitve, he always goes for the purple rock" - "Oh, you bought the deluxe model. Decided you could afford to white rock it, huh?" - "Your lab results came back, and I am sorry to tell you that you purple rocked it. You should put your affairs in order." (okay, maybe that last one shouldn't catch on. I haven't re-watched it, but I thought the old shelter was one-side - just a slanted roof, but the new one was two-sided, like an A frame, so it would protect from the rain and wind for two sides and the fire would stay lit. It is possible they improved the platform too. Many posters have mentioned that Stephen didn't use advantage well because he didn't wait as he could have to announce he was playing it. I don't understand how announcing it later at TC would have helped him. Perhaps Stephen's thinking was "People are targeting me because I have an advantage, so I will announce it before anyone has a chance to vote and take the target off me. Maybe some of them will change their minds"

I agreed with most everything you posted, except the above. The voting went like this Stephen - 4 votes Abi - 3 votes Joe - 2 votes If Stephen had used both of his votes on Joe, it would have been Stephen - 4 votes Abi - 2 votes Joe - 3 votes And Stephen still goes home. The only way for Stephen to not go home on the first vote would be to put both votes on Abi and force a tie. I don't think that there was any way Stephen was going to vote for Abi over Joe and, if he did, I think Stephen would have lost on the re-vote, unless he could use his advantage a second time, which is doubtful. It does make me wonder, if there would have been a tie between Joe and Stephen, I wonder if Stephen would have gone or if some would switch their vote to Joe since Stephen no longer had his advantage to play. Regarding Ciera always being proud of herself - I think it is a fine thing for someone to be proud of themselves. However, they should be proud for a reason that deserves it. I don't recall the specifics of Ciera voting out her mom and whether it was worthy of pride, but Ciera being proud that she forced people to play the game is like me being proud of myself for helping build a bridge just because I paid the bridge toll. I don't think Ciera's ranting that people should play harder made anyone change their game (Kelley playing her idol might have claim to that one).

I understand why they keep saying voting blocs instead of alliances this season, because these have not been true alliances for the most part. Usually, people stick with their alliance, and once they don't they have "flipped" and they don't go back to that alliance. But this time, people will vote with someone, then not vote with them, then vote with them again. The voting is much more fluid. And no one seems to get their panties in a bunch over it. It is because of this fluidity in voting that I was surprised that they all stuck with the plan and still voted out Stephen after he used his advantage. I thought the main reason Stephen was the target was because he had this unknown advantage. Now he has used it, and used it before all the others had voted, I believe, why not switch your vote to Joe? You have a much better chance of beating Stephen in an IC than beating Joe. I would think that Stephen stayed the target because he was obviously in an alliance, but, since we never heard anyone discuss getting rid of Jeremy, I am not so sure they cared about alliances. I liked how she called him "Mr. Poopy Pants" with a smug look on her face, like she thinks she is just so witty, and she gets blank stares. So she repeats it, and she still gets blank stares. I don't know what Tasha's occupation is (and I am too lazy to look it up) but I think it may be in advertising or selling snake oil or something like that, because she manipulates the facts to paint a target on someone. She did it to Varner after the first shuffle ("oh he talked to someone on a different tribe! He is a traitor!) and now she tried to do it to Joe. Since I don't watch this East Coast Time, I don't read the forums until after I am done watching the show. Normally, I skip over the live comments, but because there were two episodes I read them this time and, I agree, it was hilarious. Of course, I was saying the same sort of thing - "Obviously, Joe is going" and "Stephen is an idiot to split his votes" - while I was watching. I guess it is no surprise that no one made the usual that the editing made it obvious who was going home. - "As soon as Joe won immunity, I knew that Jeremy would play his idol and Ciera would go home" and "As soon as Abi starting waivering, I knew that Stephen would be out." Spencer may not have been the lowest in the pecking order because Stephen and Jeremy had valid reasons for doing what they did that had no basis in pecking orders (although I can see why Spencer would think so). Jeremy used his idol on Stephen because Stephen was in danger of being voted out - he had no reason to use it on Spencer. However, keeping Stephen in helps the Jeremy/Spencer/Stephen/Tasha/Kimmi alliance. Stephen picking Tasha doesn't signal that Spencer is on the bottom either. Tasha went against the alliance last vote and Stephen was buttering her up and trying to bring her back in - and it worked, too. Taking Spencer on the reward would probably be enough to convince Tasha that she should not go back to the alliance. I think Stephen's biggest mistake was in the reason he gave for taking Tasha. Pick Jeremy first because everyone will understand that you owe him. Then, no matter who you pick second, give an excuse that isn't so strategic - "I am picking so-and-so because he/she really needs to eat or had a really rough time last night or has the worst looking feet after mine."

I didn't watch that season, but I just watched the Youtube clip of Jonathan pushing Victoria and I think the poster meant that Phil calls him out a little on the mat. Basically, Victoria has walked away, crying. Phil tells Jonathan that he should go talk to her. He walks over and yells at her again. She tells him to go away. And he says that it is a race and that there is no need for compassion. After seeing the little of him that I saw, I am glad I didn't watch that season. Jonathan makes Justin look like the world's most likable guy.

I rarely watch this show anymore, but I had it on in the background today while I cleaned the house and heard someone mention that she was thankful for knowing what her illness is and that there is medication to treat it. Who said it and what illness is it? Thanks in advance.

The magic carpet was all sorts of wrong. It didn't look like a carpet - did it even have a design on it. The judges were right when they said that they didn't know if it was a carpet of the ocean. The proportions were all off - Santa towered over the pyramid and great wall, but was overwhelmed by the size of the carpet. It made no sense - why were the landmarks on top of the carpet? Was Santa delivering them to children? And everything was just randomly placed. The sugar guy on the eliminated team seemed like he could do pretty good work, but the cake person was just average, and the sculptor was amateurish. When they did a montage of their past work I realized that their only hope of staying in the competition was if they never had the sculptor be in charge of making a human-ish character, He needs to look around and notice that the other sculptors were carving the faces and not sticking radishes into carved out eye sockets to make bulging eyes and that other sculptors were painting their characters a normal color not just going with the vegetables natural oranges and greens.

So, having a donor who might be overpaying her employees is a nail to the campaign coffin, but going to prison, cheating on your wife by sleeping with prostitutes, having your wife need to resign from office for vote tampering, etc, etc, are all okay? We joke about them being the only law firms in TGW Chicago, but obviously there are others, like the one who represented the doctor in this week's case. The difference is that these other lawyers are not the bumbling stooges that make up Lockhart/Aggos, and, therefore, their clients don't want to leave them. Canning's clients don't want to leave him either, he just keeps giving them away. L/A is only Chicago law firm that has clients ready to leave to a firm that sounds like it is run be a high schooler (because it is) based on a phone call that sounded like it was made from a call center. If I got a call from a law firm, I would expect to hear a muffled conversation (very faint like it was in a separate room), a phone ringing occasionally (also faint, like in another room), and perhaps a printer or typing on a keyboard. All he needs to do is move the bookcases/shelves that are behind his desk. Then he can move his desk back far enough so he can open the door. He can put the shelving on the small walls or next to the door. I vote for next to the door so he can climb the shelves to listen in at the vent. You know a show is bad when you start rearranging their furniture in your head instead of paying attention to the story. I don't even know what he overheard. That is exactly what is wrong with this show - too many moments built to get cheap laughs. Oh well, I guess I shouldn't complain - I watch/watched America's Next Top Model and Under the Dome solely because it is/was so much fun to make fun of them, and read the hilarious comments in their forums. Now that both are cancelled I can make TGW the show I watch to make fun of. It is kind of a shame though, this show used to be good, the other two were always bad (dsclaimer, supposedly the early seasons of ANTM were okay, but I didn't watch them).

If you are going to be on Survivor, learn to make fire. If you are going to be on The Amazing Race, learn to drive stick shift. If you are going to be on Shark Tank, learn to listen to a question and answer it. So many people go on Shark Tank and when they are asked a question, they will list some facts or tell a sob story, but they don't answer the question.

The good - Tara's wig looks more like human hair and not synthetic doll hair that has been through the washer. The victim actually fought back and almost got away on his own (which rarely happens) - it would have been better if he actually strangled the unsub a little longer and killed him, but that would never happen The bad - The writers can't write intelligence, so they write comedy instead, except their comedy is not funny. The final theory/profile on the unsub was that he was doing these horrible things to the victims because he wanted them to stay awake - if he can't sleep he doesn't want them to sleep. I will apply the same logic to my profile of the writers - if they can't be smart, then they don't want anyone else to be smart, so they make Reid be an idiot who can't handle texting, and have the others make fun of him to downplay the importance of his knowledge. I still don't get how they made the leap that the unsub must have lost a child. It bugs me that every time there is torture, the first thing they say is that the unsub does it for some sort of sexual gratification. This may or may not have basis in real life, but it seems that more often than not, the torture on the show ends up being done for some other reason - attempt to get information, retaliation, punish perceived wrong-doers, etc... Maybe I need to update my profile of the writers (above) to include "they get off on torturing viewers." And yet Morgan had no idea that this was possible. He thought breastfeeding mom JJ had been drinking wine and partying too hard the night before. Huh? I have a plausible theory. First the facts - (1) Tara was was behind the truck (2) JJ was to the side (mostly, I think) (3) Neither Tara nor JJ was in immediate danger (unless he threw the truck into reverse) and they shouldn't be shooting to kill, (4) the unsub is shot to death, (5) there are two nice bullet holes in the front windshield, (6) Hotch, Morgan and Rossi are no where to be seen. My theory - The unsub was shot by Hotch. Morgan or Rossi, who were standing in the dark (so we weren't able to see them) and were in danger of being run over.

I thought the shirt guys said that they donate a backpack to some underprivileged kids somewhere (or to some school that has a lot of underprivileged kids) - one backpack donated for every shirt sold. I didn't hear they say anything about the kid that draws the picture gets paid with a backpack. I also didn't hear anything about it being an underprivileged kid that drew the picture. I can see them going to the nearest elementary school and handing out a flyer that said, "Art contestt: Draw a black and white (no coloring) picture of anything you want and turn it in by Friday. Winners will get to see their drawing on a T-shirt!" I still think a $48 shirt is too expensive and a $4 backpack is too cheap. I think it may hurt them to have gone on Shark Tank. Before the show, someone with money to spend might go into Bloomingdales and think, "This is a unique shirt! And they will donate a backpack to a needy child for every shirt sold. Hmm, I think I will buy one - it'll give me a chance to outdo that darn Nancy Farquar and that St. Jude's notebook she flaunts at every bridge game." Now, after having seen Shark Tank, potential buyers will be thinking, "Oh, those are the shirts I saw on Shark Tank. That elephant might be cute to wear to the next bridge game, but Nancy would never let me live down only making some cheap $4 backpack donation when she is carrying around a $12 St. Jude's notebook."

I am no fan of doing laundry (I dislike dusting more), so I figured that the next time I do laundry, I use this episode to put things into perspective. Instead of complaining, I will remind myself that sticking some clothes into a washer that does the hard work for me, then into a dryer, and having to fold them and put them away is much, much better than having to tie my clothes in knots*, stir them in a pot of boiling water in the blazing sun on a humid day, then lay them out in the sand to dry, and having to fold them and put them away. *I am pretty sure the Indian launderers don't tie all clothes into knots, just the really long saris to keep them from getting tangled, but still...

A few years ago, I bought a few bags of the same socks. If socks go missing, I don't know about it and I don't care. Adn it saves laundry time, because I don't have to match them up and "fold" them. I stick my hand in my sock drawer, pull out any two socks, and they match - every time. When the initial bags of socks started wearing out, I bought a few bags of news socks. They didn't match the old ones, so I wore a pair of old socks and then threw them in the trash. Once they were all gone, I started using the new socks. I have no need for their sock product. The way I understood it is that they T-shirt people donate a backpack full of school supplies for every shirt they sell. The $48 price tag got me, but the $4 backpack got me even more. A backpack that costs $4 can't be very good. It would be like me saying "Buy my product because for every item sold I give a homeless person a meal" and then I decide that a stick of gum is a meal. Brazi Bread will be on my shopping list the next time I go to Sprouts. I think it was "leagues" as in bubble soccer leagues, not "leads" but it took me a while to come to that conclusion. I got the part about franchising, but I had no clue what he wanted the money for. He drove me nuts because every time one of the sharks asked a question, he started spouting facts about something else. "What were your party rental sales last year?" - "There are leagues in 17 different countries." "How many teams are in a league?" - "It is very popular in Europe." I love watching the faces of the entrepreneurs when Kevin make the first offer and it is close to what they want. There is panic in their eyes when they realize they might have to partner with Kevin if they want a deal. Their faces seem to be pleading with the other sharks to save them from taking Kevin's offer - "Offer me anything, just don't let Kevin have the only offer. Please" I have notice that Kevin doesn't offer his royalty deals anymore. And he has been making the best offer. But they still turn him down or act like her never made an offer at all. I can't decide if he has changed his ways or if he knows that no one wants to partner with him, so he makes an offer so that he can see the look of horror on their faces and/or force the other Sharks to come down in their offers.

Oh yeah, now I remember. Thanks for setting me straight.

And when that crazed former client comes a-knockin' Alicia will answer the door without checking the peephole.

I know that it is possible for a team to overcome a u-turn and a speed bump, but it is highly unlikely. Therefore, I still wish they would stop having u-turns in episodes where they know a team will have to do a speed bump. A team starts out last, has to do any extra task and, often (usually?) gets u-turned because they are at the back of the pack, and almost always gets eliminated. That makes for a predictable leg and the predictable legs are boring (and with Justin and Diana around, the winner was fairly predictable too). They could have at least had some bunching. When was the last time they had a single u-turn? There wasn't even any hope of a weaker team being u-turned along with Texas. Speaking of u-turns -- The thing I dislike most about u-turns is that every time they have one, the forum turns into a debate about whether the u-turn is an immoral/cruel/nasty thing to do or if it is a strategic part of the race. Still speaking of u-turns - I thought it was odd that Phil told Texas that their only hope was if Justin and Diana had been u-turned. First off, Phil, kudos for acknowledging that this was a predictable leg, but I think your logic was wrong. J&D finished first. Had they been u-turned they wouldn't have been first, but there is a good chance they wouldn't be last either. Texas's best hope for not being eliminated was if someone had u-turned Mom & Son. Which leads me to wonder if the cheerleaders would have u-turned Mom & Son if they hadn't wasted their u-turn on Justin and Diana last time. Onto other, non-u-turn, things --- When newsboy said that his mom does his laundry because she likes to do his laundry, I thought "Uh, she doesn't like to do your laundry, she just thinks you do a crappy job of it on your own and doesn't want you walking around looking bad."

What was up with that? She picks up a dog and walks into the camera frame while posing with the dog. That was so unreal that I thought someone had told her to do it. Mikey grew up in poverty? I didn't hear that ...87 times (only heard it 86 times) - it was all he talked about. Yes, if what he says is true, then he had if more difficult than the others, but they just kept hitting us over the head with it. Dear ANTM editors, I promise to never forget that Mikey had a rough childhood if you promise to never tell me about it again. Side note - When I typed "Mikey grew up in poverty" I mistyped it as "Mikey grew up in perverty" and thought, that could be appropriate