truthaboutluv

They also did it in S17 and Amber won. I just realized while reading the press release that they didn't do it last season.

I don't know...with Mark's penchant for cheesy costumes, Mickey and Minnie would probably not be a good idea. Poor Sadie would come out there with massive Disney ears.

But even if you are a huge fan of a show, you're still human, meaning you would still naturally be concerned about the possibility of having no food. And plenty of people who have competed on the show, all say the same thing - watching it and actually being there, experiencing it, is completely different. So yes, logically they can say, "well they can't make us starve and there's a Reward coming up soon" but the fact is one, there was no guarantee they would win the Reward Challenge and two, Survivor has thrown curveballs at contestants many times where they think something will happen based on past seasons and they get thrown a curveball. I also don't agree about the playing up for cameras. Again, up until this past episode, Reed has been all but mute and sure Josh got a lot of face time at Coyopa but a lot of that was game related, as he was the one dictating and controlling many of the votes. And in most of his confessionals, he was often matter of fact and to the point talking about his strategy and what was going on in the game. I don't see how that was any different than anyone else's confessionals or how he was playing up for the cameras.

As someone who often finds Cam's diva antics incredibly grating and am usually annoyed with him, I have to say last night's episode was one of those rare ones where I didn't think he was making it all about him. My annoyance with Cam last night actually was his falling over himself apologizing to Lily rather than reminding her who the parent is. That's why like the poster above stated, I liked that the storyline didn't go the predictable route of his apologizing some more about being a coach and promising to spend more time with her and basically making it seem like he was wrong. Instead, Mitchell acted like a parent and gave Lily a well-deserved talking to, which led to her rightfully apologizing to Cam.

Not positive that's the title of the episode but seems the most likely based on the official press release: So Immunity is back and the dance off between the teams not immune. Correct me if I'm wrong, but they didn't have this last season right? Because I feel like I would remember. The Dynamic Duos concept sounds interesting but I can't be the only one totally surprised they gave Mark and Sadie "Adam and Eve", I mean they do know they were naked right? Of course, they're also biblical characters so I guess the producers figure that should appease her parents.

Well if you believe Derek, Bethany's choices were all her own because they hadn't planned for the Team Dances or talked about it. According to him in some post-show media, because up until last week, Sadie had been ahead of Bethany in cumulative scores, he never talked to her about the strategy for the Team Dance because he didn't think she'd be one of the team leaders. But her Tango scores and Sadie's Rumba scores, put Bethany one point ahead of Sadie in cumulative scores. And since, starting from a few seasons ago, the Pros are no longer allowed in the room when the celebrity makes their picks, Bethany really was just thrust into the "you're a team leader, now pick your team." And because she has said she is close to Janel, she naturally picked her first. I think she probably would have picked Sadie if Alfonso hadn't picked her immediately.

Because all gay men are the same? I don't and have never watched Big Brother but I saw some articles about Frankie Grande, largely because of his relation to Ariana Grande and my understanding is that he was pretty hateful, said a lot of offensive things and was just an all around jerk on the show. I have seen none of that from Reed and Josh. I almost feel like there is an effort to look for a reason to hate them simply because they are Broadway actors and so clearly that must mean they are only there to further their career which is apparently so offensive. And as I said the first time this was mentioned about Josh, I sincerely doubt every person comes on Survivor purely for the love of the show. Also, this isn't 2001 when this show first debuted. Survivor is hardly a path to celebrity success. And Josh and Reed were not the only ones complaining about the rice. Wes and Alec were both pretty annoyed in last week's episode and stated so, that they were basically on a tribe making sure that they conserved their rice and they come to a tribe where they were going to starve. Wes especially was not happy. Julie also expressed her concern in a talking head and again, they were all explaining the circumstances to Jeff when he questioned them after the Immunity Challenge. I think Josh in particular has definitely played like someone who understands and has watched the show.

Reed rarely ever says anything. I never got any indication that Reed took it upon himself to approach Jeff about the flint after the Reward. It was clear the entire tribe planned on it and my guess is they chose him to bring it up to Jeff which is kind of telling. We saw when they weren't in agreement on a plan - Drew and his lame attempt to trade a flint. Similarly, I don't think Reed alone decided to bring up the rice to Jeff. For all Jeremy's eye-rolling and mean stares, in last week's episode, when they were talking to Jeff after the Immunity Challenge, they were ALL speaking when Jeff questioned them, acknowledging that they were down to almost nothing and that they were starving. And yeah he got weepy after single handedly winning a pretty tough Reward Challenge but he was the one comforting Julie when she was falling apart during the storm while her alliance mate Jeremy was again sitting around giving evil stares and eyerolling at her.

She was explaining to him how Shakira (I assume she meant the famous singer) was his third cousin and that it at least gets them some free tickets. As for the episode, I did like Jay's calling out Manny's lame "I did it my way" gag by pointing out that Sinatra did have other songs. The Waldo storyline was also cute and I enjoyed someone acting like a parent with Lily for a change and calling out her bratty behavior. That said, I too rolled my eyes at the entire courtroom scene with Mitchell. This is one of the major things I think has been hurting the show this season. Modern Family used to be far more clever with their humor and set ups but now so many things come across as the writers not putting much thought and just going for a cheap laugh. As for the new neighbors, my problem with them, aside from not finding them particularly funny is that another weakness I've found in the season so far is that the Dunphy's are almost coming across as being on their own show separate from the rest of the family. And I feel like this new trashy neighbors thing will be more of their storylines revolving around that gag than moments with the rest of the family. This is the second straight episode where none of the different families had scenes with each other. It's odd. Like if I didn't know any better, I'd think the actors hate each other and want to avoid working together.

So just to be clear, his partners being props mean they don't actually dance and aren't doing anything? Really - Nicole Scherzinger was a prop, Brooke Burke, Amber Riley, Kellie Pickler, Shawn Johnson, etc. None of these women were impressive on any level in their own right but were all simply props that Derek led around? Okay then... Amber got criticized multiple times in the early weeks of the competition for her footwork, when after getting 9's the first week, she got only 8's the next two weeks and Corbin and Elizabeth and others were outscoring her. When her knees became a major issue, the judges called out her limited movement in some of the dances. They also commented on her arms at times, all things she worked on. But when her scores improved, some never acknowledged any improvement in her - instead the accusations that Derek was dragging her across the floor began, she was being overscored to make sure Derek was in the final and well she was a ringer anyway so it's not like she deserved to win. Kellie Pickler got criticized by the judges, particularly Carrie Ann for her lack of fluidity and lack of emotion at times in her performances. Bethany this season so far - Carrie Ann, Bruno and Julianne all nitpicked things she had to work on after her first dance, after her Rumba, Bruno again noted that she needed to completely finish her movements from one section of the dance to another. For her Tango they focused on her frame and hold and talked about her recovering from the slip. Really it's utterly hyperbolic to say that Derek's celebrities never get criticized or judged on their dancing and all the judges comments are directed at him and praising him. And once again this is why I just feel like this a bit redundant at this point. Some of the hyperbole about Derek and the show's supposed massive conspiracy towards him is just frankly outrageous and over the top. But it is what it is and like I said, I am very interested to see what some folks will talk about if he does leave the show.

And apparently their entire 11 week run encompassed one dance. Ah yes Amy never danced because in one week a stool was used in her dance and in another week a table. Two props over 11 weeks and that means she never danced. Like I said, it really is a no win discussion when it comes to the topic of Derek, so best to just agree to disagree and move on. I have to say though, for as much as some rant about wanting him gone, I am fascinated to know what people will talk and rant about if he does leave the show. As they say, nothing bonds people more than a common enemy. If Derek ever does leave, I wonder which Pro will be lucky to be the recipient of all the conspiracy theories and cries of unfairness. Like this is something that will never make sense to me. How is it bad or wrong to minimize your celebrity's weaknesses as much as possible while highlighting their strengths? And if his choreography was "hiding" their weaknesses, then were the judges' scores so unfair if they're not seeing said weaknesses and instead only seeing the strengths he chooses to highlight. I guess in my opinion, some will forever point at "tricks, props, overscoring, conspiracy, favoritism, etc." for why Derek started doing consistently well no matter what celebrity he was given without ever acknowledging or just considering, that maybe, just maybe, it's because he is a talented choreographer but more importantly, at some point he figured out the strategy for winning this show.

The Pro of the celebrity who is the Team Captain typically always leads the choreography or the general concept, on the group dance. We don't see all the rehearsal though, so I'm sure the other Pros put in their input, not to mention they're responsible for their individual sections with their celebrity. But ever since they started having team dances and picking leaders based on cumulative scores, the Pro of that celebrity leads the choreography. Val led choreography for Team Spooky Bon Bon when Elizabeth was team leader. Last season, the entire rehearsal package for Team Meryl was Maks and Val talking about how awesome their team was and seemingly leading the choreography while Derek and Mark never said a word in the package. And honestly, I am less bothered by Derek, as Bethany's Pro, who was the team leader, leading the choreography than I was at Mark seemingly taking over what was Alfonso's team and Witney appearing to just passively stand by and let him take over. But that being said I acknowledge that the packages are edited and we don't see everything so I'm going to assume Witney did play a part in the final product.

Honestly the only person who seemed to be bitching about what they lost was Jeremy and Julie was the only one whinging and falling apart about the weather. Everyone else seemed to just suck it up and accept it for what it was. Still, despite Julie's feeling sorry for herself, she didn't deserve Alex calling her a bitch and acting all offended by her. Seriously, absolute charmers, Drew and Alex - their parents did a bang up job there.

Thing is, considering his whole "protect her" stuff early in the season, I suspect if there was going to be "let's avoid each other as much as possible" it would be more Val's idea and not Jeremy's. But yeah as someone noted above, I will give him credit for seemingly keeping all his whinging and griping to his TH's. I suspect to most tribe members, Jeremy is a pretty nice and laid back guy. But lucky us, the viewers, having to hear it. They lost one machete but had one left. That said, I think they did try to fortify the roof but it just wasn't shown because they were clearly shown huddled under the shelter and while they were still getting slightly wet, you could tell they were still somewhat sheltered. Plus they were sheltered enough under there to have a fire going in the Bar-B-Que grill they won in the reward.

It may be a little evil of me but damn if I didn't crack up over Jon's whole "who's Big Jon now", only to end up losing the challenge. Started that boast a little too early there friend. Puzzles will get teams in the lead every time. Yeah how I understand all the shenanigans that happened before Tribal Council, is that Jon made Dale believe he was with him and that they would vote out Missy but with Missy and Baylor, he agreed to split the vote in case Dale's idol really was legit. So it went three for Dale and two for Keith. Reed and Josh were both pretty impressive in those challenges tonight. I think Reed could be a threat when they get to Individual Immunity, especially if it is any challenge involving balance and/or a puzzle. He looks like he's fairly limber and light on his feet. Jeremy meanwhile really bugged me tonight. I understood Jeremy's argument that they could have just waited for a reward challenge and that the merge was coming soon but it didn't seem like he even calmly tried to put that idea forward. Also, it looked like the entire tribe made the decision to ask Jeff for the extra rice so it wasn't just one person's decision. And yet he just sat around giving evil stares at Josh and Reed and whinging and pouting over the whole thing. Also, I love how his argument was that them whinging over a little hunger was annoying because "this is Survivor" but yet, he was pissed because they lost their comfort items and acted like it was the worse thing ever. Which is ridiculous because the other tribe was clearly surviving without any of these things. And I didn't understand his whole "Josh and Reed walk around like they own the camp". Maybe the editing wasn't showing it but I didn't see that at all. Reed seems to barely say anything and Josh has been surprisingly quiet since the tribal swap. Yes they were a little kissy and overt with the PDA but I almost wondered if that was more Jeremy's issue with them rather than their supposedly "acting like they owned the camp." That said, I have a feeling he's going to do well with the merge coming because I think he may have the numbers on his side. It is hard to predict exactly what everyone will do with people's loved ones still there mixed with singles but if the people I suspect are aligned stay aligned, I think Josh and Reed may be in trouble and against the numbers. Because what I suspect will happen is that Jon will hook back up with Jeremy and he brings Jacqueline along with him. Missy will also hook back up with Jeremy and Natalie and she brings Baylor along with her. And then there's Julie. So that gives them Jeremy, Natalie, Missy, Baylor, Jon, Jacqueline and Julie. That's seven versus Josh and company which will only be Josh, Reed, Keith, Wes and Alec. And I definitely see them gunning for Josh first because I suspect the clip of Baylor saying "sorry, now I have to vote you out" is likely about Josh and she probably tells them how smart Josh is and how he controlled a lot of the votes at Coyopa. And Natalie will be all for it as she'll believe Josh likely led the vote against Nadiya.

For the record, I love Lil' Kim and enjoyed her on the show. That description came from the comments I read multiple times about her on the boards during the season.

From the episode thread: It is not finger pointing to state what is a fact. It is constantly stated that Derek has never gotten a 70 year old or some very difficult reality star and the fact is neither has Mark or Val. That is the simple truth and the fact of the matter is the reason it is ignored with them is simply because they haven't won as much as he has. As for bringing up Amber and Ricky Lake and Lil' Kim, well yes they did provide challenges. All challenges aren't necessarily age. As talented as Amber was, there were things she was hampered by because of her size as was Ricki. Also, Lil' Kim's reputation and the perception people had of her was a challenge on a show that requires people to like you enough to vote for you. Michael Waltrip this season is proof positive of how important a big voting base is. So yes, it is a challenge for a Pro to work with a celebrity who despite their abilities may not be liked by the viewers and deliver routines that are good and fun enough that it gets some people who weren't initially fans to like and vote for her. And for the record, in my opinion Nicole was a challenge too. Yes she was a phenomenal dancer but she was also pretentious, self important idiot half the time. So just to be clear, apparently Amy was in no way a challenge for Derek simply because she wasn't 70 and was an Olympian? Interesting...someone should have told Lolo Jones and Ali that apparently being an Olympian automatically makes you a good dancer. Amy was not a challenge for Derek - Amy who did not have legs was not a challenge because well, she wasn't old and she was an Olympian. Yeah I think this is officially the point where I realize this is just a no win discussion. And this is exactly why I wanted Derek to take a break from this show because of the frankly at this point deja vu comments. I bet if Tony had gotten Amy I would have read ad nauseum about how he always gets those difficult challenges and Derek never gets them. But because she did amazing and turned out to have some ability, suddenly it doesn't matter that she had two prosphetic legs because she was an Olympian. Sure, it was no challenge to every week figure out which legs could work with the dance, figure out how to get her to move her hips and upper body to achieve movement that typically was achieved through the ankles, heels and feet. Yes none of that was a challenge because apparently only having a celebrity of the senior citizen variety counts as a challenge. Nevermind that what Derek did with Amy, no other Pro has accomplished ever on the show other than Jonathan who danced with Heather Mills who had one prosphetic leg. But yes, that does not count because she wasn't 70. Thing is, I have a feeling even if Derek is given a much older woman, unless she is pretty much as hopeless as Michael there will still be complaints. If she does well and gets good scores, the same cries will start up again - "she's being overscored because of course, she's with Derek; she's not actually dancing; well she was a dancer 50 years ago so it's not like she didn't have some skills."

Answering in Derek's thread...

This is the second time I've read this and as a person who has watched this show since the first season, I genuinely ask, when exactly did 10 mean something so special on this show? For perspective, Kelly Monaco's freestyle got a perfect 30 in the first season. Yeah, youtube that dance and see how many errors she made in it. This show has always inflated scores the deeper into the season it goes. Also, the show unlike its British and Australian counterparts have actually always been fairly generous with the scores. As someone noted above, frankly Michael deserved 1 or 2's considering the man literally did not do a Jive at all. The 5's were actually generous. Like somebody with two prosphetic legs or a plus size woman or an ex-con rapper that many people thought was ghetto or a nervous headcase like Jennie Garth? And as I always say to the "Derek hasn't gotten a 70 year old", "call me when Val and/or Mark gets one." What I loved the most about that was how they didn't even try to pretend that's not what they did and even Micheal realized in rehearsal and pointed out to Emma that they put him in the back where no one could really see him. I think Wayne only lasted three weeks (I may be wrong), so not so bad. For me it's like when Sara Evans competed and her fanbase was rabid. I really think if she hadn't pulled herself out of the competition, her fanbase would have carried her to the finals and the woman sucked. But what was most annoying about her was that she was one of those delusional celebrities - the ones who suck but are convinced they don't and that the judges are underscoring them. Man never did I celebrate more a celebrity pulling out of the competition.

I agree (and it doesn't help that I hate all things Iggy Azalea) about there not being a wow moment which is probably why they only got 9's. That being said, the other team dance in my opinion didn't have any wow moment either and added to that, they weren't in sync. I mean they dressed up as circus characters and played to that - okay then. I get that some thought it was more fun but honestly, I actually found it messy rather than fun. But still I get that some enjoyed it more and I get the argument that Derek always seems to go for the precision style but again, I don't think that's a bad thing. Maybe if the judges and show starts stating specifically what they're looking for in the team dances, viewers can better pick it apart because honestly, for me, I do think synchronicity and cohesiveness should be key because they are performing as a team. It's like the moment in Itsy Bitsy's rehearsal when Derek says to everyone that when they are dancing all together, no one should throw in a little bit of flair or their own thing because they need to think and move as a team. Because really that's what the individual sections for each pairing are for, so they can all showcase what strengths and talent. But when they come together, it should look like you're watching one unit. I didn't get that from Team Creepy.

Kristen has been useless for years and usually just regurgitates spoilers that's already been floating around online for weeks. That said, I honestly have zero energy left to expend on the fuckery that is the Blaine and Karofsky mess but yes, that was one of the things I wondered about from the beginning. That is, what his super BFF Sam thinks of his conscious coupling with Karofsky seeing as Sam was the recipient of a black eye from Karofsky when he intervened when Artie and Mike confronted Karofsky about bullying Kurt. And once again, this is why it's best to just not think about any of this because when you do, all it does is again boggle the mind that a group of writers sat and said "our show is in the toilet, no one is barely watching but this, this will get the last vestige of loyal viewers holding on, excited for the show's return."

This is one of my major issues with Lea. No matter what she's dancing, especially if it's something Latin, she comes across as very tentative and careful. Also, and I recognize that this may just be how her legs are, but I feel like her legs always seem a little shaky. I always feel like I'm sort of holding my breath when Lea dances, particularly if she's wearing something short, because I think her legs might give out on her at any time. I was really surprised she and Artem were left last for their group dance. I would have bet dollars it would have been Val and Janel. Speaking of those two, I had a good chuckle watching them attempt the Nae-Nae in that group dance. It really is subjective but I really do not understand how there was no content in Bethany's Paso Doble. Yes there was a lot happening on the stage with the dramatic curtains and the drum guys but I truly believe Carrie Ann and Julianne were right in that it did not take away from her dancing. The sequence of her moving in front of the drum guys while Derek was behind them was all Paso content with her doing the lady's caping walk. And she was all on her own there so one can't claim Derek was dragging her through it. Her frame was absolutely stunning, her core was tight and she kept those things throughout the entire number. The dance had chasses to the right and left, the attack, promenande, etc. It was a Paso Doble with staging that in my opinion, created dramatic effect and added to rather than taking away from the dance. Which is what happened with Mark and Sadie. As someone else noted above, it wasn't that Mark had no Paso Doble content in the dance, it's just that Sadie did not execute it very well at all and I feel like that was partly on Mark. I think he focused way more this week on the concept and got caught up in all his ghouls and zombie apocalypse theme that making sure Sadie mastered the technique got lost. There was nothing happening with Sadie's core to be honest and part of that might be because she's so young and gangly. But her arms and legs to be honest just seemed to be flailing around for most of the dance. I also have to disagree about Derek's using all these props to hide Bethany. I don't consider the bedroom scene in their first dance some big prop. Bethany is famous for making youtube videos in her bedroom. So for her very first dance she was in a fake bedroom where she immediately got off the bed and started doing a jive. The whole thing took like less than a second. What exactly was the bed and fake bedroom hiding? Yes the bass was a prop but she was dancing and her rumba which Derek did get dinged for not being a rumba included words on a screen. Okay then but how many of the other pairings have been using members of the troupe in practically all or most of their dances? Does using the troupe not get counted as a prop because someone can argue that the Pro uses them to distract from their celebrity and many of the pairings have used the troupe excessively. Derek hasn't. Until last night with the drum guys (and I'm not sure that was members of the troupe), it's always just been him and Bethany on the dance floor so you can't miss her, whatever she's doing. There's never an opportunity for her to get hidden behind a Jenna, Lindsay, etc. Mark had the entire damn Duck Dynasty family on stage for Sadie's Samba and last night, I'm pretty sure that was the entire troupe on stage with them. Alfonso had a little boy and troupe members on stage for his Quickstep, Janel and Val had the troupe for their Jazz and Foxtrot, etc. And for the record, I have no issues with any of this. But I just think it's a bit unfair to act like Derek goes around using all these super tricks to supposedly hide Bethany's blandness when unlike many of the pairings, they've often been on the dance floor just the two of them.

Here's one of the issues I have with Mark though. I think sometimes he can get so stuck on his own "genius" and "creativity", that he forgets about doing what works best for his celebrity. He did it a few times I thought with Ali and I think he did it last night with Sadie. And to be fair, I guess it's because she'd done so well before with one of his more unconventional choreography with the Samba he figured it would all come together again. But I feel like Mark should have spent more time working on Sadie executing the technique of the Paso and when he realized it was one of the harder dances for her, temper some of all that theatrics and concept. Yes the concept was interesting but it doesn't really matter in my opinion when her technique was so piss poor. And the dance got manic towards the end and the more manic it became, the more wayward her technique went. And that's something he should have been aware of.

While all the judges praised the content in Alfonso's rumba, they also pointed out things that he needed to work on. I know for a fact Bruno mentioned something about his feet, Len also said something about his losing the frame once or twice (need to rewatch) which means that while they liked it, thought the content was there, they obviously didn't think it was perfect. The only judge who criticized anything about Bethany's performance was Len which is why she got the 9 from him. Neither Bruno, Carrie Ann or Julianne pin pointed anything she did wrong so their scores were consistent.

Well this was a surprise to no one. I will say though, as much as I like Tommy, with his package tonight, I think the best thing his fans can do for him is to send him home. The man is 76 and this show is hard - just look at all the weight people lose doing it. He's had a great run but it may be time to let go but I think he might outlast some more celebrities and with Michael's fanbase too, I think people like Janel and Lea may be in trouble of being booted before either of those two. I could hear the collective groan all the way in my living room about Derek's team winning the team dance again (and I love the show bringing it up over and over and over again) but honestly, they were better. This team dance reminded me a lot of the Foxing Awesome vs. Spooky Bon Bon team dances in Amber's season where the latter had a whole bunch of stuff going on and each team kind of seemed like they were doing their own thing and there wasn't a lot of synchronization. It was fun but it didn't look like a cohesive team whereas Foxing Awesome were perfectly in sync throughout the dance save for Karina, funny enough, going wrong once. And that's kind of what Derek's team did tonight again. And I really think that's a big part of any team effort. Once it's a team dance, I feel like the Pros should think about synchronicity and precision. It always works. By the way, speaking of Amber Riley, was that the Glee version of Time Warp they used because the notes at the end sounded a lot like her? I thought the judges' scores were consistent with their comments. They said they liked Alfonso's team and liked all their individual personalities coming through but all said that they were not in sync and timing was off. For Bethany's team they all praised the synchronicity and timing and praised all the women on the team. Ha, shows how subjective this all is because I used that same example to make an opposite point. YMMV but for me, if the pairings are supposed to be dancing as a team, I do think cohesiveness should be one of the main things the judges score on. So yeah, Derek's team dances may look similar in that he always goes for that precision but that's what probably has worked every season for him because getting four different couples to look seamless and in sync throughout a dance is not easy. And I thought the theme and styling of the performance worked perfectly with the song. Lea went really early again and I wonder if that's going to end up hurting her. I liked her dance but I agreed with Len in that it lacked passion and I think that was because she seemed a bit tentative and careful throughout the dance.