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It would make strategic sense for Jimbo to lose lipsynchs - she looks less threatening if you think you can beat her in a lipsynch at the end.

Irene planned on doing that but got booted too early. https://www.instagram.com/p/CndJ2Lqutex/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CnYWY5tul0R

I think the skills test is mostly to get the contestants' jitters out before things really count and provide an opportunity for the judges to get a feel for them and then use the insights gained there to provide appropriate feedback (do they need to hold their nerve, trust their knowledge, be reassured they're doing well, whatever). Maybe at the very margins an exceptional skills test can help break a tie, but I don't think that's its purpose. Usually the failures are due to nerves (sometimes basic knowledge they actually have deserts them) or to a test highlighting a weak area, so it's also not really fair if the test played to someone else's strengths, and if they really are weak, that's going to show up when they're cooking their own, food, anyway.

I was surprised at how strongly I reacted to Cheddar's runway - I actually cried a little. Took me back. Clear winner overall, and at this point my favorite. I appreciate a queen of substance. I'd have had Dakota in my top two (surprisingly funny in the Snatch Game, and a gorgeous, though not particularly surprising, runway look).

Even though so many other things in the episode made little sense, I thought maybe he - a physicist! - had noticed that because of damage to the car, it was no longer safe, so I ignored it. Still, one of several examples of giving people bad advice about how to respond in an actual emergency, for plot service.

You're right - the portrayal felt ridiculous! I lived in Oakland, and we had no idea there was any serious damage anywhere until an hour or so later when we heard about the bridge and the freeway. I was at a pizza place tp watch the game and, although some of us did, after some hesitation, duck under the table until it subsided, nobody ran for the exits (does anyone ever?), and in fact our beers didn't even fall over (people may have held onto them, and they must have been in mugs although I don't recall) and our pizza came out maybe 10 minutes later. (We lost the TV signal, though, of course (the stations were knocked off the air), and joked that the East Coast would think California had fallen into the ocean). Coverage over the next few days was frustrating, in that TV showed the same two blocks in the Marina district over and over, giving the impression that the damage was everywhere, but it was in fact pretty localized. Unless you lived in the Marina or were unlucky enough to have been on that particular stretch of freeway, the main impact was not being able to use the bridge until it was fixed. (more serious damage closer to the epicenter, around Santa Cruz, of course, and the damage to the freeway was shocking - as was how long it took to rescue people. There's only so long you can survive being stuck like that, and I remember coverage about particular people, as we all hoped they could be rescued in time, with several at risk of going into kidney failure as time wore on due to their crush injuries.) In particular, no apartment buildings in Oakland collapsed, so that story line was just bizarre. I checked and it's not that I forgot - it didn't happen. I'm sure some were damaged but the only ones I even remember being condemned up in SF & Oakland were the ones in the Marina district. (There were also a great many damaged or destroyed closer to the epicenter, in Santa Cruz etc.) Our building was a little worse than some but still just had some superficial plaster cracks (multiple stories long though!), and we lost some plates that had been in the sink (fourth floor of an older apartment building near Lake Merritt, built c. 1920.) It was a little hard to believe that what had done so little damage for most of us was so serious in the places that were damaged, but if you weren't on landfill, and were 70+ miles from the epicenter in Oakland or SF, you were probably just fine.

I only had a problem with the finale, but wow did that feel interminable. Really enjoyed the cast, though, and I also really liked the pairing of Ongina and Rock M. Sakura for Fashion Photo Review.

I think Dakota, Starlet, and Sminty were all competing for one or at most two spots (too similar for all of them to stick around long term) and Dakota won it. Whether she can take it further is up to her. She's very personable and easy to root for, and I think a good snatch game, for example, could keep her in it for a while.

I think Sarah said she'd worked with nettles & sea urchins before, not chestnuts. I suppose she chose them because the flavor is probably the easiest to work with.

I can't imagine the choc top tie-in people saw much of a market for a brown butter fig ice cream version, but then again I'm not Australian, so who knows? Still, my immediate thought was that the sponsor is going to have a word to say about who the winner is, and it's not going to be that. (That, and that this was a really dumbed down challenge, and that yet again I'm not going to be the slightest bit interested in checking tenplay for a recipe. Usually I clip a bunch of them but this year I think I've read one or two and clipped none. I already have a good quick cheat recipe for kulfi and see no reason to even look at Sarah's version, and if I want a peanut butter based ice cream, I'll buy it, not make it.) Oh well. All good things must come to an end, and I think MCAU is heading there, at least for me. (And I think Keyma didn't get featured in the challenge because it seemed her teammates only let her chop things up for them and the like. She's a good sport about it but It must be a bit disappointing to not have the chance to do more.)

It was an unintended teen pregnancy so I don't see it as odd at all. If anything, the experience would make her reaction stronger since it's not as abstract an idea as it might be for other girls/young women her age (I'm not sure how old she is now, but still in high school I think). Good chance she'll reconsider later on, of course, but a perfectly reasonable reaction in the moment!

They didn't all change back - but they discussed it on Untucked. People wanted something they could lip synch in if necessary, and also to get out of the pleather because it's uncomfortable (you end up dripping in sweat underneath it all). Some of them specifically mentioned going back to their snatch game outfits. In the end, Yvie, Raja, and The Viv opted for stripped down versions of their runway outfits; Monet & Trinity changed into lipsynch outfits; and it was just Jinkx, Shea & Jaida who opted for their snatch game outfits. late edit: Monet also changed back to her second snatch game outfit (Sheneneh). I didn't recognize it at first because we only saw them at the desk during snatch game; and Jinkx kept her runway wig, and turned out to be wearing a top and leggings rather than what I had imagined to be a cocktail dress c. 1960 as Judy, so Jinkx's and Monet's just read as lipsynch outfits to me at first.

You got me wondering - so, results of a quick google search: typical high school boys or girls soccer team: 18-20 players typical D1 NCAA soccer team: 28 MLS: 30 (11 on the field, of course, at any given time) It wouldn't surprise me if a national championship caliber HS team carried a few more players than most, so I'd guess 20 or a few more. (I looked for rules on maximums and found a few, but they were localized. I.e., you can have a max of 25 at the Michigan state championships unless you had more than 25 on the roster all season long; another locality set a limit of 22.)

I wonder if she just invested in fewer looks, and is saving the good stuff for later. It would make sense to use any basic looks early, as they're more likely to get you a boot later on. I don't think it makes much difference for her career whether she goes home early or late, but even so she might be being strategic both in how much to invest in looks, and when to use them.

There's a lot of variation in people's expectations of when to stop and when to jump in on a conversation, too, just based on where you're from and your family's conversational style. I wonder if Jasmine & Kornbread just come from places at the relative extremes of this, so what feels normal to Jasmine feels rude to Kornbread. It can be hard for either side to adjust when they interact. (one quick take on it here: https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/conversation-style-interruption-cooperative-overlapping.html).