Evangeline

Exactly. I watched her channel before the scandal an I liked her. Her channel was like a parody of the “I actually have a way normal life for a teenage girl” scene from Clueless…except not a parody and totally serious…but she’s likable and I got some good makeup tips from her that I’m grateful for. I most look forward to watching Olivia, Melora, JoJo, Jimmie, and Amanda (though she’s more forgettable than I would have thought). JoJo needs to finesse her energy levels and style, but this week’s was impressive. The Miz is good too and Iman has had some endearing moments but I agreed with the judge who said this week’s style wasn’t for him. Kenya was very good tonight. Won’t miss Mel C, though would have much preferred Cody to go.

The change from $25k to $10k was a good one. It's a better fit. There is a more obvious correlation to how many questions the person got right, and it feels less random - getting a couple easier questions than another contestant makes just a $20k difference rather than a $50k difference. But most importantly, it allows the high offer to be a higher multiple of the money, which was necessary because no one was taking the high offer last season (one contestant only I think). And makes the amount they're risking less life changing. It's not "unfair" per se that they leave with nothing if they lose, but it's less entertaining. Almost every other game show the contestants get something for playing. This is particularly hard to watch when there is so much skill involved in this show. So, it makes me like the show less and makes me less likely to watch - which is really the only objective of this show. If the host reads too fast, it's hard to understand the questions - I think they've struck a good balance. It seems she speeds up with the Chaser at the end, which isn't good. I don't like the 3 question head start either, though it's clear they need some advantage. It seems particularly off when a contestant only gets a 1 question head start. Not sure how I'd change that, though. Brad is the only chaser I enjoy in the role.

I’m currently pretty obsessed with them. The cheese quality is amazing.

The See Rescue guy did a deal with SpaceX! https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.prunderground.com/shark-tank-said-no-spacex-said-yes-seerescuestreamer-onboard-mission-to-protect-astronauts/00189890/amp/

I don’t care who, but I wish SOMEONE would come up with a hotel by day concept. 4 years later and it’s still non-existent (to the entrepreneurs’ credit... though they clearly haven’t taken the market either). I’ve stayed in many hotels, and have only seen one hotel ever give you the option of a late check out at the time of booking. I currently have two hotel rooms booked for one night for an upcoming trip, because we are working remotely and can’t switch hotels midday. The last time I tried to get a late checkout the hotel wouldn’t let me ask until morning of, and the answer was no. One hotel in Vegas was advertising a 24-hour stay, which is cool. Not sure if they’re still doing that. For early check in, you’re at the hotel’s mercy. I don’t mind taking a red eye if I have a hotel room to go to when I land, but there’s no way to guarantee that. I’ve actually been extremely lucky with New York hotels. The only way to guarantee that you have a place to nap when you land from a red eye is to book a hotel for 2 nights, and then call the hotel to inform them you’re not checking in until the next morning. Surely there is a market for this. For all the competition hotels have, you’d think one would try to get an edge doing this. ETA: It seems most efficient to book rooms with 4-hour flexibility on check in/check out. And priced accordingly. When I check out of a room at 6 p.m. (which I did on my most recent hotel stay - again, working remotely so couldn’t leave midday) why leave it empty for that night? Same thing goes for booking an extra night just to guarantee early check-in. Plus, a lot of hotels don’t operate at 100% occupancy, so it’s win/win to sell half day rates. Though I suppose that scenario is why they don’t want to let you book a late checkout in advance. Anyway, I do believe there is a market there and their booking system is an obstacle. Perhaps not enough of a market to get over that obstacle.

My understanding is that it’s the rupture that can kill, not the absence of a spleen. Similar to the appendix - having your appendix removed for appendicitis is routine, but having an appendix that ruptures before they can remove it is a dangerous situation.

Yes, I should clarify the guidance applies from two weeks after the last shot up until 3 months after the last shot.

Evidence so far indicates that it is effective at substantially reducing the risk of transmission. They no longer require people who have been exposed to Covid to quarantine if they've been vaccinated, which is most telling to me.

It wasn't special privileges because he's famous -- the TSA will in fact allow you to board a flight even though you've lost your ID. Learned this from my old boss whose wife was able to board a flight without ID. I don't know the details, but my understanding is you go into a room and they try to verify your identity through other methods.

When I first saw this show, it reminded me of the game "Bamboozle" from Friends haha. The episode with Elliot and Kathryn really demonstrated the "team" concept -- Kathryn didn't carry her weight in dollar terms, but she contributed more than 1/3 in the Final Chase. I wish we saw more people go high/low in the offers. My preliminary thinking is that if someone had, say, $175k or more from the cash builder round, it would be strategic to go higher. Risky of course, but probably strategic given the likelihood they would do correspondingly well against the Chaser. $75k and lower they should go with the lower offer, given the lower likelihood they'll beat the Chaser and the comparatively high value of being a "freeloader" (Kathryn is the counterpoint to this term) relative to the amount they're giving up by going with the lower amount. I can see a confident player not wanting to risk a meaningful amount of money to them and playing it safer, so I do understand the reluctance to go higher. No one has gone higher yet, right? (ETA: Just saw the episode I missed - one did!) They're going to have to increase those offers to entice players more, otherwise this show will get boring. I think the high offer should be a minimum 3x the amount they got in the cash builder round -- that way, with that option, it guarantees them the amount of money they earned in the cash builder round at a minimum if they go through to and win the Final Chase. (That is, unless a player gets through with a negative amount, which I think I read is possible.) More players should definitely go lower - I think people are letting pride get in the way of rational thinking. The game last week was painful to watch, I felt so bad for that contestant. It really comes down to luck of the draw with your teammates - it really demonstrates how difficult it is to win with only one contestant in the Final Chase. It also comes down to the luck of the question difficulty and length (hopefully the question selection is random). I think the host also might read faster during the Chaser's round - that's a variable that is very difficult to make completely fair, and something the producers could manipulate to control the amount the show pays out (as long as they have the good sense not to put it in an email). Brad is by far my favorite Chaser, he is so enjoyable to watch.

Conviction is the standard of proof needed to take away someone's freedom. The standard of proof needed to not cast on a TV show is much lower.

Really bad but really good, lol. Love it.

Ha, yup, I've had the same thing happen to me. They generously give my height the fictional inches too.

Yes - I get annoyed when discussions of pre-nups revolve around "his" money, when the money is earned as part of a partnership she would be contributing to indirectly. She (or someone in her position) would also be wise to give thought to what she would need to get on her feet and ensure the pre-nup makes her entitlement to that money clear, so she won't be in a position with being kicked out with nothing. I'm all for pre-nups, they just have to be well thought out and fair. I've always said that time periods in any pre-nup I sign will be measured by the day rather than by years - I don't want my partner to have a day each year where he might wonder whether fighting for our marriage for an additional year is worth $X to him. Any part year would be calculated as a fraction of 365.

Fillers and botox are both supposed to be temporary, I wonder what she'd look like in 6 months if she stays away from that stuff. The trouble with plastic surgery is that going to a good doctor is no guarantee of good results - better chance than going to a bad doctor of course, but results really vary from person to person. And revision surgery is more difficult and more expensive than a first surgery. At least she'll have all the Beverly Hills doctors available to her now. Hopefully she'll pick a good one.

If they're not a medical problem, it's cosmetic surgery. If it doesn't bother her, why is that a good use of her money? Why should it bother her? Not to mention unnecessary pain and the risk the scar might look worse than the mole - not everyone has the same results/experience. Even if it's probably not the same decision I'd make, I can't bring myself to criticize her for being more accepting of her appearance than people here are - and I don't think she has any responsibility to do it for the benefit of people who have to look at her. For what it's worth, I've had a nose job before (okay, technically 2) and am currently dealing with a rare complication from a very common cosmetic laser treatment I had done on my face to try and get rid of a small scar, which has been a very long, painful, and expensive process (not to mention unsightly - I traded a scar that no one noticed but me, for an ugly large scar that catches everyone's attention and I can't even successfully hide with makeup). Someone having a mole removed faces a risk of the same complication I'm dealing with. So I have perspectives on both extremes. I regret the minor laser treatment on my face. No regrets over the nose job(s).

We're criticizing one cast member for getting (bad/too much) plastic surgery while simultaneously criticizing another for not getting plastic surgery.

Hate to defend Tania, but she's right about eggs disappearing. It's actually way more than half that are lost by the time you're 30 - you lose most of the eggs you're born with before you even reach your fertile years. Can't remember specifics, but I have somewhere the numbers that a fertility specialist scribbled down for me. That said, it's a pretty slow decline in fertility til you hit 34, but if she wants multiple kids, she's right that time is not on her side. But neither are a number of other important considerations lol.

Credit card policies will vary between dealerships. I've seen a 5-figure used car put entirely on credit card. When you figure how much negotiating room there often is on cars, it's not difficult to figure out how a dealer can make up a loss on a 3.5% fee. I understand the criticism, but just can't bring myself to judge Juliana for the car purchase. I'm thinking it was fair game. (At least until I know more about the arrangement.)

Two thoughts - (1) Bad translation. She could have said something like she didn't speak the language and the interviewer put "English." (2) Whoever had custody of her at that time spoke English. The latter is my guess - I'm guessing this arrangement wasn't set up by locals in China, but rather by English speakers hitting markets with poverty and fewer enforced child protection laws.

In terms of exploitation of the children for profit, I do think it is comparable to the Dionne quintuplets. I think the difference is not in the manner of exploitation, but rather that the Busby quints are growing up in a loving family with doting parents, which the Dionne quints lacked. That's why the Busby quints are in a better situation than the Dionne quints. As to whether I think the exploitation is wrong, I don't have a black/white viewpoint on that. I think I would likely at least draw more boundaries than the parents have with respect to filming.

The Tell Alls are most interesting for the behind the scenes stuff for me - the interactions between the people. Who become allies, etc. I went to a taping of the show Fashion Star once, and that was the most interesting thing to me from the experience - how well Nicole Richie came off in person, when the cameras weren't rolling. Rebecca came off very well. She's likable. Flawed, but likable. I like the Teri/Avery duo. Especially when I factor in her age, experiences (doing gymnastics seriously requires a very strong person, mentally and physically, so I know she's got that in her, then it appears what followed was a wild period following her loss of gymnastics, further damaging her, then a reactionary swing to another extreme), and she has made some comments on social media that show self-reflection - and on the show, they showed her getting upset at the clip of her making her mother upset. So I figure there is a lot of Teri in Avery that will come out and I respect her continued efforts to parent her. And Rebecca aligning with Avery reflected well in Avery. Angela - I'm clearly not the demographic that finds her entertaining. Maria/Caesar - Neither is likable. I missed the reference to a whip, but geez. Caesar is the type of guy I would try to screen out when online dating. I can hardly fault her for not meeting up with him, that seems like the right call. And I think the truth was revealed when she said he just has to make more money. Also her comment to her friends about how a manicurist couldn't make that much money to send her. Sounds like they met on Anastasia Date and they continued their "relationship" off of the dating site. 5 years vs 2 years is probably the difference between meeting on Anastasia Date and taking the relationship off site. Maria's perspective was crystal clear - she was entertaining all offers until one presented itself that was good enough for her to accept and forgo her other revenue sources (and experiences, she probably gets some personal enjoyment from the travel). The US Citizenship gives Caesar a boost. But not enough to overcome his low income. And she's right. I would have to see far more evidence of her leading him on /misrepresenting her intentions to put the blame on her for him not figuring that out. And we saw how he responded - both during a previously aired episode and during the tell all - to her telling him directly "it's over, move on", and he didn't get the picture then. I'm sure he'd love to find true love, but finding a good partner and companionship is not what's driving him. He wants something he can't afford, literally and figuratively. Maria's looking for a good life, not love - and Caesar offers her neither. Neither are feel good stories. If the while thing was scripted, they wrote a reasonable, believable script, so good for them. But I think the answer is right that they had the real Maria's contact info to sign off on her photo and videos, and when it came time to the tell all, TLC/Sharp made a better offer than Caesar ever made. Ben and Akinyi - ugh, cringe. Curious to see how far this goes, in a watching a train wreck sort of way. Darcy - I just can't relate to her. But I have seen people comment that she's generally nice towards people, and even if those comments come off as fake and insincere sometimes, the underlying intent to make others feel better rather than intentionally being mean is definitely something I can respect. Jesse - I haven't watched their seasons, but I've read enough to have a good idea what happened. It was a shady move by TLC. As I mentioned above, I think TPTB realized that they'd be crossing the line in manipulating someone's life and causing someone unnecessary harm by putting him on stage with Darcy after witnessing (/recording footage that would be available for discovery in a legal proceeding) the other cast members' reactions to him there. They're obviously not going to air any footage of anger directed at producers, so Jesse gets it. And Avery had already judged him based on past actions he agreed to have aired on TV, and that's not unreasonable. He made the decision to go on the show for money and/or to stretch out his 15 minutes of fame. I get that. But, even if the producers approached him, I also get the criticism that he could have declined, and it's fair to judge his decision not to. Dying to know the behind the scenes decisions of producers during this episode - where they draw the line, etc. I was trying to figure out their questioning style. They will ask some difficult questions, but then drop the subject quickly. I gather they are directed to not actually interfere in the relationships - ie, drive them to break up. So when Maria says "move on," that's fair for Shaun to follow up on because it came from Maria, but when Shaun gets a response that if you really ran with it, you could foresee being able to lead to a break-up with a question or two, then she'll drop it and change topics. If that's the reasoning, I get it. Re the psych evaluations and how some of these people "passed," my understanding is there are two ways to "fail" a reality show psych evaluation - by being too insane or by being too sane. And on that spectrum, they want them closer to the "too insane" line, without going over. They need to make sure the participants are just sane enough to understand what they're getting into, to not kill someone, to not kill themselves, and to be relied on to follow through on what's expected of them. Obviously, some mistakes can be made when deciding what side of the line these people are one. I simultaneously judge the producers and want to be them. I can't decide where my ethical compass falls on that.

Looked like Avery saved Darcy from having to deal with Jesse. I doubt their original intent was to have him entirely separate, but once they had extensive footage of Avery detailing how damaging it would be for Darcy, it appears their intent changed. That's my guess.

Yes, I'm convinced.

@druzy - that post is easy to believe. The hardest part to believe is everything was real enough for them to go to a fertility doctor! But of course she's insane, that's a standard part of reality TV casting process. I'm not familiar with TLC specifically, but on other reality shows at least, they have the participants' mental health evaluated before casting them - both to exclude people who are too insane and too sane. Producers basically want people as close as they can get to that "too insane" line. Re: Liam's father, a few things are odd.... It sounds like he was a stepfather to Liam? The way he talks about Laura getting pregnant with Liam doesn't align with him being 50% of that, and his reference to Aiden being their "kid together." He also certainly doesn't look like the man Laura was pictured with on the show. Maybe she catfished Liam's father? I'd be sad if the catfishing story wasn't true lol. Also the way his father talks so flippantly about cheating on her, geez. He's not making the point he thinks he is.