BrainyBlonde

I generally don't take wins or losses on cooking competition shows to heart, but I am SO disappointed (and sad) about Bryan's loss. He was such a standout the entire 24 hours with both his cooking skills and calm demeanor (I also loved that he never wanted to sabotage another chef with his golden knife benefits). I just think he's good dude in addition to being incredibly talented (his food is way more up my alley than the spicy stuff with a million ingredients that most chefs favor). I HATE that the winner of this show (and that huge payout) was based on one dish at the end. It should have been cumulative, OR the chefs should have been given the same protein to work with. As everyone else has said, chicken was never going to beat lamb (and yes, I know Bryan could have switched to something else, but I relate to him having a plan and being married to it). SIGH I just think it stinks that Bryan has been an also-ran so many times. I felt like he really deserved this one. I can take or leave Jonathan Sawyer, but I am glad that he will be using his winnings to help others who are struggling with addictions.

It slays me that these chefs who've been competing on cooking shows for DECADES get bent out of shape when a fellow chef employs a strategy that doesn't work in their favor. It's a game/competition, and there can be only one winner at the end. Friendships need to be checked at the door. Stephanie got to sit out at least one shift earlier, so she was no more fatigued or deserving of that time in the break room than anyone else. Get. Over. Yourself. I don't know if I'm more easily irritated this season or what, but it seems like there is a lot more whining and complaining and even outright anger from the chefs this go-round. They knew what the show would demand of them before they signed up (no sleep for 24 hours, difficult challenges with unexpected twists), so shut up and cook! I hope my beloved Bryan V. takes the prize home this season. I really appreciate that he's doing his best to roll with the punches and not bellyache about everything. (Marcel had a similar demeanor last season, which worked well for him.)

I was shocked when I read this earlier (mostly because I didn't realize Brooke and her husband had gotten a divorce last year). But yeah, Brooke and Bobby as a couple definitely wasn't on my bingo card. It'll be interesting to see how this shakes out and how it affects them working together as they do on several Food Network shows.

This season's Banker has been revealed . . .

You are not. I was seriously thinking about streaming the seasons of Survivor and The Amazing Race that Boston Rob was on. Help! LOL

I'm not going to call it just yet because I plan to watch a few more holiday movies this weekend. I will come back with a final number of movies watched and a list of my Top Five next week. Did anyone see Trading Up Christmas with Italia Ricci? I generally enjoy her, but the premise of the movie seemed a little iffy. So, I'm not sure if it's worth my time or not. I really appreciate everyone dropping in to share their thoughts about the Hallmark movies they watched this holiday season as it helped me decide which movies to give a chance and which ones not to bother with.

This makes me happy because I thought the show was good, goofy, mindless fun, and Jonathan and Melissa were terrific together! Plus, it was an interesting group of guys who seemed to bond and get along well. I will say that I was baffled by the choice of Ezra out of the final three as the other two guys both had legit acting experience (Elijah was in a touring production of Hamilton for years!) in addition to charm and charisma and they handled the different challenges well. All I could figure is that they gave Ezra the win because he was eye candy and they thought they could hold his hand through the filming of the movie. He needed a leading lady who could cover up his lack of skills in Happy Howlidays (he did okay-ish on the show when he was working with bright lights like Nikki DeLoach and Brooke D'Orsay). Unfortunately Jessica Lowndes is stiff and one-note herself, so . . . As much as I enjoyed the guys this season, I was kind of hoping they'd do a Finding Ms. Christmas for the second season. I guess they know the actresses carry these films and they couldn't center an entire movie around an amateur though.

Harry did gift Rylee a Van Cleef & Arpels bracelet that cost close to $15K (apparently, reality stars make A LOT more money than I thought they did!). Also, he joined Rylee and the Arnold family in Malibu for Thanksgiving dinner. Still, I think he considers her to be like a little sister and they're not dating. I just don't get a romantic vibe from them at all. Harry and Rylee attended a Lakers game with Alan Bersten earlier this week and I felt like Harry and Alan were both treating her with the same teasing older brother vibe. Don't prove me wrong, Harry! And for the record, Rylee said in an interview earlier this season that she had watched Harry on Too Hot to Handle, so she knows what's up with him. I think they're just two young people who bonded while working together and are having fun hanging out as friends. My sincere hope for Rylee, who is incredibly talented, is that she's brought back next season and is given a partner who has at least some modicum of musicality or dance ability. I am excited for next week's finale and have NO idea who I'm going to vote for as I pretty much love everyone who's left on the show. I guess I'll be basing my decision on who slays the Freestyle!

According to Kristyn Burtt, the pros for Season 32 are: Females - Males - And yes it's an uneven number. Apparently, we have more male celebs this season than females. Mira Sorvino's partner is rumored to be

I had to Google this. Supposedly, Yolanda is 5'7 and Joel McHale and Curtis Stone are both 6'4. Yolanda always wears high heels though, so we could probably add 3-4" to her height for her footwear in this photo where they all seem to be standing on equal ground. Richard Blais is said to be 6'0. I would question that because he strikes me as being average-sized, but he really isn't THAT much shorter than Joel and Curtis here.

Kylie Jenner and Timothee Chalamet have been dating since January? If this is true, I might actually feel positive about one of the KarJenners' relationships. I mean, at least Timothee is close to Kylie in age, he's really talented, and he hasn't had any scandals or drama in the press. We'll see if they actually show up at Coachella together this weekend as per the rumors. If this romance goes anywhere, I think we'll be seeing a lot less of Kylie on the show as Timothee is a serious actor who would never agree to show his face on a reality show. As for Kendall and her new beau, Benito aka Bad Bunny. I think he'd be game for being on the show. She's never been one to share her love life on-camera though.

Oh, dang, I thought we might finally have cracked the code on what Khloe's son's name is, but I saw a wider view of all the backpacks on Khloe's Instagram stories and there were several names on them that weren't family members. So, they clearly belonged to True's friends who were at the party (I noticed Ace on one of them and that's Malika's son). Bummer.

Ironically, Kris and Bruce (now Caitlyn) Jenner renewed their wedding vows a few years before they split.

Paul Campbell and Aimee Garcia to star in Hallmark Movies & Mysteries' new series, "The Cases of Mystery Lane." I adore Paul Campbell and enjoyed Aimee on Luther, so I am stoked about this! I'm not sure what they mean by "series" though. Will this be the first movie in a mystery franchise, or will this be a weekly TV series like Good Witch was for a while? Either way, I am in. The premise sounds fun!

I think PMK employed Kim to put these OD rumors to rest because she had Rob on her Instastories last night. Actually, it was his voice off-camera, but he did seem to be there with her. She tagged him and was showing off all these graphic tees that are from a collab Rob has done with some company. So, there you go. Typical Kardashian move: deflect a rumor while pimping merchandise.