simplyme

I was seriously impressed by the man with one leg, though it was a bit hard to watch. I was tense for him. I just laughed when I realized the race car drivers were there. Some of them seem to have a good sense of humor (and I knew who 3 out of 4 were!), but I knew they'd be going out fast. I liked how the female commentator tried to get Danica Patrick to say she'd do this next year and Danica laughed and pretty much politely said hell no. (Although she does have a gymnastics background, so depending on the obstacles, she might do better than some of the other drivers if she practiced. In theory, because I don't think she has any interest in becoming a ninja.)

Do we have confirmation that Caldiero was paid to appear, though? I agree he isn't the most likeable guy, but I don't want to assume something is true without a good source. I admit to a completely instinctive knee jerk dislike of Lance Pekus. I realize it's not rational and he did nothing to deserve it, but something about him annoys me. I try to keep that in mind when he's running. (It might be genetic. We saw a preview for the next qualifier during this one, which Lance is in, and SimplyDad made some comment about "That guy again?")

Just wanted to note that Meagan Martin made it up the warped wall the same year Kacy did, but Kacy did it first since her qualifier came first. That seems like a technicality to me since it was the same round, but hey, I'm not the one who decides these things. I thought Meagan asking her mom to be in the audience this time was sweet. I imagine all the attention is a lot of pressure.

As long as she doesn't sound like Gilbert Gottfried, I'm okay with it. To be honest, I never noticed anything wrong with her voice or accent. Makes me wonder what mine sounds like to people... :O

I think Mark and Clare had significant advantages over the others in the evolutions because they had mad skills and were tough and good athletes (or forced themselves to be, in Clare's case), but I don't know that they necessarily did in the circus, especially the endurance portion. Supporting your own weight by hanging onto a rope was tough for everyone. I don't think I'd say they had a significant advantage in that. Mark surviving the one circus he was in was dependent on who he was up against, imo. I'm fairly certain he was going down before Goldie, for example, but Cam fell before he did despite Mark looking iffy with those huge feet on those tiny ledges. I, too, really hope a tweaked show comes back, though I know the ratings were lackluster. @Kendall, If I remember, I hope to give Spartan a try. :)

I think it was Danielle who was in some ad with Gwen that played during the Voice when Gwen was a coach, but I have no memory of what it was for. If not, it was some girl who looked a lot like her. Well, I bought Melanie's cd Cry Baby. I decided I liked enough of the songs on first listen (and it was cheap enough) to support someone trying something not mainstream. I will say the videos are uncomfortable to watch but really well done, and I'm enjoying piecing together a story out of them. The ideas expressed were certainly ones I could relate to, and a couple of the lyrics were clever. I could use more verses and fewer repeated choruses per song, but that seems to be the state of music today. Two verses and maybe a bridge, tops, per song, with the chorus or hook repeating for the rest. I'm Gen X, but there's a reason I tend to like Bob Dylan songs, and it sure wasn't his voice. I like more content. *shrug* Oops. Pretend I posted the Melanie thing in the past contestants thread rather than past winners... *mumbles*

Wow. I loved the finale. SimplyMom and I were yelling at the tv. I felt bad for Mario. He seemed like a great guy. That said, I was glad David made it through. I was cheering for Tony, Goldie (not Haze), and Mark and Clare at the end, so I wasn't quite sure whether to be happy or sad. I'm a huge Tony fan, but Mark and Clare have worked their butts off, so I'm really happy for them, especially since Mark has a little lumberjack or jill on the way and Clare is 47, female, and tougher than nails.

Theoretically a neutral party in this stupid season. I'm not touching any other implications. :P I may not be right bright, but I ain't plum dumb.

I think Sam is awesome, but he's an older competitor. His body keeps slowing down while they keep making the course tougher. I think he's quite good at analyzing the obstacles and figuring out the best techniques for them, though, and I can see him being an excellent coach. I just hope other people realize that. Sometimes the best teachers aren't the people who are the current absolute best at something, but those who both understand it and are good at sharing the knowledge with people who might learn somewhat differently.

Actually, the one thing that really infuriated me was the time naked Hatch rubbed himself against Sue to psych her out during a competition. She left the game because of it, and Jeff acted like she was overreacting. Unconsenting frottage is illegal last I knew, and I have no idea why that would be okay on Survivor when physical violence is not. (And when she was back at the reunion, it was all, "Hey! Sue got a makeover! She looks girly now! Isn't that great?" The whole thing nauseated me.) I wouldn't call Hatch a creeper, but I would call him a lot of other explicit, uncomplimentary names. I didn't think Troyzan was one either, but I do recall him ranting about his ex-wife when he realized he was on the wrong side of the numbers versus what was a women's alliance. He might have legit gripes against his ex-wife, but it didn't endear him to me when he seemed to expand it to "all women are evil backstabbers." (I haven't rewatched, but that was the impression I was left with.)

This. Kacy is an amazing athlete, but she's at a huge disadvantage heightwise and sometimes weightwise. It's not just about reach, but being able to move heavy objects will generally be harder for her, as will getting a good bounce off a tramp. (Force = mass x acceleration. To hit a tramp with as much force as ninjas with more mass, Kacy has to have more acceleration in the same space.) I was amazed at what she managed to do because of her size. I had no expectations that she would be able to replicate that success because it was mind-boggling to me to begin with. I wouldn't say she's overrated. I'd say that looking at how the courses tend to be built, it would be unusual for someone her size to make it through regardless of their skill. So, less "she's overrated" and more "some people have unrealistic expectations," imo.

Finally got a chance to watch the whole episode (only caught the last half last night), and I was impressed with Tony's bunker-fortifying skills. I had to snortlaugh and agree with Haze that it looked ready for the zombie apocalypse. Poor Clare had no luck on that draw. So, @Kendall, if the zombie apocalypse ever comes, you totally want to be with Tony. He can fortify the hell out of your abode, and if one does manage to get in, you can possibly outrun him so it will go for him first! Heck, he might defend you while you run for it.

I didn't see Second Chances, as I was still taking a Survivor break in disgust after they announced Brandon Hantz was cast a second time, but Peih-Gee was one of my favorite Survivors. I might have a different reaction if I rewatched her original season now, but I loved her then. Probst wouldn't remember her because he was too busy giving James the Arrogant tongue baths. I remember disliking a lot of people that season.

This just reinforces to me that the show is about losing weight and looks, NOT getting healthy and strong. Supposedly this was all supervised. I'm worried about the speed with which the weight was lost and the ability of these women to maintain, especially since I thought a couple were thin enough to make me nervous. (Devin comes to mind.) I know that losing weight rapidly is not always bad, but I wish I knew the women were also receiving occasional counseling to help address any issues that might have been partially responsible for their weight and also to head off any new issues. Granted, this is probably why I generally don't watch weight-loss themed shows to begin with. :) I may enjoy the competition aspect, but other aspects bother me. I do want to say I've loved your insights on this show, @ClareWalks. Nice to have a trainer of our own!

Haze is just kind of annoying in general.

Mark's a big (okay, frikking huge) guy, but I've noticed in the evolutions that he has good balance and much better endurance and speed than I expected from a guy that size. I suppose if you spent a lot of time climbing trees, you'd want good balance. I like that they mix the endurance portions up so you don't know what to expect. It's pretty much luck whether or not your skills and size help you. Guys tend to have longer legs, so the extended running might go in their favor. Women tend to have smaller feet, so the "balance on this stupidly small area" challenges might go in their favor. That said, everyone has done really well, so I figure they should all be proud. Since at least two of the endurance challenges have lasted over an hour, I can say that these people are WAY more intense than I would be. Also... Wasn't the advantage longer in the first circus if you came in first or second, or did I make that up? If not, I completely revise my opinion on whether or not it's worth trying to hurry through the obstacle portion. A one minute advantage? Screw that. Go, Tony. :)

We live in a litigious society. The easiest way to keep insurance costs down and also make sure an underage person does not sue them for something stupid is to follow both host country and US laws, so that's what they do. There are court cases in the US where someone gets drunk, falls down their steps, and sues their landlord. So if Survivor opts to cover their asses, I don't blame them.

She made the top six before being eliminated, which was just before the semifinals that year. (They went from 6 to 4 to 3.) Also, your career dump on her was awesome. Thank you! Loved the Teens React video. I don't think it's necessarily bs, just that some people are in differing stages of exploring and figuring out how that works. Melanie is incredibly talented and farther along in that process than most people her age. Aaaaand, yeah, sometimes it is BS. :)

I kind of thought JT was overly concerned about a women's alliance partially because he's just that kind of guy. Also, if Rupert is on your side, you should triple-think your reasoning because Rupert is delusional about how strategic he is. I remember watching that season and marveling at the stupidity. (I think both Candice and Cirie expressed doubt about the women's alliance, but what would stupid women know?) It's possible that they wouldn't have assumed this had they seen Russell play before, but honestly I think it's quite possible they would have decided that any guy who was the last man standing was a victim of a women's alliance because that's a specific Survivor paranoia. Granted, had they seen Russell play before and realized what a jerk he was, they might not have cared... but I don't know (based on what I remember) that we can say not seeing Russell's game previously got him to FTC.

I certainly didn't mean to suggest everyone reacted to him this way. I understand most people either felt a connection or respect for Nyle if they voted for him. My apologies if it came across that way. :) Maybe I should have said "certain people" or "some people" or phrased it differently, rather than saying "a lot." That comment was prompted by quite a few posts Internet-wide (not necessarily here) that were either along the lines of, "OMG! Nyle is the nicest guy ever!!! That was amazing!!! SQUEEE!!" to things calling him a conceited pretty boy who constantly played the deaf card. I was kind of like, "Wow. Calm down, people. He neither walks on water nor kicks small, orphaned animals for the joy of hearing their pained cries." :P To be fair, the majority of posts were somewhat reasonable, but I was still bothered by the large number of hyperbolic reactions. It just felt like more than usual to me. (Honestly, I only bothered to vote one week myself, but it was for Paige.)

Eh. It's also been a year and Jason saw fan reaction and has a different relationship now with the people he played with than he did then. I'd take his revisionist view with a grain of salt.

They may very well just not have shown that because we knew Tony was going to the circus and at this point Tony and Tee are two of the people we've seen the most. Rorke and Nick had to make decisions about who to send in, and we're still just getting to know Team Noah. I think Tee and Tony have a good relationship. Tee is just competitive and doesn't like to lose, and it comes out during evolutions. :)

I don't have a problem admitting I knew Paige had years of dance training and I voted for her. I don't really see the issue. We've had lots of celebs with extensive prior dance experience who weren't nearly as good as Paige was. Also, I saw definite improvement in her technique. People do vote for different reasons. I thought Nyle was amazing and really broke a lot of stereotypes. I'm happy for him (and Peta) that they won, and that he moved and inspired people. That said, I personally could not get past his posture issues to vote for him. Being a bit out of sync or things like that were always going to be exponentially (if not impossibly) harder for him. Having the right frame and posture was certainly attainable, but I saw little improvement. Ginger improved a lot too. Too bad I had to prop my eyelids up with toothpicks to notice this. One more thing about Nyle: A lot of people seem to either somewhat blindly adore him or think he's an arrogant jerk getting a free pass. He seems strangely polarizing to me. I'm pretty sure he's just a normal human. I don't think he's the second coming or more altruistic than your average celebrity. He's got a great cause that works well with his narrative. He's a confident person, which can be read as arrogant especially when you consider we're hearing his words and inflections through a translator. That whole business of comparing himself to Val seemed like making a mountain out of a molehill to me. Or maybe it's just that DWTS itself can be very polarizing?

I enjoyed this episode. Once I saw the compasses, I knew someone was getting lost in the woods! I'm now back to vaguely disliking the red team. It's like they can't figure out not to make it about trying to screw with other teams (Follow the green team! Drive them! or trying to play mind games with Tony) but rather to focus on themselves and working together. Green team does so well because they're practical people with a lot of practical life skills who communicate and work well together. If you want to beat them, work on communicating and working together better, and maybe ask your team leader to teach you useful, basic things that might show up in multiple evolutions, like tying knots. From what was said during the endurance part of the circus ("And all three of these people were stuck carrying the packs") and based on the fact that both green and blue teams gave the packs to their big guys to carry, I suspect that the backpacks were significantly heavier to carry than the trunks, if less awkward. Sorry, Kendall, but I've started cheering for Tony. :) I laughed hysterically at Cam's hair, but part of that was the realization of how much product he must use to deliberately style it into its normal stupid style.

I think it's great Brittany got a second chance considering she was never the problem with her team. I can see Ky being a good trainer to motivate certain people, but he wasn't able to perform the tasks well himself. He really wasn't a good match for the show, and poor Brittany essentially dragged him as far as she could. No other teams had the trainee essentially have to yell at and push and drive the trainer. Admittedly grey was my favorite team, but I admire Brittany's ability to keep going in the face of adversity. Jill seems nice but bland (and yes, started out smaller than many others).