Yeah No

I only saw the older version a few times but liked it better than this. I think Leslie should take it down a few notches, I found her hard to take. When the game show becomes more about the host than the game, it's distracting and annoying, IMO. I'm a fan of Guy's Grocery Games and find that more appealing, especially because I like to watch cooking competitions. Even though Guy is a huge personality I don't find him annoying on that show. Also I am completely confused about the rules. It seems like there's a lot the contestants know that isn't explained to the audience, like the relative value of some of the things they're throwing in their basket, and any limit to what they can take of one item. Who would know that except die-hard fans of the old series? Or is this different from the old series? I don't even know. I think I'm going to pass on this one.

I have had doctors like that. I think Amelia would have a calming effect on patients which would actually be a very good thing. Some doctors have no "beside manner". I think she would have that in spades. I have been to the doctor myself at a hospital since the pandemic hit - talk about Covid anxiety! They took my blood pressure and it was very high for me. I told them it was from all the anxiety I have experienced both being there and just in general these days. It made me go out and get a home blood pressure monitor just to reassure myself that my resting blood pressure is nowhere near that high!

I still think Bennett and her were already a couple before going on the show and this was some kind of lark they both entered into together. Seen in that light her comment about not being all that keen on being married but wanting to be on a reality show would have a completely different meaning.

She once gave the name of the town in Sicily that her grandfather came from and it's only about 40 miles away from the town my family is from. I have often wondered if DNA would show any relationship between us. I don't think I'd ever write to her, not after my experience on the show. I don't think she's interested in knowing me. I don't think I would feel that way if my experience on the show wasn't such a let down. Plus there was the way she completely ignored me when I caught her eyes and smiled at her. It just felt very cold. The interesting thing is that Sicilians can run the gamut in terms of appearance so when I see Sicilians that resemble my family I always wonder if we're related. My grandparents were divorced and when my grandfather died I had to go up to Montreal to his funeral. I have tons of Sicilian relatives up there that I don't know. I remember my mother saying hello to everyone at the funeral and telling me how I was related to them, but it went in one ear and out the other (I was in my 20s). I remember seeing a young woman about my age there that looked shockingly like me - I remember walking up to her and both of us immediately broke out laughing. The first thing I said to her was "I think we must be related somehow". I forget now but she was probably a second cousin or something. It's too bad that I don't know that family at all. I don't have any siblings or first cousins and I don't know anyone else either. I have reached out to some I've found online after being matched by DNA but we share some correspondence and that's usually it. Hey no worries, I don't much like her either, LOL. It's funny how you can share a lot in common with someone yet be so different at the same time. Hard to explain!

Thanks, it was a real letdown at the time. And yes, I have thought about how shows like MAFS can do something similar and railroad you into a persona that fits their chosen narrative for you, but doesn't represent you in a flattering light (nor represent you at all). Which is one reason I resist seeing Brett as a villain - I just have a feeling that the show wants us to see him that way and has heavily edited some of his scenes to fit that narrative. I still think he's somewhat douchey, just not quite as bad as they're making him look. Like it was true that sometimes I got in a bad mood when going through menopause, but I was nowhere near the raving bitch the show was trying to make me look like. I remember afterwards asking my husband if I was really all that bad and he reassured me that I was not (and he wouldn't be one to lie about that to me, LOL). I was NOT expecting the show to do that to me. The way the producer introduced it to me was nothing like that at all. A year or so later Rachael's show featured a high school student on who wanted to lose weight, so they sent her to some kind of rigorous "fat camp" that had her doing all sorts of extreme physical challenges (kind of like Biggest Loser only even more severe if you can imagine that). The trainer had her hike up this treacherous trail that was clearly too difficult for her and then chastised her for wanting to stop. She pushed her so far past her ability level that she tripped and injured herself and needed a helicopter to lift her out! They actually aired all of this on the show. She backed out of the whole thing after that so the show never got to claim her as a "success story", plus Rachael put her down as "not really wanting help", which knowing what I knew at that point was a really low thing to say after railroading her and her injuring herself like that. Several months later it was reported that the young woman brought a lawsuit against the show for her ordeal. Whatever happened after that was never made known. She probably settled out of court with them. I can only wonder what crap she had to endure behind the scenes to make her go to that extreme - what she went through on-screen was bad enough! I remember finding her on Facebook and telling her what happened to me - she wasn't able to say much because of her lawsuit but she told me my story sounded similar in some ways to hers and thanked me for reaching out!

I guess I'm lucky that I can still eat all that stuff, but her recipes are often just not appetizing these days anyway. Too much of everything! She is a phony. She puts on an act of being a nice person but it is obviously an act, IMO. I have thought that myself, that her recipes used to be better and simpler. I wouldn't make any of her recipes now. None of them appeal to me plus they often have too many ingredients. I watched some of the first episodes of "30 Minute Meals" on "On Demand" and it was like watching a completely different person. That was the person I originally liked, but the one I see now, not so much. I think fame and fortune changed her, but I hear that she was always considered "bossy" even in high school. Awww, thank you, that's sweet of you! I remember after I appeared on the show I thought to myself that maybe she snubbed me because she didn't like seeing what she was going to look like in 10 years, LOL. And it's funny because I was 52 when I appeared on the show and she's 52 now and I did look more like her when I was the same age as her. Only I have blue eyes while hers are brown, and she has a bigger mouth than I do (although it has seemed to shrink with age). Getting older sucks, LOL. I have her cookware too despite feeling that she's not so nice. I've tried other cookware but keep coming back to hers. I somehow get it at a good price or she has a pan that no one else has, so I end up with it. I did feel sorry for her for a few minutes this summer when I heard that her house in upstate NY burned down from a chimney fire that wasn't her fault because there were clear records indicating that it had been cleaned out regularly. The whole house had to be bulldozed. Of course she has a beautiful and spacious guest house on the property that her and her husband are living in until the main house is rebuilt. She's broadcasting her talk show from there during the pandemic. My husband told me not to feel that sorry for her because it was probably covered by insurance plus being so rich she's not as put out by it than the rest of us would be. She did lose all her cookbooks, recipe notes and clothing and some other personal effects, though. Her kitchen was largely spared so she might recoup a lot of that stuff. It does piss me off because she became rich and famous from sheer luck - being in the right place at the right time with the right thing (and she has acknowledged this). When I think of how many people could have done what she does better it boggles my mind. Most of us aren't so lucky. I sometimes think that if my mother were alive (she died almost 20 years ago) she would have had a similar fascination for Rachael despite not really liking her because she would have seen the similarities between us. It amazes me that someone with so much in common with me could be so different at the same time....We have the same initials, born on the same month and day 10 years apart, almost identical ethnic background on the same sides of the family, both from NY, same height, same hair, same body type/facial structure, same look, our mothers were the same age when we were born, etc., etc., it goes on and on but I won't bore you with all of it, LOL. I think the main difference is that she is a huge extrovert while I am very much an introvert. Plus my mother would have told me I'm much nicer and have more class than her, LOL.

I wear them for getting gas and using keypads at checkout lanes. My husband wears them for these things plus using banking machines and going to the drive-up window at the bank. He knows how to do things online but is so old school that he continues to go to the bank for things he doesn't really need to go there for. I do all of my banking online these days. I try not to need to use keypads at checkouts - I use "Walmart pay" and now Target has something similar that I've used once so far. I have Google Pay and Samsung Pay too but haven't used either of them in a store yet. I haven't had the patience to find out which of the local stores in my area accept them. Another reason I wear gloves at times is because I cook a lot and sometimes have little cuts or nicks on my hands that could let in virus. Sometimes they're imperceptible. I figure it's too late to sanitize after the virus has already penetrated my skin.

Well I don't find Hunter particularly attractive from a looks perspective, plus I don't find his personality as depicted on TV particularly attractive either. I have posted before that he doesn't project the drive of someone who is ambitious and looking to make a name for themselves. He just seems to passively accept whatever his father wants him to do on the show. He may act differently off the show, but he acts so consistently passive, blah and lackadaisical on the show that I'd personally find it hard to believe that he's any different IRL. To me it seems like he's humoring his father appearing on the show and half thinking that he doesn't have to put in a lot of effort to "inherit" success from his father either. His real ambitions, as hinted at in articles written about him, may actually lie elsewhere but we're not seeing him doing those things on the show. But again, I'd still find it hard to believe that he has any other real ambitions based on what I've seen of him.

Hah, I do that too - drive by store lots to see how many cars are parked outside and if they're too crowded for my taste, move on. I usually don't go out store shopping on weekends to avoid crowds. I was doing that even before the pandemic, LOL. Weekends are especially crowded when the weather is beautiful, as it has been lately. I'm going to brave it and go out tomorrow, but from past experience I know that Sundays thin out a lot after 4 or 5 p.m. as people go home for dinner. So I'm going to wait until around that time and take a drive to the supermarket for a few things. I am already having anxiety dreams about pulling into the polling place lot on election day, finding it super-crowded and thinking, "I should have voted by mail"! I really don't think this is going to happen, though. Hubbie and I are already joking about wearing our clear face visors, n95 masks, gloves, and clear trash bags over our heads, LOL.

In CT we always vote on paper ballots, filling in the dots with pens like on standardized tests, then the paper is put in an optical scanner. We didn't vote using machines in previous years either. It's been that way long enough that I forget how we may have voted over a decade or so ago.

Thanks. I know I'm more anxious about this than I probably should be. Besides, it seems like everyone I know is sending in absentee ballots so I'm sure it will be relatively light at the polling place. I'm usually in and out of there in 5 minutes. It's in a big airy gym and the exit doors are usually open to the outside anyway. I wear medical gloves so I won't have to touch anything. In a town of 15,000 people we have 3 polling locations which are divided up into separate districts. Mine covers a relatively small, sleepy area divided into 3 districts and there are separate check-in tables for each one. I'm sure they're going to spread things out because of Covid. So with all the people voting via absentee ballot I don't think I'll have much trouble. CT doesn't offer early voting - something I just found out. Bummer. OMG, that is just HORRIBLE, I am so sorry to hear that. I worry about my husband sometimes but he has really gone to great lengths to change his ways since the pandemic began so most of my worry is just because no matter how careful we are, we never know how safe any of us is at any given time outside the house. We are at the mercy of the people we live with - It's terrible. I hope you can find peace of mind about your safety soon.

I'm going to vote in person on Nov. 3rd. With the flurry of voting going on now I'm almost imagining it to be a breeze. Note that even during presidential elections it's never crowded at the polls in my area, at least not in the afternoon. Plus right now my state (CT) is yellow for holding steady with cases. Am I being foolish?

11 hours ago, @JapMosaid: Well, here we are in the Small Talk Thread.... I find it highly ironic that the last post was about Covid and was made on the day my father died of Covid in NYC..... 😪 Anyway, the reason I wasn't completely happy with my experience on the Rachael Ray Show is because of a few things, which actually turns out to be a long story, LOL. First, the producer asked me leading questions on the phone about whether I felt like I was moodier and not as nice with people during menopause as before. I said "yes" to being moodier and "yes" to sometimes being more short tempered, but I didn't say I had become a full-on bitch or anything. Then when we were all in the green room on the morning of the show, the other women and I were extensively coached on what we were going to be asked, and given an opportunity to somewhat rehearse our answers. So I never expected them to deviate from any of this. The question I was going to be asked was like the one the producer had asked me over the phone. Well, when the author questioned me during the actual filming, she threw me a whammie/curve ball and asked me how long it had been since I had turned into a mean, difficult person (or something to that effect). Given that we were filming, there was no way I could say, "Time out, stop the tape, I have NOT become a mean, difficult person!" I was almost literally thrown off my seat! How could they DO this to me??? I didn't know who to blame, her or the show for this! But anyway, I stuck to my rehearsed answer and prefaced it with, "Well, I don't think I've become a mean/difficult person, but I have felt moodier and not always as nice with people as I was before". I mean, what a thing to do to a person on national TV - make everyone that may only know me peripherally think I'm really some sort of mean bitch! What really pissed me off is that the other two women were given really softball questions and looked like wonderful people by comparison. Anyway, that was the main thing that bothered me, but there's more! The second thing that bugged me is that Rachael's show has always been legendary for having fantastic food for guests in the green room before filming. What did we get? A tray of sad looking grapes and pineapple chunks with toothpicks. Literally. Like, could they spare it? On a show that brags about how well they feed their guests? I guess we didn't rate anything better than that! The third thing that bugged me is that after our segment was finished filming we were immediately escorted off the set, however we were all under the impression from what had been communicated to us beforehand that we were going to be allowed to stay in the audience to watch the rest of the filming of the episode. It took several minutes of us begging and pleading with the stage manager before we were told that they'd "find out" if it was possible. Seriously? What are we, chopped liver? Like there were some open seats in the back, it's not like they would have to put up folding chairs or anything! Finally, after what seemed like forever, we were told we could go up to a balcony where we could watch the rest of the show. We climbed up a staircase and found ourselves in a little "theatre" of 2 rows of seats - all of which were empty. Like they knew they had this area but we still had to beg and plead to stay? It was fascinating to watch the rest of the show and it took another hour and a half at least before it was finished. But I was left with a bad taste in my mouth by the experience (and was literally starving after all that time). I had heard rumors that Rachael was a bitch but I never believed stuff like that. Now I wasn't so sure. I realize she may not have known about this stuff, but it IS her show, after all. It also hurt because I bear a resemblance to Rachael (I am 10 years older than her to the DAY) and we share an almost identical ethnic background. Plus I was always into cooking like her and could relate to her stories about her Sicilian family. I was a big fan of hers up until that point. I remember when they sat me and the other women in the front row before our segment was filmed, she was standing on the stage waiting for things to begin. She locked eyes with me for a moment and I smiled at her, but she didn't even register my existence even though she was only a few feet away and definitely saw me. You would think she'd have some reaction to someone that looked more like her sister than her own sister! Anyway, I was never as much of a fan of hers after that. So anyway, you asked, LOL. 😉

Wow, and I thought my 40 years was a long time! Congratulations! I agree that you really don't know them until after marriage. Plus when you get married in your 20s people can change and you might find out that they're not the same person you married. Fortunately that didn't happen to me, but I know people who have had that happen with spouses I knew and would have been blindsided by myself. When I met my husband I thought of him as a "Rock of Gibraltar" and his basic nature was always rock solid and good and that has never changed even though he has matured and grown up a lot since then (we both have). OMG, I remember Concentration! I had completely forgotten about it until you mentioned it! Actually, I applied on the RR show website for free tickets to see the show and one of the check boxes asked if you would be interested in appearing on the show and it gave a list of upcoming topics, one of which was "Are you going through menopause and feel like a different person sometimes?", to which I answered "yes", LOL. The next thing I knew a few weeks later I got a phone call from a producer who asked me about a zillion questions and said she thought I would be a great fit for an upcoming segment with an author who had written a book about menopause and the different ways women are affected by it. The premise was that the author would use my experience (and that of two other women) to highlight some of the points in her book. I was not paid for my appearance, but I was given a limo. ride to the studio from my father's apartment in NYC, where I was staying at the time (and of course a ride back). I wasn't really happy with my experience overall, but I'll save the rest of that story for the small talk thread - Click here for the link. I agree and in some ways she's reminding me of wacko Sam from (I think) season 3. She's at least on that level of crazy. Now that you mention Keith, I actually think Karen would have been a decent match for him. I don't think she would have had as many reservations about him. If I had to choose between Miles and Keith for her I'd pick Keith.

I appeared on TV 3 times in 2010. They were completely unrelated. Somehow that year was my year to be on TV. It did help that I was unemployed at the time. I appeared as an "audience guest" on the Rachael Ray Show in a segment on menopause, in a commercial for a local discount store chain where I said, "beautiful leather gloves at such a great price!" (Ocean State Job Lot), and on an episode of "Restaurant Impossible" where I was asked how I liked the meatballs at the reopening of a local newly renovated restaurant (I said they were just like my Sicilian grandma used to make, LOL). I'd love to tell the stories but perhaps will save them for the small talk thread when I have the time.