EllenB

Sounds like both of the Big Awful Scandals are a whole lotta nothing. Erich saw someone for a few months, before he knew he'd been accepted on the show, big deal. Someone needs to tell Chickie that seeing him every day in March doesn't add up since he left on the 12th. His message to her sounds just friendly, I've written similar notes to friends when they retire or move away. Ooh, Tino kissed somebody. 🙄 Sounds like it was in public, at a party or something. That might be slightly silly, but cheating? Nah. Hell, I've kissed guys in front of my husband just to be goofy and we both had a big laugh over it.

Zach: "I'd like to reject you before you reject me."

Was that Zach's Bachelor audition? Ha, same thought. Plus we got bonus snot.

That Gabby and Johnny conversation may have been full of inarticulate sentences, but it still felt more real than most talks on this show.

Robin's final food looked like it was done by a fine restaurant chef. Foo's looked so appetizing. Sylvia made tacos and the most basic Mexican cake. Of course, she won. 🙄

Are they sequestered like a murder trial jury, that they haven't seen their families in forever? Ridiculous. The contestants on "Alone" don't whine about their families this much. And stop all the damn loud giggling from judges and cooks! Was this show supposed to make me happy? It's not working, because it constantly pisses me off.

The host and judges have used the word LOVE about a hundred times before the final contestants even started cooking. 🤮🤮🤮 And once more, it's a vague definition of what they should make. Ridiculous.

I thought everyone added celery to their chicken salad. They acted like it was the Most! Original! Idea! Ever! And dates and macadamias are not that different than the dried cranberries and pecans in Aldi's chicken salad. Man, they're really pushing Sylvia to win. Those sandwiches look like what I'd shove on a plate when I don't have time to make an actual meal. Whoops, tear fest time! It's mandatory on this show. Watch that salt level, dude!

On the British shows, I want to hang out with most contestants! I care about them as people by the second or third episode. This show, I barely remember who they are by the time the episode is over. I still don't get the concept, or lack of it. I thought they'd each come into the show with a handful of ORIGINAL recipes and tweak them to suit different occasions. This is just... food. A lot of "This is what my grandmother used to make." Maybe they could have done a week of main dishes, same recipe used casually and more formally (or gussied up for holidays or parties), then a side dish recipe doing the same, and a dessert recipe doing the same. Or tweak the recipes throughout the competition, by adding ethnic touches to turn, say, an Italian dish into a Mexican one and a German dish into an Indonesian one, but with the same core ingredients. Something to show the universality, and versatility, of their special recipe. This is just so generic in every way, although they tried hard to bring diversity in the contestants and judges.

Wow, that's a blast of annoyance from the past!

Ooh! Ooh! I think I've got it! Samantha will now be played by someone who looks nothing like Kim, and it will be passed off as massive plastic surgery. OR, Samantha will have transitioned and is now Sam, and will be played by a male actor. Whatcha think?

Maybe Ashley I (should be Me! Me! Me!) and Jarod? Herod? will split and she'll wind up with Evan and J/Herod can have Carly.

First episode was okay. Odd mix of British baking show type of music and shots, with American overuse of dramatic pauses, overblown personalities, and not enough time spent on the actual food. It felt more like a commercial network show than PBS, but at least there was no screaming and scheming.

Congratulations to MaryAnne! My favorites NEVER win, so I'm extra thrilled. But I wish Romeo would have gotten some votes just to bolster his fragile self-confidence.

Tori's full of it.

Dang, did MaryAnne start that fire in like 3 seconds?

Romeo! David and Goliath!

Those two plus MaryAnne are the players I hope come back.

Hey, Romeo's there!

Lindsay's looking kind of bitter in front of the jury. Not good if she stays.

Watching Jonathan eat pasta is disgusting.

Loved MaryAnne's little encouragement to Romeo. Sweet.

I completely forgot about him. I think that's why he's still there - the other players forget him, too.

I didn't see Omar as cocky or over-confident. I thought he was so thrilled to be playing, and playing better than he expected himself to, that he was basically squee-ing in his TH's. As much as I wanted him to win, that was a great move voting him out, which he also seemed to appreciate. I will never understand players - or fans - who take it personally when a player maneuvers the TC to oust someone. I liked Drea, too, but Omar's move last week was great. The complaints about plays that eliminate someone's favorite are nearly as annoying as the players who think they deserve to win so how DARE anyone else play with the same goal in mind. This season has less of that, at least with most of the players.

Aw, I wanted it to come down to Omar vs. MaryAnne at the end. Maybe he can come back for another recycled players season.