30 Helens

I can see the hula hoop hip gyrations as being scandalous to some… but I can’t see it being called a game. It’s a toy, really. Or maybe an exercise device if you’re trying to build balance or coordination? Twister was an instaguess for me. There’s a reason it was a staple at 1970s adult parties… and not just ones hosted by chiropractors looking for patients. Oh! Thanks for the reminder. I forgot that was back. Now I need to check my DVR and see why it’s not recording.

It’s paid work if you’re not paying someone else to do it. In terms of your household bottom line, you’re essentially paying yourself. I am my household’s cook, laundress, maid, accountant, banker, investor, buyer, hirer and overseer of service professionals, and manager of all things miscellaneous. I may not get a paycheck for all that work, but if you think I do it for free, you’re nuts. It is true that working outside the home and hiring someone to watch your kids doesn’t make financial sense for a lot of people. Sometimes a person’s entire paycheck goes toward paying the nanny. Without knowing the girlfriend’s earning potential, it’s unfair to assume she is just looking for a free ride. As a stuntman, David’s earnings are likely sporadic. I assume he makes good money on each gig, but he may go months between jobs. Maybe the girlfriend could get a steady job and he could be the stay-at-home dad when he’s not on a set, and get a babysitter when he is. But that’s up to them to work out. I do think it’s fair for any romantic partner (male or female) to ask their partner to commit to financial stability before getting married or having kids. That’s just being a responsible grownup.

I don’t like games of chance that remove any strategical element. If Pizza Guy had had the option of playing or not, then lost the game, then it’s on him. But having zero control sucks. Next Jeff will be spinning a big wheel at tribal council to see who goes home. I don’t blame anyone for keeping an advantage to themselves. Information is power, and once someone has your information, they have power over you. I wish more people would keep their mouths shut, and not just because it creates opportunity for TC drama. I also think it’s fine if someone wants to share advantage info, but it shouldn’t be a requirement between allies. There are lots of ways to build trust. Cedrick is going to find that out once Sai turns her back on him, which she will. I’m kind of rooting for Mary and Sai to team up now, and plow through this game like the anti-Thelma and Louise. Just two frenemies bonded by mutual distrust and a shared love of idol-hunting hijinks.

One thing I’ve wondered about David this season is what he has told the others about where he lives and works. If they know he lives in Australia, don’t they find it suspicious that some random Aussie guy flew to America just to compete on this piece of crap show? I mean, it’s not like it’s Survivor or something…

@Thalia I guess we’re the last two rats on this sinking ship, lol! I agree with you about Philip, CK and Lete. Philip is a whiny baby who is probably at home right now putting pins in voodoo dolls of David and Parvati because as he said, he doesn’t forget. Which sums up his whole problem in this game. He took every move personally and forgot it was just a game. Lete has an attitude of moral superiority that I find insufferable. CK is unlikeable for reasons I can’t articulate, she just is. I still like Parv, although I found her very unlikeable tonight. Whatever intimidation moves she was pulling on CK, which she described gleefully as making CK crumble, just came across as mean-girl talk. That wouldn’t have made me crumble, it would have made me angry. (Which is the effect it seemed to have on CK.) Parvati was also out of line for getting so mad at CK at the challenge. They both had equal rights to that briefcase, and I think both should have waited to come to an agreement before dropping their bags. That was Parvati’s sense of privilege showing. At this point, I’m rooting for David, although I think it was in his best interest to send Parvati home tonight. But I guess he didn’t trust anyone else to take out Lete. I cannot co-sign this, even as a Boston Rob fan. Between last season and this season’s Traitors, I think I’m all Robbed out for awhile. Besides, he has his after-show gig. I just watched the one with Dickson, and am not sure which I enjoyed more: Rob’s utter delight at hearing about the “kiss” with Lete (if you can call it that), or him schooling Dickson on all the ways his strategy sucked.

I just came here to pick this particular nit. Why even have a category called Three Named People if you’re not going to require all three names? Why not just call it People? (I was shouting out the other two names, BTW. Just because they needed to be said.) Based on his performance yesterday, I was really surprised to see Harvey go so quickly. He wasn’t around long enough for me to really form an opinion, but he seemed to have the kind of dry, self-deprecating humor that I enjoy, so I think he would have grown on me. But based on the buzz he created, I think he’s a shoo-in for a wildcard slot in whatever tournament. I tried very hard to talk myself out of FJ, because I was convinced that it was a different spiritual leader who kept elevated quarters. But in the end, whatever mysterious prophet I was trying to summon did not appear, so I got it right by default.

This was also my line of thinking, except for the part where Liberia ever occurred to me. And now, the karaoke stylings of Harvey Silikovitz:

I don’t watch any Housewives shows or the Challenge, so about 1/2-3/4 of the contestants are always unknown to me. But they’re still known to each other, either from actual experience or by reputation, so that automatically removes a lot of the gameplay. I like the element of sizing each other up based only on what they see, not because of preconceived ideas. I also think the “celebrity” players (in quotes, because come on) are more concerned with self-image and afraid of offending their cast mates than the average unknown would be, so that can make gameplay a little tame. But apparently Peacock is able to rope in more viewers by casting familiar faces, so if we want true “regular” people we’ll have to watch other countries’ versions. At least Peacock lets us see those, too. This already exists. It’s called The Mole. (Another show that was killed by casting C-list celebs and never really recovered, even after they went back to casting Normals.) Or it was. Is that still on?

For anyone who’s wondered whatever became of our old friend Moss, apparently he moved to CBS and now lives Beyond the Gates.

Somehow, I managed to notch a 2/5 (1*). Who wants some Fibonacci pizza?

Half way through the show, I turned to Mr. Helens and said “I’m so glad regular games are back so we can play again, instead of just sitting here like dummies.” And play we did! I didn’t keep track, but I think one or both of us got at least 80% of the clues right. And we both got FJ! So that was satisfying. I felt bad for Omar digging such a hole for himself, even though I hate when people guess wildly and dig a big hole for themselves. I cheered for him when he went on a semi-tear at the end, and when he made it into the black I shouted “Now be quiet so you can play the final!” He didn’t listen, but at least his next guess was a correct one. Good for Laura for escaping the curse of a long hiatus.

If I ever separate from my husband, or if we have issues to work out, the first thing I will do is sign us up for The Amazing Race. Because when your relationship is under stress, the best thing to do is immerse yourselves in more stress. It’s a proven remedy! I’m very much getting “hump it, Teri” vibes from Jonathan. I also will not be surprised if at some point he starts yelling at an ox. I’m glad the nurses survived. I also liked the sisters and appreciated their willingness to push themselves, but they were obvious sacrificial lambs from the start. I had the same reaction. I think “empower” was an unfortunate choice of word, but I think he was merely saying that he doesn’t expect her to check with him on every decision as many husbands (and wives!) would want their partner to do. It really seemed like he was trying to give her credit for successfully managing a big unruly household, largely on her own. This is a nice thing, so I’m not ready to write him off for one poor word choice. Besides, my biggest takeaway from that interview was, why are all their sons lifting up their shirts in every photo?

I was rooting for Matt to win the tournament, but I was hoping Juveria would win yesterday’s game. At least she made a decent comeback after the previous day’s less than stellar performance. I enjoyed the gameplay between these three and would have liked to spend one more day with them. Did I hear correctly that this was Matt’s first tournament win? That surprised me. You know what didn’t surprise? The fact that I had no idea for FJ. Do we get normal games and normal clues now? Please?

This reunion was waaay too long with no interesting revelations, unless you count Delores’s boobs. (I do not.) I think Andy Cohen has the contractual option to host anything Housewives-adjacent.

With all the messiness in the turret, I thought this was a great season… up until this episode. Glad to see Danielle dumped on her overly dramatic ass, not sad to see Britney follow her because her gameplay was lackluster at best, but the final four kumbaya was pretty anti-climactic. Dylan and Gaby were my first and second choices to win, because they were pretty consistently savvy all season, but couldn’t they have scraped the Ivan and Delores barnacles off their hull first? Neither of them deserve a penny. I was really hoping that those two would keep voting for each other all the way to the end, up to and including jumping into the fire pit together.

This was a rare tournament final where I like all three players and would be happy to see any of them win. That said, yay Matt! I guessed correctly on FJ simply because he’s the only mathematician with an Italian-sounding name that came to mind. The only thing I know about him is he had a Sequence (and maybe some triangles?), but don’t ask me what it is because I have no idea.

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/story/the-traitors-season-3-reunion-first-look Reunion preview. Bob TDQ is delusional.

Lord of the Flies tribe needs to look around for a nearby dead animal. Are we sure Stephanie actually left the island last week? There should be a rule, if you tell someone you have an idol it gets taken from you. If the puzzles are so hard it takes a team to solve them, they need easier puzzles. Or smarter players. They definitely need people who can keep advantages to themselves. On that note, I think I’m rooting for Thomas. Just because.

This is why I like watching the veterans play, even when I get tired of seeing the same veterans. They don’t take things personally, they don’t pout when things don’t go their way, and they are quick to congratulate people who best them because they appreciate good strategy and they understand it’s just a game. I’m rooting for either David or Parvati for just this reason. I have liked Lete, but she’s starting to feel a little morally superior and there’s nothing worse than that. I am tired of hearing Philip whine about how nobody likes him when all he does is push people away. CK is not even devious enough to be interesting.

1/5 Since my lone correct response was due to a fortunate pre-clue guess, how about some lucky shamrock pops?

Like most of you, I assume Brit voted for Danielle or why the cliffhanger. I’m just disappointed that it was an accident. I wanted Britney to twist that knife, so I could have a good laugh at what would certainly be an overly dramatic reaction to being heartlessly backstabbed. Who am I kidding, Danielle will writhe on the floor wailing whether the vote is intentional or not. So laugh I will. But there’s also the chance Danielle is not voted out, but is still outed by the Seer. Either way, I think she’s toast. I’m hoping Bargain Efron wins. I think he’s played the smartest game, and I like him. I’m also ok with a Gabby win. She may dress in dry cleaner bags, but I was impressed by how well she stood up to Danielle at the round table. I used to root for Britney, but she’s not even trying to win.

I didn’t feel the episode made a big deal out of Eva being autistic. It just seemed to be part of her introduction. As to why it was important? There are a number of reasons. One, it forms the backbone of Eva’s alliance with Joe. She chose to share that with him even though she’s not looking for it to be broadcast. But because she decided to trust him, they are bonded. And if we hadn’t seen that share, we would not know why. Two, there’s a very real possibility that Eva may respond to certain people and/or situations differently than some might expect. And now we have the context to understand why. Three, it’s an interesting story. And if you’re trying to get people to watch the season, you don’t hide your more interesting people until episode 3. And I didn’t find it exploitative at all. They didn’t present her as someone to gawk at, or hold her up as the face of Autism. They just introduced a contestant and gave us a little of her story. Besides, Eva was certainly not the only person we got to meet. We learned about Kyle’s deep shame and paranoia over being a lawyer. (Or at least being outed as one.) We saw Sai play too hard and too fast, while hiding from no one the fact that she’s playing too hard and too fast. And we saw Kevin complain about his shoulder like nobody’s ever bumped a knee and had to suck it up before, except Kevin didn’t just bump his shoulder, he actually seriously injured it which we would have known about if that footage had been shown. (See, context is important to understanding!) But the one thing that I can’t believe nobody is talking about is that ridiculous opening montage of people getting the call to come on the show, like they’re finding their goddamn Big Brother house keys stuffed inside a pile of laundry while some random cameraman pops in at that exact moment just to capture their glee? Can we all just agree to hate on that little sequence instead?

Here’s a link to the NYT article: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/business/media/jeopardy-wheel-of-fortune-streaming.html

Good god, that was an annoying game. I turned to my husband after round two and sighed “oh no, there’s still one more?” Pre-game, I only knew Yvette Nicole Brown and have always liked her. But while she was wearing on my nerves a bit, that was nothing compared to the whiny complainer at Podium One. The constant protests when she was ruled wrong, the shouting out at every turn… I just wanted her to shut up, already. I still have fond feelings for Yvette, but I’m glad Guy in the Middle won. He played the least irritating game by far. Oh, and consider me as further proof that you don’t need kids to be aware of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It was an instaget.

Mondrian was my pre-clue SWAG. I have no idea why, since it’s not a name that often (or ever) comes to mind, but yay! That hasn’t happened in a long time. Also yay! for Juveria. I’d have rooted for her even if I had remembered the other two, which I didn’t.