Ilovepie

I finally caught up with these episodes, but my love of this show is just......gone. I just hated the live audience at the auditions. It just seems less organic since they invited all of these people to audition rather than discovering them in a random city. I actually liked the plain stage, no frills audition quality that is missing now. I think I keep watching out of habit, but I really don't remember a single dancer except Eddie (and weirdly to me, he looks like he could be Walker's brother from last season of American Idol). I really hope once the actual "lives" start, my love will return by seeing some amazing routines. I kind of felt the same last year, and then Slavik and Genessy came out and performed Round and Round and all was well in my SYTYCD world. Fingers crossed it will happen again this year!

I totally agree, and you probably just hit on the reason we didn't see Abel Gonzalez, Brett Sims or Ian Dory this year. Good but not great (or maybe a early exit we haven't seen yet), no sob story or tragic illness, no crazy outfit or Ninja name, no schtick - just good to great Ninja competitors that the producers think viewers would find boring........

I absolutely HATE this idea. This is not real life. This is just another step away from what this show started out as. It went from "social experiment" to devolving into trashy reality. I liked when they came home from the honeymoon, discussed a budget and decided WITH THEIR SPOUSE where to live based on where each person lived and what they could afford. This is just to save money on filming and to create drama, neither of which I care about. I guess they had to cut costs somewhere after adding a fourth couple and sending them all to Antigua........

I have zero contempt for Chris - he seems nice enough, but I do take issue with the show calling them a “power couple”. Much like Kacy getting flamed because the show mentioned her 10,000 times even when she was not doing well. It’s the show’s fault. Chris got zero screen time until he hooked up with Jessie, and now the show is calling him 50% of a Ninja power couple? Nope.

You and everyone else on this forum @qtpye! Also, I find it fascinating that of all the things to discuss related to this episode, Amber’s salary has generated the most discussion on this forum this week, so you are definitely not alone in any sense! 😋

I watch Younger too, but I wouldn't qualify Jamie as having BDE. On Younger, Lauren accuses Kelsey of having BDE when she uses her real job title on dating apps and tells her it's too intimidating to potential guys. I think of someone more Alpha like Jon (fiance of Dr. Jess) as having BDE, not someone like Jamie - he's too quiet and unassuming, not to mention snarky and sullen when fighting with E. If there was a term for LDE, I would use Fireman Ryan as the prototype 😜

If you added in the times Iris says it too we would need to go to the hospital for alcohol poisoning.....

Totally, and it was kind of awkward when they broke up. I never could like him after he tried to insert himself in her victory by climbing the tower when she got up the wall. I wonder if James McGrath and Alyssa Beird are still dating? If so, I think they should be called a “ninja power couple” too......

I am bummed so many veterans are getting the WWWA treatment! I can't believe they didn't show Ian Dory! What?!? I keep ignoring the Gbajamia-moments and look at the list of who qualified instead, but I must have missed it. I really wish they would just show the list of qualifiers full screen. I don't need to see the "moments" - I just saw it for pete's sake! Bring back the POM wonderful run instead....... I am sorry, but Chris and Jessie are not a ninja "power couple". I never saw him or heard of him until he started dating her. She is definitely one of the top elite women, but he seems pretty mediocre. The only reason he started getting screen time was because of her. Yay Michele Warnky!!!!!!!! I go back and forth about Island Ninja because he is such an attention hog, but I was happy he stopped messing around and just got through the course. I'm glad he got up the Mega Wall - he needed that to restore his cred....... My husband and I also thought Ethan Swanson's training is dangerous and stupid. One mistake and it's over. Just dumb. Also, the bird flapping makes no sense for a swan - I think of them more gliding in the water than flying. I always think the flapping would work better for Najee the Phoenix.......

I agree with all of this. I think she's just not super comfortable yet, and by her own words she is an introvert, which never comes off great on this show (although extreme extroverts don't work so well either: see AJ or Elizabeth). I love Greg, and I hope she can too because he seems so nice and funny and adorable. I think they are on the same page on what they want, and I do think they communicate well. The show seems to be trying to make things dramatic with all of the ominous music and edits, but every time they show the entire exchange, it's a completely reasonable conversation. She's obviously not a lovey-dovey person, and her sense of humor is pretty dry, but she doesn't read cold to me. I really hope they work out. Amber sounds like a giggly schoolgirl, but when it was time for serious discussion, she seemed her age. I thought they handled the disagreement maturely. Despite that, I don't see these two lasting. I have no idea what to think about Elizabeth and Jamie. They are hot and cold. It is wayyyy too early for "I love you". I think it's more like, "I love your boobs".......He's obviously a boob guy, based on the way he ogled the casino girl, and now his wife. I find him kind of creepy. It's kind of mean, but for me, Jamie is possibly the most unattractive person ever cast on this show, just based off of looks. He looks like Uncle Fester, and has a pasty dad bod worse than AJ did last season. I just don't get it. It doesn't help him standing next to Keith either...... Overall though, I gotta say, this season seems like a bunch of normal, mature adults. Of course, they all have personality quirks, but (so far) there isn't a total psycho/sociopath/criminal/lying famewhore in the bunch. I could be proved completely wrong next week though.......

Ha! Glad it's not just us then that experiences these things! We just got back from Maui with our kids and there's another level of hell. I could have left them at home with their electronics for free.......as their father (my spouse) stated/complained frequently while there.......

Oh no! I always travel with my friends - we call ourselves the ladycationers and all but one of us are married. We just went to London a few months ago. Quite frankly, I have more fun with them than traveling with my husband. Rule of thumb: If someone offers you a free stay in a timeshare, take it!!!! 😛

Yes please! And of course this was the episode my ten yo son decided he wanted to hang out with us as we watched.......😝

I really enjoyed this episode - it’s so nice to see people getting along, with the exception of the stupid argument between E&J. I mean really, was it so hard to just say “I’m going to go rinse off - let’s get lunch afterwards.” Or maybe pick up your cell phone while you’re floundering by yourself FOR TWO HOURS and say “where are you?” Good grief, stupidity at its finest. I think we have definitive proof now why so many awful people are cast and or mismatched- people lie lie lie during the interview process. For shits sake - lying about kids is one of the worst things to lie about on this show! That is a major dealbreaker for a lot of people! It also says a lot about the commitment level of some of these folks. Obviously if you have no intention of staying married to this person for more than 8 weeks it really doesn’t matter if you don’t want kids but they do..... That being said, I kind of like Big Red and Jamie. I’m not sure they can go the distance, but they are entertaining to me for now. I think Iris didn’t answer Keith when he asked about “other things” because she doesn’t want overprotective dad to see that at some point. She seems more comfortable than Deonna as far as touching her husband, so I hope they move past this virgin stuff. Oh who am I kidding- we’re going to be hearing about it for the rest of the season..... I like Deonna and Greg. They seem to be getting along fine despite the show trying to give her a Jasmine vibe. I like her response at the shuffle board when he told her that he told the guys he was concerned she hadn’t dated in ten years......cue ominous music........cut to Deonna.......”That’s fair”.......moving on..... Amber and Matt - I got nothing. I will say that I would never be working out in Antigua. Not in the gym, not on the sand. Vacation to me is taking a break from that normal stuff, but good for them. They had matching Nikes - maybe it’s meant to be???

AJ and Steph seem like they are having a great time together- they are always traveling and sharing fun posts of their adventures. I guess we were being shown AJ at his worst maybe bc they seem pretty happy. I like seeing the successful couples. I follow Anthony and he’s pretty funny. Their baby is gorgeous.

You and me both. Hell, I even follow AJ and Steph on Instagram......and I like them! This stupid show, it's a sickness. As for Elizabeth and Jamie - I don't think you need to worry about them having a channel - I think a nasty crash and burn is in their near future.......

Aw, no, Joe! He's always been my favorite. I was bummed he didn't make it up the wall. I absolutely think it's about bragging rights/ninja cred and not the money that makes almost all the elites attempt it instead of going for fastest time, which Joe or Najee or Chris W. could absolutely have gotten. I think it was too slippery at this location. There's no way Joe or Najee were so off other than that - last year Najee got up it, and Joe got a hand on the top, and this time they were like a foot off, and both seemed like they had the energy to do it. I think I liked it better last year when they had one try at the Mega Wall but could then switch to the regular one. It's kind of disappointing when the most best Ninjas don't finish. Although the show probably needs new breakout stars, I felt this episode had a lot of people I never have heard of, and it was more boring to me because of that. Plus, I just find the Power Tower boring when it's people I've never heard of. Maybe it's just me...... I said when this episode started and I saw Crank it Up that no woman was going to hit a buzzer in Baltimore. No wonder Jessie G. ran in Tacoma. That course was so much easier than this one, and I think they wanted her to finish the course. I hope Alyssa has better luck in the Finals......

Ok. I went to itunes and listened to all of the songs, both the ones that weren't chosen, plus the ones that were. I think across the board, all of them have been over produced. The only one I actually liked was "Be Nice". I also still like "Crowded Places", but it also sounds over produced to me. I think I like most of these songs better when the original song writer sings them in their original form. Does anyone else think that too?

Thank you for the information!

It would "Be Nice" if the show would release a recording of the songwriters singing their own reworked song and make it available for purchase. I think Rynn singing Crowded Places would probably do better than the song the Jonas Brothers picked judging by the comments......

Ok, that’s two examples, but I think there have been plenty of times the men were shown in all their rotten glory, including the all time winning asshole just last season, not to mention AJ as well. I certainly don’t think Sean, Nick, or any of the Ryans have been edited to look good. I actually think the show has had a pretty equal amount of male and female “villains”, so to speak, with the majority being somewhere in the middle depending on each viewers standpoint.

Oh man - I loved that show -maybe my favorite music reality show of all time! I think it's fascinating watching what these people can do in a couple seconds of listening to a song they've never heard before to rework it on the spot. Incredible. I also think some of these songwriters have pretty fantastic voices in their own right. There is so much talent floating around the country - why are there so many garbage people on reality singing competitions?! I was bored and Hulu "suggested" this show to me, so I clicked it - I love it! The BEP episode was the best. I loved that Be Nice song as it was, but it definitely was reworked into something that sounds more like BEP. Still great and a super hook. You knew it was getting chosen the minute it started and all of the pro's faces lit up 😜 I was bummed that Crowded Places didn't get chosen. I thought it was the best song. The one they chose sounds just like every other Jonas Brothers song. Snooze. Maybe Crowded Places was too mature for them/their audience? Thanks to whoever said the runner ups get to release their music. I might go find it.

I hope Amber can be supportive and see his perspective; after all, she had/has a rocky relationship with her own mother by her own admission, wedding involvement notwithstanding. Also, not having a good relationship with your family doesn't mean you are anti-family. Sometimes things happen that are beyond your control.

I completely agree. When things are dysfunctional, sometimes the healthiest thing is to separate. It's why my husband hasn't spoken to his father for 15 years and we only visit his mom every 5 years or so. Too much negative history. It's no reflection on my husband who is a great guy, and even though his own family is kind of a disaster, it doesn't mean family isn't important to him. It's actually a huge disappointment to him honestly, and I kind of see the same thing in Matt.

Let's pray that this doesn't happen to Iris and Keith......