Miss Scarlet

Mickey and Pete's win was pretty heavily foreshadowed in the previous few episodes and beginning of the finale. It didn't really surprise me that much.

Oh and about Mickey and Pete pulling their pants off at the finish line? No. Just no.

God, the Hockey Women's makeup is usually so awful. Their makeup was better, but for some reason it looked really bad on everyone else? Everyone looked a million years older. I mentioned this in the episode thread, but Mickey and Pete? Just stop with the "chasing babes" crap. There are ways to be cute and charming for real. Gross. I did lol when they started talking about how affectionate Audrey and Alain were. It was cute, but at some point I was just kind of like...yeah, that's enough. Lol and then right after that question they went to commercial break and when the camera zoomed out you could Alain kissing Audrey's hand. What is Rex's problem with Pierre and Michel? Were Rex/Bob one of the teams that Pierre/Michel tried to point the wrong way at some point? Like on one of the China legs? I usually think of Bob as the better natured one of the two, but he made a comment about Pierre/Michel having no friends among the racers and it seemed harsh. It's a game! Get over it. If you don't get mad when someone takes your pawn in chess then don't get mad when they race. As long as they're not trying to harm anyone or tamper with equipment or something (like the stuntmen from season 14 of the U.S. version). I don't think Pierre and Michel enjoyed being there. I saw one of them checking his watch at one point, probably wondering when it would end and he could leave. It must have been really hard for the average viewer to follow all the stuff they mentioned that was edited out of the show. I read about the extra U-Turn and all that on this board and even I had a hard time following everything. They should have asked them what happened at the Mentos challenge. I'm still wondering if the twin that did it is colourblind.

I feel pretty much the same way. I wasn't rooting for them and think they're inauthentic, but I'm okay with them winning. They need to stop with their act of hitting on every girl/woman they see, referring to them as "babes" and talking about they're going to "chase some babes". I'm sure that they've grown up with everyone telling them this is so "cute" and "charming", but it's not. Jet and Dave were great because that's what a lot of people expected out of them, but they weren't like that at all. Also, Mickey has this habit of smiling no matter what he's saying. Normally I would probably find it endearing, but it reminds me of a really awful girl I was friends with in high school who couldn't regulate her emotions properly and would smile through everything (even when she was sad), but then lash out at you when you were alone with her. *Shudder* I liked what Meaghan and Natalie said about wanting to show girls that you can smart and strong. Again, I think most people would have been like "they're an exception! Most girls aren't like that! They were Olympic champions!", but it's a nice sentiment. I thought Natalie had a good point during the After Show when she talked about how they actually were better at a lot of the mental challenges than the physical ones. Props to Meaghan for doing that rope climbing though. I was cringing when I watched that. I can only imagine how painful it was for her. Kind of disappointing the hockey women couldn't finish off with the win, although that would have been really predictable. It's a weird coincidence that last year's finale was all family teams and this year's was all friend teams and the both teams that won had never won a leg before. I like it when the winners have won at least won leg before. I think the problem with Natalie in the Diefenbunker was she was just rushing too much. If she had been slower and a bit more methodical she would have inspected the room better and maybe she wouldn't have missed the figurines. I totally understand why she would be jittery though and I'm sure Killer Fatigue was setting in. So Ryan wanted to use the prize money to work on his career as a sketch comedian. Um...I know this is an edited show and all, but for a sketch comedian he's really not very funny. I should probably check out his youtube channel before saying that. I thought it was nice how cheerful everyone was on the mat. They all seemed super congratulatory and like there was no bitterness. Unlike some of the U.S. versions.

Oh, I know she definitely does exist, but I think this type of character has been done before. Not only that, but a lot of Cecily's characters are of the same ditzy girl archetype.

So Cecily being replaced as WU anchor means that we'll see the Girl At the Party character back. It wouldn't surprise me if she was a guest on the first episode. I'm not really looking forward to that. I feel like she we saw her more than enough during Cecily's first season and I don't think she's that funny or innovative. She's like every other ditzy character they've ever had on SNL, with more "outrageous" dialogue. I'm not sure why this character is so popular.

I'm not sure about the whole matching clothes thing. I know that on the U.S. version of AR teams tend to have the same bags/jackets, but their clothes are usually different. Also, the U.S. AR rarely has female teams with different hair colours. They'll ask women to dye their hair the same colour before they compete.

It's funny that a lot of people on other sites are reacting to the news about WU by saying how great Cecily was. I feel like there's some revisionist history in terms of their opinions on her. She was better than Colin Jost, but most of last season people just wrote about she was passable or "getting better". That does sound super awkward. ETA: I saw her tweets that were apparently about her break-up with Mike O'Brien. Yikes. I feel like between those and her tweets about "cruel bully dickheads" who asked if she was pregnant (although that was reactive, it was sort of understandable) it's probably for the best that she deleted her twitter. We've all had times where we've been super angry and just wanted to let it all out, but it just seems immature to do it on a public forum like that. Yeeeah, it seems like things will be quite awkward between her and Mike backstage. Unless they've patched things up since then.

Yeah, I don't know what to make of this. I just can't imagine someone asking Lorne to be let out of doing Update. 1) It's such a prestigious position and has only become more so over the last few years since Seth and Jimmy have gone on to Late Night/The Tonight Show and 2) I feel like even if you actually want out of doing Update it would look really bad to ask Lorne for this. It's like admitting that you weren't competent enough at it. I think most cast members would probably be too scared to do that. I've seen on other website that people are saying maybe SNL is doing this to really push Cecily as the star of the show. Again, wasn't this what they were trying to do by having her host Update in the first place? While also having her in a ton of sketches? I feel she couldn't even be in more sketches than she already was last year. I do worry that removing her from Update and having two male co-anchors is a sign that they're returning to the boys club days. I don't think they could, since there is such a strong female cast right now, but that's kind of what it feels like.

I mentioned this in this week's episode thread, but when the most interesting thing they've said is "I love candy!"/"Spooner loves candy!", then they're probably not a very interesting team. It doesn't help that when Meghan does show personality it tends to be a bit abrasive. I think in real life it's probably more just that she's tough and focused, but it comes off more harshly on the show.

I think this is true and I also think they are offended at losing to a team that they feel is "beneath" them. When they were doing the mussels task Meghan said "There is no way I am losing to those guys. That is not happening" or something to that effect. I don't like how Meghan is very self-righteous and makes everything into a case of morality. It's a reality tv competition! I don't think it helps that they're known as "The Golden Meghan and Natalie". That's even what the announcer at the horse racetrack called them. I'm still finding them boring. When the most interesting thing you've said on the show is "I love candy" then you are not that interesting. Exactly!! Sad to see Audrey and Alain go. I loved the "I love you, I hate you" imitation from Alain. I thought that they had the most personality of all the teams left, although sometimes they could veer into annoying. They were very sweet, but they could also veer into too much affection. Ryan and Rob are pleasant, but boring. I still find Mickey and Pete inauthentic. I think they know what to say/do to get people on their side. They think calling every girl they see "cute" or "adorable" or complimenting their sweaters or whatever makes them likable. I find it smarmy. Jinder and Suhki are somewhat annoying, somewhat entertaining. I can't believe they outran Natalie and Meghan. Didn't really care for Jinder's "you're just mad because we beat you". I think he could have pointed out her poor attitude and self-righteousness, but in a better way.

I am very surprised by this and also very confused! I thought Lorne totally favoured Cecily and never imagined that he would replace her. If anything I thought he would replace Colin Jost, even though he's the head writer. I also thought WU was such a coveted job at SNL, even more than doing sketches? The last several Update anchors have been some of the most successful cast members ever. The article did make it sound like this was partly because Cecily asked for this change in order to do more sketches and I wonder if that's really true. She still seemed to be in a ton of sketches last year and was in practically every sketch in some episodes, while also doing Update. I'm also wondering if this is Lorne's way of trying to separate himself even further from the diversity controversy

Mara Justine - I just can't with her. She makes me so uncomfortable that I had to skip most of her performance. I unpaused for like 5 seconds and saw her crying and shot of her mom in the crowd and then fast-forwarded the rest of her. David and Leeman - The trick was good. Usually I find their "banter" too inauthentic and rehearsed, but they were good last night. I especially liked their responses to Nick's questions afterwards. That was funny. Sons of Serendip - I think I'm just bored by all the singers this year. Christian Stoinev - I feel badly that he keeps getting conflicting advice from the judges about what he should. Plus he always looks like he's 2 seconds away from a meltdown. Emil and Dariel - Again, enough with the grandfather stuff! I liked them, but don't think I need to see them again. I did think they thought of a good compromise with adding the choir in at the end. Everyone was crediting Howard with the idea to bring a singer in, but I think it was Howie that originally suggested it. Acro Army - They've been so underrated before the last 2 weeks. Amazing. The camera work was horrible though. Quintavious Johnson - Meh, another singer. His jokes sometimes veer off into bratty too. Also, enough speechifying about God. Blue Journey - I like them, but can see why others might think they're boring. I think they're stuff is usually too mellow and quiet for this type of show. It's like with the singers. People prefer them to rock out. I also think some of the concepts for their dances might be too abstract to appeal to the mainstream audience. Mat Franco - Last night wasn't my favorite performance of his. I kept waiting for something "bigger" to happen. He's still my favorite overall though and I really hope he wins. He deserves it. I don't understand why Emily, Miguel and Quintavious are getting overhyped and comments from the judges like "you can win this whole show!!!", but Mat Franco and Acro Army, while getting praised, are not getting comments like that. Miguel - Um, yeah, so that happened. I agree with Heidi, I couldn't even hear him for most of it and when I could, it was not great. Also not great? His "dance moves". Yikes. I'm sure they appeal to teenage girls though. Lol, wait who was smiling through the whole thing, Miguel or the drummer? Either way, I hate that. It's like when dancers smile through their whole performances that are supposed to be about lost love or abuse or other horrible things. They're fully doing it so that they will look nice in the pictures of the performance.

Lol, this comment is amazing! I think that's some people would argue that's why it's okay for Mel to make these comments - because men do make them about women all the time, so women are just evening the playing field. I think everyone should just stop with these comments and talk about the performances instead. Hahahaha this is an amazing comment too! What I really enjoyed from Howie's comment was that he was basically admitting that Miguel is not a great singer and that his performance wasn't very good, but that it didn't matter because teenage girls would vote for him no matter what and that this is how they were going to make a ton of money off of Miguel. Howie's comments are so awful every show. I'm seriously embarrassed that I used to like him. I cringe at that thought now. I didn't even notice this attempt at re-branding until I read these posts and all you intelligent posters pointed it out. Good god, it was really awful. The sad thing is how many viewers will fall for these cliches and marketing ploys. I feel like that too. I think she's a good singer, but she does bore me and sometimes I like her, but sometimes I feel like there's an arrogant/entitled attitude lurking under there. Like when Howard said a few weeks ago that "she knows she's a star" it was kind of like, yeah, she does and it's sort of off-putting. Yes about the old Hollywood style. What is the big deal? It's not like that's original or unique. I find it weird that they're always talking about her style and how beautiful she is. It's better than when she was on Celebrity Apprentice and Donald Trump was talking about the magazine cover they did with her and how she should have been airbrushed. Of course that was tactless since it was Trump.

Yeah, I was thinking um....maybe it's time for a back-up plan? I get it when people say the most likely way to achieve your goals is to put all your time and energy into them and not have a back-up plan, but there's something called life that gets in the way and I feel like you need to be realistic too. The show thinks she is a huge star already. They filmed her walking around in a cemetery dressed up in that old Hollywood glamour style and used it as a backdrop as she sang. I don't remember them going to that much trouble for any other singer's background during their performance.

When they cut to Smoothini backstage watching Mat's performance he looked angry/like he wanted to kill Mat. I thought it was hilarious when Heidi was backstage patting Scooby and quickly looked a shirtless Christian up and down. Lol and whenever the cameras cut to a shot of Scooby they get a huge close-up of Christian's chest. I thought the Heidi and Mel bit was okay. The Mystic Mel was awkward, but still not as bad as the previous segments with Howie. Christian did look super nervous in the Snapple Save lounge. It must be nice for people who have partners in their acts that they don't have to sit their alone. At least Christian had Scooby. I feel like if he hadn't he might have had a breakdown. Her obsessiveness with fame makes me uncomfortable and yes, I bet she pops up on The Voice at some point. I don't think this is the best season ever either, but next year we'll probably all being saying that the acts are mediocre and that nothing compares to this week's acts. It happens every season.

These were my two favorites this week. Mat Franco FTW. I feel like all the buzz has been about Emily and Miguel and no one's been paying that much attention to him, but he is by far my favorite act this season. Why isn't he considered a front-runner? He's been amazing every time. His tricks are great and it's clear he puts a ton of thought and effort into them. I think he's smart about the tricks he chooses to do and the way he presents them. I like his presentation and don't get bored during it like I do with other magic acts (I'm looking at you, David and Leeman). He's also very believable with his presentation. At first I really thought that he dropped Mel's phone in the cup by accident and that it wasn't part of the act. It would be great to have someone other than a singer win this season and a magic act win for once. I will be sad if he doesn't win. Loved Acro Army. I've been starting to get bored with these types of acts because after a while it all looks the same, but they are amazing. I gasped at some of the moves they were doing. Like Mat Franco I feel they've been underrated in this competition. Okay, what was the point of Scooby II?? Seriously, it just seemed that he ran out of ideas and was like "I'll throw another dog in there and no one will notice". It's hard though because I understand his point that there's only so many skills you can learn in hand balancing and it's hard to bring something new/better every time. Like other posters have pointed out throughout the competition, it's not fair that singers can come out and just sing a different song, but other performers have to craft their own routines every week, including learning new/bigger/better/more dangerous skills. Mel B. and Heidi are always drooling over Christian. Kelli Glover, yuck. I agree that she seems to want fame more than actually being passionate about or enjoying singing. She looked like she wanted to kill Howard after he said pageant or cruise ship. I'm not into Quintavious. He's fine, but maybe I'm just burnt out on singers or on child acts or both. I really liked Blue Journey's performance this week. I thought it was creative. They had a few timing issues, like the animation having the guy jump back into the painting before he had finished walking off-stage. Even though I did like them this week, I'm not that excited about them overall. I think it's because this combination of dance or acrobatics with animated stories is the "it" thing right now. It doesn't feel as interesting to me anymore. When Kenichi did it last year it seemed newer and more innovative. I haven't seen that many seasons of this show though, so maybe there were acts like that before him, as well. I like Emil and Daniel and I like their grandfather, but I've heard enough about him. He taught them, they're doing this for him, etc. I get it. I thought Wendy Liebman was funnier this week than she had been previously. I know I've said this before, but I get abusive vibes from the Baila Conmigo lady. She freaks me out. I got bored of them after the first few times I saw them. They had some new flips in their routine that were kind of cool, but meh overall. I actually used to like Howie/thought he was funny sometimes, but he said nothing useful at all last night. There was no point in having him judging. It was all "America has to vote" and "it will be tough". That's better than him saying stupid and offensive stuff like last week though. Lol at him needing Howard's approval. I noticed again that he seems look over at Howard a lot during the acts to see what Howard thinks. Especially during the comedy acts to see if Howard is laughing.

I feel like Mel B. seems disinterested in the show sometimes. It seems like she's more interested in being on her phone than in judging. I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't come back next season, especially since she's also on the UK X Factor now.

I literally laughed out loud when Suhki and Jinder got caught in their lie. The way Jinder just said "um...." was so hilarious. Mickey and Pete are too bro-y for me. The thing I liked about Jet and Dave is that they were cast to be the "bros", but then weren't. Mickey and Pete actually are. I'm really not a fan of proposals on reality TV. This one wasn't as cringe-worthy as some, but I don't. I'm still not into it. I have to say that Alain and Audrey do seem like a great couple. They're extremely affectionate with each other and usually I'm not into the cutesy couples and all their PDA, but I'm not bothered by it with them. From early on in the season I've thought that they just seem so compatible with each other. It's very sweet. The hockey girls are boring. I don't mean them winning so many legs. I find them boring. I'm sure they have strong personalities in real life, that we see glimpses of sometimes (like Meghan being serious and super tough and Natalie seems very energetic), but to me they're boring on the show. I also agree with the poster from last week that didn't like when Meghan was saying what they Olympic athletes do doesn't come close to what soldiers do because the way she phrased it did seem to indicate that she felt there should be some sort of hero worship for athletes. In terms of whether they're status as athletes gives them an advantage on the race, I think it does. Not even physically necessary, but they're used to competing and dealing with pressure. I think that would help a lot on this show. That's why I've said before that I wish the show would cast a female team that was competent like them, but not Olympic athletes, to show that they can do well too. If the hockey players win there's still going to be a lot of "female teams don't do well on the Amazing Race" and "that one female team only won because they were Olympic athletes". I still don't understand what happened with Pierre (or was it Michel?) and the Mentos?? I'm seriously starting to think he's colourblind. Even if he went Mento by Mento checking that thing over more than once, it still shouldn't have taken 8 hours. When they introduced that challenge I really didn't think it looked that hard, but I guess I was wrong. Hmmm, I wonder if that means I don't like it when teams get all self-righteous about U-turning and talking about how it's not "right" and not part of a "clean race" like the hockey girls did in this episode. To me that's ridiculous. Do you get mad if someone takes your pawn in chess? No.

I know I'm a week late with these comments (I recorded the show and didn't get a chance to watch until last night), but YES to all of this!! This was a TRAIN WRECK. It so horrifying and cringe worthy. I don't know how this act got all the way to the quarterfinals. I was practically watching through my fingers. Especially when he reached over and knocked over the celery after he missed with the card and DEFINITELY when he was throwing cards at Howie/Nick. I was horrified, but also somewhat amused by Nick's response. Yes, I am a horrible person. Yes, I noticed this too. I wasn't paying close enough attention to see if she was actually pretending to cry or the judges just thought she was and called it out, even though she wasn't trying to.

I agree, but I think they decided to do this based on Howie's comments last week where he said they weren't "bad" enough or something like that, which didn't make sense. I think they wanted to show that they listened to his feedback. I loved when Howie is picking a letter and he goes "I'm from Canada" and then picks A. Umm Howie? Doesn't it make more sense to pick C? Why do people think good-looking = charismatic? For me, charisma is way more about personality. So I think that's what he's lacking. I totally agree that everyone is also acting like he has this (or another recording deal) in the bag doesn't help. As for him being cute, I don't know. I didn't see it during his first audition until after everyone else starting saying it and then I was like hmmm, I guess so. Lol the shallow part of my post ends here. Not only does he look like him and do similar types of tricks, but he also talks like him! Maybe I'm misremembering what Collins sounds like, but I think their voices are similar. Freaky!! Maybe Desmond is actually Collins? Also, why are there so many singers on this show? Why do they decide to audition for instead of The Voice or Idol or any other singing competition? A lot of them are too old for Idol I guess, but is the other reason because they think this show is easier for them to win? That they really wouldn't be able to compete with the better singers on these other shows? I feel like most contestants probably wouldn't have that kind of self-awareness to think that other singers are so much better than they are.

I never watched the show when Piers Morgan was on, but from what I've seen of him in other things, his criticisms are usually on-point. I thought it was funny that they had him call in for the question period. I've never liked Heidi's judging on this show, but I do think she's smart. She seems like a good business woman (either that or she has really great agents/advisers) and I'm impressed with how articulate she is given that English isn't her first language. So I don't know why she can't give better critiques. Maybe she is just too afraid to say what she really thinks or there's some producer influence going on that prevents from doing so. I agreed with her last season that Taylor Williams wasn't funny, but her comments to the comedian this week were off-point. His jokes were lame and not funny, but I don't think they were offensive. Sometimes I do wonder if her, Howie or Mel B. belong on the panel. Are any of them really qualified to judge talent? Has Mel B. done anything besides the Spice Girls? Is she considered a good singer/dancer? Although Howard's expertise in radio doesn't really help him in judging the acts (except for generally knowing what people will find entertaining) at least he gives good feedback and I think he's on-point most of the time.

Yes, I've noticed that about Mel B too! There was this shot of her during his performance, right after he took his hat off, biting her nails and looking like she was about to get on stage and jump him. It was...uncomfortable. It's disappointing how much easier it is for Miguel to go through than other, more talented contestants just because of the crazy fan girls. I find the behind the scenes parts with the judges really interesting and it seems like we're getting less of that this year than in other years. Did anyone else notice the clip of Heidi and Howard after he criticized the Bad Boys of Ballet performance? She said "you're just jealous because they're hot guys with their shirts off!". Ouch. There might be some truth to that, but I still thought he was correct in his assessment of them. I wonder if she'll say that to him if he gives Miguel negative feedback again. ITA with everyone hating Howie's usher stunt! Did they not learn never to let Howie do stuff like this after his last segment like this? Or do enough people on twitter actually tell them they like these "jokes" and they think it's a popular part of the show? It is awful. Just rude and uncomfortable. I get concerned that some of these people act like they're being executed when things don't go well on this. I know it's a big opportunity for them and a lot of pressure, but it's not life and death! Kelli Glover was like that a few weeks ago and I was so glad when Howard told her to relax. Paul Ieti was like this too and it was hard to watch. Nick seems totally over this season. He's still a good host, but doesn't seem engaged and his smiles after he reads from the teleprompter/before and after the comemrcial breaks are so awkward. I don't remember them being so forced. Given his marriages troubles with Mariah I'm not surprised that he would be distracted. Dan Nauterman seemed a bit bitter backstage when Mel B passed by him and said "you were funny tonight" and he said "well, your friend didn't think so". I thought Heidi was being ridiculous too, but still. Just thank Mel B and move on.

Howie was a jerk last night. Not only did not need to say that Mara Justine (who he did keep calling Kara) was better than Paul, he was also pretty rude in his feedback to the jump rope crew. Giving them criticism is fine, but he pointed to one of the performance and said "you, young lady, fell". That was so tactless. Just say there were a few mistakes and leave it at that. No need for this kind of finger pointing. I'm sure she felt bad enough already. Totally agree about the magicians. I found them boring. Liked Emily, but would like someone other than a singer to win. I agreed with Howard when he said she knows she's a star and there's a vibe about that that I don't like. I think it's either Miguel's or Emily's to win. Maybe he does just expect to go up there and no matter what he does, have people have him recording contracts and money. I think he's also being propped up because apparently after his audition Simon Cowell said that he was going to be a big star. I'm sure Simon thinks he can make a lot of money off of Miguel. I didn't get Heidi's offense at the comedian either. I'm very sensitive to sexist/racist/prejudicial humour and that...wasn't it. It's interesting how other posters have pointed out that she backed down from it being "offensive" and instead said it just wasn't funny when the other judges criticized her. Anyway, I didn't find Dan Nauterman that funny. His jokes are very obvious and pedestrian. He wasn't horrible, but not really great either. I agree with feeling meh about the season. I'm just not that into it. Nothing has really captivated me yet.

I found it interesting that they criticized Paul's lower register, but didn't say anything about Mara Justine's lower register. I thought her lower notes sounded horrible and that song was a poor choice for her because they were so many low notes in it. I'm in the demographic that's supposed to find Miguel appealing, but...I just don't. I think he's good enough, but not great. I agree with Howard that there was something missing from his performance. The judges kept saying that he's charismatic, but I think to them being charismatic is just being good-looking. They talk as though the two are the same thing. I don't find him especially charismatic and when I think about it, I think that's what's missing from his performance/why his performances are boring. Also, the boy-band dance moves and "dramatic" hat throwing are too affected and lame. I do think he is a genuinely nice guy, but also wonder how much of it is exaggerated to pander to the audience. It was sweet when he wished his grandparents a happy anniversary, but I'm sure he also knew that all the fan girls would go nuts over him doing something sweet like that. It's kind of sad when contestants are so heavily propped up/almost win because of these fan girls who vote like crazy. Mike Super is the older version of Collins Key in both tricks and also kind of looks like him. I liked the ariel animation act the first two times we saw it, but this one was boring and definitely relied more on the backdrop than on the aerial part. I feel like some of these acts or dance/animation acts, like Blue Journey, are too similar to Kenichi. Lol about the dancer who told off Howard. I agreed with his comments, but it was funny that someone spoke back to him for once.