Biggest Loser 5-Goodbye Brown Team

I used to watch The Biggest Loser when Caroline Rhea was the host. Whatever happened to her? Did she get too fat to host and thereby becoming a good candidate for the Biggest Loser herself? She was so funny, she was like family, someone you would want to invite to dinner. Now it is hosted by a slimmer, younger, blonder version of Caroline Rhea, Alison Sweeny. I guess she's alright and does make the appropriate sympathetic faces at the right moment. I missed the premiere last week so I am just familiarizing myself with the contestants. Already I like the Brown Team, Curtis and Mallory.

Right off the bat, Bette Sue of the pink team decided to eat Treadmill and did a face first on the rubber. I thought for sure she's hurt, I mean 200+ pounds taking a header on a piece of gym equipment, tell me whose going to win? But she's a trooper and kept on jogging.

That Hall of Truth showing video's of each contestant's consumption of food in a year, totaling calories, fat, sugar etc etc was like a nightmarish Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory. The totals were astounding, who knew one could consume so much, it was scary!

But back at in the exercise room, there was alot of whining from Neill, crying that he can't do it any more-goodness-he shoulda won the Oscar for Best Whining During an Exercise Session. Scarlett, you will live to see another day. Jillian, the exercise guru is one tough cookie. You go girl, these people need tough love, especially Neill as he definitely has issues with his weight and his ability to move forward or at least to get moving at all.

That giant seesaw challenge looked fun-but a 100 times? I think even for the conditioned person that might be tiring. Good going to the black team for winning and then having to pick three other teams to give the phone cards to. I'm glad they gave it to the ones that have family.

Maggie and Jen were whining that they wanted the phone cards and it wasn't fair that just because the others have family that they should pick them-oh wa, want some cheese with the whine? You wait until you have children and are apart from them for any lenght of time, it rips your heart out. So I did have a momentary minute of weakness when the calls to home were made and the couples got to speak with their kids. I just hate it when adults cry!

The food challenge allowed each contestant to walk through a room of food and whoever ate the most calories would win $5,000. I seriously didn't think anyone would fall for that, but of course the devil on the shoulder of Mallory (she just ate a handful of candies) Mark and Paul fell to temptation. Paul's excuse (I think he called it a plan) was that he was allowed to eat at least 900 calories more for the day, I think that's his excuse everyday, that's why he has a weight problem. I think Mark just wanted to eat and so he did, cake, sweets, rolls....In the end Mark won the money beating out Paul by just a few calories (912 to 931 something like that).

At the weigh-in it was the brown team, my initial favorite team that was in the bottom 2 and I can understand why the other teams eliminated them, because they are a strong united couple and their return home would not signal an end to their commitment to exercise and lose the weight, unlike Paul and Kelly, the divorced couple. Goodbye Mallory and Curtis-they did look good with their progress at home, keep it up! One more thing, do the guys have to remove their shirts during the weigh-in...those man boobs are just wrong!-Single D

This is the first time I have watched Biggest Loser. The whole concept just never appealed to me. A bunch of overweight people trying to lose weight, got it. The first thing I noticed was that they never showed them eating (except for the food challenge) so we have no idea what kind of diet or restrictions have been imposed. All they show is the contestants working out, is that all they do all day? No wonder Neill was complaining, although it was annoying. Come on Neill, like Jillian said, people pay thousands of dollars to come to this place and you are getting it for free!

The see-saw challenge looked like fun! I thought they should have shown the contestants getting on the see-saw, that would have made for good TV! Paul said it was like steel dental floss up your butt. Yeah, those seats did look uncomfortable. Three teams made it to 100 with brothers Jay and Mark winning. I know it was hard for them to pick which other teams would get the calling cards. Of course everyone started crying thinking about calling home. Everyone has someone they miss and it is a good morale booster to get to talk to a loved one. But hey, not everyone could win so suck it up and try harder next time!

That hall of truth thing was an eye opener to some of the teams. That started everyone crying again. I'm sorry, did you think you got that big by eating lettuce and carrot sticks?!

The food challenge was whoever ate the most calories wins $5000. Only three people ate anything and what they ate was JUNK! Hello, did anyone see the meat and baked potatoes?! Those have calories and it's protein without all the sugar. Again, I go back to why they are the way they are. I would have been all over the steak and potatoes!

Biggest Loser is one big cry fest, one lazy guy (Neill) who to everyone's amazement keeps losing weight, and watching these people work out all the time. I'm glad these people are trying to get healthy but it's just not my cup of tea. I do like Bette Sue's facial expressions! Good luck to all! Double D

Dance Wars-Dance Bores-Premiere

Ok, Dance Wars was a little boring and alot more abbreviated than lets say American Idol with their constant air time of no talent losers-funny, awful, but losers no less. Dance Wars was only a three city stop, showcasing undiscovered talent or in some cases the talentless. There were some that could sing but not dance, there were some that could dance but not sing, and then there were those that could do both-why are some graced with talent and talent? Life's just not fair and here I sit in my dark, modest home office, in my flannel robe and tattered slippers typing and wishing I could do either one! Who knew Carrie Ann was so talented, choreographer to the stars, along with Bruno the UK equivalent. The two hour premiere quickly wrapped up the tour in Los Angeles, home of where stars are made or followed (if your Brittney Spears). Drew Lachey, the host, is somewhat lacking in the hosting skills as say Tom Bergeron, maybe he just needs some practice and an arsenal one liners-but he is a fantastic dancer, remember Dancing with The Stars? The final fourteen came out and danced at the end of the premiere and I guess next week they pick teams where they will get picked off one by one until only the final dancer is left standing. I'm a huge fan of "So You Think You Can Dance" with it's quirky crew of judges and immensely talented choreographers. Dance Wars will need to put a new spin on their dancing shoes to win viewers and keep them coming back otherwise, they will just be another high school talent show. And oh, why is it called Dance Wars, when they also have to sing as well, it should be called "The Ultimate Dancing and Singing Contest War Between Bruno and Carrie Ann Formerly Known As the Judges From Dancing With The Stars War"!-Single D

Amazing Race-Taxi your way through Osaka

First of all, let me say that the Planters commercial they showed right before Amazing Race began, had me from the first peanut! After that commercial I was craving nuts! So much so, I scurried to my pantry only to find toffee coated cashews leftover from Christmas which did help to calm my snack attack-thank you very much Planters! Finally an episode where father Ron manages to control his temper and as he said make a journey of change-well, let's see how long that last. It is inspiring to see two teams with older people on it, so there is hope for us Donna! Nick has proved his mettle by carrying Gramps pack-go Nick-you're learning. I just hope Gramps doesn't keel over and have a heart attack-he did look winded in this episode. Good for his age (69) but winded!

I thought for sure TK and Rachel had the better flight since it appeared that it left earlier than the other flight-only did we later learn that it had two stops-father Ron said it best to Christina when she was booking the tickets, it's not if the flight is direct (we know it's going there) but if it's non-stop-ah there's the rub! That proved to be TK and Rachel's undoing. They were completely absent from this episode with changing planes and all. I thought maybe they decided to skip the rest of the trip to braid their hair or tie dye tee shirts.

The taxi challenge was very funny although, I thought it would be challenging because the location was written in Japanese. We do learn that Christina went to some "high faluntin college"(Princeton) and yes Gramps she does speak Japanese, so they are one up on everyone, until we realize that Christina may be highly educated but she doesn't know how to drive! Good Grief!

Jen was only concerned about how she looked in her taxi cap and managed to drive with relatively little hassle, shucks! I had to laugh at Nick's good nature, asking his passengers if they were hot "we gotta keep the customers happy" and his infamous quote "it's easier to land a plane than drive in Osaka", but he did prove to be techno savvy with those mini soccer robots- can those robots clean my toilets?

And what about all those flowers? I think my head would have been swooning trying to sniff out the real flower, like Jen said she was getting lightheaded. In the end, the race was between Jen and Nate and father Ron and Christina. I loved it when Jen accused Nate of pushing her in the cab and the camera did an instant replay-Jen you're loony! Nate should have given you a good swift kick! I so wanted father Ron and Christina to out run Jen and Nate, just so I could hear her scream and cry and blame Nate, but in the end-she conceded like a wet puppy. Thank goodness for TK and Rachel this was a non-elimination round. Four backpacks!-Single D

Osaka, Japan! I just knew Christina would know Japanese! At least father Ron kept his put downs to a minimum this trip. The one time he did start to criticize her, Christina put him in his place fast. Good girl, you're learning. Like Single D said, we will see how long this "change" in father Ron lasts. TK needs to loosen up those dreadlocks, they must be cutting the flow of oxygen to his brain. Don't you know the difference between direct and non-stop?! At least ask how many stops you have to make. I thought sure TK & Rachel were going to get off the plane in New Delhi and stay there thinking it was Osaka. Jen seemed to be in an especially good mood when they left the pit stop (get a little somethin', somethin' last night?!). She was actually being nice to Nate.

As they all made their way through the streets of Osaka via taxi, Christina remarked how she would never drive there. Of course their first challenge was to drive a taxi with a couple going to the post office. Jen made the bright observation that all of the street signs were in Japanese. Jen, I'm sure if they knew you were coming they would have put up English signs just for you babe. After wondering how she looked in the taxi cap and gloves, Jen was pretty good at getting around. Without Nate to yell at, Jen can think! I just knew Nick would get lost after stating that he knew where he came from so that should give him a leg up on everyone, wrong! I agree with Christina, public transit is the way to go in Osaka! There was a tender moment in the station between father Ron and gramps. While they waited for their respective team mates, they shared a snack. Doesn't sound like much, I know, but I thought it was cute and showed very good sportsmanship. After completing the taxi challenge, Jen was telling Nate about it and found out he wasn't really listening and got all disgusted with him. I guess she just isn't happy unless she is fighting about something.

While on the way to the next challenge, father Ron & Christina get a taxi driver who starts some very labored breathing. Father Ron wonders aloud if the driver is going to croak. In the flower sniffing challenge, why did Jen put on her glasses? The rules stated, noses only! Meanwhile at the sense of touch challenge, Nick did OK in the robot soccer (you know those Japanese are better than that, they let them win). While showing gramps how to use the cell phone to manipulate the robots, Nick says "stop!" and gramp's robot promptly falls down. He eventually gets his goal, after the Japanese player has his robot fall down about 20 times. Just when it looked like Nate & Jen would finally come in first, they once again hit a snag. It may be in the editing but, it looked to me like none of the taxi drivers wanted to drive Jen. It must have been all of the screeching about how none of the drivers knows where anything is. Then father Ron & Christina come up and get the first taxi they come to. I was just happy that father Ron & Christina came in first. Jen didn't throw a fit like I thought. Wait until tomorrow when she has had a rest, I'm sure she will come out fighting and yelling at Nate!

Double D

The Celebrity Apprentice-Premiere

After the insipid last season of Donald Trump's Apprentice, I wasn't holding my breath for this season's Celebrity Apprentice with a bunch of semi celebrity D-Listers. Who are these people? Jennie Finch, Tiffany Fallon, Nely Galan? Of course, I did recognize Marilu Henner and my favorite semi movie star Stephen Baldwin now turned reality star. Did I tell you I saw his brother Alec Baldwin and daughter eating lunch at the Topanga Westfield mall? But I decided to watch because the apprentice everyone loves to hate, Omarosa was going to be on the show (psst-I think she's had some plastic enhancements!).

Once again, it's the women against the men-or in this case who has the most celebrity clout. I had to laugh when the men were picking their name, Soprano tough guy Vincent Pastore said, lets call ourselves the "Ba Da Bing, Ba Da Bang Boys" and of course, Omarosa had to take the lead and spotlight and name her sassy self project manager. The first challenge was a simple enough, sell hot dogs from a vendor cart on the streets of NY. I think I distinctly remember Omarosa said not to use their celebrity status to sell the dogs-wrong! Celebrity sells-this is America. The guys on the other hand jumped right in with the celebrity thing as Gene Simmons pulled out his black book of numbers and started dialing for dollars. Towards the end, a frustrated Marilu called her contact who brought in $10 Gs. Who was the still wet behind the ears kid? Cute and he had money!

Back in the boardroom, the guys won, ya think! Gene Simmons contacts came through for him in a big way-something like $64,000 to $17,000, wow. I loved it when Nigel down Omarosa (or as Pastore said Ponderosa) by saying, I know you're famous, I don't for what. In the end, Tiffany could not swim against the sharks, Omarosa and Carol Alt and Tiffany was sent packing.

I think this season will be entertaining to watch because the contestants are more mature, more funnier, definitely more seasoned, have more life experience and are celebrities after all. I'm just wondering if their friends with money list is limitless for the coming challenges and I hope Vincent Pastore stays around for awhile, he's the joker of the bunch and will definitely give us good belly laughs dissing Omarosa. -Single D

Since the last Apprentice was so disappointing, I figured the Celebrity Apprentice had to be 100% better and it was. Most people will watch this just for Omarosa and she did not disappoint. She jumped from the starting gate saying she wanted to "go on record" to be the first project manager. All this before they even split up into their groups. Way to step up Omarosa!

After splitting into their respective groups and deciding who was going to be PM, introductions were made in the boardroom. When asked if she knew Stephen Baldwin, Omarosa said, "yes, unfortunately". What poise, what class!

It is going to be the classic girls against the guys with a very diverse group for both sides. The girls started off with Omarosa being all egotistic and confident and Producer Nely Galan bringing props in the form of hats to which she said would bring them closer as a team. Omarosa, rolling her eyes at the hats, became fast friends with Nely. Omarosa starts out winning friends and influencing her team by saying they won't be using their celebrity to sell hot dogs. When the other's voiced their opinions to the contrary, Omarosa rose to the occasion by saying, "I'm running this" and that they will use solid sales tactics to win. That's right Omarosa, you tell them, you're the boss and you won't take crap from anybody!

Meanwhile, the guys, having picked Stephen Baldwin as their PM, decided to use their celebrity to sell the hot dogs. Lennox Lewis, after saying he wasn't taking pictures with anyone, had his mind changed when Stephen told him he will if someone pays $25 for a hot dog. You go Steve! I laughed so hard when Gene Simmons make a reference to Hydra being the guardian to the gates of hell (it was Cerberus wasn't it?) and Vinnie Pastore said, "no, that was my exwife!". While getting the game plan together, Gene Simmons starts calling his buddies and asking, actually telling them, to come down and buy hot dogs for $5000. That's using your celebrity!

The guys got off to a slow start, Piers didn't help them by turning down sales because he didn't think they were paying enough, but the competition heated up with both teams getting contacts donating large sums of money. After telling her team not to use their celebrity, you would think Omarosa would thank Marilu for using her contacts. But no, she was too busy trying to get Tiffany to go out and flaunt herself to get people to buy hot dogs. Great delegating Omarosa!

The guys pulled it out by making $52,000 compared to the girls $17,000. They donated their winnings, as well as the girls winnings, to the Carol M. Baldwin (Stephen's mother) Breast Cancer Research Fund. They also got to watch the boardroom antics from a "war room" via closed circuit TV.

While watching the boardroom, Gene Simmons calls Omarosa a cockroach "you can't kill a cockroach". They keep trashing her as she tries to defend herself. The Donald rakes her over the coals after asking why she didn't use her team's celebrity like the guys did. She quickly recovers putting the attention on Tiffany who failed to use her one big celebrity contact which could have put them over the top. That's right Omarosa, Tiffany should be flogged for not calling Hef in your hour of need! After all, that really wouldn't count as using your celebrity, would it, that would just be calling a friend. Staying true to her friend, Omarosa praised Nely's work as well as Marilu's.

Tiffany failed to defend herself and came off as being quite naive and inexperienced. She heard the words so many aspiring apprentices before her have heard, "you're fired!" At least Omarosa will be around next week to defend her honor and, hopefully, help her team to victory! Double D

Project Runway-Sweet Design

Anything that has to do with chocolate, sign me up! Finally a challenge with some creativity, candy namely, Hersheys Chocolate! When the designers arrived in Time Square and Tim Gunn announced that their next challenge would be at the Hersheys store-he kept saying Hersheeeys candieees, Hersheeeys Chocolate, Hersheeeys brands, must be the British in him (is he British?).

I had to laugh when Kit picked out the Kit Kat bars and wore a wrapper like a badge. For me 5 minutes to grab all the candy I could-one word-Heaven! I'd probably be sampling along the way, sort of like Lucy in the candy factory.

When they returned to Parsons, I had to cry when Christian (he reminds me of a male Paris Hilton) unwrapped all the peanut butter cups and threw, yes you heard me right, threw OUT the peanut butter cups because he just wanted to use the paper holders they were in. Sweet creation, did you have to throw away the candy? Christian so thought he was going to win this challenge, he kept prancing around like a silky terrier. You don't win when you throw the candy away-Sacrilege!

I think most of the designers lived up to the challenge and really came up with some delicious designs, especially Jillian. I really think she should have won, not only creating a design from the stuff found at the store, but to use actual candy, that twizzler skirt was brilliant-sassy and edible all at once.

Meanwhile, back on planet Earth, Elisa tells the watching public, that she was hit by a car, I think she said it as a pedestrian accident and cracked her head open which left her in a coma. Well, that explains it. Now we know. In the end, Elisa design, that concoction of brown velvet and silver (as Michael Kors said) shower cap sleeves was disastrous. Auf Wiedersehen Elisa-somewhere there's a place for you, just not on Project Runway.

Oh, one more thing, Victorya, stick to designing and let your model doing the runway walking, you made her look like a frozen mannequin with her awkward, stiff walk, I think she knows how to do the cat walk, she is a model after all. -Single D

Hiedi told everyone they would have to be up and ready at 6am the following morning. Ok, so why did Tim have to wake them up? Why the girls were so freaked out over Tim seeing them in their 'jammies is beyond me, doesn't he bat for the other team? Christian's hair looked the same when they left as when he first got up (I know, I have a hair thing!). The biker chick in SweetPea showed up when as they were leaving, she let out a very unlady like belch, nice going!

At the Hershey's store, yummo!, the representative sounded like she was reading from cue cards, very stiff and fake inflection, she probably thought she sounded sincere. I just wonder if she thought they were going to trash the store like they did, clean up isle 3! I was cracking up at Jillian trying to carry all of her goodies and ended up putting her suspenders around a pillow, great thinking under pressure.

Did anyone else see Chris hugging the giant bottle of Hershey's Syrup? Just stick a straw in it Chris!

So now we know why Elisa is the way she is, cracked skull and a coma, no wonder she seems like she's from another planet. She obviously lost a few brain cells from that accident. Glad you recovered from that one and I hope you got a BIG settlement from whoever hit you! I too, was jaw-slacked, wide-eyed and aghast when Christian threw away the Reese's Cups. NNNOOO!!!! I would have dived face first into THAT pile! Where was Chris during this senseless slaughter, I would have thought he, at least, would have saved a few Reese's Cups! Christian was the first one finished with his dress and started offering advise to the others. He may have meant well but would you listen to a competitor? Plus the fact that he has been on the bottom three a couple of times. I love how Kevin said he was going to "off" Christian. I'm sure more than a few people would like to see that, or help.

When Tim comes in and offers his advise, you should really listen! He told Victorya basically to lose the ruffles and did she listen? NO! Where did it get her? The bottom three! Check that ego at the door missy, Tim is there to help! What was up with that model's walk? She would have fit right in with a marching band, knees up and top stiff. And poor Sweet Pea, she had to start over and Tim said her dress looked like a coffee filter or a maxi pad. Which is it Tim, there is a world of difference between those two! I won't ever look at a coffee filter the same.

At least Jillian made her outfit out of actual candy. What an imagination! It was cute (see photo and single D's comments above) and, in my opinion, should have won. And, judging by the look on her face, she thought she should have won also. Ricky's dress looked like a giant Hershey's Kiss and, finally, Chris made an elegant, wearable dress. Too bad, since the judges were actually expecting something from him resembling a parade float!

In the end, it was Rami who won the challenge. His dress was pretty inventive using the wrappers to make a pleated skirt and a fun top. We say goodbye to Elisa, not sorry to see her go myself. I'm giving Christian a thimbles down for throwing away the Reese's Cups but the episode was a fun one so it gets a well deserved thimbles up!

Double D

MTV-Tila Tequlia-The Reunion

I have never seen such a collection of egos and divas in one setting-guys and girls alike. The reunion show had shades of Jerry Springer-bouncers get ready! I think the most annoying thing on that entire show, was not the fighting, not the name calling, not the yelling, but it was Marcus's annoyingly weird laugh, that high pitch squeaking, squealing, axle braking laugh, jutting out his pointy tongue like some devilish imp. Apparently Ashley (the country bumpkin) and Marcus don't see eye to eye and almost ended up taking up all the air time throwing punches-bouncers get ready!

Amanda, one of the final three described everyone as a "po-dunk", what exactly is that? Every guy in that room describe her as the Amazon woman or that she really is a man, or was a man, I must say she did tower over little Tila by 10ft, together they looked like some kind of circus act.

Speaking of girls looking like guys, another girl that had the consensus from the guys that she is a man was Rebecca, although confirmation that she is a girl was confirmed by Steven-during some late night antics in that big red round bed!

Mama's boy Michael brought his mother to the reunion show amid the shouts of that he's gay-

come on Mike come out of the closet-his mother seemed to be enjoying herself and said she really liked the show-go mom! Now if he could only move out of her house!

I think the biggest surprise of the evening was the announcement that our Italian Stallion, Domenico, is getting his own MTV bachelor show titled "That's Amore". He chose right there on the spot, our favorite country bumpkin, Ashley to be the voice of the American male counterpart for his show-when Ashley heard this, he said-huh? How Domenico came to the conclusion that Ashley represents the typical American male is beyond me-but the show promises to be funny and definitely crazy, with more glimpses of Domenico in his Italian color flag thong I'm sure! Girls get in line!

The reunion brought back the lovebirds Tila and Bobby after a 2 month sabbatical. Tila cut her hair and my husband said it best, it looks like a basketball-very round and very orangy! They still look like they're infatuated with each other-time will tell, time will tell.-Single D