Like so many of my favorite songs, this one was also part of Melodifestivalen this past year. It didn't make it to the final round, but it's a great upbeat song that I hit replay on over and over.
Standing Where You Left Me - Erik Hassle
His record company was pushing his song Hurtful (a Swedish hit from 2008) here in the US this past year. It didn't catch on. I'm not a fan of that one. They should have tried this song instead, which was a hit in Sweden (imagine that) earlier this year.
Saturday - Basshunter
Very upbeat Eurodance is what Basshunter (Jonas Erik Altberg) is all about. This was his lone UK hit this past year.
Kick Ass (We Are Young) - Mika
Mika does phenomenal around the world, but can't seem to do anything on the North American charts. But it's not a surprise why this song didn't do well here. The title alone would scare most radio stations away thanks to everything being toned down to the extreme for fear of FCC retribution. The song was featured in the movie Kick Ass, thus the name. But that's never uttered in the song. The song's subtitle is the main chorus.
Good Times - Roll Deep
They're a London based group with ever changing group members. I never heard of them until this, which was a giant UK hit this past spring and is my favorite song from 2010.
Serhat Beduk is a Turkish musician who specializes in electro pop. The song is awesome and the video is very cool too.
Break Of Dawn - Eric Saade
He's kind of like a Swedish Disney star, who also found fame thanks to a Swedish reality show. While this isn't even close to being his biggest hit, it's the one I like most.
Lovekiller - Darin
He really is all over the charts in Sweden and should be popular throughout the rest of the world. His record company needs to start releasing his songs throughout the world. This is another favorite from him from this past year. It's kind of got some strange lyrics, but the song is phenomenal.
He had such a huge fan base during his stay on American Idol in 2008, but only managed to make it to runner-up that season (being beaten by David Cook). This song is another one that should have been a massive hit in North America, but didn't even make it to the top 40.
Unstoppable (The Return Of Natalie) - Ola
Here's another song from Sweden's Melodifestivalen. Ola Svensson is a Swedish pop star who also came from Idol but only managed 8th place in 2005. Despite such a low finish, he's had a bunch of top 10 hits (and many #1's) in Sweden since. This is a sequel to his 2007 hit Natalie. The song came in 7th place at this year's Melodifestivalen.
Got You Screaming - Basic Element
They're a Swedish Eurodance 90's group that regrouped in 2005 after a 6-year break. This is about as perfect of a dance song as you can get.
The song is awesome and the video has aliens and a fun theme - it's a perfect combination. It was a giant club hit this past year, but it was the video that caught my attention. Hannah's from Estonia and proves with this song that she's a master of pop music.
Miracle - Linda Pritchard
There's an Ace Of Base connection here - she's choreographed one of their videos. And she's an amazing singer, this being my favorite from her so far.
You're Out Of My Life - Darin
This is the first of many Melodifestivalen favorites. What's that? It's a song contest held in Sweden every year to determine the song Sweden will enter in the Eurovision Song Contest. Kind of like an American Idol for songs & usually popular artists. This song made it to 4th place this year. Darin Zanyar is one of Sweden's top-selling artists and started out on Idol (in Sweden) where he was the runner-up.
Written In The Stars - Tinie Tempah with Eric Turner
Record companies confuse me. This song has been #1 all over the world this year, but it won't officially be released in North America until January 2011. Why they don't just release things worldwide when it's so hot online is a mystery to me. Hopefully, it'll be a US & Canadian favorite here in 2011. I know Shannon Steele at Kiss absolutely loved it when she heard it, but she's forced to wait to play it until next month. I can not get this song out of my head.
Skin & Bones - Romance On A Rocketship
This is kind of a Five For Fighting situation here where the group is really only one person - Kasey Smith from Missouri. The song didn't do much on the charts, but I love it anyways.
Crying In The Rain - Nordic Stars
Despite the title, it's a fun feel-good song. Nothing more to say on this, it's just a great song.
To end the year, I thought I'd put together a list of my favorite songs from 2010.
While I love all the new music that Star 102.5 plays, my true obsession is Europop (specifically music that's huge in Sweden and Norway). Three of my grandparents were / are mostly Italian, but my Grandma Vallone always told me I'm a little bit everything else thanks to her. There's got to be some Swedish in there - that would explain things.
So over the course of the next six days, I'll list my favorites from 2010.
Magic - Stimulator
The song is actually from 2003. And the original by Olivia Newton-John is from 1980. But thanks to Macy's using it in their commercials, this has become one of my favorites in 2010. And people are going crazy searching for who does this remake online.
Wonderful Life - Hurts
This has such an 80's feel to it, I can't help but love it. The group is from Manchester, England and just released their first CD a few months ago.
Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah) - a-ha
I've been a fan of a-ha since the first time I heard Take On Me in 1985. This year marks the end of a-ha. I finally got the chance to see them live in Toronto in May - that was without a doubt the best concert I've ever seen. It'll be tough to top seeing my favorite group live after all those years. This is their final single. Here's the official music video which I can't embed. Below is the song only...
Actually, 2 years and 12 hours from the time of this post. Apparently, 11:11pm Universal time is when the excitement will begin that day. For those in the Eastern time zone, that means 6:11pm (right around supper time).
But according to a recent article at LiveScience.com, the end now might not happen that day. Apparently, the conversion of the Mayan calender to our current calendar might have been wrong.
So what's the new date? Well that's a question left unanswered in that article.
And keep in mind, this only means "The End". Not the end of the world. It could mean the end of an epoch (we've been in the geological Holocene epoch for about 12,000 years or so now). Or maybe it means the end of a period of a time (we've been in the Quaternary period for about 2.6 million years).
Maybe we'll finally move into a new time where computers will completely take over the world (12-21-12 being around the start of that). Or maybe an alien encounter will happen then, changing everything we know. Or maybe something in our unused DNA (about 97% or so) will suddenly trigger that day and we'll all become psychic.
Lots of maybes there. Maybe it'll just be a day where everyone calls off from work and has giant parties to celebrate yet another end of the world prophecy that fails to happen. Or maybe there will be incredible end of the world sales at all retail stores and everyone will be out shopping for Christmas.
Saint Malachy was a Roman Archbishop in the 1100's who apparently performed a bunch of miracles and in the year 1139 prophesied on the final 112 Popes (starting with Pope #167 in 1143). The prophecies were first published in late 1500's when the original manuscript was found.
So far, his descriptions on each of the Popes have been pretty accurate (it's a stretch for some though).
The 112'th Pope in the prophecy is Peter The Roman. In the description for him, it pretty much describes "The End", even including those words.
Here's where things really get interesting. Our current Pope is #111 on the list and the description does match. So the next Pope (this Peter The Roman guy) is the last one on the list and the one with the description that sounds like the end of the world or something disastrous happens.
So if we get a new Pope before 12-21-12 and his name is Peter and he's from Rome, that could be bad. Or maybe it'll just be a really, really big coincidence.
I originally read about this in a fiction novel called The Doomsday Key by James Rollins. I highly recommend anything by him. He's an awesome author who tries to base many of his suspense novels on actual historical events (like this prophecy).
Just make sure you give yourself enough time to read it before 12-21-12 arrives. :)
It was a season that could have been great, but wasn't.
There was such potential for the final episodes with Brenda's conniving, NaOnka's crazy playing, Jane (all that needs to be said there), and Jud / Fabio's insane moments.
But Brenda was booted too soon, NaOnka kind of gave up (even before she quit), Jane was voted off and didn't go completely berserk, and Fabio became normal (and no longer had the love / hate relationship with NaOnka). Add to that the fact that the only big twist (young vs. old) was done away with too soon (and was boring anyways), and this definitely wasn't even close to being one of the best Survivor seasons.
I was very happy with how it ended though. Fabio deserved the win as it seems he was playing throughout the entire game by taking a backseat and making sure he wasn't the one getting voted off. The three consecutive final immunity wins just backed up that he knew what he was doing all along.
I was sad that I took this week off from the station, because I would have loved to interview the winner. But after seeing Fabio talk during the reunion show, maybe it all worked out for the best.
It was nice to see the right person win though! Chase was just too confused and seemed to bumble his way to the end by chance and Sash was too annoying to win. I didn't want Holly to win either had she gone beyond the final four because of how close she came to quitting the game early in the season.
For future seasons, I hope the producers screen the contestants better so they don't get so many people quitting the game. And it would be nice to see less of the usual type of contestants and more characters. The contestants in the early seasons were a lot more memorable. And no more celebrities! Maybe football fans loved seeing Jimmy Johnson on Survivor, but he was an unbelievably boring contestant.
It's rumored that two past Survivor contestants might return for Survivor: Redemption Island. That sounds fun, as long as it's not an entire cast of returning players.
We'll find out soon. For now, a break from reality TV for me until Survivor, Amazing Race, and The Apprentice returns. In the meantime, enjoy the holidays! Instead of reality show posts, I guess it'll be more about music and other random (and probably weird) things the next few weeks.
You've seen the commercials. A girl singing holiday songs with a seemingly uncaring attitude while a guy runs around the car playing instruments.
The group is Pomplamoose and they're specialty seems to be commercial music. They've also been posting quite a few songs to their YouTube Channel in the form of VideoSongs (which contain no lip-syncing for instruments or voice according to their description).
The thing that originally caught my attention is the kind of unfeeling air of Nataly Dawn, the singer (and you can hear it in her voice). I'm sure that's not really the case though - it's just a very different style and it works so well with the music. It makes the songs distinctive and catchy.
And it makes me watch the full 30-second Hyundai commercial every single time one of them is on. I'll even stop to watch if I'm scanning through the channels and run across them.
Here's Pomplamoose with their full length version of Deck The Halls...
You can get Pomplamoose's new Christmas album for free if you donate a book through amazon.com to the Richmond (California) Book Drive. Visit the Richland Book Drive website for all the details.
That was one of the most insane tribal councils - mainly because of the ridiculous votes.
Jeff Probst pretty much told Jane, Fabio, and Dan what to do. Had each of them voted for Holly, she probably would have gone (or it would have resulted in a tie). The only concern would have been Sash or Chase giving her their immunity idol. But I kind of figured neither one of them would do that. They're not as strategic of players as Russell was when he did that in a previous season.
But then at the very end of the show, it was revealed that everybody (even Dan and Fabio) voted for Jane to leave. And Jane voted for Sash (even while knowing he had an idol that had to be used or it would just be wasted). That leads me to believe something else happened at tribal council that wasn't shown. Otherwise, Dan and Fabio absolutely would have voted for Holly - unless they're two of the worst Survivor players ever.
For Dan, that might be the case. For Fabio, I don't think so. Something was up. Maybe we'll find out what happened at the start of the next episode. And that next episode will be the finale Sunday night at 8pm.
It's like people completely forgot how to drive in snow from last week to this week!
I was on Union Road this morning and then the 90 this afternoon and saw quite a few people who really just need their license taken away.
And it's not just the people who are going too fast (which there's plenty of those today). There's also the people going way too slow causing trouble. If you're so scared to drive in this, don't get on the expressways! There's also the stupid people like the person I saw on Union near the 400 today who was actually reading a book while driving in the stop and go traffic.
Now it's time to get revenge on those people!
I've mentioned before, but it definitely deserves mentioning again today. It's PlateWire.com, a website that allows you to vent your anger and give the terrible drivers the public shaming they deserve. You can post their license plate number and explain why they're such a rotten driver and / or human being.
And get this, the latest entry on the website is from North Tonawanda! Let's call out some of the other crazies out there. But please wait until you get home to do it - don't even attempt it while driving.
First, The Apprentice. The final episode just felt like another regular episode of the show. And with all the focus on Clint throughout it, I thought he'd win for sure. The producers got me.
Since the very beginning of the season, I was not a fan of Clint. But after talking with Mahsa last week, I was having second thoughts about wanting Brandy to win.
Clint did do an incredible job on the final task and if winning was based only on that task, he should have won. But now that a few days have passed since the finale, I think the right person became The Apprentice winner.
If I had to pick between all the contestants from this season to win, neither one of them would be my pick. But between these two, that's who I would have chosen too.
The ending was almost an afterthought tacked on at the last second. It just wasn't special at all. Especially after learning that two endings were filmed so none of the contestants knew who won either until the show aired.
The Amazing Race finale also wasn't one of the better episodes of the season either. But because it's Amazing Race, it was still a great hour of TV regardless.
The final leg should have contained a lot more challenging things. The only stuff that seemed to matter were figuring out the clue to the TV studio and figuring out the puzzle at the studio (which it looked like the two female teams had no trouble with). I'm wondering if the producers just called the camera and sound people with Jill and Thomas and told them to come right to the finish line after the other two teams checked in (we never saw them arriving at the studio or doing the puzzle).
I wasn't surprised that Nat and Kat won. Based on how they raced from start to finish, I think they deserved it. For Jill and Thomas, it was just horrible luck with a taxi. Maybe they should have done what Nat and Kat did and make sure they had a good driver first. But maybe they tried and we just didn't see that. Either way, I don't think they would have beat Nat and Kat at the puzzle anyways, so it was kind of obvious who was going to win.
So the next season of The Amazing Race is another "favorites" edition with past teams returning. And the next season of The Apprentice will be a celebrity edition. And for the triple whammy here, I'm pretty sure the internet rumors are true and the next season of Survivor will also feature past contestants (we'll know for sure next Sunday during the Survivor finale).
I can't say I'm too excited about any of that, but I'm pretty sure Amazing Race will end up being a good season anyways (the only season I didn't like so far was the "family" team season). As for the other shows, we'll just have to see...
Tonight at 10pm is the season finale of The Apprentice on NBC.
It's been a crazy season with strange firings, lying accusations, and even cheating.
Along with Joe from our Promotions Department (another Apprentice fan), I talked with Mahsa about all this tonight on Star 102.5.
She talks about the final task she helped Clint with and the Apprentice cast party. We also revisit the Clint / Mahsa scandal that resulted in her firing, what her future plans are, and there's even a shout-out to her many Facebook fans.
She's a Niagara Falls native that graduated from the Eastman School Of Music in Rochester. Anyone who graduates from that school is super talented and Christina is definitely no exception.
You might have seen her perform around the area as the lead singer of Rerun. Visit Rerun's MySpace page for a listing of upcoming performances.
Christina's first release is a Christmas song called The Mistletoe Song, which was recorded right here in Buffalo and can be heard on Star 102.5.
I talked to Christina tonight (and of course played The Mistletoe Song). Here's the full 9-minute interview (portions aired on Star 102.5).
Buy The Mistletoe Song on iTunes, CDBaby, Rhapsody, amazon.com, or Digstation.
Nelly returned to the US top 40 charts in a big way after a five year disappearance with Just A Dream.
Kylie Minogue released Aphrodite, which features three singles so far (the latest being Better Than Today). None of her recent songs have been a hit in the US so far though, which is so wrong.
I'm sure there's more, but those are the highlights to me. Well now three more retro artists appear as the year is about to end...
Alphaville is still around and that's a giant surprise to me. I loved their 80's hit Forever Young, so I was psyched to hear what they sound like now. And they still sound great. Their latest album Catching Rays On Giant was just released and features the single I Die For You Today...
Pet Shop Boys are back. Actually, they never really went anywhere as they've been releasing singles and albums consistently since the 80's. Their greatest hits album Ultimate was just released and includes the new song Together...
Take That released The Flood off their upcoming album Progress. This is the first album since the mid 90's to feature all five original members of Take That...
And there's still a few weeks left in 2010. Maybe another retro artist will surprise us and release something soon...
Tons of sitcom, music, and entertainment celebrities got together for a promo for a Norwegian TV show called Gylne Tider (Golden Times).
And it's a pretty random collection of celebrities. There's Huey Lewis, Ricki Lake, Peter Falk, Tonya Harding, Right Said Fred, David Faustino, Malcolm Jamal Warner, Sherilyn Fenn, Robert Englund, and many, many others. I won't name them all because it's fun to watch and see who's going to pop up next.
The show itself follows the host, cameraman, and sound guy as they travel around to meet some of their favorite celebrities. Sounds fun.
Season 4 debuted in late October in Norway. Here's the promo (which also features the late and great Leslie Nielsen in what might be his final on screen entertainment appearance)...
It was tough to tell by the way the show was edited, but it appears that Nick & Vicki missed the flight to South Korea that all the other teams were on by just a few minutes. If that's correct, then they could have easily caught up with the others there if they had finished the Detour task in the previous episode instead of taking the 6-hour penalty.
Only a massive mistake from one of the other teams was going to save them. I was sure there was no hope for them at all. And then Brook and Claire took a taxi to the Detour task when the clue specifically said walk or take a subway only. Why do so many teams make this same mistake? It's got to be clear on the clues! Are they just reading them too quick and not paying attention?
I'm sure they're wiped out by this point, so maybe that's it. Concentrating on even simple things can be tough when super tired. I know that well as I was completely exhausted at work earlier today. The two days of moving snow along with very little sleep took it's toll and made my Sunday a giant blur. I messed up just about everything I did today - it was a complete disaster and I'm sure some of the stuff I worked on has to be totally redone. Ugh. I wish I could take a do-over on the day itself.
Anyways, luckily for Brook and Claire, the penalty for their mistake was only 30 minutes. That almost made taking a taxi worth it. When I heard how little of a penalty there was, I knew that was the end for Nick & Vicki. I'm sad to see them go - they were a good team, and the one I kind of thought would be reflective of how I would do on the race. If I was on the race, I know horrible mistakes would happen, moodiness would set in at times, and mass confusion would be life every day.
So it's the season finale next Sunday! They're really hyping up the chance of an all female team winning the race for the first time ever. With all that hype, I'm thinking it's probably going to happen.
Regardless of what happens, I'm going to be happy with whoever ends up winning. Claire has pushed herself 100% throughout the race and never gave up and Brook was a good racer, so they deserve the win. Nat & Kat were just about the perfect team, rarely making mistakes or getting flustered. That deserves the win. And then there's Jill & Thomas, who could probably use the money a little more than the other teams. And they did race well, despite occasional fighting.
Based on how things have gone this season, I think it's going to be Nat & Kat in first, followed by Jill & Thomas, then Brook & Claire. But it's so close now, just one tiny mistake will throw a team off. We'll see what happens next weekend...
While I expected Clint and Brandy to be the final two this past week, I was very sad to see how Liza left.
Instead of being eliminated in a task, she was eliminated based on previous boardroom experiences. Despite the fact that she was the project leader in the previous task and won it.
Luckily, she had the chance to redeem herself by being the golf expert in the final task and then getting to golf with Donald Trump on top of it. Lots of important business decisions are supposedly made on golf courses, so good for Liza.
I love how Clint and Brandy joked about Mahsa potentially being one of their helpers in that final task and then Mahsa of course showed up to help. And she ended up on Clint's team - even better!
Mahsa said in a separate confessional that even though she previously had disagreements with Clint, she put that all behind her for this task. Clint obviously didn't though as it seemed he assigned Mahsa next to nothing. That might end up being a giant mistake on his part. Mahsa probably could have handled Liza Minnelli better than any of them and I'm sure she wouldn't have spelled her name wrong. Clint didn't delegate enough and tried to do too much on his own.
One thing I love about The Apprentice finales is something always goes horribly wrong in each task. I don't know if the producers make sure that happens or not, but it always makes for an incredible way to end the season. The catering thing with Clint almost seemed like a set-up on the part of the producers. And Donald Trump wanting Liza on his team definitely was. But there was more.
Liza Minnelli's name is spelled wrong on all of Clint's printed materials and the prizes Brandy's team will be giving away are kind of cheap considering how rich many of those players will be. And more troubles are on the way. I'm sure Kathy Griffin will say something inappropriate and Liza Minnelli will probably cause a fuss over something crazy. The promo also showed Donald Trump being unhappy with one of his golf players not being there and long lines at Clint's buffet.
We'll see how it all turns out and who ends up being this season's Apprentice next Thursday (December 9th).
Thanksgiving night, Donald Trump fired Steuart from The Apprentice.
"We had no choice" wasn't uttered. In fact, there really wasn't a reason given. He just suddenly turned to Steuart and said "you're fired".
Does Steuart even know the reason he was fired? I talked to him earlier - hear his answer to that along with his thoughts on Clint after that last boardroom, who he thinks should win the game, who's firing he was surprised by, the Anand cheating scandal, and a few more details on the Clint / Mahsa incident that was brought up in the boardroom a few weeks back.
Here's the full 8-1/2 minute interview (thanks to some radio magic, portions aired tonight on Star 102.5).
Tonight we'll find out who the final two will be. I'll be completely shocked if it's not Clint and Brandy.
So I guess I'll be rooting for Brandy. But that might not be a good sign for Brandy, as every person I've wanted to win keeps getting fired (Steuart being the latest).
The only good thing about my favorites getting fired is then I get the chance to talk with them on-air. That's usually not the case with the winners - they don't get as much media attention because the show's season has ended and there's nothing left to promote.
But speaking of my favorites, Mahsa returns to The Apprentice tonight! I just hope the heavy snow doesn't knock out the power here before then.
The Apprentice season finale is coming up next Thursday (December 9th) and it won't be a live finale. Find out more about this in Tyana's RealiTyana Talk podcast #8. She reveals the strange details on the way they had to do the final episode.
I'm not complaining - it's nice to have a snow day. And we live in Buffalo, so we should all expect this every now and then.
My car is completely blocked in by other cars that are trapped in the snow. Unfortunately, the plows can't do anything until these cars are removed. This could be awhile. That's my car in the picture. Even after the plows get through, it's going to a lot of digging to escape. :)
I was supposed to air an interview with Steuart who was fired from The Apprentice last week. I won't be in to do that before the next episode airs tonight though. So I'll be posting the full interview here shortly.
Episode 11 was just a recap last week, so here we are at episode 12. It's 3/4 of the way through the game and not just one, but two people want to quit. How stupid is that?
They've made it a month - now with just one week away from the end, quitting is insane. Why even bother going on the show if you're going to give it all up - not to mention giving up with the end so close. It's not like they'll be going home - they'll just be going to Ponderosa to wait out the rest of the game with the others that have already been voted out.
I assumed they'd also be giving up their right to be on the jury - sadly, that's not the case. That's just not right that they'll both be allowed to decide the fate of the winner when they couldn't even last through the game.
The only thing more annoying than two players wanting to quit so close to the end is Jeff Probst giving them a chance to think about their moronic move. No, if they're going to quit, let them go - they don't deserve to be there. The only bright spot in all this is there was no way either one of them would win the million after that. I would hope that no one would vote for those two to win after that. Not that it matters though, as they're both out now.
It's too bad in a way because I thought NaOnka was playing a great game. And she was 100% convinced she could win the game. I kind of doubt she would have, but now she'll never know (and neither will we).
I always have the opportunity to interview the players after they've left the game. But I won't be interviewing either of these two. It's not worth it. The only question I could even think of asking would be if they regret quitting the game now. That's it. It would be a pretty boring interview, so why bother?
I can't possibly understand how hard it is to be out there, but I do understand that they've lasted 28 days and are only 11 days from the end. Giving up at this late stage is not something that makes sense to me.
I'm still sad that I Survived A Japanese Game Show didn't survive to a third season. But the plastic food task this episode was a little reminiscent of a Japanese game show (even though this was actually in China). The task itself wasn't something that would have been done on that show, but the feel of it certainly was.
My one main thought during this task - was the cameraperson a female since they followed Claire right into the women's restroom?
My other thought during this episode - when you have an option, never look for random signs along a street! Jill & Thomas went for one of the hardest things to ever do on the race.
Seeing as how this is a holiday weekend and a lot of people might have missed this episode, I'm not going to reveal anything else that happened. Visit the CBS website to watch it - this was a good one you don't want to miss!
An all new episode of The Apprentice on Thanksgiving night? What?!
And to make matters worse, this was a super important episode with a cliffhanger ending. Why throw this away on a holiday?
The task was selling an item live on QVC. They've done this before on The Apprentice and I always love this task - the live nature, the view from the control room, and the QVC hosts dealing with the Apprentice contestants always make this a fun one.
If you missed the episode Thanksgiving night (which I sure did), you can see it on the NBC website (for some strange reason, it's still not available to watch on Primetime On Demand on Time Warner as of tonight).
UPDATE 11-29: I'll be talking with Steuart later this week on Star 102.5 about his Apprentice experience. If you have any questions for him, e-mail me and let me know.
It happens frequently on Amazing Race, but last night proved it in a very big way. When you stop and relax in the midst of an Amazing Race leg, you're probably going to regret it.
Chad and Stephanie took the travel agent's word that their flight was the earliest and went for a nice lunch. Jill and Thomas kept pushing for a better flight and ended up with a seven-hour lead. Nick and Vicki did the same thing and ended up with a giant lead too. Smart move with a double U-turn still to come!
Good thing for that airport excitement and the double U-turn, because there sure wasn't much else during that leg. That looked like a super easy leg of the race that went by very quickly.
More than one team mentioned it and I could practically smell that city of Dhaka through the TV. There's a place I would never want to visit and I feel bad for all those people that live there.
Jill and Thomas played the game and used the double U-turn in a very smart way trying to eliminate a strong team. Nick wanted to use it on Chad and Stephanie, but Vicki convinced him there wasn't a point since they were so far ahead. Even though they didn't use the double U-turn to their advantage, it does make me like Vicki even more when she was talking about why at the pitstop. And in the long run, Nat and Kat did the dirty work for them anyways.
I like the fact that two teams can be punished with this and not just one. In a situation like what happened, it created more tension having Chad and Stephanie and Brook and Claire both U-turned.
For just getting engaged in the last leg, Chad was sure nasty towards Stephanie. And Brook seemed overly annoying to Claire. I'm guessing it was the heat and horrible smell of Dhaka that finally got to them.
In the end, I was happy to see Chad and Stephanie go since Brook and Claire are one of the teams I'm rooting for to win (along with Nick and Vicki).
It looks like next week might be a bit miserable for Nick and Vicki though. I hope the preview is more hype than what really happens...
First off, I have to say, this has been my absolute favorite season of The Apprentice so far. While the tasks haven't been as entertaining as they usually are, the contestants have made the show. This was a great bunch of people for the most part. The ratings might not be as impressive as they used to be (based on what I've read at least), but that's definitely not indicative of the quality of the show.
It was kind of saddening to see the full show opening last night. All those awesome contestants and unfortunately not many of the stand-out ones are left. But hopefully some of my favorites will return to help with the final task.
At this point, I think it's Steuart's game, but we'll see in a few weeks.
The highlight of this episode - Stephanie's Director of Photography and his annoyed expressions, which increased as the task went on. I couldn't help but laugh every time he was on screen as his expression became more and more agitated. I felt bad for the guy, but it was funny.
I also feel bad for Liza, as she always seems to be unhappy with what her team comes up with. And it is true that her opinions are almost always disregarded. She had a chance to show off her skills as project manager a few episodes ago in the Broadway task, but her team lost that time.
And it was yet another loss for her team this time. While both commercials were impressive considering the extremely limited time they had to put them together, it was kind of obvious which one would win. The one with a family atmosphere, an AT&T Store, and even an NBC Today Show logo was the easy winner.
The boardrooms are getting more interesting as Donald Jr. and Ivanka are expressing their opinions a lot more often. Maybe they always have been and it just wasn't getting shown. But their questions to the contestants are sometimes the best parts of those segments. I'm sure happy that's being included now.
Mahsa also got a mention this episode when Steuart made fun of Stephanie trying to shut Liza up with "Mahsa hands". That was entertaining and made up for not hearing "we had no choice" this time.
I was very surprised when Donald Trump fired Stephanie - I really didn't see that coming. I thought for sure she'd make it to the final two. And Donald Trump must have been impressed with her as she's now working for his company. Firing her was a strange decision on his part.
But far bigger was what happened on the volcano. NaOnka pulled Jud / Fabio aside and shared her strategy with him. She absolutely 100% hates him and has made that very clear to him and everyone else throughout the entire game. Of all people, why pull him aside and confide in him?!
Fabio seemed to just go along with the whole thing too. If someone hated me that much and voiced it so often, I'd be a little surprised that they suddenly want to talk to only me and share their strategy. Either he's completely clueless or maybe we haven't seen something - a secret bond between the two maybe. That was just strange.
Something we definitely didn't see was the group that won the reward returning to find the camp had burned. I thought maybe I missed something when the commercial ended and everyone was back at camp strategizing, with no mention of the burned stuff. Granted, there's only so much time in the hour, but I think a little should have been devoted to that.
At the immunity challenge, Jane was unbelievable. That challenge looked so hard! And she beat them all. But I think it was a bit unfair when Jeff interceded and ended up changing the outcome of the challenge. Jane said she was ready to let go, which would have given Chase immunity. Jeff then goaded her into not giving up. Had he not done that, Jane would have given up as she wanted and Chase would have won it.
In the long run, it didn't matter though. Brenda ended up leaving and that was a surprise. It looked like she was waiting for and expecting Sash to use the hidden immunity idol on her. But he didn't and after seeing that Sash and Chase voted for Brenda, it looks like she was doomed no matter what she tried.
Next week looks like NaOnka goes crazy again. But no, that incident they showed and the comments as well are all from when she snuck the food into the woods a few weeks ago. So it appears next week's night before Thanksgiving episode will be a recap of the game up to this point.
Exactly how Anand was caught cheating on The Apprentice is the big question online this week. One major detail has been left out of most interviews - once you know that, it becomes clear how the producers caught him. Jenn Hoffman from season 6 of the show reveals that detail on The Wrap.
Knowing now how he cheated makes it clear how Donald Trump and the producers found out about it too (the other giant question this past week). When you realize how far the producers have to go to make sure the contestants stick to the rules and how little privacy they have when on the show, it all makes sense.
Tyana, who was fired a few weeks ago, goes into detail on that on her latest podcast (for the record, she also pointed me to Jenn's website).
In episode 7 of the podcast, Tyana talks to Anand and Poppy who were both fired this past week. Anand talks more about the cheating, Poppy reveals a surprising romance that happened at Ponderosa (the sequester area they go to after they're fired), and Tyana talks about some things the producers do to keep the contestants following all the rules.
Subscribe to the RealiTyana Talk podcast and keep up on all the latest Apprentice news. Clips that aired on Star 102.5 came from the latest podcast with permission (thanks, Tyana).
The Apprentice's Mahsa made an appearance on the Mike Huckabee show on Fox News this past weekend. Sadly, it only lasted about ten minutes. They should have bumped some of the politicians to make way for some real news! :)
She went after Donald Trump again and did a lot of cringing when the clip of her being fired was played. Nothing major was revealed that hasn't already been said though. But it was still a great interview. See the video here.
It's going to be interesting to see how this all plays out over the next few weeks. I'm really hoping Donald Trump responds, as the show's integrity is at stake now. Why leave something major like this out of the show?! The ratings haven't been that great this season and addressing these incidents would absolutely bring people to the show. Leaving out how they found out about Anand's text message was a massive mistake. That could have been a compelling five-minute must-see segment right there.
Something else I don't get: how so many people prefer the celebrity versions over the regular editions. This kind of drama never happens on the celebrity editions. Many of the stars are already friends with each other and Donald Trump in some cases. The stars are also more careful to not anger Donald Trump.
That's absolutely not the case with the regular editions, as we've seen this season. That makes it more fun to watch. Plus, we see new breakout reality stars emerge.
The Apprentice launched Omarosa's media career in 2004. This season, I think Mahsa will be the standout thanks to the controversy with how she was fired. And I think it will only get bigger after this season ends.
Anand and David also seem to have a good shot at repeat reality show appearances (Anand thanks to the cheating and David because he's David). Tyana seems to be making the most out of her time on the show too (more about that in my next post later today).
There might be more controversy too - it's still a few weeks until the season finale. That's plenty of time for another incident.
The only Arabian Night reference missing from this episode was flying carpets. It was a cool backdrop to an exciting episode.
Chad & Stephanie waking up almost two hours late began the episode. What a nightmare. Waking up late freaks me out to begin with, but when a million dollars is on the line, ouch. But thanks to another clumping up of the teams, they all ended up together just before the clue that lead to the Roadblock.
If that wasn't stressful enough, along with just being on the race, Chad had the added extra stress of proposing to Stephanie later that morning! That'll be a day they'll always remember for sure. Not to mention how the day ended.
Then there was poor Nick and Vicki (or the punk rockers as Brook and Claire call them). When reality show contestants complain about their bad luck, it's usually just whining. But Nick & Vicki actually have a reason to complain. First, the giant judging mistake two episodes ago at the piano challenge and then the tire going flat in the desert in this episode. That's like the ultimate in Amazing Race bad luck.
One thing I've definitely noticed this season is if you're going to go on the Amazing Race, do not go on the show with the person you're dating. All other teams have their problems, but dating couples seem to get the most stressed out.
Chad & Stephanie, Jill & Thomas, and Nick & Vicki are constantly snapping at each other, sometimes viciously. It gets uncomfortable to watch. Although they all made it far into the race (and between these teams, they took up the top three this leg), so maybe that's good. But will the relationships last after the race, that's the big question.
A double U-turn next week - what's that?! Two teams are getting U-turned maybe? That should be crazy.
Sarah Palin is without a doubt one of the most polarizing people in the media. It seems you either love her or hate her.
I know a little about her political career, but I don't care. I don't really pay attention to politics. What I do know is when you just look at her as a person, she seems fun and friendly.
One of my grandfathers always used to talk about Alaska and his time being stationed on the Aleutian Islands during World War II. So I grew up hearing all these stories of how awesome Alaska was (the state itself, not the military part obviously).
Hearing all that from him made me want to visit. I love the cold and snow - Alaska's got both. And the sky there at night (sometimes during the day even) has got to be amazing with a full starscape and the aurora borealis.
I wouldn't want to live there, but visiting would be cool. At the moment though, that's not going to happen for me. But at least I can see some of it on this series. And being on TLC (a part of the Discovery Networks), the show looks incredible.
While a lot of the first episode focused on Sarah Palin and her family, about half the episode did show off the beauty of Alaska. And honestly, how can anyone be offended by this show when that moronic 19 Kids & Counting is on before it. Now that's one reality show I could live without.
Some of the Alaska portions in this first episode included fishing near bears (watching the bears would be fun to me, the fishing not so much) and glaciers and Mt. McKinley in Denali National Park. I can't really describe these parts of the show - you just have to see it.
One of the parts about Sarah that was interesting involved some guy moving next door to her family. All he does is watch what goes on at her home while writing an expose on her. No matter who you are, that's just wrong. I put him in the same class as paparazzi. But I like how it seems he'll be a joke throughout the show.
Another part showed where she does many of her TV interviews. That was cool because I always thought that Alaskan view was just a backdrop - how awesome is it that that's the real thing back there.
It's an eight episode series and it continues next Sunday night at 9pm on TLC. Or catch it as it replays about 487 times throughout the week.
So last night, Anand was revealed as the cheater on The Apprentice.
I wanted to find out more about these cheating accusations, but NBC isn't allowing Anand to do radio interviews yet (they usually wait until a day or two before the next episode airs).
So I figured we'd bring on one of my Apprentice favorites who was voted off a few weeks ago to talk about this. And she's someone who's also been involved in some Apprentice ugliness recently.
So that promo for this episode was an absolute masterpiece. Edited to the extreme. This didn't occur immediately after David's firing as the promo suggested and it didn't even go down the way the promo made it seem. That's actually impressive when you think about it.
What actually happened was impressive too. Donald Trump didn't bother wasting any time and just went right after Anand. Rightly so - that was a major rule he broke.
The most shocking part about the whole thing was something I never saw coming - it actually seemed like Anand thought there was a chance he could stay. He just must have been in complete shock that he was caught. Two tasks had gone by at the point and he had to feel like he was in the clear.
I just wish it would have been revealed how they finally found out about his cheating. And where was the video of this? Or at least video of Anand being suspicious during the task! Between this and the incident that resulted in Mahsa getting fired, I'm starting to wonder how much the contestants are actually filmed.
At least there was some great footage of the post-boardroom conversations after David was fired. I love how it focused mostly on Anand and Clint (both the people everyone online suspected was the cheater).
An article on TampaBay.com goes into more details on some other shady things Anand says happened during the taping of this season of The Apprentice (Anand is originally from the Tampa, FL area). In addition to that, there's a recap of some of Mahsa's complaints of the show.
The rest of the episode was a bit of a letdown. It was obvious almost right from the start of the task that Poppy's team was going to lose. And the task itself was dull.
And to make matters worse, my favorite Apprentice phrase ("we had no choice") didn't get mentioned. Which is crazy, since it really would have fit this time. While Poppy seems like a nice person, I don't think she could pull off being The Apprentice winner.
It appears David's interview that was pulled from the NBC website was accurate. Not only was Anand mentioned as the cheater, but it seems his statement about who made it to the final two might be true too. Oh well.
At this point, I'd have to say Steuart would be the best person to win the game. He really hasn't messed up at all yet. As the game starts to wrap up, it will be interesting to see if he can do well leading a team again. His one win so far was marred by a terrible presentation that he did.
Stephanie would make a good finalist too, but I can't see her winning - the promo for next week being one of the reasons. But I'll wait to judge her on that until after next week. As we've seen, the promos sometimes distort things quite a bit (as they should).
Not much can be said about this episode as not much happened. Until tribal council that is.
I'm happy they left extra time for that. NaOnka absolutely showed her true self during that. And that's kind of refreshing seeing someone just being themselves. The same can be said for Jane too (but in a good way for her).
NaOnka would definitely be the perfect person to take to the end now - no one in their right mind would vote for her to win. Jane unfortunately is the exact opposite.
That preview for next week sure left me wondering. They all looked so sad! I can't imagine a destroyed camp would get that reaction. I wonder what happened? This is a Mark Burnett show, so the previews are usually phenomenal.
Proof of that is the amazing preview for The Apprentice last week (another Mark Burnett show). That's got everyone talking online - and they're talking about a show that really hasn't done that well in the ratings so far this season. But I'm sure the ratings will pick up thanks to the "cheater" promo.
So here's that mysterious promo for next week's Survivor...
There's two important things needed to stay in the race - patience & attention to details. The attention to details is what knocked Kevin and his father right out of the race.
I would imagine they got so excited by the first part of the clue that they failed to read the fine print (or in this case, the final details of the clue). It happens so often to one or two teams on a leg of the race, that that would seem to be the most obvious explanation.
I was confused by Nick and Vicki last night. When they checked in, I was waiting for Phil to say they forgot to do their Speed Bump (for coming in last in the previous leg and not getting eliminated). But that didn't happen and they definitely didn't do a Speed Bump.
I went back and checked and it wasn't mentioned in the last episode that they had to. I just kind of figured they would since that's lately been the standard penalty for coming in last but getting a second chance. Looks like they got out of that one easy.
Or maybe not. Looking around online, I found this post that might explain why Nick & Vicki didn't have to do a Speed Bump. If true, that would also spotlight the fact that it's not just the teams that make mistakes during the race. That's completely understandable though as there's so many different things going on at all times and mistakes do happen.
Here's Nick & Vicki's FaceBook page which as of now doesn't mention this. He might have mentioned it on his personal page (as referred to in the above post about this).
There's also the chance that they did do the Speed Bump and all mention of it was edited out to make room for everything else going on in this episode. I'm sure eventually someone will post online what really happened there.
After finishing this post, I looked on RealityBlurred and it looks like he had the exact same thoughts I did on this! That's why I absolutely love that site. There's someone else as obsessed with reality shows as I am (actually, more so than me). I actually waited until this morning to watch the episode as I was out last night when it aired. Plus I always know that if I should miss something, chances are he's caught it. Bookmark that page if you also love reality shows.
Overall, that was a jam-packed leg with lots of stuff the teams had to do, lots of moving from place to place, and lots of vague clues that don't completely give things away. That's the type of stuff I love on Amazing Race, so this was a great episode.
Nat and Kat are definitely the team to beat at this point. Brook and Claire seem to be their main competition. I really think this is going to be the first season with an all-female team winning the race.
"We had no choice." Yes! The ultimate Trumpism returns as the virus gets the boot. And even David agreed that Donald Trump had no choice. Especially since David admitted in the boardroom that he did 90% of the task. When you say something like that, you better expect to be fired if you lose.
Watching this episode, I was still annoyed over Mahsa leaving last week. And they sure edited those first two or three minutes together to really make her look bad. I wish we had a chance to learn more about what happened there. Mahsa is insistent that Donald Trump knew she wasn't at fault and that he did know who was for that incident that got her fired. I'm sure there's got to be a little something to that.
But that will probably never be revisited after what was shown in the preview for next week. This looks gigantic! Cheating on The Apprentice. And unlike Mahsa and Clint's incident, I sure hope this was caught on camera.
Which makes me wonder - why isn't just about everything they do on camera? This is a major network reality show. I'm sure they have the money to have cameras following each of them just in case something crazy happens. Even if it's not high quality cameras, at least something! Something like what I hope we get to see next week.
Now there is a chance that the cheater has already been fired and Donald Trump is just letting the others know about it. Going along with that train of thought, the "you're fired" in the preview could have easily been edited in from the end of the episode. Or if the cheater has already been fired, maybe he'll fire someone who knew about it and didn't say anything.
But the ultimate will be if the preview is accurate and someone really does get fired for cheating right at the start of the episode.
Here's the preview - let's hope there's a lot more to see than what's here...
If someone is fired for cheating, I've narrowed it down to two possibilities (if the cheater is still in the game). Highlight the blank space below to see my thoughts on who is the cheater (done to avoid spoilers in the crazy chance that I'm right)...
So far this season, the only tasks that involved collecting the most money were in episode 2 (ice cream) and episode 6 (pedicab). Since it's the project manager that did this, that leaves Anand or Poppy as the only two still in the game.
They're "getting close to the top" was also mentioned - that makes me think it's not the task from near the start of the game.
Knowing someone in New York City would be key to this too. According to the NBC website, Poppy lives in Richmond, California. Anand lives in New York City, where the show is filmed.
Then there's Clint in the preview looking down. Maybe that's out of disgust or shock that a former teammate of his did this.
Putting all that together, it's got to be Anand who will be fired for cheating.
And for anyone who's thinking Donald Trump is looking in the wrong direction for that when he says "you're fired" in the clip, I'm thinking that's been edited in from another firing.
We'll see next week. But even more than who's the cheater, I'm curious to know why this wasn't caught earlier. They went through two additional tasks after this happened (assuming I've got the episode right). This all goes back to how often they're filmed. That will definitely be a question I ask the next time I talk to one of the fired contestants.
UPDATE: GG just e-mailed me. Highlight the missing text below if you want to see the MAJOR spoilers...
Nice prediction. Here is a part of David's exit interview:
Q) 3. What moment or moments on the show were surprising to you?
A) The double firing in week 5 was a surprise, as well as Anand cheating and being fired. But what I was most surprised with is how that Cowboy from Texas can be in the final 2...
I am surprised that they gave two valuable pieces of information like that!
Thank you for letting me know about that, GG! Here's David's exit interview Q&A and here's his exit interview video. This isn't mentioned in either one, which leads me to believe NBC has figured out what was there and removed it from the website.
I've now posted the comments below, but keep in mind they contain SPOILERS!
I think the people that created this video are too.
On top of that annoyance, there's also the fact that the best seats are usually only available presale to select fan groups. So you better research online bigtime long before the concert goes on sale if you want any shot at a really good seat.
The video goes on and on, but the end is worth the wait. And while they picked on Bon Jovi here, this definitely applies to a lot of acts...
I was so traumatized by Mahsa leaving The Apprentice, I couldn't even post the past few days.
Or maybe it was just the crazy weekend I had with a visit to the awesome Iron Island Museum, a final weekend of the season at Knoebels with my friends, and trick or treating with my niece and nephew in Rochester.
But I am saddened by Mahsa getting fired. And she's sad (and mad) about it too. Read all about it in this article on the New York Post's website.
I finally got around to watching Amazing Race the other day. It was a fun episode.
I loved the Detour with the pianos. That should have been an easy one if teams just went one at a time searching for the songs. Only Nick and Vicki realized that - after switching tasks twice. That was their fatal error - but they got lucky and were saved at the end. I'm happy about that as they're one of my favorite teams. It would have been awful if all my favorite players disappeared from the reality shows I watch.
Then on Survivor, it was the merge with about 2,102 people left in the game. Now I guess it makes sense for Dan to not get voted out.
And finally, Hurricane NaOnka hit. But her strategy totally baffles me. She reveals her thoughts to Alina (but says it's the tribe that feels that way), she steals food and shares it with Alina (her so-called enemy), then she reveals she stole the food. All while having a really great alliance that might just turn on her now. Does this make any sense to you? Sure doesn't to me.
Jane proved herself an amazing player and I sure hope she makes it to the end. This season now has a lot of fun players - NaOnka's a crazy villain, Fabio / Jud is nuts, and Brenda is an awesome strategist.
Marty would have been the obvious choice to send home. He even proved why with his brilliant speech at the tribal council. So why Alina?
And the even bigger question - why did she deserve this crazy statement against her? "You are a 100% grade-A dirt squirrel." Hysterical, yes - but I don't think we saw the full reason behind this.
Maybe the merge now was a great idea as this season has definitely picked up. And the whole NaOnka vs. Fabio thing looks incredible next week!
The merge is coming next week?! Already? This seems earlier than usual. Either that or this season is just flying by.
What we saw in last week's preview ended up being two of my favorite parts of the episode. Jud / Fabio peeing in the challenge pool was disgusting. But I'm wondering if he was just saying he did that to freak out the other team. That way they would be concentrating on that when jumping into the pool instead of their aim.
But by that line of thinking, I would think his team wouldn't know either then and they had to jump in that water too. If I was in the game and found out he did pee in the pool, whether it was strategy or not I would vote him out. That was sick.
But the food hoarding with Jane was awesome. She even started a fire all on her own to cook that fish. I'm rooting for her now as that just proves that she can actually survive out there on her own. The only use she seems to have for the others is to help get her further in the game. Now if she would have been caught doing that, then that would have been terrible and her game probably would have ended a lot sooner than she wanted. But she was smart enough to go somewhere that no one would run across. Very cool.
The tribal council was pretty uneventful with the exception of Sash accidentally slipping and saying something I'm sure he'll regret for the rest of the game. In fact, it will probably be the reason he's eventually voted out.
The tribal councils from here on in should be crazy thanks to the upcoming merge. I'm thinking they'll all be going after each other now. It'll be chaos and that's what makes Survivor fun.
