The Newsroom

April was a pretty good month on the fitness trail in terms of mileage (kilometerage?) My five days in Vegas were criminally under-tracked, I suspect, but there was no way I was incurring charges for using my GPS in the US for 10 hours a day over 5 days. So I guesstimated a couple of days worth and then basically gave up. I walked a lot in Vegas.

The 10th leg of the race sees the racers head to a temple to receive their next clue, which contains a Fast Forward. Team Big Brother decided to go for it, after Rachel declared at the temple that this "wasn't necessarily" her religion. Like she's unsure? And Team Big Brother ended up with the head shaving fast forward. (Insert evil cackle here.) Rachel whined about paying $500 for extensions. AND THEY LEFT! Holy wow. At the Roadblock, a team make had to spin 40 feet of rope from coconut husks. That actually looks harder than it sounds. Team Big Brother showed up in 4th place at the Roadblock and everyone was aghast that they didn't go for the Fast Forward. Rachel told the camera that she needed the hair to be pretty because she has a big nose. This girl has some serious self esteem issues. Art and/or JJ noted that if Mark and Bopper decided to go for the Fast Forward, they could easily go from worst to first again. Leaving the Roadblock, Vanessa took a gi

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Tarzan decided that 6-2 women vs. men probably wasn't a good place to be and figured he's throw his lot into doing whatever the girls wanted to do. The reward challenge involved setting fire to effigies based on a quiz. Troyzan burned first and quickly. Tarzan was second and almost as quickly. Kim won the reward - a helicopter ride to an island for a picnic. She picked Alicia and Chelsea (and Kim had promised Kat that she'd get picked). Troyzan immediately seized the opportunity to plant some seeds of doubt in the minds of the remaining women, telling them they were obviously at the bottom. A giant wild pig roamed by the camp during a rain storm, and, amazingly, the camera men managed to get closer to it that the survivors did. A wild chase ensued, including pig chasing music. I ended up rooting for the pig after a while. Amazingly, the producers cut to the immunity challenge without letting us know if the pig was caught and killed or not. The immunity challenge included a

The episode started with Bopper getting medical attention on his bum right knee. Given that the previews showed them in India, there wasn't a lot of drama as to whether the doctor would let Bopper continue. Nonetheless, Bopper is now wearing a knee brace. Art and JJ continued their war with Dave and Rachel over breaking the U-Turn agreement from the previous episode. Vanessa and Ralph ended up on a different flight to India but only arrived a few minutes before everyone else. The Roadblock involved learning a Bollywood movie dance routine. Rachel from Team America was a high school dancer, while Rachel from Team Big Brother loved the colorful outfits. Meanwhile, Mark, who is on a RACE AROUND THE WORLD, got motion sick again on the bus in India. Umm ... was he unaware this involved copious amounts of travel? Mark, as we knew in the previews for the show, does the Bollywood Roadblock and struggles. JJ was the first to the stage to dance. "Epileptic seal" was how I'd des

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Tree mail was envelopes with $500 for everyone to set them up for the Great Survivor Auction! Always a fun time. Chelsea bought three doughnuts and ice coffee for $160. She should go on Storage Wars. People have no idea how to bid. If someone bids $400 and you have $500 and don't counter-bid, you've never watched Survivor before. Looking at you, Kat. (Although she did get a sandwich for $180, so it worked out for her.) Kim won a shower for $40 and from the shower won peanut butter and chocolate for $220. Alicia who refused bidding wars on lots of things, started the bid at the full $500 for a letter from home. And everyone cried. Tarzan also got his letter for $500. Troyzan had a bit of a meltdown over how he was alone after last night's Tribal Council. But Troyzan bought an advantage at the immunity challenge for $420. Again, people don't know how to bid on these things - Christina bid him up but backed off. Why bid it up if you don't want to actually win it and

Teams started off in Tanzania, where they had to find "Hillary Clington". All the early talk was on the Double U-Turn, and the lead teams had previously agreed that they'd get rid of Team Big Brother, who in a cutaway talked about HaterAide. Yeah, they gotta go. Teams got to do a safari while driving to the town, and it resulted in a lot of cool wildlife footage in HD, which was a nice bonus. The Detour was a choice between filling water jugs or repair bicycles. The catch on the water jugs was a long wait at the well behind the locals. Art and JJ chose that option and ended up behind 100 or so buckets ahead of them that had to be filled. Meanwhile, Nary and Jamie, 3 hours behind the rest of the teams, made their first appearance in the episode started this leg - 18 minutes into the episode. Mark and Bopper decided not to U-Turn any one. Neither did Rachel or Dave. Vanessa and Ralph wandered the streets for quite a while looking for "Hillary Clington", which was

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The teams did another Do-It-Yourself-Reward challenge. Another day off for Jeff? The tribe divided up into 2 teams. Leif ended up on a team with most of the girls. That team lost. Tarzan, Alicia, Troyzan, Kat and Jay won a barbecue on a private island. Kim plotted to keep the women onside and vote all the men off, specifically targeting Jay and Troyzan as the next two. Chelsea was hesitant as she has ties to both of the men. This ticked off Alicia and Kat. Meanwhile, Jay and Troyzan targeted Alicia. Jay told Kat about the plan, and Kat made him believe that she was on board. I see bad things in Jay's future. Troyzan talked to Jay about the girls trying to pull a fast one on them because they have the numbers. Jay said he really, really, really, really doesn't see that happening. Oh yes, I see very bad things in this boy's future. The immunity challenge was the classic "hand chained to giant water bucket" game that Survivor has used before, complete with food tempt

I have family over, so this isn't going to be a long blog. The teams went to Africa and rode bikes. This was harder for some teams than others. There was kindergarten behavior. Mark and Bopper have finally won me over with their wackiness. The final task involved the teams building their own shelter for the night, leaving me to think it was a non-elimination leg. Rachel and Dave were Team No. 1. Mark and Bopper were 2. Art and JJ were third. Team Big Brother were fourth. Vanessa and Ralph were fifth. Not Kindergarten teachers were last and decided to sight-see elephants on the way to the pit stop. And it was a non-elimination leg. Next week: Double U-Turn

I'm in a hotel room in Vegas with spotty Internet so this gets posted when it gets posted. I'll keep this short. After a lot of product placement, whispering and conspiring, Jay won immunity. Mike (no relation) was voted off. Next week: The men realize the women are running the game.