Survivor, Ep. 33.14: Finale

Sorry, this is so late. I was without my laptop for a couple of days. So, because there are already so many recaps out there, I'm not going to go into as much detail as I normally do, but I will just give the basics of what took place in this most epic finale to a truly awesome finale!

6 players left - 3 Gen-Xers and 3 Millennials

Vinaka Camp
Bret can't believe the "losahs" he's playing with, who continue to keep David in the game, while getting out people who aren't threats.

David decides to stir the pot - he has been collecting beads and trinkets from treemail, water bottles, etc. all season, and he grabs some of their paint, and he fashions the most realistic looking fake idol to date. He paints an emblem on a coconut and puts the idol inside it. He mixed red and white paint together to make pink - which isn't a color they had, so someone wouldn't think that it was made by someone at camp. Genius! He is hoping to go fishing and catch a fish - Jay. At first, I didn't see the point in making someone else find the idol, because really, what could it do other than make them think they are safe. But then, it dawned on me. By doing that, the person will think they found the idol...and STOP LOOKING for a real idol. Genius! Normally, when someone makes a fake idol, they do it to convince others that they have it to avoid votes being cast for them. This was a different way to approach it. Well, his plan worked flawlessly. Jay finds the idol and is ecstatic, because now, no matter what...he's safe (except he isn't). Oh, poor Jay. I hate to see this happening to him! Seeing how happy he was just kills me, because I know this isn't going to end well. He was so shocked to find it that it probably clouded his judgment a little. He didn't question the authenticity of it at all. He didn't even notice that there wasn't a paper with any instructions on it, proving that it was real.

Immunity Challenge #1

The Voice, Ep. 11.22 & 11.23: Finale

The Final 4

Billy (Team Adam)

"My Way" by Frank Sinatra
OK, the first song I don't agree with for him. Don't like this choice at all. That said, he can make anything sound good. I liked the a capella at the beginning. He had some really nice vibratos. Sounded great, but not my favorite performance just because of the song. You could tell the song really meant something to him and he got quite emotional at the end.
My Grade: A-

"Bye Bye Love" by The Everly Brothers (duet with Adam)
Adam always picks the most interesting songs to do with his singers. Their voices sound really good together. Perfect pitches and they just melded together so beautifully. Not my favorite song, but they really had fun with it and it was pretty entertaining.
My Grade: A

"Because of Me" (iTunes Recording)
How cool that this was going to be a Maroon 5 song and Adam thought it would be better for him. No competition - this is my favorite original song of anyone (big surprise). Great song, and he sounded amazing.
My Grade: A

Josh (Team Adam)

"Pick Any Small Town" (iTunes Recording)
Not much to say about this. Stereotypical country song, sung by a stereotypical country singer. Nothing great or exciting...just "meh".
My Grade: B

"Smooth" by Santana & Rob Thomas (duet with Adam)
OK, now THIS is an awesome choice! Thank you for not doing a country song, Adam! I love seeing Josh do something different for a change, and this was perfect!!!! Now, THAT was a great performance! ...even if it's something that Josh would never release on an album, ever.
My Grade: A+


"Jack & Diane" by John Mellencamp
Another deviation from country. This is the version of Josh that I can get behind. Definitely Adam's influence there. He would not be doing this song, or "Smooth" with Blake. I wasn't blown away by the vocals or the arrangement, but it was a lot more fun to listen to than his cookie cutter country.
My Grade: A-

Wé (Team Alicia)

"Ave Maria" by Stevie Wonder (duet with Alicia)
Sorry Alicia, but I think you were pretty off on your opening part. This whole performance seemed really disjointed for some reason. The changes from high notes to low notes were so clunky. Their harmonies weren't even that great. It was a cool idea to have the 2 pianos facing each other, but beyond that, it just wasn't that great. I think it's a little weird that they always wear their hair the same way as each other.
My Grade: C-

"Wishes" (iTunes Recording)
I wanted to like this original song, but it wasn't that great. She sounded OK, but I just wasn't that impressed. It was so repetitive and kind of annoying.
My Grade: B

"Don't Rain on My Parade" by Barbara Streisand
Oh no, no, no, no, no! Oh, this is just horrible. I cannot stand this stupid song! Yuck! I don't even know if I'm going to be able to listen to the whole song without fast forwarding. OK, positives: she showed a different, more fun side of herself; vocals were OK. Besides that...painful, just painful.
My Grade: C

Sundance (Team Blake)

"Darlin' Don't Go" (iTunes Recording)
At least he has some originality going for him, as compared to Josh. He's not my favorite, but that voice is undeniable. The passion that pours out of him on every performance is another area that Josh is kind of lacking.
My Grade: A

"Treat Her Right" by Roy Head and the Traits (duet with Blake)
That's kind of cool that he is doing one of his dad's songs. That was a fun performance! His dad was in tears!
My Grade: A

"At Last" by Etta James
Interesting song choice, but I kind of like what he did with it. This song seemed like it was 10 minutes long, didn't it? I was kind of falling asleep with it. It was good vocally, but not one of his better ones.
My Grade: A

Results

4th Place: Josh (Team Adam)

3rd Place: We (Team Alicia)

2nd Place: Billy (Team Adam)

WINNER: Sundance (Team Blake)

Wow, I guessed each one correctly! Vastly different than my guesses in the battles and knockouts. I really wish Billy had won :(

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Survivor, Ep. 33.13

We're in for a full episode tonight! 2 Immunity Challenges and 2 Tribals! And only 1 hour to do it all! This is going to feel very fast, I have a feeling.

Here we go!

Vinaka Camp
Will thinks he left Tribal as a man. He thinks he can flip-flop back and forth til the end and come out the winner.

Bret thinks they are all insane for taking out Zeke before David.

Bret tells Adam and Sunday that Jay is a huge threat, as well as David and Will, and they need to go. Bret thinks the 3 of them can go far to the end. They shake on it that Jay, David, and Will will be the next 3 to go.

Immunity Challenge #1
Challenge: David - "This looks involved." race to discs and stack them on a pole and balance them while going through obstacles to transport all of them. Drop a disc and you start over. And you can carry as many discs at a time as you want. Then all 10 discs will be rolled into a narrow slot.

David is over first, followed by Bret, Ken, and Jay. Will drops and has to go back. Hannah and Sunday are barely moving. David is flying over the balance beam. Bret drops.

2nd phase: David and Ken are neck and neck. This time, the bar is horizontal instead of vertical.

Will again with problems on a balance beam and he is in last.

Bret is the first through with 4 discs. Jay has 6! David and Ken are back with their stacks. And Will is still in the first part! Come on, man!

Jay is first to finish phase 2. He can start rolling the discs. Jay, Bret and David all rolling.

Jay is on a roll with 4 and now 6. Bret and David have 2. Jay hits 7, 8, 9, and 10 all in a row! Woohoo! Will is in trouble :(

Vinaka Camp

The Voice, Ep. 11.20 & 11.21

Live Playoffs: Top 8

Team Adam

Brendan - "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan
He had an amazing week last week. This could be a great follow-up to that. I'm glad he's sticking with this lane rather than the week he tried to go back to his rocker roots (didn't love that). He started out a little unsure sounding. Something seemed a little disjointed between the music and his singing. Not sure what it was. He just didn't seem to be owning it. He looked a little uncomfortable. He did finally start getting into it at the chorus.
My Grade: B+

Josh - "Danny's Song" by Loggins and Messina
This is quite different from what we usually see from Josh. I actually kind of liked it. It was a nice change of pace. I think his voice really sounded good.
My Grade: A-

Billy - "I Surrender" by Celine Dion
Love this song. I just love what Adam has been able to do with him. He just gets better every week - which doesn't even seem possible. So beautiful, kind of haunting, tons of power, and spot-on pitch. He closed out the show with such an epic production. Can we say 'winner'? I hope so!
My Grade: A++

Team Alicia

Christian - "To Worship You I Live" by Israel and New Breed
I'm not sure what to say about this performance. It was good, but it wasn't my favorite. I love his message and passion, though. Vocally, it was a bit too strained and over-the-top.
My Grade: B

Wé - "Scars to Your Beautiful" by Alessia Cara
I love this song and I think it's perfect for her. Another very strong performance that makes her seem way beyond her years. She was rocking the song as if it were her own.
My Grade: A

Team Blake

Sundance - "Love Can Build a Bridge" by The Judds
Very nice and tender performance. A complete opposite to his performance last week, but a nice change of pace. He really knocked it out of the park at the end. Wow, such a huge voice. This might be my favorite performance of his.
My Grade: A+

Team Miley

Ali - "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton (and Whitney Houston)
Beautiful performance. Her voice really sounded amazing. She just floated through the notes. This is one of my favorite performances from her. Such a perfect song for her. She had the strength of Whitney, but she made subtle differences that made it her own. She totally nailed the big chorus that everyone knows this song for. It was a huge moment for her.
My Grade: A+

Aaron - "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" by Bryan Adams
Love this song. I hope he can have a nice moment with it. And maybe, just maybe, he won't be in the bottom for the 4th week in a row. I don't know why, but this song always brings tears to my eyes. I love how he started the song. I think this might be the most comfortable he's looked on a song in awhile. He was actually showing some emotion that seemed really genuine. I like that he dialed back the gravelly sound - it really suited the song just the way he did it. This is one of my favorite performances of his, by far! Totally getting some goosebumps as the music ramps up. His voice wavered a little on the really big note towards the end, but I think he was just really in the emotion, so it's excusable. He kind of had a weird shaking moment at the end, but overall, this was pretty great.
My Grade: A-

Duets

Aaron & Wé - "Four Five Seconds" by Rihanna
Interesting pairing. Their voices couldn't be more different. Their voices kind of competed with each other rather than complimenting each other. It was OK, but not my favorite.
My Grade: B+

Sundance & Josh - "Feeling Alright" by Joe Cocker
This seems like a pretty obvious pairing. Sundance is just in a different league than Josh. Josh is a pretty typical country guy. Sundance at least brings something different to the table. I do think that by singing together, it did up Josh's game a little bit. I still think that Sundance kind of wiped the floor with him.
My Grade: B+

Billy & Christian - "Unsteady" by X Ambassadors
Yes! Awesome song choice! Love it! Oh, the harmonizing at the beginning! Goosebumps! And the goosebumps just aren't stopping! Oh Billy, that voice! Duets like this are why I love the Battle Round the most of all the rounds in the competition. They always bring out the best performances. This was so good!
My Grade: A+

Ali & Brendan - "It's Only Love" by Bryan Adams and Tina Turner
Wow, this was amazing! I love them together! They're very different, but they fit together very nicely. Great song choice that complimented them both.
My Grade: A+

Results

Survivor, Ep. 33.12

Vinaka Camp
I still can't believe they drew rocks at last Tribal.

Hannah feels very guilty that Jessica went home instead of her. David can't believe he burned his idol for no reason, and he's now in the minority. He thinks he will be the first to go.

Zeke thanked everyone for doing what they did to save him. Bret and Jay said David seriously needs to go. Zeke is so sure that he won the battle against David. He feels like he has a very strong alliance of 5 and that they will easily pick the others off until they are the last 5 standing.

Ken receives his legacy advantage that was left for him by Jess. I'm so glad she kept her word. I hope he gets to use it!

Reward Challenge

The Voice, Ep. 11.18 & 11.19

Live Playoffs: Top 10

Team Adam

Billy - "Anyway" by Martina McBride
You know I'm not much for country, but this was excellent. This is the kind of country that I can get into. This is a really pretty song. Adam is right - he can pretty much sing anything, and any genre. His big notes were so huge. I love when he holds those notes out for what seems like forever. So beautiful - and so incredibly on-pitch. He is always right on the note, so perfectly.
My Grade: A+

Josh - "Real Good Man" by Tim McGraw
We go from Billy's version of country - which I love, to Josh's version of country - which I can't stand. 2 complete opposites. I was so bored by this because it is just not my thing. He's a dime a dozen. There's always someone like him every season. Just ho hum. His vocals are good, though.
My Grade: A-

Brendan - "True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper
Ooh, I like this song choice for him. I love that he slowed it down. This is really the type of thing he needs to be doing. Unfortunately, the performance was drowned out with saxophone (one of my pet peeves - not my favorite instrument). I loved seeing him vulnerable and stripped down like this. He's great with the guitar, but this was a nice change of pace. This was an absolutely beautiful performance. I also loved his little break, where he smiled. So cute.
My Grade: A+

Team Alicia

Christian - "Million Reasons" by Lady Gaga
I absolutely love this song. I hope he can do justice because Lady Gaga is absolutely vocal perfection on this song. His voice sounds great, but the background vocalist harmonizing with him is kind of distracting. I would rather just hear him.

Wé- "God Bless the Child" by Billie Holiday
Do NOT care for this song - at all! Yuck! Not my favorite performance, by any means. Vocally, still great, but the song stinks. That last high note was pretty incredible. What a range she has.
My Grade: A

Team Blake

Courtney - "If I Could Turn Back Time by Cher
She started out really out of tune. Parts of this were good, but something just seemed off. I don't know if it's just me, but there seemed to be so many notes that just didn't land in the right spot. She was out of breath in weird spots. I wanted to like this, but it just didn't quite do it for me. Her performance was good and she moved around the stage well, but her singing just wasn't up to the level it needed to be to be a really great and powerful performance.
My Grade: C-

Austin - "Missing You" by John Waite
This is an interesting song choice. I really enjoyed this a lot! It's nice to hear him branch out a little bit. His voice sounds really great in this style and on this song especially.
My Grade: A+

Sundance - "Me and Jesus" by Tom Hall
A little bit too twangy, but this was actually kind of fun. This was a great song for his voice. Wow, he was really having a hoe down at the end. I thought he might pass out! That was so fast!
My Grade: A

Team Miley

Aaron - "Rocket Man" by Elton John
I really hope this keeps him out of the bottom. 2 weeks in a row is not good, and if he ends up there again, he will probably go home. Miley is really smart. I thought what they did last week should have worked. I loved it. This week she noticed that his performance songs are kind of dark and his "save me" songs are more upbeat and those are getting him through. She's very smart to pick up on that. This is a classic song that so many people know, and I love that he's getting a chance to do his own thing with it. I think he maybe needs to show a bit more personality when he sings. This song is a little more upbeat, but he still looks the same way he does on the darker songs. I think maybe people just aren't connecting with his very laid back personality. He also needs to work on his diction. His words tend to really slur together and it's very difficult to understand at times. But man, I do love his voice. I was hoping for a little better with this song. It was good, but I'm afraid he might find himself in the bottom again.
My Grade: B+

Ali - "Without You" by Harry Nilsson
This is a great song...but I only know Mariah's version. This is a great song for her big voice. I think she needs to do more songs like this. She really brought the house down to end the show. Such a strong voice. She was borderline screaming, but it was more just her natural voice than what some others might have done on the song. Incredible.
My Grade: A

Results

Bottom 3: Austin, Courtney, Aaron
No, no, no. Sorry Aaron, but I think I might have to go with the more consistent Austin on this one. The voting window looks really, really close between Austin and Aaron. It keeps going back and forth between 39% and 40% for each of them.

Instant Save: Aaron! Wow, 3 weeks in a row! That's incredible.

Going Home: Austin (Team Blake), Courtney (Team Blake)

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Survivor, Ep. 33.11

Vinaka Camp
Jay said he had no idea what was going on at Tribal. He realized that no one was really talking about him, so he decided to keep his idol. Jess said the vote solidified her alliance.

Bret told Zeke that Chris would have won the game. Zeke apologized or not including him on it. He said that Bret and Sunday are not on the bottom. Bret said he would love to move forward with him and Zeke was all for it. Zeke needs 6 in his army if he hopes to take down David. He got to Bret and Sunday before David and he's pretty happy about that.

David tells Bret and Sunday that Jay should be the next to go. However, he realizes that Zeke has a good chance of winning because he's playing the best game. He has conversations with everyone. Bret knods along and then of course goes and tells Zeke. Bret tells Zeke that David needs to go. How funny that 2 of the nerds in this game have the biggest war going. They have 2 warring armies ready to do battle against each other. David thinks he can read Zeke's mind and he thinks they are thinking the same thing in this chess game. He hopes he can sell to people that Zeke is playing harder than he is. Zeke thinks David is a bigger threat to win than he is.

Zeke tells Hannah and Adam what David is planning. He tells them that David has an idol. Zeke says that neither Will nor Jay are coming for him right now. Hannah doesn't know who to choose to work with, Zeke or David.

Reward Challenge
Challenge: 3 teams of 3 - legs will be tied together and arms bound to their sides and they will have to work together through a sand obstacle course and then a puzzle.
Reward: helicopter tour and have a picnic of fried chicken, mac and cheese, pies, etc.

Teams:
This time, the person who is the odd one out doesn't do the challenge, but DOES get the reward

Purple: Hannah, Jess, Adam
Green: Will, Ken, Jay
Orange: Sunday, Zeke, Bret

David is lucky again, and he gets the reward no matter who wins!

Will comes in first and Ken follows him. This is hilarious to watch them slithering around in the sand like snakes. Ken is booking it and he's done, and Jay takes the course. Jess is struggling up the hill. Jay is really moving slowly.

Green is now onto the puzzle. Bret makes up a long time for Orange. He's losing his pants! Jess is dying on the course. She finally made it to the end.  Orange is now ahead of them. Adam went ridiculously fast for Purple.

All teams are now working on the puzzle. Orange is catching up very quickly and pass up Green. Oh no! It is completely neck and neck. Come on Green!!! And it's Orange with a huge come from behind win. Wow.

Bret's takeaway from the win: "I got naked on Survivor!"

Adam was very tempted to use his advantage, especially since David didn't earn the reward, but he decided to save it.

Reward
Oh great, Bret's going to get drunk again. Zeke decides he's going to be his new drinking buddy. Holy crap...Bret tells Zeke that he's not the only gay guy out there. What?! Bret said he thought about telling everyone, but it just was never the right time and he's from a generation that doesn't really talk about it. He said he's trying to play the game and not saying anything is how he's lived a lot of his life.

Bret and Zeke ask Sunday what she thinks about David. Zeke wants to get Jay and Will on board to get David out. Zeke is uniting them all against a common enemy, and he's in control.

Vinaka Camp
Hannah immediately grabs David and she wants to tell him that she is going to turn on Zeke. She told David what Zeke is planning to do and that he told people that David has an idol. David thinks he's blown up his game and he's so upset. Hannah says that Zeke trusts her. David said he could play his idol and let the votes be for him, and then Zeke goes home.

Immunity Challenge
Challenge: stand behind a cage door and move a handle through a maze, when it's free they will complete a slide puzzle.

This is hard because they are doing it blindly because they can't see the handle and puzzle on the other side of the door. Jeff tells them that he will not tell anyone if they are in the lead or if they are falling behind, as to not give any clues away.

Jay is getting close, and he's out of the maze first! He goes to town on that slide puzzle. I hope he knows what he's doing. And just like that, Jay is done with the puzzle! No one else got out of the maze. David was about as close as anyone. I think he only had a few inches to go. Jay did an amazing job on the slide puzzle and finished it in record time. Jeff said it was a complete blowout.

Vinaka Camp
David asks Jess for a favor. He tells her that he told Bret that Zeke is the biggest threat. He wants her to vote for Zeke. She feels like she needs to because he played an idol to save her. Ken made a promise to never write David's name down.

Zeke asks Hannah if David is the most dangerous person in the game. She is a terrible actor, as she looks up and all over the place and she doesn't want to give an answer. Zeke gets worried that he can't trust her. He asks her who she is going to play the rest of the game with - him or David. Zeke realizes that he's not going to be working with her anymore. Zeke now thinks he needs to vote out Hannah because she can't be trusted. He gets a lot of people to agree - Jay, Will, Bret, and Sunday.

Hannah asks Adam to vote for Zeke. Adam is not confident about this plan. He sits back and lets Hannah run the show, but it makes him nervous. She tells David that he should give her his idol because she's worried that because Zeke doesn't trust her and they will most likely turn on her. I'm a little surprised that she picked up on that vibe so quickly. They think it will be a tie and then a tie again, and then they would draw rocks. David doesn't know what to do and doesn't know if he wants to play his idol or not. Wow, how quickly things can change in this game!

Tribal Council
No one is certain how the votes are going to go tonight. Jay is the only one who feels like he's safe :)

David feels like a fruit bat because he is looking at things upside down. Jeff said everyone is playing like it's their 2nd time in the game.

Adam and Hannah are already whispering - Bret tries to listen in. David said it is a trust cluster muck. That made Bret upset for some reason. They all make fun of David and tell him not to start crying. Wow, where did that come from?! Jeff is blown away by what is happening. Jess is confused and has no idea what is going on.

Bret whispers to Sunday to stick to the plan. Ken said he's confused why they are worried about whispers. Bret said this is how the game is played - welcome to the game. Whoa, what crawled up Bret's shorts tonight?! He is being so harsh for absolutely no reason.

Bret says they should vote, and Jeff asks if they should and everyone agrees. Here we go...

As the votes are being written, Taylor gets attacked by a huge bug over on the jury bench and he can't get it off of him. LOL!

The Votes
Oh no...here we go again...David speaks up and he pulls out his idol. Adam tells David that they were whispering that they wanted to vote for Ken. David then tells Jeff the idol is for Ken. What?! Adam what a good lie!

Zeke
Hannah
Zeke
Hannah
Zeke
Hannah
Zeke
Hannah
Zeke
Hannah

It's a tie! Oh, look at that...no votes for Ken. Didn't see that one coming. David, how on earth could you fall for that so quickly. Good move on Adam's part though, wow.

Hannah whispers to Jess to trust her and vote for Zeke. She then whispers to Adam that she thinks Jess is going to flip and she's going home.

Hannah
Zeke
Hannah
Zeke
Hannah
Zeke
Hannah
Zeke

Deadlocked. If the 8 can unanimously agree they will go home. If they can't agree, Hannah and Zeke are immune with Jay and Ken. The rest will all draw rocks and the odd rock goes home. Do or die. Holy crap!

Will said that none of them want to give up their game for Hannah and Zeke. David said it has to be Zeke. Arguments ensue. Taylor is just leaning back and laughing over at jury. They ask to see who wants to vote for whom, and they are still deadlocked.

Jeff calls it. They can't decide and they are going to draw rocks. OK, thank you, David for giving Ken that idol because I would hate for him to go home like this. Oh man, this sucks! Will draws and he says he thinks he's going to cry.

And the loser is...Jess. Bret said he was sorry and didn't want to go to rocks, but David did. Well, that kind of worked out well because her name was on the chopping block several times. She was devastated. She now has to pass on her legacy advantage, and she kept her word and is giving it to Ken.

Wow, Jeff really wasn't kidding when he said that this season has some of the biggest blindsides and crazy moments.

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Survivor, Ep. 33.10

Vinaka Camp
Adam apologizes for not telling everyone about his advantage. Bret said Taylor is gone because he stole food and that's that. Adam wants Jay out of the game for what happened with Taylor and Jay. Jay says that Taylor drug him down with him and he wished he would have stopped talking in Tribal. To try to win back some favor, he dug up some of the remaining food and gave it back to them. He thinks maybe now they won't suspect that he has an idol.

Chris and Bret talk and they think Jay can wait, and they need to go after Jess. They almost have the numbers they need with Sunday and Zeke on their side.

Hannah connects with Ken as they ponder over the beautiful sunrise. Umm...she kind of has a major crush.

Zeke and Will go off and talk. Will said he is ready to get off the sinking ship and he's done working with Jay. Will tells Zeke that Jay has an idol and he knows because he was there when he found it. He said that this can't get back to Jay or he's dead. He's hoping that this will help him build trust with Zeke. IMMEDIATELY, Zeke goes and tells every. single. member. of. the. tribe. Wow. That backfired, and it backfired quickly. That spread faster than wildfire.

Zeke and Chris decide to make Jay think he is the next to go so he uses his idol, and then they will continue with their plan to actually blindside Jess.

Reward Challenge
Challenge: swim to a raft and pull it to a platform, climb a ladder to get a key and go back to shore, then stack colored boxes so no color is repeated on any side.

Reward: floating pizza bar

Teams: randomly drawn and 1 person will have to sit out. David speaks up and says he's not a good swimmer and no one would want him on their team. He didn't want anyone to miss out on pizza because of him. They all said he can do it and he shouldn't give up. He broke down as Jeff said that's never happened where someone wanted to sit out on a reward challenge so they wouldn't hold others back, and then to have the group encourage them.

Orange: Ken, Jess, Chris, David, Will
Purple: Zeke, Bret, Sunday, Hannah, Adam

Jay picked the odd rock, and he has to sit out :(

Orange has a slight lead to the platform to get the 5 keys. Ken dropped a key and has to swim out to get it. He lost a little time, but still easily beat Hannah. Sunday takes a huge fall into the water and is struggling to shore. It's Orange with #4 and Purple has #3. David is bringing up the rear for Orange, but he did well. Zeke beat him in a sprint to the beach, but David has the last key and Purple still has 4.

Orange unlocks all of their blocks first and are ready to stack. Purple is on the 3rd block trying to unlock it.

Chris and David work on the puzzle for Orange. Zeke and Adam work on the puzzle. Right now it looks neck and neck. And out of nowhere, Purple gets it right and wins. Poor David :( At least he isn't the reason they lost. They were in it, the others just figured out the puzzle first.

Reward
Hannah is so psyched for her first food reward. She did feel guilty about those that were left on the beach. She told the others to keep their voices down because the others at camp would be able to hear them.

Bret is glad to have won the reward with Zeke. Zeke is closer to Chris, so he wanted to make that bond.

The waiter comes out with letters from home. Adam bursts into tears. So happy for him! That has to mean so much to him to find out how his mom is doing.

David is kind of breaking down emotionally. He said he's been craving pizza and beer for days. Ken asked him how he was doing because he was genuinely concerned for him. David didn't really want to talk about it because he didn't want to cry again. He said he is so appreciative of everyone's encouragement. It's really changed him as a person. David was glad to reconnect with Ken and said he wants to sit final 3 with him and that hasn't changed since their time together earlier in the game.

David thinks that the Chris/Bret/Sunday threesome needs to be broken up. They bring in Jess and they think they should vote out Chris. Jess is OK with that because her and Chris have never really gotten along.

Immunity Challenge
Challenge: stand on a narrow beam while balancing a statue with a pole - but horizontally...not vertically like the challenge that took out our beloved Joe. They will move farther away to more narrow parts of the beam in intervals.

Ken has ants crawling on him as the challenge begins. What?! Yeah, that's going to make it just a little hard to concentrate.

Order of elimination:

1. Hannah
2. Ken

Adam says that Ken's ants moved to him. And then like dominos...

3. Sunday
4. Chris
5. Will
6. Jay
7. Bret

After Jay falls, he wipes his eyes and said an ant crawled in there. Wow, never before have ants been a contributing factor.

8. Adam
9. Jess - she looked really solid

Down to Zeke and David - quite the unlikely pair. Zeke is struggling, while David looks really solid. Zeke is all over the place moving around but he saves it every time. David starts shaking and just when you think his statue is going to fall, Zeke can't hold on any longer and he falls off the beam.

10. Zeke

Way to go David! What a big moment for him! That's so great to see him take down all of those athletic people. It was cool to see Ken so happy for him.

Vinaka Camp
Jay is worried because he doesn't know what's going on.

Sunday is glad that her group is serious about wanting to vote out Jess. Chris thinks Zeke and his people are with them. They hope to convince Jay he is going so he'll play the idol.

David and Zeke talk and David tells him he wants Chris out. Zeke is close with Chris, but he wants the power. He is hoping to pit the Gen-Xers against each other. Zeke tells David that Chris wants Jess out. David tells Jess that Chris wants her out. Jess tells Adam what Chris is planning. Adam thinks that Zeke is with them,but he's not 100% sure.

Zeke tells Hannah that both sides think they are pulling off a blindside. He has options and it will be interesting to see which way he goes.

Tribal Council
Jay felt like a lone wolf and he still feels like he's on the outs. David said there are different voting blocks in play. He said there could be voting blocks working together. Hannah says she thinks they are actually #TrustClusters. Hannah is beside herself because Jeff just repeated a term that she made up. LOL

Jeff asks if anyone thinks that something they've done could get them votes. Jess said she had a run-in with Gen-Xers way back. Chris knew what she was talking about - when she blindsided him and Bret and voted out Paul. He said you have to have a short memory in the game and she has nothing to worry about - keeping up the ruse to get Jay to use his idol.

The Votes
Jay does NOT play his idol!

Chris
Jess
Chris
Jess
Chris
Jess
Chris
Jess
Chris
Chris

#Blindside! Smart move, Jay. He read the room and played it smart. Jay is all smiles, but I think he still has a very rough road ahead of him. They weren't gunning for him tonight, but next vote they could be.

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The Voice, Ep. 11.16 & 11.17

Top 11


Team Adam

Josh - "Drunk on Your Love" by Brett Eldridge
He is starting to get really mediocre in my opinion. I don't feel like his voice has sounded all that great the last few weeks. He sounds like any old male country singer on the radio. Which I guess is what they're going for, but it's just so "meh" to be and sound like everyone else.
My Grade: B-

Billy - "All I Ask" by Adele
Not my favorite Adele song, but there isn't anything that he can't sing and sound amazing on. If you can sing Adele well, you can sing anything. He showed so much emotion and vulnerability. Very nice.
My Grade: A

Brendan - "The River" by Bruce Springsteen
I didn't care as much for his performance last week, but now he's back to doing the kinds of songs I like him doing.

Team Alicia

Christian - "Rosanna" by Toto
It's nice to see people branching out with songs we don't hear all the time on this show every season. I actually like this song for him. Very solid performance. I would have liked him to maybe make it more his own and modernize it a little more, but it was still good.
My Grade: A-

Wé - "Love on the Brain" by Rihanna
I am loving this song right now. It's very current. Again, there isn't anything this girl can't slay. Another epic performance.
My Grade: A

Team Blake

Sundance - "No One" by Alicia Keys
Now here is a very unexpected song choice. Again, it was a very clean performance. For the most part, it was a little on the boring side...until he got to the chorus at the end and he really took it up a notch! Wow, I really, really like how he made the ending his own. Very, very cool. And really beautiful...maybe better than the original?
My Grade: A

Courtney - "What I Did For Love" from Chorus Line
Not loving this song. Her notes are kind of all over the place. She ended it pretty well, though. Overall, it was pretty boring.
My Grade: B-

Austin - "Turn the Page"  by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullets
I'm growing to like him more and more every week. I'm not sure what it is about him. He makes every song sound like it's his. The end of the song was really impressive. He really rocked it out and gave it his all with that scream.
My Grade: A

Team Miley

Ali - "9 to 5" by Dolly Parton
What an interesting choice for her. I don't care for her outfit, but I like her on this song. I won't say that I was totally blown away, but it was a great performance, nonetheless. It might have been interesting to hear her change up the song a little bit.
My Grade: A-

Aaron - "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails
Yes, yes, yes! GREAT song choice! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! This is such an amazing song, and I think he is going to sound amazing on it. He kind of has the Johnny Cash rasp and gruffness (I mention it because Johnny Cash recorded a version of this song as well). I like seeing this kind of softer side of him, but yet there's that rock edge still there. I'm going to have to vote this week because we can't have someone who can perform like this in the bottom 2 again. He did such a great job with this song. This is the Aaron from his blind audition that I've been missing the past couple of weeks. This was so haunting and emotional = lots of goosebumps. <3
My Grade: A+

Darby - "You Don't Own Me" by Lesley Gore
OK, didn't realize this song was "old" and "vintagy"...didn't know that Grace wasn't the original artist. I knew it had a throwback feel, but didn't realize it was a cover. Probably the best song that Darby has done so far. For once, her quirky voice actually doesn't annoy me. It really works on this song. I absolutely hate her outfit again. Who does she think she is, Joseph with his technicolor dreamcoat? It was a bit shrill and screechy at the end again, but I enjoyed this a lot better than most of her performances.
My Grade: B


Results

Bottom 2: Darby (Team Miley), Aaron (Team Miley)
Noooo! Not again! Aaron should not be in the bottom. He did so amazing last night. Can he get the instant save again? Not so sure. Fingers crossed! Does any of this have to do with Miley? Pretty interesting that she has 2 in the bottom.

Darby sang Elton John's "Your Song". I couldn't understand a word she was singing. It was OK, and pretty on par with what she has done up to this point. Meanwhile, Aaron did "Budapest" - which is absolutely perfect for his voice and I never realized how much he sounds like George Ezra, who originally did this song a year or so ago. Like, he really, really sounds like the original. I sure hope this is enough to keep him around. But, with 2 times in the bottom 2 in a row, things are looking good for him even if he stays. I'm not sure why he's not connecting with the voters.

Instant Save: Aaron! Woohoo!

Going Home: Darby! Woohoo!

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Dancing with the Stars, Ep. 23.11 & 23.12: Finale

I can't believe we are at the finale already! I feel like I say that every season. It all just goes so fast. I'm not ready to say goodbye to our dancers yet! Can't wait for a great couple nights to close out the season.

I have a feeling that our final 2 are going to be Lauren and James, with Lauren having the final edge. She's just so darn likable and incredibly talented, to boot. She also came in with a larger fanbase than James. I will be happy with either of them winning...or Calvin or Jana for that matter. They are all VERY deserving. I would like to see Sharna get her first win, though, if I'm being honest. And I just adore James. I can't wait to see what the pros have cooked up for their freestyles...because as we all know: the freestyle is everything. Have a great one and it could push you over the top. Have just a mediocre one and it could cost you the mirrorball.

Round 1: Judges' Picks, Redemption Dance

Calvin & Lindsay - Viennese Waltz
He's going to kill this dance this week. His last Viennese Waltz was good, but he has improved so much since then. Most improved, I think, is his gracefulness and his musicality. He feels the song and he's so connected with Lindsay. It's just really beautiful. He is just such a joy to watch on the dancefloor.
Score: 35 Carrie Ann deducting for a mini lift? Come on...seriously?! And she gives him an 8?! On finale night! So, so wrong.


Jana & Gleb - Tango
Not a good week to get the flu! Poor Gleb! First it was his knee and now he comes down with the flu :( When you have to wear a mask so your partner doesn't catch it, that's so sad. But look who's stepping up again...it's Alan! (Seriously, he better get a chance to be a pro next season!). I'm so glad Gleb is feeling good enough to dance tonight! She looks totally gorgeous in that bright red!All of the lasers are cool, but a little bit distracting. I don't remember this being one of her weaker dances, but she is killing it regardless. Uh oh, did her feet come off the ground? Hope not.
Score: 35...and of course, Carrie Ann caught it. I agree with Len when it's not intentional, it shouldn't be penalized. I TOTALLY agree with that, and I think it's utterly ridiculous that the judges can each decide whether it should be penalized or not. Do I sense a conspiracy to get Laurie and James in the final 2?

Laurie & Val - Paso Doble
Her first paso doble was really good, so I don't know how she could improve much on it. So, so good, as expected! She came out in full attack mode.
Score: 38

James & Sharna - Foxtrot
Hello Helio! Nice to see him back again to give James some advice and have a dance off! He did this dance week 1, and it was already so good, I can't imagine how much better it's going to be. James is playing a lovable nerd...too cute. Oh no...the song..."It Had to Be You". I always think of A League of Their Own when I hear this song. I don't love the song or the theme, but he danced it well.
Score: 37

Clearly, the judges are saving their high scores for the freestyle. I expect we could see 4 perfect 40s.

Round 2: Freestyle

Survivor, Ep. 33.9

I missed it last week, but they subtly renamed the new merged tribe Vinaka - which is a combination of the 3 individual tribes (sort of, I guess).

Vinaka Camp
Jay calls the other side a "cesspool". Things are looking bleak for him and Taylor. He and Taylor have no idea how that happened and they laughed that everyone trusted Adam. Taylor goes to Adam to check in. He wants to be on good terms with him because he could spill the beans, so to speak, about him burying 2 jars of food. I thought the whole food thing was outed at Tribal, but I guess not all of it. Taylor is holding on to his own secret about Adam - his advantage. If Adam tells, Taylor is going to tell. What is this, the third grade? LOL!

Taylor goes off by himself to dig up his food and to savor it all by himself.

Jay is worried about being next on the chopping block. He talks to Hannah and she said that playing with the guys would have made her into a goat. Jay said he was proud of her for taking her game into her own hands. She is happy with herself for actually playing this game that she loves and being good at it. I don't know if I would go that far. I think she's been pretty lucky.

Reward Challenge
Reward: trip to a resort to lounge by a pool and eating cheeseburgers, fries, and cocktails

Challenge: go through an obstacle net, get a key to unlock a box, then drag the box under a net; once through they hack the ropes to open the box to retrieve bolos that they toss to the ladder -- it's basically Hillbilly Golf!

Schoolyard Pick--
Purple: Chris (captain), Bret, Ken, David, Sunday, Taylor
Orange: Hannah (captain), Adam, Will, Zeke, Jay, Jessica

Purple takes an early lead. Orange can't get the key. Then Orange got stuck under the net. Taylor tosses all of them and lands them easily for Purple, while Orange never got the box out from under the net.

Poor Hannah realizes she doesn't know how to pick a team. She was on a high from her blindside vote the night before, and now she failed at picking a good team.

Reward
Taylor said his body has been adapted to eating food because of the food he's hidden, so this allows him to eat and drink more easily than the rest of them - advantage! Bret said he's going to drink as much as he can. What an idiot! NOT a smart move! He definitely had them all laughing, that's for sure.

Sunday is ready to take control of the game in these uncertain times of their fractured Gen-X tribe.

Vinaka Camp

Dancing with the Stars, Ep. 23.10

Week 10: Semifinals!
And we're down to 5. I am not ready for this season to be over yet! I can't believe we are at the Semifinals already! Looking forward to some awesome trios tonight!

Round 1

James & Sharna - Argentine Tango
Yay, Sharna's back! She's going to be doing the dance blindfolded, so James will be leading her through the whole dance. Nice lift! And ouch! She stood on a chair and he leaned her all the way to the floor with an ouchy looking backbend. They are so in-tune with each other. It's like they didn't miss any time together. It wasn't a flashy dance, but it was sexy! HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!! I don't know what just happened, but James just did a handstand above Sharna on the chair, and he held it for like 10 seconds. That was ridiculous!!!!! WOW! I don't know that we've ever seen a guy do something that athletic on the show before - even athletes. Incredible.
Score: 29

Terra & Sasha - Rumba
This is a perfect song and lyrics for her and her story. Beautiful and so touching. Nicely done.
Score: 30

Jana & Gleb - Quickstep
What a weird song and concept for this dance...but somehow, it works! I think Len would be very happy to see a ton of quickstep choreography in there. She looked like she was having a blast. I don't know if all of Gleb's little bobbles were part of his character or if he really was tripping and slipping all over the place. If it was part of the routine, it was really cute.
Score: 28

Calvin & Lindsay - Tango
Great song! Always love "Seven Nation Army"! This is going to be amazing! They seemed to stumble a bit at the end when they were near the edge of the floor. Not quite sure if they just lost footing or what. Other than that, it was classic Calvin. In the replay it looked like Lindsay's leg slipped off of him a little bit too early.
Score: 26

Laurie & Val - Foxtrot
What sad news about Laurie's grandma passing away this week! So sad! She was hoping to be able to see her soon because she wasn't doing too well and she suffered from Alzheimer's. She passed away the day after that interview :( Laurie looks beautiful tonight (well, she always does). Val just whipped her across the floor, and she was with him every step of the way. He gives her the most challenging choreography and she always does so well. She broke down in tears at the end, and it was so beautiful to see the way that Val was there for her and in the video package. He's such an amazing guy. So many emotions! I'm in tears! Everyone is in tears! Carrie Ann said it perfectly when she said Laurie was breathing in every movement and feeling it. And Bruno commented on the difficulty of the choreography. (so it wasn't just my imagination that it looked really tough)
Score: 30

Round 2: Trios

The Voice, Ep. 11.14 & 11.15

Live Playoffs begin - Top 12

I, for one, am hoping for a much better night of performances than we got last week. I don't know what happened last week, but people were off their game. Song choices were a huge factor, and I think the first live show brought out some nerves. I sure hope they all do better tonight.


Team Adam

Billy - "The Show Must Go On" by Queen
He's really brave to tackle this, but if anyone this season can do it, he can. He sounded incredible. It was a big production and he commanded the stage. He totally rocked it out. Best of the night for sure. I think Adam might have liked it...he was standing on his chair :)
My Grade: A+

Josh - "Why" by Jason Aldean
I liked his approach to this song. I don't know that we've seen him without his guitar this whole competition. It was kind of nice to see him out in the crowd on the chair, up close and personal. His vocals were great as usual. The end was especially good. He knows how to work the stage and the crowd.
My Grade: A

Brendan - "Whipping Post" by The Allman Brothers
This is a very different Brendan than we've seen from him so far in the competition. I don't know if I like this Brendan as much as the old Brendan. I think on a different rock song, I might have liked it better. I just don't care for this song at all. I don't know if this was a smart move for him or not, changing up his style so drastically. His voice just isn't meshing well with the music. He's screaming with such grit and while it doesn't sound horrible, it just seems to be clashing. Not his best.
My Grade: D

Team Alicia

Christian - "The Scientist" by Coldplay
LOVE, love, love this song! Such a good choice. I hope he can do it justice. Rehearsals sounded a bit rough. This song just always gives me goosebumps. He's no Chris Martin, but he gave it his best shot. That first "nobody said it would be easy" was beautiful. I'm not sure I liked all of the note changes he made. It sounded a bit hectic at times. He really got to bouncing around at the end. He was definitely feeling it. I wanted to really love this. It was good, but I think he could have done a little better.
My Grade: B+

Sa'Rayah - "Livin' On A Prayer" by Bon Jovi
Yes, Sa'Rayah! Yes! Last week's song choice was very yucky. But this? This is perfect! Very unexpected, but such a good choice. Enough of the diva power ballads of 30 years ago. It's nice to hear something different. Well, I guess this song is probably that old too (yikes!). She did some interesting things with it...but maybe tried too many things. She couldn't seem to find the tempo at the beginning. But what she did do was nail that power chorus. The ending was really good...until the last 2 notes where she really screeched. It was building up to be really great, and then her voice kind of went out.
My Grade: B

Wé - "Take Me To Church" by Hozier
Yes! Great song choice! It was nice to see her on the piano at the beginning. And then at the chorus, she just let loose. Incredible performance as usual.
My Grade: A+

Team Blake

Sundance - "My Church" by Maren Morris
I like this type of song for him. I don't think his voice sounded great at the beginning. He sounded out of breath from the start. The background music and singers were too loud. He can belt it out, but the rest was kind of distracting. The second half of the song was better than the first. Still not his best performance, though. He was doing a lot of shouting instead of singing.
My Grade: B-

Austin - "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" by Aretha Franklin
Interesting song choice. A country dude doing an Aretha song...couldn't be more different. But, you know what? This actually worked. And it didn't just work a little bit, it was really good! This guy is the real deal. He's a real artist. He knows what works for him, and he knows how to take a risk and make it really pay off. Great performance.
My Grade: A

Courtney - "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" by Aerosmith
Something just seemed a bit off with this performance. I'm not sure what it was. It was like the tempo was a bit off and she was a little bit shaky at the beginning. I think she was maybe getting a bit emotional at the end and it caused her notes to be really off at times. She had such a strong performance last week and Blake saved her, but this performance just wasn't quite up to that standard. She did have a couple of really big notes that she nailed, though.
My Grade: B-

Team Miley

Darby - "Ruby Tuesday" by The Rolling Stones
Boring. Once she got to the chorus, she was just shouting. And what the heck is she wearing? That horrible flowered outfit, with a mic absolutely covered in flowers. Just yuck. There wasn't really much to like about this performance.
My Grade: D

Aaron - "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings" by Father Saint Misty
I've never heard this song, but I trust him. He usually has really good taste in music and always sounds good on anything he does. He always leaves me captivated. I do kind of wish that I could understand his words a little better. Another strong performance. I wish I knew the song, but I feel like it's kind of his song.
My Grade: A

Ali - "Did I Ever Love You" by Leonard Cohen
Wow, she brought the house down with that performance! Beautiful voice.
My Grade: A


Results

Bottom 2: Aaron (Team Miley) and Sa'Rayah (Team Alicia)

They sing for the instant save, and...

Instant Save: Aaron
Going Home: Sa'Rayah

Woohoo! I'm a little surprised that it came down to these 2. I thought Aaron would connect a little more. Sa'Rayah gave a really good "save me" performance, but it was with an unknown song (at least to me). Aaron did "Lego House" by Ed Sheeran, so right away I thought that was a good idea. He didn't do as well with it as I would have liked, but it was enough for him to get the save. Hoping for a better week for him next week, and hopefully people will come to their senses and boot Darby.

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Survivor, Ep. 33.8

Ikabula Camp
The tribe is reeling from the epic blindside and departure of Michaela. Jay is feeling pretty proud of himself for pulling off this epic move. He knew he had to do it pre-merge because she's a closer and she would have won individual immunity. Hannah said they can trust her and she would have voted with them. Jay said they didn't want her to have to do that. She realizes that she is on the bottom of the alliance and she is ready for revenge.

A boat pulls up in the morning and they get word that they need to pack their belongings because they are merging!

MERGE!
Ikabula and Takali are shipped off to the Vanua camp. Everyone is so happy to be back with their original alliance members. For Michelle and Bret, they both think that this gives them new life in the game.

Jay thinks that he is the kingpin on the tribe, and no one knows. He has an idol, and he's got Will, Michelle and Bret on his side.

Chris can't tell if the merge is a good thing for him or not. He thinks that he, Dave, and Zeke are meshing really well, but he also had an alliance with Bret and Sunday.

Zeke can't wait to get back with Adam and Hannah to find out what they have found out from their tribes. This is his nerd voting block. Hannah told him about Jay's betrayal of Michaela, and that makes him really nervous. He said that Jay has this charm and so many people are being drawn to him and are falling under his spell. He sees a broliance forming between Jay, Will, and some others and that worries him.

Adam decides to go look for an idol during the big feast. He's a fan, so he knows there is usually a clue or something. He knows the camp well. He finds a note hidden in the treemail. This is an advantage to steal a reward from someone after it's been won by someone else. Wow! A new power that no one has received before. Too bad it's not another idol, but still pretty cool.

Taylor wakes up in the middle of the night and takes some mason jars and stuffs them full of food from the feast. He decides he will keep it for himself and eat as much of it as he can. He's clanging the jars all over and Bret hears him. He decided not to say something. Adam sees him also and he decides to confide in Taylor about his reward to try to gain him back as an ally. He tells him that Jay is building an army. He said that Jay is closer to Will than he ever was to him. Adam thinks maybe they should go after Will so that Jay is forced to go back to Taylor as his #1. Taylor secretly doesn't want to work with Adam because of what he did to Figgy. He lets him think that he is interested in his plan. Adam then confides in him about the reward advantage that he found. He said he is telling him about it because he is serious about working with him. Taylor is stoked because he didn't have to do anything to get Adam to just tell him everything and then he can just come right back and blindside him.

In the morning, Ken said he woke up to find a lot of the food missing.

Chris thinks they have underestimated the Millennials and their bond. He thinks if all the Gen-X band together, and try to get Taylor with them, they would have the numbers.

Jay tells Taylor that he thinks that Gen-Xers will target them first. Taylor asked him how tight-lipped he can be. Jay said "very". Taylor tells him that Adam wants to target Will. Jay is shocked. He didn't understand that move. Taylor said he is doing that because he thinks Will is his #2 guy. Meanwhile, Zeke totally overhears them talking about targeting Adam. This isn't good because Adam and Zeke are in a tight alliance. Taylor tells Will that Adam is targeting him. Will realizes he really needs to win immunity,

Immunity Challenge

The Voice, Ep. 11.13

The Live Shows begin!

20 become 12. Because of the election, there is no separate results show. Live voting the same night as the performances determined who will make the Top 12.

Team Alicia

Christian Cuevas
Pretty consistent with what he's done previously. I don't know if we've gotten to see him play the guitar before, so that's new. I actually really enjoyed this, and I think he did a nice job.
My Score: A

Kylie Rothfield
Pitch, pitch, pitch! She was all over the place. I like the artist that she is trying to be, but she has a lot of work to do. The second half of the performance was better than the beginning, but I'm just not really impressed with her.
My Score: B-

Wé McDonald
I don't know this song, and I'm not really loving this performance. Ooh, I think she's a little pitchy there, which is really unlike her. Yikes...I am not liking this at all. Normally, she is flawless, but she is so off. Most definitely not her best performance. She is capable of so much better. Did the live show bring out her nerves?
My Score: C

Josh Halverson
First notes out of the gate weren't great (which seems to be his thing). Not sure why he picked this song...not my favorite thing he could have done, as I don't really know the song. He sounds OK, but I don't know if it screams "vote for me!"
My Score: B

Sa'Rayah
Can her hair get any bigger? Is she trying to be La'Porsha? At least she is singing it well. Another yucky song choice. She is borderline screaming which is a major pet peeve of mine. Pretty impressive, though.
My Score: A-

Team Blake

Dana Harper
Another terrible song choice. Come on, people! I said last week that I loved where she was going with her song choices, but this one was not right for her. "Maneater", really?! And not the Nelly Furtado version either...because that would have actually been interesting! This was just really boring and it didn't show off her vocals at all. Just shows that Blake didn't know what to do with a non-country artist. She might have picked the song, but he could have told her to maybe pick something else.
My Score: B

Austin Allsup
First exciting performance of the night. He performed like he was giving a concert. Great vocals, great performance. And it wasn't even that great of a song. That just goes to show what a great performer and singer he is.
My Score: A

Jason Warrior
I don't know what is wrong with this season of singers, but song choice is a horrible, horrible problem. "One Dance"? Really? This is not a song that lends itself well for a competition at all. It sounded like he was screaming the whole thing. There is no need to scream this song...it's not that kind of song, and it's not that good of a song that needs to be belted out at the top of your lungs. Not his best by a mile. Very disappointing. That was just painful.
My Score: C

Sundance Head
Another song I don't know. Not knowing the song makes it so hard to get into a performance unless it's done really well. Vocally, this was OK, but not his best. Pretty boring, but we know he is capable of better, so he will most likely be safe.
My Score: A-

Courtney Harrell
BEST SONG CHOICE OF THE NIGHT BY FAR! Roxette's "Must Have Been Love". Loved this song for her! She rocked it out. The high notes were a tad bit shrieky. That note that she held out at the end, she held that thing forever! I can forgive the shriekiness because it was a good song choice.
My Score: A-

Team Miley

Sophia Urista
Interesting song choice, but it's kind of working for her. I'm actually loving this performance! I think this might be my favorite of the night so far!
My Score: A+

Darby Walker
I don't know what to think about this performance. What a strange song...but then again, she's kind of strange. Her voice can sound so affected sometimes. It's hard to think that that's how her voice actually sounds. I can take it in small doses, but it can just be too much. She had some really pitchy things going on tonight as well.
My Score: C

Aaron Gibson
I love Aaron, but I don't love his song choice tonight (like so many others). I hope he will make it through because I love his voice. His voice sounded a little more gruff tonight than it usually does. I wanted to really like it, because I've liked so many of his other performances, but because I didn't know the song, I just couldn't really get into it. Definitely not his best performance vocally.
My Score: B-

Belle Jewel
What the heck is this? Where are they finding these songs tonight? We're not at a 50s lindy hop. This is 2016. Please sing like it. Not bad vocally, but...
My Score: B-

Ali Caldwell
I love her voice, but again....she needed a better song. The song did really allow her to show off her power and her range, which was nice. She brought the house down. Unlike some others tonight, she didn't scream and wasn't too screechy. Her high notes were on pitch as well.
My Score: A

Team Adam

Brendan Fletcher
Great song choice! One of so few tonight! I absolutely love his voice. He just performed it. He didn't try to go outside of what he's good at. He just performed it and did it well. I loved his emotion on the last phrase. Ooh, chills!
My Score: A

Simone Gundy
Another good song. Beautiful performance. I like the subtle changes she made to make it her own. Her runs were gorgeous, and not overdone.
My Score: A

Josh Gallagher
For country, this is a pretty decent song choice. Wow, so that's what he looks like without a hat on! I almost didn't recognize him. Ooh, that was a really flat note. When he hit the chorus, it was so beautiful. I love his higher register so much more than his lower. I liked the way he whipped the guitar back and just rocked out with the mic at the end. That was a nice touch.
My Score: A-

Riley Elmore
And the award for the worst song choice of the night goes to...Riley! Not even close. There have been some awful songs tonight, but this one puts them all to shame. Hate, hate, hate, loathe this song. I'm sorry, but this kind of song and style has no place on this show. You can continue to put him through, but he is not going to sell albums after the show. Sorry. If the more popular styles can't produce stars on this show, you're sure not going to do it with this. I hate to be so blunt and mean, but come on. This style is just painful on the ears. I am going to be so incredibly upset if he takes a spot over Billy or Brendan.
My Score: F (sorry, I can't even score it higher because of the vocals)

Billy Gilman
I can always count on Billy for a good song choice...but not tonight. Again, it's 2016...can we sing something from the last 3 decades? Roy Orbison, really? At least he sang it well and kind of made it more modern. This guy has some amazing pipes!
My Score: A

RESULTS

Team Alicia  America Saves: Christian, Wé Alicia Saves: Sa'Rayah Going Home: Josh, Kylie Team Blake  America Saves:  Sundance, Austin Blake Saves: Courtney Going Home: Dana, Jason

Team Miley America Saves: Aaron, Ali Miley Saves: Darby Going Home:Sophia, Belle Team Adam America Saves: Billy, Josh Adam Saves: Brendan (Thank you, Adam!!!!!!!!!) Going Home: Riley, Simone

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Dancing with the Stars, Ep. 23.9

Week 9: Showstoppers
Guest Judge: Idina Menzel

Round 1

Marilu & Derek - Samba
Show: Jersey Boys
Look who's back - it's Mark Ballas! Mark is starring in Jersey Boys on Broadway, and he's singing live for their performance. Marilu looks a lot better than she has in the past couple of weeks. She looked like she was having a lot of fun. It was really quick, but she didn't really seem to stumble at all.
Score: 36

Calvin & Lindsay - Waltz
Show: Cats
Oh my word...Calvin in a cat suit! Hilarious! Too bad it was just for the rehearsal and not the actual show. What a beautiful dance! Leona Lewis sang "Memories" because she was actually in the show as Griselda. Calvin just proves that he can handle any dance with such ease. He was so graceful and he captured the essence of the dance so well. Well done, Calvin! Loved it!
Score: 37

James & Jenna (Sharna) - Jazz
Show: The Wiz
Sharna is trying to practice with James even though it's really risky for her knee. The doctor cleared her to dance, but because of the huge risk, she made the hard decision to not dance. Jenna is dancing with him again this week. I can't take my eyes off of him, literally. I don't even want to look down to type this because I don't want to miss anything. Uh oh, I think he might have just had a slight bobble where he kind of forgot a step, but he snapped back into it so quickly, so if you weren't watching closely, you probably missed it. He literally missed like one step and went into one movement a little early, but he held it and then was right back in sync. The entire dance as a whole was really amazing, as per usual. He could totally perform on Broadway because of how he acts out his characters...not to mention his dancing skills, obviously. He really missed his calling, I think :)
Score: 36

Terra & Sasha - Charleston
Show: Sweet Charity
She did a really nice job with this really fast dance. She brought so much personality to it, which isn't surprising. Lots and lots of lifts. Wow, that was actually really impressive. The choreography was really cute and as Len would say, "cheeky". The ending was hilarious.
Score: 38

Jana & Gleb - Waltz
Show: Waitress
Poor Gleb, he's got a problem with his knee - there's inflammation and fluid, and it's causing him a lot of pain. Alan (DWTS producers, if you're reading this - I love him - PLEASE make him a pro!) is standing in and practicing with her, but Gleb will be performing. Beautiful song, beautiful performance. So lovely!
Score: 40

Laurie & Val - Tango
Show: Chicago
As much as this is a great song to dance to, this jailhouse song and dance has been done SO MANY times. Val really wanted her to play sexy - which you have to do for this role. She did a great job and didn't go overboard which wouldn't have been appropriate for her age. Thank goodness she didn't pull an Amber Rose for this one. I loved her cute little wink at the beginning. She was sharp and intense when she needed to be. She also was playful and sexy when it called for it. Great job as always, Laurie!
Score: 40

Round 2: Team-Up Challenge
At one point, the celebs have to dance alone (without their pro) with each other.

Calvin/Lindsay & James/Jenna (Sharna) - Paso Doble
"Team Last Men Standing"
I can't believe these 2 are the last 2 guys standing! They are going to be so amazing together! Too much cuteness to handle! Calvin is the sheriff and James is the bandit. Like Erin, I love the bromance between these 2. Their rehearsal was so hilarious...can they get their own reality show. Their solo/duet was amazingly awesome. The look on Calvin's face! I've never seen him have such a gnarly scowl! Really cool, and totally lived up to my expectations! Epic battle for the cash, and the girls ended up with it! lol!
Score: 37

Marilu/Derek & Terra/Sasha
"Team Cubs"
Really fun routine! Marilu was too slow most of the time. She has such a different style than Terra. Terra just exudes fun, while Marilu is kind of a stiff and restrained kind of fun. Their solo/duet really wasn't all that impressive and it really was kind of boring. Terra might be smaller, but she dances so much bigger than Marilu somehow.
Score: 36

Jana/Gleb & Laurie/Val - Contemporary
"Team Sisters"
These 2 love each other so much. How cool that they each got the only 2 perfect scores of the night and now they get to dance with each other. I love the song they are dancing with: Sia's "Bird Set Free". I love these 2 together in the opening with them in the cage. They are both giving so much to the performance. I've got major goosebumps! They are both so strong. I can't take my eyes off of them - and that's saying a lot, because I love to look at Gleb and Val! Whoa! They both just did a death drop face first with their partners catching them at the last second before their faces smashed right into the floor. That was incredible! Wow...that was freakin' amazeballs! I had goosebumps during that entire performance! Love, love, love everything about that!!!!! And they both get another perfect 40!!!
Score: 40

Week 9 Leaderboard

Jana & Gleb - 40 + 40 = 80
Laurie & Val - 40 + 40 = 80
Terra & Sasha - 38 + 36 = 74
Calvin & Lindsay - 37 + 37 = 74
James & Jenna (Sharna) - 36 + 37 = 73
Marilu & Derek - 36 + 36 = 72

Results

In Jeopardy: Jana & Gleb, Marilu & Derek
Going Home: Marilu & Derek

Sorry, Derek, but WOOHOO!!!!!!!!! I am sooooo glad that everyone else is safe and heading to the semifinals! It was way past time for Marilu to go. Let's face it, had Derek not been her partner, she would have been gone week 2 or 3. He extended her time much longer than it really needed to go. She should have gone much earlier.

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Survivor, Ep. 33.7

Before we get to tonight's episode, there were some interesting developments in the #FigTails romance post-show. In case you don't follow any news about Survivor, I'll fill you in. Last week, Figgy was asked about her relationship with Taylor in her exit interviews. She didn't go into too much detail, but she basically said they dated briefly after filming (which was in March/April), but after finding some things out (about him), they are no longer together. There appeared to be some animosity towards him by the way she answered the questions. Well, today, word got out that Taylor had tweeted that he is going to be a father in November. Guess what, it's not with Figgy, obviously! So, it appears that the child was conceived before he left for filming - whether he knew it at the time is the question. Can't say their break-up was at all surprising, but I didn't expect it to be because of something like this.

OK, now, onto the show!

Takali Camp
Adam tells Taylor he would love to talk to him if he was willing to listen. Taylor was super bummed to say the least. Adam told him it was lose-lose for him and maybe he did mess up. He agrees that he 100% screwed Taylor and also ended their "island romance". Adam just rubs salt in the wounds by telling Taylor that he is in a much worse situation than he was before and it's all his fault. No, ya think?! Taylor's reaction is the title of this episode: "I will destroy you!" lol

Vanua Camp
David wants to show Zeke his trust, so he shows him his idol. And with that, a new #supercouple is born. Zeke said he will take very good care of David...for the time being.

Reward Challenge

The Voice, Ep. 11.12

The Knockouts wrap up...

Team Adam

Brandan Fletcher vs. Nolan Neal

Brandon - "Soulshine" by Allman Brothers
I really like this guy. He has such a great, husky voice.

Nolan - "Love is Your Name" by Steven Tyler

This was an OK performance, but I wasn't really blown away.

My Pick: Brandon
Winner: Brandon (woohoo! I'm finally right! I really thought he was going to go with Nolan because he was so glad he came back after last year and said he could win)


Team Alicia

Michael Sanchez vs. Sa'Rayah

Michael - "Just the Two of Us" by Bill Withers
Definitely would not have picked this song, but it does let him show off his piano skills. He really rocks it out on those keys. I don't know if this was his best vocal performance that we've seen, but it was definitely the loudest one.

Sa'Rayah - "Ain't Nobody" by Chaka Khan
What an atrocious song choice. Yuck! I really can't handle this. I'm going to have to fast forward pretty soon, it's just painful. She might have a good voice, but song choices like this make me question her taste and what direction she would want to take her own music. If it's in this direction, then, no thanks.

My Pick: Michael
Winner: Sa'Rayah (of course, there was no way Alicia wasn't going to keep her...and we lost ANOTHER good one)

Team Blake

Austin Allsup vs. Gabe Broussard

Austin - "Breakdown" by Tom Petty
I really like this guy. Another great performance. Not much to say, other than it was really good.

Gabe - "It Will Rain" by Bruno Mars
I really like this song for him. He is such a talented kid. I love his voice. He really felt this song and gave an amazing performance. Love him! Blake would be stupid to not pick him...but he's not country and Austin is, so we can see how this is probably going to go. Plus, Blake met Austin 10 years ago and he's just been really connected to him. There better be a steal if that happens.

My Pick: Gabe
Winner: Austin (and of course...I was wrong, except, I was right...and NO STEAL?! boo!)

Dana Harper vs. Karlee Metzger

Dana - "You Give Me Something" by James Morrison
Great song choice, that we don't hear too often...nice! Very smooth performance. It's not a flashy song, but what she did with it showed off her amazing voice.

Karlee - "Invincible" by Kelly Clarkson
I'm having a hard time understanding her words for some reason. Ooh, that was a very pitchy high note. I really wanted to like this performance, but she really kind of fell apart. Yikes.

My Pick: Dana
Winner: Dana

Team Miley

Darby Walker vs. Maye Thomas

Darby - "Shake it Out" by Florence and the Machine
Of course, she would sing this awful song...it's right up her alley. I haven't really been a fan of her up to this point, and this certainly doesn't help. And I hate her taste in clothes.

Maye - "Closer" by Tegan & Sara
She's definitely not my favorite, but this was a pretty good performance.

My Pick: Maye
Winner: Darby (of course)

Aaron Gibson vs. Josh Halverson
Noooo! Don't put these 2 against each other! Are you kidding me?! We're going to lose one of them?! Alicia better use her last steal on whoever doesn't get picked. It looks like this is the last pairing, so we might just get lucky.

Josh - "Whiskey and You" by Tim McGraw
It always takes him a few bars to get into the song. It always starts so slow and you can't tell if he's singing or just whispering. But when he gets into it and gets to the chorus, I really love his voice. There's just something so haunting about the way he sings.

Aaron - "Die a Happy Man" by Thomas Rhett
Aaron might just be my favorite singer in the competition right now. That means he's probably doomed because I've lost every other good singer I like so far, it seems. He is just so amazing, I can't even stand it. Love his voice. He's kind of got the same raspiness that Brandon has. So sexy. And he plays guitar, so I'm already a sucker. He just makes it all look so easy.

My Pick: Aaron
Winner: Aaron (woohoo!)
Steal: Alicia

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Dancing with the Stars, Ep. 23.8

Theme: Halloween!

Highest score will get immunity from the instant dance-off. If there's a tie, they will look at cumulative scores to break the tie.

Terra & Sasha - ChaCha
Theme: Beetlejuice
It started out way slow for a chacha, and not much chacha going on. Once they got off the table, it picked up, but just slightly. I would say this was just "meh". Not real exciting, not really even that entertaining. I think it was the song. Totally agree with Carrie Ann.
Score: 24

Laurie & Val - Viennese Waltz
Theme: Willy Wonka
This should be really fun! This dance really was like a fairytale. Val did a great job bringing it to life. She was cute and adorable as always. It was really beautiful. Val was just about in tears at the end of it, just like he was in the rehearsal. This dance made him so emotional, because she is so good. Too adorable.
Score: 30

Marilu & Derek - Argentine Tango
Theme: Spiders/Spiderwebs
I love the "Sweet Dreams" and the set with the dancers using the bands like a web. Very cool! I really didn't want to like this because I'm ready for her to go home. Her footwork is way too slow and calculated. I think it needs to be a LOT sharper. Whoa, that was a big mess up! She was supposed to put her arm back around his head and she whacked him in the face! Yikes! It looked like something you would mess up in rehearsals. It totally threw her off and she didn't know what to do. There were a few other mistakes as well. She had a couple good weeks, and then last week was a major bump in the road. This didn't do much to get back in the groove. She is so in her head, I think. I'm sorry Derek, but I think she's done. He said he worked with her more last week than he has with any other partner and it wasn't great, and she didn't know why.
Score: 23

Calvin & Lindsay - Quickstep
Theme: Skeletons
I love his makeup and costume, it's fantastic! With the lights out, they really did look like dancing skeletons at times! This was such a fast quickstep. Lindsay didn't hold anything back. He continues to keep growing, just when you think he can't get any better. And those white teeth! They just glowed as usual, but looked so funny with him as a skeleton. Another great, fun dance. He's a contender, for sure!
Score: 30

Ryan & Cheryl - Tango
Theme: Maleficent
Cheryl was tough this week: Cheryl's house of pain! I think that's good...I think she can whip him into shape. He has been an underdog since day 1, and he's worked so hard to get this far. I hope they can really give him some good scores this week. I love the song, they're dancing to - it's perfect. His frame seems to be really strong and firm. I loved the slowed down part where they kind of dragged their feet..that was really cool. I think he did a great job, it was so fun! Ugh...they just always have something to pick on him for!
Score: 23

Jana & Gleb - Jazz
Theme: Little Shop of Horrors
Oh, Gleb...I just love him. He's so cute! Look at him in those glasses! Totes adorbs! What a fun routine! Her splits were amazing! Gleb's wasn't so bad either! One of her best routines yet! (Although nothing will beat their shower dance.)
Score: 27

James & Jenna - Viennese Waltz
Theme: Suicide Squad

Update: Sharna's knee injury is preventing her from dancing this week...and possibly for the rest of the competition :( We see that she slipped on her dress in rehearsals last week. She had reconstruction on the knee previously, and she felt something go. This is just so sad! She has a chance to win this season with James. No offense to Jenna, whom I love, but this was her first year as a pro, and she's been given arguably the best dancer in the competition. That is a lot of pressure! I'm not so sure that she is up to the task. Luckily, James is amazing and I'm sure he will be able to transition and work with her just as well as with Sharna. But I'm going to miss them dancing together. I hope she can come back, because I am dying to see their finale dances!

Great song for this - Grace's "You Don't Own Me". He looks amazing in that makeup. His character just continues to shine through, even with all the makeup. He brings all of his characters to life, so amazingly. He looks just like the Joker. I could watch him all day. I don't think he was quite as emotionally connected with Jenna as he would have been with Sharna, but that's totally understandable. It was still really amazing.
Score: 30

Dance-Off
James, Laurie, and Calvin all tied with 30. James has the most cumulative points, so he gets immunity. America will be voting live, as 2 couples go head-to-head. The winner of the dance-off will get 3 extra points added to their score.

Laurie & Val pick Calvin & Lindsay, who then pick Jive
Jana & Gleb pick Terra & Sasha, who then pick Salsa
Marilu & Derek will go against Ryan & Cheryl, doing a ChaCha

Laurie vs. Calvin - Jive
Judges picked Laurie & Val unanimously. America picked Laurie & Val - 63%. WINNER: Laurie & Val

Jana vs. Terra - Salsa
Judges picked Jana & Gleb 2-1. America picked Jana & Gleb - 54%.  WINNER: Jana & Gleb!

Marilu vs. Ryan - ChaCha
Judges picked Ryan & Cheryl 2-1. America picked Ryan & Cheryl - 58%. WINNER: Ryan & Cheryl!!!! Woohoo!!!!

Week 8 Leaderboard

James & Jenna --30 + 5 = 35
Laurie & Val -- 30 + 3 = 33
Calvin & Lindsay -- 30
Jana & Gleb -- 27 + 3 = 30
Ryan & Cheryl -- 23 + 3 = 26
Terra & Sasha -- 24
Marilu & Derek -- 23

Results

In Jeopardy: Ryan & Cheryl, Terra & Sasha
Going Home: Ryan & Cheryl

:( :( :(   I'm so sad to see him go, but I'm so happy for how far he made it. He made it so much further than I thought he would. Way to go, Ryan. You were awesome, and you will be missed!

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