Land o'Lessa

Sorry about the lack of updates – been a busy week here with Mom being in the hospital and them running tests and so on and so forth. She’s on her way home with a clean bill of health though, so yay! Time to catch up on the week, huh?

First off – Project Runway!

Is it just me, or are many of the challenges this year – many MORE of them, I should say – blatant commercials for things? This week was no different, with the creation of a new Levi’s 501 Iconic Look. Jillian has an irritable moment when Victoria ‘copies’ her coat idea, then breaks down because she keeps poking herself with the needles and is “bleeding everywhere” and of course is running behind schedule. Chris talks to his clothing, and Christian is dubbed a ‘cartoon character’ which I think fits along perfectly with my desire to shrink him and carry him around in my purse to pull out for my entertainment – my own little Pocket Gay, so to speak.

As for the looks – I think they were spot on with picking Ricki as the winner, his was clearly top level, as was Rami’s. Victoria and Jillian deserved to be the bottom two as well, and I am SO glad that Victoria was Auf’d – because she annoys me so. Heh. That, and her dress was AWFUL. And if you think you want Ricki’s design, it’s available at Levistore.com in sizes 2-16.

Next up – Make Me A Super Model!

Last night’s episode got a little STEAMY didn’t it? RAWR!

First off – THANK YOU AMERICA for getting it right and sending Dom packing at the top of the show. For someone who ‘never complains’ he managed to never take responsibility for anything at all, didn’t he? Even as he was leaving “I can walk – it was faulty coaching and maybe give me shoes that fit..” Wah fuckin’ wah.

Then, it’s all about stepping outside the box and creating chemistry. We have straight boys playing gay, we have straight girls playing lesbian, we have gay guys playing it straight, and straights either connecting or lacking any chemistry at all. Ha. It was very steamy up in there more then once as the top couples ROCKED it out, and the bottom couples bored us to death.

In the end, the bottom three were chosen – Three of the four that were the most boring and couldn’t leave their troubles at the door (Frankie was saved by his previous week’s performance, I think) – Aryn, Jay and Holly. Here’s hoping America gets it right again, and sends Jay packing.

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And – Check back later and I’ll have a list of other shows that are currently casting!

No, it’s not about the Ms. America Reality Check show (though, it could be! Ha!). Nope, what those two words mean now, is it’s time for Top Chef Season Four! The contestants – no, the CHEFtestants were announced today at BravoTV. For season four, we have:

-Andrew, 30 – Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, FL; A Sous Chef who Resides in N.Y.
-Antonia, 31 – Executive Chef, Foxtail, SBE Restaurant Group, Los Angeles, CA
-Dale, 29 – Hometown: Chicago, IL; Resides in N.Y where he’s a Sous Chef at Buddakan.
-Erik, 38 – Hometown: Chappaqua, NY; Resides in San Francisco, CA where he’s Executive Chef at Circa Restaurant
-Jennifer, 35 – Hometown: Brooklyn, NY; Resides in San Francisco, CA where she’s the Executive Chef at COCO500 Restaurant
-Lisa, 27 – Hometown: Toronto, Canada; Resides in N.Y. where she hopes to open an Asian themed restaurant.
-Manuel, 33 – Hometown: Laredo, TX; Resides in N.Y. where he’s Executive Chef at Dos Caminos
-Mark, 29 – Hometown: Invercargill, New Zealand; Resides in N.Y. where he’s Sous Chef at Public Restaurant
-Nikki, 35 – Hometown/Resides in: N.Y. where she’s the Chef / co-owner at 24 Prince
-Nimma, 26 – Hometown: Peachtree City, GA; Resides in Atlanta, GA where she’s Chef at Repast
-Richard, 35 – Hometown: Uniondale, NY; Resides in Atlanta, GA where he’s Chef and culinary designer at Trail-Blais
-Ryan, 28 – Hometown: Los Banos, CA; Resides in San Francisco, CA where he’s Chef at Myth Cafe
-Spike, 27 – Hometown: Clearwater Beach, FL; Resides in Williamsburg, N.Y. where he’s Chef de Cuisine, Mai House, Drew Nieporent
-Stephanie, 31 – Hometown: Stamford, CT; Resides in Chicago, IL where she was the chef/owner of Scylla in Chicago until recently
-Valerie, 32 – Hometown/Resides in: Chicago, IL where she’s a Personal Chef
-Zoi, 30, – Hometown: Seattle, WA; Resides in San Francisco, CA where she’s a self-taught Chef/Restaurant Consultant.

So there you have it! The season premiere will be in March, and Padma returns to head up the judging table alongside head judge Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, and Ted Allen. And of course, a variety of respected chefs will guest star this year as well. The cheftestants will compete to out-flavor, out-cook and out-do their compeition in order to win a cool $1,000,000 to help open their own restaurants from Glad Family of Products, a feature in Food & Wine magazine, a shocase at the Annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen and a gourmet dream vacation in the French Alps.

But most importantly? They will be able to call themselves Top Chef.

Flame on!

Finally, we get to see what the big announcement is and how it affects the competition! Bout time, I was on the edge of my seat. Heh.

We start right back where we left off, with the 7 teams told they’re going to enter a new phase with an important decision. Allie asks them if they could vote off one team, right now, who would it be? The decision will have an effect on the team from here on out. She gives them time to think about it, then they reconvened. Jenn and Maggie are in a rough situation, and they assume that everyone will go for the biggest threat. The orange team, unsurprisingly has Jackie going “Black!” and Dan talking her down. Mark and Jay talk about those they’re aligned with. Brittany and Berny are just as unsure as the rest of them. Roger and Trent think about voting purple because they were under the yellow line again – two below, you gotta go. They flip their tray between yellow and purple and go with that. Paul tries to convince Kelly to vote Black, while she pushes for grey, thinking they might be the bigger threat with more to lose.

They rejoin Allison and before finding out why, they reveal the votes. Paul and Kelly vote for Black. Brittany and Bernie vote for Black. Jen and Maggie vote for Yellow. Black team vote for Yellow. Trent and Roger vote for Purple. Jackie and Dan vote for Jen and Maggie. It’s a three way tie, with Pink making the ultimate decision. Bette-sue and Ali vote for Yellow.

Kelly and Paul (Yellow) get the biggest loser team of the week, and have been voted as the biggest threat. Kelly is in tears and gives a goodbye speach. THEN Alison explains they’re not going home. For this week only, the Biggest Loser becomes All Against One. For the next week, the only competition is the Yellow team. At the next weighin, it’s 6 teams against one. At the challenges, the same. If their percentage is above the other six teams, they choose who goes home. If it is below, they automatically go home. They get the choice of a trainer that will focus only on them. They choose Jillian. The other teams will train with Bob.

Iiiiiiiiiiiinteresting.

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That’s right – TK and Rachel WIN The Amazing Race 12!

This episode/Finale was twice as fun for me to watch for two reasons – one, the whole episode was practically in my back yard, as I’m about 3 hours south of Anchorage. (What – that is TOO my backyard.) And two – I got to watch it with my mom. True, she was in the hospital due to a minor heart attack at the time but she graciously let me watch my show and cheered for my favorite too in between blood draws and bedpans. (I’m kidding about the bedpans. Honest)

THATS how dedicated I am to watching Reality TV for all ya’ll invisible readers out there. (I believe in readers, I BELIEVE in readers!) (Hey, it worked for Tinkerbell and fairies! Don’t mock me!) Actually, Mom had watched last weeks, and was just as interested in who won, so again, total win win situation. Minus the heart attack, of course.

ANYway. I won’t do a full recap because of my local and all, but man did Rachel pull it off for them or what? I had to laugh at Christina’s “Frickin chickens and then it was the fricken bike and what is that fricken POLE?” as she struggled to pull off the puzzle. It was nice to see the three teams appreciate the beauty that is my home state, and my favorites (Aside from my beloved Goth Kids) pull out the win besides.

And yes, that statue really is called the Salmon Hooker. We live in Alaska, we make our own fun!

Everyone is scrambling for new ideas to fill the primetime real estate, and the networks have clearly gone reality crazy. Now, for a girl like me, that’s filled with all kinds of awesome, but even I can’t watch it all! Nor do I want too. But now… maybe they’ve gone too far?

They already brought back American Gladiators, a blast from my past, and now NBC and ABC are at it again. This time? It’s Circus of the stars. I know, right? ABC is in serious negotiations to bring back the campy Circus of the Stars, and not to be out done, NBC has already green lit six episodes of “Celebrity Circus” to air this summer. It’s a good day to be a D-Lister, huh?

“Circus” will be a competition-based skein in which celebs will vie to be crowned the best of the big top. Endemol topper David Goldberg — whose NBC gameshow “Deal or No Deal” has been doing boffo ratings in recent weeks — said the celebs would train and perform in a real circus.

“It won’t be shot against a fabricated backdrop,” he said. “It will take you into the craziness of the real thing.”

He said celebs will be judged by their new circus peers — meaning the panel of judges could included the bearded lady or a clown.

Revival of “Circus of the Stars,” packaged by CAA, is also expected to be a competition, with the same sort of can-they-do-it? drama as ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.” Both the NBC skein and ABC’s possible show will feature more modern Cirque du Soleil-style stunts.

Plestis agreed that his “Circus” also shared some DNA with “Dancing” –but it will be on a grander scale.

“It’s bigger, bolder and more death-defying,” he said. “You can break a nail doing that show. You can break a leg on ours.”

So tell me – would you watch either one? Do you even remember Circus of the stars? If so, here’s a reminder:

Is this strike and what they’re fighting for going to be forgotten in the face of Reality Overload in the long run?

Who knows – just give me my Big Brother and Survivor and I’ll be a happy happy girl!