top chef - season 1 vs. 2 all stars

season 1 contenders: dave, tiffani, harold and stephen

season 2 contenders: ilan, sam, elia, and marcel

june 6th marks the preview of the 4 star all stars on bravo at 10/9c. where is lee ann? she is now a culinary producer of the show - congrats to her! she was an awesome competitor during season 1 and though i thought she should have been in the top 3 over tiffani, it looks like she's doing well for herself.

Return of Paradise Hotel

4 years after it's initial airing, paradise hotel is finally making a return. completely scandalous, a little trashy, and a true to form guilty pleasure, paradise hotel had all the makings of great "reality" with a splash of jerry springer.

the tentative start date is january 13, 2008, i can't wait!

ANTM - Review of All Cycles

Cycle 1:
The Bitch: Robin Manning – a Bible-toting, hate-spewing, know it all
Top 2: Adrianne vs. Shannon
Winner: Adrianne. Very well-deserved!
Judges: Tyra, Janice, Kimora, and Beau Quillian (blah magazine fashion editor)

Cycle 2:
The Bitch: Camille – arrogant to a fault
Top 2: Yoanna vs. Mercedes
Winner: Yoanna, pretty face, but Mercedes should have won based on the catwalk.
Judges: Tyra, Janice, Nigel (handsome photog/former model joins the ranks), and Eric Nicholson (barely remember him)

Cycle 3:
The Bitch: Eva – just mean, but improved towards the end
Scandal: Shandi cheating on her boyfriend
Top 2: Eva vs. Yaya
Winner: Eva, but Yaya did much better throughout the competition and had a great look
Judges: Tyra, Janice, Nigel, and Nole Marin (stylist?)

Cycle 4:
The Bitch: Keenyah – whiny bitch
Top 2: Kahlen vs. Naima
Winner: Naima. Both were good, but I personally loved Naima’s look and was glad she won
Judges: Same as Cycle 3

Cycle 5:
The Bitch: Nicole – bratty, immature bitch
Top 2: Nik vs. Nicole
Winner: Nicole. Nik should have won hands down. She performed well through-out and Nicole sucked almost the whole way. So why did Nicole win? I think it was because of new judge Twiggy’s rampant support.
Judges: Tyra, Nigel, J. Alexander (runway coach), and Twiggy (famous model known for launching the mod look – horrible judge though. Lackluster supporter of horrible contenders)

Cycle 6:
The Bitch: Jade – picked on people, particularly on Gina, incredibly self-centered, very old looking
Top 2: Joanie vs. Danielle
Winner: Danielle. I liked Joanie’s personality and performance better though.
Judges: Same as Cycle 5

Cycle 7:
The Bitch: Melrose – fake and stuck-up, self-centered
Top 2: Melrose vs. CariDee
Winner: CariDee, despite a not-so-great runway, CariDee thankfully won
Judges: Same

Cycle 8:
The Bitch: Renee – mean and snide, but made improvements toward the end
Top 2: Natasha vs. Jaslene
Winner: Jaslene. Go Cha Cha!!!! I loved Jaslene for returning to win after she didn’t make it as a finalist in the last cycle. She took beautiful photos. I don’t even know why Natasha was runner-up, she sucked it up the first few pictures, had a bad “My Life as a Cover Girl” commercial, and a bad Aboriginal picture. She only started to stand out towards the end – Renee should have taken 2nd.
Judges: Same

ANTM

this week's adventure in australia consisted of the go-sees and photo shoots for both a men's and women's magazine. as you all probably well know, the most important elements of the go-sees are punctuality and personality. brittany showed neither and was the first model in antm history to not book even one job. this on top of being late led to her downfall. jaslene rocked it in both segments - she needs to win this whole damn thing!

both renee and natasha did well in their photo shoots. renee in particular has been doing really well lately. dionne and brittany were in the bottom 2. personally, of the 2, dionne deserved to get kicked off. brittany takes gorgeous photos (above example notwithstanding) week after week, but was surprisingly cut because of her go-see performance. a little harsh considering her track record. dionne has been a so-so performer all along, is reverting back to her "mall" look of sideswept bangs even though she was specifically told not to do that, and requires too much direction to achieve the right shot.

hopefully dionne will get cut next week. at this point, top 2 will probably be renee and jaslene, but who knows? natasha has been steadily climbing up as a judge favorite.

RW/RR Challenge: Inferno III

the first episode of the season was certainly an exciting one. once again pitting the "good guys" versus the "bad asses", the sparks were destined to fly.

representing the good guys:
alton - las vegas RW: a one man powerhouse and a hot one at that
cara - south pacific RR: probably best known for posing in playboy, otherwise blah
tim - 2nd RR: really old, but always nice
susie - down under RR: am i the only one who thinks she looks exactly the same as she did on RR?
ace - paris RW: poor ace, he never gets very far in these challenges
rachel - austin RW: the super-emotional nurse who went to Iraq, sweet girl but melodramatic
paula - key west RW: her season revolved around domestic abuse and an eating disorder, she's the girl to root for
john - key west RW: so blah
colie - denver RW: big flirt, kinda slutty on her season, semi-blah
davis - denver RW: gets punched by CT in the 1st ep

bad asses:
aneesa - chicago RW: fiery, almost always gets in an argument with someone
tonya - chicago RW: the promiscuous one of the group, can you believe she's married now?
abram - south pacific RR: who keeps inviting this guy back? he almost always winds up decking someone
ct - paris RW: gets kicked off in the 1st ep, the intimidating meathead type
derrick - i love derrick! he seems like such a good guy/competitor but he never makes it all the way
danny - austin RW: best known for whining throughout his season after a drunken brawl and hooking up with the hot melinda
evelyn - fresh meat: who?!?!?!?!?!?!
kenny - fresh meat: pretty boy who never makes it far
janelle - key west RW: blah, the whole cast of this season aside from tyler, svet, and paula were blah
jenn - denver RW: former cheerleader, slightly promiscuous in her season
tyrie - denver RW: exhibits quite a temper in his season, not unlike nehemiah

at first glance, it looks like the bad asses are stacked to win. ct and abram are 2 big competitors for the bad asses versus the 1 big competitor (alton) for the good guys. things evened out briefly when ct decided to punch davis in the eye and got sent home soon after. but with the departure of ct came the arrival of derrick, and the teams were once again unbalanced in favor of the bad asses.

cutting to the chase of the 1st few episodes: davis and abram are chosen to go in the inferno, but alton and tyrie wind up going in the face-off with alton coming out as the champion. susie and jenn are then chosen for the inferno, but susie wins the life shield allowing her to choose rachel to compete in her stead. rachel starts out strong but winds up losing to jenn in a jousting-type event. predictably, rachel has an aneurysm and is so overcome with emotion that she can't say goodbye to her teammates. she walks herself out sobbing all the while. i feel bad for the girl, but it's just a game.

fyi: eventually you find out who the hell this evelyn chick is. she was danny's partner in fresh meat and was kicked off so quickly that no one i know had the slightest idea who she was. apparently, she's very athletic and naively confrontational (about really stupid things).

america's next top model

a loyal viewer since season 1, i can't turn away from this show. the cattiness and drama are way too addicting! cycle 8 has been interesting. i expected several girls to make it much farther than they did and several to get cut much earlier.

my first glance predictions:

who i thought would be first to go - whitney, renee, diana, & natasha

middle tier - sarah, jael, kathleen, samantha, & dionne

final four - jaslene, brittany, felicia, & cassandra

this week's cut was jael. she had a good personality, but she made it farther than i thought she would, so props to her. her pictures were hit and miss. she looked better blonde than brunette - it seemed to fit her better.

so who's left now? jaslene, natasha, dionne, brittany, and renee are the five left. i have to admit that i disliked renee immensely in the beginning for starting so much shit on the show, but now she's growing on me. my favorite is still jaslene. her photos are awesome, especially her earlier ones.