I Need A Vacation...

... but I'm not getting one. I'm taking the weekend off to finish the show I directed & then have a relaxing Easter with my family. And a nice home cooked meal. Home cooked meal ... what's that? Be sure to check back next week for more recaps & interview. As I said earlier in the week, this Sunday's Apprentice features a double firing & I'll have the two candidates talking with me this Monday. Also, Andrea from Bravo's Top Design will definitely be making an appearance mid-week. Happy Easter & just remember - the mini eggs are better than the cream eggs!

American Idol: Enough With The Surprises! (4/4/07)

Just like that ... an emotional Gina is booted from the competition. And there's me - mouth on floor. Are you as confused as I am? Can Haley's nice legs really keep her in the competition? Do Sanjaya's hairstyles make a difference? I asked some radio DJs from around the country to sound-off & help unravel the mystery that is ... American Idol Elimination Night.

Today's panel:

Ty Bentli

103.5 KissFM - Chicago

Afternoons 4p-8p

Request line: (312)591-1035

Jordan
Kiss 95.7 FM - Hartford

Mornings 6a-10a

Request Line (860) 247-9570

Jonathan

Q95.1 FM - Meridian, MS

Nights 7p - 11p
Request Line (601) 483-9595

RC: Who did you see as being the most talented Idol this season?

Ty: I have a tough time saying 'talented' - Melinda and Lakisha obviously both have INCREDIBLE voices and emotion. I really think that Jordan has an amazing presence and voice (especially for her age). She will grow into one of the biggest stars to come from this competition Blake has an uncanny ability to contemporize and individualize his songs (and makes SMART choices for his performances).

Jordan: Obviously Lakisha, Melinda and Jordin are the best singers. However Blake, Chris Richardson and Haley may be the best performers. What I look for in contestants is who will be the one to get a record deal and make it in today’s business. The best singer may win this year…but that doesn’t guarantee they’re going to have the best career of the group. Just look at Taylor Hicks compared to Daughtry!

Jonathan: Jordin Sparks, by far. She's got an awesome voice and the fact that she's cute also helps out a ton. She'a also got the most drive out of any of the other contestants and that also goes a very long way in helping her stand out as a talent.

RC: Who is the most marketable Idol? Who would you play on your station tomorrow?

Ty: I think the two (sorry, I have a fear of commitment) most marketable talents to come out of this competition will be Jordan and Blake (although that JT version 2.0 could probably squeeze some moments of fame, too). Same reasons as above...Jordan is an upcoming superstar, and Blake is a smart artist.

Jordan: Chris Richardson, Blake, Jordin and Haley are the most marketable. Any of those four have the potential to come out with a hit that could be played on the radio. Blake is the one in this competition that has that element of surprise. Ya never really know what he’s going to do from week to week which is a good thing!

Jonathan: Again, I have to go with Jordin. She's got the most potential to have a hit record out of anyone on the show. That said, I would also play records by Blake. Gotta show that guy some love because he's always gone out of his way to stand out.

RC: What is the deal with Sanjaya? Why are people voting for him & how is he still in this competition?

Ty: People might be sick of American Idol...we realize that we are tired of it, but we can't quite tune out...its like a bad relationship...the only way out is to deal it a crushing blow...like having Sanjaya win...I think we've come to the point in our culture where we're willing to sink that ship. The people who hate IDOL are voting for him, cuz if he wins, it will just simply destroy IDOL's credibility forever...the people who are getting a little sick of the whole IDOL circus are voting for Sanjaya cuz its like a joke to them...and the little girls think he's got nice teeth and pretty eyes...

Jordan: Sanjaya is basically a national joke. He’s not going to win, but he’ll keep people talking about American Idol. He may make the top 5 but that’s probably where it will end for him. I honestly think he wants to be kicked off, he doesn’t look comfortable on stage at all and knows people are keeping him on just to mess with the show.

Jonathan: I have a few conspiracy theories but I'll save those for now. I think that it really boils down to is a combination of efforts of those such as Howard Stern and the people behind votefortheworst.com There are a lot of people who are fed up with what they see as a cookie-cutter pop star so it wouldn't surprise me if this was a sabotage job. Another factor is that Sanjaya's just a cute kid and people feel sorry for that kind of person.

RC: This is not the first year we've had sub-par finalists (like Sanjaya or Haley). Why do the judges put through people who clearly weren't the best of the tens of thousands who tried out?

Ty: I think Simon Cowell is one of the sharpest entertainers/manipulators on the planet, and would bet money that Exec Producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe are brilliant in their own right. Sanjaya (and Haley...although I would marry her tomorrow) are in there, because America needs diverse options...vote for Haley cuz she has nice legs (Simon was right)...vote for Sanjaya cuz its a phenomenon and he's hilariously weird...we have bad contestants, cuz they weren't in it for the music...they were in it to highlight the differences between themselves and the amazing talents in the competition. Can I still vote for Katherine McPhee??

Jordan: I think Sanjaya and especially Haley deserve to be there. The problem is Sanjaya doesn’t really have a style that fits what people today like. He seemed most comfortable when he sang an old classic the other night. Haley has a lot of potential, the look and charisma she just is apart of a very talented group of female singers!

Jonathan: Like any other TV show, Idol lives and dies by Nielsen. The judgets and producers (a lot of people don't realize how much they have to do with who makes it through) want to put on the people with talent but they also want to have someone who will generate a buzz (be it positive or negative; buzz is buzz) that will translate into ratings. Higher ratings=higher profits through advertising. It happened with William Hung and Sanjaya is this season's William Hung.

Thanks to all the DJs who participated.

Make sure you check them out on MySpace & their station websites.

It Wasn't Just Me!

In watching Michael Buble's performance last night, I kept saying to myself: a) Since when does he have an accent? and b) What the hell is so funny? He laughed & slurred his way through the entire song & then, made a weird comment to Ryan (obviously caught off guard) asking if he could vote for Antonella. Idol producer must be kicking themselves? For those of you who missed it, AOL put the video here. I knew I wasn't crazy!

A Reality Check With ... Goil Amornvivat (Bravo's "Top Design")

Born in Bangkok, Thailand, Goil moved to the United States when he was 12 years old. After graduating from Yale, he was handpicked by Robert A.M. Stern, a world-renowned architect, to work for him. It was here that he collaborated on a project to design and build the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Goil's work has been exhibited at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh and the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. He likes open spaces and can do everything from interiors, architecture, landscapes and product design. Goil believes he has a more worldly approach to his style, and says he's used to a competitive environment and loves to win.

Self-described as “small, spicy and fabulous,” Goil is known to stand his ground and confront his challenger face-to-face when conflicts arise.

RC: You studied architecture in college – what was the first big project you got to work on? And how old were you?
GA: My first big project was the Comcast Tower in Philly working for Robert Stern.

RC: How did you gain your background in interior design?
GA: The two disciplines are very close to each other. They’re connected. For me, I don’t see the line.

RC: What was the audition process like for “Top Design”?
GA: It was so long ago! I think what we did was ... I sent in an application form, set up a meeting with a casting person. Apparently I was a day late, I was totally oblivious. I brought my portfolio, prepared a little bit of a speech - what I am about or what my work is about.

RC: Being more of an architect, were you intimidated going into the competition?
GA: Going into the competition, I was a littler nervous. For a while, I didn’t tell anybody about my background. I didn’t want them to count me out so soon.

RC: On last week’s episode, you had to design a hotel room using the element “fire”. You & Andrea ended up in the bottom two. Why do you think you ended up getting sent home?
GA: I’m not exactly sure. To be really honest, I don’t hate my room. I had one element that I didn’t finish … I couldn’t finish it to my liking. This time, I ran into time sensitive issues.

RC: How do you deal with stress?
GA: I’m really easygoing but when it comes to work, I’m quite focused. I work my way out of it. The first episode was the easiest, I had Elizabeth next to me helping me out. And my carpenter, Sarah, has been by my side, calming me down. As an artist, you need to go through the range of emotions.

RC: You seemed to have a high level of respect for Andrea’s work throughout the competition. Are you hoping she wins?
GA: Of course! I love her! She’s a few models ahead of me in terms of work. I hope that she wins. I love what she represents.

RC: Looking back, which project did you think was your best during the show?
GA: I actually liked the children’s room & the college student’s room. Those two rooms are very personal for me. The children’s room was all active, the concept part was very clear. It was executed in a clean & rich way. You can look at that way room & there’s a lot of different layers in it. The fourth room was the same way. My college student was a painter. I asked her, if your house was burning down, what would you grab? She said her painting. Her painting had much to do with abuse & violence. My room manifested itself in that way. All the pieces were broken.

RC: What’s next for you? GA: I have been back developing my practice. I left Robert Stern & started my own practice. Then this show came along & I’m picking up where I left off.

RC: Can we expect to see you on the finale?
GA: You’ll have to watch & see!

Thanks to Goil for talking to RealityCheck!

"Top Design" airs on Bravo Wednesday nights at 10pm EST.

Dancing With The Star Wars??? (4/3/07)

In a not-so-surprising turn of events, former Miss USA Shandi Finnessey & her partner Brian Fortuna were eliminated on last night's "Dancing With The Stars". Leeza Gibbons also found herself in the bottom two but was spared for this week. Joey Fatone received the highest number of votes for his tango to the theme from Star Wars, despite his awful puns like, "I am a Joe-i". Boooooo. Next week, pairs take on the Waltz & (my favorite) the Pasa Doble. I'm still rootin' for Apolo!

The Bachelor: Premiere Episode (4/2/07)

I have to admit ... The Bachelor roped me in right away. They showed new bachelor Andy Balwdin runnin around without his shirt, throwing rocks into the ocean while talking about how much love he has to give, and holding his Humanitarian Of The Year Award. What girl wouldn't swoon? Dammit! I hate being girly.

On his 30th birthday, Andy had the opportunity to meet the 25 women would be fighting ... er, VYING ... for his love & affection. During the first meetings, it seemed like he was enjoying brunettes better than blondes because he kept saying "Oh my Gosh" at the pretty brown haired girls. Stephanie T. ended up getting the first impression rose but I was not too thrilled because she actually said to him, "What's the deal with that rose?" Don't you people know you don't bring up the rose? You act like you don't see it and you MOVE ON!

A nervous Andy showed up his birthday party to find the girls competing in every way they could for his attention. One girl sang the national anthem to him & I was surprised that he said he was almost moved to tears by her performance! The girls, in their confessionals, talked about how hot he was & how he's a doctor & he's going to be theirs. Stephanie said: "I'm going to get rose after rose after rose until I get a ring on my finger". Ummm, didn't you guys meet 5 minutes ago?

In mid-episode, I'm feeling that Linda, Lindsay, and the drunk girl (Blakeney) won't make the first cut. Since I'm blogging as I'm watching, let's see just how good I am.

Can I just say, while I'm at the midway point, that I could never be on this show. I can watch it, but I can't be on it. There's too much girliness, cattiness for my liking. This is why I eat cookies on the couch & watch it as opposed to participating in it!

The desperate attempts for attention continued - baking a cake (using tequila instead of eggs - I wish I was kidding), backflips, pushup contests, squats contests, and yes ... someone did the worm across the living room floor. At the rose ceremony, Peyton received the first rose mostly because it was also her birthday (her 24th). 13 more were given out (including to the singer & the cake baker).

Am I amazing or WHAT? I called 3 that would be going home & I was right about all three. I'm like a reality goddess ... but I don't know if I'm proud of that. This season looks like it's full of intrigue & drama. I think Andy makes out with every girl & every girl claims she's falling in love with him. I'd be WAY too jealous to put with that ... but I'll be watching all season!

A Reality Check With ... Tim Urban (NBC's "The Apprentice")

Tim Urban stops by Reality Check to talk about his hatred for being grayed out, his relationship status with Nicole, and fights back against the team that forced his firing.

RC: How did you end up getting on “The Apprentice”? Did you go to an open call or submit a tape?
TU: I did go to an open casting. I was a big fan, I was addicted to “The Apprentice”. I was watching the first episode of season 5, and an ad came on the tv asking people to come to an open call at Universal City. There were a couple thousand people there and I waited 8 hours. For me, it was a big, fun game and the next thing I knew, I was on national tv.

RC: Was being on the show how you imagined it would be or did it take you by surprise?
TU: Because I watched, I knew what to expect. It was definitely harder than I thought. It was surreal watching it for so long and then suddenly it was like I was inside the tv!

RC: What was your favorite task to work on?
TU: Well, we lost, but I loved the GNC challenge where we were boxing. Before they revealed the results, I was sure we had won! We had lots of fun, running around on the soccer field at halftime. We had fun at the Universal challenge, too.

RC: Yeah, except you guys took a lot of heat for that challenge. Angela was pretty upset with you guys.
TU: She was bitter about that. But it wasn’t as bad as it looked. We were not lying. We offered their customers free water and they came to us. Look, you wouldn’t tell a baseball team stealing bases is immoral!

RC: Right. It seemed on last night’s episode that Arrow was disjointed & it’s the first time I’ve seen that in a while. Looking back on it, did you feel that you were being a distraction as your teammates said or did you feel there were other reasons for the loss?
TU: I completely acknowledge what the team is saying but because it was an easy attack. Any good player is going to jump on that. It’s actually quite silly to call people a distraction. I never mentioned Nicole, her name never came up during challenges. Ok … saying that I forced my ideas upon people. I get very into my own ideas however, every time we would brainstorm, I would throw out mine & they would say: “We love it, let’s do it.”

RC: What’s it like when you’re watching the episode when you see people talking about you in their confessionals? Does it bother you or do you take what is said with a grain of sand?
TU: I know how the show works, and it happened big time in episode 11 and a little in episode 10. James was saying “I don’t know what he’s doing” and Frank was saying, “I’m here for a job interview” … they said nothing to my face. They kept saying things like, “You two are great together”. Frank apologized when Nicole switched teams. THEY kept bringing it up.

RC: Looking back on it, do you think the decision to get involved with Nicole during the interview process was a good one?
TU: Um, well, the fact is … I don’t think you can wait. Waiting would’ve meant … I mean … turning things off & not getting involved in the first place. It wasn’t a matter of “let’s do it later”. Realistically, I could’ve waited but it wasn’t going to happen if I didn’t do it then. We’re still dating 10 months later.

RC: You took my next question. I figured you guys would wait ‘til the live finale to reveal your status.
TU: I’m allowed to say that.

RC: You joked during your car ride out about being “grayed out” on NBC’s website. How do you maintain a sense of humor in the middle of such a stressful situation?
TU: I’ve never liked being grayed out, I don’t enjoy it. I hope to be grayed out as little as possible in my life. We got into that fight … 3 against me … about Nikki a couple days earlier. I know the show – a concensus attack cannot be overcome. I’m looking at it saying, “This is a concensus attack in the making. If the 3 of them can attack me they’re safe. So we either win & I’m still in it OR we lose & I’m going home”. When we lost, I was thinking, “That’s not so good”. I was going to go in there, fight my little heart out, and probably go home. I wanted to survive or go down swinging & I went down swinging. I lost & as expected, ended up in the limo. I had accepted it. I had a good run, there was no task the next day. I felt fine about it.

RC: You recently completed an album, Turning Home, with Glen Ballard producing. Tell us a little bit about the album & what it was like to work with someone who’s got Michael Jackson & Aretha Franklin on his resume.
TU: It’s a little silly that I was on “The Apprentice” because I was doing it more as a fun game. Real estate is not my thing, music is. I want to be a composer. I’m a piano player, I write a lot of different kinds of music. I met someone who was Glen’s assistant and they said maybe I can play one day for him. I got a meeting, and I was incredibly lucky since he is a hero of mine. I played 5 minutes, he kept asking for more Then he said, “Let’s do an album together”. I couldn’t believe it, it was the most exciting thing. I came in a week later. He said, “OK, I want you to sit at the piano & play”. I sat for 3 hours and improvised. We picked out the really good moments and expanded our 8 favorite ones into tracks. You can buy the album on www.timburban.com or ITunes.

RC: So what are you up to now that the show is over?
TU: I still have my tutoring company in LA. My long-term goal out there is to make another CD & get music to people & make that my thing.

Thanks to Tim for taking the time to talk to us here at RealityCheck.

You can also see this blog on RealityWanted!

PREVIEW: The Bachelor (4/2/07)

I have issues with ABC's The Bachelor but I always get roped into watching. So yes, I'll be watching this season entitled "An Officer & A Gentlemen" but for me, The Bachelor, it's do or die. Watching The Bachelor is like watching The Apprentice except nobody gets hired. Thanks, Trump. I wasted 16 weeks of my life & I can't get that back. None of The Bachelor romances last so it's hard to get emotionally involved in the storyline. I watched The Bachelor: Rome. Lorenzo chose Jen ... then it didn't work out. So he ended up dating 2nd runner up, Sadie. And ... THAT didn't work out. I mean, I'm starting to get annoyed about it. I'm hoping that this season redeems itself. I need a real Trista/Ryan story to help put me back on track. So, let's all give The Bachelor a chance. Andy Baldwin is quite the looker so he'll keep me watchin. How long before we realize one of the single ladies is completely out of her mind? I'm gonna go with episode 3. Pay attention to the special time:

Monday, April 2 at 9:45/8:45c
"Episode 1001"
U.S. Navy Lieutenant Andy Baldwin, M.D. , a real-life "officer and a gentleman" who's also an accomplished doctor and triathlete, faces the most exciting mission of his life - finding true love!

The Amazing Race: Charla Gets Her Ass Kicked By Horses & Sausage (4/1/07)

Tonight's 2 hour episode took the teams on a tumultuous journey to Poland. Team Guido & Eric/Danielle (known as Team Shut Up in my living room) were left behind after missing a flight. This put them more than 12 hours behind the other teams. The Beauty Queens finished 1st & actually started their next leg before those two teams had finished the previous one. Team Guido ended up in last place but it was a non-elimination round. They are now marked for elimination and will incur a 30 minute penalty if they do not come in 1st on their next leg.

Teams the made an emotional journey to Auschwitz where they had to observe a moment of silence. Afterwards, they found themselves "intersected". Each team had to pair up with another to complete a task until they were given further notice. Ozzie & Danny teamed up with Uchenna & Joyce to finish a Fast Forward. Successful, they were able to go right to the pit stop where they found out that while they tied for 1st place, only one team could have the prize associated with it. Ozzie & Danny, generously & without hesitation, let Uchenna & Joyce have the trip to St. Lucia. The Beauty Queens begrudgingly joined forces with Charla & Mirna while Team Guido had no choice but to team up with Team Shut Up. They hit a Detour & both sets of teams decided to do a task where they had to eat 2 feet of sausage. Dustin & Charla both threw up ... and I prefer never again to watch Charla shove utensils down her throat in order to force herself to puke. That image is now burned in my brain ... thanks, CBS. It hurts.

The remaining four teams were released from being intersected and hit a Detour where one team member had to lead a horse through the woods. On the way there, Charla & Mirna screamed at a taxi driver who wouldn't let them follow him for any less than $100. An episode wouldn't be complete without Mirna melting down, crying, and screaming in broken english. They finally made it to the challenge. Charla, having previous bad luck with horses, did not find much change in Poland. Dustin & Kandice had no trouble finishing 3rd with Charla & Mirna close behind. Team Guido finished 5th but since Eric & Danielle finished during the 30 minute penalty, they were eliminated.

On next week's episode, Eric & Danielle butt heads with Charla & Mirna while Ozzie & Danny have a meltdown.