It Was THAT Bad!

Sanjaya's facial hair is compared to those of Prince & Joey Fatone. See the worst facial hair of all time including our very own - Sanjaya Malakar.

Survivor: Are We Going To Live On Exile Island? (4/12/07)

Moto & Ravu were greeted by tree mail today telling them to leave everything behind except personal belongings & paddle to Exile Island. Upon reaching their destination, they look for instructions or Jeff but find neither. They head to the highest point on the island to find a note with new buffs sending them back to the old Moto camp. Everyone was excited, particularly Mookie, who had never seen the Moto camp. Things seem like they're lookin' up except ... what??? Moto's camp has been stripped of all rewards. All that is there for them is a pot, a machete, and some fishing gear. All castaways seem very thrown off. They turn their attention to who will get voted out next & it seems the concensus is Boo. Mookie reveals to Dreamz that he found the immunity idol, much to the dismay of the other members of the 4 Horsement (Alex & Edgardo).

The new tribe heads to the immnunity challenge where another twist awaits them. They are split into two teams where they must compete against each other not only for immunity but for reward - a steak dinner with veggies to boot. Mookie, Alex, Stacy, Michelle, and Dreamz lose in a rowing & puzzle challenge to Boo, Edgardo, Yao Man, Cassandra & Earl. You'd think the twists were over but wait! Jeff has one more. Mookie's team may not speak or strategize, but head to Tribal Council immediately. The votes are read and it's between Stacy & Michelle. In the end, a tiebreaking vote snuffs Michelle's torch & she heads over to the jury. This will undoubtedly affect Earl's alliance & we'll see just how on next week's episode.

Also on next week's episode: Dreamz & Mookie butt heads about the votes at tribal council, Mookie's had it with Cassandra, and Dreamz repays Mookie by revealing to the others that he has the immunity idol.

* Photo courtesy of CBS.com

Top Design: Matt Has The Top Design (4/11/07)

Nothing I like more than to see one of my favorite contestants win a competition-based reality show. After watching Sam get booted & leave Top Chef in 3rd place, felt Bravo owed me one. And they delivered! Matt, the 32-year old designer from Chicago, has the top design after beating Carisa in a loft design challenge. The best part was that they got to design the 1700-foot loft for themselves. Part of the reason Matt was able to clinch the title was the design of his 4 year old daughter's room. Congratulations, Matt! We'll be looking forward to seeing your work in Elle Decor magazine.

Bottom 3 Prediction

Hey everyone. Idol is about to start & I wanted to weigh in with my bottom 3 predictions. I'm going with Phil, Haley, annnnd ... it's tough. Chris? I'm sorry! Let's see if I'm right.

UPDATE: 10:30pm I predicted those 3 at about 8:50pm EST before the live votes result show. I stood up & yelled: "I AM AMAZING!" Not surprising at all. I think Phil will go next week, then Chris, then maybe Lakisha, THEN Sanjaya. I'm tellin you guys, I think he's gonna be around longer than you think ... or want.

Dancing Without Leeza

She was the oldest female dancer to perform on the smash hit series, and now Leeza Gibbons hangs up her sparkly costumes. Last night's episode found Leeza in the bottom 2 for the second week in a row. Truth be told, I was shocked Clyde Drexler wasn't there. Not only wasn't he trying, I don't even like him. I thought he & Cliff from Cheers should've been bottom 2. Leeza would've gone early anyway & it was her time. She definitely proved that a 50 year old woman can be hot & work it! She looked great, had a wonderful time, learned a lot, and was gracious in her losing. Class act! Next week's dancers will be taking on the samba & the rumba. I have no idea what the difference is. Fortunately, ABC is here to explain it to us!

A Reality Check With ... Andrea Keller (Top Design)

Andrea knew she wanted to be a designer at age seven. Now 36, Andrea already has a successful design career, but feels there is no limit to her success. Hailing from Los Angeles, she teaches restaurant design and exhibition design at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, as well as at University of Southern California. She also owns a very successful design firm in L.A., Berry/Keller Architects, Inc., which specializes in commercial and civic projects. Andrea is half architect and half designer, and she has shared her expertise with the world in several television programs. Married with two boys, she is part Swiss, speaks four languages, and is in the process of learning two more.


RC: You teach at Otis College of Art & USC as well as own a successful design firm. What made you want to be on Top Design?
AK: I could answer emails from clients all day or I could be on a tv show! I had an interview & many interviews after that. There were big open calls for the show as well. Everything I went back, there were more people in the room from Bravo. The last time I was there, there were 12 people on couches with lights & cameras … and I ended up making it! And here I am.


RC: When I spoke to Goil last week, he told me that he didn’t tell anybody up front that he was an architect because he didn’t want people to dismiss him as a designer. Did you also use that strategy or did you not think it mattered what your background was?
AK: I told them that it was on my resume. I have the belief that we can do anything.


RC: Speaking of Goil, he has spoken of you extremely well both to me and throughout the show. It must be nice when you see your fellow contestants give you such high compliments.
AK: He was amazing! Goil is brilliant. I met so many great people here. I have, like, 6 friends for life. Actually, I’m in Philly picking up Erik. We’re going to a party in New York tonight.


RC: On the other hand, some contestants have not been so nice regarding your work. Is it hard to brush those things off & not take it personally?
AK: I’m used to being criticized. In architecture school, we would have public juries where a hundred people would rip apart the work I had been doing for 16 weeks.


RC: On last night’s episode, you were given a budget of $7500 to shop around L.A. & create a luxury living room for less. Being from L.A., you must have gone into this thinking you had the upper hand.
AK: We all looked up places to shop online. I told Matt & Carisa where the stores were & I only shopped at the same stores they did. I wanted it to be fair. Maybe I should’ve pulled something!


RC: When it came down to you & Carisa for elimination, were you surprised that it was you?
AK: Yes, I was really surprised. I didn’t do well in the previous episode but I didn’t think my room was horrible.


RC: Can I assume you’re rooting for Matt tonight?
AK: I don’t know … maybe a little!


RC: What are your future plans?
AK: I’m getting settled back into daily life. We have huge parties in the loft where I work in L.A. We project the episodes onto the wall & my students & clients come out. It’s great. I’d love to work all over the country & in places like Singapore & Dubai.

Thanks to Andrea for taking the time

to talk to Reality Check!
The finale of Bravo’s “Top Design” airs tonight at 10pm EST

Radio Interview

I'm happy to say that tomorrow will be my first radio interview to promote RealityCheck since starting the blog one month ago. A lot has happened! I've been writing for RealityWanted & my writing has been seen on other major sites as well. Many interviews have come my way with more in the works. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you put your mind to it! For all you fellow CT readers, I will be on WPLR tomorrow morning at 9:30am EST with Chaz & AJ. For all you NON-CT readers, have no fear. You can stream it live HERE. I'll put the audio up if you missed it so you're not going to get around hearing my lovely voice! Being a former radio girl myself, it's going to be interesting to be on the other side of it.

American Idol: Thank You, Simon! (4/10/07)

Thank you, Simon! FINALLY … SOMEONE … says something negative about Melinda. I have to say it. I’m not a Melinda fan. I’m not saying she’s not a mega-talent because she certainly is. But I’m not jumping on your bandwagon, America. I don’t get why you would choose her as the winner. She looks like somebody’s mother up there (I’m somebody’s mother but that’s not the point). What can we do with her marketing-wise, America? Have her make an R&B album and have her tour with some backup dancers? Put the woman on Broadway … do not give her the title of American Idol.

I feel better now.

Jennifer Lopez was tonight’s guest as Idol tackled Latin night. I still have nightmares of Anthony Federov singing Jon Secada so I went into tonight’s episode with trepidation. I was right. Tonight’s performances didn’t wow me. Maybe because NOBODY IS SPANISH. Or maybe because the Top 8 were tired, out of their element, feeling the pressure, something. Whatever, let’s break it down.

Melinda: Sway – I didn’t love it. Thought it was a boring performance. Again, she can sing. But miles away from her best.

Lakisha: Conga – She shouldn’t have danced. Randy & Paula said she looked like she was having fun … but I missed it.

Chris: Smooth – Great choice of song. The minute I heard he was singing it, I thought – “YES!” It wasn’t his best but a good choice. The end made up for a shaky beginning.

Haley: Turn The Beat Around – Put some clothes on! Yes, Simon. Way to call out Haley for using sex appeal to stay in the competition. I thought it was one of her better nights but I think she’s on the chopping block again, rightfully so.

Phil: Maria, Maria – The judges hit it on the head. The guy has a great upper register but no passion. I wonder if he even wants to be there anymore because he doesn’t seem to want it as badly as the others.

Jordin: Rhythm Is Gonna Get You - She’ll go far. I fully expect Jordin to go at least top 3. She’s young, hip, fun, with talent to boot.

Blake: I Need To Know – Smart performance. Despite the guy kinda looks like a hobbit (maybe Dominic Mognahan’s long lost brother), I’m still pulling for him to win. Marketable, marketable, marketable.

Sanjaya: Besame Mucho - Surprising. I had read good buzz about his performance this week and like you, thought, "Yeah, right!" But lo & behold, I didn't think it was bad. I think Phil & Haley will be bottom 2 & our good friend Sanjaya will be hanging' around at least another week.

There ya have it, America. Do with it what you will. We'll be watching tomorrow night.

P.S. Simon is my favorite person ever for so many reasons.

A Reality Check With The Apprentice's Heidi & Kristine: They're Not Rooting For Anyone

Heidi & Kristine stop by Reality Check to discuss the surprise double firing in last night's episode. Given the opportunity to work in pairs, they created a marketing campaign for Trump International Hotel & Tower in Las Vegas. Turns out trying to go against each other was a fatal move.

RC: How did you get on The Apprentice? Did you submit a tape or go to open casting call?

Heidi: I went to an open casting call here in L.A. really with no thought of getting on the show, to be honest. I went there & I brought my brochures & business cards.

Kristine: I went in to the last round of auditions, word was out in an L.A. newspaper. They put out an ad looking for lawyers in the final round of casting. I snuck in at the end

RC: Did you underestimate how stressful the boardroom can be?

Heidi: Yeah, they can go for a very long time. I’ve been on both sides of it. I have had a lot of high pressure, stressful situations but this one certainly takes the cake. I’m turning grey at 26 after being on The Apprentice!

Kristine: The only one that caught me off guard was last night! I had talked to people who had been on the show & they were like, “It’s hours! Be prepared, it’s hours.” The one thing you have to figure out how to do is how to win tasks & stay out of the boardroom and if you’re in the boardroom, don’t speak unless you’re spoken to. It’s about reading the room. When I lost as project manager, I made my comments about Muna & she just kept talking & talking & talking. She did herself in.



RC: It seemed that Kinetic was going to dominate the whole season, looking at it from the beginning. Was there a specific moment when things started to shift?

Heidi: I don’t know. There were several really strong candidates there, everyone who was there deserved to be there.

Kristine: I don’t really think that there was a moment in time. We got really lucky in the beginning. The editors make it look like we were some amazing team. We got lucky during the car wash task - we got 3 more cars priced a little better. We were lucky on the swimsuit task as well. We were barely skating along the whole time anyway. All the tasks were so close except Universal.

RC: Looking back on last night's episode, would you have chosen to team up with each other instead of against each other?

Heidi: I wanted to work with Kristine. She was trying to get rid of me! It was tough working with Frank because he & I have never worked together. We were at a total disadvantage. James & Stefani had worked together since day 1, Nicole & Kristine for two tasks. Frank & I were night & day.

Kristine: I don’t know! I said that but I don’t know. My reason for doing that … she was made to look like a shining star early on without really doing anything. The car wash – we got lucky. The swimsuit – Arrow lost that one, we didn’t win! On the task 2 weeks ago, the Smartmouth campaign – she didn’t do a good job at all. Heidi actually apologized to me after the task saying it wasn’t her best performance. I was thinking, “I can do this with Nicole, she’s a go-getter, I'll keep her under control. This will be my opportunity to show him – Heidi isn’t winning all these tasks." I knew that Frank & Heidi together would be ... DISASTER.



RC: Okay, so neither of you really got to explain what happened last night. What were you trying to say in the boardroom?

Heidi: The brochure – we had literally 5 minutes to do. I had the text & all I wanted to do was put some graphics in. I had it all ready for our graphic designer. The time limit was up because Frank had left the video camera in Vegas & they didn’t show that. It’s a bummer that it came to be the way it did.

Kristine: The phone number was from the Trump website. It was on the Vegas website, on the page where it says “Contact Us”. It is not his preferred phone number because it doesn’t go directly to the sales office. I thought I screwed up a digit but no, I put the phone number I intended to put there! I tried to explain to him although he know I was BSing him. The firing happened so much faster than they show on tv. There’s something weird with him & Nicole, I don’t know what it is. A father-daughter love, should I give it so much credit? A fantasy love, a Tim-Nicole-Trump love, there's something… she’s untouchable. Had he given me the opportunity to fight, I would’ve buried her.

RC: Is there anyone in particular you’re rooting for?

Heidi: May the best person win!

Kristine: No. The best person isn't there.

RC: Now that you’re back, what have you been up to?

Heidi: Well I’m still working in the aviation & helicopter industry. With that, I’ve learned an awful lot. I’m writing a book called “In The Men’s Room” out this summer. It's about being a woman in a male-dominated work industry.

Kristine: I’m still working and my husband & I are looking for a location to open a restaurant for him. He was patient with me while I did the show. I said to him, "Let me get through the show & do what I need to do and then we’ll go for your stuff."

Thanks so much to Heidi & Krstine for stopping by RealityCheck!

The Apprentice airs Sunday nights at 10pm EST on NBC