A Reality Check With ... Christian Okoye (CBS's "Pirate Master")

Christian Okoye, a native in Nigeria, is a former NFL running back for the Kansas City Chiefs. Nicknamed "The Nigerian Nightmare", Okoye holds a place in their hall of fame. He has stayed active in his home state of California and put it on hold to join the crew of Pirate Master. His voyage was cut short as he was the 2nd to be cut adrift on this past week's episode. Christian sits down with RealityCheckByGina to talk about his time aboard the Picton Castle.

RC: Why does an ex-NFL player want to be on "Pirate Master"? What drew you to this show?
Christian: They called and asked me if I would be interested in being on the show and because of my location and the type of show. I said yes.

RC: I read your bio and you were quite a good NFL player in your time. What was the highlight of your career?
Christian: There were two highlights in my career. First, was going to the Pro Bowl - to be in that league is extremely difficult. Also, being the lead in the Russian League was a great accomplishment.

RC: The pirates felt your size worked against you in terms of speed yet the NFL thought you were quick for your size. Why do you think you were slow in the last expedition?
Christian: The show is not about how fast you are, it is about the clues you receive and getting through the challenges. Physically, nothing really slowed me down.

RC: Were you prepared for the physical aspect of the show?
Christian: Yes, I work out everyday and follow a good diet.

RC: You didn't seem too eager to get close to the snakes during the expedition - did you want to maintain a distance?
Christian: I don’t mind snakes. I mean, everyone is a little scared of them but I did not shy away from the snakes during the competition. I chose to hold the snakes back and make sure my teammates were protected while they looked for the treasure.

RC: How is Joe Don still captain? Aren't his days numbered?
Christian: Yes, his days are numbered. He isn’t the best captain and because the way the show is set up, it is hard to mutiny.

RC: Is there a reason the crew won't mutiny?
Christian: In order to mutiny, everyone has to agree on it including the officers.

RC: What was the best part of being on the ship?
Christian: The best part of the show was being on the ship. That is something you don’t get to do everyday. Also, I made some good friends, such as Louie. He’s a great guy and we will stay in touch.

RC: Where can we find you now?
Christian: I have three jobs that keep me busy. First I run a children's foundation called the Okoye Foundation. Second, I run a nutrition company called Okoye Fitness. Finally, I started the California Sports Hall of Fame & serve as president.

Pirate Master airs Thursday nights at 8pm EST on CBS

Get your Pirate Master links, matey, at sirlinksalot.net. ARRR!!!

So You Think You Can Dance: The Top 20 (6/7/07)

America, here is your top 20:

• Anya Garnis, 25, Latin ballroom
• Cedric Gardner, 23, Hip hop
• Ashlee Langas, 19, Contemporary/Jazz
• Danny Tidwell, 23, Contemporary/Jazz (Travis's adopted brother)
• Faina Savich, Latin ballroom (Stanislav's sister)
• Dominic Sandoval, 21, B-boy/Hip hop
• Jaimie Goodwin, 19, Contemporary
• Hok Konishi, 22, B-boy (we've been waiting for him!)
• Jessi Peralta, 24, Hip hop
• Jesus Solorio, Contemporary/Jazz
• Lacey Schwimmer, 18, Swing/Latin ballroom (Benji's sister)
• Jimmy Arguello, 21, Contemporary
• Lauren Gottlieb, 18, Contemporary/Jazz (assisted season 2 choreographers)
• Kameron Bink, 20, Contemporary/Hip Hop
• Sabra Johnson, 19, Contemporary
• Neil Haskell, 20, Contemporary/Jazz
• Sara Von Gillern, 23, B-Girl/Hip Hop
• Pasha Kovalev, 27, Latin Ballroom
• Shauna Noland, 18, Contemporary
• Ricky Palomino, 23, Contemporary

The dancers will face off & phone lines will open Wednesday, June 13. The live voteoff will take place Thursday, June 14. Viewers can also look forward to Thursdays this summer as America's hottest music stars will perform on the results shows.

Pirate Master: Pirates, Guns, & Money (6/7/07)

Joe Don kicks off the episode hiring pirates to do work around the ship – Sean is hired as a cook and Jay is chosen as crew mate. Joe Don also flexes his ego a bit, to the dismay of some of his crew members. As the pirates set sail for their next treasure hunt, breakfast is served. While the crew forces down gruel, Joe Don & his crew members feast on eggs, meat, and veggies. The trip to the next hunt is no vacation. The crew works nonstop while Joe Don eats & relaxes then relaxes & eats. The crew begins to feel tired, cranky, and resentful.

Once again, the pirates are split into two crews: red & black. The captain & officers lead the black crew while the red crew opposes them. If the red crew wins, they’ll choose a new captain which is a nice incentive for many of them. The black crew is made up of: Joe Don, Nessa, Cheryl, Ben, Azmyth, Louie, Christa, and Jupiter. The red crew is: Sean, Joy, Kendra, Christian, Alexis, Laurel, and Jay. The pirates must swim to shore in shark infested waters then hike into the jungle where they will have the chance to sabotage the other crew. They then must trek across the mountain to a snake pit where they will find their tools needed to obtain the treasure.

Right off the bat, Kendra slowed her red crew down with her weak swimming skills. As the black crew pulled ahead, they took their opportunity to sabotage. A thorny, wooden gate was dropped right in their path & needed to be removed before the crew could go forward. The black crew hesitates at the snake pit – who wants to be attacked by a bunch of constrictors?! Nessa steps up, climbing in the pit with Azmyth to obtain the key. Slow crew members & injuries plague the red crew & in the end, the black crew claims victory for the 2nd expedition in a row.

The black crew brings home gold worth $45,000. Joe Don is given the option to keep half the winnings as well as his two officers. He chooses to hold on to Ben & Cheryl as well as hold on to his winnings. He decides to give each crew member a few hundred dollars a piece, for which they are not appreciative. JD then bribes Jay for inside information, giving him $2,000. When it’s time for him to mark 3 pirates for elimination, Kendra, Christian, and Joy are chosen for apparent physical reasons & limitations.

At pirates court, Kendra admits to her weakness in swimming but felt she was a strong physical presence in the other aspects of the expedition. Joy realizes she’s there because of the injury she suffered but feels that she is well enough to continue to complete. Christian makes a proposition to the pirates – make HIM captain and he will not take half their money. He will keep the crew happy to the best of his ability. The pirates cast their votes but Christian’s words were not enough to save him and he was cut adrift.

Check back here tomorrow – I’ll be talking to Christian about his time on Pirate Master!

Catch Pirate Master every Thursday night at 8pm on CBS.

Get your pirate links, matey, at sirlinksalot.net!

A Reality Check With ... Ted Allen (Bravo's "Top Chef")

Ted Allen, best known as the Food Guy on Bravo's hit show "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy", joins Top Chef this season as its newest judge. Ted can be seen as a guest judge often on the Food Network's "Iron Chef America" and is starring in his own PBS show, "Uncorked: Wine Made Simple" due out this summer. His book, "The Food You Want to Eat: 100 Smart, Simple Recipes" is available now on Amazon. Ted takes time out of his busy schedule to dish about the hot new season of Top Chef, which kicks off tonight with a special featuring the best of seasons 1 & 2 battling it out in a no holds barred cookoff.

RC: When did your interest in food begin?
Ted: My mom always encouraged us to cook growing up. When I got older, I got a job at Chicago Magazine interviewing chefs & tasting good food.

RC: Does it ever still surprise you how huge the Fab 5 have become?
Ted: It's a never ending surprise! I never thought the show would go anywhere. We've made 100 episodes, with the last 10 airing on Bravo later this year. We've all moved on since filming & everyone has their own projects.

RC: You're so busy! You're on so many channels, doing so many shows, plus all the writing you do. How do you find time for it all?
Ted: I have a couple weeks off & I'm really digging that. We shot the first part of Top Chef in Miami but the finale is being taped this July so I don't even know who wins! I know who doesn't win but I'm not going to tell you that.

RC: Were you a fan of the previous Top Chef seasons?
Ted: Oh yeah, I've been addicted!

RC: Why did Top Chef decide to film this season in Miami?
Ted: Miami is a really sexy city - somehow, everyone is really good looking! Top Chef Miami is about sexy people, nightclubbing, the beaching, and wearing virtually no clothing ... not the chefs, they do wear clothes. Season 1 was filmed in San Francisco, season 2 in L.A., and now season 3 is in Miami. Bravo looks for really eclectic cities to film in.

RC: Tonight, Bravo is airing a special featuring a charity cookoff between seasons 1 & 2. Did each chef choose a charity of is there one central charity who will receive a donation?
Ted: Each season got together to decide which charity they would be cooking for. We're bringing back some of your favorites as well as some villains. The chefs did serve the food to us to judge (myself, Padma, Tom, Gail) as well as the new season 3 contestants.

RC: Are there any chefs we should look out for this season? Any standouts?
Ted: I like a lot of them! There's a chef from Dallas named Trey who's really great, Hung from Vegas who works at Caesar's Palace, and we have a couple of good ol' boys from New York.

RC: Where else can we find you this year?
Ted: Well, I've got my PBS show, "Uncorked: Wine Made Simple", I still appear as a guest judge on "Iron Chef: America" and I'm also talking to the Food Network about another show.

RC: I'm excited to be seeing you so much on my tv this year!
Ted: Well, it's going to be a large version of me with all the food I'm eating!

Check out Bravo's all-star special airing tonight at 10pmEST

Top Chef: Miami kicks off next week, June 13!

Get all your Top Chef & Queer Eye links at sirlinksalot.net

A Reality Check With ... Tiffany Nagel (Fox's "Hell's Kitchen")

What looked like a strong start to Tiffany's time at Hell's Kitchen ended with her being sent home first. Though she plotted to get rid of Julia (a short order cook), it was in fact Julia who outshined Tiffany in Hell's Kitchen. Her plan backfired and her inability to cook quail eggs & get dishes out to customers ended up being her demise. She takes time to talk to RealityCheckByGina about her time spent in Hell's Kitchen.

RC: Tell us a little bit about your cooking background.
Tiffany: I studied in Paris, went to university there for hospitality business & finance. I lived in Europe for 4 years studying food in Norway & France. I’ve been in the restaurant business my whole life. I grew up in a hotel that my father was the senior vice-president of. He branched off & bought some independent restaurants.

RC: On a scale of 1-10, how intimidated were you by Gordon Ramsay?

Tiffany: Honestly? A 5? 4?

RC: You did well early in the episode when you presented your signature dish. Did you feel you’d do well throughout the competition?

Tiffany: I had no idea, everything comes at you so fast that it’s hard to get a grasp as to what’s going on let alone where you’re headed.

RC: What is it that makes 12 chefs unable to get out any dishes in an hour? Is it the pressure or is it set up in a way where the odds are against you?
Tiffany: If you can imagine prepping everything you’re going to need for 190 customers in 10 hours, having no clue what’s going to be ordered, when it’s coming in, when you’re going to start, you can imagine a pretty stressful situation! You don’t prepare enough product in some stations and you over prepare in others. We worked too much on dessert instead of focusing on appetizers.

RC: How do you respond to Chef Ramsay calling you girls “Hell’s Bitches”?
Tiffany: It’s 100% accurate because there was more fighting going on & that’s what I was trying to tell people: just be silent. The more attention you get, the more he’s going to focus on you. From a strategy standpoint: shut up.

RC: Did everyone want to get rid of Julia simply because she’s a short order cook or were there other reasons behind it?

Tiffany: Julia just didn’t know what she was doing & it was hard to try to do something yourself when you don’t have your own time let alone teach someone else.

RC: Melissa promised you that you would be safe & weren’t going anywhere. Were you surprised when she ended up choosing you for elimination?

Tiffany: Not at all, I knew I was going to be up there. I thought it would be me & Julia but I knew I would be there.

RC: We only got to see a few minutes of it but can you go into more detail about Aaron’s meltdown? What set him off?

Tiffany: You couldn’t pay an actor to be that good, he flopped over & cried every 40 minutes. He was such an incredibly nice guy, obviously incredibly sensitive. But like I said, you couldn’t pay an actor.

RC: Did any chefs make a big impression on you during your time there?
Tiffany: I really like Bonnie & Joanna. I thought Jen was an incredible chef as well as Rock.

RC: Where can we find you now that you’re back home in Phoenix?
Tiffany: Enchiladas is our family owned & operated 650 seat restaurant in Phoenix. I work with my sisters & my father.

Hell's Kitchen airs Monday nights at 9pm EST on FOX

Get your Hell's Kitchen links while they're hot as sirlinksalot.net!

Hell's Kitchen: Why Is The Asian Cowboy Crying? (6/4/07)

Hell’s Kitchen is back in its 3rd season with a brand new crop of hopeful chefs. The show kicks off with a quick update for us: season 1 winner Michael is the executive chef of Tatou in Los Angeles while season 2 Heather leads the team at Terra Rosa in Las Vegas. This season promises us to bring us more highs & lows than previous seasons. The 12 Hell’s Kitchen contestants are:

• Aaron, 48, a retirement home chef from Palos Verdes, CA
• Brad, 25, a sous chef from Scottsdale, AZ
• Eddie, 28, a grill cook from Atlanta, GA
• Josh, 26, a junior sous chef from Miami Beach, FL
• Rock, 30, an executive chef from Spotsylvania, VA
• Vinnie, 29, a night club chef from Milltown, NJ
• Bonnie, 26, a personal chef/nanny from Los Angeles, CA
• Jen, 26, a pastry chef from Hazeltown, PA
• Joanna, 22, a chef’s assistant from Detriot, MI
• Julia, 28, a short-order cook from Atlanta, GA
• Melissa, 29, a line cook from New York, NY
• Tiffany, 27, a kitchen manager from Scottsdale, AZ

Each chef had to present their signature dishes for Chef Gordon Ramsay. He wasn’t going to take it easy on them & we don’t want him to! Not surprisingly, he’s hardly impressed with anyone with the exception of Melissa & Tiffany. Chef Ramsay splits the teams into men vs. women and sends them to their living quarters to prepare for tomorrow’s challenge but not before reminding them of the finish line. The winning chef will win a quarter million dollars as well as becoming the head chef at the Green Valley Ranch Resort in Vegas – on top of that, they get a share in the profits!

The next day, while everyone prepared over 300 ingredients for the opening of Hell’s Kitchen restaurant, Julia (the short order cook) was overlooked by her team. Meanwhile, Aaron struggles to get his area ready & breaks down in front of Chef Ramsay. The restaurant opens & of course, all hell breaks loose. You have to wonder how 12 chefs can’t manage to get a dish out in the first hour of service. Midway through the night, the blue team seems to find their groove and serve many appetizers. Julia & Melissa step up on the red team & start moving food to customers.

Aaron, continuing to feel the pressure, walks away from the station to cry it out. The other men try to make up for the loss of a chef but suffer a devastating realization – they’ve run out of chicken, beef, everything! Customers begin getting up & leaving while Chef Ramsay throws a fit. He closes the restaurant for the reminder of the night, feeling that both teams have failed miserably. Since he has to name a winner, he chooses the blue team over the red team.

Chef Ramsay calls out the red team calling them “bitches” and singles out Aaron & Vinnie on the blue team for being weak players. Vinnie attempts to step up to Chef Ramsay but Rock holds him back. Too bad, I wanted to see that! Melissa gets to choose who will be up for elimination tonight, which she feels guilty about. However, a decision needs to be made and Joanna & Tiffany, whom she promised would be safe are chosen! The person who is leaving Hell's Kitchen tonight is … Tiffany.

Make sure you check back as I talk to Tiffany this week on RealityCheckByGina. Hell’s Kitchen airs Monday nights at 9pm EST on FOX.

Get your Hell's Kitchen links while they're hot at sirlinksalot.net!

Preview: Bravo's "Top Chef"

One of my favorite reality shows returns this week - Bravo's "Top Chef". Before it's supersized premiere airs on June 13, a special featuring the best chefs from seasons 1 & 2 return for a charity cookoff. Here are all the details:

ONE-HOUR SPECIAL: “TOP CHEF: 4-STAR ALL-STARS” (June 6) Premieres Wednesday, June 6 at 10:00 PM ET/PT Just when you thought it safe to go back in the kitchen, Bravo’s hit culinary competition series “Top Chef 3 Miami” kicks off with an hour-long special “Top Chef: 4-Star All-Stars” on Wednesday, June 6 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT. “Top Chef: 4-Star All-Stars” reunites four of the finalists from season’s one and two -- team one’s inaugural winner Harold Dieterle, Stephen Asprinio, Tiffani Faison, and Dave Martin compete against season two’s winner Ilan Hall, Fan Favorite Sam Talbot, Elia Aboumrad, and molecular gastronomist Marcel Vigneron in a $20,000 cook-off for charity. The cook-off concludes with the two teams serving their meals to “Top Chef 3 Miami’s” 15 new chefs.

SUPERSIZED PREMIERE EPISODE 1: “First Impressions” (June 13, 10:00 - 11:15 PM ET/PT) Bravo’s hit culinary series “Top Chef 3 Miami” premieres with a supersized episode featuring 15 rising chefs, a sizzling Miami kitchen, and the restaurant industry’s most renowned talent. Upon their arrival at Casa Casuarina, formerly the Versace Mansion, the chefs are invited to sip champagne and eat hors d’oeuvres. Quickly thrown into their first quickfire challenge, they compete for the coveted prize - immunity. The chefs then must entertain special guest Anthony Bourdain (Host of "No Reservations" and Chef at Les Halles, NYC), and impress this season’s judges’ table - Padma Lakshmi, cookbook author, actress and host; Tom Colicchio, celebrated culinary figure and co-founder of Craft Restaurants; returning judge Gail Simmons of Food & Wine; and “Queer Eye’s” culinary expert Ted Allen.

You can see an interview with Mr. Queer Eye himself, Ted Allen, this Wednesday on RealityCheckByGina as we gear up for premiere night!