Stephanie Izard, winner of Top Chef a few seasons ago, recently had a bacon feast--three courses, ten dishes, all with at least some bacon involved. Sounds like it was fun! (All 100 tickets sold out within 90 seconds.)

God, there's a girl after my own heart.

I did appreciate how non-bitchy with each other they were when the challenge(s) kept going so badly. Not a lot of teams would have gotten through that without more sniping at each other.

This definitely. I really started to like them more and more the worse they started doing on the tasks. They stayed supportive and generally positive. I even liked the way they quit. I would've hung it up, too, if I'd been out there for hours in the freezing cold wind in wet long johns, knowing that I wasn't strong enough to do the task in the first place back when I was relatively warmer and stronger. I still wonder what would've happened if they'd just gotten some male Fern and had him do the bell ringing for them.

I really dug Team Zebra at the beginning of the race, and I'm still a huge Brian fan, but Erica has been grating on me for a while now. The only two road blocks she's done so far are this last one and duck block, no? Otherwise, she always steps aside to let him do the task. And even when they are doing a group task, it's mostly him working and her kibbutzing and occasionally yelling at him to get the task done faster. And while I agree that they generally do a good job of overcoming challenges and pulling it together as a team, it seems like he is always the one who is calming her down, keeping her focused. And she's usually the one that leads them into the mess. You know, Miss America, don't yell at him about how he can't get the car in gear. Why not just switch places and you drive? Mad that you had to walk miles and miles in wooden shoes? You were the one rushing him out of the changing station before thoroughly reading the clue, yelling at him to hurry up and follow you while you were halfway down the road. And the whole prissy girl thing? OK, I get that because I'm a prissy girl, too, but the "Chocolate melts in the sun", can't get wet, "I spend money, not count it" thing. Yeah, that's not nearly as cute as she thinks it is.

TAR: Yeah, that was another really tough way to go out. Just hard to watch. I respected how long they tried it and how supportive they were of each other. However! I still am pissed at my token Asian because she only did sushi & monkey of the Roadblocks the whole time. And in the bell ringing task she backed out of her attempts, barely swinging on her turns, making Tiffany do all the physical work. But yeah, that was rough because both tasks required not only the physical aspect, but the same muscle group. And so did swimming across the lake.

I agree about Team Zebra. I really want to like them, and she was growing on me for a while, but yeah. I do agree that they did a good job, especially Brian, getting themselves calmed and ready to try again.

I really miss the travel vagaries part of the competition. I realize that it makes it tougher for the producers, but it is so much more interesting a show when you've got the risks and rewards of actual travel decisions that you might actually have to make were you actually traveling.

That and money management. I miss money management playing into things.

Finally caught up on watching my reality shows (and reading here)! Sadly, somehow my TiVo didn't catch the Top20 picking show...and the other Top 20 (where they danced in groups) one taped, but was all black!!

But I did get last week's Top 20 (the pairs), so that was good. Still hate evil married ballroom girl who is paired with the awesome guy. And krump guy, who made no sense in the bottom two. Poor guy who got pulled in and kicked off in the space of like, three days. And the girl with the knee thing--seriously, why did she get a pass??

Meanwhile, on Top Model....sucks for them they don't get to go anywhere international! And...she put them in BLACKFACE! WTF, TYRA???

it is so much more interesting a show when you've got the risks and rewards of actual travel decisions that you might actually have to make were you actually traveling.

I think my favorite episode ever (or maybe the second favorite after the "My ox is broken!" ep) was the nutbunches ep from TAR4, when Team Virgin spent the entire night running around the airport trying to score an earlier flight while the other teams slept, resulting in the biggest case of Killer Fatigue I've ever seen on this show. Those two were so zoned out until they realized that they were running neck and neck with the other team, who thought that they were out of it because they went for the Fast Forward only to miss out on it. Then, we had the best episode ending ever, with the race up the ladders to the birds nests and then the footrace to the bathmat!

the other Top 20 (where they danced in groups) one taped, but was all black

Man, there really aren't THAT many African Americans in the show this year. :-)

I really miss the travel vagaries part of the competition.

Me, too. It's what made TAR different from the other shows and more of a real race.

SYTYCD

I thought Russell was holding back a lot trying to not overwhelm Noelle. He could've really just destroyed her on that routine and somewhere in the middle, I think he was starting to really put it on her. And then he pulled back, which I actually thought was smart. Noelle was not up to the choreography (which was excellent. Welcome back, real hip hop. We've missed you!) She kind of looked ridiculous at the beginning, and then Russell started killing it and pulled all the focus to him. I really wish the judges had commented on the fact that he danced down to her level, and it looked like a purposeful choice on his part. As for last week's Russell in the B3, Nigel can shut it. It was BS and there's nothing in this world that will ever convince me otherwise. Should've been Philip. Period.

SYTYCD: So confusing! I thought Bianca and Victor did really well, and I loved the choreography and the music, and the judges really didn't like it.

It makes me feel like one of those people who says, "I don't know art, but I know what I like."