This week's episode of Survivor: Samoa, according to those who actually watched it, was way more interesting than others this season. It began with the eleven remaining castaways, fresh off Erik's vote-off, resuming the game. Russell H. was now vulnerable for two reasons. One: all of the original Galus now saw right through his B.S., something none of the original Foa Foas were able to do (well . . . except Marisa, Betsy, and Liz, but they're all gone now, so . . .). Two: he'd wasted his hidden Immumity Idol (when the Foa Foa the votes had come up for turned out to be Jaison, not he). He needed to scramble to survive.

After he was on the team that lost the Reward Challenge, he was allowed some time back at camp to go looking for a new Immunity Idol. And without even getting the clues for one, he found a second one with no clues this season. (Is that even allowed?) He knew the Galus were targeting him now, so at least he'd be safe. And Mick, Jaison, and Natalie, who was still doing a good job with the social game and getting in with the Galu girls by telling them all they wanted and/or needed to hear, were very happy to hear that he had.

The Immunity Challenge was half-physical, half-mental, and surprisingly, a guy didn't win it (since they usually do). A woman did, and that was Laura, whom Russell H. wanted out for knowing he was a liar! So she'd be safe from the vote.

Before Tribal Council, the Galus decided to target Russell H. since they knew he couldn't be trusted. But John was worried that he had the idol. Dave stupidly shut him down, though, dismissing the notion. On the Foa Foa front, after Shambo, who was playing a double agent for both sides, informed them of who was the target, instead of doing the smart thing and going after a man, since men are bigger immunity threats, Russell H. himself wanted to go after one of the Galu girls close to Laura to take away one of her votes (since Laura was the one running things with Galu). They chose Kelly. But how would manage to do that?

At Tribal Council, that question was answered. Russell H. played his idol, shocking all of the Galus, and the seven votes that came up for him (from John, Dave, Brett, Shambo, Kelly, Laura, and Monica) didn't count. But his vote, and those of Mick, Jaison, and Natalie, as well, did. So by a vote of 7-4 (with, again, the seven votes not counting), the eighth person voted out of Samoa, the tenth to leave overall, and the second member of the jury was . . . Kelly. So her torch was snuffed, and she was sent on her way.

I was bummed at this. While she'd gotten little screentime through the season, I liked Kelly. Yeah, she got catty at times (along with Laura and Monica), but I still liked her. She wasn't that offensive, really. And I don't think targeting her was that smart (though I did understand the reasoning). I do think John or Dave should've been targeted instead. Maybe Brett. But not one of the women, since they'd be easier to beat at Immunity Challenges (well, except Laura). Still, she was tied to Laura, and that was obviously a no-no, as far as Russell H. was concerned. Bye, Kelly.

In other news, if I'm supposed to be loving this "underdogs fight back" story arc the Foa Foas are pulling . . . I'm not. And that's because Russell H. is at the forefront of it. Russell H., whom I still hate. He may be playing the game, and he may be playing it well (though that's debatable), but I'm NEVER going to be sold on him. EVER. But if a Foa Foa does win this, I think I want it to be Natalie. She's really come into her own since the merge started, and she's playing the social aspects of the game really well, something Russell H. hasn't been doing well since at least the week of the Ashley boot. I'd love to see her take the whole thing.

Ten castaways remain. Who'll be voted out next week? We'll see then!

This week's episode of America's Next Top Model was full of surprises, including one big one hinted at in the title (not what the twist was, really, so much as one of the ones to whom it happened, which made it an even bigger twist). It began with the four remaining girls, fresh off Sundai's long-overdue elimination, returning to the house. Erin was again relieved to have survived being in the bottom two for her third week in a row. Nicole thought that while Erin had a good look, she didn't have the mentality for modeling. She (Nicole) felt like a different person having made it so far in the competition. She thought she'd be in the final two, for sure (and so did I), along with Jennifer. (Well . . . you saw the title.) Jennifer was happy to have gotten her second first call-out. She was proud of herself to have gotten so far and thought she was definitely a lock for the final two. (Again, see the title.) Laura was shocked to have gotten to the final four, especially considering the rest of her competition.

The "teach" of the week saw the girls heading out to a field with some hula girls waiting for them in it. They started out dancing the usual hula, but suddenly erupted into krumping or some other kind of hip-hop dance. Nicole was apprehensive right away, especially considering the poor job she'd done at dancing earlier in the cycle (she lost the team challenge, along with Erin and Ashley). They then found out that the hula girls were led by Anna-Rita Sloss, a hip-hop hula instructor. Hip-hop was a new interpretation on the traditional hula dance, and the girls were going to learn how to do it, since there was going to be a challenge based on it. Nicole had problems learning it, but Erin thought she could win since she had a cheerleading background.

Next came the challenge. The girls were to tell their own stories using a hip-hop hula dance, incorporating said story with their own routine. Before they started, though, Anna-Rita showed them some of the motions for different emotions -- love, strength, fear, determination, happiness, and sadness. Then, after getting time to put their routines together (with Erin actually helping them out with her experience), they put on their solos for Ms. J., one of the judges. He informed them that the winner of the challenge would get a five-day trip back to Maui with a friend, as well as a stay at the Four Seasons.

So here's what happened. Jennifer went first and did a great job, telling her story of love, determination, and happiness. Erin went second and wound off coming off angrily, telling her story of sadness, loneliness, fear, and ultimate happiness. Laura went third and did a good job, telling her story of coming from where dreams aren't reality, but that wasn't the case. Finally, Nicole went fourth and last and did poorly at the dancing, but she told her story of awkwardness, transformation, and determination decently enough. In the win, the winner was determined by Ms. J. and Anna-Rita to be . . . Laura! She chose Jennifer to come back to Maui with her after the cycle was over. So with that, the challenge was over.

Back at the house, Laura and Jennifer talked between themselves about the trip they'd be going on soon. But Erin hated overhearing them, because it reminded her of the prizes she couldn't win. This annoyed both Laura and Jennifer to the point where they wanted her to get out of the room they were in.

The photoshoot of the week saw the girls meeting with Jay Manual, as usual. He told them they'd be styled like the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes. They'd be posing with the rocks and waves behind them, trying to look like they had fiery tempers like the goddess in question. However, there was a twist coming up. One they stupidly chose to reveal in the previews for this week's episode. Because so much was riding on this photoshoot, not one, but two girls would be eliminated at the next judging panel! So the girls would all have to really bring it! Oh, and the photographer would be Steve Shaw, who'd shot for Vogue and Esquire.

Here's how the photoshoot went down. Jennifer went first and was shaky throughout. Nicole went second and did sensationally. Laura went third and struggled the entire time. Finally, Erin went fourth and last and seemed to do a great job, at least after a slow start. And with that, the photoshoot was a wrap.

The girls met with Tyra and the judges for their tenth judging panel. She reminded them of the prizes, reintroduced the judges (including guest judge Ann Shoket, editor-in-chief of Seventeen magazine), informed them that the two girls remaining after the judging panel would walk in a Julia Clancy fashion show, and the critiques began. Good reviews went to Laura and Nicole. No one got bad reviews. Mixed reviews went to Erin and Jennifer. And after the judges deliberated, the first girl to get her photo was . . . Nicole! YAY! I love her, so I'm glad she made it this far! Final two, baby! This left Jennifer, Laura, and Erin as the bottom three. Jennifer was chastised for getting shaky in her performance in this week's photoshoot and "[losing] her way." Laura was chastised for lacking a modelesque appearance in person. Erin was chastised for getting weaker throughout the competition, though she was at least praised for making "a comeback with a vengeance" this week. In the end, the final photo went to . . . Laura! OH, MY GOD! ARE YOU SERIOUS?! MY TOP TWO GIRLS IN THE FINAL TWO?! AWESOME! So this left Erin and Jennifer as, respectively, the eleventh and twelfth girls eliminated.

I was definitely shocked by this outcome. Not by Erin's ouster -- while she did a good job this week, her body or work -- her overall performance -- had been poor since at least the commercial shoot, so no surprise to me that she got eliminated, despite taking a good photo this week. Plus, she was the cycle villain. The cycle villain rarely gets to the final two on this show (although Melrose did in cycle seven). As for Jennifer, I really thought that the editors were building up to a final two with Nicole and Jennifer, not Nicole and Laura. Jennifer had been my third-favorite girl (behind Nicole and Laura), but I really thought she'd make the final two and win since Tyra's still taking brunt for not crowning an Asian winner. But she really did screw up in this photoshoot, so I can't feel all that bad for her. Bye-bye, Erin and Jennifer. I won't miss you, Erin, but I will miss you, Jennifer. Even if you did more or less eliminate yourself.

In other news, this is a final two made of win. Nicole and Laura have been my favorite two girls since at least the go-sees episode (when awful Kara made her exit). So I'm ecstatic that they're in the final two together! I think I'll be happy no matter who wins next week! My money's on Nicole, but I won't mind a Laura win, either! Either way, I'll be enjoying the end result of the finale!

Once more, here's the order in which Tyra called the girls:

#1. Nicole
#2. Laura
#3. Jennifer (ELIMINATED)
#4. Erin (ELIMINATED)

We're now down to the final two. Who'll be named America's Next Top Model next week? We'll see then!

Sorry this is six days late. I've been busy with this new job I recently got, as well as school.

This week's episode of The Amazing Race was . . . not all that interesting, really. It began with the five remaining teams, fresh off Maria and Tiffany's elimination, leaving Groningen, the Netherlands, behind and setting off for Stockholm, Sweden. Sam and Dan were glad to have gotten their first victory (even though they didn't earn it -- and even then, it was their second one, but seem to have forgotten it). Meghan and Cheyne were confident that marriage was in their future. Flight Time and Big Easy wanted to win the next leg since it was Flight Time's birthday. Gary and Matt were bound to show the other teams that they could keep up with them despite Gary being the oldest person left (only Marcy and Ron beat him in age, I believe, but they're gone now). And Brian and Ericka were hoping to prove to Ericka's family that they were good for each other, especially since Ericka's mother had been the most opposed to her marrying a white man. At the airport, Flight Time and Big Easy, Meghan and Cheyne, and Sam and Dan all got on an early flight to Sweden that left at 6:55 a.m. Brian and Ericka and Gary and Matt were left on a flight leaving at 9:25 a.m. -- two-and-a-half hours later.

Once in Sweden, the teams were to take a ferry to a Swedish amusement park and have one member of their respective teams ride the Frit Fall (Free Fall), a thrill ride that'd take them high up into the air. Once up there, they'd have fifteen seconds to look for a red-and-yellow arrow leading them to their next clue before getting dropped twenty-four stories in just three seconds. Flight Time, Cheyne, Sam, Ericka, and Matt all took the task for their teams.

After locating their next clue, the teams were to play a game of Ring Toss, throwing rings over several large gnome hats in the hopes of throwing one around a hat that was hiding a Travelocity Roaming Gnome beneath it. For the most part, all five teams got through the task with no extreme difficulties.

The Detour was next, and it was a choice between Nobel Dynamite and Viking Alphabet. Nobel Dynamite involved building a bunker out of sandbags the teams would fill themselves in order to protect themselves from the blast made by some explosives, which they'd set off to unearth a box containing their next clue. Viking Alphabet involved decoding a message using the ancient Viking alphabet. Flight Time and Big Easy, Meghan and Cheyne, Brian and Ericka, Sam and Dan, and Gary and Matt all chose and completed Nobel Dynamite. No one chose Viking Alphabet (not that I blamed anyone -- that one looked much harder).

The Roadblock was at the site of the show's most daunting Roadblock ever -- Bas Gard Farms. It was where the infamous haybale Roadblock that knocked out Mormon sisters Lena and Kristy, a women's team who seemed to have the potential to go far, after poor Lena had spent over ten fruitless hours unrolling haybales and finding no clues in any of them, had taken place in The Amazing Race 6. (So it's been a good nine seasons since the show had last visited!) And it was once again going to be the site for a Roadblock this season in a new twist called the Switchback -- the return of a task from a previous season. One member of each team would be tasked with searching through 186 haybales for one of only seven race flags. After that, they could run to the Pit Stop, which was there on the farm this time around. Big Easy, Meghan, Brian, Sam, and Gary all took the task for their teams, and it was frustrating for all of them (especially for Gary, who was out there for three hours!).

In the end, Flight Time and Big Easy, through some extremely good luck at the Roadblock on Big Easy's part, arrived at the Pit Stop first! They won a trip for two to . . . somewhere I couldn't make out when Phil told them. Still, it was given to them with compliments of Travelocity. Meghan and Cheyne came in second (after an amazingly hilarious fake-out from Meghan, who found the flag after more than two hours of searching and was starting to freak out, but then surprised Cheyne with it by letting him think she was quitting the task). Brian and Ericka were behind them in third. Things were left down to Sam and Dan and Gary and Matt to avoid last place. In the end, the gay brothers from Kansis City edged out the father and son from Montana, with Dan crying some obvious crocodile tears for yelling at Dan while he was trying to do Roadblock (come on -- I can't be the only one who thought they were fake). This left Gary and Matt to finish last . . . but they weren't eliminated. Nope. It was a non-elimination leg, and they were still in the race. However, they'd have to face a Speed Bump on the next leg, a task only they'd have to complete. But they were planning to get back in the race, no doubt about it.

I was all right with this ending. I love Gary and Matt. Even despite getting so little screen time early on, they're funny whenever they do get it. So I was glad to see them survive the leg. But I really want them to come back and survive the next one. Especially since I want a fake, boring team like Sam and Dan or an annoying team like Brian and Ericka to leave next.

In other news, with all the confessionals shown of Sam and Dan understanding that they're brothers and can't always be angels to each other, accompanied by the editors thinking to throw in Dan crying on the Pit Stop mat, I have to think they win. Which is unfortunate, but not surprising -- alpha-male teams have it easy in every race, and already, five alpha-male teams have won in the show's history, so why not have a sixth one win? Blech. But ideally, my final three would be Flight Time and Big Easy, Meghan and Cheyne, and Gary and Matt. But that's probably not gonna happen. Either way, congrats to Flight Time and Big Easy for not only breaking Andre and Damon's record for highest-placing all-male black team (in season three, Andre and Damon finished in sixth place), but for breaking Shola and Doyin's record for most legs won by an all-male black team (in season two, Shola and Doyin won only one leg, and that was with a Fast Forward, whereas Flight Time and Big Easy have now won two legs, both times without a Fast Forward)!

Once again, the teams finished this leg in the following order:

#1. Flight Time and Big Easy (Prize: Trip for two, Courtesy Travelocity)
#2. Meghan and Cheyne
#3. Brian and Ericka
#4. Sam and Dan
#5. Gary and Matt (Must Complete Speed Bump on next leg of race while other teams continue racing)

Five teams still remain. Who'll be eliminated next week? We'll see then!