This week's episode of Survivor: Samoa was, from what I've heard others say, quite surprising. It began with the twelve remaining castaways, fresh off Liz's vote-off, continuing on with the game. Foa Foa knew they were in dire straits, being down to only four members to Galu's eight. But they weren't giving up. According to Russell H., they had a plan in place in case the merge hit.

Which it did. The merge came at the earliest time ever in Survivor history -- with twelve castaways left! Galu and Foa Foa merged into one tribe, and they named themselves . . . um . . . I'll get the name later, unless someone would be kind enough to offer it up for me. The Galus thought they could easily take out the Foa Foas since they were up eight to four, but the Galu men seemed to have other ideas -- taking out the 90210 women. Of course, not without some douche-y behavior emerging from Erik throughout the episode.

There was an Immunity Challenge that ended with two people winning individual immunity now that tribal immunity was no more. I think Mick was one, and probably Laura was the other. Good thing, too, if I'm right, because she said something to piss Russell H. off and got him wanting her out next.

Before Tribal Council, somehow, the target landed on Monica for the next vote-off. But the tide turned to Erik after some people figured out he had the hidden Immunity Idol from Galu's camp. I believe it was thanks to the emergence of a surprising mastermind: Natalie. Yes, Natalie, who'd been silent for most of the season, and was finally coming out of the woodwork now that we were entering the post-merge portion of the game. Of course, Russell H. got a bit panicked and thought the Galus would be targeting him -- especially after his confrontation with Laura. (Here's the scoop. He offered Laura his idol if she, Monica, and Kelly flipped to their side, but Laura didn't buy it, and told him so. She knew she and the other women would be in the minority if they did flip. At least if they, Mick, Natalie, Jaison, and Russell H. wound up being the final seven.)

At Tribal Council, after Jaison apparently owned Erik, who'd revealed his condescending, jerkish side, the votes were cast and revealed. Of course, fearing he was the target, Russell H. went and played his idol, wasting it. Unfortunately, Erik didn't think to do the same, so when the vote came up for him, he was probably voted out of Samoa, the seventh person voted out of the Samoa, the ninth person to leave overall, and . . . the first member of the jury.

I'm neutral on Erik's vote-off. I never fully got a sense of who he was, so a big, fat "meh" on his ouster.

In other news, I'm surprised, but happy, to hear that they've gone back to the nine-person jury with three people facing them. It's something that hasn't been done since Dreamz, Cassandra, and Earl all faced the jury of Rocky, Lisi, Michelle, Edgardo, Mookie, Alex, Stacy, Boo, and Yau-Man in Survivor: Fiji. This'll make for an interesting endgame now.

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

This week's episode of America's Next Top Model was filled with . . . well . . . drama. As per usual. It began with the five remaining girls, fresh off Brittany's elimination, returning to the house. Jennifer couldn't believe that she'd made the final five. Erin was surprised to have escaped the bottom two for the second week in a row (remember that she'd just beaten out Rae the first time, and Brittany the second) and wanted to prove herself. Sundai was appalled that Erin was still there. Nicole couldn't enjoy being in the final because Brittany was gone since she'd had so many first call-outs (which isn't true -- she only won one photoshoot). Later, Sundai told the other girls her story about her adoption. The girls also celebrated Laura's birthday, which made her really happy.

The "teach" of the week saw the girls meeting with Marisa Miller, an American supermodel who'd posed in Victoria's Secret. She was there to teach to be "hot, but not over the top." She showed them just the right poses to make. She let them know that a female audience would want to see models from the side, while a male audience would like to see models from straight on. Basically, posture was very important. She then had them get wet in the surf, then roll around in the sand, which didn't thrill Laura due to her sunburn. After that, Marisa had them get in a shower and pose while they were in it, washing the sand off them. Laura went first and did beautifully. Jennifer went second and didn't do too well until Marissa started talking her through it. Sundai went third and looked too young in doing so. Erin went fourth and did a great job. Finally, Nicole went fifth and last and did a fabulous job.

After this was done, Marisa led them to a cliffside, where Nigel Barker, one of the judges, was waiting for them. He informed them, after allowing a model to jump off the cliff, that that's where their next photoshoot challenge would be taking place. The theme would be striking a "sexy and graceful" pose while jumping off the cliff and into the water. Whoever was the sexiest and most graceful would win. But there was a catch -- they'd each only have one shot at posing, so they'd have to make it count. A man named Jono Knight would be their photographer.

Here's how the challenge went down. Laura volunteered to go first and seemed to do a good job. Erin went second and didn't impress Nigel at all. Nicole went third and didn't seem to do well. Jennifer went fourth and did fine. Finally, Sundai went fifth and last and did okay, but got swimmer's ear for her troubles. In the end, the winner was . . . Nicole! Yay! I love her soooooooo much! She received a five-thousand-dollar chocolate pearl necklace as her prize, as well as twice as many frames for the next photoshoot! She then could pick another girl to have twice as many frames for her next photoshoot. She picked Sundai. Sundai also got a choice to give another girl twice as many frames. She picked Laura since she was the birthday girl. Finally, Laura had the choice to pick between Erin and Jennifer to give twice as many frames. She chose Jennifer. This left Erin with no extra frames. (Not surprised. The other girls hate her.) So with that, the challenge was over.

Nicole went to pick up her new necklace, then returned to the house with the other girls. There, they had "a huge birthday bash" for Laura. Of course, it wasn't all pleasant. Erin did a lot of b*tching and moaning about not getting any extra frames. Laura loved the surprise party they'd planned, but Nicole didn't stay to enjoy it all. She didn't want to go into the next photoshoot tired, so she went to bed fairly early. (Good choice, I guess. Best to have her mind fully rested.)

The photoshoot saw the girls meeting with Jay Manuel. Also there was this week's photographer, Russell James, who'd shot the girls of a previous cycle before (but I don't have the enjoy to go back through my blog and see which cycle). He announced that since it was a hot they, they'd be shooting underwater. (Coincidentally, he'd done several underwater photoshoots.) And that was the theme -- posing underwater. They'd all go underwater for one round of photos with Russell, then come back up to get some feedback from Jay. After that, it was back down in the water for a second round . . . for all except for Erin, who'd be taking the standard number of frames.

Here's how the photoshoot went down. Laura went first and did very well after an initial panic attack underwater. She did well in both rounds. Nicole went second and seemed to do a great job. She did superbly in both rounds. Jennifer (who saw Nicole as her biggest competition) went third and did beautifully. She wasn't so hot in her first round, as she was shot too close to the surface and her moves weren't very "acrobatic," but she did a fantastic job in her second round. Sundai (who was nervous about holding her breath due to having asthma) went fourth and did decently enough. She was poor in her first round, but fine enough in her second round. Finally, Erin went first and did just plain badly. And keep in mind that that was her only round. So with that, the photoshoot was a wrap.

The girls met with Tyra and the judges for their ninth judging panel. She reminded them of the prizes, reintroduced the judges (including guest judge Marisa Miller), and the critiques began. Good reviews went to Laura, Jennifer, and Nicole. Bad reviews went to Erin. Mixed reviews went to Sundai. And after the judges deliberated, the first girl to get her photoshoot was . . . Jennifer! Great! I love her, so I'll take it! Nicole and Laura both followed. This left Sundai and Erin as the bottom two. Sundai was chastised for making way too many excuses at the photoshoot (mainly, her asthma). Erin was chastised for starting out stronger in the competition, but getting weaker and weaker as the weeks passed. In the end, the final photo went to . . . Erin. (Um . . . what? I don't get it. Oh, wait. I think I do, actually.) This left Sundai as the tenth girl eliminated.

I was all right with this ending. Sundai was probably the weakest left. It was actually kind of surprising to me that Tyra let her last this long, as she really hadn't been all that good. As I noted in the title of this entry, she'd pretty much been circling the drain for weeks, but was never able to go down it because someone had always managed do worse than she did on a photoshoot. And even though I, personally, thought Erin did a worse job, Tyra clearly based the choice on the girls' bodies of work, in which case Erin was definitely superior to Sundai. So . . . sayonara, Sundai. Best of luck to you in your modeling career. Because you look so damn young, might I recommend modeling for, say, Gap Kids?

In other news, with the final four decided, I think the final three girls should be Nicole, Jennifer, and Laura. They're clearly the best three girls here. However, even with Erin still around, I think this is a final four as solid as the Yoanna/Mercedes/Shandi/April final four of cycle two, the Danielle/Joanie/Jade/Sara final four of cycle six, and the Teyona/Allison/Aminat/Celia final four of cycle twelve. All four girls -- Laura, Nicole, Jennifer, and Erin -- have done a fine job throughout the cycle and have earned their places in the final four. I'd be okay with any of them winning (though I want Erin to win the least since, well, I don't like her, even though she's performed decently). My preferred order of victory would actually be Nicole, Jennifer, Laura, and Erin. (Recently, it became clear to me that Jennifer might win just on being Asian, so she swapped spots with Laura in my personal order.)

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

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

It's down to the final four. With a "surprise" double elimination coming up, who'll be eliminated next week? I'll bet Erin's definitely one of the two, but the second might be trickier. I'm thinking it'll be Laura, though. Still, whoever it actually turns out to be, we'll see next week!

This week's episode of The Amazing Race was . . . just okay. It began with the six remaining teams, fresh off Mika and Canaan's well-deserved elimination (for Mika, especially), leaving Dubai, United Arab Emirates, behind and making their way to Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Meghan and Cheyne wanted to focus on staying in the front of the pack. Maria and Tiffany knew not to get comfortable with their previous second-place finish. Brian and Ericka were planning to recognize any onset of "nagging wife" tendencies from Ericka. And Flight Time and Big Easy were more than aware that every team wanted them out of the race since they were a big threat. Prior to their flight at the airport, Flight Time and Big Easy recapped their miraculous comeback thanks to Mika's horrible meltdown at the Leap of Faith waterslide. Also, Sam and Dan decided to come out to the other teams, which elicited surprised reactions from everyone.

The Roadblock saw one member of each team heading up the tallest building in the Netherlands and counting all the bells that were seen along the way up. There were sixty-two bells. Meghan, Sam, Flight Time, Matt, Tiffany, and Ericka all took the task for their teams. Everyone got it right on the first try except for Ericka, who need three tries to get it right.

The Detour was a choice between Farmer's Game and Farmer's Dance. The teams would have to do don traditional Dutch costumes and then ride bicycles to the task of their choice. Farmer's Game involved stripping down to their underwear, swimming across a creek, and finally finishing a game of Dutch golf in under eight strokes. Farmer's Dance involved hitting the bell in a "strongest man"-type game and then performing a traditional Dutch dance, after which they'd have to eat a helping of raw herring. Sam and Dan and Meghan and Cheyne all chose and completed Farmer's Game. Flight Time and Big Easy and Brian and Ericka all chose and completed Farmer's Dance. Gary and Matt initially chose Farmer's Dance, but switched to Farmer's Game when they found out that they'd have to eat herring, which both of them hated. Maria and Tiffany actually chose Farmer's Dance, at first, switched once to Farmer's Game after some initial failures at hitting the bell, but then switched back to Farmer's Dance again, followed by another switch to Farmer's Game. Both tasks were far too physical for them.

In the end, Sam and Dan arrived at the Pit Stop first. Boo. They're boring and I hate their loud, obnoxious asses. They won a sand buggy as their prize. Meghan and Cheyne finished second, having trailed the gay brothers the entire leg. Flight Time and Big Easy checked in third. Gary and Matt hit the mat in fourth. This left things down to Brian and Ericka, who'd fallen behind due to the Roadblock (and missing the bicycles required to get to the Detour certainly didn't help them), and Maria and Tiffany, who'd fallen behind due to the Detour and three switches during the task. In the end, Brian and Ericka arrived fifth, but incurred a thirty-minute penalty for getting to the Detour of their choice without riding bikes (though they rode to the Pit Stop on some they'd borrowed from some locals). But they rode it out and checked in at fifth place. This left Maria and Tiffany to finish last after completing neither Detour. And the season's only all-female team was eliminated in the very field in which Farmer's Game took place, as Phil had to come out and eliminate them personally since they took so long.

This was a very, very sad ending. And also kind of unfair. I liked Maria and Tiffany (but I like all women's teams, except Kim and Leslie from season one, Danielle and Dani from season nine, and Lyn and Karlyn from season ten), and I hated seeing them go out like that. This leg was a textbook example of how the race should avoid having a leg with two physical Detours. On this leg, the teams with at least one male on the team would have the advantage at the Detour. An all-female team (or even an oldster team) would have a problem with both of them, as Maria and Tiffany showed here. (Speaking of oldster teams, I do wonder how Marcy and Ron would've fared had they made it this far rather than gotten eliminated in Vietnam?) In my opinion, this leg was practically designed to eliminate an oldster team or a women's team with both Detours being physical. Farmer's Dance should've included the dance and the herring, and nothing else. It sucks the Detour eliminated not only an all-female team, but the only all-female team in the race. Boo, Amazing Race. Boo.

In other news, some people on Television Without Pity are saying all five teams left are likable somewhat, but I don't agree. Sam and Dan are boring and bring nothing to the table, entertainment-wise. And while Brian's okay, Ericka's annoying. Meghan and Cheyne, Flight Time and Big Easy, and Gary and Matt I definitely want to see stick around, though.

Once more, here's the order in which the teams finished:

#1. Sam and Dan (Prize: One Sand Buggy)
#2. Meghan and Cheyne
#3. Flight Time and Big Easy
#4. Gary and Matt
#5. Brian and Ericka
#6. Maria and Tiffany (ELIMINATED; Checked out at Detour)

Five teams remain. With the return of a familiar, very-much-hated Roadblock and the first appearance of the Switchback coming up, who'll be eliminated next week? We'll see then!