Survivor's IQ drops, my stock rises

First things first: Jeff Probst really needs to ease up on his personal commentary. We get it - you are the face of the show; however, don't talk to people like they've never seen the show and let them make their own mistakes. It's much more fun to watch without Probst yelling at the newbies' lack of game play. If this continues I may be joining Christy Smith's viewing parties for the hearing impaired - it'd be a nice break.

This season I've joined a fantasy league, something I've always wanted to do but no one has ever created one. Thanks Amy for setting this up because I think I'm already winning! Before announcing my picks, my criteria was guessing who would have the best longevity and screen time. Two of the three people were in my top 5, so I lucked out that my opinion differs from others:

J'Tia, 31, Nuclear Engineer, "Brain"

Brice, 27, Social Worker, "Beauty"

Tony, 39, Police Officer, "Brawn"

Boy did I luck out? My first instincts of J'Tia was she would be level-headed and on-the-ball, but that went right out the window when she demanded the shelter to be built a specific way. I think the label of "brains" went straight to her and all Luzon's heads, which was evident in the first challenge. 

SIDE NOTE: the labels of brain, brawn and beauty are bound to go to someone's head. Especially if that person believes that's the most valuable thing in their arsenal. In my humble opinion as Facebook Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains champion, book smarts are useless on Survivor unless you're Yau-Man Chan and can apply them to opening up boxes. Knowing I was a villain after playing FB Survivor a few times, I couldn't let that run my game and think I was able to play slightly more honourable than in previous games (even if I did vote out my own brother).

Thank you, J'Tia, for delivering three memorable moments in the first two hours of Survivor: Cagayan. My prediction for her is not to win, but to grow from her blunders like Holly Hoffman did in Nicaragua (i.e. filling Dan's shoes with sand and throwing them into the ocean). She may also become NaOnka and succumb to the pressure of the game, quitting abruptly mid-season.

Enough about my dream girl. Brice - you've already stepped up as the confident gay man who can control the girls. Your "wing man" status is still to be seen, because I think the hormones radiating from Jeremiah and Morgan will dictate their alliance. If the beauties ban together to vote out Jefra first, Brice will control the tribe. This could be a major Chapera or Tandang situation where they control the events of the game and take the win. I think the beauties have the best shot of winning the whole bag of rice, so long as no one dumps out early (don't get the reference? Watch the show!)

Tony, you big, bruiting buffoon. To say you're devious like Russell Hantz (I still hate him) and slick like Boston Rob (I still love him and Amber), you need to do more than find the idol. Get people on your side or you'll be gone. Cliff's basketball history makes him polarizing, so people will gravitate to him (knowing about science, does that make me a brain?). Russell and Rob were able to become the polarizing people without being the target, so Tony needs to make himself be known just as that. If so, he'll be in for a longer haul.

After the first episode my favourite person is Tasha. She outwardly spoke about her want to strategize and play the game, and I love those players who want to be sneaky. Out of my three picks, Brice has the best shot of making it to the finals, "wing man" status pending. I hope he does - I need the points.

OMG Premiere Week!

Today is the first day after two major events: no more Sochi Olympics and the Amazing Race All-Stars 2 premiered. My excitement for both events couldn't be contained.

IT'S REALITY TV PREMIERE WEEK!

Amazing Race All-Stars 2 looked like a disappointing cast. I know the casting producers are looking for who will draw in viewers, so when you say "all-star" keep in mind that long-time viewers are looking for people who play an outstanding game. Perhaps that's the TV snob in me but Joey & Meghan are not All-Stars!  This seems like more of a second chance but don't mask Jessica & John's major blunder as an "all-star" move.

Survivor:Cayagan - all I pray for is more than half of the cast is entertaining. As a full-time Survivor addict,  I want to see the cast list grow by 16, 18 or 20 every season. Of the 422 available castaways to choose from, fans everywhere can create lists of returning castaways for an returnee season.

As for these guys and gals, I'm lost as to who I am cheering for. I wanted to stick to one brain, one brawn and one beauty, but I'm rooting for the beauties. Maybe it's the model inside me, but I think they'll fly under the radar enough but still stay present. My heart is with Jefra though - I wish her best of luck. She could pull a Jordan (Big Brother 11/13) and sneak into the finals. There seems to be so many big personalities it would be advantageous to settle into the background before striking.

Big Brother Canada 2 - The house was revealed this evening and it looks AMAZING! I wasn't a huge fan of the inaugural season but can get on board with giving it a second try. Check out the photos here (learning how to write on my new phone so can't get the photos yet). Waiting patiently to see the cast, just to make sure no one from my high school made it on the show before me. That's why I really enjoy the American shows better - less chance of knowing someone on the show.

More to come. Stay tuned.

Life = Reality TV, Premieres & Finales = Chocolate

Thank you Forest Gump for giving us one of everyone's favourite lines in cinematic history - because "life" has many connotations (like sports is life to athletes, reality TV is life to me) you can swap out life for so many words or phrases. Let's play with that and say "Reality TV is like a box of chocolate. You never know what you're gonna get." Tonight CBS opens up a Pot Of Gold for the world to share, and I'm calling the creamy caramels!

The previews for Survivor: Philippines have focused 100% on the three returning castaways: Michael Skupin (Australian Outback), Jonathan Penner (Cook Islands and Micronesia), and Russell Swan (Samoa). They're back because they never got to finish due to injuries, and it's time for some of their own redemption. Returning castaways are becoming the new coconut chocolates - good in concept but leave them too long in the box and people are trying to get a bite of one so they can spit it out. I love returnees as much as any Survivor fan, but with rumours that season 26 is another fans versus favourites I want to see some new characters emerge. 

Big Brother 14 ends tonight and it's down to Dan, Danielle and Ian. Fans are speculating over who will get the win. Jokersupdates.com posts its survey of who will win the game, how the jury will vote, and who we want to see get the grand (and America's Choice) prize. I am hoping beyond hope that Ian, my juicy white chocolate treat, gets the $500Gs with Dan coming second - any three I am happy to see win, but Ian has been my treat of the season! Dan is the cherry chocolate that, along with coconut, has gotten bitter the longer it sits in the box.

Who knows? Like a box of Pot of Gold chocolates, we may be surprised by an all caramel premiere or finale. But there is always a few nuts along the way, because what is reality TV if not surprisingly delicious.

It's Finally Happening - Big Brother in Canada

So this post is like two months late. Sue me. I have been racking my brain trying to figure out the best strategy, putting a fool-proof plan to fruition so I can be crowned the winner of Big Brother Canada! It was announced in May that Endemol has given the green light for a Canadian version of the internationally successful Big Brother franchise. And it's aboot time!


Did you know that at one point Canadians were really the only ones watching any reality television? Survivor  and Big Brother ratings were through the roof for a few years in Canada, while the U.S. audiences were getting bored of these shows for enlisting competitors rather than casting them. Let that be a lesson to Robyn Kass, the casting director for Big Brother Canada. Sure it is fun to see people who were once famous for something no one really remembers (spoiler alert: Blair from Facts of Life is on Survivor: Philippines this fall!), but what's more entertaining that an average Joe or Jill thinking they can make it through a puddle of pudding to win the veto? 


Those who know me know I am definitely applying. Not only am I applying, but I am going to win the game! Watching all major American reality television shows has taught me how to identify any strategy that comes my way, and playing Phil's Facebook Survivor, I know where I mess up and go wrong. Now is the time to prove I am a major competitor. I know I have the fans but now I need the producers to see that I will win.


Off to work on my audition tape. For more info on the show, you can visit www.bigbrothercanada.ca to learn about the casting process, audition deadlines and casting call locations. I'll see you on the airwaves!

Almost Falling Off the Wagon

Hello Blog Guests,

I have been extremely delinquent with my blog postings, thinking it was OK to ignore my true passions in life and try new things. As Homer Simpson once said, "Trying if the first steps towards failure." I failed epically at trying something new. Since my last blog post I attempted to write about job searching, cooking and life after school. Well now that I found a job and have lost most of my post-secondary habits, I can tell you that my cooking skills are improving greatly but nothing has changed in my obsession with reality television! I am still a junkie and addicted to it. I'm addicted so much I have to know what happens on The Glass House, and that show is a blatant knock-off of Big Brother, and no one comes between me and my 'man'! But I can't help but watch (and vote and cheer for Erika and Jeffrey).

Since the announcement in May that Big Brother Canada is actually happening, I have been focusing all my spare time into strategizing to get into the house! It would accomplish a dream I thought was insurmountable but is now possible, so on February 13, 2013 watch for me to enter the Big Brother Canada house. I would like to suppress my knowledge of reality television shows but I will get too excited and want to show how much of a superfan I am, so the next six months are dedicated to getting in shape for the show and learning to keep my eyes open and my mouth shut (thanks BB3 Danielle for those inspirational words).

There's too much to catch up on and I should do some work today. Always expect the unexpected Blog Guests.

Season's come and go, so do old favourites.

I have been waiting to blog about Big Brother for weeks, waiting to see how the show progressed. This season's big twist were the houseguests competing in duos and the return of favourite pairs. "Double Trouble" is continuing to be a battle between "The Veterans" and "The Newbies", and was, thankfully, much more exciting than last summer's season with Enzo a.k.a. "The Meow-Meow". I am rooting for the Vets, especially Jordan.

With the end of Big Brother we start to see the beginning of the new Fall shows and return of old favourites. Survivor will be back with Redemption Island and two old favourites, Ozzy Lusth and Coach Wade. I find that to be an odd combination as neither played together before, and they played very different from each other: "Ozzy is a tough competitor and, arguably, the best performer in challenges; Coach likes to think he's the best competitor" says Jeff Probst. That is a fair account.

Some old favourites from Survivor are competing on The Amazing Race: Ethan Zohn and Jenna Morasca, winners of Survivor: Africa and Survivor: Amazon. I can only hope we have a nicer but still tough Rob and Amber duo on our hands as the two race to win, but mainly I'm happy to see that Ethan is doing better after battling cancer. This makes the fourth team to have people from another reality show competing: Alison, and Jeff and Jordan from Big Brother; Rob and Amber from Survivor.

America's Next Top Model is finally catching up with the other reality television shows with an all-stars version. All-stars versions are a great way to catch up with old favourites, but could all these returning players be a sign that the major networks are trying to get old audiences to come back by featuring some of the most popular players?

As one of reality televisions most loyal and dedicated fans, I want CBS, NBC, ABC (I only saw a few episodes of Bachelor Pad, and was not impressed, but did catch up on what made Melissa crazy) and CW to keep casting new people and focus on the new strategies, rather than see Russell Hantz try to win for another time.

I'll be sure to blog more now that the new shows are out, but does anyone have any suggestions on what shows to watch this fall?

Who Do You Think You Are?

I've decided to change some stuff about this blog.

Yes, this one here.

As it was originally started as a classroom assignment, I want to change it up here at It's Real to Me with this first of hopefully many consistent posts. I put reality television on hold to revisit an old friend Sex and the City. The show provides me with topics, situations and life choices to think about when I'm sitting and waiting for my next shift at RW. Carrie's inner monologues become my inner monologues, wondering about the commonality between a popular phrase or situation to my life. She always wonders, always asks a question for her weekly column, wondering about who she is and not just her sex life. So here's what I wonder right now: who do you think you are?

Who Do You Think You Are? is a hit NBC reality TV series that explores the ancestry of celebrities, all of who try to discover a secret from their past. Sarah Jessica Parker was the first celebrity to venture her own path into her predecessors in North America. The journey took her all the way back to the Salem Witch Trials of the 1600s. When she hit the end of her journey, she discovered her the link to Esther Dutch Elwell, who was accused but never tried of being a witch. There could have been acting, but I think this was shocking to Ms. Parker (and ironic that she played a witch in Hocus Pocus).

Watching that show always gets me wondering who I really am. Where do I come from? Who are my ancestors? Were there any major events my families were a part of? I know I come from a mixture of German, Scottish and Irish backgrounds, but there is so many closer roots to other European, American, and possibly other ancestries, that it is hard to know where exactly I come from. Research had to be done to ensure the producers of the show were getting celebrities with a semi-interesting to completely fascinating histories in order to make the show watchable.

I will investigate who I am, where my family is from, and what major events have impacted the direction in which my ancestors have taken. Maybe Ancestory.com will help me with my journey, but I know that writing this blog I am leaving a bit of history for my ancestors to know me by. Hi, future family members!