American Idol: Casey's exit interview

Let’s get the gossipy bits out of the way first. Casey Abrams and Haley Reinhart are not dating. Casey and Haley have never dated.

When the 20-year-old from Idyllwild, Calif., looked into Haley’s eyes Thursday night as he sang his farewell song on American Idol, he was “saying goodbye to my very special musical friend. That’s all it was,” Casey told the media on Friday.

Here’s another hot tip for you: Steven Tyler is a better kisser than Jennifer Lopez. Well, kind of.

“JLo just let me kiss her. Steven Tyler actually kissed me back. It’s a different story,” Casey said, referring to his wild post-elimination performance when he doled out hugs and cheek kisses to judges and audience members.

And lastly, the beard is there to stay. “I feel like if I shave it, I just don’t have a chin anymore.”

As far as the competition goes, Casey said top six was about as far as he’d expected to go.

“I felt really good even afterward. Maybe I’ll break down crying some other time, but right now I feel really good about what happened last night and what’s happening today.”

His main concern had been to last long enough to justify the judges’ save, which they used to rescue him from elimination in the top 11.

“This would be really embarrassing if I just got cut the first week (after the save),” Casey said.

Now, Casey’s mission is to bring the kind of songs he sang on Idol, stuff like “Nature Boy,” to the masses.

His first album will likely be a combination of rock and jazz, he said. And his first concert would have “more instruments than you’d expect, some trombones, some dulcimers, some random stuff.”

Besides the upright bass, piano and melodica, Casey also plays cello, drums, accordion, clarinet and sitar. Yes, sitar. And judge Randy Jackson has promised to teach him how to slap the bass, he said.

Casey got his jazz grounding at Idyllwild Arts Academy, which is where he first heard of Canadian jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, whom he name-checked on Thursday night.

“I just feel that I’ve done something pretty cool in this competition, but the thing is so has everyone else from the top 13,” said Casey.

“Look at Paul (McDonald) bringing all this folky stuff and Jacob (Lusk) bringing all the gospel stuff … We’re all doing our part to make American Idol a little more different than the year before.”

Casey allowed that he put a little too much of his signature growl into his performance of “Hi De Ho” on Wednesday night.

“I was having more fun than paying attention to what was going on musically.”

He added, “It is kind of how I sing when I don’t think about it … It’s a grey area. It’s hard to define what’s a good growl and what’s a bad growl, you know?”

And he has no hard feelings against mentor Jimmy Iovine for his anti-growling quip about dogs not voting on Idol.

“Honestly it’s hilarious. It is good advice.”

Casey’s last word: “Just don’t take yourself too seriously. Take music seriously but not yourself.”

(The photo of Casey is by Frank Micelotta for Fox. Idol airs Wednesday at 8 p.m. on CTV and Thursday at 8 on A. I'll be recapping both episodes.)

American Idol: So long to an original (spoiler alert)

It just goes to show you what we bloggers know.

All but eight of the 30 American Idol experts who participate in Zap2it.com's weekly exit poll said Jacob Lusk was going home. I certainly thought Jacob was done after what I considered the only awful performance of Wednesday night.

I guess more people agreed with judge Randy Jackson, who called Jacob a great singer on Wednesday, because Jacob made it through another week and into the Season 10 top five. 

Instead, Casey Abrams got the hook.

I wouldn't call that a shocking elimination on the scale of Pia Toscano, but it was certainly a surprising and a disappointing one.

Casey and Jacob both have bad habits that can mar their vocal performances: Jacob oversings, which leads to him missing notes by miles; Casey growls, which can make him seem indulgent and a little menacing. But I would argue that Casey took more chances than Jacob and was a more entertaining performer.

Too bad we didn't have another "Nature Boy" on Wednesday instead of a "Hi De Ho." I liked the performance, but I figured the Caseyisms in the second half of the song would land him in the bottom two or three.

And we can't forget that the viewers tried to toss Casey weeks ago, but he got a reprieve from the judges' save.

"I watched Casey last night. I'm disappointed," said mentor Jimmy Iovine, "because he was on, but he felt that he had to growl. Casey's got to realize that the family dog does not vote on this show," said Jimmy, who gave assessments Thursday of each contestant: what they were doing wrong or right, and their chances of going home.

But Jimmy also believed that Casey was safe. Jacob, he said, could possibly go home. "He's on banana peel status."

So you see, even the music executive expert thought Jacob was done.

Casey knew his time had come, shaking his head in acknowledgement even before Ryan Seacrest got the words out. This was just common sense, since Casey was standing next to Scotty McCreery and Scotty's not going anywhere.

Casey smiled and laughed as he watched his exit video, which ended with him saying, "The dream doesn't end, it keeps going. In fact, maybe it gets even bigger because I'm gonna work harder and do everything I can to get myself out there and bring jazz back."

(During a segment where the Idols were asked to answer fan questions, Casey said the one musician, dead or alive, he'd want to do a duet with would be the late Canadian jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, whom he described as a musical genius.)

Then Casey gave the most fun final performance I think I've ever seen on Idol. Singing "I Put a Spell on You" (and growling, I would add, which he told Ryan was "just this passion for music that I need to get out"), he hugged the judges and kissed Steven Tyler on the cheek; waded into the crowd and began randomly kissing young women on the cheek; took a flying leap at Scotty and got right into James Durbin's face as James responded with an "I'm not worthy" gesture; ran back down into the audience for more hugs and kisses; did a full body roll back onto the stage; and sang the last line, "You're mine," looking right into the eyes of Haley Reinhart, whom he's allegedly dating.

That's how you make an exit.

Most of the show filler isn't worth mentioning: the group Carole King medley was predictably awful; I didn't pay attention to Bruno Mars; the best parts of the kids' visit to the British consulate for a royal wedding party were Eric Idle looking askance at them like he was trying to figure out who they were and comic actor Fred Willard joking with Casey about throwing someone in the pool. 

Last season's runner-up, Crystal Bowersox, did her song "Riding With the Radio," which was okay. She still has her dreads, still dresses like a hippie, still has her lucky mic stand, but she's had her teeth fixed.

I'm not sure if Jimmy's results night assessments are going to be a regular feature or were just a temporary sop to viewers to make up for the lack of critique from the judges.

Jimmy's thoughts on the remaining five contestants were as follows:

Haley has one of the competition's best voices but doesn't know who she is yet, and the audience may pick up on that and vote her out, he said. Haley disagreed with that so strongly she swore and had to be bleeped. "I think I know who I am," she told Ryan. "I've had a lot of background so, yes, I've got a lot of different things going, but when it comes down to it there's definitely some soul in it it, rock 'n' roll, blues."

Scotty is doing fine just the way he is, Jimmy said. "If you had Johnny Cash, you wouldn't say to him, 'Hey, spread your wings,' 'cause he'd look at you funny." But Jimmy warned that Scotty's subtleties could get lost in the Idol environment. Scotty agreed: "A lot of the time people are looking for the glory notes."

Lauren Alaina focuses on the negative too much, but "she has a poise when she's confident that challenges any singer in the game today," said Jimmy. "My prediction this week is that Lauren's here for a long run." Lauren agreed that she thinks too much about negative stuff but said she's trying to change that.

James should avoid heavy metal and instead sing "melody with a great song with a rock feel," said Jimmy. "If James picks the right songs there is no doubt in my mind that he can win this thing."

Jimmy's thoughts on Jacob were a little hard to make sense of. At first, he seemed to be criticizing Jacob for dancing through his performance, saying, "Our studio is right next door to Dancing With the Stars. When I saw Jacob hit the stage I said, 'Oops, he went in the wrong dressing room.' " But then Jimmy said being on Idol was about the whole package, not just the voice, which seemed contradictory. "We've got to stop comparing them to themselves and their progress every week. We have to compare them against each other," Jimmy added. Which means what? That Jacob should have gone home compared to the others? That would be my interpretation.

I would say that my predictions only pan out about half the time, but at this point I'm seeing a James, Scotty and Lauren final three, and James's victory is starting to feel like a foregone conclusion. 

Next week, the top five sing songs of "Now and Then," which means one current song and one song from the 1960s. Ugh, really Idol? Really? Weren't we promised that the theme nights wouldn't be so hokey in the new and improved Season 10?

Thursday's results show will feature Jennifer Lopez doing her song "On the Floor" with Pitbull, plus Lady Antebellum.

Tune in Wednesday at 8 p.m. on CTV and Thursday at 8 p.m. on A, and catch my recaps here.

(The photo of Casey and the top five is by Michael Becker for Fox.)

Survivor: Redemption Island - And then there were six (spoiler alert)

Zapatera is no more and somewhere, Russell Hantz is smiling.

Just as he predicted when his erstwhile tribe threw a challenge so they could vote him out, his enemies got picked off one by one by Boston Rob. 

But now the hard part starts for Russell's former nemesis, Rob. Four of his foes are still on Redemption Island, including the demoralized Matt. His rock solid Ometepe alliance mates have to start turning on each other now that there are only six of them left. And they are sure to agitate to get rid of the annoying Phillip, jeopardizing Rob's plan to take him to the end. Can the Survivor Godfather keep his grip? 

Wednesday's episode began where last week's left off. Steve was trying to bury the hatchet with Phillip after the tumultuous tribal council at which Phillip accused his of racism. But, despite shaking hands, neither man was at ease with the other. Phillip found Steve's gesture self-serving while Steve was perturbed that Phillip didn't reach out first. 

"There's no prejudice behind it, but he's a little crazy," Steve said of Phillip, whom he and Ralph started calling Numbnuts. "He's a frickin' lunatic. They just might be getting tired of him too."

The other Ometepens might, but not Rob, not as long as Phillip kept up his "stupid antics" and kept annoying future jury members.

Phillip had reason to smile when it came time for the next three-way duel. He found his shorts!

You'll remember that Julie had buried them under a rock on last week's episode, with her last words to Phillip as she went to get her torch snuffed being that he'd never find them.

But Phillip says his great-great grandfather, "a full-blooded Cherokee Indian," came to him in a vision and told him to look for the swim trunks near the water. Now I know you're thinking the production staff must have given him a hint but, however it happened, Phillip dug up the shorts in the second place he looked.

"Here's to you, Julie, don't mess with the undercover specialist because he makes his living uncovering truth and most people like you can't stand the truth," crowed Phillip before launching into an imitation of Jack Nicholson's famous speech in A Few Good Men.

Phillip couldn't wait to rub Julie's nose in his discovery at the duel although, sadly for the viewers, the exchange amounted to nothing more than Phillip grabbing and shaking the bottoms of the shorts as Julie entered the amphitheatre and Julie grinning back at him.

If ever there was a time for Matt to lose a duel, this was going to be it. Spending 21 days on Redemption Island had knocked the stuffing out of him. He sat listlessly staring out at the ocean, "wasting away," missing his family and trying to figure out what purpose God had in keeping him there. "God's literally been carrying me for the past four days," Matt sobbed. "I know I'm still in the game, but I'm just so over this game."

By the time the duel came around, Matt had dried his tears but told Jeff Probst, "I'm gonna do the best I can in today's challenge, but yeah, I think I'm ready to go home."

Silly boy. Apparently, the finger of God reached out and pushed three of Matt's pucks into the end zone in a game of shuffleboard. He and Mike won, sending Julie off to the jury. 

At first, Julie was teary-eyed, telling Jeff she'd been seeking the $1 million because "like many Americans, my house is in foreclosure and this was an opportunity for me to make a better life for my girls," which was the most poignant moment of the episode.

But Julie rallied for a few reasons: brushing her teeth for the first time in 28 days; Matt's faith had inspired her to get involved with a church when she got home; and "peanut butter and oatmeal!" That's what she yelled as she tossed her buff in the fire and headed to Ponderosa.

Back at the Murlonio camp, seeing Matt at the duel had stirred up feelings of guilt in Andrea, especially after Matt gave her the stink eye when she tried to smile at him.

"It was just like a weird feeling going there," she told her tribe mates.

"We all put him there, you know, it wasn't just you," said Rob.

"No, I know. I definitely played him the hardest," she replied.

Even though Andrea said her guilt was on a human and not a game level, it had Grant worried about where her allegiance would lie if Matt returned a second time from Redemption Island. Grant and Rob debated dumping Andrea before Steve and Ralph.

Luckily for Andrea, Ralph did well enough at the immunity challenge to ratchet up his threat level. 

It was a simple one this week: a log roll. The castaways faced off in pairs, trying to stay upright while knocking their opponents off balance. First one to fall off and hit the water was out. Eventually just Grant and Ralph were left, but Ralph was looking pretty comfortable up there until he finally hit the drink.

Besides immunity, Grant won a reward of a huge chocolate cake and got to choose two people to help him eat as much of it as they could in two minutes. He chose his main man Rob and also Andrea to try and lull her into a sense of belonging before possibly voting her off later. But poor Natalie looked like she was going to cry. And Ralph said, "I'd hug your neck if you'd let me eat some," quickly adding, "I'm not a gay person," after Jeff noted that might not be a big incentive for Grant.

There was one other surprise at the challenge: a secret bag that the tribe was told to bring unopened to tribal council; Steve said it felt like a deck of cards.

Rob astutely surmised the mystery bag meant that two people would be voted off at tribal council instead of one. Getting rid of Ralph, with his physical strength, was a no-brainer, but Steve seemed like a spent force, so Andrea was targeted as next in line.

But then Steve got strategic, trying to recruit Andrea, Natalie and Ashley to vote Rob out, telling them, "He'll start picking you off and take Nimrod (Phillip) to the finals. Nobody will vote for Nimrod."

Well, yeah, duh, of course Rob will. And if Steve had been talking to say, Parvati, Sandra and Danielle instead of the Stepford Triplets, the offer might at least have been seriously considered. But instead, the girls went straight to Rob with the intel, making Steve a better target than Andrea.

Steve wasn't going down without a fight, however. First he tried to play up his lack of physical strength at tribal council, but the Ometepens weren't buying that. Then he tried to make an issue of Rob's untrustworthiness, bringing up his infamous Survivor: All-Stars blindside, when he recruited Lex to save Amber and then betrayed Lex. "It will get brutal after Ralph and I are gone, so it's now or never to do something large," Steve warned.

Nice try, but Steve ignored the flip side of the story, as Jeff pointed out, which was that Rob stayed true to his alliance with Amber. "The one I still have to this day," smiled Rob, referring to the woman who's now his wife and mother of his two children. So Rob the Rat became Rob the Romantic and these girls weren't going to vote against that. 

To no one's surprise, Ralph had his torch snuffed and headed off to Redemption Island with the man fur under his overalls gleaming in the fire light (yuck).

Then came the twist. The secret bag turned out to be a stack of cards, as Steve surmised, with symbols on them (a pot, a campfire, a hook and so on). The castaways had to use the cards for an immediate immunity challenge followed by a second vote-off. 

Jeff held up a series of symbols and the tribe members had to memorize them, then show the same symbols on their cards in the same order. Rob won and Steve got voted off.

"Congratulations," said Jeff, "there are no more Zapateras left. That's the good news. The bad news is there's nowhere left to hide."

True dat. The promos for next week tell us the Ometepens are turning on each other (duh), that "a massive challenge leaves everyone depleted" and shows Rob lamenting that his 32 days of hard work is "gone, just like that."

At Redemption Island, Ralph's plotting to get into the final three, knowing all the former Zapaterans will give him the million if he does.

Tune in next Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Global to see how it plays out and look for the recap here.

And don't forget, you can follow me on Twitter here. 

(The photo of Phillip and Andrea is by Michael Yarish for CBS.)

American Idol: Oh no, he's not my baby

Okay, Jacob Lusk, time to go home.

I've completely lost patience with the strangled notes, the key changes that go way off key, the overdone vibrato, all of it. And that includes judges who refuse to do their jobs and treat a sow's ear like it's a silk purse. 

"Oh No, Not My Baby" was what Jacob sang on Carole King Night. Yeah, you got that right. 

I'm not convinced that any of the top six had a real moment on Wednesday. The closest for me was Scotty McCreery, who showed a willingness to take one of the judges' all too rare critiques and make it work to his advantage.

At first, I thought James Durbin was the star of the night. If it was based just on those first four mesmerizing lines of "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow," he would be. But I gave the top spots to the two country kids this week.

Here's how I rank 'em, from most to least favourite:

Scotty McCreery: Sure, Scotty's as corny as Kansas in August (if I can steal a line from the wonderful Rodgers and Hammerstein), but he delivered the most pleasing vocal of the evening on "You've Got a Friend." He started out quiet, sweet and tender on the first verse, pushed himself to the limits of his upper range on the chorus and then circled back to a nice quiet ending. He also reined in the worst of his stage mannerisms (no holding the mic like a flute tonight) and used just enough of the Scotty baritone to keep the fans happy. Randy Jackson said the song was flawless other than the fact Scotty fell off some of the high notes and Steven Tyler said it was "that just right song that shows all of you off." "When we hear you sing a song like that, that's why we couldn't let you get away with what you did last week," said Jennifer Lopez, referring to Scotty's safe and boring "Songs of the 21st Century" performance of "Swingin'."

Lauren Alaina: A pep talk from Jimmy Iovine and guest mentor Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds helped Lauren start to break the shackles of her own self-doubt. That and a surprise visit from Miley Cyrus, who told Lauren she was awesome and advised: "Just do it for yourself because you will always have mean comments. People will always talk about you, always." The star was tactful enough not to bring up Jimmy's assertion that Lauren sang better than her, but she obviously remembered it, telling Jimmy when he joked that mean things had been said about him, "You deserve it." Lauren sang "Where You Lead." There were still moments where she hid behind cutesy faces and hokey stage gestures (and was it really her own idea to lead a guy from the audience and sing to him as he sat on the edge of the stage?), but it was one of her stronger vocals. Jlo said that when Lauren's voice cracked a little near the end, "I felt proud, I thought she's pushing." Lauren was in tears after Steven told her, "You keep shining the way you do and keep breaking like that. That shows the character in your voice." But now she has to push even more. If she can get all the way back to the unaffected, powerhouse performance she gave at her audition, she stands a shot at top three at least.

James Durbin: James had a breakout performance in the time it took him to sing the first four lines of "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" a cappella. His voice was so strong and controlled and his tone so pure, with just the right amount of vibrato on the long notes. Then the guitar and the rest of the band kicked in, James ramped up the rock vocals and it lost some of its magic. Don't get me wrong, it was still a very good performance. Initially I got caught up in the judges' hype, with JLo declaring James the star of the night and Randy ready to hand him the whole contest. But after repeat listens with good headphones, I think Steven had it right when he said he didn't like the rock part as much as the beginning. I could hear the spots where notes went a bit flat or quavery, and the rock screams didn't fit the song. Still, an excellent job that will undoubtedly bring James many votes. If he'd done the whole thing like that first verse I might have said, prepare the confetti shower.

Casey Abrams: There's no denying Casey went a little off the rails toward the end of "Hi De Ho," but the earlier vocals were pretty sweet. And the performance had a cool, clubby feel as Casey moved from piano player to harmonica player to sax player to trumpet player before tossing his fedora across the stage and jamming with the backup singers. By the time he got around to prowling the edge, slapping hands with audience members, he'd lapsed into growling and grunting excess, and ended the song with a wonky falsetto riff. Still, the kid put on a show. "It took me back to New Orleans, dude, where I'm from, my home state," said Randy. "I was like, yo, this is like the Casey show and review." But later, Randy added, almost as an afterthought, "Less growl, less growl," which is the most useful thing he said all night. Steven said "it was so good it made my scalp itch." And Jennifer told Casey to loosen up physically.

Haley Reinhart: I've had "Rolling in the Deep" on the brain ever since Haley sang it last week, but I won't have that problem with "Beautiful" because I don't like the song at all. I still have to give Haley credit for a nice vocal, with a good balance of soft lilt and bluesy belting. Yet, the performance lacked oomph up until the end and Haley seemed to get drowned out by the backup singers on the choruses. I'd imagine it's hard to put passion into a song that begins, "You've got to get up every morning/With a smile on your face," but we're far enough into the competition that Haley shouldn't be making these kinds of mistakes with song choice. Hope it doesn't cost her on Thursday. (Also, I hope we never have to see that headband she wore in rehearsal again; it looked like it was crawling with multi-coloured yarn insects.) JLo and Steven were fawning in their praise ("I heard God in your voice," Steven said), but Randy, quite sensibly, noted that the song ended better than it began. 

Jacob Lusk: Jimmy seems to think the end is near for Jacob; we can only hope. The best word I can use to describe his performance of "Oh No, Not My Baby" is manic. Jimmy told him, "You've got to go for it this week, you've got no choice," but surely he wasn't expecting the mix of tortured notes, oversinging and bad dancing that Jacob came up with. If there was a melody to that song it was hard to detect it and a couple of those sustained notes were beyond the pale. But Steven had the nerve to call it beautiful and compliment Jacob for shaking his tailfeathers. Randy and Jennifer weren't much better. They both cited rough spots in the song, but then JLo said Jacob had "killed it" and Randy told him he was a great singer. "I had fun and I think I gave the judges what they were looking for," Jacob beamed in a backstage clip. I'll be shocked if viewers feel the same way. 

The Duets: The contestants were paired off for additional Carole King songs. Best of the three were Scotty and Lauren, who sang "Up on the Roof." Lauren often sounds better in her duets than her solos; maybe she's more relaxed. Scotty and Lauren didn't set the stage on fire, but their voices blended well. Casey and Haley did "I Feel the Earth Move," but it was no "Moanin'." They were at their best when they sang individually, especially Haley; they often sounded out of tune when they harmonized. But really, they were like angels compared to Jacob and James, who did "I'm Into Something Good." They brought out the worst in each other, losing pitch and descending into a screamy mess at the end. James looked strange in a sort of British rowing club outfit. And Jennifer should perhaps consider a restraining order against the male contestants. Last week was Casey's kiss; on Wednesday, Jacob and James wheeled her chair away from the judges' table then crouched on either side of a clearly flustered JLo and took turns serenading her. Even Steven couldn't think of anything nice to say about their performance. "You guys were having fun, but God knows you can both sing great but, man, where were you going with that?" Ryan Seacrest tried to imply there was something going on between Scotty and Lauren besides stage flirting, while Steven asked Casey, "Hey, weird beard, how much in love with Haley are you? C'mon, it shows, man, it shows."

We'll find out Thursday which of the "couples" gets broken up and also see performances from Bruno Mars and Season 9 runner-up Crystal Bowersox. Tune in at 8 p.m. on A and look for the recap here.

(The photos of Scotty, and Jacob and James are by Michael Becker for Fox.)

Dancing With the Stars: Down for the count (spoiler alert)

Oh well, there goes our Canadian content.

Winnipeg-raised wrestler Chris Jericho was taken to the mat by the viewers on Tuesday's Dancing With the Stars, becoming the fifth celebrity eliminated.

I'm disappointed. Chris was a good dancer, he's funny and self-deprecating, and he could give Kendra Wilkinson a lesson or two in grace under pressure. 

You didn't see Chris complaining that Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba had made him feel like trash when they panned his tango on Monday. Instead, in his backstage confessional, Chris said that he'd let Bruno and Carrie Ann down: "This week I was not (a contender). Next week, I will be, I promise," he said.

But there is no next week and Chris was okay with that. 

"Let's be honest, it wasn't my best dance and at this point in the competition, you have to be your best every week or this is what happens," Chris told Tom Bergeron and Brooke Burke.

"I'm proud of all the dances we did, and I'm proud to show that a WWE guy and rock and roll singer can go this far and do this ... The only reason I got this far was because of Cheryl (Burke) ... She's become a great friend, a friend for life."

Chris also joked that the timing was perfect since he was flying to England for the royal wedding. But on a serious note, he said he wanted "to let everyone know at home how taxing this show is, how much of a sacrifice it is. I haven't seen my kids in four weeks."

"Look at these people all on their feet in tribute to you," Tom said. However, I noticed the boos were very sparse when the elimination was announced.

Joining Chris and Cheryl in the spotlight  of shame were Ralph Macchio and Karina Smirnoff, but I don't believe for a minute they were in the bottom two. No way were they getting voted off after the way Ralph stepped up to the plate to help Karina after she fell on Monday.

Kendra Wilkinson and Louis Van Amstel were not placed in jeopardy on Tuesday and were picked by the judges for the encore dance, which meant Len Goodman and Bruno got to gawk again as Kendra shook all her bits on top of the their table. Well, it was Guilty Pleasures Week, as Len pointed out.

The rest of the results show was about boy bands and reality show crossovers.

The so-called super-group New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys were musical guests. And yes, some screams could be heard from the studio audience, but here's the thing guys, there's a reason they call them "boy bands" and not "man bands." Nice job by two of the NKOTBers, though, doing some ballroom steps with Anna Trebunskaya and a blond who might have been Peta Murgatroyd from the DWTS Troupe (didn't get a close enough look at her face to tell).

The other musical guest was American Idol castoff Pia Toscano, who was in great voice on "I'll Stand by You."

"It's not often a castoff from American Idol goes directly from the elimination across the hall to our ballroom," Tom said, referring to the fact that the Idol and DWTS studios are on the same lot.

Another Idol alumnus, Season 6 winner Jordin Sparks, was in the audience cheering Pia on. And yet another Idol escapee, Constantine Maroulis, hit the DWTS stage, doing a medley of songs with the Broadway cast of Rock of Ages on the Road to the Finals special that preceded the results. 

And here's one more piece of reality TV trivia for you. The young girl who performed in that rather hokey Macy's Stars of Dance routine about love through the ages was none other than Kendall Glover, the runner-up in ex-Idol judge Paula Abdul's Live to Dance reality show.

But back to Pia. She's certainly looking polished these days. She performed in a body-hugging, nude-coloured dress and when Tom said, "How the hell did you get voted off?" Pia answered diplomatically, "Everything happens for a reason. I'm in a good place now."

People were no doubt wondering if that place includes the company of DWTS pro Mark Ballas. The show fuelled rumours of their romance with one throw to commercial that had Mark and Pia arm in arm while dance partner Karina pouted. And in a backstage rehearsal clip, Pia was shown dancing with Mark and said he gave her "the chills."

"Several people said, 'You should ask her about is she dating Mark?'" said Tom, chatting with Pia after her song. "I said, 'I'm not gonna do that to Pia,' so I'll just ask you, is he a good kisser?"

"He's a wonderful person," laughed Pia as Mark blew her a kiss from the dance floor.

There was more, of course, including the standard video clips of the competitors talking about how hard they've been working and how much they want to win. And the judges assessed each of the celebs in the hourlong Road to the Finals special. 

To sum up what they said: Hines Ward is the most consistent and his greatest strength is his naturalness; Chelsea Kane has versatility, great timing and precision going for her; Kendra has a dancer inside her who hasn't fully emerged; Romeo has great musicality and a unique raw style that sets him apart from the others; Ralph is great at playing characters on the dance floor but needs to let out his inner animal a little more; Kirstie Alley has the best foot placement and is most confident of her sensuality.

But don't place your bets based on the above. It's still anybody's race.

Next week, the couples tackle two dances each with the help of the world's best ballroom coaches, according to Brooke.

But since Monday is the Canadian federal election, don't look for the show on CTV. You can catch it on ABC at 8 p.m. and look for the recap here.

(The photo of Chris and Cheryl doing the tango is by Adam Taylor for ABC.)

Survivor: Redemption Island - David's exit interview

With his brains, his experience as a defence attorney and his willingness to deceive people, David Murphy figured he had what it took to win Survivor: Redemption Island. What the 31-year-old from West Hollywood, Calif., didn't count on was being part of an alliance with no long-term strategy. David, who became the first member of the jury after losing a duel to Matt Elrod and Mike Chiesl on last week's show, talked about Russell, Rob, Phillip and how making friends with your tribemates has no place in the game of Survivor. Here's an edited version of our chat on Tuesday afternoon.

Q: If you had it to do over again, is there anything you think you could have done differently, aside from the obvious of winning the duel?

A: That’s the only thing that I would really change ... there would have to be a lot of other things change for me to say I’d play the game differently. Based on the cards that I was dealt I wouldn’t change how I approached anything.

Q: I have read some interviews where you said if you had had a chance to play with Russell it would have been a better fit for you and I wondered about what you meant by that.

A: There would be a different dynamic, obviously. I would have been able to stay out of the radar a little bit and have none of the attention on me the way that it was on him. It would be on him.

Q: Did you feel that there was some negative attention on you from your tribe?

A: Oh yeah, definitely from the beginning. There were a number of people that had a preconceived notion of me based on what my profession was. That was something I couldn’t overcome. If somebody hates attorneys, then they’re gonna hate attorneys. I had no way around it.

Q: They were saying stuff to your face about this?

A: There were comments made directly to me about, 'Oh, you know, an attorney?' You know, whatever.

Q: Yet you managed to get into this solid six-person group and I guess up until you had the falling out with Sarita it seemed like things were going your way as far as that group of people went.

A: Well, I was kind of a reluctant member of the alliance from the very get go just because the situation would have played out better for me had I been able to align with Russell, but the numbers didn’t really allow that. There was no logical reason for me to do that. But my place in the alliance was never as strong as I would have liked for it to have been. There was a certain level of distrust that they had and it was apparent to me, and I was trying to figure out how I could get myself in a better position, but it was really difficult to do. And they were doing their thing and I was not necessarily part of it. I was a number, I was a vote.

Q: There was clearly a group of people that were controlling things: Steve and Mike, for instance, and Ralph and Julie were some of the strongest members of that group.

A: It wasn’t so much that there was anybody individually that was stronger. It was that they were all content playing this game where we’re all friends and then we’ll get to six and then figure it out. Well, that’s all good and well, but, you know, we've got to get there first and at the rate we’re going, we’re not putting forth the best effort to get anything accomplished. It just doesn’t really work. They were just trying to go out there and be best friends with everybody and have this group of nice people that Sarita liked to call it. She was making it like good vs. evil and there’s really just no place for that.... It was a group that almost didn’t want a leader, they just wanted to see how things played out and that’s no way to go through any sort of competition. You have to have somebody who’s in charge. And had Russell been around it obviously would have been Russell the same way that Rob was in charge of the other tribe. I’m not saying that I wasn’t in favour of parting ways with Russell at some point, but they were so dead set on it and doing it that way that it was gonna happen that way.

Q: Which was throwing the challenge. And I think you’ve said other places that that wouldn’t have been  your choice of what to do, but you felt you didn’t have any choice but to go along with it.

A: That’s kind of the position I was put in and ... I  had some hesitation about it, but I wasn’t going to further alienate myself by voicing that. I mean, ironic as it may be, the one time I don’t speak up is the one time it comes back and screws me in the end.

Q: To some extent, what Russell predicted was going to happen happened. Your team started losing challenges and the numbers were going down, and next thing you know you go into the merge and you’re sitting ducks for Ometepe.

A: I don’t disagree with that at all. (To have) changed my opinion at that point in time would not have been well received, so there was very little reason for me to have put my neck out there further and voice my concerns in that manner, because they were so opposed to Russell. And it was almost this thing that Sarita had formed, she wants to play the game with good people. I’m sorry, if you want to play the game with good people, you should be playing a different game. To a certain degree, if you’re not screwing with people, if you’re not lying to a degree, if you’re not deceiving someone, then you’re not really giving the game all that it can. Not that you have to lie to win, because I think people in the past have succeeded with being truthful the whole time, but in this situation there was no room to play the game that way. It just wasn’t going to give you an edge.

Q: Was that something you were willing to do personally, lie, screw people over if you had to?

A: C’mon, I’m an attorney, what do you think?

Q: Well, you know, I wasn’t gonna go there.

A: I’ve been willing to call myself morally flexible before.

Q: Let’s go back to the subject of Rob for a minute. Obviously by the time the merge came you were just another target for him. If situations had been reversed and you had ended up on his tribe do you think he would have been somebody you could have worked with?

A: I think it would have been very different had I had the opportunity to work with him rather than against him just because there would have been an angle to play there for both of us, in terms of strategy, that would have been very different. I don’t think he would have tried to necessarily get rid of me right away.... He would have seen me as somebody who could get the blood on their hands and I could be the one who’s viewed as the one doing what he’s doing now and he could have laid a little bit lower when in reality it wouldn’t have necessarily been that way.

Q: So you could have been useful to him.

A: Oh yeah and it would have been mutually useful and I think we would have put one another in a position to do well. He was very fortunate in being put on with a group of people that he was able to kind of bend to what he needed.

Q: He’s definitely bending them as far as he wants them to go.

A: They’re taking direction very well. It’s kind of amusing to me to watch it all play out that way just because it’s so atypical for the game to go that direction, but the way that this is all going it’s kind of a totally unique situation to have a group so willingly and blindly follow every word he says.... It wasn’t readily apparent from the first moment of the merge that it was happening that way, but you started to see that ... there’d be a conversation even in terms of location of the shelter, building the shelter was, ‘Oh, what do you think Rob?’ His word was the final word. They wouldn’t do anything if he didn’t give his approval. It was amazing to me, At first, I just kind of took it with a grain of salt in terms of he’s been here before, he’s done it four times, he’s built a few shelters.... But then it became literally asking him everything. It was obvious that he was in control in every aspect of their lives.

Q: He’s making Phillip his right-hand man, obviously because you take Phillip to the final tribal and how many votes do you think he’s gonna get, right, especially the way he’s been treating everybody. A really smart move if you think about it. How difficult was Phillip to live with for the amount of time that you were in that merge?

A: It was aggravating, I’m not gonna lie. He is very opinionated and, well, he’s entitled to his opinion; it wasn’t asked for most of the time, but he was very willing to give it. It was very frustrating, but I understand it’s a game and people have different personalities and it’s cast that way, it’s cast so there’s going to be conflicts. Nobody’s going to be sitting there because they’re so passive they won’t have an opinion. That’s just not going to happen.

Q: Why do you think they cast you?

A: That’s a good question. Oh, I’m sure there was a number of reasons. I fill a role in terms of the professional in the group. Having not been a tremendous follower of the game prior to (being on) it, I think there was definitely a fresh perspective on my part in the sense that I wasn’t a big fan of anybody, I wasn’t trying to emulate anyone. I was there to play the game, I  wasn’t afraid to step on toes and do what I needed to do to try and further myself in the game. I think that’s probably what they found appealing.

Q: You did some stepping on toes. Sarita would be an obvious example, right?

A: Yeah, I was going to call it like I see it. Whether it’s good or bad, I don’t bite my tongue very often. I don’t filter things and if I have an opinion I have no problem letting it be known. It’s just who I am and I took the game as not something where you’re gonna put on a front. I don’t think you can play this game and try to be someone you’re not.... If you want people to trust you, you have to be yourself.

Q: I have read that you would be interested in playing again. Is that true and, if so, why would you go back and subject yourself to it again?

A: I would love to do it again. I would do it again in a heartbeat if I had the opportunity. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had. It’s such a unqiue experience and I think if I was with a different cast of characters I think I would have a legitimate chance to win this. I think I’ve proven that I can play the strategic game, I can play the social game and I can compete in the challenges. And I think I’d be good to come back.

Q: We’ll see what happens with that.

We'll also see what happens Wednesday as Steve and Ralph await their turn to be sent to Redemption Island. Will a Zapateran finally win an immunity challenge? Will Rob's minions stay obedient? Who will Phillip annoy this week?

Watch it unfold Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Global TV, then look for the recap here on Thursday morning.

Dancing With the Stars: Rankings that shift like the fringe on Kendra's dress

(Ralph Macchio helps Karina Smirnoff after a fall on Dancing With the Stars in an ABC photo by Adam Taylor.)

Isn't having a Guilty Pleasure Night on Dancing With the Stars redundant? Seriously, isn't the whole show a guilty pleasure, one I heartily endorse?

Nonetheless, pleasures were not lacking on Monday's episode. There was also a little guilt, whether it was Maks trying to hide behind Kirstie when reminded of his "sex on a stick" monologue or Karina stifling tears after falling during her paso doble with Ralph. 

Besides the fall, there was also a rehearsal injury. A wardrobe malfunction would have made it a hat trick, but everybody kept their shoes and pants and tops on, even Kendra, despite the extreme shimmying going on in her samba. And dancers weren't the only things topsy turvy: the rankings got a shakeup too.

While we're on the subject, I'm not sure whether having Hanson performing "MMMBop" as well as snippets of corny hits throughout the show was a guilty pleasure for us or them, since the lead singer (no, I don't know all their names) occasionally seemed embarrassed by the experience. (Tom Bergeron's best line of the night, after Hanson did "Achy Breaky Heart": "Somewhere, a mullet is smiling.")

But never mind, let's say it loud and proud: We love sequins and rhinestones and men's shirts cut to the navel; we love samba rolls and reverse turns; we love Dancing With the Stars.

Here's how the night played out, with the rankings at the end of the post:

Kirstie Ally and Maks Chmerkovskiy: The actress and her comely partner ("a shirtless Russian and self-proclaimed sex on a stick," Tom Bergeron called him) have had a rough go of things since the early promise of the first show. There was the Charley horse-induced tumble during the rumba, then Kirstie's lost shoe during the waltz. Last week, Maks lost his shirt on purpose during their foxtrot, which got mixed reviews and a middle-of-the-pack score. Kirstie's goal this week was simple: to get some 9's. Bruno Tonioli and birthday boy Len Goodman granted her wish. She seemed to have shaken off the jitters of the earlier mishaps and, looking her best yet in a shimmery, copper-coloured, fringed dress, Kirstie did her samba with confidence to Britney Spears' "Hit Me Baby, One More Time." The arm movements could be tighter and sharper, and her booty shaken a little more vigorously, but overall it was a very nice job. Len and Carrie Ann Inaba both described it as a comeback. Bruno, with his usual double entendres, said Kirstie "delivered the smoothest and most natural Brazilian north of Rio. It's very hard to make this dance look easy. You were just doing it as if you were born to it. Your wiggling bum sent shockwaves through the airwaves."

Chris Jericho and Cheryl Burke: The Canadian wrestler went into Monday's show marked as a contender but dropped to the bottom of the scoreboard. I don't think he deserved the drubbing he got from Bruno and Carrie Ann. Sure, his timing was off in a couple of spots and yes, he did lack the passion one associates with the tango (to Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'"), but his lines, hold and footwork were all good. Bruno said Chris was having an off night and called the routine "cold, uneventful and a bit lumpy," while Carrie Ann said it was unexciting and that Chris let the pressure get to him. Uncharacteristically, Len was the kind judge (was there cake before the show? was he on a sugar high?), telling Bruno that he was the one having an off night. "It did lack a bit of intensity ... but overall I thought you did an excellent job." Here's what worries me, though, Chris was grace personified after seeing his disappointing scores. "I'm really happy with those scores and with what Len said, and with what Bruno and Carrie Ann said. They're right," he told Brooke Burke. Careful Chris. Petra Nemcova was really nice to everyone and look what happened to her last week. On the bright side, we saw Chris on tape rocking out with his band, Fozzy, so we know he's got something to fall back on if this dancing stuff doesn't work out. 

Romeo and Chelsie Hightower: Last week, I felt the judges underscored Romeo; this week, I think they overscored a tad. Yes, he has grown by leaps and bounds as a dancer. Yes, he does a good job of getting into the spirit of the dance. But did Romeo deserve the first 10 of the season? Not unless Hines Ward got one too. Methinks maybe Carrie Ann has a bit of a crush. Romeo was Jack to Chelsie's Rose in a waltz to Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" from the movie Titanic (Romeo confessed that seeing the film for the first time turned him into a "hopeless romantic"). I was not as transported as Carrie Ann declared herself to be. The routine was enjoyable, but Romeo's footwork could have been smoother in a few spots and his arms slightly more extended. "Every once in a while in a season magic happens. That was magical," Carrie Ann gushed before delivering her 10. "Romeo DiCaprio, your ship will sail on and on and on," said Bruno. Both he and Len said Romeo needed some work on his frame, which perhaps explains why they stuck with 9's. Romeo used the 10 from Carrie Ann to cadge a kiss on the cheek from Brooke and another from Chelsie. He had already given Chelsie an unplanned smooch at the end of their waltz.

Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas: Chelsea and Mark suffered the night's first mishap, if you don't count Chris's scores. Mark twisted his ankle in rehearsal but, with ice and the pain suppression of a professional dancer, went on with the show. Mark, we were told in the rehearsal video (as if we needed to be reminded), is intensely competitive. Chelsea, explaining that she used to be a cheerleader, said she'd like to see everyone go home with a mirrorball, so Mark decided to pump up her competitive spirit with a water fight. I'm not sure what spraying someone with a kitchen hose has to do with the will to win a dance competition, but they ended up tied for top spot, so I guess Mark's right and a weekly dousing is in order. Despite Chelsea's warning to her opponents that the "Disney kid" wasn't as sweet as she looked, her quickstep to Katrina and the Waves' "Walking on Sunshine" was adorable. She and Mark were a couple of glasses-clad dancing geeks. In hold and out of hold, they were in step, in synch and in the zone. "That was so bright and luminous, I'm getting a suntan," said Bruno. The glare seemed to have temporarily blinded him, though, since he claimed Chelsea lost her balance briefly (not on my TV screen). Like Tinkerbell, Carrie Ann was inclined to sprinkle more magic around, telling the couple, "You know what? Sometimes magic happens twice." And since she handed out her second 10 of the night, I suppose she was correct.

Kendra Wilkinson and Louis Van Amstel: After being placed in jeopardy last week, Kendra was intent on getting out of last place in the scores. Louis's solution was to bring out Kendra's secret weapons, with a samba shaking her boobs and booty and "everything God gave you." "Well, my boobs aren't what God gave me," replied Kendra with a welcome touch of self-deprecating humour. Manmade or not, Kendra shook them for all she was worth to Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca." The steps and arm placement weren't perfect, but it was a good enough effort to earn Kendra her first 9. That came from Bruno. What also came from Bruno was a rather alarming attempt to throw money at her as she ended her routine shaking her bits atop the judges' table. It didn't seem to bother Kendra's husband, Hank Baskett, who was in the audience clapping vigorously. Len and Carrie Ann both described Kendra's dance as a guilty pleasure. Bruno called it "the revenge of the stripper, part 1, the attack of the killer boobs." And then he perched on the edge of the table with the words, "Let's do it now, let's get it over with Kendra, c'mon" as Tom used his body as a barrier between Bruno and the couple. Tom got him back though, with scenes from a video for Elton John's "I'm Still Standing," with Bruno performing some of the cheesiest backup dancing every captured on camera. Bruno screamed, "Oh no!" and Carrie Ann put her hand to her mouth in (mock?) horror. "Oh my gosh, that's what you get, Bruno," said Brooke. "That was the perfect birthday present for Len by the way."

Hines Ward and Kym Johnson: Carrie Ann's magic wand was broken by the time Hines and Kym danced the Viennese waltz to Boyz II Men's "End of the Road," which was a shame. Hines has the best lines and footwork of any of the male celebrity dancers, so where was his 10? Besides, we got to see him rehearsing at home with his pillow standing in for Kym. That, and his confession that when he sings in the shower he imagines the water as his fans, is pretty freakin' adorable. Seriously, though, Hines had lovely technique in his waltz (although I can see what Len means about the flatfootedness). "I tell you what, Hines, you are becoming the MVP, the most valued partner because every dance you do is so great," Len said. Bruno zeroed in on Hines's chemistry with Kym, saying they were like "two birds in love chasing each other in a spring sky." Leave it to Carrie Ann to spoil the party with some claptrap about how Hines was thinking too much about the steps. I'm with Len, who said incredulously "You saw him thinking?" before throwing a hand over his eyes in exasperation.

Ralph Macchio and Karina Smirnoff: Here was the night's heartbreaker. Ralph and Karina were determined to claw their way back to the top of the leader board with a paso doble. Rehearsals seemed to be going well. Karina even incorporated some old Karate Kid moves into the paso to help Ralph feel more at ease. C+C Music Factory's "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" kicked in and an invigorated Ralph hit the floor, with much better footwork and "spatula" hands nowhere to be seen. I remember wondering, though, why he was wearing such a long jacket, almost like a dress. Then Karina tripped over the jacket and fell and didn't seem to know what to do next when Ralph got her to her feet, but he got her moving again and they finished the dance with great energy, in synch and to great applause from the audience. The judges were kind. "Mr. Miyagi would be very proud of you for getting back up. That was a pretty hard fall," said Carrie Ann, using the screen name of Ralph's Karate Kid mentor. "I'm not going to castigate, I'm going to congratulate you," added Len. "You pulled Karina up, you got her back on her feet straight away, you didn't mess about. You had fire and passion. I'm proud of you; you should be proud of yourself." A teary Karina was not so much proud as grateful, telling Ralph, "I was in so much pain, I did not know where I was or where we had to go," but Brooke had to cut her off for the performance recaps.

Here are the scores leading into Tuesday's results show.

Chelsea and Mark: 28

Romeo and Chelsie: 28

Hines and Kym: 27

Kirstie and Maks: 26

Kendra and Louis: 25

Ralph and Karina: 24

Chris and Cheryl: 22

On Tuesday, besides the usual results at 9 p.m. on A, there's a special Road to the Finals show at 8 p.m. on CTV, which will feature Hanson and the Broadway cast of Rock of Ages. At 9, the guests are New Kids on the Block, Backstreet Boys and former American Idol contestant Pia Toscano.

I know you won't want to miss it and neither will I. I'll have my recap here and at www.toronto.com/blogs/remotecontrol.

(The photo of Romeo and Chelsie is by Adam Taylor for ABC.)

Celebrity Apprentice: Talk softly and carry a big stick (spoiler alert)

(Team A.S.A.P. members NeNe Leakes, Marlee Matlin, La Toya Jackson, Hope Dworaczyk and Star Jones on The Celebrity Apprentice in an NBC photo.)

The oddballs aren't doing so well on The Celebrity Apprentice. 

Last week, the men's team managed to get rid of out-there actor Gary Busey.

This week, it was singer La Toya Jackson, with her kooky demeanour and childish voice, who got thrown under the bus.

Despite having ostensibly won the admiration of Donald Trump, La Toya proved no match for the wily Star Jones, particularly when Star was backed by brash Real Housewife NeNe Leakes. 

When the episode started, mind you, it was hard to believe the women were in any imminent danger. If any challenge seemed custom-made for Star, with her taste for the finer things in life and her self-descrobed pretentiousness, Sunday's task was it.

Each team had to come up with a magazine advertising insert for the Trump collection of hotels (collection sounds cute, doesn't it? Like you could line them up on a curio shelf).

But it wasn't just the hotels that were being promoted. As the teams met with Trump to get their marching orders for the challenge, The Donald threw in a reference to his presidential ambitions. "Let me ask you a question. Meat Loaf, should I run for president?" he asked.

Not only did Meat Loaf think Trump should run for president, he was ready to work on the campaign.

Donald then wanted to know who among the celebs wouldn't vote for him. Showing a refined sense of self-preservation, none of them raised their hands, which was a good call. "Anybody that raised their hand would immediately be fired because they're stupid," Donald said.

Let's get back to the challenge.

It looked like the women had this one in the bag. Not only did their team have two more members than the men, but lawyer-turned-TV personality Star was just the sort of person you'd expect a Trump hotel to cater to.

Indeed, she had stayed at several Trump hotels, she acknowledged.

"I've had the opportunity to walk the streets of Paris and London and Morocco and St. Tropez, and sail the Mediterranean. I know as much about luxury as I know about living," Star said.

And luxury was the key to the campaign for project manager Star, who came up with the phrase "individual elegance, collective luxury" as the theme.

So what does luxury look like? Apparently, it looks like Playboy playmate Hope Dworaczyk drinking champagne in a bathtub (except with her towel still around her beneath the bubbles and the champagne bottle unopened) and all of the ladies (Hope, Star, Marlee Matlin, NeNe and La Toya) having an elegant lunch wearing glitzy baubles from Ivanka Trump's jewellery line.

For the men, luxury wasn't quite as comfortable a concept.

"When I hear Trump hotel, I go, first of all, I can't afford it," said country singer John Rich, the men's project manager. "Second of all, that's for people that land in private helicopters, billionaires and stuff, Donald Trump."

Rap producer Lil Jon said a hotel room to him was just a place to sleep. "Women are probably more concerned about the luxury aspects of the hotel than we are."

Singer Meat Loaf tried to get profound, suggesting the spread include a photo of a man or woman looking into a mirror and seeing the future in their own reflection. Yeah, I didn't know what he was talking about and neither did John.

"Meat Loaf is like a riddle wrapped in an enigma. He'll say something that you just look at him and say, 'What the hell does that mean?' ... Thank God Gary Busey's not here right now because I would jump off the top of this building," said John, referring to the swanky Trump Soho hotel that they were in.

The men might have been befuddled, but at least they were working harmoniously. The same could not be said of the women.

Star tried to foist La Toya onto NeNe by sending them out to run errands, but NeNe was having none of it. She was still smarting over La Toya telling Trump at the previous boardroom session that she didn't think NeNe liked her. NeNe was worried about The Donald seeing her in a negative light.

Star decided to have everybody talk it out. La Toya explained that her feelings had been hurt when NeNe rolled her eyes at La Toya behind her back. Then NeNe changed her tune and decided that she better understood La Toya. La Toya said she really loved NeNe and gave her a hug. Pretty soon the two of them were giggling in the back of a van as it crawled through Manhattan traffic about how La Toya would come and stay at NeNe's house if she visited Atlanta.

Now note, here we are weeks into The Celebrity Apprentice and Star still hadn't clued in to the fact that you can't drive anywhere in the middle of the day in Manhattan. Given the traffic, NeNe and La Toya were late getting back from their errands and Star was panicking because a couple of the photos needed to be shot before the daylight disappeared. So she barked at NeNe that she had to start the bathroom shoot with Hope in five minutes and NeNe barked right back. 

"We just walked in the damn door ... so everybody shut the f--k up, it's pissing me off."

Photos were also creating problems for the men's team. Meat Loaf was in charge of a shoot with a hotel butler. Boasting that he'd done 52 films, been on Broadway and even done Shakespeare, Meat coached the butler to adopt a facial expression that showed he was "the best of the best of the best." Unfortunately, John thought that expression made the butler look like an undertaker (I didn't think the guy looked like a butler at all, his hair was too wild), not the smiling, welcoming staff member he was looking for. With no time to reshoot the photo, it was edited to show nothing but the man's arm with a towel over it, exactly the type of image that Ivanka and her fellow hotel executives had warned against using.

The men knew they were on shaky ground as far as the content of the spread, but they figured they'd ace their presentation to Trump Hotels COO Jim Petrus and James Oseland, editor-in-chief of Saveur magazine.

Their instincts proved sound. They sweetened the pitch with personal stories about stays at Trump hotels (John and his wife finding a crib and a teddy bear in their room when they checked in with their son, Meat Loaf getting recognized by the doorman about a year and a half after he'd last checked in), which seemed to go over well with Petrus, at least.

The women, by contrast, gave a highly scriped presentation where everyone took turns saying words associated with the hotel line, things like power, influence, wealth, consistency, compassion and sophistication.

Or as La Toya put it, "Corny."

Jim and James hated both the ad campaigns.

James went so far as say the women's photos looked like "those advertisements that get placed under your windshield wiper for kind of sleazy clubs." (Note that Donald Trump Jr. had kindly offered to personally supervise Hope's bathtub shoot, to which she responded, "Bring your wife.") 

The men's sins included too much text on the ads, misspelling a couple of words and not including a phone number or website address, the biggest no no in The Donald's eyes, but their heartfelt presentation made them the lesser of two evils.

So the men won the $20,000 charitable donation and got to keep their three-man team intact.

The boardroom meeting was a relatively staid affair except for a bizarre conversation that began with NeNe telling Trump that her teammates Marlee and Hope wanted to crawl up Star Jones' ass. Donald's response? "By the way, much nicer now that she lost all the weight."

Star showed some consummate ass-kissing skills of her own by agreeing with Trump: "It would not have been very comfortable for you back then." Donald followed that up with, "The other way, it wouldn’t have been acceptable."

No, but apparently, making gratuitous references to a woman's weight loss vis a vis whether her butt could accommodate other people crawling up it is.

Regardless of the size of her derriere, it seemed a given that Star was destined for the elevator ride of shame. The key boners in the women's project, like the "myopic" (Trump's word) focus on the luxurious 59th St. hotel and the odd "word of the day" pitch, were Star's ideas. 

But the women were gunning for La Toya, with both Marlee and La Toya's new BFF, NeNe, calling out La Toya as the team's weakest link.

Trump claimed to have developed great respect for La Toya. He said that executives who judged two of the previous challenges had identified La Toya as the team's strongest player (really?!). 

But Star and NeNe presented a united front and La Toya was toast.

Trump framed his decision to oust La Toya instead of the more deserving Star as a bid to help the women beat the men's team, which he reasoned they'd never do if they couldn't get along.

So La Toya was on her way, after giving NeNe a hug and Star the cold shoulder.

"I think Star Jones is a very manipulative person," La Toya said in her limo confessional. "I think she's very conniving and she's very evil because it doesn't matter if she has to lie, cheat or steal, she did it."

Losing Gary seemed to give the men a much needed boost. Will losing La Toya do the same for the women? Or will animosity between NeNe and Star throw them further off track?

Find out next Sunday at 9 p.m. on Global TV and look for my recap here.

American Idol: Bye bye baby (spoiler alert)

Stefano Langone set out to seduce America and America was having none of it.

The 21-year-old from Kent, Wash., went heavy on the come hither glances Wednesday night in an effort to inject Ne-Yo's "Closer" with sex appeal, but it wasn't enough to save him on Thursday night.

Since making it into the top 13 as a judges' wildcard pick, Stefano has made several trips to the bottom three, including the night that Pia Toscano got the hook. Since then, it seemed like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop, despite the judges' pep talk last week about how he could be the one to win the competition. 

Stefano was never going to win. He's a nice-looking guy with a good voice, but he was never a front-runner, and he knew it.

The judges, who dared to actually judge on Wednesday, reverted to platitudes on Thursday. Randy Jackson pretended not to have any inkling early in the show of who might go home. He also gave the "you've shown America what kind of artist you're gonna become" speech to Jacob and Stefano instead of anything resembling advice. And Steven Tyler said that none of the contestants deserved to be up for elimination because "they're all singing their butts off." He also seemed numerically challenged, telling Jacob and Stefano that 50 million people had watched them. If he's referring to ratings, it's more like 25 million a show.

Stefano took his elimination with equanimity. Asked how Idol had changed his life, he told Ryan Seacrest, "It started my career, man, and that's something you can't put a price on. That's everything. I've come this far. It's great, it's really great."

Roommate James Durbin was more upset, burying his face in his hands after Ryan delivered the bad news, looking on teary-eyed as Stefano cheerfully performed Stevie Wonder's "Lately," then rushing the stage to spin Stefano around and give him a bear-hug.

Stefano was joined in the bottom three by Jacob Lusk and Haley Reinhart. Jacob was a reasonable choice; Haley, in my view, was not.

Scotty McCreery would have been a better pick than Haley for being so boring on Wednesday, but the guy could sing the phone book and still get thousands and thousands of votes.

Speaking of votes, Ryan said more than 52 million were cast on Wednesday, which seems like a respectable number.

The time fillers on Thursday included the usual Ford video; a lip-synched performance of "E.T." by Katy Perry, with a surprise appearance by Kanye West; Season 7 winner David Cook performing his new single "The Last Goodbye" and arranging for his mom to get a hug and kiss from Steven; video of the Idols attending a Dodgers game, bowling and going to a spa; and two group performances.

Haley, Jacob, Stefano and Lauren Alaina did Train's "Soul Sister." The voices didn't mesh very well and the choreography was corny. But it was nowhere near as egregious as Casey Abrams, Scotty and James doing Coldplay's "Viva La Vida." That was like watching three friends with scant singing talent doing drunken karaoke. Mr. Warwick and Mr. Lythgoe, let's go back to the duets, please.

We also learned some random facts of varying levels of uselessness: Marc Anthony thought Casey kissing his wife "was a cute moment"; there is a cupcake in Garner, N.C., known as the "butterscotch Scotty"; Matt Bellamy from Muse told James that he did a "great job" on "Uprising."

This is the point where I usually talk about looking forward to next week, but the contestants are doing the songs of Carole King. I know she has written hit songs for other artists, but she hasn't had a hit herself since probably 1974. Way to keep the show current, Idol producers.

That being said, I'll be watching Wednesday at 8 p.m. on CTV and recapping the show here. And don't forget, you can follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/realityeo

(The photo of Stefano singing on Thursday is by Michael Becker for Fox.)

Survivor: Redemption Island - One pair of shorts short of a load (spoiler alert)

The producers of Survivor: Redemption Island must have thanked their lucky stars for Phillip Sheppard every day they were in the Nicaraguan jungle.

I mean, think about it. Day 25, with Boston Rob in charge of the merged tribe, the few remaining Zapatera members can only wait their turn to be turfed unless they win an immunity challenge, which they never do. Nobody's searching for hidden immunity idols or plotting strategy. The only drama is over at Redemption Island, where Matt's ready to give up. But you can only spend so much time watching him pray for strength. 

And then Phillip, with his feather headdress, his chanting and his signs from his dead grandfather, turns a dispute over spoiled rice into a race war.

The Murlonio tribe's day started with the usual tribal segregation. Ralph, Julie and Steve sat in their part of their shelter enjoying fish and abundant rice, jawing about how annoying Phillip was at the last tribal council.

"I just haven't really figured Phillip out," said Steve. "Pretty much everything he does bugs us, but the rest of Ometepe are sticking to him like glue. He's doing his thing, he's out here surviving. I take my hat off to him. The only hope we can hang our hat on is how irritated (Ometepe) can be with Phillip. There's always a chance."

Phillip was indeed doing his thing, which meant sort of mumble chanting as he explained how he was waiting to channel the Buddhist version of God and how, through a premonition from his grandfather, he'd realized that he and Rob had come "to what I call the full circle of trust. That doesn't mean I'm not pursuing the million dollars, because I'll be here at the end of the game."

Phillip was also keeping a close eye on the Zapaterans, "like a lion," since it had been noted that their mealtime rice ration was about seven and a half scoops to Ometepe's two.

The monotony of counting scoops of rice was broken up slightly by a summons to the Redemption Island duel, a three-way affair between Matt, Mike and David. 

Poor Matt was a self-described "broken man," trying hard to stay strong for his God but feeling the full weight of his rejection by Ometepe. "I never knew that strangers could hurt me so deeply," he told Jeff Probst before the duel.

I realize hand-to-hand combat is probably out of the question for a number of legal and practical reasons, but could it have been any duller watching the three men build houses of cards out of wooden tiles? Sure there was a millisecond of tension when Mike's tower swayed slightly as he tried to play the last tiles to reach the required eight-foot height. He did it and - surprise - so did Matt, which meant David was out of the game and became the first member of the jury.

Heck, there wasn't even any trash talking between Zapatera and Ometepe, or recriminations between Matt and his betrayers, just applause and calls of "Nice job" as David burned his buff and headed off to Ponderosa, the place where jury members stay between tribal councils.

Privately, Rob was annoyed that David hadn't fulfilled his purpose and got rid of Matt: "If he comes back and beats me, it's over," Rob said. Which is exactly what Matt had in mind: "God's continued to give me the strength day after day. He's given me new hope and, if it's His will, I'll continue to win and try to take Rob out."

Back at Murlonio's camp, there was an unpleasant surprise awaiting the Ometepens. There were maggots in their rice, so Phillip dumped the good rice on a blanket and discarded the maggoty rice and the contaminated container. But now the problem was where to store the good rice.

Suddenly, Rob's policy of total segregation between Ometepe and Zapatera didn't seem like such a good idea. Andrea asked very sweetly if the Ometepens could store their rice in the Zapaterans' can. Understandably, they said no.

But Phillp wasn't taking no for an answer.

"You guys aren't being reasonable," he complained. "You should think about this logically. Anyway, it's not a Zapatera decision. It's our rice ... When the tribes merged, only the rewards are separate. That's the way it's done."

"Wouldn't it have been smart to talk about this before you dumped it all out, Phillip?" asked Steve.

"No, but I don't want to have that debate with you. I don't want to leave the rice outside the container," Phillip said. And when Steve said he'd have to ask Ralph's wishes first, Phillip added, "Okay, the first opportunity I have to take that can and hide it I will ... I'll put it blunt to you. Unless you walk with that f--king can everywhere you go, I'm gonna put the rice in there. And you will come ask me for the rice. I'm a very reasonable person to deal with." 

"You're not reasonable at all. You're a lunatic," said Steve.

"I know I am. That's the thing you don't ever want to forget with me," Phillip retorted.

"You're a dangerous man," said Steve.

"You need to remember that. You need to keep that in your mind," agreed Phillip.

Just when it seemed like the argument was over, Phillip had another thought: "Any time somebody of my colour gets up in one of your faces then you feel like I'm a lunatic, I'm crazy."

"You're bringing this to a black and white thing now? Wow," said Steve.

"I make the argument that we don't want to keep the rice outside that can and you know what you told me? I'm a f--king lunatic because I don't want to do that. How rational is that? That's not a rational argument," said Phillip.

And then, because Phillip is nothing if not rational, he told Steve they might have to settle their differences "mano a mano," reminding him, "I'm the chief of counterintelligence, a wing chun kung fu expert here."

"It's like watching divorce court," quipped Rob, watching from the sidelines with Grant.

But Phillip still wasn't done. Retreating to his meditation zone, he told the camera, "I'm like a lot of black men, we're prepared to self-destruct at any moment. 'Cause that's what happens to a lot of black men, they do self destruct, you know, bam, bam, bam, bam," as he mimed pulling a gun out of his shorts pocket.

"I'm not looking to do anything like that. You don't start none, there won't be none, but if you start it I'm gonna finish it because I don't feel like I've got anything to lose, because once they get on the jury they're not going to vote for me."

No doubt just more of Phillip's grandiose talk, but a little unsettling nonetheless.

But just like in one of those old TV infomercials, wait, there's more.

Back at camp, Steve stirred up the wasp's nest recounting the argument to Ralph, and that set Phillip off again.

"I just notice that every single time I make an issue with the people of the former Zapa-Zapatella tribe, then suddenly a guy who was able to become a former federal agent ... suddenly becomes f--kin' crazy ... that's what happens with some white folks, they like to take a black man and make him crazy when he makes an argument that you don't want to hear and you know what I want to say about that? Right here, buddy," said Phillip, presumably offering Steve his butt to kiss off-camera.

"Aw, let's get along, this is a game," interjected Ralph.

But Phillip was off and running. "No, every time I make an argument, one of those guys is I'm f--kin' crazy, that n----r crazy. I'm tired of hearing that s--t. I'm tired of hearing it. Every time I make an argument with somebody around here, that n----r got to be crazy."

Woah. As Steve put it later, "It's not a chip, it's a log on his shoulder."

Luckily, the immunity challenge put a hold on the ranting.

The tribe members had to unscrew a round puzzle board from a post by running around and around the post, getting dizzy. Then they had to put together a circular puzzle. The first six to finish moved on to a second circular puzzle, built around the perimeter of the first one. 

Steve came oh so close to an immunity win but Rob was just seconds ahead of him. 

So the question became which Zapatera member was going home, even though Steve and his crew were hopeful a couple of fed-up Ometepens would join them and get rid of Phillip. With Rob planning to take "public enemy No. 1," as he called Phillip, to final tribal with him? Not a chance.

But Julie perpetrated one last act of revenge on Phillip before tribal, stealing his swim trunks off the line and burying them in the jungle. This means, of course, that unless somebody takes pity on Phillip, we will watch him play the rest of the season in droopy pink underwear and a buff fashioned into a loincloth. Thanks a hell of a lot, Julie.

Phillip, with his keen powers of observation and special agent's training, was convinced Steve had taken the shorts and told Jeff so at tribal council.

"I confronted Steve about the fact that they were deliberately consuming all the rice, so it's been war between the two tribes," Phillip said.

"Sheppard here wants to turn this whole thing into a racial black and white thing over the rice," said Steve. "I was relaxed and you were going into this racial tirade, bringing the n-word up about yourself."

That caught Jeff's attention. "Woah. What happened?"

I won't repeat the whole exchange all over again, but the crux of Phillip's argument was that Steve was using the word "crazy" as a synonym for the n-word.

"I can't sum it up for you in words," he told an incredulous Jeff, "but I know it when i see it, just like a woman knows when a guy makes an inappropriate remark." Phillip noted he'd been the only black person out of 67 staff when he worked as a federal agent. 

"You're saying I'm not black so I don't know," said Jeff. "How do you know what (Steve) means when he says crazy? That's what I'm trying to get at. There's a jump in logic that I need the gap filled."

But instead of filling the gap, Phillip told a story about being in a grocery store with his father in upstate New York in 1968 and hearing the clerk call his father "boy."

Steve noted that the last NFL team he played for, the Los Angeles Raiders, was just one-fifth white. "There's no line of black and white in my heart."

Jeff managed to bridge the divide, finally, by saying, "It's quite possible both of you are telling the truth, that (Steve calling Phillip crazy) felt very much like the n-word, but he didn't mean it that way. Is that a fair assessment?"

Both agreed it was and they were able to get on with the vote. Julie, who'd confessed to stealing Phillip's shorts, was the designated castoff.

"I guess you're not ever going to find the shorts," she said before heading to Redemption Island.

"There's poison in that tribe and his name is Phillip," Julie said in her confessional. "It's kind of nice to be removed from it."

It looks like Phillip has an easier time next week, with the promo telling us "Phillip has his greatest day yet." Andrea looks to be in some hot water with her tribe (which really means Rob) and Matt looks ready to have a nervous breakdown.

Catch all the action next Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Global TV and catch my recap here.

(The photo of Phillip is by Michael Yarish for CBS.)