The Amazing Race: Brought to you by Ford (spoiler alert)

I get my Sunday nights off now that Battle of the Blades has wrapped, but my TAR correspondent Astrid Lange doesn't. Here's here latest recap:

The teams began the 10th leg of the Race immediately after arriving at the gazebo Pit Stop in Brussels.  Despite last week's preview that led many viewers to think Bill and Cathi would be eliminated at the beginning of the leg (the preview conveniently left out any scenes with the grandparents), all teams got the chance to continue racing.

Amani and Marcus left the Pit Stop first and headed for the Ford proving ground in Lommel. But Ernie and Cindy, and Jeremy and Sandy were not far behind. Amani and Marcus wasted time at a store that couldn't print a map and directions for them, allowing Ernie and Cindy, and Jeremy and Sandy, who received directions at a hotel and stationery store respectively, to easily pass them.

Still back at the bodybuilding venue, the snowboarders (who were humbled by a task that they couldn't complete with ease) and Bill and Cathi finally received the 12 points they needed to move on. On the way to the Pit Stop, the grandparents were convinced they were going to be eliminated but were pleasantly surprised when Phil informed them they were still racing.

Remember when product placement on television shows used to be subtle? Certainly not on this show, as teams arrived at the Ford proving ground, a testing environment for Ford cars. At this Road Block, one member of each team got the chance to master a Ford Mustang by taking it through three different courses: speed, slalom and doughnut, with a Ford test driver in the passenger seat. Have I mentioned this Road Block is sponsored by Ford?

Ernie was the first to tackle the Road Block. He performed the speed test well but had to do the slalom challenge over and over again (at least 15 times by his count) because he was either not fast enough, or he knocked down a cone, or he hit the big inflatable balloon at the end. He finally performed to the satisfaction of the tester, but only minutes before Jeremy did, too.

Despite Amani and Marcus's initial lead, they arrived at the proving ground third and just seconds before the snowboarders. Andy reluctantly let Tommy do this task even though he said he loves to race cars almost as much as snowboarding. Apparently, they decided that since Tommy had such a hard time with the poem memorization on the previous leg, they would leave all "mind" challenges for Andy and Tommy would do everything else. Fair enough, but you could tell Andy was seething with jealousy.

Marcus got his adrenaline going on this challenge, comparing the feeling to scoring touchdowns and the birth of his children. Andy did not want to hear Tommy talk about how much fun it was to put pedal to the metal and began bickering with his teammate after he finished the task. Quickly realizing the sin in his heart, Andy asked Christ for forgiveness. Jesus must have said, "Yeah, OK, you're forgiven" because the snowboarders quickly got back on track.

Bill and Cathi? Yes, they were there, too, but lagging behind at the bottom of the pack. Though Bill did get some nice compliments on his driving from the test driver.

From the proving ground, teams made their way to the city of Ghent, where their Detour was a choice between building a raft out of logs and barrels and then paddling up the canal to find two pieces of a clue, or building a waffle stand and making 18 perfect Belgian waffles.

Ernie and Cindy, and Jeremy and Sandy decided to take on the waffles, as they have not had much luck with previous water challenges. But the waffle task was a little more challenging then they had expected. Ernie and Cindy struggled with building the stand, claiming they weren't tall enough. And those 18 perfect waffles? They weren't just making plain old waffles, they had to make waffles with elaborate toppings and placed in the same order as a set of waffles at another stand which they were using as a guide.

Seeing what a tough time the waffle teams were having with batter thickness and presentation, the snowboarders and Amani and Marcus decided to build rafts instead. The snowboarders were back to their old selves and zoomed through the raft task, and became the first team to get the clue for the next stop: de Muur van Geraardsbergen. Ernie and Cindy finally got their waffles in order and followed in second place. And even though Marcus weighed down his team's raft quite a bit, they got their clue before Jeremy and Sandy finished their challenge.

Bill and Cathi? Seeing how much Jeremy was struggling with the waffles, they decided to go for the raft challenge instead but, unfortunately, they were still quite a bit behind the pack. You've got to love them though, still having fun after all these years, as they got onto their homemade raft, Bill shouted to a man on the shore that he and Cathi were on their first date!

At the next location, teams had to help release homing pigeons (apparently a big thing in Belgium) and then follow those pigeons to an address given to them by the pigeon trainer. "Helping" was nothing more than standing there while the pigeons were released. Good thing for Cindy, who didn't want to touch the birds because they're "gross."

The snowboarders and Jeremy and Sandy had no problems finding their pigeon's address, but Ernie and Cindy, and Amani and Marcus somehow got off track. Attached to the pigeon's leg was a picture of the Pit Stop, the Atomium, a huge replica of the atomic structure of iron in Brussels. 

Arriving first at the Pit Stop and back on top, Andy and Tommy. And what did they win for their first-place finish? Customized Ford Mustangs for each of them! Jeremy and Sandy arrived second, followed by Ernie and a disappointed Cindy, and Amani and Marcus.

Bill and Cathi?  As night fell, viewers did not see the grandparents perform the pigeon challenge, as they must have been told they were in last place. Though they were eliminated, Bill and Cathi were in good spirits, happy that they had the chance to run the Race together as best friends and happy to show viewers that older Americans can be competitive. Competitive they were. It's a shame to see them go.

I will be out of town next weekend until late Monday night so will have a shorter recap later in the week. We're getting close to the finale, Race fans!

(The photo of Bill and Cathi is by Sonja Flemming by CBS.)

The X Factor: Losing age and beauty (spoiler alert)

Two contestants were sent packing on Wednesday's X Factor instead of the usual one. And all I can say is that both eliminations were inevitable; it was just a question of when they'd go, not if. 

I do feel sorry that LeRoy Bell didn't get the benefit of singing so strongly for his life. His final performance was much better than Marcus Canty's, who joined LeRoy and Lakoda Rayne in the bottom three. In fact, LeRoy's "Don't Let Me Down" was probably the best I've heard him sound since the live shows started. 

But LeRoy's fundamental problem is that he's dull, despite his nice voice and his nice face.

LaKoda Rayne had a similar problem. They're lovely girls but ultimately forgettable. Their Tuesday performance of Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me" just showed once again that Hayley Orrantia was the only one of the four who sang consistently well. 

The girls never got a chance to sing for their lives on Wednesday; they were sent straight home, but not without giving host Steve Jones his comeuppance. As he tried to commiserate with them about their dream being over, Paige Elizabeth snapped, "The dream is not over, for one. We're still gonna go on and there's so much for our group."

"You'll be seeing Lakoda Rayne in concert everywhere," added Hayley. 

I won't hold my breath for that.

The producers tried to amp up the drama by putting the girl group onstage with Drew and pretending there was a chance that Drew was leaving. As if. 

I'm sure L.A. Reid's continued attacks on Drew's song choices are only serving to outrage her fans and increase her support.

And while we're on the subject, I picked a bad performance show to miss on Tuesday as L.A. and Simon Cowell went at it with real animosity after Drew sang Demi Lovato's "Skyscraper."

I don't know the song. That teen angsty stuff isn't my cup of tea, but I would presume that a record executive like L.A. would know it, so I'm not sure why he told Drew that the song was too old for her.

I think Drew was as mad at him as Simon was. She'd chosen the song as a way of giving thanks to her best friend Shelby (Tuesday's show had a Thanksgiving theme). "This song actually means a lot to me no matter how old I am," she told L.A. "It goes out to every girl who's felt the way that I felt ... it's going out to everyone who's felt worthless or like they're not good enough."

Simon took up the fight. "L.A., I am sick to death of your pointless, stupid criticism," he said, telling L.A. to shut up when he shot back an insult about Simon and Drew's "limited vocabulary of music" and accusing L.A. of "trying to make me feel that she's worthless."

They would have gone on if not for Paula Abdul and Steve breaking it up. "This has to stop, please, Thanksgiving," said Steve. (At which point I was imagining a Scrooge-like character breaking in with "What's Thanksgiving got to do with it?") Apparently they did go on later, because we saw backstage footage on Wednesday of Simon telling L.A. how annoyed he was and then ordering the cameras to go away.

The other big thing I missed Tuesday was Melanie Amaro's reveal that she speaks with a Caribbean accent, the result of having been raised in the Virgin Islands by her grandparents when her parents couldn't afford to keep her in Florida. "This is really Melanie! This is me, this is Melanie!" she exclaimed joyfully after L.A. praised her for being herself.

That part was sweet. I'm afraid her song choice, R. Kelly's "The World's Greatest," which she dedicated to God, did nothing for me.

If I had been ranking performances on Tuesday, this is how they would have gone for me: Josh Krajcik, Chris Rene, Rachel Crow, Drew, Melanie Amaro, Astro, LeRoy Bell, Marcus Canty, Lakoda Rayne.

Josh is my pick, or at least my hope, to win the whole thing. I thought his take on "Wild Horses," dedicated to his 13-year-old daughter, was brilliant. The vocals were great, the staging was great (just Josh at a piano, surrounded by shafts of light), the performance was powerful and emotional, and I loved it, as did all of the judges. 

Chris still isn't the best singer, and I agree with Simon that the first part of his performance, "Let It Be," didn't work, but when he launched into "Young Homie" he got to me emotionally as I'm sure he did to thousands of voters out there. He dedicated the song to his rehab counsellor Tim. 

One criticism: what was with the gates of heaven behind him on the big screen? He's in recovery, he's not dead.

I have to give Astro credit for being one canny kid. Not only did he apologize for last week's outburst, when he ended up in bottom two and didn't want to sing for his life, he dedicated Tuesday's performance to all his supporters. He explained that when he went online last week, expecting to find messages of hate, he found words of encouragement instead. 

The teen turned the whole experience into a rap to Team Astro. "No tantrums this week, I'm 15, 15 is the new 25," he began. And he gave shoutouts to places where his fans live, including Canada. I didn't get the "names I can't pronounce, like Nova Scotia" line, but whatever.

As Simon noted, "the music business needs unpredictability. I don't like everybody just to tow the line," and the fans seem to agree.

As for the rest, I liked Drew's vocals this week except for that one tortured high note near the end; Rachel was on her game although I didn't love the song choice; and I found Marcus's performance underwhelming and sappy.

A couple of other notes on the results show: I know celebs appear on shows like Idol and X Factor to pimp their own projects, but don't they usually let the host do the promo? "Enjoy the rest of our show before you enjoy your show, okay? I've got to move on," Steve told Howie Mandel after he turned a shout-out into an extended commercial for Mobbed.

And what was up with that Pepsi Choice performance, that had the top nine, dressed like Grand Guignol refugees, singing and rapping Pink's "Raise Your Glass" and "So What" on a revolving turntable while dancers cavorted dressed as clowns? It was just bizarre.

What did you think? Please feel free to share comments here, @realityeo or on my Facebook page. 

Next week, I'll have a proper performance show recap. It airs Wednesday at 8 p.m. on CTV.

(The photo of LeRoy Bell is by Ray Mickshaw for Fox.)

Survivor: South Pacific - The plot thickens

I usually dislike the recap episodes on Survivor because I find them too much been there, done that, but Wednesday's had enough tidbits of information to keep me interested.

Here's a sampling of what we learned in what was billed as "a closer look at 19 new scenes from one of the most memorable seasons of Survivor."

Armed and Garrulous: How did Cochran manage to not lop off a digit in the scene where he was struggling to clean fish? And how exactly does one glean what a fish is feeling, particularly one that's dead? Cochran, a self-professed animal lover, proclaimed as he cleaned the creatures, "I do feel like the fish respect me, they understand me. I don't put fingers anywhere that I would not want fingers put on my body." Okay. 

Cruising Survivor Style: What's more preposterous than the idea of Cochran hooking up with Elyse? The idea of Papa Bear, who's gay, giving Cochran advice on how to pick up girls. His tips included wearing a tight shirt, rubbing your hands together and using the opening line, "I really like those earrings." Cochran tested it out on Whitney with Papa Bear observing, but it wasn't an unqualified success. "If you told me you thought my earrings were good I would think you were gay," Whitney said. Exactly my point.

A Spoonful of Sugar: Wow Coach, control freak much? Mikayla committed what Jeff Probst sarcastically described as the "heinous sin" of putting two teaspoons of sugar in her coffee (first off, how weird does it seem that people are even drinking coffee with sugar on Survivor?). Coach not only got mad, he got even. Mikayla had been throwing up after ingesting greasy pork from that disgusting challenge where the castaways had to spit mouthfuls of roasted pig into containers. So Coach fried up some pork fat, ate it and then mimed gagging on it, which sent Mikayla off into the jungle, presumably to hurl some more. "Maybe that was insensitive of me, but I don't care," said Coach. "Mikayla's weak right now, she's sick, but I've decided she's going home next." Nope, that wasn't petty, no siree. 

The Poop Hits the Beach: I suppose it's possible the castaways forget that cameras are recording them at all times. How else to explain Cochran sharing with Elyse the humiliating story of how he pooped his pants (at least, I presume it was poop) in kindergarten rather than go to the bathroom during naptime and let everyone hear what he was doing. "You can't help but love the guy. What a weird kid," said Elyse. I agree wholeheartedly on No. 2 (pun intended); I'm not so sure about the first statement.

Whitney and Keith Sitting in a Tree Shelter: I knew Keith and Whitney had become friends on Savaii, I didn't realize they were friends with benefits. Okay, hookups happen, even in the close confines of Survivor: just ask Rob and Amber. But getting cozy with Cochran sleeping right next to them? "I know exactly what was going on between Keith and Whitney in the bungalow. I just don't know if nine months from now we're gonna discover the product of this relationship," Cochran said. Ewww.

Give Them Shelter: Even among the discomforts of Survivor, people have standards. Coach was appalled to learn that not only was Ozzy sleeping on the beach, exposing himself to the insects, most of his tribe mates didn't have proper shelter. "Survivor is not sleeping on the floor, getting bit up by mosquitos and all other kinds of bugs. Just because you're a beach bum and you've been doing that your whole life doesn't mean you subject your tribe to the same kind of punishment," said Coach. "Ozzy, no wonder you've never won Survivor, no wonder you always get blindsided, because you're a friggin' idiot.... Ozzy you call yourself an all-star Survivor and you come here and you want to build a shelter like that? You should be ashamed of yourself." Tell us how you really feel, Coach. 

Cochran Revisited: The episode gave us some new insight into Cochran's decision to flip on his old tribe. For one thing, there may have been more than self-interest behind Coach's decision to make an ally out of Cochran. Seeing Cochran sleeping cold and alone while the rest of his tribe doubled up under blankets seemed to rouse Coach's sense of social justice. "That boy doesn't know how to survive out here and Savaii treating Cochran like dirt? That's not gonna stand on Coach Wade's watch. That kind of stuff pisses me off, so you know what Cochran? Come over here, I got room under my wing for ya." Cochran's claims of being picked on at Savaii also got a bit of a boost when Ozzy was shown forcing Cochran to hold a rooster he was going to slaughter and then laughing uproariously at Cochran's obvious discomfort, loudly sharing the joke with Keith. And it seems Cochran's decision to jump ship wasn't a sudden whim. "Come merge time is when I'm gonna survive," he told the camera after the chicken incident. "I'm going to be able to slither in and out of every alliance."

The Survivor Pantheon: Coach put his pomposity to good use when he came up with identities for all the castaways based on Greek mythology. You have to admit Narcissus is a good one for Ozzy. Coach dubbed Cochran Hercules because "you are the most powerful man in the game," and himself Zeus: "if somebody wrongs one of his children he is ruthless in retribution." But as Cochran pointed out, "I seem to think Zeus ate his children. If he views me as one of his children ... I'm fearing that Coach may at one point devour me."

When the Chickens Come Home to Roost: As if we needed more evidence that Brandon's a loose canon, we saw him losing the tribe's rooster after he grabbed it by its feathers instead of its feet (as Rick helpfully suggested, he should have bit its head off) and then impulsively deciding to kill the remaining hen instead, thus depriving his tribe of a long-term source of eggs for a quick protein fix. "Killing a chicken at this point is not the smartest thing to do," understated Coach. "Maybe Brandon can pray for (the rooster) to come back and it will show back up," quipped Jim.

Albert Who: Albert isn't the former Upolu player whom Coach should be worried about. I'd be keeping a far closer eye on Sophie if I were him. Not only is she good at challenges; she seems to be smarter than everybody else. It turns out she was thinking a few steps ahead of Albert when she turned down his scheme to join with Whitney and Dawn to vote Edna out. "I think Albert thinks he has this great strategic mind," she said. "I don't think he's come up with one good plan yet." I bet she will, though, given the chance before the game is through.

So what's next when the game resumes next week? It looks like Coach and Cochran are growing closer, Albert is cozying up to Cochran and so is Edna. I'll be watching Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Global and recapping it here.

(The photo of Cochran is by Monty Brinton for CBS.)

The X Factor: MIA

You've probably noticed by now there's no post up on Tuesday's X Factor. That's because I haven't watched it yet. I decided to devote all my energies to Dancing With the Stars on Tuesday night, so I'll catch up with X Factor after Wednesday's results show, which airs at 8 p.m. on CTV. Thanks for cutting me some slack.

Dancing With the Stars: The winner is ... (spoiler alert)

Rob Kardashian did as much as anybody could have done. Everyone seemed to agree that as the competition's most improved dancer he embodied what Dancing With the Stars is all about. He even beat J.R. Martinez in total judges' point, albeit by only one.

But these types of competitions are about personalities as much as skills. The narrative of the spoiled rich kid, overshadowed by his famous family, who overcomes his shyness and shows real character in his drive to the top wasn't bad as far as narratives go. But how could it possibly beat the Iraq War vet who came back from a devastating landmine injury and whose sunny personality and great dancing made everyone forget about his physical scars? 

It couldn't. J.R. won the Season 13 mirror-ball trophy. Rob came second. Ricki Lake came third.

That last bit would have been inconceivable mere weeks ago, but it just goes to show you, once again, that people love success stories. We all watched Rob transform from an awkward, shy young man to a determined, funny competitor.

Ricki had a story too: single mom coming off a bad divorce, self-conscious about her weight and physically transformed, dropping pounds from the rigour of the daily rehearsals. 

I think maybe she just peaked too soon. 

In any event, there were no sad faces on Tuesday's finale. The whole show had a relaxed, almost loopy feel that made it fun to watch.

As far as the last bits of the competition went, Ricki, J.R. and Rob all danced favourite routines from the season, then got awarded first, second and third-place marks from the judges. Ricki and Derek Hough were tops, with 30 points for their Psycho tango; J.R. and Karina Smirnoff took 28 points for their "newsboy" jive; Rob and Cheryl Burke got 26 points for their "Fly Me to the Moon" foxtrot.

That left Ricki and Derek atop the leader board with 84 points (upon adding the scores from Monday night's dances), compared to 83 for Rob and Cheryl, and 82 for J.R. and Karina. But when viewers' votes were added in, Ricki and Derek were in third place.

A cheerful Ricki told hosts Tom Bergeron and Brooke Burke, "I've loved basically every minute of this. I felt like I had the best partner, the best teacher, the best motivator. For someone who's a middle-aged mom, I hope I made my children proud, my fiance, my family."

She made Derek proud. He called Ricki "an absolute winner. She just knocked it out of the ball park the entire season."

And then they went out with a flourish, with Derek sweeping Ricki to the floor and spinning her around. In fact, she spun so many times that if the other contestants had gathered around they could have played Spin the Bottle.

Next up, J.R. and Rob had to face off in an instant samba, danced to Ricky Martin's "Shake Your Bon-Bon." I thought Rob's had a titch more fluidity, but J.R.'s had a little more variety in the steps. 

The judges weren't playing favourites. Carrie Ann Inaba said they were both winners and Len Goodman gave them both a standing ovation. And they both got perfect scores, which left Rob and Cheryl with a total of 113 points for four dances to J.R. and Karina's 112.

So it really was down to the voters, which was why the outcome was no surprise.

"My friend, you have been an inspiration since the first time you stepped on this floor," Tom told newly minted winner J.R. once he'd managed to break up his bear hug with Karina.

"First and foremost I want to thank everybody who voted for us for 10 weeks. Thank you, America, for believing in us," said J.R. And to Karina, "I'm so glad I was able to be a part of your first mirror-ball trophy."

On the other side of the stage, Rob and Cheryl were beaming. "I am definitely not sad. I won in my book," said Rob. "And in my book," added Cheryl.

She said earlier that this had been her favourite of 12 seasons "because I feel like Rob has really grown as a person, not just a dancer." She also said, "We're gonna stay friends forever." Awww.

Now that we know the particulars, here are other things that struck me about Tuesday's show:

1. I had to chuckle at Rob's concern for his predecessors in the backstage footage. When Cheryl told him she was most proud of him of all her partners, Rob replied, "You shouldn't say that. They're watching this probably."

2. I'm with Tom. I'm glad Ricki and Derek did their Psycho tango, too, for their favourite routine. It was one of the best dances of the season.

3. I'm with Carrie Ann. I missed the lift in J.R. and Karina's "newsboy" jive, which they removed because it was illegal and cost them points the first time they danced it. 

4. Did I really hear Len tell Rob "you've got the best footwork of virtually any guy on this show, ever"? Hines Ward who?

5. Rob's "I love to dance" exclamation of a couple of weeks ago really caught on with everyone on the show. Asked by Brooke after the finalists had performed their favourite routines if he ever pictured himself in the finale, Rob said, "No way. I exceeded all my expectations. I even caught a newspaper from J.R." and he added, egged on by Brooke, "and I love to dance." Later, after they got their scores, Rob, J.R., Ricki, Cheryl, Karina and Derek all screamed, "We love to dance!"

6. Why was Bruno holding his head after the behind-the-scenes clips of the judges? Did he have a headache or was he mourning the hotness of his former self, as seen in his old photo?

7. Elisabetta Canalis and Metta World Peace, a.k.a. Ron Artest, were just as forgettable as I thought they'd be on the finale. And Kristin Cavallari's jive didn't impress me much. But I have to give props to Chynna Phillips for facing down her bete noir, the Mission: Impossible tango that she blanked on the week she got ousted, and performing it again. Not only did she not miss any steps, it turned out to be a good routine.

8. Who was Bruno blowing kisses to as Metta, Peta Murgatroyd, Elisabetta and Val Chmerkovskiy all gathered onstage after their brief dances?

9. Carson Kressley took the prize for most entertaining return of a former contestant in a routine that he helped stage to Madonna's "Vogue" with former partner Anna Trebunskaya, Val and several members of the troupe. This may be the closest DWTS ever gets to same-sex dancing as a swooning Carson was partnered by first Val and then the male troupe member. "I finally get to dance with a Chmerkovskiy. Check that off the bucket list," quipped Carson, who has made no secret of his crush on Val's brother Maks. Val was a good sport, dipping Carson again after the music had stopped as the crowd cheered. Asked later by Tom if he was disappointed about not dancing with the other brother, Carson answered, "Oh well, there's still the after-party. Why settle for just one?" which was my laugh-out-loud line of the night.

10. Returning contestant David Arquette tried to take the prize, literally, after the very fun quickstep that he and Kym Johnson did with members of the troupe. "Put that back! You can't just walk off with it. What are you doing?" yelled Tom after David scooped up the mirror-ball trophy. Am I the only one who thinks it was a strange coincidence it just happened to be sitting off to the side of the judges' table where David could easily grab it?

11. You could definitely tell who the favourite returnees were judging by how much attention was lavished on them. Chaz Bono got to do a rousing routine with Lacey Schwimmer and her dad Buddy to the song "Big and Chunky," then he got to chat with Tom and Brooke. Tom commended Chaz for coming to the show every week after he got voted off to cheer on the other contestants. "It's turned into a family," Chaz said.

12. You might have noticed that Maks and Hope Solo, who didn't have nice things to say about the judges her last time on the show, did NOT get invited to speak after their routine, a reprisal of their quickstep. But we did see a clip of Maks's "This is my show" comment during the recaps of past weeks.

13. The wardrobe instructions for the various male pro dancers must have read, "Shirt buttons optional." Not that I'm complaining. Okay, I'll complain a little. There wasn't enough Tristan MacManus in the show.

14. Speaking of Tristan, his old partner Nancy Grace was as abrasive as ever. What was supposed to be a joke with Tom, with Nancy pretending she was incorporating dancing into her TV crime show, sounded more like a rant, with Nancy telling Tom he'd ruined the surprise in a way that sounded more like bona fide scolding.

And that's it, another season of Dancing With the Stars come to an end. Thanks to everyone who read my recaps every week. Feel free to share your thoughts on how it turned out.

(The photo of J.R. and Karina is by Adam Taylor for ABC.)

Dancing With the Stars: Boys' night out

Well, hello Rob Kardashian.

I'd assumed going into Monday night's Dancing With the Stars finale that Tuesday's results were a foregone conclusion: J.R. Martinez in first place, Ricki Lake in second, Rob in third.

I still think J.R. will win, but Rob did his very best to snatch that mirror ball trophy away from the Iraq War vet. And it could end up clinching him second place, depending how the voting and Tuesday's final dances go. 

I'm glad for him, truly. It's nice to see an element of surprise in these things. Ricki and J.R. had finale written all over them from the beginning of the season. Rob did not. He had to fight his way to this position and good on him.

In fact, the so-called reality TV star topped the leader board Monday, thanks to a perfect score for his freestyle and J.R.'s less than stellar marks for his cha cha.

J.R. got his share of 10's later for a freestyle that set the ballroom on fire, but there were none for Ricki, which must have been disappointing no matter how much she was smiling and congratulating the other two.

Here's how it all shook out for me, with the celebs ranked from most to least favourite:

J.R. Martinez and Karina Smirnoff: Had J.R. messed up his freestyle I might have been speculating on a Kardashian victory, but instead J.R. turned in the best dance of the night. The lifts alone were worth the price of admission, with J.R. flipping Karina onto his back then around front again, flipping her by pulling her arms through her legs and then leaping on her and turning her over between his legs. In between the tricks, Karina and J.R. did the most energetic dancing we've seen all season, side by side, to the infectious "Whine Up." The perfect score was well deserved and sweet redemption for J.R. after his disappointing cha cha score, which included a 7 from Len Goodman (ouch). As for the cha cha, I wasn't seeing what the judges were seeing (Carrie Ann Inaba said J.R.'s musicality was a bit off; Len said the timing was off and Bruno Tonioli said his hands looked out of place at the beginning). Any problems with timing seemed very minor, J.R.'s hip action and shoulder shimmies were good, and the dance had a nice relaxed vibe to it. J.R. is obviously a huge fan favourite (people in the ballroom were cheering so loudly, Carrie Ann could barely be heard as she started her critique of his freestyle), so I don't think a couple of 8's and a 7 are going to deter them from voting for him. 

Score: Cha cha, 24; freestyle, 30; total, 54 out of 60

Rob Kardashian and Cheryl Burke: Ok, Rob will never be mistaken for Fred Astaire, but that was a nice waltz he started out with. There were some excellent lines and good footwork (except, I guess, for the messed-up crossovers, which once again escaped my notice). As Len put it, "you had more rise and fall than Pam Anderson jogging." And host Tom Bergeron dubbed Rob "Cinderfella" after Carrie Ann described him as "the male version of Cinderella who made it to the ball." This Cinderfella was determined to excel on that dance floor before the clock struck midnight, turning in a slick and inventive freestyle. There was lots to enjoy here: Rob's and Cheryl's 1920s-style costumes (the song was "Minnie the Moocher"); Cheryl falling backwards against Rob's back then falling forward while he raced around to catch her; Rob swinging Cheryl around by her arm; the kicks; the bum wiggle; and the last difficult sequence, with Rob spinning Cheryl horizontally behind his neck, then around the front, then ending with a low dip. You just knew Rob was about to join the perfect score club after Bruno called it brilliant and Carrie Ann said, "to get a 10 you have to blow us away; consider me blown."

Score: Waltz, 27; freestyle, 30; total, 57

Ricki Lake and Derek Hough: Carrie Ann visited Ricki and Derek during cha cha rehearsals to help Ricki unleash her sexiness and overcome her self-consciousness about her body, but I didn't see quite as much confidence in the routine as the judges did. Maybe it was the occasional lack of fluidity that Len pointed out. That's not to say Ricki didn't do a very good job. It just wasn't my favourite. She and Derek kicked things up a notch with their freestyle, which combined salsa with quickstep. Kudos to Ricki for the more difficult moves, including allowing herself to be supported by her neck while bending over backwards parallel to the ground and that lift at the end with Derek spinning her like a plank. I would have been a bit wobbly too coming out of that one. The judges praised the lifts and the extreme difficulty of putting the salsa and quickstep together, but those remarks didn't translate into 10s. I know some of you will say that's because they were giving a boost to their Cinderfella.

Score: Cha cha, 27; freestyle, 27; total, 54

It's far from over, dance fans. Tuesday is the two-hour finale (9 p.m. on CTV) when the finalists will perform their favourite routines from the season, then the two couples with the higest score and vote totals will face off in an instant samba. And of course we'll get to see all of the contestants return (Elisabetta who?), see the troupe and some of the pros perform (Tristan MacManus, please) and hear from Lady Antebellum. I'll be watching and recapping it right here. 

Feel free to let me know who you're rooting for, either here, on Twitter @realityeo or on my Facebook page.

(The photos of J.R. and Karina, and Rob and Cheryl are by Adam Taylor for ABC.)

The Amazing Race: Muscles in Brussels (spoiler alert)

(Host Phil Keoghan and contestants have fun with the body-building task in a CBS screen grab.)

For your reading pleasure, TAR fans, another recap from my correspondent Astrid Lange:

The first stop for teams on this leg of the race was at a statue of fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen in Copenhagen. The Road Block had one member of each team memorize a poem of Andersen's written on the statue, then travel by bicycle to a local theatre by using a map on the front wheel. Once at the theatre, teams had to dramatically perform the poem before a judge.

It was a fitting poem for the racers: "To move, to breathe, to fly, to float, To gain all while you give, To roam the roads of lands remote: To travel is to live." And not a particularly difficult one to memorize. Ernie and Cindy were well ahead of the other teams and, despite some pesky tourists sitting on the statue and blocking the poem while Cindy was trying to read it, she completed this task easily.

What should have been an easy task for English teacher Cathi became more difficult when she got lost on the way to the theatre and then messed up the recitation. Her students would not be proud. She had to go all the way back to the statue and then return to the theatre to give it another try. Tommy also got lost on the way to the theatre but managed to remember the entire poem. However, he did not perform it with enough dramatic flair, so he too had to return to the statue. Cathi and Tommy's missteps allowed Amani to pass them both.

Sandy also got criticized for a lack of drama and was forced to repeat the task. Drama, in this case, seemed to be nothing more than a lot of arm-flailing and heart-clutching. By that standard, Cathi, Tommy and Sandy all performed satisfactorily on their second tries.

Teams next made their way to the original Legoland outside Copenhagen, where they had to put together a puzzle made from the famous Danish toy, which revealed their next location. But there was a catch: teams had to put this puzzle together while sitting in a spinning bucket ride. My worst nightmare.

It took Ernie and Cindy only two spins on the ride to complete the puzzle, which was a picture of the Hamburg train station. Amani and Marcus, who were on the verge of losing their lunches, needed a few rides to finally complete the puzzle. The snowboarders, who are used to a lot of spinning, completed it in two tries. And poor Jeremy and Sandy, who lost a piece and had to get a new puzzle, looked absolutely awful. I recognized that look on Sandy's face, who said this is the worst thing she could have done. Yes, a ride for children is the "worst" thing she could have done. But I understand Sandy, believe me, I understand.

And Ma and Pa? Well, they got lost on the way to Legoland, even though Cathi said she knew where it was. Though the puzzle task wasn't too difficult for them once they finally arrived.

From Legoland, teams drove across the border to the Hamburg train station in Germany, where they learned that their next stop was Brussels, Belgium. Any lead that Ernie and Cindy gained was quickly lost when they found out that the only train they could take was leaving hours later at 12:30 a.m. All teams were on that train, which took them to Brussels via Cologne, Germany.

Ernie and Cindy somehow managed to drop their train tickets from Cologne to Brussels on the floor of the train station and couldn't find them when they went looking for them. They didn't have enough money to purchase more tickets, so they decided to board the train anyway. Kudos to Ernie, who remained calm while Cindy, as per usual, panicked. Even after the conductor took their tickets on the ride to Cologne and said there was nothing she could do about their missing tickets, Ernie reassured Cindy that there was nothing to worry about. And as it turned out, there really was nothing to worry about because no one collected tickets on the second leg of the train journey!

Once in Brussels, teams took taxis to the European parliament where the clue told them they would be competing in a body-building competition! Brussels is the home of the "Muscles from Brussels" himself, Jean-Claude Van Damme, so I suppose this task was fitting, if not totally bizarre. Teams decked themselves out in the skimpiest of bathing suits, applied spray tan and worked with a professional body builder to create a muscle-flexing routine for three judges. In order to complete the task, teams had to get a combined score of at least 12 points.

This was, without a doubt, the funniest task of this season so far. The shame of the racers in this ridiculous situation made for good television. While most were totally embarassed, Ernie seemed to revel in his bright orange Speedo ("What's up? I've got some tan on!"). But his enthusiasm didn't get them the scores they needed the first time around. Those judges were sticklers!

Amani and Marcus hammed it up for the crowd with their stellar poses, grins and overall showmanship and were the first team to receive 12 points. Ernie and Cindy finally got the points they needed on their second try. And Jeremy and Sandy did one better and got 13. 

And for once, the snowboarders struggled with a task. Due to injury, Andy couldn't seem to get into some of the squatting positions that their instructor had given them. And let's face it, as with the poem recitation task, these guys have shown that outside of physical feats, they are just not great performers due to a lack of charisma. Bill and Cathi also struggled, but come on judges, this couple is in their 60s!  Did you have to be so nit-picky?

After their flexing performances, Amani and Marcus and Ernie and Cindy raced to the Pit Stop at the gazebo at Parc Elisabeth. Amani and Marcus arrived first, won a trip to Panama and were told by Phil, as he handed them another clue, that they are still racing. Then, "to be continued ..."

Huh? We haven't seen Ernie and Cindy nor Jeremy and Sandy arrive, nor do we know what has happened to the hapless snowboarders (and Bill and Cathi) back at the body-building task. Will the snowboarders grin and bear it and finally complete their task? Will a team be eliminated on this leg? Will it happen at the beginning of the next episode?  We will have to wait and see. Until next week, Race fans.

The X Factor: The results (spoiler alert)

She wasn't the one acting like a diva on Thursday night, but she's the one who went home.

I said after Wednesday that Stacy Francis's pop star dream was unravelling, but I didn't expect it to crash and burn quite so quickly.

The other surprise was the presence of Astro in the bottom two. The teenage rapper got glowing praises from the judges on Wednesday (and was one of my favourites), but that didn't translate into big votes. 

Lakoda Rayne, meanwhile, the group I thought would get sent home, were one of the first two acts sent to safety (in no particular order, host Steve Jones reminded us). "I told you so," a jubilant Paula Abdul, the group's mentor, told Simon Cowell and L.A. Reid.

The other act sent through right away was LeRoy Bell, despite a lacklustre performance on Wednesday.

Back to Stacy, she certainly deserved to be in the bottom two, given her car wreck of a performance. I just figured her fans would keep her safe a bit longer.

Thursday's song was better, though still not $5 million recording contract calibre. And I'm not sure why someone who wants to be a pop star would choose "Amazing Grace" to sing for their life.

But at least Stacy came out and sang. Astro walked onstage and asked mentor L.A. Reid and the crowd, "Do you think I should perform?" Then he launched into "Never Can Say Goodbye," but stayed mainly silent on the choruses except for a few "Uh, uh"s.

L.A. was not amused. 

"Astro, I thought you came out and you acted a little bit like a quitter and it upset me. You've come too far to come out and give a lacklustre performance after all the great performances you've given," L.A. said.

But it appeared that Astro was in "take my marbles and go home" mode. Simon confronted him, telling him he was showing disrespect to his mom and the audience at home.

"No disrespect to you or the show, but I just felt like if you're going to put me in the bottom two I don't want to perform for people who don't want me here, you know what I'm saying?" Astro answered.

After Simon demanded to know if he'd do the same thing again in the same position, Astro apologized with tears running down his face.

The lucky kid got another chance, because Simon decided to send Stacy home "based on who I believe has got the best chance of winning."

L.A. and Paula had already voted to ditch Stacy, while Nicole Scherzinger, her mentor, picked Astro.

A surprisingly dry-eyed Stacy shushed the crowd so she could thank the judges.

"I wasn't always happy with my song choice," she said (was that the sound of Nicole being thrown under the bus?). "I don't believe I did great last night ... I have to suck up my pride and take responsibility for the performance that I gave.

"This journey has been really great and I honestly can't believe I'm going home, but somebody has to go home. I just want to thank Simon Cowell for giving me a chance, because I'm 42 years old and he allowed me to sing for the world week to week," Stacy added.

Did you hear Nicole's name mentioned? Was that the sound of the bus wheels?

I guess the question for next week is whether Astro can redeem himself for his display of immaturity or whether the bloom is truly off the hip-hop rose for the voters.

Moving into next week's performances with him are Melanie Amaro, LeRoy Bell, Marcus Canty, Rachel Crow, Drew, Josh Krajcik, Lakoda Rayne and Chris Rene.

The show moves from Wednesday to Tuesday night next week because of U.S. Thanksgiving, airing at 8 p.m. on CTV Two. Because I'll be blogging the Dancing With the Stars finale that night, the X Factor recap will likely be late. 

(The photo of Steve Jones, Astro and Stacy is by Ray Mickshaw for Fox.)

The X Factor: Burning out, fading away

"It's Rock Week. It will either be fantastic or a train wreck. I'm going with train wreck," Simon Cowell said at the beginning of Wednesday's show.

How right he was for one particular contestant. I believe we are seeing the unravelling of Stacy Francis's pop star dream. Better stock up on the waterproof mascara.

Overall, it was another uneven night. Front-runners stayed front-runners and at least one contestant redeemed himself, but others struggled under the weight of bad song choices or bad staging.

Host Steve Jones needs to be outfitted with a whistle next week, or maybe a paddle, since the job of reining in squabbling judges is getting more onerous. The criticisms were more pointed on Wednesday and the disputes more heated. Simon was more like the Simon we all remember than he has been all season, which helped him claim the title of most popular judge on Twitter. 

But it wasn't just judges who were combative as contestants started talking back. Drew, in particular, seems to have adopted some of her mentor's arrogance.

Here's how I ranked the contestants Wednesday.

Josh Krajcik: As L.A. Reid rightfully pointed out, Josh was the only contestant who actually "rocked the house" on Wednesday, with Foo Fighters' "The Pretender." I thought the instruments overpowered the vocal a little in the beginning, but then Josh turned it up to 11. We could have done with less of Nicole Scherzinger's hair-flipping throughout the performance, but it brought all of the judges to their feet. Simon declared it "bloody fantastic" and Paula Abdul said it was the best performance of the night.

Astro: I could quibble and say that Puff Daddy's "I'll Be Missing You" isn't a rock song, although it does sample Sting's "Every Breath You Take," but all I know is that Astro turned it into a heartfelt tribute to his mother and gave one of the best performances of the night. As Paula put it, "Oh Astro, Astro, Astro, can you just suck for once? I don't think you can."

Melanie Amaro: It was the way Melanie got gospel on the final chorus that elevated this performance of R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" for me. But Nicole is right, we haven't seen Melanie let go and get raw, and I think she needs to do that. L.A. and Simon spent most of their time arguing over whether "Everybody Hurts" is a rock song, prompting Steve to comment, "They're ruthless here tonight, aren't they?"

Rachel Crow: I'm not sure what possessed Simon to give a 13-year-old girl a song as laden with sexual innuendo as "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." Even if you strip the lyrics of all references to "girly action," we all know what Mick Jagger was singing about. And all the dancers onstage were overkill. That being said, I still love Rachel's retro, wise-beyond-her-years voice. "It wasn't some karaoke rendition; you really gave it; you brought energy to the room," L.A. told her.

Chris Rene: I'm with Simon, I don't care what Rolling Stone said, Bob Marley didn't sing rock songs. But the important point is that Chris delivered "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" and "No Woman No Cry" with more conviction than I've heard in weeks. And as his mentor, L.A., pointed out, he stayed in key all the way through, so this was a definite improvement on last week. We were reminded in Chris's pre-performance video pack that this is a young man struggling with more than competing on a reality show; he has a daily struggle to stay clean and sober. 

Drew: This is the contestant who inspired the most sparring between Simon and L.A. L.A. says that Drew sounds the same every week and Simon says that L.A. is just trying to mess with Drew's head. She does have a lovely voice, but I have to say that her version of U2's "With or Without You" did sound a bit dirge-like to me. Drew interrupted L.A.'s critique to say "I'm trying to keep my base on the genre that I want to be," but I think someone like L.A. deserves to be heeded. Paula also made a lot of sense when she noted that having a big fan base means Drew can experiment with the weekly genres "and diversity leads to long, long success." But Simon told Drew to pay no attention "to the three witches on my right-hand side, particularly Cruella (Nicole) in the middle, who thought doing a Meat Loaf song tonight with tempo was original."

LeRoy Bell: LeRoy is nice to look at and has a very nice voice, but there was nothing gripping about his cover of Bob Seger's "We've Got Tonight." L.A. and Simon were both blunt. "Listen, you look great, you sound great, but you're still not working it like a rock star," said L.A. "We have heard the same kind of songs now four weeks in a row," said Simon. "Rock Week, you should have been a shark, you acted like a goldfish." Cornered by Simon as to whether she thinks LeRoy can win, Nicole said "I'm going to hold that possibility he can win," which sounded like "not really." Time to step it up LeRoy or get eaten by the bigger fish.

Marcus Canty: I just don't think Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart" was a good fit for Marcus's R&B voice. Furthermore the staging was hokey (flames on the background screen, L.A.? again?) and good Christian boy Marcus's discomfort with interacting with the sexed-up background dancers muted the performance. I'm not sure what Paula was on about when she said she was exhausted from watching Marcus. I found it underwhelming. 

Lakoda Rayne: Close but no cigar, girls. Their mashup of "I Don't Want to Lose Your Love" and "Go Your Own Way" started promising. The leads were sounding good, the harmonies were holding together but, as Simon noted, it fell apart when they stepped down from their blocks and started moving around the stage. Simon called the performance a complete mess and the choreography stupid and gimmicky. But Paula argued the group can fill a void in the marketplace left by the Dixie Chicks. Perhaps, perhaps not, but I think they'll be leaving a void in the competition come Tuesday night.

Stacy Francis: There are probably enough people out there enamoured of Stacy's "single mom makes good" story to get her through another week, but let's be clear, she's not winning the $5 million recording contract. She was so out of tune I couldn't make out what she was singing (apparently it was Meat Loaf's "It's All Coming Back to Me Now"), the screamy attempts at glory notes were horrible and the feather mic looked ridiculous. "I wanted rock, that was a pebble," said Simon. "It was the sort of thing I would expect someone to sing at the Hilton Hotel with people turning their backs, eating peanuts." Stacy said she picked the song because her fans, the Franatics, wanted her to do "something that's real to me." Honey, you're not a star yet, so don't worry about the fans. 

We'll find out Tuesday at 8 p.m. on CTV Two who made the cut. 

(The photos of Josh, Drew and Stacy are by Ray Mickshaw for Fox.)

Survivor: South Pacific - Drinking the Coach Kool-Aid (spoiler alert)

(Albert talks to Cochran, Dawn and Whitney in a CBS photo.)

They say those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

Did any of the remaining Upolu members watch last season's Survivor? The one in which a returning player kept his tribe so tightly controlled that he walked off with the million dollars?

Perhaps hunger and sleep deprivation just mess up one's critical thinking.

As former Savaii member Whitney put it, after pointing out that six Upolu members plus Cochran couldn't all get to the end, "Cochran went to Harvard, Sophie's going to medical school. I don't understand how these smart people can be so stupid."

Human nature, I suppose, and the tendency of most to be followers rather than leaders. Cochran isn't the only one drinking the "Coach Kool-Aid."

Mind you, if a leader were to break out of Coach's Upolu cult, Albert would be a good candidate and we were briefly lulled on Wednesday into thinking he'd grown a pair.

Albert had a sound scheme: form an alliance to get rid of doormat Edna with doomed Savaii members Dawn and Whitney, plus turncoat Cochran; thus currying favour with Savaii members of the jury.

The key was to get Sophie on board. She was uncertain but saw the advantages, noting she and Albert were "strategic and we want to win the game."

Then Coach, who'd been keeping a close eye on Albert's toing and froing, made a speech of his own just before tribal council: "If anybody goes against this five, it's instant death, instant death."

An interesting statement from somebody who's trying to convince everyone he's not the boss; of course, he is and his words had the desired effect. The sheep fell into line at tribal and Dawn got voted out.

Then, thanks to a surprise twist (which Cochran guessed ahead of time), there was a second immunity challenge at tribal and a second vote. Whitney came within one answer of winning the series of multiple choice and true or false nature questions, but Sophie took her second immunity in a row (the first earned by carrying bowls of rice on her head over a teeter-totter) and Whitney quickly followed Dawn to Redemption Island.

The logical assumption would be that Cochran will be dispatched next week, but we can already see the gears turning in Coach's head. He was being very friendly to Cochran, teaching him tai chi on the beach, confiding his fears about being blindsided by Albert and Brandon. It reminds me a little of Boston Rob taking Phillip under his wing (although Cochran isn't a federal agent, doesn't talk to his dead great-great-grandfather or wear saggy pink briefs). 

Cochran seems like the perfect choice to take to final tribal council, as does Edna, whose status as Coach's lapdog has earned the enmity of players like Albert and Sophie. But taking Albert and Sophie to final tribal? Not such a smart idea.

The old Coach wouldn't have considered throwing over alliance members for a turncoat from another tribe. The new Coach? I suspect that he would.

The promo for next week hints that Coach is souring on Brandon (whom we saw surprisingly little of on Wednesday), but we'll have to wait and see.

In the meantime, there could be another fly in Coach's carefully cultivated ointment.

Ozzy won the three-way duel on Redemption Island (using the backs of the hands to balance two poles holding up a board), sending alliance mates Jim and Keith to the jury.

There don't seem to be any Matt-like dark nights of the soul for Ozzy. He seems as happy as a clam. The scene was almost idyllic: Ozzy gliding fish-like through the ocean as sunlight pierced the blue water; Ozzy surveying his kingdom from the top of a coconut tree.

"I've got all that I could ever want in food," he said. "I've got one of the most beautiful reefs, interesting reefs with caves" to explore. And he wasn't wasting mental energy on conniving tribe mates.

Ozzy was the only dueller who had no one rooting for him to win (Brandon, bizarrely, was supporting Jim and Whitney was cheering on Keith). I'm surprised Dawn, who seems to want to be everyone's friend, wouldn't have supported Ozzy, but I can understand why Upolu wouldn't: he's a threat to win challenges if he makes it back into the game.

Ozzy emphasized that threat in his post-victory remarks to the merged tribe: "I'm sitting there on Redemption eating my heart out," he said. And he warned future opponents, "I'll make you a fish, I'll make you fruit then ... I'll eat you."

He's a tenacious little sea monkey, so he may make good on his word. 

We'll find out next week how he fares against Dawn and Whitney, and whether Coach is ready to make a big move of his own and sacrifice one of his people to keep Cochran around.

You can watch on Global at 8 p.m. and look for the recap here. 

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