Twenty Questions: "Survivor - Winners at War"

One week after "Survivor" crowned a two-million dollar winner in its landmark 40th season, our expert, two-man panel is here to break everything down. Join the Brothers Christensen as they navigate through 20 hard-hitting questions about "Survivor: Winners at War."

THE SEASON

1. What was your overall opinion of the season and the outcome?

Austin: I thought that it was an overall good season with an ending that you could have predicted at the merge. That said, it helped rekindle my love for "Survivor."

Aaron: Overall, very strong season. Best cast ever, undoubtedly. Unlike many seasons of "Survivor," the right person won, and I don't think there is any question about that.

2. What did you like about "Winners at War"?

Austin: It had an AMAZING cast! The best ever, IMO. I'm not a huge Tony fan, but I also enjoyed sitting back and enjoying greatness.

Aaron: Great, great cast. It was fun to see a lot of really good players coming back, and the fact that they were all winners made it so there was good gameplay from the very first episode. In a lot of seasons, it takes a few episodes to warm up to the cast, and for the players to figure out how to play the game, but Season 40 came out of the gate swinging. The first half of the season was full of terrific episodes.

3. What did you NOT like about "Winners at War"?

Aaron: I still don't love Edge of Extinction, although it was implemented in a way this season where it felt like players on the Edge still influenced the game. I'm also not sure that I love bringing a person back from the Edge right before the finale. It just feels cheap in some ways, and it's an almost-guaranteed asterisk if somebody coming back into the game that late goes on to win. I feel like they should have introduced Fire Tokens in a regular season, not in an all-star season, so the audience and the players both had a better idea of how they needed to be implemented. I don't think that TV viewers truly understood everything that was going on with them, and it ended up being a largely unnecessary layer on top of what should have been a pretty straight-forward season. Too many players were willing to quit the game this season, which was really surprising to me. Sandra actually did quit, Denise mentally quit, and Ben literally told Sarah to vote him out. It's two million dollars, people! What gives??

Austin: The editing was lacking. There were so many twists and turns this season that at times it was difficult for the viewers to keep up with what was happening.

Aaron: After reading Austin's response, I agree about the editing. My wife was constantly asking why Ben and Jeremy hated each other, and I could never explain it because I am not sure that we actually saw it.

4. Where does "Winners at War" rank in the pantheon of "Survivor" seasons?

Aaron: Top Five, probably. There have been so many seasons that they all kind of blur together, and so many of them have either been really good or really bad. I can definitively say, though, that "Winners at War" was not THE BEST season of all time. The second half of the season was too predictable and the fact that nobody, other than Kim, whose plan was a miserable failure, was willing to take a shot at Tony kind of rubbed me the wrong way. But in terms of domination by a single player, this was an all-time performance by Tony. He worked the entire cast, and they were all seasoned enough to have known better and tried harder to prevent it. The high point of the season was the night where we saw Parvati and Sandra voted out in back-to-back Tribals. That was one of the best nights of "Survivor" that I can ever remember.

Austin: I’d say Top 10, for sure. Prior to the merge, it was looking like it would be the best season ever, but prior to the finale I actually predicted EXACTLY how the finale would go. The last half of the season was too predictable for it to be the best.

THE PLAYERS

5. Who, if anyone, exceeded your expectations?

Austin: Tony, obviously, and also Michele. I didn’t expect Tony to play the best game ever, but I certainly didn’t expect Michele to make it all the way to the finale and have a fairly compelling case to receive votes.

Aaron: Tony - an all-time great performance. Truly masterful. Michele - everybody said, going in, that she was an undeserving winner and a major underdog in the game. Look who's laughing now. Natalie - she has overcome her "Twinnie" persona that I hated so much from "The Amazing Race" and the first part of her winning season, and, even though she spent the entire time on Extinction, she was head and shoulders above everybody else that got voted out.

6. Who, if anyone, failed to meet your expectations?

Aaron: Adam - I really liked him in his original season, and even thought he did pretty well for the first episode or two, but after that... Man... I don't even know. Ben - I don't know what my expectations were for Ben, but he just bugged the heck out of me the entire time. The guy can't keep a secret to save his life, and then the way he exited the game was truly pathetic. Denise - I love Denise, I don't really understand her transformation late in the game, and her downward spiral from voting out Sandra to verbally giving up is a bit mind-boggling.

Austin: Ben and Kim. I think Ben was way out of his league in this season and, frankly, I don’t think he belonged. Kim, on the other hand, was so dominant in her first season that I was expecting more from her. The fact that she was voted out because she made one of the most basic mistakes a survivor can make only adds to the disappointment.

7. Who were you rooting for at the beginning of the season? Who were you rooting for at the end of the season?

Aaron: At the beginning, Tyson, Denise, Adam and Wendell. At the end, well... I mean, I understood that Tony deserved to win, but everybody I had a vested interest in had been booted by then. Michele by default, I guess?

Austin: At first I was rooting for Tyson and Denise, who are two of my favorite castaways ever. Heading into the finale, I was rooting for Michelle. I thought she played a great underdog game and I think she’s one of the most underrated Survivors of all time.

8. Have we finally seen the last of Boston Rob and Sandra?

Aaron and Austin: Yes.

9. What did you think about Natalie having so many advantages from her time on Edge of Extinction?

Aaron: For someone who was voted out at the first Tribal Council, Natalie had WAY too many advantages. I don't disagree that she earned them and she deserved some credit for working so hard, but for her to have three advantages and two idols, compared to Nick, who was the last person sent to Extinction and had NOTHING, that was totally unfair.

Austin: Two things come to mind. First, I think the system is broken. Nick lasted 34 days and had 0 chances to gain an advantage heading into the final challenge. Why should someone who was voted out on Day Two have the opportunity to monopolize advantages like she did? Second, props to her! She cleaned up on Extinction and went out of her way to earn everything that she could.

10. What did you think about Ben giving Sarah permission to vote him out?

Austin: Ben was a weak player this season. I think his logic in Sarah using that move as a resume builder was flawed. Mostly, on this season I really wanted to see all the heavyweights go at it and fight to the finish. I would definitely have rather had someone else in the final five who was willing to fight to the end and try to win.

Aaron: Weak. Pathetic. Completely ridiculous. And for him to insinuate, "What you need in order to win is a big move, so I give you permission to vote me out," totally cheapened the move Sarah made in the first place. How could she possibly claim that and say, "My one big move was that I voted Ben out after he told me to do it"?

11. What did you think about Sarah's "gender bias" speech in the finale? Did it change your opinion of her?

Aaron: First of all, she should have saved that speech for the final Tribal. Second of all, I understand that some viewers believe that the producers have it out for women (especially "women of color," as I read in one particular article), but I don't buy it. I don't think her speech changed my opinion of Sarah, specifically, but I didn't think she made enough significant moves to win the game either way.

Austin: The timing of it was interesting. It felt like she was pandering a bit early to the jury, and why not? You don’t have to save it all to the final Tribal Council. I’m not sure I agreed with everything she said, but I thought she eloquently stated her side of things. My opinion of Sarah remains the same.

12. Did Natalie make the right decisions after re-entering the game?

Austin: I didn’t want her to use her idol on herself; I wanted her to save Michele, but it didn’t matter. After the merge, especially, the individuality of your game increases. I think it was the smart thing to do (BUT SHE SHOULDN’T HAVE TOLD SARAH THAT SHE HAD IT!!). From the fire side of things, had Natalie challenged Tony to fire and won, I think she might have unanimously won the game.

Aaron: I mean, what the jury probably wanted was for her to play her idol for Michelle, then voluntarily give up her individual immunity to make fire against Tony (a move that has already been done, mind you, and led to the crowning of the most controversial winner of all time). Her moves guaranteed her a spot in the finale, and I can't blame her for that. She came in and wiped out Tony's alliance, and that was awesome. The only way she would have won would have been by eliminating Tony, though, and that didn't end up happening.

13. What did you think about the final Tribal Council?

Aaron: Overall, it was fine. I don't love the "Outwit, Outplay, Outlast" format that they adopted a couple seasons back, but it is what it is. The jury wasn't bitter, which is always nice, and it seemed like everyone respected everyone else, and that's good.

Austin: I thought it was good, but certainly different that what we have seen in the past. The jury was laughing with the final three, admiring some moves they made, and it didn’t feel nearly as bitter as other final Tribal Councils that we have seen.

Aaron: I actually thought that each of the final three made solid cases for why they deserved to win. I thought that they each represented the three main aspects of the game, too - Tony was easily the best strategic player, Natalie dominated Extinction from a physical standpoint, and Michele had to play a flawless social game to survive on the bottom for as long as she did.

14. Tony won, 9-4-0. Did Michele deserve any votes?

Austin: I think she deserved at least one. With Michele’s resume from this season, I think you could transplant her to many other "Survivor" seasons and she would have easily won. The problem is that she ran into Tony, who played the greatest individual season of "Survivor" ever.

Aaron: Yes, at least one. Many people online were giving Wendell a hard time for not voting for her, but I don't think you can force a guy to vote for somebody just because they dated. That shouldn't have anything to do with it. But yes, I do think that it was a shame Michele didn't get more votes.

15. Is Tony the greatest "Survivor" player of all time?

Aaron and Austin: Yes.

GENERAL QUESTIONS

16. Should "Survivor" continue to use Fire Tokens?

Aaron: I don't mind if they come back, but they need to iron out a couple things first. As viewers, I don't think we really understood everything that could be done with the tokens. It seemed like, as far as we knew, they were really only used for advantages/disadvantages to be sold to players still in the game or for jars of peanut butter.

Austin: They should. I think there is a lot of intrigue with Fire Tokens, but they weren’t implemented correctly this season. We saw lots of different situations where the tokens caused changes in gameplay, most of which were entertaining, but I think they need to look at how people on the Edge of Extinction can earn/use them. This season’s system was so slanted in favor of the first person to be voted off that it didn’t feel right.

17. Should "Survivor" continue to utilize Edge of Extinction?

Austin: I think that having a second chance eliminates some of the beauty of the game. I think that with hidden immunity idols, among other things, that there are enough ways to prevent being voted off that having a second chance at coming back in the game feels too merciful.

Aaron: No. Get rid of it. Once you're out, you're out.

18. If you could play with anyone from this season, who would it be?

Aaron: Denise seems like she would be a pretty loyal ally, and I think, if you can get on his good side, Tyson would be a blast to play with. He and Gervase remain one of the top duos in the history of the show.

Austin: Tony is entertaining, for sure, but I think I’d go crazy if I played with him. I think I’d want to play with Tyson because I think he’s hilarious, an awesome player and an overall good dude.

19. Is there anyone from this season that you would not want to play with?

Aaron: Tony. The guy drives me nuts. Sandra and Rob, too. I'd want them gone immediately.

Austin: Boston Rob. He’s so bossy that I’d probably lose my temper within the first 24 hours on the island with him.

20. What makes "Survivor" such a great show?

Austin: This might be the hardest question because I think there is a combination of about 1,000 things. I think that the show finds normal people, brings them entirely out of their element, and it shows what people are capable of doing in a game where there are real life consequences and a significant financial reward.

Aaron: The fact that it has been able to successfully reinvent itself so many times over the years is a testament to its greatness. I love the drama of it all. There have been some epic blindsides over the years, and it never gets old watching somebody think they're on top, only to come crashing down half an hour later. And finally, we've got to give some props to the best to ever do it - Jeff Probst, the greatest game show host ever!

What did you think about "Survivor: Winners at War"? We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below, on Twitter or on Facebook.

Until next time,

The tribe has spoken!

The Masked Singer: Television's Gift to America

The year was 2018. I had seen commercials for this upcoming show, "The Masked Singer," for months. These TV spots made the premise seem simple: costumed celebrities sing songs for a panel of judges. It looked pretty stupid, to be honest. But I needed more information - chiefly, what caliber of celebrities are they dealing with?

After what seemed like an eternity, January 2, 2019 finally rolled around. "The Masked Singer" premiered that night. I made myself a deal: I'd watch for five minutes to see what the show was like, and then I'd turn it off and move along with my life.

Then this happened:

I wasn't quite sure what on earth I had stumbled across... but I kind of liked it, so I kept watching.
And then this happened:

I was hooked.
Six of the 12 elaborately costumed characters performed in that first episode. The remaining six went the following Wednesday night. At the end of each episode, the studio audience voted for their favorite singers. The singer with the least amount of votes got eliminated from competition and was forced to unmask.
In the first episode, the Hippo received the fewest votes. He was revealed to be professional football player Antonio Brown. Later episodes exposed celebrities such as comedians Tommy Chong and Margaret Cho, TV icons like Tori Spelling and Ricki Lake, and legit singers LaToya Jackson and *NSYNC's Joey Fatone.
It was silly, it was ridiculous, and I'll be darned if I wasn't on the edge of my seat every time those crazy masks came off.

Why did this show work?

A handful of people filled out a survey I published about their experience watching "The Masked Singer." I'll reference those results periodically throughout the rest of this blog. When asked about their initial expectations for this show, no one gave a score higher than 3, on a scale from 1 to 5. It was a unique concept - something not unheard of overseas (it's patterned after a competition in South Korea) - but foreign (literally) to America audiences.
Somehow, some way, "The Masked Singer" was a smash hit with viewers and many critics. (It even sits at a 52% score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is... about 47% higher than I anticipated.) As a competition show, it lives somewhere in some freaky dimension between "American Idol" and "Survivor." It's a pre-recorded singing competition which eliminates its participants months before airing on TV, yet somehow still lets the viewers at home feel included in the process.
I didn't have a say in which singers got unmasked, nor which character won the finale, but I did get to play along from my couch, thanks to weekly video packages that gradually revealed clues about the secret identities of the celebrities. Some of these clues were intentionally misleading, like clues constantly indicating that Vegas mainstay Donny Osmond was a magician, while others were blatantly obvious, such as a line in one of the Rabbit's early performances that said, "It's gonna be me" - a virtual guarantee that the celebrity was a member of *NSYNC. As viewers, we had the opportunity to try to guess the identities from the get-go, then, as the show went on, additional clues would either validate our assumptions or make us completely re-think our strategy.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Executive Producer Craig Plestis said, "Our show is not a serious show at all. It's a fun party that you can come to each week and invite into your house, and that's what we need in America — just to disengage a little bit. There's so much crazy stuff going on, and this is a show you don't have to worry about it. You can just worry about who's underneath the Peacock mask, and who's underneath the Monster mask."
For me, and for others, "The Masked Singer" was must-see television each Wednesday night. I'm glad to hear that I'm not alone. Everyone who took my survey rated their likelihood of watching Season 2 as 5 out of 5.
As a bit of a side note, I hear that celebrities loved being on the show. for people like Rumer Willis (daughter of Bruce and Demi Moore), it was a chance to showcase a new or previously little-known talent; I also read that they loved not having any press obligations and being able to ignore or otherwise disregard questions about their involvement with the show. It's been a great source of publicity for the contestants; Gladys Knight (third place) told Entertainment Weekly that her phone has been "ringin' off the hook," and a career resurrection may be in the cards for T-Pain, who was moved to tears while accepting the Golden Mask trophy. For an interesting interview with Donny Osmond, who reflected on his time on the show, click here to read the Deseret News article.

Why shouldn't it have worked?

The hardest thing about watching "The Masked Singer" is knowing that it's all pre-recorded. An article on Vox.com explained that the show was taped over the summer of 2018, far before the show was on anybody's radar, which was a huge benefit, in terms of secrecy. Nobody was expecting it, so the first season took television by storm. (The show isn't a secret anymore, but we'll touch on that more later.)
In today's spoiler-happy society, a show like this absolutely shouldn't have worked. Because the show was recorded in front of a (Non-Disclosure-Agreement-signing) crowd, it's a wonder that there was even a sliver of surprise remaining once the show hit airwaves months later. A little Googling taught me something interesting:
Vox discussed the jittery editing of those exciting unmasking sequences (with "Who Are You" by The Who gloriously blaring in the background) by explaining that most of the audience was evacuated from the auditorium before the actual revealing of the singers.
"Each reveal took place in front of a skeleton audience [of the crew and people who were attached to that week's mystery celebrity]," Vox reported. "Many of the audience members [shown on screen] looking on in shock and surprise weren’t even present when the singers finally emerged from beneath their elaborate costume heads."
(Aside: I've considered how this show would work if it were filmed live, like "America's Got Talent" or the playoff rounds of "The Voice." This would provide viewers at home more of an opportunity to participate in the voting aspect of the show, but ultimately would not work at all, because the judges would go home, get on social media or Google and immediately know who the contestants were, and that wouldn't be any fun at all. Gotta keep the show pre-recorded, sadly.)
Despite the insane degree of privacy required during production, the whole Internet pretty much knew who was behind each mask after the first episode. Every single person that responded to my survey said that they unintentionally encountered "Masked Singer" spoilers. They were all over the place, to the extent that I am considering not looking at any articles about the show during Season 2. But even that - or muting phrases like #MaskedSinger on Twitter - won't prevent the accidental spoiling of secrets. For example, I saw "Donny Osmond" trending on the night of the first episode. Unaware that his name was a "Masked Singer" spoiler, I clicked to see whether he had died prematurely or something. Nope. Twitter just came to the consensus that he was behind the Peacock mask. This turned out to be true, as did every other spoiler or rumor that I encountered over the course of the season.
So does knowing the identity of a singer ruin the fun of it all? It's hard to say. Those who responded to my survey were perfectly divided between "Yes," "No" and "Somewhat." I suppose that it depends on how you discover the identity. If a viewer guessed correctly, like I did with Joey Fatone, knowing the identity of the celebrity may make them proud and thereby enhance their viewing pleasure. But if one were to accidentally stumble across the theory that the ultimate winner, the Monster, is T-Pain, as the Internet correctly assumed, it might take some of the excitement out of it. For me, his particular voice had been a lively source of debate amongst my family for the better part of two months, so finding out that Twitter knew it all along was a bit of a disappointment for me. I can't imagine that sitting through an entire season of this show after having looked up the answers at the very beginning would have been much fun.

What can be changed for Season 2?

Now that the world knows about "The Masked Singer," the producers are going to have to crack down on security even more for Season 2 in order to prevent spoilers from being leaked. Thankfully, Plestis is well aware of this, and it sounds like his team is up to the task.
"We're going to be hiring more security people," he told THR. "Now that we're on everyone's radar it's making sure that, when we're filming it, everyone has given up their iPhones and cameras. It's making sure that no pictures are taken during the performances and being really on top of it to make sure that no one has a picture of our celebrities underneath the masks. That's going to be our key for the next season. ... This is something that no other show has to deal with ... It's not simply just making a great show and having a great panel and costumes and shooting it all, there's this whole other operation and side with crew of just keeping the secrets, the paperwork, the NDAs, the security guards. The logistics are monumental to do this."
On top of cracking down on privacy and trying to deter Internet spoilers, I think that they might want to try giving harder (or fewer) clues about the celebrities. More than 80 percent of my survey voters said that the contestant clues were "somewhere in between" being "too easy" and "too difficult," although none felt that the clues were generally too hard to be helpful, and everyone that took the survey said that they were able to identify at least one celebrity without the use of spoilers.
Of course, part of the fun of "The Masked Singer" is letting viewers play Sherlock Holmes and piece together the clues. It wouldn't be enjoyable if every single clue was so difficult that nobody could guess. But how about these options to shake things up next season?:

• Start with more difficult clues. Finding out that the Rabbit was in a boy band wouldn't be bad, but knowing which boy band he was in narrowed things down really quickly - in this case, to either Joey Fatone or Lance Bass; Justin Timberlake is way too big of a star, and nobody knows anything about the other two guys. As the season progressed, they could give some easier clues to help viewers feel more confident in their guesses.
• Consider giving no clues at all! I'm not positive that this would be successful, but it would be interesting to see what the judges (and the rest of us at home) could determine, based solely on the voice of the performer and their body language.
• Battle Rounds. Similar to "The Voice," they could have two contestants face off against each other, with the loser being forced to reveal a clue about their identity. The winner would not have to reveal anything. This would keep the best performers' identities a complete secret for a longer period of time.

Now that the world has seen the success of Season 1, hopefully we can expect bigger names to show up next time around. Plestis mentioned in several interviews that I read that their ultimate goal is to nab an "A-Lister." But I'll be honest - Gladys Knight is about as legendary a performer as I ever could have expected when I asked myself what caliber of celebrity would possibly put on one of those preposterous costumes. It will be fun to see who shows up in the future.

Other survey results

"The Masked Singer" had an interesting panel of judges, including at least two members who arguably know nothing about singing. That panel consisted of Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy, Ken Jeong and Nicole Scherzinger, who were periodically joined by guest judges Joel McHale, JB Smoove and Kenan Thompson. My survey asked which judges respondents liked. Here are the results, in order of popularity:

1. Kenan Thompson - Guest Judge (100% approval)
2. Robin Thicke (83%)
3. Ken Jeong and Nicole Scherzinger (66%)
4. Jenny McCarthy (33%)
5. Joel McHale and JB Smoove (16%)

I asked how difficult respondents found it to guess the celebrities behind the masks. On a scale from 1 to 5, two-thirds rated the difficulty as "4," with all others giving it a "3."

One-third of respondents admitted that they intentionally looked up spoilers at any point in the season to discover an identity or confirm a theory.

I asked who the worst singer of the competition was. Half of voters picked the Pineapple (Tommy Chong). Other singers receiving votes included the Unicorn (Tori Spelling) and the Deer (Terry Bradshaw).

Results for the best singer of the competition varied considerably, with a tie for the top spot. Those who took the survey had the Monster (T-Pain) and the Peacock (Donny Osmond) tied for number one, with the Bee (Gladys Knight) and the Rabbit (Joey Fatone) also receiving votes.

When asked about the best character of the season, in terms of personality and on-stage presence, 50 percent preferred the Joey Fatone's twitchy Rabbit. Others receiving votes were the Peacock, the Monster and the Raven. (Full disclosure: The person who voted for the Raven was some random chick on Twitter that somehow found the link to my survey. I don't know them personally and they therefore cannot be trusted nor taken seriously.)

Five of the 12 entertainers received votes for "Best Costume," with the Rabbit receiving the most votes, followed by the Lion, Peacock, Monster and Pineapple.

The Final Word

I loved this show more than I could ever have imagined. My two favorite TV shows of all time are "Survivor" and "LOST," but basically everyone hates both of those shows and I've learned not to bring them up in conversation as much as possible. "The Masked Singer," however, was a show that I constantly brought up to co-workers and would recommend to anyone who needs something fun to watch. So thank you, television. Thank you for giving us this wonderfully strange and incredible gift known as "The Masked Singer." I look forward to seeing what happens with Season 2 and hope that many more of you will watch along with me so we can discuss our theories together.

But if you look up spoilers and ruin it for me, there will be no forgiveness in this world for you.

So tell me... did you watch Season 1 of "The Masked Singer"? What did you think? What did you like? What did you hate? Who did you love? Were you satisfied with the results of the finale? Let me know in the comments below. I'd love to hear what you have to say.

Survivor's Scot Pollard: the Reality TV Mormon debate

Former NBA player and champion Scot Pollard is an interesting dude. There's no doubt about that. Run a quick Google image search for him and you'll quickly come to understand. At a glance, the guy is pretty far "out there," as far as his personality and lifestyle are concerned. But here's a little known fact - Pollard was born into a Mormon family in Murray, Utah. Yes, it's true. Scot Pollard was raised Mormon.

Now, that term, "raised Mormon," is practically synonymous with inactivity in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Basically, the person was born into a religious family, then grew up and made their own decisions, leaving the church in the rear-view mirror. ("Dancing with the Stars" hot shots Derek and Julianne Hough are prime examples of this pattern.) For a few years now, I've known that Pollard was pretty openly ex-Mormon and anybody familiar with his NBA career should have realized that the guy doesn't really have any type of connection with the church anymore.

With this in mind, when Pollard was announced as a contestant for Season 32 of "Survivor," I immediately decided that I wouldn't include him on my world-famous list of Reality TV Mormons. However, I was quite surprised this past week when Mormonism came up in a conversation during the eighth episode of the season. Unexpectedly, Pollard did not deny being a member of the church. Here is a transcription of the conversation, which also included contestants Nick Maiorano, Julia Sokolowski and Debbie Wanner:

Nick: "There's something I want to ask you, Scot. Where does your mom live?"
Scot: "My mom lives in Utah. She's in an assisted living. She's got health issues, so... She's only 75. She's got a rare disease. It's basically the inverse of ALS."
Julia: "Is your father alive?"
Scot: "No, my dad died when I was 16."
Nick: "So, are you religious? Are you Mormon?"
Scot: "I haven't been to church since I was a kid - well, 17, 18 years old - but my whole world has to do with my family, and that has everything to do with the Mormon religion."
Debbie: "I think that's wonderful."
Scot: "That was one of the advantages. That's why I take care of my whole family. We were all poor. ... My brothers chose religion and family, and I chose the NBA. They struggle financially, so I..."
Debbie: "So you would like to help them even more."
Scot: "That's why I'm here."
Debbie: "Good for you, Scot. That's very noble."

Interesting, right? So what do you think? Does that conversation qualify Pollard as one of my Reality TV Mormons? Let me know in the comments section below!

"Survivor: Kaôh Rōng" airs on CBS, Wednesday nights at 7 p.m., Mountain Time. Pollard is currently one of the final nine contestants vying for the million-dollar grand prize.

Confessions: I watched "The Bachelor"

I admit: for the first time in my life, I sat down and watched a full episode of ABC's "The Bachelor."

I went home to my family's house after work last night to change my clothes before heading to the gym. My mom was watching TV. I casually asked if she was watching "The Bachelor," which I was relatively aware had debuted the night before. She responded in the affirmative. She asked if I wanted to stay for dinner after my workout. I agreed. She had me right where she wanted me.

After returning from the gym and enjoying a dinner with my family, I prepared to return to my place. As I was getting ready to go, my mom asked if I wanted to stay and watch the girls (on the show) get introduced. I didn't really want to; I'd never watched more than a few minutes of those shows every now and then (I did a little research while debating whether or not to include Mormon contestants in my list of Latter-day Saints on reality TV - that's another topic for another time). Somewhat hesitantly, I decided to stay and watch the girls meet Ben, the new Bachelor. I figured a little quality time with my mom couldn't hurt. I didn't have any other plans last night, anyway.

I sat down as the first of the women were introduced. There was a dentist from Oregon (she's definitely trying way too hard to "Keep Portland weird"). There was a chick with an odd face that had a father with ALS. A cute single mom. A... "chicken enthusiast"? Is that her job or her character on the show? I was a bit confused. These, and many, many others, began arriving via limousine to meet the handsome chap. I learned very quickly that this was the time for these women to make their first impressions. The dentist showed up with a freaking enormous flower hat on her head. It fell off as she got out of the car and she quickly put it back on. One lady showed up with - and I kid you not - a wedding invitation, as though she assumes she will be the eventual bride... or winner... or whatever the ultimate goal is on this show.

It just kept getting better and better. (And when I say "better and better," I mean "worse and worse.") A girl got out of the limo with a unicorn mask on her head. I got excited when a cute girl from Salt Lake City showed up - and then she refused to speak a word of English to the guy! She only spoke in what I assume was Russian. So weird. Another contestant showed up in pajamas, telling Ben that she hopes he is the "onesie" for her. Somebody showed up on one of those so-called "hoverboards." One girl was allergic to gluten and she showed up, ironically, carrying a basket of bread. She told Ben that she was allergic to gluten so, instead of breaking the ice, she thought they could break bread, then commencing to smash the loaves all over the pavement at his feet. There was a Texan with a pony, a social media stalker, identical twins and an insecure redhead called "Red Velvet." There was one girl that I thought was pretty cute that came out of the limo with a football behind her back (double yes!). However, things got a little weird when she hitched up her skirt, hiked the ball and said, "I knew you were a catch." Ugh. So cheesy.

All of the women had arrived and it was time for Ben to join them inside. The host, Chris Harrison, appeared for a moment to ask Ben how he was feeling. I whole-heartedly expected Ben to say, "Can I get a hug? I want to cry." Shockingly, he maintained composure. Then Harrison began a sentence that had me on the edge of my seat. "You're 26," he said before a long pause. As a 29-year-old, I hoped that Harrison would choose his next words very carefully. "Too young to find love?" he asked. I laughed. At least he didn't say Ben was running out of time or something. So apparently 26 is "young," as far as the world's standards are concerned. Good to know.

It was around this point that I asked my mom how much time was left in the show. I wanted to go home. There was an hour left. Ugh. Gosh. I stayed for the remainder of the program. This was a train wreck that I couldn't stop watching.

Once inside the mansion, the high school drama commenced as if on cue. Obviously, these contestants were generally very insecure, surrounded by 25 other gorgeous women competing for the supposed affections of one very handsome man. (Their words, not mine.) Things got even more intense when two returning contestants showed up. The new women did not find this fair at all. How dare these two returning contestants show up?! To me, that just seems sad. "Hey, look, everyone! We failed the first time around and now we're back!" That's just strange, to me. The new girls see their prior experience on the show as some kind of advantage, but I don't understand what they mean by that.

The purpose of each episode is for the women to earn a red rose from the Bachelor at the end of the night. Getting a rose means that you can move on to the next round of dates. A few of these girls would not end up getting chosen and would have to go home at the end of the episode, so that was causing a whole bunch of paranoia at the mansion. Once Ben came into the room, the girls began fighting over him and trying to steal him away for a few minutes alone. On several occasions, a contestant would interrupt Ben's conversations with one of the other girls to procure him for herself. Uh... rudeness!! The weirdest part of this segment of the show was when the rose-topped dentist from Portland grabbed Ben, took him in the other room and made him lay down on the couch to examine his teeth and interrogate him about his flossing habits. If that happened to me on a first date, I can guarantee you that I'd never want to see that girl again. I'd go straight home, block her on Facebook and then write a hilarious blog about it, however.

Can I just say... I feel so bad for this dude. Not only does he have to surround himself with this drama for however many nights or weeks or months, but he has to supposedly settle on one to be his wife at the end of it all! If that's not the practical embodiment of fire and brimstone, I'm not sure what is.

At the end of the night, a couple girls got sent packing, including "Red Velvet," who will probably go home and cry about all of her insecurities, which is unfortunate. Sadly, a couple of the weirdos ended up getting roses, including the dentist chick (WHY?!?) and a girl named Lace, who has weird teeth and also would not merit a second date after freaking out about the lack of eye contact Ben gave her during the Rose Ceremony. So much drama! How does Ben do it?

Anyway, that was pretty much what happened in "The Bachelor" premiere that I still can't believe that I sat through. Now... I have a few things to say.

First of all, I love how all of these women (on the show and across America) are falling head-over-heels for Ben, who, as nice as he is (he honestly seems like a good guy), is telling every single girl on the show that she's gorgeous and he can't wait to spend time alone with them. As my brother Cody pointed out - yes, he watched the show, too, and is as guilty as I am - if I were to tell every girl in my singles ward how beautiful she was and kiss them all on the cheek right in front over everybody, I'd be run out of town on a rail for being a player, a womanizer and a liar. Why is it acceptable for Ben to do it, but not for me? Is it his money? His looks? The fact that he's on national television? Why the double standard? I guarantee you that if I tried THAT hard to get somebody to like me, they'd never give me the time of day ever again.

Secondly, is it a requirement that, to be on this show, you have to be totally wacky? Where are the normal girls that don't frame pictures of their chickens or dump their boyfriends for a guy they've seen on TV a couple times? Honestly, people! Ben has to marry one of these crazies! I feel so bad for him! I couldn't do it! Actually, there are several reasons why I couldn't be on a show like this: the cameras, the drama, the public displays of affection, the fact that I'd know my parents would be watching this all unfold before their very eyes... But, as funny as these two hours of TV were to me, can you believe that there is a dude out there that is actually living it?? If I learned one thing from online dating, it's that, in some cases, there is a reason why people are 34 and unmarried - and that reason is that you're a crazy psycho. No offense, but... IT'S TRUE!! If they were normal, especially considering how beautiful they are on the outside, why on earth would they still be single at this point in their lives??

Thirdly, I can't help but wonder... what is life like after the show ends? When the camera leaves, the hot air balloons are deflated and the wine ceases to flow? I once asked a girl who was obsessed with traveling what would happen if she finally got married and couldn't afford to go on week-long vacations three times a year. She responded, "...I'd really miss traveling." (Insert wide-eyed emoji here.) "The Bachelor" is not real life. It is not real dating. And it is not real love. Take away the cameras, the bottom-tier celebrity status and the fortune of it all and then - maybe then - will you be able to emulate a semi-realistic dating scenario. But what happens to these girls when Ben says, "Well, honey, do you want to go, like, Redbox a movie or something? Maybe pick up some McDonald's?" Will they still truly love him then? In my opinion that is certainly not based on any extensive research of the subject, I see "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette" as the fast track to a wild, three-year-long marriage. I'd assume that, in the majority of cases, I'm not far off. (Somebody back me up here.)

Lastly (and it pains me to admit it), I kind of want to watch a couple more episodes. Stay with me here. At the end of the premiere episode, they showed a few highlights of the upcoming season, which mainly included Ben and a plethora of contestants half-naked and making out in exotic locations and/or hot tubs, which is to be expected with this kind of smut, I guess, and I wouldn't watch for that, but at one point IT SHOWED A GIRL WITH A BLACK EYE!!! That wasn't a slap mark. That wasn't a claw mark. That looked like it came from a straight-up punch to the eyeball. How could you not want to watch that??

In conclusion, "The Bachelor" appears to be the most preposterous, brain-numbing, hilarious, immature, embarrassingly entertaining garbage I have seen on TV in a long time and I truly believe that it would do wonders for my self-esteem as a nearly 30-year-old bachelor (lower-case), myself. As I mentioned on social media last night, I'm single, but I'm not THAT single.

And thank Heaven for that.

Provo's Waffle Love finishes second in 'The Great Food Truck Race'

Season 6 of Food Network's reality competition program "The Great Food Truck Race" came to an end Sept. 27, as Provo's upstart Waffle Love was edged out by Pho-nomenal Dumplings from Raleigh, North Carolina, for the show's grand prize of $50,000.

This season, "The Great Food Truck Race" pitted seven professional food trucks against one another in a race across Route 66 that spanned from the Santa Monica Pier in California to Chicago. During each leg of the race, teams went head-to-head in two challenges that combined cooking and salesmanship. At the end of each episode, the team that had earned the least money was eliminated.

Two of the season's strongest teams squared off in the final episode. Prior to the finale, Waffle Love had never finished in lower than second place after any leg of the race. On the other hand, a shaky sixth-place start in the season premiere didn't stop the Pho-nomenal Dumplings truck, which consistently improved as the season progressed. The all-female truck earned top-three finishes from the third episode onward.

The season finale's first cooking competition, known as a "truck stop" challenge, took place in St. Louis, where the teams had 90 minutes to prepare St. Louis-style beef, pork and chicken dishes for a duo of food critics. While the judges said that Waffle Love's pork was "cooked perfectly," they noted that the chicken was missing a bit of salt and that the ground beef dish was a little overdone. Pho-nomenal Dumplings was picked as the winner for the event.

The trucks then headed to Springfield, Illinois, where they received instructions for the competition's grand finale.

The last challenge of the season — a "speed bump," as it's called on the show — required the food trucks to sell 50 Chinese dishes, 50 Italian dishes and 50 Greek dishes in designated sections of Springfield. After having sold enough food, the first team to cross the finish line would be crowned the champion. It was then revealed that Pho-nomenal Dumplings would receive an advantage for having won the "truck stop" challenge: they only needed to sell 20 Chinese dishes, which allowed the East Coast trio ample room for error and gained them a solid lead early in the challenge.

Pho-nomenal Dumplings breezed through its sales and moved on to the traditional "race" portion of the competition, driving toward the finish line at Chicago's Buckingham Fountain. Upon arrival, however, the show's host, Tyler Florence, informed the women that they had been selling their Greek dishes two blocks outside of the designated area, meaning that they'd have to go back and sell 50 additional meals within the proper boundaries.

While that geographical error could have ended up being disastrous, it wasn't a big enough blunder to cost Pho-nomenal Dumplings the victory. The truck from North Carolina managed to maintain a slight lead, despite having to re-do part of the challenge, and still crossed the finish line a few minutes ahead of Waffle Love.

Although the brothers from Provo didn't end up with the $50,000, they affirmed that there are some things in life that matter more than reality TV glory.

The Terrys, who come from what Adam Terry described on the show as "a big Mormon family of 14 kids," were able to practice their faith as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while on the road. Twice during the competition, the Waffle Love brothers made the controversial decision to attend church during two of the food challenges, while the rest of the teams continued to compete.

“We didn’t know that they were going to [have us] selling on Sundays," Adam Terry said in an interview for the Deseret News. "In our home business, ... we’re never open on Sundays because we believe that Sunday is not a day for business."

Adam Terry said that he and his brothers decided that Sunday worship, even in the middle of the competition, was non-negotiable.

"That’s just our way of staying true to who we are," Adam Terry said. "We weren’t going to go out on national TV and not follow the same business principles that we’ve been following this whole time."

With a dash of humor, he added, "Obviously, you could see that it was a stressful situation and we needed God in our lives more than ever, out on that ‘Great Food Truck Race.'"
The Terrys were very appreciative of the show's producers, who were initially unaware that the brothers came from a very religious background.

"They found out that we were [LDS] and it was cool that they were willing to embrace that part about us," Adam Terry said. "They weren’t going to make us not go to church or something, so [it was] just our choice and we were hopeful to represent well."

Ultimately, the decision to take a break from business on Sunday didn't end up hurting Waffle Love in the competition. After attending church in the first episode of the season, Waffle Love still finished in first place for that leg, $1,874 ahead of their closest competitors.

Religion aside, Adam Terry said that he and his brothers were able to learn a lot about their business and about themselves during their time on the show.

"We learned that we can really do anything," he said. "We learned that it didn’t matter what we were making, we could find a way to adjust to it and we can do anything."

He mentioned being particularly proud of the unusual grilled cheese waffle he and his brothers had to make during one of the show's food challenges.

He continued, "We also learned that we can compete with anyone in the nation, head-to-head. In fact, most of the time, we’re going to beat you, head-to-head. That was cool to find out."

Although the competition is over and the Terrys are back to business in Provo, Adam Terry said he remains overwhelmed with gratitude for the opportunity he had to be on the "The Great Food Truck Race."

"We were just super grateful for the opportunity to make it on the show," he said. "Every day on the show was a dream come true and being able to still keep our [religious] commitments while we were out there is something that we’re really proud of. We were able to still maintain our sense of integrity and the things that are important to us."

This article was picked up and published by the Deseret News on October 9, 2015.

'America's Got Talent' journey ends for Utahn Alex Boyé

Nearly a month and a half after his first audition aired, a split decision sent Utah musician Alex Boyé home on Tuesday night's episode of NBC's hit variety show, "America's Got Talent."

The upbeat and unorthodox singer from Salt Lake City took to the stage with a unique rendition of Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk," but it wasn't quite enough to put him over the hump as the show's five celebrity judges searched for the evening's top seven acts.

Boyé received mixed feedback from the judges panel, which consisted of comedian Howie Mandel, supermodel Heidi Klum, ex-Spice Girl Melanie "Mel B" Brown, shock jock Howard Stern and guest judge Piers Morgan. But in the end, the judges couldn't quite agree on putting Boyé and his band through to the next round of live auditions at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

As the judges began their feedback, Klum and Mandel stood out as Boyé's strongest supporters.

"I think that you are a great entertainer," Klum said. "I think the whole band is great, I think you're a great singer and I think that you deserve a spot on Radio City Music Hall. I do want to see you there. I loved it."

"Alex, you know that I'm a huge fan of yours," Mandel added. "I want to wish you the best of luck and hopefully we'll see you again."

Tougher to swallow were the comments from Brown, Stern and Morgan.

"The power and the energy that was coming off the stage was just undeniable," Brown said before commenting that she felt the act seemed a bit under-rehearsed.

Stern also felt underwhelmed by the performance, saying, "You do have tremendous potential, but sometimes I think you guys slip into the wedding band schtick, and you guys kind of did this time."

Morgan, who was a full-time judge on the show from 2006 to 2011, returned for one night only and spent the evening relishing his role as a notoriously grumpy critic. "Are you special?" he asked Boyé. "Are you a band that America will be watching tonight, thinking, 'That's incredible! I'm just going to pay to watch them'? I don't think you're at that level yet."

At the end of the night, the top seven spots were filled by a combination of dancers, acrobats, comedians, a young singer and, believe it or not, a professional regurgitator.

Boyé was shown briefly after being turned down by the judges, saying, "It's like heartbreaking because you think you're so close."

The musician took to Twitter after the show to thank his fans, tweet at AGT host Nick Cannon and tease a big announcement:

A door has just closed, but a bigger one just opened!! Will be able to talk about it in the next few weeks! #notover pic.twitter.com/iQr27UnhMZ

— alex boye (@alexboyereal) August 5, 2015

Certainly, an early exit on "America's Got Talent" isn't always indicative of failure. Twitter user @chonmage drew similarities to another local act with ties to AGT, pointing out, "@piersmorgan was wrong about @LindseyStirling.  He's wrong about Alex, too."

"America's Got Talent" airs Tuesday and Wednesday nights on NBC at 7 p.m., Mountain Time.

.@alexboyereal is bringing out the fierceness tonight! #AGT pic.twitter.com/59uq34whAv

— America's Got Talent (@nbcagt) August 5, 2015

For more information about Mormons on reality TV, click here to see the world’s most comprehensive list.

Watch Boye's full performance below:

LDS musician Alex Boyé thrills judges on 'America's Got Talent'

Mormon musician Alex Boyé appeared on the 10^th season of NBC’s hit variety show “America’s Got Talent” on Tuesday night, impressing all four judges and advancing to the second round of auditions.

Boyé, a British singer-songwriter known for his flamboyant African style of music, is a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a former member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. In recent years, he has become a YouTube sensation with his popular covers of songs like Disney’s “Let It Go” and Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk.”

On Tuesday night’s episode, Boyé performed his unique rendition of Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” with his band, Changing Lanes Express, in front of a packed ballroom audience.  Boyé’s energy and enthusiasm quickly got the attention of the show’s four judges: Howie Mandel, Melanie “Mel B” Brown, Heidi Klum and Howard Stern.

Following the adrenaline-infused audition, Mandel kicked off the judges feedback with high praise. “I’ve got to be honest with you - in my six years here, this is my favorite music act ever. It really is!”

“That definitely woke everybody up,” Brown added. “You filled the whole room with your excitement and energy. Thank you for auditioning today. That was brilliant!”

“It was contagious,” Klum said. “You were rocking out on stage. It was awesome. … You guys are talented and so much fun.”

Finally, Stern said, “I could watch you all day. You’re terrific.”

The judges’ voting was unanimous, capped off by “an enthusiastic yes” from Stern, who later commented, “They’ve got a great sound. I’m very excited about them.”

An emotional Boyé reflected on the moment by telling host Nick Cannon, “When you’re on the older side of things, you start thinking that maybe it’s not going to happen. And then you have a moment like this – it just opens up opportunities again. It’s priceless. It’s been an honor.”

Boyé and his band will get a chance to showcase their talent in front of even more viewers as “America’s Got Talent” continues to air on NBC Tuesday nights this summer at 7:00 p.m., Mountain Time.

Watch Boyé's performance below:

Along with Boyé, other AGT contestants with ties to Utah and the LDS Church include now-world-famous violinist Lindsey Stirling (2010), Morgan County’s Fab Five clogging troupe (2009), and, most recently, musicians Josh Wright and Lexi Walker (2014).

For more information about Mormons on reality TV, click here to see the world’s most comprehensive list.

How "American Idol" messed things up

Well, I haven't been blogging much lately. Sorry about that. But it's all for a good cause, I assure you. For those of you who don't know, I have been writing for the Deseret News in Salt Lake City for the past month and a half. It has been totally awesome and I absolutely love it. However, that does give me considerably less time to just sit down and write "for fun" these days. As part of my job with the newspaper, I have had the fun opportunity to follow the journeys of a handful of Utah girls that were featured on season 13 of "American Idol." That opportunity came to an abrupt end after last night's "Top 15" girls took the stage. Well, I mean to say that some of the "Top 15" took the stage. And that's where my issue really begins.

I hadn't watched "American Idol" in years. The last time I watched was back when I furiously voted to prevent Adam Lambert from winning. (Check!) So it had been, what? Five years, I think, since I'd tuned in. Too many old judges leaving, too many new judges coming in, and too many new judges leaving. It was too confusing, too dramatic, and, let's be honest - once Simon Cowell left, so did most of the viewers. With this new opportunity to follow the show, I actually found myself really getting into it. The new judges - especially Harry Connick, Jr., on whom I have quite the man-crush - are fantastic, they're family friendly, and they're fun to watch. "'American Idol' may finally have revived itself!" I thought.

When the shows went live last night, things went downhill fast.

After over 200 contestants were given golden tickets to fly out to Hollywood Week, the judges had slowly slimmed their numbers down to 30 - 15 guys and 15 girls. Among the 15 girls were two Utah contestants. I thought they were both pretty good, so I was excited to see if they could crack the Top 10 this week.

"Idol" introduced a new "Rush Week" concept, which I'm not sure I totally understand. Seacrest likened it to the Greek system that is not uncommon in many an American university, saying that "Idol" would showcase its talent, then America would get a chance to "pledge" their allegiance to the contestants they liked most. Then he dropped the bombshell, explaining that only 10 of the 15 girls in the backstage holding room would get the opportunity to perform for America's votes.

I thought our Utah girls would be in, easy. They'd both been pretty popular throughout the auditions stages and even got their fair share of face time, so I wasn't too concerned. Five performances later, I started to worry. Six, seven, eight. There were only two spots left and neither of the Utahns had been called to the stage. The ninth name didn't belong to either of the girls, which meant that at least one of them would be going home. When the judges described their 10th performer as a "big personality," it was almost like you could see the excitement drain out of our poor Utah girls' faces. It wasn't going to be them. I knew it and they knew it. They were both going to be eliminated.

Five minutes later, the two Utahns, along with three other unfortunate contestants, were beckoned to the stage, where they were promptly thanked for their time and dismissed. The credits rolled, Seacrest plugged the next night's show, and that was it.

"Thanks for playing." Photo: American Idol / Fox

That's just plain stupid.

Why did they narrow the field down to 15 when they knew all along that five of them wouldn't get to perform? Why didn't they just narrow it down to 10 to begin with?

Why drag it out for the girls? They kept them cooped up all night long with cameras in their faces and, in the end, they wouldn't even get a whiff of that live, national airtime. Why not just eliminate them at the beginning of the show?

I'm sure the network's answer to my last question is simple: ratings. If you eliminate five girls right off the bat, people like me, who were specifically watching for two girls that wouldn't even get a chance to sing, would tune out right then. (In fairness, I would have.) But here's the thing - some of the 10 girls that did perform were terrible! Nerves got the best of at least four of the contestants, in my opinion, partially because they were forced to run down an incredibly long hallway right before getting to the stage (and J-Lo pointed that out twice), but also because they didn't know that they would actually be singing until about two minutes before the music hit. Letting the girls know whether they would actually be going on stage that night would have allowed them time to mentally prepare for their performance.

Another big problem I had last night was the same problem I have with many talent-based reality shows: I felt like, for the first time all season, I was being force-fed liberal lifestyles.

One contestant, openly lesbian, complained in one of last week's shows that, no matter how talented she was, many people would hate her simply because of the lifestyle she has chosen to live. No offense, and bless her heart, but living an alternative lifestyle should not guarantee you more airtime than anybody else. Obviously, FOX is not going to admit to that, but I can almost guarantee that this girl was given a shot to perform in order to avoid any potential backlash by the LGBT community if she was dismissed as one of the "remaining five." After her performance, she was greeted by a prolonged standing ovation. Seacrest made a point to comment that the singer's "two moms" must be proud. J-Lo looked like she was on the verge of tears. I'm sorry, but I thought this was a singing competition!

Other spots in the Top 10 were given to those who had big personalities or caused some sort of ruckus in Hollywood week and one spot was given to a girl who said she wanted to be remembered for her brightly colored lipstick. Lipstick Girl botched her song - probably the worst performance of the night, in my opinion - but my, those were some big, bright lips!

The final thing that really bothered me about last night's performance what how incredibly liberal the audience was. For the third time this season, Harry Connick, Jr., called out a young female contestant for singing "Paris (Ooh La La)" by Grace Potter & the Nocturnals. After the performance, Connick asked the 18-year-old to speak the first two lines of the song.

"You've got me down on the floor," she recited. "So what you bring me down here for?"

In his post-performance feedback, Connick repeatedly asked the contestant if that was the kind of girl she wanted to be seen as. He asked her what the song was about. The girl responded that it was about a woman who gets what she wants. The largely female studio audience roared its shrill, high-pitched approval. The wild support from the audience really bothered me. Editing in the season so far has really tried to put Connick in a negative light, often referring to him as "Harsh Harry," but I've got no problem with him calling these girls out for inappropriate song choices.

In the end, my days of covering "American Idol" have run their course and I won't likely set time aside to watch the show for the remainder of the season, other than maybe an occasional glance to see who's doing well. With NBC's "The Voice" starting up next week, I needed to clear four hours of time from my busy schedule of TV watching, anyway. I just wish that "Idol" would have left off on a more positive note.

A-Town, out.