Reality Show Rundown

So You Think You Can Dance

Last week the show celebrated its 100th episode, so you just knew they were going to be pulling out all of the stops. For it's 99th episode, they invited Ellen DeGeneres to guest judge and while she didn't really provide constructive cristicism, she brought out the funny. Some of her comments brought me to tears. In the other end of the spectrum, Melissa and Ade brought me to tears by performing a heartbreaking and beautiful dance choreographed by Tyce Diorio showcasing the pains of breast cancer. Every judge were in tears and I bet the millions who saw the episode were as well. My least favorite performance was the waltz by Brandon and Jeanine. It was labored and just not as smooth as it should've been. The results episode, also the 100th episode, saw the performance of Emmy-winning routines like the "Hummingbird and the Butterfly," "The Bench Routine," and "Ramalama Bang Bang" as well as the reapperance of few key SYTYCD alums such as Benji, Travis, Donyelle, Pasha, and so many more. The episode also contained a special performance by Katie Holmes to promote the Dizzy Feet Foundation. In the end, judge favorites Brandon and Janette ended up in the bottom as well as Kayla and Jason. Jason went home for the guys, but, in somewhat of a shocker, it was Janette who had the least amount of votes for the girls.

Next Food Network Star

It was down to three contestants: Debbie, Jeffrey, and Melissa. They only had one challenge this week, given to them by Emeril Lagasse, and that was to cook a 3-course meal for a group of very impressive panel including the judges. They only had $1000 to buy their ingredients with Jeffrey only spending a third of his budget. In addition to this, they had to take inspiration from the legendary Julia Child's "no fear" attitude as they prepare their courses. They even got to see the new movie Julie & Julia starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. Stay-at-home mom Melissa became the first of the two finalist to go through as she astounded the judges with her course. Debbie and Jeffrey weren't so lucky. The judges liked Debbie's "Seoul to Soul" concept, but they never really thought she executed it to its full potential. And while Jeffrey has had some really high marks, he has achieved some very low marks as well this week coming from his much-panned risotto. In the end they went with Jeffrey to go head-to-head with Melissa. I would've done the opposite, but in either case I still would've predicted Melissa to win it all.

Design Star

The remaining ten contestants were divided equally into two groups. My favorite designer, Nathan Galui, was one of the team leaders along with Amy Sklar. Both teams were tasked with remodeling a kitchen in just 26 hours and with a $20,000 budget. As with previous seasons, the biggest hitch with the kitchen challenge is most team never finish on time so right away both teams tried to focus on finishing on time. With the kitchen being such a construction-heavy room, expert builders Antonio Ballatore and Dan Vickery took the default leadership roles and both were praised by the judges in the end. Nathan's inexperienced were balanced with some winning moves from his team as they DID finish on time and delivered a beautiful kitchen. Amy's team, however, suffered a major lack in leadership as Amy cracked under the pressue as well as being seriously pulled down by the incompetence of Tashica Morgan who seemed to fail at everything she did. Shockingly it was Amy who the judges got rid of over Tashica. I thought this was absolutely the wrong choice.