Moody Contestants

 So I'm rewatching SE12 of Ink Master, Battle of the Sexes.  I'm on Ep 3 and already fed up with the women's team.

First of all, Ink Master now has maybe 17 seasons now, and I've watched most of them. I've been watching them in reverse order, just because I missed a couple of seasons, and couldn't remember who won.  When I got to SE13, the one which didn't have a finale, I had to go to YouTube to see the final master canvases.  I also learned that the show had a streak of sexism in it, which was obviously blatant in the 1st elimination tat of this season.

Case In Point:  Only 2 contestants had clean tats:  An unfinished tat on the men, and a finished tat on the women.  But Oliver and Chris 'decided to go wild' and chose the best tat as the unfinished one.  Only Dave sided with the women.

Now, to the moody players.  

Let me preface this by saying I'm not bashing mental health issues.  If you struggle with criticism, by all means, don't put yourself out there, and practice self-care.

But TWICE now, contestants have claimed 'mental health' as their reason for bowing out.  One guy did it in SE13, and Elva did it in SE12.  She was on the bottom and after receiving her critique, thanked the judges and said she realized she was not cut out for this competition and was excusing herself.

-Why the hell would you wait until your final critique?  The 1st guy bowed out BEFORE the critique even began!

-She already had a confrontation with one of the stronger personalities; if she was fed up, why continue?  Go get your blankie and go home.  You knew what you were signing up for; grow a thick skin and compete.

But she's not the only one.  Ash is constantly complaining about the other women on her team, and even getting fed up with one of the men's egos.  Her constant pout is really grating on me at the moment.  And in Ep 3, her lack of confidence is really irritating. Is it your time of the month?

Cam and Ash.....go get a room and get over this tension already!  You're like Sam and Diane.

Ash, pull your damn jacket or shirt up over your shoulder!  It looks sloppy dangling down, with one up and one down. Congratulations, you live to compete another week.

Ep 4:  Oooh Laura,,,,consorting with the enemy?  Telling Cam he's a damn good artist and you're not threatened by him?  What will your teammates say?  *insert sarcasm*

Ooooh, Ash....'tattoo is washed out, looks like it's 15 years old.'

Ep 5:  Ooooh Cam....got caught 'helping' Laura with her tat?  

Then there's Pony's canvas.....in pain and decides she doesn't care for Pony's 'bedside manner'???  You signed up for the free tat, chick.  Sit your ass down and let her finish!

Oh jeez Ash....your sarcastic attitude toward Janelle is irritating.

LOL....Alexis called her out for a face off!  BUT, Ash delivered, while the others had issues.  In the end, Pony went home.

I finally realized WHY Ash drives me nuts; she reminds me of AOC.

Ep 6:  Ash didn't understand cross-stitch??  Yet she survives again.

I'm also pissed.....Dani did the BEST cross-stitch tattoo; Dave even SAID a lot of people are going to want it, but they gave Tattoo of the Day to Cam and his Atari Video-Game-inspired look?  *eye roll*

Ep 7:  Another face-off, and surprise, surprise, Ash picked Cam!  He beat her, but she ultimately beat Tito in Japanese Traditional Hanya masks.

Tito:  "She's got more lives like a cat!"

Ep 8:  Alexis tries to talk Ash off the ledge, figuratively.

Laura finds herself aligned with Cam and Creepy Jason, which creates conflict, b/c the other girls want Cam to be eliminated.

Alexis wins Tattoo of the Day!  1st time the women are in charge of elimination nom!

First time Ash is NOT in the bottom!  Jake, Cam, and Fon.....who will be eliminated?  Fon leaves, due to the fact he had to rush and made some serious mistakes (upside down horseshoe, boot running into existing tat).

Ep 9:  Laura, Laura, Laura.....don't go talking about your friendship with Cam and Jason within earshot of Holly and Ash.....they're gonna target you!!!  Ash and Holly went to Pon and Jake to complain they felt targeted b/c they're friends, when that WAS NOT THE CASE!  Don't jump to conclusions, little girl....

"I don't like to draw on the skin...it's so hard....I don't like it...." (insert whine)

Good for Janelle for shutting down the alliance thing that Holly and Ash misconstrued, but also called out Laura, Cam, and Jason for their plans to be final 3, which blew everyone's minds.

Alexis, what did you do to your hair?  It looks sooooooo much better when it's curly!

Laura cleared up the 'I wasn't talking shit about Holly' rumor, but confirmed her friendship with Jason and Cam was NOT an 'alliance'; it was FRIENDSHIP.

With six women and four men, the women have really come into their own....now if they can curb the paranoia and catty tendancies.....

Ash can take her pouty-ass self home!  Whoot!

Score:  5-4

Ep 10:  Why does Janelle wear a headlamp when no one else does?

Thank you Holly for talking Laura down off the insecurity ledge, and psychoanalyzing Cam!

Score:  4-4; bye-bye Alexis with her purple hair.

Ep 11:  Score 3-4 Bye-bye Janelle

Ep 12:  Laura's pissed because she didn't get picked to do a tattoo.  Only 4 canvases chose, based on the 1st tats the artists did earlier. Jason got a Japanese frog; Holly a new school bearded dragon , Jake the Koala bear, and Dani the Athena.  Jason is the ONLY one safe from elimination.

How the hell does Holly get the ax?  Cam did two similar tats!  Not fair.

Score: 2-4

Ep 13:  How many tank tops/cardigans does Dani own? And why does Cam seem to wear the same tee all the time?  Lucky shirt?  Holly wore the same leopard print dress several times.

Cam gets to close shop.

Score:  2-3

Ep 14:  Illustrative Portrait Day:  Laura's worried; Pon's worried.  Pon packs up.  Score 2-2

Ep 15:  Face off:  Laura:  Jake's Plague Dr; Jason:  Laura's Alien holding a space galaxy;

                             Dani:  Jason's Broccoli Wizard; Jake:  Dani's Witch.

Laura and Dani made the finale, along with Jason.

Jake packed up shop.

Score:  2-1

Finale:  Jason, last man standing:  B/G realism

              Laura:  Traditional Japanese

              Dani:  Full Color Biomech

Give it a rest, Ash...(to Alexis):  'You never really had my back..('I had your back, except that one time when I put you in the bottom') See???"

Jason:  Female pirate, which I think wins.  It's so clear!

Laura:  Japanese god of thunder, which for me, is hard to see.

Dani:  Biomechanical, which looks cluttered, imho.

WOW.....they eliminated JASON???

Winner:  LAURA!  Chris and Oliver voted for her; Dave went with Dani.

Battle of the Coaches:  Ryan, DJ, Duffy, Bubba, Megan Jean, Nikki, and Jimmy

Winner:  Ryan!!!!

DJ-2nd

Nikki-3rd

Bubba-4th 

Duffy-5th

Jimmy-6th

Megan-7th

Reality TV Catch Up

I thought I was going to keep up with Amazing Race, Ink Master, and Celebrity BB, but I didn't realize BB was going to air four nights a week.  Plus, with being gone and having to watch some episodes online or waiting until I returned, it was easier to simply skip the Saturday posts.  So here are the observations, short version:

Amazing Race:
I was extremely disappointed in several teams.

Team Ocean:  They were doing well, until a lost passport caused them to be twelve hours behind the other teams, once they arrived in Thailand.  Good effort, but also a good lesson for the reason you hang onto your passport, AND the red tape of getting a replacement!

Team Indy:  They missed being in the top 3 by one stupid sign clue, which they were standing in front of, and didn't recognize it.  Team Yale had tried to help them, but with Team BB on their heels, they couldn't be specific about it.  Phil had to come find them.  Still, very happy about their success to Final Four.

Team Yale:  Henry is probably kicking himself.  It was down to him, Jen, and Jess for the final challenge, and Henry had the plane assembled correctly, but second-guessed himself, swapped out one piece, and had to redo it.  Had he called for the check 1st, Team Yale would have won.

Team X-Treme:  That final airplane puzzle did Jen in.  She didn't understand what she was doing wrong.

Team BB:  Ugh.  Jess finally figured it out after 10 or 12 tries and was able to push her assembled airplane to the finish line.  I will admit, Cody was a beast at many of the challenges, while Jess whined her way through several, even getting snarky on two legs.  I soooo wanted BB to come in 2nd or 3rd!!!

Celebrity BB:
I was soooooooooo happy when that b**ch was voted out of the house!  For one thing, I have asthma, and her fake attempts drove me crazy!!  If you're having an attack, and you start talking in a long-winded rant, you don't suddenly pause and *cough cough*....no, you start coughing uncontrollably!!  Take it from one who coughs a LOT!

I had an eye-roll moment when Ross thanked Julie for the 'Full BB Experience' when slop was finally introduced.  Ummmm.....wait a minute.  If you wanted the Full Monty.....
     -Your season would have lasted 3 months, not one;
     -Slop would have been a punishment on Day #3;
     -Someone would have been a Have Not starting on Day #3;
     -Challenges would have been a little harder;
     -OTEV, and the Soap Slide would have been played;
     -I doubt alcohol would have flowed that freely;
     -There would have been 16 of you, not simply 11.

Marissa won, which earned her a 'meh' from me.....the only thing she did was align herself with Ross, and won a challenge when it counted.  There were 6 women and only 5 men, and all the women wanted a female to win BB.  Ross didn't stand a chance.

James....omg.....he's gorgeous!  I sooooooo wanted him to go farther in the game, and make it to the final two!!!  I was very impressed when he finally had enough of Brandy's bitchiness and told her off....in a civilized manner!

Mark.....didn't do a great deal, other than quietly sit back and let the drama queens sink their own boats.

Brandy....OMG....is that woman an alcoholic?

Keisha.....OMG woman....cut the cord!  My first thought when you said you were breast-feeding was why in the WORLD did you agree to do this?  Then when I found out your child is a YEAR OLD.....for god's sake, it's time to wean her!!  She can't stay attached to you forever!

Ink Master:
Still going on.  Teams are getting whittled down.

Reality Recap

Ink Master #4:  Ingenuity

Flash Challenge:  Painting stairs to make a picture.
Steve:  Issues with teammate, who wants to be a diva (I think???? Had him confused with Daniel)
DJ:  Josh, calling out other contestants and getting on their nerves
Anthony:  David has attitude over his idea not being picked

End Result:
Steve:  Flower
DJ:  Goose
Anthony:  Shadows-Chosen as winner!

Elimination Tattoo:  Mash-up Tatts
Team A targeting Matt, Josh, and Lil D.

Critique-Bottom:
Lil D
Matt
Katie
Gary
Mike
Jason

Chopping Block:
Matt (chosen by coaches)
Lil' D
Katie

Matt sent home.

Amazing Race #5:  Prague
Double U-Turn:  BB picked Well-Strung

Detour:
This (Beer)                 or             That (Astronomy):
X-treme                                        Ocean (decided to switch)
Yale                                               Firefighters
Ocean                                            B/B (wrong lecture hall; decided to switch)
Indy                                              Well-Strung (1st)
B/B
Well-Strung (2nd)

Firefighters finished 1st; off to the bathing in beer!
X-treme 2nd, but found bathing place 1st.
Yale-3rd

Kafta Phones-Roadblock
"The Meaning of Life is that it Stops"
X-treme 1st-earns trip to Perth:)
F/F
Yale
Indy
Ocean
B/B
Well-Strung-Eliminated.

Reality TV Recap #3

Ink Master Ep #3:
Testing Proportion
Flash Challenge:  Coach's Face-Off
Steve-Portrait of elderly man with pipe
Anthony-Portrait of Tiger Lady
DJ- Hand holding apple, with snake above

Steve won the challenge, which meant his team was safe.  The next twist?  2 artists would be eliminated, one from each team....and the coaches had to make the choice.

Elimination Challenge:  Mythical Gods
DJ-Zeus
Anthony-Hades

Observation #1:  Is DJ setting up Sparks for failure?  Told him to flip his stencil, so the face was turned OUTWARD instead of INWARD.  Isn't that a no-no???

#2:  Amanda used Hercules for reference, not Hades.

#3:  Jason has the only color tat.

Best over all:  
Frank's Hades

Chopping Block:
DJ: Deanna, Sparks, Lil' D
Anthony:  Jason, Amanda, Linzy

As they deliberated, Anthony pointed out that Amanda and Jason were coachable; they asked questions and followed his advice.  Linzy did not, so she was eliminated.

DJ and Sparks' feud came to a head when he said both Deanna and Lil 'D's were more coachable.  Sparks packed up.

I was disappointed; Sparks was the only one I remembered from the Angel series, and had hoped he'd do well.  He just picked the wrong coach. 

Amazing Race Ep #4:  France!
In Saint-Tropez, they had to sail a dinghy and collect two parts of their clues.
Team Xtreme was there 1st; Indy didn't read their clue and had to set out again after finally getting the first half.

Speed bump:  NBA had to stack 15 dinghys in numerical order before they could do the roadblock.  Cedric found out his weight was a huge disadvantage:  He kept sinking.

Firefighters didn't understand how to put their car in 'Reverse', and had to put it in 'Neutral', then push it backward.  Geez.....

Ocean seemed lost, but finally found it.  Evan (Team Yale) had a tooth get chipped when the sail smacked her in the mouth.

Detour:  Bread or Tread?
X-Tread (making a sandal) 1st to finish
BB-Bread-3rd
Indy-Bread-2nd
Well-Strung-Tread
Chomp-Tread
Ocean-Tread
Yale-Tread
Firefighters-Tread
NBA -Tread

Head-To-Head Challenge #2:
Xtreme vs Indy
Indy Wins!!!  5K for each!
Xtreme vs Well-Strung
Xtreme Wins!!
Well-Strung vs Chomp
Chomp Wins!!
Well-Strung vs Ocean
Well-Strung Wins!!
Ocean vs Yale
Yale Wins!!
Ocean vs Firefighters
Firefighters Win!!
Ocean vs NBA
Ocean Wins!!!

It was a VERY close win; the tape measure had to come out, and sadly, the NBA players were eliminated 

Next up:  Les Baux!
Roadblock:  Making a catapult while your partner is in stocks.
Ocean finished 1st, followed by:
BB
Xtreme
Firefighters
Yale
Well Strung
Chomp
Indy

Detour:  Bull or Van Gogh Painting Puzzle
All but Chomp went for the Bull.
Ocean finished 1st and arrived at the Pit Stop 1st!  Won a trip to Bali!!
Xtreme and Firefighters were on their heels and got to witness the Proposal!!!
Yale just missed it; arrived as they were kissing.
Indy was able to congratulate the happy couple:)
BB-6th
Well-Strung
Chomp had trouble understanding the puzzle concept, but finally solved it and arrived last.  They were eliminated.

Reality TV Recap

Ink Master SE 10:
Testing the Fundamentals this week!

Flash Challenge:
The three teams competed with cups of colored water to make a design.
Steve:  Beetle (even drew it on a grid first, to make sure it was symmetrical!)
DJ:  Postage stamp with a bust and 2 cent rendering:) 
Anthony:  Large eye.

Winner:  Team DJ!

Elimination Tat:
Everyone had to design a maze, then DJ assigned two members of his team to assign the canvases.  There was a big 'oops' moment, when Sparks got the wrong canvas, courtesy of Josh, who had mixed up which skull he had in his hand.

Best of Each Team:
Steve:  Jeremy
Anthony:  Daniel
DJ:  Josh

Best Over All:  Daniel!

Back at the loft, DJ and Sparks got into an argument, b/c Sparks had formed an idea of what his canvas's 'little girl owl' should look like, but DJ didn't like the drawing, and told him to redo it.  As a result, his design was highly criticized, and ended up being too dark.  Sparks offered to switch teams when DJ lit into him. 

Something I didn't mention last week:  Sparks wanted to be on DJ's team, and was a little hurt when DJ didn't even speak to him at the initial challenge.  When it came time for the contestants to choose, I think Steve and DJ were vying for him, so Sparks immediately chose his idol DJ.  Unless these two curb their egos, I see Sparks' opinion of DJ going downhill FAST.

On The Chopping Block:
Coaches put of Garrett, then the judges chose Amanda and Deana.

Garrett ultimately ended up going home, due to too many skin breaks.


Amazing Race #30:  Morocco!

Fish Challenge:
K and J got lost initially, and Team BB was the first onto the next clue.  Despite Team Xtreme's wandering, they still beat Team Indy, who was last out of the gate (figuratively speaking).

Team Yale was 1st to find the guy with the map to their next clue.

What happened next was complicated:  They had to take their gnome to Zip Line #1, follow it on the ground to ZL #2, then repeat.  Find a phone booth and make a call in order to receive their next clue.  This involved a lot of running up and down steps, then remembering where you left your partner!

Team Yale was the first to go on to the detour; Team Xtreme left her gnome at the phone booth; Jessica made the decision to LEAVE it there and not tell Kristi, which had K furious, and thinking J stole her gnome.  Team NBA couldn't find his partner, and ended up being last to the detour.

Detour:
They could either 'Shake It Off" (belly dancing) or Delivery.  Most chose the belly dancing.

Yale and Indy were a close 1st and second, but Yale prevailed, winning a trip.
X-treme
Well Strung (Trevor and Chris)
BB
Chomp (Joey and Tim)
Firefighters (Eric and Daniel)
Ocean (Lucas and Brittany)
NBA....But.....Non-Elimination Leg!!!  Whoot!

I'm wondering if Ep 3 will begin with Jess and Kristi exchanging heated words over 'Gnomegate'?

Stay tuned!

Amazing Race: Belgium! Plus Ink Master, SE10

I arrived home Wed and discovered my DVR wasn't set up; I only caught the last half hour.  Finally last night, I remembered I could probably watch it online, so I did:)

Turns out I didn't miss much.  Contestants rode the same plane to Amsterdam, then the same train to Antwerp.  There was some confusion about where to go next, but they all managed to complete the Sky Ladder (ladders attached to a 200 ft crane), which meant they had to climb to the top before their ladders disappeared, and retrieve their clue.  I THINK two contestants' clues fell before they got to the top, but I THINK they still had to reach the top first.  At any rate, it was on to the next challenge.

They had their choice of either a printing press or trying to asses the value of a diamond.  Some apparently had never seen a printing press, or have any concept of how a typewriter worked, and after not understanding the letters were BACKWARDS, they gave up and switched, which proved even more difficult.  Granted, some excelled at this, while other floundered.

Team Slam Dunk finished first, only to discover they had to wait for another team; this was the 1st head-to-head challenge.  Team BB was next, and their objective was to put 8 sacks of french fries on a cart and wheel it around an obstacle course.  Cody easily won it, since Cedric first dropped one bag, then ran into a corner and dropped everything.  C and Jess won the leg, and $2500 a piece.

Team Slam Dunk then had to wait for the next team, Yale, and won that one.

Then it was Yale's turn....and kept getting beat by:
Extreme
Well-Strung
IndyCar
Ocean
Chomp

They finally beat Goat Yoga, who promptly lost to:
Firefighters.

April was too tired against either Eric or Daniel, and they were eliminated.

Now For Ink Master, Season 10:
I was interested to see if I remembered any of the ones who won the Ink Master Angels, and truthfully, the only one I remembered was Sparks. 

Dave and Co divvied up the 24 contestants by having everyone do a tattoo, then critiqued it blind.  3 returning Masters, Steve, DJ, and Anthony, would be coaches, and would rank the tats in order to choose their teams.  At the end of the 1st round, the teams looked like this:

DJ:  (took rank # 1, 2, and 3):  Matt (Jewish Guy), Josh, and Deanna

Anthony:  (#4, 5, and 7):  Warren, Jason, Daniel.

Steve (#6, 8, and 9):  Katie, Garrett, and Rollie.

Next, the remaining artists had to tattoo again, this time either in Japanese, Traditional, or Literary Women's Faces (?? Check this).  After being critiqued, the coaches would pick.  If the others wanted the same artist, then the ARTIST would choose.  The remaining 9 chosen were:

Team DJ:  Frank, Sparks (YES, he was chosen!!), and Lil' D.

Team Anthony:  Linzy, Amanda, Mike.

Team Steve:  Jeremy, Fame, and Gary.

The remaining 6 not chosen were sent home, rather disappointed.

See you next week!