Jeremy's blog

A big CONGRATULATIONS must go to Jesse and Michael for winning the second series of Beauty and the Geek Australia.  They survived their first and only time in the elimination room, but that was all that was required.  They conquered what could only be described as a mega set of challenges in that final episode, and I am really happy for them.

It would have been heartbreaking for Daniel and Donna to be put out during the chariot race.  After being so indestructible in the elimination room, they must have been feeling confident.  And being put out on the spot – actually being able to see your fate running past and away from you would have been so depressing.  I have to say Daniel provided some great TV and controversy.

Then we said goodbye to Ellynie-May and Marlon.  Again, the only other team to have ever survived an elimination quiz.  They also must have felt like they could have had a great chance to win.  I would have been really annoyed to know that my journey in the house would be all over because of an audience vote. 

Then we came down to two teams, both of whom I tipped to make an early exit in the competition.  You really cannot tell how things will go down in a reality TV show and boy was I wrong.  I think that the quiz was great! Tough questions and different to any of the 5 USA series.  I do think that the better team won on the night, but I still give very high praise for Tamika and Thomas for making it to the final two.  Much stronger teams got the boot, so they must have been doing something right.

Well that is all from me.  Thanks to everyone who read and commented.  Sorry if I wasn’t as insightful as I could have been and sorry for not doing more regular posting.  But hopefully you got a laugh or some extra info that you enjoyed.  And hopefully we will see BATG season 3 next year!      

With the 90 min special Grand Final of Beauty and the Geek Australia on tonight, I thought that I would give a final rundown on the couples.  These are my personal thoughts, so aren’t necessarily accurate.  It’s my interpretation of what I have seen on TV.  GOOD LUCK GUYS!!!

Daniel and Donna

Growth: Minimal – I think Daniel was already less Geeky and Donna pretty intelligent

Strengths: Already faced the elimination room three times, strong all round

Weaknesses: Probably the couple with the least connection, too much determination may be their downfall

Prediction: 4th

Marlon and Ellynie-May

Growth: Not entirely sure, probably minimal too,  

Strengths: Both very intelligent, strong in challenges

Weaknesses: Too much determination may be their downfall as well   

Prediction: Season 2 Runners up

Thomas and Tamika

Growth: Both have realised that their quirky behaviour is not necessarily a bad thing, whist still realising that there is more to life

Strengths: Both are lots of fun, a well liked couple in the house should it come down to a vote to win by eliminated contestants.  

Weaknesses: Probably the couple least likely to survive any elimination quiz as they appear to be on the show just for fun and self discovery – not to win.

Prediction: 3rd

Michael and Jesse

Growth: Both have gained lots of confidence within themselves and know they are great people

Strengths: Couple with the best relationship, could also win a ‘eliminated contestant’ vote

Weaknesses: Nerves may get the better of them in an elimination quiz or challenge.     

Prediction: Season 2 Winners

One day to go until the BATG Season 2 Grand Final !!! I am sure that everyone is excited as I am.  Looking forward to seeing how the final decider is going to run.  There are a number of possibilities which have been covered in the five US series:

1.       Quiz about your partner (done last year)

2.       Quiz about how your partner thinks

3.       Australia votes on a winner

4.       Eliminated contestants vote on a winner

5.       Amazing Race style challenge testing how much you know about eliminated contestants and you have to pick them up (done last year with 3 remaining teams)

Either way, Good Luck Guys !!! May the force be with you.

Now I thought the girls challenge last week was actually really good.  Yes, I must first acknowledge that the fact the girls were in the mud was simply for the viewing audience seeing attractive girls virtually mud wrestling.  But put that aside, it was a well designed challenge for once! Walking through mud is REALLY hard.  I did the Sydney tough bloke challenge which involves crawling through a mud pit, and it took real effort.  And then the intellectual skills involved with getting the objects in the right timeline order, I think the challenge co-ordinates got it right. (They really need someone like me on their team.  I have watched so many reality shows, and I know so much about games and challenges that if you want to give me a job on your challenge team next year I would be happy to help)  I was a bit worried how they were going to make it fair after someone guesses incorrectly.  It would have been really easy for a Beauty to just rearrange the incorrect items once she guessed wrong, but throwing them all back into the mud and making them start again was perfect!! However, I wonder whether it gives the other Beauties a HUGE advantage because then you can see exactly which items were correct when they make their next guess.  So if, for example, Ellynie-May only had two items wrong, the other Beauties would know for sure what the order was.  Oh well, doesn’t matter.  Huge props to Jesse for getting it right.  I loved the moment when she and Michael were holding hands waiting for the results and then she jumped on him when she won.  I think (well, I know actually) that those two have formed a really strong friendship.

Now the guys challenge was great to watch, but for me it did lack a little bit.  They all had different singing parts and different dancing parts and what they were doing did not seem that difficult.  Yes, don’t get me wrong, it would have been VERY nerve wracking.  (Like the hip-hop challenge we did last year) but for some reason I was not all that excited watching it.  But hey, that’s just my opinion.  I did feel bad for Tim when he stuffed up his dance move, and a felt for both him and Kara who appeared to struggle understanding each other, but it made for a really touching moment on TV.  I guess by this stage the stress of the competition, missing family and friends may be getting to them.

Until tomorrow, J

Apologies for not getting this blog out earlier.  Feel free read at the bottom of the page as to why I am late.

And then there were the final four.  It’s a funny thing to comprehend.  On one hand it is like “Oh my gosh! We are in the final” and then on the other hand it’s like “There were only eight couples to start with and I am in the top half.  There was a 50% chance of that happening anyway, so it’s not that impressive.” But still, it’s a great feeling , and I am not taking anything away from any of them.  By this stage the contestants will be completely sick of studying.  They will still be happy to be in the mansion and they will still be having fun, but a part of them will definitely thinking that it would be nice to be back home.  Not many people can say they have been completely cut-off from the rest of the world and not know what is happening.  Who won the footy grand finals? Who even made the final? OMG I can’t believe Kim Clijsters came out of retirement and won the US open (That was me last year being a tennis fan). Which famous person has tragically passed away? (Patrick Swayze last year).   Sorry… just reliving the experience.

I actually saw many parallels in this episode to last year.
 
1.  It was mentioned on camera that everyone thought that the only team that could take down Daniel and Donna was Time and Kara
( Everyone said the only team that could take down Toby and Jenna was Emma and I)
2. Two perceived strongest teams up for elimination just after the makeover (same last year)
3.  It was the third time Daniel and Donna were up for elimination (same for Toby and Jenna last year, although they lost)
 
Another awesome thing is that Daniel and Donna have survived 3 elimination quizzes? Emma and I did that last year as the most successful team in that horrible room.  But now there is a good chance for them to have a fourth shot in that room.  I do feel bad for them, because it is really stressful.  They must be perceived as a very strong team in the mansion because every time they have not won a challenge they have been sent to the elimination room.
 

 
Can’t wait for the finale

Tomorrow I will blog about my thoughts on the challenges of last week.  I promise!

** Reason for late blog.  Thursday night I went and saw Harry Potter.  I got home to find my TBOX broken so my BATG recording was last.  I could not watch it online at home because my computer speakers are broken.  Friday I had work golf day, so I watched the show at my parents house Saturday arvo.  Saturday evening was preparing for my triathlon, which took up the whole of Sunday (16 hours of racing).  Monday I spent all day in a zombie state with no physical or mental capabilities after my long race, which brings me to now, Tuesday lunchbreak at work, to blog.

I am very sorry for not posting a blog post since the makeover show.  I was actually away for the weekend so I was not able to spend time on the blog.  I hope that you will accept my excuse – I was catching up with Jesse, Michael and Kara!! As well as Paul and Xenogene from season one.  It was quite a funny situation.  I had never spoken to any of them properly.  But I had watched them on TV, and they saw me last year, so without even meeting we knew so much about each other.  So for that reason, we felt like long lost friends and conversations flowed well.  As did the drinks, photographs and dancing.  They were all very tight lipped on anything to do with the show, which I am glad about.  I don’t want it to be ruined.

So the makeover episode I would rate 4/5 for the makeovers.  Obviously Australia loved it with more than 1.4 million viewers, topping the ratings for Thursday. 

Marlon – I thought his style rocked! It suited his personality completely, and I think he has the confidence to pull it off.  Thumbs up!

Michael – I think they did a good job here too.  Nothing too dramatic, which I think was good for Michael. 

Thomas – Hmm…I think that I am the only person in Australia who can comment about this makeover and not look like a total douche bag.  He got the ‘Jeremy treatment’ as someone on a forum described it.  The fake tan and hair were a little over the top, and the clothes looked like he was trying too hard.  But none of it would have been his choice, so it’s not his fault.  Feel free to criticize my comments, but coming from the ‘Oompa Loompa, gay chimney sweep, French tourist’ comments I got last year, Thomas probably looked better than me.  I think that they could have done a lot better with Thomas.   

Daniel – I reckon he looked the best.  Hot rock star is all I can say.  Plain and simple, he rocked!

Tim – It was great to see Tim’s personal side during the makeover and the reasons for his long hair and beard.  It made the makeover appear so much better, and while Daniel was ‘hot’ I think that Time looked more like a stylish male model.  I hope this brings him the confidence that he needs and very much deserves.

So there are my brief thoughts on the makeovers.  Sorry I did not go into more detail – I have had a very busy week.  Looking forward to the next two episodes, and hopefully I will get more time to comment on the Tamika/Michael kiss, the geek auction and those ‘dates’.

I am putting this under spoilers, not because I know this information is true, but because it may be an insight that people may not necessarily want to read.  So be warned SPOILER ALERT.

Here are my predictions for who I think will win and why:

4th and 5th place : Tamika/Thomas and Jesse/Michael.  Not necessariliy in that order.  Why these two couples? Process of elimination.  I think the other couples make it further.

3rd: Ellynie-May/Marlon: They are a strong couple who I believe have flown under the radar since the first episode.  Great job!  But they are the underdogs for the title in my opinion.  

2nd: Donna/Daniel 1st: Tim/Kara.  The reason why? Now here is the kind of spoiler.  It appears to me that the editors of the show have created daniel to be the ‘bad boy’ of the season and Kara to be the ‘good girl’ who you feel sorry for.  My thoughts are that the reason why the producers did this was that when they become the final two couples, everyone around Australia will be rooting for Daniel to lose.  So the audience will be really happy when he does.  Hence a great ending to the show and everyone is happy. (Even though I think Daniel is a top bloke). They did not have to make Daniel into the ‘bad boy’ and so that is why Ithink they have done that.  You heard it here first folks! But I could be completely wrong.  They kind of did a similar thing last year with Corin being the ‘bad boy’.  Corin loved every minute of that publicity!!

On a different note, we have the makeovers tonight! So very excited to see Daniel and Tim especially

I have to admit that I laughed hysterically at the Beauties challenge this week.  I completely understand the pressure that they were under and how they would have felt as both the teaching challenge and public speaking challenge last year were very similar.  I did think that some of the topics were easier than the others.  I myself am not into politics or anything, so even I don’t know the difference between capitalism and socialism.  Still don’t, and I can’t be bothered checking on Wikipedia.  But watching poor Ellynie-May and Jesse try and discuss the topic? Priceless.  I have to say that I was really proud of them for giving it a go, not stressing out, and just having fun with it.  I almost fell of my couch laughing when they started dancing in the courtroom and then to see the look on the judges face LMAO.  But again, I do understand.  Last year in the teaching challenge Emma and I studied science, math and geography, but not History.  So in the unfortunate circumstance that Emma chose the History topic to teach the class, our plan was to play the children’s game “Heads down thumbs up” with the class.  So I really thought that Jesse and Ellynie-May did a really good job.  Then we come to Ellie vs. Kara.  I reckon the producers chose to put these two against each other with that topic completely on purpose.  But it was great to watch.  I think that Kara is a lot smarter than people give her credit for and it makes sense that she won the challenge.

The Geeks challenge was also interesting.  Shedding clothes like that in front of nearly 1 million TV viewers is no easy challenge for anyone – let alone a shy geek.  So props to them all.  But should Michael really have won the challenge? I am not sure.  It really depends on the judging criteria.  I thought that either Tim or Daniel had the best photo, but only because that was the scenario they were given.  So judging Michael to have stepped the furthest out of his comfort zone and handled himself the best during the shoot, then it makes sense that he won the challenge. 

So overall, I think that the challenges are definitely improving on the first two weeks.  Still, things appear to be a little set up, but what does it REALLY matter.  Even if someone wins the challenge ‘unfairly’ and sends you to the elimination room, you always have the chance to save yourself if you study hard for the quiz.  So ultimately, for the audience, the challenges should be designed for great entertainment.  And they are sure providing that! 

So I am going to have a rant right here, right now.  Don’t try to stop me. 

Disclaimer: Being the second series of Beauty and the Geek Australia and the gazillionth season throughout the world, the contestants obviously knew what they were getting themselves into.  They knew they were going to be filmed 24 hours a day over multiple weeks, that editing would occur and all the like.  So please don’t comment on this blog entry highlighting this fact.  Yes, I agree with you.

Now, you hear people come out of reality TV shows saying ‘it was all in the editing and that was not what I was really like’.  I always used to laugh at those people and say ‘Yeah right. You said those things, acted in that way, take responsibility for your actions’. But in all honesty, think of this.  You are filmed 24 hours a day for a week, which gets condensed into a 50 min TV show of which maybe 5 mins max will be footage of you.  So you can see you can take the smartest or rudest or geekiest or funniest 5 mins of all your footage and edit your character into whatever you want.  However, no-one and I mean no-one can fully understand this until it happens to you.

But that is not the reason for my ranting.  I am really sick of reading all of the negative stuff that gets said about Beauty and the Geek contestants.  They are acting, no-one can be that stupid, he is not a real geek, she is not really beautiful blah blah blah.  This season it has happened to Daniel the most with not being a real geek. Most footage of Daniel has only been about pursuing Kara and Ellie.  If any geek had a crush on a girl then they would still give it a shot.  Yes they would be awkward and probably get turned down.  Just because Daniel actually succeeded does not make him any less of a geek.  Are you saying that it is impossible for a geek to ever get a girl? So geeks never get married? So that makes me screwed then doesn’t it?  Lol.  But with the story of Daniel, just remember that you have only seen a small part of what went down.  How long did he pursue Kara for?  Maybe it was only the first night in the mansion that he sat with her under the blanket and maybe the kiss with Ellie was a lot later in episode 3.  That would be acceptable, but we don’t know what really happened.  I don’t even know, but everyone should know not to judge people before knowing the truth.  It may appear that I am defending Daniel but I am not. I am defending all of the contestants about saying hurtful things on forums etc without knowing the truth.  Just enjoy Beauty and the Geek for the fact it is interesting TV.       

The contestants went onto the show to try and improve themselves.  Putting their lives in the public eyes, especially as geeks, is very tough to do.  Then you read all of the horrible and hurtful lies all over the forums about the contestants.  Geeks have been teased a lot before and then to be ridiculed in these forums does not help.  I think that people are entitled to their own opinions, don’t get me wrong, but just remember that you are affecting the contestants lives and it can be really hurtful.  It does no-one any benefit when you write stuff like this on an open forum.  I was lucky last year as the worst I got was ‘Jeremy is boring’ or ‘Jeremy with his spray tan looks like an Oompa-Loompa’. 

So in conclusion to my ranting:

1. People can have their negative opinions, but no-one wants to read about them in forums.  It is only hurtful 
2. No, the show is not fake and neither are any of the contestants.
3. Whilst the show is about self improvement for the contestants, for the audience it is light hearted, fun and heartwarming.  Just enjoy it for that, and don’t overanalyze things.

Ranting over J        

I thought that tonight’s episode was by far the best.  However, it still had moments that I thought were unfair.  More on that in a later blog.  I thought that I should pay tribute to the couple eliminated.  Or should I say triple?

It will probably be a little weird for the twins Ellie and Brook in terms of dealing with the outside world and ‘fame’ (used in the loosest way possible).  In my opinion they never got that much air time, you can’t tell them apart and you really don’t know much about them at all.  For that reason I don’t know whether the public would have had any chance to warm to them or not.  I also have the feeling that whenever relationships form on Beauty and the Geek whether in the Australia series or the US series, the audience never says “aw that’s lovely” it’s always “He is not a geek” or “She doesn’t really like him.  She just wants the attention”.  Whilst Daniel is copping almost all of the flack, hopefully Ellie won’t get too upset or be hassled too much.

I never really understood the whole reason for putting the twins in the show.  Not Ellie and Brook in particular, but the idea of ‘twins’.  I thought that the idea would be to fool the Geeks and prove that you should not judge someone on their looks but really get to know them as a person.  But it would have made more sense to have Geek twins to see whether the Beauty is really getting to know the Geek as a person or whether they are all about looks.  But the twin secret was revealed in the first 20 min of the show.  From then on, having one of the twins do the challenge and the other sit out was kind of awkward, and then we only see them as ‘the twins’ and not Ellie and Brook.  So it did not really work.  I read on another forum that maybe one of the other contestants discovered the secret so they had to reveal everything really early on in the show.  Now that would make more sense.

Then we come to George – who is now extinct like one of his dinosaurs. (Had to say it).  George was a crack up.  There are rumours that he is a ‘fake’ geek but I don’t believe it.  No-one could be a that greater actor.  Plus I don’t care anyway.  I watch Beauty and the Geek for light heart-warming entertainment.  We have Law and Order to put people on trial.  Sometimes (make that 90% of the time) it is the luck of the elimination quiz questions as to whether you stay or leave the mansion.  You get given 300 pages of study material and you better hope you memorise the right stuff.  So George had some bad luck last night.  I knew both of Daniels answers without the study material but had no clue on Georges (I guesses 2007 for miss universe). George provided great entertainment.  I reckon he thought stripping completely naked would make him win the challenge.  Or maybe he was asked by the producers if he wanted to do it.  So props to George for giving it a crack of the whip.  I did not think they could show nudity on the show.  I just hope that the video footage of the nudie run that Corin, Peter, Xenogene and myself did last year does not resurface…..   

I have to say that we learnt a LOT about some of the contestants this week.  Some good…some bad.  I have to say that both Kara and Tamika impressed me quite a lot this week.

 Starting with Tamika, picking up three (I think) Golden Orb Weaving Spiders in the challenge was a huge achievement.  I HATE spiders and she appeared to have no trouble with it.  I have just opened up Wikipedia to read about the Golden Orb Weaving Spider and even that is freaking me out.  Someone told me that they were highly poisonous, but according to the Australian Museum “Orb weavers are reluctant to bite. Symptoms are usually negligible or mild local pain, numbness and swelling. Occasionally nausea and dizziness can occur after a bite.”  So they aren’t that bad.  Tamika impressed me a lot when I met her to film the commercial, and the way she handled this challenge and the way she appears to be helping out Thomas, I think that they may now be my favourite couple.  Sometimes she appears quite ditsy on camera, but you can just tell her heart is in the right place.

Then we come to my old favourite, Ellynie-May.  I think that she was a little disappointing when she would not even attempt the challenge.  But for some reason, she appears to have her head on straight and it was more of a rational decision ‘why should I touch the bugs? There is no reason to’.  It was not an ‘I’m freaking out’ decision.  So I still have a soft spot for her.

Then we get to Kara.  Wow.  Holding the bugs when they called ‘time up’ and then eating the witchetty grub and then being nice to Tim and then standing up and calling Daniel out (in the next episode it appears) I think that she is coming across very well on the show.  She is attempting challenges which gross others out, making a great effort to get to know the geeks, and then standing up for herself and her beliefs.  So I think that Kara is coming off as a real winner on the show, and if anyone has a bad word to say about her, then they should have a long look at themselves.  It is often the case in reality TV shows that the producers want you to fall in love with the characters that win so that the audience is happy at the end of the series.  Are we looking at Tim/Kara potentially taking it out?

Then we come to the obvious ‘bad boy’ character, Daniel.  Whether or not what we are seeing from Daniel is what really went down, or just a condensed over emphasised reality, I don’t know.  But it appears like he is going to be the character that everyone loves to hate.  Corin, I mean Daniel, may have his eyes on a few Beauties this year.  But honestly, it is only episode 3 this week, so everyone is still getting to know each other.  Extremely strong feelings cannot happen in that short of a period (for example those with Kara in episode 1 – YES THE VERY FIRST EPISODE).  So maybe when we see him with another Beauty it is at a later stage where he has better understood his feelings.  There should be nothing wrong with that so he should not be judged.  Will we ever get the truth about what really went down or whether it is just clever editing? Probably not.  But it makes interesting TV and it gets everybody talking.

So there is my little recap on my thoughts regarding the character development from last week’s episode.  Should be an interesting night this Thursday.