I get what you're saying, but then I feel like the show needs to be presented differently. I was just listening to an Alton Brown podcast with Ted Allen, and Ted talked about his experience being a judge on Top Chef. He said that the producers explicitly said, "Vote for whomever you think should win." It was always…

Sorry about the delay—I was pretty much gone all weekend. That link is from October of last year, and it sounds like it was referring to last season. Am I totally wrong about that?

I would agree with this, if they hadn't left Alexander out of the mix. The fact that they initially did, when he was auf'd right before Korina, shows a flexibility that I haven't seen before, barring someone's illness preventing them from participating. So that's why this felt especially manipulative—Mitchell should…

Oh, no, sorry. I wasn't trying to defend her taking it out on Char. I am just talking about her anger, in general, and the points she made about strength of design and construction. She most definitely should not have attacked Char directly like that. It was totally wrong. But I also don't think her outfit should have…

Sure, a little drama is to be expected, but I watch a bunch of reality TV competition shows, and this sort of heavy manipulation is just not necessary. There's plenty of interesting stuff that comes out of the contestants just working with the hardships of the challenges. I use Face Off as an example, because I cannot…

It looked like a breakout or bee stings or something. I have no idea, but I have been wanting to discuss it!

I did a search for Tim Gunn NYT and I don't see anything. Do you think you could link it? Thanks!

Yeah, it's hard to be super critical of Char because she seems like a cool person. But I just can't with her being in the top four. I really just can't. Emily at least should have been there instead, or both should have been eliminated. It's insanity.

This is terrifying! I'm so glad you all were okay and they caught the guy. I hate the "good victims" thing, too, just because it indicates that one can be a bad victim and that feels like some victim blaming shit to me. It's hard to keep your wits about you in that situation.

I was thinking the same as you that they might have had warning (still, they could have used Mitchell as the backup, which makes so much more sense and would have made this seem more straightforward). But if they'd had warning and she was allowed to just walk off, that probably should have happened before. It just…

YES TO THIS IS EVERY WAY OH MY GOD. I was *freaking out* that season because holy shit did they let her get away with everything, and then she won!

I agree if it was played straight like that. But the fact that it wasn't convinces me otherwise. I know the show generally takes the last people eliminated, unless there's some reason why a certain person couldn't participate (like for health reasons), but the exclusion of Alexander only to have him magically save the…

I'm just feeling it more overtly now than I have before. I've always disliked the producer manipulation, but this was beyond anything I remember.

I thought about that, except that Mitchell was eliminated awhile ago and Alexander wasn't in the original mix. Which shows flexibility in that decision. It could have easily been Alexander instead of Korina. Or hell, they could have opened it up to all the old designs to avoid unnecessary drama. If it had been…

It's funny you mention that, because their relationship confused the shit out of me. First they showed Korina saying that she didn't like Amanda in the beginning, then after working together they seemed like buddies, then suddenly Korina is calling her fake, and then it seemed like nothing. I figured that was just…

I'm preparing myself for some backlash, but I agree with Korina's general comments, though she was a megabitch about it and could have handled things better (and not have attacked Char, because this was not her fault and that was totally uncool). I think the producers, the judges, or both are trying to justify the Tim…

I really don't understand these choices. I haven't for years, possibly starting with the Aerosmith.Nsync/Britney Spears bullshittery. I guess it's another year of Puppy Bowl halftime.

Pretty sure that's from Look Who's Talking 3.

Yeah I finally did that. I thought maybe there were threads where people were going SPN-crazy, like this one, but your profile totally did the trick.

So. Jealous. Though I feel like if I were to meet him, it would make me sad that he's not Castiel. I'm more in love with Cas than Misha. I know, I'm terrible.