I Made it on the RealitySteve Website!

For those of you who don't know, I'm a huge reality TV fan. The good kind of reality TV: the competition style NOT the "Kardashian" or "Housewives" style. My favorites are Survivor, Big Brother, The Amazing Race, American Idol, The Voice, Dancing With The Stars....I could go on but I'll stop there. I also love The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. For most shows, I love the suspense and avoid spoiler websites. However, when it comes to The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, I actually kind of like knowing who the lead ends up with and who gets eliminated when. For the inside scoop, I rely on RealitySteve. He somehow manages to get all the dirty details and spoils the show pretty consistently every season, pretty soon after they end filming it.

One of the features of RealitySteve's blog/website is a weekly "Reader Emails" post, where he posts emails he gets along with his response. Normally, in any situation, on any site, I'm a reader only. I don't engage on message boards or comment sections. Really, the main reason is that there are a lot of crazies out there, and arguing is a waste of time. I share all my thoughts on my Reality Bites blog, and talk about the shows with all my friends, so I don't need to do it with strangers. However, last week, I made an exception. Something on The Bachelorette caught my attention, and I just had to email RealitySteve with my observation. I first watched the clip a couple times to make sure I heard what I thought I heard. Because if you're wrong, or make a stupid observation...you will be made fun of publicly on his website. I didn't want to be one of those people. I was pretty sure what I had was worth sharing, and something that not everyone might know or have caught, so I thought I'd take a chance.

So, I'm watching the very first episode of the season, where Andi, our Bachelorette is meeting her 25 guys. Each guy has a limited amount of time to make a lasting impression, otherwise he could be cut on the first night. There's this guy Marquel. We know he's a little strange because he calls himself a "cookie connoisseur", and the love of his life right now is the cookie. He has somehow managed to bring a large tray with an assortment of cookies on it, and he would like to have a cookie tasting with Andi (instead of a wine tasting). He and Andi try several, and then he tells her he has a cookie he knows she will love. He digs to the bottom of the pile and pulls out...the black and white cookie. Immediately, I think of Seinfeld...of course...who wouldn't? And that's even before this happened....

American Idol Bracket 2014

It's official! The American Idol bracket "Queen of the Idol Picks" trophy is in my possession for a whole year! The first year I won it, in 2012, we didn't have the trophy, so this is technically my first time having it, but 2nd time winning the bracket in 3 years. If you recall, the last time I won it, Phillip Phillips was my pick to win it all (based partly on rave reviews in his audition by one of my co-workers). She, and I, were right that year and Phillip won it all, securing 10 bonus points for me. Last year, I narrowly lost (due to a misunderstanding of the rules by the other members of our bracket).

This year, my pick was Caleb Johnson. It was a tough pick, and I had a couple others I was considering. Ultimately, I went with my gut, and the fact that Caleb just seemed like a true performer, who really had his act together. He knew what kind of an artist he wanted to be, and he was so consistent in all of the rounds leading up to the live shows. Week after week during the competition, he continued to make the smartest song choices. They were perfect for his voice and his style. He also challenged himself and chose a few songs that were outside of his comfort zone. But like all of the greats before him (David Cook, Adam Lambert, etc.), he made those surprising song choices into some of his best performances. He was inventive and creative, and always made you wonder what he was going to sing the following week. He continued to escape the bottom 3 every week, and I felt like he only grew stronger and stronger. It was to the point that I wasn't even worried about him ever being in the bottom, because he was just that good.

The other 3 ladies in our bracket, were not so lucky. Ben was chosen as a pick to win it all, and he was voted out in week 3. The other 2 ladies chose Majesty as the winner. She was voted out in week 4. By week 4, I was the only one with my "horse in the race". As our rules state, you can switch your pick to win if your pick gets voted out, but you will only get 5 bonus points if that person wins. Dexter was chosen as a replacement, and he was voted out in week 7. After that, Alex and Jena were the picks by the 3 other ladies. Alex was voted out in week 11. We were now down to the final 2: Jena and Caleb. It was me against 2 of the other ladies, with my Caleb STILL being in it! For the first time, I was really worried that Jena was going to win. The critics and fans all around raved about Jena's talent. I just didn't see what all the fuss was about (If you read by Reality Bites blog, you know my feelings about Jena). 

As we went into the final night, I was still leading the bracket by 2 points. Only Nancy could catch me. I knew I had to be careful, so I weighed by final vote very carefully, and I figured something out. If I voted for Caleb to win, and he lost, I got 0 points for the week. Nancy would get 5 points for guessing Jena to win for the week. Her pick to win was Alex, so she couldn't get any bonus points, but that 5 points would be enough to beat me. However, if I chose to give Jena my vote for the week, I stay ahead if she wins, but even if I was wrong and Caleb won, I still would get 10 bonus points for picking Caleb as my pick to win it all from the beginning. So, the choice was obvious. Plus, I thought it might actually help Caleb by "voting against him". Sure enough...it worked! The other 3 ladies (plus me) picked Jena to win, and it was CALEB!!!! I was so ecstatic! Not just because I won, but because the right person won. All of my voting (50 votes by text, Facebook and Google, and as many phone calls as I could get to go through), plus my mom's 50 votes on all methods proved to do the trick. 

It was another fun and unpredictable year for our bracket. I fully expect to keep this trophy next year as well. :)

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Survivor Alum Twitter Interactions

Lots and lots of Survivor alums were active on Twitter for tonight's Survivor. I took the time to send a few tweets from my Reality Bites account, and the reaction was incredible!

I got Phillip Sheppard to follow me, I got Coach to Favorite and Retweet me, and I also got Skupin and Kat to Favorite a couple tweets. I just think that's too cool!

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