Last week America’s Toughest Jobs took on the seas of Deadliest Catch and this week another Discovery Channel favorite is visited: Ice Road Truckers. The twelve remaining contestants remained in Alaska for the task and after getting their permits to drive 18 wheelers the challenge was off. With only six big rigs for the job, the twelve were split into pairs with two in each truck. One would drive 250 miles to Anchorage Alaska while the other would take over the remaining 250 miles the next day.

With the first six on the road half had problems. Rommel started it off early by stalling out as the trucks pulled onto the road and continued that streak while going up one of the many Alaskan hills. Bryce also had some trouble on the hill but his problems were going down. Since the hills are so steep, breaking wasn’t an option so the truckers had to downshift to make the decent. With over 10 gears to choose from, some of the drivers were finding it difficult to pull off these shifts, one of them being Bryce. Chris had the hardest drive though, stalling not once but several times on two different hills. His driving was so dangerous that his supervisor pulled him from the drivers seat and allowed his partner Phil to take over for the rest of the drive. Phil, along with Rie and Eric, did great at the drivers seat and showed how ice road trucking should be done.

After a nights sleep, which happened to be in the bright Alaska night, the next six drivers were ready to take the reamining 250 miles which were much worse then the first. The six driving this time faced a blizzard, unpaved roads and several avalanche warnings. About a quarter way through the drive the cast pulled up to a newly crashed truck and it made them all think just how dangerous their “job” was. It caused little paranoia though as most of the second round drivers did well. Sandy once again shined as she proved it doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman doing the job and Phil once again showed his success at the wheel. The only one with problems was Amy, once again. She was horrible at crab fishing and it was obvious she wouldn’t fair well here. Although she did well pre-hills, she almost killed Rie and herself by not putting the truck in gear doing down a steep and curvy hill. Her supervisor almost pulled her from the seat but luckily she got the truck in gear last minute. Chris also had a second chance to prove himself to his supervisor but after sleeping most of the way while Phil was driving he learned very little. With his big mouth open, Chris drove well his second time but berrated his supervisor in “his truck” which sent Chris packing. His supervisor was so heated from the argument that he kicked him out of the truck all together, forcing him to drive to the finish point with the boss and Josh, the host.

When it came time to name the bottom four Josh asked the truckers who they thought should be in there. It was kind of pointless to do so though, if you ask me, since they only got to see how their partner drove. After asking Rie who should be in the bottom four, she chose her partner Amy since that’s the only person she could evaluate. Amy didn’t take it too kindly though and when the weakest four were announced, Rie leaned in for a hug but Amy wasn’t having it. She couldn’t deal with Rie’s flip flop of friendship and “call out” but hey the producers basically asked for it. Since I got ahead of myself let’s just say the bottom four now. Rommel, Bryce, Amy and obviously Chris were chosen to compete to stay in the game. What they had to do was back one of the trucks up to gate without hitting any cones. They then had to remove the hydraulics, pull out the pin connecting the truck to the freight and then pull the truck through the finish line. The slowest to do so would go home and would not be able to compete in the next job.

Bryce started things off but not so well. It took him two tries to back the truck up and after hitting a cone his time went up by a minute. In the end he did finish though and Rommel was up next. Rommel did well, by not hitting any cones and perfectly lining up his truck he beat Bryce’s time which ensured he would stay in the game. Crazy Chris followed Rommel and showed his lack of trucking skills once again. After taking several attempts to get the truck lined up with the gate and hitting two cones, Chris finally finished with a time well over Bryce’s, meaning it was up to Amy to either send herself home or send Chris home. With a stellar move into the gate, Amy was sure to do well but her bad luck continued as she couldn’t pull the pin out, disconnected the freight car. Her lack of strength showed once again and with her time going past Chris’, Amy was sent packing and told she would not be moving on to the next job.

Next week its gold mining time! It doesn’t seem THAT hard but hey, I guess if you get swept away in a river like one contestant is rumored it, it just might be the toughest one yet!

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In the beginning of the game it seemed like Dan would be a very weak player but he surely was just portraying that. After tonight it shows that Dan is one of the strongest players in the game but still playing in a behind the scenes way. Following the nomination ceremony Memphis immediately went to talk to Dan. Although the two are aligned, Memphis was not happy that Dan put him up on the block and after Memphis learned the third part of the deal things got even more intense.

Later Dan talked to both Keesha and Renny, asking them if he made a mistake. Keesha was on the negative, saying it probably won’t work out like he wanted to. Renny was siding with Dan since he was going with Ollie’s deal. She did however get a bit upset when they discussed who would go up after the veto was played. Renny got a bit snippy with Dan, thinking she would go on the block. It was odd to see Renny turn this way but humorous at the same time. On the other side of the house were Ollie, Jerry and Michelle. Although Michelle already knew the PoV clause of the deal, Ollie filled Jerry in but he didn’t buy it. Dan screwed Jerry over before and he didn’t doubt that he would do it again. Ollie was still in high hopes thing and on his “I’m the HoH” trip. He’ll learn soon though, oh will he ever.

When the houseguests were all called into the living room they knew something was up. Everyone got emotional when the chance for a call from home was revealed but Michelle took it hardest. She cried before the winner was even announced since she misses her mother. She’s talked about her mom several times on the feeds so I can understand her pain but I doubt she realizes what America thinks about her. The next morning a phone suddenly appeared in the house and began to ring. Michelle was the one to first hear it and picked it up. Jerry’s daughter was on the other end and it became obvious that Jerry won America’s vote. He talked to his grandson and wife, who had parkinsons. It was nice to see the two talk and touching as well. One of the better calls from home and Jerry deserved it for sure.

Following the call from home, Dan was talking to both Memphis and Keesha in his HoH. They realized how important it was to win the PoV since Dan wanted to go against his word and put Michelle on the block. The three realized she was a powerful force in the house and wanted her gone. When the Power of Veto players were chosen, everyone but Ollie would be playing. He was a bit pissed that he couldn’t control his “own fate’ but since he’s HoH he’s safe anyway right? Oh yeah, he ISN’T the HoH although he may think he is. Stupid, stupid Ollie.

For the Power of Veto competition the six players would play in two heats. The winner from each heat would face off in one last round to see who would win the Power of Veto. In order to win the players had to fly across a gap in “Planet Veto” to grab several puzzle pieces. The first to get their puzzle together would win the heat. In the first go around, Dan, Keesha and Michelle faced off. It was really only up to Michelle or Keesha to win as Dan was, once again, throwing it. Although Michelle was good at gliding, Keesha’s puzzle skills gave her the win for the first heat. In round two Memphis, Jerry and Renny were gliding for a win. Since Renny was only in it to have fun, Jerry and Memphis competed to win the power. Memphis ended up getting his puzzle together quicker, pitting him against Keesha for the Power of Veto. Since both were going ot use it if they won it wasn’t that pivotal to rush. In the end Memphis put the new puzzle together faster, giving him the Power of Veto to take himself off the block.

Since everyone knew Memphis would remove himself, Dan had to put someone else up on the block. He discussed that Michelle would go up with his alliance and they all agreed. When he got to talk to Ollie he said that the deal was still on but wanted to play a game at the veto meaning. He asked Ollie to say to the house that Renny would go on the block if he could pick the replacement. Ollie was a bit confused since he wanted Keesha on the block. He did agree though as did Michelle to say Keesha and Keesha to say Michelle. Renny was the only one to not want to tell Ollie that he wanted him up since he felt it was a cop out for Dan. She wanted Dan to put the target on himself and it was smart of Renny to do that. In the end she agreed to do that and all four did just that at the meeting. Once Memphis took himself off it was up to Dan to put Michelle on the block. After his “game” he told Ollie he lost his bet and placed Michelle next to Jerry. We didn’t get to see too much of Ollie’s temper tantrum but hopefully on Thursday more will come!

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After watching shows like Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers it’s a wonder why anyone would want to take on America’s Toughest Jobs. People get hurt or possibly die on these shows but 13 tough men and women are taking on those jobs in hopes of winning a cash prize. On the premiere of America’s Toughest Jobs, the 13 shipped out Deadliest Catch style in the Alaskan bay. Their first job were as crab fisherman and they joined two ships as greenhorns aka deck hands.

The show started off unlike others as it jumped right into the thick of things without formally introducing the cast. Actually I have no clue what half of the casts names are and most of them weren’t even shown. Since the ships could only fit a small amount of workers, the 13 were split up into two teams with five working on one ship and the other six filling up the crew of another. As the ships set sail the host Josh let us know how the shows format would work. Each captain would choose the two weakest members on their ship. The four that were chosen as the weakest would then set sail once again to prove themselves. The two captains would then decide the weakest out of the four and that would be the person sent packing from the show.

Since it was hard to follow the two teams and get to know most of the people I’ll run down some memorable moments from the initial voyage. It seemed the girls were starting the show strong as both Michaela and Sandy were selected on the best on their corresponding ships. Michaela was chosen since she seemed to be the strongest and hardest working crew mate on her ship while Sandy, who had a rough start with sea sickness, picked up speed the second day and really showed that she wanted to be there.

There were also some close calls throughout the initial voyage. Ben was almost pulled off the boat thanks to his rope throwing error while Eric fell several times and seemed too hyper to understand anything. Amy was also having problems, along with Senta, as they both puked their guts out and just seemed too weak to even crunch the fish guts in order to bait the crabs. Amy also had a moment where she couldn’t bite the head of a fish off thanks to her allergy to fish. It was a ceremonial opening to the crabbing season and I have a feeling they used Amy’s allergy against her. Steven also had a bit of a problem on the boat but that was more him being lazy then anything.

When it was time to select the four weakest members of the crew: Senta, Amy, Steven and Eric were chosen for the second voyage. The others were safe and didn’t have to ship out again while the four chosen would go out for another day or two of the grueling job. Steven really pulled his weight this time, taking over for Michaela in a way. He moved the cages and really showed improvement, something the two captains noticed. Eric on the other hand was even more frazzled then his first go around. He almost swept himself off the boat, sat on top of the cage and stood behind it so many times that I lost count. Amy picked up her pace a bit but still didn’t show any sign of being stronger or better at the job. I’m really not sure why she wasn’t sent home but instead the captains chose Senta as the weakest. They said she didn’t show any strength and slowed down too much to stay in the game. Sadly I disagree with the captains, as atleast from what they shown, Senta was pulling her weight and didn’t make any mistakes. Unlike Amy and Eric who were even worse their second time around, Senta improved but sadly she had to be sent packing.

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Following last weeks Greatest American Dog we returned to the house with drama, drama and more drama. Last week Beth Joy was told that her dog shouldn’t be wearing a dress and she also mentioned that Laurie put “top knots” on her dog. Laurie came back when the judges left and argued that top knots aren’t anything close to a dress and it set Beth Joy off so much that she just had to leave.

The next morning everyone was spending time in the pool and was scared to death when David left Elvis off of his leash. Nobody, except for Laurie, felt safe with Elvis around their dogs since last week he attacked Tillman. Luckily Laurie’s dog Andrew felt calm around Elvis and played, which he normally doesn’t do. It was interesting to see Laurie’s way of handling Andrew and hopefully it will rub off a bit on David and Elvis.

Later that day the pairs were told that the weeks theme was teamwork. They were randomly paired up and the teams were Laurie/Bill, JD/David, Teresa/Beth Joy, Travis/Brandy and Ron/Laura. What the teams had to do was untie several knots using their dog. They could only use their voices to command their dog and couldn’t touch them at all. The winning pair would win the Dog Bone challenge and share the lavish bedroom. While most of the teams worked well together, JD and David had trouble thanks to David’s dog Elvis. Pairing the two together is rather interesting since JD is a pro at training dogs while David is obviously not. Laurie and Bill seemed the complete opposite while they worked extremely well together and were as calm as could be. For Travis and Brandy things weren’t looking too good. Brandy screamed for a “hot dog” several times while Travis took a calmer route, they just couldn’t get things together.

When it came close to the end it was a close finish with Travis/Brandy and Laurie/Bill neck and neck. Travis and Brandy just squeaked it out though, putting Travis in the lavish room for another week and this time sharing it with Brandy. When it came time for the Dog House choice they briefly discussed it and chose Laurie. She asked them for a reason but they wouldn’t give her one. I for one feel they see her as a threat, not only her dog but her as well.

Laurie didn’t take going to the Dog House too well and realized they saw her as a threat. In the lavish room Brandy went kind of insane. I mean she DID win a nice room but you don’t have to be that excited about it. Travis knew people would see him as a threat because of the room and decided to just give it entirely to Brandy. It was a good move on his part and just made Brandy that more annoying.

Knowing he didn’t have many friends in the house, David took Elvis outside to play. He wanted to prove to people that it was safe for Elvis to run free and thankfully he didn’t chew Tillman’s ear of this time. The next day it wasn’t the dogs who were becoming friends but rather their human masters. Travis and Laura became close lately and both love the others dogs. It’s weird to see them getting close though since her dog is the smallest there while Travis’ dog is the largest.

For the Best In Show it was time for some obstacles. Since they won the Dog Bone challenge, Travis and Brandy were team captains and got to choose the teams. For Travis’ team it was himself, Laura, JD, Bill and Beth Joy while on Brandy’s team it was Brandy, Teresa, Rob, David and Laurie. On Brandy’s team they couldn’t really decide on what to do and it seems like Laurie took the lead. On Travis’ team they all felt that their dogs were spread out equally for the given obstacles which seemed like they would be the better of the two.

Back over on Brady’s team they decided to be more entertaining then trained. They didn’t seem to have a great grasp on how the obstacles should be spread out for each dog since well, they didn’t have a good range of dogs. Most were small which meant they had less options for some of the obstacles. Over on Travis’ team they had a premade choice with Galaxy and the frisbee’s. Bill seemed to take the lead by helping Laura and Preston in the tunnels. Of course Bella Starlet sucked at the obstacles since she isn’t anything but a “pretty face” and Beth Joy is really letting her team down.

When it came time for the Best In Show challenge the judges, for once, came outside to watch the obstacle course. After being told someone from the slowest team would be expelled, Travis’ team was up first. Galaxy failed at his specialty and grabbed a frisbee on his second try. Bella Starlet was up next and took longer then expected to jump through the hoops. Travis and Bill quickly led their dogs through their obstacles which meant it was all up to Laura and Preston. Preston had trouble earlier in the tunnel but pulled through this time by pulling through without any problems. It was then time for the final, all dog sled pull and the team worked well together with a time of 2 minutes and 52 seconds.

Brandy’s team was then next and they had much to prove. Teresa’s dog quickly caught the frisbee while Laurie’s dog, Andrew, pulled through the rings much faster then Bells Starlet. When it came to Tillman and pushing the cart he decided to bite it more then push it. Although he finished it quickly it was David and Elvis who held the team up. Although Elvis did well in practice he fell off several times when it mattered and ate up some valuable time. Brandy had little trouble leading Beacon through the tube and the team finished strong with the sled pull. It was a close race so it was hard to know who would bring home the win.

When everyone returned to the Best of Show arena it was revealed that by only a few seconds, Travis’ team pulled through with the win and safety. This means someone from Brandy’s team would be expelled. For Brandy the judges were happy that Beacon pulled through in something she was scared of. Ron had a bit of a beating by saying Tillman lacked a bit while the judges felt Laurie was giving Andrew an advantage by ripping the paper on the ring. For David and Elvis the judge felt Elvis was being smothered and hoped he would let him go on his own a little more. They also felt being on a leash for Elvis was a bad idea and Laurie mentioned that David was the only one on the leash. David spoke up in defense but Laurie let the judges know that Elvis had been biting dogs, and that’s the reason he was on a leash. One judge didn’t like to hear that but obviously it’s a game and they just don’t understand that.

After a few minutes of deliberation the judges decided that Laurie/Andrew, David/Elvis and Ron/Tillman would be the final three. The only returning to the final three was David while Ron and Laurie were newbies to the block. The judges felt that David should learn to be off of the leash while they felt that Ron doesn’t treat Tillman like a teammate. For Laurie they felt she played the game too safe by tearing the paper on the ring. After those comments the pair who was expelled ended up being David and Elvis. It was sad to see the two go as both human and dog were learning so much by being in the game.

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In the last Mole Alex was executed from the game which set a few people wondering who the Mole could be. Both Mark and Nicole thought Alex was the Mole and both were glad that he was gone. It means they now can move on to someone else and stop answering wrong. I don’t see it as good for them because now they know that they were obviously wrong, especially Mark. Guess all of his note taking didn’t help out too much after all!

Going into the next mission the final five were looking for a twist and they got one. Before they found out what the mission was they were asked to, once again, split into two teams. The “dumb” team would have two people and both Nicole and Craig quickly scooped up those spots. That left Paul, Mark and Clay in the “smart” team. What they had to do was run around Mendoza looking for clues to a number trivia question. Since they stupidly chose the dumb team, Nicole and Craig were given two more questions then the smart team and there was the slight twist. To win the $30,000 for the pot they had to get all of the questions correct which to me seemed kind of hard.

Nicole and Craig seemed to do well throughout the entire mission. They easily found all of their clues and seemed to remember them throughout the mission. Nicole however was less Moleish for once as Craig tried to mess her up several times. Their only problem was their last question where both seemed to get different numbers several times. Was that Craig messing things up once again or Nicole throwing her moleish behaviour in? The smart team had some problems as well. In their first question Clay tried to make Mark think that his number was wrong. Mark quickly proved him wrong with simple math and makes me wonder if Clay is the Mole now. On the other hand we has Paul who pulled a more visible sabotage. He misdirected the three guys 8 blocks from their final location which made the two others think Paul was the Mole. To be short all five players pulled some Moleish behaviour and I honestly have NO clue who it is right now.

When all the teams returned they quickly put in their numbers and they found out that the last question for the dumb team was wrong. It was the hardest I must say, counting over 200 tiles and lamp posts. Nicole was then given one last chance to check the number but while she was gone Clay figured that there was a pattern to the numbers. Nicole returned and gave them a number that was different then Clay’s so the guys went with their fellow man and took Clay’s word over Nicole’s word. Lucky they did since Clay’s pattern was right and they gained $30,000 with 10 seconds to remain.

Following the mission both Mark and Clay had a sit down. Mark believes that the Mole is either Craig or Nicole. Clay told Mark that he said Nicole was the Mole for the last quiz but also let us know that he took his coalition with Mark with a “grain of salt”. Following that chat Clay went to Nicole and had a little chat with her. He told her that he said that Craig was the Mole in the last quiz and she says that she did the same. They seem to have formed a new coalition and it should be interesting to see which alliance Clay sticks with in the end.

The following day the final five move out of Mendoza and over to Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. When they finally arrived it was time for their next mission. Each player was first asked to choose someone they trust the most in the game. Mark chose Clay, Paul chose Mark, Craig chose Clay, Clay chose Nicole and Nicole chose Mark. What they didn’t know is that the person they chose would be the deciding factor between seeing a family member and not seeing a family member. When everyone heard they would get to see a loved one they all wanted the prize more then the money but like I said, it all came down to the person they chose to play for them.

First up was Craig who had to give Clay answers to several trivia questions on his friend Brendi. If Clay could get three out of five questions correct then Brendi’s train door would open and he would get to spend time with her. Oh yeah, $10,000 would also be added to the pot. Luckily Clay remembered enough questions to get Paul’s friend to exit the train as he did with Mark’s wife as well. Thanks Nicole Clay’s wife was able to exit the train and thanks to Mark, Nicole’s mother also got to spend time with the group. With four out of the five able to spend time with their family and $40,000 added to the pot so far, Paul was last to go. He wasn’t able to answer several of the questions which made it nerve racking to see if he would get to see his wife and daughter. Luckily Mark was able to get three questions right out of the so few that Paul answered and each of the final five got to spend time with their families and gained $50,000 for the pot. It’s amazing how well they did and I’m very glad the Mole didn’t sabotage this one since it really meant a lot to each member of the team.

The following day the group got to spend time with their loved ones. Nicole spent the time letting her mother know how badly beaten she is from the game. She feels that she is an outsider in the game and lets her mother know that she wants to quit the game and go home. Her mom told her to do so and basically egged her on to quit, does this mean Nicole isn’t the Mole? Before the quiz Nicole let the cameras know she will self execute herself by throwing the quiz. Later that night she was given the chance to do so as it was time for the quiz.

Before the quiz each family member was asked if their loved one was the Mole. Only Paul’s wife and Craig’s friend thought they could be the Mole while Nicole let her mom know about a few rounds ago where she wanted to kill Paul. Her mom took it rather well, once again egging her on a bit to do so. Oddly enough Nicole wasn’t sent home but Clay was instead. Nicole said as Clay exited that she couldn’t do it but I’m somewhat thinking she is the Mole now and this was all done to throw us off. Clay was a big player in the game, although he had little Molish behaviour. It should be interesting to see next weeks episode and if Nicole’s idea to quit continues or now.

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