Results tagged “realitytv”

Wednesday marked the second episode from this season of Top Chef. There's still too many cooks, not enough personalities, but we're busy keeping our eyes peeled for any reality tv drama related to local cheftestants Ashley Merriman (of Branzino) and Robin Leventhal (chef-owner of Crave).

The good people at A&E who already have us addicted to Intervention and Obsessed have recently debuted a new docu-series about a disruptive interpersonal disorder. This time it's Hoarders, each episode offering "a fascinating look inside the lives of two different people whose inability to part with their belongings is so out of control that they are on the verge of a personal crisis." It's only been on for a couple weeks now, but we stumbled upon a repeat of the first episode the other night, and whaddya know, both subjects were Washington State residents: Linda from Everett and Steven from Olympia. Get ready to be proud.

Episode 3 of this season of America's Best Dance Crew was on last night, and this week's challenge was to incorporate martial arts moves into each crew's dance routine. Local b-boys Massive Monkees drew extreme martial arts, a "rapid-fire, acrobatic style of martial art," as opposed to all those slow-moving, really clumsy forms.

With the premiere of Project Runway tonight and Product Runway coming up on August 28th, what better time than now to catch up with Project Runway alum and Seattle native Jack Mackenroth? We got a chance to catch up with Jack and get the deets on PR, Tim Gunn, Kevin Christiana, and the fashion design event coming to Seattle next week.

The fifth season of Top Chef kicked off on Bravo last night, and we're excited to see what the two cheftestants from Seattle can do in Las Vegas over the next few months. As always, the first episode (and the next few thereafter) have far too many characters to keep track of, but we were watching for local ladies Ashley Merriman (of Branzino) and Robin Leventhal (chef-owner of our dearly departed Crave).

On last night's episode of America's Best Dance Crew, Beyonce was there via video to assign each team a song and challenge for their performance. For local crew Massive Monkees, the song was "Work It Out" featuring the use of hula hoops.

Our good friends at the Bottleneck sent out an email this morning to let everybody know that they'll be closed this Sunday and Monday for renovation: "The lounge is expanding and we need a couple of days to take down a wall and regroup. We will re-open at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, August 18th. Can we build it? Yes we can!!" The remodel is just in time for the bar's viewing party for the first episode of the new season of Top Chef, featuring two Seattle competitors, Robin Leventhal (formerly of Crave) and Ashley Merriman of Branzino.

Oh, hello America's Best Dance Crew. We're pretty sure we've never watched an entire episode of this MTV "dance" show--that's in quotes because out of the hourlong show, total time devoted to dancing seems to be somewhere around the seven-minute mark. But this season, local breakdancers Massive Monkees are hoping to be the fourth-straight ABDC champions to hail from the West Coast, so we suppose we should say something about it.

• Resident Capitol Hill psychic Destiny recently opened her ground-level storefront on Broadway. Not even two months later, CHS reports, a devastating fire started by an overheated electrical cord engulfed her shop, leaving $9,000 in damages.
• Who tagged Dick's? Seattle 911 reports last night someone defaced the iconic roof sign of Dick's Drive-In on Northeast 45th Street. Police are on the look out for those (with a size 7 shoe) responsible.

Back in February, the Bravo TV show Top Chef was in town casting contestants for season six. On the side, we've always had our own predictions on who should or would make it, and as we found out today, one of our picks Robin Leventhal, the former chef/owner of now-defunct Crave made it onto the show. And she won't be the only one representing Seattle, as Ashley Merriman, chef of Branzino, will also fill out the Pacific Northwest cast quota. This season will take place in Vegas, and has already been rumored to be one of the tastiest competitions yet. Guess we will just have to wait and see our local ladies hold their own. Top Chef: Las Vegas will premiere on Bravo Wednesday, August 26 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Four months after Kirkland single dad/douchebag extraordinaire Jason Mesnick dumped her ass on national television, Melissa Rycroft has gotten over her Bachelor days by getting engaged to insurance agent Tye Strickland. Rycroft announced the engagement yesterday on Good Morning America, where she is a correspondent this summer (huh?) after her post-Bachelor stint on Dancing with the Stars. Meanwhile, Jason Mesnick and his still-girlfriend Molly Malaney (her? is she funny or something?) will be guests on GMA tomorrow. Potentially AWK-WARD!

Sadly, television personality Ed McMahon has passed away, today, June 23, at age 86 in Los Angeles. For many, he's most famous for being Johnny Carson's sidekick and the voice behind "Heeeeeeerre's Johnny!" on the The Tonight Show. But for us, the late twenty- and thirty-somethings, Ed will always be remembered as the host of the iconic TV show Star Search (1983-1995).

It was pretty tough to watch the Fox reality TV show So You Think You Can Dance last night, as they aired the Seattle and L.A. auditions. We had mentioned the auditions back in March and now we are just getting to see Seattle's dancing talent pool. And wow, it was bad. Really, really, bad. Even the judges and entertainment media agree with us. However, the one glimmer of dancing hope came from Mill Creek's 18-year-old Kelsea Taylor, who sold us with her quirky contemporary dance style. In total, the Seattle auditions produced only 13 dancers to advance in the reality show competition.

There’s been a Seattle Fashion Week since 2003, though it’s possible that you haven’t heard about it until now…and that’s because like any annual BFD event in the works, each year it gets bigger and better. But this year--from the major sponsors, packed after-parties, talented designers, and headliner Blayne Walsh from Project Runway--it was pretty hard to miss.

• While we were all basking in the sun, these local--crazy--folks were running amuck in Boston.
• We were good and didn't prompt any 4/20 talk, but that didn't stop former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper, who dives into the pot vs. alcohol argument on Huffington Post.
• You may recall the mysterious explosions on Alki earlier this year, which turned out to be a secretive Justin Timberlake production. Well, tonight the reality TV insanity continues as his new game show, The Phone premieres on MTV.

MvB is off to Annex Theatre tonight for Love's Tangled Web; Saturday night is Bosco's jazz gig/CD party at The Mix in Georgetown. Sunday he hopes to be kissed--with tongue--by the spring sun's rays.

• The Central District's Police scanner solidifies Seattle's recent ranking as 26th in the list of cities with the highest car theft rates. Watch out if you own a 1992 Honda Accord.
• Georgetown is hoping for cleaner air and quieter truck traffic, as the Port of Seattle considers giving $7 million in rent breaks to companies that hop on the green truck bandwagon.
• Publicola shares the final four names thrown into the nominee hat for Interim King County Executive.

It's time to stop being polite, and start getting real. MTV casting directors are coming to town this weekend, searching for potential housemates for season 23 (yowza) of The Real World. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., they'll be in Pioneer Square at Fuel Sports Eats and Beats, an appropriately douchey location for the task at hand. Applicants (between ages 18-24) should bring a recent picture of themselves and a photo ID, along with an eating disorder, alcoholism, low self-esteem, daddy issues, and/or anger management problem.

And lo, it came to pass that all that was predicted/leaked about this season of The Bachelor came to be, just as Reality Steve said. That's called prophecy, bitches. It is written. Jason Mesnick proposed to Melissa on the finale, only to dump her ass six weeks later (one hour in TV time) on the "After the Final Rose" special for Molly, the girl he had jilted just an hour earlier. Kinda a dick move, guy.

Tonight's the big final rose ceremony on this season of The Bachelor, featuring Kirkland's own Jason Mesnick--but as always there are rumors on the internets.

Look, we don't actually watch The Bachelor. In fact, all we know about the show is gathered from either The Soup or Videogum. And yet we feel obligated to report that yesterday, the latter had a piece that referred us to this New York Times article about how this season's ratings are up because womenz luv babiez or something.

Well, you don't have to watch this season of The Bachelor to find out who Jason Mesnick wants to marry, because some guy (YouTube handle "handsomepete") recently made the above video with an airtight "pinky ring" theory. Looks like he's got some pretty solid TV stills-based evidence, though when you're dealing with reality television you can never tell. The post-production editing is where it's at, and we wouldn't put it past The Bachelor to end the season with some big PSYCHE. We have to agree with Videogum, when they assert that "making all of the women pose while Jason pretends to propose to them is EXACTLY the type of thing they would do on this show."

The folks from HGTV are coming to Seattle next month to shoot another season of real estate porn. "Owning a home can be a great investment. And with the ups and downs of the current real estate market, it may be worth your while to find out what your home may sell for in today’s market!" So reads the press release asking for volunteers. Local realtors are also invited to apply as "experts." Former Apprentice Kendra Todd hosts. Interested? Go here.

We're not ashamed to admit we have a total girl crush on Seattle's entry in this cycle of America's Next Top Model. Elina, the Bjorkish bombshell who's dedicated her life (all 18 years) to animal liberation and utters reality TV gold like, "I am just a sexual person" is rapidly winning us over. If that makes us shallow, so be it.

It's getting down to the real talents (save Joe and Ms. Pants and Blazers only) on Project Runway and we have to admit to being a little (okay, a lot) surprised that Seattle's own licious-loving Blayne is still in the picture. Despite being kept around for his personality and catch-phrase creations after a disastrous first few designs, Blayne has stayed in the middle of the pack for much of the season.

Seattle’s reality TV lovers are loving life right now. Along with Blayne on Project Runway, we can add a hopeful on America's Next Top Model to our cadre of locals to root for (or laugh at, depending on your feelings for Blayne): Elina.

This cycle promises to be juicy. We've been promised a transgendered model (Tyra will love this!), as well as some sort of sex slavery tie-in (oh my). Check out MidSeasonReplacements.com's list of the fourteen models who are on this season (warning: lots of leg ahead), complete with tidbits of moderately interesting gossip about each one.

Between the nonstop DNC coverage and last night’s episode of The Hills, we came to a striking conclusion: Bill and Hillary are the Spencer and Heidi of the Democratic Party. See for yourself:

While Seattlest Editor Kim prefers this past season's American Idol local train wreck, we'll always have a soft spot for pony-hawked local Sanjaya Malakar. Sanjaya it seems, is taking his AI fame for all it's worth (and more probably) by filming a Nationwide Insurance Commercial. According to the AP report, Sanjaya visits a wise man in the commercial who tells him he needs a retirement plan and a haircut. For once, truth in advertising.

Jason Mesnick was the big loser on last season's Bachelorette--the last guy standing (and willing to get on his knee) for a woman who chose the other man. But don't fret, reality TV fans and Kirkland cougars, Mesnick has just been named this years "Bachelor." That's right, this time around he will be the one breaking hearts and rejecting women in an attempt to find love, reality-TV-style.