BANTER BLENDER #91: Talking Survivor, Amazing Race with Michelle Collins

What better way to kick off your Memorial Day Weekend than by talking about TV? Michelle Collins (twitter.com/michcoll) joins Ben Mandelker (twitter.com/bsideblog) to talk about the season finales of “Survivor” and “Amazing Race.” Along the way, the two have plenty of tangents, including talks of mishaps at Target and sartorial mistakes at H&M. Definitely load …

BANTER BLENDER #90: Talking ‘Survivor’ with Rob Cesternino

This week Rob Cesternino (Rob Has A Podcast @ robhasawebsite.com/) joins Ben Mandelker (twitter.com/bsideblog) to talk all things “Survivor.” The two discuss the show as a whole with Rob relaying his experiences on season 6 (Survivor: Amazon). Intertwined with this discussion is talk of the current season, Cagayan, and the various strategies on display. For …

BANTER BLENDER #84: Online Etiquette, Survivor, and Justin Bieber

This week on “The Banter Blender,” Ronnie Karam (trashtalktv.com) joins Ben Mandelker (bsideblog.com) again to discuss a variety of topics, starting with online etiquette. The two delve into the world of baby status updates, humble brags, and Instagram offenses, among other things. Next the guys take on the latest season of Survivor and roll their …

SURVIVOR PHOTOCAP: One World Again

Survivor: One World returned to its One World premise at the end of last week, and on Wednesday, we had our first post-merge episode, which sadly was about as full of scheming as a nap time at the local Retirement Home. I thought there’d be lots of scrambling — would people align themselves with their …

SURVIVOR PHOTOCAP: Vile.

We have seen some awful, reprehensible behavior on Survivor — heck, reality TV in general — but the first half of Wednesday’s episode displayed some of the very worst in the history of the genre. I don’t think I’m overstating this. Watching Colton and Alicia gang up on outcast Christina was so hideous and vile …

SURVIVOR PHOTOCAP: Are You Hot Or Not?

Survivor: One World changed things up on Wednesday. The tribes, finally even, were subjected to a random switcheroo, and as luck would have it, all the hot, strong people wound up on one team, and the scraps on another. Yes, while Salani became home to the likes of supermen Mike, Jay, Troyzan (as well as …

SURVIVOR PHOTOCAP: Well That Was An Interesting Strategy

Soooo…. that was crazy. After twenty four seasons, Survivor still manages to shock and surprise us, which is really a testament to the human condition more than anything else. On last night’s episode of Survivor: One World, one tribe did something so silly, so unnecessary, and so ludicrous that it can only be viewed as …

SURVIVOR PHOTOCAP: Oh My God.

I don’t even remember what season Survivor is in now (23?), but this veteran series still has the ability to shock. Add to that the slickest production values in the genre, and it’s easy to remember why this is still one of the best reality shows around. If you haven’t watched this week’s episode, stop …

SURVIVOR PHOTOCAP: So It’s Turned Into One of THOSE Seasons

A few weeks ago, Cochran made an epic move on Survivor: South Pacific — a move that greatly imperiled his former tribe. Sure enough, we had to watch them all go home one by one, which constituted a rather boring patch in an otherwise great season. It’s a shame, really. Cochran’s big move didn’t have …

SURVIVOR PHOTOCAP: There’s A New Sheriff In Town

I don’t care what people say: I still like Cochran. To be fair, I haven’t gauged public opinion on the guy since last week’s epic episode that saw him jump ship to Coach’s team, but I get the sense there are probably many viewers out there who think he’s a spineless coward. I wouldn’t say …