Saturday, April 18, 2009

This Post from V. Baker, NBCT

We start out this week’s episode right after the last elimination. The groomers are as surprised as I was that Micheal had to go.

Time for the Pledge Quick Sniff Challenge! Nemo, the messenger dog, is dressed as a little construction worker to let the groomers know the theme. Inside the grooming salon, there are 25 common safety hazards that each team will have to find. The team that lost the last challenge wins this one. No one seems very happy for them.

Back at the Doghouse, the groomers have a big argument about whether or not certification is important. People seem to be very emotionally involved in the argument. How have I been kept in the dark about this controversy? I listen to NPR every day, for Heaven’s sake!

Lisa, the no-nonsense groomer, says to Huber, “You have already touched my life in a way that I’ll never forget, and it doesn’t matter to me that you don’t have letters after your name.” They hug and cry. Krista says that she’s not all weepy and huggy because she’s not wired that way, which makes her start sobbing uncontrollably. Huber, talking about Krista, says, “She has chosen to piss off the wrong people.” Huber has seen The Godfather one too many times.

Krista says (to camera) that she has decided she has to groom her ass off. Let’s just say that’s a bit of a tall order.

The elimination challenge arrives not a moment too soon. The groomers will be working individually to try and correct botched grooming jobs.

Jessica and Krista won the Quick Sniff Challenge, so they get to match botched dogs with groomers. They give Lisa the paralyzed dog, which actually doesn’t seem like a disadvantage to me. (Lisa explains why it is not an advantage later).

Chicken Joe was excited to get a Pomeranian, as he is the self-declared Queen of Pomeranians.

Two hours later, the groomers defend themselves to the judges. Cassandra talks about the problems she had working with her dog’s “poop canal.” One of the judges says that Cassandra should be absolutely enthralled with herself over the good job she did. From the looks of it, mission accomplished. Chicken Joe says that his dog left a paw print on his heart.

Cassandra gets Best in Show.

Krista and Chicken Joe are in the bottom two, which means one of the show’s major personalities will have to go. Will Chicken Joe and his eyeliner be sent back to his island to make bitchy comments to his animals? Or will Krista have to take her Vegas pizzazz and return to her Fur Academy, leaving the house much, much quieter?

Goodbye Chicken Joe. He’s been clipped. He tells the camera that he is very happy to get back to the island with his 24 dogs.

Krista returns to the house to what will no doubt be an unenthusiastic greeting. She is reminded that she needs to keep out of the back of the pack next time.

2 comments:

Shushu said...

You are my new televisionwithoutpity and proof that we live in a golden age where smart recapping is often much better than watching. (And I have to ask: Have you ever seen "Blow Dry"?)

vicmarcam said...

Shushu--I've seen a movie called Blow Dry with Alan Rickman, which I enjoyed. Actually, there's this whole genre of British movies about underdogs making it big in small (but important to them) ways. Or is there a reality show that I've missed, because I've got to say that there is no skills-based reality show that is too small or too bad for me to watch at least once. PJ has a friend who claims to watch any show that has a panel of three judges. I suppose that's true of me, too.

Thank you for the compliment, as I am a big fan of televisionwwithoutpity. But I found a glitch in recapping a reality show. Last year, I wrote about Groomer Has It, and one of the contestants started commenting. He was really nice, actually, and it was kind of a thrill for me, since this is pretty much read by fewer than a dozen friends and family. I found that it changed some of what i said and how I said it, because it made me realize that, as heavily edited as these shows are, and as far from reality that they become, they still do involve real human beings.