Reality Roundup: Oct. 11

“Dancing with the Stars” Season 33 Episode 3

It was a “Dancing with the Stars” double-header this week, with all kinds of dances to iconic songs for “Soul Train Night” and “Hair Metal Night.”

Due to the vice presidential debate, DWTS aired the pre-filmed third episode of the competition on Monday night, which was “Soul Train Night”

Rosie Perez, star of the TV show “Soul Train,” joined judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli on the panel for the night.

First to hit the dance floor was reality TV star Phaedra Parks, performing an energetic quickstep to “Think” by Aretha Franklin with her partner Val Chmerkovskiy.

The TV personality earned two eights from Inaba and Perez, and two sevens from Hough and Tonioli. It’s understandable when a guest judge gives higher scores than the regular panel, but seriously, what is going on with Carrie Ann this season?

Olympian Ilona Maher followed with a beautiful foxtrot alongside her partner Alan Bersten. The rugby player is continuing to improve week after week, earning a 30 out of 40 for her dance to “Lady Marmalade.”

Actor Eric Roberts dedicated his romantic foxtrot with partner Britt Stewart to his wife, earning a 24 out of 40 for the night. The dance may have been beautiful and touching, but it did not deserve a seven from Inaba.

Stephen Nedoroscik and Rylee Arnold danced a fun and bouncy quickstep to “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder. Though their dance was entertaining, the pair earned only a 30 out of 40.

Despite the scores, it’s refreshing to see Arnold with a partner who can actually move, (sorry Harry Jowsey), and Nedoroscik is clearly a fan favorite this season.

Brooks Nader and Gleb Savchenko performed a rumba to “Sexual Healing” by Marvin Gaye. With all of the TikToks they make leaning into their rumored showmance, you’d think they’d be better at performing the most sensual dance style there is.

Savchenko was critiqued for the dance’s intro being too long, resulting in him rolling his eyes and saying “Okay, whatever” while receiving their score of 28 out of 40.

Joey Graziadei knew he had to pick up the energy after that awkward moment, performing a jive with Jenna Johnson to “Shout” by The Isley Brothers that genuinely wowed everyone.

Johnson’s choreography was on point, featuring so much soul and even a backflip from the Bachelor star, which earned them the first nines of the season from Inaba and Perez.

6-foot-10 celeb Dwight Howard and his partner Daniella Karagach struggled this week after having only two days of rehearsal due to travel.

Their Cha-Cha to “Let’s Groove” was wobbly and “hard to watch” as Inaba said, and earned a 23 out of 40. Hopefully the former NBA player can redeem himself during “Hair Metal Night.”

Superbowl winner Danny Amendola earned his first eights for his foxtrot with Witney Carsen. The former athlete is definitely improving as an underdog on this season of DWTS.

Reginald VelJohnson filled the ballroom with joy during his foxtrot to “I Can See Clearly Now,” earning a 21 out of 40 from the judges. His partnership with Emma Slater is precious, but it is unclear how much time he has left in the competition.

Despite the empathetic voters out there, the other remaining celebrities deserve to stay longer. It’s a dancing show after all!

Bachelorette star Jenn Tran showed true chemistry with her partner Sasha Farber during their romantic Viennese waltz, earning a 31 out of 40. They should be this season’s showmance, not Brooks and Gleb.

Closing out “Soul Train Night” was Disney star Chandler Kinney, with an absolutely amazing Cha-Cha and hip-hop fusion to “It’s Tricky” by Run-D.M.C.

It was the best way to end the night, as she earned nines across the board from the judges. Give Brandon Armstrong his mirrorball! -Sarah Gavlak

“Dancing with the Stars” Season 33 Episode 4

Don’t worry, the dancing didn’t stop on Monday night as the celebs rolled into “Hair Metal Night” on Tuesday. Rock legend Gene Simmons joined the judges for a night of dancing to some of the most iconic songs ever.

“Hair Metal Night” had high expectations, but was kind of a flop.

Danny Amendola and Witney Carsen started the second night of DWTS’s doubleheader off with a Paso Doble to “Livin’ on a Prayer.”

Simmons told the star “Danny, I’m telling you, you’re right next to somebody, one of the more beautiful women on the planet” and proceeded with “but buddy, you got to hit the gym.”

Carsen had a visibly uncomfortable look on her face as this was just the first of many strange comments made by the guest judge. Telling a former NFL player who is abs-out in front of you to “hit the gym” is crazy work.

Despite his comments, Simmons awarded them with a nine alongside the other judges’ sevens. Production probably knew right then and there that the musical icon’s scores were going to be all over the place.

Reginald VelJohnson then took the stage for, spoiler alert, the last time. He danced a Cha Cha with Emma Slater and received praise for his efforts, earning them a 21 out of 40 for the night.

The Disney star that topped the leaderboard with four nines during “Soul Train Night” hit the dance floor with a jive to “We’re Not Gonna Take It.”

Chandler Kinney and Brandon Armstrong earned a 33 out of 40 for their performance after hearing how the judges hold high expectations for the actress.

After their awkward rumba on Monday, Brooks Nader and Gleb Savchenko attempted to redeem themselves with a Cha Cha including pole dancing and tongue touching.

The judges, however, agreed that this was the model’s best dance yet. Simmons attempted to give her a 10, but he had already locked in his score as a nine, resulting in a 33 out of 40 for the couple.

DWTS’s resident Olympic gymnast followed with a foxtrot to “Here I Go Again” by Whitesnake. It is clear that Stephen Nedoroscik is taking the judges’ critiques into consideration, scoring a 32 out of 40 with his partner Rylee Arnold.

Dwight Howard had a lot to make up for during “Hair Metal Night” after underperforming on Monday. The athlete rocked out to “Walk This Way” during his Paso Doble with Daniella Karagach.

The judges confirmed that Howard was “the comeback king,” and called the paso his best dance yet, giving out a total score of 29.

Eric Roberts stepped out onto the dance floor and once again gave his all. He and partner Britt Stewart performed a Paso Doble that earned them a 22 out of 40.

Roberts was noticeably frustrated during their rehearsals and then emotionally expressed his worry for the double elimination to host Julianne Hough.

It was a rough night for Ilona Maher. After making some mistakes in her jive with Alan Bersten, the Olympian became very emotional during the judges' critiques, shedding some tears.

The judges reassured her that though messing up is disappointing, everyone makes mistakes. She earned a 26 out of 40 for the night.

Jenn Tran was the next celeb to hit the floor with her partner Sasha Farber. They danced a Paso Doble to “The Final Countdown.”

The former Bachelorette wowed the audience and judges with her knee walks and on-point technique, earning a 31 out of 40.

Phaedra Parks and Val Chmerkovskiy performed another Paso Doble to “You Give Love a Bad Name” by Bon Jovi, earning a 26 out of 40.

The last couple to dance was Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson, and what a way to end the night.

The couple performed a fiery tango, and judge Derek Hough even admitted that the dance might be “the best tango I’ve seen from a male celebrity ever.” They earned a 36 out of 40 for the night, rightfully so.

With the double elimination looming, the stars lined up for the reveal of which couples were safe, followed by who would be going home.

To not much surprise, the couples eliminated were VelJohnson and Slater and Roberts and Stewart.

J. Hough and Alfonso Ribeiro then announced that the couples will be back next week for “Dedication Night,” with Mirrorball champion and former DWTS pro Mark Ballas as the guest judge.

Hopefully, the stars’ scores won’t be so all over the place with an actual dancer on the panel. -Sarah Gavlak

“‘Survivor”’ Season 47 Episode 4

Following the blindside of Aysha Welch at the Lavo tribe's first tribal council of the season, their tribe began damage control as lines were drawn in the sand for the first time.

Solomon “Sol” Yi was clearly on the bottom after losing his main ally in the game and lacking the knowledge of Jerome “Rome” Cooney’s idol.

On top of that, Sol got on Rome’s bad side right off the bat, an unfortunate circumstance given that Rome had both a steal-a-vote advantage and an idol. Rome declared his plans to steal Sol’s vote so he couldn’t even play his Shot in the Dark advantage, therefore guaranteeing his elimination.

Not all hope was lost for Sol, as the idol Rome played would be rehidden. However, in the morning when Sol began to search, Rome followed him everywhere, bombarding him with threats about going home in true villain fashion.

This caused Rome’s alliance members to question their long-term commitment to him, as his aggressiveness and volatility have been making it difficult to work with him.

The three Gata women, Anika Dhar, Rachel LaMont and Sierra Wright, developed an alliance dubbed “The Breadwinners.”

However, unbeknownst to the other women, Sierra was closer with Sam Phalen (although explicitly NOT in a showmance,) and spilled the details of “The Breadwinners” to their third alliance member Andy Rueda.

Andy later told Sam about the women's alliance, who was upset that he heard about it from Andy rather than directly from Sierra.

On Tuku, Sue Smey tells her tribe that she is 45 years old, nearly a decade and a half younger than she actually is. Her lie was immediately questioned by her tribe, specifically Kyle Ostwald.

Sue feels underestimated by her tribe, and in an attempt to gain some power, she goes to search for an idol.

Sue finds the rehidden Tuku idol but does not expect the idol to come with a bucket of red paint. While retrieving the idol from a tree branch in the air, the bucket came crashing down, coloring the sand red and making the Tuku camp look more like a crime scene.

Sue began to cover and hide the red-stained sand as quickly as she could, and she thought she did an adequate job.

However, when tribemates Tiyana Hallums and Caroline Vidmar find Sue, her face is smeared with red paint.

Her excuse of accidentally cutting herself while playing with the machete was not well received, and Tiyana stated she would be wary of Sue going forward.

The three tribes all arrived at the puzzle simultaneously at the immunity challenge. However, Rome had arguably one of the worst puzzle performances of all time, failing to solve even a single piece and refusing to sub out despite Sol’s pleas to do so.

Rome’s putrid puzzle performance sent Lavo to a second straight tribal council.

The winning tribe, Gata, sent Andy, Caroline and Christine “Teeny” Chirichillo on a journey following the challenge.

The three journeyers were given the chance to win an Amulet Advantage should one player agree to give up their vote. All three players would lose their vote if no one volunteered.

Despite knowing they were going to tribal council that night, Teeny volunteered to give up their vote.

Rome wanted to take out Sol but also wanted to keep his steal-a-vote for later in the game.

Kishan Patel threw out Genevieve Mushaluk’s name as a decoy vote, which she did not appreciate in the slightest.

While that was happening, Rome gave Sol an ultimatum in which Rome would steal Sol’s vote at tribal council unless Sol gave him his Shot in the Dark, a deal Sol could do nothing but laugh at.

Kishan began to think about working with the more likable Sol and voting Rome out that night at tribal. They wouldn’t even need Teeny’s vote as long as Genevieve and Sol were on board.

However, Genevieve realized Kishan was a huge power and didn’t like her name being used as a decoy vote.

With one fell swoop, the purple-d player of the first three episodes became THE main character of episode four. She informed Rome of his impending blindside and proposed voting Kishan out instead.

Genevieve’s plan went into effect, as Rome stole Kishan’s vote at tribal.

Kishan was voted out in a 4-0 count, and Teeny could do nothing but watch as their number one ally was blindsided. - Alex Perez

Sarah Gavlak is a third-year majoring in telecommunications. To contact her, please email sng5393@psu.edu.

Alex Perez is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism who hopes to one day compete on the show. To contact him, please email app5877@psu.edu.