Reality Roundup: Oct. 25

“Dancing with the Stars” Season 33 Episode 6

The celebrities are back for another week of dancing, and this time it’s “Disney Night.”

The eight remaining couples hit the dance floor once again for a night of magic, dancing to iconic songs from Disney movies.

Stephen Nedoroscik was the first performer of the night, dancing a Charleston with his partner Rylee Arnold to “A Star is Born” from “Hercules.”

Nedoroscik is one of the stars that seems to be plateauing in the competition, as he hasn’t made many significant improvements within the last couple weeks. The pair earned eights across the board from the judges.

Bachelorette star Jenn Tran was up next with a rumba to “Kiss the Girl” from “The Little Mermaid,” once again proving the immense chemistry she has with partner Sasha Farber.

They also earned three eights from judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli.

After earning straight nines last week, Joey Graziadei stepped back onto the ballroom floor to perform one of the hardest dance styles: a samba.

He and Jenna Johnson danced to “Trashin’ the Camp” from “Tarzan,” and earned a 25 out of 30. Fans were disappointed in these scores, but the judges do know what they’re talking about, and the samba requires details that only the eyes of professionals can see.

Disney Channel star Chandler Kinney performed a dance inspired by her own Disney franchise: “Zombies.” She and her partner Brandon Armstrong danced a strong, sharp Paso Doble to “We Own the Night,” and scored a 27 out of 30.

Phaedra Parks was up next, performing an upbeat jazz routine inspired by “101 Dalmatians” with Val Chmerkovskiy. The pair earned yet another set of eights from the judges.

After having a breakthrough during “Dedication Night,” former NFL player Danny Amendola returned to the dance floor with another hard-hitting performance.

Amendola and his partner Witney Carson recreated the iconic fight scene from “Deadpool & Wolverine” during their jazz to “Bye Bye Bye.” They earned a 27 out of 30, putting themselves at the top of the leaderboard alongside Kinney.

Dwight Howard hit the floor after with a “Wreck it Ralph” inspired tango. He and Daniella Karagach earned a 24 out of 30, proving that no singular couple is on the bottom.

Fans were excited during the elimination later that night when Howard was revealed to be safe, as next week is the Halloween episode.

DWTS viewers have been comparing him to Mirrorball winner Iman Shumpert, who was paired with Karagach on season 30 of the competition. One of the most memorable moments from them was their Emmy-winning contemporary dance during Halloween week.

Performing last was Ilona Maher, who channeled her inner Luisa with a jazz to “Surface Pressure” from “Encanto.” The Olympian was the true star of this dance, earning her first nine alongside Alan Bersten.

Don’t worry, the dancing didn’t stop there. Following the individual performances was the Team Dance round.

Team Roar consisted of Howard, Parks, Nedoroscik and Amendola, alongside their pro partners.

They performed a dance to “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” that ended in Howard holding Nedoroscik high in the air like baby Simba. It was hilarious, and they earned a 24 out of 30.

Team Goof was up next, consisting of Maher, Graziadei, Tran and Kinney, alongside their pro partners. They danced to “1 2 1” from “A Goofy Movie” and earned a 27 out of 30, beating Team Roar.

It was interesting to see Graziadei and Tran dance together after both being on his season of “The Bachelor.” The producers are messy for including a photo of them kissing in the team package.

The worst part of the night was upon the celebs, and after adding up judges' scores and viewers’ votes, it was revealed that Parks and Chmerkovskiy were eliminated.

The competition is definitely heating up, and DWTS’s Halloween episode is not one to miss. The seven remaining couples will dance next week, taking on the theme of “Halloween Nightmares.” - Sarah Gavlak

"Survivor" Season 47 Episode 6

Six weeks into Survivor 47 means it was time for the much-maligned merge episode of the New Era. However, a new twist (sort of?) would shake things up for the players.

Following Gata’s tribal council, which saw Anika Dhar get blindsided, Rachel LaMont shows frustration with her positioning in the tribe and hopes they will be merging soon.

Almost as if Rachel spoke it into existence, boats show up at the Gata and Lavo camps to take the remaining players over to Tuku camp, where they will spend the rest of the game.

The players were excited but cautious upon gathering on the beach together for the first time, as they knew the New Era merge always had a catch. On cue, Tiyana Hallums spots a sign vaguely informing the players there is an advantage for the immunity challenge hidden somewhere around the camp.

After the initial mad scramble and search for the advantage, the players… stopped searching? The group prioritized getting to know each other and creating connections, something Solomon “Sol” Yi detested.

At one point during the search, the group found red paint drops near the water well and further investigated, believing the paint was related to the challenge advantage. They would go on to find red-stained sand and buried pieces of a broken clay pot.

Tiyana and Caroline Vidmar found Sue Smey with red paint smears on her during the premerge, and Caroline quickly puts together that Sue must’ve found an idol.

Rather than getting upset that her ally hid that information from her, Caroline was impressed with Sue and sought her out to let her know her secret was safe.

Genevieve Mushaluk and Sam Phalen spot a buoy near the shore. While Sam disregards it as nothing, Genevieve can’t take her mind off it and wades into the water to investigate.

The buoy ended up holding the advantage, and Genevieve returned to the camp proudly displaying the advantage to the others, who seemed more relieved that the stress surrounding the advantage was over.

Jerome “Rome” Cooney continued his shifty style of play. After having a seemingly innocent conversation with Kyle Ostwald about other players and the state of the game, Rome would spin Kyle’s words, telling Sue that Kyle was badmouthing her, tell Tiyana that she was Kyle’s biggest target and tell Sam that he was viewed as the biggest threat in the game.

Sol eventually got wind of these conversations and did not waste the opportunity to throw Rome under the bus. He affirmed this is Rome’s style of play, and it didn’t take long for a consensus desire to vote out Rome to take over.

At the immunity challenge, a new twist was announced. However, it wasn’t the traditional “Earn the Merge” twist that has been a (dreaded) staple of the New Era.

The tribes would be divided into two teams, with a schoolyard pick (how old-school!) determining the teams. The winning team would not gain immunity, and instead move on to the second-part individual portion of the challenge where only one player would win immunity for the upcoming tribal. The winning team would also get to enjoy a food reward following the challenge.

It was essentially a traditional pre-40 merge challenge with a team portion, but let it be known the players did not have merge buffs so they were definitely NOT yet merged.

Genevieve’s advantage was that she got to skip the arduous, messy, exhausting team stage and move straight through to the individual challenge, also winning the affiliated food challenge.

The winning team consisted of Sam, Kyle, Tiyana, Sue, Caroline and Christine “Teeny” Chirichillo.

The final part featured a two-person maze that the castaways had to navigate a ball through, and required touch, patience and good communication with their partner.

In an interesting juxtaposition, the losing team’s puzzle solvers were Rome and Gabe Ortis, the two chaotic players in the game. They relied on aggressive, quick movements throughout the puzzle, almost symbolizing their gameplay thus far, which led to lots of mistakes.

In contrast, Sam and Kyle were slow and steady, meticulous with their movements and strong in their communication, and ended up securing the win for their team.

Despite Genevieve’s advantage, she only placed third in the individual stage, which saw the players balancing a ball on a bow-shaped figure while on a narrow beam. Kyle would take the win and become the first player to secure his spot in the merge.

The people at the food reward and back at camp all had the same target in mind: Rome. Even his old Lavo tribe was sick of his chaotic and unpredictable playstyle.

Rome, however, seems to feel very confident with his spot in the game. He goes around saying Sol is tonight’s target, including some crocodile tears and allegations that Sol has been demeaning and a bully towards him, and he appears so certain that Sol is going home the dramatic irony is almost comical.

At tribal, Jeff gave up his host seat to Rome after he stated the well-known amulet advantage, possessed by Teeny, Caroline and Andy Rueda, was actually a disadvantage. Rome would take Jeff’s seat to explain the reasoning, plastering shocked smiles on the rest of the castaways who knew they were about to vote out the substitute host.

Andy caught two stray votes as a backup plan, something he was not aware of and could come into play in the future.

However, aside from his own, Rome caught the rest of the votes. He appeared more and more flabbergasted as an episode spent foreshadowing the fall of Rome did not disappoint.

Player of the Week- Solomon “Sol” Yi

Sol did not have to do much, as Rome basically played himself out of the game. However, his ability to keep the rest of the tribe calm and united amid Rome’s attempts to stir chaos was crucial in taking him out.

Sol has viewed Rome as a nemesis of sorts throughout the game, so playing a part in his demise almost felt like poetic justice. Taking out his number one adversary was also important for Sol’s game. - Alex Perez

Alex Perez is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email app5877@psu.edu.

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