Reality Roundup: Sept. 27

“Dancing with the Stars” Season 33 Episode 2

“Dancing with the Stars” rolled out the red carpet for “Oscars Night” during week two of the competition, dancing to critically acclaimed songs from top notch movies.

The celebrities had to deliver award-winning performances in order to survive this week’s double elimination.

Bachelorette star Jenn Tran and her partner Sasha Farber were the first to dance this week, performing a tango inspired by “The Great Gatsby.”

After suffering an audio malfunction at the beginning of their routine, the duo earned a total of 19 from the judges, which is the same score they received in week one.

Oscar nominated actor Eric Roberts danced next to “The Godfather Waltz” with his partner Britt Stewart.

In judge Carrie Ann Inaba’s eyes, Roberts improved from week one, as she gave him a six. On the other hand, Derek Hough gave him a “respectful” four. Bruno Tonioli rounded them out with a five, giving the actor a total of 15.

It’s uncertain where Inaba’s head has been so far during season 33, because she is already all over the place with her scores. Giving Roberts the same score as Tran was a bit criminal.

Danny Amendola’s goal for “Oscars Night” was to smile more, and during his jive inspired by “Top Gun,” he succeeded.

The former NFL player definitely improved from week one, earning a 21 out of 30 with his partner Witney Carson.

The next “celebrity” to dance was Anna Delvey. She performed a quickstep to “Suddenly I See” from “The Devil Wears Prada” with her partner Ezra Sosa.

Once again, she gave nothing. Delvey and Sosa received a 17 out of 30 for the night, which was actually one point lower than their week one score.

The celebrity that landed herself on the top of the leaderboard during week one followed with a Barbie inspired rumba.

Chandler Kinney danced to “What Was I Made For?” with her partner Brandon Armstrong and earned another 24 out of 30. This score kept her on top of the leaderboard by three points with a total of 47 out of 60 for the two weeks combined.

“Die Hard” actor Reginald VelJohnson danced a Paso Doble to a song from his own movie. He and Emma Slater earned a 15 out of 30 for the night, with Inaba once again giving out an undeserved six.

“Pommel horse guy” hit the dance floor next with his partner Rylee Arnold.

After becoming a meme at the 2024 Olympic Games and getting called Clark Kent, Stephen Nedoroscik leaned into that superhero role with his “Superman” inspired Paso Doble.

It’s no secret that Nedoroscik is stealing the hearts of everyone, and his score of 22 out of 30 proves it.

For once, Inaba gave out a score higher than Hough and Tonioli that was actually deserved, with her eight for Nedoroscik.

DWTS’s other Bachelor Nation celeb that shocked fans during the premiere danced next with his partner Jenna Johnson.

Former Bachelor star Joey Graziadei performed a rumba to “Shallow” from the award-winning film “A Star Is Born” and wow, can that man move.

Graziadei and Johnson also earned a 22 for their soft and sensual routine.

Reality Royalty Phaedra Parks and her partner Val Chmerkovskiy danced a foxtrot to a song from “Dreamgirls,” earning a score of 21 out of 30.

Actress Tori Spelling was up next with a rumba with Pasha Pashkov to “This is Me” from “The Greatest Showman.” The “Beverly Hills, 90210” star improved from week one, receiving a 19 out of 30 for the night.

Dwight Howard and his partner Daniella Karagach faced struggles when rehearsing their foxtrot, given their almost two feet height difference.

The foxtrot requires Howard to be in hold with Karagach, and it was extremely difficult to achieve a straight frame while still being connected to his partner.

Unsurprisingly, Karagach pulled it off with her always-amazing choreography. The former NBA player looked elegant on stage and made the moves look effortless as they danced to “City of Stars” from “La La Land.”

They earned a 22 out of 30 from the judges.

Model Brooks Nader addressed her rumored romance with partner Gleb Savchenko, saying “that doesn’t make me mad at all” when asked how she felt about them being called a couple.

After clearly leaning into the rumors, the two danced a quickstep to “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton, which scored a 20.

The final celebrity to hit the stage was Olympian Ilona Maher.

She and her partner Alan Bersten recreated some iconic lifts during their “Dirty Dancing” inspired salsa, earning them a score of 21.

After all of that dancing, it was finally time for everyone’s least favorite part of the night: elimination.

Scores and votes for each couple were tallied from both weeks, sending two people home during the double elimination.

Hosts Julianne Hough and Alfonso Ribeiro narrowed it down to the final three couples: VelJohnson and Slater, Spelling and Pashkov, and Delvey and Sosa.

Delvey and Sosa and Spelling and Pashkov were then announced as eliminated, keeping VelJohnson and Slater around for another week.

Due to the vice presidential debate on October 1, DWTS will be back in two weeks on October 7 for a two-night special on Monday and Tuesday that fans will not want to miss. - Sarah Gavlak

“Survivor” Season 47 Episode 2

After the crushing result of famous podcaster Jon Lovett being voted off last week, episode two had a lot to live up to.

The episode opened with the three tribes—Gata, Lavu, and Tuku—all reminiscing on the first few days and creating new relationships.

In the Gata tribe, the players did their absolute best to hype Andy up after what some would describe as a mental breakdown in the last episode. Cheering for him when he opened a coconut, praising his fire abilities, and making him feel included in the conversations were some of the ways the tribe helped build his confidence back.

Meanwhile, Rome in the Lavu tribe was getting on everyone’s nerves because he was just so unhumble. However, he was able to find a beware advantage, which he ended up telling Teeny about, and she then told Kishan behind his back.

Teeny and Kishan got caught by Rome while looking at the lockbox from the beware advantage, and though she tried to recover in front of Rome, it only made him more skeptical of them.

Before the immunity challenge, the Tuku tribe was very separated by gender, which worried Tiyana. She mentioned this to TK, and he invited her into the “bromance.”

It was time for the challenge, and Jeff Probst walked us through yet another “carry this heavy object through the water into a puzzle” challenge. If the challenges truly don’t start becoming more unique, fans are going to become uninterested and annoyed. C’mon CBS!

While waiting for the puzzle to be finished, Rachel on the Gata tribe decided to pocket some of the rice that was in the heavy bag so she could eat it later. And honestly, it was an incredible move until Probst called her out and made her return it.

Gata surprisingly won the challenge, and with Lavu coming in second, this meant Tuku would be joining Probst at tribal council.

The main alliances at this point for Tuku were Sue, Caroline, and Gabe versus TK, Tiyana, and Kyle, which would leave room for a tie vote.

However, after the challenge, TK was very upset at his tribe and made some rude comments, specifically to Tiyana, about being okay with losing.

This rubbed Tiyana the wrong way and made her question her alliance with TK, wondering if she should value emotions over strategy.

With a thunderstorm hitting Fiji, it led to a dramatic scene at tribal council, with Sue wondering if she had done enough to convince Tiyana to switch sides.

After quoting “my instincts are never wrong” about five times before voting, Tiyana made the decision to send TK home with a 4-2 vote.

The best part of this backstab was poor Kyle’s reaction to seeing his closest ally go home, completely oblivious to what was happening. Sorry to break it to you, Kyle, but nice guys do not win “Survivor.” -Madison Rush

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

Madison Rush is a third-year majoring in public relations. To contact her, email mkr5957@psu.edu.