TVSquad

(S05E04) "In my everyday life, the only place I hike to is Bloomingdale's." - Nicole

Wow, I think a lot of people lost their Mole pools tonight.

But before we get to that, let's talk about those journals. I think tonight showed that, if the rules allow it (though Nicole is always bending the rules), players on this reality show should make duplicate copies of what they write in their journals. Or tear out important pages and stuff them down your sock or something. To some players, the journals are more of a pain because there's too much info and they'd rather keep it in their head. To others, the journals are their lifelines in this game, and those players were probably very stunned tonight.

Here's just another example of how Americans suck at world history. An episode of The Simpsons has upset some folks in Argentina because it takes a shot at beloved former president Juan Peron. The episode already aired in the U.S. (number 10 this season) and is about to air in Argentina.

All the fuss is over one tiny, little scene where Carl tells Homer that Peron was a military dictator and, "When he disappeared you, you stayed disappeared." The statement is just a set-up for a joke from Lenny, who says, "Of course, his wife was Madonna." Referring to Madonna's role as Eva Peron in Evita.

Here's the problem: Peron wasn't a brutal dictator. It was the regime after Peron that was blamed for the disappearance of 30,000 Argentinians.

(S11E05) Who are you rooting for? The race is narrowed down enough that it's easier to pick a favorite. Right now, I'm partial to Oswald & Danny but I think this episode was edited in their favor.

This week, the teams all caught the same flight from Argentina to Mozambique, Africa, where they found rats. I actually thought this was one of the more interesting challenges since I had no idea that rats were used to sniff out land mines. And the names of the rats were quite funny: Tupac, Nelson, Twinkletoes, and Xena? Hilarious!

The second challenge was a lot more along the lines of Amazing Race-style challenges (finally!). Teams had to either give manicures or fill 45-pound bags with coal and carry them to a location. Most of the teams opted for the porter challenge and I think that's because they were afraid to interact with the locals.

Anybody know why the teams had drivers while they were in Africa?

(S11E04) We're already down to eight teams after last week's elimination of David & Mary from Kentucky. Now the race gets real serious because the weak teams have been weeded out. Plus, the field isn't so cluttered so we get to spend a little more time with each time. I loved how the teams went from saying they didn't care about Rob and Amber last week, to calling them "the team to beat" this week.

This week, the Racers flew from Chile to Argentina. The challenges weren't terribly impressive this week. One of the Detour options was super lame and the other was bad for poor spellers. Even though it wasn't very exciting to watch, it did change the entire race, putting the first placers (Rob & Amber) way back at the end of the pack.

My thoughts on the teams (AND SPOILERS) are after the jump:

There are 33 versions of the American Idol-style singing competition around the world, in 33 different countries. But, the Idol franchise is about to launch into new territory. Instead of just one country, it will launch Latin American Idol, covering an entire region. It will host auditions in four countries and is open to contestants from Mexico and Central and South America. Except Brazil, which has its own version that launches April 5th.That's an awfully large region to choose from and I imagine it has some smokin' hot talent.

Here are the audition dates:

• Mexico City: April 22-23
• Caracas, Venezuela: April 29-30
• Bogota, Colombia: May 5-6
• Buenos Aires, Argentina: May 16-17