THE RECAPS
STORMSEEKER.COM RECAPS! Reality writer Gordon Pepper provides
recaps of each show.
February 13, 2004 February 20, 2004 February 27, 2004
Leave it to Friday the 13th for FOX to air something like this.
The premise is simple - 16 celebrities compete to spell words. They are first grouped into 4 teams, then it's every man for themselves as the last celebrity standing will win $75,000 for their favorite charity - and then up to another $75,000 more for themselves.
BRING ON THE B AND C LEVEL CELEBRITIES!!!
Team 1 -
George Wendt
Meshach Taylor
Cindy Margolis
Eric Roberts
Team 2 -
Jay Thomas
VIncent Pastore
David Faustino
Tatyana Ali
Team 3 -
Alice Cooper
Gina Lee Nolan
Carol Leifer
Corbin Bernson
Team 4 -
Brett Butler
Alan Thicke
Sherman Helmsley
Vanessa Lengies
John O'Malley (yes, there's a C level celebrity, but he's not a contestant - he's the host) introduces the players and tells them that the words are divided into 'celebrity friendly' categories - and the words can be selected for an either 10, 20 or 30 points (words are pointed based on degree of dicciculty.) They can use, for a one time only use, Samir Patel, this year's Spelling Bee Champion.
For the first round, the category is 'We're on Hiatus'. That's pretty much appropriate for almost everyone there, but the words have something to do with being on vacation. Wendt goes for a 30 points Mazatlan - and gets it right. Thomas gets a 20 point Tahiti right, Alice Cooper gets Cancun right for 20 and Brett scores 30 with Caribbean.
Round 2 - 'In the Morning', which seems easy enough, until Taylor screws up Cappuccino (cappuchino - the contestant's feeble attempt to spell the word right will be in the parenthesis) and Pastore mangles Darjeeling (Dargaling), but Nolan gets Espresso for 10 points - which is the only points for the round because Thicke misses Frappuccino (Frappacino).
Round 3 - 'High End Rides', Margolis takes a 10 point word and screws that up - Delorean (Delorian), but Fasutino gets Corniche for 20, Leifer gets Porcshe for 20 - but Hemlsley is off from Testarossa by one s (Testarosa).
Round 4 - 'The Honeymoon is Over', and it's certainly over for Roberts, who calls for Samir. He spells it 'irreconcilable', which is right for 30 points. Ali gets 30 points for herself with Philanderer, while Bernsen does just as well as the Mole as he does here, screwing up {renuptial (prenuptual), but Lengies doesn't, because she has Samir spell Affidavit for her for 30 points.
After the end of the 4th round the scores are - Team #1 - 60, Team #2 - 70, Team #3 - 50 and Team #4 - 60. The top 2 teams will now go ahead for the Speed Spell. The winning team is exempt for the rest of the show and returns for the next show. Team #1 and Team #4 is tied for second, so there is a spell-off - in which George misses Saskatchewan and Alan gets Archimedes for the spell-off.
Speed Spell - The two teams compete and each person who is wrong gets eliminated. When there is only one team left, that team wins and gets the exemption. After first round it was a 4 on 1 with all of Team 4 Vs. Tatyana Ali, but it boils down to Tatyanna Ali vs. Alan Thicke. Ali goofs up on Sillouette, but Alan gets Adversarial right and Team 4 gets the bye. Ali's team is not eliminated though - they just go back and play with the other 2 teams.
Round 5 - 'I've Got a Perscription'. George gets Meteamphetamine wrong (Metaamphetemine), and Jay does the same with Percocet (Percacet), and Alice follows him with Diflucan (Diflican) for a complete strike-out in the round.
Round 6 - 'Emerill goes 'BAM'. Meshach gets a tough chateaubriand for 30, Vincent gets whacked with Zabaglione, (Zabagaloni) and Gina Lee gets buzzed with Pancetta (Panchetti).
Round 7 - 'In the Mood'. Cindy screws up Pheromone (Pheramon), but David gets Testosterone for 30 and Carol picks up 30 with Lothario for her team as well.
Round 8 - 'It's Happy Hour'. Eric roberts does a bizarre spelling of Stolichnaya (Stolichinya), but a smart Tatyanna uses Samir at the last possible moment to spell Beaujolais for 30 points and to guarentee them first place for the teams remaining. Corbin FINALLY does something right on a contest show that he's in with a 30 point Jagermeister - but they can't catch Team 2, who gets a bye to next week''s show.
We play another Speed Spell - this time between teams 1 and 3 - and this time, the losing team gets eliminated from the competition. It boils down to George Wendt Vs. Carol Leifer. Geroge screws up Orangutan (orangutang), and Carol gets Absinthe right, so her team moves on - including Bernsen, who finally does better than the second person eliminated. Geroger Wendt, Meshach Taylor, Cindy Margolis and Eric Roberts are all eliminated.
So we have 12 happy contestants - but at least 4 more of them will be unhappy by the time next week's show is over. Who will they be? Tune in next week to find out.
We have 12 people left - but by the end of the show, 12 will turn into 8. We have the same set up - but the scores are reset to zero and we do this all over again. The team with the highest score gets the automatic bye, and the team that lases the end Speed Spell is out of the game. Samir is back if they need help - but each team can only use him once for the game.
Round 1 - 'Never Looked Younger'. Jay Thomas gets cellulite for 20 points, while Alice Cooper mangles collagen (coligen) - but Brett gets Augmentation right for 30 points.
Round 2 - 'Dish the Dirt'. Vincent Pastore FINALLY gets a word right with Malicious - albeit for 10 points, but it's more than Gina Lee Nolan, who can' even get scandelous right (scendelous). Alan THicke puts them both to shame with a 30 point Calumny.
Round 3 - 'Occult Following'. David Faustino gets the very easy 20 pointed Prediction, Carol Liefer finally gets her team on the board with Prognosticate (30), and Sherman Helmsley keeps pace with Clairvoyant (also for 30).
Round 4 - 'Queer Eye for the Spelling Guy'. Tatyanna Ali nails Chinoiserie for 30 points - and Corbin Bernsen also gets a 30 pointer right with Decoupage. Vanessa Langies does to follow suit with Chiffonier (Chiffaneer), so the scores after the 4th round are...
Team #1 - 80, Team 2 - 60, Team 3 - 90
That brings up up to the first Speed Spell. Since there are only 3 teams left, there is no bye available for the winning team. Instead, the top 2 teams play, and each individual on the winning team who survives the round will win $10,000 for the charity that they are playing for. Only one person survives it - and it's Alan Thicke, who gets Pinochle for the win and $10,000 to his charity - the Alan Thicke Research Center for Diabetes.
Round 5 - 'I'm Dying Here'. Jay doesn't, as he gets Eulogy for 20, Alice screws up Mortician (Morticion) and Brett takes Mausoleum for 30.
Round 6 - 'Pet This'. Vincent asks Samir for help on Dachshund - but Samir lets him down as he spells it Dachschund. Gina lets her team down with Basset (Bassett), while Alan gives Samir a second chance with Samoyed - which he gets for 30.
Round 7 - 'I don't Want It'. David wnats Eczema - and gets it for 20, Brett asks Samir to spell psoriasis - and he does for 30, and Sherman follows suit with a 20 point Colonoscopy.
Round 8 - 'In Da' Nile'. Tatyana fails to secure second place with a 10 point Pharaoh (pharoah) - but Corbin does not come through as he destroys Flagellum (phlajelum), and Angela, knowing that the team has clinched first and the bye, screws up a 10 point Nefertiti anyway (Nafarrtiti).
FInal Scores -
Team #1 - 110, Team #2 - 90, Team #3 - 170
Time for the Speed Spell - and Team 2 gets wiped out very quickly. The only person to save Team #2 is...Corbin, and as we know, that spells trouble as he screws up Pinocchio (Pinochio). Can David pull the team through? No, as he messes up Biennial (Binnel). Corben screws up another word - this time, Abrogate (Abregate) can Tatyana Ali save the day? No, because she screws up Estuary as she runs out of time. All Corbin needs to do is to get a word right and he wins - the word is ineffable - and he spells it i-n-e-f-f-a-b-l-e. That's good for the win, and Corbin does something RIGHT for his team!
The final people who are going to be moving on to the individual finals are Alice Cooper, Gina Lee Nolan, Carol Leifer, Corbin Bernson, Brett Butler, Alan Thicke, Sherman Helmsley and Vanessa Lengies - but the top individual point winners from the two losing teams also get to play - and they are...George Wendt and David Faustino. Se let's handicap the players -
Favorites -
Alan Thicke, Brett Butler
Contenders -
Carol Leifer, David Faustino, Sherman Helmsley
Dark Horses -
Corbin Bernson, Alice Cooper, George Wendt
One and Done -
GIna Lee Nolan, Vanessa Lengies
Next week: The finale, as we see who wins $75,000 - and how much they win for themselves.
10 people. $150,000 up for grabs. We start this like the team competition - but everyone is now by themselves and everyone gets 2 cracks at spelling words before the Speed Spells, where the three people with the fewest amount of points are eliminated. Samir is still there in case he needs to be used, but he can only be used once per contestant.
George Wendt starts off by spelling prosthesis correctly for 30 points. Corbin Bernsen gets espionage for 20 points and Vanessa Lengies uses Samir to get a 30 point posterior. Carol Leifer plays out a 20 point tambourine and Alice Cooper uses Samir for a 30 point Strychnine.
For the first spelling of the second five celebrities, Brett Butler gets the first word - Gesundheit (gusundheit) wrong, Sherman Helmsley followss with epiglottis (epiglotis), and David Faustino messes up flugelhorn (fluglehorn). Gina Lee Nolan asks Samir to help her with boustier (bustier) - but he screws up and for the second time in the series, Samir lets Gina Lee Nolan down. What does he have against beautiful ex-game show models? Only Alan Thicke gets his word right - crematorium - for 30 points.
Round 2 - George gets linguine for 20, Corbin gets Croupier for 20, but Vanessa screws up Champagne (champange). Carol gets colonel right for 20 and Alice gets frijoles wrong (frejoles). Brett nails Buttafucco for 30, Sherman stays at zero as he goof on kreplach (kreplok), David forgoes Samir to spell satellite - but he should have asked him (sattelite). GIna Lee FINALLY gets a word right all by herself with a 20 poins insomnia - and she gets a standing ovation. Alan conversely, gets his first one wrong with Bearnaise (bernaise), which makes the scores look like this -
George - 50
Corbin - 40
Carol - 40
Brett - 30
Alice - 30
Vanessa -30
Allan - 30
Gina Lee - 20
David - 0
Sherman - 0
It's time for the first speed spell. Everyone gets 2 words. The first one is 10, the second one is 20, after the smoke clears, the lowest three people go bye-bye. The only peoe to get both of them right are George and Alan. Sherman gets them both wrong, so he's out, and David only gets 20, so that's not enough to stay in the game. Alice doesn't get any right - but everyone else around him got at least one right, so he is gone. Here are the current scores -
George - 80
Allan - 60
Carol - 60
Brett - 50
Corbin - 40
Vanessa - 40
Gina Lee - 40
Alice - 30
David - 20
Sherman - 0
Time to go back to Round-by-round spelling. Once again, the scores are reset to zero, and we have to go all over again. George continues his rampage with a 30 point trapezoidal. Corbin continues to...chike, with a mauling of Appalachians (appalaichians). Carol makes him pay with a 20 point chiropractor and Allan follws suit with a 30 point sommelier. Brett makes a listening error with cinematographer (cinemaphotographer), but Vanessa picks up 10 with pathologist. Gina goes back to the Suck side with a gruesome rendition of maneuvers (manovers).
Round 4 - George gets insemination for 20 points, and Corbin takes his sweet time to get presdigitation - wrong (prestedigitaion). Carol is much quicker with Espiscopaian for 20 points and Alan gets Churlish for 20. Brett gets nothing for getting Amniocentisis wrong (amniosentesis) while Vanessa keeps grooving with a 10 point incarceration. Gina feels like being incarcerated as she errs on gazpacho (gispatcho) - and even more so when we see the point totals so far -
George - 50
Allan - 50
Carol - 40
Vanessa - 20
Corbin - 0
Brett - 0
Gina Lee - 0
We have our second speed spell - and this time, the first word is worth 20 points and the second one is 30 points. Getting both right are Brett (which moves her out of the bottom three) and Allan (which moves him into first). Corbin gets everything wrong and he is toast, spelling the last word Goodbye. GIna Lee joins him in the suck pond. Brett escapes - but puts Vanessa in the bottom, as we see the final scores for this elimination -
Allan - 100
George - 80
Carol - 60
Brett - 50
Vanessa - 20
Corbin - 0
Gina Lee - 0
We are down to the Final Four - and the only words used now are the ones in the National Spelling Bee competition. The 10 point option is gone - and Samir is still available. George shows his stuff with philatelist for 30 - and Brett joins him with Cataclysm and Carol with excoriate. Alan does not join them - as he spells supercilious supericllious - which makes him look silly.
Round 6 - George lets Samir spell conquistador for 30, and Brett spells Hallucinogen for herself for 30. Carol gives Samir more work with obsequious and Alan does the same with sphagnum each worth 30 points.
Round 7 - and all of the 20 point questions are gone (which is fine, since they weren't used anyway). George continues to be perfect with surrepititious and Brett follows suit with antecedent. Carol gets colloquial right and Allan gets exigency correct too.
Round 8 - George makes his first error with fiefdom (feifdom). Which gives Brett a share of the lead as Samir helps her out with dilletante. Carol joins her with a correct spelling of epitome and Alan ties George with Labyrinth.
It's time for the Final Speed Spell. There will be three words, each one worth 30 points. The top 2 spellers will advance - the other two will be eliminated. IN order for Allan and George to have a shot, the women need to get at least one wrong - and Allan and George have to be perfect. George ruins that when he gets ibuprophen wrong and Alan does the same for Ecdesyast - which allows both ladies to get into the finals. The final scores -
Carol - 210
Brett - 180
Allan - 150
George - 150
It's time for the final head-to-head round. Whoever gets to five correct words first wins. If there is a tie, it will be settled in Sudden-Death-like fashion. Round 1 - Carol gets Oxymoron and Brett gets Arachnid. Round 2 - Carol is right with supercede and Brett is right with pasteurized. Round 3 - Carol is right with zoological and Brett is right with machismo. Round 4 - Carol is right with guillotine and Brett gets potpourri right. Round 5 - Carol gets Vichyssoise WRONG (vichysois), which means that if Brett gets her word right, she wins. Her word - Avoirdupoiss. Her spelling - Averdupois. They both get it wrong, so the competition continues.
Next round - Carol once again gets a word wrong - this time Dishabille (Disabele), so Brett gets another shot at it. The word - Trichinosis. Her spelling - Trichonosis, so we are still stuck at 4. Carol once again screws up with Guernsey (gurnsey). Will the third time be a charm? Her word - Cornucopia. Her spelling? Cornucopia. Brett finally wins it and gets $75,000 for charity - which for her is the American Red Cross and the Sandeta Animal Sanctuary.
She also gets $50,000 for herself - but she can make it $75,000 if she get through the final challenge. She will win the extra $25,000 if she can get through one more head-to-head round - against Samir! Brett's reaction? 'Oh no!, as she spins around in disgust. 'He's yuor daddy.' says John, and that's the quote of the night. Brett - 'This is going to be awful.', adding that he is a nice person and she will enjoy having her tail kicked by Samir in front of America.
And away we go! Round 1 - Brett gets panacea, Samir gets emeritus. Round 2 - Brett gets claustrophobia, Samir gets ambidextrous. Round 3 - Brett gets epiphany, Samir gets mediocre. Round 4 - Brett gets filibuster, Samir gets fluoride. Round 5 - Brett gets pirouette, Samir gets sycophant - and we have a 5-5 tie.
Tie-brealer time. Brett gets Mercurial, Samir gets incorrigible. Round 2 - Brett
gets isosceles - and Samir says that it's wrong. Ouch. It is wrong (she spells it isoseles) and Samir spells desiccant for the win. Samir saves the production $25,000 - but Brett still leaves with $125,000 and we leave this show.
My take? This was very, very cool. I was playing this against my on-line buddies - and this may have been the effect that FOX was looking for. With a second national IQ test coming to FOX next week, this looks like a genre that FOX is interested in continuing. I hope that people aren't turned off by some of the hard words and I beg FOX to PLEASE keep this coming. Rating - A gold star and an 'A'.
This is Gordon Pepper, s-i-g-n-i-n-g o-f-f.
