Survivor favorite Andrea Boehlke of Redemption Island on Survivor: Caramoan – Fans vs. Favorites – Photo: (c) 2013 CBS

Former Survivor: Redemption Island castoff Andrea Boehlke was the latest contender to be eliminated from Survivor: Caramoan – Fans vs. Favorites.

When the drama resumed this week on Survivor: Caramoan, favorite Andrea Boehlke was the second cast member to leave the game in a double Tribal Council episode that also sent Survivor fan Reynold Toepfer packing. Although Andrea was a key player in Phillip’s Stealth R Us alliance for the favorites, the former Redemption Island castaway was voted out in a strategic blindside.

It was a strong Survivor season for Andrea who quickly followed Reynold to the jury as the numbers dwindled this week.

The following day, The Deadbolt spent a few strategic exit minutes with Andrea to get the scoop on her hidden immunity idol, her trust in both Erik and Cochran, and why the favorites were able to remain so tight for so long this season.

THE DEADBOLT: Since you didn’t play the idol last night, what were you planning to do with it? What was your strategy?

ANDREA BOEHLKE: I was planning on playing it when I was paranoid. For some reason it was the one night in my entire Survivor: Caramoan experience I didn’t feel paranoid. I was thinking, hold onto it for at least that vote and then play it later down the road when I thought things were getting a little crazier. But it was my bad.

THE DEADBOLT: Looking back now, do you think you put too much faith in Erik, or too much in Cochran? How do you see it now?

ANDREA: I guess I put too much faith in Erik and Cochran. It was funny, I was pointing to a name on the flag for at least four votes, and Erik was voting that way. So, I think it may have gotten to my head because I started to think, “Great, Erik’s on my side. He’s going to do what I ask him to do.” I should have given him more credit.

With Cochran, I’m surprised he turned on me so early. We had been working together since the beginning. But I guess when I brought up that maybe we should be taking Dawn out, that was a big mistake. So yeah, I put too much faith in them.

THE DEADBOLT: I asked Phillip this a couple of weeks ago. Why do you think the favorites’ alliance was so strong for so long?

ANDREA: You know, I think he made a group of people stick together. I think we all knew that we have to take out these guys. You’re looking at three challenge dominators, and also three very likeable people. I mean, Reynold, Malcolm, and Eddie and very likeable and they would win. I think we saw that and knew that we had to keep our alliance together and eliminate a couple of them.

What did you make of Andrea’s gameplay this season, as compared to Redemption Island?

Survivor fan Reynold Toepfer of the Gota tribe on Survivor: Caramoan – Fans vs. Favorites – Photo: (c) 2013 CBS

This week on Survivor: Caramoan – Fans vs. Favorites, Reynold Toepfer of the original Gota tribe was voted off the show in the first part of a double elimination at Tribal Council.

Although Reynold was on the wrong side of the Survivor numbers game from the beginning of the season, within his own tribe and after the merge, the 30-year old real estate salesman from San Francisco became a target only a week after Malcolm Freberg left the game. A victim of the tight bond between the favorites, Reynold switched up his strategy several times to survive, outwit, and outplay not only the members of his own tribe but also those who came before him in the game.

Unfortunately, despite a strong charge to avoid the jury, Reynold saw his time on Survivor: Caramoan come to an end this week when the favorites saw him as a huge threat.

The day after leaving Survivor: Caramoan, The Deadbolt caught up with Reynold for a quick chat about his ever-changing strategy, how he survived, and why he didn’t get the fans back together to change the game.

THE DEADBOLT: How did your strategy change from when Shamar was around to the merge to when Malcolm left the game?

REYNOLD TOEPFER: The evolution of my strategy, initially – and I seemed to be one of the only people of this sentiment – was that we were fans against favorites. We were at a massive disadvantage when the most important thing for us was to win more immunities than them so we would have the majority numbers going into a swap or merge. What I found out very quickly was the fans wanted to play a much more strategic game against each other earlier than I thought.

So then my strategy became, “okay, I found an immunity idol. I just have to get to a swap or merge and I’m going to get in with the favorites.” I was ready to jump ship on all of the fans.

THE DEADBOLT: And then you found Malcolm.

REYNOLD: Luckily I was able to find Malclom and it was a perfect crease. He was a favorite that they all didn’t know before and the rest is history. I knew we didn’t have the numbers, so I was all about making a big move to get the numbers. We tried three times. We had three strikes, and three strikes you are out.

THE DEADBOLT: Since Sherri made alliances with the favorites, why didn’t you pull her aside and say, “Look, we started together. Let’s turn the tables on them.”? Was that ever a factor?

REYNOLD: Absolutely! Right after the merge I pulled Sherri aside. I told her about an idol, too. I said, “We want to work with you. Let’s get back together. Let’s get the fans back together and make a move. That’s what it’s all really about.” But she just hated Eddie and I so much from before that there was just no turning her back.

How do you feel about the way Reynold played the game for the fans this season on Survivor?

Former federal agent and Survivor: Redemption Island favorite Phillip Sheppard on Survivor: Caramoan – Fans vs. Favorites – Photo: (c) 2013 CBS

This week on Survivor: Caramoan – Fans vs. Favorites, former federal agent Phillip Sheppard was voted out the game after a dramatic twist at tribal council.

It was an interesting, unfortunate and entertaining week on Survivor: Caramoan for Redemption Island Favorite Phillip “The Specialist” Sheppard who became the odd man out of the game when Malcolm found a second immunity idol. In a unique first at tribal council, Malcolm gave Eddie his second immunity idol to create a three-way immunity block against Phillip’s Stealth R Us alliance.

When it came time for the vote, the stealthy Favorites didn’t have time to make a strategic decision as Malcolm gave up two immunity idols to get Phillip out of the game. With Phillip gone from the newly merged tribe, it remains to be seen whether the Stealth R Us alliance will crumble without its leader.

The day after his elimination from Survivor: Caramoan, The Deadbolt went one-on-one with Phillip to learn more about his explosive time with Brandon Hantz, last night’s tribal twist, and the strength of his Stealth R Us alliance.

Brandon Hantz and Phillip Sheppard try to work out their differences on Survivor: Caramoan – Fans vs. Favorites – (c) 2013 CBS

THE DEADBOLT: When we talked to Brandon after his blow up, he said that you were on the receiving end of what he wanted to do to Coach in his last season. Do you think he wanted to go out that way and you were just a target? How do you see it now?

PHILLIP SHEPPARD: I definitely felt like Brandon came into this game, no matter how I would talk to him – it’s a 40-minute show that you guys see. But I will just tell you that there were times when I would try to talk to Brandon the way I talk to my 19-year old son who just finished high school.

You guys saw it, he would come at me. Even if I said something, he’d ask me a question like, “Where do I fit within the alliance? Even though I just voted for Andrea and tried to vote her out of the game, am I part of the core alliance?” Well, no, Brandon. To be honest, you’re in this place in it.

He’d go back and just spew, “He thinks he’s a bully! He thinks he’s this and that!” He reminded me of someone in a relationship that brings all of this baggage with them. That’s pretty much what he did.

THE DEADBOLT: When Malcolm and Eddie played the idols last night, why didn’t you just jump up and tell the others to change their votes? You seemed a bit resigned that it might be you.

PHILLIP: Well, Malcolm said it was me. It wasn’t that I got resigned to it. When Malcolm saw that we were all whispering amongst ourselves to see how we could cast our vote, which they only showed you a little snippet of – it was enough for you to get the feel of what was going on there but it was a long tribal council. It was like a nightmare.

The fact is, Cochran was at the other end, Dawn was in the middle, Andrea was over on the other side, and we couldn’t talk to each other. So, there was nothing I could do. They already said they were going to vote the way they were going to vote. I mean, Reynold’s sitting there with individual immunity around his neck and you had Malcolm pulling out two idols, it’s tough to overcome that situation.

Corrine and her tribe mates listen to Phillip’s strategy on Survivor: Caramoan – Photo: Monty Brinton/CBS© 2013

THE DEADBOLT: Looking back now, how were you able to keep the Stealth R Us alliance intact for so long?

PHILLIP: Well, that’s a very good question, and it kind of goes to one thing that you didn’t ask me about at the tribal council. You heard Malcolm say – and it’s his reasoning – and I quote him: the reason he’s voting for Phillip is because he came out to play Survivor to have fun and Phillip is taking fun out of the game.

I don’t know about you, but I came to play Survivor to win a million dollars. And if I won a million dollars, and I got a guy who’s not providing fun in the game, I don’t know if I’d be giving up two idols on him. I might be wanting to bring them to the end of the game. Sound familiar, like Boston Rob, and maybe win a million dollars?

No. What he does is he wastes two idols on me, for a guy that he says he can’t have fun with.

Stealth R Us vs. Malcolm

So, for me, I thought, wow, he’s being not only dishonest, he doesn’t even want to acknowledge at this moment that the reason he’s really coming after me is because he realizes Stealth R Us is so effective.

Stealth R Us is voting out the alliance with Corinne that he’s trying to establish, who potentially would have brought Michael along with her, and then Michael goes home.

He’s not even giving me the credit, again, that I deserve. I came out there on day one, created the “R” rule that I applied from my experience of playing with him: get an alliance and get an alliance within an alliance, and use that alliance to effectively get rid of the people who try to get you out of the game.

Survivor: Caramoan vs. Survivor: Redemption Island

Up until that point, I only had one vote cast against me. That was from Brandon. As of last night, there’s a big difference from last season and this season and the last time I played the game where I had seventeen. This one I only get one vote. He’s going to tell you because he’s not having fun. He did speak honestly because he wasn’t having fun. Every time he tried to put something together, I’d break it up and send it home.

So, to me, it was great to put together an alliance like that, with Cochran, Dawn, Andrea, and to a certain extent for a limited time with Corinne. We were able to dominate the season up until this point and I’m very proud of the way I played.

I’m glad that he viewed me as a big enough threat that he would give up two idols with nine people still in the game. We’ll see how that works out for him.

THE DEADBOLT: So, what’s next after Survivor?

PHILLIP: I have a novel called The Specialist: The Costa Rica Job, it’s on Amazon and it’s doing extremely well. In addition to that, I had the pleasure of meeting Mark Burnett’s ex-wife, Diana Burnett, and she has a book called The Road to Reality: Voted Off the Island. She and I are going to work on a television project together and we’ll be talking more about that in the future.

There are some exciting things that are happening for Phillip Sheppard. In addition to having appeared on this season, I’ll be on a show called Development Hell, a digital show on the Internet. It’s very, very funny and I’ll be playing a lead on that show.

I’m going to be on another reality show that I can’t talk about right now where I play potentially a love interest for someone. So, whatever it is, Phillip does provide some amazing entertainment from having the opportunity to appear on Survivor twice now.

What did you make of Phillip’s game-play this season on Survivor: Caramoan as compared to Redemption Island?

Garrett Gardner (left) squares off against J’Sun (right) for Team Shakira on The Voice – Photo: NBC

When The Voice kicked off the Season 4 battle round this week on NBC, Garrett Gardner beat fellow Team Shakira singer J’Sun to advance in the competition.

Although Garrett Gardner was cut from Season 3 of The Voice after trying to earn a spot during the blind audition phase, the now 17-year old singer from New Jersey returned for Season 4 slightly older and musically wiser. As a result of hard work in the year in between seasons, Garrett landed on Team Shakira after singing The White Stripes hit “Seven Nation Army” in his blind audition.

In his first battle victory this week over the vocally gifted J’Sun on “How Do You Like Me Now,” Gardner proved to both the judges and fans that he truly belonged on The Voice after failing to make the show last season.

“Most of my voice has grown, from what Blake said, going from note to note,” Garrett told The Deadbolt this week after his battle with J’Sun. “It’s helped me a lot in just controlling the amount of runs, or lack thereof, that my voice can do, picking and choosing when to go from certain notes to the next.”

In Season 3 of The Voice, Garrett hit the stage with Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” only to walk away disappointed despite some fans feeling he should have made The Voice last year.

As Garrett revealed to The Deadbolt, a year made all of the difference in his growth as an artist.

“The experience of not making it on the show when you have such a big opportunity,” Garrett added about his first audition last season, “to still have the confidence, I think it really helped me grow as a person to show that you’re not always going to make it in this industry. It’s very intense work ethic involved. Unless you keep going at it, it’s something that you’re never going to overcome. So, it just helped me grow as a person and as an artist.”

How do you like Garrett’s chances on The Voice this season?

Judith Hill and Karina Iglesias square off in the battle round for Team Adam – Photo: NBC

This week on The Voice, Team Adam Levine singer Judith Hill went head-to-head against teammate Karina Iglesias in the first battle round of Season 4.

It was a tough night on Monday’s The Voice for Adam Levine who pitted powerhouse singers Judith Hill and Karina Iglesias against each other in one of the best battles of all four seasons. After trading verses on the James Brown hit “It’s a Man’s World,” Judith came out the winner over Karina who was later stolen by Shakira.

So, after previously singing high profile duets before The Voice, how did Judith feel about the battle format?

“It was more of a challenge,” Judith told The Deadbolt this week after her Team Adam battle victory over Karina Igesias, “because I really had to step up and push myself to sing that song. And because there is more of a competitive aspect to the show, it’s more of a challenge.”

Although fans know that Judith is no stranger to duets after singing and rehearsing with the late Michael Jackson for the planned This Is It Tour before the King of Pop’s death in 2009, The Voice battle rounds pushed her in unexpected ways.

“I had to step out of my confort zone,” Judith added, “so that was hard for me. But I’m glad I did it and I learned a lot from it.”

One of the front-runners of Season 4, Judith Hill impressed all four judges in her blind audition with a powerful rendition of Christina Aguilera’s “What a Girl Wants.” Fans of Michael Jackson already know Judith as the girl who sings “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” in the movie This Is It that chronicled Jackson’s tour preparations before his untimely death.

Following her blind audition, Judith told The Deadbolt that her time is now in relation to shaping her own career as an artist. “I think The Voice is now the perfect time for me to come out,” Hill revealed earlier this season.

What did you think of Judith’s battle against Karina this week on The Voice?

Breaking Bad Season 5 returns August 11, 2013 on AMC – Photo: AMC

Breaking Bad will air the last eight episodes of the final season on August 11 after AMC made the announcement on Wednesday at their upfront presentations.

With The Walking Dead on hiatus and Mad Men back on the air, AMC will keep fans tuned into the network when Breaking Bad Season 5 returns on Sunday, August 11 at 9pm. The return of Breaking Bad will close out the gripping story of Bryan Cranston’s Walter White character with the final eight episodes of the series.

The August 11 return will mark nearly a year since Breaking Bad left the airwaves in the middle of Season 5 on September 2 of last year.

Following the return announcement on Wednesday, AMC also revealed that the network will air Talking Bad, a 30-minute talk show about Breaking Bad similar to Talking Dead for The Walking Dead. Talking Bad will air at 11pm after the new AMC series Low Winter Sun.

How pumped are you for the return of Breaking Bad?

Fox pulled a recent episode of Family Guy after an edited online clip surfaced that depicted the terror attacks at the Boston Marathon – Photo: Fox

A recent episode of Family Guy was pulled from the Fox website by the network after an edited clip appeared online that depicted bombings at the Boston Marathon.

Following the Monday bombings at the Boston Marathon finish line, an edited Family Guy clip surfaced online through YouTube that connected a storyline from the March episode “Turban Cowboy” to the tragic event in Boston earlier this week.

Although the episode showed Family Guy character Peter Griffin taking part in a marathon by driving over runners in his car before befriending a terrorist who planned to blow up a bridge, the edited online clip was spliced from two different scenes that made it look like Griffin set off bombs at the Boston Marathon.

The clip tied Griffin’s animated marathon to the storyline’s bombing that closely mirrored the tragic events in Boston on Monday.

As a result, Fox pulled “Turban Cowboy” from its website on Tuesday and revealed that the network has no plans to air the episode in the future.

Family Guy creator, Seth MacFarlane, quickly took to Twitter to condemn the online clip that surfaced after the Boston bombings.

“The edited Family Guy clip currently circulating is abhorrent,” tweeted MacFarlane. “The event was a crime and a tragedy, and my thoughts are with the victims.”

Why would anyone want to do something like that after what happened?

Man of Steel opens June 14, 2013 in theaters everywhere – Photo: Warner Bros.

A new trailer for Man of Steel was released by Warner Bros. that gives fans a more detailed look at the upcoming Zack Snyder directed Superman reboot.

The third trailer for Man of Steel opens with Krypton under the threat of war, as Russell Crowe’s Jor-El (played by Marlon Brando in the 1978 version of Superman) prepares to send baby Kal-El to Earth. “He’ll be a god to them,” says Crowe before the baby is shot off into space and the new trailer begins.

Years later we see a young Clark Kent on his farm, aspiring to be something greater before he saves his schoolmates and begins to learn from his new father Jonathan (Kevin Costner) that he’s the “answer” to whether humans are alone in the universe.

The third Man of Steel trailer flashes ahead to Henry Cavill as Clark who leaves home in search of his true identity only to save the lives of others on his way to becoming Superman.

For anyone thinking that Man of Steel would be a sub-par comic book reboot, the third trailer is filled with empowering messages of hope and inspiration. Although Man of Steel is a modern, more mature coming of age of tale of Superman like we’ve never seen before, it’s a relatable story for anyone who’s lost and strives to find their true purpose in life.

“I have to believe you were sent here for a reason,” says Kevin Costner through voiceover as Jonathan Kent. “And Even if it takes the rest of your life, you owe it to yourself to find out what that reason is.”

Say what you want about the trailer itself, but it’s clear Man of Steel will help many fans find their own purpose in life. Now that we’re three trailers in before the June 14 release, it’s starting to look like this is the Superman movie we’ve all been waiting for.

Do you owe it to yourself to find your own reason?

Married couple Chuck (left) and Wynona (right) must transport 200 pounds of cheese using a Swiss mountain sled on THE AMAZING RACE – Photo: CBS ©2013

This week on The Amazing Race, husband and wife team of Chuck and Wynona McCall were eliminated in Switzerland after receiving a 30-minute penalty.

Although Chuck and Wynona were saved from elimination in Vietnam a couple of weeks earlier in the The Amazing Race, the Alabama pair incurred a 30-minute penalty on the return of the cheese challenge to fall behind YouTube hosts Joey and Meghan. It was a stressful week for Chuck and Wynona who nearly made it another week but were eliminated due to their timely mistake on the Swiss hill.

The day after their elimination, The Deadbolt caught up with Chuck and Wynona for an exclusive exit chat about what went wrong in Switzerland, the emotional toll of the race, and what it was like for Wynona to dangle from the side of a mountain.

THE DEADBOLT: So, how did it feel to go out like that?

WYNONA MCCALL: Awful! It was awful!

CHUCK MCCALL: It wasn’t the way we wanted to get eliminated, with a penalty.

THE DEADBOLT: When you started the cheese challenge, it looked like you were doing it the right way. Were you just too tired?

WYNONA: Well, we were doing it the right way. We started rolling it because it started rolling. We had passed the other teams when they were leaving and they said it was easier to roll. So, we assumed they were rolling the cheese, too.

We did start off right, putting it on the sled, but it kept falling off and rolling. So, we thought, what better way to get it down the hill than to roll it? We didn’t know it was against the rules and required a penalty.

CHUCK: Our challenge just read to get the cheese from the top of the hill, stacked in the barn, to the bottom. It didn’t tell us a specific way to get it down. It said the traditional way. We didn’t feel we were doing anything wrong at that point until we hit the finish line.

THE DEADBOLT: By that point in the race, was the stress getting to you? How do you see it now?

CHUCK: We were probably twenty days in at this point and the stress was very challenging. I’m really competitive and was after that million dollars. I may have been a little hard on Wynona but we’re still together and happily married.

THE DEADBOLT: Looking back, are you surprised by how frustrated you were with each other?

WYNONA: I’m not surprised because it was a stressful situation and he’s very competitive. I knew that he would react that way. Sometimes it was a little out of control but we sometimes bicker like that at home. We get over it because every day is a new day and that’s how we treated it on the race, too. Every day was a new day.

Married couple Wynona (left) and Chuck (right) must make their way to the Eiger North Face and recover a dangling Travelocity Roaming Gnome on THE AMAZING RACE – Photo: CBS ©2013

THE DEADBOLT: Wynona, what was it like to be out there on the side of the mountain?

WYNONA: That was crazy and scary! I’ve never done anything like that before. I’ve done little rock climbs in places like people’s hometowns, but I’ve never done anything like that. When we read the clue we thought we were going to do zip-lining from one place to another and it would be fairly easy.

Getting out there, once you got past the little board you had to walk on, you were actually on the side of the mountain. If you didn’t go up high enough and get your ropes undone, you had to go back up. That was my mistake.

THE DEADBOLT: Chuck, how did you feel in Vietnam when Phil said it was a non-elimination leg? Were you prepared to go home?

CHUCK: No. By no chance did I want to give up getting eliminated another night. We got saved there by Dave and Connor. But Vietnam was very hot over tyhere at that time of year. We live in south Alabama here, and we call it hot, but that made us look air-conditioned. But no, I was not ready to quit at that point. We were counting our blessings that we got saved.

THE DEADBOLT: How was the race different than what you expected before you started?

CHUCK: We would sit home here like everyone else and be armchair quarterbacks. It looks easy when you’re sitting in your La-Z-Boy. We used to sit at home and say, “We can do that! Let’s go see the world.” Man, it’s a lot more physical when you actually get on it.

WYNONA: It’s more physical because you’re traveling from place to place to place, flying after flying. There’s more to it than just the challenges you see on TV. There’s all of the in-between that wears you down emotionally and physically.

It puts you in the mindset when you arrive at the challenge. It makes a big difference when you get to the challenge and you’re actually doing it. The physical task of each challenge would be great if that’s all you did and you got up in the morning, had a shower, had your breakfast, and that’s all you did.

What did you guys think of Chuck and Wynona on The Amazing Race?

Florida singer Lazaro Arbos became a Top 10 finalist on American Idol – Photo: FOX

Last week on American Idol, Lazaro Arbos was the last male singer eliminated from competition after the Idol judges use the save on the 21-year old from Florida.

Heading into the new season of American Idol, Lazaro Arbos impressed the judges with a beautiful rendition of the Simon & Garfunkel hit “Bridge Over Troubled Water” despite a stuttering condition that the singer developed as a child.

Although Lazaro overcame the odds all season to become a Top 10 finalist, his Idol journey ended on Friday.

“A lot of people have been asking me if I’m sad,” Lazaro told The Deadbolt after being eliminated, “but I’m so far from being sad. I’ve got so much going on that I’m most definitely looking for what’s to come. I feel great!”

When Lazaro first auditioned for American Idol, no one knew he had such a great voice beneath his stutter. As fans could see in his initial audition, Lazaro was nervous but determined to show the world his vocal gift despite his battle with stuttering.

Although Lazaro had a few issues this season when it came to remembering lyrics, his time on American Idol was a huge step forward on a personal level.

“My stuttering has definitely subsided a little bit more,” Lazaro continued. “I think that part of that has to do with that I learned to control my nerves better.”

How did you feel about Lazaro overcoming the odds this season on American Idol?