a quick break from actual TV viewing with Renzie Baluyut.
Spoiler Alert! If you're actually following Survivor: Gabon, and would rather not read anything on what happens on the show, or who got voted out, you might want to read something else- like my other featured TV eye candy on Too Much TV | Renzie on TV's Favorite TV Chicks.
Otherwise, hey- welcome aboard- read on!
I must admit- I've stopped following Survivor a long time ago. It was the hugest thing for me when it first came out, as the concept of reality shows were still pretty new at the time, and maybe it was interesting watching people eat pretty much anything to get just a little bit of protein.
My interest definitely waned right after Survivor: All Stars- which was, what? Season 7 or 8, I think? Still, Survivor continues to be one of CBS's strongest shows today, and they've even lined it up on Thursday nights along with CSI to go against NBC's comedy line-up, ABC's Grey's Anatomy, and The CW's teen-oriented programming.
Oh, and gratz to Jeff Probst for bagging an Emmy this year.
I'm not about to watch Survivor again, but I have been keeping tabs of what's going down online at least. And like any other red-blooded heterosexual male, I cheer for the chicks. So let's meet our four Survivors: Jessica, Kelly, Paloma and Michelle.
The Chicks of Survivor: Gabon
Jessica "Sugar" Kiper looks more like a 50's pin-up girl than an actual Survivor: Gabon contestant, at least in this press release photo. But in real life, she IS a pin-up model- working as a waitress in 50's-themed restaurants and taking on acting gigs in New York.
She's bubbly, spunky and flirty- but let's see how far she actually gets this season. Go, Sugar, go! Read the rest of her bio on the official Survivor: Gabon website.
Kelly Czarnecki might be one of the cutest on this season of Survivor, but she also looks like she can kick my ass anytime- because she's a kickboxer! Our one-time cheerleader is also into outdoorsy stuff (like camping and canoeing), yoga and fashion. In fact, she hopes to open her own clothing store someday.
Read up more on Kelly here on the Survivor: Gabon section of the CBS official website.
Paloma Soto-Castillo looks like a real nice girl, but our college student has a bit of an adventurous streak in her. According to her profile on the Survivor website, she just decided to drop everything one day and moved to Kenya all by herself- and actually lived with natives and wild animals for 3 months- with no friends, family or the trappings of real life.
So it seems she's probably really at home on Survivor. Then again, probably not- as her tribe members just voted her out this week in their first ever tribal council- seeing her as their weakest player in challenges.
Michelle Chase has this nice little girl-next-door vibe going on, if you ask me. But she's actually one tough chick- and not afraid to speak her mind. According to the CBS website, Michelle also runs triathlons, enjoys boxing, and has been supporting herself since she was 16.
In a landslide vote, however- on the very first episode of this season, Michelle Chase, the 24-year-old music assistant from Los Angeles, California was the first person to be voted out of Survivor: Gabon. One less reason for me to watch the show.
Check out more of Survivor: Gabon on it official website on CBS. Or you could read up on it more on TV.com. Pics are from TV.com.
As long as TV keeps coming up with delicious eye-candy, this blog's feature on "Favorite TV Chicks" will be on hand to get to know more about our fine female performers who make our TV shows a little bit more interesting. Only on "Too Much TV | Renzie on TV!"
Cheers, everyone!
from the couch of Renzie Baluyut
On today's feature on Favorite TV Chicks, we turn the spotlight on two of the prettiest contestants to ever sign up for The Amazing Race: Asia. For those of you who have been checking out the show on AXN, you know what I'm talkin' about: the two lovely ladies of Team Thailand: Pailin and Natalie.
Just what the show needs- some serious weekly eye-candy. But if you caught last night's episode, you probably already know how my favorite team fared.
Maybe it was the heat, the sleep deprivation, or just the race itself, but it seemed that Natalie's spirit had begun to give, despite Pailin's best efforts to keep her going. And as luck would have it, this week's leg ended in an elimination.
Who would've thought, right? They look great, they're most likely in top shape, and definitely in a good mood when the race started out. Then again, whoever's going to win any cycle of The Amazing Race- Asia or otherwise- is really going to need more than just physical prowess, endurance, charm and luck. It's really more about a strong desire to win. They have to want to win more than any other team on the competish.
It was truly disappointing since I was really looking forward to seeing more of the two every week on The Amazing Race: Asia.
Here's Pailin and Natalie's write-up from the Amazing Race: Asia website:
No Amazing Race season is without its resident eye candy but with leggy beauties Pailin and Natalie, their team has one credential none of the previous good looking teams in race history ever had – being in a Miss Universe pageant and winning one!
25 year old Pailin Rungratanasunthorn was the first runner up in 2006 Miss Thailand Universe and represented her country as Miss Thailand Earth 2006 as well.
As for her good friend Natalie Glebova, the 26-year-old actually was a Miss Universe. Natalie took home the gleaming crown and title from the competition held in Bangkok, Thailand in 2005. The Russian Canadian beauty originally from Tuapse, Russia represented Canada in her winning event and is the second Canadian to claim the title.It is no wonder that beauty pageants are part of their blood, having met in the 2006 Miss Thailand Universe pageant and becoming fast friends after that. Pailin was also one of Natalie's bridesmaids when she married Thailand's highest ranked tennis player, Paradorn Srichaphan, in November 2007.
But beauty is not the only thing that links the Thailand team together. Both have acute business sense as they are running their own business. Pailin's company makes toys, t-shirts and gifts for sale online, while Natalie's company sells beauty products across Thailand.
Describing herself, Pailin notes of her decision to participate in The Amazing Race, "I am really competitive and I want to do something where I can put my energy in it."
Agreeing, Natalie adds, "We're both very competitive and cannot stand to lose. We love to travel, love to do adrenaline like things, love to experience new cultures and learn."
And with both their credentials, travelling has become second nature to them. Pailin has travelled to Japan, China, South Africa, and Egypt while Natalie, other than gracing beauty pageants around the world, has attended the G8 Summit in New York, and as a HIV/AIDS awareness advocate, has travelled extensively to India and Africa.
Having spent their formative years in the beauty circuit, the damsels know a bit about what it takes to stay ahead. And having seen the show on television, the duo is also gunning to experience the thrills and tumbles that only the race can deliver. Exclaims Natalie, "We love to try new things. Give us bungee jumping, parachuting, paragliding and parasailing any day!"
She adds, "We are competitive, we're in shape and we're going to kick ass."
The girls have started preparing for the trek around the world based on what the previous Amazing Race Asia seasons were like. Surprisingly, their strategy for winning is to be the underdog and "fly under the radar". "Let's hope that no one will take us too seriously so we won't be recognized as a threat until it's too late!"
You can check out the rest of the teams, team photos and even interact with other fans of The Amazing Race: Asia on the official AXN Asia website.from the couch of Renzie Baluyut
With our old favorite TV shows coming back for new seasons, we can definitely expect a lot of great viewing these next few months. There will be surprise hits and flops, drama on- and off-cam, and of course, new chicks on TV!
So far, I have my eye on three great-looking women: Anna Torv of the J.J. Abrams FOX drama Fringe, Dania Ramirez, the deadly Maya from the hit NBC show Heroes, and then we have Mädchen Amick, who plays Nate Archibald's new cougar love interest on Gossip Girl on The CW.
Lets get to know them a little better, shall we?
Anna Torv of Fringe
As special agent Olivia Dunham, Anna Torv kicks ass every week on Fringe. And just like any other FBI field operative, she's chasing down criminals on foot, or vaulting over cars, or even across buildings.
What makes Dunham's character so bad-ass is the kind of crooks she hunts down: you'd think they're regular serial killers or terrorists, but these miscreants are actually part of some much larger, much more elaborate conspiracy she's still trying to figure out.
Anna Torv's character is forced to confront the systematic spread of weird, paranormal occurences (called 'The Pattern' on the show), and I have to say that Anna is doing great playing Olivia Dunham.
Anna is an Australian actress, with a few movies and TV shows to her credit, but this is the biggest role she has thus far, and I say good luck on this endeavor. She's doing a great job, and I can't wait to watch the next episode to see how The Pattern unfolds.
J.J. Abrams' Fringe is this season's new sci-fi action/thriller. I'd describe it as the new X-Files, though there are people who also see a little bit of Dark Angel, Twilight Zone and Lost in it.
Dania Ramirez of Heroes
We've actually seen Dania Ramirez's character, Maya, last season on the NBC hit drama. Remember that Mexican chick who'd always be crying black tears and then everyone in a hundred-foot-radius would suddenly drop dead?
Well, Maya is back this season, and while we didn't see much character development the last time she was on Heroes, she promises fans this time, "I cry a lot less this season and make out a lot more."
We can all appreciate that. Thank you, Dania.
Dania Ramirez actually came from the Dominican Republic, and has had a recurring role in The Sopranos' final season. You also may have caught her on the last X-Men movie (X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006) and on a music video here and there.
As for Dania's character on Heroes, well, we've seen some more of that "making out" the other night. That, plus more revealing clothes. Still no idea how her powers work though. Is it psionic in nature? Does she exude some kind of airborne nerve toxin? A fast-acting disease perhaps?
I suppose we'll have to find out in the next several episodes of Heroes. And I wouldn't mind seeing more Dania Ramirez in the process.
Mädchen Amick of Gossip Girl
Her name Mädchen means "girl" in German, and is pronounced mayd-shyen- remember that. You probably remember her as Shelly Johnson from the old TV drama Twin Peaks, or that chick in the Stephen King movie Sleepwalkers (1992).
OK, so she also had recurring roles on a lot of other shows including Gilmore Girls, E.R., Jake In Progress and Joey- that plus a number of movie roles and other gigs. So you get the idea: she has been around for quite some time, and now Mädchen is back, for the appreciation of a totally new audience on Gossip Girl.
Mädchen Amick plays the role of Catherine Mason, one of this season's new characters. She has a summer fling with Chace Crawford's character of Nate Archibald, which of course goes on to extend for several episodes just for fun.
We also find out later on that Catherine Mason is stepmom to Blair Waldorf's (Leighton Meester) love interest, Marcus. With all the characters running around, up to their usual Upper East-side scheming and shenanigans, you know that this makes for great Gossip Girl drama, and it can only be a good thing for viewers, right?
There will definitely be more Mädchen Amick and Catherine Mason this season. You know you love her.
Hey, you can check out our featured actresses on their own respective profiles on the Internet Movie Database: check out Anna Torv's here, Dania Ramirez's here, and Mädchen Amick's here.
As long as TV keeps coming up with delicious eye-candy, this blog's feature on "Favorite TV Chicks" will be on hand to get to know more about our fine female performers who make our TV shows a little bit more interesting. Only on "Too Much TV | Renzie on TV!"
Cheers, everyone!
One of the things that keeps "Grey's Anatomy" interesting for me this season is the addition of the character of Lexie Grey- Meredith's younger half-sister, played by the cute-as-a-button Chyler Leigh.
What I didn't know was that at age 23 (she was born 10 April 1982, btw), she's already been a part of at least 9 different TV series:
No surprise: Chyler did some modeling before her acting career took off. In fact, she's been in front of a camera since age 12, doing the round of magazines and catalogs. Even landing gigs on national ads for Coca-Cola and Wendy's, among other projects.
Other bits about Chyler Leigh: If you're a Marilyn Manson fan, you may recall seeing Chyler in the "Tainted Love" music video as well. She was ranked #65 on the Maxim Hot 100 Women of 2002. The following picture was taken for Stuff Magazine, the issue that came out in January 2002, to promote Not Another Teen Movie. That's Chyler with co-star Mia Kirshner.
You can continue seeing more of Chyler as Dr. Lexie Grey on ABC's "Grey's Anatomy"- check out your local listings on when you can catch it. Great show.She's incredibly beautiful, totally accomplished, and brings an extra kind of hotness every week on Bravo's "Top Chef". Have you met Padma Lakshmi?
Alright, I admit, she's one of the main reasons why I watch "Top Chef". All shows should have hosts this gorgeous. But she's not just there for eye-candy. Not only is she a chef, but she's also a supermodel, actress (both in Hollywood AND Bollywood), Food Network personality, fashion icon, award-winning author and UN ambassador.
She already has two cookbooks to her credit: Easy Exotic- which covered her experiments on delicious low-fat recipes, and Tangy, Tart, Hot and Sweet- a collection of international recipes that are easy to prepare, yet elegant and memorable.
Other Interesting Things You Might Want To Know About Padma
The accident happened on a Sunday afternoon on her way back with her parents from a Hindu temple in Malibu. She remembers a loud bang, looking out the windshield and realized the family's red Mecury Sedan was airborne. Padma describes the event in the Vogue-April 2001 edition as "Flying in a car felt like an exhilarating hallucination, an unbelievable ride that oddly remains one of the most beautiful images in my memory." The car flew 40 feet down an embankment directly into a tree. The tree trunk fell directly on top of the car. She remained conscious, covered in glass, for the 40 minutes it took for the paramedics and firefighters to get through the traffic. They used the "jaws of life" to extract the family from the crumpled car. A helicopter landed in the middle of the highway to air lift her parents away while an ambulance carried Padma to the hospital. Fortunately, everyone survived. Her injuries included a fractured right hip and a shattered upper right arm which resulted in her famous 7" scar.
Check out Padma's official website here, or you can also check her out on IMDb, TV.com, or on her Wikipedia entry here.Popular media has, for the most part, managed to portray supermodels as anorexic drama queens and dim-witted divas, and for some reason we've lapped that up that image completely.
While it is true that there might be those in the fashion industry that might be a little in the way of attention-hungry, unreasonable or just in need of a good cheeseburger, such isn't the case at all for my girl, Heidi Klum.
In fact, she's the ultimate supermodel if you ask me: she's beautiful, and has a body that's still as marketable as ever. But more importantly, Heidi's been able to make good use of her popularity and success to pursue other interests both inside and out of her immediate comfort zone.
Plus, she's sharp, has a fun personality, and an all-around media darling. Seriously, can you really say anything bad about Heidi Klum?
Heidi Klum, Supermodel.
In 1991, an eighteen-year-old Heidi Klum entered a modeling contest after some prodding by her friend. She did win the contest, voted the winner out of 25,000 other hopefuls, and bagging a contract worth about US$300,000.
Since then, Heidi's been on the cover of just about every fashion magazine- but it was her work for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and for Victoria Secret that catapulted her into fame.
Heidi's also been a spokesmodel for several well-known brands, like Liz Claiborne, H&M, Braun, Volkswagen, Jordache and McDonalds, and even made appearances in TV shows and movies- "Sex and the City", "How I Met Your Mother", The Devil Wears Prada, Ella Enchanted and The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.
Project Runway
In December 2004, Heidi Klum signed up as host, judge and executive producer of the reality show "Project Runway". The show came out on the Bravo cable TV channel. That's her with the Season 1 contestants in the picture to the left.
In "Project Runway", fashion designers compete for the chance to show their work at New York Fashion Week and receive money to launch their own fashion line, among other prizes.
Heidi has received an Emmy nomination for the show for each of the first three seasons. In 2008, Project Runway and Heidi Klum received a Peabody Award, the first time a reality show had won the award, according to Heidi's entry on Wikipedia.
Heidi Klum Now
As we know, Heidi's happily married to musician Seal, with two boys Henry Günther Ademola Dashtu Samuel (who's turning 3 in September) and Johan Riley Fyodor Taiwo Samuel (who's having his second birthday on November). Heidi also has Helene "Leni" Klum, who's turning 4 this May.
Heidi's still rather active in the fashion industry, designing her own clothing lines (and her own line of jewelry, even) as well as designing for others (Birkenstock, Mouawad, Victoria Secret). She also produced two fragrances, "Heidi Klum" and "Me".
Besides "Project Runway", she's also working on "Germany's Next Top Model", and is trying out her hand at voicing for video games, sculpture and paintings, even dabbling into pop music.
For more of Heidi, you can check out her official website, HeidiKlum.com. You can also read more about her on her IMDb profile here, or her Wikipedia entry here.
As long as TV keeps coming up with delicious eye-candy, this blog's feature on "Favorite TV Chicks" will be on hand to get to know more about our fine female performers who make our TV shows a little bit more interesting. Only on "Too Much TV: Renzie on TV!"
Cheers, everyone!
"Chuck" is undoubtedly one of my more favorite shows for the season. It's a good mix of comedy and action-adventure, with lots of eye-candy, fun characters, and geek-culture references. Looks like production's on hold though, thanks to the ongoing writer's strike.
Which disappoints me to no end, because it means I have to wait quite a bit to see more Yvonne Strahovski on TV. Yvonne is probably this season's breakout female lead. She comes all the way from Australia, where she auditioned from to land the role of CIA Special Agent Sarah Walker on the hit NBC spy thriller-comedy. 
Basically her character keeps close to Chuck as a guardian angel of sorts. With a deadly proficiency for throwing knives and other concealed weapons, apparently.
Yvonne's name is really spelled as 'Strzechowski', as in Yvonne Strzechowski. To help us all out, she has been using the more phonetic spelling of Yvonne Strahovski as her stage name.
In any case, I'm just glad Josh Schwartz (same dude who gave us "The O.C." and "Gossip Girl") cast her for the part, and it always is something for fan-boys like me to look forward to whenever "Chuck" comes on.
Check out Yvonne's entry on IMDb here, and her Wikipedia entry here.
As long as TV keeps coming up with delicious eye-candy, this blog's feature on "Favorite TV Chicks" will be on hand to get to know more about our fine female performers who make our TV shows a little bit more interesting. Only on "Too Much TV: Renzie on TV!"
Cheers, everyone!
Yeah I watch The Food Network every now and then. I live on my own, cook my own food from time to time, so an occasional cooking tip sure wouldn't hurt.
Let's talk about one of my favorite personalities on The Food Network: Giada de Laurentiis. For the longest time, I referred to her as "that chick from Food Network who looks a lot like Natalie Portman". I first saw a lot of her on Everyday Italian (which shows in the Philippines on The Lifestyle Network, though I suspect those episodes are already years old even as they show it now).
Giada is a professional chef, food stylist, author and TV personality. Besides Everyday Italian (which had been on The Food Network since 2003), we also get to catch her on Giada's Weekend Getaways. She also hosted the network specials Behind the Bash and had a 2-part special called Giada In Paradise.
Things You Probably Didn't Know About Giada
It was only recently that I was able to know more about her from my online research. Here are a few interesting bits I found about her on Wikipedia:
Check Out More Giada
I might be a media guy, but my field is really more into radio and marketing more than anything else. For the most part, it means that what I know about television is pretty much stuff just about anyone can know- so don't expect me to go technical or anything. 
Hey, Renzie here at your service, and thanks for stopping by to check out the stuff on this blog.