It was a busy night of reality TV.

First, the two crews on Pirate Master got on board for the sixth time this season. Who ended up walking the plank and who is still around the claim the ultimate booty?

Check out our episode guide now and see for yourself.

Then, Big Brother 8 premiered. A show known for its twists and its turns did not disappoint. But why did one of the contestants end the evening in tears?

There's just one way to know for sure. Read through the Big Brother 8 recap now.

They're dropping like flies. Or, like wanna-be pirates that aren't coming through for their crew.

Either way, Pirate Master sent another contestant home last night, but at least she held her head up high as she was forced to walk to figurative plank. Who was it?

And what did she say upon her ousting? That's what our episode guide is for. Check it out now.

Alexis Shubin has seen better days.

On the third week of Pirate Master, this crew member found herself fighting and arguing for her life at sea.

Meanwhile, mutiny was discussed among others who thought that Captain Joe Don should be cut loose. Yarr, there were many plots afoot, mateys. But who made it through the hour unscathed? And can this Survivor rip-off ever be as popular as that original show?

Check out our week three episode guide now and unlock these treasures now.

So, you think you can be a pirate?

A certain former NFL running back thought he could, but fate may not have agreed with him on last night's Pirate Master. Did Christian Okoye last through the second episode of the season?

Take a look at our episode guide now and see for yourself.

Meanwhile, So You Think You Can Dance had to cut its number of contestants from 34 to 20. It seemed as though judge Nigel Lythgoe almost enjoyed doing so.

Who survived? We've added a recap of that show, as well. Read it now.

Yarr, readers, did you catch the premiere of Pirate Master on CBS last night?

It's not Survivor on a ship, host Cameron Daddo explained, even though it's basically... Survivor on a ship. But that doesn't need to be a bad thing.

Read through our episode guide now and draw your own conclusions. Is this a bounty worth your time?

As Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End heats up movie screen, it's the perfect time for a pirate-based reality show, isn't it?

That's what CBS thinks, as he gets ready to premiere Pirate Master. The show's host wants everyone to know that the Mark Burnett-produced program isn't just a replica of another competition.

"I mean Survivor to me is a show about surviving... They're dumped on an island and they have to survive and they're split into two teams, whereas on this show, it is different," explained Cameron Daddo during a Tuesday conference call with reporters.

"There are 16 pirates and they live together, they work together and they sleep together. It's not divided. The only time they're divided is to go on an expedition and the expedition is for gold. Each week there is a treasure hunt for gold. And the pirate crew is divided into two separate crews - a black crew and a red crew - and they go head-to-head in an expedition for a serious amount of gold. So in that, there's an intrinsic difference right there because in Survivor there's money at the end.

Whereas each week of Pirate Master there's money up for grabs. At the end... there's $500,000 of treasure up for grabs. But week to week there's money to be had, there's deals to be done, there's skulduggery... There's piracy."

Pirate Master will follow 16 contestants as they spend 33 days traveling around the Caribbean island nation of Dominica in search of hidden treasure that will total $1 million. When they're not busy embarking on quests to decipher various hidden treasure clues, they'll live on the 179-foot, square-rigged barque that will also serve as their main form of plundering transportation.

Because this is "working ship," Daddo said there are regular duties that need to be done, such as the four-hour watch, raising the anchor, and swabbing the deck, among various other maintenance-type tasks.

One pirate will become the captain of the ship and will assign roles and chores to the remaining crew members - establishing a hierarchy that could lead to mutiny, as each episode will conclude with Pirate's Court, a Survivor Tribal Council-like event that will see one individual eliminated and "cut adrift."

Daddo said the captain and his two officers "had anything from steak and eggs to chicken and fresh fruit" to eat, while the rest of the crew chowed on gruel, stew, "and basically whatever they could conjure up for themselves."

As if that weren't demoralizing enough, he added while the crew slept end-to-end in wooden bunks built into the side of ship, the captain and his two officers slept in their own quarters with a double bed for the captain and mattresses and blankets for his officers.

Continue Reading...

Yarr, what sort of mateys thought it would be oodles of fun to live on porridge, sleep in cramped bunks in the hull of an old sailing ship, and risk life and limb hunting through really rugged terrain for clues to a pirate treasure?

"They're tough," Mark Burnett told TV Guide about those involved in his latest adventure reality show, Pirate Master, which premieres on May 31.

Sure, there's a total of $1 million at stake hidden around the Caribbean island of Dominica, but the daunting physical demands make Survivor's challenge look wimpy.

"It's a really interesting diverse cast," says Burnett. "Everybody's a good athlete, but what they've learned is being a great pirate, you have to be really smart. When you're exhausted and you're trudging through a jungle, jumping off waterfalls or swimming up canyon lakes, you still have to think about what the pirate clues are.

"It takes a lot of brains to decipher the clues. It's very, very hard. On top of that they're trying to sail a three-masted ship with huge sails. It's epic!"

Here is a first look at the men and women of Pirate Master; who, Burnett says, "knew a lot about the world of pirates and all agree had they been born 250 years ago, they'd have like to have been pirates."

Christa DeAngelo
Age: 29 Hometown: Tamaqua, Pennsylvania Occupation: ex-military

Ben Fagan
Age: 23 Hometown: Boston Occupation: student/musician

Louie Frase
Age: 43 Hometown: Fishing Creek, Maryland Occupation: marina owner

Kendra Guffey
Age: 38 Hometown: Los Angeles Occupation: dive master

Jay Hatkow
Age: 37 Hometown: Detroit Occupation: Automotive parts salesman

Azmyth Kaminski
Age: 26 Hometown: Los Angeles Occupation: music producer

Continue Reading...

Mark Burnett - the man behind Survivor, The Apprentice and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? - has gone al skull-and-crossbones for his newest show, Pirate Master. It premieres May 31 on CBS.

The 13-week buccaneer series, hosted by Australian actor/musician Cameron Daddo, stars "16 people who all agree that had they been born 250 years ago, they would have liked to be pirates," as Burnett (pictured) tells TV Guide from the Pirate Master set on the Caribbean island of Dominica.

Contestants will live on a 179-foot-square rigger for 33 days while they search for buried treasure totaling $1 million. The game is based on a story Burnett has devised about a mythical pirate - one "Captain Steel" - who had supposedly divided treasure equally among his crew and buried it on Dominica.

"Each man returned to the ship with a set of maps and hid them in a chest with 14 compartments, and it was only a few weeks ago that the chest was recovered," he says. "So the contestants are sailing to a different destination each week around the island looking for the treasure."

It's a mix of the mind games of Survivor and the extreme physical challenges of Burnett's Eco-Challenge.

"It's a huge - and hard - adventure, with jumping off waterfalls, swimming up canyon lakes and crossing mud-filled jungles," Burnett says. The show's appropriate motto? "Watch your back." As Burnett notes, "Pirates have their own rules, and while they need to work as a group on the expeditions, you never know who's going to stab you in the back."

The wannabe brigands dress in period costumes, eat such yummy authentic food as gruel and are ruled over by an elected captain who assigns roles to the crew members and can be overthrown if he doesn't treat his crew well.

Each week at "Pirate's Court" - which is, according to Burnett, modeled after actual tribunals - a player is cast off the ship and set adrift on a raft. "If you can't run with the crew, if you can't swim or row or navigate, you're a liability."

The pirate crew, says Burnett, is made up of eight men and eight women. Among them: "a very tough Nigerian who became an American and a former Navy rescue swimmer, who's currently a smoke jumper. Everybody's a good athlete, but what they've learned is that to be a great pirate, you have to be really smart."

In one twist, about half the money - gold coins - will be distributed to the players as they locate parts of the hidden treasure.

"It's a lot of fun, a great summer yarn. It's fantasy meets reality," says Burnett, who wrote the show back in 2003, adding "It's a big endeavor to pull off."