December 21, 2004

Sommer Is Broke

Sommer is currently selling items on Ebay.com because she has fallen on hard times. After leaving the Starting Over House, she did not return to her career and, instead, tried to start a career as an artist.

Link: Sommer's Auctions at Ebay

Posted by inthestars at 04:41 AM

December 17, 2004

Dec 20th Episode Summary

Here's a summary of the Dec 20th episode that someone saw this week:

Towanda went and got her hair done for for her performance. It's long shoulder length hair with bangs, she meets with her singing coach who is frank about her really feeling the song and not having dead eyes while she sings, Towanda is going to really think about what she says so she'll do well.
Cassie writes a long letter to Rhonda about how she's in the house to learn to speak up and be heard and no one is hearing her about her hair and she hates it- she signs it just "Cassie" and shows it to Sommer and Renee and stresses that she didn't sign it "thanks, Cassie", the women agree if that's how she feels then she should share it with Rhonda.
Iyanla holds group and has gives the women each a peacock feather. She tells them each to look at the eye of the feather and balance the long feather on their finger while focusing on the eye thinking of themselves and they're issues and how they can overcome/achieve. Renee can't balance it at all and she gets a bit annoyed that she isn't able to do it. Towanda is balancing it the best. Cassie is balancing it well and is even spinning circles to make sure it doesn't fall. Iyanla is explaining that you have to move with the obstacles and go with the flow to keep focus on the task at hand.
Renee and Iyala meet. They are talking about bad things that have happened to here that have brought her to where she is today. There is a posterboard. Renee writes "Daddy took $" then some other mildly significantly things like someone stole her identity to buy a cellphone and pizza once. Then Iyanla prods her quite a bit. Renee pauses, and say "something happened when I was little but...." Iyanla very talentedly I might add keeps it going so Renee can't stop to think. Renee goes on to say it was a secret and it happened when she was 7 or 8. And she told her mom when she was older and her mom didn't believe her. Renee is starting to cry. Iyanla says if it's too hard for her to do it in 3rd person. Iyanla asks what happened to her. Renee goes on to tell her that a friend of her family a man that was babysitting her and a friend molested them. He told them not to tell, and made it seem ok at the time. She felt dirty and never told her dad. And hasn't talked about it in a long long time. She's crying. Iyanla hug her and says it happend to her to when she was 9 by a man she knew to. Renee says that the molester committed suicide a few years back and it was the best day of her life. Iyanla just holds her and tells her they are finally ready to move forward for her. She gives her a stone and tells her that night to drop it into the pool and watch the rings it creates, because those are the rings of the people that know what this feels like and that she's not alone. She tells her to take it easy tonight and be gentle to herself.
Rhonda and Cassie meet. Cassie reads her the letter. Rhonda is pleased that Cassie is so upset about something. She explains that for the first time she is meeting the real Cassie. Rhonda comes back later wearing a dark brown wig with bangs, Rhonda asks if she is any different of a person for the hair change. Cassie says she gets it and appologizes. Then at the end asks for extra highlights saying after all she's a women... Rhonda says you're obviously are not getting it IT'S NOT ABOUT THE HAIR it's about the feelings the hair brings up???!!!
Renee is a raw nerve and kind of picks a little fight with Rachel about Rachel not cleaning up a mess she's made in the kitchen. Rachel gets in her face and says "I'm right here and I'm getting to it" and acts kinda bullyish and teenagerish IMO.
Denise,Cassie and Rachel go to Target. Denise says that she is sick of Sommer. They start talking about Sommer talking to the production people and how it is interfering with things. Denise is suprised and doesn't seem to see any of this going on. Rachel starts dogging on Renee and says that whatever Sommer does Renee does and how Renee is there for the wrong reasons. The carload seems to agree that Renee doesn't belong in the house. Meanwhile Sommer is at the house telling Renee that she thinks Rachel is a big phoney and she doesn't think any of the tears are real.
Everyone is back at the house. Renee sits at the table by Cassie and Renee starts to talk to her sadly but on edge about "I heard that you all talked about how I don't belong in the house..." (not sure how she found out BTW...) Rachel overhears and starts saying something and says intimidatinly "do you want me to be part of this conversation?" Renee snidly says "I'm talking to Cassie!" Rachel goes down to the computer where she can hear everything. Renee starts reading from her journal to Cassie about her feeling and is basically talking about Rachel, Cassie is obviously in the middle, and Cassie says "I've never really had a real emotional converstion with you Renee" and Renee says loudly (the tention is high Denise is on the phone holding it up for whomever to listen...) "then don't let Rachel decide for you if I belong in the house make up your mind yourself don't let her decide for you!" Rachel jumps up throws her arms up and starts yelling at Renee and is coming closer to her and yells "You're just here to drink and meet boys that's it" Then it shows Denise holding the phone up toward the argument (we don't know who is on the phone) she's on her knees cleaning up a wine glass that has broken next to the table by the phone.

Posted by inthestars at 01:35 PM

Cassie's Son Has Been Found

Starting Over has found Cassie's son. They will be meeting later this season.

Remember Susan from last season? According to an insider:

Last season Rhonda found Susans father well before Susan met him. They also never told, at least on air, that Susan had been searching on her own for two years and knew his occupation and where he lived. It was all played out for the drama. If you remember Susan could never get Mel on the phone but while in Kentucky he answered and met them at the drop of a hat. This show has many investigators on staff and they have found Cassie's son. Rachael gets upset that two girls got in the office. Did a certain production staff member hold the key to the locked office? Renee was so new that it is thought she was in on it for acceptance. more to come...

Posted by inthestars at 01:24 PM

Monday Spoiler

Remember the rumor that some of the houseguests got into the production office? Here's what supposedly happened according to an insider:

The notes read in the production office pertained to a certain houseguest who just had a makeover. SO took it upon themselves to find a certain person from her past and set up a meeting. In the comming days information starts to get leaked to her by another housemate. Rhonda finds out and even though they knew who the girls, yes girls who were in the office giggling, they wanted them to sweat it out and create a little drama knowing viewers would keep watching. Two housemates get reprimanded, though only one gets the boot. more to come...

Sommer is the house guest that gets the boot.

Posted by inthestars at 01:20 PM

December 03, 2004

Daily Summaries for next week on Starting Over

Here are summaries for next week's episodes:

Daily Summaries from Zap2it.com Mon. Dec. 6 to Fri. Dec. 10

Armed policemen evacuate the women from the house; Denise faces a harsh realization about
herself; Iyanla forces Towanda into isolation; Cassie deals with the possibility that her son might
not want to talk to her.

Towanda experiences painful revelations about her family and herself; Sommer prepares for a visit
from her parents; Denise tries to get attention from her roommates.

Towanda feels Iyanla betrayed her; Rachael talks about her emotional scars; Renee breaks down
when she receives an assignment she thinks she cannot handle.

Sommer's parents arrive; Cassie meets with an adoption attorney to discuss her desire to
reconnect with her son; Towanda invites her husband to the house.

Towanda's husband visits; Sommer has a breakthrough with her parents; Rachael experiences
grief over her deceased mother.

Daily Summaries from all other listings I could find for Mon. Dec. 13 & Tues. Dec. 14

Sommer's parents arrive at the house; Cassie is dealt an emotional blow after meeting with an
adoption attorney; Towanda invites her husband to the house.

Towanda and her husband engage in a fierce conversation; Sommer has a breakthrough with her
parents; Rachael deals with the grief over her deceased mother.

Posted by inthestars at 10:07 PM

Monday Dec 6th Spoiler

The show starts with hot surfer guy, Sean, coming to the house to pick up Sommer. He's going to teach Sommer and a friend how to surf. Sommer asks Denise to join her. Denise is excited, but Sommer is scared, it's a big risk. At the beach they put on wet suits and Sommer is happier, it's better than being at the pool in her bathing suit. Sean (ooooh, yummy) leads them in some stretches, then gets them in the water.

Dr Stan arrives to meet with Rachael. She talks about her brother, Jason, who is 31 and lives on the east coast. She says he blew all their parents money, and left two days after the funeral. She feels like he abandoned her. Rachael had counselling after her parents died, but she didn't talk about it, she was in denial. She's afraid to grieve since she's afraid she won't be able to pick up the pieces. She contemplated suicide since she wanted to be with her parents.

Back to the surfing. Sommer is trying hard and seems to be having fun. She's doing better than I did my first time, surfing is hard!

Back to Rachael and Dr Stan. She tried to comfort herself by sneaking out at night and meeting boys, so people didn't see her as hurt. She doesn't understand why they didn't see through that. She repeats that her aunt didn't have the "tools" to look after her, Dr Stan thinks maybe her aunt just didn't want to. Rachael is still in contact with her aunt, but has never confronted her about this. She has never been assertive with her brother either, she's afraid it would push them away.

Sommer and Denise get back, and Denise says in confessional that she did better than Sommer. (as far as I could tell, she wasn't) She also says this to Cassie, who sort of reprimands her, saying it was Sommer's assignment. Denise says she can't help being better.

Rhonda leads group, and Sommer tells her about surfing. They discuss the first trip to the beach when Sommer wouldn't even get in the water. Rhonda introduces the "stretch, risk or die" excercise. A stretch is "something kinda scary, but not too scary, so you'll do it" a risk is "something way scary, you're going to do it, but you're nervous about it" and die is "absolutely not, you don't want to do it because you're going to die".

Rhonda asks Sommer what her die zone is, and Sommer says she thinks she's been there a lot lately, and comments that she seems to gain more confidence with every risk she takes. Rhonda announces that tonight there will be a "I lost 100lbs" celebration. Sommer doesn't like the party idea. She understands it will allow her to own the 100lbs, but she just wants them gone.

Rhonda asks Renee what her die zone is, and she says seeing her father again. They haven't spoken for 9-10 years. She admits it wouldn't be okay for him to be happy and proud of her, she wants him to have suffered without her in his life.

Rachael's die zone is admitting to her brother and aunt how abandoned she felt, and how angry she is about it. She's scared they will push her away and then she'll really be alone. Rhonda praises her for being able to admit her anger.

Iyanla and Renee meet. Iyanla talks about choices, and says that thinking could be hazardous to Renee's healing. She tells Renee to get her six-year-old. Renee's father was the authority figure, her mom she was very close to, her brother was nasty and mean. She says she inherited her father's bad temper. Iyanla senses some deep pain in Renee that she's not ready to discuss, so Iyanla assigns her to do some role-plays. Renee starts out as herself at 6, Cassie is her mom, Denise is her dad, and Rachael is her brother. They really get into it, and Denise says in confessional that it was really easy for her to be mean and angry, like her own dad.

Towanda and Sommer go shopping for party supplies, and Sommer just keeps saying she doesn't want to make a big deal out of it, she not into the idea of a party at all.

Dr Stan meets with Renee. (BTW, she's 28) She knows she has anger issues, she thinks it's because she didn't have a father "growing up", then she corrects herself and says "after high school". Dr Stan says she didn't have a father for her transition to adulthood, so she feels stuck in adolescence(sp?). She had a great boyfriend for a long time, he treated her like a baby, she had him wrapped around her finger, but she broke up with him because she got tired of it. Dr Stan points out that she saw him as a father figure. Renee cries about being stuck as a teenager and not "getting it" in the house. Dr Stan tells her he and Iyanla don't expect her to get it yet.

Towanda is having fun shopping, and says in confessional she's on a mission to make sure Sommer has a good time, even though she gets in a "mood" sometimes when she isn't feeling it. Sommer just keeps saying she doesn't want a party.

Rachael and Iyanla meet, and Iyanla asks her what it was like role playing the brother. Rachael says it was uncomfortable and hilarious. Iyanla comments that maybe Rachael's brother had to back off, in order to deal with their parents death, and wasn't able to be there for her, maybe he knows she's angry with him about it. Rachael agrees that could be the case.

Renee does another role play, as a teenager this time. She was a real party girl, and didn't care about school. She says in confessional that this role play is bringing back the memories, and it's hitting her hard.

While driving home, Sommer decides she needs to take a risk, and at a stop light she jumps out of the car, runs all around it, then jumps back in, laughing. In confessional she says taking a risk is like a rush of adrenaline.

Renee talks to Iyanla about what she has learned today. She's aware she disrespects her co-workers, and she manipulates boyfriends. Her father made an attempt to reconcile, but Renee didn't want to.

It's time for Sommer's party. In confessional, Rhonda says that Sommer told her that she gains an insight with every pound lost, so Rhonda wants her to come up with 100 insights. The HGs order pizza and sit outside with party hats on. Sommer reads her insights and they light a candle for each one. One "insight" is that Sommer has quit smoking!

Rachael calls her aunt and says there are still things between them they need to talk about. Her aunt doesn't have anything, but says if Rachael does, that's okay. Rachael says she felt abandoned, and everyone at the house wonders why she wasn't taken in by family. Her aunt says she's not going to feel guilty about it, she's just Rachael's aunt, not her mother. She says that there wasn't anyone who could cope with Rachael except in a theraputic environment. She says taking Rachael in would have disrupted her whole family. She says she's not trying to hurt Rachael, or be mean, that's just the reality. She points out that Rachael's mom didn't want to die, she tried all kinds of treatments, and as her sister, Rachael's aunt was grieving too. She has to go, but tells Rachael to call whenever she needs to talk.

Previews for Tuesday:

The women have a terrifying night: We see group with Rhonda and Iyanla, and Towanda says "The alarm went off and it sounded like someone entering the house."

And what the scare reveals could spell disaster for one woman:
(okay, I'm going to describe this bit fully, and you can draw your own conclusions)
First shot: Rhonda has her head turned to the right and says "This is grounds for dismissal."
Second shot: We see Towanda, Denise and Rachael sitting on the couch to Rhonda and Iyanla's left. We hear Rhonda saying "You should not be in the Starting Over house.." and Rachael is nodding.
Third shot: We see the whole group, Sommer, Renee and Cassie are sitting on the couch to Rhonda's left. Sommer is closest to Rhonda, and Renee is in the middle. I can't see the expressions on their faces. Rhonda seems to be looking out at the group as a whole and continues "...because you're not here for the right reasons."

Denise makes a heart-wrenching connection: We see her talking to Towanda, saying "It makes sense, why I hold onto anger."

And Towanda explodes: We see her sobbing, and Iyanla holding her, then Iyanla encouraging her, saying "You can do this."

So Tuesday's the big day, I think it's Sommer Rhonda was talking to, but who knows? The editing leaves it very unclear.

Posted by inthestars at 10:05 PM

News from Kim's Chat

Kim's chat today at her website was interesting. Jennifer was also present. Here are some tidbits:

1. Deborah was indeed pregnant and Kim was horrified that Deborah's daughter had to arrange the abortion.

2. Kim was scared to sleep in the same room as Deborah because she thought she was on crack.

3. Deborah at one point said that she liked to sleep nude and then took off her panties and tossed them at a cameraman.

4. Jennifer returns to school in Jan at Metro University in Denver. She will have a website soon, done by the same people who created Kim's website. You can donate to her college fund by going to Kim's site and looking under the friend's links section.

5. Jennifer did meet with her father, but the camera crew was not allowed in the prison.

6. The life coaches live about 10 minutes from the house.


Here are partial transcripts from the chat:

Log 1
Log 2

Posted by inthestars at 07:21 PM

Gymnast Vanessa Atler To Join the Starting Over House

Former champion gymnast, Vanessa Atler, joined the SO house in November and her episodes air in January. Here's her site!

Posted by inthestars at 04:39 PM

Why didn't Leah come back?

Why didn't Leah, a sexually conflicted house guest, come back this season? Here's what an acquaintance has written:


I found out that Leah, from last season was scheduled to come back. She decided against it, apparently last moment because she didnt like the way the show portrayed her, and she felt like she wasnt going in the direction she would have liked to move in. However, she is happy, traveling and is still with her girlfriend Leeta.

Posted by inthestars at 04:13 PM

Lori and her fiance Joe

lori_joe.jpg
courtesy of the L Chain

Lori, from the first season of Starting Over, is engaged to a nice man from Chicago named Joe.

Posted by inthestars at 04:09 PM

Josie Graduates from the Hollywood Animal School

Congrats to Josie on graduating from the Hollywood Animal School. Hailey and Linell were there to help her celebrate the occasion. Click here for photos courtsey of Linell's website. Josie's daughter, Chloe, is now walking.

Posted by inthestars at 04:02 PM

Chat with Kim on the 3rd of Dec at 5pm PST

Kim is having a chat on her new website on December 3rd at 5pm PST.

Posted by inthestars at 03:58 PM