Survivor: Is it a blind-side or just voting out someone who is really self-involved?

Jeff Probst keeps touting this season as one of the best seasons in Survivor history, in part because of the record number of blind-sides that will occur in tribal council.  After just two episodes, I’m beginning to think that these aren’t blind-sides as much as they are voting out people who are extremely self-involved.  Let’s take a look back at the first victim, Carolina.  She wasn’t exactly in tune with the other people on her tribe and really just wanted to whine about things all day.  Every member of her tribe voted for her to go home, so I’m not sure that it’s a blind-side.  I think in this case Carolina ignored the warning signs (eye rolls, people getting up and leaving when you approach them and/or start talking) and continued to think that she was a useful and helpful tribe member.  Last night, Candace was voted off.  She’s no different, other than the fact that she is an educated woman.  Anyone who feels the need to bring up the fact that they are an educated woman is clearly over-compensating for something.   Anyway, she’s another one who didn’t see the eye rolls and sense that peope were tiring of her.  Everyone on her tribe also voted for her to go home.

Also, I’m kind of pissed that we know this season has a record number of blind-sides because it ruins the episode.  If you hear people mention that they want to vote out so and so because they’re weak, but wouldn’t it be great to vote out so and so instead, you’re going to know it’s the latter going home.

Survivor: A Satisfying Winner

I’d like to start out by saying that it really should have been Bob, Sugar, and Matty in the final three, but for whatever reason, Susie actually won the last immunity challenge.  It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who thought the last challenge should have been an endurance one, standing in the hot sun while balancing a pole on your head- endurance.  Building a house of cards was interesting to watch, but should not have been the final immunity challenge.  Maybe building a house of cards could have been a component of the final challenge, but it should not have been for all the marbles.  Despite the fact that the final challenge was not an endurance challenge, I expected Bob, the physics teacher (!!) to walk away victorious.  Who better to build a house of cards than a physics teacher?  I never expected Susie to win, with Matty a close second.   Speaking of Matty, his house of cards was looking extremely sturdy.  If only he could have figured it out sooner; he would be a million dollars richer.

During the last episode, Sugar really showed off her ability to think quickly and influence people’s decisions.  Also, she showed her allegiance to Matty by giving him her immunity idol (even if it was unnecessary).   So why would she vote for Matty last night to force a tie with Bob?  I’m not entirely sure.  I suppose it had something to do with feeling that Bob deserved to win more than Matty?  I wonder if it had anything to do with ensuring that Susie would not win (because she viewed Bob as a shoo-in for the million dollars). If she truly didn’t want the million dollars (which seemed to be the case, judging by how she answered those questions from the jury), why didn’t she sacrifice herself so that Bob and Matty would both have a chance at winning?  Sugar has been all over the place strategically, and just when I think she knows what she’s doing, she does something so completely puzzling.

I didn’t get a chance to watch the live reunion show beyond the reveal of the votes because it was so late, but I am interested to hear what everyone had to say, if there were any apologies going around (especially Corinne to Sugar), and who the fan favorite winner was.

Speaking of how late Survivor started….CBS really needs to do something about their football schedule.  It’s probably the biggest reason why I didn’t watch the Amazing Race this season because I never knew when it would finally come on.  On a larger scale, can someone please explain to me why it isn’t possible to finish a football game in 3 hours when the actual playing time is only 60 minutes?  There is something seriously wrong with that.  I flipped to CBS around 6:45 hoping that CBS was on schedule to air Survivor at 8PM as advertised, but I was annoyed to find more than 2 minutes remaining on the game clock.  Experience told me that it would take another 15 minutes for the game to end and at least 15-30 minutes for the post-game show before 60 minutes would air.  As the title suggests, 60 minutes takes up an entire hour, after which Survivor was schedule to air.  Survivor didn’t start until after 8:30PM making it impossible for me to watch the entire reunion show as planned (I would never have made it to work if I stayed up past 11PM).  I could go on and on about the stupidity of football, but I’m sure no one would want to read that.  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, but if I had all the money in the world, I would buy the NFL and run it into the ground.  Screw global warming, world hunger, poverty, etc. etc.  My first order of business would be putting an end to the NFL.  Ok, I’m done now.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on Survivor’s newest winner?  Were you surprised by the close vote?

Survivor: Finally, Crystal is gone!

“You can’t outwit Crystal Cox, baby.”  ~ Crystal Cox, aka newest member of the jury

Apparently, you can outwit Crystal Cox.  It’s so easy that even a pin-up model, who goes by the name Sugar, can outwit her.  I should be nice about Sugar because she’s really not as stupid as she looks.  In fact, I don’t think she’s stupid at all.  In Jeff Probst’s Survivor recap blog, he alludes to the fact the person who scored the second highest on the IQ test, right behind Marcus, will surprise us.  Could it be Sugar?  I think the biggest surprise is that they make the contestants take an IQ test.  What else do they make them do, and when will the audience get a peak at the results?  I’d be interested to see if the “smartest” person at least makes it to the merge.

Anyway, the finale is Sunday, and I’m hoping that it’s a Bob, Matty, Sugar final three.  As long as Bob keeps winning immunity, we should not see Ken in the final three.

We didn’t start the fire….

I am sure that everyone but Susie and Sugar (oddly enough) was singing that old tune after the latest immunity challenge that required the survivors to make a fire, from flint, a knife, and their pile of fire making materials (straw and some pieces of wood), high enough to burn through a piece of string.  Before the challenge started, I immediately thought that Bob (physics teacher) would win hands down.  I never in a million years thought that Sugar or Susie would give him a run for his money, let alone be the only ones able to start a fire.  You can bet that this is the last immunity challenge Susie will win.  I should be impressed that she can actually do something, but the initial shock just won’t go away!

Speaking of being impressed, how GOOD did Bob’s fake immunity idol look?  He fashioned it out of odds and ends from around exile island and  resin, which is something none of the other fake immunity idol manufacturers (Yau Man and Ozzy) had ever thought to do.  This idol looks better than Sugar’s idol, and I am sure that he could probably convince her that she has the fake one. 

Those were probably the only two highlights of yesterday’s show.  I didn’t find the tribal council spat between Randy and Crystal to be that interesting because quite frankly, it happens every week.  If it’s not Randy, it’s someone else with Crystal.  When you have issues with that many people, there comes a point where you have to start to wonder, “Maybe it’s me???”  Whatever the case, Crystal remains completely clueless about how annoying she is (and how her personality is sheer poison to the tribe dynamic).  I’m hoping she goes out next week, but with my luck she’ll probably manage to pull herself together and win an immunity challenge.  How is it that an Olympic gold medalist has performed so poorly in every challenge (most of them quite physical)?

Survivor: Swearing on people’s lives is serious business

This season of Survivor has been rather dull.  We know the Fang tribe entirely too well, and I probably can’t name more than two people on the Kota tribe.  However, last night’s episode had some interesting and funny moments courtesy of Matty, the surfer dude/personal trainer from California.  I have never been one to succumb to the allure of surfer dudes.  In fact, on most reality shows, I find the obligatory surfer dude to be extremely annoying and vapid.  Matty, on the other hand, is different.  If you can overlook the fact that he wants to be called “Matty” instead of Matt, then you will see what I mean.  His innocence in the game isn’t annoyingly naive, but rather it’s refreshing and quite humorous.  Take, for instance, the fact that he considers his deal with Ace to be “very serious” because they have both sworn on the lives of loved ones (Ace swore on the life of his mother; Matty swore on the life of his girlfriend) to not vote each other out until the merge.  Matty also promised that he wouldn’t betray his promise for a million dollars or five million dollars.  It would have been more convincing to say “any amount of money could not make him betray his promise,” but we get the message.  Matty is intent on playing a clean game, and this will probably be his downfall come the merger.  And if it’s not his clean game that will do him in, then it will be that he can’t keep a secret to save his life (in the game).

Was anyone else surprised by Survivor’s newest winner?

Always the bridesmaid, never the bride!  I didn’t think Parvati had a chance in hell of winning the $1 million over Amanda.  I really only thought that Parvati would get only two votes (from her admiring fans Natalie and Alexis).  According to wikipedia, Jason, Eliza, Natalie, Alexis, and Cirie voted for Parvati to win, while James, Erik, and Ozzy voted for Amanda to win.  I am surpised to see that Eliza voted Parvati, given the way Parvati talked about her behind her back, but I guess in the end, she just really wants the girl to like her!  How pathetic!  What would they have done in a tie situation?  If Amanda had taken Cirie, would she be a million dollars richer? 

 

Survivor: Fans vs. favorites is winding down

This installment of Survivor is almost over.  We’re down to the final five, and so far the favorites have the numbers.  Although, I’m not sure if this is still a game of fans vs. favorites anymore.  It was clear that after they switched things up, Ozzy, Amanda, and Cirie had no intention of making sure the favorites kept their numbers when they voted Aimee off for being wishy-washy.  That was probably a mistake on their part because Aimee would certainly have been a better ally for Amanda than Erik or any of the other fans.  It doesn’t matter though because Amanda will be going home eventually anyway.  She’ll have to win three immunity challenges in a row to make it to the finals (and probably secure herself a million dollars) because she’s the big target around camp since Ozzy was voted out and James had to leave due to injury.  Speaking of big targets, I don’t see why Natalie isn’t seen as a bigger threat than Alexis.  Alexis is not a physical threat (she’s hobbling around because of an infected something or other), and she hasn’t proven herself to be much a mental threat either.  Also, she has done NOTHING.  I suppose she is nice enough, but being nice doesn’t win you Survivor (with the exception of Tina Wesson).  The people on that jury are a mixture of fans and favorites–a combination of people who have played the game well before and people who have studied the game religiously.  These are not people who are going to be swayed by proclamations of niceness and being congenial.  Amanda and Parvati should have voted Natalie out instead because she is a much bigger physical and mental threat.  She has proven that she can use people to get what she wants (e.g. Jason), and she’s not bad at those immunity challenges either.  She hasn’t won one yet, but she’s, at the very least, competitive.  I have to admit that part of the reason I would have liked to see Natalie go is because I cannot stand the sight of the woman (and I think she should go have evil children with this season’s biggest asshole, Joel). 

Who do you think will make it to the finals?  Do you really believe that Parvati would take Amanda to the finals with her?  Is anyone going to wake up and realize that despite Cirie’s lackluster performances in the immunity challeneges, she is playing a good, strategic game and needs to be voted out accordingly? 

Survivor: A misleading episode

Last night’s episode of Survivor was a bit of a snore, right?  The previews had me excited about another injury.  It’s not like I wanted Erik to be more injured, but the previews led me to believe that his injury would be a “can’t miss” moment.   I thought another castaway would have to leave the island due to a serious injury, but instead what we got was a desperate attempt to stay on the island that actually worked.  I am really surprised that Erik’s attempt to turn everyone on Malakal against Ami kept him on the island.  Usually, the editing makes you think that there’s a chance that the obvious odd-man-out might stay, but we all know that they will be voted off accordingly.   I was even gagging at how ridiculously pained each member of Malakal looked when writing down their vote.  I thought to myself, “It is so ridiculous that they are putting on this act of being torn when you know they’re not going to write Ami’s name down!”  You can imagine my astonishment when it was revealed that Ami was voted out.  I actually let out an audible gasp and remarked, “Get out!”  Well played, Malakal.  You certainly had me fooled.  I kind of felt like Joel for a moment when he was blind-sided by the very same group of people a few weeks ago. 

Let’s talk strategy for a moment, shall we?  Did Ozzy make a fatal error when he convinced the rest of the tribe to vote Ami off?  I think he might have.  Erik has no loyalty to them, and next week when they merge, he’s going to go right back to the fans.  Also, I think Ami made a good point when she was saying that while she discussed voting Ozzy off previously, she never did, in fact, write his name down.  Isn’t that all that matters?  Who cares if she talks to the other people in the tribe about voting people off, if she doesn’t actually do it?  Does Ozzy really think that Cirie and Amanda are any more trustworthy?  He shouldn’t, but he probably does.  Cirie is probably the least trustworthy person out there, yet somehow Ozzy doesn’t see it. 

How do you think the alliances will play out when the merge happens?  Is Parvati really going to stick with Natalie and Ashley to vote James and Ozzy out?  Will Amanda go along with that? 

Survivor: Two more go home

At the rate people are dropping like flies, we’ll have a winner in no time.  Ozzy can have his million dollar check sooner rather than later.  That’s a big assumption though, isn’t it?  If Ozzy manages to keep his team happy (so he better start being a little more likeable and not so selfish), he might not need to play that immunity idol until the two tribes merge.  Once that happens, he and James will be the biggest targets.  Anyway back to last night’s episode…..

How many people are going to quit this season due to severe emotional turmoil?  What did Kathy in?  Was it the fact that she missed her washer and dryer?  Or was Jonathan’s injury departure too much to handle?  While she seemed like a nice enough woman, it’s no great loss.  She was probably the next one to go should Airai actually lose an immunity challenge.  Tracy’s departure also was not a surprise given that she was the weakest member of the original fans’ tribe left on Malakal.  Also, accusing Ozzy of wanting to kill the chickens later when there’s less people on the team (i.e. more meat) was not a smart move.  She had just gotten finished talking about how Ozzy is in control of the tribe, and then she goes and picks a fight with him.  Not smart!  Although, I suppose she didn’t have a play.  There was no way she would get the numbers to vote Ozzy out.  Cirie and Ami would not have participated in a plan that involved forcing a tie between Ozzy and Tracy. 

So, who’s going to throw in the towel next week?  When are these people going to merge?  Is Jason going to play that ridiculous looking fake immunity idol soon?  Is anyone finding this season of Survivor rather lackluster?

Survivor: One legitimate reason to call it quits…another not so legitimate reason

We all know why Chet quit—mental, emotional, and physical drain.  Notice that the list of reasons did not include a (mysterious) foot ailment.  Seriously, when he showed Ozzy his foot, I looked HARD.  If I had a TiVo, I would have paused so I could get a longer look.  I am no doctor, but to me, it looked a little pink and that’s it.  I think I have seen my foot look worse just through the course of a normal workday (heels can do that to a person’s foot).  Even more amusing than Chet’s foot problems was the fact that his “alliance” thought he would consider staying another 3 days (potentially more if they miraculously got on a winning streak) to help vote out Ozzy.  I thought this strategy was ridiculous.  What good would getting rid of Ozzy do?  Voting out these stronger players first is what got the former “fans” tribe in trouble in the first place.  One could argue that voting out Joel severely diminished the tribe’s chance of winning any challenges, but truth be told, Joel didn’t do anything but strategize poorly.  His physical dominance was never a factor.  Voting out Ozzy would pretty much guarantee a loss in every subsequent challenge.  Ozzy is one of those people that you need to keep around before the tribes merge (when it’s still group immunity, not individual immunity). 

The other castaway to go home never got his torch snuffed.  Jonathan was injured during last week’s reward challenge.  Despite a severely infected and swollen knee, he still managed to help his team win reward.  I also think that switching up the tribes gave him new life in the game.  At the old “favorites” camp, I think he would have been on his way out (since he was not  part of the couples + Cirie alliance).  So when he said “I had this game,” as he was being shipped to the hospital, I kind of believed him.  Some might say that his personality was toxic (maybe Parvati who likened him to cancer during Cook Islands), but I found him to be reasonable, logical, and decent in physical challenges—a pretty lethal combination in the game of Survivor.  No one would ever accuse him of flying under the radar either.  It’s too bad he had to leave under such circumstances.  Jonathan’s exit is really making me re-evaluate my television viewing habits.  Should I continue to watch even though both of my favorite “favorites” are out?  Are there any standouts on the “fans” side to root for?