Not to be outdone by Russell Hantz, who's got his own show coming up in which he is a Texas "House Flipper"... our very own Boston Rob has landed himself a deal with History Television called "Around the World in 80 Ways".... Pretty self-explanatory. Here's a link to the story:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/zap-rob-marianos-around-the-world-in-20110516,0,2248911.story
Thanks to poolster John for the heads-up on this one. Now, here's the thing... Who's going to be the co-host? I wish it was going to be Ambah, but she's got to stay home with the young Marianos. John said he'd heard that it's going to be that dirtbag, Jesse James. (See: Dude who cheated on Sandra Bullock.) I'm fairly sure that no matter how much I love Rob, I wouldn't watch it if Jesse James is co-hosting. He deserves no more of our attention. Trust. I believe that it's actually going to be another car-dude named Dennis Anderson. Apparently he's the creator of some sort of famous monster truck? Whatever. That's I guy I'll watch. I guess it'll be sometimes cooperation, sometimes competition.... and there are ostriches involved. At any rate, Boston Rob's "day job" as a reality TV star just keeps on truckin'.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
The Robfather Pulls It Off. Only Took Four Tries.
Sorry for the late post. I was travelling again & on the road yesterday... Do real bloggers have laptops? Probably.
So... ROB! Rob, Rob, Rob.... Did you love it? I know that I talk to a lot of people who wanted Rob to win, but that there are also a lot of you who didn't want him to win. You all know I fit into the first category. Yeah, he could be pretty cocky and smarmy, but honestly... even my boyfriend Jeff said that Rob played the closest thing he's ever seen to a perfect game. It was brilliant. He went there to win and that's what he did. He didn't get sucked into the whole, "you're my buddy and I can't possibly vote you off" thing. And I know some of you disagree, but you know that it's the way I think the game should be played. As Rob said a number of times, "I didn't come here to make friends." And it's true. If you're Rob, you've got a lot of friends back home and what's more - you've got a wife and two babies to support and as we all know, being a reality TV show contestant is Rob's job. Some people are plumbers or doctors and others go to work in a tropical country with 17 other random weirdos and have to make all of those weirdos listen to what you say, respect you and vote for you to have a million dollars. It is a job and Rob worked damn hard at it.
You've probably all seen the show by now, so I'm not going to do much play-by-play. Let's just talk about the interesting parts.
1) When Ashley wins immunity AGAIN, forcing the group to vote off Andrea. What the heck... when did Ashley all of a sudden get good at challenges? Was she all along maybe and I was just looking at Grant? Possible. At any rate, it looked like a good opportunity for the girls to form an alliance and vote off Rob, right? It also looked like Rob wasn't going to play his immunity idol. Clever editors.... Later at the reunion show, Ashley told us that she and Natalie knew about Rob's idol, so they knew they couldn't vote for him. Ah-ha! Clever Rob for making sure they knew it! So bye-bye Andrea.
2) Down to the final four - Rob wins immunity and was the happiest guy EVER! He wanted it bad, and almost got beat again by Ashley, who then got voted off. Poor girl. She was M-A-D about it and although it looked like she eventually forgave Natalie for it, she certainly had not forgiven Natalie at the final tribal council.
3) Rob picked the BEST FINAL THREE COMBO EVER. Seriously, he could not have asked for a better couple to take to the jury than Natalie and Phillip. Natalie was young and cute, but sorry, kinda dumb. She never worked at camp, she never made friends outside of her tribe, she did everything Rob told her and she never won challenges. Her entire arguement was that ummmmm... she's the youngest female contestant ever and she followed Rob to the finish. Right. The 'riding coattails' strategy has worked in the past (other Natalie with Russell) but that was because Russell was so hated and because other Natalie was able to argue that she was in on the decisions and was actually a partner in the process. This Natalie just sat back and gave the million to Rob.
4) Phillip flakes out. Phillip honestly could have maybe had some more votes if he'd played his cards right. He got one vote in the end from Ralph (who actually voted for some guy named Phile) just for giving Ralph a compliment. He could have talked about 'being the villain' as a strategy. Told them that he was being such a jerk and such a weirdo BECAUSE he knew that that was a way to get people to take him to the end. Unfortunately, he did not say any of this. He said he 'changed his strategy' but then didn't talk about what his strategy actually was. He, just like Natalie, gave Rob the money by sitting there and thanking Rob for getting him there and admitting that he was only there because of Rob. Really? Phil was pretty awesome and honest in the questions though. I think he was sincere in his comments about Ralph, and I loved when he basically told off... who was it? Ashley or Julie? Ashley I think.... "NO, I will talk if I want to." Ashley: "No you won't." Phil: "Look, I'm talking right now, whether you like it or not." Hee. He just sat there in his ancestral robe and feathers and made no attempt to win the money. It was more of a giant "Screw You All" to the jury. Awesome if you're Rob.
5) The bitter jury. Although the vote came out the way it should, those rotters on the jury still may have given it to someone else instead of Rob if they'd have had anyone half decent to vote for. They were still so bitter and it always, always amazes me how people cannot detach the show from reality. It goes to show you how real the emotions are for those people. They were downright mean this time out, I thought. Usually you get one meanie, but this time there was a lot of mean. Ashley was bitter. Grant was bitter. Julie was horrible to Natalie - asking if she thought her parents would be proud of her and saying if she was her daughter, she wouldn't be proud at all... Yikes! That's mean. (I liked Rob leaning over protectively to Natalie saying don't worry, they'll be all smiles later. So true.) Saying to Rob that he hopes his daughters will be proud of how he played because she doesn't know how they could be.... Gah! (Ummm... I'm pretty sure Rob's daughters will be pretty proud of their dad as they enroll in college that he's paid for....) Anyway, Steve was reasonably horrible to Phillip (as you'd expect) and Mike and Matt just seemed bitter and mad that no one was thanking "their God" for being there. (Ugh... as much as I liked Matt this season, and to each their own and everything, if I had to listen to Matt going on about "praising his God" one more time..... ) Which brings me to another thought? Am I as mean as the jury? I said out loud while I was watching... they are so mean... I would never say those things. Ummmm.... wait a sec. I do say those things.... in my blog. Hee hee. Oh well. If any of them ever read this, I sort of apologize. Maybe it depends who it is. : ) Anyway, I liked that Rob could have defended himself more, but knew to keep his mouth shut for the most part. He knew he had it in the bag and let Natalie and Phillip give him the cash.
6) And David. Ha! David - the lawyer - presented a case to the jury on why they should vote for Rob instead of asking questions! So amazing. David gets it. David saw the brilliance. Rob should at least buy David a beer.
7) The reunion show. My friend Kylie said she liked that they didn't bother talking to the "back row" people but I disagree. I like that they catch up with the people who didn't make the jury, so I missed that. Instead they spent a bunch of time letting David monopolize our hour by proposing on live TV to Carolina - a former Survivor contestant. Uh, did any of you other girls have your spidey senses tingling on that one? That she was shocked - and maybe not in a good way? Kept saying "Survivor likes to keep blindsiding me." I would find that horrifying, but that's just me. Russell was a good sport and shook Rob's hand. That was good to see. In other news, poolster Wendy forwarded me this link about Russell getting his own TV show:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/16/us-russellhantz-idUSTRE74F7DJ20110516
Will you watch? Speaking of making up, Phillip also apologized to Steve and they shook hands. Phil seemed a bit bitter and off, non? They brought in some lady to say that yes, Phillip was indeed a real special agent and there was no real surprise there. So what was with all the question marks then, Mark Burnett? If it's that easy to find out.... Matt looked good with a haircut and Andrea got all gushy about "liking" Matt and that seemed to make him uncomfortable in a "get away, stalker" kind of way. Grant is still pissed at Rob, which I found strange. Rob tried to make up and said they were friends again until episode 4 aired. I'd like to go back and see what it was that turned Grant, but Rob did talk a lot like, "all these losers" and "dum-dums" and "clowns" and so on. So I guess he's taken it personally. Too bad, because I do think Rob's sincere that he'd like to be friends with Grant in real life.... oh well. Again, do we have to go over it? The show is NOT called "Making Friends and Playing With the Most Integrity".... It's called Survivor and the thing is to "Outwit, Outlast, Outplay." There are loads of games from the time we're kids that involve deception. It's just that these people have to spend a lot of time together and develop emotional bonds which is what makes the show always so interesting. Rob - after playing four times mind you - learned that it's not at all about the emotional bonds. It's about controlling your tribe in a way that makes them respect you - which is where Russell had it wrong. He had the controlling part down, but they all hated him at the end of the day, where Rob earned some respect AND knew who to play against at the end. We could get into quite a philosophical discussion about Survivor - good vs. evil, the idea of redemption being to be saved from sin, thus saved from evil. Is it sinning? Can you play the game and stay on the side of "goodness" and "integrity"? Doesn't Rob's type of game play count as good? He protected and stayed loyal to his tribe until he couldn't any more - except Matt, oddly the one who was the personification of good and was the one who couldn't be trusted the most in the game context.
Next season will be another Redemption Island, so we can talk about it some more. And, it'll be interesting to see how it'll work - you'd think one guy won't win 100 challenges in a row again like Matt? Maybe. And who's your guess for the two returning Survivors? Jane? Phillip? Matt? Russell AGAIN? Please no. I want to see Marty from last season. Or even someone like Frans-questra who seemed like she'd be a good competitor but got a raw deal this time out. Send me your comments & thoughts and thanks so much for reading!!
So... ROB! Rob, Rob, Rob.... Did you love it? I know that I talk to a lot of people who wanted Rob to win, but that there are also a lot of you who didn't want him to win. You all know I fit into the first category. Yeah, he could be pretty cocky and smarmy, but honestly... even my boyfriend Jeff said that Rob played the closest thing he's ever seen to a perfect game. It was brilliant. He went there to win and that's what he did. He didn't get sucked into the whole, "you're my buddy and I can't possibly vote you off" thing. And I know some of you disagree, but you know that it's the way I think the game should be played. As Rob said a number of times, "I didn't come here to make friends." And it's true. If you're Rob, you've got a lot of friends back home and what's more - you've got a wife and two babies to support and as we all know, being a reality TV show contestant is Rob's job. Some people are plumbers or doctors and others go to work in a tropical country with 17 other random weirdos and have to make all of those weirdos listen to what you say, respect you and vote for you to have a million dollars. It is a job and Rob worked damn hard at it.
You've probably all seen the show by now, so I'm not going to do much play-by-play. Let's just talk about the interesting parts.
1) When Ashley wins immunity AGAIN, forcing the group to vote off Andrea. What the heck... when did Ashley all of a sudden get good at challenges? Was she all along maybe and I was just looking at Grant? Possible. At any rate, it looked like a good opportunity for the girls to form an alliance and vote off Rob, right? It also looked like Rob wasn't going to play his immunity idol. Clever editors.... Later at the reunion show, Ashley told us that she and Natalie knew about Rob's idol, so they knew they couldn't vote for him. Ah-ha! Clever Rob for making sure they knew it! So bye-bye Andrea.
2) Down to the final four - Rob wins immunity and was the happiest guy EVER! He wanted it bad, and almost got beat again by Ashley, who then got voted off. Poor girl. She was M-A-D about it and although it looked like she eventually forgave Natalie for it, she certainly had not forgiven Natalie at the final tribal council.
3) Rob picked the BEST FINAL THREE COMBO EVER. Seriously, he could not have asked for a better couple to take to the jury than Natalie and Phillip. Natalie was young and cute, but sorry, kinda dumb. She never worked at camp, she never made friends outside of her tribe, she did everything Rob told her and she never won challenges. Her entire arguement was that ummmmm... she's the youngest female contestant ever and she followed Rob to the finish. Right. The 'riding coattails' strategy has worked in the past (other Natalie with Russell) but that was because Russell was so hated and because other Natalie was able to argue that she was in on the decisions and was actually a partner in the process. This Natalie just sat back and gave the million to Rob.
4) Phillip flakes out. Phillip honestly could have maybe had some more votes if he'd played his cards right. He got one vote in the end from Ralph (who actually voted for some guy named Phile) just for giving Ralph a compliment. He could have talked about 'being the villain' as a strategy. Told them that he was being such a jerk and such a weirdo BECAUSE he knew that that was a way to get people to take him to the end. Unfortunately, he did not say any of this. He said he 'changed his strategy' but then didn't talk about what his strategy actually was. He, just like Natalie, gave Rob the money by sitting there and thanking Rob for getting him there and admitting that he was only there because of Rob. Really? Phil was pretty awesome and honest in the questions though. I think he was sincere in his comments about Ralph, and I loved when he basically told off... who was it? Ashley or Julie? Ashley I think.... "NO, I will talk if I want to." Ashley: "No you won't." Phil: "Look, I'm talking right now, whether you like it or not." Hee. He just sat there in his ancestral robe and feathers and made no attempt to win the money. It was more of a giant "Screw You All" to the jury. Awesome if you're Rob.
5) The bitter jury. Although the vote came out the way it should, those rotters on the jury still may have given it to someone else instead of Rob if they'd have had anyone half decent to vote for. They were still so bitter and it always, always amazes me how people cannot detach the show from reality. It goes to show you how real the emotions are for those people. They were downright mean this time out, I thought. Usually you get one meanie, but this time there was a lot of mean. Ashley was bitter. Grant was bitter. Julie was horrible to Natalie - asking if she thought her parents would be proud of her and saying if she was her daughter, she wouldn't be proud at all... Yikes! That's mean. (I liked Rob leaning over protectively to Natalie saying don't worry, they'll be all smiles later. So true.) Saying to Rob that he hopes his daughters will be proud of how he played because she doesn't know how they could be.... Gah! (Ummm... I'm pretty sure Rob's daughters will be pretty proud of their dad as they enroll in college that he's paid for....) Anyway, Steve was reasonably horrible to Phillip (as you'd expect) and Mike and Matt just seemed bitter and mad that no one was thanking "their God" for being there. (Ugh... as much as I liked Matt this season, and to each their own and everything, if I had to listen to Matt going on about "praising his God" one more time..... ) Which brings me to another thought? Am I as mean as the jury? I said out loud while I was watching... they are so mean... I would never say those things. Ummmm.... wait a sec. I do say those things.... in my blog. Hee hee. Oh well. If any of them ever read this, I sort of apologize. Maybe it depends who it is. : ) Anyway, I liked that Rob could have defended himself more, but knew to keep his mouth shut for the most part. He knew he had it in the bag and let Natalie and Phillip give him the cash.
6) And David. Ha! David - the lawyer - presented a case to the jury on why they should vote for Rob instead of asking questions! So amazing. David gets it. David saw the brilliance. Rob should at least buy David a beer.
7) The reunion show. My friend Kylie said she liked that they didn't bother talking to the "back row" people but I disagree. I like that they catch up with the people who didn't make the jury, so I missed that. Instead they spent a bunch of time letting David monopolize our hour by proposing on live TV to Carolina - a former Survivor contestant. Uh, did any of you other girls have your spidey senses tingling on that one? That she was shocked - and maybe not in a good way? Kept saying "Survivor likes to keep blindsiding me." I would find that horrifying, but that's just me. Russell was a good sport and shook Rob's hand. That was good to see. In other news, poolster Wendy forwarded me this link about Russell getting his own TV show:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/16/us-russellhantz-idUSTRE74F7DJ20110516
Will you watch? Speaking of making up, Phillip also apologized to Steve and they shook hands. Phil seemed a bit bitter and off, non? They brought in some lady to say that yes, Phillip was indeed a real special agent and there was no real surprise there. So what was with all the question marks then, Mark Burnett? If it's that easy to find out.... Matt looked good with a haircut and Andrea got all gushy about "liking" Matt and that seemed to make him uncomfortable in a "get away, stalker" kind of way. Grant is still pissed at Rob, which I found strange. Rob tried to make up and said they were friends again until episode 4 aired. I'd like to go back and see what it was that turned Grant, but Rob did talk a lot like, "all these losers" and "dum-dums" and "clowns" and so on. So I guess he's taken it personally. Too bad, because I do think Rob's sincere that he'd like to be friends with Grant in real life.... oh well. Again, do we have to go over it? The show is NOT called "Making Friends and Playing With the Most Integrity".... It's called Survivor and the thing is to "Outwit, Outlast, Outplay." There are loads of games from the time we're kids that involve deception. It's just that these people have to spend a lot of time together and develop emotional bonds which is what makes the show always so interesting. Rob - after playing four times mind you - learned that it's not at all about the emotional bonds. It's about controlling your tribe in a way that makes them respect you - which is where Russell had it wrong. He had the controlling part down, but they all hated him at the end of the day, where Rob earned some respect AND knew who to play against at the end. We could get into quite a philosophical discussion about Survivor - good vs. evil, the idea of redemption being to be saved from sin, thus saved from evil. Is it sinning? Can you play the game and stay on the side of "goodness" and "integrity"? Doesn't Rob's type of game play count as good? He protected and stayed loyal to his tribe until he couldn't any more - except Matt, oddly the one who was the personification of good and was the one who couldn't be trusted the most in the game context.
Next season will be another Redemption Island, so we can talk about it some more. And, it'll be interesting to see how it'll work - you'd think one guy won't win 100 challenges in a row again like Matt? Maybe. And who's your guess for the two returning Survivors? Jane? Phillip? Matt? Russell AGAIN? Please no. I want to see Marty from last season. Or even someone like Frans-questra who seemed like she'd be a good competitor but got a raw deal this time out. Send me your comments & thoughts and thanks so much for reading!!
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Losing Blows!
So, I was thinking that the great thing about Survivor is that as "predictable" as it can be, it's still pretty much impossible to call at this point... and don't forget....
THE SEASON FINALE IS THIS SUNDAY!!!
Every year they spring that on people and lots of folks miss it. Gah!
Here's what I mean about predictable: Matt keeps winning at Redemption Island. Yes, he did again...well, actually Mike won, but Matt was second and Andrea was third and Ralph lost. Now, unpredictable: It should have been Andrea losing, right? Ralph was way ahead with the maze part and then lost it on the puzzle. (Seriously, the guy can't spell and you give him a puzzle with words on it?) Andrea was a total mess and I find her SO annoying. It's not that she gets emotional, because pretty much everyone gets emotional playing this game. But it's the whiny emotion of, "You look people in the face and they lie to you and I thought they were my friends...."
Dear Mark Burnett,
Show idea... you're welcome to steal it. Have a show where people have to become best friends with the most people they can. Everyone must be honest and make everyone else happy all the time and the one with the most true friends at the end wins. We'll call it BFF's For Like, Ever. Oh, and if you want to hire me as your official blogger, I'd be more than happy and think I'd do a better job than Rob Cesternino.
Sincerely, Keri
Ugh. No one would watch that, now, would they? However, every year, there are quite a few people on Survivor - Andrea included - who think that this is the game they are playing. Boston Rob had it right when he talked about voting off his friend Grant. He said, "I like the guy and we'd probably be friends off the show, but I didn't come on the show to make friends. I came to win a million dollars." But, because people like Andrea will be part of the jury, they will likely miss this point and Rob's decision could bite him in the ass. Back to Andrea and her annoyingness though, did you love/cringe at the part where she shows up at Redemption Island and has to talk to Matt about how he gives her the stink-eye all the time at challenges and how he "hates" her now... blah, blah, blah. Poor Matty. You know that if we saw a one minute snippet of the conversation, it probably went on forever in real life. I liked when he just said, yeah, I think I'm going to go to bed now, and ended it. Hee. And then when Andrea tries to get in the shelter, Ralph tells her to sleep on the ground! Ha! He says in real life, he'd never do that, but because they treated the Zapateras so badly now it's her turn. So maybe treating them that badly was a bad idea, what with all of them on the jury now.
So the other best part about the Duel was my boyfriend, Jeff. Sometimes he comes out with some really great lines. Like, "You don't want to lose just because you're having a bad day." (Ummm, Andrea!) And my personal favourite, "You don't need to win, you just need to not lose. You don't want to lose. That blows." Honestly... I had to turn and ask out loud, "Did he really just say, "That blows?"" Jeff is the best host ever.
Back to my original point. It looked like it was going to be predictable - Ashley would get voted out next because she's annoying, she's a bad influence on Natalie (according to Rob), she could be dangerous paired up with Natalie, and she doesn't have as strong a tie with Rob as the others. Easy. Nope. Enter the unpredictable. The girl who hasn't done much of anything except suntan so far goes and wins herself a challenge, and wins immunity. Oh dear.
Now what? Rob can vote off Natalie, Phillip or Grant. Well, we know he's keeping crazy Phillip. (Rob, after another one of Phillip's tirades says, "Phillip's crazy. Not n-word crazy, just crazy." Hee.) So does he keep his buddy Grant or his protected Natalie? It's a tough call. It would be a betrayal of either one. If you keep Natalie, there's a chance she'll side with Ashley against him or will get votes just because she's young and cute and pure and likable and can say she didn't really back stab anyone, she was just following orders. (For reference, see blonde Natalie winning in the Russell season of Survivor... or the Nazis circa 1945.) If you keep Grant, there's a good chance he'll keep winning immunity and he can get votes because he's likable and won some respect for being so awesome at challenges. (By the way, Grant's hair is getting crazier all the time, non?)
Then there's this - maybe you vote out Grant in hopes that he goes to Redemption Island and is the guy to finally kick Matt & Mike out of the game. Rob's biggest fear is that Matt or Mike get back in the game and make it to the finals. Look at that jury. Rob can't have those guys in the final. Mind you, as poolster Don said to me today, maybe Rob should have been straight with Grant then and told him that. Maybe. Hard to say.
So it's going to be an interesting finale. We don't really know yet how they're going to work it, because there are still 8 people left... which is crazy. Is it going to be an "all or nothing" duel? That's my bet. Somehow, they've got to whittle it down to three finalists pretty quick. And here's the thing - it's totally NOT predictable who will win that Duel. Matt, Mike, Andrea and Grant are all ridiculously strong competitors and it may totally depend on what kind of challenge it is. Matt has proven himself a million times, but so has Grant. Mike seems to have found his groove on Redemption Island & has been beating Matt. Then there's Andrea - the dark horse of the three, but who could be right in there if she "doesn't have a bad day." If it's an endurance challenge, girls traditionally do better than muscly guys. If it's a puzzle, it could be anyone. Even in a physical challenge, look how well Andrea did at the stairs one - she was right there with Grant...
Then there's the other four. Rob still has the hidden immunity idol and I think will get one more chance to use it. Might be super fun if someone else comes back into the game and tries to turn the girls against Rob. All he has to do is play the idol and bam! An awesome blindside! No one knows he has it.
And then the previews tell us that Phillip has some huge surprise in store, which he has also hinted at. I can't wait! Obviously, it has something to do with him playing a part and not really being a former federal agent or something... but what? I love the suspense, but feel I should lower my expectations somewhat. These previews can't be trusted and I don't want to be disappointed. That would blow.
So, dear readers, are you going to call it? My call from the beginning (OK, well from early on anyway) has been a Rob vs. Matt final. The third person is irrelevant. You? Rob vs. Phillip? Rob vs. Grant? Rob vs. Natalie? So exciting! And I don't expect to be right... because it's unpredictable, and that's why I keep watching.
THE SEASON FINALE IS THIS SUNDAY!!!
Every year they spring that on people and lots of folks miss it. Gah!
Here's what I mean about predictable: Matt keeps winning at Redemption Island. Yes, he did again...well, actually Mike won, but Matt was second and Andrea was third and Ralph lost. Now, unpredictable: It should have been Andrea losing, right? Ralph was way ahead with the maze part and then lost it on the puzzle. (Seriously, the guy can't spell and you give him a puzzle with words on it?) Andrea was a total mess and I find her SO annoying. It's not that she gets emotional, because pretty much everyone gets emotional playing this game. But it's the whiny emotion of, "You look people in the face and they lie to you and I thought they were my friends...."
Dear Mark Burnett,
Show idea... you're welcome to steal it. Have a show where people have to become best friends with the most people they can. Everyone must be honest and make everyone else happy all the time and the one with the most true friends at the end wins. We'll call it BFF's For Like, Ever. Oh, and if you want to hire me as your official blogger, I'd be more than happy and think I'd do a better job than Rob Cesternino.
Sincerely, Keri
Ugh. No one would watch that, now, would they? However, every year, there are quite a few people on Survivor - Andrea included - who think that this is the game they are playing. Boston Rob had it right when he talked about voting off his friend Grant. He said, "I like the guy and we'd probably be friends off the show, but I didn't come on the show to make friends. I came to win a million dollars." But, because people like Andrea will be part of the jury, they will likely miss this point and Rob's decision could bite him in the ass. Back to Andrea and her annoyingness though, did you love/cringe at the part where she shows up at Redemption Island and has to talk to Matt about how he gives her the stink-eye all the time at challenges and how he "hates" her now... blah, blah, blah. Poor Matty. You know that if we saw a one minute snippet of the conversation, it probably went on forever in real life. I liked when he just said, yeah, I think I'm going to go to bed now, and ended it. Hee. And then when Andrea tries to get in the shelter, Ralph tells her to sleep on the ground! Ha! He says in real life, he'd never do that, but because they treated the Zapateras so badly now it's her turn. So maybe treating them that badly was a bad idea, what with all of them on the jury now.
So the other best part about the Duel was my boyfriend, Jeff. Sometimes he comes out with some really great lines. Like, "You don't want to lose just because you're having a bad day." (Ummm, Andrea!) And my personal favourite, "You don't need to win, you just need to not lose. You don't want to lose. That blows." Honestly... I had to turn and ask out loud, "Did he really just say, "That blows?"" Jeff is the best host ever.
Back to my original point. It looked like it was going to be predictable - Ashley would get voted out next because she's annoying, she's a bad influence on Natalie (according to Rob), she could be dangerous paired up with Natalie, and she doesn't have as strong a tie with Rob as the others. Easy. Nope. Enter the unpredictable. The girl who hasn't done much of anything except suntan so far goes and wins herself a challenge, and wins immunity. Oh dear.
Now what? Rob can vote off Natalie, Phillip or Grant. Well, we know he's keeping crazy Phillip. (Rob, after another one of Phillip's tirades says, "Phillip's crazy. Not n-word crazy, just crazy." Hee.) So does he keep his buddy Grant or his protected Natalie? It's a tough call. It would be a betrayal of either one. If you keep Natalie, there's a chance she'll side with Ashley against him or will get votes just because she's young and cute and pure and likable and can say she didn't really back stab anyone, she was just following orders. (For reference, see blonde Natalie winning in the Russell season of Survivor... or the Nazis circa 1945.) If you keep Grant, there's a good chance he'll keep winning immunity and he can get votes because he's likable and won some respect for being so awesome at challenges. (By the way, Grant's hair is getting crazier all the time, non?)
Then there's this - maybe you vote out Grant in hopes that he goes to Redemption Island and is the guy to finally kick Matt & Mike out of the game. Rob's biggest fear is that Matt or Mike get back in the game and make it to the finals. Look at that jury. Rob can't have those guys in the final. Mind you, as poolster Don said to me today, maybe Rob should have been straight with Grant then and told him that. Maybe. Hard to say.
So it's going to be an interesting finale. We don't really know yet how they're going to work it, because there are still 8 people left... which is crazy. Is it going to be an "all or nothing" duel? That's my bet. Somehow, they've got to whittle it down to three finalists pretty quick. And here's the thing - it's totally NOT predictable who will win that Duel. Matt, Mike, Andrea and Grant are all ridiculously strong competitors and it may totally depend on what kind of challenge it is. Matt has proven himself a million times, but so has Grant. Mike seems to have found his groove on Redemption Island & has been beating Matt. Then there's Andrea - the dark horse of the three, but who could be right in there if she "doesn't have a bad day." If it's an endurance challenge, girls traditionally do better than muscly guys. If it's a puzzle, it could be anyone. Even in a physical challenge, look how well Andrea did at the stairs one - she was right there with Grant...
Then there's the other four. Rob still has the hidden immunity idol and I think will get one more chance to use it. Might be super fun if someone else comes back into the game and tries to turn the girls against Rob. All he has to do is play the idol and bam! An awesome blindside! No one knows he has it.
And then the previews tell us that Phillip has some huge surprise in store, which he has also hinted at. I can't wait! Obviously, it has something to do with him playing a part and not really being a former federal agent or something... but what? I love the suspense, but feel I should lower my expectations somewhat. These previews can't be trusted and I don't want to be disappointed. That would blow.
So, dear readers, are you going to call it? My call from the beginning (OK, well from early on anyway) has been a Rob vs. Matt final. The third person is irrelevant. You? Rob vs. Phillip? Rob vs. Grant? Rob vs. Natalie? So exciting! And I don't expect to be right... because it's unpredictable, and that's why I keep watching.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
What's a Better Strategy? Play-Acting or Bible-Thumping? Discuss.
Not a super exciting show last night, but a good one nonetheless. It was the family visit sponsored by Sprint. The sponsorship & product placement used to make me do the eye-roll, but I get it how it helps make the show what it is. And at any rate, I always love seeing these people's families. Makes them a little more like real people. Even crazy Phillip's sister seemed like such a lovely, normal woman. Which brings me to this:
Is Phillip Acting?
That's how they sold this episode to us in the previews: Is it all just an act? Well, they didn't really answer the question, but it's looking like yes. He's letting us know now that he IS for sure being the "villain" on purpose with the idea that it'll help someone like Rob decide to take him to the final two, where suddenly he's going to win the jury over with some sort of fantastic argument. OK..... Will it have, "You can't HANDLE the truth!" somewhere in it? I hope so. So... anyway... it's a valid strategy. Some people choose the "under the radar" strategy but I don't think the "being the villain" strategy has ever been pulled. People actually ARE villains sometimes (uh, Parvati.) or else they get booted before they get that far. Phil - being an undercover specialist - knows how Rob is playing the game. This would also explain CBS's use of a question mark behind the "Former Federal Agent" title.... And Phil told us that he has to throw in some crazy every now and then to remind everyone that that's his schtick. Now, it seems that Rob "has a feeling" about Phil and that the others might have figured him out to some extent too. But, is it a moot point if - acting or not acting - Phillip has actually pissed people off. Guys like Steve aren't likely to forgive being called a racist, even if it was all part of the act. Mind you, I don't know how enamoured the jury is with Rob either.
Mike wins the 4-way Duel, joins priesthood
Can we still call this a duel? At any rate, it was Mike vs. Matt vs. Steve vs. Ralph. Mike won, Matt & Ralph came in 2nd and 3rd, so get to stay in Redemption Island, while Steve-o had to go to the jury. Good thing too, 'cause that guy isn't doing too well out there. Feed Steve fast! Now because Mike won, he got to spend time with his mom OR forgo his visit to give a visit to his pals Matt and Ralph OR he could forgo his visit and give a visit to the Ometepe Six. Even my boyfriend Jeff was surprised when Mike chose to give the visit to the O-6, saying that the Lord would want him to give love to the most people or something like that. And, if it gets him some jury love in the meantime - should he make it that far - then bonus! Wow. Really? Now, I don't doubt that this is a tough choice and even our man Matty said he wouldn't have wanted to make that decision. But here's the thing:
1) Your chances of making it to the final two at this point are really, really, really slim. Even if somehow you can win over the Lord and defeat Matt... who is pretty much UNDEFEATED in like, 300 challenges... and you manage to re-enter the game... you're all of a sudden up against the Ometepe people, who have no allegiance to you and want your ass gone. They know you have lots of pals on the jury and why on earth would they take you to the final two? You'd have to win every challenge from here on out.
2) If you did make it the finals, maybe showing your pals some love would be an OK idea then. They are the ones who for sure are going to be voting for you.
3) Guys like Rob are for sure thankful that you let them see their families, but will it get you a vote? No. Probably not. Will it make them not vote you out? No.
Which is another really interesting part of the show to me and one that I think someone could write a really interesting sociological paper about... how a person's religion works for or against them on Survivor. It's not like you've got a bunch of people from the same church with the same beliefs on this show. You've got people of different religions - Phil's a Buddhist, Rob's a Catholic... but not everyone lets it dictate their game play. The whole idea of "Outwit, Outlast, Outplay" doesn't really jive with "Love thy neighbour" does it? And at what point does it become about free will and choosing to play a GAME. In games sometimes it's OK to be a bit of a jerk and it's OK to be selfish because the point of a GAME is to win. Survivor is a reality show, but is not real life. So yeah, Mike's a nice guy. He'll probably get points at his church and from his family and friends. Mike is a guy who in real life you'd like to be your neighbour or friend, but Mike will not likely win Survivor. Does a guy like Rob believe in God LESS because he chooses to play a different style of game where it's OK to play people? I think no. I would also like Rob as a neighbour or friend, but also he'd throw a better party. Discuss.
Back to the show.
We knew the O-6 would have to start voting each other out. Rob won immunity and just about killed himself doing it. Remember in All-stars when he just about had to leave the show due to heat exhaustion? Yeah, this was like that. The day was like, 200 degrees or something and the challenge was this enormous staircase puzzle where the contestants could only take one piece up at a time, so it was up, down, up, down.... I thought Rob wasn't going to get up at the end. But you have to say he's giving it his all, for sure. He's now wearing a shirt with a picture of Amber and his baby on it, which is super cute (I would think she didn't come as the family member because she's got a new baby....)
So it was voting for Andrea because she's a threat physically (she just about won the challenge!) and she still maybe loves/feels guilty about Matt OR Phillip because he's annoying and untrustworthy. In the end it was Andrea, who was totally blindsided, which boggles my mind. How, at this point, can you be so trusting that you don't think you'll be going home? The only person who should be relaxed is the one with immunity (and let's remember Rob has the immunity idol too....) Next week it looks like the girls might throw a wrench into Rob's plan & try to oust Phil... but our Rob is pretty clever.
Tribal Council was good. Jeff enjoyed seeing everyone so sure of themselves and then asking Phil to "Give us a nugget of wisdom from your grandfather." Hee. Sadly, the nugget was just to "keep the faith" or something relatively uninteresting. The cut-eye that Phil gave to Steve when he walked in was fun. And the music/editing of this show is awesome. The "surprise" music when Andrea's surprise face is shown... the "suspense" music.... so good. And seriously, did you see the tarantula that crawled into a sneaker? Are you like me, do you wonder if the cameraman puts it there or do they just sit and wait for it to happen? I believe there's a snake/spider wrangler on staff paid by Sprint. And I'm all for it.
Is Phillip Acting?
That's how they sold this episode to us in the previews: Is it all just an act? Well, they didn't really answer the question, but it's looking like yes. He's letting us know now that he IS for sure being the "villain" on purpose with the idea that it'll help someone like Rob decide to take him to the final two, where suddenly he's going to win the jury over with some sort of fantastic argument. OK..... Will it have, "You can't HANDLE the truth!" somewhere in it? I hope so. So... anyway... it's a valid strategy. Some people choose the "under the radar" strategy but I don't think the "being the villain" strategy has ever been pulled. People actually ARE villains sometimes (uh, Parvati.) or else they get booted before they get that far. Phil - being an undercover specialist - knows how Rob is playing the game. This would also explain CBS's use of a question mark behind the "Former Federal Agent" title.... And Phil told us that he has to throw in some crazy every now and then to remind everyone that that's his schtick. Now, it seems that Rob "has a feeling" about Phil and that the others might have figured him out to some extent too. But, is it a moot point if - acting or not acting - Phillip has actually pissed people off. Guys like Steve aren't likely to forgive being called a racist, even if it was all part of the act. Mind you, I don't know how enamoured the jury is with Rob either.
Mike wins the 4-way Duel, joins priesthood
Can we still call this a duel? At any rate, it was Mike vs. Matt vs. Steve vs. Ralph. Mike won, Matt & Ralph came in 2nd and 3rd, so get to stay in Redemption Island, while Steve-o had to go to the jury. Good thing too, 'cause that guy isn't doing too well out there. Feed Steve fast! Now because Mike won, he got to spend time with his mom OR forgo his visit to give a visit to his pals Matt and Ralph OR he could forgo his visit and give a visit to the Ometepe Six. Even my boyfriend Jeff was surprised when Mike chose to give the visit to the O-6, saying that the Lord would want him to give love to the most people or something like that. And, if it gets him some jury love in the meantime - should he make it that far - then bonus! Wow. Really? Now, I don't doubt that this is a tough choice and even our man Matty said he wouldn't have wanted to make that decision. But here's the thing:
1) Your chances of making it to the final two at this point are really, really, really slim. Even if somehow you can win over the Lord and defeat Matt... who is pretty much UNDEFEATED in like, 300 challenges... and you manage to re-enter the game... you're all of a sudden up against the Ometepe people, who have no allegiance to you and want your ass gone. They know you have lots of pals on the jury and why on earth would they take you to the final two? You'd have to win every challenge from here on out.
2) If you did make it the finals, maybe showing your pals some love would be an OK idea then. They are the ones who for sure are going to be voting for you.
3) Guys like Rob are for sure thankful that you let them see their families, but will it get you a vote? No. Probably not. Will it make them not vote you out? No.
Which is another really interesting part of the show to me and one that I think someone could write a really interesting sociological paper about... how a person's religion works for or against them on Survivor. It's not like you've got a bunch of people from the same church with the same beliefs on this show. You've got people of different religions - Phil's a Buddhist, Rob's a Catholic... but not everyone lets it dictate their game play. The whole idea of "Outwit, Outlast, Outplay" doesn't really jive with "Love thy neighbour" does it? And at what point does it become about free will and choosing to play a GAME. In games sometimes it's OK to be a bit of a jerk and it's OK to be selfish because the point of a GAME is to win. Survivor is a reality show, but is not real life. So yeah, Mike's a nice guy. He'll probably get points at his church and from his family and friends. Mike is a guy who in real life you'd like to be your neighbour or friend, but Mike will not likely win Survivor. Does a guy like Rob believe in God LESS because he chooses to play a different style of game where it's OK to play people? I think no. I would also like Rob as a neighbour or friend, but also he'd throw a better party. Discuss.
Back to the show.
We knew the O-6 would have to start voting each other out. Rob won immunity and just about killed himself doing it. Remember in All-stars when he just about had to leave the show due to heat exhaustion? Yeah, this was like that. The day was like, 200 degrees or something and the challenge was this enormous staircase puzzle where the contestants could only take one piece up at a time, so it was up, down, up, down.... I thought Rob wasn't going to get up at the end. But you have to say he's giving it his all, for sure. He's now wearing a shirt with a picture of Amber and his baby on it, which is super cute (I would think she didn't come as the family member because she's got a new baby....)
So it was voting for Andrea because she's a threat physically (she just about won the challenge!) and she still maybe loves/feels guilty about Matt OR Phillip because he's annoying and untrustworthy. In the end it was Andrea, who was totally blindsided, which boggles my mind. How, at this point, can you be so trusting that you don't think you'll be going home? The only person who should be relaxed is the one with immunity (and let's remember Rob has the immunity idol too....) Next week it looks like the girls might throw a wrench into Rob's plan & try to oust Phil... but our Rob is pretty clever.
Tribal Council was good. Jeff enjoyed seeing everyone so sure of themselves and then asking Phil to "Give us a nugget of wisdom from your grandfather." Hee. Sadly, the nugget was just to "keep the faith" or something relatively uninteresting. The cut-eye that Phil gave to Steve when he walked in was fun. And the music/editing of this show is awesome. The "surprise" music when Andrea's surprise face is shown... the "suspense" music.... so good. And seriously, did you see the tarantula that crawled into a sneaker? Are you like me, do you wonder if the cameraman puts it there or do they just sit and wait for it to happen? I believe there's a snake/spider wrangler on staff paid by Sprint. And I'm all for it.
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