Did you enjoy the switch-up? It's no longer men's tribe vs. women's tribe!! They had to crack eggs and see what colour was inside - whatever colour was what team they ended up on. Fun, right? In a delightfully random pick, it ended up being "Greek Gods" (Colton's term, not mine) vs. "Not So Much" (my term.) Basically, most of the buff, sporty types (Michael, Sabrina, Jay, Kat, Kim, Chelsea & Troyzan) are on the blue (Greek God) team, while the uh... less sporty types (Colton, Alicia, Jonas, Leif, Tarzan, Monica & Christina) ended up on the orange (Not So Much) team. The Survivor gods were smiling on us because this makes for fun TV.
I like it because you get to see which alliances hold up and which fizzle. For example, 4 of the 5-girl alliance are still on one tribe: Sabrina, Kim, Chelsea & Kat. If I'm them, I'm completely elated that horrible Alicia is out of our hair. It's like voting her out without actually voting her out. Plus, if there's a merge later & she's still around, you've got that in your back pocket still. Things look good. On the other hand, Alicia has quickly dumped the men vs. women thing (she clearly is not a girl who likes other girls anyway, so not really a surprise there) and has jumped on the Colton bandwagon. Even though she kinda starts out listening to her instincts telling her to keep the girls together with Colton, she lets Colton talk her into voting out Monica... which is ridiculous. More on that later.
Oh yeah, they're all not living on the same beach any more either. Team Weakling lost the reward challenge so they had to go build a new home on a new beach. So we're all of a sudden back to the "Classic" Survivor scenario that we all know and love. Also, Colton gets to not do anything for a second time as his teammates once again do all the work building the shelter.
Which brings us to the discussion of why Colton is still around. He's clearly not there to make friends. I keep thinking of the Reunion show when we get to see the others' reactions to Colton once they've seen the show. Him saying stuff like, "Not only did I get on a tribe of people that I don't want to be on a tribe with, I got a tribe of people who suck." Now, it is a bit of a misfit group to be sure... and you do have to put up with Tarzan and his blue banana hammock (ummmm.... did we need the shot of Tarzan bending over? Twice?) But, hey Colton, you're not much of a catch either. Here's the thing... Colton is either much less evil-seeming in person that what we see through the show edits, or (as he says) he's just good at making people think what he wants. This seems to be it - he knows what people want to hear & he hands it to them. He's got the "solid" 4-man alliance with Leif, Tarzan & Jonas while he tells each of Alicia, Monica & Christina that he's on their side as well. He works best with the other evil, scheming bitch of the group, Alicia. The two of them together are like Hitler & Mussolini planning a takeover of Europe without really thinking ahead. No one actually likes you? Yeah, yeah, attacking Russia in the winter time? ... No problem. See where I'm going? Some, like Jonas, are like Austria or say, Croatia. I'll go along with the bad guys as long as it gets me further ahead and I don't ruffle any feathers. Others, like Leif... are kind of like France. Believing the Maginot Line (the 4-man alliance) is going to keep the Germans at bay, when they're actually going to blitzkrieg you the first chance they get and later you're really going to kick yourself when you realize you could have done something about it earlier. Yes, I am getting carried away, but the point is, I'm really disappointed in France...errr...Leif.
Leif started off so promising. He's tough, he seemed smart, he had a good alliance. Then he opened his pie-hole and started talking to Bill. Now, even though he has been TOLD by Colton that he's "sealed his fate"... knows that Colton doesn't really trust him... He's still unwilling, or unable perhaps, to make a big move at the right time. This would have been the time for a guy like Leif to step up and persuade Tarzan, Jonas and say, Monica or Christina to blindside Colton. Which, by the way, is the other reason Colton is still around - everyone is allowing it to happen. (Please history buffs, go on and make further analogies to Pre-War German Appeasement. It's fun. Go!) No one on that team is a leader - except Colton. They are all playing the same "keep-your-head-down" game... which can work if you do it right. See Sophie. It doesn't work if you make waves, like Leif... or trust the wrong people, like Monica & Christina.
Speaking of annoying.... Monica & Christina should have known better. Ummm... you know Alicia had it out for you when you were on the women's team - especially Christina! So why on earth would you align with her now. They should have been playing against her, trying to get her voted off asap! Right? Sigh.
Meanwhile, nothing can go wrong for team Greek God. Kim finds another immunity idol and only tells her BFF Chelsea. Smart. They catch a whole whack of food - giant crabs & a chicken. Then they handily win the immunity challenge. It's full contact basketball where the teams go 3-on-3. Uh, yeah, that's not exactly a fair fight. Colton actually worked hard for a change, but got his head held under water (yikes) and poor Leif got picked up & tossed to the side like a sack of potatoes (again.)
So it's pretty much a given that it's Monica going home. Colton wants her gone because she's "the head of the snake" in that she potentially has more friends on the other tribe than Christina or Alicia. The ridiculous part of this is that Monica is pretty much their strongest, most hardworking player. She's the only one who got a point for the team in basketball for instance. So, I'm not sure how they figure they're going to end up.... If you go into the merge with 2 people, you're not doing very well. In my opinion, it was WAY too early to vote off Monica.
The other bit of loveliness in Tribal Council was Jeff asking Tarzan about his 'use of big words' and about his inability to remember names, both of which led to much eye-rolling from Colton. (Then again you could say hello and get an eye-roll from Colton.) Still, Tarzan is weird and great at the same time. I can't decide, but I think I like him a lot.... provided he's wearing pants. Then there was Leif, who sounded like a complete fool the whole time. First he complements Monica in a way that sounded a little bit smitten (Uh... she's really pretty and really hardworking and really pretty.... OK not at all the pretty stuff... but you get it.) Then, when Jeff asks if it throws Leif off when Tarzan uses big words, Leif says something about how it's hard to "EXPLANATE" why..... and how he can't not speak bad. Dude, you are a Phlebotomist!! Not only is it a pretty big word... but you had to at least go to school to become one. Now, I had to look it up and it's basically a medical technician job where you take blood out of a person & put in IV fluid in certain cases such as types of heart disease. Wikipedia tells me the original phlebotomists used leeches! There, we've learned something for today! Here's the thing... I'd hope my phlebotomist was smarter than Leif. And I feel bad for Monica. Even though she didn't need the cash (she's an ex-NFL player's wife as an occupation, for heaven's sakes), she was still one of the most likable people on this season. There aren't many to choose from. And the writing's on the wall for Christina, who was the only other person not in on the vote. Next episode, however, we see the stretcher being brought in for someone on Team Less-Strong. So maybe Christina gets another few days? My money's on Leif, for doing something stupid... or maybe Tarzan 'cause he's older and also less "careful". Who do you think it'll be? Thoughts?
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