So that was crazy.
Down to final six, it looks bad for Hayden & Katie. So Hayden (who don't forget won Big Brother) decides to fight. Katie, who is a bit vacant most of the time anyway, decides to sit back and watch Hayden fight. Now, you could argue with me whether or not all the sitting back and watching is, in fact, part of some grand strategy from Katie... but I think that no... sadly, it's not. Even Jeff at Tribal Council pretty much asked her flat out how she got as far as she did. She said, well, she's been at the bottom the whole time, so she's sorta had to sit back and see what happens. Ummm... that's actually WHY you're on the bottom, non?
So, backing up a bit to the duel. It was the famous Survivor house of cards challenge. I have never, ever seen anyone build an 8 ft. damn house of cards as quickly as Laura did. It was seriously fast. Tina & Caleb were done only about half way when Laura was finished. The trick was that they gave a time limit this time out, so whoever was tallest at 30 min would win the second place. Caleb looked good... but crooked, and his tower fell down. So the moms conquered again. Seriously, I'm not sure Laura can be beaten in challenges. Maybe Monica with all her badassery can do it, but geez, she's a force to be reckoned with if there's any challenge that's remotely puzzle-ish. When Caleb was defeated, Jeff basically asked Caleb, "What the heck could possibly make you want to be with Colton?" (paraphrasing that "quotation", natch.) Caleb said, "Well, opposites attract, but we also have some stuff in common." "Like what?" asks Jeff, getting kinda nosy. "Well, we're both guys...." So, Caleb's standards are well... low.
Something to note is that Hayden is stirring it up about Tyson being the man in charge. Which is true, but hilariously, when Hayden pointed it out, Gervase got all weird about it when he should have just shut up. "NO! I'm just as much in charge as Tyson! He wouldn't have gotten anywhere without ME!" Which, while a little bit true, is also a little bit delusional. Tyson is running the show. But it's delightful that Gervase doesn't realize that maybe keeping the target on Tyson and off himself might be an OK idea.
Badass Monica ALMOST won the immunity challenge again, but Gervase actually pulled off the win. So, it looks like an easy vote for Hayden, right? Not so much. Hayden's fighting, remember? So he goes after Ciera hard. It doesn't help that Gervase took Tyson and Monica on a food reward. Hayden gets into Ciera's head that she's for sure number four in the alliance and that if she's going to make a big move to get votes, she needs to do it now.
Aaaaaand...she did it. She turned! Good or bad move? I think bad. I think she'll get further with Tyson et al than she will now. Also, now she's a huge target now that Tyson has found the immunity idol and uh, Ciera has basically zero chance of winning immunity. So, here's how it went down:
With Ciera's vote, it was 3 votes Monica vs 3 votes Hayden. They re-voted and neither Hayden or Monica can vote. Now it's 2 votes Monica, 2 votes Hayden. Still a tie. So the rules for some crazy reason say that if they can't decide amongst themselves, it goes to drawing rocks. It was only the second time in 27 seasons that it's come to this. Now oddly, Monica and Hayden are safe, Gervase is safe, and everyone else has to draw rocks. Whoever draws the white rock goes home. It was Katie. Which, is fine. Unless of course, you're Hayden and now Ciera, who is most definitely fourth. The wild card being Laura, who by the looks of things might re-enter the game. If Laura comes back, she'd make another tied vote unless something else shakes it up. Also, no one knows Tyson has the immunity idol, so that could make for some fun.
Speaking of fun, I'll leave you with this little bit of Tribal Council:
Hayden: .... something blah blah blah about rustling feathers.
Tyson: It's ruffling feathers.
Hayden: What?
Jeff: What?
Tyson: You ruffle feathers, not rustle.
Hayden: Whatever, man. You can totally rustle feathers.
Tyson: Just correcting you. Say it right.
Hayden: Whatever.
Jeff: That was one of the strangest exchanges ever at Tribal Council.
Yup.
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Of Wild Dogs and Badassery
Yep, I'm late again. Well not for this week, but for last week. Aaaaaah, I'll get it together eventually. Forgive?
Well, it's coming down to the wire on this fun season, non? We had Tina, Laura & Vytas competing in the duel, and if it's a puzzle, you know Laura is going to win it. That lady is a puzzle machine! I'd be surprised if she doesn't make it back into the game. Did you see her daughter's face, though, when she said she'd be back? Ciera's face said, "Actually, I'd rather if you didn't." Truly, my prediction is that Ciera will get herself voted out and will have to compete against mom in a challenge and will lose, and her mom will get back into the game. I'm seeing an all-mom final... or at least a couple of moms maybe. These moms are tough. And they stick together! Once Laura finished the puzzle, she helped Tina finish so that she could beat Vytas. And she did beat him by about a second! I kind of wanted Vytas to stick around, but I also enjoy that he now gets to hang out with Aras at Ponderosa and on the jury. Right? How much fun is that? Jeff is sad to see that storyline go, though, didn't you think?
This is the point in the game where we see who's really playing and how well they play. Hayden and Caleb come up with an idea to blindside Tyson, as everyone can see that he's controlling the game. So they tell Ciera, who immediately tells Tyson, who then decides that Caleb should be the one to go because he's so likable. Sounds simple so far. But then.... Ciera makes it a bit too obvious that she's tight with Tyson. So now Hayden & Caleb are worried. They come up with a pretty smart plan. They tell Tyson the truth - sort of. They tell him that it's pretty much Ciera working both sides to pit the fellas against each other. Yeah, we were thinking of voting for you because she made us think that you were gunning for us. Right? Sounds plausible. And Tyson considers it. Chats with his bestie, Gervase about it. They decide to go with their gut instinct on which alliance to trust - which becomes painfully clear for everyone at the challenge.
Jeff gives the famous option of participating in the challenge (holding a rope that holds up a bucket with 25% of your body weight in it.) or feasting on... a ton of meats, bread and iced tea. Tyson, Gervase and Ciera opt for food. Usually a dumb move in Survivor. In this case, though, they all trust in their alliance and know they also have Monica, who chooses to compete to show her kids that "there's not just one badass at the head of the household." And then she won it! Monica is my new favourite. She's playing a good alliance game, has distanced herself from her crazy hubby and has won three challenges! She IS a badass! I recall the first time she played, she was just the 'football player's wife' and this time she's really her own player. Not sure, but I think she could beat Tyson. (As an aside, the absolute best thing of the night was Tyson's absolute shamelessness in eating all that food in front of his tribemates. Digging in like a wild dog, throwing bones over his shoulder, and then going into great detail to describe the feast once back at camp. "Yeah, the steak was the best. It was so soft!" Prompting Ciera to say, "The skin on the chicken was my favourite!" Nice. And somehow they don't annoy people with this. What?)
So we shouldn't have even fallen for the idea that Ciera was going home, because we should have known that Tyson had his four. He even played the immunity idol - though he didn't need to. It was 4-3 for Caleb over Ciera. Now Hayden and Katie are going to have to do some awesome scrambling. It's gonna be good. And with that, I throw a chicken bone over my shoulder and bid you adieu.
Well, it's coming down to the wire on this fun season, non? We had Tina, Laura & Vytas competing in the duel, and if it's a puzzle, you know Laura is going to win it. That lady is a puzzle machine! I'd be surprised if she doesn't make it back into the game. Did you see her daughter's face, though, when she said she'd be back? Ciera's face said, "Actually, I'd rather if you didn't." Truly, my prediction is that Ciera will get herself voted out and will have to compete against mom in a challenge and will lose, and her mom will get back into the game. I'm seeing an all-mom final... or at least a couple of moms maybe. These moms are tough. And they stick together! Once Laura finished the puzzle, she helped Tina finish so that she could beat Vytas. And she did beat him by about a second! I kind of wanted Vytas to stick around, but I also enjoy that he now gets to hang out with Aras at Ponderosa and on the jury. Right? How much fun is that? Jeff is sad to see that storyline go, though, didn't you think?
This is the point in the game where we see who's really playing and how well they play. Hayden and Caleb come up with an idea to blindside Tyson, as everyone can see that he's controlling the game. So they tell Ciera, who immediately tells Tyson, who then decides that Caleb should be the one to go because he's so likable. Sounds simple so far. But then.... Ciera makes it a bit too obvious that she's tight with Tyson. So now Hayden & Caleb are worried. They come up with a pretty smart plan. They tell Tyson the truth - sort of. They tell him that it's pretty much Ciera working both sides to pit the fellas against each other. Yeah, we were thinking of voting for you because she made us think that you were gunning for us. Right? Sounds plausible. And Tyson considers it. Chats with his bestie, Gervase about it. They decide to go with their gut instinct on which alliance to trust - which becomes painfully clear for everyone at the challenge.
Jeff gives the famous option of participating in the challenge (holding a rope that holds up a bucket with 25% of your body weight in it.) or feasting on... a ton of meats, bread and iced tea. Tyson, Gervase and Ciera opt for food. Usually a dumb move in Survivor. In this case, though, they all trust in their alliance and know they also have Monica, who chooses to compete to show her kids that "there's not just one badass at the head of the household." And then she won it! Monica is my new favourite. She's playing a good alliance game, has distanced herself from her crazy hubby and has won three challenges! She IS a badass! I recall the first time she played, she was just the 'football player's wife' and this time she's really her own player. Not sure, but I think she could beat Tyson. (As an aside, the absolute best thing of the night was Tyson's absolute shamelessness in eating all that food in front of his tribemates. Digging in like a wild dog, throwing bones over his shoulder, and then going into great detail to describe the feast once back at camp. "Yeah, the steak was the best. It was so soft!" Prompting Ciera to say, "The skin on the chicken was my favourite!" Nice. And somehow they don't annoy people with this. What?)
So we shouldn't have even fallen for the idea that Ciera was going home, because we should have known that Tyson had his four. He even played the immunity idol - though he didn't need to. It was 4-3 for Caleb over Ciera. Now Hayden and Katie are going to have to do some awesome scrambling. It's gonna be good. And with that, I throw a chicken bone over my shoulder and bid you adieu.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
I'm baaaaaack. Brothers vs. Mothers.
Sorry for the very late post once again. Is anyone still reading this thing? I hope so. Apologies anyway - just had my first real days off in about 3 weeks, got sick, and before anyone thinks I'm getting all complainy, I promise I do love, love, love my job and also that it's evening out again time-wise. I knew what I was signing up for, just maybe underestimated doing that AND a Survivor blog. When Mark Burnett asks me to be the official Survivor blog writer, will you guys vouch for me that I'm normally not such a deadbeat? Thanks! You're the best.
OK... so here we go. Tonight's episode was a doozy. Of course, since Laura M. got back in the game and there was no one at Redemption Island, they needed another 3 players for their "duels" right? Aras got blindsided last time in a pretty smart move by Tyson & Gervase. By the way, Tyson with a giant bun on top of his head is one of my favourite Survivor looks of all time. (And for real, I have searched the internets and cannot find a picture of it. Sad.) I digress. They needed two more people to join Aras at Redemption, which is where tonight's episode got 'er done.
First up: The Eating Challenge. Let me just say I'd have been out immediately upon seeing the shot glass full of worms. Caterpillars? What were those things? At any rate, they were moving and crawling on outta there - or trying to anyway. They were on their own episode of Survivor: Caterpillar!! And... well... maybe one of Ciera's caterpillars won the million bucks (Yay! Way to go, little guy!) because she pretty much spit 'em all out and then tried to comb her tongue with her fingers to get the feeling of crawly things off of it. Monica was the only girl to make it to round 2: pig intestine, and then worked her way to round 3: Grubs! with Gervase. Poor Gervase got beat by the grubs in his own season, and now Monica beat him out again. Imagine eating all that grossness only to come in second. At least it's protein? Right? Sure. So Monica is immune for the first go-round at Tribal Council.
Vytas looks like he's in a good spot. It's either going to be him or Katie, and he works the guys, makes a bunch of good points about the girls potentially getting an alliance together, and maybe could they keep him a day or two more? Then... Tribal Council. He loses his mind. Goes after Monica, calling her a doormat. Tells the whole tribe that he wants revenge for voting out Aras. Basically gets himself kicked the heck out. Done.
Interestingly, Monica was supposed to write down Katie, changes her mind to Vytas to get back at him (unnecessarily) and then goes and tells everyone about it, making her what you call a "loose cannon." In Survivor speak, you don't want to ever be a "loose cannon." That means your alliance can't really trust you not to do something crazy. They all know she's paranoid and crazy anyway, but she's not doing herself any favours. A football star's wife ought to keep her mouth shut, as if I'm someone in this game, I'm keeping someone like her around til the end. Between her & her hubby, they've made enough enemies and uh, they have lots of money. Same goes for Aras and Tina, at least money-wise. Hayden too. Tyson and Gervase are sitting in a pretty lovely spot, game-wise, as is Caleb, as long as everyone completely forgets about Colton.
Right, so where are we? Oh yes, the show writes itself with the battle of the brothers pitting Aras and Vytas against each other. OF COURSE they've ended up at Redemption Island, with both brothers feeling like they need actual redemption from the other one. And Vytas shows up there like a big baby telling Aras that it's his fault they ended up there. Aras tells him that he'd be glad if Vytas gets back in the game. Vytas says he can't say the same. Sheesh. And so it begins! You just can't write this stuff... or can you?
Next immunity challenge is a balancing of coins on top of a sword, so could be anyone's game. Katie of all people takes it. Tina is in the background the whole time: "Good job, sweetie!" "Atta girl!" "Take your time!" Was anyone else telling Tina to shut up, or was that just me? I guess it worked, though. With Katie having immunity, the spotlight fell on Tina, who tried valiantly to find the immunity idol with everyone babysitting her along the way. The great part was Tyson (who has the idol) telling us that part of him wanted to tell everyone he had the idol so that they could all go back and nap. Of course, she didn't find it, though she really tried to fake us out, even reaching into her bag at Tribal Council to pretend that she had it. Nope. She also fought really hard by trying to put the spotlight back onto Monica by telling her she's on the bottom of the alliance and at the very least creating more paranoia. Delightful. You've gotta like Tina and how she really does know the game and seems to be able to say all that stuff yet remain likable. In the end, she just wasn't in the majority alliance and had to go. Tina will fight it out with the brothers next time to see who goes home.
In the meantime, Ciera and Laura are the only remaining 'couple' and Ciera is ready to turn on her mom, which is hilarious. Laura is a super annoying mom to have out there. She is hitting on the boys. She dresses way too young for her age. She beats her daughter in challenges. If I'm Ciera, I'm not bringing any of my boyfriends home to meet my mother for fear that she'll take 'em. Right? So, it's hopefully Ciera's time to outshine her overbearing ma and stay in her alliance. If she can take out her mom, she could go to the end. It's tough to say if she'd get any votes because she'd certainly get there more as the 3rd throwaway vote, but it all depends if the other people make more enemies along the way. Sometimes being the quiet one is a good thing.
OK... so here we go. Tonight's episode was a doozy. Of course, since Laura M. got back in the game and there was no one at Redemption Island, they needed another 3 players for their "duels" right? Aras got blindsided last time in a pretty smart move by Tyson & Gervase. By the way, Tyson with a giant bun on top of his head is one of my favourite Survivor looks of all time. (And for real, I have searched the internets and cannot find a picture of it. Sad.) I digress. They needed two more people to join Aras at Redemption, which is where tonight's episode got 'er done.
First up: The Eating Challenge. Let me just say I'd have been out immediately upon seeing the shot glass full of worms. Caterpillars? What were those things? At any rate, they were moving and crawling on outta there - or trying to anyway. They were on their own episode of Survivor: Caterpillar!! And... well... maybe one of Ciera's caterpillars won the million bucks (Yay! Way to go, little guy!) because she pretty much spit 'em all out and then tried to comb her tongue with her fingers to get the feeling of crawly things off of it. Monica was the only girl to make it to round 2: pig intestine, and then worked her way to round 3: Grubs! with Gervase. Poor Gervase got beat by the grubs in his own season, and now Monica beat him out again. Imagine eating all that grossness only to come in second. At least it's protein? Right? Sure. So Monica is immune for the first go-round at Tribal Council.
Vytas looks like he's in a good spot. It's either going to be him or Katie, and he works the guys, makes a bunch of good points about the girls potentially getting an alliance together, and maybe could they keep him a day or two more? Then... Tribal Council. He loses his mind. Goes after Monica, calling her a doormat. Tells the whole tribe that he wants revenge for voting out Aras. Basically gets himself kicked the heck out. Done.
Interestingly, Monica was supposed to write down Katie, changes her mind to Vytas to get back at him (unnecessarily) and then goes and tells everyone about it, making her what you call a "loose cannon." In Survivor speak, you don't want to ever be a "loose cannon." That means your alliance can't really trust you not to do something crazy. They all know she's paranoid and crazy anyway, but she's not doing herself any favours. A football star's wife ought to keep her mouth shut, as if I'm someone in this game, I'm keeping someone like her around til the end. Between her & her hubby, they've made enough enemies and uh, they have lots of money. Same goes for Aras and Tina, at least money-wise. Hayden too. Tyson and Gervase are sitting in a pretty lovely spot, game-wise, as is Caleb, as long as everyone completely forgets about Colton.
Right, so where are we? Oh yes, the show writes itself with the battle of the brothers pitting Aras and Vytas against each other. OF COURSE they've ended up at Redemption Island, with both brothers feeling like they need actual redemption from the other one. And Vytas shows up there like a big baby telling Aras that it's his fault they ended up there. Aras tells him that he'd be glad if Vytas gets back in the game. Vytas says he can't say the same. Sheesh. And so it begins! You just can't write this stuff... or can you?
Next immunity challenge is a balancing of coins on top of a sword, so could be anyone's game. Katie of all people takes it. Tina is in the background the whole time: "Good job, sweetie!" "Atta girl!" "Take your time!" Was anyone else telling Tina to shut up, or was that just me? I guess it worked, though. With Katie having immunity, the spotlight fell on Tina, who tried valiantly to find the immunity idol with everyone babysitting her along the way. The great part was Tyson (who has the idol) telling us that part of him wanted to tell everyone he had the idol so that they could all go back and nap. Of course, she didn't find it, though she really tried to fake us out, even reaching into her bag at Tribal Council to pretend that she had it. Nope. She also fought really hard by trying to put the spotlight back onto Monica by telling her she's on the bottom of the alliance and at the very least creating more paranoia. Delightful. You've gotta like Tina and how she really does know the game and seems to be able to say all that stuff yet remain likable. In the end, she just wasn't in the majority alliance and had to go. Tina will fight it out with the brothers next time to see who goes home.
In the meantime, Ciera and Laura are the only remaining 'couple' and Ciera is ready to turn on her mom, which is hilarious. Laura is a super annoying mom to have out there. She is hitting on the boys. She dresses way too young for her age. She beats her daughter in challenges. If I'm Ciera, I'm not bringing any of my boyfriends home to meet my mother for fear that she'll take 'em. Right? So, it's hopefully Ciera's time to outshine her overbearing ma and stay in her alliance. If she can take out her mom, she could go to the end. It's tough to say if she'd get any votes because she'd certainly get there more as the 3rd throwaway vote, but it all depends if the other people make more enemies along the way. Sometimes being the quiet one is a good thing.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
The Blindside - That Was a Football Movie, Right?
Apologies again for the late post. It seems my life is sorta crazy, which is totally what I signed up for. So, just to let you know, October will be a bit hectic. In November, things should settle a bit. Promise. In the meantime, I'll keep this one a bit short... partly because it's been so many days, I can't remember what happened.
OK, I do remember that there was quite the 'duel' between the Doctors, Candice & John vs. Marissa. Can we chat for a sec about how awkward it must have been for Marissa to be third-wheeling it out there with a married couple? Right? And then there was more awkward when they came out for the duel and Candice flipped Brad the bird and called him a 'child'. She & John won the challenge, sending Marissa home, and then John gave the immunity idol clue to Brad's wife, Monica, I guess to put her in a difficult position with her tribe. She smartly didn't even open the clue, and burned it in front of everyone. She's playing a good game, that one. Even back at camp, she tried to explain the Brad she knows to her tribe, so as not to get painted with the same brush. Smarty-pants. The best part was earlier when Candice went off about how Brad berates women and how Monica must just do as she's told... and then immediately barked orders at John to give the clue to Monica... and he did what he was told. Heh. I think Candice doesn't like Brad because ummm... they're kinda the same. I kind of get the feeling actually that Brad is probably a pretty nice guy - the kind of guy you'd want to have over for a BBQ and drink a beer with. He's probably actually pretty nice to his wife. We'll see. Maybe.
The comic relief came when we saw Gervase & Tyson escaping off to a coconut grove, where they drank the coconut without telling anyone else, and then acted all puzzled when Laura & Monica were wondering why all the coconuts were empty. Monica said, "It must be the crabs getting in there..." Yup, errr, yeah, that must be it. Heh.
Team Brad lost yet another challenge to 'a one-armed man and four moms' referring of course to Tyson, Monica, Tina and the two Lauras. (Gervase & Aras actually did some work too.) Their team did remarkably well until it came down to Ciera's puzzle skills vs. her mom's. Something to be said for experience, non?
So, it looks like Ciera would be the obvious one to get rid of... right? Until Brad makes the mistake of not hustling off with the dudes to chat and hangs back to talk to the girls and tells them to vote for Caleb. Caleb gets it into his head that Brad is after him, so decides to vote Brad. The other alpha males, Hayden & Vytas, originally talked about how keeping Brad around was good for them because he keeps the attention off them. Basically anyone who's been voted off 'til now blames Brad. The first round of voting was a tie between Brad & Ciera. On the second go-round, someone changed their vote (I think it was Vytas, no?) and Brad got the punt.
I don't think it was a good move. I think the men should have kept the bro-alliance strong because there's going to have to be a merge fairly soon, especially with the other team dominating challenges. Going into a merge 4-strong would have been the best, and especially with alphas, who tend to be the first ones picked off as 'threats' once the merge happens. But then, Caleb's not really thinking like an alpha male, is he? He's relying on the fact he's been pretty under the radar & can distance himself from Brad. Now their tribe is going to have an even tougher time in the challenges. Now, a John-Candice-Brad challenge is going to be awesome. And talk about awkward situations. "Hey buddies, I know you hate me, but can I hang out with y'all on your private romance island?" Candice would do well to remember that she could still end up back in the game sometime, and may need help or even votes from people like Brad & Monica. Either way, I love the grand awkwardness in one episode.
OK, I do remember that there was quite the 'duel' between the Doctors, Candice & John vs. Marissa. Can we chat for a sec about how awkward it must have been for Marissa to be third-wheeling it out there with a married couple? Right? And then there was more awkward when they came out for the duel and Candice flipped Brad the bird and called him a 'child'. She & John won the challenge, sending Marissa home, and then John gave the immunity idol clue to Brad's wife, Monica, I guess to put her in a difficult position with her tribe. She smartly didn't even open the clue, and burned it in front of everyone. She's playing a good game, that one. Even back at camp, she tried to explain the Brad she knows to her tribe, so as not to get painted with the same brush. Smarty-pants. The best part was earlier when Candice went off about how Brad berates women and how Monica must just do as she's told... and then immediately barked orders at John to give the clue to Monica... and he did what he was told. Heh. I think Candice doesn't like Brad because ummm... they're kinda the same. I kind of get the feeling actually that Brad is probably a pretty nice guy - the kind of guy you'd want to have over for a BBQ and drink a beer with. He's probably actually pretty nice to his wife. We'll see. Maybe.
The comic relief came when we saw Gervase & Tyson escaping off to a coconut grove, where they drank the coconut without telling anyone else, and then acted all puzzled when Laura & Monica were wondering why all the coconuts were empty. Monica said, "It must be the crabs getting in there..." Yup, errr, yeah, that must be it. Heh.
Team Brad lost yet another challenge to 'a one-armed man and four moms' referring of course to Tyson, Monica, Tina and the two Lauras. (Gervase & Aras actually did some work too.) Their team did remarkably well until it came down to Ciera's puzzle skills vs. her mom's. Something to be said for experience, non?
So, it looks like Ciera would be the obvious one to get rid of... right? Until Brad makes the mistake of not hustling off with the dudes to chat and hangs back to talk to the girls and tells them to vote for Caleb. Caleb gets it into his head that Brad is after him, so decides to vote Brad. The other alpha males, Hayden & Vytas, originally talked about how keeping Brad around was good for them because he keeps the attention off them. Basically anyone who's been voted off 'til now blames Brad. The first round of voting was a tie between Brad & Ciera. On the second go-round, someone changed their vote (I think it was Vytas, no?) and Brad got the punt.
I don't think it was a good move. I think the men should have kept the bro-alliance strong because there's going to have to be a merge fairly soon, especially with the other team dominating challenges. Going into a merge 4-strong would have been the best, and especially with alphas, who tend to be the first ones picked off as 'threats' once the merge happens. But then, Caleb's not really thinking like an alpha male, is he? He's relying on the fact he's been pretty under the radar & can distance himself from Brad. Now their tribe is going to have an even tougher time in the challenges. Now, a John-Candice-Brad challenge is going to be awesome. And talk about awkward situations. "Hey buddies, I know you hate me, but can I hang out with y'all on your private romance island?" Candice would do well to remember that she could still end up back in the game sometime, and may need help or even votes from people like Brad & Monica. Either way, I love the grand awkwardness in one episode.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
In Which a Bad Human Quits & Still the Relatives' Tribe Becomes Weaker
Kind of crazy, but not super surprising to see two people head home. One by choice, one by dominoes and all of it went down at Redemption Circle. The drama! First people got cranky at Brad. And by people, I mean Tyson, who was mad at Brad for voting off Rachel (uhhh, 'cause the rest of them had nothing to do with it?) and then Marissa who joined in to tell off Brad. Well, he did sort of put himself in that position, non? I always love the dudes who like to tell us that they're the Kingpin, while then feigning surprise that they get singled out for being said Kingpin. Bah.
So the drama had already started when Colton began to cry. Seriously, we were not even 5 minutes into the show when the waterworks started. Amazing. Turns out Colton hates his tribe and wants to go home. What a whiny baby. Jeff, my ex-boyfriend, totally can't believe it. It went something like this:
Jeff: Seriously, you came on the show to redeem yourself.
Colton: Yup.
Jeff: Uh, you know that you'll be leaving your tribe a man down in a game that's all about numbers.
Colton: Yup, but this is the best thing for ME, Jeff.
Jeff: You know that's incredibly selfish, right?
Colton: Yup.
Jeff: Do you want to own up to the fact that last time you left, you didn't actually have appendicitis, but were faking it, you big fat fake faker?
Colton: Well, I did have a bacterial infection.
Jeff: Yeah, you and everyone else who's drinking this super gross water and eating rice with bugs in it.
Colton: Well, I need to do what's best for ME.
Jeff: How can you not see that you're turning down a super awesome opportunity to better yourself?
Colton: I'm the best as it is. Can't you tell by the fact I wear a sweater tied around my shoulders?
Jeff: You suck.
OK, that's a total paraphrased version. But the end is true. Colton DOES suck. And so does CBS for even bringing him on in the first place. Doesn't Mark Burnett read this blog? We all pretty much came to the conclusion last time that Colton was pretty much a bad human being with no redeeming qualities. Something must be wrong with Caleb, because he seems too normal to be with Colton. What up with that? Anyway, good riddance.
On to people who actually do want to play. It was a duel between Candace, Marissa & Rachel. They had to build a big thing of dominoes... Candace rocked it again and again gave the clue to John. Marissa and Rachel hacked it for another 40 minutes and Marissa ended up winning. Rachel went home. It was a bit sad. I liked Rachel - I feel like she's one of those competitors who got dealt a bit of a bad hand to start out and was someone who we probably would have liked a lot more had we gotten to know her. Ah well.
The veteran Survivors won the immunity again as well as some comfort items. It was a great challenge where 2 people have to try to knock each other into the water, sumo styles. Fun to match up relatives. Cue waterworks again as Laura doesn't want to beat up her daughter. (Note: both moms took out their daughters. Also, I like Ciera, but she is the weakest. Like I'm pretty sure a plate of spaghetti is stronger than Ciera. What?) Katie put up a pretty good fight, but Tina took her out as well. The Dudes on the relative team did pretty well, John and Hayden won their bouts.... Vytas lost to Aras after a hard-fought bout. (Note: I'm really digging the Aras/Vytas dynamic. I love that they both totally love each other as bros but that there's all this underlying resentment. Aras resents Vytas for being a bully and a mess when they were younger. Vytas resents Aras for being 'the golden child' who did everything right. Also, both (Aras especially) are not hard on the eyes.)
Another thing that happened is that Tyson hurt his shoulder in the "fighting" and this could impact his game. Hopefully not. I like Tyson. I would kind of like him to outlast Brad.
At any rate, you would think that the Bro-Alliance might have noticed that the reason they lost was their super weakling girls and that maybe they might have thought that maybe had they kept Rachel and/or Marissa they'd be in way better shape... but no. Instead, they hatch a brilliant plan to make their tribe weaker.
John - a doctor - still can't find the hidden idol, but he does choose to share the clues with Brad in hopes that Brad will see that he's not shady and is committed to their alliance. They all talk about which weak plate of pasta to get rid of next. But then.... Brad comes up with a plan to blindside John. Partly I get this plan... you get rid of the guy with the clues to the idol. You get rid of one of your biggest alpha male threats. You get rid of the chance that John & Candace can be a voting pair if she gets back in the game. BUT... in my mind, this was done WAY too early. No chance Candace is getting back in the game for a while, if at all. And, you're undermining your alliance early. Now, you've opened the door for the bros to vote your ass out. Right? And then there's the fact that John was super strong and athletic and now you've got even less of a chance at challenges. Yay? I mean, it's good for Katie and Ciera, but they are not really factors in this game anyway, let's not kid ourselves. If I'm the other dudes in the bro-alliance, I'm going to hang in there under the radar as much as possible and keep letting Brad take the blame for everything. Shhhh, bros.
So the drama had already started when Colton began to cry. Seriously, we were not even 5 minutes into the show when the waterworks started. Amazing. Turns out Colton hates his tribe and wants to go home. What a whiny baby. Jeff, my ex-boyfriend, totally can't believe it. It went something like this:
Jeff: Seriously, you came on the show to redeem yourself.
Colton: Yup.
Jeff: Uh, you know that you'll be leaving your tribe a man down in a game that's all about numbers.
Colton: Yup, but this is the best thing for ME, Jeff.
Jeff: You know that's incredibly selfish, right?
Colton: Yup.
Jeff: Do you want to own up to the fact that last time you left, you didn't actually have appendicitis, but were faking it, you big fat fake faker?
Colton: Well, I did have a bacterial infection.
Jeff: Yeah, you and everyone else who's drinking this super gross water and eating rice with bugs in it.
Colton: Well, I need to do what's best for ME.
Jeff: How can you not see that you're turning down a super awesome opportunity to better yourself?
Colton: I'm the best as it is. Can't you tell by the fact I wear a sweater tied around my shoulders?
Jeff: You suck.
OK, that's a total paraphrased version. But the end is true. Colton DOES suck. And so does CBS for even bringing him on in the first place. Doesn't Mark Burnett read this blog? We all pretty much came to the conclusion last time that Colton was pretty much a bad human being with no redeeming qualities. Something must be wrong with Caleb, because he seems too normal to be with Colton. What up with that? Anyway, good riddance.
On to people who actually do want to play. It was a duel between Candace, Marissa & Rachel. They had to build a big thing of dominoes... Candace rocked it again and again gave the clue to John. Marissa and Rachel hacked it for another 40 minutes and Marissa ended up winning. Rachel went home. It was a bit sad. I liked Rachel - I feel like she's one of those competitors who got dealt a bit of a bad hand to start out and was someone who we probably would have liked a lot more had we gotten to know her. Ah well.
The veteran Survivors won the immunity again as well as some comfort items. It was a great challenge where 2 people have to try to knock each other into the water, sumo styles. Fun to match up relatives. Cue waterworks again as Laura doesn't want to beat up her daughter. (Note: both moms took out their daughters. Also, I like Ciera, but she is the weakest. Like I'm pretty sure a plate of spaghetti is stronger than Ciera. What?) Katie put up a pretty good fight, but Tina took her out as well. The Dudes on the relative team did pretty well, John and Hayden won their bouts.... Vytas lost to Aras after a hard-fought bout. (Note: I'm really digging the Aras/Vytas dynamic. I love that they both totally love each other as bros but that there's all this underlying resentment. Aras resents Vytas for being a bully and a mess when they were younger. Vytas resents Aras for being 'the golden child' who did everything right. Also, both (Aras especially) are not hard on the eyes.)
Another thing that happened is that Tyson hurt his shoulder in the "fighting" and this could impact his game. Hopefully not. I like Tyson. I would kind of like him to outlast Brad.
At any rate, you would think that the Bro-Alliance might have noticed that the reason they lost was their super weakling girls and that maybe they might have thought that maybe had they kept Rachel and/or Marissa they'd be in way better shape... but no. Instead, they hatch a brilliant plan to make their tribe weaker.
John - a doctor - still can't find the hidden idol, but he does choose to share the clues with Brad in hopes that Brad will see that he's not shady and is committed to their alliance. They all talk about which weak plate of pasta to get rid of next. But then.... Brad comes up with a plan to blindside John. Partly I get this plan... you get rid of the guy with the clues to the idol. You get rid of one of your biggest alpha male threats. You get rid of the chance that John & Candace can be a voting pair if she gets back in the game. BUT... in my mind, this was done WAY too early. No chance Candace is getting back in the game for a while, if at all. And, you're undermining your alliance early. Now, you've opened the door for the bros to vote your ass out. Right? And then there's the fact that John was super strong and athletic and now you've got even less of a chance at challenges. Yay? I mean, it's good for Katie and Ciera, but they are not really factors in this game anyway, let's not kid ourselves. If I'm the other dudes in the bro-alliance, I'm going to hang in there under the radar as much as possible and keep letting Brad take the blame for everything. Shhhh, bros.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
:(
Do you love the layers upon layers of this season so far? Yes? And it's only episode two. Also, we don't have to hear Rupert's voice again 'til the Reunion show! Yippee!
So yeah, if you missed it, the girls kicked Rupert's butt at Redemption Island. Can we stop calling it an island? It's not. It should be Redemption Stadium, or Redemption Place, or Redemption Crescent. I digress. It was Marissa vs. Candice vs. Rupert. Rupert, like most boys, tried to rush his way through the exercise, while the gals took their time and did everything slow & careful-like. For some reason, I blurted out, "Oh, Candice, she's a doctor!" like somehow this was the reason she'd win. And who knows? Maybe it was. I do feel like doctors shouldn't be all rushing and messy with stuff, right? (Disclaimer: I don't even know what kind of doctor she is. Perhaps she's a veterinarian, or a has a doctorate in English? Unknown.)
So, when she won, Candice was given the opportunity to give a clue to the hidden immunity idol to anyone she liked. She likes her husband, John (yay!) so she gave it to him, natch. Go team hot doctors! However, he's now got a bit of a target on his back because he didn't share the clue with his dude-alliance. The problem with this rookie mistake is that 1. the target thing and 2. he hasn't yet actually FOUND the idol.
Also, John likes Rachel. Now, he doesn't LIKE-like Rachel. He's happily married to Candace. (Aside: what was with Tyson and Aras cuddling by the fire?) But, he's made pals with Rachel, who the boys have decided might be a good person to vote off next. John sticking up for Rachel also makes him a bit of a stand-out. And thing is, he didn't defend Rachel by saying all the good logical things. See, what's happening is that the dude alliance figures that it's best to vote off the person who a big strong dude will likely switch places with, thus putting a big strong dude in danger of going home. So, to this reasoning, you vote off Rachel in hopes that Tyson will step in & take her place. To me, it's flawed. Then, I think Rachel would end up on the other team, non? And you've got someone else who's now basically turned on you and allying themselves with the others. Also, Tyson may not step in for her and then you've gotten rid of your strongest woman. Finally, the logic of getting rid of Tyson vs. Tina isn't very forward-thinking. Tyson automatically becomes a target as soon as there's a merge. Strong dudes tend to be taken care of. Wiley moms on the other hand... Has any of these dudes actually WATCHED Survivor in the last bunch of years? Who has won? The last 4 seasons - Nerdy Survivor guy, Fit Mom, Bridal shop girl, Bookish Girl-nerd. Right? Statistically, get the damn nerds off first. But no one listens to me.
Anyways, where were we?
Let's switch gears a bit to Colton. Colton is once again trying to cause chaos and someone nailed it on the head last night when they called him the gay Russell Hantz. It's so visible to everyone, thankfully, and I think they are biding their time 'til they can get rid of him and his very bad behaviour. Though, it looks like next time he considers actually quitting the game as the preview shows him running over to Caleb and sitting on his lap crying. (Again with the crying.) We'll see if he actually quits or not, but either way, there's no way his days aren't numbered. And way to help out Caleb, who's butching it up quite well (can you say that) with the straight manly-men (who, let's be fair, are cuddling on the other tribe.) The best scene was the whole tribe giving each other back massages conga-line style while Colton just sat there, disgusted, proving once again he has no social skills that are needed to play this game and begging the question again, Do people actually watch this show before they go on it? Jury's out on that one.
My other favourite part of the show was where Marissa chats up Candace & Rupert at Redemption Circle camp and calls out her former teammates for "having the nerve to write frowny faces next to my name like they're actually sorry about it." Heh heh. I've always hated that myself. Or when people are all, "I love you guys...." No, you don't. At any rate, it's pretty fitting to see Rupert, who I've long referred to as Eeyore get the boot on an episode where we get to discuss frowny faces. His wife was good with it and said she feels relief that she doesn't have to worry about him any more and is less of a target herself now. Good points. Also, HE'S PLAYED 4 TIMES.
Rachel is the one who got voted to go to Redemption Town, by the way. :(
So yeah, if you missed it, the girls kicked Rupert's butt at Redemption Island. Can we stop calling it an island? It's not. It should be Redemption Stadium, or Redemption Place, or Redemption Crescent. I digress. It was Marissa vs. Candice vs. Rupert. Rupert, like most boys, tried to rush his way through the exercise, while the gals took their time and did everything slow & careful-like. For some reason, I blurted out, "Oh, Candice, she's a doctor!" like somehow this was the reason she'd win. And who knows? Maybe it was. I do feel like doctors shouldn't be all rushing and messy with stuff, right? (Disclaimer: I don't even know what kind of doctor she is. Perhaps she's a veterinarian, or a has a doctorate in English? Unknown.)
So, when she won, Candice was given the opportunity to give a clue to the hidden immunity idol to anyone she liked. She likes her husband, John (yay!) so she gave it to him, natch. Go team hot doctors! However, he's now got a bit of a target on his back because he didn't share the clue with his dude-alliance. The problem with this rookie mistake is that 1. the target thing and 2. he hasn't yet actually FOUND the idol.
Also, John likes Rachel. Now, he doesn't LIKE-like Rachel. He's happily married to Candace. (Aside: what was with Tyson and Aras cuddling by the fire?) But, he's made pals with Rachel, who the boys have decided might be a good person to vote off next. John sticking up for Rachel also makes him a bit of a stand-out. And thing is, he didn't defend Rachel by saying all the good logical things. See, what's happening is that the dude alliance figures that it's best to vote off the person who a big strong dude will likely switch places with, thus putting a big strong dude in danger of going home. So, to this reasoning, you vote off Rachel in hopes that Tyson will step in & take her place. To me, it's flawed. Then, I think Rachel would end up on the other team, non? And you've got someone else who's now basically turned on you and allying themselves with the others. Also, Tyson may not step in for her and then you've gotten rid of your strongest woman. Finally, the logic of getting rid of Tyson vs. Tina isn't very forward-thinking. Tyson automatically becomes a target as soon as there's a merge. Strong dudes tend to be taken care of. Wiley moms on the other hand... Has any of these dudes actually WATCHED Survivor in the last bunch of years? Who has won? The last 4 seasons - Nerdy Survivor guy, Fit Mom, Bridal shop girl, Bookish Girl-nerd. Right? Statistically, get the damn nerds off first. But no one listens to me.
Anyways, where were we?
Let's switch gears a bit to Colton. Colton is once again trying to cause chaos and someone nailed it on the head last night when they called him the gay Russell Hantz. It's so visible to everyone, thankfully, and I think they are biding their time 'til they can get rid of him and his very bad behaviour. Though, it looks like next time he considers actually quitting the game as the preview shows him running over to Caleb and sitting on his lap crying. (Again with the crying.) We'll see if he actually quits or not, but either way, there's no way his days aren't numbered. And way to help out Caleb, who's butching it up quite well (can you say that) with the straight manly-men (who, let's be fair, are cuddling on the other tribe.) The best scene was the whole tribe giving each other back massages conga-line style while Colton just sat there, disgusted, proving once again he has no social skills that are needed to play this game and begging the question again, Do people actually watch this show before they go on it? Jury's out on that one.
My other favourite part of the show was where Marissa chats up Candace & Rupert at Redemption Circle camp and calls out her former teammates for "having the nerve to write frowny faces next to my name like they're actually sorry about it." Heh heh. I've always hated that myself. Or when people are all, "I love you guys...." No, you don't. At any rate, it's pretty fitting to see Rupert, who I've long referred to as Eeyore get the boot on an episode where we get to discuss frowny faces. His wife was good with it and said she feels relief that she doesn't have to worry about him any more and is less of a target herself now. Good points. Also, HE'S PLAYED 4 TIMES.
Rachel is the one who got voted to go to Redemption Town, by the way. :(
Friday, September 20, 2013
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Blood vs. Water! Sorry for the late start, but I'm finally caught up. Let me start by saying I completely love-love-love this theme. I hated it at first. Aaaaand, I'm not super happy to see Rupert again. Did that guy need to be on a FOURTH time? Seriously? More on that later.
So the thing about this theme... First of all, it's awesome that they put the returning Survivors and their loved ones in separate camps. I like that. That's like all-stars vs. newbies again, which is fun. Second, what's becoming quite apparent, and will continue to be a theme-within-a-theme, is that it will totally depend on the TYPE of relationship. It seems that actual blood relatives (brother & sister, uncle & niece, mother & daughter) are more willing to compete against each other and potentially turn on each other than spouses/partners are. Makes sense, right? If I win the million bucks, my spouse by extension wins a million bucks so he wants me to succeed. Then there's the whole protective thing - especially for dudes. Whereas, if I win a million bucks, my brother/sister/niece/mom doesn't necessarily get to share in it. Yeah, I'll probably throw them some cash, but it's not necessarily halfers right? I mean, it might be for some of them. But it's a different dynamic. I LOVE IT.
Third, I love that you can get painted by the same brush as your loved one. Case in point... last night, Gervase was a total d-bag when his team won the challenge and therefore, his niece Marissa got voted out of the tribe. Let's mention that Gervase almost LOST the challenge for his team because he still, 13 years later, does NOT KNOW HOW TO SWIM. Dude. You're going on Survivor. Which you've done before. You know it's an island. Which, generally are surrounded by water. That means swimming challenges. And you don't bother taking an effin' swimming lesson????? What the...? For that reason alone, Gervase needs to get kicked off this show. So back to the story, he almost causes a loss but the puzzle ladies save his ass and win the challenge for the returning players. Gervase pulls out a "boo-yah" and a "that's how you do it" and generally pisses off the other team. Marissa tried valiantly to throw her uncle under the bus by saying, "Yeah, I can't BELIEVE him!" and stuff, but she pretty much gets voted off as a giant "That's how you do it" back to Gervase. Take that sucka. (Oh, and while you're learning how to swim, maybe all those newbies should have googled "how to build a fire." Sheesh.)
Another thing I love is that Redemption Island is back. It's been gone for a while, but it's back and I think that it's pretty clever. It'll make for good TV where relatives will have to watch each other compete for their 'lives' on the show and my former boyfriend, Jeff Probst can throw out stuff like asking if one wants to take the place of the other. This happened right off the bat last night as the teams had to vote someone out without even heading to camp first or learning each other's names. For the returning players, it was Candice. For the family camp it was Laura, who we'll call Mrs. Rupert from now on, as there are two Lauras and that's confusing. For the record, I like Mrs. Rupert way more than Mr. Rupert. Everything about Mr. Rupert annoys the hell out of me - from his beard to the way he talks to the damn tie-dye tank top. Mrs. Rupert seems pretty nice so far, though she also sports a tie-dye shirt, I can look past it for now. Mainly I really liked how she said that it's been annoying to have it all be about "Rupert, Rupert, Rupert" for the last bunch of years and it's her turn now! Ha. So, Jeff asks Rupert if he wants to trade spots with the Mrs., thus putting himself in danger instead of her. Of course, he does. She's thinking, yeah whatever buddy, you've played 3 times already. It's my turn. She has therefor ended up on the Returning players' team. He meanwhile has some sort of Coach-like chivalry thing going on. Then Candice's hubby John gets the same chance. He's like, no, you go beat Rupert. Heh. (Again, you've played already, it's my turn!) But now, of course, he feels bad about it. We'll call that Rupert-guilt.
At Redemption Island, it's hilarious. Poor Candice has to live with Rupert, which has got to be infuriating. She does all the work. He floats, sleeps and makes Rupert noises. It's part of his strategy (of course!) to save his energy for the challenge. We'll have to see if it pays off. If I'm Candice, I'd be telling Rupert to go boil his own water. Now, of course Marissa has joined and next time we'll see a duel (which of course is not a duel if it's three people, right?) Whatever. One will go home for good. I hope it's Rupert.
There's also a whole lot of crying this season already, and I expect that there's going to be more. Usually, of course, crying is reserved for the couple of people who freak out at first because they're overwhelmed (Dawn, Lisa...) or for the family visit episode. Well, the families are already here. Cue crying. The biggest crybaby so far is Colton. Now you guys will have to debate whether he should have come back in the first place. He was SUCH a bad human last time. He has tried to sell us - and his tribemates - on the fact that he has changed. He has found a fiance. He was just mean because he was insecure. Blah, blah, blah. He completely broke down & cried with his tribe which the women ate up, gave hugs, etc. The looks on Tyson's and Aras's faces, on the other hand, were priceless. Kind of amazement meets what the heck is going on here. Now, I was willing to believe Colton for a bit. Then there was a challenge where his team was losing after Gervase's bad swim and then the fact that no one can paddle/steer a boat. He shrieked at Kat something about Paddle! and she actually, mid-paddle, said "Oh, no, you did not...." Yeah, here's the thing dudes. Human behaviour = consistent. It's not like he was just sort of not very nice and decided he'd be nice now. He was a total and absolute a-hole. A bad person. And, I'm sorry, but I'm not sure that sort of stuff changes. At the risk of making a bad joke on purpose, uh, he was born that way.
So you're pretty much caught up. As for interesting characters... I'm looking forward to Tyson & his girlfriend Rachel. Former winners are always interesting to watch - in this case Tina and Aras. And I really enjoy the dynamic so far between Aras and his brother Vytas. Aras has always been the golden boy and Vytas is the former junkie who did jail time, now 14 years clean and a yoga teacher. I like both of them a lot and think they have a good chance. Monica's former NFL player hubby Brad (who Jeff ALREADY calls by his last name and is therefore a favourite) is interesting in that he's already created an all alpha male alliance of 5 on his tribe and has established himself as a leader. Hard for those sports dudes to sit back, I think. (Though, "We've got 4 dudes and a gay dude" was a bit off base. Caleb is still a dude, dudes.) And Hayden, being a Big Brother winner may prove to be interesting. Also, I barely remember Laura M. Do you? Anyway... we'll see. This season has a lot going for it so far. That is, if you can get through all the crying.
So the thing about this theme... First of all, it's awesome that they put the returning Survivors and their loved ones in separate camps. I like that. That's like all-stars vs. newbies again, which is fun. Second, what's becoming quite apparent, and will continue to be a theme-within-a-theme, is that it will totally depend on the TYPE of relationship. It seems that actual blood relatives (brother & sister, uncle & niece, mother & daughter) are more willing to compete against each other and potentially turn on each other than spouses/partners are. Makes sense, right? If I win the million bucks, my spouse by extension wins a million bucks so he wants me to succeed. Then there's the whole protective thing - especially for dudes. Whereas, if I win a million bucks, my brother/sister/niece/mom doesn't necessarily get to share in it. Yeah, I'll probably throw them some cash, but it's not necessarily halfers right? I mean, it might be for some of them. But it's a different dynamic. I LOVE IT.
Third, I love that you can get painted by the same brush as your loved one. Case in point... last night, Gervase was a total d-bag when his team won the challenge and therefore, his niece Marissa got voted out of the tribe. Let's mention that Gervase almost LOST the challenge for his team because he still, 13 years later, does NOT KNOW HOW TO SWIM. Dude. You're going on Survivor. Which you've done before. You know it's an island. Which, generally are surrounded by water. That means swimming challenges. And you don't bother taking an effin' swimming lesson????? What the...? For that reason alone, Gervase needs to get kicked off this show. So back to the story, he almost causes a loss but the puzzle ladies save his ass and win the challenge for the returning players. Gervase pulls out a "boo-yah" and a "that's how you do it" and generally pisses off the other team. Marissa tried valiantly to throw her uncle under the bus by saying, "Yeah, I can't BELIEVE him!" and stuff, but she pretty much gets voted off as a giant "That's how you do it" back to Gervase. Take that sucka. (Oh, and while you're learning how to swim, maybe all those newbies should have googled "how to build a fire." Sheesh.)
Another thing I love is that Redemption Island is back. It's been gone for a while, but it's back and I think that it's pretty clever. It'll make for good TV where relatives will have to watch each other compete for their 'lives' on the show and my former boyfriend, Jeff Probst can throw out stuff like asking if one wants to take the place of the other. This happened right off the bat last night as the teams had to vote someone out without even heading to camp first or learning each other's names. For the returning players, it was Candice. For the family camp it was Laura, who we'll call Mrs. Rupert from now on, as there are two Lauras and that's confusing. For the record, I like Mrs. Rupert way more than Mr. Rupert. Everything about Mr. Rupert annoys the hell out of me - from his beard to the way he talks to the damn tie-dye tank top. Mrs. Rupert seems pretty nice so far, though she also sports a tie-dye shirt, I can look past it for now. Mainly I really liked how she said that it's been annoying to have it all be about "Rupert, Rupert, Rupert" for the last bunch of years and it's her turn now! Ha. So, Jeff asks Rupert if he wants to trade spots with the Mrs., thus putting himself in danger instead of her. Of course, he does. She's thinking, yeah whatever buddy, you've played 3 times already. It's my turn. She has therefor ended up on the Returning players' team. He meanwhile has some sort of Coach-like chivalry thing going on. Then Candice's hubby John gets the same chance. He's like, no, you go beat Rupert. Heh. (Again, you've played already, it's my turn!) But now, of course, he feels bad about it. We'll call that Rupert-guilt.
At Redemption Island, it's hilarious. Poor Candice has to live with Rupert, which has got to be infuriating. She does all the work. He floats, sleeps and makes Rupert noises. It's part of his strategy (of course!) to save his energy for the challenge. We'll have to see if it pays off. If I'm Candice, I'd be telling Rupert to go boil his own water. Now, of course Marissa has joined and next time we'll see a duel (which of course is not a duel if it's three people, right?) Whatever. One will go home for good. I hope it's Rupert.
There's also a whole lot of crying this season already, and I expect that there's going to be more. Usually, of course, crying is reserved for the couple of people who freak out at first because they're overwhelmed (Dawn, Lisa...) or for the family visit episode. Well, the families are already here. Cue crying. The biggest crybaby so far is Colton. Now you guys will have to debate whether he should have come back in the first place. He was SUCH a bad human last time. He has tried to sell us - and his tribemates - on the fact that he has changed. He has found a fiance. He was just mean because he was insecure. Blah, blah, blah. He completely broke down & cried with his tribe which the women ate up, gave hugs, etc. The looks on Tyson's and Aras's faces, on the other hand, were priceless. Kind of amazement meets what the heck is going on here. Now, I was willing to believe Colton for a bit. Then there was a challenge where his team was losing after Gervase's bad swim and then the fact that no one can paddle/steer a boat. He shrieked at Kat something about Paddle! and she actually, mid-paddle, said "Oh, no, you did not...." Yeah, here's the thing dudes. Human behaviour = consistent. It's not like he was just sort of not very nice and decided he'd be nice now. He was a total and absolute a-hole. A bad person. And, I'm sorry, but I'm not sure that sort of stuff changes. At the risk of making a bad joke on purpose, uh, he was born that way.
So you're pretty much caught up. As for interesting characters... I'm looking forward to Tyson & his girlfriend Rachel. Former winners are always interesting to watch - in this case Tina and Aras. And I really enjoy the dynamic so far between Aras and his brother Vytas. Aras has always been the golden boy and Vytas is the former junkie who did jail time, now 14 years clean and a yoga teacher. I like both of them a lot and think they have a good chance. Monica's former NFL player hubby Brad (who Jeff ALREADY calls by his last name and is therefore a favourite) is interesting in that he's already created an all alpha male alliance of 5 on his tribe and has established himself as a leader. Hard for those sports dudes to sit back, I think. (Though, "We've got 4 dudes and a gay dude" was a bit off base. Caleb is still a dude, dudes.) And Hayden, being a Big Brother winner may prove to be interesting. Also, I barely remember Laura M. Do you? Anyway... we'll see. This season has a lot going for it so far. That is, if you can get through all the crying.
Monday, May 13, 2013
But What About the Bar For Dogs?
So, are you happy with the result? I think most of us are pretty pleased that Cochran won it, yes? It makes for a great story - guy watches show since he's 13... writes a thesis on Survivor for Harvard Law School.... plays Survivor once and gets the boot early... gets to play again and wins the whole thing. Plus, he's a huge, but totally likable nerd whose skin is translucent and was afraid to take off his shirt in front of girls the first time he played. Right? It's TV! You can't write this stuff. Oh, wait....
Anyway, poor Erik made a quick exit as he got med-evaced out. Poor dude was so hungry he started getting dizzy spells. The medics decided that some rest, food and IV fluids would be better for him than going back to camp, so off he went. You gotta feel sorry for the guy. He'd played a good game. He made it as far as he did last time. It's just his thing. And he wins for the character who most resembles a muppet... that hair! (Not sure which muppet, though. Maybe more of a Fraggle...) Anyway, it was also the only time in the game where non-stupid Eddie showed up. Eddie, who's a firefighter/EMT in real life, kicked into gear and helped explain to Erik what was going on and what the medics where doing. It was like a smart person took over his brain.
Which brings me to my absolute favourite part of the show.... Where Eddie tells us that if he wins, he's planning to start a bar with a penned in area for dogs... so you can take your dogs to the bar. Why? Because he loves dogs... and he loves going to the bar. Geez, why haven't they thought of that yet for kids?
So it all shook out that Cochran, the challenge monster, won the reward challenge (which was anyone's game... it was building a house of cards while balancing the whole thing with one hand... everyone sucked at it and had to start over about 7 times.) so won a reward of an advantage in the final challenge. For the final challenge, the players had to race up steps and untie bags of puzzle pieces, only Cochran's didn't need to be untied. However, it took him so long to start the puzzle, he almost wasted the advantage entirely. But then, 'cause he's a smarty pants, he flew through the puzzle and won final immunity.
Who to pick? Dawn or Eddie? He ended up picking Dawn to go to the final three with him and Sherri... a no-brainer. Literally. And we were all a bit worried, right? Well, he knew better than we did. Dawn was the right choice. She got eviscerated by the jury for all her emotional outbursts, her paranoia, and her moves like voting out Brenda. Cochran gave an amazing opening statement - pretty much said that yeah, he made moves to vote people out, but it wasn't about who he liked or didn't like, it was about making moves at the right time in the game. He kept it on an intellectual, not emotional level. Sherri, on the other hand, started off by stating what as successful business owner she was....pretty much making everyone on the jury laugh... which was a little mean, but really Sherri, how do you not know you got brought along?
This became a theme. People either ignored Sherri completely, or else laid into her for not understanding that she was brought along just for her vote. It's a bit disappointing in the end because she started off with a lot of promise I thought, but once she moved over to Stealth R Us, she never was able to make any moves to solidify her as a player. And if you're going to play the game of being brought along for the ride - which is a legit strategy in its own right - then you have to own it and be able to defend it. Sherri wasn't even aware. Erik especially tore her a new one.
Which brings me to this observation: you never really know how the jury members are going to act, which is part of what makes this show so delightful. It's always the ones who were so nice all along that end up going off. This time it was Erik and Brenda. Last season, remember Malcolm being a jerk to Denise? Yup, true story.
Brenda - for good reason - lost it on Dawn. We've gone through this before. Dawn broke the girl code. I think Jeff put it well when he said that when Brenda found Dawn's teeth, it was like saying, "I've got your back no matter what." Then, she got backstabbed in a way that seemed extra mean, even for this show. So yeah, I can understand why she was pissed. However, asking Dawn to take out her teeth to prove to her that she would have stayed in the game even had she not found the teeth... a bit over the line maybe? (Dawn did comply, by the way.) It was weird. And good. And uncomfortable. Everything a good Survivor jury moment should be.
Otherwise... some other good moments include Phillip telling Cochran he's proud of him and that he's a class act, Andrea being super nice and gracious to everyone, and Reynold (or was it Eddie? See, I still can't separate them) wondering if Cochran would go out for a beer with the 3 amigos. (And their dogs?) Cochran gave the right answer - of course I'd go for beer, and I'll have a woman on each side of me, just like I do right now. Yup, it was perfect. He played a perfect game. Even better, I'd say, than Boston Rob.
Which brings us to the vote and the Reunion Show. Jeff walked out of the jungle and into CBS studios and the vote was unanimous for Cochran. Then the reunion. Weird, right? They didn't talk to the pre-jury Survivors AT ALL. They were all there in the audience sitting together, but they didn't get to be on stage and they didn't get asked any questions. Which is odd. Did anyone notice whether Baby Hantz was there? I didn't notice... may have to research. My theory is that the producers didn't want to talk to Baby because we all know how that would go. All of a sudden you've got a 2-hour show. Or a fist fight. So maybe they just said, you know, we're not going to talk to ANY of the pre-jury people. Makes sense. But it's a bit odd to ignore two major storylines of the season.... Shamar and Baby. And even Fransquestra, who was voted out first for the second time. Normally that would warrant at least a quick question. But no... instead we had to hear from Boston Rob (kind of funny as he presented Philip with an actual book called the Boston Rob Handbook) and Rudy (from season ONE!) and Richard Hatch, who is apparently out of jail. That ended with Rudy (who is 85 I think) saying, "Awww, I didn't even get to call him a queer..." which seemed pretty... ummm... awkward for Jeff. Oh, and then we get to interview some 12 year-old kid in the audience... instead of TALKING TO THE ACTUAL CAST OF THE SHOW!!! Annoying, CBS. The person who wasn't there was Brenda, because she revealed she's super pregnant and due any moment (now there's some good live TV). Via satellite, she sort of accepted Dawn's sort of apology. Yay?
At any rate, the season was great, the reunion show, not so much. Next season, they're calling it Blood vs. Water and not telling us much more about it. What do you think? Obviously it's something to do with family members. Is it family of previous Survivors? Is it where one family member is on one tribe and the other is on another tribe? I'm glad they're trying something new again and keeping it fresh. I'm glad Jeff is coming back for a 27th season (seriously.) and I'm glad you all take the time to read this nonsense that I write. Thanks again for hanging out with me for another season. I will miss you.
Anyway, poor Erik made a quick exit as he got med-evaced out. Poor dude was so hungry he started getting dizzy spells. The medics decided that some rest, food and IV fluids would be better for him than going back to camp, so off he went. You gotta feel sorry for the guy. He'd played a good game. He made it as far as he did last time. It's just his thing. And he wins for the character who most resembles a muppet... that hair! (Not sure which muppet, though. Maybe more of a Fraggle...) Anyway, it was also the only time in the game where non-stupid Eddie showed up. Eddie, who's a firefighter/EMT in real life, kicked into gear and helped explain to Erik what was going on and what the medics where doing. It was like a smart person took over his brain.
Which brings me to my absolute favourite part of the show.... Where Eddie tells us that if he wins, he's planning to start a bar with a penned in area for dogs... so you can take your dogs to the bar. Why? Because he loves dogs... and he loves going to the bar. Geez, why haven't they thought of that yet for kids?
So it all shook out that Cochran, the challenge monster, won the reward challenge (which was anyone's game... it was building a house of cards while balancing the whole thing with one hand... everyone sucked at it and had to start over about 7 times.) so won a reward of an advantage in the final challenge. For the final challenge, the players had to race up steps and untie bags of puzzle pieces, only Cochran's didn't need to be untied. However, it took him so long to start the puzzle, he almost wasted the advantage entirely. But then, 'cause he's a smarty pants, he flew through the puzzle and won final immunity.
Who to pick? Dawn or Eddie? He ended up picking Dawn to go to the final three with him and Sherri... a no-brainer. Literally. And we were all a bit worried, right? Well, he knew better than we did. Dawn was the right choice. She got eviscerated by the jury for all her emotional outbursts, her paranoia, and her moves like voting out Brenda. Cochran gave an amazing opening statement - pretty much said that yeah, he made moves to vote people out, but it wasn't about who he liked or didn't like, it was about making moves at the right time in the game. He kept it on an intellectual, not emotional level. Sherri, on the other hand, started off by stating what as successful business owner she was....pretty much making everyone on the jury laugh... which was a little mean, but really Sherri, how do you not know you got brought along?
This became a theme. People either ignored Sherri completely, or else laid into her for not understanding that she was brought along just for her vote. It's a bit disappointing in the end because she started off with a lot of promise I thought, but once she moved over to Stealth R Us, she never was able to make any moves to solidify her as a player. And if you're going to play the game of being brought along for the ride - which is a legit strategy in its own right - then you have to own it and be able to defend it. Sherri wasn't even aware. Erik especially tore her a new one.
Which brings me to this observation: you never really know how the jury members are going to act, which is part of what makes this show so delightful. It's always the ones who were so nice all along that end up going off. This time it was Erik and Brenda. Last season, remember Malcolm being a jerk to Denise? Yup, true story.
Brenda - for good reason - lost it on Dawn. We've gone through this before. Dawn broke the girl code. I think Jeff put it well when he said that when Brenda found Dawn's teeth, it was like saying, "I've got your back no matter what." Then, she got backstabbed in a way that seemed extra mean, even for this show. So yeah, I can understand why she was pissed. However, asking Dawn to take out her teeth to prove to her that she would have stayed in the game even had she not found the teeth... a bit over the line maybe? (Dawn did comply, by the way.) It was weird. And good. And uncomfortable. Everything a good Survivor jury moment should be.
Otherwise... some other good moments include Phillip telling Cochran he's proud of him and that he's a class act, Andrea being super nice and gracious to everyone, and Reynold (or was it Eddie? See, I still can't separate them) wondering if Cochran would go out for a beer with the 3 amigos. (And their dogs?) Cochran gave the right answer - of course I'd go for beer, and I'll have a woman on each side of me, just like I do right now. Yup, it was perfect. He played a perfect game. Even better, I'd say, than Boston Rob.
Which brings us to the vote and the Reunion Show. Jeff walked out of the jungle and into CBS studios and the vote was unanimous for Cochran. Then the reunion. Weird, right? They didn't talk to the pre-jury Survivors AT ALL. They were all there in the audience sitting together, but they didn't get to be on stage and they didn't get asked any questions. Which is odd. Did anyone notice whether Baby Hantz was there? I didn't notice... may have to research. My theory is that the producers didn't want to talk to Baby because we all know how that would go. All of a sudden you've got a 2-hour show. Or a fist fight. So maybe they just said, you know, we're not going to talk to ANY of the pre-jury people. Makes sense. But it's a bit odd to ignore two major storylines of the season.... Shamar and Baby. And even Fransquestra, who was voted out first for the second time. Normally that would warrant at least a quick question. But no... instead we had to hear from Boston Rob (kind of funny as he presented Philip with an actual book called the Boston Rob Handbook) and Rudy (from season ONE!) and Richard Hatch, who is apparently out of jail. That ended with Rudy (who is 85 I think) saying, "Awww, I didn't even get to call him a queer..." which seemed pretty... ummm... awkward for Jeff. Oh, and then we get to interview some 12 year-old kid in the audience... instead of TALKING TO THE ACTUAL CAST OF THE SHOW!!! Annoying, CBS. The person who wasn't there was Brenda, because she revealed she's super pregnant and due any moment (now there's some good live TV). Via satellite, she sort of accepted Dawn's sort of apology. Yay?
At any rate, the season was great, the reunion show, not so much. Next season, they're calling it Blood vs. Water and not telling us much more about it. What do you think? Obviously it's something to do with family members. Is it family of previous Survivors? Is it where one family member is on one tribe and the other is on another tribe? I'm glad they're trying something new again and keeping it fresh. I'm glad Jeff is coming back for a 27th season (seriously.) and I'm glad you all take the time to read this nonsense that I write. Thanks again for hanging out with me for another season. I will miss you.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Killed By Niceness
OK, Survivor fans, I'm having a bit of a Survivor problem. If you've read this for a while, you know that I'm all about playing the game for the game and not about "morally" playing the game, or who "deserves" to win or who "played with integrity", blah blah blah. On the other hand, voting Brenda out last night was harsh. It was mean. Was it a good move? Remains to be seen.... But mean! And blindsides are usually great, right? This one made me feel a little dirty to watch. This one held no satisfaction. This one was just sad.
Here's how it went down:
It was the family episode. Did you cry? I did. I bawl every single time. For real. I'm a total sucker for this stuff. I mean, it's not like they've been away from their families for years, right? It's not like they're in the freakin' gulag. And it's like, day 36... they're going home soon. But, still, every time those family videos are shown and then the moms/dads/brothers/sisters/husbands/wives/kids run out of the jungle and into the Survivors' arms, it's pretty much IMPOSSIBLE not to get a little teary. If you don't, you may be made of cardboard. You might want to check into that. Even my ex-boyfriend Jeff Probst got teary-eyed when Brenda met up with her dad and told him that she's been following his advice to be humble. (Which, by the way, did her in in the end. Way to go, dad!) (Kidding.) Jeff said it's the first time in 26 seasons that he's broken... What the hell, Jeff? Perhaps he checked into that whole "made of cardboard" thing. See? Or perhaps he's more human now that he has a daytime talk show?
Anyway... Brenda & her dad kicked butt at the challenge and won. It was pretty cute, her telling her dad how proud of him she was. Then there was Dawn & her hubby telling each other "I love you" WHILE they were running... and Cochran's mom, who pretty much just walked the challenge and used the time to catch up with Cochran. So cute. And every time I say how much the family challenge humanizes the Survivors and makes them not just characters on a show, but real people with families who love them. You almost wish you could have seen the families of some of those other guys... like Philip, or Julia, or Malcolm's oddball brother again...
As expected, Brenda got to pick one other Survivor and their loved one to go on a reward BBQ with her. She chose her closest ally, Dawn and her hubby. Yay, right? Wrong. In a cruel Survivor twist, it was revealed that each person got a second loved one to be there. And Brenda was told she could give up the reward for her & Dawn and give the reward instead to the other four losers... erm, competitors, and their families. She didn't have to think about it long, she chose to give up the reward.
Dawn was particularly choked about this. She didn't get to see her husband & one of her twelve kids (I don't know how many she has... I think it's a lot.) and she also didn't get to have the 'glory' of being the saviour who gave everyone the reward. But instead of just sucking it up and maybe being gracious to Brenda for picking her in the first place (and let's face it, she probably would have done the same thing....) she instead cried, pouted and was generally miserable. Brenda (who also didn't get to see her own family or eat great food) had to talk her up. And let's go over this again... it's day 36. You're going home shortly. You'll be OK.
Then there was the immunity challenge. It was an endurance one, which we know Brenda excels at. It was down to Brenda & Dawn. The plan, as far as Brenda was aware, was to just beat Eddie and then vote him out. So Dawn tries to make a deal with Brenda - let me have the immunity. I've never won one. Brenda initially says no, but then falls in the water. She tells us later that she meant to fall in the water to give the immunity to Dawn - her closest ally, let's remember - and keep her happy instead of paranoid and crazy. Seems like a good plan, right? Wrong. The lesson here is NEVER EVER EVER give up immunity.
All of a sudden, Cochran spearheads the idea to get rid of Brenda because she's a huge threat who's just done a super nice thing to garner herself favour from the jury. On paper, he's right. Brenda is a huge threat in challenges. Cochran gets Sherri to go along (like that's difficult) and then talks to Dawn about it. Dawn talks about playing her own game vs. going Cochran's way, as that did her in last time. And what did she do? She went Cochran's way and voted for Brenda. Erik, by the way, voted Eddie with Brenda. Eddie, forever clueless, voted Erik. Brenda got up, stunned and said, "That hurts," and left, crying. And it wasn't that sort of crying where you feel like, oh come on now, you got voted out fair & square. It hurt ME. I felt Brenda's pain. She had totally just taken one for the team. She had trusted Dawn. Dawn, especially, who had wailed for Brenda when her stupid teeth fell out. Remember? Brenda got them for her and Dawn said she'd never write Brenda's name down. And again... here's where I'm having trouble with my own viewpoint on this game... It isn't about friends or warm-fuzzies. It's about winning a million dollars. But, still, voting out Brenda AT THAT TIME was a total dick move.
And here's the thing. Everyone knows it's a dick move. At the end of the day, people do have to respect your game and it's going to be tough to talk your way out of that one. Sherri... well whatever. Cochran can maybe talk his way out of it because he'll talk about making the right strategic move at the right time. Dawn... I don't think she can get out of this one. You can't backstab your bestie and get away with it. Well, OK, Boston Rob did it, but that's Boston Rob. Dawn is not Boston Rob. Erik, on the other hand, was not a part of this vote. I'm still on Erik or Cochran to win. Erik has played an almost perfect game. Cochran's was close, but he's a good talker and people love a good story. Eddie... well hopefully they know he's actually a bit of a threat if he gets to the end, right? Do they not get this? Eddie has pals on the jury: Reynold, Malcolm and Andrea. Those three votes could be yours if you get rid of Eddie, so why not get him out first, then Brenda? (Well, I know, it's because Brenda is morel likely to win immunity than Eddie, but still, it saves you from looking like a backstabbing jerk.)
It remains to be seen. And I need to get my head around this.
Don't forget the finale is on Sunday. While we're at it, can we talk about having the finale every year on Mother's Day, CBS? What is up with that? That's a dick move, too.
Here's how it went down:
It was the family episode. Did you cry? I did. I bawl every single time. For real. I'm a total sucker for this stuff. I mean, it's not like they've been away from their families for years, right? It's not like they're in the freakin' gulag. And it's like, day 36... they're going home soon. But, still, every time those family videos are shown and then the moms/dads/brothers/sisters/husbands/wives/kids run out of the jungle and into the Survivors' arms, it's pretty much IMPOSSIBLE not to get a little teary. If you don't, you may be made of cardboard. You might want to check into that. Even my ex-boyfriend Jeff Probst got teary-eyed when Brenda met up with her dad and told him that she's been following his advice to be humble. (Which, by the way, did her in in the end. Way to go, dad!) (Kidding.) Jeff said it's the first time in 26 seasons that he's broken... What the hell, Jeff? Perhaps he checked into that whole "made of cardboard" thing. See? Or perhaps he's more human now that he has a daytime talk show?
Anyway... Brenda & her dad kicked butt at the challenge and won. It was pretty cute, her telling her dad how proud of him she was. Then there was Dawn & her hubby telling each other "I love you" WHILE they were running... and Cochran's mom, who pretty much just walked the challenge and used the time to catch up with Cochran. So cute. And every time I say how much the family challenge humanizes the Survivors and makes them not just characters on a show, but real people with families who love them. You almost wish you could have seen the families of some of those other guys... like Philip, or Julia, or Malcolm's oddball brother again...
As expected, Brenda got to pick one other Survivor and their loved one to go on a reward BBQ with her. She chose her closest ally, Dawn and her hubby. Yay, right? Wrong. In a cruel Survivor twist, it was revealed that each person got a second loved one to be there. And Brenda was told she could give up the reward for her & Dawn and give the reward instead to the other four losers... erm, competitors, and their families. She didn't have to think about it long, she chose to give up the reward.
Dawn was particularly choked about this. She didn't get to see her husband & one of her twelve kids (I don't know how many she has... I think it's a lot.) and she also didn't get to have the 'glory' of being the saviour who gave everyone the reward. But instead of just sucking it up and maybe being gracious to Brenda for picking her in the first place (and let's face it, she probably would have done the same thing....) she instead cried, pouted and was generally miserable. Brenda (who also didn't get to see her own family or eat great food) had to talk her up. And let's go over this again... it's day 36. You're going home shortly. You'll be OK.
Then there was the immunity challenge. It was an endurance one, which we know Brenda excels at. It was down to Brenda & Dawn. The plan, as far as Brenda was aware, was to just beat Eddie and then vote him out. So Dawn tries to make a deal with Brenda - let me have the immunity. I've never won one. Brenda initially says no, but then falls in the water. She tells us later that she meant to fall in the water to give the immunity to Dawn - her closest ally, let's remember - and keep her happy instead of paranoid and crazy. Seems like a good plan, right? Wrong. The lesson here is NEVER EVER EVER give up immunity.
All of a sudden, Cochran spearheads the idea to get rid of Brenda because she's a huge threat who's just done a super nice thing to garner herself favour from the jury. On paper, he's right. Brenda is a huge threat in challenges. Cochran gets Sherri to go along (like that's difficult) and then talks to Dawn about it. Dawn talks about playing her own game vs. going Cochran's way, as that did her in last time. And what did she do? She went Cochran's way and voted for Brenda. Erik, by the way, voted Eddie with Brenda. Eddie, forever clueless, voted Erik. Brenda got up, stunned and said, "That hurts," and left, crying. And it wasn't that sort of crying where you feel like, oh come on now, you got voted out fair & square. It hurt ME. I felt Brenda's pain. She had totally just taken one for the team. She had trusted Dawn. Dawn, especially, who had wailed for Brenda when her stupid teeth fell out. Remember? Brenda got them for her and Dawn said she'd never write Brenda's name down. And again... here's where I'm having trouble with my own viewpoint on this game... It isn't about friends or warm-fuzzies. It's about winning a million dollars. But, still, voting out Brenda AT THAT TIME was a total dick move.
And here's the thing. Everyone knows it's a dick move. At the end of the day, people do have to respect your game and it's going to be tough to talk your way out of that one. Sherri... well whatever. Cochran can maybe talk his way out of it because he'll talk about making the right strategic move at the right time. Dawn... I don't think she can get out of this one. You can't backstab your bestie and get away with it. Well, OK, Boston Rob did it, but that's Boston Rob. Dawn is not Boston Rob. Erik, on the other hand, was not a part of this vote. I'm still on Erik or Cochran to win. Erik has played an almost perfect game. Cochran's was close, but he's a good talker and people love a good story. Eddie... well hopefully they know he's actually a bit of a threat if he gets to the end, right? Do they not get this? Eddie has pals on the jury: Reynold, Malcolm and Andrea. Those three votes could be yours if you get rid of Eddie, so why not get him out first, then Brenda? (Well, I know, it's because Brenda is morel likely to win immunity than Eddie, but still, it saves you from looking like a backstabbing jerk.)
It remains to be seen. And I need to get my head around this.
Don't forget the finale is on Sunday. While we're at it, can we talk about having the finale every year on Mother's Day, CBS? What is up with that? That's a dick move, too.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
The Double Whammy!
When it's getting close to the end of the season and they've started with extra cast members, they have to pull out the Double Whammy. That's where TWO Survivors get voted out in one episode. It's very exciting.
Whammy #1:
Instead of a reward challenge, the Survivors were told it would be an immunity challenge, with a reward. They had to stand out on the water on what basically looked like a submerged dog house. It was windy and it looked tough. Immunity was at stake as well as a clue (the reward) to a hidden immunity idol. In addition, my former boyfriend Jeff Probst pulled out the stops with little food enticements along the way. Erik and Eddie were the first to cave with a plate of donuts. Seriously, does anyone watch this game? I mean, Erik's pretty safe, but Eddie? Eddie is not safe at all and yet is willing to not even try to win a million dollars, opting instead for donuts. Now, I'm a big fan of deep-fried dough myself, but think of how many donuts you could buy with a million bucks... Dumb. Later, Eddie would say that he knew he couldn't hold on anyway, so he figured he might as well get some sustenance.
Cochran would do the same for hot dogs and a coke. Now, Cochran is pretty safe. He knows this and also is very hungry. But if I'm the girls left behind (Dawn, Andrea & Brenda were all still standing at this point) to fight off Reynold, I'd be a little pissed that my teammates are bolting for food when the common goal has yet to be achieved. Thankfully for them, Reynold - after a few absolutely magnificent saves - did fall off the dog house. As did Dawn. After that, it doesn't really matter, right? Brenda and Andrea should have made a deal for the clue and Brenda SHOULD have jumped in the water, letting Andrea have the immunity. This would get her the reward and make her a friend. But nope, Brenda decided she would "rather lose than step off." OK, admirable I suppose, but don't you want to conserve your strength? Andrea ended up winning anyway and they had to stand out there in the heat for something like 4 hours. Jeff just wanted to get this thing over with and get his mai tai on, I'm thinking.
Andrea got the same clue that Malcolm had read the episode before and shared it with her alliance, who all helped her look. Erik dug it up (saying, "I'm from a family of diggers." What? Seriously? Are your family moles? Meerkats? Miners? I need to know now.) and kindly handed the idol over to Andrea. Which, really was the right thing to do since she shared the clue and she was literally a foot away from Erik when he found it. Cochran thought Erik should keep it... and had he been Boston Rob, he probably would have, but he'd have lost a couple of jury votes for sure. Erik's playing the nice ice cream scooper card for sure.
So, no chance of fining an idol, Reynold knows he's hooped. And yes, he got voted off. A no-brainer, really. Reynold is a threat at challenges and he's a smarty pants. Eddie... not so much. To Reynold's credit, he is not that bummed about getting voted off and takes it super graciously. Reynold, I will admit, grew on me. Eddie... not so much.
So now it's down to the (former?) Stealth R Us folks plus Sherri and Eddie. People are starting to think about the final three. If I'm these guys, I'm thinking Sherri and Eddie are looking pretty good as people to take to the final three. Eddie might have a vote from Malcolm and Reynold, though... maybe. Sherri is awesome for going as far as she has, but she's delusional if she thinks it's because of anything except her vote. She's not controlling the game at all. Mind you, I will say Sherri must be playing one hell of a social game because she seems to be everyone's best friend. Have you noticed this? She's smarter than she's been getting credit for, editing-wise.
Whammy #2:
Andrea wants to start targeting strong members of her own alliance and Brenda's whole "I won't jump off the dog house" (not an actual quote) thing makes Andrea think she's a pretty big threat. Plus, she knows that Brenda is also everyone's best friend. Brenda - who I'm pretty sure was a bit of a beeyatch last time she played, right? - is playing the nice card as well as Erik... oh, and Dawn... and Sherri.... and Cochran. Andrea is playing pretty hard, though, pushing her strategy on everyone while having the idol. No one likes that. So, they come up with a pretty ingenious plan to make Andrea positive that yes, they're all going to blindside Brenda, when in fact the plan was to blindside Andrea. She did not see it coming and she did not play her idol. They threw some votes Eddie's way, just in case she did play it. Eddie and Andrea voted for Brenda. It was a perfectly executed blindside. Sigh.... these make me so happy.
Now it looks like Cochran is going to have to watch his back because everyone knows what an awesome game he's been playing. And Eddie is a free vote, remember, so things could get pretty interesting from here out. Also, next show is the family visit show, so get ready and prepare your box of tissues!!
Whammy #1:
Instead of a reward challenge, the Survivors were told it would be an immunity challenge, with a reward. They had to stand out on the water on what basically looked like a submerged dog house. It was windy and it looked tough. Immunity was at stake as well as a clue (the reward) to a hidden immunity idol. In addition, my former boyfriend Jeff Probst pulled out the stops with little food enticements along the way. Erik and Eddie were the first to cave with a plate of donuts. Seriously, does anyone watch this game? I mean, Erik's pretty safe, but Eddie? Eddie is not safe at all and yet is willing to not even try to win a million dollars, opting instead for donuts. Now, I'm a big fan of deep-fried dough myself, but think of how many donuts you could buy with a million bucks... Dumb. Later, Eddie would say that he knew he couldn't hold on anyway, so he figured he might as well get some sustenance.
Cochran would do the same for hot dogs and a coke. Now, Cochran is pretty safe. He knows this and also is very hungry. But if I'm the girls left behind (Dawn, Andrea & Brenda were all still standing at this point) to fight off Reynold, I'd be a little pissed that my teammates are bolting for food when the common goal has yet to be achieved. Thankfully for them, Reynold - after a few absolutely magnificent saves - did fall off the dog house. As did Dawn. After that, it doesn't really matter, right? Brenda and Andrea should have made a deal for the clue and Brenda SHOULD have jumped in the water, letting Andrea have the immunity. This would get her the reward and make her a friend. But nope, Brenda decided she would "rather lose than step off." OK, admirable I suppose, but don't you want to conserve your strength? Andrea ended up winning anyway and they had to stand out there in the heat for something like 4 hours. Jeff just wanted to get this thing over with and get his mai tai on, I'm thinking.
Andrea got the same clue that Malcolm had read the episode before and shared it with her alliance, who all helped her look. Erik dug it up (saying, "I'm from a family of diggers." What? Seriously? Are your family moles? Meerkats? Miners? I need to know now.) and kindly handed the idol over to Andrea. Which, really was the right thing to do since she shared the clue and she was literally a foot away from Erik when he found it. Cochran thought Erik should keep it... and had he been Boston Rob, he probably would have, but he'd have lost a couple of jury votes for sure. Erik's playing the nice ice cream scooper card for sure.
So, no chance of fining an idol, Reynold knows he's hooped. And yes, he got voted off. A no-brainer, really. Reynold is a threat at challenges and he's a smarty pants. Eddie... not so much. To Reynold's credit, he is not that bummed about getting voted off and takes it super graciously. Reynold, I will admit, grew on me. Eddie... not so much.
So now it's down to the (former?) Stealth R Us folks plus Sherri and Eddie. People are starting to think about the final three. If I'm these guys, I'm thinking Sherri and Eddie are looking pretty good as people to take to the final three. Eddie might have a vote from Malcolm and Reynold, though... maybe. Sherri is awesome for going as far as she has, but she's delusional if she thinks it's because of anything except her vote. She's not controlling the game at all. Mind you, I will say Sherri must be playing one hell of a social game because she seems to be everyone's best friend. Have you noticed this? She's smarter than she's been getting credit for, editing-wise.
Whammy #2:
Andrea wants to start targeting strong members of her own alliance and Brenda's whole "I won't jump off the dog house" (not an actual quote) thing makes Andrea think she's a pretty big threat. Plus, she knows that Brenda is also everyone's best friend. Brenda - who I'm pretty sure was a bit of a beeyatch last time she played, right? - is playing the nice card as well as Erik... oh, and Dawn... and Sherri.... and Cochran. Andrea is playing pretty hard, though, pushing her strategy on everyone while having the idol. No one likes that. So, they come up with a pretty ingenious plan to make Andrea positive that yes, they're all going to blindside Brenda, when in fact the plan was to blindside Andrea. She did not see it coming and she did not play her idol. They threw some votes Eddie's way, just in case she did play it. Eddie and Andrea voted for Brenda. It was a perfectly executed blindside. Sigh.... these make me so happy.
Now it looks like Cochran is going to have to watch his back because everyone knows what an awesome game he's been playing. And Eddie is a free vote, remember, so things could get pretty interesting from here out. Also, next show is the family visit show, so get ready and prepare your box of tissues!!
Friday, April 26, 2013
Woody Allen > 3 Amigos
Well, he had a good run, our Malcolm. And how much do you love Cochran? Seriously, now that Malcolm's gone, I think Cochran should win this thing, non?
Backing up... our Survivors were hungry and cranky. For real, if Sherri turns sideways, you can barely see her. Brenda - normally so even keel - lost it and had herself a little cry. I don't judge. We females need food and rest or we A) get angry or B) cry. It's just the way it is. Don't act like you don't do this, other girls. You do. We all do.
Then good news - it's the Survivor auction! This puts Brenda in a weird place again where she can't quite get it together. Everyone else is getting food. Malcolm sells out for beer & pretzels. Dawn spends her whole $500 on a chicken (cooked, mind you.) (Which makes me think, "She is going to feel that in about 6-8 hours... and she would, giving us the memorable line, "I wouldn't be so paranoid if I didn't have diarrhea.") Malcolm eventually gets a clue to the hidden immunity idol. Cochran gets an advantage in the next challenge. Andrea gets spaghetti but gets to choose to keep it or trade it for beans & rice for the whole tribe (she does). Most of them get letters from home. Brenda gets pig brains. How sad did you feel for her? I liked how she at least tried it and said to Jeff, "It's good for me, right?" and "I just remembered I don't eat pork." I love her.
And this is why I'm liking this season, even though I was crabby about bringing all these people back in the first place. I guess, as a Survivor fan myself, I am enjoying watching how these people have changed since they were last on the show and how they have learned to play the game. I love that I love Brenda now, where the last time she played, I really didn't. I liked Cochran the first time, but now.... seriously... we've talked before about how much more confident he is, but he's kicking some serious butt (more on that later). It totally makes a difference of course who's playing the game. If say, Phillip's idol, Boston Rob was there, maybe things would be different. But I'm enjoying this particular group of fans and how SMART they are all playing. Erik is working both sides brilliantly under the radar. Dawn has been playing a really great game and not so worried about the stuff she worried about the first time out ("lying" and whatnot.) It's so fun to watch. Even Andrea, who I'm not a huge fan of.... she's playing a heckuva game.
As mentioned, Malcolm got a clue - more than a clue really... a map with a giant red arrow on it pointing to where the hidden immunity idol was. And he couldn't find it. How frustrating for a guy who found two idols already without any clues. Part of the reason he couldn't find it was that Andrea stuck to him like glue. She followed him out to the water well where the idol is hidden somewhere and just sat herself down, didn't say a word. Malcolm just stands there as well, silent. Finally she says, "Is this a stand-off?" Heh. And so they just sit there. He says she's "like a little sister he just can't get rid of." Finally they decide to go together back to camp. Delightful.
In the meantime, Malcolm & his other amigos decide to try to make people think he found it. Also, they do their best to pull in Sherri and Erik, who are the most 'on the fence' of the alliance. It could work. They need to win immunity....
But no. Cochran wins immunity!! The challenge monster has won more individual immunities than anyone else. I love it. The challenge was holding a giant pole up using a rope with knots on it and every so often Jeff will tell them to move down another knot. Cochran's note that he won at the auction allows him to at any point move back up two knots, giving him an advantage in the challenge. Cochran brilliantly chose to use it at the right time, which was earlier vs. later. Later he might have been too tired to hang on. Using it earlier gave him more time being less tired. Smarty pants. (Someone mentioned to me recently that Cochran is kind of Woody Allen. I agree. But a more confident Woody Allen. Kind of Woody Allen meets Tom Hanks, but younger.)
Oh... and I forgot to mention that at the auction, they all got to share a bowl of peanut butter. (Who comes up with these things? Remember last time it was they had to all eat a whole chocolate cake with their hands?) Yeah, watching a whole bunch of dirty people eat a bowl of peanut butter with their hands is enough to make you want to not eat peanut butter any more. Oh who am I kidding? I love peanut butter. And Cochran once again gets to lick the PB off of Sherri's hands. "How often does this happen to you, Cochran?" asks Jeff. "More often than you'd think." Awesome.
So it's a bit of a toss-up whether Erik and/or Sherri will flip to the dark side, but it doesn't happen. They are smart enough to know that these are now jury members and it's better to play nice and go along. They split the vote between Reynold and Malcolm (just in case Malcolm somehow did find an idol) and the three Amigos vote for Andrea. On the re-vote, everyone votes for Malcolm. Reynold - again somehow - gets through. And how has Eddie made it this far? Eddie does not win challenges. He's not EVER come up with any ideas or strategy. He is there to meet girls.
So, I'm a little sad for Malcolm. He's a great player and makes for good TV. But, it paves the way for Cochran to win, so that makes me happy. Plus, ladies, he's going to go get all cleaned up and be back on the jury now, so that's good right?
Backing up... our Survivors were hungry and cranky. For real, if Sherri turns sideways, you can barely see her. Brenda - normally so even keel - lost it and had herself a little cry. I don't judge. We females need food and rest or we A) get angry or B) cry. It's just the way it is. Don't act like you don't do this, other girls. You do. We all do.
Then good news - it's the Survivor auction! This puts Brenda in a weird place again where she can't quite get it together. Everyone else is getting food. Malcolm sells out for beer & pretzels. Dawn spends her whole $500 on a chicken (cooked, mind you.) (Which makes me think, "She is going to feel that in about 6-8 hours... and she would, giving us the memorable line, "I wouldn't be so paranoid if I didn't have diarrhea.") Malcolm eventually gets a clue to the hidden immunity idol. Cochran gets an advantage in the next challenge. Andrea gets spaghetti but gets to choose to keep it or trade it for beans & rice for the whole tribe (she does). Most of them get letters from home. Brenda gets pig brains. How sad did you feel for her? I liked how she at least tried it and said to Jeff, "It's good for me, right?" and "I just remembered I don't eat pork." I love her.
And this is why I'm liking this season, even though I was crabby about bringing all these people back in the first place. I guess, as a Survivor fan myself, I am enjoying watching how these people have changed since they were last on the show and how they have learned to play the game. I love that I love Brenda now, where the last time she played, I really didn't. I liked Cochran the first time, but now.... seriously... we've talked before about how much more confident he is, but he's kicking some serious butt (more on that later). It totally makes a difference of course who's playing the game. If say, Phillip's idol, Boston Rob was there, maybe things would be different. But I'm enjoying this particular group of fans and how SMART they are all playing. Erik is working both sides brilliantly under the radar. Dawn has been playing a really great game and not so worried about the stuff she worried about the first time out ("lying" and whatnot.) It's so fun to watch. Even Andrea, who I'm not a huge fan of.... she's playing a heckuva game.
As mentioned, Malcolm got a clue - more than a clue really... a map with a giant red arrow on it pointing to where the hidden immunity idol was. And he couldn't find it. How frustrating for a guy who found two idols already without any clues. Part of the reason he couldn't find it was that Andrea stuck to him like glue. She followed him out to the water well where the idol is hidden somewhere and just sat herself down, didn't say a word. Malcolm just stands there as well, silent. Finally she says, "Is this a stand-off?" Heh. And so they just sit there. He says she's "like a little sister he just can't get rid of." Finally they decide to go together back to camp. Delightful.
In the meantime, Malcolm & his other amigos decide to try to make people think he found it. Also, they do their best to pull in Sherri and Erik, who are the most 'on the fence' of the alliance. It could work. They need to win immunity....
But no. Cochran wins immunity!! The challenge monster has won more individual immunities than anyone else. I love it. The challenge was holding a giant pole up using a rope with knots on it and every so often Jeff will tell them to move down another knot. Cochran's note that he won at the auction allows him to at any point move back up two knots, giving him an advantage in the challenge. Cochran brilliantly chose to use it at the right time, which was earlier vs. later. Later he might have been too tired to hang on. Using it earlier gave him more time being less tired. Smarty pants. (Someone mentioned to me recently that Cochran is kind of Woody Allen. I agree. But a more confident Woody Allen. Kind of Woody Allen meets Tom Hanks, but younger.)
Oh... and I forgot to mention that at the auction, they all got to share a bowl of peanut butter. (Who comes up with these things? Remember last time it was they had to all eat a whole chocolate cake with their hands?) Yeah, watching a whole bunch of dirty people eat a bowl of peanut butter with their hands is enough to make you want to not eat peanut butter any more. Oh who am I kidding? I love peanut butter. And Cochran once again gets to lick the PB off of Sherri's hands. "How often does this happen to you, Cochran?" asks Jeff. "More often than you'd think." Awesome.
So it's a bit of a toss-up whether Erik and/or Sherri will flip to the dark side, but it doesn't happen. They are smart enough to know that these are now jury members and it's better to play nice and go along. They split the vote between Reynold and Malcolm (just in case Malcolm somehow did find an idol) and the three Amigos vote for Andrea. On the re-vote, everyone votes for Malcolm. Reynold - again somehow - gets through. And how has Eddie made it this far? Eddie does not win challenges. He's not EVER come up with any ideas or strategy. He is there to meet girls.
So, I'm a little sad for Malcolm. He's a great player and makes for good TV. But, it paves the way for Cochran to win, so that makes me happy. Plus, ladies, he's going to go get all cleaned up and be back on the jury now, so that's good right?
Thursday, April 18, 2013
The Three Amigos Defeat El Specialisto (Disclaimer: Probably that is not an actual Spanish word.)
Note: It has been pointed out to me since posting that it was actually Malcolm who found the immunity idol, not Reynold. Whoops. See? They're sort of the same. In all fairness, I WAS drinking before I watched the episode last night.
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I missed blogging last week. I did watch the show, but I was packing at the time and had to check out before island-hopping. You feel sorry for me now, right?
Anyway, all you needed to know from last week was that Malcolm got Reynold to give him his idol, and then it turned out that neither one of them needed it because everyone voted for Michael. Kind of a wasted vote, really. They could have split their vote and gotten one of those strong boys out... AND Michael probably would have worked with them at some point... but no. The good thing I guess for Stealth-R-Us was that Reynold's idol was gone.
Until last night.
One of the best Tribal Councils ever, right?
Hmmm... but I'm skipping ahead a bit. Some other stuff probably happened. Oh, yes. Dawn had a bit of a freak-out. I guess she's got a partial denture piece for her lower teeth and it got knocked loose at some point and she lost it in the water when she went to take a sip. (Ummm, is she sipping water right out of a pond?) So she kind of lost it. She yelled for Brenda to come & help her and was sobbing so hard that she couldn't breathe. Poor Brenda probably thought Dawn had cut off her foot or something... but who am I to say. I think that Survivor messes with people's heads a bit, and we know Dawn is a pretty emotional gal to begin with and just did not like the idea of finishing out the show with no bottom teeth. In between sobs, she was saying, "I'll pull myself from the game if I can't find them..." Yikes, right? But you know, she wasn't getting any sleep, she was paranoid about getting blindsided and everything else. I know that on a regular day when I'm tired and hungry, I don't always deal well. So, yeah, I don't think we ladies can judge Dawn too harshly. I'm not sure I'd do well either in the same situation. I've cried over stupider things and thankfully there was no TV camera on me at the time. Well, Brenda was a star and dove down to the bottom of the pond (lake? sea?) and found them. Dawn was happy again. Plus, she got some sleep and food, and all of a sudden she was back to her usual self again. Yay! I love Dawn and I want to give her a hug.
In other news, it occurred to me yesterday that Erik could be the one to win this thing. Have we thought much about Erik? He's kind of amazing in that he's playing in a way that we DON'T talk about him at all. He doesn't do anything crazy, he seems to get along with everyone - the girls, the strong dudes, even made himself a Stealth-R-Us member, though not sure what his 'name' is. And he's pretty good at challenges. He doesn't seem to be leading the way, but that'll probably get him far. Could happen. I sorta think the same way about Brenda too. Both are playing excellent 'under the radar' strategies and both have clearly learned a lot since they last played.
The reward challenge wasn't super exciting. It ended up with Phillip, Cochran, Dawn, Erik and Reynold getting to go to a resort and hang out, shower and eat. The reward involved jumping from a mud pit into rice, so they were all pretty dirty... so you'd think you'd have a shower before jumping into a pristine swimming pool, non? Not if you're the Specialist. He just hops in, grossing out his teammates and I'm sure the pool boy. The awesome Survivor editors made sure to include an awesome crane shot showing the Pigpen-like cloud of dirt coming off Phillip in the pool. Ew. Thing #758 that has annoyed his teammates.
The immunity challenge was easy to call. They had to jump in the water swim underneath a platform by pulling themselves along with a rope and then hop back up on the platform, get a ring, bring it to another platform, rinse, repeat. This challenge clearly favours the boys. It takes a lot of upper body strength to pull yourself along like that and then pull your body weight up to the platform, over and over. Even fit girls who are really great swimmers like Brenda & Andrea couldn't keep up to the boys and it was pretty much between Malcolm and Reynold, but Reynold just hopped up out of that water like he was being shot out of a cannon. Seriously, it was quite impressive. So he won immunity and he needed it, because he was on the chopping block. Oh yeah, and Phillip did not participate in the challenge at all - didn't even TRY - because of "an incident" when he was a boy. Apparently he got caught under a dock or some such thing and someone had to pull him out. Frightened him enough that he wouldn't even TRY to do it for a million dollars. I mean, if it's me, I'm at least going to give it a go.... I might not win and I might have to stop, but as someone said (was it Malcolm? Cochran?) that's kinda weird for a guy with a gorilla and a lion tattooed on his arms, right? Thing #759.
Without Reynold to vote for, the 7-strong alliance was either going to vote for Malcolm or Eddie, so they decided to just split their votes. Easy, right. Nope. The clever boys went out looking for a hidden immunity idol. And, right in front of everyone, Reynold pulled one out of a rock. Yup, the dude is either SUPER lucky with the immunity idols, or else SUPER talented in finding them. So, the S-R-Us alliance thinks, it's ok, still split the vote and it'll all work out. Wrong.
No one knew about Malcolm's idol that he found way, way back. At Tribal Council, first Malcolm revealed that he had an idol, then Eddie pulls one out and there are "The Three Amigos" as Jeff called them... all of a sudden all free from the vote. Now, they didn't all have to play them. The looks on the Stealth faces was priceless. Now what? Just for fun, Reynold (I think) says, "The 3 of us are voting for Phillip, just so you know." Now, the Stealth group is scrambling. Some are whispering names right there in front of each other. Someone (was it Brenda?) kept saying 'Andrea?'... which I'm pretty sure is going to make Andrea a little cheesed off later on. In the end only Erik flipped and voted for Phillip (spelling it "Fillup") which was kind of stupid, considering he didn't have to change his vote. All of them could have kept the same plan, Phil would have gotten voted off, and none of them would have to vote against their alliance. It's actually kind of a brilliant thing - unless you're Phillip.
So now there's still an alliance of 6 that has the numbers over the 3 Amigos. (Sidebar: Have you ever seen that movie, with Steve Martin & Chevy Chase & Martin Short? It's very funny. Go watch it now. Do it.) However, those 3 dudes are all VERY good at challenges and have a good chance at outlasting the other bunch. As always, it'll depend on the challenge. If there are lots of strength ones or anything to do with throwing something at a target, Malcolm & Reynold are golden. If it's a puzzle, Eddie will be out immediately. (Can we talk about how much I can't stand Eddie? Ugh. He's a mimbo. Reynold is a bit of a jerk in certain situations, I think, but seems to also be smart. Even after he won the immunity, he said how much 'mad respect' he had for everyone in the challenge (note: Not Phillip). Eddie - not so much. It just doesn't seem like there's much going on upstairs except finding food and flirting with girls. Wait, that's downstairs.) Right. Where were we? Oh yeah, the 3 Amigos are going to have to win and remember they can still look for an immunity idol, because they were all played. And Reynold, as mentioned earlier, is like an immunity idol bloodhound. And next time we get the Survivor Auction, so remember there's always a clue or an advantage that people can win if they save up their money and don't buy the hamburger. Eddie will buy the hamburger. Reynold & Malcolm - probably not.
In the end, The Specialist was pretty gracious in defeat and I do think he played a pretty good game. I'm not saying I'd want to hang out with him for a month on an island, but I think it was ballsy to be the leader of Stealth-R-Us, and that most people in that position end up going far earlier. Also, really, did any of you think Philip would make it to the jury this time or to the final three last time? Give the man some credit. He's one part pink panted lunatic and one part game master. If he wasn't such a lunatic, he probably wouldn't have been the target this time, but it was an easy vote for the Amigos knowing that they were really sort of doing everyone else a favour. I'm glad The Specialist is on the jury and I can't wait for his final questions to whoever is a Stealth member about how they felt they "completed their mission"... Trust. It'll be gold.
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I missed blogging last week. I did watch the show, but I was packing at the time and had to check out before island-hopping. You feel sorry for me now, right?
Anyway, all you needed to know from last week was that Malcolm got Reynold to give him his idol, and then it turned out that neither one of them needed it because everyone voted for Michael. Kind of a wasted vote, really. They could have split their vote and gotten one of those strong boys out... AND Michael probably would have worked with them at some point... but no. The good thing I guess for Stealth-R-Us was that Reynold's idol was gone.
Until last night.
One of the best Tribal Councils ever, right?
Hmmm... but I'm skipping ahead a bit. Some other stuff probably happened. Oh, yes. Dawn had a bit of a freak-out. I guess she's got a partial denture piece for her lower teeth and it got knocked loose at some point and she lost it in the water when she went to take a sip. (Ummm, is she sipping water right out of a pond?) So she kind of lost it. She yelled for Brenda to come & help her and was sobbing so hard that she couldn't breathe. Poor Brenda probably thought Dawn had cut off her foot or something... but who am I to say. I think that Survivor messes with people's heads a bit, and we know Dawn is a pretty emotional gal to begin with and just did not like the idea of finishing out the show with no bottom teeth. In between sobs, she was saying, "I'll pull myself from the game if I can't find them..." Yikes, right? But you know, she wasn't getting any sleep, she was paranoid about getting blindsided and everything else. I know that on a regular day when I'm tired and hungry, I don't always deal well. So, yeah, I don't think we ladies can judge Dawn too harshly. I'm not sure I'd do well either in the same situation. I've cried over stupider things and thankfully there was no TV camera on me at the time. Well, Brenda was a star and dove down to the bottom of the pond (lake? sea?) and found them. Dawn was happy again. Plus, she got some sleep and food, and all of a sudden she was back to her usual self again. Yay! I love Dawn and I want to give her a hug.
In other news, it occurred to me yesterday that Erik could be the one to win this thing. Have we thought much about Erik? He's kind of amazing in that he's playing in a way that we DON'T talk about him at all. He doesn't do anything crazy, he seems to get along with everyone - the girls, the strong dudes, even made himself a Stealth-R-Us member, though not sure what his 'name' is. And he's pretty good at challenges. He doesn't seem to be leading the way, but that'll probably get him far. Could happen. I sorta think the same way about Brenda too. Both are playing excellent 'under the radar' strategies and both have clearly learned a lot since they last played.
The reward challenge wasn't super exciting. It ended up with Phillip, Cochran, Dawn, Erik and Reynold getting to go to a resort and hang out, shower and eat. The reward involved jumping from a mud pit into rice, so they were all pretty dirty... so you'd think you'd have a shower before jumping into a pristine swimming pool, non? Not if you're the Specialist. He just hops in, grossing out his teammates and I'm sure the pool boy. The awesome Survivor editors made sure to include an awesome crane shot showing the Pigpen-like cloud of dirt coming off Phillip in the pool. Ew. Thing #758 that has annoyed his teammates.
The immunity challenge was easy to call. They had to jump in the water swim underneath a platform by pulling themselves along with a rope and then hop back up on the platform, get a ring, bring it to another platform, rinse, repeat. This challenge clearly favours the boys. It takes a lot of upper body strength to pull yourself along like that and then pull your body weight up to the platform, over and over. Even fit girls who are really great swimmers like Brenda & Andrea couldn't keep up to the boys and it was pretty much between Malcolm and Reynold, but Reynold just hopped up out of that water like he was being shot out of a cannon. Seriously, it was quite impressive. So he won immunity and he needed it, because he was on the chopping block. Oh yeah, and Phillip did not participate in the challenge at all - didn't even TRY - because of "an incident" when he was a boy. Apparently he got caught under a dock or some such thing and someone had to pull him out. Frightened him enough that he wouldn't even TRY to do it for a million dollars. I mean, if it's me, I'm at least going to give it a go.... I might not win and I might have to stop, but as someone said (was it Malcolm? Cochran?) that's kinda weird for a guy with a gorilla and a lion tattooed on his arms, right? Thing #759.
Without Reynold to vote for, the 7-strong alliance was either going to vote for Malcolm or Eddie, so they decided to just split their votes. Easy, right. Nope. The clever boys went out looking for a hidden immunity idol. And, right in front of everyone, Reynold pulled one out of a rock. Yup, the dude is either SUPER lucky with the immunity idols, or else SUPER talented in finding them. So, the S-R-Us alliance thinks, it's ok, still split the vote and it'll all work out. Wrong.
No one knew about Malcolm's idol that he found way, way back. At Tribal Council, first Malcolm revealed that he had an idol, then Eddie pulls one out and there are "The Three Amigos" as Jeff called them... all of a sudden all free from the vote. Now, they didn't all have to play them. The looks on the Stealth faces was priceless. Now what? Just for fun, Reynold (I think) says, "The 3 of us are voting for Phillip, just so you know." Now, the Stealth group is scrambling. Some are whispering names right there in front of each other. Someone (was it Brenda?) kept saying 'Andrea?'... which I'm pretty sure is going to make Andrea a little cheesed off later on. In the end only Erik flipped and voted for Phillip (spelling it "Fillup") which was kind of stupid, considering he didn't have to change his vote. All of them could have kept the same plan, Phil would have gotten voted off, and none of them would have to vote against their alliance. It's actually kind of a brilliant thing - unless you're Phillip.
So now there's still an alliance of 6 that has the numbers over the 3 Amigos. (Sidebar: Have you ever seen that movie, with Steve Martin & Chevy Chase & Martin Short? It's very funny. Go watch it now. Do it.) However, those 3 dudes are all VERY good at challenges and have a good chance at outlasting the other bunch. As always, it'll depend on the challenge. If there are lots of strength ones or anything to do with throwing something at a target, Malcolm & Reynold are golden. If it's a puzzle, Eddie will be out immediately. (Can we talk about how much I can't stand Eddie? Ugh. He's a mimbo. Reynold is a bit of a jerk in certain situations, I think, but seems to also be smart. Even after he won the immunity, he said how much 'mad respect' he had for everyone in the challenge (note: Not Phillip). Eddie - not so much. It just doesn't seem like there's much going on upstairs except finding food and flirting with girls. Wait, that's downstairs.) Right. Where were we? Oh yeah, the 3 Amigos are going to have to win and remember they can still look for an immunity idol, because they were all played. And Reynold, as mentioned earlier, is like an immunity idol bloodhound. And next time we get the Survivor Auction, so remember there's always a clue or an advantage that people can win if they save up their money and don't buy the hamburger. Eddie will buy the hamburger. Reynold & Malcolm - probably not.
In the end, The Specialist was pretty gracious in defeat and I do think he played a pretty good game. I'm not saying I'd want to hang out with him for a month on an island, but I think it was ballsy to be the leader of Stealth-R-Us, and that most people in that position end up going far earlier. Also, really, did any of you think Philip would make it to the jury this time or to the final three last time? Give the man some credit. He's one part pink panted lunatic and one part game master. If he wasn't such a lunatic, he probably wouldn't have been the target this time, but it was an easy vote for the Amigos knowing that they were really sort of doing everyone else a favour. I'm glad The Specialist is on the jury and I can't wait for his final questions to whoever is a Stealth member about how they felt they "completed their mission"... Trust. It'll be gold.
Friday, April 5, 2013
I Had To Eat a Beak & All I Got Was Voted Out
Apologies for the late blog. Am on holidays and keep looking for Jeff Probst to drive up the beach on a jet ski, but so far no luck. In my travels I have been eating interesting things, but nothing as good as what our Survivors got to eat on this week's episode! Seriously, how much did you love that they brought back the food challenge? It was a mainstay for years on this show, but disappeared for quite a while. A lot of people who don't watch the show often criticize it because they're not really surviving... they're given rice, blah, blah, blah. But seeing them suffer the elements this season and then having to eat those grub larvae or whatever the heck... yeah, that was surviving.
The best thing about the food challenge, aside from the fact that it's just fun "Fear Factor" style TV, is that it levels the playing field. Anyone can win. It's truly mind over matter to get those live, wiggly bugs into your mouth and eat them up without barfing. I'm not sure I could do it. It's the wiggling for me. Anyway, in true Survivor fashion, the underdog won the day. Cochran went up against Malcolm and took home immunity for the first time. He danced around like he was Muhammed Ali and no one really minded 'cause he deserved it. That stuff was gross. I loved when Eddie said that he didn't want to eat that stuff because girls would find it gross & then Cochran said no, for him, if he could eat all that stuff girls might actually find it more manly. Yes. He was the man indeed. The worst part of the food challenge for the folks who lost must have been having to do it but losing. Why did I just put bug larvae in my mouth again? *shudder* They also got to eat some sorta brain cake and the ol' unhatched baby chicken... beak, feet and all. Yum!
OH! Haha - and another important thing happened. The Merge! I was so excited by the food challenge I forgot to tell you about the merge. Oh well. That's it really.
Here's where the merge did get interesting. Having to vote someone out. Malcolm & Corinne had their six: them, plus Ednold, Erik & The Gay. (Oh come on, you know that's his name now). They plot to take out Sherri first, then Philip later. Seems like an ok plan, right? Corinne unwittingly became the author of her own fate (Baby would be proud) when she told sweet, mom-like Dawn about it. Dawn thought about it for a sec & then remembered how things went down last time she got voted out. She decided to make things happen for herself (I LOVE the new Dawn...) and she went back and told smarty pants Cochran about it. If this Sherri plan were to go through (and it probably would have had these not been seasoned players) then all of a sudden Stealth R Us would be on the wrong side of the numbers. So the obvious play is to vote off Corinne... she's the brains of the operation, it breaks up her & Michael, and Philip will be immediately on board with it. They did manage to get the extra vote, though, and I'm not sure who flipped. I think it was Erik, as he wasn't exactly solid on the other Malcolm alliance anyway. So yes, Corinne got the boot - super surprised by the blindside. And I will miss her snarky comments, but I loved the play. Brilliant.
Now Malcolm's going to have to wiggle himself out of the boys' alliance and get back on board with Stealth. No one knows he has an idol now that Corinne's gone, so he'll still be ok for a while I think. If I'm Ednold, I'm a bit worried... again. And Sherri could find herself in an interesting position now... does she switch over & help the other guys like her old bud Michael? Or does she try to stay tight with Stealth and get herself a name? The eyeliner queen? The Blindsider? Maybe.
The best thing about the food challenge, aside from the fact that it's just fun "Fear Factor" style TV, is that it levels the playing field. Anyone can win. It's truly mind over matter to get those live, wiggly bugs into your mouth and eat them up without barfing. I'm not sure I could do it. It's the wiggling for me. Anyway, in true Survivor fashion, the underdog won the day. Cochran went up against Malcolm and took home immunity for the first time. He danced around like he was Muhammed Ali and no one really minded 'cause he deserved it. That stuff was gross. I loved when Eddie said that he didn't want to eat that stuff because girls would find it gross & then Cochran said no, for him, if he could eat all that stuff girls might actually find it more manly. Yes. He was the man indeed. The worst part of the food challenge for the folks who lost must have been having to do it but losing. Why did I just put bug larvae in my mouth again? *shudder* They also got to eat some sorta brain cake and the ol' unhatched baby chicken... beak, feet and all. Yum!
OH! Haha - and another important thing happened. The Merge! I was so excited by the food challenge I forgot to tell you about the merge. Oh well. That's it really.
Here's where the merge did get interesting. Having to vote someone out. Malcolm & Corinne had their six: them, plus Ednold, Erik & The Gay. (Oh come on, you know that's his name now). They plot to take out Sherri first, then Philip later. Seems like an ok plan, right? Corinne unwittingly became the author of her own fate (Baby would be proud) when she told sweet, mom-like Dawn about it. Dawn thought about it for a sec & then remembered how things went down last time she got voted out. She decided to make things happen for herself (I LOVE the new Dawn...) and she went back and told smarty pants Cochran about it. If this Sherri plan were to go through (and it probably would have had these not been seasoned players) then all of a sudden Stealth R Us would be on the wrong side of the numbers. So the obvious play is to vote off Corinne... she's the brains of the operation, it breaks up her & Michael, and Philip will be immediately on board with it. They did manage to get the extra vote, though, and I'm not sure who flipped. I think it was Erik, as he wasn't exactly solid on the other Malcolm alliance anyway. So yes, Corinne got the boot - super surprised by the blindside. And I will miss her snarky comments, but I loved the play. Brilliant.
Now Malcolm's going to have to wiggle himself out of the boys' alliance and get back on board with Stealth. No one knows he has an idol now that Corinne's gone, so he'll still be ok for a while I think. If I'm Ednold, I'm a bit worried... again. And Sherri could find herself in an interesting position now... does she switch over & help the other guys like her old bud Michael? Or does she try to stay tight with Stealth and get herself a name? The eyeliner queen? The Blindsider? Maybe.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
In Which Chocolate Ought to Have been Voted Out, But Vanilla Was Instead
So I'm not entirely sure what the point of switching up the tribes was since there is going to be a merge already next episode. For two episodes, we switched up the Fans & Favourites.... This was good for the fans who ended up on team Young & Good-Looking. Not so good for the fans who did not.
Team Not So Young & Less Good Looking had a lot of Philip to deal with. Had Philip not made the alliance he did, he'd have been voted off this episode for sure. It began with him in fine form discussing his fine form... or at least his own perception of his fine form. Now, to be fair, Philip is in pretty great shape for his age as we've discussed already. He's won some challenges for his team, he's a pretty strong guy. BUT... he is no spring chicken. Most people have some idea of their strengths and weaknesses. For example, I'm a pretty decent Survivor blogger, but I don't call myself a 'Writer'. I will not likely be getting a book deal any time soon. (However, if there is a publisher reading this right now, I've got some excellent ideas cookin'...) Philip, on the other hand, has a bit of an inflated sense of self. He starts off by saying he's stronger in the upper body... so you think maybe there's a statement coming up about how he's not as strong in the lower body....but no. He then goes on to tell us about his weight lifting routine... and how he can be strong without actually looking it. Uh-huh. Then he tells us he can beat anyone in an arm-wrestling contest. His first target: Cochran. Cochran is game and takes him on, gets a bit of a lesson (naturally) in how to arm wrestle properly, and then gets beaten by Philip (again, naturally.) Cochran tells us that Philip actually used him to make himself feel better by asking Cochran to put all of his weight into the arm wrestle and then still winning. Yeah, not so great for C's morale, but at least he's aware of it.
Meanwhile, Corinne and Philip have totally had it with each other. I think she calls him (to the camera) a 'tubby bag of skin' or something like that? (Are those my words or hers?) Tubby was definitely hers. They are still voting together, but are just biding their time 'til they can vote each other out. What doesn't help is that Philip again took the lead in the reward challenge where the teams had to walk around a 'track' in about knee-deep water (which is actually way harder than it looks) carrying weights. One team had to catch the other one and people could opt out & hand their weights off to a teammate. Can you guess what happened. Team Y&GL won, super easily. It wasn't even a competition. What should have happened is that everyone gave their weights to the strongest member(s)...which in this case were Corinne and Michael. However, what DID happen was that Philip was too proud (read: stubborn, vain) to see that he was actually hindering the group. So he stayed on, in front, but kept saying that he was tired and they couldn't run. He kept expecting that everyone would give HIM their weights, so I guess he was saving himself? At any rate, it was a blowout. The best part was Brenda, who was sitting on the sidelines for Team Y&GL jumping up & down, squealing "coffee & pastries!" like a 5 year-old. It was actually more endearing than it sounds.
Later, Philip would again lose the immunity challenge. His team valiantly kept up throughout the challenge, which involved paddling, diving, carrying heavy things... then throwing a grappling hook (as Cochran said, "A secret agent's main tool!" and collecting keys. Philip lost to Reynold, who again was amazing at this, and then told Cochran that he lost on purpose. Riiiiiiight. 'Cause he would never just lose because he wasn't as good, right?
While frustrating as all get-out, the Faves know they can't vote out Philip, so it's a toss-up between Michael & Julia. Again, it comes down to Corinne vs. Philip. Corinne wants to keep 'her gay' and Philip wants to vote out 'her gay' just to spite her. Lucky for the gay, Julia has no redeeming qualities. Earlier she was given a spy task by the Federal Agent Specialist and immediately talked to Dawn about it, who then told Philip. (Have we talked much about how smart Dawn is playing and how awesome she is?) So, Philip was betrayed and Julia must go. Also, she's not particularly great at challenges, and as Cochran aptly described, "I'd say her personality was vanilla, but that would be doing a great disservice to vanilla." So true. I'm sure she's a nice person, but she made it almost half way through the series being completely mute. And boring. And sorry, but it's TV. We can't stand Reynold, but we'd rather watch him. Ugh... I feel dirty now.
So yeah, Julia went home (yawn....) and Michael may be saved by the merge, where his only allies are Corinne and Sherri. The only other fans left are Eddie and Reynold, who have now made an alliance with Malcolm and Erik. Malcolm, 'cause he's super smart and should win this game, has noted that the strong dudes often get targeted at the merge... so wouldn't that be a nice time to make an alliance of the strongest dudes. Huh. How come no one's thought of this before? I also like how Malcolm did not mention this to Ednold right away but waited until he knew it would be closer to the merge to make sure a) they were still around and b) they could trust each other. Because Ednold are more desperate than Malcolm they tell him immediately about their (Reynold's) idol. Hee hee. So now Malcolm is the only one who knows about both idols. Remember that Corinne knows about Malcolm's idol, so it'll be interesting to see whether he keeps her close & uses her vote (probably) or will he side with the Specialist to blindside her out of the game before she can spill to anyone else? Also a good choice. It's really not looking great for Sherri at this point unless Corinne and Philip can't take it any more and go after each other.
In other news, I'll be on holidays for a couple of weeks. Am going to try to keep up with the blog, but you'll forgive if it's not super on time? It's not a given I'll be able to watch, but I'll give it a go. Aloha!
Team Not So Young & Less Good Looking had a lot of Philip to deal with. Had Philip not made the alliance he did, he'd have been voted off this episode for sure. It began with him in fine form discussing his fine form... or at least his own perception of his fine form. Now, to be fair, Philip is in pretty great shape for his age as we've discussed already. He's won some challenges for his team, he's a pretty strong guy. BUT... he is no spring chicken. Most people have some idea of their strengths and weaknesses. For example, I'm a pretty decent Survivor blogger, but I don't call myself a 'Writer'. I will not likely be getting a book deal any time soon. (However, if there is a publisher reading this right now, I've got some excellent ideas cookin'...) Philip, on the other hand, has a bit of an inflated sense of self. He starts off by saying he's stronger in the upper body... so you think maybe there's a statement coming up about how he's not as strong in the lower body....but no. He then goes on to tell us about his weight lifting routine... and how he can be strong without actually looking it. Uh-huh. Then he tells us he can beat anyone in an arm-wrestling contest. His first target: Cochran. Cochran is game and takes him on, gets a bit of a lesson (naturally) in how to arm wrestle properly, and then gets beaten by Philip (again, naturally.) Cochran tells us that Philip actually used him to make himself feel better by asking Cochran to put all of his weight into the arm wrestle and then still winning. Yeah, not so great for C's morale, but at least he's aware of it.
Meanwhile, Corinne and Philip have totally had it with each other. I think she calls him (to the camera) a 'tubby bag of skin' or something like that? (Are those my words or hers?) Tubby was definitely hers. They are still voting together, but are just biding their time 'til they can vote each other out. What doesn't help is that Philip again took the lead in the reward challenge where the teams had to walk around a 'track' in about knee-deep water (which is actually way harder than it looks) carrying weights. One team had to catch the other one and people could opt out & hand their weights off to a teammate. Can you guess what happened. Team Y&GL won, super easily. It wasn't even a competition. What should have happened is that everyone gave their weights to the strongest member(s)...which in this case were Corinne and Michael. However, what DID happen was that Philip was too proud (read: stubborn, vain) to see that he was actually hindering the group. So he stayed on, in front, but kept saying that he was tired and they couldn't run. He kept expecting that everyone would give HIM their weights, so I guess he was saving himself? At any rate, it was a blowout. The best part was Brenda, who was sitting on the sidelines for Team Y&GL jumping up & down, squealing "coffee & pastries!" like a 5 year-old. It was actually more endearing than it sounds.
Later, Philip would again lose the immunity challenge. His team valiantly kept up throughout the challenge, which involved paddling, diving, carrying heavy things... then throwing a grappling hook (as Cochran said, "A secret agent's main tool!" and collecting keys. Philip lost to Reynold, who again was amazing at this, and then told Cochran that he lost on purpose. Riiiiiiight. 'Cause he would never just lose because he wasn't as good, right?
While frustrating as all get-out, the Faves know they can't vote out Philip, so it's a toss-up between Michael & Julia. Again, it comes down to Corinne vs. Philip. Corinne wants to keep 'her gay' and Philip wants to vote out 'her gay' just to spite her. Lucky for the gay, Julia has no redeeming qualities. Earlier she was given a spy task by the Federal Agent Specialist and immediately talked to Dawn about it, who then told Philip. (Have we talked much about how smart Dawn is playing and how awesome she is?) So, Philip was betrayed and Julia must go. Also, she's not particularly great at challenges, and as Cochran aptly described, "I'd say her personality was vanilla, but that would be doing a great disservice to vanilla." So true. I'm sure she's a nice person, but she made it almost half way through the series being completely mute. And boring. And sorry, but it's TV. We can't stand Reynold, but we'd rather watch him. Ugh... I feel dirty now.
So yeah, Julia went home (yawn....) and Michael may be saved by the merge, where his only allies are Corinne and Sherri. The only other fans left are Eddie and Reynold, who have now made an alliance with Malcolm and Erik. Malcolm, 'cause he's super smart and should win this game, has noted that the strong dudes often get targeted at the merge... so wouldn't that be a nice time to make an alliance of the strongest dudes. Huh. How come no one's thought of this before? I also like how Malcolm did not mention this to Ednold right away but waited until he knew it would be closer to the merge to make sure a) they were still around and b) they could trust each other. Because Ednold are more desperate than Malcolm they tell him immediately about their (Reynold's) idol. Hee hee. So now Malcolm is the only one who knows about both idols. Remember that Corinne knows about Malcolm's idol, so it'll be interesting to see whether he keeps her close & uses her vote (probably) or will he side with the Specialist to blindside her out of the game before she can spill to anyone else? Also a good choice. It's really not looking great for Sherri at this point unless Corinne and Philip can't take it any more and go after each other.
In other news, I'll be on holidays for a couple of weeks. Am going to try to keep up with the blog, but you'll forgive if it's not super on time? It's not a given I'll be able to watch, but I'll give it a go. Aloha!
Friday, March 22, 2013
The Big Switcheroo
Sorry again for the late blog. Sometimes life gets in the way. Might be a bit of a short one today too.
What you need to know this week (if you don't already) is that the tribes switched up. It's one of those things that makes the game interesting and is good TV, but is quite unfortunate for many of our Survivors. For the Favourites, I was kind of disappointed that we don't really get to see how they do as a group without Baby. They're finally gelling and as Philip says, "I can sleep without leaving one eye open." Ha. I also enjoyed where Philip said that Baby needs professional help (see previous blog) and that even "The Specialist" can't help him... he needs a whole other kind of specialist. Sometimes Philip is brilliant.
So the switch wasn't great for our favourites, who probably could've kept dominating challenges. Now, through an entirely random pick, it has turned out that all the young, strong people ended up on one tribe while all the....errrr... not as young and strong people are on the other. As Edold put it (honestly, I can't remember if it was Eddie or Reynold, and it doesn't matter 'cause they're the same.), "All the young and good-looking people are together!" Well, aren't we a little bit into ourselves? Must have been Reynold. Anyway, it's Reynold, Eddie, Malcolm, Andrea, Brenda, Sherri & Erik on one tribe vs. Philip, Cochran, Dawn, Corrine, Matt, Michael & Julia. See what I mean? It's ridiculous. There had better be some puzzles.
Our favourites are still in charge, numbers-wise on each tribe so it is going to be interesting to see if the alliance holds. On Team Young & Good-Looking, Edold waited approximately 17 seconds to start smack-talking Sherri, which was (thankfully) met with some apprehension by the Faves, who are surely smart enough to see that it should be one of those boys who should go if they ever have to go to Tribal Council again, which doesn't look likely.
Over on Team Older & Less-Good-Looking, Philip first tried to sway Julia, telling her that she could be at the bottom of his alliance. Well, that's a good sell. Then I think he told the fellas, Michael and Matt that if they behave and do as they're told, they could possibly be included in Stealth R Us. It's delightful to watch, really. In other news, Corinne and Philip are still looking to vote the other one out, but not until the Fans go first. Corinne is super happy to have 'a gay' on her team because she 'loves the gays so much'. Later, she called Michael, 'her gay'.... Thing is, I'm not entirely sure Michael is on board and ready for a love-in with Corinne. It's a little patronizing, non? If I'm him, I'm thinking, "I'm not YOUR gay." And well, it really hasn't been his 'thing' in the same way it was for say, Colton. Michael is a Survivor just like anyone else who just happens to also be gay. It's a little like having a Survivor with a Chinese background on the show and having someone exclaim, "Oh my god, this is awesome. I LOVE the Chinese!" That would be weird, right? I don't know, weigh in on this one, Survivor fans. I guess it's good that she doesn't hate the gays?
Gay-loving or not, I am enjoying Corinne's sass, which we haven't really gotten to hear much of yet. I enjoyed the part where she said Philip needed a "big ol' cup of shut the hell up." There were some other good lines from her too, that I should have written down. Note to self... write things down.
So, not surprisingly, Team Y&GL won the immunity challenge, no problem. Not. Even. Close. So, Team O&LGL had to figure it out between Julia, Matt & Michael. I think the best choice would have been Julia. She's "boring" (Corinne's words, not mine, but it is true.) and she's sneaky. Matt and Michael would both be easier to work with and better at challenges. However, they are all worried about who might have a hidden immunity idol and somehow Matt was more likely to have one (hidden in his beard perhaps?) than Michael. Also, being 'the gay' might have helped Michael... unsure. Matt & Michael also seemed more like a pair, so best to split them up, figures the Faves. So, in the end it was Matt going home. I liked Matt. I still didn't care for his beard, but I liked him as a character. He was a good guy who seemed genuinely nice (he was the first Fan to reach out to Philip and say that he felt bad for him in the Baby Hantz situation.) He would have been a fun jury member. However, it's not meant to be. Neither is that beard. Truly.
What you need to know this week (if you don't already) is that the tribes switched up. It's one of those things that makes the game interesting and is good TV, but is quite unfortunate for many of our Survivors. For the Favourites, I was kind of disappointed that we don't really get to see how they do as a group without Baby. They're finally gelling and as Philip says, "I can sleep without leaving one eye open." Ha. I also enjoyed where Philip said that Baby needs professional help (see previous blog) and that even "The Specialist" can't help him... he needs a whole other kind of specialist. Sometimes Philip is brilliant.
So the switch wasn't great for our favourites, who probably could've kept dominating challenges. Now, through an entirely random pick, it has turned out that all the young, strong people ended up on one tribe while all the....errrr... not as young and strong people are on the other. As Edold put it (honestly, I can't remember if it was Eddie or Reynold, and it doesn't matter 'cause they're the same.), "All the young and good-looking people are together!" Well, aren't we a little bit into ourselves? Must have been Reynold. Anyway, it's Reynold, Eddie, Malcolm, Andrea, Brenda, Sherri & Erik on one tribe vs. Philip, Cochran, Dawn, Corrine, Matt, Michael & Julia. See what I mean? It's ridiculous. There had better be some puzzles.
Our favourites are still in charge, numbers-wise on each tribe so it is going to be interesting to see if the alliance holds. On Team Young & Good-Looking, Edold waited approximately 17 seconds to start smack-talking Sherri, which was (thankfully) met with some apprehension by the Faves, who are surely smart enough to see that it should be one of those boys who should go if they ever have to go to Tribal Council again, which doesn't look likely.
Over on Team Older & Less-Good-Looking, Philip first tried to sway Julia, telling her that she could be at the bottom of his alliance. Well, that's a good sell. Then I think he told the fellas, Michael and Matt that if they behave and do as they're told, they could possibly be included in Stealth R Us. It's delightful to watch, really. In other news, Corinne and Philip are still looking to vote the other one out, but not until the Fans go first. Corinne is super happy to have 'a gay' on her team because she 'loves the gays so much'. Later, she called Michael, 'her gay'.... Thing is, I'm not entirely sure Michael is on board and ready for a love-in with Corinne. It's a little patronizing, non? If I'm him, I'm thinking, "I'm not YOUR gay." And well, it really hasn't been his 'thing' in the same way it was for say, Colton. Michael is a Survivor just like anyone else who just happens to also be gay. It's a little like having a Survivor with a Chinese background on the show and having someone exclaim, "Oh my god, this is awesome. I LOVE the Chinese!" That would be weird, right? I don't know, weigh in on this one, Survivor fans. I guess it's good that she doesn't hate the gays?
Gay-loving or not, I am enjoying Corinne's sass, which we haven't really gotten to hear much of yet. I enjoyed the part where she said Philip needed a "big ol' cup of shut the hell up." There were some other good lines from her too, that I should have written down. Note to self... write things down.
So, not surprisingly, Team Y&GL won the immunity challenge, no problem. Not. Even. Close. So, Team O&LGL had to figure it out between Julia, Matt & Michael. I think the best choice would have been Julia. She's "boring" (Corinne's words, not mine, but it is true.) and she's sneaky. Matt and Michael would both be easier to work with and better at challenges. However, they are all worried about who might have a hidden immunity idol and somehow Matt was more likely to have one (hidden in his beard perhaps?) than Michael. Also, being 'the gay' might have helped Michael... unsure. Matt & Michael also seemed more like a pair, so best to split them up, figures the Faves. So, in the end it was Matt going home. I liked Matt. I still didn't care for his beard, but I liked him as a character. He was a good guy who seemed genuinely nice (he was the first Fan to reach out to Philip and say that he felt bad for him in the Baby Hantz situation.) He would have been a fun jury member. However, it's not meant to be. Neither is that beard. Truly.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
I Am the Author of This Blog! And, I Can Feed Myself, Thanks
Wow, so that was one of the craziest, most uncomfortable hours of television ever, right? I don't think it suffices to say that Baby Hantz is crazy. He makes Shamar look perfectly well-adjusted. I'm no psychiatrist but I'm willing to go out on a limb and suggest that Baby has a mood disorder of some sort. He's up, then he's down, then he's up, then he's down.... He's moodier than a teenage girl with PMS. But the thing with him is that on his downswings, it's not just a bad mood. It turns into full-on rage. We've seen it several times. Then, when he calms down, he's very very sorry. I keep thinking - and it's a terrible thing to say - that he's the kind of guy who beats his wife. You cross him somehow and he'd lose his mind at you - ok, maybe emotionally more than physically, but it's got to happen at home too, right? Then he'd punch a wall and break something and then the next day be all apologetic and put his head in your lap and cry and beg you to forgive him. If it happens several times in six episodes (this season!) of Survivor, you can bet he's a peach to live with in real life. Dude needs counselling at best and possibly medication.
So backing up a bit.. what happened? Well, he woke up in a bad mood. He starts by telling everyone he wants to go home because he misses his wife & kids and feels guilty for selfishly trying to win a million dollars. (What?) He picked a fight with Philip. Which led to yelling and rage. Philip, to his credit, walked away. (Though, he did tell us that no one wants to pick a fight with the Specialist, 'cause he's got training or something or other... and actually... I kind of believe him.) Later... follow along with the pattern..... Baby feels bad. He now wants to stay in the game. He wants to compete hard for his family. He tries to make nice with Philip, who's pretty much had enough of being told to shut up and called a 'bitch'. (Or, 'punk-ass bitch' on occasion, for emphasis.) Philip calmly tells Baby that you know, this isn't really working. It's not me, it's you. You can trust me, but I just don't think I can trust you. And the kicker, "You really shouldn't bite the hand that feeds you." Meaning, I've let you into the alliance, now play along.
So Baby again sleeps on it and wakes up in an even worse mood than the day before. "I start the fire, I cook the food, and he tells me not to bite the hand that feeds me? I FEED ME!" OK, well aside from the fact that he took the phrase entirely literally, you can understand that he's a little bit frustrated with being at the bottom of the pecking order in an alliance led by Philip, who's not exactly the most normal dude himself.
Oh, also there was a reward challenge in which Baby and Philip were on deck for the Faves holding a rope that held up a net full of coconuts, which were continually adding to to make it heavier. Baby got the most coconuts at first, so let go of his rope first. Philip stayed cool and collected, actually taunting the other team until the Fans dropped both their nets (held by Michael & Matt). The Faves won a bunch of food. Yay, right? Nope, not if you're Baby Hantz. He's mad that HE didn't win it for them. "Philip's talking like he won the challenge..." Ummmm... Philip DID indeed win the challenge. I mean, Baby helped for sure, as did Brenda and Malcolm and Cochran who were throwing the coconuts for the Faves. (Aside: Did you love how they were going to sit out Cochran and he stepped up, saying, "No, I want to throw!" Yeah! I love his new confidence this season!) Anyway, Philip winning the challenge plus waking up mad about the alliance situation plus "I FEED ME" equals Baby Rage.
That's when he started yelling at Philip again. Lots more "Bitch/Punk-ass Bitch!" and then the unforgivable. He dumped out the rice and the beans on the ground. Now, let's remember that it hasn't been particularly nice out. Everyone's been rained on, out in the elements and tired and hungry. Granted, the Faves are doing much better than the Fans, who have no tarp and much less food. Still, dumping out food is only slightly below stabbing someone with a harpoon on the list of crappy things to do that'll get you voted off the island. I guess Baby figured that if he's going to go anyway, he will go out by being a complete and total selfish jerk. Then he kept repeating, "I will be the author of my fate, " or some damn thing... Again, Philip walks away rather than punch out Baby and the rest of the tribe starts trying to salvage what they can off the ground. I think it was Erik who said, "Why couldn't he just dump out ONE basket of food? Why two? It's not like he didn't make his point the first time." Which is sad and funny at the same time because it's true, but also because we're not dealing with a rational human here. He's like a 5 year-old. No, maybe five is too much. A two year-old who doesn't get his way. That's more like it, even though it does a disservice to a lot of nice two year-olds. Sorry.
So that's how the Faves decide as a group that they're going to conserve their energy and forfeit the immunity challenge. Why even compete when all they want is to go to Tribal Council and get rid of Baby? Seriously, if I'm them, I'm worried at this point that he's going to hurt someone or himself. Not even an exaggeration.
So just when you think it can't get more awkward and uncomfortable, drama unfolds at the challenge. Corinne tells my former boyfriend Jeff Probst that they want to forfeit. Then, on cue, Baby goes off. He starts telling the other tribe that Philip is bad and that he's running things and that they shouldn't let him get to the end. Jeff at some point gets Baby the heck away from the group (wise move) and gets him to stand by him instead. (Meanwhile, you know Security are just out of the camera shot...) Jeff tries to talk it out (promoting his new show, The Jeff Probst show, airing daytimes. Check your local listings.) This leads to more yelling, more rage, more "Bitch/Punk-ass Bitch!" (Honestly, I have never heard that word more in prime-time television, and I've seen The Bachelor.) Philip keeps his cool mostly but does finally lose it a bit (who wouldn't?) Remember, this is all unfolding in front of a dumbfounded Fans team. Andrea starts crying and Dawn is very emotional, as they're the two who tried the most to like Baby. (Andrea is a bit unstable as a teammate too, non? She herself caused a bunch of the rage when she told Baby that Philip was thinking of voting for him.... Dummy.)
So, in a huge first for the show, Jeff announces that we're going to have Tribal Council right now. (Legal is in his ear likely saying that it is a huge security risk to allow that insane dude to go back to camp where he might actually stab someone with a harpoon.) Brandon, who are you going to vote for? PHILIP! Everyone else, who are you going to vote for? One by one, Brandon. And so Baby is told to go wait behind a wall and Jeff will come get him while Baby walks away proclaiming, "I AM THE AUTHOR OF MY OWN ELIMINATION!" OK, buddy. Whatever.
Can we talk for a quick sec about how much Jeff loves Baby? He said it a number of times. And then with the shoulder massage? Is it like calming a dog down by petting it? Maybe Jeff knows more than I do about dealing with the Hantzes. He did ask, "Is it in the blood?" meaning "Is your family just a bunch of loud, selfish, immature losers?" Baby answered something like, "We dont' hold anything back. We say what's on our mind and I'm proud of that." Uh huh. Meaning: "I've been told that I'm special my whole life and have watched enough TV shows that have taught me that saying everything I feel is more important than common courtesy, manners or being civil and adult like a normal human." This man is a father of two. Let's all remember that.
So... yeah, some stuff happened with the Fans too. The most important being that Sherri is super annoyed that they all voted off Laura (and I did call it that yeah, she didn't want to but had to go along with the group) and then they still lost the challenge. Bah. Then, all of them looked for the immunity idol and Reynold found it AGAIN! Which, well, I love it in the sense that it makes the game more fun. I hate it that Reynold has it, 'cause he's a bit of a douchebag. Can I say that? Sure.
Next episode, it appears that they're going to merge. Which is crazy. The Faves are only up by 2 now, and wouldn't we like to continue on with these team dynamics? Apparently not. So will the Faves stay tight even in two teams? Sad for the Faves who have to go live at the Fans camp, non? And maybe not so good for Philip, who could see his position as head weirdo challenged. I'm thinking Reynold and Philip on the same tribe would not be a good thing. Anyway, we'll see how it shakes out. At any rate, we can all breathe a sigh of relief that no one will be stabbed in the night and we shouldn't have to hear anyone be called a punk-ass bitch for the next few minutes. Phew.
So backing up a bit.. what happened? Well, he woke up in a bad mood. He starts by telling everyone he wants to go home because he misses his wife & kids and feels guilty for selfishly trying to win a million dollars. (What?) He picked a fight with Philip. Which led to yelling and rage. Philip, to his credit, walked away. (Though, he did tell us that no one wants to pick a fight with the Specialist, 'cause he's got training or something or other... and actually... I kind of believe him.) Later... follow along with the pattern..... Baby feels bad. He now wants to stay in the game. He wants to compete hard for his family. He tries to make nice with Philip, who's pretty much had enough of being told to shut up and called a 'bitch'. (Or, 'punk-ass bitch' on occasion, for emphasis.) Philip calmly tells Baby that you know, this isn't really working. It's not me, it's you. You can trust me, but I just don't think I can trust you. And the kicker, "You really shouldn't bite the hand that feeds you." Meaning, I've let you into the alliance, now play along.
So Baby again sleeps on it and wakes up in an even worse mood than the day before. "I start the fire, I cook the food, and he tells me not to bite the hand that feeds me? I FEED ME!" OK, well aside from the fact that he took the phrase entirely literally, you can understand that he's a little bit frustrated with being at the bottom of the pecking order in an alliance led by Philip, who's not exactly the most normal dude himself.
Oh, also there was a reward challenge in which Baby and Philip were on deck for the Faves holding a rope that held up a net full of coconuts, which were continually adding to to make it heavier. Baby got the most coconuts at first, so let go of his rope first. Philip stayed cool and collected, actually taunting the other team until the Fans dropped both their nets (held by Michael & Matt). The Faves won a bunch of food. Yay, right? Nope, not if you're Baby Hantz. He's mad that HE didn't win it for them. "Philip's talking like he won the challenge..." Ummmm... Philip DID indeed win the challenge. I mean, Baby helped for sure, as did Brenda and Malcolm and Cochran who were throwing the coconuts for the Faves. (Aside: Did you love how they were going to sit out Cochran and he stepped up, saying, "No, I want to throw!" Yeah! I love his new confidence this season!) Anyway, Philip winning the challenge plus waking up mad about the alliance situation plus "I FEED ME" equals Baby Rage.
That's when he started yelling at Philip again. Lots more "Bitch/Punk-ass Bitch!" and then the unforgivable. He dumped out the rice and the beans on the ground. Now, let's remember that it hasn't been particularly nice out. Everyone's been rained on, out in the elements and tired and hungry. Granted, the Faves are doing much better than the Fans, who have no tarp and much less food. Still, dumping out food is only slightly below stabbing someone with a harpoon on the list of crappy things to do that'll get you voted off the island. I guess Baby figured that if he's going to go anyway, he will go out by being a complete and total selfish jerk. Then he kept repeating, "I will be the author of my fate, " or some damn thing... Again, Philip walks away rather than punch out Baby and the rest of the tribe starts trying to salvage what they can off the ground. I think it was Erik who said, "Why couldn't he just dump out ONE basket of food? Why two? It's not like he didn't make his point the first time." Which is sad and funny at the same time because it's true, but also because we're not dealing with a rational human here. He's like a 5 year-old. No, maybe five is too much. A two year-old who doesn't get his way. That's more like it, even though it does a disservice to a lot of nice two year-olds. Sorry.
So that's how the Faves decide as a group that they're going to conserve their energy and forfeit the immunity challenge. Why even compete when all they want is to go to Tribal Council and get rid of Baby? Seriously, if I'm them, I'm worried at this point that he's going to hurt someone or himself. Not even an exaggeration.
So just when you think it can't get more awkward and uncomfortable, drama unfolds at the challenge. Corinne tells my former boyfriend Jeff Probst that they want to forfeit. Then, on cue, Baby goes off. He starts telling the other tribe that Philip is bad and that he's running things and that they shouldn't let him get to the end. Jeff at some point gets Baby the heck away from the group (wise move) and gets him to stand by him instead. (Meanwhile, you know Security are just out of the camera shot...) Jeff tries to talk it out (promoting his new show, The Jeff Probst show, airing daytimes. Check your local listings.) This leads to more yelling, more rage, more "Bitch/Punk-ass Bitch!" (Honestly, I have never heard that word more in prime-time television, and I've seen The Bachelor.) Philip keeps his cool mostly but does finally lose it a bit (who wouldn't?) Remember, this is all unfolding in front of a dumbfounded Fans team. Andrea starts crying and Dawn is very emotional, as they're the two who tried the most to like Baby. (Andrea is a bit unstable as a teammate too, non? She herself caused a bunch of the rage when she told Baby that Philip was thinking of voting for him.... Dummy.)
So, in a huge first for the show, Jeff announces that we're going to have Tribal Council right now. (Legal is in his ear likely saying that it is a huge security risk to allow that insane dude to go back to camp where he might actually stab someone with a harpoon.) Brandon, who are you going to vote for? PHILIP! Everyone else, who are you going to vote for? One by one, Brandon. And so Baby is told to go wait behind a wall and Jeff will come get him while Baby walks away proclaiming, "I AM THE AUTHOR OF MY OWN ELIMINATION!" OK, buddy. Whatever.
Can we talk for a quick sec about how much Jeff loves Baby? He said it a number of times. And then with the shoulder massage? Is it like calming a dog down by petting it? Maybe Jeff knows more than I do about dealing with the Hantzes. He did ask, "Is it in the blood?" meaning "Is your family just a bunch of loud, selfish, immature losers?" Baby answered something like, "We dont' hold anything back. We say what's on our mind and I'm proud of that." Uh huh. Meaning: "I've been told that I'm special my whole life and have watched enough TV shows that have taught me that saying everything I feel is more important than common courtesy, manners or being civil and adult like a normal human." This man is a father of two. Let's all remember that.
So... yeah, some stuff happened with the Fans too. The most important being that Sherri is super annoyed that they all voted off Laura (and I did call it that yeah, she didn't want to but had to go along with the group) and then they still lost the challenge. Bah. Then, all of them looked for the immunity idol and Reynold found it AGAIN! Which, well, I love it in the sense that it makes the game more fun. I hate it that Reynold has it, 'cause he's a bit of a douchebag. Can I say that? Sure.
Next episode, it appears that they're going to merge. Which is crazy. The Faves are only up by 2 now, and wouldn't we like to continue on with these team dynamics? Apparently not. So will the Faves stay tight even in two teams? Sad for the Faves who have to go live at the Fans camp, non? And maybe not so good for Philip, who could see his position as head weirdo challenged. I'm thinking Reynold and Philip on the same tribe would not be a good thing. Anyway, we'll see how it shakes out. At any rate, we can all breathe a sigh of relief that no one will be stabbed in the night and we shouldn't have to hear anyone be called a punk-ass bitch for the next few minutes. Phew.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Getting Rid of the Biggest and Littlest, Who's Still Bigger Than a Bushman
Wow, a lot happened on yesterday's episode! We lost two more Fans... their poor little tribe is just falling apart!
Meanwhile, it's one big happy family over at the Favourites' camp. Well, that's because A) they're winning and B) they're all putting up with Philip. It's easy to be nice to everyone when you don't have to go to Tribal Council and vote them off. And honestly, for a bunch of weirdos, they seem like a pretty easy-going bunch. They don't have a 'Shamar' in their group who's getting on everyone's nerves, and even Philip - remember last time he was on and made everyone on his tribe crazy? Well, I don't know if maybe these guys are just more easygoing... or easily entertained by Philip? Or, is it that they knew what they were getting into with him so it wasn't as much of a shock? Maybe all of those things... Plus, can we talk about how Philip is actually a HUGE part of the Faves winning all of these challenges? For all his "I'm Larry Bird" talk, he is actually in pretty good shape and is quite good at things. He doesn't ever make excuses, like that he's older than most of his tribe or complain really. Yeah, he sits around with a basket on his head for air conditioning, and yeah he wears pink undies around the camp.... Oh, and then there's the Stealth R Us thing. Now everyone has been welcomed into the fold and has been given a name. Baby Hantz is "The Conqueror" and Erik is "The Silent One" and Brenda is "Serenity".... something like that. Which is funny, but is pissing off his actual alliance a bit... which is also funny. Andrea will for sure feel stupid when she watches the show and hears herself complain, "Why is Brenda getting a name? Now Erik has a name? What's going on?"
Compare and contrast with Shamar. Shamar is in the role Philip was in in his previous season - he's just getting under everyone's skin. In Shamar's case, it's not because he's wearing baskets on his head, but because he's unusually whiny for an ex-marine. He (like most bigger guys in Survivor) gets hit pretty hard with hunger issues and sleeps most of the day while everyone else works. And as we discussed last time, he's got some maybe depression issues around his service that are causing him to have a tough time fitting in with the group. Now, Shamar goes and gets sand in his eye. So natch'... everyone thinks he's just being a big baby about having a sore eye. But it turns out that yeah, it is pretty swollen and he's got some scratches on his cornea and the medics would like him to be seen by a specialist. (Philip? No, an ACTUAL specialist.) It seemed a bit fishy to me, but whatever. He got to leave without quitting... which he probably would have done anyway. At any rate he did truly feel bad about leaving his alliance-mates. But, you can imagine it's probably a nicer place to be now. Sigh.
The Fans lost two challenges yesterday too. The first was a reward challenge, where a local "Bushman" named Tata came in to show the winning tribe how to live off the land and do clever things like cook rice in bamboo and whatnot. Tata was seriously about 4 ft. tall... Brenda looked like a giant. And he spoke English, sort of, but mostly broken. Mostly he entertained the group. Something about "No bitching"... which he may or may not have said... I don't know. And he got lots of kisses from the girls, which is probably ok because his wife probably doesn't watch Survivor. Ummm...is it OK to call people "Bushmen" still? Wouldn't it have been ok to call him a local islander? Or even a tribesman? "Bushman" seems rather colonial and unsavoury to me. Discuss.
Anyway, the Fans went on to lose the immunity challenge again. Of course Reynold and Eddie made the argument that the tribe needs them to stay strong and have the chance to win challenges.... which would be a better argument if they had actually WON any challenges. But, it is a point. I guess they have a better CHANCE of winning with Eddie and Reynold than they do with say, Laura, who must weigh about 48 pounds and can't swim. Almost all the challenges have involved some sort of swimming. (And again this year, good challenges, no? Whoever has been designing the Survivor challenges in the last few seasons has really done a great job of keeping them fresh and interesting.) Laura's argument is that you should keep the alliance strong and get rid of Eddie and Reynold early, while you still can. On her side, you can see that sure, keeping Eddie & Reynold might help you in challenges, but it hasn't so far and you just don't know where the show is going to go. If there's a merge, E & R will jump ship pretty easily and vote against them to save their own butts. If it becomes an individual game, you've got 2 strong guys to beat. Right? Laura is thinking long term. Guys like Matt just want to stick around long enough to be in that position and think that they can only do that with E & R. I tend to think like Laura.
Sherri also had a good point - if Laura goes, it leaves her & Julia as the only women left. Will they be picked off next? In the end, I was surprised to see that Sherri and Julia went along with everyone and voted against Laura. In the end I think that Sherri was maybe the lone voice of reason. I feel like we don't really ever get to hear much from Julia, but that she was thinking along the same lines as Matt. Keep the team strong. The good news is that they did force Reynold to play his idol. I truly can't stand Reynold or Eddie, but maybe if I was on the tribe and we lost every challenge, I'd want them around a while too. Reynold just seems like one of those guys who drives his BMW in the bus lane, you know? They have convinced themselves that Hope was voted out "because she was pretty" not because she was part of a couples' foursome. Does a bit of disservice to Hope, non? And I feel like Eddie's just pissed off because now he can't hook up. Like maybe going on Survivor was just a way to meet a hot chick in a bikini.
So next week Baby Hantz finally loses his marbles. Hard to say what sets him off, but I'm going to guess that he's not invited into the decision-making process by the CEO/Specialist and that perhaps his name gets brought up as a vote... or maybe he just thinks that... you never know what'll set Baby off. It's that instability that should indeed get him voted the heck off.... But yeah, as with all Babies, he throws a huge hissy fit temper tantrum and dumps out the rice (not sure if there's pee involved) and wrecks a bunch of stuff... which I'm certain will be followed by a heartfelt apology and remorse. Or a vote. Either way, things are getting gooooood!
Meanwhile, it's one big happy family over at the Favourites' camp. Well, that's because A) they're winning and B) they're all putting up with Philip. It's easy to be nice to everyone when you don't have to go to Tribal Council and vote them off. And honestly, for a bunch of weirdos, they seem like a pretty easy-going bunch. They don't have a 'Shamar' in their group who's getting on everyone's nerves, and even Philip - remember last time he was on and made everyone on his tribe crazy? Well, I don't know if maybe these guys are just more easygoing... or easily entertained by Philip? Or, is it that they knew what they were getting into with him so it wasn't as much of a shock? Maybe all of those things... Plus, can we talk about how Philip is actually a HUGE part of the Faves winning all of these challenges? For all his "I'm Larry Bird" talk, he is actually in pretty good shape and is quite good at things. He doesn't ever make excuses, like that he's older than most of his tribe or complain really. Yeah, he sits around with a basket on his head for air conditioning, and yeah he wears pink undies around the camp.... Oh, and then there's the Stealth R Us thing. Now everyone has been welcomed into the fold and has been given a name. Baby Hantz is "The Conqueror" and Erik is "The Silent One" and Brenda is "Serenity".... something like that. Which is funny, but is pissing off his actual alliance a bit... which is also funny. Andrea will for sure feel stupid when she watches the show and hears herself complain, "Why is Brenda getting a name? Now Erik has a name? What's going on?"
Compare and contrast with Shamar. Shamar is in the role Philip was in in his previous season - he's just getting under everyone's skin. In Shamar's case, it's not because he's wearing baskets on his head, but because he's unusually whiny for an ex-marine. He (like most bigger guys in Survivor) gets hit pretty hard with hunger issues and sleeps most of the day while everyone else works. And as we discussed last time, he's got some maybe depression issues around his service that are causing him to have a tough time fitting in with the group. Now, Shamar goes and gets sand in his eye. So natch'... everyone thinks he's just being a big baby about having a sore eye. But it turns out that yeah, it is pretty swollen and he's got some scratches on his cornea and the medics would like him to be seen by a specialist. (Philip? No, an ACTUAL specialist.) It seemed a bit fishy to me, but whatever. He got to leave without quitting... which he probably would have done anyway. At any rate he did truly feel bad about leaving his alliance-mates. But, you can imagine it's probably a nicer place to be now. Sigh.
The Fans lost two challenges yesterday too. The first was a reward challenge, where a local "Bushman" named Tata came in to show the winning tribe how to live off the land and do clever things like cook rice in bamboo and whatnot. Tata was seriously about 4 ft. tall... Brenda looked like a giant. And he spoke English, sort of, but mostly broken. Mostly he entertained the group. Something about "No bitching"... which he may or may not have said... I don't know. And he got lots of kisses from the girls, which is probably ok because his wife probably doesn't watch Survivor. Ummm...is it OK to call people "Bushmen" still? Wouldn't it have been ok to call him a local islander? Or even a tribesman? "Bushman" seems rather colonial and unsavoury to me. Discuss.
Anyway, the Fans went on to lose the immunity challenge again. Of course Reynold and Eddie made the argument that the tribe needs them to stay strong and have the chance to win challenges.... which would be a better argument if they had actually WON any challenges. But, it is a point. I guess they have a better CHANCE of winning with Eddie and Reynold than they do with say, Laura, who must weigh about 48 pounds and can't swim. Almost all the challenges have involved some sort of swimming. (And again this year, good challenges, no? Whoever has been designing the Survivor challenges in the last few seasons has really done a great job of keeping them fresh and interesting.) Laura's argument is that you should keep the alliance strong and get rid of Eddie and Reynold early, while you still can. On her side, you can see that sure, keeping Eddie & Reynold might help you in challenges, but it hasn't so far and you just don't know where the show is going to go. If there's a merge, E & R will jump ship pretty easily and vote against them to save their own butts. If it becomes an individual game, you've got 2 strong guys to beat. Right? Laura is thinking long term. Guys like Matt just want to stick around long enough to be in that position and think that they can only do that with E & R. I tend to think like Laura.
Sherri also had a good point - if Laura goes, it leaves her & Julia as the only women left. Will they be picked off next? In the end, I was surprised to see that Sherri and Julia went along with everyone and voted against Laura. In the end I think that Sherri was maybe the lone voice of reason. I feel like we don't really ever get to hear much from Julia, but that she was thinking along the same lines as Matt. Keep the team strong. The good news is that they did force Reynold to play his idol. I truly can't stand Reynold or Eddie, but maybe if I was on the tribe and we lost every challenge, I'd want them around a while too. Reynold just seems like one of those guys who drives his BMW in the bus lane, you know? They have convinced themselves that Hope was voted out "because she was pretty" not because she was part of a couples' foursome. Does a bit of disservice to Hope, non? And I feel like Eddie's just pissed off because now he can't hook up. Like maybe going on Survivor was just a way to meet a hot chick in a bikini.
So next week Baby Hantz finally loses his marbles. Hard to say what sets him off, but I'm going to guess that he's not invited into the decision-making process by the CEO/Specialist and that perhaps his name gets brought up as a vote... or maybe he just thinks that... you never know what'll set Baby off. It's that instability that should indeed get him voted the heck off.... But yeah, as with all Babies, he throws a huge hissy fit temper tantrum and dumps out the rice (not sure if there's pee involved) and wrecks a bunch of stuff... which I'm certain will be followed by a heartfelt apology and remorse. Or a vote. Either way, things are getting gooooood!
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