OK fans, what do we think of the whole Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty concept? So far, to me anyway, it's not that interesting. Definitely not as interesting as last season's Blood vs. Water. Not to say there aren't interesting characters, because they are there for sure. It's ok as an idea, but it just ends up coming down to personalities, as it always does - which is what has made Survivor great from the get-go. Here's what is interesting about it so far:
1) Team Brains is losing. While interesting, this isn't really that surprising. The initial phase of Survivor is always about physical competition, so Brawn is doing pretty great at that. Also, ever hang out in a room full of people who all think they're smarter than everyone else? Well, there's bound to be trouble, which there has been in droves in the Brain tribe from the start with David, Garrett and J'Tia especially.
2) Team Beauty is doing so well, at least partly because they have zero to prove. If you're on Team Brawn, there's a lot of pressure to perform at the physical challenges. Team Brains has a lot of pressure to perform at the puzzle parts of the challenges (which J'Tia has famously cracked under). Unless Tyra Banks shows up for a catwalk challenge, Team Beauty just has to get along a bit, show up and do their best. They already KNOW they're pretty.You can't take that away from them.
3) I do enjoy that it's Survivor, so you could really pluck almost anyone off any team and put them in Team Beauty. It is TV, after all.
4) The twist at the beginning was interesting. Each team had to pick a leader right off the bat (without knowing each other or even having talked to each other before.) The leader then had to pick someone to vote out right away. Then they get told that they're not getting voted out - they just are getting dropped off at their camps ahead of the others to "make a choice". That choice turns out to be a clue to the hidden immunity idol or an extra bag of rice for the group. Only one person - Trish the Pilates instructor - chooses for the group. Turns out the group (aside from dreadlocks girl) now likes Trish quite a bit. Out of the other two, only one - Garrett from Brains - found the idol. Brains are good for something, it turns out. BUT... more on Garrett's brain later.
5) The different strategies from the leaders on voting people out. David, from Brains, picked Garrett, the strongest guy on the team because he was "thinking way down the road". This turned out to be a big mistake. You never, ever say in public that you're already "thinking way down the road"... Also everyone knows you don't vote out the strongest guys first. Survivor 101. Duh. Sarah, from Brawn, picked the Pilates girl, only because she's smaller and older - no hard feelings, that's what everyone would do, right? Then...dude who was the leader of Beauty picked Morgan because she has the biggest boobs. Well, fine, he didn't say that exactly. But she does. And he said he picked her because "she's hot, while the other girls are cute and I trust cute more than hot." Uh, ok. As it turns out, Boobs McGee is quite a good liar. When her tribe showed up at the beach while she was looking for the immunity idol, she quickly came up with a lie that she was looking for food and that the choice she had to make was fishing gear over comfort items. They love her. Brilliant.
6) J'Tia is possibly the most horrible person to have NOT gotten voted off Survivor in the first two votes. This goes to show you how insufferable David and Garrett both were. J'Tia did the following: bossed everyone around on how to build the shelter while not lifting a finger to help, ended up with a horrible shelter that fell apart, was the weakest member physically on a team of nerds, lost twice at the puzzle after insisting she's good at puzzles, and then... and THEN, when told that she might get voted out (by Kass, who apparently is ok just telling people when they'll get voted out, completely misunderstanding one of the main facets of this game...) goes ahead and dumps out the teams entire bag of rice. OK, any one of those things has gotten people voted out before. But, David proved to be a slippery weasel who was too smart for his own good and then there's Garrett, the professional poker player. Garrett took on boss duties as soon as David was gone, telling everyone how to vote and that they were just going to discuss who was going home and that no one was allowed to go off and have private conversations. Really? Also, probably my favourite part of the whole episode was Garrett telling us how he really likes the whole mental, game-playing aspect of Survivor, but is really not into the whole "Survival part of Survivor". heh heh. Which brings me to one of my favourite questions to ask on the first day: HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THIS SHOW BEFORE? Garrett ended up getting blindsided by Kass and Tasha, who figured J'Tia was a better ally than Garrett, thus putting them in positions one and two vs. three & four, and unknowingly getting rid of the guy with the idol to boot! Well done, ladies. I love that a guy on the BRAINS team got voted out with an idol. J'Tia will get her time, and likely will provide us with some good entertainment and eye-rolls in the meantime.
7) Every season, Jeff gets punchier and punchier. I adore how he yells at people that they're LOSING the challenge. It must be painfully obvious when you're struggling to say, complete a puzzle and then to have Jeff Probst yelling behind you, "You have got to get in this! This is the worst display of puzzle-doing I have ever seen in my career!" (Paraphrased, entirely.) I love it. Then at Tribal Council, he berates the tribe on their lack of knowledge on how to blindside someone. Delightful. You see why he's always been my boyfriend, right?
