Survivor last night

[JasonEvans]

Seems no one but me cares very much but I'll write about it anyway--

I was stunned that Jonathan Penner did not get Ozzy and a few other folks to just vote out Cerie. She is sitting here flouting all her power and refusing to vote for who either alliance wanted her to vote for -- why keep her around? She is not a strong competitor and is not particularly smart in challenges. Boot her butt off, I say!! It would have been the perfect ending to that episode.

Why would you get rid of Yao, a guy who has always appeared to be a smart player even if he is not the strongest guy? I found his boot a bit surprising because he had not done much on the show. I would figure they would show more of him doing whatever he was doing on the episode where he got the axe. Oh well. Ahhhhh, see ya!!

Joel may look big, but he was not a dominant player in that football-with-bags game they played for reward. He started out strrong and had a decent strategy of grabbing two bags and just using his bulk to hold onto them, but he clearly tired out. I think the lack of food and sleep and the harsh conditions will wear him down quickly. Those muscles are going to start to wither up in a week or so. If they do wither, they will match his already withered brain, which continues to plot against MikeyB despite the fact that Mikey is the 2nd strongest player on his team. Duuuh!! Mikey is right that Joel is playing the game like he is already in the final 5 even though they aer still faar away from that point in the game. It will be interesting to see if the Favorites can go on a winning streak and make Joel pay for some foolish strategy.

The immunity challenge was a strange one. I guess there were rules we did not hear about who could hold the ropes (had to be 2 women and 2 men?) and how the ropes could be held. If not, I thought both teams did a poor job of picking people to hold them and had poor strategy for being in the right position to have the best leverage on the ropes. I wish the show would tell us all the rules.

Ah well-- still early in the game. Anyone else have any comments?

--Jason "I hated Cirie the first time around and she is no better this time" Evans

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Seems no one but me cares very much but I'll write about it anyway--


The immunity challenge was a strange one. I guess there were rules we did not hear about who could hold the ropes (had to be 2 women and 2 men?) and how the ropes could be held. If not, I thought both teams did a poor job of picking people to hold them and had poor strategy for being in the right position to have the best leverage on the ropes. I wish the show would tell us all the rules.

Ah well-- still early in the game. Anyone else have any comments?

--Jason "I hated Cirie the first time around and she is no better this time" Evans

I was really surprised that the well fed, well rested favorites, with James on the ropes, did not win, for all the reasons you mentioned in the reward challenge.

And I agree with you about Cirie.

[mr. synellinden]

Seems no one but me cares very much but I'll write about it anyway--

I was stunned that Jonathan Penner did not get Ozzy and a few other folks to just vote out Cerie. She is sitting here flouting all her power and refusing to vote for who either alliance wanted her to vote for -- why keep her around? She is not a strong competitor and is not particularly smart in challenges. Boot her butt off, I say!! It would have been the perfect ending to that episode.

Why would you get rid of Yao, a guy who has always appeared to be a smart player even if he is not the strongest guy? I found his boot a bit surprising because he had not done much on the show. I would figure they would show more of him doing whatever he was doing on the episode where he got the axe. Oh well. Ahhhhh, see ya!!

Joel may look big, but he was not a dominant player in that football-with-bags game they played for reward. He started out strrong and had a decent strategy of grabbing two bags and just using his bulk to hold onto them, but he clearly tired out. I think the lack of food and sleep and the harsh conditions will wear him down quickly. Those muscles are going to start to wither up in a week or so. If they do wither, they will match his already withered brain, which continues to plot against MikeyB despite the fact that Mikey is the 2nd strongest player on his team. Duuuh!! Mikey is right that Joel is playing the game like he is already in the final 5 even though they aer still faar away from that point in the game. It will be interesting to see if the Favorites can go on a winning streak and make Joel pay for some foolish strategy.

The immunity challenge was a strange one. I guess there were rules we did not hear about who could hold the ropes (had to be 2 women and 2 men?) and how the ropes could be held. If not, I thought both teams did a poor job of picking people to hold them and had poor strategy for being in the right position to have the best leverage on the ropes. I wish the show would tell us all the rules.

Ah well-- still early in the game. Anyone else have any comments?

--Jason "I hated Cirie the first time around and she is no better this time" Evans

I care. I still love the show and think it's the best reality show out there, even if some elements are getting a little old.

This was an interesting episdoe because I knew about 20 mins. in that the Faves would lose immunity because they were spending so much time showing the strategizing on their side and the courting of Cirie. I actually found it fascinating because it's rare to see such a huge turning point in the game so early in the show and have that turning point so clearly defined. When Jonathan cast the deciding/turning point vote in the Yul season, it was after the merge when only 9 were left. This time it was 9 left on one tribe. I thought it was very interesting how none of the faves were shy, coy or secretive about their courting of Cirie and were openly doing in in front of the other alliance members.

I didn't mind Cirie in her first season but I agree that I she is more irritating now. Her stubbornness is going to cost her any chance to win this game. The I'm voting for Yau Man whether you like it or not inflexibility was very impudent and bad strategy. However, I don't blame Ozzy or his alliance for sticking with her because it was so crucial for their four to get the numbers. Yau is not such a strong player that it was that big of a difference, but it was, all things being equal, the wrong choice of the other 4 to go - Eliza is a much weaker player. Still, I too was saying during the show that the other 8 should just say screw her and boot her off on principle - she is not such a strong player or camp presence and she was acting like a spoiled child.

At first, I thought that Jonathan was shooting himself in the foot by arguing so ardently with Cirie during Tribal Council (and it appears to continue in the next episode). I thought it was that demeanor, more than his flipping sides, that made him unlikable in his first go round. However, after thinking about it some more, he did make Cirie look even worse than she was acting. And based on James's reaction, for example, during tribal council. I can see a scenario where Penner/Eliza/Ami go to James/Parvati and say, let's flip this and boot out Cirie then the two make-out birds. Penner can sell them on the idea of a final three of James/Parvati/Penner, they are all pretty strong players. And the three who James and Parvati would be turning on would likely not make the jury to hold the backstabbing against them. This is all predicated on Penner convincing James/Parvati that Cirie shouldn't benefit from her impudence and they would have a hard time beating Ozzy in individual immunities or a jury vote. The strategy would be to vote out Ozzy last of the three, keeping him around to help with tribal immunity challenges.

I was very sad to see Yau go. He deserved a better fate and for that I hope the Survivor gods turn the game so Cirie is left hanging and voted out soon. That's another thing. The Ozzy 4 should realize how quickly things switch in this game and should not have put all their eggs in having a numbers advantage at this point. Just ask Aaron from last season how quickly the rug can get pulled from underneath you.

I am convinced that Mikey B will figure out a way to take out Joel - and then go all the way to the final three with Alexis and Jason. I know it's early, that's how I see it playing out.