Well, looks like the spoilers got the best of me. I didn’t realize there would be two tribal councils tonight.
Initial thoughts:
I think this has the potential to be a good season because there are a lot of interesting characters. However, if the Fang tribe keeps losing, it could become dull. A tribe switch-up somewhere along the way is highly likely.
Fang tribe: Very dysfunctional. It could be Ulong, Morgan, and Maraamu all rolled into one. The whole “we don’t need a leader” thing - anyone else get vibes of Ulong right there?
Michelle: Should not have been voted off first. Yes, her attitude was less than pleasant, but I don’t blame her. She was understandably annoyed about being picked last, and none of her tribemates except Ken even made an effort to get to know her. The others in the tribe should have realized that she could be an asset, especially in challenges, and reached out to her. Not only was she the first woman to reach the top of the hill, she also beat seven of the nine guys. Also, she seemed to be one of the few Fangs who didn’t keep pushing the ridiculous rose-colored glasses view of how their tribe was doing.
Gillian: Should have gone first. Both a liability at challenges and irritating around camp. The cheerleader act got annoying very fast.
Dan: Doesn’t seem very bright, not so much because he couldn’t find the idol, but because of his delusional attitude at the first tribal council.
GC: If he didn’t want to be the leader, he should have refused the position right from the beginning. Will his short time as an incompetent leader come back to hurt him?
Ken: He could appear like a naive kid, but he seemed pretty smart in being willing to bond with Michelle (adding a potential option for his game) and then cutting that bond loose when it became apparent that Michelle was in trouble.
Randy: I actually found myself liking this guy in a weird way. If he was on the other tribe and was acting this way, he’d be an ass. But his tribe is so screwed up that his attitude and comments towards it come across as justified. I do have a feeling that he’ll go pretty soon, because he’s gotten a lot of air time already and because of the previews for next week which show him getting into an argument with GC. The others in the tribe would probably take GC’s side because he’s younger and more athletic.
I’ll add this about Randy. From the perspective of someone sitting on her couch at home, he’s entertaining. If I was actually there on a tribe with him, however, I’d probably find him annoying.
Kota tribe: Keep it up. Just don’t get overconfident. I also like the fact that they did well in three very physical challenges while having more women and fewer men than the other tribe.
Marcus/Corinne/Jacquie/Charlie alliance: It’s smart to form tight bonds early in the game. It’s not so smart to be open about it at this stage. The best thing for them to do would be to vote together while keeping their alliance a secret until they have the numbers to be in control.
Bringing Bob in could backfire. The smartest thing for Bob to do would be to realize that he’d always be the fifth wheel with Marcus, Corinne, Jacquie, and Charlie, and instead form a counter-alliance with the others in the tribe, five against four. In this group he would never be the fifth wheel.
Charlie should tone down his hitting on Marcus. Marcus, on the other hand, should realize that he has a golden opportunity with his admirer, and take advantage of Charlie’s letting his emotions rule his behavior.
Ace: Seems like a jerk. He could be the first target of the quartet alliance, if they decide their advantage over the other tribe is big enough that they can afford to get rid of a strong physical competitor.
Kelly: Who? Did she get any air time at all? She’ll probably go pretty far, then.
Exile: An apple and a straw hut? Come on. How about offering a cheeseburger, fries, ketchup, chocolate, and a six-pack of beer? And a comfortable, air-conditioned room with a real bed. Then, maybe someone would be dumb enough to take comfort over a chance at getting immunity.
I’ll have the official recap up within a couple of days.
Spot on re Michelle. There were at least three or four people on her tribe that should have gone before her. Given time and opportunity she may have risen to the top. I thought it was nuts that they got rid of their better athlete. I hate it when they vote a good player out right off and we are stuck with ass hats like Randy.
Plus, she looked pretty damn good in her underwear. :-)
any indication whether they will play down to final 2 or final 3? I wish they’d change it up somehow; a little unpredictability would be nice
First thing I'd do when I got back from Exile would have been talking about the choice, and how I should have chosen comfort, and by not choosing, he lost out on an apple, yeah, but also a lamp, a blanket, apparently flint as well for a fire. If another gets chosen next time to go to Exile, they might choose comfort and that's one less shot at the idol that you have to worry about.
Absolutely the biggest disappointment was Crystal. If the dress was as big of a problem as she made it out to be, then take it off! Gillian needed help to get up the hill, but so did Crystal.
That fishing hook, though, first time I've seen Survivors /think./ That was great.
As for Kota tribe - wow, how can you blow through that much food that quickly? That massive plate of food.. If they hadn't won that fishing reward, that would have come back to haunt them big time. Too greedy - that tribe, while working together great now, seems like a walking timebomb. For the members of that tribe, hopefully it'll happen /after/ a tribal mixup.
Jill - as far as the spoilers go, don’t be too hard on yourself - even the venerable Acme Brain Trust, with an incredible spoiler accuracy record, only got the Michelle boot. In turn, Survivor Sucks MESS Hall Spoilers got only the Gillian boot. Since it was supposed to debut last week, I guess CBS decided they needed to air both episodes to keep it on track and there was a lot of information circulating and there was confusion as to whether there were two tribal councils or just the one.
Next week’s should be interesting, since we’ll be watching the Saracuda wipe up the floor with Joe “Gaffe-o-matic” Biden before or after the show - depending on your time zone.
I am trying to follow this although I usually lose interest in the non-tropical beach ones. I just love the natural beach background.
My initial thoughts were -
- strange some arrived to the African field wearing suits, a dress, inappropriate shoes, etc.
- I'm bad remembering their names as I am with people in real life but the gray haired lady is a bit of a knowitall and is annoying. True, she does know a lot but still absolutely annoys me. Her elephant dung lecture was an eye roller for me.
- The exile island apple was lame. But what made me all but switch channels was the exiled guy's thinking out loud narrative. It was so over done and long. They must have told him to say every single thing he was thinking and repeat it over and over. If they had just provided us with quick clips of his actions we would have got the drift just fine.
- Wow the fishing is good there. The shots of hippos certainly are not in the lake where they are, are they? I thought hippos were extremely dangerous I don't see how the show would put contestants that close to them.
- IMHO Jeff Probst seems very unenergized. I was not expecting that so I don't think I imagined it. I was immediately struck by how bored and lackluster he was.