Why I Love Survivor

Survivor: South Pacific - Episode 3 in 15 seconds

It's not that I'm underwhelmed by this episode, I'm just not overwhelmed with excitement either.

That said, I do have some thoughts mulling over in my mind, so definitely stay tuned for those!

In the meantime, here's my 15 second initial reaction to this week's ep:




...and: well you'll just have to wait and see.

Survivor: South Pacific - Episode Two: Immunity Idols and Idiotic Insights

Cocky or just excited? Good move or cursed find? 

Yesterday was an incredible day. Not only was I in Washington D.C. visiting two of my favorite people, but I also a) bumped into Adechike from So You Think You Can Dance in a Chinatown Starbucks [figures I’d have to leave NY to bump into someone (semi-) famous!] and b) an old friend from college texted me saying that he was hanging out with Survivor: South Pacific’s very own Sophie, and they were READING THIS BLOG!!!!! To make things even more awesome, I’m going to watch Survivor with them a week from this Wednesday. Needless to say, I’m super pumped.

So pumped even that I rewatched the second episode of the season last night with my boyfriend, his Dad, whose interest I had piqued with my unfaltering ebullience, and a good friend of ours.

So without further ado, here are my thoughts from the episode:

1. Ozzy finding the immunity idol is both really exciting and dangerous.

Impressive monkey-skills and initial excitement due to favorite contestants finding Immunity Idols aside, Ozzy getting his hands on this Immunity leaves me with mixed feelings. Not only do I find it kind of strange that the idol was placed in almost the exact same way as it was in Fans vs. Favorites when he found it on Exile Island, but I also think it wasn’t his best move overall. Ozzy’s main issue is his social game and he needs to work extra hard to make sure his fellow tribe mates want to keep him around, without him having to use the idol to stay in the game. In Cook Islands, Yul demonstrated very effectively how the Immunity Idol was most useful: to get power in the game. Keeping it for the purpose of saving yourself on one occasion, provided you play it correctly, is not very helpful on the long run. And my main concern with Ozzy is that his natural confidence – which sometimes borders on cockiness and over-confidence – will return and he’ll pay less attention to his social game, thus shooting himself in the foot once again, and failing at the whole redemption thing.

2. The whole Keith/Jim/Ozzy alliance leaves me largely underwhelmed.

Ok, so if Ozzy might border on cocky in some instances, Jim is full on obnoxious. “I’m the mastermind and the architect of this plan”? Yeah, think again. That said, Keith handled the situation very smoothly and is turning out to be a physically strong but also socially apt player – always exciting qualities to see develop – easing my initial skepticism around this season’s mighty male players along the way. I will say Jim is entertaining to watch and is coming up with some memorable quotes along the way. But his “cool kid” attitude is going to get him into trouble – and I won’t mind one bit. (I mean really Jim: “I don’t see any of us 5 flipping.” Do you even know how this game works? And do you really expect to be certain of that 4-5 days in?)

3. I miss separate reward and immunity challenges.

This week’s challenge was exciting to watch, not least because I love a good comeback (especially when Ozzy’s at the helm!) but I can’t help but be disappointed it was a join reward/immunity challenge once again. If they can’t even give us two separate challenges before the Redemption Island duels begin, then it’s not looking good for later in the season. And that makes me sad… Come on! Survivor is also about the physical aspect of the challenges, ­­and beyond that, the way people react to reward challenges and the decisions they make around them can have a large impact on the game. It’s a shame to reduce that component. I’d much rather see more of those strategic moves than searching for hidden Immunity Idols.

4. Christine dug her grave, and deserves to lie in it.

Speaking of hidden Immunity Idols, Christine made a big mistake searching for it as openly as she did. It was obvious she was going to follow in Kristina’s – her namesake from last season – footsteps. She made a handful of other important mistakes too, like shunning Coach right off the bat and making no effort to mend that relationship, and being so aggressive both at camp (though her confrontation with Edna was really entertaining and I will look forward to seeing how Edna attempts to compensate for and/or improve her social awkwardness) and at Tribal Council.

5. Brandon is train wreck waiting to happen, and I’m eating it all up.

It looks like we’ll be seeing a lot more of his downward spiral into good vs. evil in the next episode, but we got a good look at how shortsighted, naïve and impulsive Brandon is this week, unflattering editing aside. While I think that divulging his identity to Coach turned out well for him because of Coach’s honorable game playing philosophy, I also suspect it had absolutely nothing to do with strategy. He just couldn’t keep his mouth shut. His performance at Tribal Council confirms this suspicion… You can’t just declare that you were behind sabotaging someone at camp – and a completely faultless and honorable someone at that – and not explain why or at least extend an apology. I’m sure if Brandon told Mikayla he’d feel more comfortable if she wore shorts around camp, she’s be happy to oblige (which would be a good strategic move for her too). Trying to get her kicked off for entirely selfish reasons is not the right way to go about it. Everyone likes a good train wreck, but this is taking it a bit far.

6. A Tribal Council like I like them! But why must the women always be first to suffer the initial elimination?

Tribal Council was a treat this episode! At first, I thought Coach was being reckless and stupid, but somehow he managed to come out on top of his “gloves off” policy. Albert impressed me in his eloquence and strong argumentation skills. (I love smart players on Survivor!) Mikayla needs to work on more than just her physical skills if she wants a chance to get deeper into the game. And why the hell did Stacey and Christine not vote together? Throwing away a vote is no way to either protect yourself or get yourself in any solid alliance. Neither one of them is going to last long. And though I know that weakness is the main criteria of elimination in the first Tribal Councils, I find it offensive and honestly narrow-minded to so obviously target the old and the female in the tribe. Look at Palau’s season: the ‘older’ and arguably less fit tribe of Koror killed the younger and stronger Ulong tribe with their strategy and brains. It’s time to open your minds a little more kiddos!

I’m looking forward to the Redemption Island duel! Who’s your money on for the win? (I’m going to bet on Christine, though I wouldn’t be opposed to Semhar getting herself some appropriate redemption by kicking butt.) What do you think of the Immunity Idol situation? Who’s shaping up to be your favorite player this season? Leave comments below! 

Survivor: South Pacific - Episode 2 in 15 seconds

What an fantastic episode! I'm so glad the momentum hasn't been lost in the second episode, and I'm really enjoying every moment of this season so far.

Ozzy, use it right this time!!!

Brandon, get OVER yourself.

Mikayla, keep kicking butt! But ok, cover yourself up a little bit while doing it...

Jim: overconfidence never got anyone anywhere on Survivor!

Here are my 15 seconds...:

Survivor: South Pacific - Episode One: Love, Loss and How To Call It

Ozzy the Survivor-ator solving the awesome puzzle

It’s Friday night, 10:48PM, and I’m on my way to Boston for the weekend. At the moment, I’m theoretically an hour away, but effectively stuck in a traffic jam that refuses to appear on my iPhone. So I’m completely in the dark as to how long this traffic jam actually is. It is ironic how annoyed I am by this considering I keep affirming that I am not at the mercy of my currently not-so-smart phone.

BUT! Never fear. Now that I have slept and listened to music for the past almost-four hours from New York, I am fully prepared to launch into my Survivor: South Pacific – Episode 1 run-through.

As I mentioned in my last post, I decided to try a new experiment this time and really connect with fellow fans on Twitter. The fact that Jeff Probst was tweeting and posting videos FROM HIS LIVING ROOM definitely helped. Russell was also there (obvi making comments on how Brandon – and well, everyone else – should play the game); I particularly enjoyed his Tweet on how Ozzy got powned by Parvati when Russell controlled Parvati: “Ozzy does not know how to play this game. He got punked by Parvati, I controlled Parvati.” Now now Russell… I would disagree on both accounts. But let’s not get into that today.

Now onto my episode highlights!

1. These contestants actually look ready to play.

We begin with a shot of Jeff and a helicopter. Very quickly, we zoom into Coach and Ozzy as they loom over the South Pacific island of Samoa, about to field various reactions from the tribes they are about to join. One thing is certain; the contestants are skeptical and make it very clear that the All-Stars’ fate will depend on whether they can be used… or shoo’ed. One Upolu tribe member, Christine, stands out as being a plain ol’ bitter pants when she states very assertively that these guys will not stay for long. That’s not just up to you, lady… And who ends up on her tribe? Poor Coach. Ozzy got a warmer welcome as he smacked his tribe’s red paint-filled egg against his heart. Now that t-shirt will be a winner for the eBay auction.

2. The first challenge is the coolest, most challenging puzzle ever.

A face-off between Coach and Ozzy turns into a united tribe effort when Ozzy has finished showing off his climbing, digging and being sexy skills and Coach has kind of kept up. This is actually the first time I’ve seen contestants being called out on not following the rules and taking a while to figure it out. Basically, the puzzle is a pyramid sliced into horizontal pieces from the base to the tip. The pyramid is complete on one table and the goal is to move the pyramid to a third table by only moving one piece at a time and only putting smaller pieces on top of larger ones. Ozzy showed his humbler side when he gestured to his tribe to help him out and the challenge became a screaming fest of “No! Not that one! To the left! Over here!” But it worked for Savaii, and Ozzy took home the “fire in the form of flint.”

3. Coach has some work cut out for him… And does a great job.

Without a doubt, Coach got the short end of the stick on this one. Not only did he end up on bitter Christine’s tribe, he was also clearly the less welcome of the two redemption-seeking All-Stars. Somehow, he still managed to get himself an alliance of 5, including a very intriguing, smart and highly intuitive recent grad, Sophie. The only girl of the alliance, she could go far. She definitely gets a “to-be-followed” card from me. But Coach’s biggest break was clearly this: Upolu won Immunity at the first challenge. Despite not being Coach’s biggest fan, I’m impressed at how he handled himself and look forward to seeing his next moves.

4. Ozzy falls for an over-confident, too-much-boob-showing show-off. A huge downgrade from Amanda.

Ozzy's love interest?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I was never Amanda’s greatest fan… But at least the girl was super hot, smart and could stand her own at a challenge (even if she couldn’t stand up for herself at Tribal Council). Enter Semhar, an outspoken young lady with awesome afro hair and a knack for showing too much cleavage. A few words of spoken-word poetry and Ozzy’s taking the bait. Ugh… Now, I realize that my TOUT comment on this came across more angry than anything else, but really I was just frustrated that Ozzy would be so keen to start another island romance when his last once so obviously took his attention away from the game. He even stood up for Semhar when she stepped forward claiming to have great aim and a good arm and then failed miserably at the challenge, ultimately losing Immunity for Savaii. Tssk Tssk Ozzy, tssk tssk.

5. Brandon: a doomed creepster that I hope will manage to step up and surprise me.

When I learned Russell’s nephew was going to be on the show, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I suspected he wouldn’t follow his uncle’s wicked ways, but I was hoping he’d actually have some game under there too. Turns out he’s a married father – even though he looks no older than 19-20 – and he’s a G-d fearing conservative prude. I will blame much of his creepster moments on biased editing, but that doesn’t mean I was not extremely disturbed – and somewhat entertained – by his sneaking up on and trash-talking Mikayla, who seems like a strong and promising contestant that just happens to also be pretty darn fine. Apparently that’s too much for Brandon to handle.

But keeping his t-shirt on in various ridiculous ways to hide his Hantz tattoos is totally up his alley. I mean come on, how common of a last name is Hantz? And wouldn’t lying and saying he wasn’t related right off the bat be better than dooming himself to having to explain why he won’t ever take his shirt off? Personally, I don’t think he’ll be able to keep the secret, even if that is in his best interest. Having a killer player like Sophie on the tribe will make this concoction for disaster a lot of fun to watch—I hope.

6. Why the hell are people all up in Jeff’s face about how to call them all of a sudden?

It’s one thing when quirky Cochran asks Jeff to call him by his last name because previous players that have had that honor have always been more awesome for the title (Mariano, Penner, Savage…) and it’s quite another when a dubious but admittedly cuddly-looking retired police officer by the name of Mark Anthony (also dubious…) asks Jeff to call him Poppa Bear. What’s next, Ozzy asking Jeff to call him Monkey Man? Or Dolphin Boy? Or simply Survivor-ator? Surviv-inator? (Well, something like that.) It’s ludicrous, and unless it’s a pronunciation thing, Probst (cuz he’s that cool) should have the last say on how he chooses players should be called. He gives the cool factor; it’s not imposed on him.

Ultimately, this first episode was very entertaining to watch and the 90-minutes just flew by! I’m more than pumped for this season and excited about some of these players. The girls seem to be promising as well as pretty (Mikayla, Elyse, Whitney), the nerds could have a lot to offer given the chance (Cochran and one of my front-runners right now, Sophie), we‘ve got some loud but entertaining folk (Jim, Christine, who I really don’t like and hope will leave the game soon) and of course we have Ozzy, who just keeps reminding me how much I love him and why I believe in him as much as I do. The one thing I’m not seeing right now is how the muscular men will prove to be more than just that.

What did you think about the episode? Who were your favorite contestants? Are you rooting for Ozzy and/or Coach? Were you happy with the first elimination? 

Survivor: South Pacific - Episode 1 in 15 seconds

While eagerly watching the Survivor: South Pacific premiere tonight, I decided to do something different and actually follow what was happening on Twitter. (I've had to step up my Twitter presence for work, and have found that as long as I don't actually tweet about the uninteresting things I'm doing, but rather about the topics that interest me and hopefully other people, it's really a great tool!)

What I found out was a) there are TONS of people tweeting throughout the show, including Jeff Probst! b) I kind of loved the idea of responding to Jeff's comments and questions, c) Jeff was ALSO posting TOUT videos during commercial breaks, effectively making the 90 minutes of the premiere fly by and d) I'm really not cut out for the multi-tasking involved in watching Survivor, tweeting, reading tweets and watching Jeff's comments live from his living room at the same time.

On a more blog-related note, Jeff also made me discover TOUT, which I think is the perfect way to share my thoughts directly post-show, in 15 seconds.

So for now, before I articulate them better in a more detailed post, here's my Episode One Rundown from TOUT:

Most Stupid Survivor Moments

What's the DUMBEST Survivor move ever? Let us know what you think!

If it's not an option below, use the comments!