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Another season of Survivor has come to an end, and the castaway who won the title of soul survivor is…Natalie? This season, which took place in Samoa, has been one hell of a memorable season, namely due to a manipulative player named Russell. Despite his despicable tactics throughout the course of the game, he easily became the favorite this season because at the end of the day, everyone had to admit that this guy knew how to play the game. He lived up to the show’s tagline: outwit, outplay, outlast. But then, so did Natalie, and to a lesser extent, so did Mick.

There are often some undeserving people sitting in those final two or three seats, hoping that the castaways that they had a hand in voting out, will throw them a vote to win a million dollars. Ultimately, Erik, the first castaway to take a spot on the jury, was the one who put things in perspective at the final tribal council. He pointed out that Mick, while meant to be the leader of his tribe, never did anything to motivate or lead his tribe in 39 days, nor did he really earn a place in the game. Erik, who was a bit conniving in his own way, then pointed out that Russell’s dishonest and dirty game play was not something to be proud of, let alone something to be rewarded. Finally, he pointed out that Natalie may be viewed as weak, but the fact that she is sitting in the final three makes her just as threatening as Russell.

Is what one might call riding someone’s coat tails good game play? Hey, maybe it is. Natalie actually had a strong (more…)

March Madness always seems to throw off the “Survivor” schedule for a few weeks, but here’s the most recent happenings for our castaways in Brazil. Just as Brendan and Sierra sleuthed out the hidden immunity idol at camp, their counter duo in the secret alliance over at Jalapao, Taj and Stephen, also found the hidden immunity idol. For safe keeping, Taj entrusted it to Stephen, who admits to feeling pretty comfortable with it in his pocket as opposed to anyone else’s.

At the Reward Challenge, each tribe member was forced to spin on a platform, getting dizzy, then race across a balance beam to score points. Jalapao is victorious and wins a trip to the Charmin Cafe…yup, toilet paper and fresh toilets. More than that though, they get to dig into some serious food.  And even better, letters from home…always a touching addition. Steven is not so lucky though, as when Brendan is sent to Exile he brings Stephen along to give them an opportunity to get to know each other a little better. Unfortunately, Tyson voices his suspicions to Coach about Brendan making ties with the other team, putting a target on Brendan’s back.

At Jalapao, Spencer and Sydney talk, and Sydney mentions her boyfriend (won’t Joe be disappointed). When she presses Spencer about there being any ladies in his life, he sort of subtley brushes it off, but reveals to the camera later that he’s gay and hasn’t said anything because he doesn’t want that to effect his standing in the game. He’s especially nervous about JT’s reaction, which is fairly justified.

Next up, the Immunity Challenge! While two tribe members launch balls, the remaining tribe members must catch them to score points, while also playing defense against the opposing tribe members. Spencer quite literally drops the ball in this challenge, pissing off JT and Joe who both feel that Spencer is just not an asset to the tribe after his awful performance. After all, JT got so caught up in the challenge that he lost a tooth, this is serious stuff. Ultimately, Timbira won, sending Jalapao to tribal council and placing Spencer squarely on the chopping block.

There was a good deal of discussion before tribal council, with JT insisting on cutting out their weakest link, which was currently debatable as to whether it was Spencer or Taj. Stephen felt uncomfortable with this, being that he had forged a secret alliance with Taj, he would have to turn on her if that was the way the majority felt, and as a result, he would still have the hidden immunity idol. Kind of a sweet deal for him actually. Despite all debates, the decision was basically unanimous to send Spencer home, which seemed kind of harsh. It seemed like he was performing well enough up until this last challenge, but hey, somebody had to go I guess. At least it wasn’t Sydney.

When Timbira returned from tribal council after giving Candace the boot, Erinn tried to reconcile with everyone and break all association she had with Candace. Yeah, that association ain’t gonna benefit her one damn bit. Unfortunately, no one really bought it, she had been tagged, and Coach especially was hellbent on sending Erinn home next. Of course, Erinn wasn’t stupid and decided all she could do was try and outperform everyone at the challenge, and prove that she is a worthwhile member of the tribe to have around. We’ll see how that plays out for her.

At the reward challenge, within each tribe members were divided into pairs that had to collect corn in buckets from large vats…the trick of course, was that they were blindfolded and a tribemember endowed with a powerful voice would need to yell to them and navigate them through. Jalapao arose victorious and had the privilege of sending Brendan back to Exile, who in turn asked Taj to join him. Surprise, surprise.

Back at Jalapao, the tribe enjoyed their recent reward consisting of pillows, blankets, chairs, and other overly luxurious items that they have no business using on a show called “Survivor.” As for Timbira, Coach consulted with his “assistant coach,” Tyson, about taking Erin out the next chance they get. They agree on that, and further agree that they will be able to get Sierra, Debbie, and Brendan to vote along with them. What about Jerry though? The military man who has had virtually no screentime since the new season began? Well, Jerry’s not holding up so well in the wilderness, and he’s a bit under the weather. You always expect these military types to do so well on the show, but with a few exceptions, they usually seem to have the most trouble.

As for Brendan and Taj at Exile (more…)

With 3 days under their belts these new castaways are beginning to get their heads in the game and start thinking strategy. While personalities begin to clash and allegiances form, everybody can agree on one thing, that they gotta eat. Jalapao pulled it together and decided it’s time for protein, but without fishing supplies they elected to dig up some termites and start chowing down. Elsewhere in Timbira, Coach and Candace realize that they are far from becoming fast friends during a dispute over the best way to cook beans and rice.

All of Timbira was not solely focused on food though. Sierra began thinking about that hidden immunity idol she had a clue to, and included Brendan in on the tip (he was the only person who didn’t throw her a vote within the first minutes of the game). They head down to the beach and start sorting out their clues, but when Debbie stumbles upon them digging a giant hole, they have to do some fast talking and explain that they were building a firepit for later. Yeah, so awesome!

At the Reward/Immunity Challenge, the tribes faced off in a pretty physical basketball-type challenge in the water, and Jalapao was victorious! Not only did they score immunity, but they got fishing gear, and also a chance to send Brendan to Exile Island. In an interesting turn of events, Brendan then got to choose someone from Jalapao to join him on Exile, and he chose Taj, who her tribe recently learned is the wife of Heismann Trophy winner Eddie George.

At Exile, there are two urns, and one has a note in it. Brendan scores (more…)

A new season of “Survivor” with a new set of castaways in an all new location! Awesome! This time our group of 18 castaways has been sent to survive in Tocantins, Brazil, and Jeff Probst kicked things off with a shocker when he told the two tribes that they would have their first vote immediately, and that the person they voted would not join them on the 4 hour trek to camp (implying that the person would be out of the game). The tribes voted, the Jalapao tribe voting for Sandy, an older kind of outlandish lady while Timbira voted for Sierra, a young model who is trying to kick strep throat. What better way to do that than roughing it out in Brazil? In any case, everyone was surprised to learn that Sandy and Sierra were not out of the game, but instead had just scored a helicopter ride to their respective camps. Very cool, but this would also isolate them from the rest of the tribe, by not partaking in the bonding experience of said trek.

While Jalapao and Timbira journey across Brazil, lugging provisions along the way, Sandy and Sierra find themselves with free time at their respective camps. They both receive tree mail, which says they can get in their tribes’ good graces by beginning to work on shelter, or they can use a clue for the hidden immunity idol. Sandy decides to do absolutely nothing, not even to make it look like she tried to work on shelter or get things set, and instead seeks out the idol. Sierra decides she’ll take a crack at salvaging her reputation in the game and attempts to work on the shelter.

Once the tribes arrive, (more…)

Defying the odds, Bob triumphed over everyone, winning not only the million, but an extra $100 thousand for being voted the player of the season by the fans. Here’s a guy who has been one of the coolest and most interesting players out there since day 1, and has been on the chopping block since that controversial tribe mix-up just before the merge, that directly resulted in Marcus’s elimination and thereby causing the fall of the Kota 6. Somehow, Bob held his own through this game, and while it came close with the votes between him and Susie (4-3, people actually voted for Susie to win), a deserving player pulled out the victory.

After Crystal was voted out, Kenny continued guilt tripping Bob about not giving him immunity, and then guilt tripped everyone else about how he had no idea what was going down at tribal council that night. The next day was another immunity challenge, which Bob won, and they once again found themselves at tribal council. Kenny continued to plead his case that his agreement with Bob was that Bob would sacrifice his own life in this game to save Kenny’s, but Bob countered that their deal did not involve Kenny getting immunity from Bob and then turning around and scheming against Bob. A million bucks on the line…long story short, Bob’s not a stupid guy…evidently, Kenny thinks so. Ultimately, Kenny was voted out, which was expected. Granted, the strategy behind this was that Susie would be less of a threat than Kenny in the final immunity challenge…little did we all know…

As per usual, the final group of castaways did their little spirit journey that acts as a clip show to remember all the castaways that have since been voted out…yup, all the irritating ones from the beginning, all the power players from the middle, and all the ones they used to have alliances with from more recent councils. This finally lead them to the last immunity challenge, which usually involves balancing in some shape or form for hours on end, and had that been the case, Susie would’ve been totally gone. But no, Jeff Probst threw them a hail Mary on the 4th down and this final challenge (more…)

While all did not go according to plan at the last tribal council, Bob did manage to shake things up enough around camp so that he somehow found himself in a powerful role. Immediately after council, Matty confronted Kenny on throwing a vote his way, realizing that he was now on the chopping block for being a physical threat in this game. After being called out, Kenny confronted Bob about messing up his game, and so Bob agreed to compensate for that by promising to give Kenny immunity if he won it. Contrary to Kenny once playing the role of the strategic powerhouse, this sudden shake-up has reduced his game to acting pathetic and gaining sympathy. I’m sort of losing respect for Kenny now…

At the reward challenge, Bob was victorious and won a trip to a sort of gorilla zoo, bringing Crystal and Kenny along in hopes of staying on good terms and getting them to vote with him. Great success, because Crystal and Kenny seem pretty willing to go forth with their plan of getting Matty out and using Bob to their advantage. What they didn’t count on, is the power of Sugar’s observation (more…)

“Survivor” had a sour beginning this week when Bob killed everyone’s buzz after tribal council. Despite going along with Sugar’s little prank on Randy, making him think he had the hidden immunity idol, Bob completely disapproved of everyone laughing and belittling Randy. Everyone got over it and hit the hay for the night.

The next day was the reward challenge, where the only reward was pizza, beer, and a video message from home. Bob pulled out a victory and got to enjoy a video message from his wife, until he was interrupted…by his wife in person! Emotions ran high, and finally Bob and his wife returned to camp to meet up with the other castaways who did not get to see their loved ones…until Bob called them all in! The loved ones episode is a “Survivor” staple, and always one of the better ones. Emotions are shooting all over the place and it’s hard not to get sucked into it. And then, just when you think you can’t possibly feel any greater…Matty takes his girlfriend down to the river and proposes. Ah, young love.

Once the loved ones have gone and everyone’s heads are back in the game, Bob decided it was time he make another fake idol. The idea behind this was that he would subtly spread the rumor that back when Marcus threw the immunity idol into the ocean, he really pocketed it and hid it around camp. Yup, it’s total bull, but Bob and Corrine are on the chopping block so they really have nothing left to lose at this point.

The immunity challenge involved answered questions, and the more you got right, the more shots you had to take at a target… (more…)

With Charlie gone, Corrine, Randy, and Bob find themselves struggling for salvation in this game. While Corrine and Randy decided their best bet was to swing Matty, Bob was elsewhere talking to Sugar. I was surprised to see this, as they’ve never really had much of a relationship on the show, and what further surprised me was that Bob confided in Sugar that he did not have the immunity idol after his trip to Exile, but he did make a fake one. This comes in handy later when Sugar and her merry pranksters decide to send Randy home with a really swift kick in the ass, but we’ll get back to that.

The reward challenge was an auction. Bob won a trip to Exile with a clue, but he actually already knew the clue so it was meaningless to him. Instead, he went on his own little safari, which he felt, in itself, was a good reward. As for the rest, they ate pretty well and Susie even got a bath, but a fun reward challenge took a turn for the worse when… (more…)

Disaster has officially reared its ugly head for the once powerful Kota 6, first with the fateful loss of Marcus, and this week things are officially bad as the tribes merged and Charlie was voted out at tribal council. Power has definitely shifted in this game into the unlikely hands of Ken, the scrawny Asian video-gamer, who quite honestly, with the Kota 6 becoming a defeated dynasty, I’m kind of rooting for at this point. His newfound control of this game is not undeserved, and if I have to see anyone from his ragtag alliance win, I’d like it to be him.

Anyway, things kicked off with Corrine at the new Fang camp going on and on about how excited she was to see Marcus…needless to say, it was kind of awkward when they arrived at the challenge only to see that Marcus had been voted out and Susie had royally $&%#ed up the game for the Kota 6. She made a comment about how he deserved better than that, which little Kenny stepped up and countered by asking, “Why is he any more deserving than anyone else out here?” The argument went on from there, and finally they got down to the reward challenge, which Fang won. The reward was one of those things where the tribe went off and basically took part in a local tribal celebration, and we got to see Randy bust a serious move to impress one of the locals, who he was dead certain was interested in him.

(more…)