Survivor: Samoa - Week 2

The Woods Ain’t The Hood

Ladies and gentlemen... Survivor Samoa will now be called Survivor Foa Foa. All I really know about the other tribe is that their color is purple and that Shambo’s antics, although highly entertaining, may cause a good character to be booted early. Despite the fact that all the focus has been on Foa Foa, I though that this was a great second episode. Usually the early episodes are forgettable, but like Fans Vs. Favorites, this episode had plenty of memorable moments.

The episode quickly started off with Betsy’s weariness of Russell, so we knew either of them was probably going to go. Then all of a sudden, the villain of the season with the awful strategy actually showed some intellect as he quickly found the hidden immunity idol before any clues had been dispersed. You have to give him some credit here. He was thinking way ahead of everybody, including the producers. How crazy is it that he found it in pure daylight in front of everybody? The producers had to be throwing their hands up in excitement knowing that the “love to hate” character of the season may be sticking around for a bit longer. Now, I don’t know how smart of a move it was to show Jaison the idol. I think he was brilliant for making a true ally in Jaison because they are such an unlikely pair, but we will see if that lasts (according to the sneak peak for the next episode).

As an audience we were then privy too watching probably the most physical Survivor challenge ever. I’m going to sound like an old fart, but they are going to have to tame these ones down a bit. Each season it grows more brutal, which I think is due to contestants trying to raise the stakes each season. The fact that they had girls and guys in that pit at the same time was pretty crazy to me. Regardless of all of that, I think they made too big of a deal of Probst pulling Ben. I had the privilege of watching this episode with Whitney and both of my parents, and we enjoyed the debate of whether Ben should’ve been kicked out. I was in the position that yes he was because he could’ve broken Russell S.’s leg with his trip, but Whitney’s argued that there was just as much choking going on. I’m sure Ben wasn’t intentionally trying to hurt somebody, so I understand that he was trying everything to help his team win. I think it’s an interesting debate.

So Foa Foa lost the fight and Mike left pretty banged up and had to leave the game. You had to see it coming and the fact that they voted out Marisa before him might come back to haunt them. Because the show started off with 20 contestants, you knew at some point there would be two people gone on one episode, so this gave the producers a perfect opportunity to use Mike’s departure to dwindle the number down a bit. This was unfortunate for Betsy because I thought she could’ve really made an impact on the game. I think with a little more time she could’ve really recruited some of the young ones to her side, but despite Ben’s annoying and cocky behavior, I don’t blame them for voting her out. They really have to win challenges at this point being three members down.

Going back a little bit... How big of a win for the episode was the fact that Yasmin came over to Foa Foa’s camp? Out of all the people Russell S. could choose, he chose her. When she went over to that camp and just started down-talking everybody, it blew my mind. I can’t see how any of those rants could benefit her in this game. What a perfect opportunity missed to maybe make some friends when a merge occurs. Her and Ben’s fight was like watching our two political parties duke it out in Washington D.C. You just knew it wasn’t going to go anywhere. But boy was it entertaining to watch.

Ben amazes me with his no-apologies personality. I personally can’t stand arrogant people like him, but if he keeps up his antics there is now way he can win this game. He isn’t even playing mean smart, and when somebody like Russell starts having disrespect for you, you know he has to be pretty bad.

What are your thoughts on everything? Are you giving Russell H. more respect knowing that he found the idol early? Do you think his alliance with Jaison will have legs? Was the challenge too physical and do you think Ben should’ve been kicked out? Do you wish the focus on both tribes would be a little bit more equal? Were you sad to see Mike and Betsy go? Could Yasmin be the next spokesperson for Micro Machines?

A lot of questions... I look forward to hearing what you think!

And remember... never lose the fishing gear! (How does that seem to happen every season?)