Survivor Gabon: Week 6

Well, I must be loosing my touch. Once again, I'm out of the game early. Early as in before the merge! I guess writing these updates aren't helping my luck too much.

I think that this is officially the worst Survivor season that I have watched so far. Whitney and I were talking a bit about it and we just don't have any connections to the players. There just isn't anybody I can really get behind. Is it that I just have been plagued by the Survivor cliches? I sure hope not... I mean, there really isn't a James or a Yao Man from this season. I guess Bob would be one, but he's really not given much screen time. By the way, Bob looks like a cartoon turned into a human person. And what was up with his little squeals of delight? Now, if you know me at all you know that I can't criticize somebody tearing up, but that was just weird, ha ha.

I've said it many time so far this season, it just stinks to see a team lose and lose and lose and lose and lose. This season has actually had some great challenges, but they fall by the wayside when one team is so weak. The reward challenge was a great set up, but was over just as quick as it started. I wonder if Crystal will ever get a second breath of fresh air. Her tribe chose Sugar over her to participate in that challenge... I like Crystal a lot, but she is a candid proof of how much this game can wear on somebody physically and mentally. She looked as if she could really control things, but all this loosing is really getting to her.

By the way, did Randy not get any letters from the reward challenge? Do people in real life dislike him as much I do? Ha ha. Randy has really proved to be a strong competitor in this game. I don't think he is nearly as nasty as his testimonials. I'm not saying that the sarcasm isn't there, but I think it's a lot of show. For him to ease into that alliance over Bob shows that he must have some redeeming qualities. I wonder if he'll stick with those 4 because if it doesn't benefit him, I could easily see him turning things upside down.

It was a good idea to do a double elimination and the log roll was a great competition to have. It was entertaining to see everybody participate and of course there were some surprises of who advanced. Kudos to Marcus for giving the necklace to Sugar. Very strategic without coming across as mean-spirited. He's a bright guy... you just wonder when that target will form on his back.

The good thing about this challenge is that it finally made Kota scramble, but the bad thing is that it may have taken two of the more entertaining players out of the game. I didn't hate Ace nor really, really like him, but he was pretty entertaining. I was just interested to see if he would do anything in the merge. Yes, Dan was a bit annoying, but how exciting would've Kota been without him? You could tell he was a really nice guy, but just wore the game a little too much on his sleeve. I think it was very smart for the tribe to split their votes. Now they know for sure that Sugar must have the necklace and if Dan had played it... great, Susie's gone! They lost somebody who could have helped in challenges, but honestly, how many were they going to lose against Fang, especially with Ace gone now.

I'm a little confused by Sugar's move to blind-side Ace. On one hand, she really didn't need Ace. All he constantly did was ask for her immunity necklace and she had to know that Matty wasn't necessarily really keen on her. How many scenes were there of those two strategizing? Not many... But on the other hand, Ace really was the only person she was connected to. I think she knew what she was doing and although Kenny's lies planted the seed, I don't think she believed him and decided to do it on her own. I'm not sure what she is going to do now. Nobody on Kota likes her and Kenny and Crystal will just like her for some votes, so she either goes far just because everybody knows she has the necklace, or she uses it wisely to form some alliance when the merge happens.

Any thoughts? Good move by Sugar? Does Randy have a chance to win this game? Will a merge ever happen?

Have a great week and be careful not to spill your rice!

Survivor Gabon: Week 5

Finally! A really good episode this season. It really needed an episode like this one. The strategy part of the game rose a bit and there was actual drama in the immunity challenge and tribal council.

I think it was a real good thing for Ace & Matty to form something. They both are in awful positions, and I don't know if much will change going into the merge. There was something about it though that you didn't quite believe. I almost predict something where Ace turns his back on Matty...Matty gets voted off...and while part of the jury he will glare menacingly at Ace until he is voted out. I think Matty has the most heart of a competitor that I have seen in a long time, but I just don't quite think that the brains are there.

I always like the reward challenge that they used where the contestants have to catch each other. It looks sooo exhausting and I can't imagine trying to do that with as little food Fang has had. You can tell that it didn't quite go as long as similar challenges have in the past. It was a true testament of how little food that Fang has.

What an amazing immunity challenge! Overall, I really don't like anybody on the Fang tribe, but I was rooting for them so much to win! How brilliant of Matty & Kenny to climb over those obstacles (I can't believe I used the word brilliant with these two). I'll get back to Kenny boy in a second. But alas, the team fell apart at the end. As said in the previous email, I hate it when there is a tribe that consistently looses, but at least they brought some drama back to the camp. I really didn't know what was going on for a while and why in the world Sugar would tell Kenny about the hidden immunity idol!

I'll break here to talk about Ken. You can tell he is a smart guy, but he is taken his "gamer" title far too seriously and there are times he just needs to sit back. Every time he needs to make a big decision, it's an awful one. That's my opinion at least.

There was a lot of drama at tribal council with everybody seeming to throw everybody under the bus, but they were really smart to get rid of Kelly. She kind of sealed her fate by what she said, if others had any doubt at all, but if they want to win any sort of challenge at all, she probably was the best one to go.

Like I said earlier, I really had fun with this one. It finally kind of felt like a Survivor episode and it had a great tease for the next episode. It's a smart move to make both tribes figure out who to vote out. Fang was probably going to have to vote somebody off anyway, and let Kota finally feel what's it like to scramble. And who has the immunity idol exactly? Ace or Sugar? So confusing.... which I really like.

So, did you like this episode like I did? Is Crystal too emotional and a disappointment in the challenges? What do you think about Randy? Do you love to hate him, or just hate him?

Survivor: Week 4

The thing that I hate most about Survivor is the episode we now get at least once in a season, the obligatory, "I miss home and I want to leave the game. It's tougher than I thought it was." It just puts a downer on the episode. You knew this was going to happen sooner than later with G.C., I'm just glad that their tribe had the right mind to vote him out. They were giving him a lot of air time, which usually signals a quick departure (Anthony from Fiji Islands comes to mind). This kind of makes me worry about Ace a bit. He was about as productive as Kelly on those challenges. I'm sorry Jan about your quick departure. Usually everybody usually seems to have at least one going into the merge. You can blame Kelly for picking the names, ha ha.

I thought the challenges were really good this episode. You have to give credit to the producers for really utilizing the hills of the Gabon terrain. I really liked the immunity challenge. I don't like Randy, but he is really stepping up on these challenges. His call out to Ace to freeze was pretty classic and smart. We'll see what he does in the immunity challenges. The reward challenge was a really good one, although I was a little surprised that Kota pulled out with Charlie striking out more than Babe Ruth (did you enjoy my sports knowledge being thrown in there?)

Dan really should record himself and hear himself speak. His little ra ra speech wasn't really fooling anybody and Susie better speak up before a leopard mistakes her for a dead carcass. Also, I decided to never get on Crystal's bad side and that I don't care how cool that elephant looked, I wouldn't have paddled close to it. Did you see that elephant's evil eye? (What great alliteration!)

Beside the little drama of finding Sugar's hidden immunity idol (does anybody else think that she looks like the girl from Can't Hardly Wait and Six Feet Under?), it was a so so episode, but this season is getting all the uninteresting people out early, so hopefully it'll get really good when the merge happens.

That's all for me, and be careful for those pineapples and shields in this world, they really can hurt your head!