Saturday, September 17, 2005

Survivor: Discussion

This Thursday marked the beginning of the 11th edition of Survivor. Set in Guatemala, this Survivor has big shoes to fill, in my mind, as the last two were especially addicting. The tribes were set at the get-go for this edition, with the Probst telling the tribes that they will have to embark on an 11-mile hike to the best camp and the tribe that arrives first gets the good one, as well as flint. He revealed that they will have an assortment of tools, as well as an extra one each: with that he announced Stephanie and Bobby Jon from the last Survivor! It was a brilliant, brilliant idea. Everyone knows that Bobby Jon, though perhaps a little, shall we say, "simple", was a great player; and Stephanie, as Probst said, is perhaps "the best female to play the game." I agree, though several other women actually won the game while Stephanie didn't, but that's almost moot: Stephanie was the very last person from her tribe to survive until the merger. She even spent a day or two on her own, which is no mean feat, especially if you've been demoralized as much as Stephanie had been. Anyhoo, she's my favourite, I guess, and I am glad that she's back. Those two and the other survivors set out on the trek through the jungle, eventually arriving the next day. The Nakum tribe, or Bobby Jon's tribe, got there first, relegating the Yaxha tribe, or Stephanie's tribe, to the lesser of the two camps. The jungle trek was gruelling, even by Survivor standards: several castaways were crippled with dehydration, including Bobby, whose legs were locked in position for most of the second day due to cramping; Blake was throwing up all the time; Judd (the new Boston Rob, though from New York and not good looking or even mildly appealing in any way) threw up, too, but the biggest injury came thanks to Jim, the token ex-Marine, who seemed to tear a bicep muscle. Steph was pissed at her tribemates - who can blame her? They all seem like duds, especially the "wilderness guide" who didn't appear to know anything about the wilderness.
Anyhoo, it should be the usual drama and action and then some, with the Guatemala backdrop looking particularly challenging. Be sure to watch!

Oh, and due to Jim's arm, I'm mostly sure, he was voted out.

2 comments:

Shirley said...

I taped Survivor because my son was working on Thursday and he wanted to see it. And I loved the previous years. But as soon as they brought out the two people from the prior year, I didn't want to watch. They had their shot. But I've heard some good things, so now I may actually go back and watch the tape. I'm either getting jaded over the whole reality genre, or I'm getting much pickier over what entertains me.

Garry said...

Interesting point. I agree that the two former and now current survivors had one chance already, but isn't it just a great twist? I mean, what more can they do? They've already determined that the whole of Western culture comes down to three or four personality types, and so they must shake it up another way. I also think that you can't get jaded over something if you don't take it seriously in the first place...