Survivor Tocantins: The Blindside That Never Were

After a long hiatus, Survivor is back on. (Therefore, I warn you this is going to be a long post. Bear with me please.) I was about as excited as I can get after missing the show for entirely a month that it almost felt as good as waiting for a new season. But action’s just picking up.

Flashback: Sydney became the first casualty on my initial bets’ list. And I have two good explanations as to why I’m not feeling any remorse for her being voted off. With good looks like that, Jeff was indeed right in her assessment since she’s been unable to establish herself outside of the “blonde, hot girl” distinction. And even her flirtatious card was quite a flop.

First, she resigned herself to the “flirtatious” strategy way too hard. I mean, watching Sydney do it was fast becoming pathetic, the kind that made you cringe on your seat while watching her do it. After 18 seasons of Survivor, this is one of those strategies that wear down easily. And before she could even launch her strategy, it was already pummeling down to the ground. What with the group of people she got marooned with – I’m pretty sure either Joe or JT wouldn’t have traded the million dollars for Sydney. I bought her claim that the editing made it appear though as if flirting was her only strategy. I did. She fought hard to show that she was a competitor too. But only use flirting as one of your cards in the game, not the one thing that would save you. With Sydney, it was the latter. And second (which is worse), she wasn’t even attempting to do it subtly. See how Amber won in the All-Stars? She was flirting with Boston Rob but when it came game time, she was ahead of Boston Rob. If I were to use an analogy for that: make it your paddle, not a floating device. See my point?

On to the latest epi, there’s much to cover so I’m going to talk about the highlights here.

Bad: It’s a distress signal for Brendan. I cannot even muster watching Coach talk about being the dragon slayer and it makes me puke to think that he claims to be a man of integrity when he’s promised JT the exact same things he promised Brendan during their long 4-mile hike at the start of the game. It’s simply ridiculous to watch and made me even wonder what supernatural powers he possessed to have reached this stage of the game without being voted off. It’s simple how this turn-around came about – his insecurity for Brendan! Even Tyson, I’m kind of in a toss-up right now. Not sure about where I stand about liking him still now that he’s sided with Coach but I’m not too surprise. What I’m surprised about though is how they came about with the idea of Brendan being such a manipulative and untrustworthy individual. Is having the idol being manipulative? Come on, he hasn’t done a thing to reap such opinion about him. Isn’t their scheming just the very same thing they’re accusing Brendan of? And JT’s getting a free ride too just cause they need the numbers? My head’s spinning with all these scenarios but I would literally fall on my knees if I saw Brendan voted off before  Coach does. Just you wait.. Another unlikely prospect is Stephen’s tightness with JT. How ironic, huh? Now, he’s dragged along the plan to get rid of Brendan. I knew the 4-way Secret Alliance was too good to be true and with the way they’ve built it up on the show.

Brendan is nonchalant about the plans of blindsiding him.

Good: Tyson won the Immunity Idol for nothing. Brendan indeed lives to fight another day and so is his hidden immunity idol. With three more days, I don’t believe Brendan is THAT insensitive to not see something brewing behind his back. Hopefully, he’d be able to win immunity this time to at least keep the hidden immunity safe for one more day until he’s ready to flush it out. Overall, this was not too good of an episode. The only bright side was that there was no tribal council. When I watched the reaction on Coach’s face when Jeff announced there was no tribal council that night, I think it was enough to redeem Brendan. Served him well!

In-between: This then makes the perfect segue for the other blindside in this game, Joe Dowdle’s case. Watching someone being airlifted off the show due to injury is NEVER good. In Joe’s case, his own injury blindsided him, snapping him out of the game without warning. And worse, it’s usually the

Coach looks on as his plans fall apart...for now.

competitive ones that get themselves injured and taken out of the game. With Joe’s ouster, it takes away some competitive spirit of the game. Also, he’s not sealed any strategic allegiances so he might be pulled over to Brendan’s side and contend with Coach’s fivesome.

Nonetheless, I can’t wait to see the dragon slayer back in action next week and be slain himself.

*photos courtesy of survivor.com

Survivor 18 spoiler alert

Survivor: Tocantins. That will be the new name for the 18th and most recent installment of the hit reality TV series by CBS.

If you’ve been following this blog, then you’re probably aware that this isn’t my first post on the show. In fact, I have dedicated numerous posts in the past detailing the events on the show. As opposed to the past few months, it looks like SurvivorFever.net has got a more thorough and specific list of information on tribe names and castaways. The red buff tribe is called Timbira, and the purple tribe is Jalapao.

There is an interesting mix of personalities, although mostly fall under typical categories. With the new season set to premiere on the 12th of February, this would be the perfect time to assess early favorites and glean over their individual strategies going into the game. While these strategies is bound to change once they finally get the game started, it should provide as an opportunity to see what these castaways have got to offer. I’ve included some interesting ones here.

Of course, Survivor always has this guy who claims to have the outdoor skills and survival expertise. However, none of them really do manage to last. But James Thomas hopes it would be a different tale for him, as he claims that “deer, turkey, wild hog, coyote-everything you’re allowed to hunt in Alabama I’ve hunted…I’m a country boy.” Let’s see how it fairs with his tribemates.

Then there’s those cunning young ones who think they’re too smart for the game. Take a college sophomore like Spencer Duhm (yes, that’s his family name, no puns intended) whose strategy is “you have to assume they’re going to screw you before you screw them over.“

Caroline Eastwood, meanwhile is just plain strange. When asked what preparation she did for the show, she nonchalantly replied: “I got lasered from head to toe…Because I’m ethnic in the hairiest sense of the word. And I did not want to scare people with my overgrown armpits.“

To cap off this list, there are also some players who came into this game only for one thing – the million dollars. And Tyson Apostol from Utah isn’t losing focus of that. “$1 million in two months isn’t a bad paycheck.“

Admittedly, Survivor: Gabon was a tough act to follow. Survivor: Tocantins better live up to the challenge!

*note: post was created via WordPress’ Quickpress tool.

cheating death

The title of this post is no exaggeration at all. Matty had a close call. The recent turnout of events in Survivor Gabon’s 12th episode was a wake-up call and it proved two things: (1) Kenny will switch up when he sees fit, and (2) Matty needs to win an immunity necklace…and quick!

Let’s face it. Even though the bitchy Corinne was lashing out about the lack of wit on the remaining ‘Fang 5′, as their alliance were called, they aren’t that dumb not to realize the threat that Matty poses to the rest of the tribe. After all, they’re all competitors despite calling themselves an alliance.

This episode was endearing though, as always with any other ‘family visit episode’ which is a staple in Survivor. And Matty established a new Survivor history by proposing to his fiancee during her visit to Gabon. Beat that Rob Mariano!

This episode yet again highlighted Bob’s survival skills and he’s competitiveness in the challenges, despite being the oldest out there. Indeed, he’s managed to edge out other younger and more athletic competitors such as Matty or Crystal. But then again, the recent challenges mostly involved mental ability, such as the Q&A portion in the immunity challenge and the puzzle solving part of the reward.

Bob and Corinne’s desperate plans to use the supposed “hidden immunity idol” that they got during the fake merge feast was brilliant. When survival is concerned, humans are certainly capable of innovating ways to save themselves. I would have nodded at this brave try but not for Matty’s sake. So much for sounding like a Matty worshipper, he could potentially be my first ever initial favorite to win Survivor.

Corinne wasn’t going to last another day at Gabon anyway. So maybe a side of her was glad she got the boot. As for next week, it must be exciting to see Kenny scramble to renew his alliance’s trust after he ended up betraying Matty in the last tribal council.

After all, revenge is sweet. I still love Kenny though.

life imitating art

Ever seen the film The Truman Show? Well, it seemed like the type of movie that would be “in” on our times today, considering the vast success currently being experienced by reality shows on television. Reality TV has managed to dissolve the line separating reality from TV. This was most especially true to some people, as reported by CNN, that suffered from some kind of delusion. These victims thought they were part of a reality show where their private lives are being documented for the rest of the world to see, indeed very reminiscent of the 1998 film The Truman Show. The news report cited the following cases involving two separate individuals:

…[one] showed up at a federal building, asking for release from the reality show he was sure was being made of his life. Another was convinced his every move was secretly being filmed for a TV contest.”

A third one,

…believed everything — the news, his psychiatrists, the drugs they prescribed — was part of a phony, stage-set world with him as the involuntary star, like the 1998 movie “The Truman Show.”

Scientists who have worked on these cases regarded them as delusional behaviors, and they aims to understand just how much culture and mass media penetrates the minds of the people who accept them as part of their daily lives. Some people might find these cases humorous, others strange, while for some it is an issue that requires to be addressed. Especially when such cases cause a direct threat to the lives of the people involved, such as this one:

“[A] man profiled in the British journal was diagnosed with schizophrenia and is unable to work. One of Gold’s patients planned to commit suicide if he couldn’t leave his supposed reality show.”

Another, yet stranger, case involved a patient from Austria who “believed she had become a walking webcam.” As the line between reality and TV has been blurred, it now enables researchers to examine the link between our culture and a person’s mental capacity to interpret them.

It was more interesting to me than anything. Reality TV, even mass media as a whole, has managed to purge people’s emotions and establish this two-way process of communication. Art was previously referred to as imitating life, or mimetic as Aristotle would put it. But in this strange circumstances, it was the other way around. Hopefully, more studies are done and I am curious to see how it would spell out.

he got served!

Randy's furious over the 'fake' idol gaffe

I wish there was a better way to describe Randy’s exit in Survivor. If you’re such a fan of this show, then you’d probably know about the monumental blunder that involved the hidden immunity idol, which is what Jeff Probst himself described to be one of the smartest elements they have included in the game. The power that is within the immunity idol can be overwhelming sometimes that having it can either be advantageous or disadvantageous to the person concerned. However, when a ‘fake’ idol is involved, it’s an entirely different story.

For all we thought, players have learned from the ranks of Jamie Dugan (Survivor China) and Jason Siska (Survivor Micronesia). Humorous as it is, I felt for Randy when Jeff announced the idol he thought could save him in the game was a fake one. Randy’s face was all red when Jeff tossed the ‘fake idol’ into the fire and said that all votes against Randy will count.

I mean, this was supposed to be a look-back of Episode 10 but the scene during tribal council alone has managed to overshadow all other events that transpired that night.

Oh well, Kenny’s impressive win during the IC was deserving of mention since it was one of the tightest and most exciting challenge so far in this season. In the back of my mind, I was actually hoping that Matty wouldn’t win that one, at least to take away the idea of him being a threat during the challenges, and consequently a lesser target for the boot.

Back to the tribal, Randy’s arrogance served him right. Hate to be rude, but this is one of the most satisfying votes for the season (for me, at least).

Merge at last!

Matty lives to see another day!

Just when I thought the game was becoming quite cruel, it’s gotten more ugly by the day – in a strategic kind of way. Charlie’s ouster was a surprise, especially for Charlie himself. In an interview following his being voted off, he exclaims not realizing the personal vendetta that Ken had against him, which proves just how much manipulative power Ken had in him. Well, it was for the advantage of my favored remaining castaways, especially Matty. Charlie was too cunning and with him gone, it has basically cut off another limb to the Marcus-Charlie-Corinne alliance, leaving only Corinne to fend for herself. (grinning)

I wasn’t entirely against that threesome alliance, but it makes for an entertaining view! It is so dramatic how the game has witnessed a complete 180-degree turn with power players now scrambling to stay in the game. Thanks to most of Ken’s efforts, both him and Matty now has a fighting chance – to be exact, a 1 of 8 shot for the million dollars.

This was an epic episode, to say the least. Here are the top highlights for the episode:

1. Can there be any player in Survivor history more arrogant than Randy is? I mean, Richard Hatch was. And yet he had the first ever Survivor title under his belt. As for Randy, his future in this game looks bleak (thanks to his over-the-top sarcasm) despite self-proclaiming himself to be the new King of Gabon. Oh, bless your soul!

2. Bob’s fake idol maneuver. This one was a good move fueled by desperation, kudos to Ozzy. After all, we’ve seen Jason from Micronesia (yes, a real student of the game) fall into the bait. Now I’m anxious to see who’d be the next dummy to find and play it. (rubs chin)

3. Matty and Ken switching to the power side. Ken is certainly the puppet master and it is incredible how he has formulated moves that enables him to take out anyone he deems is a threat to his position in the game. So, buh-bye Charlie for screwing him on the individual immunity clue from last episode!

Dethrone the King

Marcus’ game in Survivor: Gabon was the perfect epitome of how one power player can go from being in control to getting blindsided. Although I was rooting for Marcus in the beginning, I have to admit he got way too cocky for his own good. And commendation is fitting for Susie, proving she is really in it to win. Susie was smart enough to realize that she had a better fighting chance if she sided with Crystal and Kenny, as opposed to being a ‘filler’ to the alliance involving Marcus, Charlie, Corrine, Bob, and Randy. I mean seriously, I was even flabbergasted listening to Marcus promising Susie the final three! Even Susie did not take Marcus’ word for that, leading to his own ouster.

So I guess that reflects my lack of disappointment in Marcus being the latest castoff from Gabon. This was indeed an interesting (sorry for the understatement) turn of events. With physical power players gone, it now sets the stage for the scheming action.

Back to the episode, Gabon castaways rejoiced in what they were expecting to be the merge. Only to find out it was the 3rd switch up in this season. All these Survivor producers are really keen on testing the castaways’ alliances and how fast they adapt to new groups – which is really what Survivor is about.

The real winner for this episode? Hands down, Matty. Jeff was indeed right. He single-handedly won it for Fang, the only original member of Fang left.

As Marcus sits down to the jury, the game has reached the next level. Now, castaways will have to take responsibility for their own actions as they respond to the jury once they reach final two. A merge might be coming or not, but I can see a quick change of power with every single episode. Hopefully, my favorite players Matty and Ken will hang on tight, especially Matty – like he did in the recent immunity challenge.

another Survivor post

Sorry for the lame title above. I have previously written numerous articles on Survivor that I am already contemplating on creating another category for the said reality show on this blog (laughs out loud). Kidding aside though, the 5th episode of Gabon is over and things are indeed taking shape. GC already quit the game (no surprise) and Sugar’s hold of the idol is making people wonder whether she’s smart enough to take full advantage of it while it’s in her possession. After all, she made a bold statement in the previous episode saying, and I quote her: “[I'd] have to be really dumb to get sent home next.”

While it is too early to tell, I am finding this season quite enjoyable to watch, especially with a myriad of characters. You have the likes of Matty, Dan, Crystal, or Ace willing to give it their all on physical challenges, Bob or Ken showing off their wits, and GC… yes, he’s one character that’s quite hard to fit into a mold and I don’t mean that as a compliment.

For die-hard Survivor fans, assessment is well on its way, even at this early in the season. And I thought of coming up with this poll, just to be able to come up with raw information on what Survivor fans think about all 17 seasons.

Survivor Reflections

First stop – Gabon.

For the second episode, things are shaken up a bit. And what’s more exciting for me is the fact that Gabon’s second episode had an effect on me, which I haven’t seen in a while – the challenges literally had me up on my feet (oh yeah, how geeky of me! haha).

The reward challenge was purely physical, and I love it! Aside from the post, the castaways had to rely on pure brawn to outdo each other. For their first taste of victory, Fang had to experience a little bit of comfort in their life at the jungle. As for the equally adrenaline-pumping (or is it just me?) immunity challenge, I thought Bob had no competition in figuring out the combination to the lock. Turns out, Ken (the professional video gamer) had something between those ears too. As a video game writer, it leaves me to think as to whether or not video games help improve your analytical skills or Ken was just innately good with Math? (grin) Whichever is the case, I was glad to see the Fang tribe intact for another day.

Sailing over to Koh Tarutao for Survivor Philippines, the latest boot was the most shocking so far. While am rooting for Naak tribe, Gigit was one of the least I had expected to get booted from the Jarakay tribe at this early in the game. He might be the oldest, but he was built for the outdoors and he’s undeniably smart (ehem, a UP alumnus! ).

Now that Gigit is out, I couldn’t care less anymore who exits next from the blue tribe, as long as JC and Kiko are safe. Gigit’s ouster can be categorized as a blindside, knowing that Gigit was confident going into tribal council that he had a solid alliance with most of them. Turns out, it was a landslide vote against him! That’s what I’m talking about! At least, we see more conniving, plotting, and bold moves! This was certainly a step towards a more cunning strategic game in Survivor Philippines, particularly within the Jarakay tribe. To know whether this was a good strategic move or a poor one, we have yet to find out.

1st round over

The long wait is over!

Survivor Gabon premiered a couple of days ago and with back-to-back premiere episodes, it was only fitting that I blog about it here. I’ve read the cast bio’s and had a clear idea of what to expect…or so I thought! Initial favorites were (from Kota) Kelly, Ace, and Marcus, and (from Fang) Matty and Dan!

This was quite a huge premiere for this new season, considering Jeff Probst’ recent win in the Emmy’s and the fact that Survivor is the first reality series filmed outdoors through HD. I totally love it when Jeff surprises the castaways with a challenge right off the bat! It showcases each castaway’s ability to work together under pressure, despite lack of familiarity among tribe members. And physical challenges is one of the reasons why I love this show. (grinning)

And with back-to-back episodes, also came back-to-back-to-back losses for the Fang tribe (insert sigh). I actually, found myself rooting for the underdogs, which the Fang tribe is at this point in the game. And while I undeniably liked Marcus (did I hear Charlie second me?), I think he’s safe enough in his tribe even if they did lose because of the newly formed alliance – the earliest alliance formation I’ve seen in Survivor in a while. I hope that Fang is able to get over the hurdle of uhm, lack of team unity, and start winning!

For the premiere episode, people always ask the phenomenal question: who gets the distinction of being the first boot? In this case, it was Michelle’s negativity that caused her to get booted. I can trace that on two things: (1) she didn’t like the bunch of people she was marooned with – to the point of calling them ‘dorks’ – and (2) she disliked the idea of these ‘dorks’ picking her last.

As for Gillian, everyone saw it coming (probably even Gillian herself!). But the fact that this woman auditioned 15 times in the past, that says a lot about her character and persistence! She got lucky one too many times and only a win for her tribe would have saved her a** in the game.

Can’t wait for next episode! Go Fang!

Reality TV is back

…and it does so with a bang!

What with new seasons of my favorite reality shows set to premiere within the month. In fact, the 3rd season of Amazing Race Asia has just taken off and though the cast lacks the character, there are a few competitive and exciting ones to look out for! After all, it’s only the first episode and it was a rough one already as the racers had to eat a bowl of fried insects (talk about maggots, cockroaches, scorpions, and frogs)!

As for the 13th season of TAR’s US version, well I heard it will premiere this month as well. I did get the chance to preview the contestants but there was nothing striking about this cast and so with the previous seasons. However, TK and Rachel’s win in the preceding season was a redemption for what I considered as one of the series’ worst seasons.

Survivor Gabon is more or less a couple of weeks from now. And while waiting for this, I can fill my time on Survivor Philippines as of the moment. It will premiere on Philippine TV tonight and I can’t believe I just let pass an opportunity to join. From what I’ve heard, thousands did line up during the auditions. Although I am an optimist, I did not think I’d make the cut. Two factors stood out from among the contestants chosen: 1) athleticism or outdoor skills, and 2) sympathetic stories of people suffering from poverty and hoping that the prize pot on the show will save their family. Typical.

I  hope that the local version will at least live up to the standards of the Survivor series franchise. After all, Survivor fans would not want to see a remake of Paolo Bediones’ Extra Challenge days. Hmmm..