Femme Fatale Final Five Finale

The end is near on Survivor One World, and for the first time ever, it's an all female final five finale. So I guess the myth that the Samoan Gods love female winners holds true yet again...Natalie, Sandra, Sophie and now one more. I'm going to jump straight into looking at the games of the remaining five woman and look at each of their chances of winning.

Kim

I'm just so surprised, pre season, she looked like a winner, so I locked her in as my winner pick. I would never have guessed that she would be the centre of focus this entire season. Much like Redemption Island was shown to viewers through Boston Rob's eyes, this season is definitely Kim's game to lose. She has effortlessly made deals with almost eveyone and just as easily cut them loose when know longer needed. I like comparing current contestants to past players, especially winners, and this tactic of hers reminds me of Russell Hantz. ("they going to be my puppets, and when I'm done with them, I'm just going to throw them in the trash"). Although she comes across as saint like, her multiple deals could be her achille's heal this season- yet at the same time, if every other player allows themselves to become entranced by Kim's baby blue eyes, like Sophie's, it's there own fault for not being enable to resist. Aside from the eyes, her ability to hold back and just watch her surroundings and just observe everyone else on the chess board is a lot of Sophie's masterful talent. Maybe people with eyes like that have the gift of perception. Also with her mulitple options, she has final 3 deals with everyone. Much like Parvati (in micronesia) had her Favourite Alliance with Cirie and Amanda, and Fan Alliance with Natalie and Alexis, Kim has the same- the Greek Goddess Alliance with Sabrina and Chelsea, and the Misfit Alliance with Alicia and Christina. In comparison with other winners she is perceived to be as likable and as trustworthy as JT and Earl (the chopping challenge), as diplomatic as Yul in her answers at tribal council, she can play both alliances like Sandra, is as calculating as Brian Heidik, and has the challenge dominance as the rest of the lot. What I love most about Kim's game is that she always has that million dollar smile on her face- whether she is making secret deals with someone, sliding to immunity or even having a clutsy moment and losing immunity. She always seems to be having fun and is probably a fresh of breathe air to everyone at camp. If I may compare Kim's persona to that of a fictional charcter from the Twilight books, Didyme (deceased wife of Marcus and sister of Aro, of the Volturi)- Didyme had the power to release an aura of happiness, which could bring joy to herself and everyone in her surrounding, freeing people from sadness and making them adore her. Many people fell inlove with her, and she was eventually murdered by her brother because those that fell in love with her lost their desire to conquer the vampire world. In a similar sense, Kim has that control over everyone, and it appears that nobody is playing to win when she is in their presence. I believe that the only person who could stop Kim from entering the final 3 would be Sabrina, if she realizes how everyone played into Kim's hands and decides to turn on her. All season, we have seen Kim implement many plans to split the vote even though the outcome may be quite risky. At this stage, I think that the final vote will be quite close and all three finalists would get votes. Kim's best bet would be to either take Chelsea and Sabrina, or Alicia and Christina into the finals, in those pairs. If she mixes it up, the split final vote could end up working against her.

Chelsea

She is another interesting character. Her edit this season has been 
really all over the place. One moment she is fearless and unbeatable, then she is vulnerable and weak in the rain, doesn't live up to her deals with the guys ,she considers breaking the alliance with Kat to keep Nina, wants to keep deserving players like Jonas in the game, loses her temper with Tarzan, Leif and Troyzan, manipulates Leif into giving up immunity, puts her head in the game by focusing on the prize ,becomes the little girl during the family reward, and becoming emotional over voting out Jay. One thing is clear- thrtoughout this season she has been shown as an emotional player. Recently she has also been shown to be hypocritical when she talked about fairness and ended up selecting Kim to go on the reward. She has the heart and the strength to do well and she has built general relationships with many on the jury, like Mike, Jonas and Jay, but it appears that she lacks the killer instinct (Much like Amanda). By wanting to keep deserving players in the game, she could be going up against someone who player a superior game and could lose. I do think her game is respectable and she has a fair shot of winning, depending on who she is sitting next to.

Sabrina

Early on in the season her confession count sky rocketted and she was probably the most out spoken person in the game. She found the idol and gave it to Colton and was then elected to be the leader of the women. However, recently, her confessionals seemed to be more food reward related or team/tribe based. She hasn't given much strategic insight and she no longer stands out as an individual player. Her ability to speak well and the fact that she has not directly betrayed anyone in camp scores brownie points for her at the final vote, however the perception of being lazy does not. Sabrina strikes me as the person to be voted out at the final four ie. The last juror. One of her comments- that she will not vote for the person who voted her out - gives the viewers some doubt as to whether she may be a bitter jury member. But I do think that if it comes down to it, she would keep the honour of the game and vote for the deserving player. One of her early comments: "nobody remembers second place" makes me think that she will cast the last swing vote and her vote will decide the winner.

Christina

 I really think she is a nice person and her relationship with her dad was touching. Christina has endured insults from Colton and Alicia and she also watched as everyone rated her as "the player not deserving to be in the game". Even Jeff probsts is a little too hard on her when he asks her why she is still in the game. Despite the derogatory treatment she received from Colton, she still rubs his head when he is unwell, and rushes to his side when he is sprawling on the ground in pain. What intrigues me most about Christina is her relationship with Alicia. On day one, she makes a deal with the guys to receive fire, and this ingites a spark inside Alicia that she is building relationships with the guys. At tribal council, Alicia pushes her buttons until Christina cracks and exclaims: "You're wrong, so shut up! ". A few days later, Alicia is kicking her out of the shelter and taunting her that she is next to go. Next we see- she and Alicia are swapping clothes and voting together. Ignoring Alicia's comments about dealing with her like one of her "special education students", I really enjoyed watching how their relationship has evolved. Even after Troyzan was voted out, Alicia seemed genuinely concerned that Christina could have been voted out. Up till now, Christina has played a smart game. She was on the outs of the core women alliance and was the target of both tribal councils and later became a free vote to whichever alliance needed a number. I believe that she was smart with not sticking with the guys, because their alliance was unstable and now she has probably as 75 percent shot of being in the finals since everyone sees her as undeserving of the win. It baffles me why Asian women get much of the same edit- Shii Ann, Peih Gee, Stacy and Edna. Like many of them, could she pull an immunity win when she needs it most? There is a slim chance that she could pull a win, because female winners generally receive a low key edit and her moments where she was not invisible was positive. She has no blood on her hands and her only mission would be to explain that she worked to be there. In every sense, she is a Survivor since she has escaped every single vote. Contrary to the opinions of a majority of viewers, given how much she endured, she would at least be  deserving of a win.

Alicia

Definitely the firecracker of the season. I despised her after the tribe swap when she was a complete monster to Christina and I liked Jeff's constant remarks that she sucked at challenges. But my whole opinion on her flipped 180 degrees when the merge game. Granted that much focus wasn't given to her in the early merge challenges, she lasted relatively long in the first individual immunity challenge (that Troy won) and she came absolutely close to winning the puzzle immunity challenge that Jay won. Last week, she barely managed to beat the challenge demon, Kim, over seconds, so she has proven to be one tough cookie. She has even held her own in the group reward challenges. Then she managed to have control over Christina and Tarzan and have some sort of pact going with Kim. The most touching event this season was the when she read the letters from home, which really moved me. Throw in some fun moments where she rode the pig, and she has become one multi layered character. Alicia's edit is uncanninlgly similar to Naonka's, but I think Alicia may be playing up a character and she would most likely return for another season. With reference to the most delusional thing I ever heard on Survivor-  Naonka's fallen comrade tribue,  when she said: "I was friendly, I always had a smile on my face, and I was guaranteed the most strategic person out there" , Alicia may be a bit delusional as to her chances of winning. Even Kim tells her sister much the same. However if you consider Alicia's journey in the game, maybe she isn't as delusional as one might think. She definitely has a social game and its working because her relationship with Christine changed, Kat thought Alicia won't betray her, and she is good with Tarzan and Kim. Maybe the girls are all using her as a goat, but I think she genuinely made friends with them to secure her place in the game. She is now proven to be a tough contender in challenges and her strategy seems to be working. If the jury don't respect Christina and are too angry at Kim, Alicia may talk her way to victory. Interestingly, she described herself as Jenna Morassca..and I think she was quite right. She also received quite a negative edit throughout first season and she emerged as a serious threat towards the end and swooped four immunities and won the game. They also had emotional moments during the letters from home prize during the reward. The previous episode may very easily have been Alicia's breakout episode and if she can snag one more immunity, her resume to showcase to the jury would be a lot more illuminating. 

To sum up, as much as am and always was on the Team Kim train, I won't be surprised at this stage if any of the other girls (less final juror Sabrina) could win. It has been a really eventful season with great charcters and I cannot wait for the finale.

So who will be the sole Survivor?

Kim- the super hot gamebot with a smile?

Chelsea- the country girl who plays with her emotions?

Sabrina- the outspoken leader and the males kryptonite?

Christina- the girl who escaped the vote from the start?

Alicia- the feisty fire cracker who may be more in control than everyone believes?

The end is near.


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Other blogs or recaps to read

1. xxSuperJudexx's Super Blog http://superjude.blog.com/

2. John Sciacca's blogring http://johnsciacca.webs.com/apps/blog/categories/show/546519-tv 

3. Jeff Pittman on TrueDorkTimes http://truedorktimes.com/s24/recaps/index.htm

4. Brenda Porter's prediction and thoughts http://brendassurvivorblog.blogspot.com/

5. Rob has a website http://robhasawebsite.com

Troyzan: "this is my episode!!!"

It was a really epic episode of Survivor that kept me guessing through out the episode and I really think it explored so many themes. This has become a really enjoyable season of Survivor to be glued to.

My prediction for this weeks episode was too the tee. I may have been wrong about Chelsea becoming emotional about voting for Leif, but due to editing, that probably did happen and just wasn’t shown. Kim did not confess that she may want to play the idol because she was insecure, but her facial expressions spoke for her.

Once again, Kim was painted as the queen in the recap. I do remember Kenny and Brenda getting a similar recap after the merge, and their faith didn’t go to well. Nonetheless, I’m still keeping Kim as my winner pick. Interestingly, Chelsea was given good credit for winning immunity. If, grudgingly, Kim is being set up for a fall and doesn’t end up winning, her lady in waiting will take the win.

Troyzan came across too much as Ozzy last season (after Elyse was blindsided). It’s hard to watch somebody be so much on the outside and you can’t help root for them.

It was great to see a different side to many of the characters this week. The character development that I appreciated the most was Alicia’s. Her relationship with Christina has certainly evolved from the days she was nasty and bullied Christina. Now she sticks up for Christina and tells Troyzan “not to attack her”. A few scenes later, you even see Christina wearing Alicia’s clothes. What I thought was best was how emotional she got when she read the letter from her dad. It really showed us a new side of Alicia and I’m glad of that. She has become a really likable character.

The primary theme of this episode was building Troyzan to be the underdog and the whole episode seemed to filter from his eyes. At the start of the episode, his confidence and desire to win immunity seemed like a red herring, and the story that the editors tried to depict was that he gave it his all, but came up short (like Ozzy last season). But his desire to win and passion for the game really is impressive. I was able to separate his emotions from buying the loved one letter from his logic of realizing that he needs to buy the clue for the leg up in the next immunity challenge.

The good old Survivor Auction is always one of my favorites. This one seemed to be the best. I did think that the Tocantins Auction where Taj watched the video from her husband and half-pounced on Jeff when she realized he was back at camp was the greatest moment ever, but watching the emotions from Alicia, Tarzan and Troyzan, as well as everyone else was much more moving. I never thought we would get to see this side of Tarzan either. I thought he was just a grumpy old man who doesn’t like people for no apparent reason. Clearly, I was wrong. Kat was once again adorable when she called the wrong amount. I could understand where Christina was coming from by not outbidding Troy- she really felt bad that he has become an outcast, and probably sympathizes with him since she was treated in a similar way on Manono. And what’s a Survivor Auction without a shower and Peanut Butter? And Kim got both. I love peanut butter, not to mention Kim’s sensational shower whilst she ate peanut butter.

The immunity challenge was great, but Jeff dropped the ball here by not reminding everyone that you could play some of these games in your backyard. It was epic. I never would have expected Tarzan to do well in a challenge, yet he dominated here and gave Troyzan a run for his money. They are seriously over looking Tarzan as a challenge threat- last week he basically won the reward for his team, and he was so close to winning this time. As predicted, Troyzan screamed “this is my island” when he moved to the next round. As much as in find these sort of out burst from him a little intimidating, it just depicts how passionate he really is, and that’s a good thing. Sabrina and Chelsea seemed to be sick of hearing it. I wonder how many times he declares ownership of Samoa that is not being shown. Troyzan is much more likable, but I have to say that Samoa belongs to Russell Hantz, the end. The sound effects whilst Troyzan won immunity and was shown walking back to camp reminded me so much of the subtle climax building sounds when Harry defeated Voldemort in the last book adapted Harry Potter movie. It was certainly a warrior’s tribute.

Kim was smart in keeping a watchful eye on Troyzan in the case that he also finds the idol. This just reminds me so much about Sophie when she watched Brandon trying to conspire with Coach. Kim is just too talented as a player and her edit is royalty, but Sophie was probably exponentially better than what was shown last season and definitely deserved this type of edit. God forbid there be another season with two returning players and a bunch of newbies, who steal the camera time away from the winner.

Troyzan also displays his super fan knowledge of the game which is always brilliant to watch. Echoing Marquesis, he tries to get the people at the bottom of the dominant alliance (supposedly Leif, Tarzan, Alicia and Christina) into flipping. He very easily could have usurped Kim’s throne. (Side note, Kim’s throne, the boat, was shown empty and drifting in the water- foreshadowing?).

This was another unassuming tribal council. All the girls seemed to swap clothes, which could signify there closeness. Kim even dons Jay’s T shirt and I’m pretty sure Tarzan was wearing Monica’s pants at the beginning of the episode. I really thought that Alicia would fulfill Kat’s prophecy of killing her, by flipping the vote. What was interesting to me was that Troyzan called Sabrina out as betraying Jay at the last Tribal Council, and Kim gets away scotch free. I think it’s safe to say that after this revelation, Sabrina won’t win, and Troyzan’s loose lips probably sunk her ship. A potentially fatal mistake though was him openly targeting Kim by calling her out as the most strategic player. Now the jury knows who is running the show. Chelsea did come across as extremely over confidant by reminding Troyzan that she beat him last week and that he is not unbeatable and that they will vote him out the first chance they get. I’m not so sure- ever heard of Bob, JT, Fabio, Jenna and Chris? Once you give someone a pass with the assumption that they will be voted out next, it could blow up in your face- just look at what Danni did spectacularly in Guatemala.

The voting further builds up more anticipation and Troyzan yet again votes for Kim, whilst complementing the game she plays, and I respect that. I was expecting Kim to pull out her idol, but she is even more daring than I can imagine. This reminds me of my favorite winner- Parvati. Kim seems to be an android of many of the other great players that came before her. She even got naked and ate peanut butter like Jenna.

When Tarzan’s name came up, I said- ‘now this is what a blindside is’. But sadly, Leif got voted out. I’m definitely gonna miss Leif sleeping in the box and being so hyperactive when he wins something. I guess it’s that part of the game when everyone is so likable and it’s sad when any of them get voted off.

So right now, it’s looking like a two many race between Kim and Troyzan. Although I picked Kim as my top contender from Day 1, I would be happy with Troyzan winning, because he deserves it just as much. I’m hoping for both of them to be in the finals and the vote would end in a 4-4-1 tie between them. That would be the most explosive end to this hyped up season.

Next week, I think Sabrina’s relationship with Kim may be shattered, and Sabrina will find herself on the receiving end of the power of the idol. I’m chancing that Troyzan will yet again win immunity. Also, maybe somebody will try to convince Kat to flip, and Alicia will try and save herself by telling this to Kim to cause them to mistrust Kat.

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Other blogs or recaps to read

1. xxSuperJudexx's Super Blog http://superjude.blog.com/2012/04/19/survivor-one-world-episode-10-thoughts/

2. John Sciacca's blogring http://johnsciacca.webs.com/apps/blog/categories/show/546519-tv

3. Jeff Pittman on TrueDorkTimes http://truedorktimes.com/s24/recaps/index.htm

4. Brenda Porter's prediction and thoughts http://brendassurvivorblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/predictions-and-observations.html

5. Rob has a website http://robhasawebsite.com

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Million Dollar Chicken?

My blog on this week’s episode of Survivor One World was a bit delayed, because for once, I was lost for words on this episode. Maybe it’s because I got bored in a long never-ending lecture and decided to read the live tweets before I watched the episode while I sat in boredom, or possibly the way was edited with the ominous music, how unassuming the episode was, or the fact the events this episode will probably be pivotal to the rest of the game. Nonetheless, I thought this was a fantastic episode.

One thing I do know is that my pre season pick to win- Kim- continues to impress me. I thought that even if she is invisible in an episode and under the radar for a stretch of episodes, this would have been the kind of edit that won’t be surprising for her predicted win since she is a woman in a season with many big camera time hogs. But her screen time never fades and she is constantly in action- she is certainly not Natalie White. Jeff’s “previously on Survivor” recap gave her a lot of focus yet again from the group reward that she won to having her bold move pay off. Since last weeks episode I began to have doubts about her chances of winning because her edit was too flawless and maybe the sadistic editors are setting her up for a fall. After this episode I nearly tweeted that I don’t think she would win now. They showed her making an alliance with Jay and Troyzan a few weeks back and now she decides to cut them lose to further her game. She has confidence in Chelsea keeping the secret of her Idol, but now Chelsea is displaying emotions of wanting to keep the new targets. She relaxes on the boat like a queen at the throne and her minions answer to her every beck and call. And she orchestrates another blindside that could have rebounded right on her. More on that later. After all the doubt in the episode, a light bulb went of in my head and then I realized that this is exactly what the editors wanted to achieve- mess with our minds by creating doubt about players. All the doubt in this episode makes me more positive than ever that she will win this season because the editors have to have some cool down moments for characters so that the winner isn’t obvious.

The episode was not good for Jay Bird. There have been several scenes and imagery that foreshadowed that he would be going home by the end of the episode. Firstly there was the dream that he mentioned where he got shot. Then after he says that there will be blindsides, an owl hoots and the ominous winds sweep through, the episode becomes progressively darker, and there is imagery of a bird that flies that falls to the ground. Jay’s game play really confused me. On the first episode he spoke about how he was going to make a two way alliance with the girls. Later on he realized that the Roosters were down in numbers and he made himself safe by joining the misfits. Thereafter he formed the New Salani alliance which I thought would take him much further. What baffles me is that last week he was suspicious that there is an all girls alliance in play, yet still votes out Mike, despite being paranoid the entire episode, and this week his suspicion of the females alliance is confirmed yet he betrays Troyzan by telling Kim about the idol and puts his trust in people that want to vote him out. Even his behavior at the immunity challenge made me say WTF- he openly threatens to vote out Alicia (Jay: “if you take that food, I will vote you out”) and then he drops out of the challenge for beer and chicken (note that he went on a barbeque reward on the previous day). His reasoning must have been that he didn’t want people to see him as a threat, but he already marked himself as a threat by winning immunity last week and he knows about the all girl alliance.

Chelsea has become more of an interesting character. She showed emotions yet again over the decision to boot Jay. These emotions seem to tick off her allies, where even Kat acknowledges how risky this is .It’s the same attitude that she had when she didn’t want to vote out Nina and Jonas. She clearly feels bad about voting people off. Sounds familiar- Amanda Kimmel anyone? However, I think that this is actually helping her game. In the first ponderosa video, we saw Jonas hug Chelsea before leaving, we saw hunt with Mike and there were many scenes with her and Jay. She clearly has a very good social game. Kim did give her the editing kiss off death when she referred to Chelsea as “not really playing the game” or as “asinine”. However I can’t help wonder, dare I say, that maybe the story of the season is that Kim underestimates Chelsea and ultimately loses to her? For some reason, she reminds me of a much younger Tina Wesson.

“When it rains- it pours”

This is one of my favorites and it’s always epic. Theresa won it way back in Africa, Shii Ann outlasted Rupert and caused Boston Rob’s tribe to cannibalize each other, and Parvati won it twice. This challenge was just as eventful. Tarzan falls of before Jeff announces the start of the challenge and Christina follows shortly after. Then Jeff quickly begins to tempt them. Might I add, the cupcakes did not look nice at all. Sabrina, Kat and Kim drop out for sweets and Jeff taunts them about them feeling safe. I don’t think I have ever heard Jeff’s comments be so abrasive, but he stirred the pot really well and this added to the unpredictability of the episode. Alicia bows out after hearing Jay’s seemingly playing threats that he would vote her out and telling Chelsea that she is giving up for her to win. Troyzan loses his balance and falls and upon sight of chicken wings, Jays jumps out without hesitation. If Russell Hantz was there he would have said: “I hope those chicken wings tasted like a million dollars because that’s what it cost you”. Leif and Chelsea are the last two. I can’t help thinking of this scenario in a nerdy way- From a Physical Science point of view, Leif has the advantage to win. Since his chain is longer, there will be less tension on it because the force is distributed over a larger space. He would be able to move his hand much more than the others without the tipping the bucket too much. Back to Survivor- the Chelsea-Leif exchange was really silly. She tells him that he should step down because people will see him as a threat and Jeff echoes her words and confuses Leif. Even his facial expression was mixed with curiosity, ignorance and trust. After Jeff brings out burgers and chips Chelsea plays on his emotions yet again that he will be less of a threat if he steps down, and he confirms that with her and steps down, and she wins immunity. That whole scene was comical. Leif strikes me as the players from Borneo (excluding the Tagi 4) who didn’t know the game and votes wherever the wind blows, but it’s evident that he is a really good person- when he shares the burgers with Chelsea. I actually wish he won the reward challenge because it would have been fun to watch him jump around and scream “barbeque, barbeque, barbeque” again. He does make for a really good, child-like character and appears to be very likable.

There’s nothing like an episode where there is some good old fashioned scrambling. Early on, Jay tries to get reassurance from Kat (who finally proves how strategic she is), who delivers a really witty line- Kat: “What do you expect me to say- no?” Jay is now paranoid about the girls and tells Troyzan who reveals the idol. Jay gets scared- why I will never understand, and spills the beans to the ever calculating Kim. Alicia agrees to be a decoy boot and Kim lays out the plans spilt to vote to flush the idol. She proves yet again how savvy she is with strategy when she confesses how nervous the risky maneuver makes her. She says that Christina, Alicia and Tarzan will vote for Jay, and she, Sabrina, Kat, Chelsea and Leif will vote for Troyzan. Pause button- am I missing something. When did Tarzan and Leif become inducted into their voting block? Next- isn’t this a bit to risky to pull off? There’s a split vote, an idol, a person who votes with no strategy, and an old man who supposedly forgets people’s names. So much could go wrong. We see a shot of Troyzan trying to flip Christina and Kim worries that there isn’t enough time to tell everybody the plan.

At tribal council, Tarzan was another confusing player. He says the women are smarter and that the men broke their allegiance and lost their will several days ago, speaking in a manner as though he is an observer of the game and had absolutely no ties to the men’s dysfunction. He also says that the alliance that he knows of will strengthen, and that there will be a power house that will take them to the end.

Kim, Jay and Troyzan reveal that they feel unsafe while Jeff calls out the rest of them for feeling over confidant.

Chelsea talks about honesty and about looking people in the eye, and the camera shifts to show Kim and Troyzan turning to each other at these words- battle lines are being drawn. With the camera focus and sound effects, you know this will be epic.

Voting time- Jay fulfills his threat of voting for Alicia, Kat votes for monkey man and says she is sorry and she has no choice (really?), and Troyzan votes for Kim and apologizes and says she is the strongest player in the game.

Jeff gets the votes and Troyzan plays the idol. I’m a bit surprised that Kim did not counter by playing her idol. She obviously knows she is safe.

The votes are split 4-2-1-0 (Jay-Alicia-Kim-Troyzan) and Jay is voted out and congratulates the girls.

I’d like to point out that although Kim’s plan to flush the idol and vote out Jay was successful (which Jeff will shower her with complements in next weeks recap for), the voting didn’t go as planned and this is what makes the episode so unassuming. Leif doesn’t vote with the alliance and Kim and Sabrina vote for Jay and not Troyzan. This could have blown up on Kim.

· The safe way to split the votes is to send equal number of votes to two targets. If Troyzan played the idol for Jay, the vote would have been tied and Alicia could have went home.

· If Troyzan voted for Alicia (like Jay and Leif), she would have been voted out

Look at what happened to both majority alliances in Heroes versus Villains when the split vote rebounded. Tyson swaps his vote and ends up getting voted out by one extra vote. Then JT flips on the majority and Cirrie gets idoled. Lesson- splitting the vote is dangerous.

There were a lot of edit inconsistencies in this episode:

· Chelsea says- “did it taste better than the chicken I caught?”- I thought the women refused to share the chicken.

· When did Leif and Tarzan become part of the girl’s alliance, why was Kim so confidant that they will vote how she tells them, and what promises did she make them?

· When did Kim find out that another idol is in play? Chelsea did confess that the people on the reward will keep it a secret

Winners quotes:

· Kat: "I can't think with my heart, and neither can Chelsea, neither can Sabrina, neither can Kim. We need to stick with our minds. Strategically- that's how people win this game."

· Chelsea: "I have to prove my self"

· Kim: “I think that the people on the jury will know that I was making most of these decisions”. (Wasn’t Natalie White’s early confessions a lot like this?)

· Chelsea: “I hate to be that person, but I love money”

Next week I predict that Troyzan will buy a clue in the auction and will go on the win immunity. Chelsea will become emotional when Kim rules that they should vote out Leif and she doesn’t want to go along with the plan, but ends up voting him off. Troyzan will say- “This is my island”, after winning immunity. Kim will confess that she is insecure and considers playing the idol, which she decides to keep. Just have to wait and see…

So a confusing episode was matched with this confusing blog. Can’t wait to see how the next episode plays out.

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	Other recaps and blogs that are fun to read http://xfinity.comcast.net/blogs/tv/2012/04/11/survivor-one-world-recap-align-in-the-sand/">Gordon Holmes at XfinityTV: "Align in the Sand"
	http://tvrecaps.ew.com/recap/survivor-one-world-episode-9-jay/">Dalton Ross at EW.com: "Man o' War"
	http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/04/12/jeff-probst-episode-9-survivor-one-world/">Dalton Ross & Jeff Probst at EW.com: Q&A
	http://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/archives/survivor_one_world/2012_Apr_12_jay-out">Andy Dehnart at RealityBlurred.com: "Survivor reaches the point where there's a lot of fondling but not much action"
	http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20586490,00.html">Stephen Fishbach at People.com: "How Jay Undoes A Season's Worth of Gameplay"
	http://couchtimewithjill.com/2012/04/12/survivor-man-vs-food/">Jill Mader at CouchtimeWithJill.com: "Man vs. Food"
	http://superjude.blog.com/2012/04/12/survivor-one-world-episode-9-thoughts/">SuperJude at xXSuperJudeXx's SuperBlog™: "Episode 9 Thoughts"
	http://survivingsurvivor.com/one-world-episode-9/">David Billa at SurvivingSurvivor.com: "Episode 9: Go Out With A Bang"
	http://www.pleasedeletenow.com/2012/04/12/survivor-one-world-episode-9-go-out-with-a-bang/">Stephen Cosgrove at PleaseDeleteNow.com: "Go Out With a Bang"
	http://johnsciacca.webs.com/apps/blog/show/14064692-survivor-one-world-go-out-with-a-bang John Sciacca at John Sciacca Writes...: "Go Out With A Bang"

Episode 8: Is Kim crossing the yellow brick road to victory?

Instead of compulsively tweeting on the episode every second, I realized it would be better to consolidate my tweets into a single blog post.

Last week, I was dumbstruck when my second winner pick, the sushi guy- Jonas- went home. I thought he would at least crack the top three and would win for being so likable and probably being the only male in the finals, or lose due some negative inconsistencies in his edit. That being said, my number one winner pick- Kim- still remains. The question is- does this episode, where she seemed to be at the core of controlling everybody, hinder her chances of becoming the sole survivor?
Overall, I thought this was an extremely awesome episode that nailed the optimal balance of socializing, innovative challenges, strategy and a tribal council that kept me at the edge of my seat.

This episode set the foundation for how the rest of the game will play out. Will the woman stick together and mimic Micronesia’s infamous ‘Black Widow Brigade’ (Led by winner Parvati); more like ‘bat widow brigade due to the over kill bat imagery; or would the New-Salani alliance of Greek God’s dominate?

I thought Kim had put her self in a really flawless position to go to the end. She has the idol firstly, and secondly she has two core alliances- that being with the girls, and the one with Troyzan, Jay and Chelsea and apparent tag-alongs Mike and Kat. Now she had two chose which alliance to stick with. There was an uncanny resemblance to Micronesia when Kim and Sabrina decided to blindside the possible immunity threat- Mike, which mirrored Parvati and Cirrie deciding to wipe out Ozzy. The central theme of the episode that Jeff pointed out was the over confidence of the remaining 11 people in the game. What’s the reason for the over confidence? Answer- Kim. In my opinion, she is a female Russell Hantz, but is Supermodel grade attractive, and has social graces and Parvati’s smarts. She cleverly fragged Troyzan into thinking Mike was targeting him, and her timing could not have been more perfect when she swooped (with her bat-like villainous black cape) in on the conversation between Mike and Jay and convinced them to vote for Christina. On her Yul-level diplomatic responses to everything Jeff asks at tribal council- “carefully crafted” as Jeff pointed out. At the immunity challenge, she received a lot of focus from Jeff and the girls in her alliance, and she eventually lost closely. This challenge focus reminded me a lot of the focus that Sophie got in the coconut balance challenge and coconut water got last season, which set the stage for her future challenge dominance throughout the game. Kim’s challenge editing seems to be heading in that direction- where either it’s her challenge to lose or she wins it.



Jay’s edit seemed to spark this episode. He did exceptionally well in the immunity challenge that he won, despite claiming that he hates puzzles. Also he was shown to be constantly in game mode and a deep strategic thinker. Throughout the episode, he was shown to ben fully aware about a likely female alliance brewing, and his suspicions were confirmed by Chelsea’s less than obvious response- “not necessarily true”. I think if anyone is an obstacle tom Kim’s win, it would be Jay. Last week, I thought Troyzan would be the distraction, however the recap failed to mention him finding the idol and winning immunity, which was pretty pivotal in my opinion, and he took a huge hit edit-wise when he was shown to be completely malleable when he was mind-fucked by Kim and made his decisions based on emotions and not logically. Throughout the season, the men’s tribe collectively has been shown to make stupid decisions and be puppets to Colton; however Jay seemed to be distanced from that generalization. He was shown to walk away from his Rooster alliance when he realized that 4 out of 9 was a minority, he questioned the men’s decision to go to tribal council unnecessarily, and he expressed doubt over voting of both Jonas and Mike. He knows it’s a numbers game and each time they vote out a male, they are giving the woman more momentum. Also, his early game confessions showed that his strategy was flexible and he would be willing to work with the women and in Survivor, you have to play both sides of the fence if you want to make it far, which Jay effectively has covered. I think he is a worthy competitor to win and he would make a deserving winner. Just one basic thing gives me doubt that he wins- he was not given credit for starting the fire in the first episode. That’s a plain and simple flaw in his edit.

On Chelsea, she does have a slim chance of winning. Her low key dip in screen time is a bit discouraging, but it is likely that she could beat Kim in the final vote in a Danni beating Stephanie sort of way- where Stephanie/Kim played a superior and more dominant game, but also burnt too many bridges.

I dismissed Tarzan as a goofball on the first episode. I thought he was just a crazy, hypocritical character. However at tribal council, he did seem to have a sound mind and his responses were logical. But I do think that if he were the winner, there would be scenes where he explains the methods to his madness. On a similar yet different note, Kat is lovable but edited as a typical blond. It’s evident from the secret scenes that she actually is strategic and observant, but wouldn’t these scenes be shown too if she won?

On a side note, Alicia really took me by surprise in the immunity challenge- turns out she is good at puzzle. Also, the way Sabrina prayed with the winning team was the right way- praying to show gratitude and not for personal gain like last season.

After a rather explosive tribal council that was so mind boggling and Oscar award deserving by everyone who spoke, I was puzzled with the way the votes went. Two votes for Christina, two for Tarzan (why couldn’t there be more?) and the bulk for Mike- left me confused. Fortunately this is not Survivor: Redemption Island, where we don’t see who voted for whom. It turned out that Tarzan and Mike vote for Christina- to no surprise. Christina and Alicia voted together against Tarzan and this is what made my mind race. I did some asking around on Facebook and Twitter, and Alicia was kind enough to tell me that the vote was a decoy to prevent the guys from knowing that the alliance she was part of with the girls was strong. That’s a pretty savvy way to play the game- keep the opposition guessing.

Possible winners quotes this episode:
Troyzan did not declare the title deeds to the island of Samoa this season, so there weren’t many quotes that stood out as what a winner would say.
• Chelsea: “I hate to say it, but I’m thinking that Tarzan needs to stick around longer” (finally some strategy that Tarzan is the ultimate goat)
• Jay: “slow and steady wins the race baby” (classic quote)
• Kim: “Something’s going to be different after tonight…things will never be the same if we do this”
• Kim: “Whatever happens is going to change the whole game” (speaker of a pivotal move)
• Kim: “I think you have to keep your options open, and know when to stick with the plan too”
• Tarzan: “I hate to say this Jeff, but we’ve all been playing you because we all know how important this night it. (not individual enough, but so witty that I had to include it)
• Tarzan: “The game is afoot” (to repeated to ignore)

Foreshadowing this episode?
The sounds of thunder were heard by Christina and Jeff during the voting. If this does not spell that a storm is hitting next week (figuratively) then nothing will.

To sum up, it looks like its Kim’s game to lose. However, I do think she has balanced her options well and this gives her the leverage to sail to the finals. Maybe Jay can go on an immunity run and win or Chelsea can appear to have less blood on her hands and win.

Is Kim being set up to be dethroned like Brenda Lowe in Nicaragua? I can’t wait to find out next week. Seven days is too long.

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Cooler blogs and recaps that are nice to read:

• xXSuperJudexX's Super Blog http://superjude.blog.com/2012/04/05/survivor-one-world-episode-8-thoughts/
• TrueDork Times http://truedorktimes.com/s24/recaps/e8.htm
• Gordon Holmes recap http://xfinity.comcast.net/blogs/tv/2012/04/04/survivor-one-world-recap-kimpressive-strategy/
• Dalton Ross recap http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/04/05/jeff-probst-episode-8-survivor-one-world/
• Rob Cesternino's podcast http://robhasawebsite.com/survivor-world-michael-jefferson-interview.html

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Sheldon's First Impressions

Survivor is back. It’s called One World. Both tribes are living on the same beach- you know the rest. I’m gonna jump straight into my opinions on the cast.

Firstly, I really liked Kourtney, and I was sad to see her medivaced from the show so soon. She reminded me a lot of Sugar, and I think that if she still had a shot at the game, she would do well.

Monica has potential to be a power player and she could be a beast in challenges, but I think she would be largely under rated- sort of like Tracey in Micronesia. I would like to see her go far, but sadly she probably falls into the “older woman” stereotype.

Nina won’t last long by the looks of things. She was shown to be weak, and that does not fair well in Survivor. As a retired LAPD officer, she could have been tough though. But like Monica, she is the older woman who won’t be given a fair shot to prove herself.

Christina is a very crafty player and a good negotiator. She has enough spunk to make it far, but it looks like she has fallen on the wrong side of the numbers.

Sabrina seems to be a good player, but I think her move to give Colton the idol is a little short sighted. He could play the idol at the first tribal council that he goes to and go home in the next. It would have been wiser to someone who is not one of the Alpha males, but would stick along longer.

Leif looks like another person who has the potential to be a strong, underestimated player. But one would expect that he being the first little person on survivor would give him a ton of airtime. His prospects in the game don’t look to good for him.

Bill- “who’s Bill?” Bill’s shoe seemed to get more airtime than him. Editing sucks at times. I don’t think he will make it far. What worries me that his limited (non existent) airtime indicates that he is an early boot. This doesn’t look good for the Alpha male alliance.

Colton seems to be a big character this season. But I get the feeling that he makes a big move a bit too early, and goes from holding the most power in one episode to being the most vulnerable in the next. He seems to be the spoon that stirs the pot (John Cochran or Jonathan Penner type character), and whatever move he makes will be the subject of many debates. By the way, wasn’t the way he jumped, combined with the comical sound effect2, awesome?

Matt was one of my pre game favorite’s to do well. And I still think he is a good player who knows how exactly to play the game. But he came across as a tad bit too antagonistic and that may be his Achilles Heel. But if he survives being idoled by Colton, he should be fine and remain on the right side of the numbers.

Michael is going to be in a lot of trouble if there is a tribe swap, because he stole the woman’s scavenging’s. His faith in the game all revolves on Colton’s idol play.

Jay, based on the quality of his confessions seems to go further than his Alpha male allies. He sounds a lot like Brandon Hantz.

Kat seems to be like the voice of reason in the female tribe, and she looks smart enough to lay low and stay safe in the majority alliance. But I think she would be a pick to be voted out first when only her alliance is left in the game.

Alicia is the fun, feisty character that everyone loves or hates. She came across as Naonka2.0, but definitely without the quitter person. She could be the force behind the hot girl’s alliance that enrages the other players and makes the girls in her alliance look angelic. If she makes it to the merge, she would probably be the first target, and if she survives that- her aggressive gameplay might make her the perfect person to take to the end.

Chelsea is a power house this season. She is tough, a chicken catcher, and in a good alliance. I’m guessing that she goes on a little bit of an immunity run post merge and go far- but will be voted off the moment she loses immunity. If she is in the finals- she most likely will win. I just think she will barely fall short of making it to the very end.

There seems to be a slight feud brewing between Troyzan and Greg (who I will not call Tarzan). This reminds me a lot of the Jimmy T vs Jimmy Johnson pre-merge Nicaragua showdown. Troyzan reminds me a lot of Coach in Heroes versus Villains, based on how he commented on the girls’ strategy. I’m hoping Troyzan makes it far. As for Greg, I think that the previous seasons mustache man- Cowboy Rick, came off as much more likable and should have had more airtime than Greg had in this episode.

Jonas’s edit really took me by surprise, but in a good way. I thought he would be a supporting character, whose only role is cooking (Keith in Australia). He had a fair amount of airtime that was none in the lease bit negative, and hid seemed to be giving him some sort of Complex Personality edit, which the winner usually receives. This Sushi guy (or Hiro Nakamura) is definitely one of my picks to win.

My other pick to win, is Kimberly. She has got game- she is attractive, has a great personality and seems to be quite observant, like Sophie last season. I think she is smart enough to know who to align with and when to cut them lose, like Amanda. I think she will make a smart alliance like Amanda did in China and Micronesia, but will be command the final tribal council like Sophie did and won. I picked Kimberly as me pre show favorite to win, and after the premier episode, my opinion doesn’t change. She could have easily been one of those typical invisible females against over the top females like Chelsea and Alicia, but I think her game would be worthy of a win.

To sum up- I don’t think that Bill, Leif, Nina, Monica and Christine survive to see the merge. And depending on the move Colton makes neither could Matt and maybe Michael, and possibly Colton himself. I’m not sure where exactly the Troyzan vs Greg feud fits it, but I don’t think one of them would make the merge either.

My guess is that Kimberly, Kat and Chelsea have an alliance that goes far. Jonas, the winner of Troyzan versus Greg, and Jay make it far. Kat would be the first to be voted off when the dominant alliance Pagongs the minority, and Chelsea would be voted out in an Ozzy-esque way (Like in South Pacific). Kimberly wins for playing a well rounded game, or the win goes to Jonas for being the nice guy that could do no wrong. I’m also hoping for a final 2 showdown.

It sucks when you like basically the entire cast, and the reality is that half of them won't make the merge. Well that's Survivor.

I can’t wait to see how these storylines and twists will unfold and to see whose season predictions will be most right. In back to back seasons, I picked the winner on episode one (Boston Rob and Sophierce) – fingers crossed for a third time winner pick.