Survivor 21 Ep 2: "Fatigue Makes Cowards of Us All"

[lazarus]

And that shit got crazy. But first:

I love Tyrone and want him to win. He's hilarious and looks like he could kick everybody's butt in a physical challenge. He has a real chance in this game, I believe. I didn't like him at first, since he cited Tom Westman as the survivor he's most like "for his integrity" (HA!), but I'm giving him a break because he and Tom are both firefighters.

Holly went insane, throwing out the snails and trying to quit. Good on Jimmy J to talk her out of it, as they can't afford to go down in numbers, plus she's an easy vote next if/when they lose another IC.

That crap with stealing the shoes I blame the producers for. If they hadn't allowed Russell to pull all his bullshit for two seasons, nobody would be doing it. Then again, this goes back to S2 Australia, when the sainted Tina decided to search Kel's bag. But to go further and actually steal and destroy/dispose of someone else's belongings, that's a Russhole move, and the producers shouldn't be allowing it. A lot of former Survivors have said they're not playing again if that sort of crap is allowed.

Then Na Onka goes crazy over a freaking sock (which I don't understand since I don't wear socks, ever) and then she went crazy on Jud/Fabio. She's got real attitude problems, too, but we're stuck with her because her alliance is now the dominant one. Hopefully she ends up on the bottom rung of that alliance, though.

I'm not sure what to make of Sash's "minority alliance" concept. If someone tried to put together a white alliance, everyone would be up in arms, but all-minority alliances won in both Cook Islands and Fiji, and nobody really ever mentioned it. I just don't like alliance based on anything that's not game related. I don't like all-male or all-female alliances that are formed just because. On gender-split seasons, I get it, because that's the tribe you're with. I don't think Parvati's Black Widow alliance was intended to be an all-lady alliance just because, I think it happened to form that way because they knew they couldn't beat Ozzy and James at F3/F4/F5, and the Parvati/Amanda/Cirie bond was formed early for game reasons.

Actually, now that I think of it, the minority alliances in S13 and S14 formed more organically, too. Especially Cook Islands. But to just decide, oh, you're a minority, so we're allied, I don't like it.

I think Espada could have won that challenge without the Medallion of Cheese, because Tyrone had the aim down, but they'll get it back, because I have a feeling La Flor will use it immediately. And Espada needed a win.

And boy, did La Flor melt down. Shannon, who appeared to be a complete tool last week, reached new heights this week, becoming one of the top tools of all time on Survivor. He overplayed his hand, Brenda worked her magic on Chase beautifully, and then the melt down at TC. That was epic. Accusing Sash of being gay, calling out an entire city as gay, he just went into desperation mode. Some of his alliance even turned on him at the end.

Alina, Jud/Fabio, and Shannon were the only three to vote for Brenda, so look for Alina and Jud/Shannon to go next. Benry jumped ship when he saw what was happening, apparently. But who knows? The tribe could splinter further and new alliances could form. It's all very early.

I'm enjoying this season very much so far.

[murielm99]

1. There are some real idiots on the younger team.

It's not because they are younger. They just have rotten personalities. I hope their team loses a few more challenges right away. I don't want to look at some of those people for too much longer.

Fabio is actually a person of integrity who should not be dismissed lightly. He tried to protect his mates when they were shooting off their mouths so badly.

Why the heck does someone have such expensive shoes in a castaway situation? Why didn't he leave them at home? Not that it excuses Holly's behavior!

I agree about Tyrone. I had the same thought about him winning it all when I watched the challenge.

[romana]

2. Immunity idol

I could't believe that woman told the other guys about the immunity idol instead of going to look for it herself. He gave himself away by yelling "I HAVE...I mean WE have..." Too early in the game to just give one away like that.

[dr.strangelove]

3. Bullies - never back a bully

HOLY SHIT! Thsi episode has to go down in history as the most batshit crazy episode ever. How many bad moves can be made in one episode. Its like half the players decided they wanted to get voted off and tried to piss everyone else off.

I'll get to Shannon later, but first, lets talk abotu Holly. Man, I thought the lady that went home last week was nuts, Holly, you have her beat. She was running around talking to herself, stealing shoes and tossing them in the ocean filled with sand. Then she admits to it and tells people she did it. That girl is nuts. Then again, I think Dan has a little brain damage for wearing shoes that crazy to begin with. Those shoes cost more than all the shoes I have bought in the past ten years collectively. I thought Dan sent up a huge signal about his wealth that will come back to bite him in the ass. Also, I gotta agree that I don;t liek the rule that you can destroy someone else's stuff. Then Jimmy T starts talking about how everyone needs to listen to him. Everyone was basically saying, put the target here. I give Marty credit for pushing it away from him.

So I thought that was funny and was the crazy thing of the night. Then we get to see Nanoka go crazy. She can't find her socks she she steal fabio's socks. What was she thinking.

I gotta tip my hat to Sash. He can see that the power alliance of Shannon, Chase and Fabio is forming and its clear Shannon does nto like him, so he quietly forms his own group and makes it a group of people who feel left out. It was brilliant. I'm not sure I believe him about his racial makeup, but who cares. He played Nanoka, who was feelign alone, and either got a lamb to put up before him, or got the basis of an alliance. Though Nanoka is nuts and I'm not sure I would trust her one bit. The plan to bring Brenda in helped when she was outcast from team Shannon.

So then we go over to the challenge. I loved that the old folks used the power thingee. It worked great and saved nutcase Holly or Coach Jimmy J for at least another week. Oh yeah, Nanoka thoughts that Kelly B can;t run, well that girl can kick ass. she dove into mud, rocked through the straw and almost won it for her team. If only those young kids could shoot a basket.

So now we get to see the insanity back at the young camp. After Keely B takign herself off the block with her dominant performance at the challenge, she sticks with her immunity idol buddy and agrees that Brenda should go. It was a smart move. they saw the Brenda/chase team forming and tried to snuff it out. I tip my hat to Alana, she is a good player. So after they talk to Shannon, he tells Chase and Fabio they should vote for Naonka.

So while Shannon is strutting his stuff, Naonka and Brenda realize that they have the numbers with Sash, Kelly S and Chase. So it all comes down to Chase. who will Chase vote for. I truly think he was undecided going into tribal, but shannon made up his mind for him.

So one of the better tribals starts off with Probst doing his usual fire represents life thing and then calmly asks Shannon, so, how much more difficult has this adventure been than you'd anticipated?

Hands down the best answer ever. Shannon calls out Chase right at the start of tribal saying he had better hope his girlfriend stays with him tonight, because if not he’ll be the next to go.

Jeff sat back and enjoyed the show. Shannon went nuts. Fabio tries to calm Shannon down, then Brenda pushes another button by saying Shannon showed his weakness. When Sash tells him that he is digging his own grave, Shannon throws up the anti-gay attacks, and I don;t think Sash is even gay. Then Shannon attacks NYC. The man is crazy. Finally, the bully got ousted.

Great episode. I think this actually was the rare time when ousting the strong guy was okay. He was a bully, and bullies can't stay. They hurt more than they help.

[lazarus]

4. about ousting a strong guy

particularly this season, I don't think brawn is going to be that big a deal in the challenges. I don't know if any of the young'uns have figured that out, but it's fairly clear the challenges will have minimal physical elements.

It seems they learned from Parvati's mistake last season. Keeping the goat around to F3 can backfire if people really hate the goat, and after that TC, everyone had to hate Shannon.

[dr.strangelove]

5. Yeah

These challenges are not going to be dominated by brute force. So far, I love that kid from NY, the non-gay biggest stud in the history of new york, at l;east in his mind.