Survivor – This Isn’t Your Island

Even though Kim made her first mistake in the game this week on Survivor (and she knew it), it’s become crystal clear that the prettiest girl on the island is also the only one who knows how to play the game. Yeah, I said it!

Look, I know a lot of y’all were rooting for Troyzan, and I’m sorry that the one guy who could have potentially shaken up the game is now out. (OK, I’m not that sorry — I still want Kim to win, both because I think she deserves it and because I want to win the office pool.) But honestly? Troyzan was not a good Survivor player. His crappy position in the game was a direct result of his poor game play. Sure, he was pretty good at challenges and he tried his best to get people to turn on Kim. But it was too little too late! I had to majorly roll my eyes when, upon being voted out, Troyzan said that Survivor fans will respect his game play.

OK, let’s get to the rest of the show. The Reward Challenge was a good one this week – a classic Survivor challenge in which the group is polled about their tribemates and must guess what the consensus is. Then, those who answer correctly get to chop a rope holding up a representation of a tribe member – three chops and you’re outta there, burning in a fire. It revealed a lot of interesting dynamics within the tribe, put Kim in a tough spot and resulted in a slight fracture within the previously rock solid women’s alliance.

Popularity Contest

Before the challenge, Kat confessed that she hoped someone who would choose her for reward would win, because she really wanted to go on reward. It was like she couldn’t even fathom the idea of winning herself. Want to know why people think you’re a weak player, Kat? THIS. And your general level of intelligence. But also, this.

The challenge revealed who isn’t liked and respected – Christina’s name came up a lot, and she was voted least deserving. Troyzan came up a lot for not being liked, and Kat was voted as most in need of a wake-up call in life. But it also revealed who is liked, and that’s definitely Kim. She was chosen by the group as the person you’d most trust with your life (over Tarzan, the doctor? how shocking…) and the person you’d most like to be stranded on an island (so, playing Survivor?) with.

Kim also won the challenge.

This is when Kim made what I’d consider her first blunder in the game. First of all, she shouldn’t have promised Kat that she’d choose her for reward. In fact, she should have taken Kat, Chelsea and Sabrina aside before the challenge and made a pact with them – whoever won the challenge would not select any of the other girls within that core alliance because they can all trust one another.

First Kim chos e Alicia to accompany her. A valid decision, since Alicia had placed second in the challenge. But Kim got to choose another person as well. She probably should have kept her promise to Kat. If I were playing, I would have told everyone ahead of time that I’d be taking Troyzan on the reward. That way he wouldn’t be at camp, putting bugs in the ears of weaker alliance members like Christina and Kat. In fact, going on the reward challenge was probably the worst outcome for Troyzan. So that’s what I would have done.

Instead, Kim made an emotional decision and chose Chelsea, because they’re friends and because Chelsea never eats. And Troyzan immediately started letting everyone know that they were looking at the final three right there – Kim, Chelsea and Alicia. Kim knew she’d made a mistake and didn’t even seem to enjoy the reward.

Hurt Feelings

Back at camp, Kat was in tears over Kim’s decision to not take her on reward. Sabrina tried to convince her that it was only because they were the people Kim could truly trust, but there’s no reasoning with someone that emotional. Kat was frustrated with her position in the game, with the idea that she’ll be known as a follower in the game rather than a power player, and with having to hear Troyzan reinforce all of her fears all day long. When the girls returned from the reward, things were very tense.

And then a pig showed up.

Yes, a very large pig started running around camp and everyone wanted to catch it. Except Troyzan, who played along for kicks and scoffed at the women for thinking they’d be able to eat it. Why not, though? Why did Troyzan think the attempt to catch the pig was such an example of the stupidity of his tribe? Mike Skupin killed a pig for his tribe in Survivor: Australia, so it’s not that crazy an idea.

(Also, for you conspiracy theorists? Dalton Ross over on EW.com confirmed in his recap that the island is crawling with pigs, so it’s totally conceivable that the pig would show up at camp without any prodding from producers.)

For Kim, the pig was a blessing even though they never caught it. It broke the tension and took the focus off her status within the tribe, at least for a little while. Still, I was a bit nervous. Luckily, I didn’t need to be for long.

Slip ‘n Slide To Victory

Time for the Immunity Challenge! I wonder if this challenge was a last-minute addition when producers realized how many hot girls were still in the game? The challenge went in rounds and required players to grease themselves up before sliding down a makeshift slip ‘n slide, grabbing rings, and then throwing those rings onto a pole.

Kim dominated throughout most of the challenge, by mastering a super-fast crawling technique that got her across the slip ‘n slide while others were tiptoeing, and by being awesome at throwing rings. Troyzan was out on the first round, which made me happy since I continue to find him arrogant and obnoxious.Did you notice how he wouldn’t even watch the rest of the challenge, turning his back to everyone once he was out? Yet another example of why I find him insufferable.

The third and final round came down to Kim and Chelsea, with Kim coming out on top. It was a relief, since I thought there was a slight chance that Troyzan might be able to convince Kat to betray her alliance. Slight – I was pretty sure Troyzan would be joining his buddies at Ponderosa by the end of the episode.

So many mistakes! None of them mattered!

I hadn’t counted on one thing, though: The fact that everyone other than Kim is a moron.

The women still aren’t 100% sure that Troy doesn’t have an immunity idol, so they decided to split the vote just in case. It’s a risky move and Kim knew it, but they didn’t want to risk one of their own going home if an idol was played. So they decided to throw a couple votes Christina’s way.

It’s very interesting that they chose Christina instead of Tarzan. I think a few of these women might be thinking Tarzan is a good person to sit next to in the end – although, frankly, Christina would be ideal.

The first mistake came when Sabrina was relaying the plan to Christina and didn’t have a lie in place before she opened her mouth. She began to say they’d be splitting the votes, panicked, and revealed to Christina that she’d be getting a couple votes. Just because she’s used to seeing her name there, but don’t worry you’re totally not going home tonight.

Except, well, she would be going home that night if Troy pulled out an idol. And if not, then likely in three days. It was an idiotic blunder that revealed to Christina that she’s even farther down the totem pole than she realized. She thought she was #6 of 6 girls, but even Tarzan is ahead of her. So she began to contemplate Troyzan’s proposition to turn on the power players.

The problem was, Kim had immunity so they had to target her right hand gal, Chelsea. But Troyzan didn’t think he could get enough votes to take Chelsea out. But Troy, for all his previous blunders in this game (working with Colton, buying Kim’s story about Mike wanting him out, letting the women vote out so many men in a row), is a smart dude. Troy knew that the women would likely be splitting the vote – if he could just figure out who they were voting for, he could also vote for that person and maybe save himself.

But he’d have to figure out who was getting the other votes – and an obvious choice could have been Tarzan. That’s when the second idiotic blunder was made, and Christina told Troy that she was getting a couple votes that night. Christina! Did you not do the math? She never should have revealed that information to Troy. Maybe she really is as incompetent at this game as the other women consider her to be. Alicia took that too far though, saying “Christina’s IQ is probably a zero. I don’t know if that even exists. I mean, I’m a special ed teacher, so I handle Christina as one of my students.” Wow. Who hopes Alicia reveals at the reunion show that she’s been fired from her job?

Even though Troy’s idea to try and put a few more votes on Christina was a good one, I didn’t think he’d be able to pull it off. There were eight people left in the game. One vote was going towards Chelsea. Three for Christina. Four for Troy. He’d have to convince at least one person who was voting for him to vote Christina instead, and I didn’t think Kat would have the guts to go for it. Sure, she wants to be a power player – but she also hates Troy.

So, predictably, Troy was voted out. And you know what? He deserved it. He made a couple of decent Hail Mary plays at the end of his run, but it was his own fault for getting into such a weak position in the first place. The men’s problems began when they didn’t vote out Colton for being an idiot. And when they decided to go to Tribal Council even though they’d won immunity, and they voted out Bill. Troyzan actively agreeing to vote out Jonas and Michael? Also stupid. He just did not play a good strategic game, he played a terrible social game, and I’m not sad to see him go.

Who would have ever thought Tarzan would be the last man standing in this game? It’s truly shocking. And who knows how long he’ll last – I would not at all be surprised to see him at the end.

At this point, I really feel like there’s no other option than to root for Kim. She is the only person who deserves to be given a million dollars, because she has played the best – no, the ONLY game this season. I know it’s boring and predictable when one person dominates a season like this, but it’s just like when Boston Rob won Survivor: Redemption Island. Any other outcome will be a letdown. I mean, do you really want Alicia or Kat to be given a million bucks? What have Chelsea or Sabrina done to deserve the money? Or Tarzan??? For me, the only satisfying winner will be Kim and I hope she continues to dominate.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Couchtime/~3/9M3sD0QsWWU/