Michelle chugged her own grave. No doubt about that. But Jon's managed to scratch my mental chalkboard with only a few minutes of screen time-- surely he's an ever bigger annoyance when you're living on the same beach with him. He was a complete goon with the tiller in the reward challenge... vote his sorry poseur ass off.
It's hard to say what will come of Rupert's time with Morgan. He obviously made friends in the other tribe, and that could wind up biting him. The diplomatic "looting" with Andrew was very interesting. If I was a Drake, the influence he demonstrated would make me even more nervous about a post-merge Rupert.
The next immunity challenge will be crucial. If Drake loses, Morgan suddenly has a fighting chance as they enter the merge 5-5. It's easy to think that the other players would be idiots for not ousting Rupert the first chance they get, but he's obviously the center of the Drake tribe and he's a potential ally for the Morgans. If you were on Rupert's good side, wouldn't you want him around to help carry you to the endgame? It will be very interesting to see how everyone deals with him after the merge.
As much as I'd love to see Rupert pull an Ethan Zahn and win, the smart money's against him. At this point, I'm just hoping that Osten and Jon leave first.
Posted by Peter at October 17, 2003 01:44 AMI hold out hope that Michelle chugged down her "smoothie" so fast as an act of defiance against her tribe, since she knew she was a goner even if she played along. At least, I prefer to think so, instead of that she would be so forgetful.
Yet another challenge came to rest on the shoulders of one member of each tribe. Why not a best 2-out-of-3 or 3-out-of-5 tiebreaker, instead of 1 member each? The outcomes of these challenges are feeling arbitrary, which could make the outcome of the entire game feel arbitrary.
Another disadvantage for Rupert: He's too loyal. If a moment comes after the merge when his Drake allies are secretly ready to eject him, but the Morgan alliance would welcome him, he might refuse to jump ship. If he does get voted out before the final episode, here's betting on a noticeable dip in the ratings.
Is anybody else glad CBS now lets Jeff demonstrate his opinions of the players? His assessments of Jon are a continuing highlight.
Posted by: Scott Hardie on October 17, 2003 08:03 PMIf you watched any of the first six series of Survivor, the Eating Things of a Disgusting Nature has always been a case of all players eating/drinking, and going to a one-on-one Sudden Death playoff. This one is no different.
I will say that "Survivor" has won me back with this series. The last two have been rather humdrum and anti-climactic, but this year they've thrown in twists that aren't there just for the sake of shaking up the game, they actually fit with the pirate theme. Of all of the places that Survivor has been held, I would most have wanted to be a player in this game.
In addition, I echo Peter's sentiments concerning sending Jon and Osten home to the United States third class postage due.
Posted by: Travis Eberle on October 17, 2003 10:44 PMTrue, I had forgotten about that. The only such challenges I had witnessed were in Thailand, which was for a reward, and in the Amazon, which was an individual challenge. Tradition or not, it's still unfair to the players to let tribal immunity come down to a 1-on-1 tiebreaker, especially for the second time in seven days. The game's unfair enough as it is.
On that note, I had kind of hoped that when Andrew was the first one to reach the well in the reward challenge, he would use his head start to pull up both golden idols, and toss Drake's idol into the bushes. :-)
Posted by: Scott Hardie on October 18, 2003 03:28 AM