I'm not sure why they bothered with the "Micronesia" subtitle this season. Even Jeff Probst has dispensed with the tribe name malarky, just calling them Fans and Favorites.
Palau winner Tom Westman was the only previous winner invited to participate in this mini-All-Stars season, and he wisely declined with sage reasoning. He won his season without ever having a single vote cast against him. He has nothing left to prove, and playing again would only result in tarnishing that achievement. The rest of the Favorites are eager for a second shot at the million dollar brass ring. Except for Fairplay, who only deepened my disaste for him by taking up one of the coveted spots in the cast and then asking to be voted out (and had the gall to insist at tribal council that it wasn't a "quit"). Here's Osten's phone number. Have some drinks.
Jonathan continues to get a bad rap. As I remember it, the man never lied or backstabbed anyone during his season. He was simply tagged as being untrustworthy, likely because of his accent and pushiness, and it stuck. He's certainly shown more leadership and loyalty toward his alliance this season than others have.
I don't understand why the Yau-Man stick got so far up Cirie's butt as to impair her judgment. Yau-Man is definitely a weaker player physically, and from that standpoint a reasonable candidate for eviction. But Cirie wasn't playing that angle. She was so terrified of likable yet weak, one-dimensional Yau-Man getting the immunity idol, she sided with two couples to evict him. No alliance is a bigger threat than a couple. With only one other person to be loyal to, couple alliances don't fall prey to internal squabbling or playing one member off another. They're dangerous. When one member of the couple is one of the strongest physical players in the history of the game, that alliance is terrifying. When TWO such alliances exist, only a fool would pass up the chance-- the imperative-- to break them up. The possibility of that move paying off for her in the long run doesn't change the fact that strategically, it was beyond stupid.
I'd love to know how Ozzy managed to get everyone to agree to send him to Exile Island. If I were a Favorite, the LAST person I'd put within reach of an immunity idol is Ozzy. What the hell were they thinking? I really hope the guy wins-- he's a phenomenal physical player, and it's been a little while since we've seen one of those win the day. Taking a page from Yau-Man's book by creating a fake immunity idol is genius. I just hope someone falls for it!
Meanwhile, over at the Fans' camp, we have the biggest egomaniac ever to play the game. Joel was so bothered by the idea of someone else on the tribe calling the shots-- or thinking he was calling the shots-- that he twice opted to weaken the tribe rather than let that slight against his manhood go unchecked. Major props to Tracy, Yoyo-Ma to Joel's testosterone-riddled cello. Brilliantly played. Fear her.
Kathy, meanwhile, is so starstruck at meeting past players that she's blown the major advantage of being on Exile Island three times by completely bailing on the quest for the idol. When she gets voted out, she'll have nobody to blame but herself. That idol had her name written all over it.
Next week's shuffling of the tribes should change everything, depending on who winds up where. I'm quite enjoying this season. The mix of new and old faces struck a perfect balance, and all it cost was a tiny bit more of Mark Burnett's soul.
Posted by Peter at March 3, 2008 03:08 PMThank you, Sir. Please don't move or get married again.
Posted by: Dave Arnott on March 3, 2008 11:52 PMBite your tongue Arnott. I'm down with the married part of your thoughts, but game night is now 45 minutes away.
I'm rooting for the move back to the right side of that lake.
But you'd go back on Millionaire if they'd have you, right? Tom may not have anything left to prove, but he could just as easily say "This time, I'm proving my game against former players, and if I win, I'm the best of the lot."
I was anti-Cirie from the beginning of her run when she kicked out the Tina on the Old Women's tribe because Cirie thought that Tina would be too much of a threat after the merge. Never mind that the merge was still eight cycles away...
The Fans are so out of their league that I'm expecting an All-Favorites final. As fannish as they are about the show, they're proving that it's one thing to watch from home, it's another thing to put that plan into action on the field of play.
Posted by: Travis Eberle on March 8, 2008 09:12 PM