Static Zombie

Survivor: Gabon

Well I think it says a lot about this season of Survivor that we're multiple weeks in and this is my first post about the series-- and even this is only because of a plaintive voicemail from a loyal reader jonesing for his Survivor blog fix.

After the brilliance of last season's Fans Vs. Favorites, this go-round has been almost entirely unremarkable. It's the curse of the landlocked Survivor. I'm not sure why, but when there's no beach, there's less fun. And no, it has nothing to do with bikinis.

No idea why nobody trusts Ace. He hasn't done anything sneaky yet and he hasn't betrayed anyone. Is it the accent? Sugar has surprised me. I expected to dislike and dismiss the "retro pinup model" as a shallow bubblehead, but she's surprisingly endearing and seems to have more wit behind that face than expected. Then again, she left the idol in her bag and told Kenny she gave it to Ace, so perhaps she's not the brightest bulb. Could have been a brilliant move to put the target on Ace's back instead of hers if the tribe wanted to flush out the idol-- "I don't have it, I gave it to Ace!" but that's clearly not what she intended since she took it back from him almost immediately.

Meanwhile, Crystal is the biggest disappointment in the history of the game. The woman's a former Olympic runner, but she's completely tanked in every single challenge-- including the one in which the only thing she had to do was run! Everyone sees her as an asset because she's big, but in reality she's contributing nothing. When she gets voted out, as I think she will soon after the merge, she's going to be one of those bitter jury members who thinks she deserved it more than the people who lasted longer.

My money right now is on Marcus and Corinne. Everyone seems to be in love with Marcus, and Corinne seems sharp and shrewd. It'll be interesting to see if the physically weaker players like Kenny sail to the end under the radar.

Posted by Peter at October 26, 2008 4:10 PM