Survivor 19 - Ep. 4 Recap with Spoilers

This week's episode started out with a heavy dose of positivity from Jaison who admitted that this was the worst thing he'd ever done (referencing the game). Shambo reiterated that she missed Foa Foa (yuck) and then the tribes had to send a couple people on a special "mission" where Jeff was conspicuously absent. The challenge was for a reward of chickens and the tribes...on their own, had to play a beach game of bocce ball.

Did Jeff have a late night? A touch of the flu? Oh wait...this is probably another twist in the dynamic of the game. Evil Russell was closest to the pole with one ball from Galu left and somehow, Dave won with their last ball. They won some chickens and Shambo spoke chicken so that worked out pretty well. At camp, Erik found Galu's hidden immunity idol. Later, he admitted his tribed sucked when Shambo lost a chicken and no one was looking for it. It also seems that Yasmin the Hooker isn't well liked by her own tribe either.

At the immunity challenge, Galu kept a lead but Foa Foa made up alot of time on the rope bridges. ER trucked it across that rope bridge. Maybe he has more phyical talent than I gave him credit for? And holy cow it's a miracle! Foa Foa won their first immunity challenge. As much as I don't like them, I was kind of relieved. There wasn't much competition. Monica was targeted as the slow link during discussion, but I was holding out that they'd get rid of Yasmin. She did crack me up though with her little "I'm stepping up and if you're going to vote me out do it 'cause I need a rest" speech. And really....as a tribe they should vote out the weakest person for challenges.

At tribal council, Yasmin wore heels and Monica deluded herself into thinking she was actually useful at the challenge. I never thought I'd admit this, but by this time, I'd switched my own decision and was hoping Monica would go home. But I got my first wish and Yasmin went home. Still okay. I'm sure Monica will be useless again at some point. I think it was a bad move on the tribe's part, but whatever. I can't think that the merge is too far off since we're already 4 episodes in.

It was a pretty mellow show this week. Some more ER action would have mnade it a little more exciting, but c'est la vie. I still haven't decided who I think is a true contender to win and I don't have any favorites...maybe Mick and Dave. Good Russell is okay. Give me a few weeks to make an educated opinion on this one.

Survivor 19 - Ep. 3 Recap with Spoilers

I knew how this episode ended before I even watched it. My curiosity got the best of me and I asked a friend to give me the scoop. Didn't deter me from watching it. For the moment, I'm finding Evil Russell amusing, Foa Foa pathetic, and most of the players kind of dumb.

At the beginning, Jaison and Mick were discussing Ben's attitude and the whole "ghetto trash" thing from last week (apparently the "hooker" moniker didn't bother anyone). From the get go, Ben was bragging about how the tribe needed him and telling them as much, along with a recount of his bodily functions. Please, someone stomp him in the face.

Galu was all about the yoga. That's cool. I mean if you're tribe is running like a well-oiled machine. Shambo is the cog in the gears, unless she wasn't just blowing off steam and really was providing the tribe with everything. Then sure, that's cool. But she's forgetting to the social part of the game and that's going to hurt her. So what if you have no water. If everyone else is getting zen, join in!

ER planted some seeds in Ben's head...not hard to do since his mind is a fertile field of jack-assery. "These people are idiots." Yes, Evil Russell...yes they are. "Days of Our Tribe" is showing signs that they're taking a cue from "The Hills." ("OMG, I can't believe she said that!" "OMG, I didn't say it!" "OMG!") Even Galu has an annoying giggly girl group.

I have to wonder what the point is in mixing immunity with reward for the challenges. Are they saving time to show more of the tribe shenanigans? This week's reward was pillows and candles and what looked like yoga mats (ha, that's funny). Galu took the lead early and won again. In past seasons, I usually start getting sick of the tribe that seems to be winning all the time and start cheering for the underdog. This season, I just can't make myself like Foa Foa.  Russell was given the choice between comfort and function and took comfort, which made the girls happy (Russell is pimpin') and the guys (and most likely Shambo) not so much.

Shambo was chosen to go sit in on Foa Foa and was definitely more impressive than Yasmin. Smart move as an individual since if she makes it to the merger she'll have the allies she's not making at Galu. Not so smart to bad mouth her own tribe in my opinion, but I guess at this point she has to play a solo game. What was up with ER's look of death? Does he not like Shambo? Does he find her sexy? Are either of them married, or could we be in for Rumbo?

Russell back at Galu gave his "we gotta take care of our women" speech and even though I like the guy, he sounded a little skeezy.

Jaison threw the race card and gave the "it's me or him" ultimatum in reference to Ben. ER wasn't on board with that and wanted Ashley out. He asked Mick to promise him that he wouldn't write his name down and showed him the hidden immunity idol. Shambo showed everyone how to make Blair Witch dolls...oh wait, no that was a torch. My bad. She went looking for the immunity idol which wasn't there. Jaison gave ER his thoughts on Ben, and I don't know if it was the camera angle or if there really is a massive height difference, but I think Jaison could probably eat him alive.

Tribal Council: Jaison flat out said he liked Shambo and wanted to trade her for Ben and called him out on his negativity.Their shouting match was highly amusing. Truthfully, I'm glad Jaison called Ben out on his crap, but Yasmin deserved what she got (sans the racism, but I don't know if Ben meant it racially or not). Of course I didn't really need the history lesson from Jaison, but I'd still take him over Ben any day.

Ashley got one vote, but Ben ended up going home. Thank God. This was good because 1) he's gone and I couldn't stand the jack ass and 2) even though it looks like Russell voted with the rest of the crew, he didn't have control this time. I doubt that will take him down any, but it's reassuring..sort of.

Survivor 19 - Ep. 2 Recap with Spoilers

I'm pretty sure everyone else has already seen this episode. I'm a couple of nights late due to finding other things to take up my time with, nothing productive really. I did get some dishes done, so that was cool.

My mom, who is pretty hardcore about Survivor, called me the other night to tell me she didn't know if she could wach this season because of how much Evil Russell gets her blood pressure up. I hear her pain. It's probably not right that either of us gets so worked up over a silly reality show, but we do. Survivor especially makes me hateful.

Betsy seems to have a pretty good idea of how slimy Evil Russell is, which means she'll probably get voted out relatively quick.

Russell went to find the immunity idol before there was even any clues out, and he actually found it. I find it interesting that of all the people who ever watched Survivor and then played, no one else went looking. Or maybe they did and never found it, so their searches were edited out for time. I know Evil Russell is going to piss me off, but let's face it. Unless you're superman and can win all the challenges, you really do need to be vile and sneaky to win this game, and so far, he knows how to play the game.

The first challenge was for both immunity and reward and was a Survivor version of basketball. I rooted for Galu. I like that Jeff had to actually tell them they were getting too rough. Nice officiating, Mr. Probst...I wonder if there was a possible lawsuit issue since it seems that in the past they would have encouraged that sort of thing. Ben from Foa Foa went out for playing rough and Galu won (yay!) the challenge. Ben didn't have much to say. I may actually dislike him more than I dislike Evil Russell.

The twist in the challenge was that Good Russell got to send someone from his tribe to Foa Foa to observe. He sent Yasmin, who was given a private message from Jeff, probably about the whereabouts of the immunity idol. Is Exile Island going to be in this season? Does anyone know? I didn't hear anything about it, but they may have gotten rid of it this time round.

Medical was brought in to look at Mike because he was having a hard time breathing. His blood pressure was low and the doctor had to pull him from the game because his heart wasn't handling it well. The tribe had been sort of gunning for him anyway, so he might have gotten voted out eventually. Even though Mike was going home, Jeff told them they'd be going to tribal council anyway.

At Galu, Shambo lost the snorkel mouthpiece and didn't catch fish. That on top of the fact that she'd already alienated herself can't help her game.

Yasmin didn't so much as observe as walk into Foa Foa camp to throw her weight around and tell them they all sucked. WTH? That seemed to be a pretty bitchy move. (She reminds me of Tara on "True Blood" after she jumped her own personal shark). If she flips and gets stuck in Foa Foa, they're going to vote her out. Then she cornered Ben to give him crap for one of his moves during the game. It's official: Yasmin is freakin' annoying. I think I might like Evil Russell more than her too!

Ben: "I think Yasmin is pretty close to being a hooker." That wasn't very nice, Ben. Hookers can be very nice people when you give them a chance. Hooker comments aside, Ben moved up on the hit list when he spent all night beating sticks with a knife (not a euphemism) and disturbing the rest of the tribe's sleep.

At Tribal Council, Ben didn't seem to redeem himself to Jeff by calling his game rules "pansy." It's official, Evil Russell would get my vote over Ben (and probably Yasmin). Betsy went home and I'll give Evil the credit here. Foa Foa is not rating high on the intelligence scale, so when he pulls the strings and screws over the rest of them, they deserve it.

Next week's Galu yoga session looks entertaining. If Jaison and Mick can get rid of Evil, then they'll have proved to be infinitely smarter than I gave either of them credit for. I like them, but once again, there seems to be an intelligence lack.

Survivors, Ready? Go!

Season 19 of "Survivor" started this past week. First of all, it doesn't seem possible that there have been 19 seasons, but time flies when you're having fun. Actually, it wasn't always fun. There were a few seasons I couldn't get into, and a few I couldn't finish, but this one could be pretty good. At least it has potential.

Spoilers ahead, so if you haven't watched it yet, but want to, then stop here.

The teams are in Samoa this year and rather than a lengthy team selection process, the tribes were already selected. In the yellow corner, we have Foa Foa, and in the purple corner, Galu. I don't know what either of these names mean, but does it matter? They're so fun to say...Foa Foa Foa Foa...Galu Galu Galu Galu. Based on this first episode, my guess is that the producers had an agenda with their selection process.

I will ignore race card discussion, but it was played at the beginning. It'll be interesting to see what stereotypes are broken by the end of the game.

As far as team first impressions go, love Galu, hate Foa Foa. My Survivor watching pal this season (who needs to give me something fun to call her *hint hint*) agrees with me, though she admits that she doesn't yet know enough about Galu to really know who she does and doesn't like. Galu seems to be really supportive of each other. Good Russell (named as such because there is an Evil Russell as well) is already a good leader and the team seems to have bonded with the exception of Shambo, an ex-marine. While I like her, she definitely has outsider potential. Foa Foa on the other hand is already fighting and has a few trash talkers on the team. Their lack of bonding wasn't helped by Evil Russell, who claims to be a multi-millionaire only playing the game to show how easy it is to win. He's like a gremlin...he emptied the canteens and burned some guys socks in the first episode. He's also proclaimed himself to be the Puppet Master, and while he will be the guy to hate, he has player potential because if Survivor has taught us anything, it's that the bad guys usually stick around the longest.

I half expect him to win and give his winnings to charity. Sounds strange, I know. But wouldn't that be crazy? The guy everyone hates turns out to be really decent in real life? It could happen.

I was bummed that Foa Foa won reward, though it didn't do much for them really. They got fire. I was stoked when Galu won immunity. They also got fire, and they didn't have to go to tribal council. As always Mr. Probst stirred the pot ("Sooo...what's going on at camp? *wink wink nudge nudge*), and the most of the team went along with Evil Russell's plan and voted out Marisa, who reminded me of a flower child. I hadn't yet decided if I liked her or not, so I don't really feel any loss that she's gone. I thought she was going to cry when she got voted off though, and I felt bad for her.

Yet Unnamed Survivor Pal has this to say about Ep1:
"Early front runners for fave contestant for me are Jaison, Mick, and Betsy. I like the purple tribe better than the yellow, but I don't know enough of the purple players to know faves in that group yet. Russel the Villlan is truly the guy to hate this season - but he is so blatantly a goober I find him more annoying than anything. Has to be a plant by the producers to stir things up or something, because he is just SO over the top evil. Of course, he will probably be around for awhile to keep the pot stirred up."

So far, she and I are in agreement on pretty much everything. If Foa Foa has a saving grace character at this point, it's Betsy, who already has her suspicions that Evil Russell is up to no good. I'm already a fan of Good Russell, but with this only being the opening episode, everything is subject to change...including my opinion.