Interesting Strategy on Survivor

If you are going to go on Survivor (heck, any reality show, really), please be sure to watch some previous episodes. Because if you do that, you will learn a few things. Like the fact that in 13 seasons of Survivor, no contestants have ever made fire without flint. Or that you might want to be able to make a fire with flint once you earn it. And never, EVER throw an immunity challenge.

With four tribes, I was curious how the editing would play out. They essentially have twice as much footage as they usually do at this point in the show. So they can pick and choose the best scenes to craft their storyline. Which is why I’m going to make a bold prediction – I don’t think anyone on the “white” tribe will make it to the final four. They barely showed them. I know they exist, and there was the few moments about the floor of their shelter. But that was it. Hmmm…

With all that footage from four tribes, it seems like we lost a challenge. For the second week in a row, the challenge was a combination of immunity & reward. I hate this. First, I just like seeing challenges. But the strategy in a reward challenge and an immunity challenge is very different. And for a tribe that is going to make a ridiculous strategy decision to throw a challenge, you’re not just losing immunity, but reward as well. The challenge was a tough one – another nice combination of physical and mental. And it was nice that Jeff was able to correctly award the reward to the first two tribes, who seemed to finish at the same time. It is just absolutely ridiculous that the “Hispanic” tribe decided to throw the challenge. They probably would have lost anyways with Billy weighing them down, but in a game of numbers, it’s a bad move to make yourself down one. It never works out.

Not a shock that once Yul got sent to Exile Island, he found the idol pretty quickly. He’s a smart smart guy. What would be great is if the producers hid a second idol…Yul would think he is safe because he has it, yet someone else would have it too. Hee hee!

The best part of the night was easily tribal council. In the midst of talk of throwing the challenge and not pulling your own weight, Billy announced that he had met his true love – Candace from the other tribe. And this moment, boys and girls, is where tivo makes Survivor so much better. Because I got to watch Jeff’s reaction over and over and over and over. If you still have it on tape (and I’m sure it’s already on YouTube), it’s good every time. Somehow Billy thought that it was love at first sight, and that “I love yous” had been exchanged. Wow. I did go back and watch the challenge again – after Yul got send to Exile Island, Billy says something to the girls on the “white” team that he is going home. One of them (Candace, I suppose) says “well, we love you,” and he says back quietly “I love you.” Can you just imagine the reaction from Candace tonight. There she is, sitting watching Survivor with her friends, when Billy announces to the world that they are in love. Oh, please, let that video be on YouTube as well.

So Billy went home as planned. And I think that in the next two weeks we’ll see a tribal mixup – thank goodness.