Erica Stunned at Tribal Council

A tip for everyone thinking of trying out for Survivor - if you're the type who panics at challenges, this may not be the game for you.

I'm still not sure how I feel about Survivor: Fiji yet. I know that I hate the "have vs. have-nots" concept with the camps. It's not really Survivor if you have a couch and so much food that you're full. Sure, it provided "Dreamz" a mushy television moment to comment that they had more food at their camp than a lot of Americans have in their fridges (which, sadly, is true...it's also sad how few of his tribemates believed him). But it's not Survivor. And there seems to be no end to the camp divisions. Many had speculated that the nice camp would be a reward (and there would be lots of camp switching. But at least for now, that isn't the case. Probst did NOT say that the winners of the challenge would get the nice camp. And this is why I hate it. It's one thing for a tribe to flounder, and lose challenge after challenge. As we saw on Palau, that actually makes for good television. But for a tribe to get weaker and weaker, while the other gets stronger and stronger, simply because of how the producers set up the game; it isn't fair (and it really isn't good tv either). I've read that a good twist on the camp would be that the losers of the immunity challenge would get the camp, but also have to go to tribal council. That would at least make things interesting. I'm hoping that Mark Burnett realizes this and changes it - soon.

A twist that I do like, at least how I understand it, is how the hidden immunity idol works this season. They can only use it through the final five, and it must be played after the votes are cast, but before the votes are read. It takes a lot of power away from the idol, and it means that the person who finds it can't just coast through the game as they could before (not that Terry or Yul coasted through the game, but had a weaker player found it, they certainly could have). It's interesting, too, that Probst said final five. Not sure if this means there will be a final three up against the jury again this season or not. Apparently Probst has said that if it were up to him, it would always be a final three. That eliminates the strategy of taking the weaker player with you to the final two - hypothetically, at least two of the final three would be strong players. I see his point. If the vote had been with the final three, instead of the final two, I think that a different player would have won in Marquesas (Kathy would have won over Vecepia), Amazon (though it would have been close between Rob C. & Jenna), and Exile Island (Terry would have won over Aras and Danielle for sure). It also would have changed the votes in Africa (some votes would have gone to Lex instead of Ethan), All Stars (Jenna would have gotten a few votes, which may have shifted the vote from Amber to Boston Rob), Palau (Ian would have gotten some votes), and Guatemala (Rafe would definitely have gotten some votes), though the end result would probably have been the same. That's more than half the seasons where the weaker player was brought to the final two as a strategy move. Maybe Probst is on to something.

Back to Thursday night's episode. We're seeing very little of Moto - probably because nothing exciting is happening, other than Boo getting hurt (and please, someone, give the cameraman who caught him falling out of the hammock a bonus). I don't really know the players over there, though Dreamz and Lisi continue to rub me the wrong way. At Ravu, dehydration is setting in, and it showed at the challenge. They had the strength to lead after the physical part of the challenge, but they weren't there enough mentally to solve the puzzle. Not a real surprise.

What was surprising was that they voted out Erica. She is such a strong player, even though she admittedly lost it during the challenge. Some of the guys are playing an individual game far too early; it's likely that that will come back to bite them in the end. And I'm not sure why Earl was sent to Exile Island. It seems like a really poor choice, unless they were trying to keep him safe from the vote. Moto knew that Ravu still doesn't have fire (and thus, no water) - sending someone to exile at this point only makes them stronger, since they will be able to drink. Anyways, in the end, Erica was voted off, which should make for a very interesting return for Earl. Can't wait.