Survivor 17.5 "He's the troll under the bridge."

Gotta agree with Crystal--Randy lost big time points with me for mocking Fang over their continued starvation. He was right about them eating too much rice though. ANd it was Jeff who said "Hey, Kota, why don't you eat these danishes in front of Fang." That wasn't cool, Jeff. It's funny that the only jerks on Kota are from Fang, Randy and dumb Dan, who's eating his way out of his tribemates good graces. He's just a tool--which Kota will use and throw away as soon as they're done.

I don't get Sugar--I know a lot of what Ace does is for the camera, so maybe they've bonded in a real way. But to give him the Idol? Really? I hope she gets closer to Kenny, who I think is more genuine. Matty's alliance made a certain amount of sense. Matty's gone a little native and nuts, no?

Oh, sweet Sugar, crying because the others can't share in the fruit she gets in Exile. Oh, stupid arrogant Ace, ordering everyone out of his way so he could bleep up the flag pole all by himself. I'm glad Kota will vote someone out next week, just so we can see the discussion--the preview looked great!

Is there anything more irritating than Kelly's utter lack of affect? That monotone voice, those dead shark eyes--like a doll's eyes...Oh, sorry, that was "Jaws." I enjoyed how Crystal and Ace aren't friends but bonded in an odd way over their hatred of Kelly. Ace as usual viewed her ouster as a bigger victory than it was--anothe coup d'gras!

Kelly finishes in 13th place along with sick Ramona, skinny Mitch, "Did your momma never hug ya?" Linda, big boobed Sarah, rage filled Ghandia, superstitious Joanna, Burton the Bully who was shamefully allowed back in, Bubba the guy that wore the Bob Barker shirt, Angie the Illustrated Girl, Nurse Margaret, classy Ruth-Marie, Jessica aka Flicka, Camp Cookie Anthony, and craaaazy Dave the ex-Model. Bet they all wish they'd kept Jackie around, eh?

Peace out, Christine :)

Survivor 17.4 "Maybe he got eaten by a monkey, dude."

I enjoy Sugar's happiness at going to the Sugar Shack but wish she'd tried to be a little more sly--why tell everyone you kicked back and ate fruit? Why not pretend you looked in vain again? She pretty much told her tribe she had the Idol.

And what was with Dan's cockiness? Trying to rile up Kota to think of themselves as "The Evil Empire"? Poor dumb Dan-trying too hard, as always. But if suits Marcus, Corrine and Charlie, who ares till floating under the radar--but out a 4th with jackie's ouster. I liked how they were pretty much like "Kelly sucks" to her face when they realized Fang had dumped valuable Jackie for Kelly. Randy might make a good fit for Macus/Corrine and Charlie. ANd bless Charlie for his compassion towards hungry Fang.

GC's continued big baby-ness was entertaining and obnoxious. Again with the "I'm a grown man" crap when Crystal JOKINGLY tells him what to do (EAT! for crying out loud)Then he goes off on his very un-grown-man-like pity party. I was glad that everyone was suitablly ticked, and liked Crystal's refusing to call after "A grown man." Crystal knows what the term means. Was Kenny being sarcastic or loyal to GC when he referred to GC's behavior as "how he rolls"?

Ace's screw-up in the Immunity--he actually listened to Randy on the other team instead of his own caller, Sugar--was awesome. Why didn't he get more flak for it? he was still prancing around with that smug smile like he's a master manipulator. It helps knowing he doesn't have fans on the other tribe either but seriously--is he a sociopath? Why can't Sugar see through his crap?

GC finishes in 14th place. In season one, 14th place Stacey the lawyer accused the producers of engineering her ouster. In the outback, Mad dog was betrayed by pal Tina on her way to the top. In Africa, Carl the dentist was punished for having a job and nice things while my husband Hunter was evicted because Boston Rob was so jealous of his awesomeness. Lame Jed went in Thailand, weak Daniel in the Amazon, HORRIBLE Lill the femalebou scout was booted but allowed back in, Brady the FBI agent was voted out and never heard from again, Willard pretended not to be a lawyer, Blake talked too much about his girlfriend's boobs, Misty wasn't as powerful a flirt as she thought, and Cristina and then Rita...I got nothing. In China, Leslie the ultra-Christian got the boot.

Peace Out,

Christine :)

Survivor 17.3 "I will do my best despite hating each and every one of you."

Heavy Sigh. I'm finding this season a shade...of an effort. It's not Thailand bad, but I'm just finding hard to root for anyone. There are an awful lot of whiny babies this round, no? I did enjoy the shake-up, and Kenny's smart game instincts that had him overriding Ace and picking weak-link Kelly, and wasn't it nice for CHarlie to inform us how happy he was to still be on a tribe with Marcus? Really, you like Marcus? We didn't know.

In this episode, more than the previous two, Ace's accent really did seem to come and go--though that could be a reslut of his playing it up for his tribemates. Since I hate Ace, I was at first happy for Kelly when she found allies in Crystal, GC and Kenny but once i saw her in action, I'm with Ace and Sugar--Kelly sucks. ANd she knows it ANd she doesn't care. What an abomination of a player she is. I mean, to quit in the middle of a challenge has precedent, but shw was actually whining about it while the oterhs were trying to win. Even GC said she had a bad attitude. Still, Kenny and co. were fearful of Sugar and Ace's bond and Sugar's potential Idol ahving. It was smart of them to see that Sugar would never give Kelly the idol, but MAN is she terrible. I'm still rather flabbergasted that Kelly 1) had the gall to criticize Kenny and Crystal at Tribal KNOWING she sucked and KNOWING her head was on the block and 2) she got away with it. ANd then she even looked smug about Jackie getting voted out, when the only reason she hersefl was being kept around was because of how unliked and lame-ass she is! I kept having to remind myself that Ace was disappointed--again, he made a show of his petty little vendetta with Kelly, like his vote against her would really fix HER wagon. He reminds me of Sideshow Bob--with a lot less hair, obviously, but really.

Porr Jackie. She finishes in 15th place along with BB who quit, Kel who snuck food, Jessie who puked, Patricia who bossed, Tanya who puked, Janet who snuck food, Skinny Nerd Ryan, mean Mia, useless Kim, useless Brooke, Melinda who I can picture but that's it, Crazy Cao Boi, forgetable Liliana and pro-wrestler with the fake rack, Ashley.

Peace out! Christine :)

Survivor 17.2 "I'm not sure that accent is real"

Randy said it all about Fang: They're stupid, and they don't know they're stupid. ANd man, I just want to punch GC. Arrogant for no apparent reason, his petulant reaction to Randy's logical suggestion that they stop eating three meals a day because they're, you know, on Survivor was embarrassing. Sweetdumbdan looked quite scared when GC tried to bully Randy into admitting he was the leader--I wish Randy would've just stepped up and said YES, I'm the leader--someone's got to do it! But he's a Fang, so leadership is a disease. I still enjoy his observations though, and the look he gets on his face whenever Jeff's explaning a challenge like, "Can they make us do that? Is that legal?"

We did finally spend a lot of time with Kota--a huge tip-off that they were gonna lose ImmunityAce has sweet but maleable Sugar in his pocket. Weak link Paloma is so out of the loop, she brags to the camera that she's not bowing down to Ace like eveyone else. Sweetie, most of them are in a semi-secret alliance and playing Ace like a violin. Sorry you didn't get the memo. Ace continues to be smarmy and boorish--his stage yawn before the challenge was such a jerky move. It wasn't a bad idea to push Paloma into the spotlight in the challenge so everyone would realize she sucks, but it was really dumb to try and make out Sugar's performance as anything north of meh. Everyone saw through it, and acted like they were the only people who saw through it. There's some smart people on Kota, but I don't think any of them are are quite as smart as they think they are.

I now totally heart Sugar after her stay in Exile--she's a hoot. How the hell is she the only one not hip to Ace's lame game? I'm with Corrine--he's a slick huckster with a possibly fake accent. Sugar marvelled at beating the lawyer to the idol--haven't any of these people met a dumb lawyer? I have. Anyway, it was fun to see Kota lose to Fang, with Ken the gamer out mathing Professro Bob (who's so pale he looks positivly ghoulish looking at times. I thought the show did a good job at making it seem like Ace might go, though it does seem early. Ace may lack subtlety, but Marcus was masterful in his fake but plausible praise of Ace as a like-minded ally. Telling him exactly what he wants to hear, but not in an over the top way. As much as I hate Ace, I'm relieved I won't have to hear Paloma squeak about him anymore. I did enjoy her classic exit speech--did CBS intentionally cut her off before she could finish her vow to never watch the show again if Ace wins. I wouldn't go that far, but I know where she's coming from.

Last season, like All-stars, was too wacky to count in my recaps of who finished in what place. You can't put Tina and Yau-man down with the Paloma's of the game. Anyway, Paloma finishes in 16th place. Sonja and her ukelele was our first 16th placer, back wehn 16th was last place. Then there was Deb the crybaby prison guard, crazy lying Diane, Peter who talked too much about his (ahem) body functions, Bossy John the reverend, Ryan the flirt who wound up on an all-dude tribe, Nicole who I barely remember, equally unmemorable John P., Jeff who "hurt his ankle", some chick named Brianna, Tina the lumberjill, a woman named Stephannie, Gary who was medivaced out, and last but not least, Chicken. You don't forget a guy named Chicken.

Peace out!

Christine