Episode 3 - Doing It Mayan Style

Another episode over, another member voted off the tribe. I thought this one was pretty good. A couple new developments are coming to light - such as Brian's apparent sneakiness in 'manufacturing' the tribe's consent in getting rid of Morgan. Then there were the howler monkeys that started driving Nakum crazy. That would probably drive me nuts as well, especially if it carried on through the night. Then again (as I stated in the bio on my site) a tribe has yet to tame the resident monkey population to do their bidding. Perfect opportunity? I'm just saying...

Does anyone else notice the editing style appears different? My friend pointed this out and I think he's right. The conversations that make the cut are sometimes not directly related to the game's strategy, such as Amy the police officer talking about the conditions of the game. Then there are interviews done directly in camp (instead of away from the group, which sometimes happened before but not always), as well as different artistic flairs like slow dissolves and fades. Perhaps they brought in new editing talent.

Anyway back to the second challenge. That was awesome. Reminded me of those sports we'd play during lunch hour in high school, except on a raised mesh court and Jeff Probst sporting a sweet hat on the side. Danni appeared to be the superstar this time around. Brianna and Lydia left much to be desired, with Brianna not even moving half the time. Either the editors continued showing that one clip to make it seem worse, or Brianna really wasn't moving much and should have expected to be suitably chastised (which she was of course).

A high point was Jeff Probst throwing out the line, "Now we're doing it...like the Maya did!" which made me curious about the sport. I looked it up on Wikipedia:

The ball game was extremely violent. Players wore heavy padding. Even so, there were often serious injuries, and occasionally death. On some occasions post-game ceremonies featured the sacrifice of the captain and other players on the losing side. The association of the game with sacrifice and death was particularly marked on the Gulf coast. A loser's skull might be used as the core around which a new rubber ball would be made.

I think Jeff should have competed as the 'ringer' and bet his hat...

Episode 2 - Spider Monkeys

What is the deal with ex-quarterback Gary keeping his past occupation a secret? I don't understand why he thinks we would get voted out "immediately" if it was revealed. Big deal he was a quarterback 15 years ago. I'm sure his tribe would have gotten over it if he didn't pretend he was a landscaper. Now that Danni from the other tribe mentioned it at the tug-o-war challenge, they're probably wondering why Gary thought to hide it in the first place.

Anyway, the spider-web rope challenge was pretty cool. How is it possible for Blake to barely draw breath at camp, then somehow pull out a big win for his tribe at the challenges? Judd made a good point about it, saying if he slept all day like Blake, he'd "be the big hero" at the challenges as well. Tough break for Brian who lost it right at the end. If you actually look closely at the footage, I think it was a little less close then the editors led the audience to believe. Ah well, heightened drama this way.

Still no strong personalities in the show yet, but since it's still the first episodes, that's fairly standard. One of the supposed tricks to guessing who will go far is to see which characters aren't interviewed very much (as chances are, they'll be interviewed later on). This trick didn't work too well if you consider Morgan had little to say and was solidly voted out. I figure that's the toughest part of the game -- being the first on your tribe to go. Not around long enough to really make an impression, and just long enough to get a feel for the game.

Epidsode 1 - The Beginning

Well I missed taping the first 4 minutes of the show, so I didn't see how they ended up in the jungle. All I know is after introducing Bobby John and Stephanie, that grueling overnight hike to the camp was brutal. Pouring rain and howling monkeys overhead? No sleep for them. I did think it was interesting the producers let the tribes stumble a swath through the jungle, which it most likely a national park and probably wasn't doing the eco-system a favour.

As with all first episodes of Survivor, there usually isn't that much to report because we don't really know much about the characters yet and it's pretty difficult to pick any standouts. I will say that it's pretty embarassing all four of the Nakum men went down right away. Especially Bobby John who worked like a machine last season.

And Jim Lynch got the boot -- a safe and easy vote for the Nakum tribe. Jim was the most obvious choice (with his torn bicep) and no one was willing to put themselves out there to draw attention by voting for someone else. A good start to the season. Guess we'll see where it goes next.