Survivor, or How To Take a Risk and Make Me Happy

Let's get right to it, this episode was both curious and delicious, and so chock-full of memorable moments that I am bound to forget some now. In other words, rock on.

But first, can we all raise a triumphant cheer that there were no lame special effects? This episode got back to the basics of game and strategy and I was all the happier for it.

We start off with Schoolteacher being lazy (shocker!) but paradoxically saying "I want to shake things up around here". While the rest of the episode reminded me how much I really don't miss Zoolander, honey, are you trying to make me hate you? Meanwhile James, who has generally started annoying me with his macho swagger, made me love him again by proclaiming a love for the Lunch Lady with age as their single barrier - "If I were older or she were younger, she would have to watch out" he says. Anyone who loves the Lunch Lady is golden with me, especially since it is a much more interesting love story than the 26-year-old Virgin Eric and Jamie's non-committal flirting.

But Jeff Probst heard Schoolteachers prayer, and each team got to pick two members from the other team to steal. Now let it be said that in general I really do not approve of this kind of twist. It makes things impossible for any real strategist to plan for, and instead chooses winners by luck instead of skill. But, whatever, it is still better TV than some over-elaborate reward challenge that it took the place of. And it gave me chance to marvel at the stupidity of the tribe that didn't put it together that it was a trade and not a steal. Like, duh. I thought the choices were all fairly obvious, although the one tribe (dang I need to start learning their names) that picked Schoolteacher has no idea what they've done, do they? Heh.

Jean-Robert and the Lunch Lady with a mullet were both sad to see James go, as apparently he was the sole ally to either. No one seemed particularly sad to see Aaron go, which was even more interesting. Once the switch was made, the game came out, which of course pleased me to no end. Todd announced to his confessional camera he was going to be looking for alliances with the newbies, which forced me to admit my love for him. Even if he is a bit hysterical at times, he has been the most consistent strategizer, which ultimately gets my loyalty over anything else. You go girl. Frosti and the Schoolteacher are both on notice and notch it up, and she even says "I'm gonna have to step it up around camp" - well, better late than never honey. Maybe this will be a good thing for you.

James and Aaron, meanwhile, are a bit more awkward. Actually Aaron lays out his case fairly well I thought, marking James out as a big danger once the merge comes. James, meanwhile, just isn't the kind of player that has any interest in the "outwit" portion of the game. For him it is all about "outplay", which he can totally do, and he just assumes everyone else thinks the same way. While this kind of mentality may have honor in real life, it can be a big liability in a game of strategizers. So when Pei Wei and Jamie start talking about throwing the challenge, I got very sad for him but very excited for me. Then Pei Wei and Jamie do throw the challenge, and show us they are never going to be hired to be in even a Rob Schnieder movie because they are both the worst actors ever and are giggling through the whole thing, and James is getting more and more frustrated and I am getting even more sad for him and even more excited for me. Throwing a challenge is a bold, risky move, and offhand I seem to recall it being done only twice before, once to get rid of, um, I think it was Silas in Africa, and once by the Hispanic team to get rid of the weird guy whose "love at first sight" comments made for one of the best tribal council sessions ever. Anyhoo, I ::heart:: bold and risky.

The girls, interestingly, did not tell Eric beforehand. He seemed a bit upset when they did, but was sort of trapped by his love of all things Jamie. I like him, but I'm starting to think he is a bit of a wuss. I hope he changes my mind on that soon, but I fear we may have lost him completely as he is now just a manslave under the control of Jamie's pheremones.

On to the curious part: Jeff Probst. He seemed genuinely peeved at the girls for throwing the challenge, and called them out on it all the way through the challenge. Jeff, your anger was warrented that season where the guy quit, cause that was totally lame. But this was a valid strategic move here, not just some silly girls who don't care. They are making a lot of assumptions in making this move, that 1) the tribes will merge at ten players as usual, and 2) that neither Frosti or Sherreah will defect to another alliance, and 3) that they will be able to either steal another player or win at a tie-breaker. But if that seems better odds than in watching Frosti and/or Sherreah get voted off, then I think it is a legitimate play. It sucks, of course, for Aaron and James, but luckily for me I'm not terribly fond of either so I'm just not all that heartbroken about it like Jeff seems to be. I can only guess that the producers didn't forsee that move or were just intending something else to happen, and so Jeff was caught unawares or something.

In the end I was surprised they let Aaron go when James was so uncomfortably combative about it, but I think it was best for their long-term strategy. Aaron was smart and, therefore, dangerous. James is only dangerous if, by sheer willpower, he manages to win the next immunity challenge all on his own. And even then, come merge time, he will be a huge target as well.

The other person this switch has really screwed with is Jean-Robert. His entire strategy revolved around slowly increasing his work ethic so that people would like him more and more for trying harder. With the switch, now he is really on the defensive about it, with his entire team mocking him for it. In their eyes he is only working hard now because he is trying to save himself, which rather devastates his entire strategy. At the end of the last episode I admit I was starting to feel more fond of our resident poker player, and I started wondering if there was some weird kind of inverse relationship between how much people liked him and the size of his pot belly. But things aren't looking too good for you bro.

And I still don't like Courtney.