Survivor, or how Erik was defeated by boobs

Holy cow. I mean, I don't even know where to start. I will miss Erik, a hopeless, star-struck boy lost in a world of big-breasted women. I can't help but like him though. I mean, I think we are biologically inclined to feel a certain protectiveness toward the young and naive. ("I'm just an ice-cream boy. But I want to be an ice-cream man!") But this moment is certainly going down in Survivor history. Natalie put it best, "I feel stupid even talking about this." ::sigh::

Final four. Let's work it out.

Natalie: She has given us a few good sound bites, but all of them have been in the last two or three weeks. Prior to that she was virtually invisible. I have no way of knowing whether I should blame her for not having a story line or blame the editors for ignoring her. But in any case, for me it is all too-little, too-late. There seems to be some sentiment that she has some jury votes in the bag, but I'd be disappointed if that were the case outside of her twin invisible.

Parvati: On the plus side, she did orchestrate the downfall of Ozzy, which was a huge power move. But when that burned her, she just retreated and hasn't done anything since. Plus I have a hard time forgiving her for not even looking for the idol on Exile last night. I don't care how comfortable you are with your alliance. You can take a vacation on the beach in another few days, today you are still in the game and you ALWAYS look for the idol.

Amanda: She obviously had a brilliant move last week. And she is playing smart, doing everything she can to manipulate the jury into not liking Erik at the same time she is manipulating Erik. (When she said to Erik "You are the physically strong player and I am the most strategic player", well, that rubbed me a little wrong. She was working hard to lure Erik in at the time, so maybe it was just part of the act, but ego is never appealing.) I think the others are right to be afraid of her in the end. Ozzy and James are definitely going to be sympathetic to her, and everyone will love her for the entertainment she provided last week. And there is always the hope that she learned from her failures last season and will give a better closing argument for herself.

Cirie - I'm afraid she is going to suffer the same defeat that Amanda had last season, and won't give herself the credit she deserves. But overall, I think far and away Cirie has been pulling the most strings this season. From a weak alliance-less position, by sheer will power she forced her team to do what none of them wanted to do and got Yau voted off. A few weeks later she again turned things around and talked her team into voting off Joel, their strongest player, at a time when strength really mattered. This week's Erik shenanigans was totally her idea. Without a really strong argument, I think she is going to have a hard time stealing the win away from Amanda, but for me, I think she deserves it.

Of course, we still have another person to eliminate (I'm guessing Natalie unless she wins immunity, and probably Cirie or Amanda if she does), so there is a little more time for mischief. Can't wait for Sunday!