Richie Glanzer will be writing a blog all season long for Rob Has a Website as we continue to cover “Survivor: One World” from every conceivable angle. Click Here to Read more About Rich
“With luck.”
That was Amber Brkich’s response when Alicia Calaway asked her to describe her game
play in one word at the Final Tribal Council in Survivor All-Stars. Amber was never much for
math, but apparently she did get lucky enough to win, besting her future husband, Boston Rob, 4-
3. (I think Amber played pretty awesome and the only luck she had was bad but that’s for another
day.)
There was a lot of luck spewing around Survivor camp this week, for some it was epically good,
for others, it went tragically bad.
The much awaited Tribe Switch occurred and I hope you all acted surprised as I requested.
While many Survivor fans like to predict who is going to win or lose before the season or after
episode one, in seasons with a tribe switch, its very hard to be remotely accurate, since luck plays such a huge factor.
Look, full disclosure here, I do a lot of research to write this blog. I try to get former contestants opinions… Contestants that you’ve actually heard of. I think my work ethic speaks for itself but if you think I’m going to Google which tribe is the Selanne (for hockey great, Teemu Selanne) tribe and which tribe is the other, you’re out of your frickin’ minds. Lets just call one of them the Greek Gods (GG), and the other the Peasants… and besides, now that Monica is out, she won’t mind.
Getting back to luck. When the tribe switch occurred I pressed pause. My initial reaction was
Colton just won Survivor. He was paired with Jonas, Tarzan, and Leif, all three of whom he has
wrapped around his finger. Then he also had Monica and Christina, which I felt was amazing
since they were the two not in the Woo Girls Alliance. This was best case for Colton.
Then I looked at the other tribe. They had four of the Woo Girls and Jay, Mike, and Troyzan.
Colton said, “Look at them and look at us, its like Greek Gods versus peasants.”
The switch proved doom for Monica and it will undoubtedly prove the demise of Christina next but for the guy running the whole f’in show, Colton, this was quite possibly the worst case scenario.
From his couch in front of the TV, Marty Piombo of Survivor Nicaragua, let out an evil smile.
Maybe you remember Marty, maybe you don’t, but if you don’t remember him, don’t blame Marty,
blame the Tribe Switch.
He was the leader of the older people tribe during his season. Things were running smoothly for
him until the dreaded switch. After the switch Marty went from leader to leper and single
moms in Vegas rejoiced as Fabio ended up winning the game and million dollar prize.
Marty says, “I don’t like switches in general because obviously it didn’t help my cause but when
someone else is on the wrong end of it, its more fun to watch.”
That is if you like watching train wrecks. Sorry, but after getting rid of their best athlete in Monica, I can’t envision the Peasants ever winning a challenge. I would expect almost all the challenges to be very physical and we saw Mike and Jay manhandle and toss aside everyone. Plus, without Monica, the girls on the other tribe are way more athletic than the girls on the Peasants. Sure,they have the edge in Little People and Crazy Old Guy challenges, but Survivor usually doesn’t cater to those groups.
Still, Marty says don’t turn off your television sets yet. “You can never tell what is going to
happen in these challenges. I wouldn’t count the Misfits out just yet… and keep in mind, Colton is dominating mentally and who knows what happens when the tribes merge.”
I think I do. My belief is the GGs will be up 7-3. They will vote out whatever guy (probably
Tarzan) Colton and Alicia bring with them. Then the next vote will be split to flush out the idol and Alicia will go instead, before Colton finally ends his run. Marty sees it differently.
“I think Colton is going to make it to the final three. The guy has managed to win people on all sides. He has people on the old tribe that will still be able to listen and play with him. He’s manipulated some bright people. Not too many but some. Monica is no dummy.”
But Monica had no choice but to drink the Colton Kool-Aid. Come merge time, the others will.
Richie’s Hero: Kim
Others have been very high on Kim’s game all season. CBS has shown so little of her and I never
understood how… until now. She’s part of an unbreakable four-person alliance, she found the
Hidden Immunity Idol and if she plays her cards right and tells no one else of the idol, she can
waltz into the Final Three, with whomever she wants to bring. I don’t know if I will choose her to win just yet, but I do think one of the Woo Girls will.
Richie’s Heel: Jay
Jay will be able to save himself, but unfortunately, he’s going to be eaten alive by Kim, the
way Parvati did to James and Ozzy.
Kim said, “This has been my thing all along. I’m trying to keep my options open. So if sticking with the girls work best for me in the long run I’ll stick with the girls and if we get to the merge and we don’t have the numbers, Troy and Jay are my alliance all the way.”
Jay is going to need to trust Colton. He’s going to have to turn on his alliance so the girls don’t make an all girl pact but I think Jay will be so happy being rid of Colton, that he will stick with the Woo Girls, and find himself blindsided anywhere from fifth to seventh place.
Richie’s Thoughts:
I hated Colton’s blindside of Monica. I don’t see the need to be intentionally mean. And if
Christina makes it to the jury, she will rightfully hold Colton’s blindside against him. Its ok to lie but only when you have to.
How many times is Christina going to survive? I thought the men were insane to get rid of
Monica. She was a stellar athlete and it was their only advantage. Colton knew they were going
to lose another challenge anyway, so why get rid of her now? It wasn’t a Bill situation where you wouldn’t get another chance. I’d love to see Christina win, though I cant see how its going to happen at this point.
