There’s little more I can add to the Brandon Hantz conversation that hasn’t already been said better elsewhere. We all saw what happened. With respect to “Little Hantz,” it’s clear that he never should have been cast on Survivor Caramoan: Fans vs. Favorites — from the fact that few would call him a “favorite” even […]
Wow, Loyal Blog Readers. What can I even say about what we all just witnessed? A Survivor meltdown of truly epic proportions has just unfolded in front of ten million people, and now we’re left to try to pick through the rubble and come to some kind of meaningful conclusion. How are we supposed to […]
Most viewers must be expecting to see Bikal’s domination continue, but the editors showed so much of Gota’s troubles that a reversal of situation has to be expected. Before the season even started, viewers were saying that the returning players had an unfair advantage over the newbies so we’d expect the editors trying to show some difficulties over at Bikal. The hurricane had to hit both camps, a Favorite or two had to have a bad night, but we didn’t see any of that. All the plagues of Egypt have befallen on Gota so one of their own must emerge out of this, no? If not, what’s the story? The Favorites had no opposition and won? I don’t see a best-seller there.
Is the Hidden Immunity Idol a good idea, or not? And, more importantly, does it work in the game as it was intended?
– In the latest Baker’s Dozen, Andy Baker analyzes the choices the castaways are making. Like many of you, I play a number of different roles in my life: I’m a writer, an English teacher, a husband and father… and a squash coach. (If you’re not familiar with squash, it’s a cousin of racquetball.) […]
Corinne's not the only dominatrix this season as women are leading the plotting over and under the radar on both tribes. This week also saw a successful tie-breaker but what was the vital flaw in its execution, and where does an anticipated tribal swap leave everybody's game?
The recap reminded us that the Fans’ camp was filled with disorder. The only thing coming together was the couples’ alliance. The Favorites had a clear division: Phillip’s alliance, Stealth-R-Us, was calling the shots, leaving Brandon, Erik and Brenda on the outside, looking in. Brandon: “He is treating people like garbage and I don’t like that… Inspector Gadget thought he could pull his special agent tricks but you don’t want to fight with me.”
It's like the headline reads, but with a bleeped-out expletive and italics for emphasis: there are too many f***ing people on Survivor Caramoan.
Join me below in The Wiggle Room and we'll discuss further.
---
"WAIT, WHO IS JULIA?"
We need to talk about the people we weren’t talking about, the castaways who weren’t getting confessionals, the players who are out there for just as many hours as the rest of ‘em, only they’re not getting camera time. In Book VII of The Republic, ancient Greek philosopher Plato imagines a conversation between his brother Glaucon and his teacher Socrates which outlines an analogy for human existence: Most of us are chained in a cave while shadows – cast by objects moving in front of the fire of “truth” – move on the blank wall in front of us. We can’t directly witness reality; all we can see are the flickering images of truth distorted by the process of projection. Only a philosopher, freed from her shackles, is able to perceive truth by looking right into the heart of the fire.
This week we see that the social game on both tribes has not so much cracks but gaping fissures. What's wrong with Bikal besides Brandon, who's playing the best game on Gota, and when did we start failing the Bechdel Test? The lesson we should be taking away from this week's episode of Survivor is that the social game is harder than you think it is.
In his recap, Jeff told us the Favorites wanted to show the Fans who was boss. While the favorites felt right at home… <Phillip: “This is going to be a good game.”> …the fans struggled to adapt. They had no fire, couldn’t co-exist and alliances began to pull them apart. <After Reynold enumerated the members […]
Well, Loyal Blog Readers, we’ve made it through another action-packed episode of Survivor: Caramoan. Brandon freaked out! (For thirty seconds.) Dawn cried! (Alone in the jungle in the middle of the night where no one could see or hear her.) Brenda gave a confessional! Ahhhhh, just kidding, I was just seeing if you were paying […]
As The Contrarian, I am going to use this Baker’s Dozen to disagree with a fair number of the post-premiere prevailing opinions as well as make arguments which you’ll be inclined to dismiss out of hand. I promise you, though, that my opinions and observations are not as foolish as they might at first seem…
This column takes a different approach than the typical Survivor column. Michael Trudeau looks at the clues given to us by the Survivor editors each week and tries to decipher where the stories of each character are headed. The show opened with Jeff’s mention of the stunning paradise and the dangerous wilderness while was saw […]
All kinds of numbers have been thrown around this week, but the magic one is two, as a few players get the swing vote right. A new season of Survivor has started, and that means every week, I will be pounding away at my keyboard, analyzing to excess just what each contestant is doing out […]
