Survivor
Well this season of Survivor ended last night. Overall I would say that it was one of the most interesting / exciting seasons so far due to all the twists and turns. They medicals and the resignations made it interesting too. Even though I disagreed with the overall winner it was fun too watch.
Bottom line, for me, Amanda should have won. She out played, out witted, out lasted, and out survived them all, but Parvitti won one the backs of girl power. Amanda’s success is even more impressive when you think that she (and James) did back to back Survivors.
Pavaritti;s win really surprised me as I never really saw Parv’s game as being much more then cheat and double deal all you can. I figuired that would bite her in the end. I guess that is really what the jury respected though. Cerei was a weak player overall, shocked she got to final three. Erik said the most by saying that he went as far as he could without betraying himself. Natalie…well that is just one crazy crazy chic.
I think the outcome would have been a different game without Penner’s and Jame’s medicals. Penner would have broken up girl power mid game and James would have won at least one more immunity. If and but’s though in the end, and stuff like that makes Survivor survivor.
It will be interesting to see how Gabon goes. I hope Amanda and Ozzy are happy too.
“Cerei was a weak player overall, shocked she got to final three.”
Sorry, but I just can’t let that one slide. After 16 seasons, how can the significance of the “outwit” portion of “outwit, outlast, outplay” still be so undervalued? Cirie Fields was one of the smartest players to ever appear on Survivor - hands down. This game ain’t just about catching fish and winning rewards. It’s about deft social navigation in the face of daunting wilderness extremes. While not a physical threat by any stretch of the imagination, Cirie’s expertise lied in her ingenious ability to manipulate the flow of the game in a manner that kept her around week after week after week. Keep in mind - Cirie wasn’t voted out her first time on the show. She lost a fire-making tiebreaker and finished fourth. This time around, she darn near made the final two, and I guarantee you that if she had, she’d have talked nearly every single one of those jurors into giving her a million dollars.
Let’s give credit where credit is due, shall we? It was Cirie who recognized the danger of keeping a kindly, jury-friendly fellow like Yau-Man around for too long. As a critical early game swing vote, Cirie offered her support to the Ozzie/Amanda/James/Parvati power alliance ONLY if they’d vote out Yao-Man. The result? See ya later, Yao. And it was Cirie who recognized the endangered status of the physically weaker players on her team early in the game and thus convinced Ozzie and Amanda that Joel would be a powerful post-merge threat. The result? See ya later, Joel. It was Cirie who seized the opportunity to go behind the back of her alliance member, Amanda (more on her later), and trick Ozzie into thinking he could sit on his hidden immunity idol for a few weeks. The result? See ya later, Ozzie. And it was Cirie who came up with the idea that will go down as the most well-executed Jedi mind trick in the history of the show. The result? See ya later, Erik.
Bottom line, when Cirie wanted somebody gone, they were GONE. I absolutely LOVE those kind of Survivor players. Brains not brawn, baby. Survivor does a great job of casting their show with castaways who possess a wide variety of skill sets, and it’s up to those castaways to make the most of their talents and hope for a little bit of luck along the way. Sadly, Cirie’s physical limitations caught up with her and she couldn’t win the one immunity challenge she needed to win. Her memorable run came to an end just short of the finish line. In a way, she kinda reminds me of Dr. Will Kirby. Kirby was the winner of Big Brother 2, and finished in fourth place a couple years ago during Big Brother AllStars. Proving the theory that social elimination competitions like Survivor and Big Brother are 95% mental and 5% physical, Kirby went something like 0 for 48 in competitions during his two seasons on the show, yet he is generally regarded by many as the greatest reality tv show contestant of all time. Bottom line - if you’re clever, you don’t need an immunity necklace around your neck.
And back to Amanda for a sec - I completely disagree that Amanda outwitted her competition. Let’s face it - she was in the finals two seasons in a row and failed to convince the jurors she deserved the money both times! How does that happen? I’ll concede she did have three big accomplishments this year. Specifically, unleashing hidden immunity at the last second ensuring Alexis’ elimination, playing her part perfectly during Erik’s unfortunate ambush, and winning the final immunity challenges. Aside from that, she merely rode the coattails of her alliance members, and I think the jurors felt the same. Like Cirie said, “It all depends on how good you are with this (one’s mouth) right here.”
Comment by
Hermann the Malevolent — 5/17/2008 @ 1:51 pm