Culturally Preconditioned

Whoa. It’s been two weeks since my last Survivor update. I blame Malaysian Idol. LOL. To tell you the truth, I only managed to catch last week’s episode of Survivor (the Brady boot) an hour before the new episode started tonight. I had downloaded the episode last weekend but was too caught up with work (I finally finished the Top 10 Serial Killers article. Phew!)

The producers must’ve been toasting champagne when the earthquake happened. How often do you see that on reality shows? Almost never, right? Other than that, I have been waiting for a tribal switch to happen, and thankfully it did. How the switch was done was pretty much Thailand style.. by choosing a chief from each tribe. It was an interesting twist to let one chief divide the castaways, while the other decides who gets which tribe.

So.. introducing the new tribes :

Episode 5 : Castaways Impressions

Yassur Tribe

Ami - Nice. Now we get to see the lesbian claws come out. LOL. Ami proved to be athletic despite losing out to Chris in the diving challenge (Flashback to week one’s herring quote : “I’m not used to coming second behind a man” - she just did. I got major goosebumps cause I have both Ami and Chris pegged as the Final Two). And despite nominating Scout as the chief, it’s kinda clear that she’s a leader too. It is also getting more obvious that she is the only one really playing the game from the Yasur tribe. She was right to question Bubba on his actions at the Immunity Challenge. If Ami doesn’t make it to at least Final Four, I’m gonna quit watching Survivor.

Eliza - Seriously, I hate Eliza with a passion. with her overly exaggerated facial expressions (particularly, the shocked big round eye look) and annoying bimbo talk. STFU already! She’s just pissed she’s not on the other team so that she can flirt with the boys. And her talk about not wanting to get rid of the boys? Stupid move. If anything, that goes to prove to Scout and Lisa (and whoever was there at the time) that Eliza is not that happy with an all girls alliance. She needs to go.

Leann - Again, not much of Leann this episode. I do, however, loved it when the earthquake happened during one of her confessionals. That can NOT be rehearsed. LOL. I don’t know if we’re ever gonna get a storyline out of Leann. In her first tribal council, Jeff pointed out that she might be a target because she’s too UTR. I wonder if she’s doing anything about it.

Lisa - Lisa’s facetime had a significant growth in last episode’s and this episode. This might not make me popular, but I kinda like Lisa. She had remained very positive for the last two episodes. People say that her pleasantries are fake, but genuine or not, the jury’s still out on that. I hope she will, at least, outlast the fricking chatterbox.

Rory - ROry’s theme? “There’s magic on Vanuatu”. We have not seen anything really positive from this guy. He’s a sourpuss, terrible in the challenges and his social skills are highly questionable. And on top of that, Jeff have been quite snarky with Rory personally (in last week’s Tribal Council, as well as during and after this week’s Immunity Challenge). And yet, he still is in the game. I’m at a loss for words.

Travis - What a dumbass country hick. Fricking doofus. I’m not mad he’s screwed his chance in the game, I’m just pissed that he might’ve screwed Chris’ chance to by planting seeds of doubt with the Yasur after his idiotic signalling at the Immunity Challenge. Hell, it wasn’t even signalling. He didn’t even mouth it. It was clearly audible that he said it out loud to Chris : “Think about the merge”. I mean, how mind numbingly stupid can you get? I know CBS only takes A type personalities for this show, but did they ditch the IQ test or something? To quote my favourite Survivor contestant, Shii Ann : “Stupid People. Stupid, stupid people”. Idiot. As much as I didn’t like MamaKim from Africa, she at least was smart enough to give SUBTLE hints to Kelly at the Immunity Challenge (she signalled the L sign to indicate Lindsey had prior votes in case of a 3-3 tie at the new Samburu). I mean.. wow. People like this shouldn’t be allowed to play this game. That spot was totally wasted on him. Colourful hillbilly my ass. Go back to your farm and milk the cow or sumthin. Imagine, if he didn’t do that utterly stupid thing, Rory would’ve been gone by now. Idiot.

Lopevi Tribe

Chad - We get to hear more from Chad on his approach to the game in last week’s Tribal Council. And he wasn’t too bad with the diving challenges too (I kept looking out for shots of him swimming in the water cause I was curious to see what his prosthetic leg would look like in the water). I also noticed he’s gotten a bit chummy with Julie after the switch. Not sure if that amounts up to anything though.

Chris - I dont think there was a strategic confessional from Chris this week. He did however pulled one for his team when he got the final marker for the Reward Challange. (The Ami vs Chris, along with Ami’s quote is totally giving me goosebumps. Please let them be the Final Two). He looked comfortable to be around Twila. I’m not sure how his chances will be with the rest of the Yasur women now, after that stupid hick pulled the idiotic move. How will the women perceive him?

John K - John K proved to the tribe that he’s not all talk (about being athletic and stuff) but he really does have what it takes. I think it was a bit naive of him to think that the core men’s alliance’s is gone though, but I think his chances are good if he sides with the girls soon.

Julie - We should rename Julie to Who?lie. Why do native americans speak so little on camera? Julie = Darrah version 2.0 I’m not sure what her chances are in this tribe now. I think she’s the most vulnerable member, but we see from the previews next week (well, not if you watch ntv7, that is) that she might use her wiles and charms to get in favour with the men. But will it work?

Lea - Lea is totally getting a Deena edit. He may seem like he’s the leader and in control of everything at the moment, but I smell mutiny on the horizon. Lea will not make it to the Final 4 (or even Final 6 if he’s lucky).

Twila - Okay, I’m gonna eat my words here. So, Twila CAN indeed go along fine with the men. My bad. She does seem like she has softened up a bit since Mia’s departure. But I think her storyline is over. Her biggest story arc, in my opinion, is about work ethics and that has been dealt and done with. If she makes it to the merge, she’ll be an early jury.

Predictions : Brain/Heart/Gut

Brain : If Yasur loses, Rory takes the walk of shame. If Lopevi loses, I dont think they will boot off the women. After seeing Travis voted off, it’s clear that the women are still sticking to the original alliance. And if they’re talking about the numbers game, the men are now on the losing side. It would be in their best interest to prove to Yasur that the old alliance doesn’t exist anymore (in hoping get on the positive side with the ladies) by voting one of their own out, which will be John K.

Heart : Eliza (and Rory as my secondary choice)

Gut : Eliza

Stickies for the Fifth Episode :

(will add the stickies later tomorrow)