Survivor 9.5

Keeping with the theme of TV-related (list) posts, here's my current feelings on Survivor.

Survivor: Vanuatu has not been as exciting as All-Stars. I didn't watch the seasons inbetween Australia and All-Stars, so I can't say whether or not the franchise went steadily downhill or whether this one is just a snoozer. It's not terrible (and it still entertains me) and maybe we'll see more game play now that the men and women's tribes have been shaken up, but so far, it hasn't been that compelling. (Not sure what I'm going to do once The O.C. goes on in the same spot - I only have one VCR and that's yoga time, so more than likely I'll tape The O.C. But I'll still watch Survivor - what's great is that they have so many clips online.)

Going into this episode, I liked the women's tribe (Yasur) a lot more than the men's tribe (Lopevi). The men were annoying. There was a clear split in the voting: the (sometimes) younger, good looking, built guys v. the old fat guys. The alliance of 5 old fat guys just started picking off the younger guys for no other reason I thought than that they were good-looking and would be individual immunity threats later on. The women had a better team, seemed like they were playing the game a little more, and are definitely not as annoying and cringe-inducing as the women on The Apprentice. It's exactly the opposite of The Apprentice, where I'm rooting for the men's team every week. (Although their corporate shake-up I think comes next week...)

So the teams are split up, and despite attempts to keep them "equal", end up with one tribe that only has 2 women (Lopevi: Julie and Twila) and one tribe that only has 2 guys (Yasur: Bubba and Rory). This makes the minorities easy targets, and sure enough, one of them goes. Not that I minded though, because Bubba was getting on my nerves and he did something really stupid by trying to signal to the other team at immunity. That's just jeopardizing your survival in the game and really dumb. "Caught with your hand in the cookie jar?" Yeah, I think so. What, did you think they wouldn't notice you saying "merge"?

So here's who I like and who I don't... Those in parentheses are already voted out. (I'm including them because I'm never written a Survivor post before.)

Like: Ami, (Brady), Chad, Eliza, John K, Julie, Leann, Scout

Meh: (Brook), (Dolly), (John P), Rory, Twila

Don't Really Like: Chris, Lea/Sarge, Lisa, (Mia), Travis/Bubba

Let's see who gets kicked out next week and how much impact Scout's team-splitting decisions make in the long run.