Survivor: Kaoh Rong - Episode One
So our latest treat from Mark, Jeff and friends is another tale of Brains, Brawn and Beauty, though some of these castmates seem miscast in their tribes. I thought it was a very strong start and there are some great players in this group. I liked it a lot.
I love that we seem to always get a 90-minute premiere now. Its so much better than a 60 minute, where you barely get to know the castaways. I also loved that they started on a boat again and had to do the rush to gather supplies.
So our castaways are in 3 tribes based on their beauty, brains or brawn.
The Brawn Tribe is made up of Scot, Jason, Cydney, Darnell, Jenny and Alecia. Alecia seems like she is more fit for the beauty tribe than the brawn tribe and Darnell seems a little bit thin and no where near buff enough to be a brawny guy, but whatever. Scot and Jason are clearly the muscle, but neither seems too bright at this point. Cydney is a body builder, but seems to have a brain. Jenny, other than a problem with bugs in her ear, seems the most well rounded. Scot said it best, "We're not beautiful, we're not smart, but we're strong."
The Brain Tribe is an odd bunch. Deb is the most talkative, which will be her downfall. She is a chemist who according to her, can do anything. Peter is an ER doc who look slike President Obama. Neal may not fit the brain category, but he runs an ice cream company and seems to be a student of the game. Aubry and Liz have not really pushed themselves into any confrontiations yet or demonstrative behavior. Both are younger, fit and seem social, which will help them. Joe looks like the most fit on the tiribe and is a former FBI Agent, but since he is older, he seems already on the outs of the youngins.
Then there is the Beauty Tribe. they are all good looking, or are they? Anna is a gorgeous pro poker player, Julia a sexy 19 year old student and Michele (the token bartender) all form a close young hot girl group. Nick is the model/personal trainer who looks carved out of rock and his hair manages to stay perfect all episode. Caleb "Beast-Mode-Cowboy" from big brother is more of a brawny guy than beauty, but he certainly will rock the physical aspects of the game . Then there is the odd choice. Tai, who is awesom. He is a gay, 51-year-old, Vietnamese gardener. He seems smart, wants to play, but is clearly the odd one out here.
The big things of the episode happen in camp brawn, Alecia has no strength and does nothing at camp, and Darnell poops in teh water. Jenny gets a small bug/worm in her left ear and it burrows deeper and deeper into her ear canal. This caused excruciating pain and bleeding from the ear. Luckily for her, the others were able to spot it and kill it. Hopefully it did not due any real damage.
At the brain camp, the only real happening was Aubry got dehydrated and freaked out. Despite her freak out, the young ones still want to pick off the only one on the tribe with any musckes and Deb, because they are old.
At cap hotties, Julia recognizes Caleb from Big Brother, but Caleb is not hiding it and tells everyone about it. Tai gets some hell because he searches for an idol. I will never understand why this is bad. Everyone should do it.
The IC/RC was a tough on. out in a boat, you start by diving down to retrieve four paddles, then paddle ashore and push the boat onto a docking staion, then convert it to a cart with wheels, push it onto the beach and up to another station, then select wither a physical challenge to balance on a beam while stacking things, or do a puzzel. Brawn started well, but Darnell lost the diving mask while diving for the paddles. this cost brawn a lot of time and they fell behind. But, they made up the time and were back in it at the end. The brains dominated, getting to shore first, getting to the second station first and doing the puzzel first. They got a ton of fire stuff and immunity. It came down to the hotties and the muscleheads, with the hotties winning.
I will say, despite Darnell losing the mask, it was clear the the most useless person was Alecia. She could not help pull the boat at all, could not do the puzzel and was a waste. After the loss it was either her or darnell.
I do not understnad why they got rid of Darnell. He was a strong physical player who made a mistake, but made up for it later by pushing and pulling the boat and racing up the beach. Jason and Cydney voted to keep him at first. At tribal, Alecia was openly talking about wanting to make moves and being coy about whether she had an idol, which I get was her best chance, but hwhy keep someone like her. The big guys were essentially telling Darnell and Alecia they are on the bottom of the tribe. why do this. You know there will be a merge and maybe a switch. Why do this at all. Terribly played by the strong but dumb group. I think this will cost them a lot later on. So we did have a tie for the first vote, which was cool. 3-3 to vote each of them out, but on the revote it was Darnell.
Good start. Hope it keeps building.
= new reply since forum marked as read
one of these things is not like the other...
We gave up on Survivor last season, and we survived. ha ha We like the Amazing Race better. Survivor just does WAY TO MUCH TALKING, we love all the tasks the folks on Race have to do. I know apples to oranges, and it's JMHO. 
