Survivor
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After checking in with the yellow tribe (yay!
I dont have to remember their names anymore!
When everyone arrives, Tiyana sees a signpost and tells everyone they need to come read it.
It says, Tomorrow you will compete in a grueling challenge to decide who makes the merge.
Hidden somewhere is an advantage to help.
Be the first to find it.
Im expecting everyone to go full-on Walmart on Black Friday morning or another episode ofIdol-Hunting With Jeffrey Lee Probst.
While there is an initial melee, the players decide theyre not that fussed about the advantage after all.
Even the players joke about how Jeff is going to be disappointed in them.
They know that producers want the drama, but they want something calmer, nicer, and more humane.
They want to play, dare I say it, old-schoolSurvivor.
Genevieve, meanwhile, cant stop thinking about it and finally swims out to look at it.
She finds the advantage, and everyone seems relieved that they can take the rest of the day off.
The challenge is where the producers start correcting the sins of the past.
What I hated about earning the merge in the past few seasons is that it came down to luck.
Are you picked on a good team or not?
When the tribe arrives, Jeff says, Welcome to the individual portion of the game.
How individual is that?
Jeff says this time the challenge will work differently.
The players are making decisions.
Then Jeff says the teams are just competing to get to the second half of the challenge.
The winning team will then compete individually so thatoneperson gets immunity and makes the merge first.
Genevieves advantage is that she gets to skip the team part and goes right to the final challenge.
I love all of this.
You know I hate to say it, but good job, Probst.
On one side are Sam and Kyle.
Theyre talking to each other; theyre going slow and carefully; theyre forming a bond.
Theyre not trying to maneuver around the holes; theyre trying to jump right over them.
This is really a metaphor for the two types of play were seeing in the new era.
Sam and Kyle are finessing it, building connection, making their way slowly but steadily.
Rome is especially bad at everything.
Even his old allies at Lavo (damn it, I do remember!)
are ready to get rid of him because hes so erratic and cant be trusted.
Remember when he didnt get one piece of the puzzle?
Remember when he and Gabe couldnt figure out they needed a softer touch at the maze?
If hes going to keep hogging the spotlight, then he needs the skills to back it up.
Rome must not survive!
Rome, clueless as ever, keeps giving confessional quotes about how great he is.
Jeff then offers for Rome to sit in his seat, and I audibly retched.
Ah, doy, Rome.
Thats exactly the point.
We figured that part out.
This season has been all about throwing away rewards.
Two out of three of the Beware Advantage!
finders took the one-tribal idol.
The people with the amulets dont want them.
Those with Steal a Vote have already used them.
Rome goes home and is absolutely birdbrained until the end.
This is what I mean about his style of play.
Its unnecessarily ornate and involves too many moves and too many fireworks.
Im glad it eventually fizzled.
Oh, sweet Fijian Jesus, that means hes totallycoming back forSurvivor 50, doesnt it?
