Monday, February 16, 2009
Survivor: Tocantins - 1801
I'm excited for the latest installment of Survivor to begin. It's now when we get to meet 16 new contestants - and ruthlessly pick apart their actions over 39 days on a national television stage. What could be better?
Starting off, they had a classic take all that you can carry in a minute exercise. Most of the time on these there isn't really that much stuff to take and so it becomes more about getting the right material for your tribe. I'd really like to see them have a truck loaded to the gills and give them 20 seconds to grab whatever they could. Then you'd see some real choices being made. As it was, I think the key things to grab are: 1. dried food (beans, rice) 2. water 3. camp equipment. I can't imagine that taking a watermelon is the best choice, especially since you have to carry it. Same goes for wood. Did they not see any trees around there? Timbira seemed to get everything good. Did Jalapao not understand the task?
The first twist came immediately. The had to vote someone off right away. I didn't like this version the first time they ran it on Palau. It just seems so unfair to get someone out there and they really don't even get in the game. Not surprisingly on first impressions they vote out a zebra and a thin girl. Luckily they weren't really out of the game but got to go to camp early. That was actually pretty interesting, since it throws a different dynamic in there right away. Sandy being so excited she didn't have to go on the forced march was really not a great plan, since she just put herself further on the outs with her tribe.
We had two very different strategies to deal with this event. Sandy decides she's going for the idol. In that quest, she whipped past Dan from Gabon as the worst idol finder ever. First, how does she not dig at the big stick pointing straight up in the air. Second, who doesn't know what a pace is? Or can't find the only palm tree? That's not exactly rocket science. Anyway, I think that in that situation you really have to get back to camp and put aside your anger and pick some manageable task to work on. That way when your tribe shows up, you can have something tangible and say "I did that for our tribe while you were on your way here." That's what Sierra did, and her tribe seemed to notice her effort. I think that will come back to help her.
Players who made an early impression:
The immunity challenge seemed pretty vanilla: racing down a course, pulling some puzzle pieces, and doing a two part puzzle. I didn't really think that it was too compelling. Of course, they're still playing for fire, which is critical at this stage in the game. We didn't see anyone even trying to make fire this season. It looked pretty tough running the course. I was surprised that once people finished they didn't go back to try and pick up their teammates' slack and get the team done.
Strategy Analysis
If you get voted off on the first episode you really don't have anyone to blame but yourself. By the first tribal alliances have not been set up, so you don't get votes split down coalition lines. There are 3 reasons people get voted off on the first episode: weakness, laziness, annoyingness. There's not really much you can do about being weak. The key is really to make sure you're not lazy or annoying (especially bossy). This vote came down to one question. Does Sandy's annoyingness and laziness (not helping out immediately) overwhelm Carolina's bossiness? They are different - Sandy seems to just not click with people, while Carolina calls them out - not a good plan.
My Prediction
Sandy. She still seems like she annoys people in the tribe and spending time on your own looking for the idol isn't really going to help your case at all. Of course I'm wrong once again, way to get this season off to a great start.
Season total: 0-1 (.000)
Spell Check
Right: 4
Wrong: 4 (Caralina 2, Caroline, Caraleena)
Other: 0
Season total: 4-4-0 (.500)
Quick hit thoughts
Starting off, they had a classic take all that you can carry in a minute exercise. Most of the time on these there isn't really that much stuff to take and so it becomes more about getting the right material for your tribe. I'd really like to see them have a truck loaded to the gills and give them 20 seconds to grab whatever they could. Then you'd see some real choices being made. As it was, I think the key things to grab are: 1. dried food (beans, rice) 2. water 3. camp equipment. I can't imagine that taking a watermelon is the best choice, especially since you have to carry it. Same goes for wood. Did they not see any trees around there? Timbira seemed to get everything good. Did Jalapao not understand the task?
The first twist came immediately. The had to vote someone off right away. I didn't like this version the first time they ran it on Palau. It just seems so unfair to get someone out there and they really don't even get in the game. Not surprisingly on first impressions they vote out a zebra and a thin girl. Luckily they weren't really out of the game but got to go to camp early. That was actually pretty interesting, since it throws a different dynamic in there right away. Sandy being so excited she didn't have to go on the forced march was really not a great plan, since she just put herself further on the outs with her tribe.
We had two very different strategies to deal with this event. Sandy decides she's going for the idol. In that quest, she whipped past Dan from Gabon as the worst idol finder ever. First, how does she not dig at the big stick pointing straight up in the air. Second, who doesn't know what a pace is? Or can't find the only palm tree? That's not exactly rocket science. Anyway, I think that in that situation you really have to get back to camp and put aside your anger and pick some manageable task to work on. That way when your tribe shows up, you can have something tangible and say "I did that for our tribe while you were on your way here." That's what Sierra did, and her tribe seemed to notice her effort. I think that will come back to help her.
Players who made an early impression:
- I like Jerry's philosophy of not telling people he was army or giving orders
- Coach is not going to win - you can't choose your opponents like a samurai and try to do everything as honorably as possible.
- Tyson is a riot. Always a great idea to get naked ASAP. And "man tiara" is just gold
- Erinn is definitely going to skew the spell check total . . . unless she wins
The immunity challenge seemed pretty vanilla: racing down a course, pulling some puzzle pieces, and doing a two part puzzle. I didn't really think that it was too compelling. Of course, they're still playing for fire, which is critical at this stage in the game. We didn't see anyone even trying to make fire this season. It looked pretty tough running the course. I was surprised that once people finished they didn't go back to try and pick up their teammates' slack and get the team done.
Strategy Analysis
If you get voted off on the first episode you really don't have anyone to blame but yourself. By the first tribal alliances have not been set up, so you don't get votes split down coalition lines. There are 3 reasons people get voted off on the first episode: weakness, laziness, annoyingness. There's not really much you can do about being weak. The key is really to make sure you're not lazy or annoying (especially bossy). This vote came down to one question. Does Sandy's annoyingness and laziness (not helping out immediately) overwhelm Carolina's bossiness? They are different - Sandy seems to just not click with people, while Carolina calls them out - not a good plan.
My Prediction
Sandy. She still seems like she annoys people in the tribe and spending time on your own looking for the idol isn't really going to help your case at all. Of course I'm wrong once again, way to get this season off to a great start.
Season total: 0-1 (.000)
Spell Check
Right: 4
Wrong: 4 (Caralina 2, Caroline, Caraleena)
Other: 0
Season total: 4-4-0 (.500)
Quick hit thoughts
- I don't like that they give the losing tribe fire after tribal, but if it's 120F out there they really need to give them some water.
- Seriously, who doesn't know what a pace is?
- It sucks that one guy's pants were totally ripped up on Day 1
- I'm sure that I'm not the only man in American who was very upset to Carolina and her two friends voted off on the very first show.
Labels: cleavage, fake-out, Tocantins
# posted by Andy Hejl @ 5:54 PM 
Comments:
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- Carolina has friends? Oh, not that kind of friends.
- Missed opportunity for the camera crew: How priceless would a wide-angle shot of Sandy randomly digging only "paces" away from the gigantic stick have been? Seriously, where do they find these people?
- I second your endorsement of Tyson. That guy is awesome. Because he's a professional cyclist, I give him the leg up for most physical challenges (but only b/c Survivor doesn't test for EPO).
- Could this be the hottest Survivor ever? No, not in terms of Carolina's friends, but rather temperature. 110 F? 120 F? People are going to wilt all season long.
- Lastly, I saw a man at Corner Bakery yesterday reading from a binder entitled "How to become a Samurai." And no, it was not Coach.
- Missed opportunity for the camera crew: How priceless would a wide-angle shot of Sandy randomly digging only "paces" away from the gigantic stick have been? Seriously, where do they find these people?
- I second your endorsement of Tyson. That guy is awesome. Because he's a professional cyclist, I give him the leg up for most physical challenges (but only b/c Survivor doesn't test for EPO).
- Could this be the hottest Survivor ever? No, not in terms of Carolina's friends, but rather temperature. 110 F? 120 F? People are going to wilt all season long.
- Lastly, I saw a man at Corner Bakery yesterday reading from a binder entitled "How to become a Samurai." And no, it was not Coach.
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