Falling Stars

Scott Hardie | February 20, 2004
More "Survivor: All-Stars" talk. Spoilers ahead.

When this series started, my favorite players were Rob C, Rupert, Tina, and Rudy, in that order. Wonderful how things have turned out in these first four episodes, isn't it?

Rudy at least deserved his departure after choosing bad allies. Rob was screwed from day one, when the three most annoying people on his tribe were also the strongest and most needed. There was no chance for him to ally against anyone. Boo hoo, sniff sniff.

Chapera is soon to disintegrate, with four hotheads clashing. I see them folding the same way the demoralized Drake did last season. Mogo Mogo isn't going to win every challenge, but I do expect Richard, Colby, and Lex to make it to the final four with a woman of their choosing, probably Shii Ann because she's still as gullible as she was in Thailand. That puts Colby in the final two (after he wins the last two immunities), and maybe this time he can pull off a victory. With Rob C gone, my new favorite player is Rupert... not that he has long left, himself.

I discovered a well-done Survivor comic series, updated three times a week.

Scott Hardie | February 25, 2004
What the fuck?! I sat down for a few minutes to have a snack and flip through channels. A six-second commercial came on for Survivor that announced the big twist this week. If this were Pearl Islands, the equivalent would have been: "The outcast players come back into the game! Survivor, CBS Thursday!" Thanks for ruining the surprise, network motherfuckers!

Scott Hardie | February 25, 2004
Sorry for the outburst. I'm still pissed off though. I have deprogrammed the CBS channel from my VCR so that it will no longer come up when I'm just surfing channels.

Lori Lancaster | February 26, 2004
[hidden by request]

Scott Hardie | February 27, 2004
Yep, the spoiler diminished my enjoyment... but not too badly. The big surprise was that Richard was unanimously ejected. I stated just a week ago that I had expected him to go all the way to the final four. When Saboga was disbanded, I figured Jerri to be a goner within Mogo Mogo, or Ethan at the very least. Too bad. I do believe that Rob C would still be around if the disbanding had occurred sooner (he would have gunned for Jenna like no tomorrow), but there's little point in playing "what if" with a game like this.

The other surprise was Richard's naked grinding of Susan during the challenge. It had been foreshadowed with those two parental warnings, but here I was thinking Rob and Amber were going to have sex. :-)

Richard's grinning arrogance was amusing when he was nearly guaranteed victory. When he was ejected, it looked ridiculous. Thus, it was a hoot to see him short-circuit with cockiness when the final vote was read: He couldn't stop embarrassing himself even in his final minute in the game. What an ass. The great theory that Richard Hatch's method of winning is the only right way to play was dependent on the fact that Richard won the first Survivor (which he nearly lost twice, recall). As an admirer of the nice-guy approach that served Tina and Ethan so well, I was glad to see Richard proven to be a washed-up loser like everybody else.

Prediction for next week's ejectee: Jerri if it's Mogo Mogo, Jenna if it's Chapera. I believe that Richard's ejection was an anomaly and that the core green and red members will stay loyal.