Idol Speculation: “Survivor 46” Episode 11: Too Cute

Look, I’m gonna try not to be too harsh here.  An idol is a big secret to keep, and I can only imagine the temptation to spill the beans is enormous.  But really, Venus?  Really?  You couldn’t resist the coy hints for just a few extra hours?  Hell, you were one of the few people this season who actually TRIED to keep a lid on their idol for a bit.  Disappointing, man.  Just disappointing.  

Before we get into the disappointment that is this episode overall, let’s talk about last one, which is still a highlight of the season.  Despite that, however, it is not immune from another edition of…

MATT’S MESS-UP!

There was just too much fun stuff to talk about last episode, and a few points I wanted to make kind of fell through the cracks.  Going out of chronological order here, I neglected to mention one point about Charlie’s win.  The last immunity challenge focussed on grip strength, and Charlie admits that he’s been training on grip strength for two years.  Honestly?  Good for him.  Be prepared for a bunch of people to say they need to phase out these challenges because people are preparing for them, though.  I kid, I kid.  

The second point I’ll bring up, albeit one from earlier in the episode, is that pretty much everyone, outside Maria, dismisses Q’s game, saying that he’s “checked out” or “given up”, usually accompanied by shots of him lying down on a dinghy on the beach.  I get why they have that perception, and I won’t say Q’s game has been exactly stellar up until this point, but I do think this is selling him a bit short.  With how much he got himself in the dog house socially over the last few episodes, him lying low is more of a strategic move than him not wanting to be there or anything.  

I bring this up because, now that Q seems to have at least a bit of say in how the game goes again, the morose spot on the dinghy is now vacant.  It is quickly filled by Kenzie, who notes this is the first time she’s been out of the loop on a vote, and does not take it well.  Charlie does his best to console her, but even out of confessional, Kenzie gets a bit emotional, asking over and over why no one thought they could tell her.  Gee, Kenzie, you think it may have to do with them proposing doing the move and you backing out?  Think that might have given off the wrong impression?  Look, Kenzie is hardly the WORST post-Tribal reaction I’ve yet seen, but she still comes off a bit entitled, and “giving up”, at least to the same extent Q is.  

Man, everyone is obsessed with people stealing “their moves” this season.  Case in point, Maria is now taking credit for getting out Tiffany.  Something I might warn her against doing given what happened to Emily in this exact same episode of “Survivor 45”, but Maria hasn’t seen that season, so I’ll let it slide.  Still, as with Emily, this gets into some people’s heads.  Specifically Venus, who correctly notes that Maria has been a stealth threat, growing more and more powerful as the game goes on.  Say what you will about Venus, but she has been the one this season most consistent in sussing out threats, and trying to get people to target them.  

The flaw in Venus’ game is no one takes her seriously.  She speaks the truth, but others do not listen.  Case in point, she goes to console Kenzie on the misery dinghy, but Kenzie is too caught up in said misery to do much of anything about it.  Must be really frustrating for Venus.  

Morning brings with it an idol hunt, with Q kicking things off.  Hunter was a bit of a question mark, but Tiffany’s idol was basically public knowledge at this point.  As such, one by one, everyone goes off and starts looking.  I applaud pretty much all of this cast for looking through with sticks rather than their hands.  Venus is our narrator for this segment, and notes that she has an advantage, since she knows where players like Randen and Tiffany found theirs, giving her some idea of what to look for.  This logic bears out, and Venus finds the idol under a rock.  Furthering her good play here, she resolves to tell no one (probably a wise decision, given what’s happened to every other idol holder who told people this season), and even participates in the idol hunt longer than she needs to, in order to keep up appearances.  All smart decision-making, though I do think she’s a bit too militant about it.  Reading the idol note takes like two minutes, Venus.  You can probably do that somewhere private without arousing suspicion.  

With the idol found, that leaves the rest of the day to discuss strategy…JUST KIDDING, MORE IDOL HUNTING!  This time in pairs, however, so it’s totally different!  Kenzie and Venus end up teaming up, and here we see that Venus’ perception as a “princess” may have some advantages she’s not considering.  Specifically, while Venus does try to keep up the perception of her needing to idol hunt, and pokes around a bit, she’s half-assing it, particularly when compared to Kenzie.  Kenzie DOES take notice of this, bur rather than become suspicious that Venus may have an idol, she chalks it up to Venus just not being that into the game.  I get that it’s not exactly a nice label, Venus, but you have to admit, it has its upside.  

My earlier snark aside, we do eventually get strategy talk.  Shock of all shocks, people are still mad at Q!  Despite Maria suggesting that the five who voted together should make up the final five, Liz in particular is not on board with that, correctly surmising that she’s at the bottom of that alliance.  Still, if they’re going to move against that group, they need one more person to flip.  Given that he’s “Mr. Sociability” at this point, Charlie is the one they go for.  You’d think he’d be a bit reluctant, given how close he and Maria have been up until this point, but surprisingly, Charlie is actually relatively on board.  

And I doubt it’s because of Kenzie’s salesmanship.  I get calling Maria a threat at the end, since her star is rising.  But Q?  The guy who pretty much everyone still in the game aside from Maria HATES at this point?  The only way he’s threatening is possibly in challenges, and if you look at track record, CHARLIE’S arguably more threatening in that category.  The last few episodes, the narrative has been “Q is so awful”, the implication being that he’s kept around due to being a number with nowhere else to go, and an easy person to beat at the end.  Now suddenly he’s this big jury threat who needs to go ASAP.  These two things cannot be true at the same time.  Consistency in the narrative is all I ask, show.  

But back to Charlie.  No, his real reason for considering the alliance is that he notes that Q is more a number for Maria than anything, and that threatens his position, particularly given that Maria is one of the few people left Charlie isn’t guaranteed to beat in the end.  Honestly?  He’s correct here.  It’s certainly risky to break up the Siga 3, particularly when they’re the dominant alliance left, but then again, Q is at best the fourth of the Siga 3.  Yeah, Maria might be hurt if you blindside one of her numbers, but where’s she going to go, huh?  Venus sees her as a threat, so unless she can get Q and Kenzie to work together, her best option is to still work with you.  Yes, Q is a goat at the end at this point (despite Kenzie’s desperate sales pitch), but Charlie is one of the people left who needs to worry more about getting to the end than getting there with people he can beat.  As such, much better to leave yourself as the only option for everyone else.  

Off to our challenge, and despite it mostly being a generic obstacle course, the ending is quite a fun one.  The first part is “Make your way over obstacles while holding a ball on a long pole”, as first seen on “Survivor Blood vs. Water”, which is pretty played out at this point.  But the ending takes the “Snake Maze” we’ve seen so much of before, and puts a twist on it.  Rather than moving the maze, and navigating a ball around holes, players put a ball on a disk on a stick, and must move that to goals around RAISED bumps, basically inverting the original concept.  Kind of a cool shake-up, and while the challenge as a whole is still just ok, I’ll take it at this point.  

This challenge does prove to be a great equalizer.  Even Ben, who struggles the most on one leg of this challenge (another missed opportunity for “That does not rock”), makes it to the ending, and everyone even gets a ball in the first goal.  Venus and Maria end up being the most consistent, getting to the end multiple times, but it’s Maria who ekes out a win here.  Good thing Q was mentioned as a target just as much, if not more, than her, because otherwise this would be very boring!  

Maria also wins the right to bring people along to a pizza reward, which she… Does not handle well.  She states she wants it to be based on need for food rather than anything, and gives the reasons why basically everyone left could need it.  This ends up being a pretext to take Ben, which I don’t fault too much.  Decent ally, need to keep him close.  But then, rather than make a decision, she asks Q and Liz to do rock, paper, scissors.  Q wins, and so gets to go.  Frankly, this is a flat-out TERRIBLE choice.  Q has no options, and he just ate.  It looks bad, and you don’t need to shore up with him.  Liz, on the other hand, very publicly did not go on reward last time, and is someone you do need to make feel comfortable.  Might as well just take her; fewer questions asked.  Plus, making them do rock, paper, scissors makes you look wishy-washy, which is not a good look in a potential ally.  

A couple of asides concerning Liz, though: While I get that she’s hungry, I don’t see “I haven’t pooped in three weeks” as a good argument for eating pizza.  Last I checked, pizza was not a laxative.  Quite the opposite.  The second thing, mean as it is, is that I kind of love that Liz keeps begging for rewards and not getting them.  This is basically Rodney’s “Damn Birthday” 2.0 from “Survivor Worlds Apart”, and I got some good comedy mileage out of that, so happy to see it return.  

Anyways, back at camp, yeah, guess what, people are salty.  Liz in particular says that she’s “Not going to be quiet anymore.”  Because the woman who literally had a loud tantrum last episode has clearly been quiet up until now.  Liz then loses a lot of respect points from me for saying her allergies are due to bottling stuff up in her real life.  Not saying it’s healthy, but I’m pretty sure science says that’s not even remotely how allergies work.  While Charlie seems to waver a bit because Maria’s immune, he’s still quick to hop on the anti-Q train.  Q doesn’t receive all the vitriol, however.  Maria’s decision making, or lack thereof, has also turned several people off.  

One of those people, funnily enough, is Q.  We see him, Ben, and Maria shore up their agreement on reward (with pizza that looks surprisingly appetizing by “Survivor” standards), but Q admits that, while he’s happy Maria brought him, even HE thinks that was a bad move.  As the other group says, he’s still full of Applebee’s from last episode.  He doesn’t exactly need to eat.  Q’s not gonna complain about extra nutrients, though, and why should he?

The kvetching continues once those on reward return to camp.  True to her promise, Liz continues to complain about how she does not like Q, WHILE Q IS LITERALLY RIGHT BEHIND HER!  Seriously, you can’t write this stuff!  

To her credit, Maria does at this point realize her mistake in not taking Liz, and at least talks to her about things.  No word on how much Liz forgives her, but for now, I don’t see this upending the “Vote out Q” plan.  

All this is good for Charlie, who’s now even more firmly in favor of getting out Q, which compared to Venus (the other group’s plan), is probably the smart move.  Look, Charlie is right that he probably needs to strike out from Maria at some point, or at least lower her numbers.  Without an idol, this is basically his last chance to do it.  Q is not a number for you, and there’s many more people you can beat at the end aside from him!  Venus’ idol is about the only reason to consider taking her out, and even then, it seems more useful as a tool for you than a thing to be flushed.  

Speaking of Venus’ idol, Venus tells us she’s not going to play it tonight, since everyone seems so set on Q.  Because that worked out so well for Venus.  And Hunter.  And Jem.  Ok, the latter two didn’t have Q as an alternate target, but the point still stands, you’d think Venus would learn from history!  Still, unlike the former two, she hasn’t gone telling everyone about her idol yet.  And to be fair, she never does.  But she just CAN’T stop herself from coyly hinting about it to Charlie, while saying she’ll tell him after the vote.  Understandably, this makes Charlie incredibly suspicious.  Dammit, Venus, all you had to do was keep your mouth shut for a few extra hours, and you could have been fine.  Was that REALLY so hard?

With this new information, Charlie wavers a bit.  As a counterpoint, however, he worries if keeping Q will tar him with the same brush, and ruin his chances at the end.  As I made clear two paragraphs ago, getting rid of Q is probably the correct move here, but that’s not a reason to do so.  Just keeping around the guy people dislike is not going to affect your chances at the end.  The very fact that you’ve made clear a willingness to get rid of him means something at the end.  As Adam Klein demonstrated on “Survivor Millennials vs. Gen-X”, merely talking about voting out someone earns you credit for doing so, even if you were at best a minor factor when it comes to actually getting the vote out.  

Before we head off to Tribal, a quick shout-out to Charlie’s lack of a poker face when insisting to Maria that he’s 100% on board for voting off Venus.  Maria must really not be paying attention to not see the hesitation in him.  Though even people who look at Charlie read him wrong.  When he informs Kenzie that he and Ben are scared of voting Q, she chalks it up to them being worried about the men losing numbers, which if that is a consideration, we haven’t seen it.  More Venus messing things up than anything, if the vote goes against her.  

Tribal Council tonight tries to live up to the epicness of some of the previous ones, and just fails miserably.  Probst brings out the cushion and food, there’s an argument involving Q, but none of it has the same flare as previous iterations.  Tiffany was just too good, I guess.  

I suppose I should detail that argument a bit, though.  Basically, Venus reads Maria the riot act about not making a decision.  Maria shoots back that she’d like to see Venus in that slot, and understand the pressure.  Venus states that she would have been a lot more decisive.  Point to Venus here.  Maria was pretty wishy-washy in that moment, and for all of Venus’ faults, she is decisive.  

Q, however, takes this as Venus being salty she didn’t go on the reward, and notes that Maria had no obligation to take Venus, since Venus would not have taken her.  Venus denies this, but I have to go with Q here.  Maria DOES have no obligation to take Venus, and given how firmly Venus has been against Maria, I think one can be pretty confident in saying that she wouldn’t have taken her.  About the worst that can be said about Q here is that his point wasn’t really relevant to the argument at hand, but in a vacuum, he is right.  Q then rubs salt in the wound further by saying that Venus is untrustworthy (somewhat fair), and was out of the loop last vote (very fair).  Venus retorts that Q was out on the last three votes, which I have to disagree with.  True, he was left out of the Hunter vote, but the other ones he was aware of, but had no power to influence.  Still a mark against him, but not in the way Venus says.  

Speaking of Venus, as I mentioned at the top of this blog, she goes out here.  Probably the wrong strategic move, but I’m not sorry to see her go.  With the outside possibility that Q isn’t as disliked as presented so far, his character becomes a lot more intriguing, and he does bring the drama by being a perpetual target.  In contrast, Venus’ arc was basically just her having good reads on the game, but never being listened to.  Funny, but it gets old after a bit.  She’s not super-salty about leaving, but even her final words are underwhelming.  She tries to be inspiring towards women, which is a noble goal, but they sound so practiced they come across like a poor man’s version of Nick Stanbury’s final words from “Survivor Exile Island”.  Some people can pull that type of speech off, and some people can’t.  Venus is one of the “cant’s” in this case.  

As a quick aside, Ben cast a stray vote for Kenzie. Probably just to guard against a shot in the dark, which is reasonable strategy. However, my head canon is that Ben went up to the voting booth and just said “I’m voting for Kenzie because she does not rock.”

Sadly, this episode was kind of a letdown from the previous couple.  The drama just felt muted, though that might just be due to how over-the-top the last few have been.  Venus’ boot was predictable with the editing, particularly given this season’s penchant for blindsiding people with idols, and again, it just didn’t reach the heights this season has become known for.  Hopefully this is just a lull building into an epic last two episodes, though!

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.  

Survivor Retrospectives: Exile Island

Sorry for the one-day delay on this particular blog, but perhaps that’s due to the nature of this season.  Most seasons of “Survivor” are either well-loved, well-hated, or are a polarizing force amongst the fan base.  Exile Island, however, falls into a similar category with “Survivor Marquesas”, about seasons that divide people, but not strongly.  Some say it’s a closeted great, others, say it’s just “meh.”  So, where do I stand?  Well, if I just told you outright, there’d be no point to this blog, now would there?

But just to drag out the dramatic tension still further, a quick reminder that this blog does contain spoilers, and therefore should not be read in full unless you have either seen all of the Exile Island season, or simply don’t care if you know who wins.  If, however, you wish to know how watchable the season is without any spoilers, you can scroll to the bottom of the page, where I have prepared an “Abstract” section, that will cover the season in just such a way.

 

CAST

This, for me, is probably one of the weaker points of Exile Island, though it is by no means the worst part of Exile Island.  After all, the cast did give us a few standouts that are still talked about today.  Going from the time it was aired, probably the two most talked about contestants are also two of the people who made the final episode.  Specifically, I’m talking about almost polar opposites Terry Deitz and Cirie Fields.  Seriously, the debate over who was better divided nations.  Terry was someone the show had seen before in other forms: an ex-Army (or, in this case, Air Force) guy who was unbelievably strong, a leader of his tribe, taken out by a majority who wanted power for themselves.  Think Hunter Ellis (“Survivor Marquesas”), but with more success. Terry managed to survive by a combination of good politics on the tribal level, a string of immunities at the individual level, and a certain twist that I’ll naturally be saving for the “Twist” section.  Suffice to say, he was the Big Good Guy, of the season, the underdog trying to claw his way up after the Pagonging of his old La Mina Tribe.  Seen as a real threat by many, disliked by only a select few (such as Cirie), who could dare challenge this paragon of might, this spiritual successor to Rupert?  Why, an overweight, highly strategic woman who was so afraid of the outdoors that she was actually “afraid of leaves” of course!  In all seriousness, Cirie was the ultimate “Underdog” story of the season, even including Terry.  She started out as probably the most visibly unfit contestant ever on the show, had absolutely ZERO outdoor training, and was widly considered by many to be likely to be evacuated.  Instead, with a few clever moves on her part (which will, again, be covered in the “Twist” section), Cirie survived week by week, until, thanks to many of her new Casaya Tribe being unbelievably annoying, she’d worked herself effectively into the tribe’s political structure, was probably the biggest threat to win should she make the finals (save Terry), and even acquired a few outdoor skills along the way, managing to start fire with no matches by the end, and even catching the biggest fish of anyone out there.

So, if these characters divide nations, naturally I need to stand somewhere myself, and I do. Sorry Cirie, if you’re reading this, but I’m firmly in the Terry camp.  While I respect Cirie’s growth and development throughout the season, and acknowledge that strategically and socially, she was the best player out there (she originated the idea of the 3-2-1 split vote, and decisively won a challenge based upon likeability), the “afraid of leaves” thing turned me off to her in the beginning, and by the time she was really developing, Terry was well into his underdog story, and I just couldn’t resist.  Besides, with the odds stacked against Terry, he was going to be much more interesting week by week than Cirie once the merge came.  The audience loves an underdog, and while Cirie was one in the beginning, she and Terry kind of switched places (underdog and top of the tribe) come merge time.  On top of that, I’ve always had a bit a problem with how Cirie talked about her fellow castmates.  While there have been snarky and rude people before, and Cirie was by no means the worst of the lot (at that point, Jonny Fairplay of “Survivor Pearl Islands” would get that distinction), I felt that Cirie, talking to the cameras, was far too mean to her fellow contestants.  Again, Terry was not the saint I made him out to be, but he had a good story, a relatively good attitude (at least up until the final 4), and with the odds stacked against him, he was the main thing I tuned in to watch.  Also bear in mind that this, for me, was an early season of “Survivor”, and so I didn’t fully understand the social game yet.  I thought it was still only for hardcore survivalists, and so I thought Terry would have had it in the bag.  In hindsight, I appreciate Cirie’s social game, but still, if only for nostalgia, my support stays with Terry.

While these two were the main characters to come out of the season, they were by no means the only ones.  Most memorable by far is Shane Powers, the young-at-heart smoker who somehow ended up on the original “Older Men’s” Tribe, who went very insane trying to quit cold turkey THE DAY THE GAME STARTED.  This led to a lot of funny confessionals and moments, notably the creation of “Shane’s Thinking Seat”, and “Shane’s Blackberry”, the former of which was a stump, and the latter of which was a small hunk of wood.  Any debate or discussion about such things would guarantee an eruption from Shane, and an over-the-top argument.  I didn’t much like Shane when I first saw him, I’ll be honest.  My general disdain for all smokers at the time just prevented it.  However, he’s since grown on me since I’ve widened my horizons, and now I find him funny.  Also of note is Shane’s arch-nemesis on the show, Danielle DiLorenzo, whom Shane chastised for doing no work, and Danielle chastised for being rude and insane.  Danielle started out filling the “hot chick in bikini” role for the season, but we found she actually had a few brains behind her, with some even going so far as to call her the “Female ‘Boston Rob’” (“Survivor Marquesas”).  Now try getting THAT image out of your head.  Personally, I always thought she was overrated, as while she was smarter than the average young, hot female contestant, she wasn’t brilliant, and really the only thing she did all game was to ally with Terry at a strategic time, and then break that alliance at the end, when it served her (not that it mattered, as she would have lost against either Terry or eventual winner Aras Baskauskas).

Other contestants of note would be Bruce Kenagai, an older gentleman best known for being a bit eccentric, anal about his things, and his manner of exit (which will be discussed in the “Twist” section), and his partner in crime, the rare famous early boot of Bobby “BobDawg” Mason.  The latter is a bit surprising, since he went out fifth, and got barely any screentime beforehand (and most of that was Danielle calling him “Not a gentleman”), but BobDawg is very hard to forget.  A big, bombastic personality that took to the internet very well, BobDawg has been one of the more vocal early boots, talking at length (and very crudely) about how early boots are portrayed on “Survivor”.  This has earned him a considerable following, but not from me, as I just find him a bit too crude.  Still, you have to admire the guy for speaking up at all.

There are a few other slightly remembered early boots, specifically Dan Barry (though more for being a former astronaut than his gameplay), and more unfortunately Tina Scheer, the first boot of the season.  apart from being the most capable survivalist on the “Older Women’s” Tribe, Tina’s remembered for having a tragic backstory.  Originally cast on “Survivor Guatemala”, Tina the Lumberjill withdrew when her son, Charlie, tragically died in a car crash.  Naturally, the production was devastated, but handed over Tina’s spot to Amy O’Hara, and told Tina should she ever want on the show again, all she had to do was ask.  Tina asked, and next thing you know, she’s voted out first, poor thing.  Her dream had turned into a nightmare, and unfairly so, though I’ll explain why in the “Twist” section.

One person I really liked initially was would-be author Austin Carty.  Part of the initial “Younger Men’s” tribe (or Viveros, to use the proper name), I felt that Austin was funny and a lot smarter than was given credit (he actually was the first to make a fake immunity idol, but it never made air or came into use), and only left as early as he did because his ego got in the way, to the point where no one could trust him.  Still, on a show that favors big, bombastic characters, I can understand why he didn’t stand out.

Now, this is a fair number of big characters for the show, so why should I dislike the cast?  Well, while they stand out compared to each other, compared to the pool of ALL “Survivor” contestants, none really stand out save Terry and Cirie (and Terry would even be overshadowed next season).  On top of that, a lot of the people at the merge were really just non-entities, and so it got quite boring at that point.  Hell, back in my blogs for “Survivor One World”, I named Aras one of my Bottom 5 winners ever, for good reason: he really did nothing!  At least, nothing big or of interest.  Still, one cannot deny that this cast had a few good, memorable characters, but when diluted, the cast doesn’t stand out too much.  It’s not bad, it just doesn’t stand out.

 

Score: 6 out of 10

 

CHALLENGES

Now for the REAL weakest category of Exile Island.  While I will consent that this season did have one of the best obstacle courses ever on the show, and while they tried to be clever and unique about the challenges, they REALLY fell flat for me.  They seemed to be hedging their bets, not going strongly in the puzzles direction or the strength direction.  They just kind of sat there, being average, not at all big or exciting.  There were exceptions, such as the aforementioned obstacle course challenge, and I’ll admit the season was limited by its theme (which we’ll discuss in the “Overall” section.  And you thought I would say “Twist” section!), but the challenges were just really lackluster this season.  When you got the rare good one, it was really, really good, but overall, they’re just “Blah!”

 

Score: 3 out of 10

 

TWISTS

Enough bashing of Exile Island, now we come to the best part: the twists!  Yet, what would a season called “Exile Island” be, if not for the “Exile Island” twist that was central to the season, and may I just say, what a great twist this was, even if not entirely original.  The name “Exile Island” actually came from a twist in “Survivor Palau”, where Janu, after losing a challenge, was sent to live on her own for a night.  This expanded it, by forcing a winning tribe to send someone from the losing tribe (or, once the merge happened, anyone in general) to Exile Island, to be on their own for a period of days, essentially turning the idea of “voting people off the island” on its head, as now you were voting people ONTO the island!  On top of that, it combined such a twist with the “Hidden Immunity Idol” twist from “Survivor Guatemala”, thus further complicating the game, though it did change up the way the idol was used.  On “Survivor Guatemala”, the idol had to be played before the vote.  This time, you could hold onto it, and play it after the vote, thus sparing yourself, and the person with the next highest number of votes would go.  This changed things up adequately, but was a bit too powerful, as once people found out who had the idol (Terry), they were too scared to try and vote him out, the few times he was vulnerable.  Note that the introduction of an idol played this way led to a string of alpha male victories.  Still, this one stumbling black aside, this was the biggest twist to the game since the introduction of switching tribes, and if I do say so myself, it came off quite well.  It added and manipulated the social dynamics in a big way, while still keeping the core game the same.

But the producers were not content with this, oh no.  They had to pile on more twists, specifically, starting out for the first time with 4 tribes, Older Men, Older Women, Younger Men, and Younger Women (Bayoneta).  Again, I like this twist, it lends the season a unique start, and forces hard gameplay from the beginning (only 4 to a tribe).  However, it is what led, indirectly, to the ousting of Tina.  While she did want to go on the show, she was still mourning her son, and understandably so, but this meant she was of on her own a fair amount.  Cirie, who was on the outs by this point, seized her opportunity and banded the other women of her tribe together to vote out Tina, on the basis that Tina was less like them, and therefore couldn’t be trusted.  Good bit of strategy, I’ll admit, but I felt sorry for Tina for being treated this way, and many other people did as well.  By the way, interesting side note: on the DVD for the season, there’s a feature where a bunch of critics, before the season, give their personal picks to make the final 4, and their personal picks to win.  The most common answer for a winner?  Tina.  Boy, that REALLY bites the big one.

If I have one complaint about the “4 Tribes” twist, its’ that it DIDN’T LAST LONG ENOUGH!  By this, I mean that literally in the second episode, they did a schoolyard pick of new tribes (La Mina and Casaya).  I admit this was a fair way of doing things, but it was just too soon in my opinion.  Let the original tribe dynamic develop a bit before you mix it up.  It did have a unique element, though.  Bruce was not picked, due to the odd number of people left, and so was sent to Exile Island, but also avoided the second vote, getting absorbed into whatever tribe lost the next immunity challenge (Casaya).  Again, a good way of shaking things up, and making the season unique.  It also helped Casaya a lot, as Bruce had many survival skills, and let to their eventual domination.

Terry found the immunity idol hidden on Exile Island on Day 9, which is not bad, and would become a major force later in the game.  Things continued on normally, for a while, until a combination Reward/Immunity challenge, the first that was not a first challenge since “Survivor All-Stars”.  This was another ok way to change things, up, nothing too special.  The only way this impacted the game is an early merge.  It also, however, led to the odd ousting of Dan.  Up until this point, Dan had hidden his astronaut history from everyone (save Terry), but came out after the challenge, believing himself to be going home for his poor performance.  He did go home, but it was one of the soberest, most personal tribal councils ever, that’s a standout for the season.

Following the ouster of Dan was the merge, with Casaya having a large advantage over La Mina.  Terry tried to work things (he was a halfway decent strategist), but Casaya simply blocked him at every turn, and the Pagonging of La Mina continued.  They did change things up with Exile Island once, sending two people (Austin and Danielle) there after a challenge involving 3 teams of 3, and it was good to know that Exile Island Wouldn’t be predictable.  This season also had a “Eat or Compete” twist, but it has no major difference from the one in “Survivor Guatemala”.

The next major twist came after the Pagonging of La Mina, save Terry.  Bruce, unfortunately, had a blocked colon, and needed to be evacuated, the first since Michael Skupin of “Survivor The Australian Outback”.  This was an unfortunate and somber turn, but as the game had been in a bit of a rut, it was not an entirely unwelcome twist (once it became clear that Bruce would be ok).  It also won Bruce a lot of sympathy and fame with the viewers, and I was sorry he didn’t come back for the “medevacs” twist of “Survivor Philippines”.

Then came the family challenge.  In and of itself, the challenge was nothing special, just another obstacle course, but the way things worked was one of the most unique family rewards ever.  Rather than the winner getting (or being offered to give up) love for himself and one other person, the winner got to advocate who got how much love.  Terry gave himself and Shane a night away from camp with their loved ones, Cirie a night with her husband, Aras a hug from his mom, and poor Danielle (who had recently betrayed him) nothing.  This was an excellent way to do the loved one’s twist, staying true to the roots of the twist, but adding a new political dynamic that incited debate amongst contestant and viewer alike.  Just a great way for it to go off, making this probably my favorite loved one’s episode ever!

Terry by and large remained pleasant throughout the ordeal of being on the bottom of his tribe, but once the final four rolled around, and he was STILL unable to control his fate, he lost his cool and snapped at Cirie.  I think how the others ganged up on him after this was mean, but it’s no excuse for what Terry did, and one of the few low points of the season for me.

The final twist, such as it is, was due to the early merge and previous combined reward/immunity challenge.  Prduction was a few days ahead of schedule, and so Cirie was voted out a day early, and there was an extra reward challenge at the final 3 (something not done before).  While it made the game unique, it still wasn’t anything to write home about, and the season finished very blandly, with Aras predictably winning once Terry was gone.

Lots of good twists this season, and what few bad ones there were didn’t hut things too much.  They still existed, but they don’t drag the season down.

 

Score: 9 out of 10

 

OVERALL

As you can probably tell, this season had a lot of “blah” elements, and what good one existed were dragged down somewhat by the bad ones.  If the season had had a good theme to tie it all together, things might have worked out better, but given that the show was going to Panama for the THIRD time, they went with Vodou for the theme, which just didn’t lend itself well to “Survivor”.  The tribal council set looked kick-ass, but the season as a whole revolved around a lot of skulls, and just didn’t get much in the way of good challenges or design.  Note that this season gave us Jeff saying “Place the zombie head on the zombie body”.  Still, the season should be noted for what it did well: namely Exile Island.  It gave us a great, game-changing twist that would influence the show for years to come, and tied in well with the dynamics of isolation present in the cast (particularly how Terry was isolated from the Casaya Tribe), so it wasn’t all bad.  Even so, not one of the stronger seasons, in my opinion.

 

Score: 25 out of 40

 

ABSTRACT

While not the greatest season in the world, “Survivor Exile Island” is certainly one of the more influential seasons you’ll find.  In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it was the genesis for “Modern Survivor”.  While the cast and challenges are not the best, the twists are phenomenal, and a few good cast members keep you invested.  Not the GREATEST season in the world, and it CAN be skipped if you’re pressed for time, but if you’ve got a free bit, I’d say give it a watch.