“The gorilla. Powerful animal that won’t attack anyone unless provoked. A lion. One of the few animals that no animal whether it’s starving to death will approach. For me? That’s how I feel about my family and my country.” -Philip
Bravo to Mark Burnnett and those involved in the casting and creation of this year’s Survivor. I was worried at first when I heard that both Russell and Rob were coming back as well as adding the twist of redemption island. It led me to believe they had lost a handle on the game and were going to muddy it up with a bunch of gimmicks and the show I love would have become some watered down shell of what it once was. I could not have been more wrong.
Philip is pure Survivor gold! There’s nothing like a delusional self righteous maniac who speaks the absolute truth at all times. Candidness does not get you very far in Survivor, but it sure is fun to watch. Philip and Boston Rob couldn’t be more polarizing players. Where Philip says everything he’s thinking at all the wrong times, Rob plays a slick cunning game where he has everyone eating out of his hand. Watching their personalities collide is a real treat. I do wish that I would get a chance to see Philip and Russell Hance play against each other. I think Philip would have some real choice things to say about the type of person Russell is.
Russell’s charade is up. He really needed to adapt to his game play after other contestants got the chance to see him play. I’m not wishing for a quick exit from Russell, because he’s good TV, but I think that his team will not hesitate to cut him loose at the most opportune time. No matter who’s on his team, Russell always thinks he’s playing idiots. He called Ralph the dumbest person and player alive. So it was a real treat to see Ralph out Russell for stealing the hidden immunity clue in front of everybody and make him look bad all while having the actual idol in question. However, Russell is right. The hidden immunity idol clue is not a team clue. It is an individual thing. So it’s not smart for Ralph to say “that clue is ours.” I don’t remember too many instances where a team used the individual immunity idol to better their cause. This is if we’re discounting JT’s aw(esome)ful play in the All-Star game where he delivered the idol to Russell secret agent style with a sweet note attached to it. I think if Russell would have just said, “Yes. I found the clue. We all had the same chance to grab the reward basket. You’ve seen the show before, this is how it goes. But remember, I’ve found plenty without clues, so all hope is not lost.” But maybe that just puts an even bigger bullseye on his back. Russell can’t survive on the defense “I KNOW this game. Don’t tell me how to play this game” forever.
Rob, Grant, Natalie and Ashley are an extremely powerful alliance. They’re physical, charismatic, good looking and smart. They orchestrated a blind side of a strong man, Matt, while keeping numbers, gaining an outsiders trust (Philip), and forcing an immunity idol to be played. I’m glad to see that Rob has insulated himself from elimination. The game is better when he’s around. He’s so cunning without being a brazen jerk. Just a slick slick player. And no one has really touched on Grant being a former professional football player. He’s keeping quiet while being great physically. Another solid strategy. Natalie is playing the under the radar/ride the coat tails game with Rob. You align yourself with someone strong who makes big plays and let them take the bullets and then you win the jury over by saying I never did anything to hurt you. I just rode my alliance and was honest. If Rob is smart, which I think he is, he’ll make sure everyone in his alliance gets some blood on their hands.
I really hope Team Rob starts winning some challenges. It’s no fun when one team has all the numbers coming into the merge. All of the conversation becomes about the strong tribe picking off the weaker one and someone trying to break up the alliances on the stronger one, blah blah blah. I’ve seen that game before. I want the strongest players from both teams going head to head in the merge. This definitely means I’m rooting for Russell and Rob to make the merge. Though I wouldn’t mind seeing Russell have to make it their by winning his was through Redemption Island.
Redemption Island remains a mystery. And I’m glad for that. We learned this episode that the specifics of Redemption Island will be kept from the contestants. I think that’s a very smart move on the producer’s part. Another interesting question was raised tonight about the island. How many will come back from it? I suppose it’s possible that the winner of Matt v Franchesca could reenter the game immediately and possibly on the other tribe. Lots of questions still yet to be answered.
Survivor pick to win: Mike
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