4/26/06 12:09 am
Aw, Katie, how I miss you. Every time you write "Mini-Carrots," I lose just a little bit of self-respect, but then I remember that I actually snacked on said carrots earlier tonight, so I really do deserve it. We should hang out more. Too bad we live on opposite sides of the country. Oh, and I talked to Brooke tonight, who says you're awesome, by the way. Just thought I'd share.

And Bobby Jon, I love how you clarify that you've never been to Spain, but there's no such clarification after your reference to prison culture. You're kind of my hero.

4/25/06 8:45 pm
Sorry for the late blog, I was in Spain having dinner with Bono...Well, not really, I've never been to Spain and I've never met Bono, but it sounded good right??? whatever....

I enjoyed the episode, but I really didn't get alot out of it. Now, don't get me wrong, it was a good episode. But for me it was just too predictable.

In prison you have "shot callers," and Panama is not prison, but Aras is definiately the "shot caller" in Panama. I don't know how long it will last, but right now Aras is definiately sitting in a good position, because everyone out there thinks there going to the final four with Aras. I would have to say Shane, Courtney, and of course Terry, have a slim chance to make it to the final four. But if anybody can make it to the final four it will be Terry.

I wished Cirie would have taken Shane on the reward. I have to agree with Shane, when he said that he kept Cirie around and watched over her, etc., and I really believe he did. We at home, actually see very little footage when it comes down to it. Every Thursday night we see about 45 minutes, of three days worth of footage....that's not very much. Not taking anything away from Cirie, because everyone out there has accomplished a better finish than I ever have thought of, but I just really think Shane really watched over her out there. I know she promised Danielle and Aras, but I'm just saying a promise is a good thing, but when somebody has your "back" out there...it's almost as strong as a promise....tough call.


And can't forget about Bruce. Bruce showed America he's one tough dude. And if the medics would not have came, he probably would have stayed out there and who knows what would have happened. But overall I thought Bruce was a very colorful character, with a deep soul, and a wide appreciation of things.

As far as complete game play goes, right now all of these folks are about to start scrambling for there lives. Wow, the things money can make you do......

4/25/06 2:31 pm
Props to Mini-Carrots!
I haven't taken a quiz that great since Teen Bop's Corey Feldman's quiz in '87. I knew there was a reason I liked you (it wasn't just your undying love for the smallest, tiniest, sweetest of mini carrots...).

(Now, I am about to overuse the term ¡§props¡¨ which, I never actually use in my day to day vocabulary¡K)

Props to Rob C. for making me laugh out loud at the "straw in the voodoo doll" comment.

Props to the hot medic guy!

Props to sweet Bruce for lasting as long as he did. Seriously, I shed a salty tear for him.

Actually, I sent out a text message (saying "Poor, sweet Bruce") to a number of my Survivor friends after this episode, and I thought I would share their responses with ya'll (this may not be funny to anyone else but me):

Ian: "Poor guy, I would have taken myself out of the game for him, I would, I would..."

Tom: "Back at the fi-ahouse that happened a coupla times to a buddy-a mine..."(cue: beginning of a REALLY, long story)

Jenn: "..."(nodding with a sweet giggle)

Steph: "I would have never quit, ever"

Gregg: "He should have stuck to the plan"

Janu: "Who is Bruce?"

Coby: "I know, girl! I wanted to throw Courtney into the fire when she started singing, I was like,"Shut up already! We KNOW you like to sing"

Caryn: "OOOOOOHHHH TOM... I mean, BRUCE"

**note: the only one of those that is true is Janu¡¦s. ƒº Love it!

Other random commentary:
Once again, I think Aras is a pretty smart guy. I think he knew the answer to the last question at the reward challenge (clearly, Terry is going to have no problem surviving, he lives on exile island for god sake!) but deliberately answered incorrectly. Anyone that knows the game, knows, that¡¦s the reward you want to go on, but if you win, people get really bitter and blame the winner. You want to be the person that is taken along-not the person who wins. Brilliant! Then again, if that isn¡¦t the case, he¡¦s weird or delirious.

Courtney, my fire dancing friend: I felt for you sister. I did. You might want to re-think a final two spot, if the fact that your tribe mates called you annoying, made you feel so bad. At least they just wrote it down and didn¡¦t look you in the face and go off about it. ¡§Annoying¡¨ could just be the tip of the iceberg, honey. If you get there I hope you¡¦re ready, especially if Shane¡¦s on the jury.

Go Cirie!

Pretty long-winded, sorry.

Gotta go buy a diaper-genie, wouldn¡¦t want Lil¡¦ BJ to get backed up, now.

XOXO,
Katie

4/24/06 11:41 pm
Hey, sorry I'm a little late to the blog this week. The SAT is coming up on May 6, so the courses I direct are going into crunch time. Speaking of the SATs, let's play a little game called "Shane doesn't know how to speak good."

Question 1: When Shane screamed at Courtney, telling her not to "take everything personal," he meant:
A) "Courtney, do you like me? Circle one: YES NO MAYBE"
B) "Don't take everything personally"
C) "Look at me screwing up my adverbs while trying to be condescending to Courtney! I'm AWESOME!"

Question 2: What exactly DID Shane "learn about yesterday"?
A) That it is not, in fact, the day that follows today, as he previously thought.
B) Oops! Shane meant that he "learned about THE GAME yesterday"
C) Whatever, Shane is crazy and without him, a little piece of us dies inside.

Question 3: How will Shane "set [himself] sail"?
A) He will outdo Aras' faux-hawk with a wicked cool hair-hang glider.
B) Brian, stop being a jackass. Obviously, Shane meant that he will "set sail" and the stress of the game has clouded his otherwise immaculate judgment. Lay off him, Grammar Nazi.
C) WOOOOO! Shane's NUTS! AND I LOVE IT!


So, let's see how you did: If you answered "B" to any of the questions above, you're taking my game entirely too seriously. Oops, I mean "too serious." The correct answers, of course, were "A" to all three. Half credit will be given for picking "C".

Oh, and for what it's worth, after the episode aired on Thursday, I got a voicemail from Margaret, who said that she thinks Shane is worse than Judd. Now, I don't know if you remember, but Margaret and Judd had a delightful time together in Guatemala, so... yeah.

Other quick notes on this episode:
-Poor Courtney. I really liked her this episode, and I think it's clear that she means well, so getting brandished "Most Annoying" could not have been any fun. At least her compassion came through in the way she took care of Bruce. I'm sure she's good people, so I'd hate for her to be hard on herself, but then I remember her reaction to the dead turtle in Episode 1, and, well, I laugh a little... ok, I laugh a lot, and... what was I talking about again?

-Aras, smirky and phony though he may be at times, is an amazing player. He definitely threw that challenge so that he wouldn't have to be put in the position of selecting company (and rejecting others). He's a smart guy, and I think he really deserves to win.

-Danielle still reminds me of my sister, so I'm rooting for her.

-Cirie is awesome in every way that a person can be awesome. Except in the "awesomely crazy" way, because Shane's cornered that market.

-Glad to see Terry got another opportunity to assume his favorite pose: standing powerfully and menacingly atop that creepy Exile Island skull. You just know he was thinking "Oh, this is gonna look so hardcore on TV."

-Bruce, glad to see you're doing all right. You did a great job in Panama and your family must be so proud of you! It's clear that you're a fighter, and I wish you all the best in your future adventures.


Damn, that was long.

4/21/06 11:13 am
Poor Bruce!! You've got to feel bad for the guy now that he's Public Enema #1.

Perhaps the most disturbing part of the show last night was Shane carrying the stretcher with no pants on. Did they have to put him in front, couldn't they have let him at least carry the back of the stretcher?

Good call Jenna M, on Bruce in the outhouse. Now I guess I know why was in there for so long.

Didn't Bruce seem okay until he shoved all that straw into the back of his voodoo doll? Hmmm.....

I loved it when Shane told Courtney he going to kill her in her crappy one-bedroom apartment... and she was offended because he insulted her apartment.

When are Shane and Courntey going to get their own spinoff on VH1? Tentative Working title: Fire Dancing With The Stars (and Shane)

Cirie really has her finger on the pulse of the tribe. While it may have upset Shane, by winning the challenge she proved that she knows how everyone else in the game percieves one another. At the end of the day, thats what being successful on Survivor is all about.

4/21/06 9:01 am
My surgeon sister diagnosed Bruce with an ileus ... bowel obstruction, which most often requires surgery. We'll see. We forgot to mention one of our favorite moments: It was when Courtney closed her eyes and got ready to Ommmm, chant or sing to Bruce while he was writhing in pain, and he said, "Don't"! I guess it's the thought that counts, Courtney.

4/21/06 7:37 am
From Ethan from Zambia


Greetings from Lusaka, Zambia.  I have no idea what happened last night, but I do know that Bruce had to go home because he was constipated.  Man...what a crap situation that is.  I feel for him. After living in Africa this past few weeks I have been popping Immodium like skittles.  In addition, Passover just ended... and all you Jews out there know what the eight day Matza diet does for ones colon.  Bruce, I feel for you.  Welcome to the club.

P.S. Did anyone catch the amazing forshadowing of the Survivor editing crew?....Bruce all curled up in the outhouse drinking wine....brilliant!!!!

4/21/06 7:34 am
Somebody get Bruce some fiber stat!

I'm back from Africa it was an amazing trip. Congrats to Ethan and Ian for finishing the two oceans ultra marathon it was very hard and I'm proud of them both. Doing work with Grassroot Soccer in Zambia was amazing, I wish everyone could go to Africa and see the program in action.

I will say Ethan felt for Shane because he had some chafing himself after the race!!

Ok onto the show. I really liked last nights episode. The reward challenge is great for showing tribal loyalties and take it from me being the answer to some of those tribe questions can really hurt, I remember being the answer to "who couldn't survive on their own" ha I guess I showed them.

Terrys attitude is really getting to me. I understand he is outnumbered and knows it but does it really help him to taunt the other players and be so cocky? His days are numbered as soon as someone can beast him in a challenge, cue Aras please.

I'm totally interested in Shane because you never know what he is going to do or say. Can we have him on every season just to spice it up. When he threatned to kill Courtney I wondered is she was thinking about a security system on her house. Does that mean if Shane turns on Courtney she can go after him. Ah so many questions.

And Bruce what a bummer! It sucks to be taken out of the game on health terms let's just hope he gets healthy enough to return to the jury.

Its getting down and dirty now. Its going to be an interesting next few weeks.

Ethan will be back next week from Africa, chafing included.

Jenna

4/21/06 1:55 am
I’ll start off with my favorite moment of the episode: the glimpse of Sally’s pigtails in the opening credits. Just kidding ;)

It was as Courtney and Shane were talking, and he threatened to kill her. Then assured her that he was serious. Then said, “Listen. I am going to come to your little apartment, and kill you. And you will be DEAD.” And then Courtney gets upset, not with the fact that he is openly threatening her life, but that he called her apartment little. I think this little scene speaks so much to the fact that everyone on this season lives in a world that exists only in their heads.

Terry explains to the camera with a straight face that his game plan is to win every immunity except for the Final 4, when he will use his idol. Why is such a ridiculous plan so specific? Could you lose the immunity at 5 instead? I seriously cannot understand these people, but strangely, for the first time this episode, I feel like I really grew to love them all. Courtney taking care of Bruce’s rock garden, Shane evacing Bruce naked, Terry standing atop the skull on Exile Island looking wistfully into the distance yet again (please tell me a producer made you do that, Terry . . . please . . .), Danielle, Cirie, and Aras genuinely enjoying their time away from the crazies on the reward, and that perfect moment when Courtney offers to sing a song of hurt for Bruce, he says no, she sings anyway, and he has to beg her to stop. I feel like all of these guys actually really like each other, and I like them too. All of them. Even Shane.

Maybe I was just devoting too much mental energy to Sally so far this season, but I’m genuinely into it now. I really want to see what happens and who comes out on top, and I’m rooting for a lot of people! I think my heart is with Danielle though. There’s just something about her that tells me she’s running the show. Every episode when there’s been discussion about who should go, the person that Danielle says should go does. Even if the others don’t acknowledge it, it seems like she has a lot of sway and is generally well-liked. Also, no one seemed too broken-up (strategically) about Bruce leaving, so it gives me the feeling that they all have a Final 3 plan cooked up in their head.

I think the strongest of the alliances may just be Cirie and Aras. They are always snuggling at night. Aras also seems very close with Shane, and Danielle seems close to Cirie. So, I think it should be an interesting dog fight between those four for the title (Although I think Cirie and Aras may be too likeable to take to the Final 2, and Shane’s too unlikeable to ever win, so I’m placing my bets on Danielle LaGrossa). That is, of course, unless Terry wins every immunity (except the Final 4).

And to Bruce – we all know what it feels like when you’re at your absolute worst out there, and you were well beyond it. I can’t imagine what you must have felt having to leave so late in the game, but you definitely made your family, friends and students proud.

(One final note, mostly to Amy: Did you SEE the med-evac guy? Where did he come from? He was definitely not doing our physicals in Guatemala, or we would have been like, "Coffee burn? Call the med team!" "Sleepies in the corners of your eyes? Call the med team!")

4/20/06 11:13 pm
Good grief! Shane is totally unbelievable. Shane, do you really believe we believe the incredible “spins” you put on your Bull Crap?! In retrospect you puff up and try to make us believe that you intended your actions. You, Insane Shane, are a total loose cannon! There is nothing that happens between your brain and your mouth! I wonder what a day would be like for you if you didn’t “have a fit and fall in it!”? What a great big baby you are! Friggin’ UNBELIEVEABLE! That’s what makes Shane a great cartoon character. I’m just damn glad I didn’t have to endure watching Shane run around butt naked. He never has to worry about being under the radar! He is July 4th fireworks going off all the time. Shane is totally oblivious to other’s feelings and yet the most hypersensitive person who ever played this game. Shane is certainly no one to be telling Courtney not to take things personally. He tells a woman he’ll “kill her”, and he expects her to blow it off. He’s lucky she didn’t put his face in the dirt. The belly thing is about the crudest thing in Survivor history. Shane will definitely be remembered.
Courtney,….drop the word “like”. Your whole world is “like” something. Isn’t anything just itself in your world? Love the pants! Did you make them? Hey, what’s the deal with Courtney getting fire sticks and a journal? Guess those of us who never saw a luxury item are a little envious! Courtney, with your level of assumed enlightenment, we expect you to suck up the tribe’s feedback. Take it like a woman! Shane thinks that you’re the “dream pick for final two”. I think he is!
Poor Aras. He just can’t get over the fact that Terry beats the crap outta’ him in every challenge. Where does he get off saying that Terry couldn’t survive alone on the island? Have you been counting, Aras. Terry has squatter’s rights to Exile Island! He’s out-numbered six to one and he’s still killin’ butt and takin’ names!
The Voodoo Doll Game was, as always, very revealing. Terry, Bruce, Danielle, and Courtney. Anyone want to take bets on this pecking order? Of course, Terry will win the next four immunities (probably never needing to use his idol), and poor Bruce is a goner. But Danielle and Courtney are sure bets to be voted off this beautiful, sandy-beached island.
I’ve heard rumors that some tribe mates didn’t poop for 17 days! Guess Bruce left the game “full of sh-t”. It happens when you are dehydrated and eating black beans.
It may well have been Bruce’s night to go anyway. I’m just sorry to see him go in such pain. Sure hope he’ll get unplugged and get back to the jury. Terry will need his vote.
Cirie, Girlfriend….Did we hear you say, “Don’t be such a husband!” to mouthy, pity-pot Shane? I’d definitely never call you flying “Under the Radar”. You are so in this game, and playing it for all it’s worth. I’m still pulling for the Girlfriend to make it to the final two. We gotta’ give it to Aras and Shane for getting to you. Where in the world were Danielle and Courtney? They should have grabbed you early on. You strike me as the faithful type. Congrats on winning that great reward. That’s the one Leann won,…and then we voted her off. Hope that doesn’t happen to you. Have ya’ll noticed that Cirie always ends up sitting and standing the middle. It might be an omen!
Terry is still my number one Hunk and Cirie is my number one girl. Either one would make great winners. Cheers for the Survivor medical team. They are the best in the world!
P.S. Terry...What do you mean "you didn't have to vote any tribemates off?!" Duh! Did we forget Dan and Ruth Marie?

4/20/06 9:41 pm

Ya man! I’m baaack. The Bahamas was awesome. I did get to see last week’s episode in the Bahamas, but all I can recall is that Sally was voted out. I was sad to see her go. Hang in there Rafe. I had too many Rum Runners.


Ok. Tonight’s episode. I am just going to keep this real. I really felt for Bruce. All of us know, those who had the chance to be on Survivor, the stuff that happens to your body when you’re in the game. This is not talked about often. You feel like sh@#* out there. Either you can’t go the bathroom or you go all the time.

Secondly, I will say this again—there is nothing worse than leaving the game because of some medical problem. Bruce had no choice. I felt for you Bruce. I really did. I actually shed a tear. Sorry to see you go in this way.

Terry two guns didn’t win the reward. I find him very cocky. There is a difference between being cocky and being cocky and backing it up. Terry backs it up. If you can back it up, then run your mouth.

Good for you Cirie!!! You’re doing just fine and I’m loving it.

Courtney had a rude awakening---voted most annoying. Poor Bruce is on his death bed and she wants to sing to him, after he says not to. She fixed his Zen garden and I thought she earned a few points in my book.

Shane is freaking hysterical. He’s outta his mind!!!!

Danielle hang in there—make the North Shore proud.

I loved it when Aras put Terry’s name down when they asked who could not survive alone on the island. Two guns didn’t like that.