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Immunity Blog: Episode 3
BY ROB CESTERNINO (Survivor Amazon & All-Stars)
Well, that was fast! On this week’s episode of Survivor, we got to see exactly how fast the balance of power can shift. Now, the women have all the momentum, the men are at each other’s throats and we’ve got ourselves a season. Let’s jump into the Five Things That Jumped Out from this week’s show.
5. Hey, Got a Light? – While the “One World” twist has certainly been an interesting innovation this season, the tribal and gender lines have really held up (and much more than the women’s shelter did). On several occasions, various members of the women’s team have come to the men looking for help getting the fire going, which the men have offered in exchange for something. Each time, the women balk that the men would actually want something back in return! Even if the women don’t have much to offer, they need to somehow reciprocate the men’s generosity before we see any real intermingling of the tribes. When the proverbial Survivor check comes after dinner, the least the women can do is reach for their purse and pretend that they’re looking for their wallet.
4. Chicken Belittle – For Matt Quinlan, playing Survivor didn’t come as easy as practicing law. In the first episode, Matt emerged as the leader of the young guy alliance and through some impressive math, believed his group of four was controlling the nine person men’s tribe. Matt would refer to his group of four as “The Roosters” while the other players were mere “Chickens”. Who knew there was such a poultry hierarchy? Unfortunately, the history of pre-merge Survivor is littered with players who come in to the game and try too hard to assert their will on their tribe. Instead of telling the other players what needs to be done, it’s always better on Survivor to be asking “What do YOU think we should do?” While in a Survivor season with co-ed tribes, Matt’s physical abilities would have made him more valuable to his tribe, but in a team with no shortage of muscle, the headstrong, cocky and bossy guy became very expendable. I think Matt could’ve brought a lot to this season but perhaps that’s just because he reminded me of the bad guy in every 80’s movie set in a high school.
3. The Two Coltons – When you talk about Colton it seems like it’s always a case of the glass being half full, so let’s start with the good. For the first time on “Survivor: One World”, Colton spent the entire episode working with his tribe and that effort appeared to pay great dividends. Colton has emerged as one of the key figures in the “Misfit” or “Average Joe” alliance. At tribal council, even Tarzan could not stop gushing about how invaluable Colton has been to the tribe –even if it’s just to tell Tarzan what questions to NOT ask Jeff Probst. So, Colton is looking like he could win the game, right? Unfortunately for Colton, there’s just not any finesse to what he’s doing. The game of Survivor is not to see who can get to the end leaving nothing but a path of destruction behind like “The Tazmanian Devil”. Survivor is much more about getting to end while causing as little collateral damage as possible. However, Colton seems to enjoy the negative attention so far and while I have no doubt it will make for an interesting television show, it is not a winning strategy in this game. Furthermore, some of Colton’s on-camera commentary has been really inappropriate. As somebody who has done the show twice, I can tell you that there are a number of things that I blurted out that I regret having said. I suspect that’s the way that many of the former Survivors feel (The other ones wish they had said more regrettable things). My concern is that a growing number of Colton’s comments are pushing past the line of regrettable and into really questionable judgment – specifically the comments Colton made about Bill in this episode. While none of the things that Colton says to the camera should impact the game, I just don’t think he’s keeping these thoughts to himself when he’s around the rest of the tribe. If Colton truly wanted to win this game we need to see much more of the charming Colton who won over the women in the premiere and much less of the mean-spirited Colton who emerged in this week’s show.
2. Meet Billabong – Bill really emerged onto the Survivor: One World scene this week – and not for the right reasons. Bill had the unenviable double duty in this week’s challenge of directing the blindfolded men and then completing the final puzzle. While Bill did a tremendous job with the first part of the challenge he certainly struggled with the puzzle. In fairness to Bill, there seemed to be a learning curve to mastering this puzzle, which the women were able to skip by just watching what Bill had already done. Nonetheless, my excuses were of no consolation when the men returned to camp and Bill emerged as a potential target of the “misfits”. Somehow Bill also emerged as the focal point of Colton’s animosity, though I’m not quite sure why. I can only assume its because of the fact that Bill speaks as though he also has a friend named Ted and they’re off on some “Excellent Adventure”. Bill’s attitude at tribal council was equally bizarre as he seemed unusually ecstatic during tribal council – which is not unlike how many of us Survivor viewers act when we’re watching the show. I had high hopes for Bill, even picking him as the winner when we previewed the season on my podcast. On the plus side, Bill voted against Matt so he has some sense of where the tribe is going. All I can hope for is that Bill realizes that the surfer stuff is wearing thin on this group and tones down the act. For Bill to get back on the right track he needs to start thinking less “Yeah, Bro” and more “Average Joe”.
1. Troy Meets World – This week was also the first time we got a good look at Troyzan in this game and I have to say I was impressed. While Colton is happy to be the outspoken leader of the “Misfits”, I believe Troyzan is truly the one calling the shots. Troy somehow was both the person who convinced Colton to go after Matt and also the person that Matt tried to convince to join him. While Troy wanted no part of Matt’s plan, he handled the situation perfectly, never letting Matt suspect that Troyzan wanted him gone. With a clash of the Tarzans (or is it Troyzans) looming on the horizon, I know which guy I’m picking to emerge as the “Misfit” still standing and the true king of the jungle. Do you think that Colton is pushing the envelope too far on Survivor: One World? Let me know what you think on twitter, I’m @robcesternino