Rocky finally gets voted off!
Survivor: Fiji Blog
8th Eliminiation: Rocky
Ok, this episode definitely had some great moments. But as usual, I’m extremely short on time. So I’ll get right to the blog.
1. Yau Man is The Man. So finally, after days of looking, Yau Man finally stumbled upon the immunity idol. That’s real good for him and all, but what’s really worth mentioning is what he did after he dug up the idol. You see, Yau Man may have just pulled the dirtiest Survivor stunt since Johnny Fairplay faked his grandmother’s death to win reward. Realizing that anyone who got sent to Exile Island would continue receiving clues about the idol’s whereabouts, Yau Man decided to create a fake idol and buried it where the real idol used to be. Not only is this plan incredibly dirty, it’s also unbelievably strategic. So of course, I absolutely love it! Having some unsuspecting soul dig up the fake idol and then stand there dumbfounded at tribal council when Jeff Probst chews him out for trying to play it is priceless enough. But when you add to it the fact that whoever has the idol will be basing their entire game plan around a false assumption, it makes Yau Man’s game that much easier. Ladies and gentlemen, this is how you play Survivor! Just keep your fingers crossed and hope somebody digs that thing up!
2. Yet another great challenge. Whoever is thinking up the challenges for this season deserves a major raise. It’s been rare to find your run of the mill “grab all the flags and then solve a puzzle” contests that usually pervade the show. And even when we have had them, such as this episode, there’s been a significant twist to keep things interesting. This week, the immunity challenge added in the tried and true “everyone’s blindfolded and there’s one person yelling directions” gimmick. Usually, these challenges are good for a chuckle or two as people bump into things. However this week was a veritable demolition derby. People were getting gut-checked left and right as they’d run into fence posts. Mookie definitely got the worst of it, which was funny cause I can’t stand Mookie. And to top it all off, the most hilarious goof-up of them all was when Michelle, who was the caller and not blindfolded, lost her bearings and ended wiping out off the edge of her podium. Priceless!
3. I have a feeling that this show is about to get a lot less interesting. Was Rocky perhaps the biggest jerk to ever play the game of Survivor? I’d say that’s a pretty safe bet. But watching his train wreck of human interaction every week has definitely been the highlight of the season thus far. While Ravu certainly made the good strategic move, I have to admit that I was kind of wishing that they’d kept Rocky around longer.
With that being said, I’m also extremely disappointed that I’ll still be seeing him every week…
4. L.A.M.E. Yes, I’m diverting from the usual “three observations” format this week, because I have a fourth point that I absolutely have to mention. That is, the utter lameness of Rocky being on the jury. While it does make my record of having my “pick” make the jury an impressive 12 for 13, this recent turn of events is absolutely horrible for the show. Here’s why…
1. Making the jury used to mean something. People came on the show with the goal of “I want to at least make it to the jury”. In Guatamala, Bobby John was begging Stephenie to keep him around long enough to get on it. Now, with these bloated casts of 20 people, the producers have felt the need to make the jury bloated as well. Instead of seven members, there’s now nine. So for Rocky to make the jury, all he had to do was outlast six healthy people and Papa Smurf. I’m sorry, but finishing 12th out of 19 just isn’t a big accomplishment.
2. We’re inevitably headed for another “3-way” final. When they pulled out this “twist” last season, it was definitely the worst addition to Survivor ever. Being able to transfer immunity? Cool. Hidden immunity idols? Awesome. Exile Island? Freakin’ amazing. But the notion of a three person final just makes the game dumber. I’ve already ranted about this in great detail in my Cook Islands Blog, so I’ll leave it at that. But here’s the link if you’re so inclined to read it.
Basically, Survivor needs to quit tweaking with the overall structure of the game. Adding a gimmick here and there to keep things interesting is great, but messing around with the numbers just isn’t cool. It invariably ends up taking away from the game’s strategy.
Sixteen castaways. Seven on the jury. Two finalists. It’s a perfect formula and there’s no need to mess with it. You don’t see baseball sticking sixteen teams in the playoffs and having three teams in the World Series just for kicks, do you?
