The castaways arrive in China for Survivor’s 15th season.
Survivor: China Blog
1st Elimination: Chicken
You can’t understand how good the past two weeks have been for me! After a long summer of barely anything to watch, two of my favorite pastimes are back in action: The NFL, and Survivor. Now that I no longer have to worry about going back to school (since I’m in school year-round) September has definitely become my favorite month. Seriously, this is better than Christmas morning for me! This is normally where I’d make a joke about me being pathetic or needing help, but I feel I’m justifiably giddy about my soon-to-be-champion Patriots and my soon-to-be-revealed pick to win Survivor: China. So without further ado, I’ll move onto the patented “Three Observations”.
1. Jesus Freak.
When I flipped through TV Guide to check out their preview for Survivor: China, I immediately knew that trouble was brewing when they listed Leslie as a “Christian Radio Talk Show Host”. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in 14 seasons of this show, other than that you should pee on a jellyfish sting and distrust anyone with a nickname, it’s that the producers absolutely love to parade around people who are going to make religion look bad. Whenever anyone with some strong beliefs, whether they be Christian, Mormon, or whatever, comes on this show, one of two things invariably happens. They’re either over-the-top extremists or they end up backstabbing everyone which leads to a lot of people bashing them and their faith in the final tribal council.
Well wouldn’t you know, five minutes into the show, we already had our first Leslie controversy. For the opening ceremonies, the castaways were brought to a Buddhist temple where some monks would perform a “welcoming ritual”. Being a Christian myself, I was thinking that I would have a problem with that if I were on the show. But then Probst stated that this was in no way a religious ceremony and only the people’s way of welcoming them to their country. Of course they go in there and the monks start doing all these strange things, that to Leslie’s defense, would have also made me a little uncomfortable. However, knowing that I didn’t want to isolate myself from the rest of the survivors right off the bat or make myself out to be some fanatic on national TV, I probably would’ve just gone through the motions as best I could and sat out if there was anything that made me too uncomfortable. I wouldn’t have gone running from the temple, crying, which is how Leslie reacted.
Of course Probst called her out on it in front of everyone when the ceremony was over. This led to Leslie giving a heartfelt explanation, which I totally agree with, but when everything was said and done, she came off looking like a nut-case to most people. The way I see it, there are times when you need to take a stand for what you believe in, and there are times where you need to back off to avoid turning people against what you believe. This was probably a situation where Leslie should’ve backed off. If she ends up making it for any length of time on this show, I have a feeling we’re in for some more controversy. Now if only I could convince a residency program to give me 39 days off so I could prove to the world that all Christians aren’t crazy…
2. Who thought these teams were fair?
Talk about two lopsided tribes! The Zhan Hu (Yellow) tribe is severly lacking in the brains, strength, and work-ethic department, while Fei Long (Red) is completely stacked. I haven’t felt two tribes were so unfairly matched since Survivor: Palau when Stephenie’s lost every single immunity challenge. I don’t know who divided them up on paper and thought they were evenly matched. On the bright side, knowing that the numbers at the merge will almost definitely be in Fei Long’s favor, it makes my decision of who to pick as the winner that much easier…
3. And winner is…
Before we get to my selection, let me tell you who’s not going to win this game:
Chicken – I know I’m going out on a limb here as he was the first one voted off, but before you laugh at me, remember one thing. In Survivor: Pearl Islands they brought back two previously eliminated castaways, and one of them, “Scout”, made it all the way to the final. That being said, Chicken isn’t winning this game.
Denise the Lunch Lady – But if this were a contest for “best mullet”, she’d be the hands-down favorite.
Courtney the “You Know What” – My Christian beliefs keep me from slinging profanities on this site. But let’s just say this New York City waitress acts like a canine of the female persuasion.
Now for some people who I almost liked:
Dave the Former Model – He seems like he might be smart, but the fact that he doesn’t have anything on his resume’ better than “former model” makes me believe otherwise. Plus he’s on the Yellow tribe, which means he’ll have the numbers against him barring a switching of the teams.
Ashley the WWE Wrestler – If there’s a darkhorse candidate to take home the million, it’s Ashley. People will probably blow her off as a bimbo, but they’d be very wrong. You have got to be super-talented to make it in the WWE. These people know how to handle pain, fatigue, and less-than-stellar living arrangements. Outside of a wilderness expert, there may not be a group of people more well-suited to handle the rigors of Survivor. If she was on the other tribe, I’d seriously consider her.
Aaron the Surfing Instructor – He seems like the kind of guy who could take the lead and run with it like a Yul from Cook Islands or Tom from Palau. Unfortunately, I don’t think he has the brains for it. He also seems like he could be annoying as a leader, and he’s probably a target. I just don’t see it happening.
My Top 3 Selections:
Jean-Robert the Professional Poker Player – He’s a total poker player as he was able to sniff out Todd the Flight Attendant as a very sneaky player right off the bat. However, after observing him in action, he’s got no clue what he’s doing socially. Calling out Todd to his face was not only awkward, it was stupid. If Jean-Robert had any sense of what he was doing, he would’ve immediately joined himself with Todd to create a super-cerebral alliance.
Also, after the whole situation where I made Ozzy my pick in the Cook Islands only to then watch him openly talk about throwing a challenge in the previews for Episode 2, I held off on announcing my pick until the CSI had started. Good thing, because I was seriously considering Jean-Robert until everyone was apparently ticked off at him in the previews!
James the Gravedigger – This is my fiancé’s pick. Just to keep you updated, her selection has made it further than mine all three times we’ve picked against each other. Her pick is also 3 for 3 in obtaining the immunity idol, has always made the jury, and walked away with the million bucks one time. That bodes extremely well for James. He seems smart, but socially awkward. That awkwardness may be a blessing in disguise as people may look past him as a strategist. He seems like a really good guy, which may make people trust him more than they should. The only negative I can find is that he is extremely physically intimidating. People may be gunning for him once it gets to individual immunity.
Todd the Gay Mormon Flight Attendant – Before I go and explain why Todd is my pick to win it all, there’s one question I have to ask. How many gay Mormon’s are there, and how come they keep ending up on Survivor? Rafe in Guatamala was a gay Mormon as well. I would think that the chances of Survivor landing a second one, four seasons later, would be astronomical.
Anyway, Todd definitely seems to have the scheming ability and social skills to pull off the victory. He may not have the physical presence to win immunity challenges down the stretch, but as I mentioned with James, strength can be a blessing and a curse in this game. The only reason I was hesitant to pick him was that I couldn’t come up with a clear-cut reason not to pick him. It was the same thing with Edgardo last year and he didn’t make it so far. Then again, if it weren’t for Dreamz, he probably would have been at least in the Final Four, if not the winner. So Todd is my pick for Survivor: China. Other things in Todd’s favor are the fact that he’s on the Red Team and that gay people tend to do pretty well on this show. Also of note is that gay Mormons do exceptionally well on this show, as Rafe was in the final three. After a four season drought of picking the sole Survivor, I’m hoping that Todd will fare even better than that, but most importantly I’ve got to snap this losing streak to the fiancé! This is my last chance to pull off a victory before I head to the altar knowing that I’m in for a lifetime of second-place finishes…
