So the big twist of the season is Brains vs. Beauty vs. Brawn. This is a neat social experiment. I wasn't too excited for this season, as this is the first season to feature no returning players since Survivor: One World, which was one sloppy mess of a season. One World was so boring, I actually stopped watching it a few episodes after the merge once it became clear that Kim Spradlin was going to be the eventual winner. Some seasons have been obvious, but they can still be entertaining. Anyway, I had a fear that this was the next One World.
In this first episode, it was clear that these tribes aren't 100% true to their labels. When you have a tribe of brains, I don't want there to be a guy looking like a 'roided-up Joey Tribbiani. I want a team of Cochrans. Nevertheless, the Brains tribes is a mess. In the first ten minutes, I watched Garrett and thought, "man, this guy could be the full package." He's smart, he's cunning, and he's fit... and now he has an idol? Malcolm Freberg 2.0? Boy, was I wrong.
Garrett started to annoy me pretty early. He started whining about about how he was bored and he didn't really want to play. If that's your mentality on day 3 or day 4, then just get out. You're taking up a spot on the Survivor roster from fans who would die to play the game and have been watching the show for 14 years.
Garrett proved he wasn't a good player when he wanted to have an open discussion about who was going home. That doesn't work on Survivor. Far too many players have made this mistake before. You don't want the person that's going home to see it coming, otherwise they have time to scramble and try to persuade others to vote a different way. And even worse than scrambling, J'Tia, goes with the Brandon Hantz move and throws the tribe's rice in the fire.
When I first saw this, I cringed. Is this what Survivor is turning in to? Is this what people are going to do now when they think they're going to get voted out? Are they going to "go out with a bang" or "be the author of their own fate"? I don't like this. It's dumbing the show down to the kind of garbage they put on MTV. It's drama, and it takes away from the gameplay aspect, that the fans of the show have come to love.
What's even more ridiculous? J'Tia gets to stay and isn't voted out. If someone on my tribe is going to just throw our food supplies in the fire, I don't feel safe living on an island with them for 39 days, I'm sorry. Garrett might be a wildcard, and could be a threat later in the game, but that tribe needs him. They need to win challenges to make it to the merge.
I don't know if anyone has ever had a worse first night on the show than J'Tia. She blew two challenges, bossed everyone around and annoyed them, threw out the rice, and she stays? Amazing.
The only member of the Brains tribe I was impressed with was Spencer. Spencer is sharp. The dude's a gamer. He is Cochran-esque. He had some funny lines, and he really impressed me in tribal council. I have a feeling that the Brains tribe is going to end up like the Matsing tribe in Survivor: Philippines. IN Philippines, Malcolm and Denise were the last two people remaining in their tribe and then became valuable pieces for alliances come merge time. The two made it to the final episode and Denise has the unique distinction of being at every tribal council in her season. She also won. I could see Kass and Spencer survive the tribe and maybe make it far in the game.
I was disappointed that Miami Marlins president David Samson was voted out first. David had a lot of potential, and he really did everything right except for coming out of the gate too strong at the beginning by openly targeting Garrett, and not trying to really patch things up with him. David built a great championship team in the 2003 Florida Marlins (starting rotation: Josh Beckett, Dontrelle Willis, Carl Pavano, Brad Penny and AJ Burnett), and I was curious to see if he could build a championship alliance on this season of Survivor. I think he would have lasted much longer on a season with bigger tribes. In a tribe of 6, it's much easier to get voted out than it is in a tribe of 8 or 10. I would love for David to get another chance to play Survivor.
As for the other tribes, there isn't as much to be talked about. We didn't get to see as much of them, nor did we them vote. The guy I was most intrigued to watch this season is none other than 1994 NBA All-Star, Cliff Robinson. We've had some former sports personalities on the show, the biggest names being Gary Hogeboom and Jeff Kent. Both were able to keep their identities a secret (for the most part), but it's going to be nearly impossible for Uncle Cliffy to stay undercover, as he is about 6'10.
Cliffy played it right by being upfront and honest with his tribe. It's funny because his tribemate Tony did not. He didn't want people to think he's a cop. He actually does have that "cop look" so to speak. But lying about his profession unless it's a huge deal, is idiotic. With that said, I did enjoy watching Tony. Tony's a good character. Do I think he'll be a great game player? I don't, but time will tell. Perhaps my favorite moment of the episode was when Tony built the "spy shack". Phillip had to have been watching this and been upset that he had never come up with such an idea or built such a thing in his two stints on the show.
I really liked Woo. Seeing Woo talk about Cliff and his playing days really made me smile, because I can relate to Woo. The people that know me will tell you that I'm a basketball fanatic and NBA historian. Seeing a genuine guy that is also a big fan, I just really enjoyed that.
On the Beauty tribe there is't a ton to talk about either. Morgan impressed me with her lie at the beginning. She's clearly a very good-looking girl and she won't have too much difficulty getting some of the guys to side with her. Brice could be a pretty good player too. He seems to know the game and he had some funny lines. The pair of those two will be good. If they can pull in a couple more, they could have a good group that could go far.
The Beauty and Brawn tribes haven't lost yet. I think the tougher of those two tribes is the Brawn. They are basically everything you could want a Brawn tribe to be. They're strong and athletic, easy-going, they get along, and they win. However, Tony could stir up some trouble sooner or later.
All in all, after Wednesday night's first episode, I am pretty excited to see what is to come on Survivor: Cagayan. So what do you guys think? How did you like the first episode? Tweet me @vellvita7, or comment below. Or let me hear your thoughts on the Viva La Vita Facebook fan page. Thanks!
Nice post! I might have to watch next weeks episode!
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