So it's the first episode of the new season, so let's start by trying to get a grounding on all the new characters.
For the male Manono Tribe we have...
1. Colton. He is gay, and apparently his strategy was to create an alliance with the women while not intimidating the men on his tribe. Unfortunately for him, there aren't any women on his tribe! Regardless, he makes the decision to focus his energy on appealing to the women tribe, hoping that maybe they'll find him a hidden immunity idol or something. And it pays off! I hope that he uses it to unseat the "frat boy alliance."
2. Tarzan. He's the Tribe Elder. He dresses kind of like a hippy. He apparently wants to see Monica naked, and likes making the loud Tarzan noises. As an old man, I assume he'll get voted out in one of the early tribal councils unless he's smart enough to band together against the "frat boy alliance."
3. Troyzan. Is that really this guy's name? I was very uncomfortable with him calling breasts "taters."
4. Jonas. He's the sushi chef who was proud of his skills. He seemed kind of dumb in his confessional though, although that probably had a lot to do with the way the discovery of the One World Twist played out. I think he's going to fly under the radar until about the middle of the game, and then get voted out. Hopefully I'm wrong and he'll turn out to have some killer strategy.
5. Matt. He apparently hates women. That's what I got from his angry rant about the women needing to share the chickens with him. He has a problem with women. He appears to be the leader of the well named "frat boy alliance," consisting of himself, Michael, Jay, and Bill. The principle of an alliance of four strong men is a sound one for the beginning of the Survivor game, but Matt strikes me as an arrogant buffoon. Four people is not a large enough alliance to dominate at the nine person tribe stage. With the addition of the hidden immunity idols, he needs six, and the intelligence to know to split votes.
6. Michael. He took a page out of the Rupert handbook and stole from the women in the first "challenge" of them stripping the truck of supplies. He appears to be the smart member of the "frat boy alliance" and I hope he manages to break away from it.
7. Jay. He strikes me as a total jerk. I hope he leaves early.
8. Bill. He appears to be Indian I believe, but don't hold me to that.
9. Leif. I don't know what the correct term is, but Leif is a dwarf. He appears to be a very strong man, I don't hold his height against him, but that's all I really know about him right now.
Then there's the women tribe of Salani.
1. Alicia. She came out of the gate swinging! She formed a five person alliance (mathematically guaranteed to survive in a nine person tribe) on the hike over to the camp site. Is she kind of a bitch? Yes, but shes got character. She made the tribal council interesting, although I think it might have shook the support of her alliance. I like her though, because Survivor tends to have a problem finding strong female personalities. Alicia has one, and I don't think it's too early to be talking about her in a future allstars or villains version of Survivor. She made that strong of an impression on me.
2. Kim. The first person to join Alicia's five person alliance. She looks kind of like Erica from Big Brother 4 and Allstars in my opinion. She made a sarcastic quip about women power, so I give her points for character.
3. Sabrina. The sassy black girl on the show. She took the initiative and found the hidden immunity idol. (They must be getting lazy about hiding them.) Unfortunately in a twist, this idol could only be used by a member of the Manono tribe. Naturally, at least I felt it was natural, she gave the idol to Colton. It's probably too early to be making decisions like that, but Colton made it clear that he wanted to work with the girls. If they can pull Colton to their side, the strong woman alliance will have a very good chance once they get to the merge. That of course assumes that there's not a major twist before the merge; and that they can make it the merge with evenish numbers.
4. Kat. I guess she's the quiet member of the girls' alliance? I never actually saw her join it, so maybe she's not even in it. She seemed to have a problem with Alicia's attack on Christine though.
5. Chelsea. She's the country girl who first came up with the idea of not giving the guys one of the chickens they caught. I give her props for starting one of the chief conflicts of this episode, and she also was included in the quick five person alliance.
6. Christina. This is the second strong personality on the tribe, and I hope that we get at least a few episodes of her and Alicia going at it before one of them is voted off. I give her major points for stealing fire from the men, and working to negotiate with them. I love her telling Alicia to shut up as well.
7. Monica. She appears to be kind of older, but still hot? She's friends with Christina, so if the tribe turns against Alicia she could be in very good position. Otherwise she's going to get voted out soon.
8. Kourtney. It sucks that she had to leave the game because of injury, but she seemed like she was going to be voted out quickly regardless.
9. Nina. She's another fairly quiet player. She's older, so she could be an early target. I'm hoping she works with Kat, Monica, and Christina to bring down Alicia. I don't actually want Alicia to be brought down, but I want to see the drama of the girls trying.
Challenge:
So the big immunity challenge ended after Kourtney was hurt, which really sucks. I don't fault the guys for taking the win though. They're playing for a million dollars, not to be voted most chivalrous.
New Game:
So Redemption Island is out. Good. Hidden Immunity Idols remain in the game; which I actually like. We've got a Men vs. Women season, which should give us a lot more women drama, since they have to deal with each other without being overshadowed by the men. I just hope the challenges don't shake out too unevenly.
The biggest twist of this season is the two tribes being on one island. In theory I really like this, because it could prevent the post merge loyalty to former tribes. These people have time to build alliances prior to the merge, which could make the game much more interesting. It's also fun to see them trying to compete against each other in the survival aspect of the game, rather than just competitions. I am worried that it seems like people aren't going to take the opportunity to make alliances within the other tribe for fear of being branded a traitor; but there do appear to be a few glimmers of hope in that regard.
Rating: I'm not going to rate this series on points, but rather just judge and critique player's gameplay and showmanship.
I really enjoyed this premiere, and think this is going to be a great season. We have a lot of dynamic personalities, and that first tribal council was a lot of fun. They didn't even vote anyone off! I'm going to do some player rankings next week, but for now I'd just thought I would make some bold calls.
Favorite Castaway: Alicia. I think you're a bitch, and you dress like a slut, but you've got character and I appreciate that. I think you'll add some good drama to the series.
My Prediction to Win: I'm going to say Sabrina. Finding a hidden immunity idol in the first episode is a good start to the series; and she appears to have a good head on her shoulders. She's the number 3 in Alicia's alliance, but she doesn't appear to be too tied up in it. She has room to play, and I have hopes that she will.
Who Will Get Voted Out Next: I'm going to guess Nina. She's the oldest woman on her tribe, and the women looked bad in that competition even before Kourtney got hurt. I think the women will lose the next immunity challenge, and will try to strengthen their tribe by voting out Nina.
I promise 5 bonus points to Nina if she manages to make it through next week's episode!
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