Big Brass Ones
Wow. You look at the game of Survivor and you place yourself in the situation. What would/could I do here? Someone once said, “I don’t believe in the no-win scenario”, but they do exist. There are times when your back is against the wall and there’s nothing you can do. Oftentimes even if you have a play all you’re doing is treading water, waiting out the inevitable.
If his 1.5 seasons of Survivor should have taught me anything, it’s to never bet against Russell. He was dead in the water so many times, but was still available to make a move and literally outwit, outplay, and outlast his competitors. Shockingly the time he defied the odds the most was in not walking away with the million dollar prize (which he deserved.)
This brings us to the current season. Russell’s bravado was the weak-point in his gameplay the first time around, and his second attempt is proving to be more of the same. Coming in as an unknown entity he had the advantage of no one knowing what he was about and how he played the game. Then he put himself in a bad position by defying the tribe and looking for the immunity idol. This put a target square on his back.
Having the immunity idol meant that he could guarantee his survival for another week, which would have been the definition of putting off the inevitable as his allies dwindled in number. But that was his option, that was his play. Anything else would be suicide, right? So he does the unthinkable, and wins this round. Now his play is interesting, because Russell is like a chess player, he’s not thinking about the next move, he’s thinking three moves ahead. By giving his little speech and directly talking towards Coach he might have the ability to even the playing field at 4-4. Break it down.
Russell, Parv, and Danielle: Russell’s core group.
Rob: Wants Russell out in a way that could lead to his undoing.
Sandra: Will follow whoever she thinks will move her further in the game.
Jeri: I think she’ll flop if need be.
Courtney: I don’t think she has a firm alliance to anyone except herself.
Coach: The linchpin to how things go from here on the Villains side.
If Coach flops I think he brings someone else with him. If he doesn’t another idol may be the only thing that spares Russell. Russell has a good play to make right now. They are one, maybe two, at most three episodes from the merge. If the Villains lose and have to go to tribal this week Russell can point out that Rob is a long-term threat in the individual game. He ceases to be a value as anything else than a number post-merge. Therefore getting rid of him now benefits everyone.
The heroes are a completely different story and I think the merge will completely shatter the game regarding alliances and it will be an interesting free-for-all. If Parv, Sandra, Danielle, Jerri, Courtney, Amanda, and Candace have a brain amongst them they will band together as an estrogen alliance and pick off the men. Given prior history, that is likely to happen.
Which brings me to my last point: How dumb are all of the people playing? If you look at the seven people eliminated so far, how many of them were getting rid of weakness? Sugar, yeah I can see that. Stephanie, one of the strongest women ever. Randy, okay, but not weaker than Courtney, Danielle, Parv, Jerri or Sandra. Cirie, sure. Tom, get off the crack pipe. James, sure (due to injury). Tyson, WTF. These people are playing the game backwards. They created core alliances so early that it became purely about surviving week to week and not about winning as a tribe.
God is in the Details
I wish I could have been on this season of The Amazing Race. Not just because I would love to run it, but moreso because there appears to have been some kind of IQ cap for this season. You have an IQ of 145? Sorry, you’re too smart to run the race. The key to surviving from week to week and winning in the end is paying attention to the details. You need to have a certain amount of focus to win the race, and it seems that pretty much every team has a lack of focus on the most important thing: the details.
Once is unique, twice is coincidence, three times is a pattern.
On this leg, three separate teams made the same mistake. That is a pattern. So far seven episodes have aired. On at least five of them Map Girl and Tool Boy were penalized or had to redo a portion of a leg. Come on. If they make the top three (they will), I will break a television. Fortunately I have a really old television in my basement that doesn’t work so well, so its sacrifice won’t be that bad.
Steve & Allie – Forgot their packs. Will this come back to haunt them? Who knows.
Dan & Jordan – Ran a fairly good leg.
Map Girl and Tool Boy – Forgot a coconut. He pronounced he quit. It is laughable how poorly they are running the race.
Louie & Michael – Fairly good leg minus dorking around at the airport instead of getting seat assignments.
Lesbians – I really wonder how nice the one with gray hair is. I can’t tell because the ugliness of the dark-haired one overshadows her. Forgot a coconut.
Cowboys – Forgot a coconut, dorked around at the airport, left the map on the boat. Wow, what a bad leg. I feel they will bounce back next week.
The thing that cracks me up is almost every team thinks they are one of the best teams. Prior to this week I would say the cowboys and the cops were the top two, and everyone else was a distant second. That is forgetting the miserable first couple of legs the cops had. Now the cowboys blow this leg completely. Who is the best? At this point I would have to give it to Steve & Allie purely from a consistency perspective. They aren’t the strongest team by a long shot, but are consistently getting it done. Usually you look at it as eventually the cream will rise to the top, but even though this season has several entertaining teams, there aren’t any great teams.
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