Samoa's war between the Likeables and the Insufferables continues. It may not have the international attention the games in sunny Vancouver are getting (where, if their weather gets any nicer, they'll soon be skiing on dirt.), but at least in Samoa, the hot, athletic men are stripped down (though be warned: so are the un-athletic men), and the anorexic women are all in bikinis and buffs (as opposed, slightly, to being in the buff.), if that's what you like.
Boston Rob agrees with me; he's on the wrong tribe. It's interesting that the Insufferable Tribe is also the Slacker Tribe, a bunch of idiots who would rather sit in the freezing rain night after night than get off their duffs and build a shelter. Gee, it would be awful if they all made themselves too ill to compete well. You don't need shelter, Insufferables. Just sit there and freeze, babies, freeze.
Our Young Lovers, Jerri Mantaray and Voldetool, stood in a romantic torrential downpour, not so much because they lack the sense to come in out of the rain, though they do, as that they lack the sense to build an indoors to be able to come out of the rain into. Voldetool said of the others who didn't build a shelter, as though he wasn't one of them, "It's all going to come down to what they've got upstairs," as he tapped his temple with his finger, and we listened to the echoing clang of his empty skull. Voldetool, in order to even have an upstairs, you first need to build a downstairs, and none of you morons have bothered to do that yet.
So come the morning, they tried. The problem is, the Insufferable Tribe consists of a lot of know-it-alls who know nothing. You had girls built like Olive Oyl, only not as muscular, trying to move bamboo logs bigger than they are, oil company egotists arguing with waitresses about construction choices, and Randy and Tyson the Nude Mormon making snide observations to each other while they avoided work as much as possible. Boston Rob just tried to get on with it, and I was hoping they'd keep themselves as miserable and unsheltered as possible for as long as possible. (Oh and Boston Rob, next time you're going to do Survivor, hit a gym for a few weeks first. You took your shirt off, and I thought, "What happened?" There are now officially no sexy men on the Insufferable Tribe at all. Not one.)
Over at the Likeable Tribe, they were busy building the club house to go with their beach condo. Given a little more time, they'd build a whole suburban Samoan housing tract. I think James was making a backhoe out of wicker, and would soon be making them a hot tub and a Hefner-esque "Grotto.".
While at Tribe Insufferable, Boston Rob, weakened by four days of living in the rain without shelter, and spending days trying to make them all a simple lean-to virtually alone, as Randy and Tyson dodged work and Voldetool preened on the sand for Jerri, threw in the cocoanut and gave up shelter-building. Parvati and the other Insufferable girls bitched about how they were stuck with all the lame-o men, while the hard-workers like James, Colby, Tom, and Rupert were over on the other tribe. "How did they get every awesome guy, and we got like Randy?" asked Courtney, whom Olive Oyl was now concerned looked severely undernourished. And the answer is so simple. Those guys are good, and are on the good tribe. These girls are insufferable, and got put where they belong. And if they don't like whom they're stuck with now, imagine what their eternity in Hell with Randy, Russell, and Tyson is going to be like. (Tyson, of course, is going to Mormon Heaven, which is a restricted subdivision of Hell. Anywhere Little Dougie's Aunt Evelyn is spending Eternity is Hell.)
Rob went out and collapsed in the jungle. The Survivor camera crew calmly filmed him lying there unconscious, until finally found by Jerri (when your angel of mercy is Jerry Mantaray, you are in big trouble.), to whom he barely managed to squeak out, "Get help." The cameras rolled. I now suspect the camera crew would just have filmed him die rather than actually summon medical themselves.
The camera sat and watched Rob lie there, as Jerri hustled off to find Jeff Probst. You can't have medical without an emcee as well. Jerri told us how, if Rob died, she would be very upset, because her team would be in big trouble. She was not concerned for Rob for his sake, but because he's the only man on the tribe trying to keep them alive.
Last season, the torrential rains and freezing cold at this camp took out Black Russell, the best man on the Galu tribe. Now the same conditions seem to be flooring Boston Rob, the only man in the Insufferable Tribe worth the effort to save. (If it had been Tyson or Voldetool who had collapsed, I'd have sat down with the camera crew myself, or maybe try to send buttinski Jerri off on a false trail.)
Medical decided that Rob, who was unresponsive, and later, had no memory of what had happened, was fine. Are these people working for an HMO? "Your head has fallen off, and you have a slight case of Death. You're fine. Shake it off." Rob told us the diagnosis was the flu and "Crybabyitis." Passing out cold isn't being a crybaby. Frankly, if I had to hang out with that tribe, they'd make me sick too. Just watching them on TV was making me a bit queasy.
Rob decided that he had gotten ill from trying to be a good guy, and now he needed to be a villain. I've never been someone who subscribes to the idea that personal morality affects your health. I've known too many good people who died young, and too many evil people who lived to be very old. (The name "Reagan" springs to mind.), but generally when one does subscribe to that idea, it's usually felt that you should be a better person, not a worse one.
On arriving back in camp, Rob first hugged Sore-Loser Russell and then Voldetool. Jeeze Rob, you're just recovering from blacking out. Why take such chances? Even if you can stand the touch of their revolting flesh, either of those two vipers might still stab you in the back. On the other hand, maybe hugging Rob could give Voldy and Russell the flu also. I'd like that, though it does seem a gratuitously mean thing to do to an inoffensive flu virus.
Reward & Immunity Challenge: Two challenges in one. Along with immunity, they were playing for a tarp and rope, to make a nice, comfortable waterproof shelter. The Insufferables need this in order not to die. I hope they lose.
This challenge involved pairs of contestants rolling huge heavy cubes down a course and onto a platform, and then using them to build a stairway the tribe can then ascend to the winning platform. But it's also a puzzle, as the cubes must be assembled as they're stacked to spell out the tribe name.
Since it had to be played with even-numbered tribes, three players sat out. Rupert of the broken toe wisely sat out for the Likeables, and I thought Randy might break something himself in his haste to do what he does best, sit and watch others work.
Likeables took an early lead. A great moment of slapstick came when a wonky cube roll by Russell resulted in Parvati getting slugged in the face by a cube. These cubes were very big and very heavy. I reran Parvati's accident a couple times for the sheer joy of watching the insufferable little trollop get smacked good and hard. That's entertainment. (I have neither forgotten nor forgiven her showmance with my James the last time they were on Survivor.)
James was playing with a handicap: a shirt.
I couldn't identify which of the insufferable men yelled out to the players to try and roll the giant cube over Rupert's broken toe, but I suspect it was that waste of human flesh Randy. Whoever it was, I now really, really hope they lose that tarp. And it looks good. The Likeables have a large lead.
But a bigger, heaver jigsaw puzzle only magnified the Likeables' inexplicable inability to do puzzles. The Insufferables came from behind once again, and smoked them in the puzzle portion. They won immunity, but worse, they won the tarp, which will lessen their physical misery. I wanted to go up and slap each Likeable. Get it together, "Heroes." Your name even had fewer letters to spell out. How could you blow this puzzle and your lead? Thanks to you, once again, I will have to sit through yet another episode with Voldetool. He can't go home again this week. Thanks a bunch, "Heroes."
James was balling out Stephanie for running her mouth while JT, who had played this challenge before, was trying to direct the puzzle solving, as Rob successfully did for the other team. Steph was annoyed now at James. Steph, don't even think about scheming against my James.
Besides, like it or not, the obvious one to send home is Rupert, who, with his broken toe, is no damn use at challenges. But I retain hope that wisdom will prevail, and we can at least get rid of Cirie the viper.
But James, already annoyed with Stephanie, recalled that when Stephanie last played, she was the sole survivor of her tribe. ("What became of your tribemates, Stephanie?" asked the rescuers. "I dunno," replied Stephanie, looking skyward.) James doesn't want that history repeated. He wants her out. Well, I can live with that, though I'd rather lose Cirie.
This has been odd so far. Last season, it was the Sore-Loser Russell Show. He had only a little screen time last week, and even less this week. Isn't he up to evil? This is the guy who never stopped playing, who played the game 24 hours a day. No canteen or unguarded socks were safe. Is he really not doing anything? And Voldetool. Did he so exhaust his limited bag of tricks (which mostly consisted of telling us how awesome he thinks he is, in pseudo-mystical terms) that he has nothing new to show us? Tyson the Nude Mormon, two seasons back, was busily clowning about nearly naked. We have barely glimpsed him so far. (I'm not complaining.) It's all been the Boston Rob show. Come on Insufferables, show us the insufferablility.
Back at the Likeables camp, the recriminations began. JT took responsibility for the loss, though he wasn't the one who wouldn't listen to him as he tried to guide his "team" though the puzzle. Actually the problem was that word "team." A "team" was just what they weren't. James read a riot act to the tribe for not listening to JT.
Although immunity has been won, and the show should now be concentrating on the losers and their plotting and maneuvering, the camera went back to the Insufferable camp. Sore-Loser Russell was finally showing a bit of his personality. Everyone was thanking Rob for guiding them through the puzzle to the win. Russell can't stand someone being held in higher esteem than he holds himself, though there has been no indication that he's impressed anyone on his team at all so far. Remember, his team hasn't seen his season, so they don't know what a bragging egotist he is yet.
Sore-Loser Russell: "Boston Rob thinks that he's in charge. I'm starting to think this just ain't working out. [Yes, I can see where Rob's leading his tribe to repeated victories constitutes failure.] I didn't know his personality was that strong. But you know what? This is what: I'm in charge. I'm King Russell from Samoa." Russell hasn't taken a leadership role in anything. He's trying to fly under the radar while building up alliances with a few of the girls. He's not in charge of anything. He's completely delusional. It's like he's on an entirely different TV show, one that only plays in his head. But to give him credit: he managed to kill a chicken. He's King of the Chickens. He's Chicken ala King, which isn't easy when you're a turkey.
Back in Likeableland, James is campaigning against Stephanie with a zest that reminds one of Sarah Palin on her book tour, signing a book she'd "written" but hadn't read, as it wasn't printed out on her hands. (If she became president, her staff would have to come in each morning and write the news and her agenda on her palms. She's a reader, but only a palm reader.)
Now suddenly Tom, Colby, and Stephanie are allied. When did that happen? While we were watching Russell spear a chicken? Tom, who last week sensibly wanted to send home Cirie, decided that if Stephanie goes, then it's him next, and then Colby, although this has no observable basis. So his plan becomes to convince Cirie and Candice that they're the next targets, and get them to save Stephanie to save themselves. Huh? I have a better solution to saving whoever is next in line: win the challenges! (Too radical?) This in part sprang from their seeing Rupert talking to JT. Rupert and JT were each taking responsibility for losing the challenge, which neither of them were responsible for. But paranoia has arrived. If you see two people talking, they must be plotting against you!
So now Stephanie is trying to convince Cirie to vote out Amanda. What is the Amanda threat? What has she done? What hasn't she done? Usually I can follow the logic, but it's escaping me here.
Stephanie told Cirie that if she, Stephanie, is voted out, "I can guarantee that you're next." Can Cirie have that guarantee in writing? Can I? Because I'd love it if Cirie went next, or now. What I don't get is how Stephanie can make guarantees about what will happen after she's gone. All I can guarantee is that, within three weeks, I'll have forgotten she was ever on the show at all.
Tom was working this same doubletalk on Candice. Candice felt she was on the outs with everyone. What has been going on with this tribe while we were watching the Insufferables not build stuff? Why does this up-till-now united tribe suddenly seem like the McCain-Palin ticket the day after the election, with all these allies-the-day before bitterly plotting each other's ruination?
As far as I can tell, Tom, Colby, and Stephanie have decided that they are on one side of a conflict, and that James, Rupert, and JT are all against them, although I have seen no evidence of anything other than that James wants Stephanie out.
Cirie, it turns out, doesn't care. She has one target, Amanda, whom she feels cost her a million dollars the last time she played. She's holding a grudge. I'd say Amanda should be rewarded for that, except that then that million ended up going to Parvati, which is definitely overtipping your waitress.
Tribal Council: JT thinks their loss was his fault for not yelling "Shut up!" at his team mates. I was yelling "Shut up!" at my TV, and that didn't help. Maybe it's my fault. Maybe it's San Andreas's fault.
And then James and Stephanie got into it. Open acrimony, that always makes for a lively Tribal Council.
Stephanie: "You looked at me and you said, 'Hey y'all'."
James: "Darling, your name is not 'Y'all.' I'll be damned if anybody be named Ya'll in here."
Once James brought up Stephanie's previous season, where he basically made it sound like she'd eaten her entire tribe (All they found when rescue arrived was a pile of human bones stripped of all meat, and Stephanie, twenty pounds overweight, saying, "Uh. They all died - accidentally. When's lunch?"), Colby began defending her. Colby, she'll eat y'all too! Once she'd tasted that rooster last week, y'all were doomed. She has the taste of chicken in her mouth, and knows who around her also tastes of chicken. (Everyone.) If she were on the other tribe, where she belonged, she could have eaten Russell, King of the Chickens.
"The two of y'all, how 'bout that? Is that good enough?" said James, finally ceding the name Y'all to tribemates.
Tom then felt it necessary to pitch in: "Make it three of Y'all?" Does now everyone want to be "Y'all"?
But Tom wasn't done delineating his paranoid divisions into reality. "Alliances have been made. Divisions have been cast in the tribe." Why didn't we see the casting sessions? James on a casting couch would be far more entertaining than watching this team reveal how much not-a-team they are. Then Tom dropped the real bombshell to James: "Maybe in your world, James. I don't know. I don't live in your world."
He doesn't? Then how can they be talking to each other? What world does Tom live in? Is this one of those alternate-timeline situations, like the one currently confusing all viewers of Lost? Is James on The Island with "The Y'alls," while Tom landed safely at LA X, and is working for Hurley? Did Jacob touch James? Can I touch James?
Then Stephanie revealed an even more alarming puzzle: "I played against [Tom], and merged with him [!], and he cut my throat in the end." She's dead? Is Stephanie now The Smoke Monster? First she dined on human flesh, devouring her tribemates, then Tom killed her, and now here she is, seemingly alive and spreading dissension on The Island, while Tom and James are in mutually-exclusive alternate-timelines. Is Tribal Council being held in The Temple? Should Stephanie lay a circle of Jacob's ashes around herself? All I want to know now is, will Walt come back, and if so, how will they CGI puberty out of him?
This is the weirdest Winter Olympics I've ever seen. Whose stupid idea was it to hold winter games in Samoa anyway?
Time to vote. The Tom-Colby-Stephanie alliance might be strong in Tom's World, but the vote was held on The Island, and Stephanie was voted out.
But the fun wasn't over yet. When Stephanie's torch got snuffed, instead of a classy "Bye guys. Good luck," or some other polite salutation, Stephanie decided to try for the last word. She turned before exiting, and said: "Some advice. [Why would they take advice from someone voted out in the second episode? You take advice from winners, not losers.] Next time Y'all lose a challenge, a little less cursing off your tribe might help." Help what? You got voted out, not James. The other three votes were for Amanda.
James, who studied repartee under Sir Noel Coward and Oscar Wilde, wittily replied: "Keep your mouth shut."
"Come on," said Tom, who apparently heard James over in his separate world, I assume through a dimensional wormhole. ("Tommy can you hear me?")
In the preview of next week, James's temper appears to rage further out-of-control after a challenge that looks like a butch version of a pillow fight. What is it about James angry and covered in mud and little else that turns me on so? Why am I asking you?
Cheers darlings. Y'all come back now, hear?
To read more of Tallulah Morehead, go to The Morehead, the Merrier, or buy her book, My Lush Life.
Tallulah Morehead: Survivor: Heroes vs Villains: Shudder Island
There really is no one left to root for playing Survivor. (It's not like Rupert has a chance of winning. Get real.) The only thing left to make one tune it in is to see the inevitable fall of Bulbous Baggins, aka, Russell The Hobbit on Crack.
Tallulah Morehead: Survivor: Heroes vs Villains: Hot Dogs and Bananas.
After returning from Tribal Council, my beautiful James asked Colby "You want a hug?" and the idiot said: "No." Is he insane? First he turned down chocolate, now he's turned down a chocolate hug.
JaMmMmmes is always watchable and I'm enjoying seeing him assert himself this season. I like Stephanie but she was off base during the challenge and I worried that normal Survivor procedure would raise it's ugly head this time. Too often, we see someone tell the truth about another players behavior and that person uses the outburst to get the person telling the truth voted out.
I think this is the most watchable cast so far. I was blown away that a cast member actually (finally) learned to make fire for this one. I'm always baffled that someone could go on that show and not have the basic fundamentals down.. or that they haven't actually studied previous casts for tips. (Russell, as abhorrent as he is, at least is an unabashed fan and student of Survivor and Survivor winners, he'd be dangerous if he'd only have learned something)
I think if they'd only make those voted off stay with no hope of winning but with full access to food and amenities as they make the lives of the survivors miserable, it would be a better show. We'd really see who people are if they were forced to interact with their enemies after a good blind side. (I'd especially like to see this practice used on Big Brother)
Most of these players are students of the game, except Colby, who clearly stopped watching it after he'd been on it, and doesn't know the past strategies of the other players.
No, no, when they are voted off, get them out. Otherwise there's be no way to get Vodletool off my screen.
BTW, Stephenie's name is spelled with an "e" before the the "n," not an "a." Not that it matters much now, since she's gone.
Steph should consider herself lucky I wasn't spelling her name with an "a" between the "t" and the "p".
The "New" Survivor should show recently laid-off, financially depleted families struggling to survive.
The physically violent challenges go back to the very beginning of SURVIVOR, and like it or not, make for better TV viewing than assembling jigsaw puzzles. It's not a "nice" game. It never has been. It's about backstabbing and making sure that you surivive and the others don't.
"The 'New' Survivor should show recently laid-off, financially depleted families struggling to survive."
Oh that would make for fun viewing.
Yes, good television would be James ripping the limbs off Olive Oyl and flogging everyone else with them. James wins, end of season.
Remember when he targeted someone they left.
His search skills will be useless if there are no hidden immunity idols, and certainly we have seen nothing at all to indicate that there will be any.
Actually several times he targeted people only to learn that the tribe wanted the target placed elsewhere, and he had to eat it. Also, he was playing with inexperienced and, frankly, not-very-bright players. That is not the case this time. I highly doubt Russell makes it to the end. If he had, he wouldn't have been in such a sour mood at the season 19 finale, since he'd be expecting two consecutive victories. He may well last a a while, particularly if the Likeables keep blowing Immunity chalenges, but I do not think he has a victory looming here.
I thought the remark that James lives in a different world was a racist slur from a white supremacist. The sneer on Tom's face was noticeable. Hah, this time James was the leader who chose the one to leave. I got a kick out of him telling Stephanie to shut up, after all, she was done the fork was in her and what she said was stupid anyway. That was very clever of James to point out that the only one left in her tribe was Stephanie...he may be smarter than he lets on.
Methinks Tom will be campaigning against James very soon.
I don't think Cirie is all that vulnerable, she keeps a lower profile and doesn't overtly make enemies right out loud.
I too think that Rob bulked up to get ready for the starvation Island life and newly acquired weight doesn't go to all the right places...he doesn't look all that bad. And I think that having the flu was some cover lie for probable dehydration -- as Rob was all strength and no flu symptoms at the next physical challenge.
What can they offer in place of the hidden immunity idol? I think they'll have one actually.
That Tom's "different world" comment was rude and arrogant is true, but I would hardly leap to it being "a racist slur from a white supremaciist." Apply Occam's Razor. You'll break your legs leaping to extreme conclusions like that. I've never seen anything in his previous appearances to suggest that Tom is a white supremacist, and having known a few, let me tell you, it's always apparent.
Me thinks Tom will not be campaigning against James anytime soon since:
1. He needs James if they re to have a chance at winning challenges, and
2. He learned he's in no position to plot against anyone just yet. He has one ally. The others he tried to recruit all voted with James.
Keeping a low profile while plotting behind people's backs is indeed Crie's stratagey, but everyone on her team has seen her on the show before (except apparently Colby), and knows this, so I see no reason for it to prove effective again. Tom was certianly wise to it last week.
(Overlong reply continues below)
According to Jeff Probst over on his SURVIVOR blog at EW.com, what Rob had was an illness he called SAMOAN FLU, and it went raging through much of the production crew in Samoa. It lasts a short time, but absolutely knocks you out, and the memory loss of the worst of the suffering is a normal trait of it also, so they are quite sure that that was what it was. Certainly it may have been exacerbated by dehydration.
They played the game for at least half a decade without hidden immunity idols, I see no reason not to think they've dropped it, just as, starting with season 19, they dropped "Exile Island."
I thought it was one of the most unemotional appeals to vote someone out in all 20 seasons.
I'm sorry to see Steph go so early. She is pleasing to look at and doesn't waste away like many of the others do. That Courtney is already looking like a skeleton and it's not even the third week. In her original appearence there was a lot of concern over how emaciated she was becoming, and by "a lot" I'm referring to the fans and audience, but she insisted she was fine and this was normal for her when she lost a lot of weight.
James's logic was irrefutable. He just needs to realize that, when logic is on your side, you don't need to repeat yourself over and over, or to bully folks.
Anyway, they had to remove the "Steph Infection" before the merge, since Rob is so liable to illness just now.
All I want for Christmas is to see Russell booted off with loads of fireworks in a place where the sun don't shine.
Cheers!
Fireworks up Russell's behind? Careful. He has a short fuse, not unlike James.
It will be a joy to get away from that library, and all that tiresome reading, for some rewarding TV watching. Apart form my book, what's the point of libraries, a communist invention to allow people to read unsanitary books without paying the authors?
He USED to look good? He STILL looks GREAT!
Rob just can't stand being the guy in charge. Nothing's getting done without him, but that wasn't the way he's played the game or planned to play. He and Russell are actually peas in a pod (say what you like about Russ, but he's a little powerhouse in the challenges). You might consider laying off about Rob's physique. He's a new father who hasn't had to push himself like that for years. If he stays another few weeks, he'll get back in shape. Hell, Amber might have fattened him up so he wouldn't be catnip for the girls.
While I have no love for Randy, I have to admit he showed up in much better shape this time than when he first arrived. Telling Rob to maybe just don't worry about the fire, though (in last week's episode), is the kind of idiocy that has lasting consequences.
Did Cirie run over your dog or something?
He wasn't implying Steph was "Bad luck" to her previous tribe. He was implying she wasn't her tribe's sole survivor by accident. She picked off an entire tribe, and he wanted her picked off before she did it again to them. Also, I wouldn't want to spend a month camping near her mouth.
Being a new father is no excuse for not hitting the gym before showing the pecs, well, in his case now, the nippled blobs, on national TV. After all, what's important? Some mewling spawn, or my having nice male flesh to look at? Sore-Loser Russell is in better shape, and he's got FOUR daughters. He just has sense enough to ignore them.
Cirie engineered the ouster of several players I liked in her previous seasons, especially her second one, while playing the clueless housewife out of her element. She belonged on the team of vipers. She used hypocrisy and back-stabbing as her primary tactic. It's a legitimate tactic, but not for the "Heroes" team. I learned to loathe her in her second go-round. Love is temporary. Loathing is a lifetime.
Dosed with Nyquil, I may have imagined some details, but from what I thought I saw, the whole episode with Boston Rob was odd and rather creepy. Didn't the camera do a "blurred falling" shot to represent Rob's POV as he hit the ground? Was the crew playing with camera angles as he lay there? And Jerri appeared to stroll away, casually swinging her machete as she "went for help." The "medical team" didn't seem to be in much of a hurry either.
Not sad to see Stephanie with her Ant Woman eyebrows voted off - I agree with you that Cirie can't leave too soon, either. It might be a good idea to stay on James' good side - as those arms were made for cracking necks.
Great recap, Tallulah!
James arms were made for cushnig me to his massive ebony pecs.
2. This season was shot last August. Season 19 didn't begin airing until it was all in the can.
3. There was nothing accidental about my spelling of the word in question.
So Russell's ill-nature in December was informed by how he did in August/20.
And his cockiness in Season 20 is partly explained by his expectation that he had won 19, and all that was left was for the votes to be counted.
So, what about the producers? (And I didn't like the POV shot. Also the editing made it suggest that Boston Rob went off alone, but we see Jerri nearby and it is implied she sees him faint or lie down. It seems to me that if I'm there with a semi- or unconscious person and a camera crew, I'm going to yell at the camera crew to get on the walkie-talkies and get medical help now. I digress.)
Did the producers expect that Russell was the winner of 19? Did they suspect he lost and are editing 20 to set him up for humiliation when he goes out?
If his fellow tribe members haven't seen the guy play the game, but know the producers considered him a memorable villain, I figure he won't last many Tribal Councils.
Don't like the guy. Don't even love to hate him. I care a little bit about how the producers treat the people who get folks to tune in. I am a bit more invested in whether an unscripted show has crossed a line from editing to provide narrative structure to editing to manipulate the audience.
ONE VOICE!!! ***as long as it's James' voice***
Ya know I've been reading [elsewhere] people bemoaning James for going off on Stephanie. Well, I think that's a bunch of BS. In 'reality', Stephanie probably has a bigger mout than Jerri (if that's possible) and she got the verbal lashing that she was well overdue in receiving. Good on you James! Don't take any s**t!
As for Tom, while I find myself wanting to make him my personal love slave (Lord, he's hot as hell to me, but I'm the same age as him so, there you have it), I do agree he isn't as likeable this season. But of course we all know that the real stars of Survivor are the editors. lol
For what it's worth, I am rooting for James. Sadly, I don't think he'll make it into the final two (or three).
:-(
P.S. I'm still unhappy that Terry Deitz didn't get the call for this season! Another hotty that kicks arse in challanges. But alas, he was too much like Tom I suppose. Still...to imagine watching Tom and Terry on the same tribe....be still my heart! hahahaha
Tom is certainly still shaggable. Should he survive James and Colby, I may well have to fall back on him, and hope he returns the favor.
In fact, Survivor (in general and this season specifically) should serve as certain proof of that theory. Physics Nobel Prize to MB.