Survivor

A couple of nights ago I was watching a new episode of Survivor and I felt the desire to blog about this season and the show in general.

I have been watching Survivor since the very beginning, my brother wanted to watch it and soon we were both hooked. Over the years I've liked to call myself a loyal fan but I have missed three seasons. My brother has never missed an episode. It's also our tradition that after we watch it we call each other and talk about it. Though not the same night.

Over the years I have noticed one fundamental thing about the show, it causes amnesia among the players and makes smart do some pretty dumb things. Bear with me while I will clarify.

Many of the contestants on the show have been watching for years and have wanted to be on the show for just as long, yet make the same mistakes as previous players. They forget that what he or she is doing is the exact same thing that got someone else voted out. Being annoying, an asshole, and riding on someones coat tails comes to mind.

When I say it makes players dumb is that they will make the stupidest mistake ever and it comes to bite them in the ass. Take Erik for example from Fans v. Favorites. He was on the chooping block and it was down to final 4 or 3. He won immunity but the girls whom he had kind of back stabbed said if you want to redeem yourself you'll give immunity to me and we promise you'll be safe. Three guesses as to what happened next. The idiot gives it to one of the girls and is swiftly voted out.

Another instance is some players sacrifice themselves and lose their shot of $1 million because they are proving that their friendship means more. A noble sacrifice as opposed to being looked at as a back stabbing son of a bitch. I just made it 32 days and was only 5 people away from winning but that's okay I still have your friendship.

Making alliances and making friends is part of the game but it's not all of it. There is going to come a time where your alliance has gone as far as it can go especially when you're near the end. The only people to vote out are your friends and if I had to chose between him or me I'm going to chose me. That is why I'm here. To win. Many of the players take it so personally when they get voted out and sometimes I get it but they forget the biggest thing, it is just a game. Had the roles been reversed I think they would have done the exact same thing.

For awhile I was getting pretty bored with the show and that's why I didn't watch a few seasons. It was always the same. One team would always lose and so when it came to the merge the poor tribe would be picked off one by one. A lot of the time the person I really wanted to win was voted out and the person who would win was someone I didn't really care about.But the last couple of seasons have been good and I'm hooked again. Which, at last brings us to this season.

The season started off by bringing two previous players back, Ozzy and Coach. Commercials made it seem like a big deal and the players are all excited to see them. Two legends in their midst. I on the other hand could not remember Ozzy at all. I had to look him up and even then I still didn't remember and those were the seasons I did watch. To me he just isn't that memorable. My memory of Coach isn't that much better. I vaguely recall him but that's about it.

The two former players quickly became the leaders of their tribes. Ozzy on the Savaii tribe and Coach on the Upolu tribe. Those who had the bad luck of not being part of their alliance were quickly voted out. Their leadership is so strong that the others are just blindly following. Much like Boston Rob the previous season.


One thing is different this year for the first time in a very long time the tribes have been evenly matched. Every week immunity kept going back and forth so that when they merged this week they were 6-6. For the most part they were smart on who they voted out, thinking about keeping the people who are going to help win challenges as opposed to voting out the people they don't like. I have seen many tribes vote out their strongest players because they view them as a threat when the merge comes. First off not only is the merge a ways off but you need to survive long enough to get that far. If you keep voting out those who could help you win how do you expect to make it that long?


But while I'm enjoying this season there are some downsides. For starters I can't stand either Coach or Ozzy. Coach because he is way too preachy and Ozzy because he is lazy around camp and thinks he's Gods gift to man. Hate to break it to you man but you're not all that cool. Secondly I hate how just about every player is following those two leads. Did you ever think that what they are doing may not be in your best interest? That when you've outlived your usefulness you're going to be eliminated? The answer to that would be no of course not.

Last week I saw both the biggest and the dumbest move in the history of Survivor. That week Savaii (Ozzy's team) lost the immunity challenge, it seemed pretty clear that they were going to vote out Cochran who was part of the reason why they lost. Cochran is a sweet guy, a bit of a nerd who tries so hard to make an effort but is nearly voted out from week to week.

They tried to pump him up saying that he'll have a shot of redemption island. A new feature to the game that allows a player a second chance to come back into the game. Doing duels with another voted out player. Only when there is a merge do they get to come back. Anyway his tribe kept saying that this will be his chance to redeem himself and that he'll beat Christina (who had one every duel at this point). That going was a noble thing. Cochran thought differently as did I and half the viewers. Exactly why does he need to redeem himself? This guy has given every thing he's got and then some who just had a lousy day during the challenge. It happens. Yes he is a weaker player but not the only one on that tribe.

So you think that's the end of it right? WRONG! Ozzy has this vivid dream that he should go to redemption island, win the duel, then they merge, and then they have the numbers. When he had this dream he decided that he not Cochran should get voted out. And that they should make it look like Cochran was the master mind who blind sided Ozzy. The story would go that Cochran had the hidden immunity idol, played it and the votes cast against him were void, and Cochran's vote against Ozzy is what caused him to be voted out.

But wait there's more! As part of the master plan Ozzy would give Cochran the hidden immunity idol (temporarily of course) and then after the merge Cochran would become a double agent, getting the dirt of the opposing tribe.

There are so many things wrong with this plan I don't even know where to start.

Here's a list of just some of the reasons of how bad this plan is:

1) You don't know for a fact that you are going to merge after this next duel. The game is always changing. What you assume isn't always the case.

2) Christina is a tough player who has won every duel since being voted out. Ozzy's a strong player but again you never know what can happen.

3) Christina was voted out by Coaches tribe, there was no love lost between her and her old tribe. So if she did come back into the game she is more likely to switch sides.

4) I don't know where they learned how to count but if Ozzy comes back the numbers are going to be even. They don't have the numbers unless someone flips.

5) Ozzy took RI far too literally


That being said and done the tribe went along with this crazy plan and miraculously they pulled it off. Ozzy did win the duel and they merged right after.

However, the plan quickly started to unravel. Cochran did in fact give the idol back and started talking to Coach and the rest of the Upolu tribe. Yet that's where the plan ended. Upolu quickly realized that Ozzy's story of his being voted out was total BS and confronted Cochran about it. After some brief hesitation he admitted to the plan saying that he was originally supposed to go to RI.

While the rest of the Savaii tribe is believing that Cochran continuing his role as the double agent like a good little boy the truth is Cochran is having serious doubts.

Coach and Brandon start talking to him about what it's been like on his tribe and who is really close to each other. He admits that Ozzy is the leader; Keith, Whitney, and Jim (when it suits his purpose) are in an alliance with Ozzy; Dawn is kind on the outs; and that he has always felt on the outs on the tribe. That they really don't like him and don't seem to respect him. All of which is completely true. Coach begins to tell him that now is his chance to take control of his game. That if he switches sides they will protect him.

Cochran is unsure not quite ready to betray his tribe but continues to think about it. Before the immunity challenge Cochran talks with Dawn telling her about his earlier conversation. She agrees that Ozzy and the others haven't really treated Cochran with respect and that she's never felt safe in the tribe. Dawn thinks that maybe they should both flip on Savaii.

At the challenge Jeff tells them that there is immunity for one woman and one man. In the end Ozzy and Dawn win. Back at camp Ozzy has yet another masterful plan. First he's going to give Whitney the hidden immunity idol because he thinks they might vote her off. If that fails then they would force a tie and take their chances at drawing rocks. Pretty easy for him to say as he's sitting pretty with an immunity necklace around his neck.

Cochran thinks that this plan is stupid. Not wanting to leave his fate in the drawing of rocks. Not when he has the opportunity to do something.

On a side note unless I'm mistaken they rarely use rocks (and have only used it once) as a tie breaker because it is so unfavorable. Every one thought it was raw deal that Pappy who never received a vote and wasn't even the one they were voting for drew the purple rock and was out of the game. All the tie breakers I have seen since then involved the two players with votes to build a fire and whoever burned threw their rope first was safe. Why they always assume it's rocks I couldn't tell you. But I digress.

Cochran talks with Coach some more and is honest with him saying he's scared of voting against his tribe. Cochran asks the question "if I do this where am I going to sleep?" Coach "right next to me". Brandon points out that if Savaii really hasn't treated him very nice and he's not really part of their alliance then it's not really a betrayal.

Cochran goes and talks with Dawn who has now done a complete 180 and says they should stick with our original tribe, it hasn't been that bad, and she'll be so disappointed in him if he goes threw with it. It's easy for her to say she has immunity. But she keeps her promise to not say anything.

At tribal council Upolu calls out Ozzy about his story on how he got voted out. He freely admits that it was all a lie and that he has still has the hidden immunity idol and whips it out. Then he gives it to Whitney who promptly plays it. Another stupid move. By playing the idol they lost whatever advantage they may have had later in the game. With two people on Savaii with immunity the numbers were still in their "favor." I guess their philosophy was that now there would be three Savaii members safe as opposed to two. Eventually it's time to vote and it's a 6-6 tie. Six for Keith and six for Rick who seems confused as to why him. They vote again and this time it 7-5 for Keith. Bye-Bye Keith.

Cochran at the last minute switches and quickly tells them the truth and that "he'll explain later." Savaii is more than pissed and Jim calls him a coward (repeatedly). Brandon quickly jumps to his defense and tells Jim "don't talk to him like that. That's what you get when you don't treat you teammate with respect." While walking out he tells Cochran to "stick with me" on the way back to camp. Right then I thought Brandon was so sweet.

I personally didn't think Cochran had it in him and I say "good for you!" Cochran did what he thought was best for him as he should if he wants to win. Five people (three with immunity and Keith and Rick don't pick) wouldn't have to draw rocks increasing Cochran's chance of pulling the dreaded purple. Whether or not this pays off is yet to be seen. I'm worried for him, previews for next week show him getting his ass handed to him so he just made four new enemies five if we count Keith who is now at RI.

On the other hand he just made six new friends. But therein lies another problem, Cochran may have made this big move but that doesn't guarantee that he's now apart of the Upolu alliance. It wouldn't be the first time that someone flipped and was then voted out by the same people they just helped. How sincere Coach is with Cochran I'm not sure, I don't remember every thing that happened in the episode. Loyalty is huge for Coach and Cochran just proved his loyalty to him. I say that earns him a few more days.

I hope Cochran goes far and is able to survive Savaii's wrath. My respect for him has seriously gone up and it'll be interesting to see what happens next.