More Questions Than You Can Shake an Immunity Idol At
Survivor: Fiji – More Questions Than You Can Shake an Immunity Idol At by Ken Kellam III -- 05/01/2007 The fewer people there are left in the game the more questions keep popping up. Join Ken as he asks his usual batch of questions, some of which may never be answered. As this season of Survivor winds down, things have gotten more and more interesting, and that is due in no small part to the presence of the immunity idol. That brings us to our first question: When the producers introduced the idol back in Guatemala, could they have envisioned the way it would change the game? For example, who thought Gary would trail Judd, see through his deceptive statements about the idol being on the ground, and find it in a tree? And whoever thought Terry would create such a shell game with the idol (does he or doesn’t he have it)? And who knew Yul would use the idol last season by not using it in a move so skillful it got him a Hall of Fame Moment? And this season, who could’ve imagined that Lisi would foolishly give away the clues to Alex and Edgardo, who would foolishly give the clues to Mookie, who would foolishly tell Dreamz he had the idol? Or that Dreamz would go back on his word and tell the others about Mookie having it? And this week, who could’ve imagined that Mookie and Alex would plot to look in Yau-Man’s personal belongings and find it? Or that they would discuss it, get busted by Stacy and Cassandra (or so they thought), and run and try to blackmail Yau-Man before Stacy and Cassandra could get to him? Or that it wouldn’t be necessary in the first place, since the ladies (yes, in Stacy’s case, I use that term very loosely) couldn’t make out what they said? The more the game goes on, the more I like the presence of the idol(s), because it breathes such a new dimension into game play that there’s no way of knowing how it will affect what the players do. Now that that’s been discussed, let’s discuss the now-departed Mookie. Was it really dirty play for him and Alex to look through Yau-Man’s belongings for the idol? To be honest, you really can’t blame them. After all, they had absolutely nothing to lose by doing so. Maybe they should’ve taken a hint from Jerri and told the others they found beef jerky in Yau-Man’s bag. And though I hadn’t thought of it before, Mookie has a point when he compares it to Yau-Man looking in Sylvia’s bag for the idol, or trying to, way back when. While Yau-Man didn’t actually pick up Sylvia’s bag and go through it, he was still trying a bit of trickery. And what about his creation of the fake idol? True, no one has found it, and I’ll be the first to admit it was pretty funny, and would’ve been even funnier if someone had found it and tried to use it. The point is, Yau-Man, excellent player he has shown himself to be so far, has been involved in his own share of trickery. Then there’s Stacy, the Mean Girls representative of the cast. Why does she think she can treat someone cruelly just because she’s in the majority and they’re not? To review, there was a time when she was outright rude to Dreamz and Cassandra because she thought they were goners. Then, when it was her turn to be marked for elimination, she mellowed out a bit. But now that she’s back in the majority, she’s again taken a disdainful view of the outsiders, in this case Alex and Mookie ( i.e. “they’ll be lucky if they get fed”). The look on her face right after she said this was downright evil, and I had to stop the frame and let it move across my screen slowly to see if she’d started to grow horns and a tail. I’d started to try to like her after holding a grudge against her for several weeks, but then she went out and gave me every reason to despise her again. Did she not consider that the two people she’d just as soon see starve will most likely be on the jury (Mookie for sure now), and there’s a good chance she’ll need their votes? She seems to have a bad habit of living in the moment and not considering the consequences of her actions down the road. I don’t know if you can chalk it up to being twenty-something and not thinking about the long-term (I certainly had a tendency to think more in terms of the moment when I was that age; at least I think I did. It’s hard to remember that far back sometimes). Contrast her attitude to Survivor: Marquesas, when after the switch, Tammy fed Shawn and Rob desserts, even though she was in the majority alliance, and told the camera she would be nice to them, but if they didn’t work they would be ousted. However, Stacy, despite making a smart strategic move a week ago, just doesn’t seem to get the concept of pretending to be nice and looking at the long term. Then, there was her behavior during the meal after the reward challenge. When Alex tried to point out that when he wins, he tries to minimize the showboating, she couldn’t resist the urge to say, “Sometimes.” Whether or not she’s right, she should’ve just said, “uh huh, yeah, uh huh,” and not taken a dig at a likely jury member. In any case, all of this made it very hard to be happy for her when she won the immunity challenge, not that she really needed it. The sad thing is, Stacy, in my view, is very attractive, and could’ve had a chance to be American’s next sweetheart if she’d played her cards right. But given her snotty disposition, and contempt for those she considers beneath her (i.e.anyone in the minority), there’s no way this will happen. Jenna Morasca, despite winning her season, seemed to have an epiphany of sorts afterwards, and even admitted to being pretty annoying. Will Stacy at some point show this kind of self-awareness? I’d be very surprised, because I doubt she thinks she’s doing anything wrong, either from a moral or strategic standpoint. In fact, if she makes the final three, she may go without a single vote, and she’ll have no idea why. Now let’s take a look at Dreamz and his incredibly lame attempts to make amends with Alex and Mookie. He tried to explain his vote for Mookie by saying it wasn’t about him turning on them and Edgardo; rather, it was more about joining up with the Earl-led alliance. Huh? Dreamz, you join the other side, you ARE turning on your allies. I almost expected him to say in a Bill Clinton voice, “Could you define ‘turning on you?’” If he really thought Alex and Mookie were going to buy any of that, he’s got a big surprise come final tribal council, should he make the final three. Yes, he’s trying to make amends with them for strategic purposes, but, to paraphrase Carole King, “It’s too late Dreamzy yeah it’s too late, though you really did try to fake it.” There’s one more question I’ve got regarding Dreamz, and for that matter, Cassandra: Exactly what were they thinking by bombing their own squares in the immunity challenge? Were their memories so bad they couldn’t even remember what squares they chose? Or were they trying to take out others? Could it be they were deliberately playing dumb so the others wouldn’t see them as threats? Nah, I don’t think either one of them has that much strategic foresight. This also goes for Cassandra’s tripping Alex during the same challenge. Does she not think people remember things come final jury time? Could it be that she knew she could do what she wanted to the guys, and they’d be afraid to respond in kind, lest there be a backlash from the women in their lives? Finally, what’s with her suddenly becoming buddy-buddy with Stacy? Yes, they’re the only two women left in the game, but does she not remember how awfully Stacy treated her before? Maybe she’s just very forgiving. Or at least pretending to be. Whatever the case, it’s rather bewildering to see these two bonding. Despite their toasting “a long and prosperous game together,” let’s just see how long and prosperous it is when Stacy feels like she no longer needs Cassandra. Let’s wrap things up by asking the following, if the Stacy, Boo, and Dreamz, a.k.a. the strategic ciphers (for more info on this, check out Jeffrey D. Sadow’s article ) are the final three, who will win the million? Previously, I’d say Boo, because unlike Stacy, who has treated people like garbage, or Dreamz, who has shown himself to be a traitor, Boo hasn’t really done much of anything to offend anyone, besides just be dumb. But judging by the la-*test*-('") previews, he develops a case of motormouth disease, and his stock in the game devalues even further. So at this point, it’s all up in the air. In any case, Thursday should be another awfully interesting episode.
Survivor: Fiji – More Questions Than You Can Shake an Immunity Idol At by Ken Kellam III -- 05/01/2007 The fewer people there are left in the game the more questions keep popping up. Join Ken as he asks his usual batch of questions, some of which may never be answered. As this season of Survivor winds down, things have gotten more and more interesting, and that is due in no small part to the presence of the immunity idol. That brings us to our first question: When the producers introduced the idol back in Guatemala, could they have envisioned the way it would change the game? For example, who thought Gary would trail Judd, see through his deceptive statements about the idol being on the ground, and find it in a tree? And whoever thought Terry would create such a shell game with the idol (does he or doesn’t he have it)? And who knew Yul would use the idol last season by not using it in a move so skillful it got him a Hall of Fame Moment? And this season, who could’ve imagined that Lisi would foolishly give away the clues to Alex and Edgardo, who would foolishly give the clues to Mookie, who would foolishly tell Dreamz he had the idol? Or that Dreamz would go back on his word and tell the others about Mookie having it? And this week, who could’ve imagined that Mookie and Alex would plot to look in Yau-Man’s personal belongings and find it? Or that they would discuss it, get busted by Stacy and Cassandra (or so they thought), and run and try to blackmail Yau-Man before Stacy and Cassandra could get to him? Or that it wouldn’t be necessary in the first place, since the ladies (yes, in Stacy’s case, I use that term very loosely) couldn’t make out what they said? The more the game goes on, the more I like the presence of the idol(s), because it breathes such a new dimension into game play that there’s no way of knowing how it will affect what the players do. Now that that’s been discussed, let’s discuss the now-departed Mookie. Was it really dirty play for him and Alex to look through Yau-Man’s belongings for the idol? To be honest, you really can’t blame them. After all, they had absolutely nothing to lose by doing so. Maybe they should’ve taken a hint from Jerri and told the others they found beef jerky in Yau-Man’s bag. And though I hadn’t thought of it before, Mookie has a point when he compares it to Yau-Man looking in Sylvia’s bag for the idol, or trying to, way back when. While Yau-Man didn’t actually pick up Sylvia’s bag and go through it, he was still trying a bit of trickery. And what about his creation of the fake idol? True, no one has found it, and I’ll be the first to admit it was pretty funny, and would’ve been even funnier if someone had found it and tried to use it. The point is, Yau-Man, excellent player he has shown himself to be so far, has been involved in his own share of trickery. Then there’s Stacy, the Mean Girls representative of the cast. Why does she think she can treat someone cruelly just because she’s in the majority and they’re not? To review, there was a time when she was outright rude to Dreamz and Cassandra because she thought they were goners. Then, when it was her turn to be marked for elimination, she mellowed out a bit. But now that she’s back in the majority, she’s again taken a disdainful view of the outsiders, in this case Alex and Mookie ( i.e. “they’ll be lucky if they get fed”). The look on her face right after she said this was downright evil, and I had to stop the frame and let it move across my screen slowly to see if she’d started to grow horns and a tail. I’d started to try to like her after holding a grudge against her for several weeks, but then she went out and gave me every reason to despise her again. Did she not consider that the two people she’d just as soon see starve will most likely be on the jury (Mookie for sure now), and there’s a good chance she’ll need their votes? She seems to have a bad habit of living in the moment and not considering the consequences of her actions down the road. I don’t know if you can chalk it up to being twenty-something and not thinking about the long-term (I certainly had a tendency to think more in terms of the moment when I was that age; at least I think I did. It’s hard to remember that far back sometimes). Contrast her attitude to Survivor: Marquesas, when after the switch, Tammy fed Shawn and Rob desserts, even though she was in the majority alliance, and told the camera she would be nice to them, but if they didn’t work they would be ousted. However, Stacy, despite making a smart strategic move a week ago, just doesn’t seem to get the concept of pretending to be nice and looking at the long term. Then, there was her behavior during the meal after the reward challenge. When Alex tried to point out that when he wins, he tries to minimize the showboating, she couldn’t resist the urge to say, “Sometimes.” Whether or not she’s right, she should’ve just said, “uh huh, yeah, uh huh,” and not taken a dig at a likely jury member. In any case, all of this made it very hard to be happy for her when she won the immunity challenge, not that she really needed it. The sad thing is, Stacy, in my view, is very attractive, and could’ve had a chance to be American’s next sweetheart if she’d played her cards right. But given her snotty disposition, and contempt for those she considers beneath her (i.e.anyone in the minority), there’s no way this will happen. Jenna Morasca, despite winning her season, seemed to have an epiphany of sorts afterwards, and even admitted to being pretty annoying. Will Stacy at some point show this kind of self-awareness? I’d be very surprised, because I doubt she thinks she’s doing anything wrong, either from a moral or strategic standpoint. In fact, if she makes the final three, she may go without a single vote, and she’ll have no idea why. Now let’s take a look at Dreamz and his incredibly lame attempts to make amends with Alex and Mookie. He tried to explain his vote for Mookie by saying it wasn’t about him turning on them and Edgardo; rather, it was more about joining up with the Earl-led alliance. Huh? Dreamz, you join the other side, you ARE turning on your allies. I almost expected him to say in a Bill Clinton voice, “Could you define ‘turning on you?’” If he really thought Alex and Mookie were going to buy any of that, he’s got a big surprise come final tribal council, should he make the final three. Yes, he’s trying to make amends with them for strategic purposes, but, to paraphrase Carole King, “It’s too late Dreamzy yeah it’s too late, though you really did try to fake it.” There’s one more question I’ve got regarding Dreamz, and for that matter, Cassandra: Exactly what were they thinking by bombing their own squares in the immunity challenge? Were their memories so bad they couldn’t even remember what squares they chose? Or were they trying to take out others? Could it be they were deliberately playing dumb so the others wouldn’t see them as threats? Nah, I don’t think either one of them has that much strategic foresight. This also goes for Cassandra’s tripping Alex during the same challenge. Does she not think people remember things come final jury time? Could it be that she knew she could do what she wanted to the guys, and they’d be afraid to respond in kind, lest there be a backlash from the women in their lives? Finally, what’s with her suddenly becoming buddy-buddy with Stacy? Yes, they’re the only two women left in the game, but does she not remember how awfully Stacy treated her before? Maybe she’s just very forgiving. Or at least pretending to be. Whatever the case, it’s rather bewildering to see these two bonding. Despite their toasting “a long and prosperous game together,” let’s just see how long and prosperous it is when Stacy feels like she no longer needs Cassandra. Let’s wrap things up by asking the following, if the Stacy, Boo, and Dreamz, a.k.a. the strategic ciphers (for more info on this, check out Jeffrey D. Sadow’s article ) are the final three, who will win the million? Previously, I’d say Boo, because unlike Stacy, who has treated people like garbage, or Dreamz, who has shown himself to be a traitor, Boo hasn’t really done much of anything to offend anyone, besides just be dumb. But judging by the la-*test*-('") previews, he develops a case of motormouth disease, and his stock in the game devalues even further. So at this point, it’s all up in the air. In any case, Thursday should be another awfully interesting episode.