Survivor

Take that, Ace.  Bwahaha!  This is the earliest tribal shake-up I can remember in a long time, but it was a necessary one.  There were strong alliances on each side, and had the season progressed with tribes unchanged, boredom would have run rampant.  That's not what Survivor: Gabon needed.  This fresh start is going to reinvigorate the season, and we're already off to a solid start.  The machinations of the new Fang tribe were wonderful to watch last night, as Kelly switched allegiances (suck on it, Ace) and helped eliminate Jacque from the game.  Of course, Ace just gets to replace Jacque with Sugar, who he has a stronger bond with and who also has an immunity idol, but the stakes have been claimed.  If Ace and Sugar want to survive their next tribal council, it's going to have to be through tricky idol maneuvering. 

Some random thoughts:

Jacque and Kelly looked indistinguishable during last night's tribal council.  It was uncanny.  Why would the Survivor producers cast two blonde girls who look almost exactly the same?

Charlie reeaaalllly loves Marcus.

Ken is kind of a horndog, isn't he?  First it was Michelle, and now it's Kelly, who he wanted on his tribe because she's "hot" (Ken only mention this about two dozen times).  It leads me to this question: Is Ken secretly a little player?  Is he a slayer of women back home?  Is he able to play the shy nerd role to perfection and then pounce? 

Randy continues to be one of my favorite castaways this season.  His three goal output in the immunity challenge wasn't as impressive as some might make it out to be, but it surely got him on stronger ground in terms of his new tribe. He's such a crotchety, bitter dude, but I have a feeling he's going to play a solid game and has a chance to sneak his way further than anyone could reasonably expect.

How despicable was the combined performance on that water lacrosse challenge?  Is it that hard to use an oar?  Most of the castaways just sat there, not even trying.  It was really awful to watch.  Also, Probst's verbal beatdown of Fang after the challenge was priceless.  That's why Probst is the best reality TV host – he is brutally honest and has no qualms with calling out his players. 

It was wonderfully mean to make each tribe rank themselves.  Survivor is great at forcing uncomfortable and unspoken social situations into existence.  I felt bad for Sugar a little bit, but the comfort hut had to be a nice little stress-free getaway from the game. 

I still hate Ace.


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of CBS)