Survivor

Jaime, Jaime, Jaime.  That had to be embarrassing for you, watching last night's episode of Survivor: China.  In what had to be a top five tribal council moment of all-time, Ms. Dugan played what she believed to be an immunity idol, only to have Jeff Probst crush her soul by matter-of-factly tossing the “idol” into the fire like a piece of driftwood.  Brutal, especially after Jaime's obliviously confident attitude throughout the entire episode.  You can't say what goes around comes around, because Jaime is a good person at heart, but I guarantee their weren't a lot of viewers devastated by her departure.  Personally, it was an enjoyable to me because I can't respect anyone who covertly rifles around someone's belongings.  But, then again, it's just a game, right?

When James brought up the possibility that Jaime might try and use the fake idol at tribal council, I thought it was too good to be true.  Survivor wouldn't throw that possibility out there if it was actually going to happen.  It's incredible that Jaime and Erik didn't figure out that what they had was not an immunity idol.  Why did she think James had two?  How did Frosti not ask if there was writing on it?  In defense of Jaime, she was likely on the chopping block regardless, and even if she wasn't sure that the immunity idol was real, it doesn't hurt to try.  But, I got the sense that Jaime didn't even try to make any plays last night because she was so confident that she'd shock everyone by playing the idol.  Instead, she should have tried to flip Courtney (which seemed inevitable).  No one really likes Jean-Robert these days, even James, and Erik, Jaime and Peih-Gee needed to jump on that. 

If Frosti and Courtney are indeed becoming buddies, as last night's Survivor indicated, things could possibly get interesting in the next few episodes.  They're going to need to pull off a major coup if they don't want the original Zhan Hu members to get picked off one by one.  Unfortunately, if the strong five members of Fei Long (I'm discounting Courtney, seeing as I don't see her sticking to the party line much longer) they have the numbers now to coast into the final five.  That is, if everyone can stomach Jean-Robert's presence for that much longer. 

If Amanda, Todd, James, Jean-Robert, and Denise are content to stay together, then they have four chances to eliminate Frosti, who is clearly the biggest immunity threat in the minority (as in fewer numbers) alliance.  If it weren't for James, Frosti might be poised for a Tom-esque immunity run, but I give the James the upper hand in anything physical.

But, if we are to read anything into the promos for next week, the Fei Long alliance might be in danger.  We saw Todd throw out the idea of back-dooring James.  This is a good strategy, but shouldn't they wait at least one more week when the numbers are more in their favor?  Todd and Amanda worked hard to set things up the way they are now; it'd be a massive blunder for them to shake things up at this juncture. 

Next week forecast:  In order, the most likely people to be voted off 1) Erik 2) Peih-Gee 3) James. 


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