Survivor Redemption Island Episode 10 Thoughts

You know, after my disasterous pick of Misty to win Panama, I like to think that I've improved my abilities to pick out potential winners and losers. That's why I put no faith in what seemed to be somewhat consensus picks to win in Kristina and David. They both fell under the same category: too strategic.

One thing that I've figured out is that as time has gone on, being a strong strategic player is nowhere close to being as important as being a good social player. The jury is more likely to vote against you if they do not like you, even if you were the greatest strategic player of all time. Players like David and Kristina tend to put a target on their back by asserting their intelligence, which in turn ends up getting that player voted out. The strategic player tends to not make as many connections, as the connections amke it more difficult to eliminate a player. That lack of connection makes it more difficult for a juror to vote for the strategic player.

Ultimately, what did Kristina and David in was being a transparently strategic player who was in a minority situation. And it was their own actions that put them in the minority situation. Kristina chose to make a move on Boston Rob and isolate herself. David chose to throw a challenge in order to remove Russell from the game. Their own strategy and drive ended up working against them in the long run.
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Everything after the Redemption Island duel was just uncomfortable. Unlike Cook Islands, where the producers interjected the race situation in about as innocuous a way as possible, seeing somebody accuse another of being a racist is not a good time. Throw in that the one accusing the other has acted in an, um, unusual manner, and it's even worse.

It's pretty obvious that Philip has faced sever racial prejudice before, and that has impacted the say he sees things. It's also pretty obvious that Steve wasn't trying to imply any sort of bigotry. What should have happened was both taking a step back to realize what they were arguing about - storing rice. is there a compromise there?

But it's more than that. Julie's "I stole the shorts and you'll never find them" comment was stupid and uncomfortable. Ralph's laughing at Philip's underwear while voting was uncomfortable. I mean, here's Philip basically pouring out his heart in tribal council, and Ralph mocks him in private, while Julie mocks him TO HIS FACE! For Julie to say afterwards that Philip is the poison in the tribe after she intentionally poked and prodded him (along with Steve) to get a reaction is laughable at best. It's pretty obvious that Julie has given up on the game at this point, but more on that tomorrow.
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Enough about this thoroughly unenjoyable topic, here are a few things that I enjoyed:

• The only thing amusing about the blow up at camp was that they cut away from Philip giving the "kiss my ass" sign, as though this is the most offensive thing in Survivor history. I mean, really?


• Also amusing, when Rob mentions who he wants to make "Public Enemy #2," (with Philip being Public Enemy #1) we get a cut to Ashley.


• Ashley falling down due to her dizziness during the immunity challenge made me giggle. Granted, I have an issue with laughing inappropriately at people falling down, but still...


• Philip imitating Jeff Probst's inflection and line when Philip proclaimed that he had finished the puzzle wheel...only to find out that he actually had not finished the wheel.


• Steve's weak "Steve's done" while Probst was checking Rob's puzzle also amused me.

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I'm calling it right now - the Redemption Island winner will not come back until the final 6, which coincidentally is the number of Omatepe members remaining. It's the sort of cute thing that ends up happening on Survivor.