Last week, we were presented with my favorite type of episode. I, am course, am talking about the episodes where some of the players start talking about changing the game around…..and then actually follow through with their plans.
The Amazon castaways were famous for this, as were the Pearl Islanders……after the merge, almost every week resulted in a surprise ouster. Power shifts and struggles keep the game fresh and interesting. Last week’s episode of Palau did not disappoint by any means.
It was perfect. It may have been dropping torches into water instead of chopping coconuts, but the premise and the idea is still exactly the same. We all remember the famous coconut-chopping challenge in the Marquesas, during which the Rotu 4 Alliance very foolishly revealed the pecking order before they even had a majority and caused the other five members of the tribe to band together and take them out.
Every season since then, the producers have used this challenge again and again, just in different forms. However, the players have become more savvy, and haveb learned how to play this challenge correctly so that they don’t reveal their cards.
Obviously, Gregg did not watch the Marquesas season.
It has taken six seasons, but finally, the impact from the Marquesas was replicated in Palau last week. Gregg may not have necessarily revealed his pecking order, but he revealed enough when he asked Jenn’s permission to turn her lever. Everyone, including Jeff Probst, was completely flabbergasted at his action. He asked Jenn’s permission, he went back on his word to Katie, and then he took Jenn and Katie on the trip.
So, Gregg got to take a million dollar cruise. He left Tom and Ian, who had definitely noticed his actions at the challenge, alone at camp with a desperate Caryn.
For a few weeks now, I have been observing Gregg and his actions. As you may recall, I have been very impressed since the individual game started about Gregg’s attitude towards the game, especially after that confessional where he talked about how he judges people in the game based on their usefulness and ability to move him to the top. He had the right attitude, and he looked like a promising candidate for the million. So what happened?
Plain and simply, he screwed up. He made some major mistakes in the Reward Challenge that ultimately cost him the game. What he should have done is take either Tom or Ian. That way, the two allies wouldn’t be able to conspire together and watchdogs would have prevented Caryn from gaining any leverage.
Oh, well. What’s done is done, and Gregg has left the game and is now on the Jury. Only five people remain, and this is the final column of mine that you will read before the big finale. The next time I write to you, I will be talking about the results of the finale, which airs this Sunday the 15th.
So which of the five will win? Who will be next to go?
I truly feel that, at this point, it is anybody’s game. Like I established last week, this group did not have to contend with the pressures of the game for the entire first half, and now that they have to start playing so close to the end, the pressure and intensity is hitting them even harder.
From the previews for episode 13, we have seen that Ian and Katie, two close friends out there, are going to have some kind of blowout. Jenn is on her own, and apparently, she is going to try and make Caryn look bad (not that that takes much effort). The only real solid alliance is between Tom and Ian, and even Ian has said he would be willing to turn on Tom if winning the million dollars requires it.
Friendships and alliances, at this point, are thrown completely out the window. One of my favorite quotes from the entire Survivor series came at one of Jeff Probst’s post-vote spiels before he dismisses the castaways from TC. This one was from a late Pearl Islands episode: “It’s not about trust anymore. It’s about mutually beneficial interests.”
So here is a final rundown of how I think the Final Five will perform during the final two episodes:
IAN—My favorite right now to go all the way. At first, when he told Katie that he, Tom, and Caryn were turning the game around, I almost fell out of my chair. After all the careful secrecy and planning, and Caryn’s great acting skills, I couldn’t believe that he was blowing the security and risking making it all go down the drain if Katie blabbed. In hindsight, however, I realize that Ian played this just right. He went to Katie right before they left for TC and told her. He didn’t squeal, he told her in order to give her an ultimatum: you either vote with us and help us, or you vote with them and force the purple rock. It was actually quite brilliant. He helped their plan out, and gave her a choice without betraying the security of their alliance together. Ian is my #1 choice to be the winner of this game, and I hope he does win. He’s a very deserving candidate.
KATIE—Katie put herself in a very precarious position by playing both sides of the fence. She is playing a hard game, but people are noticing. She turned on Ian in a split second in the Reward Challenge, and he noticed. He suspected she might be in an alliance with Gregg and Jenn, and she was indeed entertaining the possibility on the cruise ship. It’s okay to play, but as Caryn learned last week: you do whatever you have to do to avoid getting caught.
TOM—He and Ian are now running the show with Gregg gone. The only question is whether or not the three women take notice of this. He and Ian have basically been trading off Immunities, and it would be smart of the women to mobilize and try to get them out, but it won’t happen. Tom is sitting in a good position right now, and he and Ian could well be on their way to the Final Two. We’ll just have to wait and see. I see him landing in third, but I don’t see him leaving before the Final Three as of this moment.
CARYN—Caryn is in an interesting position right now. She was a surefire shot to go home last week, but because of Gregg’s RC stupidity and poor judgment, the tables were turned. This does not mean she is in a threesome alliance with Tom and Ian, so she still needs to watch her back. She is still in a precarious situation, but the interesting thing is that if everyone else becomes so concerned with their relationships with the others, Caryn may just slip through the cracks and make it to the Final Four. Even if she makes the Final Two, she won’t win because she’s far too disliked as a whole, but in this particular situation, being a single swing vote may not be such a bad place to be in.
JENN—Barbie didn’t look happy at all when Ken left the game. She spent too much time and energy focusing on her relationship with him, and now she’s on her own. I’m looking forward to seeing whether or not she can save herself, but I just don’t see it happening. I think Barbie is going to be leaving next, just one place short of the Final Four.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, it’s that time again. Time to conclude yet another season of SURVIVOR. With only two episodes left, and five people who are all grappling for positions very hard, and some bitter Jury members, I am anticipating an exciting finale.
I can’t wait to see how it turns out! (GO IAN!!!!!!)
I’ll “see” you next week, after the tenth million dollar winner is crowned!
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On another note, the sitcom EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND will be ending its nine year run this Monday, May 16th, starting at 8 P.M. on CBS. If you read my columns between Vanuatu and Palau, you know that I have a very profound respect for this show. The chemistry among the cast is flawless, and the stories are well-written, funny, and true-to-life.
Unlike any other sitcom, it serves as a microcosm for the American family, and I don’t want to let the cast take their final bows without some sort of tribute to the show from Inside Pulse. Therefore, I am spearheading an effort to get a tribute together for the finale of this noteworthy and classic sitcom, and I am asking for your help.
If you, like me, are a fan of this fine show, then I am asking that you send me, at the contact address provided here in this column, any of your thoughts and reflections on the show.
If you have any favorite episodes, I want to know about it. If you have any thoughts about the success of the show, or any particularly favorite characters, then I want to know about it. I want to know about any specific parts of the show you and/or your family can identify with. I want all of this, and I am asking you to send these things to me ASAP. I am hoping to compile everything I get into a special tribute column before the big finale.
I thank you in advance for your assistance.
