1. While I loved watching this episode and admittedly watched it three times in a row to fully absorb everything that happened, I don’t think I enjoyed it for the right reasons. Upon further reflection, the reason that my heart was pumping during the tribal council is because of how strategically-inept these players seem to be. While I was very happy with Jeff Kent going home, I would have preferred to see it happen in a more calculated and reasonable format. While the mass hysteria before tribal council was delicious to watch, ultimately Tandang stuck together so it was really a lot of hype over nothing.
2. The one aspect that I did find absolutely fascinating was the fact that Malcolm and Denise were on the outside of the vote. Every since the pair were absorbed into Tandang and Kalabaw, I have maintained that they were in the strongest position. While even that fact baffles me (considering that they should have been the first ones to go since they were outsiders), I am absolutely stunned by their decision to vote Pete off. He was not a threat to them and I think they have both shown Pete that they aren’t as loyal to him as he thought (even after Pete was the one who told Malcolm that Lisa had betrayed his trust). I really don’t understand what they were thinking with the vote.
3. While I really want to respect Lisa for finally playing the game, and spilling the beans about Malcolm’s idol in an effort to keep Tandang together, it actually makes me respect her less. I don’t know why. I still think her better play was to stick with Malcolm and Denise. I don’t think either would have turned on her because they know that she is loyal. They also know that they can beat her in challenges. From Lisa’s perspective, she has two solid allies there and she still had Mike in her back pocket. By outing Malcolm, she has isolated herself from him and Denise. Now she is back to being the last rung on the Tandang chain, with only Mike as her parachute. If Tandang sticks together, then the axis of evil (Pete, Abi and Artis) will definitely just take Mike and Lisa out next.
4. I have made no secret of the fact that I didn’t understand the hype about Jonathan Penner going into the season. I thought he was a decent narrator at best, but never understood why he warranted a triple shot at the crown (I mean that’s one short of Boston Rob’s attempts and that’s like comparing baloney to steak). With that being said, I thought Penner had a marvelous episode from top-to-bottom. I think it might have been his best single-episode performance in history. After he was blindsided by the RC vote, he did not lose his cool after it was over. He recognized that he not only needed to keep his head down and not make any waves (which he did), to win immunity to save himself (which he did), and most importantly, to not pull a Shii Ann in All-Stars or a Troyzan in One World and overcelebrate. While he certainly benefits from the experience of being a three-time returnee, he still played this as well as anybody could. I am sure he was dying to throw his victory right into the faces of people who told him to his face that he was going next, and instead he managed to limit himself to only hurling his hat. That’s not even mentioning his throwaway vote to Abi, which I believe was designed just to fuel her suspicion about it being someone from her own side.
5. RSVP here for the “Carter Goes Crazy Now That Jeff Is Gone” party.
6. This season needs some more babes, stat. I am sure that if producers knew that this was how it was going to turn out, they would have finally done the show in a cold weather climate.
7. I still can’t believe Abi and Malcolm both showed their hidden immunity idols. The best play for both of them is to now give it to one of their allies to play while still offering the impression to everyone else that they will use it.
8. While Tandang still has the numbers, I can’t help but think that the time is coming for Pete and company. So I present you with this. If Pete wins immunity, who would be the replacement evictee? While logic would say Abi, I almost think the smarter move would be Artis, only because I don’t see Abi winning any challenges and she is the perfect F3 goat.
9. I am so glad we don’t have to hear anymore of Jeff Kent’s terrible baseball analogies. I am also glad we don’t have to see anymore of his ego, his toothpick, or his obsession with eliminating returning players and failing miserably.
10. I have received some criticism for my belief that Jeff Kent is the worst Survivor player of all-time, but I still maintain the position. You can’t compare him against people who were eliminated first because they never really had a shot to get in the game. When you talk about him versus players that were eliminated while still holding the idol (James Clement), I still feel like in every place where Kent had to make a decision, he made the wrong one. When he had his shot to take out the player he clearly wanted out the most, he went for a Katie who was not a threat to him at all. When Tandang gave him the gift of saying they were voting out one of their own instead of taking the obvious route and eliminating Kalabaw in succession, he stuck with their plan instead of making a power move and eliminating Pete. In the scramble before the last tribal council, he still couldn’t use his sway to get the votes to tilt to someone else. Time and time and time again, he was given the chance to make moves that would secure him access to the end game. Instead, he just kept striking out (just pretend that was my impression of a Jeff Kent confession with an annoying baseball metaphor). I have read and listened to some of Jeff’s exit interviews where he said that Lisa wasn’t playing the game and I can’t help but laugh because him criticizing her is like Larry making fun of Moe. They are all stooges.
