januarie

Has anyone noticed that the few solo women of past seasons, generally fared better, physically, than Brooke? I think it's because Brooke feels she has to take care of herself and her husband. The solo women only had to take care of themselves. After last season, when the girl (who built a cabin, a sweat lodge, and healed her own infected bug bite with an herbal paste) quit out of boredom, the show changed for me. I want to see the Brooke who built her own shelter with a fireplace, then went to lay on the beach to sunbathe, but I think that Brooke would have gotten bored too. I want to see women compete more but there isn't much "challenge" when it "looks" easy. These are just some of my thoughts.

"Ivar the Boneless" was a real person. A brutal Viking leader who was carried around on a shield. That could lead us to draw some conclusions about the show's future episodes.

I was really looking forward to the XL series. I imagined the brightest and best, finding their way to each other, setting up a successful camp and becoming a productive little community, showing us how it's done. Instead, we have all but 2 people, laying around, waiting for the 40 days to be over, while they bitch and moan. Huh? Heck, I could do that (just ask my husband, lol.) For one thing, there were past contestants were more qualified than the rag tag group we're stuck with. If the producers want to do another XL series, I sure hope they don't insult the audience again by selecting bullies and parasitic sloths. By the way, what happened to the shelter that the large group was building a couple weeks ago?

I really enjoy all these comments. I've been thinking how odd it is that a group would gang up on the seemingly "weaker" person. I'm not saying Dani was weak but she was quiet and the easiest target, since Shane left. That's the "pecking order". My daughter was the victim of the pecking order in 5th grade. She was literally forced out of her own school and was all set to transfer when she changed her mind, saying, "if I let them force me out now, they'll always force me out". This was probably not the first time Dani was treated unjustly. I think it took courage to ask to join EJ and Jeff, knowing she might face more rejection. Her self esteem probably hit rock bottom after that. I'm not blaming EJ and Jeff but it still had to hurt.

Good points!

I appreciate EJ's and Jeff's kind attitude toward Shane. That was excellent. However, I'm a little surprised by the macho(?) stuff going on with EJ and Jeff isolating themselves from the rest of the group. Then again, Chris probably wishes he could be one of them. ;) If this show was supposed to be a competition, then EJ and Jeff would be doing the right thing by separating themselves because they are more self sufficient with just two of them but it isn't a competition, right? I wonder if their survival scores will rise or fall because of their cutthroat attitudes. Yes, they did share the eel. I'm glad, but what about the well? If they did share the well then kudos to them. The longer this show goes, there are more questions than answers. Why aren't Laura and EJ expressing the bond they shared after their own 21 days together? I was sure they would click again and help each other out for the good of the whole group. I like the way the other group accepted Alana and Danielle without saying "Oh great, how are we expected to feed 2 more when we can't feed ourselves?" (Meanwhile, Chris is still thinking, "I wish I was with EJ and Jeff'". lol) I feel bad for the larger group because they all know, even if they don't say it, that they could use the "muscle" of Jeff and EJ. Those 2 guys are missing an opportunity to be leaders and guarantee the success of the remaining survivors, which is what we would want to see if this was a real life situation.

The main thing that sticks out to me is, why are these people so relatively "pale"? Just like Peach said. The only sunburn I noticed was on the girl with Laura and Dani and even she had sunstrap lines. Huh? I suspect the cast is only outside during filming. Say it ain't so! Somebody?

I didn't think it was fair that Honora didn't have to leave her tools (machete) behind when she tapped out (as other tap out contestants always do). Then I wondered if the producers were afraid to try to take it from her. She is either extremely unstable or the audience is being played. For example, why do all the girls seem like "mean girls"? How is it that we hear so much giggling from Alana and Danielle? It's as if they are gaslighting Shane. Maybe it's all editing but I still didn't expect to hear any school girl type giggling from them.