Fretful

Romeo has been on the wrong side of every vote (except Rocksroy, which was unanimous) since the merge. Personally, I would love to see him go on an immunity run, because he really doesn't need it and it would annoy the other players. He's being pulled to the end no matter what he does.

This is interesting to me. I haven't eaten grape jelly since I was about 10 years old, and I can honestly say I've never seen an adult eat it. I never would have guessed there's a whole grape jelly fan club out there.

I'm a vegetarian and I've given this some thought in my pretend winning-Survivor musings (I would never get cast, and could never win, but that doesn't stop me from pretending I might). It is tough to make that decision. Survivor is not life-and-death, it's entertainment. On the other hand, it's what they sign up for. Not getting rice would leave me with nothing-coconut, btw, is s natural diuretic, and if you eat that and nothing else it will go through you pretty fast-and then what's the point of being cast? Would I quit? That seems unfair, too. In the end, I realize that I have eaten meat in the past, and might again someday, so I would probably eat what we found/caught. That way I can be somewhat sure that it was humanely and ethically processed. I don't think I would partake meat from a reward, which would most likely be factory farmed. It's a small distinction, but probably the best personal compromise I could make work.

Other teams are starting at the same time, and still not beating them.

I think the Souvlaki spelling threw off some teams because of the pronunciation. Americans typically pronounce it Sue-Vlah-kee, but the Greek way is more Shoe-Vlah-Kee. With transportation out of the equation, I really wish they would make some of the tasks harder. They did this with TAR Australia last season (because the entire season was filmed inside Australia) and I think it made it more interesting. Teams really had to push to get through some of the tasks. But without travel drama like missed train connections, production really needs to up the challenges, and they haven't.

I think if I were the cops, I would have switched the direction I was working on the belt. Worst case scenario- you're both wrong and have to start over. If you're both right, you're a couple of minutes behind and can out run the other team. As it turned out, father\daughter got lost, so cops had an opening and probably would have avoided elimination.

This is the first season I've been able to tolerate MJ (He cracked me up when he was annoyed with himself for singing Safety Palace- a tune which now might be forever in my head). I'd be fine with an MJ/Jonna win too, although I will always root for Darrell. I don't love Nehemiah/Melinda, but they've worked hard so good on them if they win. If Ayanna/Tech win, I will laugh so hard I may have to be hospitalized. ETA- Apparently it's Save The Palace (not Safety Palace- although if we Google "Safety Palace" this shows up):

I actually liked Andy as a judge for this. He didn't pretend to know design, but he does know the Housewives- their style, their taste, their fashion history- and was able to add that layer to the comments about how the garments suited the clients. I prefer this to the mactress of the week who acts as if just because they wear fashion they understand fashion.

I don't understand how that would work. At final immunity (4), once one person is out, the challenge is over. What is the advantage to continuing/winning the challenge? Plus, it puts way too much emphasis on the physical game for my taste, and is inherently unfair to the social players. On the other hand, if three people make fire, the last one to do so would be out, not in.

I wonder how heavy the control bar during the mission really was. Could one of the stronger women maneuvered it? If so, it might have made sense to have the taller person grabbing flags. I think Ayanna and Teck could have won if they had reversed places. If MJ had a stronger partner (it looked too heavy for Jonna), he could have used his giant armspan and nabbed them all.

I can see how Coral's outfit could have worked. There are lots of one-line events that could use a combination of dress-y and comfort. Cocktail parties, wine tastings, and concerts are often remote. You want to dress up a bit to take your mind off the fact that you're basically sitting at home by yourself drinking.

I love, love, love Darell, but... as great as he is at the sport "The Challenge," he's just not that good at the game "The Challenge." WHY would he let Tina make the rules? Just tell her that her system doesn't work for him, then hold his ground. Tina was smart to take the representative role early. Now she probably won't have to do it again, and if she had lost and had to go in, there are still plenty of weaker women to go against. Kendall seemed to have picked up some strategy since last season, and is doing a pretty good job of staying in the background. I would find Ayanna exhausting to be around. I felt that way about her during Semester At Sea. I remember fast forwarding through her scenes even then.

It was very brief, but we saw a bit of Heather's game tonight. She did a great job of convincing Danny that going along with the plan was his idea. I think there's more to her than they show, in an under-the -radar way. She's also done pretty well in the individual challenges (which DO seem very geared towards those with balance this season).

I would put Devin as the weakest man there at the moment, although Emanuel is something os a wildcard. Kyle could actually win this thing if he gets to the end- he's done well in finals before. For the women, I don't see anyone but Kaycee winning, unless Emy has one more trick up her sleeve.

When Shantall's red dress came down the runway, I thought "Finally, someone showed us a plus-size model's figure in a flattering way"

Sure, CT is strong. But that's why you throw him in week after week after week. Jay beat him a couple of seasons ago. Keep throwing the rookies at him until he's gone. Of course, if he wins a daily and has power, he's going after the people who threw him in and that's the risk. People like Josh, Devin, Cory, and Nelson don't play to win. They play to see how long they can stay. It's a career move. If they make it to a final-great, but they still never win. I would feel that way about Ashley. On a totally different matter- so bummed that there was no trivia this year. Possibly because there were so many non-native English speakers?

They are the same age.

They are also the reason the same people win season after season. They are cast as buffers for the winner or runner-up. None of these people will ever win (except possibly on the "team win" seasons) but they are typically allied with a multi-time winner. Leroy was a great example of this- you had to get through him to get to Bananas. Sure, Amanda brings the crazy, but she also protects Ashley (who had a good chance of winning again before she self-sabotaged). Plus, they realize that they are on a TV show. The show happens to feature athletic competition, but at its core is completely manufactured. CT plays the "sport" of The Challenge, Devin "performs" on the program The Challenge.

Count me in as one of the people who think that DeShawn was very much in the wrong here. I think it's just the way Shan sometimes comes off. He also WAS acting like a baby a tribal. I didn't see where Shan was ordering him to vote for Heather- she suggested it and he got all put out. When she tried to approach him, he doubled down. I remember so long ago on Cook Islands, when the Manihiku tribe was imploding and someone (maybe Nate) said the problem was that they needed a leader, but African Americans in general don't like being told what to do (paraphrasing). So, possibly, that comes int the equation a bit for DeShawn.

I liked this week's challenges. I would like to see more of these kinds of things. I have that "cilantro tastes like soap" gene. I've never noticed it in the smell, but I've never been in a whole field of it either. Anyway, it's not the same as an allergy, so I'd just have to ignore the smell and keep going.

To me, the difference is that they are teams now. Sapphire won the daily, but lost a person. The other two teams kept their numbers, and could arguably be considered stronger now. The Amanda/Tori switch puts a physically strong person on Ruby and a smart woman on Emerald, and Sapphire gets left behind.

Aaron's look played black on my (admittedy old and crappy) TV. Maybe up close it looked more purple/black. But 2 all-black outfits would not pop in the announcers booth.

I think she'll make a great first juror. They often set the tone for the Ponderosa experience. She's light-hearted, and understands that people need to vent, then move forward. Ponderosa may be a better watch than Survivor this season.

Big T should have gone to Sapphire. She is a replacement for Ashley. I wonder if they sent her to Ruby to placate CT?