Fake Jan Brady

I don't know if it says more about the game of Survivor or the world we live in now, but of the three moral dilemmas during the game the person who chose generously was the fourth person voted out while the people who took the selfish option ended up as the final two. Jonathan is becoming even more Probst-like, ignoring at least six people during the reunion, including third placed Peter but managing to massage the egos of the big boys. Michelle blatantly promoting the sponsor's car made me like her so much more than anytime in the game. Henry still promoting himself, less so.

Oh, Tara; you may as well just hand Jericho the cheque, having provided him with that chance to rehearse his Final Tribal performance tonight IN FRONT OF THE JURY [but kudos on having such adorable children]. Surely she realises she can’t beat him? And remember way back at the start of the game when Petey was her pet gay? She seems to have forgotten that. Lockie is even more annoying on the jury than he was in the game.

I don't approve of the jury tampering but I did approve of the challenge that got them there. I was amazed Jericho won as I thought he would be at a severe disadvantage due to his teeny-tiny limbs. Did Tessa get kicked out of the Jury Villa? Sent home? Sent to a real exile island? After Tessa's answer to Jericho's magic question, surely the remaining contestants realise it's in their best interest to have Tara at the Final Tribal.

Yes. Tuesday 10th is the live finale/reunion. I'm not sure how they'll stretch to four more episodes with only five people left.

Wow; Lapaglia went full Probst with his hard on for Lockie’s streak of Immunity wins tonight. I’m beginning to think Michelle is the person they shouldn’t want to face the Final Jury with; she’s not afraid of speaking up at Tribal and will not back down from an argument. I know likability and immunity wins come into it so they have reason to fear Lockie but he just proved himself an idiot in his inability to understand Michelle’s reasons for not flipping. I also suspect Peter might be good at convincing a Jury; the editors haven’t let him speak much but his talking head interviews are usually thoughtful and well considered. Tara’s only got her “my three kids” schtick and I doubt Jericho could craft a compelling argument [unless the Jury is overly fond of war analogies]. I guess what I’m saying is: one of these five is going to win Yeesh...

?

Probst, of course, loudly declared his surprise that Ryan was designated to that part of the challenge. His never-ending quest to suck up to the alpha males continues.

Oh no; there goes my last chance for a winner I would’ve liked. This is awkward - I really don’t want any of the remaining seven to win. The episode really strained to make it look like there was some tension, but there was no possible way they were going to boot the annoying Michelle when the option was to get rid of a super schemer like Sarah. These people are playing a better game than last year’s castaways but oh what I’d give for a lovable loony underdog to cheer for right now. :-(

Oh, LE53, your gaydar needs a tune up. Yes, in episode one AK asked Peter if he was “a homosexual” and then reassured him he had lots of gay friends [he didn’t].

Luke's "I'm a real boy" while voting was almost enough to turn around my dislike for him. Almost. I was on the edge of my seat during Tribal waiting for Michelle to blab something to ruin the whole plan. The preview with everyone claiming to be responsible for Henry's downfall promises much hilarity.

Oh no; of the three people I picked as my preferred winner, two of them are the first gone after the merge. The pickings are getting mighty slim now; fewer people in the tribe just accentuates how many of them are unlikable. Come on, Sarah, you're my only hope. I liked Anneleise's first bit of advice in her exit interview and loved her second.

"Last in". Oh Tessa, that was the worst management of an alliance bottom feeder I've seen in a long time; Michelle clearly needs a lot of attention, if her performance at Tribal didn't finally tip you off. Letters from home: zzzzzzzzzz Poor Jarrad: at least he knew who Jericho was voting for.

I have no idea who all those interchangeable women were but they spoke in turn. On the plus side, you get to see Andrea and Adam continue to be adorable and Zed somehow be even more handsome than he was on the race. Actually, the entire cast came across really well [but methinks we were lucky to get rid of the first two teams when we did].

We're going through a totally unnecessary, somewhat depressing, national debate down here in Australia on whether same sex couples can marry [thanks for your opinion, everyone else...] so it did my heart good to watch two men in love win, and be reminded in the after show that a female couple won last year. You're a class act, Canada. I was so tense at the end, I had no idea who was going to come running up to the mat. Plus I thought Sam's red eyes in the talking heads might be from disappointment - I'd forgotten he was a happy crier.

Perhaps you can take it more seriously if you use its proper name: Jericho's Cookie Army.

I was hoping Jericho would realise Luke didn't trust him with his Sarah vote decision and switch to voting with Sarah/Tara/Pete. Of course, Tara's witlessness with the whole situation didn't help matters. When will we be rid of Luke??

I wish Ben had more airtime; his confessionals were usually intelligent and his exit was classy, owning up to being outplayed. Lockie reminds me of last season's Lee: easy on the eyes but smugly entitled. Jarrad pointing out that Michelle did more damage in one conversation than Ben could ever do cements him as the smartest player on his tribe [with Anneleise just behind]. On the other tribe, everyone seems to confide in Sarah and she's quietly biding her time: I hope she does a lot of damage.

So AK did have an idol and didn't use it?? That's gonna hurt. Makes sense to vote the sneaky player out but there were at least three other people on Asaga 2.0 I would have preferred to see booted. Ugh, Lockie's level of smug is going to be unbearable. Now that we've passed halfway and winnowed down to a reasonable number of players I've started to think who I'd like to see win: Sarah and Jarrad seem to be my only acceptable options.

Nnnnnnnnooooooooooooooooo!!!!!! That's all i got.

Can somebody please remind me how many people have Immunity Idols now? I know Ziggy's got a super-dooper one and Henry and Anneleise each have a regular one, but does Luke? And did AK find another one after using his first? That seems to be quite a lot.

I'm confused. What was the clue Henry gave to Jericho? What was the health concern that kept Kent out of the Immunity challenge? And why wasn't it an issue when deliberating before Tribal? When will Luke suffer a humiliating exit?

I loved how Sam was slightly buzzed for the rest of the leg after the beer task. I really loved how the Kuna women would NOT be rushed into walking faster in the heat. That was the tensest I've been for a taxi free-for-all at the end, not knowing who was headed to the wrong Panama sign. What an exhausting episode.

Oh Henry, what have you wrought? Not only did your impulsive jump to the other tribe cost you your closest ally, you also handed Luke power - and that is unforgivable. The biggest laugh in the episode was Asaga not knowing Anneleise's name. It's like they're watching along at home.

Ben speaks! And turns out to be quite intelligent! He profiled that idiot Luke perfectly. Is is there any reason why the opposition in the Sumo Mud Wrestling Challenge can't be switched after the first round? The same match-ups in round two just repeated the earlier results. Zzzz.

"That's just stretching" made me laugh out loud. All that time wasted on Asaga's cookies in previous episodes would have been better spent showing us tribe loyalties - I was surprised by how totally Henry had everybody on side. I loved how Mark's heroic military edit switched so quickly to potential psychopath. I guess it's a fine line...