phlebas

"Sometimes you gotta risk it to get the biscuit." - Wes Thanks, Wes. Getting biscuits sounds like a much more intense activity in Louisiana.

I'm unclear on CBS' motive behind casting John in the first place. Were they hoping for him to be the Loud Idiot Bigot Rocker as he's been portrayed in the media for the last 15+ years? If so, they must be disappointed they only got him through three episodes, and the first one didn't really have any big OH NO HE DIDN'T moments. He was basically a standard issue Type-A D-Bag that we see almost every season. The only difference was we knew that much about him going in. Were they trying for a redemption arc? Seems unlikely if they really did coach him up for the "got beaten by a girl" stuff. I know it's all stunt casting to get eyeballs, but I don't know what they wanted the eyeballs to see to make them stick around. Maybe they figure just getting them to look is enough to get them hooked on the whole season. Might even work if this season had other interesting characters. (I have similar questions about the Twinnies, but I don't watch TAR so I'd never heard of them before two weeks ago.) Well, I have thought more about John Rocker in the last few days than I had in the previous 15 years, so I guess I can stop. Go Braves.

I'm sort of in the same boat. I lived (and still live) in Atlanta when he was a Brave and opened his fool mouth. I don't know whether or not he's evolved on racial or LBGT issues, but he has kept is mouth shut more in the last 15 years. His thing now seems to be cashing in on being a far-right wingnut. His column on WoldNetDaily, for example, probably didn't come along because of his fastball. And his "jews with guns would have prevented the Holocaust" thing must have made Ted Nugent buy up all the old John Rocker jerseys he could find. I kept waiting for him to go off by himself and vent away from his team while beating his head against a tree. "One of them is BLACK and one of them is GAY and one of them is of INDETERMINATE RACIAL ORIGINS and... oh, she's gone? Cool, but one of them is still GAY..." But no, he mostly behaved himself. As for the rest, I found them all unusually likable. I never watched TAR so I had no preconceptions about the Twinnies. Everyone else seemed pretty affable. I hope it's a fun season.

I've warmed to the idea of changing the nature of the idols. Instead of just granting immunity for one round, you can whip one out after the votes are read and use it to demand a Trial By Combat. Then you sit down with the person who had the next highest number of votes (after whatever tie-breakers are necessary) and have a fire-building challenge. If you build the fire quicker, you get to stay and the other one goes home or to the jury or whatever. And you go back to camp, knowing most of the contestants just tried to get you out. That way if you have a pocketful of idols, you aren't untouchable. You still need to have some survival skills other than knowing how to dig for idols among tree roots. And maybe the other contestants would learn how to do something other than sunbathe and overturn the rice.

OMG is it past time to re-do the auction. Can someone ask Tyler Perry to ask Jeff if they'll just start hiding these advantages ad clues in the other items? Or at least leave them covered? Let's make that "sit on all your money" thing a bad strategy, and make it more advantageous to bid intelligently. Sorry to see Jefra go, but mainly for blue-bikini reasons, though she does seem genuinely sweet. Not cut out for Survivor, but she did give the impression she understood the game. Just never quite figured out how to actually play it. If she had turned double agent last week, she'd still be with us.

Clearly her parents panicked while playing Scrabble when the hospital staff asked them for something to put on the birth certificate. (I love this girl too!)

Her willingness to overcome her own grudge against Jeremiah and gleefully vote with the brains against Alexis is a good sign. After Brice got booted, all her interviews were about hating Jeremiah and I thought she'd get in her own way eventually. Now I think Top 5 is reasonable for her, unless Tony has already copyrighted that.