As is often the case with Survivor tribal councils, things are rarely as they seem. Last week I would have laid money on the fact that Sandy should be packing her bags and then a blindside took Caroline home. When Jalapao was sent to council after a close 2 to 3 water basketball lost in challenge one, even Sierra started mentally preparing herself for a leave of absence. Then came the shocking end…

Perhaps having built up a few winning relationships with strong players like Brendan and Coach are what saved Seirra from sudden doom. After all, she’s innocent, like able, and definitely a hard worker/competitor. She’s just so small and slight one gets the impression that if you sneeze in her direction she just may fall down. So no, I don’t see her lasting forever, but should she find that hidden immunity idol and continue to team up with all the right people she may just last until the merge. Stranger things have happened. Her luck would especially be improved if Brandon expresses as much trust as she’s given him. As the case would be, he’s still keeping a mighty big secret in his pocket by the name of Exile Island.

Instead of the meek and mild packing their bags the loud and proud were kicked to the curb. Once again an opinionated lady saw her fire extinguish as Candace was voted out in a seemingly almost anonymous decision. I’m sure Coach is shedding a tear right now.

My future prediction? Regardless of Taj’s assumed wealth and related fame, I believe we’ll be seeing this strong physical competitor making it to the merge without even breaking a sweat.

Survivor is back! Set in beautiful Brazil, Survivor Tocantins is already bringing me into it’s drama, hook, line and sinker.

The 16 person cast was introduced to viewers, already split into two groups: Jalapao and Timbira. Almost as soon as these black and red clad teams were dropped off into the middle of nowhere, having apparently not spoken one word to each other since first meeting they were instructed to immediately vote off a team member. For Jalapao the choice was simple, vote off the older woman. One has to wonder, did they not see Bob last season? First impressions must have been powerful because Timbira also had no problem picking off their first prey, the sick with strep Sierra.

In true Survivor fashion a surprise was waiting in the wings, both Sierra and Sandy were saved from elimination and instead would be able to fly to their camps, allowing them to take in the awesome scenery from above as opposed to lugging through it with supplies on a four hour trek like the rest of their teams. Having been voted off right from the start gave both women a lot to think about. Once at camp even more was added to their mental plates when they were faced with two options; hunt for immunity or start setting up shelter.

Sierra set up camp and immediately earned brownie points with her tired crew. These points, which were only added to after a stellar job during challenge one, proved to be fruitless for the moment. With a sweet victory over Jalapao, Timbira was safe from elimination and won the prize of flint. Sandy wasn’t nearly as fortunate. Having spent her few solo hours at camp hunting hopelessly for the idol she made little progress and only further created a gap between her and her teammates by randomly leaving them, and the work of camp, to hunt for the idol. My bet is that she still doesn’t have it. Sweet she might be, but survivor smart is debatable.

Saved only by Carolina’s big mouth Sandy was lucky enough to live another day in Tocantins. With next week’s episode comes another group of challenges and my prediction is that Sandy doesn’t have what it takes. Better hope she figures out what a pace is and fast.

Right before the Christmas break, Warner Bros. Television filed a lawsuit against CBS over unpaid royalties regarding “Two and a Half Men”.

CBS issued a statement saying, “Wow, I wonder what they got the other networks fro Christmas.”

That’s hilarious.

Anyway, there is a long, complicated reasoning, behind the suit, and it’s just about as much fun to read as those little “change your life” pamphlets that various religious organizations place in public bathrooms around the country.

Long story short – WB wants some money – and they’re taking CBS to court over it. Fun.

When do the new episodes start back again?

Yes!!! Crystal has been kicked off of Survivor and I could not be happier. When she wasn’t complaining or moping she was being conniving. And I’m sorry, you can’t have it both ways if you want to win my vote. Additionally, she was useless in challenges, and for an Olympian, I simply expect more.

This Sunday, December 14, tune into CBS at 8 p.m. and prepare to be amazed. I’m serious, no matter who wins at this point, I will truly be amazed. Okay, maybe not if it’s Sugar or Matty… maybe. Though, in all honesty, throughout this season pretty much every body’s ticket has been up at one point or another. The only exception being Sugar, though if she wasn’t stashing the immunity idol for so long I guarantee things would have gone differently for her and her safety. But then there Susie. I forgot about Susie. Come to think about it, every one forgets about Susie. Can you win by being unmemorable and thus nonthreatening? I sure hope not, it’s kind of boring if you ask me. Nobody tunes into reality television for mediocrity.

With Crystal’s fire snuffed, we are now left with the five competitors, sweet Sugar, forgetable Susie, powerhouse Matty, resourceful Bob and sneaky Kenny. As far as the popular vote goes, I think the jury appreciates a solid player so I see them voting in favor of Matty or Sugar. Every one loves a sweet old man, so of course, you can’t rule Bob out quite yet. As far as Kenny and Susie go though, I’d start packing my bags now.

I’m sure you won’t be too surprised but my prediction for this week’s winner: Sugar. You go girl! Sadly, I won’t be around to tell you the glorious winning news on Sunday since I’ll be on vacay in Florida (some body’s gotta do it), but I’ll give you an earful about my opinions and of course who the winner was on Tuesday. Talk to you then!

P.S. Randy, I’m lovin’ the hawk.

(S17E12)

Whew, talk about a whirlwind episode! First I’m crying my eyes out over truly emotional family visit and then it’s back to game time and I’m grimacing along with each and every strategic move until our next survivor is exiled. I can’t tell you enough how much I’m loving this season of Survivor!

With all that activity, let’s start at the beginning. As we were all expecting, Bob and Corinne of course felt the irritability of being on a chopping block after their last ally, Randy, was voted off the island. Additionally, after the fake idol stunt that Sugar orchestrated, Bob was feeling betrayed.

Apparently when Bob gets his feelings hurt, he gets creative. After obliterating the competition in the first challenge, and winning not only a full meal but also joining the rest of the cast to visit with their family members, he started setting the wheels in motion for another potential “fake idol” dupe. I’ll tell you more about that later.

But first, let me say how crazy emotional the family visits were. Of course there were expected tears from both sides and even a little strategy talk from those obsessed with the game (cough Kenny cough), but who saw Matty’s marriage proposal coming? Okay, so yes, I did too with that hand made love token and all, but then when Sugar’s sister brings out their father’s ashes to spray, holy moly, this water fountain got flicked on.

Sadly, all good things must come to and end, and just moments after we see the families leave, we’re jerked back to the competition by Bob’s pre-mentioned plot. Bringing back a piece of competition from the past, Bob shares with Corinne his attempt to lie their way into safety by pretending that old teammate Marcus never really threw the “dinner idol” into the water but instead kept it for himself and it was thus handed down to the pair.

Nice try, but I don’t think so. Even after easily convincing Kenny to cross over to the dark side and bring along his friend Crystal as well, the end result was just the same. With Bob having won individual immunity, thus saving only his own skin, Corinne was sent packing.

My future prediciton? Bye-bye Bob. He’s simply got no allies left.

CBS has decided to order five more episodes of “Eleventh Hour” which will bring the season order to 18.

The show benefits from a “CSI” lead-in, and has maintained an average of 12 million viewers per episode, as well as a 3.3 rating/9 share.

The show is based on a British series that starred Patrick Stewart. I enjoyed the UK version of the show, but so far, I have found the US series rather flat. We’ll see if the series makes it to a full series pick up based on the success of these episodes.

First of all, happy Thanksgiving everybody!

If you were able to chill with your extended family around the T.V. set tonight and watch something other than football, as I was, then perhaps you tuned in to watch tonight’s Survivor. If not that’s alright, I’ll let you slide this one time with no grief given it’s a holiday and all. Besides, luckily for you since tonight’s episode was a recap of all the shows biggest moments leading up to the present episode, you didn’t miss much.

Us die-hards, however, were able to not only review all of the drama that’s occurred since eighteen strangers were dropped off  in the very wild Gabon, but also see some never before aired footage of the survivors stabbing backs as well as just having some plain old fun. I don’t know about you, but all of this recapping has got me in the mood for the fresh episodes to come. And, with only seven survivors remaining, the biggest question still remains, just who will become this season’s ultimate survivor?

Currently my money’s on Sugar. But I’ve always been a big fan of the players that are left under the radar of suspicion. Now I’m curious, who do you think will win?

The Fang and Kota tribes have finally reached a merge, and of course, drama, back-stabbing and shocking results ensue.

After a lovely little round of sling shot golf in challenge one, Fang (with their renewed strength still intact) once again take home the prize. After sending Bob off to exile, in what I can only observe as a misguided attempt to save him, the Fang members were wisked off to spend a night with the Gabon locals. After being washed with leaves and fed the team lets loose and dances with their hosts. So far, absolutely nothing unexpected going on with that.

Then challenge two came upon them.

Host Jeff Probst announced to the two tribes that indeed their much awaited merge is upon them and they will be fighting to start a fire that will give just one individual the proverbial get out of jail free card. Much to everyone’s surprise, Susie takes quick lead all but killing the competition, with Sugar as the only other member from both teams who could even get the kindling lit. With only a slight race between the two underdogs, Susan holds onto her lead and walks away a happy girl.

Susan may have had a nice new power necklace to sport, but upon strategically sorting out post-merge moves, Sugar was the girl with all the power. Both the original Kota four and Fang four vied for her trust, attention, and most importantly, her vote.

After an invigorated camp fire tribunal where Marcus paid the first of his many visits back as an observer, Sugar made one of the most surprising moves I’ve seen thus far in this game as an audience member. For no obvious reason, she voted out Charlie. My mouth dropped, literally.

Then it occurred to me, this game is no longer about strength or smarts, it’s exactly what the fire starter challenge was about – self preservation.This is a lesson that Randy and Corrine must quickly learn. Forget the meek, in this season’s Survivor it appears as if the weak shall inherit the earth.

Gabon may just go down in history as the Survivor season which broke all assumptions and left the audience constantly wonder, just what is next?

All Survivor cast members, as well as a vast majority of viewers, including myself, assumed that tonight’s episode would bring with it a merge. Once again, we were wrong. Instead, after being brought together for the typical merge feast the group was asked to randomly pick numbers from a bag and form new teams by odds and evens. This lead to the strengthening of possibly one of the worst Survivor teams in history, Fang.

After first receiving their individual tree mail notices, both Fang and Kota decided to keep their previous alliances with each other, no matter what should happen at the dinner. As luck would have it they were split 3 to 2 into each team with a trusted bond naturally set in place. Thus putting Matty in a dangerous position (Marcus’ only Fang threat), and giving a large dose of power to Suzie, Kota 6′s wild card member.

With the strength and determination that only a personal trainer can have, Matty beat out Bob by only a matter of seconds to secure his new Fang team immunity. Scurrying to save both her own skin as well as Kenny’s, Crystal set to reasoning with Suzie that there was no way the original Kota 6 would take her to the top with them (and rightfully so). Thus, in a move to shift the power in her general direction, Suzie broke her alliance with Marcus and sent him packing. (He will later return as the first member of the jury… my apologies J.S.)

Personally, I feel that this strategic move can only buy time, not a spot in the top three. With no more than each other there’s no way the weak members Kenny, Crystal and Suzie will survive for much longer once the merge occurs, especially not after having burned a bridge with Sugar.

As for my future prediction, I could see Matty taking up with Marcus left off. He’s physically and mentally strong, personable as well as loyal. Yet he’s been struggling long enough to do what he has to do to make it to the top. Not a bad recipe for success if you ask me.

Tonight’s episode of Survivor Gabon reminded my, once again, why Survivor has made it through seventeen wonderful seasons. One of the longest running reality show sitcoms out there, spawning a reality show revolution in the U.S. when it was first aired in 2000.

And sure, a lot of that can be explained away by the fact that reality television, introduced cheap television. Producers jumped at the fact that they were now being shown a way to not only make their audience feel like a personal part of the game (if only they just apply), but the amount of money spent on set, scripts, etc. completely flew out the window. What’s not to love?

If you take a closer look though, Survivor is something more than just a production-cheap show. Instead, it’s a way for audiences to simultaneously live through the hardest and yet most rewarding moments one could possibly have, with all of the beauty a country like Africa has, without once having to fear being bitten by their own snake. Over at my house, we have plenty of rice.

Specifically this evening was set apart in it’s ultimate greatness by a few different highlight moments. The first came during the second challenge when host Jeff Probst announced that the teams would be randomly paired up in a log roll face off working towards earning individual immunity. Easing the audience into seeing the teams meld together led to the anticipation that a merge was next on the agenda and would surely be Probst’s “second surprise.”

A surprise indeed, the tribes were instead told that instead of just one immunity up for grabs, the teams would be kept separated and Marcus, having won the challenge would choose a member of his opposite team, Fang, giving a gift of safety to Sugar. (After sending her to exile island for the 5th time in a row and breaking a show record, Kota sure does like to toy with players minds.)

Seeing as only Marcus and Sugar had immunity, both tribes went to council. A first in U.S. Surivor history to my knowledge. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Proving that what she lacks in physical ability she makes up for in intelligence, Sugar teams up with Crystal and Kenny to take out an unsuspecting Ace. While he may have been her strongest alliance, she knew well enough how close he was to stabbing her in the back and saved him the trouble. Not bad pin-up girl, not bad.

Kota’s tribal council was a lot less interesting. It was obvious and unsurprising that both lackluster Susie and the unstable Dan were on the chopping block. Due to the most minute of fears, Dan headed home just in case he was carrying exile island immunity from his brief stay there. I foresee some anger from that one when the cast-offs are asked back to place their own votes for the win.

As for my number one choice for victory right now? Marcus. We rarely see him, but that just means that right now he’s boring and otherwise golden.