Thursday, October 28, 2010

Survivor Nicaragua Recap: Why Keep An Idol When You Can Give It Away?

Marty is an idiot.

Seriously, a complete idiot.

I can't believe I picked this guy as my choice to win after the first episode.

Sorry tonight's recap is up later than normal. I was out for the evening and didn't get back to even begin watching the show until 1 am ET, so forgive me if this is short and rambling.

My Random Thoughts:

- Dan is now comparing himself to John Gotti? Now he's 'Teflon Dan'? Come on, man...you can barely walk and serve no purpose to anyone in this game. Take your $1600 shoes, your swollen knee, your spiffy mob nicknames, and shuffle on out of here. If you start walking now, you may reach the Ponderosa section for evicted castaways by the Season Finale.

- Naonka hates Alina. Then they switch to the other tribe and they "bond". And now she hates her again? Discussion topic: Is NaOnka a) crazy, b) bipolar, or c) both?

- Do we really need a full-on HD shot of a tarantula crawling around in the dark? Not cool. Not cool at all.

- The Reward Challenge seemed like fun: Chase took it in the junk, Fabio pissed in the pool, Dan waddled like a crippled penguin, and Benry rocked again. That challenge looked like it would have been toughest on Fabio and Chase as the defenders, as they had to keep getting up onto the pedestal from the water.

- Purple Kelly spoke! Correct me if I'm wrong, but was that her first on-camera confessional when she spoke to the camera in tonight's episode? I was so shocked, I didn't even notice what she said. I had no idea what her voice sounded like until tonight!

- And can we talk about names for just a moment? As I mentioned with Jimmy T. after Jimmy Johnson was eliminated, the indicator is irrelevant once the other person with your name is gone. So why can't Purple Kelly just be Kelly? And have we all forgotten that Fabio's name is Jud? Why do we even learn these people's names if we're going to call them something else?

- I love how in one week, Survivor can turn someone you felt indifferent about, or even liked, into a total douchebag. That was accomplished in one on-camera monologue from Sash, the self-anointed King of La Flor, who decided it was in his best interest to sit back and let the older tribe members serve him.

- I have to say, other than the breakfast feast, that didn't seem like much of a reward. Milking your own cow before you get the milk? In most of the world, that falls under the category of "chores", not "reward." Although, to be fair, I suppose that milking the cow is probably more television-appropriate than shooting it in the neck with a bow and arrow and drinking its blood! Remember that from Survivor: Africa?

- NaOnka wanted nothing to do with the cow, although I was surprised she didn't starting yelling at the cow and calling it names, since it has FOUR TIMES as many good legs as her nemesis, the ousted Kelly B.

- How many camera shots do we need of Brenda and Kelly's bikini bottoms? Honestly...I think I could pick Brenda's ass out of a lineup. I know this season is exceptionally weak so far, but that's just too gratuitous.

- Jane sneaking off to cook her own fish was just weird. First of all, how does she start her own fire off somewhere where no one would see it? Is she so far away, that no one would see the smoke from a second fire? If you're going to steal fruit or something that can't be traced back to you, I could understand the logic...but why would you start a fire, then cook a fish? Are they not going to see the ashes from the fire later? And that was a creepy cackle she gave us, wasn't it?

- The Immunity Challenge was great as well. I have to give the Survivor crew a lot of credit...for a lackluster season thus far, the challenges have been great to watch. And again...Benry rocked at another challenge.

- Didn't you just love the irony of Mr. Arrogant Sash telling Crazy Hair Marty "I'm not going to tell you what to do with your idol"...while telling him what to do with his idol?

- Marty giving away the idol was an idiotic move. Ask Erik the Ice Cream Scooper. Ask JT, who gave it to Russell. Ask Russell, who gave it to Parvati. I'll say this slowly for you Marty:

GIVING...THE...IDOL...AWAY...IS...NEVER...A...GOOD...IDEA.

Your risk vs. reward was nowhere close to a good balance. You unnecessarily risked your own safety at Tribal Council for essentially no reward. Play your idol, stay safe, and who knows what could happen next?Maybe you win the next immunity challenge and don't have to worry. Maybe you find a clue to another idol. Maybe there's a Merge. All of those make playing the Idol a better idea. Jill still goes home either way, but now you risked your own safety, you still don't have the Idol, and someone else who is against you DOES. And Sash saying he will give it back to you if they lose the next Immunity is a flat-out lie and carries as much weight as Dreamz promising the same to Yau-man in Survivor: Fiji.

Next week: The Merge...and NaOnka the Villain returns.

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Thanks for reading.

Related Posts:
Survivor Nicaragua Recap by Dalton Ross
Jeff Probst’s Blog

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

i dont know, i agree that people always get burned when they give away their idol but in this case Marty didnt really have much of a choice

Sean said...

Of course he had a choice: Don't give Sash the Idol and then use it on himself. He would have been in the same boat: Jill's gone, he's fighting for his life, but now his enemy on the Tribe (and Sash is clearly an enemy to Marty) doesn't have the Idol.

And like I said, anything an happen before the next time he goes to Tribal Council.

Anonymous said...

Well obviously hindsight being 20:20 since he didn't get voted out last time and the idol is still in play there is a slight and yes, I know slight possibility that Sash gives the idol back to Marty and keeps his word. If he had not given the idol up he would have used it at the last Tribal and would have no hope of getting the idol back. However, it will still be fun to watch he and Sash argue about their agreement in the next episode which will provide great TV.