Thursday, October 8, 2009

A Night Of Firsts

Tonight’s Survivor Samoa contained several “firsts”. This was a good thing; otherwise tonight would have been mediocre at best. Another element present this evening that will keep this season’s episodes from ever being run-of-the-mill was the splendor of Shambo’s mullet. This ex-marine possesses the most spectacular coif ever witnessed on Survivor and it grows in magnitude each week. It is truly a sight to behold.

Shambo and Her Magnificent Mullet

Now about those Survivor “firsts” that took place on tonight’s program. There were three that jumped out at me. The first occurred at the Reward Challenge.

Following the instructions laid out in their tree mail, Galu and Foa Foa both sent a trio of tribe mates to the beach for the challenge. When the arrived they found a wooden crate, a cage full of live chickens and a large circle marked in the sand.

What they didn’t find was Jeff Probst!

This was definitely a Survivor “first”. Over the nineteen seasons I have witnessed every challenge, whether it was for Reward, for Immunity or a combination of the two. And each and every one of them featured the Emmy award winning Probst supervising the activities. But not tonight.

Despite Mr. Probst’s absence, the tribes figured out the challenge and true to form, Galu won again. It was the heroic efforts of Dave the fitness trainer that sealed the victory and gave his tribe the privilege of taking the chickens back to their camp.

The next “first” was probably the most unlikely. Team Galu lost the Immunity Challenge! They were victorious in their first three attempts, so this was totally unexpected. Initially I was worried that the Galu loss would make for a ho-hum episode. There would be no focus on the freaks from Foa Foa and I needed my weekly fix of Hantz the sock burner!

Fortunately the gang from Galu possesses an ample share of people that don’t know how to play nicely with others. It’s funny how losing for the first time can make the most congenial group start to bicker and backstab.

Let the games begin. Topics of discussion were Monica sucking during the challenge, Yasmin’s general laziness around camp and Mullet Master Shambo letting a chicken escape. It was wonderful.

The only question was which one was going to be voted off at Tribal Council, which is where the final “first” took place.

It was business as usual at first. Thanks to Probst’s instigating, It had the usual amount of petty arguments and finger pointing, nothing that Fellow Survivor Geeks hadn’t seen before.

Then it happened.

While being called to task by several of her tribe mates, the demure Yasmin announced that she didn’t really care what the others thought about her. Then she went so far as to say that if she got voted off, so be it, that’s why she wore her heels! That’s right she was sporting a pair of high heels that would have made Heidi Klum proud. Another Survivor “first” had transpired.

Unfortunately for Yasmin the heels made her walk down the stairs difficult as Probst announced that she had to leave because the tribe had spoken. That brought this night of "firsts" to a close. Galu still holds a nine to six manpower advantage over Foa Foa, not to mention Shambo’s glorious mullet for inspiration. Until next time…from the booth.

3 comments:

Leplume said...

Ahaha! Yes, the high heels were a nice touch! I've said it before and I'll say it again, this season is really shaping up to be a good one! If only because some of these people really are so clueless when it comes to strategizing! Great show!

Greg Turco said...

So where was Jeff during the challenge? I think he was sick or something.

I wonder if they have a spare host on hand if Jeff has to sit out a few days. He must get sick or need a day off sometime.

Paul E. Vagnoni said...

I thought the same thing Greg until I saw this from Jeff Probst on a Survivor website:

HOST-LESS CHALLENGE INSIGHT We have talked about doing something like this for a long time. A challenge in which nobody is there. Nobody tells them anything. We just watch to see what they do. This was a major experiment. How would it work without having me there to moderate and oversee everything? And for the record, I wasn’t hiding in the bushes, “just in case.” When we commit, we commit. I was back in my tent reading an old copy of Rolling Stone. Poor Michael Jackson.