One Crazy Old Broad!

This has been one crazy season of Survivor. In the previous twenty seasons, some have been mediocre, others were good and several have been outstanding. Tonight’s episode sealed the deal for me. Survivor: Nicaragua was all of the above! At times it has been mediocre, bordering on nondescript. Then something would happen to make me think that it was pretty good. Never outstanding, mind you, but definitely good. Tonight season 21 finally became outstanding. And it was mainly because of one crazy old broad.

I can’t remember a season of Survivor with so many ups and downs, highs and lows. Looking back at my notes from the first dozen episodes, I see that my opinion of several of the competitors has changed numerous times.

Brenda, Holly, Fabio and Chase come to mind right away. But they can’t hold a candle to the enigmatic Jane. My opinion of the 56-year-old dog breeder from Jackson Springs, North Carolina has flip-flopped at least a dozen times. Three or four of those times occurred tonight.

I started out by thinking this crazy old broad doesn’t even care that her North Carolina “homeboy” Chase totally screwed her over by not taking her along on the reward feast.

Then back at camp, after discussing with Dan and Fabio what had just happened, she finally realized that Chase was a spineless jellyfish. It was at this point that I started to see her in a different light.

She really started to get me pulling for her when she confronted her alliance of Sash, Chase and Holly after the Immunity Challenge. She basically made the trio admit to her that they intended to vote her off at Tribal Council.

Her response? Jane did what any self-respecting crazy old broad would do. She flipped them off! It was great, way better than when Nay did it. A country “F-U” is much better than the urban version.

She kicked it up another notch or two by declaring, “The wrath of Jane will break out tonight!” She followed this up by completely drenching the campfire with two buckets of water.

I could barely wait to see what she would do at Tribal Council.

Initially she didn’t disappoint, calling Holly a no-good thief and Chase a rotten backstabber. I think that she said something about Sash’s mother. Then, with a little prodding from host Jeff Probst, she called on Dan and Jane to vote for Holly.

This made perfect sense because Sash and Chase had announced that they each had a Hidden Immunity Idol. This would mean three votes going to Jane and three to Holly, forcing a tiebreaker.

The plan looked even better when Sash and Chase both played their Hidden Immunity Idols. All that was left was for Probst to read the votes. The first vote – Jane. The second vote – Jane. The third vote – Jane. The tension mounted as Probst paused dramatically before reading the fourth vote.

He looked up and said, “The thirteenth person voted off and the seventh member of the journey is Jane.”

Huh? What happened to the perfect plan? I couldn’t wait to see who cast their vote for Jane, Dan or Fabio. Which one ruined the plan?

Well, it was sort of anticlimactic. Inexplicably, both of them had voted for Jane. Thing is, it wouldn’t have mattered if they had both gone along with Jane’s plan to vote off Holly. You see, Jane decided to vote for Sash.

She knew Sash had a Hidden Immunity Idol and that any votes cast for him would not count. Yet she voted for him anyway, spoiling any chance for her to avoid elimination.

I told you she was one crazy old broad.

This should make for a very interesting finale Sunday night. It could be epic. Fellow Survivor Geek Auntie Janet is pulling for Mafioso wannabe Dan. I am rooting for that gnarly dude, Fabio. Who do you like? Until next time…from the booth.