Survivor: Guatamala Thoughts "We Didn't Expect The Guys to Go Down So Quickly"

Thus begins another season of Survivor.

In the past, I have always feared the Premiere episode, especially the fall premiere. I have the great fear that my desperate state caused by Survivor deprivation will make me watch the show with such a longing that I will miss the subtleties and intricacies of the opener. That I will miss key scenes, harbingers of things to come, tells in players games and such.

Yet, now, I think, who the hell cares about that, just sit back an enjoy. Spending to much time looking for clues. Trying to find the chinks in players armors or evidence of weaknesses in the franchise only has, at least for me, diminished the love I have for the show. So, I just sat back and enjoyed the show.

And enjoyed it I did.

Survivor tends to use two approaches to their opening episodes: The big, fat bloated premiere and the simple, “Let’s get down to business” approach. Some of the big fat bloated openers have worked well (Pearl Islands) some have been a bit of a bomb (Vanuatu). Today’s premiere seemed more of the subdues version, and I feel it worked well.

Yet, it wasn’t without it’s twist. There were some pretty big ones. Firstly, the Survivor Tools, of Stephenie and Bobby Jon. I found this to be an interesting sort of twist. Here we have two of the bigger Survivor stars of recent years, placed into a tribe of newbies. Like with all Survivor twist it was met with mixed responses.

I personally liked it. It brings into a new dynamic into the game. You take 16 people, place them in a group where no one knows anyone. You strip away all the comforts of home, take away all their safety nets, then place them into this new cutthroat environment, where no one truly can be trusted. Then, to make matters more interesting, you throw in someone that they “know.” Yeah, I know these people don’t really know Bobby Jon and Stephenie, but on some levels, in our culture, we feel we know our celebrities, and to many of these people, these two are celebrates. Thus we had this reaction by some of the tribe members, excitement, when others were wary. Now, on an intellectual level, we know that wariness is probably the smartest approach, yet, these people are already at a psychological point where they are making the best judgments. That’s why I feel that this may be an interesting experiment in Survivor.

The second twist was the 11 mile trek as a reward challenge. While a big hike isn’t such a big twist, we saw similar, yet less grueling hike in the beginning of Outback, it did add a new element to the show. The teams has to earn the better campground, and earn fire. This reward was enough to make a big difference in the game down the road.

So, I know, let’s get down to what we really want to know about, the players and the game. And what a better way to start then the old Bob’s Thoughts standby: The Winners and Weasels.

Winner of the Week: While winning resources is key to Survivor, the greatest resource of course, is your tribe mates. All I know is I would give up all the flints, water buckets and hatchets in the world for one person like Margaret on my tribe. Nakum scored big. With all the big bad boys falling all over each other, tripping in words and ways, Margaret held this group together both emotionally and physically. She is a leader in the true sense of the word, both self sacrificial and inspirational. Hell, let’s just give her the million and get on with it.

Weasel of the Week: The Big, Bad Boys of Nakum. Bobby Jon is a horse, a hard worker and well, not as dumb as some people seem to think. Yet, he still thinks he needs carry everybody on his back, at the detriment to himself. The Nakum men seem to want to follow his lead. Yet, they need to know how much they can handle and try to out macho each other. The women, they take what they can handle, and come out shinning and looking hot after 11 miles, the guys, well, the vomiting was nice, I guess. Blake, I will give a mini-pass on this, because he suffered a true injury beyond over exhaustion, of course, he may have been playing it up a bit.

So the first question you always ask on the first episode, will it be the trouble maker or the old guy.(or gal). Well, the answer is… goodbye Jim. I can just imagine the man, trekking through the woods, looking at pretty buy Blake, or rolly polly jokester Rudd pacing himself with a mantra of “Please be an ass. Please be an ass.” ‘Cause being the 60 year old man in a group of fit as a fiddle model wantabes ain’t a good position on Survivor, unless you got pretty little Nelah or Elizabeth to watch you back. And sadly, Jim was no ones sugar daddy. I was ready to feel bas for the man, with his torn bicep and soft manner, but then he voted for Margaret, so the old man got what was coming to him.

I sort of took a quick disliking to Rafe. Rafe is supposed to be one of those self appointed Survivor strategist types who will give you the little lessons learned on a quick little confessional. Let me just tell you, most of those obvious little lessons are completely off the mark. So I present today’s “Rafe‘s Crappy Survivor Strategy Tip of the Episode” Don’t be the leader, because they are always voted off first. This of course is one of the worse Survivor misconceptions. Yes, don’t be a pushy, know it all, in your face jerk, but displaying a little leadership is not a bad thing. Most people know that to Survivor, you need a competent tribe. Display the right kind of leadership. Tom did it, and look where it got him.

So, how would you handle the Bobby Jon and Stephenie thing. I think the obvious thing is that unless you know for sure that Stephenie has you back to the end of the game, you need to lose her as quick as possible. It will be very dangerous if both her and Bobby Jon make the merge together. With Bobby Jon, it’s more or a use him then lose him approach, but watch you back. He may not seem to be the smartest bulb in the chandelier, but experience counts in this game, and he will definitely want to go far in this game. Players need to always remember that these two are very, very dangerous.

Now, my favorite scene had to be Judd’s Premature Evacuation. Here we have a NYC doorman rolling around like a hippo in the mud on the shores of a lake in Guatemala. And people ask me why I love Survivor.

Maybe it’s just me but I see a true boys vs. girls thing possible shaping up in this game. Of course, it’s always better when this dynamic comes about naturally. Danni should be an interesting player in this scenario. She’s a women working in a man’s job, who was excited over the addition of Bobby Jon, because “men are stronger than women.” If Nakum plays out like I see it, I wouldn’t be shocked if we see her in the guys alliance.

Well, that’s all for this week…

Note: I will try to give people something every week, but since ABC made the unfortunate decision to air Alias the same time as Survivor, don't expect these to be done in a timely fashion. Look for my thoughts on Friday's or Saturdays, here on this site.