Survivor: South Pacific - Episode 2 Review

And we are back for another episode of... Survivor. 

Previously: Probst reminds us that previously, 16 American's were marooned. He says each has a story to tell and we see Cochran telling us he is a hardcore fan, Jim that he won 20 poker tournaments and owns 2 medical marijuana dispensaries, and Mark is an openly gay retired NYPD police detective. I don't know why they chose to show Mark, that is literally the only time we hear from him all episode, but whatever. 

We are then reminded that Coach and Ozzy also are playing this game. Christine talked some smack while Edna becomes Coach's only friend. 

Coach tried to turn things around, he forged a bond with Brendon, then formed an alliance with himself, Brendon, Albert, Rick and Sophie. It says he worked his way into a conversation to form that alliance. His working himself into their conversation like wasn't shown last week. I guess showing Cochran's pale, shirtless self going swimming was more vital. 

Brandon has a deep dark secret that he hides under his shirt; which is followed by Cochran's pale, shirtless self swimming. Told you it was important, I just wish I knew who it was important to. 

Savaii lost the immunity challenge and went to tribal council. At the council, Cochran and the beautiful, sweet, in over her head Semhar were the targets. Jeff tries to tell us that Cochran saved himself at Tribal by promising to improve. 

Come on Jeff, Really? They ALL voted for Semhar. I guess we're supposed to believe they all did it based on Cochran's fumbling attempts to defend himself. And not that they made up their mind before going to tribal like they do 99% of the time. 

Synopsis: Semhar arrives at Redemption Island and reads the message telling the rules, which go like this... 

Starting after the next Tribal Council, the two people voted out (In this case Semhar and whoever is voted out this week) will compete in a duel. The loser of the duel will be out of the game for good, and will be sent packing. The winner of the duel will return to Redemption Island and await the next person voted out, and compete against them. The cycle will continue until at some point (last season it was the merge) whoever wins the final duel will be allowed back into the game. 

Clearly, the later you are voted out, the better your chances at getting back in; as you will have fewer people you will have to beat in challenges. Last season Matt ran the gauntlet, being voted out second and winning every duel until the merge, where he got back in. 

I really like Semhar, unpopular opinion I know, but I don't see her pulling off a similar feat. Last season few of the challenges were truly physical, but several had a physical element. As Semhar has shown, it would take a miracle for her to win a challenge where strength and endurance come into play. So it looks like this season we will get more than one person winning every challenge pre-merge, which will be a nice change. 

Semhar says that one of the ways she gets through her pain, is to turn it into poetry. She recites one of her poems, nice of Burnette and company to give her a chance to market herself. To be honest, I didn't really hear much of her poem. I got distracted by the cleavage shot we got as she settled down to sleep.

It's a shame we probably won't see Semhar after the next episode. She very easy on the eyes, and seems like she would be cool in any environment other than this one.

Back at Savii, Cochran is thanking everyone for keeping him. In an interview he acknowledges that despite not being voted out, he doesn't think his attempts to defend himself did him many favors. Jeff must not have given him the script. 

He says he is going to start being the cool, mellow Cochran and not the dorky and antsy one he has been. For my sanity, I hope he does. Enduring Brandon through multiple viewings is enough torture for me. 

Ozzy says he identifies with Cochran's passion to play Survivor, but if he doesn't shape up he will be gone. 

Keith and Ozzy are talking at the fire and mention that they think an alliance with Jim would be a good thing. They agree that tomorrow they will need to talk to him, and get the three of them solid. Remember this conversation kiddies. 

At Upolu the next day, we see Coach and Edna chatting. Despite having a solid alliance, Coach figures making friends with Edna can't hurt him. He remembers she was the only one who helped him last episode, and says she seems like a genuinely nice person. 

I agree, so far she does. Helping Coach, when following everyone else lead would have been the safer bet, won me over. It might not have been a sign of a good "player" but does imply she is a nice person. 

Edna and Coach speculate on whether or not Christine has found the idol. Both of them seem worried, and Edna tells Coach how close Christine and Stacey are. She then tells us in an interview that she knows she might be on the bottom of the totem poll, due to being physically weaker than the other girls. So she knows that she needs to get in good with a strong male player, like Coach. It's a strategy that has worked well for a lot of female players over the years, so can't fault her logic.

Incidentally, Jeff has said in some pre-show interviews that Edna's best chance, seems to me he thinks it's her only chance, is to turn on her flirty side. From that I deduce one of two things... 

1.) Jeff has issues with women, and thinks the only way they can get ahead is by amping up their feminine wiles. 

or...

2.) Jeff wants to have sex with Edna. 

If it's the latter I can only say, "Run Edna! Run!". She can do so much better. 

Back on the show, Coach vows to protect Edna while Christine looks on suspiciously. Normally, when someone is looking on suspiciously, I assume it is an editing trick. But this time it looks like she really did see them. 

Back at Savaii, Cochran is cutting coconuts in an attempt to show he is a changed person. He then tells the camera man that his mom told him not to handle a machete without supervision. 

OH MY GOD?! Seriously? I don't know what's worse, that a grown man has a mother who would say that, or that he will admit to it on national television. I hope he was playing to the cameras, but he seemed serious. 

Ozzy makes an excuse to leave camp and begins looking for the immunity idol. He sees a tree with a rock propped in the branches, and his "immunity senses" start tingling. Sure enough, he finds the idol. Without a clue. So what is the point to hiding a clue, if someone could find the idol before finding the clue? 

Ozzy reminds us how he blew it with the idol last time, not using it and being voted out. He is hopeful he won't be so dim this time, and says he can't tell anyone he has it. 

Back at Upolu, Coach and Brandon are bonding. They make it look like Edna walked by and saw them, but they weren't in the same shot, so who knows. I am on to you editors!

Brandon feels it is ungodly and hypocritical to make an alliance with Coach but but keep his deep, dark family secret. Apparently God doesn't care if he is doing the same thing to Rick, Sophie and Albert. God only cares about Coach. 

Anyway, Brandon shows Coach one of his tattoos and reveals who his uncle is. It is because Brandon would rather people know him for him. Again, I guess Sophie, Albert and Rick aren't people. 

Coach is initially reluctant to now trust him because of his secret. But Brandon has nothing to gain from telling Coach the truth, so Coach decides to trust him. Coach and Brandon then bond over a prayer.

Coach acknowledges that he might be setting himself up to be duped again. But chooses to trust in the best. 

At Savaii, the trio of Jim, Ozzy and Keith go off into the boat to go fishing. Jim brags about how he brilliantly took the opportunity to instituted his "thee plus two plan". The plan consist of a core alliance of him, Ozzy, and Keith in it till the end, and then Whitney and Elyse because they are hot (he didn't actually say "because they are hot", but come on!). 

Keith agrees with everything Jim says, then mentions in an interview how he and Ozzy had basically come up with the same plan last night. He decides it is best not to let Jim know that, because it lets Jim and his ego think they are in control. 

Jim then brags about how the plan was in place, and he orchestrated it. It was Jim and all Jim, Jim is the puppet master, the mastermind, and he has control of everything! He then breaks his arm patting himself on the back. After doing this, Jim takes a minute to tell us that by his guess Pappa Bear, Cochran and Dawn are the next ones gone. 

If he, Ozzy, Kieth, Elyse and Whitney are in an alliance, then aren't they the only three left. So wouldn't it HAVE to mean one of them is gone next? Way to narrow it down mastermind. With statements like that I am not surprised that his "20 poker tournament wins" have been shown to be over exaggerated. 

We cut back to Upolu and get some character development with Mikayla, who agrees to go with the guys to fish. She reminds us  in an interview she plays full contact football and is somewhat of a tomboy. She says you got to have thick skin in this game, and can't be a little princess. She says she doesn't see herself as a girly girl and that should help her in this game. 

We then get Brandon saying he doesn't like Mikayla as he seemingly oogles her body. He says she is trying to be all "I'm gonna be a model" and using her seductive ways to lure guys in. 

As if that doesn't contradict what we have heard and seen so far, we also see a shot of her handing him the fishing gear. While doing it, she doesn't even look at him as she is too busy staring at the water looking for fish. Oh yeah, she is so working the guys with her seductive fishing skills. 

We hear Brandon going on and on about how he is a married man and needs to stay away from that stuff. While doing so he sees Mikayla using her seductive ways to... swim in the pool with the other girls. Oh yeah, she is really luring the guys in.

Brandon swears that he will get her voted out of this game. 

OK, on things like this I tend to remind myself that we are subject to the editors version of the truth. By that I mean, just because the clips imply that Mikayla is making no effort to use her "charms" doesn't mean she isn't doing it, and we just aren't being shown it. 

But based on what we have, every shot of Mikayla on the show this far has shown her with her hair up and not wearing that revealing of outfit. Yes, she has a bikini top on, but with the exception of secret boy, most of the guys on Upolu are running around with their shirt off. It's hot outside. Also, none of the shots we have seen show Mikayla moving around in a way that implies she is trying to "flaunt her body" or carrying herself in the way Brandon keeps implying.

It hasn't been mentioned on the show, but Brandon became a father at 17 and got married, I would assume, around the same time. I think what we have here is a kid who is still very young, and isn't mature enough to understand that his still teenage hormones reacting to a pretty girl isn't a bad thing. Just because he likes the way Mikayla and her hot body looks, doesn't mean he is wronging his wife and certainly not God. God doesn't want us to give into our temptations, he didn't say we were expected to not notice the other sex can sometimes be attractive. 

No one on this planet is going to find only their significant other physically attractive. The only people I have ever met who claimed otherwise, are teenagers who are lying to themselves. They say that because they think they are not good people if anyone but their true love is seen as a sexual being. Sounding familiar yet?

Brandon says he isn't letting any woman come between him and getting the money for his family. If he is so sure of that, what is he worrying about? If I was his wife I would be more worried that he can't be around a pretty girl without going on, and on, and on about temptation. 

But enough about Brandon. 

Christine decides she needs to look for the clue to the immunity idol. The rest of the tribe is worried she has already found it. Stacey says that if Christine had found the idol she hasn't told her about it. However, since everyone knows Stacey and Christine are close, none of them seem to put much faith in that statement. 

Meanwhile, Christine notices the clue in the same tree Stacy overlooked last episode. She reads it and it basically says, in amateur poetry fashion, that the clue is in the jungle, near the beach, and slightly out of reach. I assume that means it is also in a tree behind a rock. But I might not have drawn that conclusion had I not seen Ozzy find the other one. 

It's Immunity Challenge time. 

The two tribes arrive and Upolu sees that Semhar has been voted out. No one looks surprise. 

The challenge consist of four tribe members unwrapping four ribbons from around a large post. Once unwrapped a key will be freed from the ribbons and slide down to the players below. Once they get the key, they will unlock the other four tribe members. Those four will then move a giant sliding puzzle around until they can free the largest piece, which they will then move onto a platform. 

In addition to not going to tribal council, the winning tribe will win pillows, blankets, a mat and a hammock. The winning tribe will also receive a clue to the location of the hidden immunity idol. 

Upolu has one extra person, and decide to sit Edna out. Cochran, Dawn, Whitney and Elyse are on the poll for Savaii. Stacey, Sophie, Christine, and Mikayla are on the poll for Upolu. 

The girls on Upolu work well together and get a huge lead of Savaii, as Cochran gets tangled in the ribbons. Stacey quickly unlocks Coach, Albert, Brandon and Rick. Savaii finally gets their keys free, but Dawn struggled to get them out of the ribbon and slows them down even more. 

Upolu gets a big lead on the puzzle while Elyse has trouble unlocking Ozzy, Keith, Jim, and Pappa Bear (who despite getting a big mention in the recap has done and said nothing all episode). Eventually she unlocks the guys who run to the puzzle. 

Savaii hustles on the puzzle, and manages to close the large lead the girls gave the Upolu team. Savaii then takes the lead and moves their largest piece to their puzzle to the platform. Upolu finally gets their last piece in place, but it is too late and Savaii wins. 

Jeff gives Savaii their reward, and tells them about the clue to the hidden immunity idol. It doesn't matter though, as Ozzy already has it. 

Brandon vows in an interview to make sure Mikayla goes home tonight. That will teach her to be hot when she is around a married man! Stupid tramp, with her good genetics and desire to go to the gym and be healthy! She makes me sick!

during the commercials, they do the "player of the week" vote. I want to quickly say I am glad that this season they are making all players available to vote for. If they did it like previous seasons, it would probably have been a choice between Ozzy, Keith and Albert or some crap. 

Upolu goes back to camp humbled. Coach congratulates the women on their good job. Edna tells the guys that they did good also, the puzzle was just really hard. 

In an interview Christine shoots off her mouth once more, basically accusing the guys of dogging it. For the record, I think the guys had a harder part of the challenge, and definitley the more physically demanding part. And the truth is that collectively Jim, Ozzy, Keith and Pappa Bear are probably stronger than Brandon, Coach, Rick and Albert. 

Coach suggest that they all split the vote 3-3-3 as "they" are going to vote three. So his alliance should vote three for Christine and three for Stacey. I guess they are assuming that Mikayla will vote with Christine and Stacey, although this is the first we have heard of Mikayla being aligned with those two. Interesting the temptress who is trying to play the guys is believed to vote with a couple of girls. Isn't it Brandon?

Coach figures if they do the votes that way, then even if Christine has the idol and plays it, that will free them to get Stacey out. Rather then simply all voting for Christine, hoping she doesn't have the idol, and being screwed if she does. 

Coach wants Christine out for her catty comments about him on day one, and her scrambling looking for the idol. No doubt she has been playing a lousy game, and it might be about to bite her in the ass. Shame she didn't wait until she knew the rest of her tribes names before calling someone out. 

Coach says that he thinks Edna is totally loyal, but is on a need to know basis. He will tell her at the last minute to vote for Stacey. None of this will get Mikayla out, so Brandon is concerned. 

Brandon and Coach are alone and Brandon makes a play to get out Mikayla. Saying she should go "Beacause (he) is faithful to his wife". If he is faithful to his wife what is he worried about? He then compares Mikayla to Parvati and says she has screwed many a man. I laugh at the seemingly unintentional double entendre. Seems Coach got it too, as he chuckles a bit. 

Coach talks about how he understands why Brandon might be uncomfortable around a hot girl because he is a married man. I assume Coach is taking his age into account, because someone who is truly faithful should be able to handle being around a hot girl for 6 days considering the circumstances. He rightfully also sees that getting rid of one of their strongest females right away, when she has given them no reason to do so, is a dumb move. Because it is. 

Brandon goes to the rest of his alliance and makes a play with them to get rid of Mikayla and they don't get it either. Because it's a dumb move. 

Sophie theorizes that he might be threatened by Mikayla because she is a strong women. Seems his insecurities actually run even deeper than that. Who would have thought that theory was giving him too much credit?

Sophie worries that if that is true he might target her also, because Sophie thinks she is quite strong as well. And she is, but Brandon apparently doesn't think she is hot enough to feel threatened by her. Either way, no one is on board with going after Mikayla. 

Mikayla comes up to talk to them, and Coach rudely tells her to buzz off. Which has Mikayla taken back a bit. 

He might as well have said, "Mikayla we are talking about whether or not to vote you off, get lost". When actually, if he doesn't want them to vote out Mikayla he should be glad that she showed up and forced them to end that conversation. Stacey then comes over and Coach gets his panties in a bunch and wanders off. 

In an interview, Mikayla is shocked that they don't think she is "trustable". I don't think that is an actual word?

Edna roams over to Stacey and Christin, and Christine gets pushy asking Edna what they were saying. Edna tries to say they were talking about Sophie, but Christine points out Sophie was over there too. She then makes a snotty remark to Edna about her bad lying. Yeah, that will make Edna want to keep her. Indecently, Edna did not look convincing at all when she tried to say it was Sophie. I don't think she is a very good liar, which is not a good thing for playing Survivor. 

Christine and Stacey are shown next, talking to Rick and Brandon and ask Brandon who he wants. Brandon says Mikayla.

Stacey and Christine react to it about like everyone else does. They think it's a dumb idea. Because it is. But they decide that as long as it isn't them they should go along with it, although we don't actually see them agree to Mikayla out loud. 

Later, Coach and Edna are talking to Brandon. Coach wants to lock it down on who they are voting. Like a dog with a bone, Brandon won't let the Mikayla idea go. Even though it's clear no one else likes the idea and they are starting to get annoyed with him. Brandon then lies and says that Christine and Stacey told him they wanted Mikayla gone. 

He follows that by saying in an interview that he lied because he doesn't like Mikayla (really, I hadn't noticed) and wants her gone. He says Mikayla has every guy wrapped around her finger but him; even though Edna, Christine, Stacey and Sophie have also said they don't think Mikayla should go. I guess Brandon thinks he is on a tribe full of lesbians, except for Mikayla.

OK, the editing MIGHT be making this look worse than it is. Or Mikayla might be playing up her feminine charms, and we aren't seeing it because it would contradict the story they are trying to tell. But I really think that most of this is Brandon's own issues ruling his better judgement. At the very least he is not endearing himself to his alliance by constantly pushing for something, when it is clear no one else is on board with the idea. 

Brandon continues to say that Mikayla WILL be going home tonight. Although he might have made that statement before he began his actual campaign. 

Coach says he hopes the six people he aligned himself with vote the way he wants, or there will be an ass whipping. I am not sure what six he means. Obviously Brandon, Albert, Rick, Sophie and Edna are among them. But who is the sixth? Is he including himself? I guess he means Mikayla, but earlier he was worried she would vote with Stacey and Christine. Coach gives me a headache sometimes. 

But enough of Brandon's confused hormonal issues, Coach's funky math, and Christine's annoying attitude. It's time for Tribal Council. 

Jeff tells Upolu to get fire because it represents life. You know the drill. 

Jeff asks Brandon if he made a good first impression. He feels he does as he is a hard worker and tries to make friends. Several people nod in agreement as he says this... including Mikayla. I really feel bad for her, as she seems to respect him while he was basically running around calling her a slut. For reasons that, if what we are seeing is true, she has done nothing to live up to. 

Jeff asks Coach if he thinks he made a good impression. Coach quickly turns the question around and calls out Stacey and Christine, saying that they wanted to vote out Mikayla. Mikayla looks shocked, Brendon looks worried. Christine and Stacey are shocked, as they didn't say Mikayla's name and quickly point that out. 

Coach then says he doesn't want Mikayla to go tonight even though it might put a bigger target on his back. This actually might have been smart strategy, as saying that could make Mikayla feel Coach is the only one she trust and will thus become loyal to him. Especially since he knows the majority didn't want her gone, so he really isn't making much of a target. 

Jeff asks if it makes Mikayla a little nervous. Mikayla sayd "duh" and that she doesn't get why she would be a target. 

Stacey and Christine ask coach who he heard his ridiculous story from. They remind him about his honesty and Coach seems a bit unsure how to go about it, since he obviously doesn't want to tell who said it, but JUST finished talking about integrity. 

Brandon tries to get them to simmer down, clearly afraid Coach might mention his name. Albert jumps in and makes the argument that Coach not saying who he heard about the vote from is demonstrating his loyalty. Kind of self serving logic, but a pretty good way out. Good thing he came up with that excuse not to come clean, I don't think Coach was going to. 

Conversation moves towards the immunity idol and Coach immediately comes out and mentions Christines scrambling on day one. Jeff points out Coach threw her under the bus again. Christine says it's because Coach is threatened by her. To his credit, Coach doesn't crack up at that ridiculous claim, which is better than I would have done in his position. 

Jeff asks Christine if it might be because of her "temporary players" remark. Christine agrees, mocking she might have hurt his feelings. Instead of made him feel like he should get her before she gets him. But clearly people only go after Christine for reasons that make her look more awesome. 

Jeff then tries to light a fire under Mikayla, pointing out she hasn't really asked Christine and Stacey if they wanted to vote her out. Actually, if she doesn't think they have the votes to do it then starting crap could only hurt her, so she is probably smart to not pull a Cochran, and start freaking out because her name came up. But Jeff wants her to confront them with it because it makes for better TV. 

Mikayla finally asks the girls if it's on their mind. They immediately deny ever saying they wanted her gone, which is the truth. 

Brendon's Christina guilt apparently gets the best of him, and he decides to come clean and admits that he was the one who told them to vote for Mikayla. Coach and Sophie look like they want to take turns slapping him right then and there. I would pay to see that! He also undid whatever damage Coach tried to do to Stacey and Christine. 

OK, if I was Brandon's alliance I would kick him to the curb and bring in Mikayla. The guy tried so hard to get someone that no one else wanted out that he lied to everyone to do it. Which makes him hard to trust. Then he couldn't even keep to his deception, so he turns around and rats himself out due to guilt. which in some ways hurts his own alliance for something they weren't even part of. 

How do they know if he has to do something deceptive as part of their alliance, which is part of the game, that he won't lose his nerve and pull the same stunt? Brandon is a too much of a wild card. The door is open to bring in Mikayla and if the others are smart they should do it. 

Jeff starts asking if they are worried about the tribes seeming disarray. Albert comments on how it's good in times like this, that people show their true selves and their true personality creeps in to the surface. I assume he is talking about Brandon. Or at least I hope he is. This should be a huge red flag to everyone about allying with this guy. 

Jeff says it's time to vote. They all cast their votes and we don't see any of the votes this time. Jeff asks if anyone has the hidden immunity idol? Everyone looks at Christine, who shakes her head while clearly looking upset. 

Jeff reads the votes and for the first time in a long time, more than three names are read. Sophie and Edna each get one vote, Stacey gets three and Christine gets four. Christine is the second person voted out of the game. Jeff snuffs her torch, but tells her she will have a chance to get back in the game via Redemption Island. 

As to why Sophie and Edna got votes... I can only assume that after it became clear there was no plan to get rid of Mikayla, Christine and Stacey just threw a name out there. There was no reason for them to vote for Mikayla now, especially since they didn't want to do it in the first place.

So now on top of everything else Brandon and Coach's crap got Sophie and Edna a vote they wouldn't have gotten otherwise. It probably won't matter much. Although since they usually don't reveal tie breaker rules in advance anymore, Sophie and Edna better hope that it doesn't revert to going off previous votes cast. 

Jeff says that the issue for this tribe is clearly trust and lectures them about working it out. I love how Jeff is like a stern father figure in his final words to the tribe. 

Next week on Survivor, Savaii becomes suspicious of Ozzy having the idol. And on Upolu, Mikayla the bad ass football player is crying, Sophie thinks Brandon is a devious jerk, Coach thinks Brandon lets things get to him, and Brandon is crying about how this is a constant battle with him between good and evil. Holy crap, I hope this guy isn't going to be in it for the long haul. I don't know if I can take him all season. 

Christine arrives at Redemption Island and says she doesn't know what Coach's problem was with her. Oh I don't know, maybe the fact she said on day one he was a temporary player? I guess he was supposed to just be OK with Sophie wanting to vote him out from the get go. 

The votes are revealed and Stacey voted for Sophie, Christine voted for Edna, Edna/Rick/Sophie voted for Stacey and Mikayla/Albert/Coach/Brandon voted for Christine. 

Christine obviously voted for Edna because she was the weakest tribe mate. It makes some sense, even though Christine was clearly out of the loop, there was a chance that the majority might still decide to vote out Edna to keep the tribe strong. So her best chance of staying was to vote for Edna, even though it was a long shot. Don't know why Stacey voted for Sophie though, maybe she just doesn't like her. 

Thoughts on the episode: Christine has no one but herself to blame for going home this week. She actually seems to have a lot if common with Coach and the two might have gotten along, but she decided to draw a line in the sand right away. 

Clearly the majority of the tribe did not share her "Coach is a former player so lets be mean to him" outlook. At least not long term, so it set her apart. Immediately looking for the idol only made it worse. Even if she had found it, it only would have saved her this week. 

If she can get back into the game through redemption island she might be able to turn it around, but I don't know she will get that chance. Her odds of beating Semhar are good (although I would MUCH rather keep watching Semhar) but actually making it back into the game is a long way off. 

We didn't get much of Savaii this week, but it seems that while Ozzy might be in a dominant alliance, the others are clearly not about to bow down to him. They may think allying with him is a good idea now, but no one seems to be forgetting who he is and the threat he represents. 

By contrast, the majority seems to be following Coach's lead. He is less threatening than Ozzy because of his track record, but they still would be stupid to just all keep following him blindly. Hopefully, we aren't going to see a Boston Rob 2.0 but it is sure looking that way. 

I do think they made the right choice voting out Christine. Edna is the weaker link physically, but Christine was causing trouble and didn't seem to be the easiest to get along with. What little physical advantage she offered over Edna was not worth the dominant alliance getting rid of their own ally for. 

I honestly don't know what to make of the Brandon/Mikayla thing. As I noted above, the editors might not be showing stuff from Mikayla that would make his claims more valid. She is a bikini model as well as a football player, so there is no doubt she is aware guys think she is hot. 

But no one else seems to really get what Brandon saying. If she was truly flaunting her stuff and vamping it up, I would think at least some of the girls would be rubbed the wrong way by it. None of them seem to be and the one thing everyone agreed on when Brandon wanted her gone was, "Why the hell would we want to do that?"

Clearly Brandon has a lot of issues that he needs to work out, and he should be doing that before he came out to play a game he clearly isn't emotionally ready for. I guess it is good for him that he isn't on Savaii and he would have to deal with both Whitney and Elyse; with their hot bodies and seemingly more flirty nature. 

This was a good episode. While Christine and Brandon are rubbing me the wrong way this is mostly a good cast. Even Brandon, I can't deny the interesting story he is bringing to the table. And by that I mean the Mikayla thing, not the other thing that I still refuse to mention by name. 

There is still some risk of seeing a Boston Rob 2.0 redux. But this group SEEMS smarter than that, so hopefully they won't disappoint. 

I will see everyone next week, for another fun filled episode of Survivor. If you would like updates on this page, as well as when my episode reviews go live, you can follow me by e-mail by filling out the form on the right, like me on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter.