There are eight contenders left in this competitive reality show . Six of them are women, two are men!
Say what?
When this show began there were 18 contenders, half men and half women. In fact, the first two tribes began with their composition being all same sex, something that was new to Survivor, at least as was my understanding.
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For I am a newish kind of viewer to this show and there still are things I don't understand. Things that as I ponder, why don't the producers make it all clearer. Don't they want more viewers?
Let's get out this truth right now. I think this show is very boring. Okay, let's get my bona fides out of the way. I am a competitive reality show Blogger and I watch plenty of competitive reality shows. I know they come in all shapes and sizes, some involving talent, some involving various contests, some even involving romance.
I like "Big Brother", a reality show much like Survivor I'd argue. "Love in the Wild" is a kind of Survivor type reality show, complete with living and surviving in less than ideal circumstances.
It's not like some of these shows following the pro forma of Survivor don't appeal to me. "Big Brother" has contests that allow the contenders various and sundry goodies denied them during the filming. This show has an elimination round like Survivor that often involves some kind of silly and very physical contest. Contenders get squirted with paint and whipped cream, must climb fake mountains or endure physical torment till only one is left standing.
There is, of course, the political intrigue of the contenders as they struggle to come together to eject one of their members in an orderly and common sense manner that would benefit most contenders at the time.
This is only the second Survivor series I've watched, the other being last season's #23.
In both cases I watched the show, I enjoyed the challenges, but I was lost as to the dynamics of it all.
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I don't feel like the viewers get comfortable with the contenders like they do with the contenders on "Big Brother". Perhaps it the outside factor. Big Brother takes place inside a home. Contenders can retire to a private room to discuss strategy whereas on Survivor the whispers are always muted by the sounds of sea gulls and a pounding surf.
With Big Brother I feel like I know the contenders. This gets me, a viewer, more interested in the drama and pathos of the contenders, more involved with who gets ejected and who stays. With Survivor so far this season I've cared not a whit nor did I even understand why those who were thrown off were thrown off.
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This past episode as of this writing on 4/19/12, little Leif was thrown off and for God's sake I got to wonder why? He's just a little thing who didn't do a thing of note for all of the episodes up to now. At least the fellows thrown off the couple of weeks prior were kind of big strapping types that could be perceived as a threat.
What's most amazing about this Survivor series is how the men are dropping off like flies! Goodness, isn't this a show about, eh, SURVIVING? I mean Kat, come on, she's small and she's dumb, yet she keeps hanging around.
Here's my question: what kind of shelter are these people allowed? What kinds of food do they eat? Via the reward contests I gather they are denied some luxuries. Earlier this season there was a big contest for the tribes to win a tarp so what….do they live out in the elements? I've seen video clips of one contender or another capturing a fish to great joy. Must they capture their own food? Are they provided water to drink, the elixir of life?
My questions are rhetorical, or course. The fact that it is still not clear how this all works, after almost two full seasons of viewing, tells me something about the show. Why isn't this all explained, perhaps early in the show, so that any new viewer "gets" it?
"Contenders to win the million dollar prize must live on a deserted locale, given no shelter save the rough ones they hew with their own hands. There are plentiful fish and game in the surround as the contenders are given no foodstuffs. It's about SURVIVING and our contenders must survive, both by finding for their basic life needs and beating their fellow contenders in the grueling elimination challenges. Those luxuries of life we all take for granted can only be obtained by our Survivor contenders via difficult reward challenges."
The above, or something akin, is what I envision should be stated at the beginning of each episode. After all this time, I still don't know the guidelines of the series.
As for honing in on a possible winner for this series, I'm kind of leaning toward the doctor fellow who calls himself Troyzan. He's 50 years old according to the web site so he's the oldest. He's also the wisest and I've seen him work with his younger compatriots very effectively. In fact, I'm not sure they see him as a threat to win at all and that could be the downfall of all the younger ones.
Beyond Troyzan, well hey, Kat seems to have staying power. I give her a chance to win, if for no other reason than God blesses Englishmen and fools.
-Survivor One World-Men versus Women Continues and the Women Were Doing Okay. Now It All Changes
Survivor One World-Now One Tribe and the Nasty One Is Gone
Survivor One World-It Begins With Some Really Strange Contenders
Survivor airs on CBS, Wednesdays, at 8 pm.
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