A Day Late & a Million $$ Short: Episode 1 #Survivor #Shelfie

Let this post also serve as my Shelfie for Tara Tyler & Co.
It's hard to see, but writer freinds' books are next to my head.
Bobbing head dolls & classics on top shelf
Book I'm reading by Erik Reichenbach, former Survivor

I'm doing it! For the longest time I've been wanting to start a Survivor blog, and...well, I'm not doing that, but I'm starting up a Friday feature here in which I spew my take on the week's episode. As you see, I'm calling it "A Day Late & a Million $$ Short" because #1: I'll be posting a day later than most Survivor pontificators, and #2: I obviously can't win the cool mil until Probst finally breaks down and casts me.

If you're a regular visitor to my blog and you don't watch Survivor, please don't feel bad about bailing on the DLM$S posts (look at that---it's already an acronym!). I'm going to write these posts as if readers have watched the episode, so if you're not in that crowd, they won't have much meaning to you. I know that the right thing for me to do would be to start a separate blog for this sillynes; alas, I'm far too lazy to do that.

Alrighty then, who's still with me? Let's get into Suvivor 29, Blood versus Water: San Juan Del Sur.

My one-sentence assessment: Despite Jeff Probst constantly asking the Survivors about their feelings, this was pretty good for an opening episode.

The thing I shouted at my TV: There are no feelings on Survivor! 

My favorite thing: What really struck me about this cast was their genuine comaraderie. Even Jeremy, who walked around making alliances with everyone, seemed sincere in his interactions. I think he's going to have a tough time acutally cutting anyone loose. Usually there are at least a couple of people who paint themselves as vindictive schemers from the get-go. But this group seems to want to feel each other out before getting too strategical. I like that. Don't get me wrong---I enjoy a good villain, but I don't like it when people are schemy just for the sake of being schemy.

Not cool: I didn't like how the women of the Coyopa tribe stereotyped Josh and Dale as the gay guy and the old (and therefore weak) guy, respectively. Yes, Josh is gay but that doesn't make it right for Nadiya to refer to him as "one of the girls". And yes, Dale is two decades older than most of his tribemates, but he's only 55 and competed just as well as if not better than most others in the challenge.

Also uncool was the way the massive John Rocker remained empty-handed as he walked leisurely beside a struggling, sweating, three-times-smaller Wes while he lugged a huge and awkward bundle of palm fronds/branches. That's the other thing I shouted at my TV: "Help him!"

The voting: Can anyone explain to me Josh's thinking when he voted for Baylor? What was the point of voting for the person who appeared to be your closest ally in the game? Why not just vote for Nadiya? By not voting for either Dale or Nadiya, he betrayed both the guys and the girls so it seems to me it only hurts his position in the game. Also, I think it was foolish of Val to feign as if she had the hidden immunity idol. The only thing that accomplished was letting her tribemates see that she's sneaky. But I like how the vote ended up. Nadiya has a great personality and was fun to watch (despite her clueless offensiveness), but I was glad to see the tribe act on getting rid of the known threat right away. Most of the time they just talk about making a move like that but wait until too late to actually do it.

Nicki has spoken. Now it's you turn---what did you think of the episode and what was Josh thinking?