Australian Outback (Season 2)

     The Australian Outback is the second season of Survivor.  It premiered in January of 2001.  There is a reason why I became addicted to this show, and this season is why.  There were so many great things about this season.  There are so many memorable moments and characters, and several firsts. 

    This is the first (and possibly only) season to have 42 days, as opposed to the normal 39. 
    There are four people from the cast who went on to compete in Survivor All-Stars a few seasons later (Colby, Jerri, Tina, and Alicia). 
    This is the first time that we saw a voting tie, which ultimately resulted in the person with the most PREVIOUS votes cast against him or her would be the person leaving.  I'm not sure that this tie-breaker was used in any other season.
     Most importantly, it seemed like there were so many great people on this season.  The casting team definitely did a great job with the selection process.  Everyone had his/her own strengths and weaknesses that it could have been easily justified if anyone won the game.

The Kucha tribe in my opinion was the better tribe.  It consisted of:  Alicia Calaway,  Jeff Varner, Michael Skupin, Kimmi Kappenberg, Debb Eaton, Nick Brown, Rodger Bingham, and Elisabeth Filarski (Hasselbeck).

          This tribe worked really well together.  Other than Kimmi, there really was no inner turmoil going on.  I remember the first time that I watched this season, I didn't really like this tribe.  That is normally because I tend to root for the underdogs - - and Kucha was definitely not the underdogs.  They were a really strong tribe that should have gone all of the way.  The thing that sealed the fate of this tribe was one of the most shocking situations ever to occur on reality TV.  Michael was the leader of the tribe.  He was a really good provider - - even going to extremes to stalk and kill a boar in order to secure that his tribe had food to eat.  It was right before the merge that Michael had a horrendous accident.  While he was tending to the campfire, he inhaled too much smoke and passed out into the fire.  His skin was literally hanging off of his hands.  He was air-evaced out of the camp, and the two tribes merged with equal numbers.  If this would not have happened, I can almost guarantee that one of the Kucha members would have won a million bucks.  Probably the most successful person from this season is Elisabeth Filarski (Hasselbeck) - - the ultra-conservative talk-show hostess of "The View."

The Ogakor tribe has two players who went on to play the game two more times.  The "hero," Colby Donaldson and the original villainess of reality TV, Jerri Manthey.  Other members of the tribe were:  Kel Gleason, Maralyn Hershey, Amber Brkich, Keith Famie, and Tina Wesson. 

     You knew what kind of player Jerri was going to be at the very beginning of the season.  She lied to her tribe, accusing Kel of sneaking beef jerky into camp in order to get him evicted from the game.  She ruffled so many feathers throughout the season - - constantly butting heads with Tina and Keith.  I thought that she had some of the better gameplay of the season, but obviously pissed way too many people off in order to win.  Most of the people on this season wanted to play with honor and respect and bring the good people to the end, which is why Jerri did not make it as far as she probably should have.  Also, even though Colby is one of the most popular people to ever play the game - - he was never that good at actually playing the game.  In all three seasons that Colby played, he never made any big moves.  He just did what he thought was right - - didn't want to piss too many people off - - and just went with the flow. 

The merged tribe was known as  Barramundi.  This tribe was made up of five members from both previous tribes:  Colby Donaldson, Jerri Manthey, Amber Brkich, Tina Wesson, and Keith Famie from the defunct Ogakor tribe and Elisabeth Filarski (Hasselbeck), Rodger Bingham, Alicia Callaway, Nick Brown, and Jeff Varner from Kucha.

     I think the most notable things that happened after the merge were when the tribe had to give up part of their shelter in exchange for some extra rice because they had a dangerously low supply left due to a lack of rationing skills.  Also, there was a flood that came through and swept away pretty much everything that the tribe had.  I've always dreamed about going to Australia, but this seasond did the landscape absolutely no justice.  They were next to a dirty river the entire time - - not the ocean, and it seemed like it rained the entire time.  This cast definitely had it worse off than probably any cast ever did.

Contestant	Original Tribe	Merged Tribe	Finish	Total votes
Deborah "Debb" Eaton 45, Milan, NH	Kucha	20	1st Voted Out Day 3	7
Kel Gleason 32, Fort Hood, TX	Ogakor	20	2nd Voted Out Day 6	7
Maralyn Hershey 51, Wakefield, VA	Ogakor	20	3rd Voted Out Day 9	5
Mitchell Olson 23, Vermillion, SD	Ogakor	20	4th Voted Out Day 12	4
Kimmi Kappenberg 27, Ronkonkoma, NY	Kucha	20	5th Voted Out Day 15	6
Michael Skupin 38, White Lake, MI	Kucha	20	Removed Due to Injury Day 17	0
Jeff Varner 34, Greensboro, NC	Kucha	Barramundi	6th Voted Out Day 21	7
Alicia Calaway 32, New York, NY	Kucha		7th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24	5
Jerri Manthey 30, Los Angeles, CA	Ogakor		8th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27	12
Nick Brown 23, Steilacoom, WA	Kucha		9th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30	4
Amber Brkich 22, Beaver, PA	Ogakor		10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 33	6
Rodger Bingham 53, Crittenden, KY	Kucha		11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 36	5
Elisabeth Filarski 23, Boston, MA	Kucha		12th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 39	5
Keith Famie 40, West Bloomfield, MI	Ogakor		13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 41	8
Colby Donaldson 26, Christoval, TX	Ogakor		Runner-up	5
Tina Wesson 39, Knoxville, TN	Ogakor		Sole Survivor	0

Order of elmination:  Debb, Kel, Maralyn, Mitchell, Kimmi, Michael, Jeff, Alicia, Jerri, Nick, Amber, Rodger, Elisabeth, and Keith.  The final two were Colby and Tina with Tina being the Sole Survivor in a 4 to 3 vote.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivor:_The_Australian_Outback

Twitter:  the_timgilmore

South Pacific: Episode 10

This review is a week late, so I do apologize

     One of the biggest things I learned from this episode was when Coach said "Anybody that's on the bottom of an alliance better not feel like they're on the bottom of an alliance or they're going to revolt and try to scramble to find themselves a better place in the game."  The social aspect of the game is absolutely the most important.  You have to screw people over, but do it in a way that they are still going to give you a million dollars when it's all said and done.

     The Redemption Island challenge consisted of three former Savaii members facing off against each other - - Ozzy, Jim, and Keith.  Jim went out first, followed by Keith, thus potentially allowing Ozzy a third opportunity to play the game.

     There really wasn't a whole lot going on in this episode.  Albert is ready to make a big move in order to ensure that he stays in the game.  He knows that Edna does not deserve to stay in the game, more so than Dawn and Whitney.  I truly believe that he would have jumped ship if he would have been able to secure a couple more votes.  Unfortunately, in a double elimination, Dawn and Whitney were kicked off one-by-one. 

     I think the Upolu tribe needs to seriously think about who they want to take to the end.  If Sophie is not one of these people, they need to get rid of her when she loses immunity.  She has proven to be a strong competitor in the challenges with back-to-back wins, and second place finishes in previous challenges. 

     I am anxous to see what happens in the next episode.  It looks like Ozzy gets put back into the game...but the previews also show Whitney and Dawn still in the game, as well.  I'm not sure what to expect.

I also wanted to share a couple tweets I received from Jerri Manthey.  You remember her, right?  She is the original villainess of Survivor.  She was in the second season (Australian Outback), she was in Survivor:  All-Stars, and she was also in the Villains tribe in Survivor:  Heroes vs. Villains.  You can read our tweets below!   I recently started re-watching season 2...my review will be posted in a day or two.  I tagged her, Colby Donaldson and Elisabeth Hasselbeck (Filarski).  Also, every year, a few people get inducted into the Survivor Hall of Fame.  This year I voted for Colby, Jerri, and Rupert.  That is what the second tweet is about.  :)

the_timgilmore Tim Gilmore

Re-watching the Australian Outback!! @ehasselbeck @jerrimanthey @Colby_Donaldson. #Survivor

9 Nov

@jerrimanthey Jerri Manthey

@the_timgilmore nice!!!! Pretty different bak then....

the_timgilmore Tim Gilmore

Just voted for @Colby_Donaldson @RupertBoneham and @jerrimanthey for #Survivor Hall of Fame! @SurvivorHall

15 Nov

@jerrimanthey Jerri Manthey

@the_timgilmore why shux.... Thx!!! : )

Until next time....

Twitter:  the_timgilmore

South Pacific: Episode 9

    

     There really wasn't a whole lot going on in this episode, strategy wise, and I feel as if it is going to be like this for the next couple episodes - - at least until the former Savaii tribe is wiped out.  The biggest thing about this episode is that there were two tribal councils.  Considering Keith was at Redemption Island by himself, there obviously was no duel. 

     One of the key things that stood out at me in this episode was that in the individual immunity challenge, there were three former Savaii members in the final round.  Clearly, the Savaii tribe was the stronger tribe (with the exception of Cochran who continually kept them from winning each week).  Jim ended up winning individual immunity, and he came up with a really good plan.  He told Ozzy that at tribal council, he would give his immunity to Ozzy because he knew that everyone was going to vote Ozzy off that night.  He said that he would give a speech about how everyone continues to talk about loyalty, but Cochran is the only person in the game who has displayed none.  Jim wanted everyone to not have an opportunity to talk to each other before the vote in hopes that Cochran would go home.  Jim knew that it was only a matter of time before he was sent home.  I truly believe that this would have been an amazing plan and could have potentially worked out, but Jim decided to hold on to immunity and Ozzy was sent to Redemption.

     The second immunity challenge of the episode involved food.  Members of Te Tuna had a choice on whether to compete or to sit out and eat junk food.  In a situation such as Survivor, I honestly do not see myself sitting out of a challenge in order to eat food.   I always thinks it's ignorant to be so comfortable in your position, so cocky, that you feel the need to not compete for immunity  Then again, I have never gone 21 days without eating on a regular basis.   In this instance, I would have definitely competed considering that I am lactose intolerant hahaha.  All of the former Upolu members and even Cochran sat out of the challenge.  Whitney, Dawn, and Jim competed.  Whitney won immunity and bought herself three more days on the island.  Jim was voted off.

     On next week's episode, it seems as if Ozzy is more determined than ever to get back into the game.  Honestly, even though I like Keith more, I would much rather see Ozzy come back into the game.  He has the best chance of mixing things up a little bit by being fully capable of winning so many individual immunity challenges like he has done in the past. 

     The only other thing I have to comment on is that I believe Coach has a really good chance at finally winning this game.  I would love to see Albert and Sophie get rid of him.  I hate when people don't strategize whatsoever and just allow themselves to get kicked off one by one.  Unless someone backdoors Coach, you might as well just give him the check now.

Voted off:  Ozzy (9th), Jim (10th)

Until next time.....

Twitter:  the_timgilmore

South Pacific: Episode 8

     The title of this week's episode was called "Double Agent," and this is exactly how the episode ended.  I just wanted my picture of the week to reflect this.  I'll give more deets about that as I go along.

     We all saw last week's episode, right?  We know that the Savaii tribe decided to send Ozzy to Redemption Island so the tribe would have the best chance of getting rid of Christine and evening up the numbers for the merge.  The plan, as risky as it was, had the potential to be a great plan as long as everyone kept up their ends of the bargain.  Cochran was going to look like the villain.  He "played" the immunity idol that sent Ozzy to Redemption.  Well, when both tribes were able to go to the duel on Redemption Island, everyone knew what was coming next -- the merge was finally upon us.  However, I thought Ozzy's charades were over the top.  He made a huge spectacle of the entire situation.  The Upolu did not believe him, which is completely understandable.  In my opinion, he should have just kept his cool, not said much about the situation, then when the time came he could have acted like he was almost too embarrassed to talk about the situation.  Sometimes saying too much is exactly that - - too much. Fortunately for the Savaii tribe, Ozzy destroyed Christine in the challenge.  The two tribes of six merged to form Te Tuna.

     The funny thing about the situation of voting Ozzy out is that no one on the tribe thought it was a good idea.  Everyone thought that Cochran should have stood up and finally admitted that he simply does not belong in the game.  This did not happen.  We were able to see some of the "hateful" things that some of the Savaii members were saying to him.  Although I definitely do not agree with bullying someone else, but I completely see their frustration with him.  I even got into an argument on Facebook about this.  Cochran is completely useless and has been from the very beginning.  The only reason why he had been spared for three tribal councils is because they felt sorry for him.  He played the pity card the entire time.  He was picked last in school, he had no friends, blah blah blah.  This is a game of Survivor.  This isn't the Biggest Loser or Beauty and the Geek or some other mushy reality show.  If you don't have the goods to stay in the game, then get the fuck out!  The members of Savaii knew that they should have kicked him out at the very first tribal council, but they gave him the benefit of the doubt.  They kept him around hoping that he would eventually prove himself worthy, but he never did!  He was completely worthless in challenges, he didn't offer much help around camp, and he was socially awkward.  There was absolutely no reason why he should have stuck around - - his tribemates knew that and were simply frustrated that he was still there when he didn't deserve to be.  As aforementioned, he didn't deserve to be bullied, but everyone was frustrated with him - - completely understandable.

     Finally, we have reached the point of individual immunity challenges.  The Savaii tribe is MY tribe.  I would love to see one of them win the whole thing (with the exception of Cochran).  So, I was ecstatic when Dawn won immunity out of the women, and Ozzy won out of the men (which I believe is the first time there was both a male and female winner  - - at least in recent years).  Not only were the two of them secure, but there was also an immunity idol in the group.  Even if there was a 6-6 tie twice, they would have went to drawing rocks where there was only a 3 in 9 chance that someone from the Savaii tribe would be going home - - pretty good odds!

      Dawn caught on to the fact that Cochran was thinking about jumping ship.  Not only was he thinking about it, but it was clear through out the entire episode that he was going to.  He told them that Ozzy had the hidden immunity idol.  Coach called him about the whole situation regarding Ozzy being sent to Redemption Island.  Cochran bitched and moaned about being picked on.  It simply made me sick to my stomach.  Cochran even told Upolu that Savaii was going to give the idol to Whitney because Upolu would expect them to give it to either Keith or Jim.  This is my opinion about the whole situation:  Dawn didn't want to tell the Savaii tribe about Cochran's doubts.  However, SHE SHOULD HAVE!  She should have tried to play the game a little bit.  Talk to people - - try to mix things up a little bit.  If she would have shared Cochran's doubts, then the tribe could have given the immunity idol to Keith or Jim (obviously, it's hard to tell which one they were going to actually vote for).  Cochran wouldn't have had to know about the switch, because they were still going to vote for Rick the first time.  The Savaii tribe may not have been able to see what kind of weasel Cochran is, but at least they would have gotten one of the former Upolu members out.

  
     Tribal council played out like this:  Ozzy and Dawn won the individual immunity idols.  Ozzy gave the hidden immunity idol to Whitney.  The first votes were tied 6-6 with Keith getting six and Rick getting six.  This should have been a good indication that Cochran told Upolu what was going on considering the tribe didn't vote for Whitney.  After the vote, the tribes had to revote, but only for Keith or Rick.  The votes resulted in 7 for Keith (with Cochran jumping ship).  Keith was sent to Redemption Island. This completely sucks for me, because he was the best looking guy on the entire show!  However, he definitely does have a chance to get back into the game - - and I have faith that he will!

        I'm going to tell you why I think Cochran's move to jump ship this early in the game was the stupidest decision he could have made for his game and how I think things may play out the next few episodes.  (1)  He may have been at the bottom of the Savaii tribe, but now he's at the bottom of the Upolu tribe.  I'd much rather be in the top 6 then the top 7.  (2)  What makes him think the Upolu tribe is going to keep him around?  Obviously Cochran is a coward.  The tribe should kick off one more member of Savaii just to keep the numbers in their advantage, then get rid of Cochran.   (3)  However, Cochran is the villain now.  People may think that if they keep him around for the final three, it will be an easy vote from all of the Savaii members.  It may be expected that he will not get any votes since he back-stabbed so many people.  However, if someone allows for this to happen, I can honestly say that if I was on the jury, I would probably vote for Cochran to win a million dollars.  I wouldn't want to be one of the bitter bitches on the jury - - so if this was Cochran's intent all along, then kudos to him...good job!

  It looks like on next week's episode that Albert and Sophie are thinking about mixing things up a bit.  At this point in the game, it just does not make sense to do this.  They just need to stick to their guns, vote out one more Savaii member so this person can duel with Keith, then follow that with Cochran.  It'll be interesting to see what happens next.  I can't wait!

Voted out this week:  Keith :(

P.S.  - - On Twitter this week, I asked @survivorshannon "considering how brutally honest u are, I figured id ask u if the votes are rigged or are people actually that stupid??"  His response was, "tht stupid!"


Twitter:  the_timgilmore