Survivor Notes: Week 1Surprise, surprise, they bring back Steph. Horror of horrors they bring back Bobby Jon with her. Here's a clue to the unlucky group that got him: Don't ask him to do puzzles!
Not surprisingly, the old guys take charge. Yeah! Old men rule! One of the youngsters gets hit by a nasty-looking sticker tree, and a few moments later (it seems) young man drool!
Steph loses yet again. For a woman who's supposed to be one of the great Survivor women of all time, she's never won an immunity challenge and only seldom won a reward challenge. Bobby Jon, true to form, adds nothing to his team other than looking like he's about to slip into convulsions. Lots of puking scenes, but apparently only the one tribe. Early favorite from that tribe is the nurse; I don't imagine anybody's going to want to vote her off.
But Steph finally wins an immunity challenge! Entertaining race, with the teams paddling their boats around an obstacle, grabbing a torch, then hauling the boats up the beach over rolling logs. Having Gary Hogeboom on your team definitely helps. Does he stick out like a sore thumb, though, as a top-caliber athlete?
Hogeboom played for the Cowboys, Colts and Cardinals in his career. He had shown promise as a backup for Danny White, but when given a chance in 1984, he responded with 7 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. For the rest of his career he was an okay player and a better than average NFL backup quarterback. He completed about 56% of his passes for 7.1 yards per attempt, numbers that are not too bad. The bad part was the interception percentage at 4.5%.
Obvious prediction here: Bobby Jon gets the axe. (DOH!)
Except when they come back we learn that Jim has ripped a muscle in his left arm. In the end Jim gets a seemingly unanimous vote (except obviously for his own).
Comments: Usual gorgeous scenery from Mark Burnett, although I suspect we'll see the folks bathing in that crocodile infested water before long (as always). What was up with Probst's hair in the opening sequence? I'm sure we'll be hearing quite a bit about the Mayans in the next few months.
