Survivor Guatamala UpdateWell, despite my confident prediction last week that they would reform the original tribes, they didn't and none of the players apparently started playing the game out in his or her mind.
The real key to the show comes fairly early, with Brian talking about how he's a blue-stater all the way, and he's not used to hanging out with the these kinds of people at all, but that he shuts his mouth and prays along with the rest of Yaxha. It's interesting to see overt mentions of religion on reality TV; looks like they've figured out that it helps them rather than hurt them. I first watched Survivor during the Outback (second season) and you could tell by the undercurrent that the one tribe was religious and the other wasn't.
There was an entertaining reward challenge today for margaritas and chips and guacamole, and, best of all, a crocodile-proof swimming area. The teams had to cut through a rope with a piece of stone, the way the Mayans did (rolling my eyes here). Then they were to machete through a piece of wood and then cut a rope with the machete the way the Mayans did (after the Spanish introduced them to the concept of metal blades). Then they had to turn a wheel to haul a cart up to the top of a hill. Once there, they were able to ride the cart back down the hill to the finish line.
Brandon, the farmer, made short work of the rope with his stone, while Jamie struggled. Then Bobby Jon whacked the heck out of the machete through the wood, while Jamie struggled. Then the rest of the Yaxha team hauled the cart up to the top and took their ride, while Jamie struggled. And as they finished, Jamie managed to cut through the last strand.
Steph bitches and moans a bit about always being on the tribe that's losing. We've noticed. She also notes how much she hates seeing Bobby Jon winning. I'm suspecting that they may try and pull a Ruppert here by giving a "most popular" member of Survivor so they can give Steph some dough. But what if Bobby Jon outperforms her?
Meanwhile, we finally get an introduction to Blake the jerk. Braggin' on the size of his girlfriends boobs with a story for everything and Brian egging him on. Not very art-smay, ake-Blay! And in Yaxha, fishmonger Lydia starts doing the psycho song and dance routine, apparently unaware that singers get voted off at tribal council or even before.
The immunity challenge is the old Mayan sport of catapulting objects into the air and catching them with three-sided nets. Kinda goofy and the strategy (shooting the catpults as close to your team as possible is obvious. But the Nukum manage to steal one more than the Yaxha and so the latter go to council. Lydia is arguably a hero by doing a better job of shooting the catapult than Brian.
Now, obvious assumption is that the former Nukum members, who outnumber the former Yaxha, vote off the latter. But Blake really is a jerk and in the end Danni votes him off. Interestingly, this is the second week in a row that members of the original team have purportedly stabbed a former teammate in the back, but I suspect that Danni won't get the snake treatment next week from Mark Burnett.
As noted earlier, the key was the difference between Brian and Blake. Although Brian seems a little fey, he's much more respectful of people's sensibilities than Blake. Danni did not mention religion in discussing her vote but I would not be surprised to hear that it was a factor. It is refreshing to hear at this point in the game people voting off somebody because he or she doesn't deserve the money, rather than the old "he's a threat!" crap. Plenty of time for that after the merge.
The pawns on this game have been carefully chosen. I would not be surprised if Burnett and Company haven't got villain footage in the can for every player. Today's villain was clearly Blake and he got the axe. Our big villain is Judd, so he will remain in the game until late.
