You’re wrong, Hooleehootoo. There were rules, and there was a referee, and I can pretty much guarantee you that there was a medical team behind the cameras, ready for any real injury.
At times, you could hear Probst telling them, “No kicking! No choking!” If those aren’t rules, what are they? And if that doesn’t make Probst a referee, what does it make him? Are you under the mistaken impression that what we see on the show is exactly what happens when the challenge is actually run?
Hooleehootoo - I’m with jayjay here. It wasn’t “no holds barred,” there were rules such as no choking, and from the looks of it, no kicking or punching. It was wrestling. Also, I’m 99.9% sure that there were details about possible physical contact sports in the contract they had to sign to get on the show. So they would have warning that this sort of thing was possible.
But also realize these people are starving, fighting, scheming, going through paranoia and malnutrition to get their chance at $1,000,000. From some, it’s hell on tv. Much of it isn’t that healthy, but they know what they’re in for, and should something really go wrong - they’re taken care of (example: guy who fell in the coals).
I liked it for the same reason I like football, boxing and Ultimate Fighting. I enjoy watch people beat the hell out of other people for my personal amusement.
Call me a sicko. Call me a sadist.
I can’t help it.
Plus, Danielle lost her top. Don’t forget about that. 
I do think the producers were taking a risk by having men and women compete togther. It appears there were no problems as it turned out. But suppose Shane or Austin had decided to pull off Misty or Danielle’s tops during the contest? (I know - ratings gold!) But seriously, what might have happened was somebody claiming they were sent into the pit to get sexually assaulted. After the Susan Hawk/Richard Hatch incident, you’d figure the producers would want to avoid the possibility.
Sicko.
Sadist.
That scene didn’t really bother me a lot either. I have an older brother who used to pick on me a lot. I could handle throwing down a guy or two.
I’m sure there are rules set in place that forbids sexual assault, whether it happens in the middle of an immunity challenge or back at the co-ed tent. And should one of the men decide to cross that line, I’m sure they’d be escorted home pronto.
Secondly, I’ve seen a lot of pixelated breasts, butt cracks and crotch shots during this show, and not all of them happen during challenges. When you lose 20 pounds, face it, your bathing suit isn’t going to fit snugly anymore and body parts are going to be exposed. If a woman is going to be traumatized by having her pixelated breasts bared, then she shouldn’t sign up for the show. That to me would be far less humiliating than having to piss and crap in front of cameramen.
Has anyone figured out yet what the snake dinner thing meant?
So every five year old in this world that wrestles with his/her friends is now partaking in some death sport?
Learn something new everyday.
I have a feeling someone caught a snake and they ate it for dinner, but the footage was edited out.
I see I am not getting much traction with my arguments, but I will try a bit more.
The differences between 5-year olds wrestling, football, boxing, UFC and the recent immunity challenge include these:
In contact sports, the participants are of similar age, skill, weight and sex. They are not coerced into competing. There are detailed rules. The participants practice extensively so that they can more accurately understand the margins of the rules and the things that may lead to injury. There are sanctions for breaking the rules which influence the participants.
I admit I did not watch the full fight, so I did not hear Probst admonishing the combatants. I of course implicitly assumed there were some limits. However, the participants were adults with much more capacity to injure themselves than 5-year olds. They had no practice, and no detailed rules. There was the possibility of very unequal duels.
Say that before the game starts all the participants agree to a waiver that has clauses like “there is a chance you may be hit with a stick or a rock during certain activities of the game”. Would you still enjoy watching this? Do you think the participants who backed out would have a decent excuse that their earlier consent was not well-enough informed (maybe they thought pebble, or a stick of 1 cm, instead of hickory poles)?
I am not one that views all combat sports as barbaric. I have done some BJJ myself and admire technical skill as well as the power of a good knock-out. I just thought the past week was a bit too far down the path leading to “Survivor XIX: Lord of the Flies”
And they are also adults who can decide for themselves whether they want to participate.
They manage to cram 3 days worth of time into 44 minutes by not showing everything. Interviews have said that every stunt has a much more extensive rules session and walk through prior to the actual stunt beginning. There is often practice time (e.g.- bow and arrow challenges), but I doubt that would be much good here.
I assume they DO sign those waivers and I still watch it.
These people know what they are getting into. If they don’t want to humilate themselves, go through starvation and get the crap knocked out of them, then they shouldn’t go on a reality show.
If they do, they need to understand that they exist solely for my amusement. Reality show contestants are almost like kleenex. Completly disposible, and covered in snot (don’t steal my idea!)
I’m one step away from calling for a return to gladiators!
Hey, wait a minute…
Re-watching the episode. La Mina are lamenting the lack of food. But aren’t there Young Women in the team? And weren’t the Young Women practically orgasmic over the fresh fruit they had at their camp? Why can’t they go back to the location of their original camp and bring back some fruit?
“Do you want to go back?”
“I don’t know…do you want to go back?”
“Well, I don’t know. What do you think we should do?”
“I have no idea. Do you want to go back?”
“I don’t know…do you want to go back?”
Ad infinitum
They’re not really in the wilderness you know. The series are taped in national parks and places like that. In some of the shows, the players could have traveled a mile or so from their camp and visited a local town. So one of the unshown rules of the show has always been to set boundaries on how far the players can wander.
But it would be cool to see Jeff Probst lay down the law on camera: “This isn’t your island. This is our island. And this is where the line is. As long as you stay on your side, we’ll be okay. But cross that line and we’ll have problems. Now light up the torches!”
OTOH, they’ve frequently had visits to other camps. So the camps must be close enough together so that they can be reached when Jeff says, ‘Okay, you three go to the other camp.’ and the locations would probably be placed such that the players would not be paddling by a town.
I know there’s a rule that players can’t raid another’s camp, but I’ve never heard any rules against going to an abandoned camp. ISTR an earlier episode where someone went on a rather long hike. Maybe to the other side of the island? I don’t remember.
I’ve read that they don’t hike everywhere.
One season, the TC location was pretty far so the Surivivors hiked for the camera, then got in humvees to drive the rest of the way.
I imagine that is the way it is most of the time. They paddle the canoes to challenges, then the camera turns off and they get pulled by a motor boat.
Y’all have never seen the fantastic show that is Survivorman. This crazy Canadian guy gets dropped off in a remote location with nothing but a few random things (swimming goggles, 3 ballpoint pens, and the clothing on his back), a multi-tool, and 50 pounds of camera gear. He has to tape himself surviving with no other tools or assistance, other than what’s in his brain, for seven days.
When he was marooned on the coast of Costa Rica, HE made a hawaiian sling out of a stick, a sharpened ball point pen casing, and the elastic waistband from his Scooby Doo boxer shorts.
That post wasn’t there, I SWEAR!!