I’m watching the episode right now. I can’t tell you the names of who used the word “askew”, or who didn’t recognize it.
Oh!!! I forgot it was already 8PM on the east coast. I still have 2 1/2 hours to go before it starts out here on the left coast.
Sylvia.
James, aka “Rocky,” also aka “Boston” (not be confused with “Boston Rob,” who is on that other show now). Lots of nicknames already, most of them a little goofy – I feel like I’m on an episode of “Flava of Love,” or maybe “I Love New York.”
So far, so good! But we’re only on episode one, and it usually takes me at least 2½ episodes to start wanting people to, say, get eaten by some of those sea snakes, or perhaps by the vampire bats.
Which reminds me: These guys are on an island! In the South Pacific! Where there are caves! And bats! They are literally living in the Bat Cave! That is so cool I can’t hardly even stand it. It’s not as cool as monkeys, but it’ll do. OH! Perhaps the bats are secretly winged monkeys, and they’ll swoop in while one of the tribes is on their way back to camp after a Tribal Council, and fly away with one of the weensier contestants, or at least one of the more hideous hats.
Super double secret bonus points to whomever is first to identify my three boyfriends this season. (HINT: “Dreamz” is not one of them.)
Also – Erica and Margarita (from Season 1 of the Amazing Race) – separated at brith?
Is it just me or did this seem like a surprisingly solid bunch of players? Yau Man was worried he might get voted off because of his age but he was valued because of his knowledge of the tropics. Sylvia was a little bossy about the building but not obnoxious in general and there didn’t seem to be much resentment. Nobody seemed to be lazy around the camp. Nobody collapsed during the challenges. Other than the fight between Dreamz and Rocky there were no personality problems. When it was time to vote somebody out, it might as well have been a random selection - nobody was an obvious weak link.
And I missed the first couple of minutes due to a cable problem. Can somebody recap the first scenes of them being dropped off or whatever happened?
I can see right away that Dreamz is going to be the friction in his team. Although I did think it was very, very smart of Sylvia to separate him and Rocky onto different tribes – weren’t those the first two guys she picked? I’m sure everyone else was breathing a sigh of relief!
I love, love, LOVE Yao Man. He’s going to be a keeper for far longer than one would expect due to his Mad Jungle Skilz!
Yes. And he’s cute!
Hard to say who I like after one episode, sorta like Yua Man and Papa Smurf.I can say who I dont like,Sylvia seems like a blowhard know-it-all and Dreamz :rolleyes: seems like a complete asshole, I hope they get the boot ASAP.
I’m not sure if there’s ever been a first episode where not a single person interested me at all.
Yao Man maybe, but that’s not gonna carry the show for me. The rest are completely boring. Think I might have to sit most of this season out.
“Askew.”
“Ok, uh, whenever there’s a big word, we have to have a timeout…”
:rolleyes:
I’m officially rooting for the sea snakes.
Crap, missed the premiere. Oh well, not doubt next week’s opening recap will catch me up. Let me know if there are any other strategic differences like two idols or having to play them before the vote. Thanks.
(I’m on dialup so online eps are worthless to me.)
So what racial group proved superior in the last version? I kinda lost track.
Actually, there’s kind of a big one already: the Idols are not hidden on Exile Island. According to the clue that Sylvia received, the Idols are actually back at camp, which could be interesting. Do you tell the others? How do you search without being caught? What if somebody accidentally finds it? This may not affect people’s strategies as much as two Idols, or the fact that they must be used before the votes are read, but it might still have an impact on the game. I guess we’ll see next week.
Have we seen last night’s chariot challenge before? Looks new, and it looked pretty good. I like those combo brains-brawn challenges. Hope they keep up the good work that started last time – those challenges were impressive.
Oh, and since I know you are all just dying to know, my favorites this time are Yau-Man (favorite video game: Ms. Pac-Man!), Alex (favorite board game: Trivial Pursuit!), and especially Anthony, who I am convinced is my husband’s slighty older, African-American doppelganger (favorite color: purple! favorite snack food: Pringles! favorite non-alcoholic beverage: Mountain Dew!) I do have to say, though, that both Little Nemo and levdrakon are kind of right – while this lot seems very solid, but also a little underwhelming, for the first episode anyway. Hopefully things will perk up next week.
Bryan Ekers: The racial divide only lasted until the 3rd or 4th episode, and then there was a shuffle. But for what it may be worth, the Final 5 contained one white, one black, one Hispanic, and two Asians, and the winner was a partridge in a pear tree.
Good start for the season, I think. I liked it that they had the first two days as a whole group and without any kind of “adult supervision”. Nice touch.
I have a problem with sending someone to Exile (with no chance to search for the idol) AND to the loosing tribe AND the crummy camp because they showed leadering skills. Way to punish effort, guys.
I can’t believe 18 people crammed themselves in that refuge and nobody thought “Hmm… this seems rather small for all these people”.
The Rocky dude is so Rocky that is almost funny. I wonder if he cultivates it on purpose.
And the small chick with the big 'fro, what the heck is the matter with that girl?! She is mad because people isn’t pee’ed at having a sucky camp? That’s what you got, lady, live with it.
No seriously hot girls, this season. That hurts.
Go Yau Man!
No kidding! Those comments would have put her on the top of my To Vote Out list. Sure, it sucks, but you’ve got to live with it. I certainly would prefer to be around people who are OK with what we’ve got that ones who whine and bitch all the time. I won’t be sad to see her go, unless she shows some amazing redeeming qualties quickly!
I completely missed the episode, but just by watching a couple of videos on CBS.com, I already want the Rocky guy to get eaten by something.
Is it just me, or was this season not promoted as much?
Started off watching the beginning of Survivor. Earl/Office was taping upstairs, and Smallville/Survivor downstairs for the kids. Then about 15 minutes in I had to drive my kid to Jazz O. When I got back my wife - the Ugly Betty fan - had come down. So for the last 35-40 minutes we flipped back and forth between S and UB, basically whenever one or the other would go to ads. I guess it shows how little I really care about either show that switching between the two was completely satisfactory to me.
Liked the little guy realizing that the weak point of the box is the corner. He looks like a rodent, tho.
My son offered what I consider an interesting possibility - what if the winners of the challenge had to send someone to Exile Island?
I’m a little worried that the exile of the losing tribe might snowball - giving more and more of an advantage to one side, leading to a Pagonging. If the winning group benefits from the better amenities and food, it may be tough for the members of the losers to recover. And by the time there is any mix-up, loyalties will have already been drawn.
Gary annoyed me with his bitching about Sylvia being a little bossy. Now, I’m not saying that she can’t be abrasive, but let’s get real, here. If you have plans for a kick-ass camp that you must construct yourselves, don’t you think it makes pretty good sense to have the architect in charge? I could maybe see the point if she was completely screwing it up, or if there was someone else with extensive construction experience and they butted heads, but from all we could see it looked like the building was progressing nicely.
I kind of like a part where he said he was going to let people call him Rocky because apparently “James” is too difficult for them to keep track of.
This episode was kind of hard to get into; I had to go pick my daughter up from work and missed about 20 minutes in the middle, but I don’t know the characters well enough to get excited about anything yet; there was one woman, though, who thought it was funny that the architect ended up going to Exile Island. That attitude will take her far in this game, I am sure…
Thoughts and hopes: I think it will be hilarious if they keep switching camps every week, or say that the winner of the immunity challenge gets the good camp. Double-whammy for failing immunity challenges.
Both idols probably have to be hidden in the same way, in what amounts to the same place, otherwise they’d have to be giving a lot more detail in the clues.
And, once again, the producers do not fail: pretty people, scantily clad, running around on a beach with the occasional irritating guy doing a full-face plant into a tree. w00t.
I was all set to put Dreamz on my Hate List, and then he had to go and tell his sob story about growing up homeless. Hmmph.
The big bats = flying foxes, and they eat fruit. But they look seriously creepy.
Yo, Man. ha!
Bugs me too. I don’t mind if the tribes are living under relatively equal conditions and one tribe is just kinda sucky. But when the producers give one tribe an advantage this early in the game it’s likely the other tribe is going to get whittled down and probably lose some players who would have been more interesting to watch, and who probably deserved to go further in the game.
This has been what happened in the past; I’m pretty sure sending Sylvia to X.I. this time was a one-off deal because of the girl who quit right before the game started. Wouldn’t surprise me in the least if this is one of the “rewards” at the next challenge, or if it is part of the weekly “immunity” prize package.
Plus, it’s not like she was just standing around barking orders, either. Looked like she set up an action plan, such as it was, and then they did what needed to be done. Whatever. People do this every season – turn on the early leaders – and it always drives me a little buggy. This is the 14th time we’ve done this, y’all. It’s never been a hippie love camp, and that isn’t about to change. Stop complaining about the people who want to, you know, survive out there.
This would not surprise me in the least, actually. It definitely looks like the “hook” for the early part of this season is going to be “haves vs. have-nots.”
For the past few seasons (Palau excepted), they appear to try really hard to keep this from happening. Usually they do some kind of mix-'em-up around the 3rd or 4th episode, which will redistribute the strength, if not the wealth. Since we’re dealing with an unusual number of people this time, plus the floating random X.I. person, I wonder if they won’t scramble more often. Which could be awesome.