IIRC from one of those snippets on The TV Guide Channel, she was scheduled to be on Survivor: Guatemala, but had to back out because of her son getting killed. So they offered her a spot on Survivor: Exile Island.
What did Melinda say to Jeff?
As I recall, Jeff started out the Tribal Council by asking everyone if they had found adjusting to living outdoors difficult. Melinda apparently was feeling cranky, and answered something like, “Yes, it’s really hard. You should try it sometime.”
When the tribes separated to go to their camps, I turned to my roommate and said “I’m willing to bet the boys don’t have the slightest idea what to do, and the girls left the only person capable of making a decision back on Exile Island.” I love it when I’m right.
Cirie, Cirie, Cirie. You were aware that you’d often be running while wearing that bathing suit, weren’t you?
Shane is going to be a blast. We’re headed for total meltdown. I smoke about a third of what he does, and I’d quit well in advance. But if there’s a pack of Camels at the food auction, he’ll be a happy man. And in a few days, he’s going to have the lung capacity of a Blue Whale.
I think it should be a rule that anyone with the word “fire” in their job description should be legally obligated to know how to make fire. Just like Lydia should have known how to catch fish.
AstroDan is so white he’s blue. That’s about the same color as my legs. I dig him just for that, but maybe he should have thought to pack on the pounds before going out there, huh?
All in all, the older men are my favorites, thus far. I actively like three out of four, and I think the fourth will at least be entertaining. The older women were doing so well until they made the dumbest move in Survivor history, so I no longer have any sympathy for them.
Oh, and why aren’t they using the tribe names? Because it will be too confusing right from the get-go? The tribes have names–they’re in the credits, on the boats, on the flags, why not use them? The young women are Bayoneta, and the older men are La Mina, but I don’t remember the others.
But maybe…just maybe… it could work! When the younger woman (Missy?) came back to the larger group after being on Exile Island - she pretty much announced to the whole group that she had fouind the idol. Now - this could be a big mistake if she is called out on it, granted. She’s have to dig her hole deeper and deeper and maybe get stuck…
BUT - the other effect it has is on all the other players who get stuck out there on Exile Island - they are all thinking now that maybe she DID find the idol, so why should they spend all the time and effort looking??? Judging from the cast of characters we’ve seen, that thought alone would stop most if not all of the younger players from lifting a finger. So while Missy’s strategery may not work in favor of her in the way she thinks, it may stop others from getting the immunity.
And with that - I agree that voting off the lumbergirl was STUUUUUUUUUUUUPID!! In every way.
And my favorite is Samuri Bruce too - The whole cutting firewood with a “samuri cut” was pretty cool. I like him (this probably means he will be the next one voted off).
I like the new twists. Exile Island is more than just Janu nostalgia. It also doesn’t necessarily constitute a punishment. Because of the “after the fact” immunity the idol can bring, people may volunteer to go to Exile Island. The fear of someone breaking that bad boy out without notice will really make scheming and voting interesting later in the game. And I whole heartedly endorse the four tribe start. Because there were only four members to any given tribe, I got a moderate impression of every player. Let the games begin!
And so, the less anticipated, highly derivative RICH RANKINGS! (Tribe and previous ranking in parentheis)
FORGOT TO FILE A 1040- I guess you couldn’t outwit everyone!
Tina- (New/OW)- She annoyed me from the start and she seemed like a nag during the reward challenge, but I think we missed out on gold! Her snarky comments were winners. “Fear of leaves” and “I hope they do terrible!” She could have been like Amy from Guatemala. Good commentary can make a mediocre season a spectacular one.
EATING BEEF JERKY- You’re still playing, but you’re praying for a tribe scramble!
Courtney- (New/YW)- Totally “out there.” Distinguishing yourself in a negative way is never good if the tribe has to vote someone off early in the game.
Aras- (New/YM) Which is exactly what Aras did! He and Courtney should date. I can just “feel” the energy between them!
Cirie- (New/OW)“Did anyone tell her what show she was going on?” No doubt! Cirie seems very pleasant, so she may move up, but she needs desperatley to improve her TC performance. Her and Tina both did terribe, but Cirie actually mentioned the “Couch”!
Shane- (New/OM) When I looked at the Old Guy tribe, I started singing “Which one is not like the others?” This Tommy Lee wannabe is going to have it tough. Ever think about “detoxing” BEFORE leaving for a desert island? I do admire that he was sufficiently self-aware so as to recognize that he couldn’t lash out.
WHO SAID ANYTHING ABOUT A MERGE?- Middle of the pack players, the lotta ya!
Melinda- (New/OW) I liked her more than I thought I would. Clearly she wants to make a star turn out of this, but she kept it neutral early on. I still predict she will be a drama queen once she gets comfortable.
Sally- (New/YW) If there was one contestant last night that didn’t leave me with much of an impression, it was probably Sally. She was practical about the shelter and she was the voice the editors used to mock Courtney, so I kind of liked her. She has a pleasant way about her, so I hope her storyline develops.
Misty- (New/YW) I liked Misty. Smart and beautiful. She would be higher, but I am unsure about her scheme to make her tribemates think she has the idol. What happens when the next exile gets a hint as to where the idol is…and the hint does not include Misty’s napsack? She came on too strong with her sly comments. She should have been more coy. Good strategy. Poor execution.
HEY! LOOK AT HIS MOHAWK-You might make the merge, but you’re grimacing from the jury row!
Austin- (New/YM) The guy with a lot of “slashes” in his career description won me over. He kind of seemed like a fun guy who didn’t take too much seriously. I’ll bet once the tribes merge, he tries to hook up with someone. He strikes me as a horndog.
Danielle- (New/YW) If they wanted Stephenie back for a third consecutive installment, why didn’t they just ask her back? Bizarro Stephenie seems pleasant and will probably do well.
Bobby- ((New/YM) He seemed confident and bright. But if everyone else is doing hand meditation, it is never good to be the odd man out. Even if it was silly. You don’t want to cast youself as the outsider!
LOOKING FOR A BIG TOM TO ENGLISH DICTIONARY- Big Tom has spent more combined days on the show than anyone. But he didn’t quite grab the brass ring.
Ruth- (New/OW) She seems very cold and tough. Kind of humorless and no-nonsense. I could see her being a Lady MacBeth! She looks like she should be on Dynasty! I could see her running an alliance.
Nick- (New/YM) I liked Nick. I think he is a guy that will fit in with the old dudes if they all make merge. I loved his reactions to Aras. His shelter commentary had me rolling. A good guy.
Dan- (New/OM) Dan is sharp, but he is a bit geeky. He reminds me of Bill from Freaks and Geeks. And like Shane, he did not prepare for Survivor. It is called a “base tan”, buddy! We all suspected an alliance with Terry, but the NASA thing seemed heavy handed. It was kind of forced. It was one of the rare moments in Survivor where the hand of the producer is CLEARLY evident. (“Go talk to Terry. He may be a good guy to confide with…”)
ARE YOU A RAT OR A SNAKE?- Reserved for a MAXIMUM of two players. You have to be in the driver’s seat for this spot.
Bruce- (New/OM) Admit it. When he executed a perfect chop with the machete, your blood got pumping. You can see that the way he moves around the camp that Bruce is good at a lot of things. The easiest final five prediction of the bunch.
Terry- (New/OM) I think he is the frontrunner. He is tough, likeable and wins my “MOST LIKE FIREFIGHTER TOM” award. The best players seem to come from the Older Male tribe.
On the worth of keeping Tina: It isn’t exactly rocket science to start a fire when you have flint, steel, and dry grass to work with. The water was on the map, and she found the fish. Any of them could have found it, which was really Cirie’s point. It’s not like she went out into the water and killed a shark or anything.
Bruce has a 5th-dan black belt in Shotokan karate, which is heavily-based on one-shot, extreme strength hits. They were probably doing careful editing of the woodchopping; I doubt he was going clear through the bamboo with one shot, but it’s possible. Expect him to totally rock at anything involving balance, strength and stability. And breaking things.
My guess is that the immunity idol is in, or under, the bucket of murky water, and it’s made of flint. Because Probst is an evil bastard. Plus, that’s where I’d put it.
What the hell was with all the flirting when the teams first met up? I thought a couple of the younger types were going to go off into the bushes for a quickie while the challenge was being run. I call dibs on that being important later in the game.
Dan wants to hide the fact that he was an astronaut because of (a) serious training and the Tom Syndrome (older guy who’s kept in good, overall shape), and (b) he’s actually pretty well off. Wealthy people tend not to do well in Survivor.
Don’t be hating on Misty for not having a convoluted plan. Remember Sondra? “I’ll vote for anybody but me.” She won. Tom? “I will not fail any challenges.” He won. Jenna Morasca? “I am a swimsuit model.” Simple strategies work in this game.
It has occurred to me that sending somebody to Exile Island a second time is a bad idea–they know where they’ve already searched.
Yoga Dan. Great googly moogly. Is a new age nutter deserving of the prize? I don’t think so. Did he think he was shooting energy beams out of his hands, or did he just want to stand really close to the other Kens?
Austin. Dude! Draw the blade against the firesteel, don’t hack at a 3 inch long target while you are holding on to it. Next week’s reward challenge: cat gut and needles.
Bobby Dee Williams. If you had 1/10 the game you think you do, women everywhere would swoon at the mention of your name. Reality being what it is, a loathsome bitch, you are a comical poseur.
Bruce. A Karate instructor and a police survival instructor? Mark my words, the old guys team was created for the expressed purpose of showing up the new guys in big, embarrassing ways. It wasn’t a difficult task to begin with.
Courtney. Our other new-ager. Performance artist is code for NON-surgically enhanced exotic dancer. She isn’t going to miss not being able to wash her hair. So she’s got that advantage. Other advantages… I’ll get back to you.
Nick. Nick… Nick is the Einstein and the DaVinci of the young guys. Sure, he’d ride the short bus in any other class, but he’s big man on campus among the plastic-headed Kens.
Sally. Along with Bruce, she might have gotten the least airtime. Since every dog has his or her day on survivor, I’m sure she’ll be spotlighted before Jeff snuffs her flame. Right now, I don’t know much about her other than she has the standard survivor issue bikini, which believe me, I appreciate. It’s a tradition dating back 12 seasons to Jena.
Terry. Well, he couldn’t help but get roped into AstroDan’s dick measuring contest. I’ll try not to hold that against him. He’ll also never lie to AstroDan. How cute. American Airlines is teh suxx0r! Sorry, that’s a non sequitur.
Okay, I’m glad I’m not alone on guessing it’s in or around the water. But I hadn’t though of it being made of flint. You, my friend, are a genius, and Jeff is most certainly an evil bastard. Which is why I love him so much. 
Lady Zakalwe’s first comment on seeing the four tribe format:
“No flying under the radar this season.”
I agree with her (why yes, I am wise in the ways of women, why do you ask?) and I like the change. I hope the rumor about the two tribe merge next ep is wrong. They should stick with this for a couple more eps.
I agree. Starting out with only four puts everybody in immediate jeopardy, and I think that’s what we’ve been missing the last couple seasons. I would really like them to whittle away at the tiny tribes until they’re down to ten people, and then just do the big merge.
I like Missle Misty’s plan for one reason: no one would risk calling her out at TC. There is too much risk.
If Misty is in the weaker alliance, she will be the last one voted out because if she DOES have it, then whoever was the target of the her alliance’s votes goes home.
So instead of targeting Misty, the stronger alliance will pick off the others. That means more time in the game.
Lingering doubt plays well for her. I just think she overplayed the situation.
In Cirie’s defense, it’s not that she’s actually afraid of leaves – she’s afraid of what lives under the leaves. OK, that didn’t help all that much…
When I picture an ex-astronaut, I was thinking more laong the lines of Hunter from Marquesas(?). Not some scrawny old guy with blue skin.
Good to see that stereotypes are holding strong: young people are pretty useles. 
rockle, it looks like we don’t need to worry about having to remember the names of 4 tribes. (“Bayonetas”???) Probst didn’t even bother with it – he referred to every team as “younger/older men/women”.
Don’t know if this is the case with Melinda, but allow me to introduce you to the horror that is permanent makeup
Nothing like granny sporting that Cleopatra look…
Well, the two who I expected to be my faves both boneheaded themselves out of my favor in the first episode.
Dan’s an astronaut. How cool is that? But then… “hey, wanna know my secret?”
Misty’s a female engineer. w00t! you go girl… then she’s on exile island (yeah, underdog!). But then… “I found the idol in one night, nyah nyah!” Sure you did, and it was “definately on the ground, man.”
But thankfully:
a) they’re not the most boneheaded ones out there. Dunno whether that honor goes to The Smoking Man (look out Mulder, he’s back!) or the hippies (“just put your hand here. Feel that? But don’t touch, because that would be gay.”) (“oh great and powerful turtle earth-mother, please conjure us a shelter!”) or the frat boys (I wonder if they started the fire in the pot just to be able to say, “Dude, it’s a smoking pot!”)
and
b) I’ve got me a new fave: Cirie! GonzoGal liked her from the beginning because she was so normal, so chipper and friendly, and so very out-of-place in the wilderness. I came around by the end because she’s a freaking genius! She singlehandedly masterminded Tina’s booting, which was the absolute worst idea for the other two in her tribe, but saved her ass when she clearly should’ve gone home. She may not be a Tom or Steph, but she might have the mind of Brian or Rob C.
Also, loving the 4 team idea, and the exile island. Finally some innovation in the game! (Zippy was the best part of Guatamala)
I think he’s awesome on paper, and I really want to like him. I’m trying to keep an open mind about this cast, but I do have to say that once Bruce busts out a snappy one-liner or a Mr. Miyagi line, he’ll be my new hero. I also really want to like Dan, because of the astro-robot thing, but I am inherently suspicious of people who are whiter than I am. He practically glows in the dark!
So far, I don’t have many impressions one way or the other except that I know I don’t like Cirie or Melinda yet, and I think the young’uns are pretty cute and useless so far. Hopefully that will change. However, I am still rooting for the wildlife (although I suspect that some of that animal footage was recycled from previous seasons).
In hindsight, I think it odd that in all the seasons of Survivor we haven’t seen anyone else go through nicotine withdrawal.
I remember an older woman with a visible patch while she was on the show, but I couldn’t tell you what her name was or what season she was on. I think most people with half a brain quit well in advance of going out there. It’s like a little mental list–quit smoking, learn to build fire, get bikini wax. At least, that’s how I’d prepare.
Something tells me no one was STUPID enough to believe they could quit cold turkey on a three pack-a-day habit the day before filming starts.
You… have watched this show before, right? :dubious:
Sounds good in theory, but having lived with a smoker who’s tried & failed to quit several times, I can completely envision a Survivor-to-be trying, failing, and saying “screw it…I’ll just go cold turkey when I get on the island.”