Survivor Recap: Episode 1

When asked if he lied to anyone during the show, Richard Hatch, winner of the first season of survivor gave a very interesting answer. He said the only person he lied to on a consistent basis was the show’s host, Jeff Probst, during tribal council. It was a very good piece of advice for future contestants if they wanted to win the show like Richard did, and he couldn’t have made it more clear. If you want to go far in the show, lie during tribal council. Being honest just before the vote is most likely one of the dumbest things you could do and if you said the wrong thing at the absolutely worst time, that could punch you an early ticket home. It couldn’t have been more true when watching the first episode of Survivor China. The tribe going in to vote this week were split between two people walking in, and then someone else opened their big trap at tribal council. Wanna guess who got tossed?

Steve ‘Chicken’ Morris made a very bad first impression when he arrived to the new camps. At first he was bossy and tried to tell everyone what they should do. This lead to the other campers ignoring him and doing their own thing. Frustrated by this, he began to not offer anymore ideas and just followed the crowd for a while. This tactic actually worked because a short time later, they started to approach him and ask him for his advice. That was the point where he should have dropped the act and helped out. But rather than take the olive branch that was offered, Chicken kelp refusing to offer his advice, and that was almost as bad as doing nothing at all. His fate was then sealed when he opened his fat trap at tribal council, dissing the people who didn’t work and how he was ignored. At that point, the tribe looked ready to send Ashley packing (which I thought would have been a mistake). I remember when I was watching this tribal council, I keep shouting at the TV when chicken was talking “Shut the f**k up up before you change their minds!” It was too late, Chicken made the mistake Richard had warned against and swayed minds at the last minute, thus making him the first person voted out of China.

(See what happens when talk too much at Tribal Council?)

Chicken wasn’t the only person to make a bad first impression during the first episode. Two ladies on the show made themselves look really bad during the buddist ceremony at the beginning of the episode. Courtney was completely ignorant and didn’t seem to care a bit about respecting the ceremony, while Leslie was just as ignorant as she left the ceremony before it was finished. Before the ceremony at the buddist temple started, Jeff went out of his way to say it wasn’t worship but a ceremony to welcome them to China. But Leslie still couldn’t do it cause she assumed cause there was bowing that the ceremony was religious. Leslie also made her views on religion clear at camp as well, and she had better fly a little lower under the radar or she might make an early exit. Courtney on the other had has opinions, but has been smart enough to keep them to herself, so she knows better and might hang around a little bit longer for that.

(The Buddist ceremony, not received well by all)

It was a good episode but I’m going to nip something in the bud before anyone asks me about it. While watching the episode, my wife asked the same questions that I know everyone else had when watching the episode. Why did Jeff give the losing tribe fire to keep after the first council? Why did they surprise people to only wear to the game what was on their backs but then backpeddle and provide sneakers for those who needed them to compete during competitions? Why are they being soft on the contestants this year as opposed to being harsh and in their faces for the last numerous seasons?

The answer is very obvious, as I’m sure the show and it’s producers have their own rules to follow as everyone knows that China can be very pushy when it wants to be. I’m sure the agreement with the government of that nation calls for them not to be too hard on them, and that’s all right cause this season is looking more like the original and that’s not a bad thing either. And even though I had fun with the whole ‘exile island’ gimmick, I’m glad it’s been given the heave ho for this season. It was used too much over the last few seasons and we did need a break from it.

But overall, the first episode of Survivor China made a good first impression. I’ll definitely be back next week to watch it again. Will be interesting to see what kind of ratings it will get when all the big premeres start up next week. But until then, I’ve got tons of other stuff to watch. Later…

Peter