"A man can/might outrun a woman but a man can't outwit a woman."
-Natalie Bolton, Survivor: Micronesia on Cirie, Amanda and Parvati
I was torn between blogging or writing a review on the just concluded season of the Mother of all the Reality Shows, Survivor. But since I blog a lot, and I do this better than writing a review (I think), I'll blog.
Aside from Rich Alvarez/Redbull games, the Survivor 2-hour season finale is what I look forward to. That I would give up everything I was doing at that moment just to watch it. Or I would stay awake way past my bedtime just to watch it. And last Monday I was happy that I got home just in the nick of time.
Tagged as Fans vs. Favorites, this season of Survivor is one of my favorites because:
1) Eliza Orlins (from Survivor: Vanuatu) is back. :)
2) Parvati Shallow (Survivor: Cook Islands) is back as well. And she won, too.
3) The all-girl Final Four is actually done this season by Parvati, Natalie, Cirie and Amanda (that the girls of Vanuatu failed to do because of the devious Chris).
4) It had the record-number of blindsides (this is Survivorspeak for getting someone voted out and leaving that person utterly clueless and in disbelief) orchestrated by the intriguing yet embarrassing Natalie. Embarrassing because of her questions to the Final Two, Amanda and Parvati. God, they made me blush and change channels briefly. See for yourselves here.
5) The aforementioned four girls managed a magnificent feat by convincing Erik to give up the Immunity Idol he got in Exile Islands. Dumb guy, and I feel sorry for him.
Survivor has gone through sixteen seasons counting the just-concluded in Micronesia. And with its longevity inevitably comes boring-y, for lack of a better term. It takes 28 days for one thing to become a habit, and as Survivor shows us, that it takes years to lose a habit. Everything becomes a routine. Twenty or so outcasts are sent to a remote island for nearly a month to, in short, outwit, outplay, outlast. In between these days are reward and immunity challenges, which quoting Jeff Probst, "guarantee you a (Insert percentage/fraction here) shot of being the Sole Survivor."
But seasons wherein previous players are asked to come back (All-Stars, Stephenie and Bobbyjohn in Guatemala, and Micronesia) give the much-needed break in the monotony, and the much-needed boost in ratings.
Blindsides are a manifestation of the players' wittiness and good-ness in acting. (Natalie should play poker everyday, she's going to win with her straight-face.) They are actually not a good thing because it shows how good at lying a player or players are. And this season is so full of it that even the end (the reading of the final vote) was fittingly marked with it.
*Just as everybody thought Amanda got the win in the bag, the jury (Eliza was the deciding vote, actually) voted for Parvati as the Sole Survivor. Nice.*
So to cut this short, I love Survivor: Micronesia, for all its flaws and good points. And according to Jeff Probst this season got the highest rating in the history of Survivor next to the show's first season, Survivor: Borneo.
Women rock, and Natalie, Cirie, Amanda and Parvati (and Eliza as well) proved it to the world.
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