The premiere of Survivor: South Pacific was nothing less than eventful and both tribes immediately established themselves as strong in challenges. For a full recap of the episode, go to our article.As for the bits and pieces:Coach did better than I expected. Despite his rather cold welcome and the loss of the reward challenge against Ozzy, he pulled it together and established his position as the experienced player who can help around camp. He formed an early alliance with Albert, Brandon, Rick and Sophie and did very well in both challenges. And how crazy was is that Coach speaks Russian? Actually, thinking about it, of course Coach speaks Russian! Also, it took him exactly 41 seconds to say the words "honor and integrity", but he didn't bring the Dragon Slayer back to life just yet.Brandon - as expected - got a lot of air time during the premiere. Being Russell Hantz' nephew (how hilarious is it that this is listed as his occupation, while the others are "anesthesiologist", "teacher" and so on?) will do that to you. He's determined to keep his identity a secret, but I'm not sure he will be able to go past episode two without telling someone about it; Sophie is already thinking he's hiding something. Two other things to mention about Brandon: first, why is his name appearing after the "One Survivor" words in the intro? Is this some kind of hint from the producers? Second, his rant about Mikayla was hilarious. He is determined to stay away from her and calls her Delilah, but then can't keep his eyes off her cleavage. Albert got the physical beast edit, but nothing else. It was impressive seeing him lift Brandon single-handedly over that wall. Christine is a train wreck waiting to happen; she's like the love child of Kristina and Fransesqua of Redemption Island - not only did she say exactly the same thing Francesca said when finding out about the returning players (that they are temporary players), but the minute she stepped on the Upolu beach, she started looking for the Hidden Immunity Idol. Unless a miracle happens, she'll be the first one to go from her tribe. Edna didn't come off as bossy as I would have imagined - actually, except for the scene showing her being the only one to be friendly with Coach after the reward challenge, we barely saw her. I think Mikayla is amazing, she's physical and she's not afraid of showing it. She was a "throwing machine" at the Immunity Challenge (Jeff's words) and we see her do a lot of work around camp. We haven't seen a lot of Rick, but I was surprised to see him actually get along with Coach, after watching the pre-season videos, where he made fun of "the dragon slayer". Sophie got a few confessionals, but most of them were about the other players and not about herself. She seems to be very introspective and analytic. Stacey was hilarious during the first challenge with the way she cheered Coach, but other than that, she wasn't very visible either. She did make probably the worst mistake of the episode - the Hidden Immunity Idol was right in front of her and she missed it. Ozzy received a very warm welcome from his tribe and he is still the athletic threat he proved to be in the previous seasons. Now he needs a water challenge to really prove what he's capable of. On the other hand, I'm still not convinced about his social game. He tried to come off as laid back and not too domineering, probably so he won't be compared to Boston Rob, but there was still some douchery involved there. I liked it that he stepped up to comfort Dawn, but I hated it that he tried to do the same thing he did in Micronesia - align himself with the girls. Unfortunately for him, Savaii is not the zombie tribe that Ometepe was and Jim promptly caught on his strategy. I think they are going to use him for challenges and camp life and then discard him after the merge the first time he doesn't win immunity if he doesn't change his behavior. It was good that he voted with his tribe though.Dawn worried me, as she was one of my pre-season favorites. She's a fan of the show and seeing her cry on day 2 was not a good sign. I really hope it was just like the flu, as she said, and it's now out of her system. Maybe she'll pull a Holly and become an important contender in the days to come.Jim Rice is credited as saying the first lie of the season - he told everyone he is a science teacher, hiding the fact that he has an MBA and owns two medical marijuana dispensaries. He starts off as a villain and I dislike him because of his "bikini time" line and because I am a huge Ozzy fan. Getting into the fight with Semhar right after the Immunity Challenge was not a good move, people will start thinking he will do the same to them at some point.Cochran started off as the fun guy who is all knowledgeable about Survivor and ended up being whiny and unlikable. He asked Jeff right away to call him by his last name, following the tradition of Probst calling every player that he liked by their last names. Throughout the episode, he had some weird moments - first just upon arrival, when everyone got in their underwear to go swimming and he whined about looking bad without his clothes on (being such a big fan, he really didn't expect to be with his shirt off at some point?). Then, when finding out he may be going home, he got insanely paranoid, made me hate him for implying that the girls need to go home before him and turned himself into a puppet at the Tribal Council by saying that he will do everything the others want around camp if they don't vote him off.Mark Anthony Caruso began as very likable as well, but his insistence that everyone should call him Papa Bear was annoying. And I simply refuse to call him that.We saw more of Semhar's boobs than any other boobs in Survivor history. I laughed out loud when she started doing her poetry and even harder at her Redemption Island rant, where she said she didn't understand how people can be so cold and vote her off (for being physically weak and very annoying, I might add). After all, she did screw up in the challenge, one simply does not volunteer if they can't do the job just because it's better to step up than to lay low. I though something like this might happen when I saw that we were shown the strategy part - the producers rarely show us that part unless something really bad happens due to it. I'm glad she was the first one to go, she's too much of a diva for this game.Elyse, Keith and Whitney didn't get much air time. I loved Keith in the challenge though, he was great despite having his pacemaker, and even more when he called out Cochran on his bullshit at the Tribal Council. He was right: they've known each other for three days, there's no way they can base their impressions on something other than what had happened during that time.What did you think about the premiere? Make sure to stay tuned as we twit live during each Survivor episode!
Entertainment Magazine
Survivor: South Pacific - I Need Redemption. Bits and Pieces
Posted on the 15 September 2011 by Tvgeek @TVGeek_blogThe premiere of Survivor: South Pacific was nothing less than eventful and both tribes immediately established themselves as strong in challenges. For a full recap of the episode, go to our article.As for the bits and pieces:Coach did better than I expected. Despite his rather cold welcome and the loss of the reward challenge against Ozzy, he pulled it together and established his position as the experienced player who can help around camp. He formed an early alliance with Albert, Brandon, Rick and Sophie and did very well in both challenges. And how crazy was is that Coach speaks Russian? Actually, thinking about it, of course Coach speaks Russian! Also, it took him exactly 41 seconds to say the words "honor and integrity", but he didn't bring the Dragon Slayer back to life just yet.Brandon - as expected - got a lot of air time during the premiere. Being Russell Hantz' nephew (how hilarious is it that this is listed as his occupation, while the others are "anesthesiologist", "teacher" and so on?) will do that to you. He's determined to keep his identity a secret, but I'm not sure he will be able to go past episode two without telling someone about it; Sophie is already thinking he's hiding something. Two other things to mention about Brandon: first, why is his name appearing after the "One Survivor" words in the intro? Is this some kind of hint from the producers? Second, his rant about Mikayla was hilarious. He is determined to stay away from her and calls her Delilah, but then can't keep his eyes off her cleavage. Albert got the physical beast edit, but nothing else. It was impressive seeing him lift Brandon single-handedly over that wall. Christine is a train wreck waiting to happen; she's like the love child of Kristina and Fransesqua of Redemption Island - not only did she say exactly the same thing Francesca said when finding out about the returning players (that they are temporary players), but the minute she stepped on the Upolu beach, she started looking for the Hidden Immunity Idol. Unless a miracle happens, she'll be the first one to go from her tribe. Edna didn't come off as bossy as I would have imagined - actually, except for the scene showing her being the only one to be friendly with Coach after the reward challenge, we barely saw her. I think Mikayla is amazing, she's physical and she's not afraid of showing it. She was a "throwing machine" at the Immunity Challenge (Jeff's words) and we see her do a lot of work around camp. We haven't seen a lot of Rick, but I was surprised to see him actually get along with Coach, after watching the pre-season videos, where he made fun of "the dragon slayer". Sophie got a few confessionals, but most of them were about the other players and not about herself. She seems to be very introspective and analytic. Stacey was hilarious during the first challenge with the way she cheered Coach, but other than that, she wasn't very visible either. She did make probably the worst mistake of the episode - the Hidden Immunity Idol was right in front of her and she missed it. Ozzy received a very warm welcome from his tribe and he is still the athletic threat he proved to be in the previous seasons. Now he needs a water challenge to really prove what he's capable of. On the other hand, I'm still not convinced about his social game. He tried to come off as laid back and not too domineering, probably so he won't be compared to Boston Rob, but there was still some douchery involved there. I liked it that he stepped up to comfort Dawn, but I hated it that he tried to do the same thing he did in Micronesia - align himself with the girls. Unfortunately for him, Savaii is not the zombie tribe that Ometepe was and Jim promptly caught on his strategy. I think they are going to use him for challenges and camp life and then discard him after the merge the first time he doesn't win immunity if he doesn't change his behavior. It was good that he voted with his tribe though.Dawn worried me, as she was one of my pre-season favorites. She's a fan of the show and seeing her cry on day 2 was not a good sign. I really hope it was just like the flu, as she said, and it's now out of her system. Maybe she'll pull a Holly and become an important contender in the days to come.Jim Rice is credited as saying the first lie of the season - he told everyone he is a science teacher, hiding the fact that he has an MBA and owns two medical marijuana dispensaries. He starts off as a villain and I dislike him because of his "bikini time" line and because I am a huge Ozzy fan. Getting into the fight with Semhar right after the Immunity Challenge was not a good move, people will start thinking he will do the same to them at some point.Cochran started off as the fun guy who is all knowledgeable about Survivor and ended up being whiny and unlikable. He asked Jeff right away to call him by his last name, following the tradition of Probst calling every player that he liked by their last names. Throughout the episode, he had some weird moments - first just upon arrival, when everyone got in their underwear to go swimming and he whined about looking bad without his clothes on (being such a big fan, he really didn't expect to be with his shirt off at some point?). Then, when finding out he may be going home, he got insanely paranoid, made me hate him for implying that the girls need to go home before him and turned himself into a puppet at the Tribal Council by saying that he will do everything the others want around camp if they don't vote him off.Mark Anthony Caruso began as very likable as well, but his insistence that everyone should call him Papa Bear was annoying. And I simply refuse to call him that.We saw more of Semhar's boobs than any other boobs in Survivor history. I laughed out loud when she started doing her poetry and even harder at her Redemption Island rant, where she said she didn't understand how people can be so cold and vote her off (for being physically weak and very annoying, I might add). After all, she did screw up in the challenge, one simply does not volunteer if they can't do the job just because it's better to step up than to lay low. I though something like this might happen when I saw that we were shown the strategy part - the producers rarely show us that part unless something really bad happens due to it. I'm glad she was the first one to go, she's too much of a diva for this game.Elyse, Keith and Whitney didn't get much air time. I loved Keith in the challenge though, he was great despite having his pacemaker, and even more when he called out Cochran on his bullshit at the Tribal Council. He was right: they've known each other for three days, there's no way they can base their impressions on something other than what had happened during that time.What did you think about the premiere? Make sure to stay tuned as we twit live during each Survivor episode!
