"Unnatural Selection"

Well it seems as if I erred in my matchups for the AFC. Here is my corrected version

AFC Divisional Playoff

New England over Denver, and Indianapolis over Pittsburgh

The rest follows as is already placed down.

Sorry for the mistake.

Speaking of mistakes...

As I have applied for Survivor, and am obsessed with the show, I will begin today a new segment about Survivor. I will take a season, go show by show and run down what the person who got voted off did to get the boot, and discover what could have been done (if anything) to keep that person in the game.

The first season I will tackle is the All-Stars edition. Here is a little background to my obsession with Survivor and why I chose this edition first. I watched the first episode of the first Survivor (Borneo) ever. I was not impressed in the least. For one thing, there was this fat ugly gay man declaring in the 1st 20 minutes of the show that he was the winner. The check was signed and had his name on it. I realize he was only making a prediction, but I told myself that he was probably telling the truth, thus making the comment a “shoot”. A shoot comment for those of you unfamiliar with the term is one commonly used in wrestling when a wrestler breaks kayfabe; bringing up real life issues and conflicts. Now, I love when this happens in wrestling, but it was not something I thought was cool in a reality television show. I stopped watching then and there. Over the next few years I caught some episodes here and there; some guy falling into a fire, some old hick getting a hot air balloon (or was it helicopter ride) over the African landscape with a guy with lots of tattoos, some hot chicks stripping for food, and some asshole lying about his grandmother dying.

Well, in the weeks leading up to the Superbowl in 2004 (which aired on CBS that year) no one could escape the ads for Survivor All-Stars. It was going to be the best ever, and the contestants were going to be given nothing to start with. “But still the same old Survivor in the end probably” was my only thought. So, I watched the Patriots beat the Panthers in the Superbowl that evening, and while doing so I consumed a lot of food and beer. When the game ended I was dead in my seat, not wishing to move out of it for anything. My sister and mother (both avid fans of Survivor from the beginning) were settled in to watch Survivor. I just sat and watched as I felt I had nothing better to do. Then the show began.

Maybe I got caught up in there excitement over which contestants were back. Maybe it was the beer coursing through my veins mixing in my stomach with all the wings, meatballs, etc... Whatever it was, I watched the entire episode. I saw the previews for the next weeks show. And the following Thursday at 9pm, I just happened to be sitting in the living room in a chair, “too tired to get up” and had to watch the show. I was hooked like that. So with that, on with the column.
The show started off with 3 tribes. I will list them all here for you, along with the contestants in each tribe.

Mogo Mogo: Jenna M (winner Survivor Amazon), Lex (Africa), Colby (Australian Outback), Kathy (Marquesas), Richard (winner Survivor Borneo), and Shii Ann (Thailand).

Chapera: Amber (Australian Outback), Rob M (Marquesas), Tom (Africa), Alicia (Australian Outback), Sue (Borneo), and Rob C (Amazon).

Saboga: Tina (winner Survivor Australian Outback), Rupert (Pearl Islands), Ethan (Winner Survivor Africa), Jenna L (Borneo), Rudy (Borneo), and Jerri (Australian Outback).

In the first episode it was Saboga who went to Tribal Council. The first person voted off of the All-Star Edition was Tina. The reason she left was the Jenna L and Jerri felt she didn’t deserve to be there as she has already won once. They pulled Rudy and Rupert into voting with them, and the only person who did not vote for her was Ethan as he was also a previous winner and knew he would be the next to go.

So what got her voted out, and how could she have changed her fate?

She was ousted due to her already winning the game once before. Jerri and Jenna felt jealous/nervous due to this and saw her (rightly so) as a threat. Rupert and Rudy entered into an alliance on day 1 and agreed not to vote for each other. This left Tina and Ethan to come together as I stated because they were both previous winners. Jenna was able to sway Rupert into voting with her, which meant they had Rudy’s vote as well.

What could she have done to stay in longer? Sadly not much honestly. She and Ethan could have tried harder to work over Rupert and Rudy. She also could have tried to screw Ethan over and make a plea that he was the stronger (physically) of the two and therefore bigger threat. But she was not dirty enough a player to do so. And given Jerris hatred towards her due to their experience together in Australia, it was almost predestined that Jerri and Jenna would chose to vote her out over Ethan first.

Well, I hope at least some of you enjoyed this segment because it is here to stay one way or the other.

Till next time...

~Oz