Mike/Matt
Even though we're so far behind the rest of the world with Survivor (we're five seasons behind now!) the one thing you can rely on is that people don't change no matter what year they exist in. The premiere of Survivor: One World on SABC3 on Monday night proved that arrogant losers and other Undesirables were exactly the same in 2012 as they are now.
Top of my *bleep!* list: Mike. Known as Big Mike by Matt - who's right behind Mike on my list. It wasn't two minutes into the season and I loathed them both - Mike first after what he did at the first challenge.
The premiere introduced the Survivors very quickly and divided them into tribes according to gender: Manano (the guys) and Salani (the girls). The tribes then had to go into battle to gather as many provisions as they could for their tribe - which is when Mike struck.
The fact that he stole the things the girls had gathered was a very low blow - it showed exactly what he's like. I understand they all need to grab opportunities to progress but no-one else even thought of being so underhanded - and so quickly. It obviously comes naturally to him because he's a banker!!
It was no surprise when him and Matt started flirting with a bromance between the two of them and that schmodel Jay. They're cut from the same cloth for sure, bah!
Same thing with Troyzan/Tarzan - they look alike, they are alike. Except that Tarzan's a plastic surgeon -. who would let him anywhere their face??!!!
Thankfully the girls tribe is much more diverse - you can tell the difference between them already and they're more interesting. I'm definitely on their side because unlike Kim I don't believe the war's been won yet. I was very irritated when she said:
I didn't plan to form an alliance right off the bat, I was just gonna lay low but I think when the guys started stealing off the truck - that was a huge rivalry right off the bat and when the guys did that the girls were like "Women power!" - which I'm not a big fan of but I'm going with it, so."
What's so troubling about it is that either she's delusional and believes that the battle for women's equality has been won already - or she doesn't care that it hasn't been won yet. At first I thought she's delusional but then later, when she said the men should have been gentlemen during the Reward/Immunity challenge because she's from Texas - that got me thinking she doesn't care.
It wasn't only her - others also said the guys should have given the girls another chance after Kourtney got crushed by the challenge. I don't like that the girls don't want to be treated equally - it's a problem and needs to change.
I reckon it would have if Kourtney had stayed because of what she said when she left, about her son seeing a woman doing kickbutt things. Her accident was terrible - that challenge was WAY too dangerous! I've never thought this during any season
ever but it was - it was a broken wrist or shoulder waiting to happen!! If you think about it ... the guys actually ended up being "gentleman by default" for
not continuing the challenge.
Besides all the trouble surrounding that, I agreed with everything else the
Salami's girls did including visiting the guys in their matching bra's and their theft of the fire. Their exploits revealed that there are two big spanners in Salani: Alicia who's a nuisance and done absolutely nothing except reap discord and Sabrina who's trusted Colton when she shouldn't.
Judging from the trailer for next week she's going to regret giving him the idol because he's a snake in the grass - which is inevitible because she gave it to him too quickly. The trouble is - I might have given it him too! If I hadn't watched Survivor and seen it's a problem - I understand why she gave it.
She wanted to get an alliance moving quickly and he seemed such a charismatic choice she didn't even consider anyone else. Clearly it's going to be a mistake and will reveal that you can
never not consider every player in the game when it comes to an immunity idol. Something Jeff Probst would agree with I'm sure.
Wasn't he the bomb? It was the best opening sequence of any season
ever. My best was that I didn't consider that he'd be harnessed to the helicopter which made watching hectic. Through the whole thing I didn't realise he must have been harnessed so it was extra incredible, ha! Still, even once the reality of the harness set it in, it was very. Cool.
Catch my Survivor column every Monday after the show.