Survivor – The merge only makes things more confusing

Now that Colton’s gone, things are more confusing than ever on Survivor. His removal from the game has certainly had an impact, but before we get to that I do want to share some information about Colton, his condition and the controversy over him keeping the immunity idol. Colton made the press rounds last week and related that he had a bacterial infection that required two rounds of antibiotics, not appendicitis. Colton also claims that he wanted to give his immunity idol to Christina because he had talked with Jonas prior to his illness and Alicia was the intended target at Tribal, but the producers told him he could not give it away. He also claims that after seeing himself behaving so badly on TV, he’s become a changed person. However, Jeff Probst also said in an interview that he doesn’t think Colton will ever return to the game precisely because of his terrible behavior … but he could be wrong too. I think it’s obvious after this week’s show why he couldn’t give his idol away — they probably didn’t want three of them in play. The real question is: Did Colton’s unexpected removal from the game force the merge earlier than it was supposed to have happened?

I only ask that question because no sooner have the two tribes merged, they’re forced to separate again for the reward challenge, this time forming two new alliances for this one game. I don’t know about you, but I really have no idea who’s aligned with whom at this point. Is it original Manono men against the original Salani women, is it the new Manono tribe against the new Salani tribe, or the reward challenge winners (who know that there is a new hidden immunity idol in the game … well, there was until Troy found it) against the reward challenge losers? I think everyone is actually playing pretty smart at this point and keeping their options open … well, the women are. The new Salani tribe seems to be sticking together, but the other Manono women are still being kept in the loop so when it comes down to it, the women will have the numbers against the men.

Of course, the men — who seemed to be the dominant player when the season started — have completely fallen apart as a tribe. Tarzan is driving everyone crazy, and somehow he and Jonas have become worst enemies. Tarzan even “quit” the tribe after he and Jonas had words about a plan he may or may not have told Jonas about two days earlier (and with Tarzan you never really know what he thinks might be going on), but they made up when it became obvious the men needed to stick together at Tribal … making the target Kat because she doesn’t do anything around camp (and she actually helped her team get caught up in the reward challenge after Leif got stuck under an obstacle and put them way behind). I would think if Jonas and Colton had planned to take out Alicia, that he would have proposed her name to the men instead of Kat, but she laid kind of low this week. Meanwhile, the women suddenly consider Jonas a threat because … he cooks for them.

Things went haywire again at Tribal as Jonas seemed like an animal backed into a corner after he found out he was Public Enemy Number One in the new Tikiano tribe, so what better way to protect yourself than to start announcing at Tribal your plan and who you’re voting for. Jonas in panic mode is not a good thing, and after he decided to throw Mike under the bus because he didn’t have the numbers to take out Kat (who was shocked that her name even came up), Tarzan had another fit and announced that he was now voting for Jonas because he didn’t respect anything Jonas just did. And apparently neither did anyone else, because as they all ganged up on Tarzan, Jonas suddenly became the loose cannon no one could trust, chef or not, and he was sent packing (although Leif voted for Mike too) to become the first jury member.

I worried last week that without Colton’s antics stirring the pot, that the show would become dull as the water Tarzan boils his (poopy?) drawers in, but as long as the remaining tribe members keep blurring their tribal alliances for a while, this could still be an interesting game.

“Good luck with that food situation.” — Chef Jonas, after he was voted off the island.

Clacked by Chuck Duncan
on Mar 29, 2012 @ 00:50 EST5EDT