An "Insider" Look at Survivor: Vanuatu, Episode 11: You Just Never Know...

Regular long-time readers of mine will remember that there's a certain gift that I like to recommend. This year is no different. If you're looking for a special gift for the special woman in your life, you absolutely can't go wrong with a gold-dipped rose. I got one for my girlfriend five years ago, and she STILL talks about how much she likes it. Yes, it's that good. At the bottom of this page, there is a banner ad for the rose. Click on that ad and make your special lady very happy. The glazed roses are good too. Believe me, you won't regret it. And, hey, if you'd like to buy something for your favorite RNO writer, well, my wish list is up on Amazon.

I take back everything I ever said - Eliza is my favorite Survivor player EVER! The look on Ami's face was SO worth these last few weeks of anguish. Heck, I was actually worried that they WOULD follow through on the tease of Eliza going home this week! Yes, I actually CHEERED when Leann was announced.

Leann's Final Words: She thought that Eliza was going home. Everyone was supposed to vote for Eliza, except for Ami, who would vote for Chris so as not to make Eliza mad at her. So Queen Ami gets to salvage a possible jury vote while the others are thrown to the wolves? Nice. She has no idea who voted for her. It had to be Twila or Ami. She doesn't believe it would be Ami so it has to be Twila (did she not see the look on Ami's face?) and it doesn't sit well with her at all. Poor baby.

She's stupid. Her words. She told herself coming into the game not to trust anybody, people will backstab and lie to get further in the game. She knew that and she still fell for it. She fell for it because she lived with these people and she learned to trust them. You mean like Scout and Eliza trusted YOU??

This is the hardest part of the game for her, she didn't want to leave yet. She looked at the jury and thought how glad she was she wasn't there, and now to get blindsided with no warning whatsoever (yeah, that's what blindsided MEANS…) she just feels so dumb.

She'll never get a life lesson out of this game because life isn't like this. Wow… none so blind as she who will not see. She brought this totally on herself by her behavior with Julie and her openly tossing Scout to the side, not to mention going after Eliza out of the blue, yet she's blaming others for backstabbing HER. After the way you treated Scout, you actually believe that she was going to just sit back and accept a jury spot? Yeah, you ARE stupid. She thought she was playing with integrity. Ask Sarge how well that works. Next time she plays a game, she's not going to bring personal relationships into it, that's for sure. Wha? Remind me never to play Monopoly with her.

She learned that she's stronger than she thought she was to make it this far, but that's about it. Wow, she was clueless, wasn't she? Let's see if a night's sleep helps her perspective any…

Leann, the Day After: The whole experience of Survivor has been therapeutic to her. In her life, she's going through a transitional period due to a ten-year marriage ending. Yikes. She recommends it to anyone, because being out there "forever" was empowering. I know my girlfriend recommends divorce, but I don't think that was what Leann meant there. Knowing that she could and DID do it for that long proved that she had the emotional strength and the will. I wouldn't think that Survivor would help someone get over a marriage breaking up, but when you look at it the way Leann is, I suppose it would.

One of the things she'll take from Survivor is a sense of independence and strength. She came in wondering how strong she was, really. Being out there tests your physical, spiritual, and emotional strength. She feels like she's done it and done it well. She's come out unscathed and stronger, and a whole new attitude about life. It was really hard. First it was physically difficult, and then it became emotionally taxing. But then you miss your family, your home, your life… and it puts a whole different spin on things. She'll never complain about the little things again, because you realize how many people do without the things we take for granted. It makes you appreciate the things you have more. Nice to see that she IS actually taking life lessons out of the game, and that it seems she was just too shell-shocked to think clearly the night before.

The culture and history about Vanuatu is fascinating to her. She doesn't doubt anything - she's not a firm believer in all of it, but she can tell they believe it. Things like the magic stone (boy, that little subplot disappeared quick, didn't it?), that's stuff she doesn't mess with. There's a possibility that stuff is real, so she stays away from it. She's never been out of the country before, so it's amazing to her how different a culture can be from ours. She doesn't agree with the place of women in Vanuatu, but that's how their culture is. She thinks someone messed around with the stone after the merge, and that's why they had all rain. I can hear the scoffing of RNO Editor David Bloomberg from here.

(Psst...there's that ad I was talking about!)