Survivor Trough the Eyes of the Mole Winner, Episode 8: My Big-Boy Pants Fell Down!

Watching this week’s episode of Survivor: Samoa was actually fun for me. All it lacked was the ragtime piano music of a Keystone Cops movie and the slapstick whoop-boing-smack-ting! sound effects of a Three Stooges short. This was great. It was hilarious. After twenty-oneish days of really not playing the game much at all, suddenly these people went into hyper drive as the merge happened and they all suddenly realized that they were in prime time and were all clamoring for face time – watching it was pretty amusing. The problem is that the vast majority of these players have no clue what they were or are doing in this game. It reminded me of watching a soccer game played by six-year-olds where you just have this clump of kids frantically chasing the ball around the field in a mass of arms and legs.

First, we had Russell H. showing everyone on the island his immunity idol. What was the guy thinking? After referring to everyone else as dumbasses, he turned around and played one of the most ridiculously frantic strategic games I’ve ever seen… and the merge just happened! It reminds me of the commercial where the young guys head to Las Vegas and are yelling and screaming and are all jazzed up to have the time of their lives and then the screen flashes to “three hours later” and the same guys are driving home, sullen faced, after blowing all of their money as fast as they could.

Then we had all of the masterminds coming up with the plan to vote out Laura with… wait for it…. no alternate plan! Laura then won immunity and nobody had any idea what to do next. How in the heck do you devise a cut and dried plan of who to vote out at the next Tribal Council with zero contingency before you even know who has immunity?!

Next, there was the sheer melee that ensued as Galu was trying as hard as they could to find some way to send one of their own packing. It was like someone who has a lot of money and just has to spend it. They don’t care what they spend it on or how much it costs, that money is just burning a hole in their pocket and they have to spend it.

Then we had a shot of the scattered verbal exchange between the Galu brain trust to the tune of “Erik, it’s gotta be Erik, yep Erik, we’re all down with Erik,” as Shambo stared blankly ahead and uttered the priceless line, “who’s Erik?” I almost fell off my chair laughing.

And then there was the coup de grace. Erik, in the catbird seat, with the numbers and an immunity idol, went insane and decided to throw on the big-boy pants and tell everybody what’s what and who’s in charge. First he insulted all of the Foa Foa members with his condescending speech (and believe me, to be able to waken the door mouse that has been Jaison from his slumber, that speech must have been worse than we even saw). Then he went to Tribal Council and gave what for all intents and purposes should have been a final jury speech. That’s when that speech needed to be brought out, not two days into a merge and with the game only halfway done. Game over for you. Sheesh!

So, having said all of this, I am still definitely going to give props to Natalie this episode and will also state that, as of now, she looks pretty good to maybe win this game. She caught my eye in her preview material when she spoke about really understanding the numbers game of Survivor and that’s why I had her going far. She is sweet and innocent and friendly to the other players and worked some true calming charm (but with a definite firmness) in getting everyone to come to a consensus on Erik. That was her doing. She also knows that both Russell and apparently Laura have her back. That’s a great position to be in. Right now, I like her game best and I think it most closely resembles a real game of Survivor.

With what has been a terribly predictable game so far, I believe we will now be in the Twilight Zone and nothing will be too far fetched. None of what I thought would happen this episode did (except for Erik going home and even that was, in essence, wrong in how it played out) and I think that’s because we now have a completely schizophrenic merged tribe on our hands (not the people, the tribe). This will make for enjoyable viewing, but I don’t think the game aspect of things will get much better.

I think the closest statement of truth and accuracy made this episode was when John stated that everyone on the island was playing a “junior varsity” game of Survivor. Had he lowered the level to the tee-ball game they played as their immunity challenge, he’d have had it spot on.

Now you can follow RealityNewsOnline on Twitter! You can get up to the minute notifications on article postings and other reality TV news by following us there. So head on over to RealityNewsOnline’s Twitter page!

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other recent Survivor: Samoa articles here on RealityNewsOnline:

Mark Lambrecht is a gameaholic World History teacher and soccer coach from Wisconsin who has appeared on five game/reality shows and has won three – including the most recent season of The Mole. Feel free to e-mail with any comments or questions at Mlamby1965@yahoo.com.

Be sure to sign up for our e-mail update so you can stay informed about new articles on the site! Don’t forget to take a look at the rest of the site and buy reality show stuff at our Reality TV Store!

For more news about Survivor, be sure to check out SirLinksALot: Survivor and Survivor Fever!