Survivor: The Amazon - Questions, Answers, and Snow Jobs

Programming Note: CBS has informed RealityNewsOnline that the sixth episode of Survivor will air Sunday at 10:00 PM Mountain Time and 9:00 Pacific Time (it will not air in Eastern or Central time zones because it already showed on Wednesday). However, this could, of course, be affected by war coverage.

If you want to make sure you know about such news as soon as it happens in the future, sign up for our e-mail update.

Well, it looks as if the merger will occur on the next episode of the Amazon edition of Survivor. As far as the one that aired on Wednesday, the end may have been one of the strangest, and most unpredictable, of the season. And frankly, that's a good thing. Nothing takes the fun out of the show like predictability. But as always, questions remain about what we just saw, and what we'll be seeing in the future.

First of all, how ironic was it that a place as hot and humid as the Amazon featured so many "snow jobs" in episode 6? Yes, I know. Snow jobs have always been a part of Survivor, but the latest episode seemed to have more than its share.

Let's start with the now-departed Shawna. Was she ever really sick in the first place? The nation watched the red-haired one spend two episodes moaning about how she wasn't feeling well, to the point of asking the others to vote her off. The dehydration had not only sapped the water from her system, it sapped her will to go on. But was she suddenly hydrated with a healthy dose of Alex? Sorry, I'm with Deena on this one. She claimed that Shawna's problem was mostly mental, and let's face it: If she were REALLY as bad off as she claimed, an island full Chippendale dancers wouldn't have been able to bring her back to life. If fact, she recovered enough to participate in the reward challenge, beating Heidi not once, but twice. Sounds recovered to me.

Then there was the snow job pulled on Heidi and Christy by Butch and Roger. Their explanation of why Jeanne was gone was so obviously spin control that it even caught Dave off-guard. They claimed Jeanne had qualities that Butch already brought to the table. Uh, yeah, now that makes sense. But did Heidi pull a snow job herself? Her explanation of why she voted Jeanne was just as lame. She told Christy that she couldn't vote Butch because if she did, there was no way they could sit there and still be a team. Hello? Ask Christy if she thought it was a real team at that point.

But more snow jobs are on the way. The guys tell Christy that they were now a team, and tomorrow is a new day. Frankly, they sounded like they were running for office. The next morning, we saw they'd basically given Heidi a campaign promise, as they left her and Christy alone and split up to do different duties. Of course, Heidi, not realizing she'd been used, said of the separation in the morning, "This is a bunch of crap." Uh, not really. You'd served their purpose for the time being, and they had no more use for you. A couple of RealityNewsOnline readers suggested to me that Dave approached Heidi because of the three, she was the dumbest and most gullible. I wasn't sure about that, but it seems so much more plausible now.

Now here's a question for thought: When Butch gave Christy his little "defining moments" speech, was that yet another snow job? Was he just sucking up when he said he liked the way her face lit up when they said they kept her for her talent? Possibly. Maybe it's just strategy to soothe over the loss of Jeanne. Of course, if there were no merge, and they lost again, it'd be interesting to see how much that talent meant to the men. Then again, maybe Butch was genuine. A bit sappy, maybe, but possibly genuine. Given the way he and Roger went to lengths to accommodate her and her disability, maybe his speech was just another extension of the "Believe in Yourself" banner.

Oh, but there's more snow to shovel yet. Rob seems to think he pulled a massive snow job on Matthew, and he may just be right. I realize Rob's playing the game, but to hear his utter contempt for Matthew makes it harder to root for him to win. When he told Matthew there was nothing "shifty" going on, how many viewers pulled a Stacey Stillman eye-roll? Of course, Matt said the offer of an alliance from Rob seemed genuine. That's because Rob is smart enough to keep his denigration of Matthew to the cameras.