Survivor: Palau – Have You Ever Met a Tougher Chick?

Every so often, I get in the mood to write Haiku, a form of Japanese poetry with a 5-7-5 scheme. Stephenie’s ousting brought on that mood, which in this case, isn’t a good one.

It’s one of those things that strikes when I least expect it, so I hope you’ll bear with me. I’m willing to bet more viewers will miss her than not. How could you not love her “never say die” attitude, her mental and physical toughness, her burning desire to stay in the game, and her ability to come through when even SHE didn’t think she would? Remember when Ulong was down to her and Bobby Jon? She thought there was no way she’d get fire before he did to stay in the game. But she surprised herself, and probably a few viewers, and Bobby Jon commented that she indeed deserved to stay in the game.

Remember the end of All-Stars, when CBS conducted a contest to let the viewers decide who would win another million? To refresh your memory, Rupert won hands, or rather, torches-down. If that were going to be done at the end of Palau, is there anyone else who would stand a chance of winning, besides maybe Tom? Even though she’s now out of the running for the million, how hard is it to imagine anyone standing out as much as she did?

When I think of Philadelphia, I think of a tough, blue-collar town, and Philly resident Stephenie was a tough, blue-collar type player, getting it done and staying in the game at every turn until Thursday night. On The Early Show, it was brought up that she played lacrosse in college. While I know next to nothing about the sport, I’m told it’s extremely brutal and physical. Maybe playing the sport gave Stephenie the mental toughness to believe in herself no matter how long the odds looked.

Now, having said all that, did anyone else groan when she chastised her tribemates after the tribal council that wasn’t? Understand, she had every right to be frustrated at them for planning to keep eventual quitter Janu over her. However, for strategy purposes, it would’ve been best to “pretend to be nice,” let it go, and save her venting for the camera.

Yes, she’d burst into tears at tribal council, so everyone knew her feelings on the matter, but once it was over and she was still in, it would’ve been in her best interests to give it a rest.

Now let’s look at her eventual ouster. Could anyone have left the game in a more classy, dignified manner? She simply nodded her head when she knew she was done, and bestowed kind words upon the others, who had voted her out unanimously. Even though she’d had an alliance of sorts with three others before the tribes were picked, she didn’t make any snippy comments about backstabbing, and seemed to accept the decision. Even in her closing comments, she didn’t seem bitter or angry, and said she was proud of herself. She had every right to be.

Now, let’s ask a question or two about Tom. When he started telling Stephenie the tide had turned and Janu would’ve been voted out anyway, was he being truthful? I don’t think so, but I don’t blame him for telling her that in an order to make her feel at ease. He was doing what he’s used to doing back home: Putting out a fire, and doing a pretty good job of it. Whether his comments were truthful wasn’t the point; rather, the point was whether they put Stephenie at ease, which they seemed to.

What can we make of his pleas not to oust him because of his strength? Sorry, Tom. That’s how the game is played. Remember Rupert in the Pearls? When there’s a million dollars at stake, people aren’t going to be inclined to keep you in due to past accomplishments.

Here’s a question regarding the immunity challenge: How does Mark Burnett keep doing it? Just when you think there’s nothing original in his bag of tricks, he comes up with yet another gem of a contest. In a game that brought back images of horseshoes, the players had to knock out their own tiles, but if they weren’t careful, they could knock out someone else’s. And make no mistake, the best person by far won this one. Yes, two of Ian’s tiles were knocked out by someone else, but the dolphin trainer’s tosses were about as accurate as the throws of ex-Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino. And the best part is, Ian still won’t be seen as the biggest threat as long as Tom is still in the game.

When he was having Gregg lather up his back while bathing, did anyone else start thinking of the bathing scene with Jenna, Shawna, and Heidi in the Amazon? At least Ian and Gregg didn’t start talking about how the others were jealous of how cute they were.

What is this “plan” Gregg keeps talking about? I don’t know, but I like hearing him say it; it shows he’s thinking about things strictly from a strategy standpoint, and anything that could mess with “the plan” messes with his chances to win a million. I’m starting to like Gregg more and more each week, simply because he seems to have his eye on the prize as much as anyone left.

Did Caryn make the right move by telling Tom about the conspiracy against him? I’d say probably, because Katie and Jenn would most likely turn on her in a heartbeat. But is Tom making the right move in trying to align with Caryn? Absolutely. For one thing, Caryn likes him and obviously feels a bond with him. For another, I don’t know if this is going through his mind, but if it came down to Caryn and Tom in the final two, is there any way Tom could lose?. He’s done so much for the tribe and performed so well in challenges, it may be hard to vote against him.

Is Jenn completely under the radar, or does just look that way? I found it hard to feel anything towards her, mainly because she hasn’t done anything to make the viewers love or hate her. Maybe she’s a lot more active than I’m giving her credit for and we’re just not seeing it, but she seems to have disappeared.

Why does Katie seem to get more annoying with each passing week? First, she trashed Janu and got caught, and now she’s blaming Caryn for the womens’ inability to form an alliance to knock out the men. Just how lame was her comment that she wasn’t forming an alliance, but just entertaining the thought? Like that’s supposed to put the men at ease. Did it ever occur to her that maybe the women can’t form an alliance because Caryn finds it hard to trust her due to her previous behavior? Oh wait, she was just entertaining the thought. Hopefully, the tribe will entertain the thought of ousting Katie before too long. And when it happens, she’ll most likely find a way to blame someone else.

Okay, that’s it for now. The game is officially “All Original Koror,” all the time, and it’s about to get very interesting, i.e. nasty. See you then!

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other Survivor: Palau Episode 11 articles:

Ken can be reached with any comments, criticisms, or money orders at YourNextOfKen@aol.com.

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