Survivor: China, Episode 4 As I See It – What Now?

Dictator Dave is gone. I would imagine that, given the means, the Zhan Hu tribe would have a party, complete with champagne and caviar. Although I disliked Dave and his attitude, he seemed to be the camp work horse and I’m waiting to see how the rest of the tribe sustains themselves now that he is gone. Of course, he managed to make himself the camp work horse and anyone else who had an opinion could just go suck an egg.

It didn’t seem like a lot of work was happening when Dave was kidnapped by Fei Long, but that could have been editing.

Dave’s final comment about pieces of himself that are priceless and the others couldn’t see them tickled me. I think they saw all of them during the challenge last week, Dave.

Sherea’s attitude this week surprised me. Lying around camp and even explaining why you are while lying around sure doesn’t seem the way to win friends and influence people. Surviving Survivor happens by a combination of work, challenges, and social interaction with one’s fellow tribe members. I was almost sure Sherea was going home after her little tiff with Dave, her laziness in the camp, and her nonsensical explanation of just why she wasn’t doing any work. I think Erik said it best when he noted that he’d like to get rid of both her and Dave. But, you can only vote for one. Maybe Erik will have another chance this coming week.

I have to address my column last week where I inadvertently said that Amanda was a poster child for Biafra. My brain was saying Courtney, and my fingers typed Amanda. Thank you to the readers that pointed that out to me. Obviously I am not the only one who has concerns about Courtney’s thinness. Friday night’s Entertainment Tonight had a segment devoted to a matter of “How Thin is Too Thin?” and, lo and behold, there was Courtney on the screen. A picture of Courtney at the beginning of the filming and a picture from the show on Thursday showed just how extremely and painfully thin she has become. At the end of the segment was an interview with newly-voted-off Dave who said there’s nothing wrong with her. Oh yeah, he spent what, four weeks with her? Her thinness is unnerving to me, as I imagine it is to those who know and love her. I think most mothers would agree with me.

And speaking of Courtney, why, oh why does her tribe sit her out of the easier challenges and then have her compete in the more physical ones? I would think the challenge with the chopsticks would have been easier for her than the gladiator one – she surely doesn’t have “oomph” for throwing but could have managed the chopsticks. Was this perhaps a move by Jean-Robert to point out how bad a competitor she is in the challenges? We know that Jean-Robert is gunning for her; she has borne the brunt of his sarcasm more than once. I don’t care if he was trying to keep her from getting burned by picking up the pot; perhaps if he had spoken more nicely, she would have listened more.

Jean-Robert was a surprise this episode with his language skills. I was impressed, as I’m sure his tribe members were. I understand that there are many dialects in the Chinese language and it is one of the most difficult to learn, so good for him! Although he admitted it had been 20 years since he spoke this language, he did well.

I didn’t get the spat between James and John-Robert. I think James may be a little thin skinned at this point. Speaking of James, I was taken to task by a reader for saying that James’ comments about Sister Christian were funny. Well, I thought they were and I didn’t think they were abusive in any way. I also remembered that Leslie had taken James aside and explained that he needed to be cognizant of the social aspect of the game. I think his agreeing with Jean-Robert about Courtney was an attempt to bond with the leader of this particular pack. I hope that was his strategy anyway.

Todd continues to be one of my favorites. His half-way agreeing to return the favor to Dave upon receiving a clue made me know that Todd has studied up and knows how to play the game. Todd seems to have several alliances working for him and he is wisely just keeping quiet and playing.

We found out this episode that Denise can actually speak. Denise’s admission of how the lunch lady throws together a school lunch made me glad my grandchildren take theirs. I always suspected that they throw the tater tots on a tray and then feed them to the kids, but now I know for sure.

Frosti, Amanda, and Jaime didn’t get much air time this week, except for Jaime’s little disagreement with Dave regarding well water vs. lake water. Jaime was right, but we know that Dictator Dave would never back down. It always makes suspicious during Survivor when some of the castaways are not getting air time. But, then again, with the two egomaniacs, Dave and Jean-Robert, hogging all the camera time and being so self-righteous, I understand that they made for better television than those who are just working around camp, competing during challenges, and not annoying everyone around them.

Now that Dave is gone, will Peih-Gee automatically assume the role of leadership, since she was supposedly second in command on Zhan Hu? There’s an old saying about the “devil you do know, versus the devil you don’t know” so we’ll see if Peih-Gee can get this group together and actually survive without Dave. She was the mistress of diplomacy at tribal council; I wonder if that will serve her well in a new role.

Peace!

Eileen is an intake operator for a legal referral service in Cincinnati, Ohio by day and spends her free time with the little ones that call her the “Queen of the Grandmas” and their parents and practicing Yoga which she thought was going to be the “lazy woman’s exercise”. She got fooled. She welcomes comments and constructive criticism at ohiograndma2003@hotmail.com

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