An "Insider" Look at Survivor: Exile Island, Episode 3: Misty-fied

This series is threatening to keep my interest, but there’s just so much dead wood on these tribes. There’s Dan and Terry, who rock, and Bruce, who I really want to like but we barely see him. Misty’s hot, but she’s gone now. Cirie makes for a good underdog story. I want to send Daniel Lue into Panama and tag team with Bruce to pound Shane into peat moss. Other than that… who is on this show again?

The producers have made a point in past seasons to always show someone’s story before they’re voted out. In the last few years, they’ve been ignoring that, especially in the first six weeks or so. There’s no desire on the show’s part to let us get to know Melinda, for example. Although after seeing her Insider interviews, that’s not a bad thing.

Case in point – name any one of the first six boots from Guatemala. In order, they’re Jim, Morgan, Brianna, Brooke, Blake, and Margaret. Did you remember ANY of them off the top of your head? Now name the first six boots from the first season. How many of you rattled off Sonja, B.B., Stacey, Ramona, Dirk, and Joel? OK, I had to look up Ramona, but you see the point. Even if you couldn’t name them, you remember who they are. How many of the Guatemala six do you really remember anything about?

As for the Insider clips - wow, five videos that aren’t reward or immunity replays, and all five of those have Misty’s name in the title. Ya think the geeks at CBS.com are a wee bit obsessed? I know I was philosophical about having to write this article this week by thinking, “at least I get to look at Misty for a while,” but give me a break!

Misty’s Final Words: It was definitely a shock to her, so she was outplayed. She had a good time, wishes them all the luck and will miss being around them.

Looking back, she wonders if she should have played her immunity idol card a bit more. I don’t think they believed you, really. But she was deceived, and kudos to them. She’ll always wonder why they voted her out first, but she’ll have to wait and see.

She thought they had decided “what” to vote for. It was her fault for not staying in the conversations. She thought Exile Island hurt her, but once she merged with La Mina, she thought she had a good thing going because she thought she was the strongest player. And you’re a rocket scientist?

Exile Island was definitely a unique scenario that she hopes she’ll never experience in real life anytime soon. A lot of time for reflection and prayer. She knows a lot more about herself and which boundaries she can push. She feels she had a lot more in her, but obviously her tribemates didn’t think so. On the contrary, I think they DID, which is why she was voted out.

The biggest surprise was that she ended up on a tribe with fantastic people. She expected to be on a tribe with annoying people who would drive her crazy. She should compare notes with Melinda! Like, for sure, dude.

Misty, the Day After: She was very shocked. She knew there was a boys’ club, but didn’t think she’d be the first to go. She’s disappointed, but “time to move on.” Good attitude. Ironically, I think she looked better in the episodes than she does here, “cleaned up.”

Hindsight is 20/20, and she can think of ways she could have played differently, but it’s clear that the guys were going to pick off the girls and she got the short straw. She did her best, had a good time, contributed, but unfortunately, it wasn’t well recognized. Again, I think she gives herself too little credit. I think the guys considered her more of a threat than the others.

She loved the challenges, that was her favorite part. She’s very competitive and it’s not every day you get to go out and have such a blast. Her best moments were when they were competing. Her worst moments were at night. Sleeping was almost impossible, and Jeff kept making comments about her bug bites from head to toe. I noticed that, I wondered if she just had blotchy skin! How did she deal with it? Mind over matter.

What surprised her the most was how hard it really was. She’s a big fan, and it’s so much more difficult than it looks. People will ask her what the big deal was about keeping the fire going, and she’ll tell them to go build a fire after a rainstorm. She wants to set up her own challenges for people who get on her case.

Exile Island was lonely, and very noisy at night. All the animals would come out at night. Very depressing place, there’s not much out there. It’ll break you down. You’re in a hurry to go out there and meet your tribe, but she was stuck. It definitely threw her for a loop and the only card she had to play was that maybe she had found the idol. She thinks all of that was replaced when she went to the new tribe.

If she had it to do over, she’d be craftier in getting herself allied with Dan and Ruth-Marie. Hmm, so the Terry alliance is still well-hidden. Or is Ruth-Marie stronger than we’ve seen? In any case, Misty was too worried about keeping the tribe winning.

Would she do it again, hands down yes. She would be smarter about it next time. It was such a positive experience. She’ll never go into anything being anything but herself. She’s sure her friends and family will wonder why she was so reserved on the show.

None of her tribe really surprised her. She’s hoping Sally can break down the boys’ club. On the other tribe, she’s shocked that Cirie is still in the game. But it’s Survivor and she’s sure she’ll be shocked at who is in the final two.