Survivor - I'm a Federal Agent

Survivor is back!

And this season has got off to a great start.
I know that there are some people out there that groaned when they heard that Boston Rob and Russell would be back, but I was not one of them. They are both master players and it has always been a pleasure watching how they skillfully play the game. Survivor is like watching sports. There are good players and there are great players and whether you like them or not it is always a treat to watch great players play.

The interesting thing will be to see how long both Rob and Russell last. It might be wise for the new players to get rid of them right away. Or maybe it is a better play to keep them, use their strengths, ally with them and then hope you can beat them in the end. I'm not sure what I would do if I was playing, but as a viewer I want them to stick around for a while.

I really liked the first immunity challenge. I felt the exhaustion that the players must have felt after pushing those heavy steps. I'm glad Russell's team won, but was impressed by how close Rob's team came after falling behind.

As always, when the new season starts, it takes a while for the new players to make an impression. To be honest, at this point I can only name a few. But the few that stood out did so spectacularly.

There is Kristina who very smartly thought that there might be a clue to a hidden immunity idol in the tool box. Here we saw how quick Rob is. He knew what she was looking for. Then after finding no clue she went out and found the idol. So she started to look like a really smart player. That was until she decided that she wanted to eliminate Rob. This was bad for a whole bunch of reasons but mainly because five tribe members seem to have already aligned with Rob. Even if she along with Francesca and Phillip managed to get Rob voted out by her playing the idol, it would leave the three of them at the mercy of five angry members.
Of course her other mistakes were telling two people that she had the idol. Why do players do that? I wouldn't. This came back to haunt her big time.

Francesca seemed like a smart player. Unfortunately she somehow got herself tied up with Kristina and Phillip. This led to her demise, although she could come back from redemption island.

By the way, I'll have to see how that plays out to actually decide if I like it. It will certainly make things interesting and at the very least gives you hope that a player that you liked might not be out of the game if they get voted out. So I'll give it time.

Now Phillip at first came across as confident and smart. He used to be a federal agent don't you know. We were told this over and over and over again. This tribe has their very own member of the "Criminal Minds" team. He is someone who can read people and know if they are telling the truth. A great asset in the game of survivor. Ha!
I don't think Phillip understands the concept of Survivor. Kristina, Francesca (or is it Francostina or Fransquahana) and Phillip agreed to vote for Rob while getting the tribe to vote Kristina. She would use her idol (which was only known to the three of them) and Rob would be voted out. Easy plan (but stupid as I had previously mentioned).
Now what Phillip doesn't seem to grasp is that this is a game of deception. So when Francesca was questioned about whether Rob had a target she replied by saying yes, but that no one was voting for him tonight. Any rational person in a group that planned to vote Rob out would realize that you don't want Rob to know that you are actually going to vote for him.
Phillip is not rational. What followed was one of the most hilarious tribal councils ever. Phillip piped up saying, yes we were going to vote for Rob, Francanfurter, I mean Francesca you are lying. Then he told everyone the whole plan including outing the fact that Kristina had an idol. WTF! He destroyed their game. Over the course of the episode I grew to dislike Kristina but I did feel bad for her.
Then Rob demands to see the idol and tells Kristina to give it to him or go home. She kept it and surprisingly didn't use it. But in the end Francesca was sent to redemption island and I don't think it will be long before Phillip and Kristina join her.

Wow! I was laughing hysterically through the whole thing.

I'm looking forward to more.

On another note, I worry a little bit for Russell. There are a couple of guys that seem to want him gone even though Russell seems to want to work as a team. Although he has found his cute girl ally already, but she is no Parvati.

It's going to be a fun season to watch.