I Will Survive, Week 3

**Spoiler Warning**
Do not read this post if you haven't yet seen this week's episode of Survivor.



…you've been warned!



Well, I didn't expect to see Misty get voted off the island but I guess I can imagine why. If you're not specifically targeting the weakest person, you may want to break up the other alliance, which is exactly what happened. In fact it left the LaMina tribe with a strong 4-person alliance (Terry, Dan, Austin, & Nick) and two nearly helpless outsiders looking in (Ruth Marie & Sally) should they lose again. In fact, you ought to be able to expect those four men to sail on through to "the merge" as long as disaster doesn't strike.

That said, couldn't the young guys, Nick and Austin, have voted for Ruth Marie without actually hurting their alliance with the older guys? I guess I'm not clear on the exact reasoning for getting rid of Misty in the first place. Ruth Marie can barely stand at a whopping 85 pounds, Sally's the one who lost the fishing spear, and I couldn't tell where Misty hurt them during the immunity challenge. The info I need is probably on the cutting room floor.

Which begs the question: wouldn't Survivor benefit from extended scenes on the internet? Obsessive fans could watch a longer version or view deleted scenes or extras online. Extra "confessionals" or even a podcast, perhaps with commentary by Jeff Probst and the booted survivor, would draw a certain amount of attention. Lots of other shows do this but maybe they're saving it for the DVD.

I did find out some interesting tidbits after reading some interviews with the booted players. Why did Tina the Lumberjill get booted off in round one when she was obviously the best survivalist on her tribe? It turns out the quiet but conniving Ruth Marie approached Melinda and Cirie, who had an alliance from day one, about getting rid of the strongest player. Tina never even tried to form an alliance, which is kind of the point of the show, so she took all of her lumberjacking skills and went home. The Cirie-Melinda alliance backfired in round two and got Melinda booted next. Her only way to survive would have been to turn on her friend which she wouldn't do. So she lost. I guess if you're going to form an alliance, don't make your own demise part of the deal.

Now I'm waiting to see why exactly the older men had it out for Misty.

I'm also going to brush up on my knowledge of Machiavelli (the Italian philosopher that described how people deceive and manipulate others for personal gain). Or maybe that's what I'm doing by watching Survivor…