It’s official: my season of Survivor SA (Malaysia season 2) is the only one out of 5 where someone did not quit the show. Sending all my tribe mates a huge high five for proving to be the toughest bunch so far!!
The jungles of Survivor SA have been littered with quitters including Jude Wilken (s1), Christina Storm, Jub Jub (s3), Jaques Terreblanche (s4) and now we can add arrogant Zan Lang to the list.
As a matter of interest, the audition process for this show is brutal. My process included swimming 20 laps, running on a treadmill, doing an agility test, lifting weights, doing sit-ups, doing push-ups, completing a few psychometric tests, going through several interview rounds, going through a full medical physical (which includes a few injections and the drawing of a few vials of blood), and among other things, a media roundtable.
Pretty much everyone in, let’s say the Top 30, goes through this process before the final cast is chosen.
Take a moment to think about those individuals who wanted to be on the show so badly, endured this exhausting process and were not selected. Then, only to watch the show and see Zan quit because he misses his girlfriend and he’s hungry??? It absolutely infuriates me. Everyone misses their loved ones and everyone is hungry.
Zan is the same man who captured some kind of reptile and then let it go last week because he said: “We’re not hungry enough to kill that animal”. And don’t get me started on the shark thing again! I am stating the obvious but the show is called Survivor because you have to do everything in your power to survive.
Throwing food away and then bitching about how hungry you are proves how arrogant this dude is. Furthermore, to say that he had no intention of trying to win the million is a bunch of hogwash. Rolled my eyes a few times when he said that. Look, I know how hard this game is but frankly quitting is never an option. You are the weakest link Zan. Goodbye. *winks*
Now normally, as someone who has played the game before, I would be terribly disappointed in a player who steals/hides someone’s personal belongings. However, in this instance, I am giving Marian a standing ovation and three snaps in Z formation :).
Shane and Marian are playing a fantastic game so far, especially Shane. Every move is well thought out and he is beginning to piece together a constructive strategy to at least make the merge. I hope Stephen is not his downfall.
Shane is exerting so much energy trying to keep Stephen’s paranoia at bay. I understand how the paranoia can totally consume your every thought and you feel as though you have to make a strategic move all the time. However you should never show the poker table your ace card before the betting starts, right? Like, for instance, Shona.
For Survivor SA: Malaysia, we were on the island for the same period of time and we had 16 contestants. Season 5 has 20 contestants. By doing some simple arithmetic, I was not all that surprised that there was a double elimination in episode 5.
You have to go into every day expecting that production will throw in a curveball at some point. Shona’s problem was her timing! She showed her hand way too early and paid a dear price.
Personally, I totally disagree with Gena who stated that having an immunity idol is a curse. You have to know how to play it. Stealing it from someone who is in an alliance with you and then trying to vote them off at this stage of the game, is clearly not the way to do it.
I wanted to shake her and say rather put up with David’s erratic behavior a little longer instead of taking the idol and putting yourself in such a precarious position.
From a social perspective, she left her tribe, who labeled her as the girl who “stole” the idol, with no choice. In society, we all know what happens to people who get caught stealing. Except she pleaded guilty to a crime that I am not so sure she committed. Arguably, it was her property in the first place, so was it really stealing?
It baffles me that Shona agreed to give the idol to Corne. (Here comes the coach to ruin the format of this game…………..again). Even if she did lie about the idol, bottom line is that she and David earned that idol and she was part-owner of it.
Corne was the one who hoped that they would be voted off first and sent them off to go and fight for their survival. So why on earth did she hand it over to him and do all this crying, apologizing and admitting? What if she said: “Yep, I knew about the idol. I retrieved it from David’s hiding place because I did not trust him. I am sorry if any of you feel betrayed but I am keeping it”.
From that point on, she could lay low and wait for the storm to blow over. She possibly could have created space in her game for more options. It could have become her bargaining chip. It could have protected her from being voted out.
It very well could have got her to the merge if the tribe wins the next few immunities and she could have used it to form a new alliance with Utara members. There were just too many other options. The moment she handed the idol over to her coach - who does not even understand how the game works - she was a sitting duck.
To end off, I have to talk about the absolute disaster of having these professional sports athletes enter the game to try and help the tribes win challenges. In this setting, they have been excruciatingly useless. If I were Mark, I would give Jonty Rhodes to Corne next week.
I forgot to tell you guys last week!! I am on twitter so follow me
@AmandaHoosen.
Until next week my lovelies……