March 21, 2007: The Cinderella Man
Sometimes nothing is sweeter than hearing
Jeff Probst utter three delicious words.
Drop your buffs. There is promise in that command and for a season like this one where - oh god, don't make me rehash it! Let's just say that realigning Moto and Ravu was the most entertaining
Survivor has been since Sundra and Becky faced off over a fire-making challenge in the
Cook Islands.
What would we do this season if Ravu and Moto had not mixed it up with a schoolyard pick? Now the poor-camp dwellers are Edgardo, Alex, Dreamz, Mookie, Rocky and Anthony. On the rich side of the island are Earl, Yau Man, Michelle, Cassandra, Boo and Stacy. Odd-woman out, Lisi, after a stint on Exile Island, later joined the poor camp. Ravu lucked out by having Edgardo, Alex and Dreamz join their team. All three come across as decent, open-minded guys. The kind of men who would call Rocky on his disparaging description of Anthony as effeminate and boost morale by catching fish when all previous efforts to do so had failed. They are the kind of men who would reconsider voting out the weakest member when a bully showed his true colors. Following through on that consideration would have been nice, but hey, they're not perfect.
Over at Moto, Earl, Michelle and Yau Man, the most deserving of the original Ravu members, finally got some good eats. If Cassandra's coffee offering was any indication, there'll soon be a defection that would put these three in a strong position. It's interesting how this reshuffling of players has split both tribes down the middle, adding the element of good versus bad to the haves versus the have-nots scenario. Birds of a feather will flock together and as Cassandra and Dreamz find their footing with the nice folks, Boo, Stacy, Lisi, Mookie and Rocky may find themselves caught in the spokes of a game they no longer control.
The producers were not spinning their wheels this week when they came up with an innovative challenge - a reminder of why
Survivor continues to bring in the ratings. How do you describe people maneuvering a skeletal pinwheel through an obstacle course of gates? That's the best I can do. You have to see it to get it, but believe me when I say the show had new life tonight and a challenge that was almost too close to call. Ravu lost again, but they didn't get massacred as they have all season.
The promos for this episode also kept one's interest, leading viewers to think that Dreamz and Rocky were going to fight to the death as new tribe mates - not a hard sell considering one has no filter and the other has anger-management issues. The real fireworks, however, were between Rocky and Anthony, who verbally duked it out at Tribal Council. Anthony's impassioned self-defense was surprising given the astonishing amount of hand-wringing he displayed while alone at camp cooking, cleaning and tending the fire for the men. This self-proclaimed "Black Cinderella" was ready to leave the ball until he realized that Rocky's charm could be the Stallone look-alike's downfall. Without Earl to protect him, Anthony, at last, began actively playing the game. Whispering in ears about Rocky's tendency for reactionary outbursts, Anthony was on the road to saving himself. But at Tribal Council Cinderfella just could not hold his own against the loud-mouthed Rocky for whom every word from Anthony was like the dismissive yammering of a toy dog, easily nudged aside with a booted foot. And Probst, with his, "Are you just going to take that?" comments didn't help. In the end, Anthony came off as weak and for a tribe with a zero-win record, strength is the only redeeming quality.
