I have a dream! It's true, I want Dreamz to do well in this game. You may recall that my first impression of this always-talking, inappropriate comment-spewing man was not a glowing one. I held out little hope for him making it past the first few weeks. I can't pinpoint exactly when I started to like Dreamz. Maybe it was around the time he mentioned that being on Survivor was better than living on the streets. Maybe it was when certain tribe mates thumbed their nose at his unfamiliarity with a French coffee press. Or maybe still when he tried to understand the psychology behind Rocky's anti-social behavior. Whatever it was, every Thursday when the players discuss sending him home, I find myself hoping that Dreamz will makes it through another tribal council.Again, I feared the worst for him this week when Ravu lost both reward and immunity challenges. For reward, tribes competed in an intense dance-off featuring the traditional Fijian Meke. Earl of Moto, looking particularly fetchin...
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Surely this isn't Survivor: Fiji that I'm watching? Talk about your quick turnaround. Tonight's Survivor was interesting, funny, entertaining, did I already say funny? At the end of the hour I was a happy armchair camper. Let me tell you why. I laughed pretty much through the whole show, including at things that weren't supposed to be funny — like the fact that the rub-you-the-wrong-way Lisi is a customer service rep. I found that funny. Tonight's show made me happy from Yau-man's successful hunt for the immunity idol to the flamethrowers and fireballs at the reward challenge. Heck, I was just happy we had a reward challenge. I laughed at Mookie's expression after Yau-man sunk a fireball for his tribe — that same Ravu player who moments before had been laughing at Yau-man's technique. I was happy that Ravu finally won a challenge. But I gotta tell you, I think the odds were stacked in Ravu's favor for this one. I mean, come on, this challenge was designed for a tribe of g...
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Anthony Robinson, Survivor: Fiji
Three of the scariest words Jeff Probst says on CBS' Survivor (Thursdays at 8 pm/ET) are "Drop your buffs," a directive that turns entire strategies and alliances topsy-turvy. Last week, those three words put the final nail in the coffin for Anthony Robinson, who after some intense bickering with Rocky, lots of alone time as the tribe's designated cook, and a weepy moment early in the season, was dismissed as the testosterone-filled Ravu tribe's weakest member. Here's what Anthony, an expert witness locator and self-proclaimed geek, told TVGuide.com about his ouster.
TVGuide.com: I thought for a second that Ravu was going to turn on Rocky.Anthony Robinson:
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Wednesday's ratings noteables:8 pmA "just visiting" Survivor: Fiji won the hour with 12.67 million total viewers, a mil fewer than its last Thursday outing and five mil more than Jericho has been getting. At No. 2, Bones held steady with 10.3 mil. Friday Night Lights (5.46 mil) saw a 330K bump, and Top Model delivered a typical five mil.9 pmAmerican Idol's results show 26.34 million, up 740,000 week-to-week) fueled another series high for 'Til Death (14.65 mil). Jordan (6.13 mil) plunged 1.3 mil, while this Wednesday's Pussycat Dolls encore drew 3.12 mil, giving it the same two-night tally as last week.10 pmCSI: NY (13.63 mil, down 370 thou) topped an otherwise outstanding episode of Lost (which was down again, a bit, to a hair under 12 mil).
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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 ...
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Rita Verreos, Survivor: Fiji
Since CBS' Survivor: Fiji has been shuffled all over the place because of basketball — off last week, airing Wednesday at 8 pm/ET this week — and all of the promos are promising a big twist, you might have forgotten that Rita Verreos was blindsided during the show's most recent torch-snuffing. But while Rita may have laid low during the game, the sassy single mom let loose during her interview with TVGuide.com about what it would take to win this game, the problem with beauty pageants, and Moto's utterly unfair advantage.
TVGuide.com: As a single mom, what did your kids think of you getting voted off? Rita Verreos: They were so sad because they couldn't figure out why. What did Mommy do that was so bad? In fact, I'm still trying to figure out what I did that was so detrimental.
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Question: I read with interest your comment that you long for the day when gay characters on TV are treated as completely unremarkable. It occurred to me that such an event has already occurred, earlier this year, on a little reality show called Survivor. In last fall's Cook Islands edition, the same edition that initially divided the tribes by ethnicity, two male contestants later revealed off camera that they were gay, but that topic did not even surface on air. It is hard to believe that the subject never came up on the island among the contestants, and that cameras did not capture it. So I found it refreshing that producer Mark Burnett did not deem the sexuality of either contestant to be remarkable enough to fashion (through editing) a little story point about it. Certainly the homosexuality of previous Survivor contestants (Richard Hatch and many others) had been story points in previous editions. So in a way, I found that the granddaddy of TV's current reality craze broke ground ...
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Question: While not a big fan of most reality shows, I have been a loyal viewer of The Amazing Race and Survivor. But I find that even these shows are no longer appointment TV for me. I have thought for a couple of years that both shows would be better served by airing only one cycle per season. Survivor could occupy the Thursday at 8 pm slot during the fall, while Race would take over the same slot during the spring. Thoughts?
Answer: I've often thought the same thing. But until Survivor starts showing serious signs of ratings slippage, which hasn't quite happened yet, CBS is unlikely to risk benching it on such a critical ratings night as Thursday. I personally prefer The Amazing Race, although not so much in this all-star season (still not as bad as the family edition), but for whatever reason its ratings have never matched Survivor's. And it might even be worse for Race in the long run if it were scheduled on Thursday and collapsed against the tough competition, causing CBS to
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OK, I'm going to blog live tonight. Bear with me, please, I'm tired and I need to go to bed.So here we go: Earl and Yau-man, the only two Ravu members to have gone to Exile Island, decide to work together to find the idol. Earl, who is really quite good-looking, manages to get the whole tribe to go hunting for food, leaving Yau-man to dig at the cave. Why no one questions Yau-man's staying at the camp is beyond me, but whatever, they're hungry. Given this opportunity, it would behoove Yau-man to actually search for the idol rather than complain to the cameraman that he can't dig with only a machete. I'm just saying.This week the teams get to choose their reward before the reward challenge. Moto chooses toiletries because, you know, they don't need any food. Jeff explains that it's a one-on-one fighting challenge and as if on cue, Rocky picks one with Dre. They tussle and Rocky loses — as if we didn't see that coming. Oh dear, Moto leads three to one. Four to one. Boo trounces ...
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Gary Stritesky, Survivor: Fiji
Getting your torch snuffed on CBS' Survivor: Fiji (Thursdays at 9 pm/ET) is always tough to take, but having to leave the island because of a medical emergency is truly the worst way to go home, as Gary Stritesky learned last week. Dubbed "Papa Smurf" by the Moto crew, the lovable 55-year-old was plagued with dizziness and shortness of breath for days before he finally gave into the advice of the medical team and said goodbye to the beach and hello to the hospital. TVGuide.com caught up with the bus driver/carpenter to find out what exactly the problem was.
TVGuide.com: How are you feeling?Gary Stritesky: Good. We've gotten back in the groove here, everything's going good.
TVGuide.com: They patched you all up?Gary: Yeah, it was more that I had them bug-bite deals....
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