Survivor – Inner demons

So did anyone watch Survivor tonight, or were all TVs tuned to Fox’s The X-Factor debut?

If I were a betting man, I’d say CBS had a pretty good idea that’s where all the eyes would be tonight, so they gave us one of the most bland episodes I can remember over the course of 23 seasons. I mean, they didn’t even get to the immunity/reward challenge until almost halfway through the episode. If you didn’t watch, here’s what happened in a nutshell:

• Cochran basically faded into the background while learning how to be a team player (I think we’d all prefer loose cannon Cochran who can hold Tribal Council hostage for over two hours … even though we only get seven minutes of it).
• Coach feels a little more secure in his tribe with his alliance of five, plus Edna (who is the worst liar ever and may prove to be more of a liability unless Coach keeps her just outside of his alliance and uses her when needed).
• Ozzy pretended to go fishing … but went fishing for the hidden immunity idol.  And found it.
• Jimmy thinks he’s in control of the alliance that Ozzy is in control of.
• Savaii had a stunning, come-from-behind victory in the immunity/reward challenge.
• Christine was voted out — with the clue to the hidden immunity idol.

Of course, the focus of this episode was Brandon. After feeling a true bond with Coach, Brandon’s conscience got the best of him and he admitted that he was Russell’s nephew. Having flashbacks to Russell aligning with him then voting him out, Coach was a little taken aback, but he feels he can trust the kid.

It has been discussed in the past that editing plays a large part in how the contestants on these types of shows are portrayed. The producers and editors create a story based on the footage, and can and do manipulate the raw data to create “characters” — the saint, the sinner, the hero, the nutjob, the good girl, the bitch, etc. Listen to those interview sessions carefully because when there’s a cutaway to other footage, you can sometimes hear the audio edits to create what the producers want the person to say. They can be so sloppy sometimes that a person can start a sentence in one outfit and finish in another (I swear I just saw this happen on Top Chef Just Desserts)!

So what do we think of Brandon at this point? Last week, we got to see all of the leering through the palm fronds that was just more than a little creepy. Was it staged, or just a happy accident that the camera caught that? Interviews can be manipulated, but the things Brandon says during the course of the day can’t. Why is he so fixated on Mikayla? Last week he referred to her as Delilah and this week she’s Parvati! We haven’t seen her overtly using her feminine wiles around camp to wrap the men around her finger, but that’s all Brandon seems to see. His obsession with Mikayla is bordering on the scary.

When his tribe lost the challenge that was Brandon’s opportunity to start campaigning for Mikayla’s ouster, and he went full steam ahead, even convincing Christine and Stacey that he was voting for her, then telling Coach that the two had told him that’s who they were voting for. Coach brought the whole thing up at Tribal, Christine and Stacey vehemently denied they said any such thing (it was pointed out several times before and during Tribal that Mikayla had done nothing to even be considered), and Brandon finally spoke up that he was the one who set the lie in motion.

I know Coach didn’t trust Christine, but after seeing how hard Brandon played to get his own personal “Wicked City Woman” voted off the island, why on earth not cut him loose? Coach knows Brandon is trying to control that vote to get Mikayla out of the tribe, and everyone agrees she’s strong and needed right now, but Coach has also questioned Brandon’s inner demons and, knowing his other secret, it just doesn’t seem the smartest thing to keep the kid around to do more damage … or is he just going to be this season’s Phillip? What do you think?  Sound off below.

Clacked by Chuck Duncan
on Sep 22, 2011 @ 02:08 EST5EDT