Silence Of The Lamb

I thought I would be saaaaaad about Dolly leaving. I feel loss, seeing as she is my hometown girl. The thing is, I understaaaaaand why they voted her out. When you're nice to everyone, genuinely nice, there's a chaaaance that your alliance would switch at any given time. It was nice to see the guys win, a deserved win, as they worked together awesomely.

Also, I'm beginning to become strangely attracted to JP. Not Probst -- the OTHER JP. Obviously, my love for Probst is not straaaange.

Without further ado, here is my scorecaaaard on our favorite Vaaaanuatuans for Episode Two.

AMI
She gets one of my Smart Awards of the week. The smart move being getting it into Eliza's head that she'd be a fool to vote with her sorority pals. I like the fact Ami's presence has been subtle as it probably means she isn't going anywhere. When you don't make a big scene, but are visible enough that Dolly knows who you are, that's probably a good place to stay. And looking at it as an advantage down the road, Ami still looks as good as she ever did in Playboy. Hugh would be beaming.

ELIZA
My other Smart Award goes to Eliza. Let me state clearly that I never expected to be giving any positive feedback to her, but my mind has been changed. I thought that the Omega Beta Zeta alliance could never be broken up. Funny how that changes when conspiracy lies within. The interesting thing now will be if Eliza sticks with the older ladies. If she goes crawling back to Mia and Julie, somewhere down the road, she's toast. At this point Eliza's only chance to win might be an alliance with guys. She could certainly give them two good reasons to keep her around. *wink, wink*

JULIE
She and Mia are both on the same platform right now, but I'll give props to Jules since she is "good cop". I like her, I like her spunk. I would really love to see Julie stick around, but some scrambling will have to be done. She was good at sweet talking Dolly, she might have to sweet talk Eliza now. No matter how the cards fall, you're looking at a potential tie situation and it might honestly be in Julie's favor to stick with the majority and hold out until merge time. The men should at least appreciate Julie's "assets".

LEANN
Thank God for small miracles. I am obviously a Leann fan and last night's episode almost crushed me. I still see good odds for her, but she has got to realize that putting yourself out there is bad, but making yourself scarce is bad too. Socializing does play into the game whether you want it to or not. Leann works hard and that's one thing going for her but she needs to let people get to know her. That way, if the older women ARE targeted, a challenge liability like Scout has a redder bullseye than hers.

LISA
I *knew* she would do the idiotic thing and vote with the younger girls. Crazy thing is, Lisa is far from an idiot. Somehow though, the good ol' days of LSU flooded her mind and she thought she was 21 again. It was all just a dream Lisa. Welcome back to 5-3 reality. Look on the bright side. At least they *expected* you to vote that way. *sigh* It will be hard for any of the other older women to trust Lisa after this. She doesn't act her age and she's going to have to tone that down if she plans on staying.

MIA
My dislike of Eliza has shifted Mia's way. If she rolls her eyes ONE MORE TIME. I'm sure she's not a bad person, but as far as the game is concerned she's playing very stupid. It doesn't matter if you like people or not, you have to try to get along with them, maybe even have an alliance with them if you expect to go anywhere. Acting like a spoiled brat and complaining all the time can only take you so far. Didn't Mia ever watch the show? Eight seasons have got to teach you something.

SCOUT
She's likeable, she's hardworking, and she has a knack for being Yasur's splinter in challenges. The logistics of that immunity challenge couldn't be more simple. There are twelve pieces. If you count them as they're brought in, you'd know how many are still out there. I was in shock that Scout's name was not brought up in voting discussions. I like her, but her inability to handle challenges concerns me. Unless they can sit her out in every key challenge which is, well, all of them -- Yasur is in big trouble.

TWILA
I'm really beginning to like Twila more and more. She's got fire and isn't afraid to let the young whippersnappers know what's on her mind. Not only that, but she has proven she is an asset at camp and at the challenges which any smart person can see as a valuable thing. She's still a bit unsafe next week considering the possibility of a tie, but I'm hopeful. Amy, Leann and Scout definitely have her back.

BRADY
*drools* It's a good thing I didn't have to climb over him on the balance beam. We would have both fallen into the water. I guarantee it. Ahem, anyways. I think Brady is playing it cool. He's in a good position and no one seems to be perceiving him as a threat except JP who probably only HOPES Brady is a threat so that his ass doesn't get voted off. I may not have had high hopes for him pre-show, but I am happy to say Hunter's Revenge is still on.

CHAD
I can't say too much about Chad because he wasn't in this episode much. I *was* worried though when he was having trouble on the balance beam. That scene almost had challenge liability written all over it. But then again, it doesn't seem anyone gets voted off for messing up a challenge these days.

CHRIS
Again, not much action. Bodes well for him that he almost got voted off at TC1 and he has now slipped under the radar. It'll be interesting to see how far Chris actually bounces back.

JK
Either JK was really worried about falling in the water, or he was having a manly love moment. Either way, he played a big part in the men losing reward. I doubt this will hurt him, but being in the minority alliance might. JP is definitely a bigger target though so all he has to do is keep his mouth shut and hope he gets traded to Camp Estrogen.

JP
Talking to Travis? Smart. Noticing Rory pissing everyone off? Smart. Continuing to pay close attention and pick up on every little crack in the tribe's makeup? Worth one million dollars.

LEA
I just love the Sarge. He was the perfect candidate to call out orders during the immunity challenge and he came out on the sunny side in his disagreement with Rory. Everyone seems to have a ton of respect for him and it would appear he isn't going anywhere for a while.

RORY
I am not sure where he got his strategy from, but I can promise it won't work. Loud, opinionated people don't last long, especially in a tribe full of men. If Rory stays, it's only cause someone like JP thinks he can be used for some evil purpose. It sure as hell ain't gonna be cause everyone likes having him around.

TRAVIS
Bubba has been a lot of fun. I'm really surprised at how well he fits into the tribe considering he doesn't have a whole lot in common with everyone. I guess you could call him a Tom Buchanan. Bodes well for Travis when you consider where Big Tom finished in each of two Survivor seasons.

And as for Dolly, she was unfortunately naive strategy wise and probably didn't think about how word gets around. Nor did she realize that you cannot openly play two sides. You'd think they'd both fight for your vote, but its a lot easier to turn the tables on the middle man so that both sides stay intact. The only truly stupid thing Dolly said out there was that she'd stick with the younger girls because they could have more fun. That's just Dolly being naive again. You're supposed to have some fun, but that's not what the game is about. It's not easy to have fun when the person you're talking and laughing with could be plotting to vote your ass out the next day. It's the cruel, twisted world of Mark Burnett.

Next week, the main focal point is the double tribal council. On the men's side, Rory would seem like the clear choice, JP being second but you never know who is going to piss who off. I mentioned a possible tie over on the women's side. If it's not a tie, I think either Mia or Twila will go. There's a war between those two and someone has to win.

My moment of the week: Julie and Mia looking down at the beach and noticing Eliza sitting with Ami and Leann and thinking there's nothing to worry about. Ladies, you ever watch Survivor? You see anyone talking off to the side like that, I don't care if it's your best friend, BE suspicious. Lesson learned. I hope.

See ya'll laaaaater.