Survivor 29: Rock Out!

Duuuhhh... What? You're saying don't vote out
the person you promised to keep in the game?
Shit.
"Fortune favors the just!" - Rodney Ruxin, The League, S02E01

Another week, another episode of Survivor 29: San Juan Del Sur, Blood vs Water 2. Oh my God, how the fuck is anyone supposed to remember all of that? This week, we had another solid episode filled with extreme stupidity, Keith being awesome, and one of the Christy brothers angering me. Also, now that we are three episodes deep, it's time to look closely at the edits. The first two episodes can prove kind of random, but by episode three, we have a good idea of who's important to the plot of the season. So, this post may be a little less about what went down (because I'm assuming you all already watched), and more about  major predictions.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty edit talk, let's recap the key points of the episode, starting with Mr. Drew Christy. At the winning tribe, Hunahpu, everyone was pretty happy due to their winning abilities. Unfortunately, they were still having trouble getting along. Being the brilliant Survivor player that Drew Christy is, he decided to sleep through the day and yell at those that wanted him to help out. All I can say here is "What the fuck are you thinking?" When you're on the winning tribe, you basically have one job: stay on people's good sides. At some point, your team is bound to lose. When that happens, who is everyone going to want to vote out? The annoying dickhead sleeping through the day. That is Drew Christy. He may seem athletic and capable at first, but upon further inspection, it turns out that he is, in fact, an annoying, lazy, dickhead. I suppose that's the first edit I'm dishing out. The Annoying, Lazy, Dickhead edit.
Moving on past the inferior Christy, we come to a family that deserves to have a sitcom made about them: The Nales. At the "Hero Challenge" (gotta change that name Jeff), Wes volunteers to play against his Dad, because he thinks Keith will be bad at it. As it turns out, Wes is right, and hands Hunahpu their first loss. Though I was upset at first, because now Keith has to go to Exile Island yet again, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Wes chose Josh to accompany his father, making for a bit of an Odd Couple on Exile (that should be the name of the sitcom right there). As soon as they arrive, the two become friends. They share the clue to the idol, get food to eat together, and even create little makeshift beds on which to sleep. All of that being said, there was still one rule: "There'll be no spooning out here." So say we all! Keith Nale has spoken! He refuses to spoon with a young gay man from New York! Right then and there, I just started to hope that Keith was like that guy from American Beauty. Due to his upbringing, he had always been told that homosexuality was wrong, but once faced with an eligible partner, it all came out. Alas, there was no romance on Exile, and Keith's words held true. On the bright side, it seems that this early alliance may end up coming back to help both of these men post-merge.
Finally, we have the vote-out. After yet another loss by Coyopa, there was a bit of an explosion. Natalie, the remaining twinnie, after having been told about John Rocker's past, decided to yell at the other tribe, telling them to vote out the former Baseball star. Something about this kinda rubbed me the wrong way. Yes, Rocker was a bigoted asshole, but at the same time, Natalie had no idea who he was until Jeremy told her. He could have been bullshitting all of this. It's essentially the same as thirteenth century priests lying about what was in the Bible to trick townspeople into doing their bidding. Whatever Jeremy or that priest says is the truth, because there is no outside source of information. In the end though, Natalie's yelling actually paid off, resulting in Rocker going home. Despite my sympathies for him getting yelled at, Rocker still made some terrible mistakes. He told Natalie that if she wasn't a woman, he'd knock her teeth in. He told everyone in the game that he was ashamed to lose to a female. He told Jeremy that he'd keep his wife in the game, and then proceeded to vote her out. These would all be classified as mistakes. Then, there was the final nail in the coffin. At Tribal Council, despite Jaclyn speaking for the first time and spilling the beans on the plan to vote out Rocker, he still didn't use his immunity idol. With that, Rocker was sent back to Ponderosa, never to be heard from again. My reaction? Another shitty player gone.

So, with the theme of my reactions, let's get into edits! When thinking about who the major "characters" of the season are, the first people to jump to mind are Jeremy, Josh, Keith, and Baylor. Starting off with Jeremy, we already see a hero edit in the works. Right off the bat, he began to make alliances with everyone on his tribe, making him seem smart yet reliable. Next, we saw him make an honest deal with the devious John Rocker. His wife was subsequently voted out, adding to his sympathy. Finally, we observe the amount of pure screentime that he has earned. Despite being on the winning tribe, one where everyone receives less time, Jeremy is still heavily featured. My prediction is that he will go quite far. I don't see him winning, but I certainly see him making it post-merge. Probably, he'll get the Spencer Bledsoe edit. He'll be a fan favorite, going to the final six ish, and then get blindsided.
Next up, we have Josh! This one is a more straight forward example. Josh is the mastermind. He is the Richard Hatch if you will. Not only does he seem to be behind the scenes organizing all of the boot-outs, he also has a shady alliance with everyone remaining on his tribe. I see either a major blindside or a win in Mr. Canfield's future.
Third, let's analyze my personal favorite player of the season, the ever-amusing Keith Nale! Keith has a major shot at winning. Keith has a major shot at being the next Bob Crowley. Not only is he pretty physically able for an older guy, but the show has also forced us to like him. He's kind, cares for his son, makes alliances with people he would normally never come across, and nobody seems to have any ill-feelings towards him. He's another merge maker if you ask me. If not a winner, Keith seems to have the makings of a "big" boot. If he goes down, he's going down with a big explosion.
Last but not least, we have the ruthless Baylor. After the first two episodes, I thought she was just another filler character. After the third though, I see great things in her future. She is receiving the "do anything to stay alive, ruthless, antihero edit". Thus far, Baylor's had votes cast for her every Tribal Council, narrowly keeping her in the game. Survivor loves a comeback story, and Baylor is just that. Baylor is another contender for the win, making the twenty year old one to watch out for as the story progresses.
Other than these selective players, I don't see any other potential winners. That being said, if we're dishing out edits here, let's give Jaclyn the "Julia Landauer Edit" (if you don't remember her, that's just the point). Dale gets the "Dale from Walking Dead Edit" (he'll be a kindly old man voted out too early). Finally, Natalie gets the "Sandra Diaz-Twice Edit" (you either love her or hate her. For my purposes, let's just hope she doesn't win... twice).

Well, that's all for today folks, tune in next Sunday for another recap of the best reality TV on Television! Also, I'd like to give a little shout-out to former Survivor player Kat Edorsson. She favorited my advertisement of last weeks blog post, hopefully giving this blog some much needed publicity!

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