Survivor Vanuatu Preview

Well folks, they posted the new Survivor contestants. I am so excited!!!

Those of you that have known me awhile, and have been following my obsession with Survivor beyond the point of nodding politely when ever I take a breath know that ever since season 2 or 3, I always thought that they should start out with three teams instead of two. Now, my reasoning behind this was because basically, solid alliances stuck along tribal lines, and whichever tribe had (or gained) the upperhand beyond the merge basically picked off the other tribe before getting evil within their own. A brilliant strategy if you ask me. It is safe, and it rewards the team that played hard to the merger. What it doesn't do, however, is force politics or alliance with the new team. It is very safe.

My theory was that with 3 tribes, once it came time to merge, the strategy of one tribe dominating another wouldn't work. With three tribes at the merge, tribes would be forced to deal with other tribes to gain the upper hand. Two tribes could unite to break down another. Tribes could split and join other alliances. All sorts of things could happen at that point.

Survivor mixed up the old solid tribal alliance starting in season 3 (Africa) when they mixed tribes up before the merge. Sometimes they randomly picked new buffs, other times they sent an ambassador and those two made new teams. This effectively mixed teams up and helped to somewhat eliminate the solid original tribal alliance, but not as much as I believe a 3 tribe show would.

Then, low and behold, Survivor 8, the All-Star game, comes out with 18 members instead of the regular 16, in order to get more former favorites on the show. Which means they can start out with 3 teams of 6. "Yes!" I say, my heart jumping for a chance at what I thought would make for great politics.

Problem: All Stars was not a group of strangers. There were previously relationships/alliances/opinions...And goals, for example, to get anyone who had already won the million off. It was still a good show, but I think as most will agree, lets stick with strangers for the most part. Once every 8 seasons for an all stars is my limit, I think. If that.

Good News: Now, Survivor Vanuatu has announced its new contestants, and guess what! There are 18 of them, instead of 16 as in season 1-7. Hee hee. And guess what else! They haven't listed the tribes each member is on as they usually do on the website. Which leads me to believe that they will, again, start with the three team concept!!!!

Now here is my hope of all hopes for Survivor; If they do indeed start with 3 tribes, then go back to basics for a season and let tribes stay as they are until the merger. If they start with 3, then the merge will be interesting even without switching members before the merger. In All Stars, after a couple of episodes, they dissolved one tribe and had 2. Later, they switched up the tribes as well. This time around, with all strangers, just leave it and see what will happen. The only way there could be the potential problem of one tribe voting the other off is if one of the three tribes gets completely eliminated prior to the merge, Which is possible if they merge at 10 with a jury of 8. Even if they upped the jury to ten with the merge at 12, technically it would still take 6 episodes, 6 votes, to make it to the merge, and a whole team could be eliminated. They could also merge way before jury time. There are many possibilities.

I would really like to see teams stay strong to the merge without mixing up members again. I think it could be very interesting to see how people relate at the merge at that point, as well as once they are down to the final few after having spent the whole game together.

ANYWAYS! On to the players. You can find all of this information (and more) at:
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor9/

Amy - 31 - Barista/Model from Lakewood, Colorado

Brady - 33 - FBI agent from Huntington Beach, CA (Ok I may be slightly biased here, but it is interesting to note that he had to get FBI approval before he could apply for the show to insure a positive image for the FBI - they wouldn't approve any old schlump, so I may be voting for this guy.)

Brook (male) - 27- Project Manager - Winthrop, MA

Chad - 35 - teacher - Oakland California

Chris - 33 - Highway construction - South Vienna, OH

Dolly - 25 - Sheep Farmer - Mercer Pennsylvania

Eliza - 21 - prelaw student - Sycaruse, NY

John K. - 22 - Mechanical Bull Operator/model - LA, CA

John P. - 31 - Sales Manager - LA, California

Julie - 23 - Youth Mentor - Gorham, ME

Lea (male) 40 - Drill Sergeant - Columbia, South Carolina

Leann - 35 - Research Assistant - Kansasville, WI

Lisa - 44 - Real Estate Agent - New Orleans, LA

Mia - 30 - Finance Manager - Tom's River, NJ

Rory - 35 - S8 Housing Manager, Des Moines, IA

Scout (female) 59 - Rancher/entrepreneur Stillwater, OK

Travis - 33 - Loss Prevention, Blountville, TN

Twila - 41 -Highway repair - Marshall MO


Now what I really dig about this cast is that it is a more mature cast. The majority are in their thirties, with 5 players under 30 and 4 players 40 or above. Hopefully this will eliminate that boring "oh we hot girls need to bathe separately so as not to make the others feel jealous" bull shit that pisses me off. (Survivor 6 - gag me).

So there you have it. I am sure you are all just as excited as I! And for those of you who don't know, The Amazing Race 6 is this fall also! Yipee! So my Fall line up looks to be Survivor, Amazing Race, 7th Heaven, and Enterprise. Kick ass.

Survivor 9, Vanuata, premiers on CBS on Thursday, September 16th, at 8:00 PM. Yee haw!