So Survivor starts tonight..

Arrogance, James, Arrogance.
He never looked at the game from their point of view.
Why did he think any of them would want to take him to the end?

Amanda (that's her name, right?) She's on the move. Look out!

Todd, Todd needs to go. Slippery Devil.

Keep an eye on Eric and PG.

There was a point at which I thought James was reaching for the idol. Nope.

You're right, caribou. Arrogance. But when I got up to get something to eat at the end of the show, I muttered, "He trusted them. Big mistake."

How can anyone trust anyone on this show? EVER?

Do these guys ever watch Survivor before they go it? Come on - he has 2 idols - why not use one? Why because he got greedy and arrogant and everyone that has watched Survivor before knows that is when you get voted out. But the one thing I can say for him is he was a good sport in the end. He admitted he was stupid and he holds no grudge at what they did - good guy.

Why, oh why, didn't James play one of his idols! I guess Linkat answered -- greed, or maybe insurance is a better word (he hasn't won any? individual challenges, knew it, and was holding onto them for the last few tribal councils), and arrogance (he just couldn't believe that anyone didn't see the game the way he did). Either way, I really liked him as a person and am sorry to see him go.

Loved Denise's joy at being in the Shaolin temple. Also loved the fact that although she was grateful that Peih-Gee picked her to go, she still doesn't trust Peih.

I'm still holding to my original call that Todd will be the winner, but will now add that Amanda will be the runner-up. In a vote between the two, I think the jury will admire Todd's game (even if they don't personally like him) and see Amanda as riding on his coat-tails. They've done that before.

Of course, anything can happen -- and I could be completely wrong.

OMG, when James at the very very end, during his goodbye speech, held up the two idols.... I laughed.
His speech was good. He was a good guy with a great work ethics, but I don't think he was good at looking at the game from other people's points of view.

I would not have wanted to compete against him. I wouldn't have wanted there next to me in the end either.

Sorry, James.

That was a little bit of craziness. James apparently thought he was going to cruise on down, cruise on down the road. The first thing I thought he would do after the merge was to find someone to share the idols with (nope), find ways of confirming his alliance besides just catching fish and carping at the other to stay in line. He had two idols in the bag.

Joe(he ended up holding the bag.)Nation

PS My new favorite person is Denise. If she can win an immunity or two she will come in the top two and win the million.

Denise, that could have been your time to make a play. Third or fourth?

Time to shake things up.

Looks like Amanda gets on the ball next week, but Todd going to find out that they are out to get him?

I think they should have gone for Todd this week. If only Amanda and Denise had talked.

PG really needs to stop the whining. But if she can continue the immunity wins, she can make it!

Don't know if I care at this point who wins.
Amanda or PG both are playing hard. Especially PG.

Todd really needs to go and it would make the jury happy.

If Denise went with PeiG, it would have been a tie between Eric and Todd.
I assume they would have had to make fire or some such thing. If Todd was to win the tie showdown then Denise would have been labelled as a traitor and snuffed out at the next council. I think she will do better now to work on Amanda and Courtney to get rid of Todd.

Unless the last challenge is for who has lost the most weight, I think Courtney is not going to get into the finals.

Finals will be Todd, Courtney and Amanda. I think the alliance holds and PG goes next week, assuming she does not win immunity. Then Denise will finish exactly where she was told she would this week by PG, 4th.

Gosh, predictions are so much easier when there are only 5 left, aren't they?

I'm having a hard time hanging in this season. Why? Now that James is gone, I don't care who wins. However, I would have been happy to see Todd go.

At this point, I'm semi-rooting for Amanda--the only one left who hasn't thoroughly irritated me.

The final show is Sunday.

I'm with you Roberta, I'd like to see Amanda win. But if she were in the final two, who do you think she should go up against?

Now it comes down to the challenges. Courtney is not likely to win a challenge. The final challenge is usually one of endurance. Denise might win. Dunno.

And I have no idea how the jury will see things. Todd and Amanda played the best game. How many people are pissed off at them?

During the immunity challenge, it was like an all-girl thing. And then it was all PG and Amanda.

I would have loved to see the entire game end with PG and Amanda.
If only life was fair.

Amanda, I want Amanda to win. I'm afraid for her though...
I think they are sending her home next week.

Gotta love the fact that everyone gave Courtney their arrows. She's more popular there, or least less threatening, then the editing shows.
And her giving one of her arrows to PG makes me like her just a little more.

Too bad, Amanda and PG couldn't find a way to turn Denise. But Denise was probably right to choose to stick with the whiners, she can beat them, IF they take her.

I think we might end up with Todd and Courtney at the end...
Amanda has to win immunity these last two times to stay in the game.

Course, I think she can easily do it.

I hope.

If Denise wins the next immunity, Amanda goes home.*
If anyone other than Denise wins, Denise goes home.

*Unless Amanda convinces Denise to vote for Todd.
DxT + AxT vs. CxA + TxA (tie) Then who knows? Fire starter match?

So, the final three will be
either Courtney, Todd and Amanda
or
Courtney, Amanda and Denise
or
Courtney, Todd and Denise

Anyone against Courtney in the final two wins the million.

(They gave her all those arrows because they know she is an idiot and could hit her own name if her life depended on it.)

Problem: Any endurance challenge (other than the barrel thing) favors all of the others.

Todd vs Denise: Denise wins
Denise vs Amanda: tough one, but Denise wins.
Amanda vs Todd: no brainer - Amanda


Joe(How the hell did that skinny idiot get this far?)Nation

So Todd won. Quel strategist. Denise irritated me totally. Courtney came in second!?

As much as I hate to admit it, I think Todd deserved to win. He really played a smart game. Had every base covered. Amanda also played a smart game, but she didn't make friends the way Todd did.

James is one easy-going dude. Unfazed. Not bitter. Great guy. Glad he got the viewer popularity prize.

On the whole, not a bad season.

Yeah, I didn't want Todd to win, but listening to them talk and answer questions, I realized that Amanda was in trouble.
And when Courtney opened her mouth, I saw an even bigger threat.

I guess the "Doe" eyes couldn't compete.
Really, she couldn't speak as well as the other two.
Todd had a good spiel...

I love James. I think everyone loves James. Not only very good looking but sweet and cute. Sigh. Sure, he should have played an immunity...

So this next season of Survivor, did you see it's Fan vs. Favorites?
I wonder if James will be back?

I don't like "themed" Survivors. Didn't really like the all-star one, well, I'll still watch..

I'm not crazy about the themed ones either. We'll see. A lot will depend on who they bring back.

Gotta vent. GOTTA. They gave Denise fifty freaking thousand dollars because she left her job to go play a game, and then she couldn't get her job back? She was irritating me all through the final show. Asking not to be voted out because she had a $7 an hour job. Get real.

Yeah, I'm not respecting the "pity me" card.

And it irritates me that because of her sob story, the producers hand her $50,000. How many of the other survivors sitting there, were thinking "Maybe I should've whined"

And it's irritating that the school thinks she can't be a lunch lady because of the distraction. I was wondering if the school was going to be changing their minds after having it aired on the show...
James is distracting grieving people!

And why can't she just get another job?
There must be plenty of $7 an hour jobs out there.... Right?

My favorite part of the whole thing was when Todd gave his explanation to Jean Robert and James said that shut you up! It was so funny - especially since Jean Robert obviously didn't like James poking fun at him. You could see him almost ready to say something back, but realized this guy could kick my butt. Seems James shut him up too.

Here's the newest on the whiner....

"School Superintendent Nancy T. Lane is discounting claims that school employee Denise Martin was demoted after appearing on the television reality show "Survivor." "

In a statement, the superintendent said Mrs. Martin's move from cafeteria employee to custodian came at Mrs. Martin's request and is accompanied by higher pay and additional benefits. The move came prior to Mrs. Martin's participation in taping, the superintendent said.

Mrs. Lane said the school district was accommodating to Mrs. Martin and that it embraced her television opportunity.

In the statement, the superintendent said: "Regretfully, the Douglas Public School District was inaccurately portrayed as failing to be accommodating to an employee during what the district viewed as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This is far from the case. On the contrary, we granted all requests made by Mrs. Martin so that she could participate in the "Survivor" series. Since Mrs. Martin was on an approved leave, her position was held open for her, and she returned to this same position upon her return from China. As a district, we make every effort to support our employees, and will continue to do so."