Finally, we’re back!! Normally we are gifted with a double or extended premiere episode, but I was thrilled with the sweet one hour we were given; it was full of punch! I run through the highlights of the episode, super fan Annabel Fidler is here with her Spice Rack and this week Ami Cusack from Survivor Vanuatu joins me to give us her thoughts on the 35th season! My fave Brissy boy Julian Groneberg will again join me to recap during the season starting from next week.
Day 1-3
SKINNY RYAN 2.0
Except this guy is gonna go much further! Who doesn’t remember the OG Skinny Ryan in Pearl Islands?! Haha. Ryan Ulrich on the other hand knows this game, and knows it very well. Luck was on his side early after finding a Super Idol on the ship!
Using this Idol, Ryan was also able to secure a (potentially, but looks promising) tight alliance with fellow Hustler, Devon. Devon is the total opposite to Ryan and a perfect choice to align with. Normally, I don’t agree with telling anyone about your Idol/Advantage, but I actually see this one working out. We shall see. Ryan also gave the Super Idol to Chrissy on the Heroes tribe. I’m just hoping they both last long enough in the game to make a tribe swap so they can share info!! Things are looking up for Skinny Ryan 2.0.
HUSTLERS ASIAN SENSATION
OMGOMG, I LOVE SIMONE!! Classic lazy Asian, telling people what to do… And they always listen.
We didn’t see much else from Simone, but I do wonder if the Hustlers went to Tribal if she would even survive the first vote! haha. I also am really liking Ali, and even sun burnt Patrick! Who coincidentally attend the same University… Hmm! On paper this tribe look very weak, but they totally showed us all at the first Immunity Challenge. Go Hustlers!!
HEALERS GET SERIOUS
It’s all fun and games at the Healers camp as they tend to spend the first few hours just chilling out in the water rather than building a shelter.
This tribe definitely has a lot of strength, physically and mentally. Cole, the season’s hottest guy, catches sweetheart Jessica’s eye… Could they be the new Figgy and Taylor?? Joe is even impressed by Cole’s eight-pack, but he has his eyes set on someone else first… the sex doctor, Mike.
Poor Mike, he scurries away from camp to look for the idol and he gets caught in the act by officer Joe. Joe does a very good job interrogating the little guy, and Mike doesn’t fight back very well! This could go two ways – Mike uses this get the others together to gang up on his bully (but who wants to lose a physical guy early on?!), or Joe gets everyone else to target Mike. And I’m gonna go with the latter. Fortunately for Mike, I think this tribe will keep winning challenges, and come a tribe swap, Mike should be safe from Joe’s low pant, stare down, ways!
WHO’S A HERO?!
Firstly, I ADORE the marine, Ben. He is just so sweet, and level-headed and as Annabel tells me, I always like the beautiful boring ones. Ben, you’re that person 😉
On the flipside, we have Alan. Oh Alan. I gave you praise in my cast assessment and now you’re going all Eliza-crazy-eye on me?!
The worst part of Alan this episode, or some say the best, was him making JP do the whole “Squat and Cough” thing (thanks Orange is the New Black), and it was AWKWARD AF. I’d like to think he wouldn’t have made a woman do that?! Eek. Nevertheless, this dude has paranoia slapped all over his face and looks like trouble moving forward. Lucky he has the physical assets to keep him around this early on. Not sure if the others on Healers and Hustlers would take his antics!
I’M A COOL MOM… VOM.
Ahh, Chrissy! I do like my Survivor mums. And there are a few this season, among all the hot young things! Poor Chrissy and Katrina realise they are automatically on the outs being the older crew. Even after she couldn’t keep it down at the Immunity Challenge, she still is seen as the ‘stronger’ older woman.
Thanks to Ryan, Chrissy was given the Super Idol to use at the first Tribal Council, if she wished. Personally, I think it was a good idea to NOT use the Idol. She didn’t have the numbers to save Katrina, so why ruffle more feathers by showing off an Idol. I just hope that Chrissy uses the now defunct Super Idol as a fake Idol, preferably giving it to someone she wants out… Ooh, the potential juiciness to come!! Let’s hope she lasts longer…
ANOTHER OLYMPIAN BITES THE DUST
Poor Katrina. We hardly even saw her this episode, and when we did, I had to rewind because I couldn’t understand her speedy words! Hahaha. The hubby thought a lawn mower was going off! :O In exit interviews, Katrina did mention to her tribe that she was an Olympian, but in a group of such strong people to begin with it was always going to be difficult for Katrina to win them over. Katrina receives the most purple first episode edit and goes home as the classic first boot of Survivor. Katrina-5, Ashley-1.
SPICE RACK USA: WEEK ONE
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OH BABY I am so pumped for this season, and what a start. Also, welcome to the Survivor US Spice Rack! For the uninitiated, the SR is pretty much a long form meme, low on analysis, high on erotic Survivor fan-fiction. And most importantly, the prestigious Crush of the Season prize up for grabs (the prize is a superficial ego boost). But keep in mind the words of the great 20th century philosopher, Britney Spears, when she said ‘it might seem like a crush, but it doesn’t mean that I’m serious.’ That said, I’ve already fallen pretty hard pre-season, but I’m excited to get my heart broken, find new love on the rebound, and come out of the season with new cuties to follow on Instagram. As a reformed Hustler (door2door sales rep), and current Healer (family violence services), I am loving the tacky theme, and am 100% Team Healers – what a tribe! Lyndz is obviously a Hero, because she is an accountant, but she will vehemently deny this like the hero she truly is! This week, I will announce my pre-season crush picks (because I’ve been so subtle about it on Twitter, of course), and predict the emotional roller coaster ahead. I went hard on the pre-season media, so if I start warbling on about something that wasn’t in the episode, I got it from Josh Wigler’s interviews for the Hollywood Reporter.
Crush Pick One: Joe Mena
I am very set on my number one crush pick for season 35, and he’s already made it clear in the pre-season videos that he will not relate at all to the emotional over-investment at the core of the Spice Rack. That’s fine, because I am already loving for two. Joe also reckons that he’s there for the money, not TV, which would be worrying (though Lyndz loves the boring ones), except that I suspect he has a natural, irrepressible talent for drama anyway. He seems a little more invested in his masculinity than I would normally choose, but as long as he’s using it to intimidate family violence perps, and bourgeois cast mates that’s fine with me for now.
Things got juicy right out of the gate – he’s already sizing up the nerds, and everyone keeps comparing him to the T-word (Tony), which I’m still failing to see. Maybe it’s the love goggles! That said, I am not feeling Ryan, and would be very excited to see Joe ‘build trust’ with him at the water well. When Ryan chose Shirin as his least favourite former contestant in a pre-season interview, he secured his spot at the bottom of my crush list. He’s a superfan, he knows he had a guy busted with child porn, animal torturers, and racists to choose from; he chose the most vocal advocate of family violence victims we’ve had on the show. Not cute or edgy.
Crush Pick Two: Simone Nguyen
Simone is my second crush pick, and the sassy princess of my dreams. I’m pretty devastated we didn’t get more Simone screen-time in the premiere, but I am sure we will get plenty of her down the track. If you didn’t catch any of her preseason gold, highlights include:
‘He’s trying to flirt with me… and he isn’t even the cutest guy here… He doesn’t have a six pack. Look at the other guys who have a six pack here and reflect on your life’ (on Patrick)
‘What is so inherently bad about hanging out with someone who is prettier than you? I’m sorry I was born this way.’ (On Ashley)
I. Love. Her. She’s either incredibly self-aware and hilarious, or just hilarious, so winning either way.
Crush of the Episode: Alan Ball
Alan’s clear addiction to drama made this episode for me. The show seems to be playing the full cavity search off as an intentional, strategic move, but I am praying we have our new Abi Maria.
Please let me know your crush picks!!
Part of the massively underrated season, Survivor Vanuatu, Ami quickly became the unofficial leader of Yasur where she easily worked with the women, young and old, dictating where the votes went at Tribal Council. Known as the Ice Queen of the season, Ami was one of the stronger strategic players and post-merge seen as a huge threat. Ami was voted out in 6th place, becoming the 4th member of the Jury. Her return in Micronesia Fans v Faves unfortunately wasn’t what she hoped where she just missed out on the Jury being voted out in 11th place.
LyndzO: Hi Ami, welcome to Reality Ramblings! Thanks for joining me on this week’s recap for a mini catch up. Last time we saw each other you were in my hometown of Adelaide, six years ago!! Can you fill us in on what you’ve been up to since and how has life been living across the ditch in New Zealand?
AmiC: A lot has happened in the last six years, I helped build two privately owned craft beer pubs in Littleton, Colorado. That endeavor lead me to being asked to run a craft beer place on a little island in New Zealand. I accepted the offer to move to Waiheke Island two and a half years ago and ended up loving this country. This job led me to meeting the love of my life. I met Bianca at The Cove, the place I worked, and two months after meeting her we got married. Since being married I have started working with her. We do outdoor adventures with young people and also do work with young people in prison. It’s really rewarding work and I love spending my days with Bianca.
LO: Can you believe there’s been 17 years of Survivor?! Will we see you again on a season, maybe Survivor New Zealand? Or are you done with playing this game? 😉
AC: I would play again in a heart beat. I don’t think that American Survivor would ask me back after my less that stellar performance in Fans vs Favorites, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed 😊 I am going to apply for NZ Survivor next year when I am a resident. I talked my wife into applying as well. I just love the game.
LO: Looking at Survivor: Heroes v Healers v Hustlers, what do you think of the overall theme? And do you have any early favourites?
AC: I think the theme is great, so far I’m loving Ryan, Ali, Ben and Dr Mike. Maybe it’s because they have gotten the most air time, but so far I’m loving watching them.
LO: Let’s get the messy ones out of the way… the Heroes tribe, Alan Ball. Is this what paranoia in Survivor has come to with him demanding JP to strip for an Idol search? And on the Healers tribe, we see Joe hassling Dr Mike about an idol as well. What did you think about these scenes, reasonable or too much?
AC: At first I was excited to see Alan really playing the game but as the show went on he went from being aware to being paranoid. He lost it. It’s people like that that get themselves voted out. It’s just too much to worry about having them create extra drama. I have named him crazy eyes 😳 Joe, please, we’ve already seen this character and I didn’t enjoy him the first time. Tony was enough for me I don’t really want to see it again.
LO: Secret Advantages. We saw Ryan find this on the ship, what do you think about all the Idols and Advantages on Survivor in the last few years? Some argue there are too many in the game now, and others think it enhances play. What did you think about him sharing it with Devon?
AC: Ryan is adorable, I think he did the right thing. Sharing with Devon that he had it solidified a trust. Having Idols is fun and throws is more twists. As far as trusting people on the first day, you can’t trust anyone, ever, but on the first day you find the people that you feel good working with. Instinct and intuition are all you have and those two things don’t take days to figure out.
LO: Ryan sees Chrissy as a weak link at the challenge, and passes the Super Idol to her. Chrissy ends up NOT playing the Idol to save Katrina, do you think this was the right move for Chrissy, and would you have done the same thing?
AC: Unfortunately, Katrina was looking like Eliza (Orlins; Vanuatu/Fans v Faves) on day thirty! She came into the game looking weak, and being that thin can immediately have you standing out. That being said Courtney (Yates; China/Heroes v Villains) came into the game thin and was a great competitor. For me, it’s really about who is not fitting in and doesn’t want to be there as much as the rest of the tribe. I can’t say what I would have done unless I was actually there.
LO: Poor Katrina, was there anything more you think she could have done, or was the tribe dynamic (young v old), already a done deal for her fate in the game?
AC: Again I’ll say, I can’t say unless I felt the dynamics of the tribe myself.
LO: If you were cast on this season, which castaways would you be drawn to working with? And which tribe would you place yourself in?
AC: I guess I would be part of the healers tribe, hard to say really, but I would love to play with Ali and Ryan so maybe that would put me on the Hustlers tribe 😊
LO: Looking forward, I know it’s early on, but are there any castaways who you think have the best chance of winning this game? Who do you think will be the Final 3?
AC: No idea, this game is so crazy and can shift direction at any moment. I’ll keep cheering for my favorites listed above though.
LO: Lastly, one of my guest writers Annabel says it’s important to have your Survivor crushes, do you have any this season?
AC: I have to say (this might sound sappy 😊) that after meeting my wife I just don’t really look at people the same as I did before. I only have eyes for her 😍 so if she makes it on New Zealand Survivor I will definitely have a crush!!
Find Ami on Facebook! 🙂
Blog by Lynda Olson. Guest writer; Annabel Fidler.
ALL IMAGES USED IN THIS ARTICLE ARE COPYRIGHT CBS. THIS IS A PERSONAL BLOG AND ALL GIFS AND VIEWS ARE MY OWN.
