Survivor Live with Jo, Wanda & Jon

Survivor Live, the Internet Talk Show
Guests: Jolanda, Wanda and Jonathan
Host: Dalton Ross (Entertainment Weekly)

Comments made by Wanda
She called Willard a curmudgeon several times (not that there's anything wrong with that). She thinks Survivor wanted a younger cast (I disagree. I don't think this one is any younger than previous casts.) Wanda admired Jonathan and Stephenie for trying to swim. Coby and Caryn developed a brother-sister relationship. (That explains why he didn't pick Angie.) Naturally she sung several times.

Comments made by Jolanda
Jolanda also claimed the age difference was a problem. She mentioned several times about the twenty-somethings. Like about the young women who just wanted to talk about make-up. (Do either of these two women realize that Tom (41), Willard (57), Caryn (46) and Janu (39) didn't seem to have a problem?) Jolanda and Wanda seemed to have a mutual appreciation for each other. Jo said America has really missed out not getting to know Wanda better (Jo was almost in tears). If she didn't get voted off, Jolanda's plan was to be honest and truthful in winning the million dollar prize. Coby is a real student of Survivor. He's seen and studied all the prior shows.

Re: last nights episode
Jolanda claims the group together made the decision to try and take all of the crates in the Immunity/Reward challenge. Furthermore she says they were only 15 seconds behind Koror when they got to the beach. They lost Immunity by not rowing the outrigger canoe as a team, not because of all the crates. (Although as James pointed out at tribal council, they were dumb-asses for forgetting the fire crate.) Jeff proclaimed experience with outrigger canoes so they were all following his lead. Jolanda ate four grasshoppers not just the one that was aired. Also she was having trouble eating the day before and even threw up. She understands Koror choosing the new camp site, their original shelter wasn't that developed.

Not shown:
Kim targeting Wanda because of her age and Jolanda defending her. Jolanda and Janu dancing together show-girl style.

Comments made by Jonathan
Jonathan said that he was hungry and when he's hungry he's unhappy. (And presumably not in a talkative mood. Now that explains a lot.) He didn't tell the others about being a cancer survivor.

Odds and Ends
Jenna Morasca, Amazon Sole Survivor, will start co-hosting next week. CBS will air the first episode again Saturday night.

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From Another Online Chat
(not affiliated with CBS or Survivor; they will remain nameless because of the poor audio quality and the lack of interesting information. I want that thirty minutes of my life back.)

Jeff Probst did have few interesting comments. The ocean around Survivor Palau was so clear that underwater photography wasn't a problem at all. So look for more underwater challenges. There are more "Survivor firsts" in Survivor Palau than in any other edition of Survivor.

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Early Show: 3 Cast-Offs

Wanda: Sings some more, "Grandma got run over by some models . . ." She doesn't think her singing annoyed anyone but it was portrayed that way. She feels she wasn't picked because of her age. (Hey, old guy Willard got picked over young buck Jonathan.)

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Jonathan: Wanda's singing didn't annoy him. It was a big mistake jumping in to swim before everyone else.

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Jolanda: She has no regrets. People were jealous of her, especially some of the women. She seems real proud of her buttocks. (Well, I for one didn't notice her butt.) Jolanda claims that they decided as a group to try to carry all of the crates, that it wasn't just her decision alone.

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Episode 1, Three Sent Packing

Game on! All twenty are in a big row boat when Jeff tells them that Survivor has started. They are about one mile from their beach and two immunity necklaces. One necklace is for the first woman to reach it and the other is for the first man. The Survivors smartly decide to row instead of trying to swim a mile.

While they're rowing, Wanda decides to regale them with one of the songs that she made up for the show. That's right I said one of the songs. She composed and practiced several songs to sing during the show. The ones she sang tonight sounded a little like show-tunes, "Survivors, we're going to be Survivors!" Jonathan and Stephenie jump in to swim and soon learn they made a mistake - they fall behind the boat!

Everyone else jumped in to swim when the boat got closer to shore. The winners of the necklaces were: Jolanda and Ian.

Jeff Probst tells them they are going to live on the beach as a group for a time. No tribes, no buffs, no nothing. Let the plotting begin! Just about everyone begins talking about who they would vote off. The two self-described misfits, Angie (tatoos) and Coby (gay), strike up a friendship or so it seems.

They start to build a shelter and Janu climbs up a tree to aid in this endeavor (giving them all a shot of her butt-crack along the way). James quickly establishes himself as the down-home Southern boy character in the private interviews. He's not as likable as Big Tom but not as annoying as Bubba. They try making fire and of course fail miserably at it.

Jeff Probst reappears and tells them that it's time to form tribes. Here's the method used: Boy Girl. Ian and Jolanda are two separate teams. They will pick someone of the opposite gender to be on their tribe who will in turn pick someone of the opposite gender. Here's the picking order.

Koror: Ian, Katie, Tom, Janu, Gregg, Jenn, Coby, Caryn, Willard

Ulong: Jolanda, Bobby Jon, Stephenie, Jeff, Kim, James, Ashlee, Ibrehem, Angie.

Jonathan and Wanda were left unpicked and they were immediately put on a boat and removed from contention.

Jeff Probst now tells them that they will continue to live together on the same beach.

Immunity & Reward Challenge
Competition: The dreaded jungle obstacle course with row boat ending.
Reward: Whatever supplies the castaways can carry through with them and Immunity.
(supplies in heavy crates: fire, water, food, various equipment)

The trick here is to balance supplies with speed. Carrying a lot of crates will slow you down in the obstacle course. Koror makes the decision to just carry the fire crate. Ulong is greedy and tries to carry them all and in the excitement forgets the fire crate!

Koror wins Immunity fairly easily. Ulong can't coordinate their rowing. Also as winners, Koror gets to choose whether they want to return to the beach they already know or move to an entirely new beach. The adventurous tribe picks the new camp site. It's a decision they soon may regret. The canoe they are paddling to the new beach overturns and the crate with the flint in it sinks to the bottom. In that instant, fire is lost!

Meanwhile at Ulong Jolanda is trying to get support to vote off Angie, the tattooed freak (I mean that in a nice way). Stephenie is rallying support to vote off Jolanda. She claims it was Jolanda's bad idea to try and carry all of the crates in the challenge. Angie knows she's a target so she's willing to vote for Jolanda.

Ulong at Tribal Council
(paraphrased)
Probst: Stephenie are you surprised by any of this?
Steph: yes, I'm very hungry and thirsty already.
Probst: James are you happy with how things have gone?
James: Yes, we lost this one but we're young, tough and strong. We'll win!
Probst: You had a choice in the challenge, did you make a mistake?
James: Heck yeah! Dumbasses we forgot the fire!
Probst: Has a leader emerged yet?
Ashlee: No not yet.
Jolanda: I'd like to lead this tribe.
Probst: Angie how has it been for you?
Angie: Hard, I was picked last and now we finish last.

Jolanda is voted off with 5 votes shown.

Alliances
It's really too early to identify alliances. Coby had the opportunity to pick Angie to be in the same tribe with him, but for some reason he chose Caryn instead. What's up with that? Now the two misfits are in separate tribes. Koror is generally older than Ulong. Look for Tom and Willard, the two oldest men, to form an alliance. Bobby Jon, Ibrehem and James are from Alabama so look for an alliance here.

Heroes & Villains
I didn't think that I would like Janu (pictured). I thought as a Las Vegas showgirl that she would be prissy, but she's not. Jolanda would have made a nice villain, but she's gone already. I also like Angie so I'm not liking Coby right now.

Official Episode Title: This Has Never Happened Before!

Won Reward: Koror
(fire, but promptly lose it)

Won Immunity: Koror
(reward & immunity were done in single challenge)

Voted Off: Jolanda
Aired: 5 votes for Jolanda, 3 votes for Angie

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Early Show: Jeff Probst

Jeff Probst was on the CBS Early Show this morning. His appearance was very brief, maybe 5 minutes. However he did reveal the beginning to the show.

Survivor Palau Premiers tonight at 8:00 p.m. on CBS.

Two Immunity Necklaces
To start the show the castaways will be on a boat and shown their beach. Then Jeff tells them that there are 2 immunity necklaces on shore. The first woman to get there wins one necklace and the first man wins the other.

Huge Personalities
Jeff also said this edition is full of "huge personalities." Apparently last season some viewers thought Survivor Vanuatu was a little flat and being right after All-Star Survivor that's understandable. He said that shouldn't be a complaint with Survivor Palau.

Jeff's Favorite Winner
Asked for his favorite Survivor winner, Jeff responded "Hatch." That would be Richard Hatch, winner of the first Survivor. His least favorite player ever is Johnny Fairplay. Jeff said Johnny is just like he was on Survivor Panama. Fairplay was good as a castaway TV-wise, but personally Jeff just doesn't care for him.

The L Word
Jeff also talked a little about Julie Berry, castaway on Survivor Vanuatu. He said that he wasn't just dating her but that he was in love with her. Ever the professional, he said they started their romance after Vanuatu ended. If I remember correctly, Jeff has said that they stayed in touch after Vanuatu (by email, phone etc.) and their friendship blossomed into love. Now isn't that sweet? Julie's bio at CBS.

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Rupert Alert
The ever popular Rupert Boneham (Survivor Panama and All-Star) will do a live internet chat tonight at 9:00 p.m. ET at WeLoveBigBrother.com.

Survivor Live, the Internet Talk Show
The time has been moved up slightly. It will now premier tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. ET at CBS.com. Still no word on who the host(s) will be. I guess the guest(s) will be the castaway(s) voted off on tonight's show.

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Survivor Palau Starts Thursday!

This Has Never Happened Before!, Episode #1001.
Twenty people are stranded on a group of islands in a remote part of the Pacific, competing for a $1 million prize.
CBS, Thursday Feb. 17, 8:00 p.m., 60 minutes.

This will be my final pre-season blog entry. Here's what you can expect from this blog once the series starts.

1. Recap and Review of each episode of Survivor Palau. I'll summarize what happened in the challenges, who's plotting with who and paraphrase what was said at the Tribal Council. If you miss the show for whatever reason my blog should keep you informed about what happened. This is what one kind reader said last season about my Survivor Vanuatu blog:

Hi!
I just wanted to thank you for your web site. Great detail on what happened on tonights show. I don't even mind that I forgot to tape it!!
Thanx again :)

I'll do the same again this season. Check out my Survivor Vanuatu blog to get an idea about what this season's blog will be like.

2. Survivor Live is Back! And I'll watch it and blog what was said.
Premieres 2:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 18.
Webcast at CBS.com. No information regarding the host or hosts. Last season Richard Hatch was one of the hosts and he did a good job. The other host was Chris Booker.

3. Survivor Fantasy League
I intend to play in the Survivor Fantasy League again this season. I'll tell you my picks each week and offer advice in general. The fantasy league is open for registration at the official Survivor web site.

4. The Early Show, CBS
I'll watch and blog the Survivor guests on The Early Show.
Thursday, Jeff Probst previews the new season of Survivor.
Friday, First Survivor castoff.

Also any news and rumors that I come across I'll post on my blog. Finally I welcome your comments. I'd like to hear what you think about Survivor and my blog entries.

Have a wonderful time watching Survivor this season. I hope that you enjoy my blog.

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