What Andy’s Watching: Survivor

Guest critic Andy offers his thoughts on this season of Survivor. Apologies for the out-of-order posting.

Survivor: Season 21, Episode 3 “Glitter in Their Eyes” (C)

Welcome to The Jimmy Johnson Show. Wait, this is actually Survivor? Hard to tell nowadays, isn’t it?

For the first three episodes, so much time has been devoted to Jimmy J. and the fact that he is the greatest leader to ever walk the face of the earth that I was beginning to worry that that the show would be more about him and less about the gameplay of Survivor.

Thankfully, he is gone.

I’m not convinced that his placement on the show was as natural as it seems. Although the official story is that Jimmy is a huge Survivor fan and has tried out many times in the past, rumor has it that he has connections with the producers.

I think the show will be much better with Jimmy voted off. I grew tired of his "I don’t want to win, I want to help you win" attitude. Of course he wants to win! Everyone does! Anyone who doesn’t see through his BS is an idiot and should rightfully be voted off next.

Jimmy Johnson’s gameplay was also pretty horrid. Saying you are one of the weak players at Tribal Council is a great way to seal your fate. The team needs strong players to win challenges against the young tribe so the weak players should be the first to go. Anyone who was on the fence about voting him off probably made up their mind at his pathetic admission.

Even Dan, who can barely move, said that he wasn’t one of the weak members of the tribe, although he did tell the camera that he isn’t as strong as any of the men and maybe as strong as the women. Oh boy, this guy isn’t going to last long. You don’t have to be amazingly fit to win Survivor, but you need to be able to stand up normally.

It's interesting that the older tribe doesn’t seem to have split into two definitive alliances. They really are trying to vote out the weaker players first. Why aren't the weak players trying to turn on the stronger ones?

I'm also really growing tired of NaOnka on the younger tribe. Last week she blindly accused the tribe of having stolen her socks, and then went and stole Jud's. When he went to calmly confront her, she blew up in his face. This week, she knocked down Kelly B, an amputee, in order to get the clue for the hidden immunity idol.

She is loud and annoying and downright mean-spirited and often brags during her camera time about how much better she is than Kelly B, since she has two legs, as opposed to the one that Kelly B has. It's a shame that she seems to be in a solid alliance because I'm praying she gets voted out soon.

Side point: It's really hilarious that Survivor officially changed Jud's name to Fabio. I don’t seem him staying in the game long, unless he is used as a pawn, which is actually pretty likely to happen.