Talking About Stuff, with Mike and Christiana

We had to re-record the first half hour of the show!

The Hiki tribe's inability to make fire. Mike's joke was much funnier the first time.

The African-American tribe and the Caucasian-American tribes are more racially united, in that they don't further classify themselves into sub-groups.

Is it related to the number of generations of Americanization?

We feel that this season of Survivor has gotten off to an excellent start.

Having teams of five rather than four is a significant improvement.

Self identification

Racist jokes: It all comes down to intent, context and respect.

It's good to have a sense of humor about yourself and your race, but it's important to respect the feelings of those around you too.

Racist jokes = Giving hugs (It makes sense in context)

They don't have mirrors.

The Puka tribe treats Cao Boi like an outcast because he's acting like one.

Jonathan versus Adam

Adam seems kind of dumb. Did he really not understand the importance of the shelter floor?

What did the girls think?

Smart gameplay for Jennifer to buddy-up to Jonathan.

Mike's assessment: "Ozzy is a dick"

Throwing a challenge this early is TERRIBLE gameplay in every possible sense.

Billy didn't help his case very much, but still...

Cecilia and Christina made the smart move, even if they had to hold their nose to do it.

If you are not able to contribute physically, you have to work your butt off to contribute in some other way.

Why did JP feel that Billy was untrustworthy?

Ozzy wants to boss people around but doesn't have the guts to be a leader.

Throwing the challenge to get rid of Billy left them a bitter, broken tribe.

JP is Ozzy's sidekick.

This early in the game, the tribes should be doing everything they can to keep their numbers strong.

Forcing Billy to go along with them while they threw the challenge was mean-spirited.

We think Ozzy's decision was personal, not strategic. Maybe Ozzy's extremely extensive camping experience and poor social skills are not entirely unrelated.

Okay, so... Billy and Candice... WTF? We were just as speechless as Probst

We feel bad for him now, that apparently the stress made him delusional in an extremely embarrassing way.

Probst's reaction was priceless.

Well, we still love you, Billy.

He probably built it up in his head after the fact, like when Susan Hawk quit Survivor: All Stars

Yul found the idol! We predicted it, but we were joking! Good for him!

Given the information available to them, sending Yul to Exile Island was a smart choice.

If the hidden idol is used, does it get buried again?

Yul is one of our favorites.

The Survivor Stock Ticker: Which players gained, which lost?

We are very pleased with the season so far.

This season doesn't seem to be as physically strenuous so far.

Here's what we talked about

Adam - The Pretty boy

Becky - A hot boxer attorney

Billy - A heavy metal ex-wrestler, but so far, talks a lot and doesn't work very much

Mike criticizes Billy's taste in Mexican beers.

Brad - "Gaysian", we like him. He's funny and sure to be entertaining

We wonder how much of Cau Boi's headache treatment was legitimate medicine and how much was weirdness-induced placebo

Mike confuses TV and real life... as though there's a difference.

Candice - Surprising that all we saw was Adam-snuggling, because she's a smarty.

I am a North Carolina "homer"

Candice is also a movie-lover

Mike explains that hotness is not all shallowness... it just STARTS with shallowness.

Clive Owen is Mike's new man-crush.

Cau Boi - Pronounced "Cowboy" (It's a nick-name) Lists profession as Prelate of Moose Lodge. He's weird, but in kind of a fun way

He's not pretentious, he's a Johnny Walker fan.

Cecilia - We haven't seen enough from her yet to really make a call

Christina - We haven't seen much from her on the show yet either, but an amazing story. She could be really cool.

She loses points for listing Dr. Phil as a favorite author.

JP - Very athletic, good taste in movies, haven't seen much from him yet

Jenny - Again, we haven't really seen enough yet to call.

Jessica - AKA "flicka" not like "My Friend Flicka" it's her Roller Derby Name "Flicka Flame" She seems like Courtney 2.0, but we like her. She's more punky and alternative than loopy and new agey. We like her. Losing the chickens was an accident and just bad luck, but she has time to recover.

Jonathan - "Chicken Thief" Seems really smart, and in pretty good shape. Could be a power-player, but now that Sekou is gone, he's the oldest castaway on the show.

Holy cow! Exile Island is TINY this season!

Nate - Younger than he looks, musical, well-spoken, bio suggests that he can balance his passions with responsibility. Lists "Playboy" as a favorite magazine, which takes... confidence. He could do very well.

Ozzy - Has wilderness skills up the wazoo, likable in bio, but for me, something about the way he criticized Billy without stepping forward as a leader irritated me.

If he really advocates throwing the challenge on the next episode that is a HUGE strike against him. It's terrible gameplay.

Discussion Question: Is it EVER good gameplay to deliberately lose a challenge?

If so, it would be a very rare circumstance, and never this early in the game.

Given how bad it is in terms of strategy, it has to be personal.

Parvati - Another "hot" one. Also a boxer. Went out on her own at 17 and put herself through college! We haven't seen much from her yet, but she has the potential to do well.

Mike busts me on not listening.

Anchorman is her favorite movie... okay, we can give her that one.

Seperating the tribes... "Kosher?"

Rebecca - Won an emmy for doing the makeup on the View?

We really only saw her as one of a pair with Sundra

Stephanie - Nursing student, competant toastmaster

As the swing vote, did she make the right decision? We can see it either way.

Sundra - Didn't get much from her bio. Seemed to be the more proactive and talkative of the two. (Sundra and Rebecca)

She's doing pretty well so far.

Sekou - Jazz Musician. Had a painting in the New York Museum of Art at age 7, we're suspicious of that.

Seemed like an interesting guy, might have been nice to see him stick around longer.

Yul - Big, strong, and super smart. THIS is who the Hiki tribe should have exiled.

Imagine if someone had found the hidden idol on the first episode.