The casting is amazing for Survivor: Heroes Vs. Villains, starting the shows 20th season and tenth year. The villains are truly love-to-hate players from the past. The heroes were almost all great players (and corrected that tonight).
Standout villains include Russel Hantz from last season's second place finish. Still convinced he is the greatest Survivor player ever, Russel started his game right where his last game ended. Making final two deals with anyone who would listen. Funny they did not show Russel digging up an Immunity Idol... yet.
Boston Rob is the other love-him-or-hate-him guy on the side of evildoers. While Rob is not really evil, he is a sneaky and a very strong Survivor player. Now married to Amber, his Survivor sweetheart, Rob is really more annoying than evil. There were scary scenes from next week concerning Boston Rob, so be prepared for anything (as always).
The heroes are just what they sound like, strong people. It's hard not to support this group even if you think they drip sugar (they don't anymore). It's really hard to pick a favorite hero from this pack. Tom will always be a moral favorite of mine. James is ...well, James! Stephanie is tough as nails, physically and mentally. Cirie is one of the most strategic players ever. Colby is just plain hot!
The game began tonight with Jeff Probst stirring the pot right off the bat, of course. Pointing out who played with whom and asking what each team thought of each other. Probst did his best to get the trash talking started.
The first Reward Challenge was right there on the beach before going to camp. Teams would play for fire. A bit of a beach rugby game, where each team would send out two players at a time to find a sandbag. The goal was to get the buried sandbag to your team's mat. Getting it to the mat was the real challenge. In a no holds barred competition it was clear from the start that this would be for blood (or bones).
Stephani and Cirie faced off against Parvati and Danielle in the first round. Somehow Danielle, the skinniest person on the island, got the sandbag free from the all out brawl in the sand to win the first point. At one point Stephanie was shown being held in an awkward position to the screams of "break her shoulder!!" Nope, only dislocated. Right there on the beach the medics popped Stephanie's shoulder back into place (with full mic on the bone popping) and off she went back to the competition. This chick is tough.
Amanda and J.T. went up against Randy and Jerri. Looked like J.T. and Randy were just wrestling by themselves...until J.T. took the sandbag to the Heroes' mat. The game was tied at one.
Tom and Colby against Russel and Coach was one of the best match ups. Russel found the bag (go figure) while coach laid in wait as a blocker. Colby came up with the bag and headed for the mat with Coach riding his back. Russel seemed to have a special kind of hate for Tom. Jeff Probst had to continually yell for Russel to play fair as he tried to twist Tom's leg off. Meanwhile, Colby ran out of gas and Coach (ugh, the "Dragon Slayer") lifted Colby over to the Villains' mat in three giant lunges. It was cool ... and sickening at the same time. Guess that bad back healed up well, huh Coach?
Sugar and Candice were up against Sandra and Courtney. I don't even know who Candice or Courtney are, but they seem to be on the right teams. Sandra wound up taking Sugar's top off in an effort to stop her with the sandbag. Sugar ran to the Heroes' mat anyway, then promptly turned for a full blurred frontal and a double bird sign (also blurred) to Sandra.
Finally it came down to Ruppert and James versus Tyson and Rob. Tyson had said Colby should feel like "turning into a woman" after being bested by Coach, then proceeded to do nothing for his team. Ruppert found the bag and called for James to bring it home. Boston Rob ran into James like a Nascar driver running into a wall. James did not move.. not even in the sand, off balance. Rob however went in the opposite direction falling flat on his ass. James took home the prize easily to the Heroes. Ruppert suffered the second Survivor injury in the first 30 minutes of the game. Breaking one of his toes, he continued on.
Just as you would expect the little worker bees on the Heroes team went to camp and started work. The Villains went to work on making alliances. Who needs shelter?
The two misfits of the entire cast are Coach and Sugar. Both are equally annoying, but neither is a villain or hero.
Coach rode his victory ("which I had long forgotten") over Colby for the first night at camp. Jerri swooned over him, ick. So the new romance sparked... or did it. Just when you thought Coach and Jerri would be the romance, Coach turned on his woman... for Boston Rob. Rob got the team to work together (against Randy's nagging) long enough to start a fire from scratch... and so became "Great God of All Things Survivor, and Fire". Coach professed his total man love for Boston Rob in front of Russel, who gritted his teeth. "I'm bro-mancing on my idol!" said Coach.
Sugar is still Sugar. Crying at the drop of a hat. I had a moment of respect for her on her win against Sandra... but then she touched Colby. Sugar not only touched Colby, but island stalked him. Poor guy could not even get any rest. The editing, if there was any, did not show Sugar in a good light.
The forest blessed the Heroes tribe with three chickens and a rooster as they continued to fart fairy dust on Survivor. It was pretty cool how they managed to work together to surround the chickens, and net them. Somewhere Shambo is pleased.
The Immunity Challenge was a combo boat puzzle, row exercise and wooden puzzle. Apparently the Heroes do not have super power for puzzles. Sadly they lost a huge lead they gained in strength to the brains of none other than Boston Rob. The Heroes headed off to tribal council. Sugar was already crying.
Now that the Heroes were forced to decide, the claws came out. While Sugar was the obvious choice, some were thinking more on the strategy side. Wow, playing Survivor finally. Sugar was even the odd player out with no ally from a previous season. The pairings were pretty natural.
Tom was a surprise to me, wanting to get Cirie out right away. I did not see that happening. Maybe a play for Colby, but Tom is smarter than I gave him credit. Cirie is a fantastic talker and a strong woman.
Cirie on the other hand, was targeting Tom's partner Stephanie. Another fierce female player, Stephanie will definitely be a contender.
J.T. took a new strategy this game. Choosing the Evil Russel route instead, J.T. made a final two deal with anyone who would listen.
In the end it did not matter. Sugar was the first person voted off Survivor: Heroes Vs. Villains.
And all is right with the world (of reality TV).
PS
The previews of next week show have Boston Rob collapsing in the forest and non-responsive. Not my favorite guy, but hope everything is alright.
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