"Survivor: One World" starts with a bad break
Pictures: "Survivor: One World"
Twenty-nine-year-old Texas motorcycle repairwoman Kourtney Moon was the first to be eliminated from the game because she broke her wrist during the initial immunity challenge, which required teams to take a steep drop onto a net, walk a balance beam and cross a rope bridge. She landed on her wrist during her fall into the net.
Kourtney tried to bravely soldier on, but when she dropped to her knees complaining of dizziness, host Jeff Probst called in the medics, who took her for X-rays. The men, who were leading in the challenge, were then given the choice of ending the competition and claiming victory or continuing. They chose to take the victory.
This came as no surprise to viewers but apparently it was a shock to the women's team, whose members rued the decision using quaint terms (like "chivalry") that had all but disappeared from most modern conversations.
It should not have come as such a surprise. In the first moments of the new season, after tribes had been divided into men and women, the men showed their true colors. The teams were given 60 seconds to grab as much gear as they could from the truck in which they arrived. While both teams scrambled aboard the truck, the men had someone lifting items from the woman's pile. Probst tried to warn them, but they ignored him until it was too late.
"Where's the ax," screamed Alicia. "I know I grabbed an ax." There it was, over on the men's stash. Back at camp, which were side by side on the jungle beach (a new twist this game), both teams found luck. The women managed to snag both wild chickens, and while there was talk of sharing as all the castaways chased after the two fowl, the women had no intention of turning over one of their prizes.
The men were able to start fire easily, and they weren't sharing either, despite efforts by some of the women to strike a bargain. The women tried stealing a few embers that night, but the fire went out and they couldn't start it again. Finally, they agreed to weave palm fronds in exchange for the fire.
The cameras did show some animosity between Alicia and Christina but even so, the venom that spewed forth at Tribal Council was something of a surprise. Neither would let the other talk as they hurled invectives at increasingly higher volume. Some of their teammates found this funny; others acted embarrassed. Probst hinted that the lack of unity may be a liability.
This season, there is no Redemption Island and, while there still are immunity idols, they come with a twist. Those who find them must turn them over to a member of the other team. When Sabrina finds one, who does she give it to?
Why, to "Country Club" Colton, one of the most colorful characters in the game. An openly gay guy, he spent his time bonding with the women while his teammates built shelter. Sabrina reasons on camera that Colton needs the idol because he will be the first of the men to go because he is such a fish out of water.
But it's precisely because he's so different that the men's tribe may give him a pass, seeing him as not much of a threat and not worth an early ouster.
What do you think? Who will win this game and who will be the next to go? Take our poll and discuss below.
