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« Survivor: China
Episode 1 Recap
Thirty-nine days, 16 people, one Survivor. Such sweet words. Yes, folks, Survivor is back.
What is it about this granddaddy of reality shows that is so enjoyable? Great host? Check. Great casting (most of the time)? Check. Great location? Check. I don’t often say "Wow!" when I watch television but when the camera pulled back to reveal that enormous gold statue of Buddha, that’s exactly the word the popped out of my mouth. Yes, I could just be succumbing to all the hype surrounding Survivor: China’s location, but I have a feeling that this season is going to live up to it.
First off we have a very interesting cast of characters. From a man called Chicken to a guy named Frosti, unusual names have become a hallmark of Survivor, though they all seem to match their owners and their owners are giving us the goods already. So let’s get down to it:
Chicken: He gave us our first "diary room" interview of the season. God love that Virginia twang! It was enough to keep me from using a direct quote. Though he was this season’s early casualty, Chicken filled several roles that we’ve come to expect. He was the older, grizzled, down-to-earth, been-through-it-all, can-build-a-shelter-with-his-bare-hands, doesn’t-fit-in-with-the-young'uns guy who, surprisingly, recognized that his wisdom was not appreciated by his tribe and so kept his opinions to himself. That’s a rare thing indeed. Too bad it backfired. Psst: Unsolicited opinions are the kiss of death, but pony up when they’re requested.
Todd & John-Robert: The flight attendant and the poker player — it’s a sitcom in the making. These two somehow ended up off alone sizing each other up. Together they resembled a giant and a little person. I’m not sure if Todd’s the player he thinks he is but then again, is John-Robert?
Courtney: Does anyone see a little bit of Gwen Stefani in her? This girl is going to be a hoot to watch. I mean, she dissed a monk… in his own temple!
Leslie: The Christian-talk-show host wasn’t comfortable participating in the Buddhist welcome ceremony — all that bowing to graven idols put her off. Wonder what she’ll do come immunity-idol time. Either way, she’s finding her footing by making relationships with the strong silent....
James: Dude, this guy is one big muscle! There is no fat on him. None. I guess grave digging is tough work but I thought they used backhoes nowadays. Either way, to look at James, you’d think big, scary guy, but he’s this gentle, shy person worried about how to handle the social aspect of the game. I look forward to his journey.
Ashley: The professional wrestler has probably received the most preshow buzz, but she fell sick early on and almost got voted out, which from the previews would have been a shame. However, her illness provided great insight into…
Dave: The former model who so lovingly reassured Ashley that she shouldn’t worry that her illness was putting her at risk in the game and then immediately declared to the camera that she’s the first to go home if she doesn’t get better. Can’t. Trust. Him. But he’s likable as heck. As is…
Frosti: The Parkour athlete. If you’ve seen the opening scene in Casino Royale, then you’ll recognize this sport and if you paid close attention to the immunity challenge, then you would have seen Frosti, the youngest Survivor player ever, leap atop the wall as if that were humanly possible.
Peih-Gee: What to say? She’s got a lot going on. She’s crying. She's barking orders. She’s crying again. Peih-Gee is going to be fun to watch... if she lasts.
Sherea: High heels? Come on, have you never watched the show? Don’t show up to Survivor looking cute. You will regret it. She was already down to her bra by the first day, but at least she was wearing underwear. Let that be a lesson to…
Jaimie: The braless college student who was surprised by Jeff’s announcement that they would be leaving their worldly possessions, aka suitcases, behind according to Buddhist teachings.
Denise made her biggest impression so far with her hair, a lovely brunette mullett, and her trip-up in the challenge, but she and Aaron, Amanda and Erik didn’t get much airtime this week so I look forward to getting to know them better later on.
Those are the folks. As for the game itself, there’s no doubt the local culture will play a huge role as evidenced by the immunity challenge, which was very pretty to watch — dragons in an obstacle course. The tribe names mean Fighting Tiger (Zhan-Hu) and Flying Dragon (Fei-Long) and the immunity idol is a little Buddha. While the Art of War didn’t seem to have made an impression yet, Tribal Council was, as usual, a revelatory experience that the Zhan-Hu tribe experienced firsthand having lost the challenge. Dave and Peih-Gee volunteered to lead. Cocaptains? Not if the eye-rolling tribe have anything to do with it, which of course, means great viewing for us. And that’s why we love this show.
For more Survivor: China, check out our Online Video Guide.
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Sep 21, 2007 8:06 AM
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Courtney reminded me of all the wannabes and too cool hipsters that are typical of NYC. I couldn't stand her.
Did I hear the christian lady right when she said that she wasn't very religious right after she stepped out of the temple?
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Sep 21, 2007 9:08 AM
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What a creative recap! Very enjoyable reading. I am sooo excited about this season!
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Sep 21, 2007 9:18 AM
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If I had been there, I would have voted Ashley off. Chicken George would have been the second to go. I agree that Courtney was annoying with her city superiority attitude. And IMHO Leslie made a mistake leaving the welcome ceremony. I really like strong (what an amazing body!) silent James a lot, but I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone (except Chicken, of course--but he was no Rodger!).
I do think that was unfair to send them off to camp in their nice traveling clothes. They should at least have had a few minutes to change.
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Sep 21, 2007 9:25 AM
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Wow I can't believe there are hardly any comments yet.
How is it that Survivor always seems to pick people that have not seen the show before? I don't know for sure that she hasn't but how many times have the people been left with only what they have on at the moment. It never fails to tick me off when people are so dumb. I myself am well endowed in the chest area and the thought of trying to do challenges in a tiny unsupportive bra is just ridiculous! Ow. Not to mention falling out of it. I will never understand that. Did anyone notice that the wrestler had some kind of shoes on during the challenge and not the boots she had on originally? ? I didn't notice if the girl in the heels had something different on.
I did like James right away. He seems pretty cool so far.
I thought the scenery was beautiful. The challenge with the dragon was really cool too.
Definitely off to a great start I think. Noone was sent to exile island ~ I guess they will not have that this season? (No island?) Maybe the kidnapping instead?
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Sep 21, 2007 9:27 AM
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zzz,
IIRC, Jeff commented about them getting running shoes at the start of the challenge.
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Sep 21, 2007 9:31 AM
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I'm not sorry Chicken was voted off first. I could not understand a word he said, and was often distracted by how much he looked like some Confederate general from the Civil War who fell through a time warp and into the Chinese jungle. And his refusal to offer his opinions when he was asked got annoying very quickly.
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Sep 21, 2007 9:37 AM
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Nice start to the season and what an interesting group of contestants, a little less diverse than last year but still good. Plus, Chicken gave us the best reaction to being voted out of all time...."DAY-YUM!" The tribe has spoken..."I heard 'um." Classic.
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Sep 21, 2007 9:37 AM
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Ok, I have a main point to make, that is so irritating, that I yelled at the tv in retort to their expressions.
This is the FIFTEENTH season of Survivor, so I know these people have seen at least ONE season. How stupid are you that (A) you don't know that you are taking NO luggage to your camp, and (B) it's SURVIVOR....why are you wearing dresses, skirts, heels, fishnet stockings, etc. Get a clue already!
Anyhoo, I LOVE that surfing instructor, he is so HOT.
And Courtney? OMG, that had to be the most rude, disrespectful, and attitude-filled actions in the temple. What a brat. And her complaining about NYC people don't act this way, and she's not used to this kind of stuff, etc.....again, have you never SEEN this show? Why are you there? She WISHES she looked like Gwen Stefani!
Other than that, great start to a great show! And how about Frosti leaping onto that wall? Although, James practically did the same thing, I was all, WHOA!!
Cheers to the return of Survivor and our fave hottie host, Jeff!!
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Sep 21, 2007 9:41 AM
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You know, they did take off from Peking on a regular train, so it's not too surprising that they'd be nicely dressed. They probably thought they'd transfer to a plane or boat & would be able to change then. I just think that was wrong.
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Sep 21, 2007 9:46 AM
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ZZZ - nice to see that someone else was thinking the same thing. We were typing at the same time, so I wasn't just repeating a post!!
Imzadi - Chicken George, harharhar. I don't know if you were doing that on purpose, but that was funny, b/c that's who I kept thinking of every time they said Chicken. 
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Sep 21, 2007 9:47 AM
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Imzadi - "Chicken George?"...lol... you miss Big Brother, don't you? 
Ok, gotta ask... who the hell wears EARRINGS to Survivor?
::shakes head::
You can already tell the Divas from the rest...
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Sep 21, 2007 9:50 AM
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A great start to a new season of Survivor!
Chicken: I think he could have been an interesting person to watch, but I'm not surprised that he was the first one out. He just really didn't fit in. And the refusing to offer his opinions after they didn't take his first ideas, didn't endear him to anyone.
Todd: I really like him and think he is going to be fun. He does seem to be pretty smart and is obviously already playing the game.
John-Robert: Not too sure about him yet. I thought it was kind of a dumb move to tell someone right away that you think they are shady. It could come back to bite him if Todd feels threaten. But, I guess we will see.
Courtney- Ok, already can't stand her. I am NOT looking forward to watching her. I hate when people think that they are better than other people just because they live in NY. Everything she said and did just rubbed me the wrong way. And, yes I did notice the Gwen Stefani resemblance, but I called Courtney the "Gwen Stefani wanna-be".
Leslie: I totally respect her if she didn't feel comfortable bowing down in front of the idols. No matter what Probst said about it not being a religious ceremony, it was in a temple and felt to Leslie like it was going against her beliefs. She had a right to walk out. I'm not sure if she will be a "favorite" of mine, but I did like how she was trying to help James with the social part of the game.
James: Love him already! The guy is gorgeous,sweet,strong and shy, what's not to love. You're right, I don't think he has an ounce of fat on him. And he made scaling those walls look just as easy as Frosti did. I think he can dominate in the challenges, but that could hurt him in the long run. We'll see. I just hope he stays for a long time. And did i mention he's gorgeous?!
Ashley: I don't really like her, but I don't dislike her either, yet. She could be interesting to watch, though.
Dave: I really like him. I can see him being a good leader, which could either get him far or be the kiss of death.
Frosti: From what I've seen so far, he seems pretty likeable, too.
Peih-Gee: Bossy, but I kind of like her, although I can see her getting on my nerves eventually. My heart went out to her when she was overwhelmed with being in China, having recently lost her grandfather or was it her father?
Sherea: Did you not watch the show before? It always cracks me up when people say they aren't outdoors people. Then what the heck are you doing on Survivor? At least they gave them their running shoes so she didn't have to walk around in heels or barefoot. Other than that, didn't get much of a feel for whether I will like her or not.
Aaron: The reluctant leader of his tribe. We didn't get to see him a lot, but what I saw so far, I like him. And he is very cute. (Wow, I'm kind of superficial today, huh?! I just can't help it, it's always nice to have some eye candy on the show and when they seem like good guys, it makes them even hotter.)
The rest, I didn't see enough to get an impression.
I think it's interesting that most of the time, there is one tribe who has the team work thing down right away and one tribe who kind of flounders around hopelessly without much of a cohesive team.
I think this could end up being a very entertaining and interesting season. Supposedly there are lots of twists/surprises and I can't wait to see what the season holds in store. Darn it Mark Burnett, you sucked me in again!!
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Sep 21, 2007 9:54 AM
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I am thrilled we're back in Survivor Land! Yippee.
Loved the show, without a doubt, and I go right along with the comments already made.
Best thing for me so far? Rhoda's recap. Superior job, Rhoda. You got a full recap, your own opinions, and best of all, a rundown on every contestant in such a way that we could remember all of them. I don't usually know who is who until about 3 shows in, yet reading your blog this morning, I could remember each one of them
Thank you!
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Sep 21, 2007 9:57 AM
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Ahhhh, I love that Survivor is back! and what a great cast!
First off, I LOVE James. I hope he can get his social game together. How hot is that body? WOW!
Second, I agree with most of the other posts- come on, no bra? heels? 20 pound boots? Dumb Dumb Dumb. I'm thinking tennis shoes, layers of clothing (on my body) and DEFINITELY a sports bra. What's wrong with these people?
Daesey- If you're talking about Peih Gee, she is a jewelry maker so she's probably using Survivor as one big commercial for her earrings!
GarryB- I have to agree, I could not understand Chicken at ALL, except when he said "DAMN" after he was voted out!
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Sep 21, 2007 10:11 AM
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