Surviving Survivor

I don't usually write about my love for the TV show Survivor but I love it, I do. I've watched every season but one and although there have been some real snooze fests, it usually holds my interest in wonderful ways.

This season had the return of three players who had all played before but left the game for medical reasons.

This is Jonathan Penner.

Penner is possibly one of the best players to ever be in the game and he's worth watching.

Lisa. She might look familiar to you because she was a child star: Blair from The Facts of Life. Only two people have recognized her and that's Penner and Skupin, two of the returning players and older men. A few others in the same age group haven't and the younger players just think of her as the church lady.

I've been fascinated with this season because Penner is my favorite player, second only to Boston Rob. He's smart, conniving, athletic yet decent. He'll do whatever to stay alive except he hasn;t betrayed his word and he plays with dignity.

Lisa is also fascinating. She's in an alliance with one of the most banal players I've ever seen on the game: Abby She's loud, rude, insulting and thinks so highly of herself that it makes one afraid. Watching last night when things went bad for her, it was amazing to see her anger and petulance.

But last night had an amazing moment of Penner and Lisa talking (twice). The first time he was talking about her child stardom and he totally got in her head about her insecurities. I've never seen a man play a woman so well. That picture above is from that moment. He had Lisa in tears.

Later he asked her how in the story of this Survivor season how she wants to be remembered. A loyal person or a good player. She chose loyalty but thankfully her closest ally didn't (thank you Skupin for fucking over your alliance, they deserved it since they don't like you at all).

There are other players this season who are worth watching. Denise, a 41 year old sex therapist who's an amazing athlete and good at cutting through the bullshit. She's in tight with Malcolm who is the resident eye cansy as well as a super decent guy and good athlete.

Pete is a dark haired cutie who thinks he's the game mastermind but he's mostly hot air. I look forward to seeing him and Abby get voted off because quite frankly, they're mean and take up space. Abby is such a bad player that that in physical challenges the two other women, both twice her age make her look like an ass. I mean, they're ferocious. She sits on the sidelines and worries about her manicure.

In fact, they had to choose teams for a challenge and the two older women were chosen and Abby wasn't. Everybody knows a loser and she's a sterling example of one.

Anyway, I adore this show but this season has me breathless in anticipation for the next episode every week. I have a major love on the Penner, I really like Lisa and her game, I want to grow up and be Denise (or have some sex therapy with her)...

Just brilliant. Wednesday nights are my favorite night of the week for this reason alone.