Heroes vs Villains

The 20th season of Survivor has begun. Of course I have been unapologetic with this show from the beginning despite the evils of reality programming that it spawned. Who knew at the beginning that this experiment would be so successful and introduce us to some of the most interesting characters television never created.

Yes parts are 'creatively edited' but you can't fake the challenges or the outrages or the craziness that make the show so watchable.

This time we are given ten 'heroes' and ten 'villains' but the distinction is an artificial one. Like Russel said, everyone eventually has to act like a villain to advance in the game. I got high hopes for a Russel/Rupert alliance (the R&R alliance) come merge time if Rupert can push through his injury that he got in tonight's opening episode.

Which brings me to the point I seem to make every season. I hate seeing the competitions that are so brutal that people have a real chance of being injured or even killed. If you see any of the challenges where they are allowed to grab and pull and bite and fight over something there are always people that take it too far. It's in the nature of the kind of 'ultra A' types that get chosen to play this game. None more so than this season since ALL of them have played the game at least once before and have egos the size of the island they are stranded on. The 'win' for them is everything and they don't consider others in the heat of the struggle. One day that is going to hurt someone very badly.

The person who got eliminated in the first episode is someone who needed to go. The weak must be cut from the herd even earlier than ever this time. Those who get to the end will have to fight harder than they ever have in their lives and the winner can truly lay claim to the title of the 'Ultimate Survivor' - the best person to ever play the game.

So off we go. It will be a nice distraction to watch this and 'Amazing Race' as a break from the non-stop marathon of Winter Olympics that I will be immersing myself into over the next couple of weeks.

I don't suspect to post any less but who knows. Might just take a break and have some people miss me for awhile.