Survivor Results: Week 1

Aaaaaand we're off!

In the first episode, we didn't get to see much of the fans, but the favorites were entertaining enough on their own. It was great to see Yau Man walk away with an individual immunity idol, proving once again that the race doesn't always go to the swiftest.

We always hear contestants saying things like "This isn't really about survival of the elements, it's more about surviving the social situation of the game." The first episode showed that there is indeed a wilderness survival component. The fans were left out in the cold and rain while the favorites wasted no time in building a shelter, making fire, and feeding themselves.

The "villainous" Jonny Fairplay seemed to achieve his goal of garnering attention for himself. He crossed an alliance, double-crossed the other alliance, and then triple-crossed the intentions of the game by asking everyone to vote him out, apparently sincerely. It's hard to think this was his plan going in, because it seemed to be Parvati's idea for him to nominate himself as a misleading "fake boot." But something must have changed his mind, because he threw himself into the role and seemed happy to get a hug from Jeff and walk away from his chance at a million dollars. I think in his mind, he used to be a "bad guy," and now he's redeemed himself in the eyes of America as a "good guy." In reality, I don't think anyone really thought he was a villain in the first place. It's more like he's just kind of a twerp, and I'm not sure he'll ever live that rep down.


But enough about that-- what's up with the pool?

This Week's Standings:

Matt: 106 (+6)
Dawn: 97 (-3)
Carl: 95 (-5)
Paul: 93 (-7)
Kim: 88 (-12)

I thought Jonny Fairplay would go far, but I was saved by the fact that I was the only one who thought the Fans would win the first immunity challenge, which gave me 12 fat bonus points and the lead in the pool.

Dawn went with her gut, that an unlikeable guy like Fairplay was sure to go early, and that earned her second place.

Carl is only two points behind, having predicted Fairplay out 15th, and Paul is two behind him, having predicted that Fairplay would last until 13th place. It's nice to see that the Amazing Race Prediction Gene is different than the Survivor Prediction Gene.

Kim is starting off on the wrong foot, but at least she's in familiar territory. She actually predicted that Jonathan and Jonny would ally, and I was shocked when the episode seemed to be playing out that exact scenario. But in the end, no one can predict the enigma in a puzzle in a riddle that is Jonny Fairplay, and so she paid the price.

Of course, this is barely scraping the surface, and the season promises to be volatile enough to give us all some time at the top of the scoring. Be sure to send me your Immunity Pick for next week (as referenced below)...





Here are the scoring rules:

Everyone starts with 100 points. Every time someone is voted off Survivor, pool players lose one point for every space their prediction was off. For example, in a worst case scenario, if your first place pick was voted off in last place, you would have been 19 places off in your prediction, and so you would lose 19 points. If your prediction is correct, you gain 5 points instead of losing any.

Every week, everyone should send me their Immunity Pick. 12 bonus points will be awarded each week, divided amongst all those who correctly pick the winner of immunity. Before the merge, this will be choosing one of the two tribes. After the merge, this will be choosing the individual tribe member who wins individual immunity. If everyone guesses correctly, no points will be awarded.

Before the merge, everyone will receive 200 additional points, and submit a second round of picks. These picks will be scored in the same way as the first set of picks, times two.

After the merge, everyone will receive 300 additional points, and submit a third and final round of picks. These picks will be scored in the same way as the first set of picks, times three.

There will be bonus points awarded for successfully predicting players to finish in the final five, final three, and to win the game.