Survivor: The Amazon - thoughts on the premiere

[IrishHand]

-I thought it was a good plan to extend the first episode to 1 1/2 hours - you really do need some more time to introduce most of the 16 players. In past seasons, you'd really only get a vague idea about less than 1/2. Now, it's more around 2/3rds.

The women
-Heidi is hot, cool, and desperately wants to sleep with me.
-Shawna is also hot, cool and desperately wants to sleep with me. I haven't confirmed whether they're down for the 3-way I have in mind.
-That skinny-as-hell swimsuit model chick is kinda nasty, and a whiny skank besides.
-The deaf chick will actually do well if she gets in on a 4- or 5-person alliance early. She works hard, will stay under the radar, and they'll view her as non-threatening.
-The black chick is the first black chick they've had on Survivor who actually seems interesting to me.
-The butch lawyer chick has a decent head on her shoulders, but will only last with a decent alliance - otherwise, the bossing around will kill her (it always does - you'd think they'd learn).
Overall, some decent eye candy as always - hopefully it won't get voted off real quickly like it generally does.

The guys
-stupid as hell to think they'll dominate challenges. The vast majority of the challenges have nothing to do with strength and/or stamina, the two areas the men would dominate - and there have been less and less of them as the series has gone on. Yesterday's challenge was a perfect example - it looked vaguely like a physical challenge, but the 2 things that took the most time were the puzzle (100% mental) and the balance beam (agility and balance - limited advantage to the guys).
-Butch seems like a solid citizen. It was a good call letting Roger take over bossing everyone around - he'll be able to pick up the slack once he gets voted off. (The initial "leader" generally gets axed.)
-Roger will only survive with a strong 4-person alliance. Other than that, seems like a solid citizen too.
-Alex seems a bit strange, but otherwise a solid citizen.
-Daniel is an idiot. I will enjoy watching him get voted off soon.
-Dave seems like a decent lad, but his speech was a bad idea. Bold declarations and/or speeches are a bad idea early on when your tribemates don't even know you.
-Rob is a bit of a weenie. I tend to suspect he'll go relatively early too.
Overall, I can see a strong Butch/Roger/Alex/Dave alliance rolling this group now that they're down to 7.

Anyone else's thoughts?

[Glenn]

Here's my take:

1. The guys are idiots. They couldn't do a puzzle or walk across a balance beam. Now of course, a balance beam favors the women since their feet are smaller, but still the men just stunk.

2. The women's team will fall apart. Within 4 or 5 days they will be destroyed by infighting and fatigue. They simply are not handling the elements as well as the men. There are 2 or 3 of them who might be able to survive in the jungle, but most were falling apart physically on the first day! They weren't able to make a shelter and they were acting like stereotypical women which is not what they want to do. Rallying around that stupid little fish was proof they have no clue. Anyone with a clue would have used it for bait. Sure they feel all proud now because they won the challenge but did you see them trying to kill the spider? Seriously, 3 or 4 will have mental breakdowns pretty quickly. Look at Real World Road Rules Challenge Battle of the Sexes. The women did well at first, but have fallen apart. They can't get along or work together while the men are doing great.

3. Why can't anyone fish? That always pisses me off on every Survivor. I mean we're not talking about world records here, they just need to pick up a few panfish!

4. I liked the 90 min episode too but I still don't know who anyone is.

5. The women really didn't look that good. Maybe it was the lighting or something. Regardless, it's going to be hard for anyone to beat Elisabeth from the one that Tina won.

[IrishHand]

My absolute favorite was the fact that it took the women ALL DAY to get a fire started. First, they decide that 4 tribemembers will work on shelter, and 4 on making fire. Later that night, while they're appreciating their hard-fought battle to make fire, they lit up their two kerosene lamps for better lighting. Good God...how ignorant do you have to be? Two of the guys start a fire in about 10 minute, while it takes half the women all day - and they never even think to use the GAS they were given to light it.

No clue why people can't fish on Survivor.

[brad]

according to freud women arent as fascinated by fire as are men because men can urinate on a fire to put it out.

im being serious.

heh.

[Timer]

I really enjoyed the 90 minute episode. I thought the first immunity challenge was a put on. Those two guys couldn't even CRAWL across that log! The fittest guy in the camp is a damn homo! Did you see that every time he got to the end of the log he'd fall off. Something wasn't right there.

The women will do OK, and don't forget if things aren't going well, in other words, if the producers think the ratings will fall off because it looks to one sided or it's obvious which trible will dominate, then they will just change the rules. They'll either mix up the tribes or something similar. They've done it in the past.

The women have a little confidence now. I have a hunch a prize in one of the challenges will be to switch camps. If the babes win that one, look out.

The women have a definite shot. The producers will see to it. After all, it's all about ratings.

I'm pulling for the deaf girl, but she is a big longshot.