Survivor Rocks

I WAS RIGHT!

I’m screaming right now. “I can get loud too, you know!” “Oh my God!” “This is crazy!” My favorite Pearl Islands castaway, the sassy Latina Sandra won and became the 7th Sole Survivor!!! I am so happy. This is only the second time that a favorite castaway of mine won Sole Survivor. The first one was nice guy Ethan from Africa. Of course I liked Brian too, from Thailand. But more because of his cold and calculating strategy (which is difficult to do) than his personality. In Marquesas, I liked Kathy, the emotionally unstable real estate agent. In the Amazon, I liked Rob because we were alike in a lot of ways. We were both Broadcast majors. We both daydreamed of being a castaway. We both like Forrest Gump. We are both geeks. (And a lot more!) Kathy and Rob only finished 3rd place unfortunately.

I really really like Sandra because she was so entertaining and funny. Her strategy was UTR (under the radar) that’s why she was not considered a threat but she was so loud and never boring. She had charisma. She spurned a lot of quotable quotes. She had spunk and she was frank. She was no-nonsense and outspoken. She was very human. She definitely had a lot of memorable moments out there. There was the hiding in the bushes thingy (which was really funny). Then there was the acting sick moment so the 3-girl alliance would not be obvious that had me laughing in stitches. And who would forget the bartering she made during the first episode?! Basta, I really really like her.

Because of Sandra (and okay, Rupert, Christa and Jon), Pearl Islands already stands as one of the better seasons. If I rank them all (sans the Pulau Tiga one since that season was a league of its own), I’d rank Pearl Islands the 3rd best. 3rd best only because I think it was boring pre-merge largely because of the Rupert-centric editing and more focus on the bland Morgan Tribe. The idea of letting the outcasts come back and play was also a bad idea since it defeats the purpose of the "outwit, outplay, outlast" theme; although, in fairness, it made the season more exciting. My favorite season is still Marquesas because of the raw emotions involved and topsy-turvy storyline. Second would be The Amazon because all the castaways were interesting (wala kang itatapon!). I like the editing of Africa and Australian Outback but the outcome was predictable. Thailand was the “bleh” season.

To top my happiness for the Sandra win, I also won in the Pinoy Exchange Survivor: Pearl Islands Prediction game. I will finally have a Survivor buff! Man, I’ve been longing for one since (cliché) time immemorial! LOL! :) I will definitely take a picture of me with the buff when it finally arrives. Shallow I know, but it’s the closest thing I can experience to being a Survivor castaway. I really love that show. I know it’s supposed to be reality-based but for me, it’s escapism. It’s like “bahay-bahayan” for grown-ups wherein if you don’t like someone, you boot him or her out of the house. And the sociological and political factors that come into play are really very interesting.

Okay, enough of Survivor: Pearl Islands. Can’t wait for Survivor: All Star! Haha! :)