TVSquad

(S19E04) So far we've had one of those lopsided seasons on Survivor. We've seen this happen before -- one tribe keeps winning, the other keeps right on losing. The numbers on the latter are decimated going into the merge which allows the stronger tribe to keep picking them off one by one. I prefer things a bit more evenly matched. The tribal losses affect both the strong and weak players across the board. Once a tribe keeps losing every challenge, morale goes down. Then they lose some more.

We have Galu, those who win everything. Then there's Foa Foa who keeps "goa goa" right on home at each tribal council. Now, I'm not all that thrilled with all the members of that tribe. But I'd like to see the playing field leveled out just a bit. After all, they also lost one member to illness in addition to the three they've voted off. Galu hasn't lost not a one of the ten original members.

So what happens? Why, Galu won a reward -- three chickens. The really scary part of that challenge is that there's some guy named "Dave" on the show. We've seen so little of the Galu tribe, basically Russell and Shambo, that I don't even know their names. I forgot there was a Dave. But he's right. He won the chickens, not Russell. He might bear watching down the line. He knows when to keep quiet.

However, Foa Foa actually came through for the win in the more important challenge. Yep, we had separate immunity and reward challenges this week. I know I fussed last week. It must have been my influence, eh? Foa Foa basically won because Monica on Galu did so horribly. What was with her Lamaze-style breathing? She was crossing a rope ladder, not giving birth!

I feel better that they finally won a challenge. But I found a few things troubling about tonight's episode. First, I've been calling the Galu Russell "Good Russell" as opposed to "Evil Russell" on Foa Foa. After watching that chip on his shoulder tonight, I'm not all that sure he's such a good guy. His tribemates don't want to cross him, but I see a mutiny down the line. I don't think there's anything in the rules against voting out the leader.

Then there's Shambo the Shambles. I want to like her. She's a worker bee in the camp. But, gosh ... she really can screw things up. She let a chicken escape. She went and told her Galu tribe how much all of the Foa Foa folks loved her. And, even worse, she gave two of her tribemates the clues for the hidden idol. Erik found it and thinks he's the only one who knows. Too bad for him that the other person she told, John, was peeping when he was supposed to be sleeping.

I think the most perplexing bit about the episode was the huge edit lapse before tribal council. Monica was the weakest in the challenge. Yasmin steps up for challenges, but does nothing around the camp. There's good cause for either of them to go. Russell decreed it had to be Monica voted out. The rest of the tribe pretty much wanted it to be Yasmin. The boys on Galu were scared to cross Russell.

When the votes were shown at the end of the show, only Shambo and Yasmin voted for Monica to leave. Now, I totally understand how they edit things to make it appear like something is going to happen when it isn't. Tonight's Foa Foa win is a case in point for that. But this was more like the 18 minutes missing on the Watergate tapes. What was up with Russell? Did I blink and miss him changing his mind and going for a unanimous Yasmin ouster? He voted her out. When did that happen? Sheesh! Alas, it also shows that Shambo is totally out of the loop.

[Watch episodes and clips of Survivor over at SlashControl.]