IMDb
(Season 17, Episode 9)
Well, well, well. Things just keep going in unexpected ways this season on Survivor don’t they? It’s made for an interesting season. Coming into tonight’s episode, Susie keeps on surprising me by finding ways to stick around, while Bob just surprises me by being way cooler than you’d think a guy with a bowtie buff would be. And then there’s sweet, emotional Sugar.
I still can’t decide if she’s a savvy player playing a role for the others, or if she really is that naive and seemingly simplistic. Considering she has a ten-plus year acting resume as Jessica Kiper on IMDb, I’m going to go with the former. Here we are Top 10 and she’s still in this thing, and with the Hidden Immunity Idol intact. Hell, people know she has it and here she is. If that’s not good gameplay, then Randy should win the humanitarian of the year award … and share it with Corinne!
Let’s look at The Top 9:
Ken: Where did this gamer come from? He impressed me when he outpuzzled Bob earlier in this season, but all of a sudden he’s pulled this Machiavellian move to become the silent manipulator behind the past three eliminations, including tonight’s. And tonight, he just came up with a baseless lie to fulfill a personal vendetta against Charlie. He’s turned into a skinny little Godfather. Poor Charlie, he literally did nothing to deserve that.
Randy & Corinne: I’m going to just put them together here, because aside from a gender difference they’re the same person. Corinne trying to manipulate Sugar and then slamming her behind her back is the same as Randy slamming Crystal, but at least he does it to her face. Both are whiny bitches who are never satisfied. Randy bitching at a slam-dunk reward challenge was beyond the realm of stupid, but so typical of him. Even after winning he kept on bitching.
Crystal: Only slightly better than Randy & Corinne in personality, but way worse than them in challenges, she is the biggest disappointment to me. I think she’s only around because no one’s gotten around to getting rid of her yet. She’s mostly just dead weight.
Bob: That old guy is cool and impressive. He holds his own in these reward challenges despite looking like he’s not got an ounce of muscle or fat left on his body. The guy started out skinny but he’s gone beyond that to downright gaunt. Still, Bob is a decent guy who’s playing a smart game. His fake Idol looks every bit as good as a real one. And he now suspects Sugar has the real one. There’s potential there for both of them to mess with people’s minds.
Sugar: About like Bob, Sugar is playing a very genuine and sweet game. She’s actually been helped by all her time at Exile Island in that the rest of the players have hardly seen her, so they’ve not had a chance to find reasons to hate her. I’m sure Randy would have come up with one by now.
Matty: Matty falls into the category of one of the pretty boys. He hasn’t done anything to make himself stand out to me in any significant way. In fact, right now I can’t even remember anything about him except that he had that weird hair helmet thing going on tonight.
Susie: Talk about your underdog, not only is Susie still hanging in there, but she won Individual Immunity. I’ve been rooting for her just because of how unlikely she is as a successful contender on this show up to this point, but she just earned major kudos with that performance tonight. Sugar, too. In fact these two unlikely ladies made everyone else look just terrible up there.
Clacked by Jason Hughes 
on Nov 14, 2008 @ 12:07 EST5EDT
Jason… uh, Crystal was the one who was the lynchpin in Marcus’ exit last week, while Ken was responsible for Ace’s ouster two weeks ago. Had Crystal not been savvy enough to keep Marcus in her good graces, convince Susie her alliance was more intact, and let Ken know what was going on, Ken would have been the first member of the jury. She may suck at challenges, but her & Ken have helped each other, as members of any good alliance should do.
As far as Charlie going, it was not a big deal, as he added nothing to the game and by his own admission, could not think without Marcus telling him what to do. Talk about thinking with the wrong head!
I am hoping for some feisty TC’s down the road and if Corinne, Randy, and Crystal wind up on the jury, I would like to see some yelling/bitching/moaning at the Final 3. We’re in for a bumpy ride and I’m loving it, now that the season has picked up momentum.