Ad Executive Earl Cole won Survivor Fiji last night. Earl received all nine votes, a survivor first. Yau-Man, though not in the final three, really was the number two player. Cassandra proved utterly useless and lazy and Dreamz showed himself to be a liar in the final tribal council.

Yau-Man’s expert play came when he offered Dreamz his Ford truck in exchange for immunity at the final four. Dreamz seemed pretty genuine with his offer to give it to Yau-Man, but renegged at the final moment which sent Yau-Man home.

Funny thing is Dreamz was screwed either way. If he had given up the immunity necklace as he promised he was have been voted off for sure - though ‘kept his word’. Instead he kept immunity for himself, which sealed his fate with the jury. He received no votes, proved not to be a man of his word and left people wondering if anything he ever said was really true. And you can bet Yau-Man had played out both of these strategies ahead of time. Smart guy.

As for Earl, he’s definitely a deserving winner. He played quiet the entire game, which seems time and time again to be a winning strategy. Ironically he never won a single immunity challenge, or received a single vote against him in tribal. Definitely one of the slickest, understated players the game as seen.

I will I could tell you more about Mookie being voted off Survivor, but my damn DVR didn’t record it. Scientific Atlanta sucks. I wish I had TIVO back, but I have Cox cable and a HD TV, so TIVO is a no go. Why the hell can’t they make a HD Tivo box that isn’t married to DirectTV? What up with that? The recording quality is awesome, but the interface and function of that Scientific Atlanta DVR is TERRIBLE. It was probably designed by a bunch of engineers without one thought of how people might actually use the box. I really love fast forwarding to the middle of a three hour movie - with no jump points. Idiots.

Anyway. I missed Survivor. I’m glad Mookie is gone. I didn’t trust him. It’s taken me a long time to get into this season. I barely have the interest to keep watching. Not sure why. Cast maybe? Perhaps the show is just getting old? Certainly a lack of attractive women doesn’t help.

If some super uber fan feels like posting comments I’d love a good recap. And please, bitch on about Cox DVR!

Being nice wins you nothing in this game. The season premiere of Survivor Fiji saw Jessica deBen voted off for pretty much no good reason, but so it goes.

The beginning of the game started a bit different this season with the entire 19 cast aways left to trick out the ultimate shelter with a bevy of supplies. Architect Sylvia took control early - which can be a very tricky spot to hold in the beginning of the game. In the end all of her help actually ended up getting her sent to exile ’snake’ island.

My prediction for week 1 was way off - no surpise. We picked Yau-Man Chan or Sylvia to go. No chance with Sylvia on Exile Island and little old Yau-Man, who grew up on Borneo, made friends early with is coconut skills. I like Yau-Man, but he seems to nice of a guy to ever make it past the half way point.

Early annoyances where easy to pick. James ‘Rocky’ Reid and Andre “Dre” “Dreamz” Herd. They butted heads early. Dreamz may prove to be too boistrious. Although I thought the same thing of Nate last season and make it pretty far. Rocky seems about as smart as a box of rocks.

Probably the biggest twist in week one was the revelation that the hidden Immunity Idol may NOT be on Exile Island, but instead hidden in the camp. That may prove to be very interesting as more people make it back from Exile and start crossing paths around camp hunting ‘inconspiciously’ for the Idol.

Handicapping Survivor in the early stages is tough. You’ve got a whole cast you know little about. But there are some pretty good bets for who ends up voted off first. Typically the older folks make the best targets in the beginning. They can’t keep up and don’t alway integrate well. We’re thinking either Yau-Man Chan or Sylvia Kwan will be voted off the first week. A full line up Survivor’s Fiji contestants is below.

Yau-Man Chan
Anthony Robinson
Alex Angarita
Kenward “Boo” Bernis
Cassandra Franklin
Andrea “Dre” Herd
Earl Cole
Edgardo Rivera
Erica Durousseau
Gary Stritesky
James Reid
Jessica deBen
Liliana Gomez
Lisette “Lisi” Linares
Michelle Yi
Mookie Lee
Rita Verreos
Stacy Kimball
Sylvia Kwan