Watching Survivor

Hey, it was morning when I started writing this - close enough, right? (grin)

Congrats to those who chose well in our Survivor Pool Party this week! I certainly didn’t expect them to turn on Yau-Man so soon and am sad to see him go…

Congrats to Sugarbooger62 for pulling out the top numbers for the week with 18 points! That moved her clear up into 4th place overall. Colette was second for the week with 13 points, which kicked her up to 2nd place overall, right under me! Well done, you two!

As you can see - the standings are ever changing, and one good week can get you on top and in reach for those prizes, so get your picks in for next week’s episode soon!

As heartbroken as I am to see Yau-Man go, he handled it like I expected he would - with class and gratitude. You can find some of his interviews here and here - the last done by my buddy Lynn over at Reality Expoits. I’m sure other interviews will pop up around the net too - Yau-Man is extremely popular - and I’ll miss seeing him on the show!

In other news - if you’re around Penn Laird, Virginia on April 5th, you’ve got to check this out! There will be a Charity Pro Wrestling Event that will feature two of our favorites - Billy Garcia from Survivor Cook Islands, and the man we all love to hate, Jonny Fairplay! Thye’ll be squaring off in front of a special Celeb Guest Judge in a no DQ, no holds barred wrestling match with their partners Mr. Terriffic and Coach Dodson. This event will raise money for computers, smart boards, speech devices and other learning devices for severe and profoundly disabled children. And the big prize? The winners shave the loser’s head, right in the ring! That’s right - Billy might just be taking Jonny’s curls from him after the match!

There will be other special guests there - including Cao Boi (Cook Islands), Tracy Wolf (Micronesia) Kynt & Vyxsin (The Amazing Race 12) among others. The event is on April 5th, 2008, at the Spotswood High School. Admission is $10 and doors open at 6pm. If you get a chance to go, let me know, as I’d love a first hand account of the festivities! (When, oh when will these guys come to Alaska so that I can attend a function?! Sigh!) Good luck with the fundraiser, Billy and Jonny!

If not, you don’t know the fun your missing! There’s still time, of course - hit up Fun Office Pools and join today! There’s still plenty of time to creep up the Leader Board and topple me off the head spot!

In fact, several of you jumped up in standings this week! Congrats go out to Collette who kicked all our bums and pulled in the most points this week, with 18 of a possible 23 points! Several other’s moved up, and the top three are only separated by 5 points!

Get those picks for week three by Thursday afternoon, and increase your chances to win!

In other news - Mary hasn’t done a lot of interviews as of yet but here’s a podcast for you to enjoy! The best interview, however, involves the one and only Johnny Fairplay too. I know, weird, right? Seems he’d befriended Mary and after they were done filming, he introduced her to his buddy from Pearl islands, Ryan ‘Ryno’ Opray on December 9th. They hit it off immediately, and two weeks ago got engaged! And they plan to have All-Stars Lex Van Den Berge officiate their wedding. Awwww! How sweet is that?! Never thought of Johnny as a matchmaker, but I always knew he’s a good guy off camera. (grin)

I’ll post more interviews as I find them - in the meantime, what did you think of Thursdays episode? Poor Mary, she never saw it coming! I think that Joel may have played too hard too fast, in order to make sure that he’s seen as just as much of a leader as Mikey B. Might end up hurting both their games. As Super Fans, they sure have forgotten what they should know from watching seasons before!

There’s still time to get in this weeks picks for the Pool Party! I received the items for the grand prize in the mail yesterday, and I can’t wait to give them away at the end of the season! Who will topple me off of the top of the leader board this week? I know my spot won’t last forever, and ya’ll will kick me off sooner rather then later - which is perfectly ok with me! So get those choices in over at Fun Office Pools, and up your chances of kicking me back a notch or two! Don’t forget the bonus questions for some extra points!

And to get you good and ready for tomorrow’s Valentine’s day episode - here’s Jeff Probst’s Preview of Episode two:

It sounds horrible, but I’m glad it’s Ozzy and Amanda that get caught making out, because I’d hate to spend the hour yelling at my screen (again) for Parvati to GET HER HANDS OFFA MY JAMES ALREADY! (…again.) Because… ew. I mean Ozzy/Amanda is bad enough… but I hope that James is just playing his social game, and doesn’t take it too far into slutsville.

Because then I’d have to throw things at my screen. Again. And no one wants that, right? Remember to join me back here tomorrow night for a full show recap, as well as the results of our Pool Party Picks for the week! It looks to be a good episode - but then again, aren’t they always? (grin)

As is customary here at Watching Survivor, I’ll post links to all the interviews that each bootee has done over the weekend on Monday - so you have everything in a one stop shop type of post.

I admit to being skeptical, as with most of you, of Johnny Fairplay’s motives and his reasons for asking the tribe to oust him in a move he claimed wasn’t a quit - but kinda was. As I read and listen to his interviews, though… it might be the biggest con of all Fairplay cons, but I’m inclined to believe him. I’ve chatted with him a couple times before, and yeah - he’s always struck me as a nice guy playing a role. Maybe I’m just sentimental…

At any rate, you can read the interviews here, here, here, and here, and decide for yourself.

Bits that stuck out to me - I didn’t realize that the taping started so soon after the Bonoduce Bash at the Realty Awards - If I had been in that much pain, I certainly wouldn’t have gone. It does help us understand a bit why he was so upset about Yau-man’s headslam into the boat too. It likely hurt a lot more then we though because of his jaw and with that knowledge, I think he handled it considerably better then I would have, and better then we expect Fairplay to do at all.

So is this really a more mature, more responsible Johnny Fairplay? Only he knows, and we can only speculate. I think so. I hope so. And I still kinda like the guy - when he’s not on TV. (grins)

In other news - get your Pool Party Picks in! Remember you have until Thursday morning to do so, but better early then never! Head on over to FunOfficePools.com and make your choices! Don’t forget to answer the bonus questions this week too!

How’d you do this week? Were you close, but not quite? Did you rock the pick - even if it was by closing your eyes and pointing, or eenie, miney, moeing it? Who’s going to be the one next week to topple the prplmoose and me off the top spot? And you know my picks don’t count over all when it comes to the prizes. (grin) So kick me off the top spot!

Congrats to Prplmoose, Silver, Jo, Kevin, Silent_rain, Sugar and Magicode for scoring the first points of the season. The rest of ya’ll - get your picks in for week two, and there’s even two bonus questions this week, so there’s the chance for additional points as well! See the sidebar down there under Blogging Flair, and check the widget for the standings and how the possibilities are stacking up as people choose. And it’s still not to late to join in the fun, either!

Now that we’ve gotten a bit more of a feel for the Fans, it’s easier to choose - how about that Kathy, huh? Will she survive long enough to get booted? Is she really as nuts as she comes across? I was impressed with the Fans - they clearly had an abundance of drive and heart during the competition, but they are like every other first time survivor when it comes to camp life. The Faves should have had that competition in the bag. Over-confidence is a bad thing.

(And what about the Showmances coming up next week? They’ve known each other for SIX DAYS! I’m stunned. Shocked. And Parvati - get ya HANDS OFF MY JAMES. Harumph. )

If you missed any of the episode - don’t worry, I’ve got ya covered! See below for the full recap.

Two more days until the premiere of Survivor: Micronesia! I can’t wait, can you? There’s still time to join our Pool Party - and if you’ve been waiting around to see if the prizes were worth it? Well, have I got a deal for you! That’s right, I’ve got the list of prizes for the top three Pool winners all but in my greedy little hands (as in ordered and on the way!) - et voila!

Grand Prize Winner
The participant with the most over all points at the end of the season will receive a prize package that consists of the following items:

1 banner, designed by me, declaring you to be the Sole Pool Party Survivor
1 copy of the Survivor Blast game on DVD
3 Tribal buffs from Survivor: Thailand - 1 gold/yellow, 1 purple, 1 orange

Second Place will receive the following:
1 banner, designed by me, declaring you the Pool Party 2nd place winner
1 Survivor Board Game
2 Tribal Buffs from Survivor: Africa - 1 gold, 1 red

Third Place will receive the following:
1 banner, designed by me, declaring you the Pool Party 3rd place winner
1 Survivor Card Game starter set
1 Tribal Buff from Survivor: Thailand - 1 gold/yellow

See, didn’t I tell you it’d be worth it? Barring any USPS snafus in getting the gear to me, this is what the prize packages will be. There is the possibility of additional items added later too, depending on how many people we get into the pool.

So if you’ve already signed up - yay! Tell your friends and family and co-workers and other Survivor fanatics to sign up too! If you haven’t… what are you waiting for… sign up today!

That’s right! This season, we here at Watching Survivor have the chance to participate in our very own Pool! So grab your rubber ducky and check out the floating ba…. wait. Not THAT kind of pool! This is an online version of what office’s and friends and family do all over the place, making predictions and earning points until an eventual winner is crowned! Jim, over at FunOfficePools.com has graciously invited us, walked me through the process, and helped me set up our very own Watching Survivor Micronesia Pool! And did I mention? It’s TOTALLY FREE to join and play!

Here’s how it works:

Step one: Click here and join! I know, easy right?
Step two: Make your picks for who is going to be voted off Week One! You can spread you’re points around, or put them all on one. You can change you’re mind up until the countdown clock hits zero.
Step three: Make your Overall Winner pick! If your pick wins, you will get 40 points, second gets 20 and third gets 10.
Step four: Check back EVERY WEEK to see how you’re doing in the standings and make your next week’s predictions!
(if you need help choosing your first weeks picks, check out the previous posts -here, here, here and here- where I’ve already begun snarking on the contestants!)

At the end of the season, whoever has the most points wins! What will you win? Well, total bragging rights, first off. I’m still working on the rest. As of now:

Grand Prize: A button declaring you the Sole Pool Survivor posted on here and linked to your site.
2nd Prize: A smaller button declaring you pretty darn awesome as well and linked to your site.
3rd Prize: The smallest of the three buttons, but hey - It’s a link!

And you will, of course, be able to have a copy of your button to plaster wherever you want.

I’m working on some other ideas as well, but I won’t have everything cemented for a couple weeks yet - but it’ll TOTALLY be worth it! If you’re interested in donating something fabulous for a prize, please let me know by clicking that ‘contact me’ button over there, or leaving a comment and I’ll get back to you straight away. Otherwise you’ll be stuck with the buttons and whatever I choose for the winner! (grin)

So what are you waiting for? Click HERE and sign up today! Invite your friends to do the same! The more people we have, the more fun it’ll be - so spread the word!