Survivor: Bummer for Bruce

Hmm...as soon as I wrote that title I realized I'd made a horrible pun without even trying. And with that, let me say that despite Bruce's painful, unfortunate and anti-climactic exit from the game, I was thoroughly entertained by last night's episode. The interpersonal dynamics of this group are just hilarious, and the classic Antagonizer challenge was the perfect way to amp up the crazy. I laughed through almost the entire episode

As Aras observed, a challenge like last night's is designed to create resentment and rifts, and reveal factions within alliances. A really cagey player might throw the Antagonizer, because the price of winning can be high: your popularity is revealed, and you alienate your tribemates first by knocking them out of the challenge, then not picking them to join you on the reward. So even though Cirie continues to rise on my list of Favorite Contestants Ever, I worry that being outed as the least disliked castaway will not be good for her fortunes in the game. But she reads both her tribemates and the general situation very well, so I hope she manages to laugh her way into the Final Four, although it now seems unlikely that anyone would want to take her to the Final Two.

The real winners of tonight's episode were Terry and, believe it or not, Courtney. Terry for the obvious reasons that a) Bruce's medical crisis was the equivalent of a Get Out of Jail Free card for him, removing a Casaya member without forcing him to give up the immunity idol; and b) Casaya was none-too-subtle in revealing their popularity pecking order. Now he at least has a disgruntled player to work over in trying to build a viable alliance for himself.

For Courtney, the Antagonizer was alienating, but if she can quit her petulant pouting long enough to think things through (a stretch, I know), she might recognize a few things. First, at this stage in the game, people like to keep unpopular players in the game because they're looking ahead to the Final Two. Suddenly she's gold to the smart players. Second, now that she knows her tribemates aren't feeling the love for her, well, screw 'em. She should feel much better about switching her alliance if Terry is smart enough to make a deal with her. Which he should, if he has any brains buried in his brawn. But given what we've seen of his deal-making skills and strategizing so far, who knows if he'll figure it out.

That said, the big X Factor this season is the irrationality of so many of the remaining players. It seems like it's really hard to accomplish much strategically because Courtney and Shane are wack jobs who cannot be reasoned with, Danielle's a little off mentally, and Cirie's just coasting along, not wanting to stir the pot. It's easy to see how Aras could lose control of this group, but it's also hard to see how Terry could successfully peel away three of them to his side. I love it.

And with that, some random observations:

• I wonder which circle of hell Bruce though he'd fallen into as he lay on a thin mat in the jungle, writhing in pain from a GI tract backed up tighter than the Lincoln Tunnel on a Friday afternoon. If that wasn't bad enough, on one side he's got Courtney hovering over him offering to sing (sing!?!) to make him feel better, and on the other, Shane is prancing around naked. FORTHELOVEOFGODNOOOOO!MERCY!MERCY!AAAAHHHH!
• At the end of every episode I give thanks to Aras, Courtney and Danielle for convincing Shane to stay in the game back when he wanted to bail. If you haven't heard, it turns out he's a professional actor, which makes me wonder if his teeter-totter personality is, in fact, an act. Then again, I don't really care one way or another. The guy is flat-out entertaining. Plus, it's possible that he's both an actor and a total nutbar.
• I loved it when Aras used the "who couldn't survive on their own" question to throw a big diss Terry's way. Way to bring the trash talk, skinny dude. Man, this can't be much fun for Terry. I get the sense that the other contestants honestly don't like him, and not just because he's a threat and an outsider. Our upright, uptight, overachieving military man really doesn't fit in with the fire-dancing, yoga-doing, nic-fitting, fauxhawk-sporting band of freaks, plus Cirie. It's almost like a Red State/ Blue State thing. Hmmm...I wonder if its possible for Terry to get fewer votes at the final tribal council but still win the election? I mean, the million bucks?
• You know you're self-absorbed when someone else's medical emergency is "the cherry, the icing, the hot fudge" on top of YOUR bad day. Yes, I'm looking at you, Courtney.