The Blind Side

[Do I even need to point out there are SPOILERS here?]

Couldn't last forever, I guess. I was disappointed with that last episode of SURVIVOR. Rather, I was disappointed that my anti-hero Russell Hantz had his weakness so blatantly exploited by Sandra.

Why do I hate Sandra and Courtney so? They're completely, unapologetically useless in challenges and yet they both enjoy spewing sarcastic, belittling remarks about everyone else. Is that worse than Russell's endless self-aggrandizing? I somehow find them more annoying.

And yet, anti-heroes are always there to let you down, too.

I would've loved it if Russell had managed to get over his ego and see through Sandra's play to pit him against Coach. But to Sandra's credit, she managed to play Russell's ego like a banjo. As Probst blogs:

With this one little move, Sandra again revealed Russell’s Achilles heel. It’s not that he’s “stupid” as Sandra suggested. It’s his ego. Pure ego. In this case, it’s that he can’t stand thinking Coach is having second thoughts about him. Nobody has second thoughts about Russell Hantz.

Here's the thing: Danielle was the one up in arms about voting out Courtney so why did she end up voting for Coach during the tribal? The recaps interpret it as a play to split the votes in case Coach had an immunity idol but... what? Was there ANY threat of Coach having an immunity idol?

I don't get it. It was all sloppy. Russell's still in the game and the next episode teases a boost in his fortunes—though teases tend to be untrustworthy. I want Sandra out. Courtney has no physical ability or strategy so she doesn't really matter, but it would be nice to see her gone, too.

Ugh... I just don't know. I was having a fine time with this season until now.

Probst

Dalton Ross

Coach Dragonslayer's Exit Interview

Stephen Fishbach