Survivor: Cook Islands Wk 5

I’m a little faster on the draw this time. Last week I complained that J.P. didn’t learn anything from previous editions of “Survivor”.

Apparently his male counterparts learned something from his departure.

Did you see how quickly these fellows moved after J.P. was gone. They were fishing and cooking and working on the shelter. They got they message that you couldn’t “take a break” and “survive”.

All in all, the season is a bit of a snoozer. We had great expectations for the racial groupings of the early episodes, but it did not truly matter. There is only one crazy person from the original group of twenty. That would be the Vietnamese player Cao Boi.

Cao Boi is not that much different from last season’s token Asian. He talks a lot and has a different view of life. What is different is that last season’s Bruce had the respect of his fellow tribe members. He was the only person not to be voted off (he became ill during the show). Bruce was tough.

Cao Boi may also be tough, but he talks so much his toughness doesn’t show the the oddness.

Outside of Cao Boi, there aren’t many “characters” on this edition.

This leads me to the council choices of Stephannie or Cristina and how they chose Stephannie to go. Cristina falls into a popular choice of “vote out the annoying one”. She’s a police officer, which makes her just a rung or so above lawyers as someone to admire.

Let’s face it. We respect lawyers. We respect police officers. They work hard and have achieved a lot. We just don’t want to spend thirty-nine days on an island with either one.

Yet, for the second week in a row, Stephannie has “joked” about going home. Last week she asked her tribe to vote her off and then recanted. This week she vocally wished she could go home for “mashed potatoes”.

You ask enough times and the team will give you what you want. It ranks up there with calling yourself an “idiot”. You tell enough people you are an “idiot” and eventually, people believe. Stephannie may have just been saying out loud what everyone was feeling, but she said it out loud.

So here is the score: Two African-Americans have gone home. Three Latinos have gone home. The Caucasian and Asian-Americans are intact.

Remember, I believe the Asian-Americans could all go to the final five. Next week one member from each tribe is leaving. It may throw my prediction in peril, but it may not. Let’s see.