Survivor: Exile Island

I dipped in and out of the most recent series of Survivor screened in South Africa – the 3 hour finale was broadcast on SABC3 last night. Mostly I was made uncomfortable in the early stages of the game, when divisions according to age and gender saw a lot of the older women being unfairly eliminated for being perceived as ‘weak and uncontributive’.

Survivor certainly gives a weird perception of American society: it’s like the high school cliques of the cool and uncool kids are never escaped. Then there are the stereotypes: macho middle aged men who are born leaders, directionless and lazy young people with the weirdest jobs imaginable (I remember a mechanical bull operator in one season), black men who steal food, and bitchy or villainous gays.

As for last night, thank God Terry didn’t win! I can’t stand people who dominate, particularly bossy middle aged men who impose their value systems on others and insist on their way, or it’s the highway (even when they are wrong). It brought back bad memories of that silver-haired bully of a fireman from a few seasons back. Survivor’s challenges are tailor-made for older men with military or fireman training, who can combine endurance with a cool head under pressure.


Where these ‘macho middle aged managers’ fall down, as Terry did last night, is in terms of the Outwit aspect of the game (where Cerie unexpectedly dominated). They’re so focused on the Outplay side of the game that the neglect the social aspect, trying to go it alone, or with some inconsequential sidekick to carry to the end. Just as in The Weakest Link, you have to reveal your ability trump cards only at the end - as Danielle did - or be voted out as a threat. Unsurprisingly, in Terry’s final comments, he insisted that his failing was not having MORE control of events.

Anyway, I can’t say I was really concentrating last night because I was busy unpacking and connecting my belated birthday present to myself – this beautiful Dell 17” Flat Panel LCD. It comes with quite a few bells and whistles: Analogue and digital connectors, 4 USB ports and a stand with adjustable height, rotation and angle. Mmm…


One minor annoyance was that this weekend I’ll have to move the shelf above my desk up by about 2 centimetres. It’s just too low, preventing me from pushing the monitor to the back of the desk and freeing up more space.

Another minor annoyance is that I hurt my elbow again at Jiu-Jitsu last night – my reoccurring injury. I’ll always tap if the joint is under pressure but some guys really ratchet up the intensity of the lock without warning… so it’s back to ice packs and Voltaren for me. Oh well, at least they have to live with the guilt of having made a girl yell in pain.