Bah, humbug.

After 16 seasons of Survivor, I don’t think I’d be going out on a limb when I say that this is the BEST.SEASON.EVER. The game of Fans Vs. Favorites got off to a slow start, what with Johnny Fairplay dropping out right away (I was hoping he’d bring the drama!) and great players like Jonathan Henner and James the gravedigger being sidelined for injuries. Finally though, with the last four episodes, things have gotten HOT! Four blindsides in a row – FOUR! Ozzy, then Jason, then Alexis, and now Eric? Huge, HUGE props to the remaining players for FINALLY pulling it together and having an all female final 4. That’s never happened, right? Usually, the girls aren’t smart enough to pull it off, but the finally did it. I can’t believe Eric fell for giving up his immunity idol – he really is a wide eyed innocent kid after all!

(Best quote from last night: “I don’t want to be an ice cream boy. I want to be an ice cream man!”)

I’m going to be so impressed if Amanda and Parvati and Cirie can keep it together to end up as the final three. Amanda has played an amazing game – she’s a completely different person than she was last time.

Not only did she find the idol and keep it a secret, only telling her pal Parvati about it, but she PLAYED the idol at Tribal Council! (Take notes Ozzy and Jason – that’s how it’s supposed to be done!) Can the end result of the third blindside in this season be a Cirie / Amanda / Parvati final 3? Heck, I’m just impressed that the ladies managed to get rid of so many men. Black widows indeed!

On a side note, how cute was James coming into tribal with his IV bag on a pole? Had he not had to leave the game due to infection, I think the ladies would have kept him around for eye candy.

Of course, knowing that you can watch it online, that’s what I did today, but I stupidly googled “Survivor” and got taken to a non CBS site first, with a HUGE block of text across the top of the site proclaiming who left the game. Umm, thanks for the spoiler. Sheesh! I did still watch the entire video. James is in good shape with his harem of women – he literally carried them through the challenge. Ozzy’s team is in good shape as well with the choices they’ve made. The fans aren’t putting up much of a fight!

It was nice to see James perk up again – he’s in a good position now with not one, but two immunity idols. Even if the tribe votes for him at the next two councils, he won’t be going home anytime soon. That combined with his natural strength will keep him going in this game.

It’s going to be just delicious to see James take his frustration out on her for the rest of his stay in China.

I’m not going to disclose who won the challenge, or who went home. I realize some of you may not have seen the episode yet. But I do want to dish about the players, especially my favorite so far…James the gravedigger. Holy cow, does he not look like a more muscular version of Taye Diggs? I’m sure the ladies on his team will keep him around for a LONG time. Not only is he a helluva worker, but he’s so easy on the eyes. I needed to fan myself more than once last night when the camera did a close up on his fabulous muscles. Obviously, “burying people”, as he put it, is great exercise.

(I’m envisioning a new workout trend…people all across America will start digging graves in their spare time to build muscle…)

Not only does he dig the graves, but apparently he owns the burial service as well. He’s from Lafayette, Louisiana and I’ll bet a lot of ladies are sitting up and taking notice of him. He’s definitely one of my favorites so far.

• Denise – a school lunch lady. I thought she was a lesbian (hey, she’s got the official lesbian mullet!) until I read her bio and discovered she’s been married for 16 years.
• Frosti – at 20 years old he’s the youngest contestant and should be tough competition, judging from all of the sports he’s involved in.
• Todd – a 22 year old openly gay Mormon boy from Pleasant Grove, UT. I didn’t think the Mormons took too kindly to that?
• Chicken – the oldest contestant. He’s 47, and a single father & chicken farmer from Virginia.

There are a few girls who look heavily made up and dyed in their bio pictures – should be interesting to watch their roots grow out and their implants stick out if they make it through a few weeks of tribal council.

For now, my only reality show is Ladettes to Ladies. I did see some kind of talent show (America’s Got Talent?), that I guess is in it’s 2nd season? It reminded me of the Gong Show. It will be good for laughs, no doubt, so I’ll probably set the DVR to record a few episodes.