Watching Reality TV

So, “Survivor: Fiji” premiered last night. Did you all see it? What did you think? I thought it was okay. Nothing groundbreakingly exciting, like I’d hoped. But I should know better to expect that now, 14 seasons in. At best, “Survivor: Fiji” will warm up over the coming weeks, becoming the absorbing sinful treat we all know it to be. The show started with the 19 survivors rowing to shore in their canoes. Moments later, Jeff drops a box attached to a parachute from a plane, which they retrieve from the waters. The men start to bash on the box without much success until Yau Man (who happens to be an engineer, of course) uses his head and drops the box onto a rock on its weakest side to open it. That works. Instant respect for Yau Man! The box contains blueprints and a map to supplies. The survivors need to build a shelter! And not just any shelter. It’s Super Shelter! Complete with a toilet and a kitchen along with a lot of other niceties. Sweet! Sylvia, who has been bossing everyone around, is chosen by Jeff to pick the teams. Which she dutifully does before being shipped off to Exile Island. Which has, *gasp* deadly sea snakes. While there, she locates a clue to the whereabouts of the immunity idol and also that it’s located back at camp. That puts a kink in it, doesn’t it?

Tribe Moto wins the first challenge, giving them rights to the Super Shelter and freedom from Tribal Council. Tribe Ravu loses and is sent to a lonely, barren beach to live out their lives with only a machete and a pot. Ouch! The scheming is kicked into high gear as a Sylvester Stallone look-alike who goes by the nickname (one of many) of (wait for it) Rocky decides he’s going to form an alliance with two other female tribe-mates and thereby rule the game. He assures one of these women, 27 year old fashion stylist Jessica deBen, that she’s safe at Tribal Council even though she performed miserably on the puzzle at the challenge. The only problem? Three people are a drop in the bucket in a tribe of nine and Jessica is most certainly NOT safe. She’s voted out, much to her dismay and displeasure. Whoops. Better luck next week, Rocky.

Like I said, could have been better but could have been a lot worse too. So for now, I’ll give it a “Meh” rating.