Man, they're hyping Rupert. "One of the most electrifying Survivors ever." Can't help cynically thinking it's all about the marketing for the All Stars series.

I don't quite get the cult of Rupert, personally. Love some things about him, hate some others. He sure did play poorly, though.

He just said he wanted to be on ever since he saw Richard Hatch, "And I knew I could beat him!" Dream on, buddy.

Huh. Could he have just given something away? Would he have said that if Richard kicked his butt in the all stars? Or did they prep him to say it? Prolly the latter. I'm sure he got a very big briefing on what he could/not say. And probably lots of suggested lines, and that was probably top of the list.

But I think it will be hard for Richard or Rupert to do much on the all stars. Their reps preceed them, they'll be two of the biggest targets imaginable.

---

And then there's Ryan. Pretty, Pretty Ryan. Sure does look hot tonight. But he had a big chance to make a statement a in the first 15 minutes, and he could not have been less articulate.

Oh, well, can't have everything.

Survivor Pearl Islands page here.

Survivor All Stars page here.

Dimples polled the jury, asking how everyone would have voted if Lill had picked Jon for the finals.

If you believe them, Lill would have won four to three. Dummy.

Survivor Pearl Islands page here.

Survivor All Stars page here.

Some of you probably know the answer to this already, but I'm just starting to watch the reunion show.

Sandra has been reported as a probably alternate to the All Stars show, and I did wonder about that when making my predictions. But I figured it actually boded badly for her. What would she be doing as an alternate if she won? You would have thought the first criteria to make the cut was winning your game. I figured any winners unincluded were by their own choice. But if she joined them down on the island . . .

Just a sly trick by Mark Burnett, I'm guessing. Guess that little prick wanted me to think that. Can't believe I fell for it. She probably is a full contestant. Or maybe there's something going on where alternates get to join the game in progress, sort of like the outcasts did this time. Who knows.

But I bet we're about to learn something.

Think the All Stars will be introduced on this reunion show? I'm torn. Hype says yes, but won't their degree of ematiation reveal too much? Apparently they just finished filming the show a day or two ago.

Speaking of which, Rupert looks a little trimmer tonight, doesn't he? Hmmmm.

Survivor Pearl Islands page here.

Survivor All Stars page here.

Yeaaaaaaa!!!

Glad I could finally be happy about a Survivor victory again.

I wasn't always rooting for her, but I thought from the very beginning she would make for a worthy winner. God, there have been such a string of awful winners, it's so nice to see someone deserving again.

I'm not literally jumping up and down, because I didn't have a whole lot of apprehension. Of all the seven Survivors, this was by far the most sure I ever was about how the final vote would finish.

So a little anticlimactic at the end there, but one hell of a road to get there.

And Lill prolly would have beat Jon--easily--so it looks like she did throw it all away.

Vote appears to be 6 to 1, though we'll see in a minute. (They only showed one Lill vote, which can only mean one thing.) Update: Yes, it was six to one. And Dimples got so flustered going to commercial that he said Lill had won six to one, and done so "decidedly." Heeheehee.

But I like him anyway. And I'm glad he's hosting the reunion show. But what in the hell is he wearing?

Survivor Pearl Islands page here.

Survivor All Stars page here.

Sandra kin of repeats her first speech, but a little more nicely.

Lill wishes she could have dumped the scout uniform, it makes her an easy target. Then she bitches them out a bit. Dumb move. So much for the tears and flowers. I think she saw where all those questions were headed. She's really pissed off and she let it rattle her. Now she's speaking less to the jury than to the country. Trying to recover her intergrity.

Winner in a minute. I know I'm 90 minutes behind, so now even the left coast almost has the answer. That's OK, I have enjoyed the hell out of this. Hope you have too.

Jumping up and down commences in two minutes.

Survivor Pearl Islands page here.

Survivor All Stars page here.

Pretty Ryan up first. He's so sweet. He congratulates them for beating the 14 of them, and he's completely sincere about.

And yup, he goes right to the outcast thing with Lill.

And Sandra did screw up with her speech, because he acuses her of coattails. She makes a nice recovery, provoking several smiles out of Rupert for saying she befriended him at the beginning when he was alone (I forgot about that. That was huge for him). And Ryan says he's satisfied with her response.

Assessment: Sandra, 95%

Rupert. Also congratulates them.

Accuses Lill of everything she ever said to him being a lie. "Was there any time you were truthful with me? When?" She pins it all on Burton, which cracks him up, and just pisses Rupert off. He calls her on it--"Lill, blaming Burton . . ."--and she is stunned that he would read it that way. (Did anyone on earth not read it that way?) This is truly hysterical.

All he wants to know from Sandra is about his last day. (Cause it's all about him.) Did she know he was getting the boot. No. She tells a very convincing--and true--story, and pulls Johnny Fairplay into it, how she warned him what a snake Jon was, which just delights Jon, gets him chatting up a storm with Burton in the jury box about how clever he was, he's laughing, Burton's laughing, Ryan is laughing from across the bench, even pouting Darrah starts cracking up. And Rupert believes every word of it, beaming to discover one person he trusted didn't let him down. I have never seen such a jovial jury. This one is really fun to watch.

Assessment: Sandra, 99%.

Tijuana: Congratulations again. Aren't they all nice. I bet Burton and Satan don't congratulate them. (Except maybe Burton will just to look good since the others have, but he sure won't mean it.)

T wants them each to say why the other doesn't deserve it. Lill apologizes to Sandra before begining, Sandra says, no, you have to say something bad about me, go ahead. More laughter. Dimples is even cracking up now.

Lill acuses Sandra of foul language. Oh, shudders. Then she calls her on coattails. OK, kettle. Oh my God, now she is saying, "At times I wanted to say, 'Do you have a mind of your own and can you figure stuff out for yourself.' " I cannot believe my ears. This from the woman who kept saying, Think for me . . . You'll have to tell me everything to do . . . ? Nerve.

Sandra goes for blood. "Lill is responsible for every single person being out." She points at every one and says Lill voted for them.

Assessment: I don't know that that changed much, so I'll still say Sandra, 80%. (After Christ goes, it rises to 90. See below)

Christa: (no congrats).

Bitches Lill out for all her whining and saying she's sorry. Lill tries haplessly to explain.

Throws Sandra a softball. Better, openly tries to help her. Tries to undermine the coattails argument by saying how much Sandra plotted with her. Says the others don't know, so offers Sandra a chance to present an example of her work. She says lowcrawling in the dirt with T, to bust open the old alliance, by opening T's eyes to Burton and Jon conspiring against her. That provokes a big bright smile out of T.

Assessment: Sandra, 100%. And that raises my T assessment to 90%. That was huge to T. Nice work, Christa!

Burton: congrats.

He says the game is about two parts: survival and strategy. Asks them to rate themselves on a scale of one to ten on survival.

Sandra says 5 on survival, cause she knows what foods to eat. But then she says, "But I think I would have done good--maybe for the first couple of days, and then I probably just, I don't know, starved to death."

Burton cracks up, Rupert is almost erupting, big broad smile out of T. Burton says he likes the answer.

Lill says seven. Oh my God. Burton looks skeptical, and annoyed, tells her she's said enough.

Darrah:

Really pissed off. Tells them both to say how they got there, whoever is most honest gets her vote.

Sandra says other people had other agendas--essentially that she flew under the radar. D says she's satisfied.

Lill says she was a non-threat, and went with certain alliances: some was following, some using her own head.

Assessment: from that, who knows. But I'll stick with the earlier snake comment. Sandra, 90%.

Satan: asks Jeff if he can vote for none of the above, looks for a laugh, gets a cold stare.

Asks Sandra how she represented Puerto Ricans. What? She says she took care of herself. He says he's totally happy with that.

Asks Jon how she represented the scouts? She says if she could do it over she wouldn't wear the uniform, and this game has nothing to do with integrity. Good answer.

Assessment: tough call, but I still think he'd rather lose to Sandra. Sandra, 80%.

I'm going to bet Sandra gets at least six votes. Possibly even seven.

God, I hope I'm not going to look like an ass in five minutes.

Last words in a minute.

Survivor Pearl Islands page here.

Survivor All Stars page here.

Sandra just made a really lame pitch, which provoked a lot of blank scowls, and a lot of eye-rolling from Pretty Ryan (he actually performed it with other parts of his face, but it was unmistakable nonetheless).

She said she was always a team player, and explained that to mean she was always the person people could come to with a voting plan, and she would always be the team player on it, "having your back." What? Seems to directly translate to: "I road everyone's coattails the entire time. I didn't have a single original thought, I just went along with whatever I was approached with to save my own skin. I was even more pathetic at this game than Lill."

That would be my translation. Really, really, bad move.

Did I mention how prone finalists are to shoot themselves in the skull?

Lill's turn.

Huh. Pretty damn good job, actually, in spite of referring to Lill constantly in the third person, which grew incredibly annoying. She said her strategy was just "to be Lillian Morris," which provoked a chuckle out of Burton. He was trying hard to scowl, but couldn't help himself. She did come off pretty honest, sincere, and likable, though. And explained why she turned her back on three people in the process--saying they turned on her first.

Nice job, Lill. I have to give her credit: The martian has pulled it together pretty well in the closing days. But she's still inhabiting a different planet than me.

Now for the bitter jury. This is always good for a laugh.

Survivor Pearl Islands page here.

Survivor All Stars page here.

OK, here are my initial predictions for the jury vote (with my degree of certainy in parentheses):

Jon Dalton: Sandra (80%): Lill disgusts him. Then again, he and Sandra have always butted heads, but I think he'll have a little grudging respect for her. Losing to Lill will be more than he can bear--that will decide it.

Darrah Johnson: Sandra (90%) Her final words don't leave a whole lot to the imagination. Jon and Lill are snakes, she said. Incredibly bitter, and she won't have had long for her wounds to heal.

Burton Roberts: Sandra (90%) Hell hath no fury like the wrath of a girlyman scorned.

Christa Hastie: Sandra (70%) -- unless she realizes Sandra sold her out. I can't remember for sure how it played out, but I bet Sandra can convince her it was Jon. Tough call, because she was Sandra's buddy, which can work for or against. If she lets go of the anger, Sandra wins, but if not--they're always most furious when their friends turn on them.

Tijuana Bradley. Sandra. (80%) Don't remember he being that close to either. I just don't see her respecting Lill at all.

Rupert Boneham: Sandra (90%). He's got this weird "family" thing going. Who knows how that will play. He feels warmth toward Lill, but respect toward Sandra. How his mind works between those two, I have no idea. But I'm pretty sure the only thing that matters to that ego maniac is who done him wrong. He will vote purely for revenge. It's all about Rupert. Now if only I can remember if Lill was part of the posse that turned on him. I think she was, no? Didn't just Sandra and Christa stick with him?

Ryan Opray (aka, Pretty Ryan): Sandra (80%). Didn't he think Lill was an idiot? He was part of the group that voted her off the first time. He knew he was going, pretty much everyone was against him, so I'm not sure why bitterness would play any role.

Have I completely misread these people? I don't see Lill winning a single vote.

I imagine she'll get one or two of them. There are always a few surprises in the way jurors react. And finalists tend to make really stupid moves in front of the jury. But I can't see her pulling a majority.

And then the outcast question. A lot of the people felt their re-entry was completely unfair, and they have no business even being in the finals. (And that could determine Ryan's vote, especially. He said on The Early Show that he blew up at Dimples about it, got into a shouting match.) It could go the other way, with someone giving her credit for fighting back from the dead, but I think most of the sentiment will be the reverse.

Just in time. As I wrap up writing this, they're starting to show us jury members commenting to the camera. That's all bullshit anyway, though, Mark Burnett trying to lead us astray. Come to think of it, that's prolly what he's been doing all along, trying to convince us everyone on the jury would vote for Lill, so we're surprised when she gets slaughtered like a little lost lamb.

OK, here come the opening statements to the jury . . . (I love this show.)

Survivor Pearl Islands page here.

Survivor All Stars page here.

Jon is out!

Can't believe it!

Lill did the right thing.

And the dumb thing. Dumbest final move on Survivor since Colby picked Tina to join him in the finals instead of the unpopular chef. Probably the second Survivor who had it in their power to take the crown, and handed it to somebody else instead.

I do believe she's cooked. I sure hope so.

(And to pound one more nail into her coffin, she prolly infuriate Satan Junior a few short hours before he casts his vote. I think she could use every one she can get.)

OK, give me a sec and I'll run down how I expect the vote to go. I'll make one call now without additional information, and then one final call after the final proceedings (when they make their pitches and the jury members ask their vicious, embittered questions).

(And by the way: Burton's beard only lasted one day. Already clean shaven in the next council, smiling at Lill and looking really hot. Damn him! And Jon is sucking up hard to the jury, just in case he makes it. Working it hard for Burton's and Rupert's votes.)

Survivor Pearl Islands page here.

Survivor All Stars page here.

It was about will and balance, and it was exciting as hell, but I was dead wrong about Sandra. She didn't last 15 minutes. The other two held on nearly three hours. (Though that's pitiful compared to the eight to ten hours on previous series, though no telling whether the challenge was compatible. But I do believe these three were pale in comparison to their predesessors. The talent pool has steadily been dropping.)

The best moment came when Sandra dropped, and Jon immediately called out for a deal. Lill told him to fuck off. Repeatedly. Not in those words, of course, but it was cool to finally watch her grow a backbone.

And it was a great sign that she did not make the deal. Presumably that must mean she's taking Sandra. Cause I bet Jon would have been willing to trust Lill if he had to--especially once he realized she would beat him--let her win it once they had a deal. So unless she wanted Jon in the final, all she had to do was take the deal. Would make no sense for her to risk it or to torture herself if she was going to take him to the finals anyway.

But it Lill we're talking about here.

And it is a little scary that the game is over now and Sandra is lobbying and Lill says she doesn't want to talk about it.

Sandra is telling the cameras that if Lill were smart, she would take Jon. That's for sure. But I could see Lill doing the "right" thing and refusing to let Satan Junior go to the finals.

I could see it, but I'm betting against it. In the end, Lill always seems to do what's best for Lill. And Jon is making a pretty compelling--and pretty obvious--case about how much better her chances are with him

But now Lill is telling the cameras that she's saying Jon is so good that maybe he can beat her in the finals. She is such an idiot. Jon, good at this game? She is so confused she doesn't know who to trust, including herself. Let's just pray for Lill's stupidity to save Sandra.

God, it's pitiful that it's all in her hands.

Survivor Pearl Islands page here.

Survivor All Stars page here.

Man, they just really can't leave that poor boy alone.

He is being excluded from the Fallen Comrades segment. And they slammed him again in the intro. They might as well just call him a big pussy and be done with it.

I'm actually starting to feel sorry for that boy.

(And for some reason, I'm kind of enjoying the sequence this time. Maybe because they're having the Survivors say something about them. Did they do that before?)

And sweet to see my boy Pretty Ryan smiling again. He is just adorable. That's the spark I'm going to see in the boy I marry someday. (Saw it in the last boy. In all three of the boyfriends I've had, actually. So I guess I can still believe I'll find it again.)

Tijuana has it too. Love that girl. Wish she could have won. Really would have been proud to see her take it.

They did show Osten in the sequence, silently, without the Survivors speaking about him or including his torch. Every shot they showed of him was failure: looking dejected, looking forlorn, drowning ("drowing") in the ocean during a challenge. They actually show his lips yelling "help!" Now that was just downright mean. He must have made MB really, really mad.

Now I really want to see his response tonight. Presumably he's sitting in the studio right now, learning for the first time that they dissed him again, aghast at one final slap in the face on national TV. (Maybe one of the final three has chatted with him since then and told him, but I kinda doubt it.) Bet he's fuming right now.

Survivor Pearl Islands page here.

Survivor All Stars page here.

Remember how we used to howl each time a new female Survivor took her seat in the jury box?

So many of the early ones looked so good out there in the wild (Colleen and Jenna come immediately to mind), and then they showed up for the jury all scrubbed and coiffed and drenched in more makeup than Tammy Faye Baker. I was sure they had a drag queen back there making the girls up.

That went on, inexplicably for season after season. In fact, I didn't notice till just this season that it had come to an end. Did I just stop paying attention? (Or did it just stop screaming out at me once the women walked out looking normal?) If anyone noticed when the change came, please point it out in the comments thread for this week (link below).

Speaking of the jury, Burton made my jaw drop. Fashion faux pax for sure was my first assessment, but it's growing on me fast. Thick goatee with no mustache. Looks kinda cool, through completely destroys that sweet, honest, prettyboy look he had going. Which is appropriate. This one looks kinda devious and underhanded, much more like the self-aggrandizing shark he is.

Didn't last long, though. It was long gone before either Early Show appearance.

(I'm posting so much I'm running an hour behind the show now. Only to the 37 minute mark so far. But I hope to make a bit of it up during the Fallen Comrades segment. That goes on and on and bores the crap out of me. Only part of the whole Survivor season I really don't care for.)

Survivor Pearl Islands page here.

Survivor All Stars page here.

Kind of a fun little twist, though pretty minor, especially as it played out. For the first immunity, they did the skills test, and the jury got to play too, working together as a group. If the jury won, they got the immunity idol (sword?), depriving any of the Survivors of it.

And they did. And Darrah got the boot. Damn.

My #2 choice gone. Kind of pitiful when Darrah is one of the four finalists I could bear winning tonight. She really does seem pretty thick. Lotta dumb stuff to say tonight. (Yes, I do grasp the irony of using the word "lotta" in the process of calling someone else stoopid.)

I'm starting to get the shivers, now. Jon and Lill are down to a two-out-of-three shot at winning this thing. Ugh. Ugh.

I can only pray that Lill is too frail to win the immunity and Jon believes what he says about Lill being the biggest threat. (And Rupert did smile warmly when Lill wimpered on cue for the jury about the letters from her family.)

And Sandra does seem like the strongest physical threat, and by far the strongest will, assuming they go with the usual final immunity based on strength of will (and sometimes balance).

She better win that immunity, or I'm going to get sick.

Survivor Pearl Islands page here.

Survivor All Stars page here.

Head here for comments on Survivor Final Episode & Reunion show.

Good God (I keep saying that tonight), does Jon believe any of the crap that spews out of his mouth? He just said he'll win today's immunity because, "I'm the king of men and they're women."

I can't help snickering recalling Sandra referring to the final challenges last week, saying Jon's just another girl.

And I actually don't believe Jon believes the crap, when he just lost three straight to Darrah. So what is his motive? I guess he thinks this is his road to fame and immortality. The bigger he plays up the asshole "character," the brighter his future ahead of him.

Good luck with that, Jon.

Survivor Pearl Islands page here.

Survivor All Stars page here.

Head here for comments on Survivor Final Episode & Reunion show.

This group. Some finalists. Nobody here seems capable of thinking more than one step ahead--aside from the one recurring theme, that Lill will win if she makes it to the finals, which I believe is insane (and the others may or may not as well. I sure hope Dimples asks that jury if it would have played out that way.)

Supposedly now it's down to Lill or Darrah booted next, whichever fails to win immunity (and I guess Darrah if neither of them do).

Sandra just summed up it up:

"If either Darrah or Lill wins immunity, then the other one goes. I really don't give a damn which of the two goes, as long as it ain't me."

Good God, Richard Hatch must be slapping his palm against his head right now. (And I guess he's watching from the studio, having just completed the All Star game a day or two ago.)

Hard to believe people could get this far with such utter disregard for their end game.

Survivor Pearl Islands page here.

Survivor All Stars page here.

Head here for comments on Survivor Final Episode & Reunion show.

And acts!

World comes to end.

Hard to believe, but Lill Abner just hatched a plot.

After they brazenly discussed Lill's supposed superiority with a jury in front of her, and Darrah stupidly told her she would vote to keep her out of the finals, Lill's brain finally kicked in.

Granted, it was not fully engaged. She decided to approach Sandra, and did it right in front of Jon, told him to leave so she could plot without him. (This has got to be the most conivingly challenged final four ever. They do all their shit right out in the open.)

Lill (wisely!) points out that Darrah is the threat in the challenges, and will win that final three-way faceoff to decide the finalists unless they boot her tonight. Sandra agrees and they call Jon back to tell him.

But what if Darrah wins immunity tonight?

Survivor Pearl Islands page here.

Survivor All Stars page here.

Head here for comments on Survivor Final Episode & Reunion show.

Jon is openly making his play that Lill Abner has to go next, cause she'll beat anyone with the jury. He's using her theatrics when she read her letters from home (they each got a batch, most everybody cried, but Abner did her usual disintegration.)

"You're going to pull hearts and flowers like you did this morning, that was just a rehearsal for later."

Hey, I kinda like that. Even if it did pop out of Satan Junior.

The funniest part is watching Lill Abner's confusion: "What do you mean, 'Hearts and flowers?'"

Personally, I think he's out of his mind, that the jury will vote for her because she cries.

Does he believe it?

Survivor Pearl Islands page here.

Survivor All Stars page here.

Head here for comments on Survivor Final Episode & Reunion show.

Recap.

I always enjoy these. Great to see them again unemaciated.

And unembittered.

Pretty Ryan was not nearly so pretty. Nice little face, but none of the wondrous glow yet. And pudgy little body.

Funny watching how pathetic the Morgans were again. And how badly the Drakes fucked up by throwing the challenge. And funny seeing Burton Roberts booted the first time again, so soon after seeing him booted the second time. (Wonder what he'll look like all gussied up on the jury.)

(And speaking of Burton, I still owe you a report of him on The Early Show Friday morning. Short story: he was an ass once again, though nothing like his first revolting performance there. Full of himself again, and spinning more crap. But they put on one caller after another giving him shit. The funnest part was a woman asking him how he ever expected to get dates again after being such a dick to women on national TV. He smirked and said he had no trouble getting dates, which I'm sure is true, but consider the slimy wenches who would date that prick. He deserves them.)

It was really cool watching the Outcasts win their challenge, again, seeing it in perspective. The elation is quite extraordinary. I don't ever think I've seen a group of Survivors that ecstatic.

And they just replayed an extended slam of Osten The Quitter. Can't wait to see him finally respond to Dimples about that on the reunion show. He'll prolly be a pussy. No doubt in my mind Dimples will get the best of him, though the deck is strongly stacked in his favor. Will any of his teammates come to his defense?

Survivor Pearl Islands page here.

Survivor All Stars page here.

Head here for comments on Survivor Final Episode & Reunion show.

Seems the football game ran 40 minutes long, 60 Minutes had a Saddam Hussein-capture special.

I'm following the Fans Of Reality TV thread live, and some stations have cut right into 60 Minutes to play Survivor as planned, in other cities, they're going ahead with 60 Minutes, and Survivor will apparently start 40 minutes late.

So adjust your VCRs and Tivos! There are going to be a whole lot of angry Survivor fans tomorrow. Luckily we'll assume you have set your sets to Tivo/tape the reunion show, too, so at least you'll get the whole finale, you'll just miss out on two-thirds of the reunion.

Unless I'm am completely confused, this won't affect any of us out in the hinterlands or the left coast. We've got an hourlong buffer between football and 60 Minutes here in the mountain zone, and they've got three on the far coast. So 60 Minutes started right on time here.

This is kind of an interesting development. So it will be playing out at four different times tonight instead of three. Normally we get it an hour late in the mountains, and the left coast are two behind us. But tonight I'll just be 20 minutes behind some of you.

Survivor Pearl Islands page here.

Survivor All Stars page here.

Head here for comments on Survivor Final Episode & Reunion show.

Duh. Why didn't I set this up a week ago? I never think of this shit ahead of time.

But now I have. I've just set up my Survivor All Stars page (or do you prefer 'Survivor All-Stars'? that shit's important for search engines).

So bookmark it now, and head back here February first. The show kicks off right after the superbowl.

And head back sooner, because I'm sure I'll have plenty more to say about it before the first episode airs. This will be one season where we'll know all about them all before things get started.

And this season I'm going to set up a group in one of those Survivor Fantasy Leagues (prolly the CBS one, maybe the Yahoo if they bring it back), we can all play together, and/or against each other. I set that up with my friends and family on the yahoo game the first couple several seasons, and a bunch of us played and it was a lot of fun, but then yahoo discontinued it. But CBS has their own game now, and I could easily see Yahoo bringing it back for the All Stars (unless they dropped it because CBS sued them).

I'll let you know how where/when/how to sign up as soon as I get details, prolly mid to late January. Should be a blast now that we have a whole blog group here to play along. I'm going out on a limb right now and predicting Gail will win. Hope that doesn't piss anybody else off. And don't get cocky too soon, Gail. I'll be riding your ass the whole time, bitch. Heeheehee. Always wanted to say something like that. But I didn't expect to feel like Will's Grace when I finally did it.

Blah blah blah. Bookmark the page. Now!

Survivor Pearl Islands page here.

Survivor All Stars page here.

Head here for comments on Survivor Final Episode & Reunion show.

Just two hours away! Can hardly wait. A little over one for you lucky bastards east of here.

I will blog my way through it. Ah, the joys of addiction. How exciting when two of you deepest addictions meet. And none of the drug hangovers, though I will be sad, sad, sad when it's over tonight. How will we keep meeting after this?

We'll come up with something.

(And the all-stars show starts in a month and a half--February 1, right after the Super Bowl. I'm setting up my Survivor All Stars page in a minute, so you can bookmark it now and head back here then.)

So use this thread for comments for the shows tonight and through the week.

Meanwhile, I promised you lots of predictions for tonight's show, but I still haven't done it and I didn't go to bed till almost noon this morning so I'm just getting up and have not eaten yet and I'm ravenous. (And no drugs! Beyond alcohol. Ridiculous that we call that not taking drugs. Of course I drugged myself last night, I dumped at least twelve shots of vodka into my belly, but nothing illegal. Like that makes a difference.)

No sex either, though I did meet a very interesting boy. Nice chance for friendship. That's better anyway. Lots of boys to have sex with around this town, but so rare I meet anyone really interesting to hang out with.

Final Predictions:

I think that salty little freak Sandra Diaz-Twine is going to take home the million dollars. (And more importantly, to afficionados, the last Survivor title before the all star competition more or less shuts this show down for good. There will be Survivor shows after that, but they won't mean so much. The finale of the all-star show is the night Survivor will finally jump the shark).

Not sure how I defend that, exactly, but I've had a feeling about her for a long time. I think she's the most respected member left standing, for one thing. I've thought for ages should would win a lot of votes if she got there, but I had grave doubts about her ability to make it there.

She was stuck way too close to Rupert, and that boy was going down, down, down, I had no doubt in my mind about that fact. (Not much.) So she seemed doomed. For ages. She kept ending up on the wrong side of each ensuing alliance.

But what a scrappy little survivor. That woman does know how to survive. I guess that's why I'm going with her. Every other season, I've called the final episode based on a blow-by-blow scenario: this person gets the first boot, then that this person wins the final three-way immunity, kicks off this one and these two go to the final vote . . .

This time it is so damn wide open, I'm just betting Sandra will be cunning enough to manuever her way to the finals. And I do believe she can edge out Darrah Johnson if she gets there, wipe the floor with Lill Abner (aka Lillian Morris), and possibly win every single vote against Jon Dalton. Oh no she won't--that big hunky ass Burton Roberts will vote for Satan's little helper. Something's really wrong with that tasty little muscleman. I don't care how hot he is.

And in an unusual twist, the person I'm betting on is also the person I'm rooting for. Not that I've always liked the little bitch. Can't believe she dumped the fish, or started her sabotage, but I do think the little schemer deserves to take it.

So that's my call. But I did promise a blow-by-blow for how she gets there. That's secondary this time--I'll be kinda working backwards from my final answer, but I'll come up with something. I'll post it here within the hour.

For now, I'll say the linguistically challenged Darrah Johnson is my runner up for both my hopes and bets. The only way Lill Abner or Little Satan take it is a ninth-circle-of-hell final up against each other. Good God, I pray that doesn't happen. Worst Survivor final matchup ever. And there have been some horror-show final pairings most of the last several seasons.

Here's the thing though. I don't think Lill Abner has the brains in her head to get to the final two. And if people are really fearing her--is that all a plot by Sandra to make the woman from mars appear a threat? Brilliant if it is--then she can't even ride coattails in.

And Jon Dalton isn't have the schemer he thinks he is. Only way he'll make it to the finals is by three greedy people gunning for the easiest competition. So he may well get there.

But I'm still not decided whether I believe it's going to play out that way. Those women despise the little rat. I still think they may stick together with their all-girl alliance and vote him out first out of spite. And their mutual self-interest to insure they each advance one more step toward the finals.

OK, my final blow by blow:

First off, toughest call: Jon. I could be dead wrong, here, but I think they'll stick together and boot him. Backup prediction: Lill, if they really do fear her sorry ass with the jury. (But then they could also fear Darrah winning the final immunity, since she's on a roll.) Mostly likely to stay: Sandra. Wow, and I didn't even have to work backward to get there. It just worked out that way.

Three-way-face-off: Here's where it really gets interesting. So much depends on who wins immunity, since they pick who to boot. Let's see: If it's Sandra, I guess I'll take her at her word that she fears Lill and will boot her. Maybe they all do. But Darrah might be smart enough to boot Sandra, and she is most likely to win the immunity. Could be the bug in my plans. But I'll go with Lill getting the last boot.

That leaves Sandra and Jon in the final. No contest. No fucking contest.

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