APRIL 3, 2009 2:59AM

Check your tivo. Put it on slo-mo.

The oddest thing happened at minute 7.

They are discussing "another coach moment," after he burnt the beans. It's the awkward moment right after (Sierra?) speaks up and calls him on his shit, and Coach is saying, 'Thank for saying that, blah blah blah' while the two of them and Brendan were in the shot.

Brendan is picking at his teeth, and Coach is blabbing on and on, covering his discomfort by waving his arms from front to back at waist level and sort of clapping them together each time they met in the front--except he was actually smacking one fist into the other open palm, and if you watch closely, he alternates which hand is the fist vs palm.

After the third clap, he looks over at brendan, standing right next to him, who quits teeth-picking, and starts doing the exact same thing! Total monkey see, Brendan do. (I shuddered to see my favorite as the follow-monkey, but there he was.)

Except Brendan is doing it a little dorkier: just regular clapping, and with his fingers spread apart. (He's still adorable. I still hope to marry him.)

Coach is sweeping his head side to side, too, turning back and forth to  address his accusor, and check in with his alpha male adversary, Brendan, who is grinning, uncontrollably.

On the first look after Brendan  begins to clap, Coach just glances at him, but on his next rotation, he looks right down at Brendan's hands. Brendan follows coaches gaze down to his own left hand, which is just then rounding his hip, coming forward for his seventh clap. At that exact moment, both hands hit an invisible wall, and bounce back off it. Brendan's arms hang there, rigid, for a few seconds, jerking back and forth in tiny abbreviated swirls just a few inches forward and back, like a swing chain that's been jerked to a halt but can't quite stop its motion yet. His smile drains and he turns to watch the final movements of his other arm, incredulous and then appalled.

Incredible.

I watched it over and over. I didn't get any further. I have to go to bed.

--

Sept 7 Update:

It's amazing, but after all these years, I'm still enjoying Survivor. I'm looking forward to the next season, starting in less than two weeks. And Brendan turned out to be one of my all-time favorite characters. What a great guy.