New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Probst Sighting!

The first immunity challenge of Heroes vs. Villains is the rote combination of an assembled boat being raced to a designated location followed by puzzle solving. In fact, it is a rehash of a Cook Islands challenge that Parvati and Candice competed in and jointly won back in the day. If they had any advantage because of this, it didn't show. The contest starts as a blowout with the Heroes eviscerating their opponents. Editing always creates difficulty in determining how big a lead one team has over the other, but it's clearly several minutes. The Heroes have almost returned to shore by the time the Villains make their vessel sea-worthy. How low is morale at this point? Jerri Manthey bitchily mutters (is that redundant?), "I hate them so bad." There is basically no hope for the Villains as the Heroes begin to work on their puzzle. Alas, that lead doesn't hold as the Heroes choke in trying to decipher the puzzle. It is a stunning reversal of fortune that sees the Villains not just win the competition but win easily. So, each tribe wins a challenge in the season premiere, but the Villains win the one that matters most. A Hero will be the first player eliminated.

It's time to play It's Anyone But Sugar. Given the awkward editing of the Sugar/Colby relationship, one that Sugar herself later discounted as factually inaccurate (she claims she was crushing on JT the whole time, which sounds more believable to us...unless she is a huge fan of Colby's appearance in Red Eye), we know something is up. None of the other Heroes have been featured enough to qualify for having their heads on the chopping block save for maybe Rupert. Given the difference in respect the players have for Sugar and Rupert (we love love love Sugar but other players do not seem to share our point of view), this feels like a foregone conclusion. And that is exactly what happens.

After Sugar goes on a crying jag, the others quickly agree that she is the logical choice for elimination. While she is given some lip service about the others voting for Amanda, it simply is not believable. The one intriguing aspect of the discussion, one that will come to a head in a later episode, is that Tom astutely points out that Sugar is more of a follower than a leader this season. If they wanted to target someone who is a long term threat, Cirie would be the more logical selection. This is exactly correct due to the reasons we mentioned in profiling her. She is the most treacherous of the Heroes as well as the least valuable around camp. She also isn't that strong of a competitor whereas Sugar had a topless touchdown in the first episode. At least she should get a Lingerie Bowl audition out of this.

Tom also points out that there was a plan in place during his season to eliminate him. The mistake the opposing players made was they waited too long to make a move and by that point, he had the numbers to ward off such a challenge. He fears that his teammates may wait too long to target Cirie and that if they do so, she will be able to reunite with Parvati, thereby garnering an additional vote and more power at later Tribal Councils. The game is definitely afoot between Tom and Cirie but for the purposes of this episode, all that matters is that everyone but Sugar votes against Sugar, making her the first eliminated player for Heroes vs. Villains. We still love you, baby, and we understand that you landed a role as Magenta in a Los Angeles presentation of Rocky Horror Picture Show. We are very much looking forward to seeing pictures of you in costume...for educational purposes only, of course.

Continued:       1       2       3       4       5       6       7