Who should go?

Jake says to Penny, “You know, I don’t ever see them plotting and discussing strategy. I don’t think there’s an alliance between them. So I’ve decided to vote for the one person I have the greatest chance in convincing to vote against her tribe, Jan.”

“Jake, that’s brilliant. No one would ever suspect you have an alliance with her if you vote for her,” Penny says, twisting her evil-plans mustache were she to have one. She knows her only chance to stay on the island is if Jake gets booted. “Hey, Jake. When Jeff asks you questions during Tribal Council, would you mind saying things that’ll annoy Clay?”

“If you think that’s what’s best…” Jake says cluelessly.

Meanwhile, after Jake comments about how the old Chuay Gahn has no alliance and never discusses strategy, the old Chuay Gahn discusses who to boot off the island.

Jake sees them and thinks, “I am so dead.”

Penny thinks, “It was so easy to manipulate them into thinking I’m not with Jake. I am SO going to win this game.”

The sea creature thinks, “Dammit, she could’ve at least washed her hair before the challenge.”

Tribal Council I Would Like to See

Jeff Probst says, “Ok, usually this is the time when I milk you Survivors with pointed questions hoping, expecting controversial stuff to come out. When we first came up with the plan for this show, this looked great on paper. We expected arguing. We expected people to uncover alliances. We expected anger and resentment to be a result of my questions clearly designed to stir things up. All of this would lead to great TV because no one wants to watch people being civil to each other.

“But none of this is happening. You guys are all playing under the radar. You never open up and really say what’s on your minds.

“So, as a result, we’ve decided to change things a bit. On another show called Temptation Island, during their tribal council thing, the couples got to see videos of their partners living it up with beautiful people willing to do anything for camera time.”

A big-screen TV rises up behind Jeff. “Ok guys, we’ve captured personal moments that each of you didn’t realize was being videotaped. We’ll show a 1-minute montage of each person saying and doing very incriminating things. THEN we’ll open up the floor for comments and questions and hopefully this show will finally get some controversy.

Clarence on the softer side of Frank

Clarence has some one-on-one time with the camera. Ever since the bean incident, Clarence has had a big red X on his chest. But I must admit that each time I hear Clarence have a real conversation with someone, I’m impressed.

Read what Clarence said to the camera. This picks up after he’d been talking about the flaming arrow challenge, how Ethan’s play saved them and how both he and Kim hit a shot.

Frank didn’t make a single shot in the immunity challenge, and that bothers him because Frank is like a bow and arrow connoisseur. You know, he has straight bows; he’s got the latest bows. And he taught us!

When we got up this morning, when we got up to do the challenge, no one had picked up a bow in years! It had been years since I’d done it. It had been almost 40 years since Kim had picked one up. Ethan had never picked one up, ironically. So Frank spent most of the day teaching us, and we kind of joke with him that he spent so much time teaching us that he forgot to practice, so that’s why he had such a bad performance.

But if it wasn’t for Frank, we’d have never won that, because he literally taught us like children, you know – steps, finger position, aiming. I mean, if it wasn’t for him… He was a great teacher. Unfortunately, he didn’t get enough practice shots in.

I like Frank. I like Frank a lot. He seems like a very admirable, honorable guy – straight from the hip, tells it like it is… has the whole red-blooded American male thing going. But he’s also… When you talk to him about his kids, you see a softer side of him, you know. He’s a guy who kind of ran around early in life, you know – sowed his oats, I guess you could say. But when it came time to start a family, he dove right in and, you know, you talk to him, he’ll say the best times of his life are right now. Not in his early 20s and not in his late 20s, but, you know, when he started his family.

Just to hear him talk about his family and his life and how he loves it… He has a whole lot of land and he’s far away from the big city and you… he lives in a place where a spade is a spade and people are people and there is no garbage in between. I mean, he’s just… he’s a straight guy. He’s a straight up guy. You know, it’s hard to believe he strikes people the wrong way but I guess I can see that.

Dogs Playing PokerI don’t really know him enough to say I respect him. I respect what little I know about him – just where he’s been in life, what he’s shown me, I definitely say, “Yeah, I respect him so far,” but then I can say that about everyone. I really don’t know what they are like in their personal lives. Here, we are just playing a game, so you know. I was arguing with Kim and Kim was saying, “You really get to see what people are like.” I told her, “I completely disagree.”

I think this game is really more so like an over-exaggerated poker game. You can play poker with your friends and, in that, you are trying to win. You bluff them. Some people cheat. But at then end of the day when you walk away from the table, you’re still friends.

So I told her, “You know, to me, this is exactly similar to that.” It’s just…It’s a game. It’s not… I told her, I was like, “Kim, there could be people here doing things to win, and they could be the greatest people and might come in to this game and do all kinds of dishonest things to win. But, it all depends on how bad you want to win.”

So, I’m not with the theory that this is like a microcosm of who we are as people, because it’s not. Because the only people who really know us are our family, and our friends, and the people back home. You know, these 16 people know nothing about you except for what you show, and what you show may just be things you’re showing to win the game. I thought her comment was pretty inaccurate. I thought it was very inaccurate, actually, you know, but that’s just where she is coming from. Me, I’m coming from a different plane of thinking.

I just don’t get it.

Once Brandon, Kim, and Lindsey decided on who they were going to vote out and once they decided that they were going to convince the others that Brandon has at least one vote from Frank, what else is there to talk about?

Stop obsessing and get some work done.

This clip opened with Brandon studying the survival book by the fire. He was preparing for a trivia quiz against Tom since he was expecting to get three votes along with Tom.

And then the clip continues with the three MallRats discussing the vote.

Brandon…

Oh it’s hard for me to listen to Brandon talk. He ends every sentence with an upwards inflection – as if it were a question. Here’s part of the conversation…

Brandon: Do me a favor, Linz? Don’t worry about it?
Lindsey: OK
Brandon: It’s going to be me, so stop worrying. We want a very pleasant last day?
Lindsey: UGH! I just want to be here for 9 more days.
Brandon: You know, tonight’s the night? We’re going to make it through?

This drives me crazy.

Brandon – use the downward inflection!

Lindsey offered Brandon a hypothetical situation that she had already discussed with Kim…

Lindsey: Brandon, what if they approached you, and they said to you, “Vote for Lindsey, right now, and you’re guaranteed to go further in this game.”

Brandon: That’s not in my nature? I wouldn’t do it.

Lindsey: Honestly! Honestly, for yourself! To go further in the game! What if you got voted out tonight unless you went with them? You’d get voted out tonight!

Brandon: That’s not my nature. I’m not going to look like a big ass on TV and that’s what it comes down to.
Lindsey: It comes down to morals. Values.

Brandon: I mean… That’s it – period. I wouldn’t do it. I’m not going to look like a big ass.

I dare someone to say this during their Thanksgiving prayer, “Lord, I’d like to give thanks for this wonderful meal that’s been… blah blah blah. And I would especially like to give thanks for the lack of dingleberries I currently do not have dangling from my ass hair.”

Now that would be a tender moment to cherish for years to come…

Back to Tom.

And you know, you’d think that would offend her or something, but she said, “They was all dry.”

Lindsey, the male population of this world shall beat a path to your door. Do you realize how rare it is for a woman to not only fart, but to also know the difference between a wet fart and a dry fart AND state it without hesitation to another person?

I’m not saying that I’m wishing women would fart because I definitely do not. There’s enough farting in this world – we don’t need the other half of the population to start in. It’s just that I KNOW women fart, and it bothers me that none of them ever admit to it.

Now, there is a blonde-haired girl who could care less. She could care less. I guarantee I could put her in a room with any man and she’d fart him out of the bed!

(You could even hear the cameraman laughing. They probably got in trouble for this, but how could they help it?)

That damn woman don’t care! She’ll sh`t on you! She dump on me, I’ll sh!t back on her. I’m just saying, by God. A woman like that… you’ve got to get right in next to. She’s hard to ride. Short hair, hard to hold.

Lindsey… Kelly learned her to crochet and she, I mean, you can tell she’s a good athlete, she picked up on it right like… She made me a… well… a thing. She called it… she wanted me to put it around my ankle for an ankle bracelet.

I ain’t gonna do that. I don’t wear earrings and I don’t wear a necklace. For 45 years I ain’t never tried to look like girl and here on this show I’m not going to. But I told her I would wear it. So I put it on there and it’s a good luck charm. I was surprised. That was a nice little gesture.

But Jewelry! I got a son 18 and I told him if he wanted to wear a necklace and some man come there and tried to do anything to him, don’t come home to Daddy. If he wanted to look like a girl, well, he might get treated like a girl. So that’s kind of the way we’ve got things. At home we think that way and was brought up. And umm… that’s why I always have to laugh with Brandon. You know, you wanna act like a girl, people will treat you like a girl, I guess.

But Lindsey did a real good job on that and I’m proud of… I’m proud I got it, but I wasn’t gonna wear no ankle bracelet or around my neck. Err, no chain!

Tom discussing Lindsey’s ability to fart like a bay mule
Before and After shots of the chicken
Tom’s Thumb (ouch!)
Frank Embarrassed
Ethan reddened
Younger Kim with strange ponytail things
Flaming arrows
Flaming Brandon
Kelly’s Poker face

And much, much more!

First of all, I must apologize. My site’s host is going through all kinds of crap. They upgraded. During this upgrade (which began at the end of October), the site was screwy. They got all the equipment installed and the motherboards crashed repeatedly. Now they are having to replace a whole bunch of servers and so the site is going to be intermittent STILL for a while.

I apologize for the inconvenience. But I can assure you it bothers me much more than it does you. Plus, I have two newsletters just begging to be sent out and I CAN’T SEND THE DANG THINGS! Dammit.

You can also expect very soon an end to the Lindsey Caption Contest. (I asked for prize donations but I’m thinking people aren’t taking me all that seriously. People! Where’s your spirit of giving?!)

And soon I shall have an entire article dedicated to Big Tom. Many, many pictures and quotes. It appears as though Tom has many admirers and women in love with him. (Well, OK… just one has actually written to say this, but I’m sure there are many more.)

Own this PosterI hope everyone has a nice Thanksgiving. I also hope that at least some of you do a little research into the pilgrim’s history. Had it not been for abandoned Native American cities (abandoned due to “white man’s disease” killing all the natives), already-plowed fields, and stored food, the pilgrims never would have survived those first few years.

And then, even after that, they were taught how to farm and grow many foods unknown to them. So please, give thanks to those whose lives and culture we all but completely eradicated out of greed and prejudice.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I sincerely thank you for visiting my site.
Let’s dig in to the Insider clips…

(If you’d like the full transcripts, visit RealityTVFans in their exclusive section.)

Tom tells all about Lindsey

That’s one thing I will say about Lindsey – she does not care. She’s a gigger. She farts like a bay mule! And I told her down there at the… when we went to wash. I said, “You need to wash that ass! Any woman that farts like you do… I swear you got some cheesecake.” I said, “You’re bound to have dingleberry balls as big as coconuts on your hind end, so bend over and let me wash it.”

It is becoming quite apparent that Matt has more to worry about than getting to the conclusion of his warped plan these days. Victor is hot on the trail and Warton is having quite a change of heart.

Matt still has grand plans to send Nick to jail for the rest of his life, to get to Sharon and to keep his identity a secret from everyone. But one by one his plans are falling apart, thanks in no small part to Warton’s change of heart. This week Warton let Matt know in no uncertain terms that he was not going to take the fall for Matt.

Warton hates Nick and he hates the Newman’s but the thing he hates most in the world is the idea of going back to prison. Matt has obviously underestimated his desire to stay in the free world. Warton may be the undoing of all of Matt’s planning and hard work. Perhaps Warton has a conscience after all?

Victor is currently focusing his efforts on Matt and Warton as the culprits behind Nick’s arrest. Of course Warton is higher on the list because of his previous involvement with Nick and jail time. But Victor’s no dummy, I predict he will partner up with Warton to bring about Matt’s downfall.

Matt had it all planned out, he thought it would be completely successful. But what he didn’t plan on was that Warton’s desire to stay out of prison would be stronger than any hatred he had for Nick or the Newman’s. That one desire may be the end of Matt’s grand plan and the end of Matt.

What to do at the party

Party entertainment options are endless! The goal is to have fun, so think of ideas that will excite, thrill, challenge, and amuse your child and his/her guests. With younger children, it’s nice to have a simple individual craft activity for them to work on when they arrive. This allows time for them to get comfortable with their new environment without being overwhelmed.

Activities such as making necklaces with pasta or beads, sand sculptures, marshmallow robots, potted plants, play dough figures, jigsaw puzzle picture frames, or lunch bag puppets are just a few of the many activities that will keep the children occupied until the final guests arrive.

Toddler

* Face painting
* Sand and water play
* Picnic at the park

Preschool

* Rent party equipment such as a moonwalk, monster slide, sea of balls.
* Hire a magician, clown, or juggler.
* Reserve a party area at Chuck E Cheese.

School Age

* Bowling
* Pony rides
* Ice or roller skating
* Attend a professional sporting event.

Teens

* Order pizza and rent movies
* Go to dinner at their favorite restaurant
* Horseback riding
* Campouts
* Snow or water skiing outings.

Set limits on both time and number of guests. Choose a time that is convenient for parents, and not tiring for children, keeping in mind nap time. Always set an ending time, and state this clearly on the invitation.Generally, a party of two to three hours for young children is sufficient.

Also set limits for the number of guests to atten; a general rule of thumb is to use the child’s age as guide to determine the number of guests to invite. For example, three guests for a three- year-old and six guests for a six- year-old. The space you have to work with should also be considered when determining the number of guests.

Incorporate an appropriate balance of games and activities. Keep the child’s age and developmental stage in mind when planning the games and activities. Toddlers have a very short attention span, so they will do best with a few structured activities such as a simple craft, song, or circle activity, while school age children will welcome more organized group games as well as playing informal board games.

Also, try to find games that include all the children and de-emphasize competition. Try to avoid games that eliminate children (such as Musical Chairs) or only involve one child at a time (such as Pin the Tail on the Donkey), because the children that are no longer involved will lose interest in the activity. Participation prizes usually work best for maintaining a positive spirit.

Planning some degree of unstructured playtime is recommended for children under the age of six. However, set boundaries for where the children are allowed to play. Not only will this eliminate a horrific mess (such as chocolate cake on white carpet), but it makes supervision much easier.

Establish a budget ahead of time. Children’s parties can quickly put a damper on the family cash flow. Therefore, decide on a reasonable budget and allocate a designated amount of money to each of the following categories: decorations/invitations, entertainment/games, party favors/prizes, and food. One way to save money is to shop at party product stores when they are discounting off-season or discontinued items, and purchase in advance.

Think carefully about food. As you plan, try to keep in mind the children who will be eating the food. Some children have special dietary considerations, while others are just finicky eaters. Let your child select her favorites, then add to or alter to accommodate the needs of the other children as much as possible. If you are concerned that a guest will not be able to eat what you are serving, ask his parents to pack a snack to bring along to the party.

Try to stick to foods that children can handle easily, require few utensils, and are easy to clean up. Finger, snack foods usually work best for children under the age of five, while older children are more prepared to handle eating a meal away from home.

Believe it or not, a child’s party can be what it was intended to be – a fun opportunity for family and friends to share in a special celebration building wonderful memories for their child. Here are some suggestions on how you can help make this happen.

Plan a party that is appropriate for the child’s age. Considering your child’s age and what they are ready for can make a big difference in the success of the party. Young children especially change dramatically from year to year, so take their developmental stage into consideration as you plan the party activities. Parties other than birthday parties usually work best for children over the age of six. Vicky Lansky, in her book, Birthday Parties – Best Party Tips and Ideas offers specific suggestions for planning successful parties for individual age groups.

Decide on a theme. Deciding on a theme can be a challenge, but once the theme is set, the other details of the party begin to naturally evolve. Involve the child when deciding on the theme and be sure they understand the concept. Many parents have hired a clown for their child’s circus party, only to have a house full of frightened children. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Toddler

Book Theme – Have the theme revolve around the title of your child’s favorite book.
Favorite Toy – Build a party around your child’s favorite toy such as Lego’s, Barney, Winnie the Pooh, Barbie, the sandbox, etc.

Preschool

Tea Parties – The perfect excuse for little girls to get dressed up and pretend to be grown up.
Special Interests – Preschoolers often have a special interest such as outer space, dogs, pirates, etc.

School Age

Sports Themes – The possibilities are endless – Baseball bonanza, football jamboree, etc.
Philanthropic Parties – This is a wonderful opportunity to let your child experience the joy of giving to others. In lieu of gifts, ask the guests to bring an item to donate to a specific charity. Make arrangements ahead of time, and allow the children to distribute their donations.

Teens

Spa Party – Many salons offer special rates for party groups. Teenage girls love an excuse to be pampered.
Swingin’ 20’s, Fabulous 50’s or Groovin’ 70’s – Digging up outfits and dancing to music from the past can be cool when  everyone else is doing it”
Beach Party – This can be especially fun for winter birthdays. Complete with swimsuits, beach towels, snowcones.

Many parents find themselves in your situation. You feel demeaned and threatened, because the authority you have always had as parents is being questioned, when all you are trying to do is make sure your children are safe. But you see, your anger is diluting the real message you want to give: “We care about you, and we want you to be safe.”

Arguments about curfew are common because curfew time is one of the first rules that young teens test. They accuse parents of being suspicious and not trusting them, and parents accuse teens of being disrespectful. In all the fuss, no one is really saying what they want to say or what should be said.

Parents need to say, “I’m setting a curfew because I love you and worry about what could happen to you.” Teens want to say, “I need more chances to decide things and show you that I can handle myself.” Both sides need to say what they feel, and be heard.

Remember, the way you talk about the curfew together will have much, much more impact on your teens’ behavior than the exact time you set.

First, parents and teens need to sit down and talk about the curfew calmly, telling each other how they really feel. Then it will be easier to negotiate the following points:

A curfew time everyone can live with. Make a joint decision. Compromise.

A need for teens to call home if they change their plans or will be late, so parents won’t worry.

Consequences for ignoring the curfew. Teens should help decide these.

Ways teens can earn more lenient curfews.

Hear out the teens’ ideas on all of these points. Listen openly, even though parents must make the final decisions.