The 24th season of Survivor kicked off last night with a bunch of changes designed to make this a great season (or keep us guessing). First of all, no returning has-beens. No Coach, no Russell, no Ozzie. Plus, no redemption island, which surprised me because the opportunity to work your way back into the game added mightily to last season's appeal. Finally, it's the guys in one tribe, the girls in the other tribe, and they all live together on the same beach. You may remember they did the split of the sexes in season 12, but the tribes have never lived together before.
Right away, lots of fun stuff unraveled... the guys stole some supplies from the girls, the girls caught two chickens while the guys caught none, the guys got a fire started, the girls tried unsuccessfully to trade a chicken for fire, Sabrina finds a hidden immunity idol however it's clearly marked to be given to the guys, and Kourtney the lady motorcycle repair-lady breaks her wrist in the immunity challenge and is out of the game so nobody gets voted out at tribal council.
Okay so it's too early to start zeroing in on favorites... but I have one non-favorite... Colton. He's gay (as his tribe-mates were quick to spot), but he's also the most effeminate person I've ever seen, so much so that at first I thought it was an act. But he also refused to work at all when his tribe was hard at it, instead spending his time bonding and chatting with the girls or watching the guys work. Sabrina even slipped him the hidden immunity idol, which as he was quick to point out, may be his saving grace since he didn't fit in with his macho tribe-mates. Survivor has had several gay contestants over the years, but Colton is more like an alien from another planet.
He'll make this an interesting season.
