Survivor - Old vs Young

[Emperor]

 

 

Some notes on tonight’s typically entertaining “Survivor,” the first in its new regular Wednesday timeslot:

 

* “This is Nicaragua!” announces Jeff Probst. “Remote! Mysterious! Dangerous! Straddled between the raging waters of the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea!”

 

* No Fairplays or Hantzes emerge in the premiere. Everyone initially seems honorable and good-natured.

 

* As the episode begins, the cast has been tricked into thinking they’re all on mixed-age tribes. They’re unaware that Probst will soon segregate the twentysomethings from the forty-and-up-somethings. (Only three of the contestants are older than 48, and none is as old as Rudy Boesch when Rudy first competed 10 summers ago.)

 

* Two of the old guys are named Jimmy. Two of the young women are named Kelly. Two of the 10 oldsters are coaches.

 

* One of the oldsters, Jimmy Johnson, coached the Miami Dolphins. One of the twentysomethings, Brenda Lowe, used to leads cheers for that team professionally, and she recognizes Johnson immediately.

 

* ExtenZe pitchman Johnson speaks without irony of trading on his “superstar status.”

 

* Kelly Bruno, an amputee contestant (not a first for “Survivor,” incidentally) announces a plan to keep her missing leg a secret. If you’re guessing that secret doesn’t last long, you’d be guessing right. In one of the least authentic-looking scenes of the premiere, all of her teammates appear to feign surprise as Bruno gathers everyone and “outs” herself by dropping trou.

 

* A new element of the game, the mysterious Medallion of Power, is introduced at the end of the episode’s first act. The Medallion gives its possessors an edge in immunity competitions. But when a team plays it, the Medallion then becomes the possession of the opposing team.

 

* The first tribe to possess the Medallion is given by Probst the option of trading it for fire-making and fishing gear. Whoever gets the medallion doesn’t get the gear, and vice versa. Viewers have to wait through the first commercial to learn the medallion holders’ decision.

 

* Lots of high-fiveing and dancing on the younger team. The youngest male contestant, a blonde student, is nicknamed Fabio and disparaged by a teammate as “retarded.”

 

* The oldsters seem far less pleased at how the teams have been divided. “I watched every second of Survivor,” grouses Johnson. “I never imagined it’d be this difficult.”