Wow. I don't know if I've ever done such a complete 180 on a season as I did tonight. It sucks, because I was really enjoying it up until tonight. And I was actually really enjoying the cast, for the most part. I do still feel like we have a lot of players there and that they're playing hard, but I've lost a ton of respect for the vast majority of them. Tonight, some people showed their true colors and showed how low they are willing to stoop, all in the name of "playing the game."
Janet . . . my hero. I love her and am whole-heartedly rooting for her to win the game. That could salvage the season. She's a damn good person. She ****ing deserves it. She set aside a relationship that would have been best for her game in order to do what she felt was morally right for everyone else. Much respect. I wish she hadn't wasted her idol, though.
Jamal . . . I was sad to see him go. I didn't particularly like him in episode 2, but when we started getting more confessionals with him and started hearing his thoughts at tribal council, he really grew on me. He's very articulate and insightful, and I thought what he said at tribal tonight about how men had a responsibility to listen to women and be willing to change their own behavior . . . so much respect for that, too. (Unfortunately, he totally bungled the sabotage opportunity he had. There was a lot more he could have done with that.)
Kellee . . . god, not only did we lose Jamal tonight, we also lost Kellee. My heart broke for her hearing her talk about how Dan made her feel. And was this the first time ever we heard Survivor producers during a confessional? And the first time (other than med-evacs) that we've seen the cameras? Anyway, that's besides the point. I'm really bummed she got voted out. Hell, even Dean betrayed her after she saved him. I really thought she was going to go farther.
I actually like Noura and Karishma, and besides Janet, they're the only two I'm rooting for after tonight.
Aaron disgusted me at tribal council. What he was saying reeked of ignorance and a total lack of compassion. He came across as a man who questions a female's feelings to the point of invalidating them. And his whole thing about, "Well, if this was the real world . . ." SHUT UP, Aaron! Sexual assault can exist in the game just like it can outside of it. Just like racism. Just like everything else. Survivor isn't separate from the real world. It's still very, VERY real.
Dan . . . what do I even say? I would like to believe that he is just a touchy-feely person and did not have any intention to make anyone uncomfortable. But the fact of the matter is that he did, and while I can understand that that would be difficult for him to hear that discussed at tribal if that wasn't his intention, he needs to just straight up apologize to the ladies and take this as a gigantic learning opportunity in his life. I hoped that he had done that back in the first episode of the season, but it's continued to happen, and that's concerning. Unfortunately, he's the perfect person to drag to the end now, because there is no way he'll ever win.
And here's where I'm REALLY PISSED. Elizabeth and Missy. Pissed actually isn't even a strong enough word for it. I'm livid. I'm disgusted. Right when Missy told Elizabeth to play it up, I was like, "Um, am I hearing this right? That's . . . really not cool. It's wrong. They shouldn't do that." And then Elizabeth went right ahead and did it. And Missy was having that whole conversation with Kellee about it, too. It wasn't joking. Or at least it shouldn't have been a joke. A topic like that is serious. And for them to stoop so low that they would use sexual harassment as strategy is just as repulsive to me as what Dan has done. And unlike with Dan, there is no doubt surrounding their intentions here. They played up some very serious feelings and gender issues all to better themselves in the game. That's just not okay, and I think Janet had every reason to be upset with them.
I'm so angry about so many things that went down tonight. It's so disappointing, too, because I liked Elizabeth and Missy. (I've actually been a fan of Elizabeth since the early days of her swimming career.) And I'm so disgusted that Dan's behavior has continued. And I'm so bummed that Kellee and Jamal left tonight. This season just . . . it swerved in a not so good direction tonight, and it's very frustrating.