I may not like watching TV, but I love Survivor.

If you know me personally you will know that I am not a big fan of watching TV. Yes, I do watch American Idol every time it's on (Season 5 is my favorite season even if my favorite Chris Daughtry did not win) and I did watch the first three seasons of Desperate Housewives religiously on Studio 23 or Star World. I also bought DVDs of South Park (I LOVE this!), Ugly Betty, Gossip Girl, Sex and the City and True Blood. And yes I find Two and a Half Men funny and watch reruns of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Will & Grace when I catch them on ETC. I don't follow local telenovelas though; the only Filipino series I watched from its pilot to the last episode was Encantadia (my love for fairies and mythology drove me to it, and in fairness to GMA-7 this series was really good.) I may find Gerald Anderson hot but I have never seen an episode of his soaps. Now before you accuse me of being unpatriotic and not having faith in the Filipino talent, I just want to say that I cannot bring myself to watch local soap operas (with their sappy and melodramatic lines that we don't really use in normal, day-to-day conversations, leading men and ladies who don't know how to act, and impeccably dressed antagonists who either convert to being saints or go crazy at the end) without wanting to drown in cheese and throw up. I'd rather go online and search for interesting stuff than watch TV. Yes, I bought a TV last week but the main reason for that is to keep abreast with the news. And yes, because I missed watching DVDs. I may not like TV shows that much but I'm a sucker for movies.

There is one TV show that I really, really like though that if I was not able to watch an episode I scour the net to look for the episode I missed. That, my friends, is Survivor. I may be a girly girl, but that does not mean I don't like to watch people roughing it on the outdoors. There is no way I can join though, I am too much of a wimp for that. Besides I cannot imagine lazy me building shelter and eating coconut husks and slugs :D

If you have never seen a single episode of this, let me tell you the gist: 16-20 players are divided into two to four teams for the duration of 39 days with only basic tools of survival and without the comforts of a good shelter, bed, and food, all for the goal of outwitting, outplaying and outlasting each other. For each episode there is a Reward Challenge and an Immunity Challenge. If a team (or individual) wins the Reward Challenge they (of course) get to take home to their tribe whatever the reward is at stake (which normally include fishing gear, comfortable beddings, hammocks, and the like). The losing tribe (or individuals) in the Immunity Challenge would have to vote someone out in the Tribal Council, with host Jeff Probst stumping their fire after uttering his immortal lines, "The tribe has spoken."

I really love this show! I am not a big fan of reality TV per se, but this show is one of the pioneers of that genre so you can say that is "untainted" with the current comercialization and exploitation of today's shows in the guise of reality TV. I love how people might put up a front at first, but become unguarded as days wear on, how you see the way they try to cover themselves (and their lies) up, how the inner workings of the mind play out, and how "romantic" relationships develop, like what happened to Amber and Rob in All Stars and Amanda and Ozzy in Micronesia. It is basically a dog-eat-dog world, in a micro-scale. Most of all, I love how the limitations of the physical, emotional and psychological sides of the players are tested. I can't help but get carried away everytime I watch an episode; I find myself cheering out loud for my favorite team or player, even when I know it was just a taped episode :D But no, I don't watch the locally-made and produced Survivor, sorry x_x

And yes, I know this is superficial of me, but I cannot resist the show's eyecandies :D

From the current season Survivor Samoa:

Mick from Foa Foa

Dubbed as MickDreamy (It's not hard to see why :D)

Brett from Galu

But my greatest love of all, my absolute favorite, the gorgeous hottie who won my pink, glittering heart is definitely Oscar "Ozzy" Lustsh from Cook Islands and Micronesia: Fans vs Favorites!

SWOON

He was described as half-monkey, half-dolphin, half-what have you, all because he was the BEST in all the challenges! He did not win though, but I don't care, I'm in lalalalove with him! I even made a Multiply album of him :D Talk about obsession bordering on silly highschool girl crush :D

I'm just a bit sad though because I heard from the grapevine the 20th season (that's next year) will be the last. It'll be Heroes vs Villains wherein the show's best - you guessed it - heroes and villains from 19 seasons will take part. And no, Ozzy won't be there :(

I wish Survivor will go on and on, but if it has really served its course then I will accept it and just thank CBS for giving me, us, this show. More than anything else, notwithstanding all the lies, deception and powertripping in this game, the show demonstrates the beauty of the human spirit; that we are all resilient and strong. Even when the odds are against us, even when forces of nature collide, even when the entire tribe speaks against us, we still cannot be defeated. We just have to stay strong and keep going for that immunity, and maybe before we know it it's already the 39th day and we have received the most number of votes and have even won the hearts of the public (or that other tribe member). That, in itself, is worth more than the $1,000,000 prize money (though it won't hurt to win that as well, yes? ;))

*This is my 4th of 30 posts for the 30-Day Blog Challenge.