Survivor season 36

http://www.buddytv.com/articles/survivor/meet-the-castaways-of-survivor-67504.aspx

Looks like they have a better than usual group of female players.


They often have "Bradley types" cast and they usually never make it too far because they P.O. the other Survivors so soon and often, that they are booted as soon as possible. The only way they ever stick around very long is if they are good at winning the comps.

http://www.buddytv.com/articles/survivor/survivor-host-jeff-probst-on-t-67725.aspx

"Career counselor Kellyn Bechtold from North Manchester, IN is someone that Probst can relate to. "I think Kellyn is a really fresh energy," he said of the 31-year-old contestant. "I love where she is in life. She's in a bit of transition. She's changed a lot of things. She's on a quest to get more knowledge from the world and I like people that dance with the universe. That speaks to my own soul."

I've spent quite a bit of time in North Manchester. I had an aunt and uncle who lived there, years ago. I would swing on their porch swing.  Kellyn might work at N. Manchester College. I had 4 cousins who were "required" to go there by their parents, for religious affiliation reasons.  Not the aunt/uncle that lived there.  One cousin met his wife there, they both became grade school teachers, one became a Prof.of History at  a college in Penn. after a stint as a theologian, one became a univ. instructor in music,  and one became a housewife.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Manchester,_Indiana

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_University_(Indiana)

You probably won't need this knowledge to watch Survivor, but there is always the possibility of bar bets.  

My gosh this is one of the cousins that I knew best, now deceased, last saw him in 2004.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_F._Durnbaugh

This is his brother who I spent even more time with. Dick had a million $$ (literally) model train collection. I've never heard how his kids eventually disposed of it, but several appraisers had said early on after his death that appraising it was beyond their capability.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/richard-durnbaugh-obituary?pid=1000000158406646&view=guestbook

This was their younger brother. Last saw him in 2002, in IL.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailyherald/obituary.aspx?pid=1171751

This is their sister, still living I guess, haven't seen her since 2002 also.

Ruth Rounds is 83 years old and was born on 06/15/1934. Currently, she lives in Cadillac, MI; and previously lived in lake orion, MI. Her ethnicity is Caucasian, whose political affiliation is currently a registered Republican Party; and religious views are listed as Christian. Ruth is now Ma...

I didn't mean this to be a trip down 'genealogical lane',  but you don't see N. Manchester mentioned too often.

http://www.buddytv.com/articles/survivor/survivor-ghost-island-premiere-67824.aspx

The premire was pretty good, no obvious psychopaths in the group. The beginning was different as if they are deliberately trying to 'shake things up' after 35 seasons. Instead of bringing the contestants in on a large boat, fairly close to shore then having them throw their supplies overboard as fast as possible , then jump in themselves and swim for shore while towing/pushing supplies....instead they brought them right up to the beach in two small boats, they got out and immediately were thrust into a 'rewards' comp. by Jeff. Also the building of their shelters on the beach was downplayed, no video of them arguing over how to do it, that's usually a big feature of the first few eps and can sometimes 'smoke out' the psychopaths.

But this time they hacked up pieces of bamboo, tied them together and no one complained about anything to do with the construction.

Gonzales being booted first was a little surprising. The prettiest women who are often seen as scheming 'back biters' are often the early targets. Gonzales qualified in the first condition, but it was too early to determine if she was a schemer.

Jacob was merely hapless, and unable to grasp any rational plan for survival, and after creating a fake Immunity Idol and then telling others what he did, it was obvious that they knew right away that he had to go.

When James failed utterly to be able to dive in the second Immunity Challenge, in spite of looking very 'buff', the other tribe members convinced Donathan, the token gay guy from East KY., to overcome his fears and dive in and release the balls. He did so and became a hero to his tribe. He will last as long as he can maintain a sufficient level of competence in the Immunity Challenges, even though he considers himself to be basically worthless, physically.

Still too early to determine the most likely winners, but the Malolo tribe has lost the first two Immunity Challenges and has booted the first two survivors. This doesn't bode well for their future based on past seasons.

http://ew.com/tv/2018/03/22/survivor-jeff-probst-ghost-island-donathan-stephanie/

Because Survivor and The Americans come on at the same time tonight, I have to wait and watch Survivor on CBS All Access later, which is easier than watching The Americans on FX On Demand (which I still have to do with the finale of The X-Files.) Life is hard for a 'powerful and influential member'........

There were two interesting things in last nights ep other than the game itself.

http://www.buddytv.com/articles/survivor/survivor-ghost-island-who-was-68517.aspx

First, when the winning tribe won the reward challenge which consisted of being flown by helicopter to another island for a picnic, we see that the Bell 212 copter had a reg. # of N655L. This identifies it as being registered in the U.S. specifically to Vertol Systems of Tigard, OR. So the show always rents aircraft but in this case how did a Bell 212 get clear out to the Fijian Islands. They certainly couldn't fly that far. That leaves the only way to get it out there is by boat or fly it in a large cargo plane. Both would cost some $$, which the show can afford. Since they have settled on the Fijian Islands for all the more recent seasons, it's possible that they keep the copter based there from one season to the next.

The other thing is that the guy from Knoxville, TN has "Old Molly Hare" tattooed on his chest. Being from Knoxvile it's not unreasonable that he would be familiar with that tune. Why he would need to tattoo it on his chest is more puzzling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkBaTkR7PZE