It basically combined slip 'n slide with basketball and wound up being far more engaging than any of the NBA All-Star Weekend gimmicks last week. (The Charles Barkely/Dick Bavetta race excluded, of course.) Can you imagine if they incorporated this challenge into next years event? Who wouldn't want to watch Shaquille O'Neal try this out? This challenge just further cemented my stand that Survivor should replace the NHL as the fourth "major" sport. It's got better ratings for sure. It's definitely more physically demanding than any other contender for the position like golf or tennis. Who would be against this? And my apologies to any Canadian readers, but your votes don't count in this one.
2. Scoreboard, Mookie. Scoreboard. During the immunity challenge in which contestants had to face off one-on-one in a nasty food eating challenge, Mookie decided to taunt his opponent, Lisi, by dangling his food in her face, showboating, and generally acting like a complete jerk. This was basically the Survivor equivalent of the NFL defensemen who decides to break-dance after sacking the quarterback when his team's down by 20. It was classless AND stupid. Mookie's tribe had won exactly zero challenges so far and was well on their way to going 0-4 on the season.
Boo called Mookie out on his lack of respect, which then sparked "Rocky" to go off on a maniacal diatribe. Seriously, this "Rocky" character makes Shane Powers look like a card-carrying member of Mensa.
On a side note, how great was it when Ravu was one more loss away from losing the immunity challenge and Moto sent out "Papa Smurf" to face them. This guy looks like he could de-bone a chicken in eight seconds. Did Ravu's Anthony have a prayer of beating him in an eating competition? That's what you call a "checkmate".
3. Yeah, I really don't like this Mookie guy. At tribal council Mookie continued his campaign for "guy who everybody wants to sit across from at the end" by lashing out at Anthony for his failure to out-eat Gary. In all honesty, Anthony would have a better shot at keeping a secret during a Jack Bauer interrogation than scarfing down a plate of pig snouts faster than Gary. Can you blame him for mailing it in a little? He could try to down those things as fast as he could. He's still not beating the human blender.
So needless to say, Mookie is quickly becoming my least favorite castaway and is tarnishing the image of Asian-Americans that Yul worked so hard to uphold last year. I don't know about you, but I'm all for setting up a Mookie-Yul jujitsu match on pay-per-view. Like you wouldn't watch that? Somebody give Vince McMahon a call!
