Survivor China: Episode 1

Another season of Survivor, another few months of Saturday mornings spent in bed catching up on the week's events (thank you, school, for always scheduling my classes on Thursday nights). After a scary moment when I couldn't find the full episode online, and then having to sit through no less than three "commercial" breaks where I was subjected to this horrible commercial, I am now ready to share with you my first impressions after week 1:

- I realize it's easy to say "if I were on Survivor, I'd..." but seriously - it's season 15 - if you were on Survivor, wouldn't you want to be prepared for anything and show up to any and all events wearing clothes that you would want to have with you? I don't know off the top of my head the exact number of times survivors have been sent to their camps with no warning, but I know it's happened a few times, so just assume that it might happen on your season and wear practical shoes and a BRA, for godsake.

And maybe they all had literally just arrived and they were wearing what they had worn on the plane ride, but seriously - who flies to China to be on Survivor and wears a business suit!?!?

- Interesting theory about a poker player having an advantage by being able to better read his tribe mates. Looks from the preview for next week that perhaps he's not so good with his teamwork skills, but I'll be interested to see if he has any good/interesting insight into any of his fellow competitors.

- Courtney is absolutely the most rediculous survivor player in this game so far. Did she score negative points on whatever socialization test they must have given her before being on this show? "People who live in NY don't act like this"!??!?! Wow. Can't wait to see how long she lasts (or, more optimistically, how long it takes before she has some sort of epiphany and realizes that "different" does not mean "bad"). UPDATE (since I wrote this 30 seconds ago): I just read her Bio, and she grew up in Boston, and studied abroad in Dakar, Senegal, so it's not like she's never left the confines of NYC. What is her deal!??!!

- Did I make this up, or did the Christian radio host really say "I'm not religious, but..." in her defense of walking out of the ceremony at the beginning? Please tell me I mis-heard that.

- I hope Frosti stays in long enough that we get to see him do some fun Parkour moves.

- I have a crush on James the gravedigger.

- What on earth made Jeff decide it was a good idea to let the loser tribe at tribal council bring their fire back to camp with them!?!?!? I can't remember the last time that happened - at least not at the first tribal council. I wanted to see them suffer a little more.

- Finally, I'm bummed that Chicken got voted out early, as he would have been a fun character to have around (for us anyway, probably not for his tribe). I did see why they voted for him, though, because he was stupid and stubborn and wouldn't share his opinion with the tribe. Man, he was funny for one episode, though. Great character.

Person I hope to see a lot more of in the future: Denise. C'mon - she's a school lunch lady and she rides her scooter to work. Oh, and did I mention her Budweiser memorabilia collection and her skills at axe and knife throwing (please please please let there be a challenge where we get to see these skills in action!).