Survivor

Who would be the most interesting character on this season of Survivor if Boston Rob were not present? 

Ralph? 
David? 
*gulp*
Philip?

The argument could certainly be made that Russell initially and Boston Rob recently have so thoroughly dominated the show that no one else has had a chance to evolve in to a more interesting personality.  Perhaps David is proving that recently.  With Russell out, he’s turned in to quite the villain and is arguably interesting. 

But, none of these characters ever seem to have nearly as many interesting things to say as Russell did and Boston Rob does.  Our Red Sox-loving survivor once again dominated this week’s episode first in game performance, but more entertainingly in what he does around camp and says in his confessionals. 

Here’s a sample of some of his gems this week:

Philip wanted to go to the duel.  He’s not allowed to go without a chaperone.  I gotta baby sit his ass for the day.
Philip has a big mouth, he likes to talk and he can’t be trusted.  He’s dangerous because of his stupidity.  He’s probably the most unaware person I’ve ever met in my entire life.
If we lose, there won’t be any blindside.  I’ll go right up to Philip and say ‘you know what, Philip, you’re going home.’  I’ll frontside him.
We almost lost ya, Philip!

The last one was probably the boldest thing he’s done yet.  He basically told Philip that if Ometepe had lost, Philip was going home.  The best part?  Philip didn’t even realize what Boston Rob was really telling him, so he didn’t even react. He gave Rob a quick, quizzical look before returning to the joy of winning.

Not only is what Boston Rob says funny, what he does is equally as funny.  He continues to be aggressive with the clues to the hidden immunity idol for almost no reason.  No one can find the idol because he has it, so what does he care?  Then again, why am I complaining?  It led to a hilarious moment when he tossed the clue in to the volcano without reading it.  Gold!

So if Russell and, most prominently, Boston Rob were not on this season of Survivor, would we enjoy it?  While it’s hard to find someone to get attached to, there’s no question it’s better than last season.  Even though both are crazy, Ralph and Philip are both more interesting than anyone from the fall. 

Would this be different if Rob and Russell were not included?  Our last memorable new character was Russell from Survivor: Samoa two years ago.  Since then we’ve only had one truly new cast and it completely flopped.  This season 16 of the 18 are new and none have been fun to root for. 

Philip has been interesting, but interesting like it’s interesting to see what happens with a car crash.  Ralph, his man sweater and his amazing ignorance (really, he didn’t know what cohesive means?) has been unique to watch, but after the initial shock of Ralph wore off, he’s been less engaging. 

It’s been a tough season for the women.  Julie, Ashley, Natalie, Sarita and Andrea have brought very little to the table.  Stephanie had a lot to her, but also sided with the wrong person and couldn’t get over her own anger with her tribe to save herself. 

Perhaps Stephanie would have been the character that emerged if Russell were not around.  She was ready to “play the game” right from the get go.  She’s got a mouth on her, which is always interesting.  Despite being small in stature, she had a lot of fight to her, even in challenges.  Without Russell and with the right replacement, she might be running Zapatera.

More from this week:

• Why is David SO aggressive with Sarita?  He’s almost like an older bully who’s just picking on a younger, timid kid.  I don’t understand it.  Not only is it unnecessarily mean it’s very counterproductive in Survivor.
• Philip could go down as the craziest survivor ever.  I know he’s got competition, but he’s putting on an epic performance.
• Amazing how Boston Rob flipped Philip’s trust against him.  I think Philip was being earnest in truly asking what Boston Rob wanted to do.  Boston Rob turned it around to make it seem like Philip was suggesting keeping stuff from the tribe.
• This is probably the first time we’ve ever seen Boston Rob struggle in a challenge and be bailed out by someone else – Grant.  However, I’d accept the argument that Rob was just trying to drag Philip’s 52-year old butt through the challenge and that’s why he was behind.