The Mia-lujah Chorus

[Mia Galeotalanza]

It's back!

[Mia Galeotalanza]

So, I haven't been ignoring this palce, and I HAVE been reading the Tamanaco confessionals, but I've been a little swamped right now with my job and summer courses, but I'm still around and I should have my footing by the beginning of the week.

[Mia Galeotalanza]

Okay! It's time! I just did a lap through everything that was going on at Tamanaco, so here goes.

Tamanaco: Episode 01

Okay, I agree, these dynamics are hella boring and I kind of wished that I had picked Mariche, but I didn't, so oh well. Anyways...

Diane: I feel SO bad for Diane right now. To be honest, she reminds me a LOT of me in my first season (ironically, I picked her for the fantasy draft!). I came into it with no experience and attempted to throw an alliance together really quick and be social, which is exactly what she's doing. And unfortunately, she's in the same position as I was (i.e. everyone is annoyed with her and wants her gone, but people realize that it might be better to boot the inactive first), so yeah. I really hope that Diane gets a shot to get back into this like I did (via tribe swap), but I just don't see it happening. I think she could be a really great player, but I don't see her getting a chance to prove that here.

Linda: I freaking love Linda right now. I know that a lot of people like Lindsey a little more (more on Lindsey in a second) but Linda just has a little more edge than Lindsey I think. She's hilarious (I loved her little spiel on Diane) and she's set up nicely in the majority. I also like how she isn't Frank's biggest fan, which gives me hope that we'll see some crazy things from Linda. She's not going to sit around and let someone else take charge of her game (at least I hope), and I REALLY think that she's going to be a huge character, given time.

Lindsey: Also another great personality, and from her confessionals (and boy are there a LOT of them!), she's going to push as much as she can to take charge. In a way, though, she almost seems a little TOO well set up at the moment, with Diane trying to rope her into the minority, yet her obviously siding with the majority. If Tamanaco wins a lot, or if whatever sort of swap happens, if any, and a few of the players in the minority stick around too long, Lindsey could be targeted just for neglecting them. I dunno, but I also expect a lot from Lindsey, so I can't wait to see what she does!

Kim J: OMG. MamaKim is amazing. She's got Diane & co eating out of the palm of her hand (I think Lindsey mentioned that Kim feeds them everything that Diane & co tell her, which is hilarious) and she's got a good spot in the majority, too. As for being Cacique, her performance last night was flawless! However, I'm curious to see how she handles some of the more heavy-hitting tasks, and if she can hold on to her positive image. I'm sure she's going to deliver with whatever tasks we have for her.

Clarence: He's definitely not bringing, but I'm going to chalk it up to inexperience. After this is over, and if he sticks around, he'll maybe get a glimpse of what it takes to do well in this, but otherwise, I don't have too much hope for this guy. Even if he DOES manage to stick around, he'll be a floater who fails to make a splash.

Kim P: Don't get me wrong, I like Kim P a lot too, but she could easily go either way with me. I don't think she's going to stand out much pre-merge, but if she makes the merge, I think that's where she could potentially shine. There can't be TOO many big guns early on, and as we saw in Costa Rica, sometimes that's all it takes to win. I can defo see her being a Kim Mullen/Costa Rica (love you Kim!) type player. Maybe I'm wrong, but if she's pulled in too many directions, she could easily end up in a similar situation.

Big Tom: He's in the same boat as Clarance and Diane, which is really too bad, but like Clarence, he's just not that exciting to me, unlike Diane. Some of his comments are pretty lol-worthy (like is rando connection to Gabriel... ), and I also see him floating above anything else, if he DOES manage to stick around. If not, I don't expect too much, so he'll probably end up being an inconsequential boot sooner than later.

Frank: Future challenge beast? Probably? I dunno. I definitely like Frank, but he's not my favorite (I actually haven't picked one yet, though, so...) Anyways, I can't remember who else said it, but I think that Frank will get into some trouble if MamaKim ever has a fall from Grace. He'll emerge as the "leader" of the alliance, which Linda will HATE, and he'll be an easy target at the merge for his challenge strength and strong board presence. He's already delivering, though, so I can't complain!

Lex: lol?

Ranking:
1. Linda (screw it, she's my favorite!)
2. Lindsey
3. MamKim
4. Frank
5. Kim P
6. Diane
7. Big Tom
8. Clarence
9. Lex

Anyways, it's already clear that at least on Tamanaco, the ladies are going to dominate. Will we have another female winner? If the winner is from THIS tribe, hell yes.

[Mia Galeotalanza]

Also, I want to be better about throwing in some of my favorite quotes, so there's this:

At this point, purely an annoyance. "ER MA GERD HI. I SAW YOU WERE ONLINE HI! :D :D :D :D "

"LIKE WHO ARE YOU VOTING IF WE LOSE?" "It's only Thursday, I don't know Diane". "BUT YOU MUST HAVE SOME IDEA!?" "No, I really don't". "WELL ITS FRIDAY NOW YOU MUST KNOW!!!!!" "Nope". "I DONT BELIEVE YOU"

and yet she's the one messaging me the most :(

[Mia Galeotalanza]

I'm just about to dive into Mariche right now, but before I go to far, I also wanted to post this quote:

I'm going to be dragging through this round by the skin of my teeth if I have anything to say about it. Someone forgot to tell John that this frog is poisonous.

[Mia Galeotalanza]

Mariche: Episode 01

Alrighty. Here goes. This tribe is INSANE.

Patricia: Nope. Don't like her. She's my Wendy Jo of the season. Maybe she'll get rock'd out, too!

Gabriel: So enthusiastic, and he definitely seems to be playing well at the moment! He's got his hand in almost everything that's going on, which is a good thing for now, but bad thing for the future (although it MAY mean good things for whatever swap situations end up happening in this game). I'm definitely loving him right now. It's great to see new players like this go at this so hard!

General: He's a little boring right now, but that's fine, because he's sitting pretty and he makes me chuckle. Seems like a really likeable gentle giant kind of guy, and that'll definitely help him out (for now, at least). He's definitely not playing the hardest, and it's showing because of his lack of pull with trying to keep John around, but maybe he'll fire it up later on. I think he's near the bottom of his alliance, so I have to wonder if he'd ever be smart enough to change things up to better his placing.

Gina: She's very aware, which is always good. At first it seemed like she was in a rough spot, but now things look better? I'm still honestly pretty confused on Mariche... Hopefully she can stick things out, because I think she's really nice (good call on casting her as Gina, poods!) However, I don't like her pairing with Patricia because I just don't like Patricia, so I hope she can break free of that, and I definitely think that she could, because Patricia is going to come across as more of a threat.

Sean: Sean is cool! He's coming across as a huge strategy pusher, and he seems to be doing a good job so far. First he's with Vee, then Patricia, and then both? Again this is all pretty confusing to me, but as long as Sean survives the first boot, he may be okay for a LITTLE while at least. He's not much of a character, but I think that's mainly because his experience in these things is only through Facebook games where he only plays as himself, rather than a Survivor rep. Given time, I think he might warm up and we'll see a little more personality from him, but who knows.

Vecepia: Vee is kind of lolzy to me. I know that Kim said she reminded her of a mix of both Jolanda incarnations, but I disagree... Jolanda had the enthusiasm bug, and I don't think Vee is QUITE that intense. I've seen a lot of players in Aussie Stranded that she reminds me of, so I'm personally not going to hold my breath on Vee too much. She's more than likely going to stick to her alliance and, if she does switch things up, she won't go too far from her core. She's blunt and prickly, but unfortunately, I don't think that's enough to stand out in this cast. At least not yet.

Sarah: She kind of seems to be in the same boat as MamaKim from Tamanco, I guess, and while I think she's going to be an amazing saboteur, she's not anyone that we would have expected it from if she didn't have the role (by 'someone that we would expect it from', I'm referring to a personality like a John or maybe Caryn from Costa Rica or Erica from last season). So for now it's a wait and see kind of deal, and while she's not going anywhere, her vote is still valuable, but I'm still confused on where she's at with the voting block, but last I checked, wasn't she close with John? This will be interesting.

Peter: Apparently he's actually stepping it up some? Although I doubt it will be enough, I think his best shot at sticking around and going far is similar to a Lisa situation from Costa Rica. If he does get a shot, he'll wind up in someone's back pocket and he'll stay there.

John: I'm running out of steam on these, but apparently John is going home tonight anyways, last I checked? Boy does he NOT deserve to go first, but I have to give him props for going hard right out of the gate... Apparently Patricia threw a wrench in his shots at this, which is a shame (damn Patricia ) but maybe something will happen and he'll stay?

Ranking: This is going to be a sloppy ranking because I'm still confused on this tribe, but whatever.
1. Gabriel
2. Gina
3. Sarah
4. Sean
5. General
6. Vecepia
7. John
8. Peter
9. Patricia

[Mia Galeotalanza]

Tamanaco/Mariche: Episode 02

Okay, so I don't really have enough time to do individual rankings/updates on everyone, especially considering I only did mine just last night, but I'll post some quick thoughts, and mostly on Tamanaco because I haven't actually been over to Mariche yet.

Anyways, again, poor Diane. I wish she would get a chance to have a shot in this, and on any other tribe, she might have, but Tamanaco is just so active and she didn't play it smart enough at the beginning. It almost seems like Tamanaco is in the mindstate of throwing the challenge, because they've all left prevotes for her.

Also apparently something is going on with Kim P? As the days go on, this alliance they have (the Kim's, the Lind's, and Frank) seems more and more likely to fall apart, and I definitely think that Lex will be the man to put the final nail in the coffin. I can't wait to see what happens with him!

Anyways this is my first night off to take for myself in a WHILE so I'm probably going to hang back a little tonight, but yeah.

[Mia Galeotalanza]

Tamanaco: Episode 04

Okay, so the situation at Tamanaco is VERY predictable... at least for now. But that doesn't mean that they shouldn't be talked about, because I always hate when the "predictable" tribe gets ignored in blogs over the clusterfuck-y one.

So anyways, the situation is extremely simple- Big Tom is next to go, and there is a "majority" alliance of everyone on board, and they're all just waiting to see what happens:

Linda/Lindsey/Kim P
and
Clarene/Lex

with Frank/MamaKim in the middle, just waiting to decide which side to go with.

Frank and MamaKim are suspicious that the Linds/Kim P are a tight 3, so they don't necessarily want to go with that alliance in case this is the case. Well, their suspicions are correct, because according to Kim P, those three ARE the "core within the core" and they just want MamaKim and Frank's votes.

Lex and Clarence both seem to have level heads and are also just waiting it out to see what happens. So all the suspense at Tamanaco stems from where MamaKim and Frank will go. So yeah, while Big Tom leaving tonight would be boring, I think it NEEDS to happen so we can see what exactly will unfold at Tamanaco before things get too messed up by a potential swap. A swap will make the choices for them, and I would personally much rather see them be forced into these decisions because I think it'll make for a much more interesting post-merge.

Plus, I don't really want to see Big Tom stick around over some of the crazies on Mariche.

Anyways, I'll post my personal thoughts and rankings now:

Linda: Again, my personal favorite. She's sassy and hilarious and blunt. She may be laying low right now, but I think she's smartly doing it, so I'm expecting to see her emerge as a big character in the merge (assuming she makes it, which I have no doubts about at this point.) I'd love to see what she does if she loses one of her 3 ladies (Lindsey or Kim P) because she could easily hide behind them for most of the game, and I'd rather her not stay hidden for TOO long. Anyways, I love Linda and hope she does well for herself!

Lindsey: I honestly think that Lindsey is in the best social situation on her tribe right now. She mentioned having strong bonds with almost everyone but Clarence, and even though she's considered to be with the core of 3 ladies (her, Linda, and Kim P), she could still bounce back from that with her connections to Lex or even MamaKim/Frank. So yeah, I think either way, she is in the top 3 of one alliance and rounds out the 5th of another alliance. This girl will have mad options going for her at the merge, so it'll just be a question of if she makes the right decisions. Basically, the fact that she's been able to be in the middle WITHOUT being the big personality in charge makes me think that she's BEST off. Also, she's got a nice sneaky side going on, so she's bound to continue to be more entertaining once some of the bigger personalities fall.

Frank: He definitely grew on me (not that I didn't love him before) but it's hard not to love his ballsy antics! He definitely reminds me of Bobby Jon. Nobody can order Frank around at this point, but I don't think he's going to be ~quite~ sneaky enough to make it as far as Bobby Jon did without getting caught. I don't see him winning this game at all, because he's going to rub people the wrong way and he'll eventually get caught. It's almost as if he is the Cacique and MamaKim is just another player, that's how much I think he's going to be hated later one. But, Frank the Tank is crazy, so you've gotta love that!

MamaKim: Ugh, she's starting to rub me the wrong way a little. I mean, you've got to love the way that she's so skillfully dealing with the Cacique tasks, because she's barely had a bad word said about her at this point, but I just hate to see her diffuse so much drama. I hate drama diffusers. She's definitely in an interesting spot, but at this point, I just want to see her be hated on for being Cacique. It's too bad that she got the role, because it really isn't right for her, but hey, it happens. I still love her, though! (The Cacique task I MOST want to see her do is the one where she has to try and turn the vote on the first person to post in Tribal Council, because I don't see her skating through that one AT ALL. )

Lex: He's done well for himself for sure! I almost think he was BETTER off by coming in late because at that point, people wanted him and it was easier for him to make allies. But I don't quite think he's in the best position, because he's been either squared off to being with Clarence/Frank/MamaKim, or the possible 6th man of another alliance. Anyways, nothing super exciting is happening yet, but I'll keep my eye on him!

Kim P: I think my original assessment of Kim P was wrong, because I don't see her doing to much at the moment, but that may have to due some with the waiting game that Tamanaco has become. She's got her 3 ladies, and she may have Frank and MamaKim, so yeah. If any of the 3 ladies leave first though, I think it'll be her, because she's already being used as the name for the psuedo-target that MamaKim has to give out, and Diane was already targeting her, but I dunno.

Clarence: I think he's kind of in the same boat as Lex, but if he ends up getting burned by Frank and MamaKim, I'm not sure how much hope he has. He'll need a hsakeup to improve his position, and I just don't see him being in a place where he can make big moves and call the shots, so I don't think that he's got the winner's edge. I could be wrong though, so again, it's another wait and see situation with Clarence.

Big Tom: He's dead meat. Nothing against Tom, because he's really nice and loveable, but he just doesn't have the edge that the other players have, and I'm kind of ready for him to leave the game.

Ranking:
1. Lindsey
2. Linda
3. Frank
4. MamaKim
5. Lex
6. Kim P
7. Clarence
8. Big Tom

[Mia Galeotalanza]

Frank is stirring things up and really adding some craziness to the Tamanaco dynamic:

What if I tell the other tribe I'm going home if we lose. And try to make them a deal that i'll flip to them once merge/swap, and that a swap is probable at 14, and ask them to throw the challenge and get rid of people they don't trust (like Gina). It might at least convince a few people who want Gina out to slack off.

It would be so hilarious if they do it. Doesn't hurt to try.

He wants to say someone is in control and someone suggest saying that Kim P & co are running things, and Kim P wants no part of it! This is amazing!

[Brenda Lowe]

Lex continues to impress me too. You could just see him rolling his eyes at Frank overplaying, but still semi-playing along.

[Mia Galeotalanza]

Tamanaco: Episode 06

Before I go to bed, I wanted to post this to get some discussion going on this round before it all ends.

So, Sean's idol thing. At first I thought he played it wrong by announcing them at tribal like that, especially when he wasn't going home, but now I think that luck was on his side and it worked out to his favor.

So as of right now, and according to mostly just Linda (she's like the only one posting about it), either Frank or Lex are going home and they're hoping to flush the idols. I don't think any of them are willing to risk it and risk going home, especially Lex and Frank who will almost definitely vote for each other. But yeah, Sean and Vee still need a boatload of luck to make it through this, and I really hope that they pull through and we go into the merge 6/6. (although that might just contribute to a potential pagonging...)

But anyways, I guess there isn't too much to say about this, but I'd love to see home other hosts' thoughts on it, because I feel like the game got shaken up quite a bit. At this point I can see Frank leaving, which would be fitting because he's kind of burnt out (although still amazing), and I also feel like Lex isn't done playing yet- we haven't see his full potential, whereas Frank is destined to be an early merge villain boot for sure. I dunno. If Tribal had been tonight, I'm sure Frank would be gone by now, but the extra day really changes things for sure.

[Mia Galeotalanza]

A few more thoughts before I REALLY go to bed this time.

I really do think that Sean lucked out big time here. If this happened any other way, I don't think he would make it. So I guess for being potentially swapfucked, he's in a rare position of power that I don't think many people in his situation get to be in.

Also, I'd LOVE an update on Mariche, which I haven't had a chance to check in on. I'm a little bummed that we didn't get to see their dynamics bubble over before the swap (either Gina or Vee leaving) but it'll be interesting to see some of those wildcards sneak into the merge. But how are the Tamanaco's faring over there?

[Holly Hoffman]

I'll do an update on Mariche today.

[Kim Mullen]

I am still so fucking confused lol. Are Sean's idols real?

[Brenda Lowe]

I am still so fucking confused lol. Are Sean's idols real?

Not in the slightest

I will do a decent wrap up come Friday.