I contributed a post-Premier assessment in the Basher Forum where fellow posters and myself had fun appropriately poking fun at the castaways thanks to the “stellar” job once again exhibited by the CBS Casting Crew. So I figured I would post something in the Fanatics Forum to assess some of the positives I took away from Wednesday’s telecast.

Even though Tai was appropriately portrayed as this season’s character with much future entertainment value on the horizon, personally I think the star of the Premier was Kyle Jason. The several confessionals he had ranged from his personal background, how he intends to play the game, and a human interest story involving his daughters. He was shown initiating alliances with several different tribe mates, a tactic that could backfire, but I think Jason could pull it off. Oh, and unlike some other tribe mates (*cough* Scot *cough) he can count to six. LOL

Interestingly the three female Beauties may have come out of the Premier in the best position by simply “putting on the headlights while driving at night.” The obvious contrasts between the male beauties (whether it was by chance or design) pretty much guaranteed a tight alliance with the three girls. And to their credit they took full advantage of it. An upcoming tribal swap always makes early alliances a tricky proposition, but if the three female beauties are lucky enough to stay together after a tribal swap they could very well be skipping down the yellow brick road to the F6.

A disappointment in the Premier was how little focus was put on Julia. Sure she’s the youngest but as with most superfans she comes in with a solid blueprint for the game. She’s off to a good start locking in with the all-female beauty alliance. But what impressed me most was in the challenge. While most everyone else ran rampant in a near chaotic state, Julia appeared to be the most calm, cool, and collective of the bunch. She barely broke a sweat helping to solve the puzzle bringing victory to the Beauty tribe. Not bad for a teenage sorority chick. If I was posting a Love/Loathe List, Julia could very well be the top female on that list after Ep. 1.

I must honestly admit when I first heard Caleb was casted for this season I wanted to make a fast dash to the bathroom and start hugging the bowl. But he actually came off quite well this episode. Starting fire is always a Gold Star early on in the game...after all the last time I checked the name of the show is still SURVIVOR. It was inevitable he would be recognized as a former BB Houseguest, yet it spun to his advantage when the female Beauties focused on his loyalty in the House. And he more than proved his mettle when he was most instrumental in the challenge pushing the boat up the ramp—a task that proved daunting for everyone else. It’s obvious as an outdoorsman he’s much more in his element on the set of Survivor as opposed to being a hamster cooped up in the BB House.

See...even Aruba can find some silver lining in a Dark Cloud!