LAST EDITED ON 02-18-02 AT 07:06 PM (EST)First, I liked the show just fine, otherwise I wouldn't have kept watching it. I certainly liked TI2 better than I liked Survivor III. That being said:
I have no idea why everyone thinks they are a fake couple; I absolutely do not think that.
Well, not everyone thinks that. It was my (wild) idea that they might not be real. The reasons I suggested it (besides my normal skepticism) were because of the way they looked and acted:
The very fact that they were replacements and late to the party meant that they couldn't experience what the other couples had experienced and were experiencing. It wouldn't seem fair to introduce them so late... unless they weren't really a committed couple, but a TV couple. To that end, also, they just looked like that perfect "Ken and Barbie" couple.
Kelly immediately became a party girl when she got to the resort.
If memory serves me correctly, Mark said he was a policeman(?), but he really didn't seem to act like one. If you ask "what's a cop supposed to act like?", I'll have a tough time putting it into words, but I know many police officers (and former police officers), and Mark just didn't "fit" what I've come to expect.
They didn't bother to look at videos of each other the first one or two times at bonfire. They did look later on, but I got the feeling that the show personnel suggested to them to watch.
They broke up at bonfire with lots of "drama.", very predictably.
HOWEVER, someone posted an excellent suggestion that this was an abusive relationship, which also fits a lot of things (including some of what I've posted above). So maybe it was real and Kelly took her chance to get out of the relationship while she safely could in front of the cameras.
I bitched about Shannon this entire time, but I do think she gave a nice final speech. I really believe she will appreciate him more.
I must respectfully disagree. When I saw that John had that letter from Shannon all along (which he really should not have been allowed to have), I realized that he never got the opportunity to get out of her influence. Without that, he might have expanded his relationship with Nayla. If anything, Shannon has John more whipped than he was before.
You are right about Cat and Edmundo: He had to go first and clearly wanted to preserve his options. If Cat had gone first, Edmundo's speech would have been totally different. Cat's speech appeared prepared and rehearsed (by her, mind you) and she went ahead and gave it on-camera, but off-camera they both said what they really felt and thus broke up.
I agree with you about Nikkole and Tommy. It wasn't that bad. However, I fully believe Nikkole and TommyNY had sex and that she lied about it. I also believe that Catherine and Brian had sex. How do I know? I don't, but what we did see on camera, and body language during that last bonfire, make me believe it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
*** Contradictions don't exist. If you are faced with a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong. -- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged