I also think it's editing. If you have noticed, it hasn't really been Survivor Samoa with a fair amount of footage of a variety of players but rather Survivor Russell. Those who have interaction with Russell get footage. So we don't know Brett because he's had very little dealings with Russell.

It's simple really: Brett is likable. Kelly was likable. Brett and Kelly liked Laura. If we had known Brett and Kelly, we would have been inclined to like Laura also. Russell used Shambutch's hate for Laura to topple Galu. If we had liked Laura, we would have hated the outcome. Instead, Russell is well liked and most of the audience laughed at Laura's demise. Now that Shambutch isn't needed anymore, we see she wasn't all that good and she goes to the background. Also, the editors can finally let us see Brett a little more, get another underdog story started.

Remember Palau? Jenn was a likable woman who was completely hidden until the merge. All we saw of her was her little adventure with Gregg.

Did you listen to the DVD of Palau? In it, Jenn does some of the most amusing commentaries so it wasn't a question of personality.

The reason Jenn was hidden was because she kept going up against Stephenie in challenges and Stephenie was much stronger than Jenn. If we had known Jenn, we could have liked Jenn. If we had liked Jenn, we could have hated Stephenie for picking on the much smaller woman. But the editors wanted to build the Hero story for Steph so Jenn's story was sacrificed.

I liked Jenn.

>

She was cute enough, for sure. What I meant was her first confessional happened in episode #4. Before the merge, she wasn't given the opportunity to talk, which would have given her more fans than just the ones that found her hot, especially since Palau had a few hot looking but boring mactors. Jenn was A LOT better than all of them, certainly more interesting than StepheME.

There are many who liked Brett the moment his picture was released during the cast reveal. Had he been a narrator, he could have been a fan favorite.

Remember, whatever most think of the casting department, the few that make it on the show HAVE to do something to make them stand out. It's a very cut-throat hiring process. The ones selected are all outgoing personalities. Unfortunately, many become duds when they hit the beach, often out of conscious attempts to remain hidden.

Well, I guess you can't say it's all one thing..first they cast, then they film, then they firgure out how to tell the most interesting story they can see, then the edit it to tell that story. Or stories.

It's easier to see the types they cast for in BB, the 24 hour cameras (ha!) are harder to fool.

OK...here are the numbers. 39 days X 24 hours = 936 total hours of Survivor in REAL time. Not counting the Thanksgiving Day recrap episode and accounting for the two-hour finale there are a total of 15 hours TV time. Clearly a lot will not be shown and even though the sheer math dictates editing, all too often we hear "editing" as a cop-out or as a debating tool forcing one to have to disprove a "negative" or something that may or may not have occurred.

For Pete's Sake everything is edited including movies, sporting events...and yes folks...TV shows like Survivor. Bottomline, players EARN editing time. Sure Russell is receiving a big edit but you wanna know what...he is owning this season with his great play hence EARNING the time. Conversely Brett joins the long line of casting debacles and has not earned any editing.

Finallytyping...your assessment of Brett is correct.

Aruba, I think you expressed what I was unable to... that Brett didn't earn any face time. That is why I thought they might have screwed up in casting. There have been characters in the past who had a strategy of flying under the radar, and we were shown their passiveness to demonstrate their strategy. We at least knew who they were. There must have been tape of Brett showing some sort of personality, but it must not have been interesting enough for the producers to air. Brett will have to step it up big time with some extraordinary moves to get me to care an iota about him.

I did watch (for the first time ever) the "Behind the Scenes" video and I found Brett to be as dull as a doorknob. Shambo might be annoying and dimwitted, but at least she is describable.

"When he won immunity
it just tasted like chicken."

Wow, big blow at chicken out of nowhere. What do you have against one of the world's most popular meats?

Ahhh, their little master plan is working. When Brett was playing for immunity (and consequently won immunity yet again, and probably not for the last time,) I realized I must be feeling something for him because I had been rooting against him to win. Then when he won, I definitely felt something. Irritated, yet somehow still bored.

I, for one, really benefited from the Fallen Heroes schmaltz fest this time. Why? Because I had forgotten who 3/4 of these boring but still irritating people were.

Christmasized by the one and only Sharnina

Another ^5 for the "stellar" casting crew.

*snort*