LAST EDITED ON 05-11-08 AT 12:05 PM (EST)

Very good points, Iltarion. You really should join us in the editing thread next season. Just two points:

>"After the tribal switch, Malakal dominated every episode. The members of Airai virtually disappeared from the edit. Would a winner come from that tribe? Seems doubtful to me. Cirie and Amanda were on Malakal."

First, Malakal dominated every episode for the wrong reason: They were going to Tribal each time. Nevertheless, Parvati was never forgotten even if most of Airai's time was spent on Jonathan, who was MedEvaced and Kathleen who quit. Also, remember Jonathan's words: "We have the bad beach, but the good tribe." I took that completely useless comment as a hint that the winner was on NuAirai.

>"Revamped odds after reviewing of last two episodes"

I'd postulate that basing odds on the final 2 episodes is the worse course of action possible. That is when the editors are in full misdirection mode.

I prefer to look at the entire season's edit. Yes, Parvati's stretch run is very worrisome but she had a much stronger first 10 episodes. I remember writing the following after episode #5: "If Amanda had to wrestle a shark to get some airtime, what will she have to do next?" What she did next was in episode #12 when she played the idol. That is a huge gap in which she first played fourth string to Cirie, Ozzy and even Ami, the stars of Malakal and then walked around, out of the loop, in the early days of Dabu.

Remember, she wanted Alexis gone first because she was jealous according to Cirie. That storyline was completely abandoned because, when it came to it, Amanda wanted Natalie gone. Not much was explained for her change of heart. Parvati's reasons were given. Remember when I responded to Aruba that showing the Amanda - Parvati conversation could have been more important than a complete surprise at TC. I think the editors needed to showcase Parvati's role, have her say it had to be Alexis. Think of it: It would indeed have been great if we thought Amanda had failed. Her story's continuity would even have been intact since she booted Alexis. Amanda's story was broken up to leave room for Parvati's. THAT was a huge editing decision.

Just more food for thought as I would be very happy with Amanda winning. She did set a record for most days playing Survivor, beating Big Tom's 73 days.