The showrunners need to stop with the lousy recruiting. Rocker was only there to stir up controversy on and off the set, knew little about the show and was wealthy enough not to care, apart from just being competitive in general as an athlete. Julie was even less interested in being there as she was just dragged along because she was Rocker's girlfriend. She also knew nothing of the show and is also apparently a successful businesswoman in her own right, so she also has little incentive or desire to remain in the game. Probst even said in his post-episode Q&A with Entertainment Weekly that they suspected that Julie wasn't going to be able to hack it out there from the start, yet they still kept her in because they just had to have that bigoted meathead Rocker on the show, and it was a package deal.
It's hard to do, but I pretty much loathe all sides involved in TrailMixGate. Julie for hoarding the trail mix. The whole team for binging on the huge amount of leftovers from the reward feast and then starving the next day instead of conserving after they just had the incident with Jeff taking all their reward items in exchange for the extra bag of rice, which is probably what prompted Julie to hoard in the first place (still a stupid move socially, though). Jon for looking through Julie's personal belongings while she was gone (if you want to confront her, fine, but don't rifle through her stuff). That dumbass punk Alec for bringing it up again a day after it was over and done with. Julie for quitting in part over it (mostly it was because she's overly attached to Rocker, but the alienation was part of it too) and leaving Jeremy hanging.
The upside to Julie quitting is that it probably saved Jeremy for another episode, which gives him a chance to rally back, though it will be difficult now that he's down an ally. Jeremy and Josh are the only ones seriously playing the game from a strategic standpoint (though Jeremy sucked at the challenge). It's nice to say two fans who are smart strategically square off and still respect each other's gameplay instead of getting all personal about it. Unfortunately if Jeremy goes home next episode it will probably solidify this season's entry in the bottom half of Survivor seasons. I was hoping for a turnaround in this episode, because merges usually do that, but Julie sabotaged it by being a lousy quitter because people find her pretty... or some stupid logic she used. It would be epic if Jeremy could stay in the game somehow and he and Josh faced off with each other's alliances getting picked off one at a time, or alternatively, if they flipped the switch and joined forces to take out all the chumps in the game with them. The preview for next week hinted at things possibly turning into a men versus women situation, so that might yet happen.
Jon, besides invading personal property, keeps acting like he and Jaclyn are some strategic masterminds because they keep being thrust into the center of things as a couple, but really, the key to winning over Jon is to just be the last person who speaks to him before tribal. He's completely wishy washy in every episode and they flip back and forth between who they're going to vote out, and Jaclyn, although seemingly smarter than her vacant boyfriend, just goes along with him despite her misgivings. The joke about them being able to stay together because they made it to the merge, calling back to Kat's stupid comment in the last Blood & Water, was funny though.
Keith and Wesley are sort of the dark horses. They aren't getting a lot of attention, but perform well in challenges and don't do anything incredibly stupid (although Keith napping instead of scrambling before tribal last episode was close) or unlikeable. It was cool to see them square off as the last two in the immunity challenge, although it was a boring one.
Natalie, the last remaining Wonder Twin, has been surprisingly low key since her sister left, and has played a good under the radar game, which I would have never believed possible after watching them be so shrill on The Amazing Race. Once she's on her own she's a completely different person, apparently.
Baylor and Missy remain irritating, although Missy's admonition to her daughter to suck it up and play the game was welcome.
Hopefully things turn for the better next episode, because it's been very boring so far. There are no real standout players, good or "evil". The good ones are okay and the villains are mediocre at best, if you can even call anyone a straight up villain this season after the Rocker departure, and he was only the Diet Coke of evil on the show at best. The cast has been exceptionally bland this season.
They only did that when they were in the middle of tasks on The Amazing Race.
