Survivor South Pacific's Brandon Hantz Gives Away His Immunity to Albert & Then Gets Kicked Out of the Tribe

Brandon Hantz in Pain

Wednesday night's Survivor: South Pacific episode was the last regular episode before this coming Sunday's bloated 3 hour finale.

For me this has been the most off-putting season of Survivor yet.

Methinks if Survivor wants to survive it needs to drop the returning of past survivors for redemption.

For me, the gimmick has not worked.

And no more Hantz's on Survivor.

I would think that actual practitioners of the Christian faith would find offensive the way some reality shows use pseudo-Christians as comic fodder. Maybe pseudo is the wrong word. Maybe illegit would be more appropriate.

The prayer rings led by Ben Wade and Brandon Hantz were embarrassing to witness. It appeared it was embarrassing to some of those in the ring who felt they had to pretend to participate.

Brandon's idiotic concept of his religion, where he thinks God monitors reality TV game shows, with a Godly interest in the outcome, is so incredibly self-centered. Not to mention stupid. Brandon verbalizes thinking that God has all of his life planned out for him, with Brandon, apparently, thinking that Brandon has no say in the matter.

So, apparently, Brandon believes God's plan for him is to make him look to be very naive and stupid.

And then there is that phony buffoon, Ben Wade, who insists being called "Coach."

Bending over, with his forehead to the ground, praying for God to give him a vision as to who he should kick out of the tribe.

With the Survivor editors putting visions of the possible kickees on the screen.

Coach must really have an extremely low opinion of this God he speaks to, if he thinks that this God has time for such trivial, meaningless matters.

What with all the actual real problems in the world that God created, which is obviously a horrible headache for Him to try and control with any semblance of reasonable order, what with so many outbreaks of the devil's work.

And then there is Brandon Hantz with his bizarre need for overt displays of his Holy Goodness. Brandon wins the Immunity Idol. And then to show his loyalty to his word somehow decides it makes sense to give the Immunity Necklace to Albert, to the astonishment of everyone at the Tribal Council, including us watching on our TV screens.

Brandon then gets the predictable boot, with us learning that it was Brandon who God's vision told Coach to boot, despite Coach's promises to Brandon, and Coach's extremely highly evolved concept of honor and integrity.

I can not be the only viewer who finds Coach's talk of being a warrior to be embarrassing. Telling Ozzy he wants to take Ozzy to the end where it will be an honorable battle between two warriors.

Warriors.

On a game show.

What an idiot.

I can not be the only viewer who thinks that if Ben Wade was actually confronted with a situation which required the skills of an actual warrior, and real courage, that Coach would run away screaming like a scared school girl.

At this point I really don't care who wins Survivor.

Poetic would be if God's will were done and Brandon beats Ozzy at the final Redemption Island Duel and then goes on to win the remaining Immunity Challenges, pretty much then guaranteeing Brandon the million bucks and a resulting lifelong unshakable belief that God truly has a plan for him.

Another good scenario would be Albert winning the remaining Immunity Challenges. I think he'd likely win the million.

Another good scenario would be Ozzy beating Brandon to get off Redemption Island, and then going on to be in the Final 3. Ozzy would be the winner of the million at that point, I do believe.

I don't know if I'll be watching. It is far less exhausting just to read the result the next morning.

Has Stunt Casting Cast Survivor & The Amazing Race Out of the Nielsen Rating's Top 20?

For the second week in a row neither Survivor or The Amazing Race are in the Top 20 of the Nielsen Ratings.

With The Amazing Race winning the Emmy, again, for Best Reality TV Program, I would have thought the show would not have a viewer drop-off.

Were viewers annoyed at the stunt casting of Survivor millionaires, Ethan Zohn and his girl friend, Jenna Morasca?

I know I was not pleased with that particular piece of stunt casting. But then Ethan & Jenna became the first racers eliminated, which was a good thing.

I think Survivor's problem might also be stunt casting. That and the Redemption Island gimmick.

Bringing back "Coach"  and Ozzy for a third time is a real big turn-off to a lot of viewers, according to what I've read on various forums.

And then you add the stunt casting of Brandon Hantz, simply because his uncle is Russell Hantz, when the nephew obviously has some serious mental health issues. Well, this is not a lot of people's idea of good train wreck TV.

Brandon's creepy fixation on the evils of temptation in the form of scantily clad female fellow tribemates is beyond a little disturbing. Brandon's bizarre breakdown at last week's Tribal Council and all the other instances of him verbalizing the idea that he is redeeming the family name after the damage Russell did, well, this just makes no sense.

Russell's first time on Survivor won him "Fan Favorite" and $100,000. Most viewers found Russell highly amusing, particularly on his first season. Russell remained amusing, for the most part, on Heroes vs. Villains. And then when he returned a third time, on the first iteration of Redemption Island, he was not on the island long enough to wear out his welcome.

I am considering not watching Survivor South Pacific tonight.

Christine Sent To Redemption Island On Survivor South Pacific While Brandon Fixates On Mikayla

Christine Markoski of the Upolu Tribe joined Semhar Tadesse of the Savaii Tribe on Redemption Island, which would seem to indicate Christine was the second bootee off Survivor South Pacific.

This make two episodes in a row where the pre-Tribal Council plotting did not match the end result.

The Savaii's Ozzy magically found a Hidden Immunity Idol, hidden up a tree. I think it'd be a good plan to get rid of the Hidden Immunity Idol gimmick. Although it would be amusing to see Ozzy get the boot again whilst failing to play the idol, again.

Russell Hantz's nephew, Brandon worked really hard to try and get Mikayla booted out of his tribe. In the end Mikayla received no votes.

Brandon Hantz is starting to seem to be even more of a piece of work than his infamous uncle.

I don't remember if it was in the previews for next week, or on this week's episode, but whenever it was said, what Brandon said was troubling, that being that he is in a constant internal battle between good and evil.

Sort of like Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter.

One can not help but wonder what Brandon Hantz has done in his past to make him turn so overtly and fervently to being a marching soldier of the Lord. Brandon's impassioned prayer with the coach, after revealing to the coach his "evil" relative connection, was of the Creepy Christian sort, to my viewing eyes and ears.

Brandon's unseemly obsession over Mikayla Wingle is something I do not think we have seen on Survivor before. I know a lot of the leering and seeming obsessiveness is courtesy of artful editing. But, still, Brandon has to be giving the editors the material to artfully edit.

Someone on Survivor Sucks calling him or herself "gabbo529" opined quite sueccinctly about the oddness that is Brandon Hantz...

I'm not sure what to think of Brandon. His internal struggle is by far one of the most interesting character developments I've seen on the show in years. Especially considering last season we had the Rob's Zombies show. I find myself getting annoyed by his hypocrisy and denouncement of Mikalya who has done NOTHING wrong, but I find it interesting to watch. Has there ever been a guy on the show that's had two sides like this before: religious, moral zealot/creepy, rage-filled stalker. His whole time on the show you can just picture the devil on one side and the angel on the other.

As some have said, this imbalance probably would have not allowed him to be on the show if his last name wasn't Hantz. With that said, he is on the show and I'm interested to see where this goes from here.

I think it likely that Coach will be turning on Brandon, due to Brandon's lies about who was voting for Mikayla. If Brandon goes to the dark, evil side, I suspect eventually Survivor Security will need to arrive to remove Brandon in a straightjacket. That will make for some good television viewing.

Survivor South Pacific 90 Minute Premiere Starts Tonight Wednesday September 14, 8 ET/7 CT

Survivor South Pacific Cast

I did not realize until this morning that it is time for Survivor to start up again. Wednesday night, September 14 at 8 ET/7CT, on CBS.

This iteration of Survivor is called Survivor South Pacific. Which would seem to indicate it takes places on some undisclosed island in the South Pacific.

I don't know if I'm up and ready for another Survivor.

Survivor: Redemption Island sort of Jumped the Shark for me.

Not due to Redemption Island, but due to being the most boring, to me, season of Survivor in Survivor history.

That and having Russell Hantz and Robert Carlo "Boston Rob" Mariano on, yet again, when there are so many Americans who would love a chance to be on Survivor, just seems really wrong.

And then to have Boston Rob's predictable win. Boring.

There have been times in the past when I bail on a TV Show due to a Jumped the Shark moment. I have never watched another minute of Big Brother after the creepily reptilian, non-All-Star, Mike "Boogie" Malin, won Big Brother All-Stars, an All-Star show which only included him because Big Brother's #1 All-Star, Dr. Will Kirby, refused to be on the show unless his best friend, the reptilian "Boogie" was on with him.

Boston Rob winning Survivor, after his 3rd (or was it 4th?) attempt, is not quite as cringe-worthy as the creepy reptile "Boogie" winning Big Brother. I actually like Rob Mariano. He's funny. I just don't think he should have been on Survivor so many times.

Anyway, creature of habit that I be, I may tune in tonight to see where in the South Pacific Survivor is this time.

If I was a betting man and Vegas was taking bets, I'd bet on Samoa being the location yet again. With the title Survivor South Pacific being used because Survivor Samoa #3 just does not have a nice ring to it.