I was sorry to see Yau-Man trot down the path on Survivor Thursday night, but I was even more disgusted that it was Cirie who engineered his ouster. For once, I agree with the gravedigger on this one — letting Cirie go from the swing vote to the decision maker is a big mistake.

Survivor: Micronesia is fast becoming a winner for me. It’s interesting to see how newcomers to the game (especially those who think they know it all) figure out the twists and turns. The fans’ poor showing in day-to-day camp life illustrates one thing: the game is a lot harder than it looks on TV.

I’m not wild about anyone on the fan side of the island. The older crowd (especially Chet) seems lame and the younger fans (especially firefighter Joel) are trying too hard at physical gameplay and not hard enough at social gameplay.

Next week could be the decider on the favorites side. Jonathan’s strongest and weakest point has always been his affinity for just telling it like it is. He threw down with Cirie Thursday night and lost. I’m hoping he can pull some numbers next week and isolate, then eliminate her. She’s good at the social game, so he’s got to do something about her. It’s no problem to send her home early, since she’s terrible at both physical and mental challenges.

Yau-Man was right about one thing. Survivor is a cruel game.

Last 5 posts by Susan Engle

• Another 'What were they thinking?' moment - February 18th, 2010
• Newspaper roller a nifty gift - November 24th, 2009
• "Under the Dome" a political metaphor - November 20th, 2009
• 50,000 names and 1,000,000 thank yous - November 11th, 2009
• Elk calf romping around - November 3rd, 2009