I don't know how close to "reality" the show ever was (not that that's a bad thing — reality is generally boring), but the episodes in earlier years had characters that were consistent and story arcs that were well thought out and generally made sense within the show's universe, even if they weren't "realistic."…

The whole lot of them (Kim excluded, natch) were outsmarted by a pig.  How appropriate.

I get that they don't like each other, but that's kind of my point.  They don't have to hold hands and get a dog together, they just have to vote for the same people for the next *12 days.*  For a million bucks.

I'm interested in seeing how Kim plays the other girls once the guys are all gone.  My feeling is that the guys aren't especially likely to pull the Bitter Jury routine that's torpedoed many of the best players in the final episodes in the past.  The girls, however…

Indeed, though I don't know if anyone will ever top Elisabeth Filarski for me.  I would have had her babies back in 2000.  It's a real shame she turned into that crazy-ass Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

At the risk of being petty and shallow, I hope Chelsea stays around for a good while.  Oh my.