I don't think they had much of a racial component, either, and I think the construction of Michaela's comment is revealing (i.e., "a part of a part of a part"). However, I think it's interesting to think about how much perceptions play into Survivor and how much race does (or doesn't) play into perceptions. At its…

Do you see any outrage or suspicion in my comments? I've expressed disappointment, not outrage, that all six minorities were voted out pre-merge, but I have not said that they were voted out for racist reasons. In fact, I haven't seen anyone make that accusation. People are mostly just pointing out that it's an…

I thought Michaela gave an interesting and well-reasoned perspective in one of her exit interviews. She was asked about the racial and gender makeup of the seven pre-merge boots.

I'm struggling to think of an example. Joaquin was eliminated because his ties to Rodney made people mistrust him. Peter was in a minority. I suppose Woo's boot in Cambodia was similar, but since Spencer ended up not working with Kass and Ciera, I think you could argue that saving him and booting Woo was a bad move on…

How? I said it is a bad move to get rid of a shield before a merge. There is no real logic behind it. You want a target like her around.

There's that, too.

Let me be clear, then. It was great that Millennials vs. Gen-X cast six women of color, especially since Survivor and other reality shows have had a history of relying on one-note stereotypes like "the lazy black man" and "the sassy black girl." It is unfortunate that the women of color cast did not perform better. I…

Good grief. I don't necessarily mean these specific minority women. Obviously, I'm not upset that someone like CeCe, who had early boot written all over her from Day 1, went home early. I just mean that it is nice for television shows to cast more minorities. It's very rare, for example, to see three Asian women on…

Is this really hard to figure out? A lot of people enjoy seeing greater minority representation on television. It was awesome that the show cast multiple women of color, as opposed to tokens, and it's unfortunate that none lasted very long.

He hasn't confirmed that. Even if he did, he also identifies as a gay man.

I'm not claiming that any of them were voted out for racist reasons. I'm just saying that it's extremely unfortunate that the show cast six women of color (the most since Fiji) and all six of them are gone before the merge.

Being strong still usually gets you to the merge, though. Players like Ozzy Lusth and Joe Anglim don't get targeted simply for helping their tribes. They tend to get targeted after the merge. It was definitely a rare move for Jay to be thinking in those terms this early. His biggest worry should be that they are…

I know you're joking, but I just think we're at a point where being gay really isn't a personality trait that needs to be discussed on reality television. I mean, Zeke is a YouTube comedian, and many of his videos are about being gay. He also has a secret scene about coming out to his family as a teenager, and he also…

Zeke is also gay.

These days? Taking out threats has been a part of the game since Borneo. Anyway, recent winners like Jeremy Collins, Denise Stapley, Natalie Anderson, and Kim Spradlin show that you can be a triple threat and still win the game.

Six minorities. Jessica "Figgy" Figueroa is Puerto Rican.

This season's cast had two black women (CeCe and Michaela), three Asian women (Mari, Lucy, and Rachel), and one Latina (Figgy), and all of them are gone before the merge. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but man, that is bad luck from an optics perspective.

Alecia received a pretty favorable edit. She was portrayed as the victim of Jason and Scot's "bullying," and she even got very special, sympathetic music when she was voted out. There were a lot of fans, both casual and devout, who were saying that she deserved a second chance. While I think some of her "dumb blonde"…

Actually, according to social media, Taylor had a pregnant girlfriend when he went on Survivor. She's due next month. Figgy has been pretty salty about it in her exit interviews, as she should be. I'd like to know why you think Figgy is so dumb, though. She didn't have any Purple Kelly "milk your own milk" moments.…

Go back and watch Cook Islands, Parvati's first season, again. She made several similar, arrogant mistakes, and she was mostly edited as an incompetent bimbo. That's why so many fans were angry when she was asked back for Micronesia. I think it's possible that Figgy could learn from her mistakes. She has the same raw…