Survivor Samoa: John Fincher Had Never Watched The Show

That is John Fincher, Rocket Scientist, from the recently concluded Survivor Samoa. The first few weeks of the most recent Survivor I thought John Fincher and the seldom seen, Brett Clouser, were the same person. Til John grew a beard and Brett did not. Then I realized these were two different people.

Yesterday, while bouncing around the Internet, I came upon an interview with John Fincher that I found both interesting and annoying.

I thought it odd that John called himself a Rocket Scientist. John says he is an Aerospace Engineer and knows of no one on the planet who calls himself a Rocket Scientist. It was the Survivor producers who thought it was clever to call John a Rocket Scientist.

Speaking of those Survivor producers.

John had never watched a single episode of Survivor. John did not apply to be on the show. John was recruited. Why? I don't know. After John agreed to be on the show that he'd never seen, he asked the producers for video of past shows so he could study how the game is played.

Now, this just strikes me as all kinds of wrong. You have thousands, maybe millions, of loyal Survivor fans who would love the opportunity to be on the show. There are only 16 or 18 slots and they give one to a Rocket Scientist who has never watched the show? That is just annoying.

Recruit me. I'd be good on Survivor. Though I suck at starving. I'm great at back stabbing and blindsiding.

John also said he tried to put on weight prior to being stuck on an island and gave up boozing, so as to maximize his healthiness. Boozing and a Rocket Scientist seems sort of counter-intuitive to me.

Speaking of weight, John says he weighs 180 and is 6 feet 2. He thought his size would make him a target, but turns out other guys were bigger. That explains why John looked like a small guy to me.

So, the Survivor producers also cast for giants? I wonder how big Shambo is? That annoying Eric guy must be at least 6 feet 6.

How many other Survivors has been recruited, rather than send in an application?

And now we've got the upcoming Survivor Redemption: Heroes vs. Villains, with everyone having been on at least once already.

Between Survivor All-Stars, Fans vs. Favorites, Heroes vs. Villains and John Fincher, what percentage of people, who are on Survivor, have not been recruited, in some manner, by the producers?

I guess it is their show to cast how ever they like. But it sort of ruins it for me.

I may not watch Heroes vs. Villains.

Survivor Samoa: Why Is Brett Clouser Invisible?

I was several weeks into Survivor Samoa when I realized the two guys in the photo were not the same person

The guy on the left is named Brett Clouser. He makes t-shirts. The guy on the right is John Fincher. He's a rocket scientist.

It only became obvious to me that Brett and John were two different people when John started to have a beard while Brett's face remained bald.

I supposed if I watched the opening credits I would have noticed both Brett and John. Maybe.

One of the reasons it was easy not to notice Brett is that in the history of Survivor no cast member has ever been given less face time. The minimalist appearance of Brett, at the point where we are down to only 8 left on the island, has sparked all sorts of debate in various spots on the Internet.

One theory is that Brett is so boring he gives the editors no material to work with. The few times we've heard Brett speak he does sound a bit morose and monotone. I believe his longest screen time came when Shambo told him she was voting off Laura. Brett just seemed sort of resigned. Strange mournful music was the soundtrack for that scene.

Brett's facial expressions are a bit one note too. As others sit at Tribal Council all a-twitter over another blindside, Brett just sits there like a Zombie about to fall asleep.

The dumbest theory, one with an entire thread on Survivor Sucks, with the title "Brett--Gay Bashing Homophobe," has someone claiming a Survivor insider informer told them that an editor or producer or someone high up on the Survivor production chain overheard Brett making some sort of rude anti-gay remark and so edited Brett into virtual non-existence as revenge.

Like I said. Dumb.

Early on there was quite a lot of speculation that Brett wins this edition of Survivor. That would seem highly unlikely at this point in time, since we have had no Brett storyline, no Brett strategy, hardly any Brett anything. He'd be the most under the radar winner ever.

Then again, a Brett win would not be the first time Survivor didn't make a lot of sense.