Here is a fun fact about Northern Michigan: hunting and fishing are recognized as religion and you will be counted as an infidel if you don’t hunt or fish. Just kidding, but we do get a day off from school on the first day of hunting season.
What does Michigan have to do with this episode? Absolutely nothing! I’m TDFanatic52 and we will be reviewing Paintball Deer Hunter. We got an interesting turn of events here. The main subject for this episode is Beth leaving Heather's alliance. But we can’t focus on one thing. So we will also include Owen’s (terrible) hunting skills and the young and deerly love between a rule follower and rule breaker. We got the campfire ceremony to attend. Let’s get started.
As much as I love to get into Beth breaking away from Heather’s grip, let’s start with Owen’s hunting skill.
The one thing that Owen has a tendency to do during challenges like this is narrate his moves. In order for the predator, or hunter, to catch their prey, they need the element of surprise. With Owen’s narration and/or, farts giving his location away to several Bass in deer costumes, Owen’s hunting could use more work. And by more work, I mean more times hunting animals.
Now it is time for our young deer couple, Duncan and Courtney. Long story short: they get their antlers tied up. Duncan in the confessional revealed that if he and Courtney removed the antlers, Courtney would then tell Chris about the Bass breaking the rules, yada-yada. Challenge over and Duncan was left on his knees.
There are three ways that this scenario would turn out. One is the one that we saw where Duncan got kicked in a spot where no man should be kicked. Another would be that the two of them would remove the antlers and not tell anybody about it. But that would also has problems seeing as they are being watched constantly by cameras and it won't be long before Chris realized that the Bass broke a rule. Or the antlers would be removed and Courtney would then blab to Chris about her and Duncan breaking the rules.
Knowing Courtney and how she doesn't like to lose, I highly doubt she would tell Chris about the Bass breaking the rules. However, she did try and follow the rules in this season, so who knows?
Finally, after two very short and painful moments, it is down to this dramatic moment: Beth’s break up. Let’s break down the events that happened for this to happen. In the morning, Heather told Beth and Lindsay to get the shower going without being too hot. Heather asked somebody to rub lotion on her back, which ended up being Beth. When Lindsay went off to find berries during the challenge, Heather told Beth to grab some chips that aren’t barbeque. While Beth narrowly escaped with barbeque chips, Heather demanded that she returned them. Beth did hesitate on returning them before standing up to Heather. It is one of those times when the bullied finally stands up and it is all a happy ending. Yay!
But that is not the end, my compadres. Heather did give Beth two times for her to apologize. Beth refused. When Beth asked Heather why they kept losing challenges (which is mathematically incorrect considering that the Bass lost 4 out of the past seven challenges, excluding this challenge), Heather replied that the team, or the challenges, are “lame and stupid.” (One sin for the pronoun game.) Beth said no and said that Heather is too busy being mean, she doesn’t even try.
I have a simple question that follows: why doesn’t Heather replace Beth? There are other people who aren’t as socially awkward as Beth, like Owen. Most likely it is because Heather learns from her mistake and doesn’t want to be betrayed again. However, this show is strictly based around a show that relies on numbers. If Heather was desperate, she would convince Owen to replace Beth.
And how good was Beth in this? I think that she did a great play on going up against Heather. Heather loses a number and would have to work extra hard to stay in the game. However, that also means that Beth would be viewed as a strategic threat down the road because once you break up with an alliance, there will be a chance that you would do that again. Good play on Beth. Was it the right move? Yes. Was it at the right time? It is episode 8 of the review blog, so I have to say that it was too early for Beth to leave Heather's alliance. If she would've stuck up to Heather until the merge, then it'll be the best time. Too good of a game that is still too early.
Now, it is time for the elimination ceremony. The Gophers lost because of the catfight of four Gopher girls. There are a lot of people who have choices of elimination over their head. Owen for being a bad shot and a bad hunter, Heather for being bossy, mean, and for doing nothing, and Beth who, in Heather’s eyes, betrayed her. But, alas, it was Cody simply because of his favorite potato chips and a bear attack.
As much as it should be Heather, the team did choose a more strategic approach. What do I mean by that? I mean that while Heather basically sat out of this challenge, the Screaming Gophers need to look at future team challenges. Cody would be better off being attacked by a bear after the merge seeing as how he won't be viewed as a challenge threat because of his injuries.
I like how Heather said that her team was lucky she stayed. I tend to partially agree since this was a lose-lose situation. How was this a lose-lose? If they voted out Heather, they would be keeping in a contestant who is in a full body suit. If they kept Heather, well, they get Heather. 'Nough said.
If the Bass lost, well, it would be like the Gophers losing in the first episode. You wouldn’t know who to vote for. If I had to take a guess, I have to say Duncan based on his approaches towards Courtney. Or it could be Harold. He did get the second-to-last marshmallow a few times without a good reason.