Last night Survivor brought up the topic that this dude called Boston Rob was bullying his team members to do whatever he wanted and they had to report everything that was happening.

Some of the other team caught over 10 fish and Boston Rob's peoople were hungry and their stomachs were hurting. But because Boston Rob said "you cannot eat those fish" five people promptly accepted hunger over eating.

The other team said it was a cult. None of those 5 people would think for themselves, make decisions for themselves, would eat unless told, and told what and when they can eat, and report everything to this Boston Rob dude.

Quite similar to a church I know. It shows how some people see the cult and those being manipulated do not.

CBS.com usually offers the shows to watch online. Does anyone else see the similarities?

I finally just watched. Very interesting. That Phillip guy is a bit of a nutter. The hunger thing was really interesting. It made me think of the psychology around the fasting and Mormonism (or religion) and control. He also has his alliance using a buddy system, where no one in his group is to ever be alone without someone in the alliance. He's making damn sure no one is swayed to the other side or receives information or has thoughts outside of what *he* wants. He's also created a clear us versus them division - the two former tribes even sleep and eat separately. It's a little frightening to watch, but at this point I think it's really about safety in numbers. If nothing changes, they're gauranteed final 6, then they start picking off their own. It should get interesting. :) If they're smart, they'll give him the boot right away. I could see him winning just becuase they all worship him and he's seriously playing a good game. Of course I kept thinking, you shouldn't have thrown that challenge, Zapatera!

Don't take this as an affront, but how can you watch that tripe? I can't even stand the commercials.

On the other hand, I guess you might wonder why I watch Pawn Stars, Diners/Drive Inns/Dives, Iron Chef America and American Pickers.

To each his own, I guess.

Ron

Boston Rob's control and manipulation of the others is very familiar. And Ron, "to each his own" is absolutely a concept as an ex cult member that constantly needs to be reinforced and lived.

I love Survivor. My favorite undergraduate class was Social Psychology, and Survivor displays all the theories in an enjoyable way if you are into that sort of thing.

I'm a bit of a voyeur when it comes to social situations. I'm always telling my wife in restaurants who is on a first date, who knows each other well, who is the one up or one down in the couple, etc. I just really enjoy watching human behavior.

Survivor is the same thing, but you get a lot more of it than you do watching strangers one time in a restaurant. I do keep in mind that it is edited down, and who knows what else went on that got edited out.

We all have our own guilty pleasures, and I'll admit to liking survivor, but I've never watched people lose weight as entertainment, watched people compete to win a lover, or dance or sing. I'm all about the social interaction game.

Though we used to love Survivor (and I still do) my wife won't let me watch it anymore because Mark Burnett did that new Alaska/Sarah Palin lovefest travesty.

And yes I was thinking the same thing when the other tribe referred to Rob's tribe as a cult. Wouldn't it have been funny if one of them had been a Mormon and said yeah, I know what it's like to be in a cult, I'm a Mormon.