Got through the pre-merge of Santa Carolina and it started off SLOOOOOOW and honestly kind of not good at all lol but I think the last two episodes were actually good and we might be moving in the right direction? I felt like it was watching the same thing each episode with Darren being on the outs of Timbila and a random Chibudu person quitting but there's been a lot more life in the last two episodes, especially the last one which was REALLY good with Okkert vs. Louw in the Challenge and Louw vs. Gys in the kidnapping when Chibudu hid all of their supplies.
I haven't really cared about any of the boots so far so I think that might be part of why the pre-merge has felt uneventful. Christina's quit happened in like two seconds and was lame, Garth basically quit with his leg infection, Jub Jub's quit over his penis infection sounds hilarious on paper but he was actually an ass and not fun whatsoever, Cindy had a bit of potential for being extremely good at the survival aspect while being a pageant girl but I didn't really miss her once she was gone, Craig was a ****ing DRAIN on Chibudu and was just annoying in the most boring way, Lady Lea didn't really exist, Darren wasn't terrible but it was basically the same storyline each episode so it's better that he went, and Sandi didn't exist.
As for the tribes..... I kinda feel like I don't really know anyone that well still oops! At first I thought I liked Timbila better (I have their tribe's chant stuck in my head as I'm typing this), but then I was digging Chibudu's underdog story and Okkert just dominating every physical Challenge. But then Chibudu were kind of awful during the kidnapping by hiding all of their supplies and being smug about it so that was't really a good look either! So I'll just comment on a few random things: the Hanna/Sade friendship is cute and I think Hanna could be a fun MORP person with a better edit. Sade is a fun narrator and I really felt for her when she felt on the outs because everyone else on her tribe is white and speaks Afrikaans while she only speaks English (Gys saying he was gonna keep Hanna for being part of their clan is sooooooo dicey holy ****.) On Timbila I don't really feel like I know anyone all that well because Darren sucked all of their airtime, but I'm kind of appreciating Louw lately as a wannabe alpha male who keeps getting owned by Okkert and Chibudu. Some of his temper tantrums aren't justified but some of them are and I at least appreciate him for bringing SOMETHING right now.
My final paragraph will be about production because so many things don't make sense this season. Splitting up the marooning between a group of seven and a group of eleven was just weird and seemingly pointless. Exile Island literally only lasted for two rounds for the pre-merge so that also seems dumb and pointless. Even more nonsensical was how the person who got sent to Exile Island got to pick someone from the other tribe to take their place until they returned. Like, that was just a dumb twist that didn't affect anything and was just confusing. And then the kidnapping was kind of cute but why do it only in the last round before the merge?
Okay thank you for reading my random essay on Santa Carolina see you later when I have merge thoughts xxx