TV Watch: Survivor: Stereotypes and Stolen Chickens

The first episode of this controversial season of Survivor started tonight. Of course, Survivor: Cook Islands is controversial because the 20 contestants are initially grouped by ethnicity in four groups. Here are my impressions from the first episode:

• The Puka tribe (the Asians) won the first immunity/reward challenge thanks to good teamwork and puzzle-solving skills. The Aitu tribe (the Hispanics) came in second.
  
• The Hiki tribe (the African-Americans) lost the first challenge and had to go to tribal council to vote out someone from their group.
• One member of the Raro tribe (the Caucasians) stole a chicken from the Asians and was later sent to Exile Island to be alone for 2 days and 2 nights. Later, another tribe member accidentally sets free the stolen chicken.
  
• Though the contestants are divided by ethnic groups, the divisions that came out tonight were due to age and gender. On the Puka tribe, for example, the older Cao Boi is having trouble getting along with his fellow tribe members because he says they were born in the U.S. and have forgotten "the old world." He was successful in "curing" the headache of one of his fellow tribe members by giving the guy a face massage and leaving a red mark on the guy's forehead.
• At tribal council, the Hiki tribe divided along gender lines to vote out one of the guys (3 girls vs. 2 guys).
  

The first episode was pretty good, considering that we are being introduced to 20 people (most of whom will be voted out before we get to know them). It's tough to find someone to root for yet, but it's nice to see that most of the contestants are interested in "smashing stereotypes"--I hope that's something that they really try to do in future episodes.