If you’ve got money or had some serious success in your life, the last thing you do on Survivor is admit it to anyone. Somebody apparently forgot to tell Tamara “Taj” Johnson-George that. While she didn’t come out and reveal her past as one part of Grammy-nominated trio SWV (“Sisters With Voices”), she wasn’t nearly as mum about her marriage to retired NFL star Eddie George. That’s called painting a giant target on your ass.
I think I understand why she didn’t reveal her association with SWV. Whenever I’ve talked about it with my friends, none of them seem to remember the group. “What? Who?” I had to check the SWV wiki page to remember any of their hit singles. “Weak” was the big one, and to Taj’s credit she’s definitely not that here. For her sake, hopefully her physical strength and prowess as shown in the challenge last night will keep her around at least for awhile. After that it’s all about alliances and strategy.
The new twist on Exile Island revealed was that after the winning tribe chose Brendan from the losing tribe to head out there, he got to choose one member of the winning tribe to join him. Ironically, it was Taj he selected rather than one of the hot young thangs. I guess the boy is here to play. Taj showed herself very well in the challenge; in fact everyone “showed” themselves probably more than they would have liked.
What this twist does is allow the tribes to gain information about one another outside of the challenges environment. It also allows for relationships and potential alliances to be made across tribes, as both Taj and Brendan seemed well aware of. Now they just have to both make it to the merge to see if they accomplished anything.
I think Taj has her work cut out for her, though it’s still early in the game. By being as tough as she was, though, she should be able to stay around the early rounds where team strength is imperative. After that, her destiny is her own. If she can just keep from mentioning her Grammy nominations and success as a pop and R&B artist she might be able to overcome her Eddie George blunder.
In totally unrelated news, my big boobs theory held up again this week, as lawyer Candace was booted despite an equally strong exhibition at the Basketbrawl Challenge. Yes she smack-talked “Coach” but he is an annoying and pretentious dick. Did you see him with the jacket at Tribal Council? And I think she was a stronger physical competitor than he was at the challenge. Not to mention that she offered two huge distractions to the male competition when needed.
It is worth noting that now both early picks for elimination, Sandy and Sierra, have survived their respective first tribal councils. And neither of them had the hidden Immunity Idol in their pocket to ensure it. I guess they can thank their modest mammaries for their continued stay.
Clacked by Jason Hughes 
on Feb 21, 2009 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
I remember ‘Sisters with Voices,’ they were pretty big in the 90s as an up & coming version of En Vogue. But, if you didn’t listen to R&B, you wouldn’t know them. I remember a couple jokes calling them ‘Sisters with Volvos.’ So, I’m wondering why she tried out for Survivor considering her background and the fact she married an NFL player. She probably doesn’t need the money. Shouldn’t she be in Celebrity Survivor, even if her group hadn’t reached mainstream levels? Either way, now I’m kind of interested in watching Survivor -
I think Taj made a critical error in mentioning her husband’s name. It is also obvious that she is used to getting her way (most likely) by dropping her football hero’s name. Did you see the way some of those men were ready to pee themselves? I haven’t seen men on Survivor get so happy since that girl layed out with her butt to the sun a few seasons back.
I get kind of tired of other folks saying that other players aren’t deserving of playing since they have reached a level of success in their lives. Why would she even want to be out there grubbing in the dirt and peeing in the ocean if it wasn’t for the game? I fear the “not-like-us” attitude will eventually bite her in the butt and she will be voted out for a more worthy player.