[JillValentine]

I like the idea of having a villain around to keep things entertaining, but SeeBS should also start promoting "heroes" as a counterweight to the villain. And I hope that the people we saw nothing of in episode 1 (as in about 60 percent of Galu) get some screen time in the next couple of episodes. Obviously it's very difficult to give 20 people screen time in an hour, but I don't want to see a repeat of Survivor: Palau when Jenn (remember her? I don't either) wasn't shown speaking until episode 4.

As for Russell, some fans on other boards have been saying that his whole "evil" thing is just playing a character. I don't think that's quite it - I think Russell's one of those guys who enjoys having power over others. He has a certain amount of power as owner of a company, but he can't treat his employees too badly, so his power there is limited. Survivor offers him an opportunity to take things farther than he ever has and be as nasty as he wants, and I think he genuinely wants to do it.

[girlscout]

I don't know what kind of oil company he has, I haven't investigated it yet, but I do know that oil field workers are a rough and tumble bunch of fellas.

The first episode seemed to fly by for me. I too want to hear from the other contestants. It's hard to form an opinion when you don't see much of them.

[PeteB570]

Was reading at another site where somebody was quoting a newspaper article - no link - that “his” company was really his dad’s, older brother’s and his.

The older brother said he was kinda’ like that and thought he ran the company.