California native and million dollar Survivor hopeful, Lex van den Berghe, seemed so promising for many weeks as someone beyond capable of making it to at least the final three of this "reality" game show. He was a total shoe-in... So how did he turn so quickly, and where did he go wrong?

12.16.01
There I sat each week, watching a show that irritated me a helluva lot more than it could have ever excited me. Slowly, yet surely I found myself getting sucked into the bizarre relationships that this group of less-than-brilliant people were quickly forming. I yelled at the annoying "Sambrats" of whom I was becoming embarrassed to share a generation with.. I yelled at the paranoia-infused Boran members for making the biggest hoopla of the century over a can of beans.. I wondered why on earth I kept finding myself tuning in each week to witness this baffling hilarity... and the scariest of all, I wondered why I was taking part in an even guiltier pleasure - racing online after the show to hear what others had to say about it.

I grew up in an environment where my mother and grandmother got me hooked on silly soap operas at an early age, so I'm assuming that is somehow playing a part in my kooky need to watch this unreal "reality" show every week. The other piece of this puzzle however, which took me a moment to figure out, is that Mr California surfer dude, Lex, has played quite the role in my need to continuosly tune into this weekly madness. Maybe its the tattoos.. Maybe its his fondness for Coen Bros films and the band Weezer.. Maybe its because, unlike me, he stuck with the drums and has played in a few bands (a short-lived adolescent dream of mine back in the day)... Who knows. With my luck, it's all of the above. Either way, it kept me watching. So I'm sure advertisers somewhere are quite thrilled (ummm... ya, I doubt it).

Whatever it was, Lex seemed like a cool guy. Draped in tattoos, piercings, and toting his son's baby shoes as a luxury item.. How could anyone go wrong with this? A shoe-in, I thought! This guy is undoubtedly making it far in this game.. No question about it, right? If you asked this a few weeks ago, I'm sure a good chunk of Survivor viewers would've gladly agreed with me. We had seen nothing that would really make us think any different. Actually, Lex didn't even receive that much air time up until a few weeks ago...

Yes, a few weeks ago. The unveiling of the two infamous votes that sent the once cool, collected, and likeable Lex into a bizarre psycho manhunt that has done nothing but earn him even more votes, less allies, and a sea of annoyed viewers.

Lex Lex Lex... Where did ya go wrong man? Was it the heat? The hunger? The lack of a bed and shower? I know I'd be quite edgy after a month of living in such conditions. But those grease-soaked fries didn't seem to phase you, so I'm thinking the lack of a soft place to sleep wouldn't phase you much either. It's too bad really. I, and others, figured a guy like you would breeze through this kooky game show without blinking. So sad to see what a month in the desert, surrounded by questionably shady characters and Jeff Probst can do to a drum playing, Yoo-hoo drinking, father of two.

Ah, but that's Hollywood for ya. No matter how "real" anything may or may not be.. It never ceases to be manically tweaked in the end. I read that Brandon pulled quite the number on Lex (which was naturally cut out). Which if that's true, then the whole Lex-Brandon thing makes a bit more sense.. and even though his strategy didn't fully work, I have to hand it to Brandon for just totally messing with everyone's heads so easily (while in the jury, he says he convinced Kelly that Frank was the one who voted her out...lol). So, as its seems, Lex was the vicitm of some great manipulation... He lost it and went weird, and became the victim of thrashings by the hard-core fanatics out here in TV land.

"I really am a nice guy," Lex recently said to a fan of the show... Contrary to popular belief Lex, there are still quite a few of us out here who believe you.

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that80schick@survivinglex.cjb.net <-- feel free to question my sanity and/or toss tomatoes (I prefer chocolate however) here

** Note: My last address, undone@apexmail.com no longer works as of Jan.14,2002. The folks at apexmail decided to get rid of all their free accounts with zero warning (thanks guys). So I set up this one for use with this page as it came with the new link (survivinglex.cjb.net)... Oh the joy... If you emailed sometime during this week using the original address, I most likely didn't get it. The lovely world of free email addresses.. Its just great huh? **