Life in the runner-up role

Hey, Amanda Kimmel should be accustomed to finishing second.

She was runner-up for Miss Montana USA -- TWICE. Now she's twice been runner-up on "Survivor." She got a third chance for the beauty title and won; I really don't expect her to get the same in "Survivor."

Actually, I was happy to see her lose (to Parvatti Shallow), because she broke my primary rule: Winners shouldn't cry. If they do, they get their win taken away. (I'm still demanding that Gwyneth Paltrow give back her Oscar.)  In a win-win situation, she said it was lose-lose; she wept her way into the final two. Then I wanted her gone. Here are a few of my comments; please add yours:

1) watching Amanda in the finale, I couldn't help but be bitter. That should have been Erik Reichenbach of Pinckney there; if he hadn't surrendered his immunity bracelet, he would have kept winning the challenges. He would have chosen who to sit him in the final two. Then, alas, he gave it away.

2) Yes, everyone finds that remarkable. "He took that life vest off," said James Clement, who -- on urging from Jeff Probst -- handed Erik the invisible prize for the dumbest "Survivor" move ever.

3) The good side? Erik is now a celebrity of great renown. "We love you," Probst told Erik, "but you now go down in 'Survivor' history."

4) The other good side? For the second time, Pinckney got mentioned on national TV. "I live in Pinckney, Michigan," he said. "It's in the middle of nowhere, pretty much.\

5) Erik got rounds of applause when he said he probably couldn't lie and cheat enough anyway. Still, he  had tried (unsuccessfully) to trick Ozzy Lusth into an early departure. He told different things to each of the others in the final five. He made some decent efforts at lying; he just wasn't as good at it as the big-city guys.

6) All in all, Natalie Bolton had my favorite comments. I loved hearing her describe (accurately) Amanda's "zombied, pretty-girl look."

7) And hearing her ask the question we were all wondering bout Parvati: Does all that flirting also translate into the bedroom?

8) And hearing her describe the sudden relationship between the newly freed hen and rooster. "If she's anything like the women in this show, she'll mate with that dude and rip her neck off."

9) Which brings us, of course, back to Erik, who suddenly becomes one of the more popular people in reality history. Some of the contestants were characterized as having "trust issues," but that's nothing compared to Erik. "I've seen the women and they are vicious and cutthroat," he said. "It's opened my eyes a little to the way women operate." Hey, no one should know that at 22.

10) Then they threw in one more thing -- the final $100,000 for the person viewers liked the most. James won; Amanda finished in the final three and lost ... as usual. I kind of like that habit she has.