Denise: Survivor China's Most Annoying Player?

I've watched Survivor from the beginning. Each season has its underdogs to cheer for, its bad guys to hate on, its loveable lugs. This season, a player who presumeably was brought on as an underdog, Denise, has become the game's most annoying player to me.

I should like Denise. She is definitely an underdog. CBS's Survivor website tells us she is a 40 -year-old mom who rides a scooter (really??!) to her job as a school lunch lady. She sounds like someone I could get behind and root for.

But - I can't. Let's start with the really shallow. Denise is overweight. Not just overweight, but she carries this extra weight in unfortunately highly unattractive ways. Her legs are highly dimpled and she has quite a bit of stomach "rollage", which was clearly visible last night as she stripped down to a bra top and bikini bottom for a dip in the pond. Now, I'm far from a body builder myself. I also know it has to be really hot and uncomfortable in most Survivor locales. But, wouldn't simple decency and respect for yourself prevent you from appearing this way on NATIONAL TV for all the world to see? I would NEVER appear in such clothes (or lack of) as Denise did, several times. Part of me wants to cheer her on for her lack of body-consciousness, and another part of me is just appalled.

A bigger problem I have with Denise is her frequent bouts of self-pity and helplessness. She frequently is heard talking about her childhood, when she was never "popular" or part of the "in crowd", and how now on Survivor, she is not really surprised to not be "in" either. While it could inspire pity, it just inspires annoyance. Woman, do something to improve your lot! CBS's website tells us that Denise spent a year at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and received a certificate in Technical School/Communication Electronics. With this education, couldn't she do better than a $7.50/hour lunch lady job if she wanted to?

On Sunday's final episode, she pleads with Amanda to take her to the final 3, with her rationale being that while the other young contestants have great lives to look forward to, all she has is her family and lousy job (I immediately wondered how her family would enjoy hearing that revelation!). To add insult to injury, a week or so ago Denise was saying how lucky she was to have a supportive family, which many of the other contestants didn't.

Then on the Finale Reunion show, Denise told how she had lost her famous lunch lady job, because as a Survivor contestant she was just too high-profile (okay ....). She had now been reassigned as a janitor, "scrubbing toilets" and doing other disgusting tasks. Hmmm ... she now seemed to miss her lunch lady job. Jeff Probst then told the audience that Mark Burnett, the show's producer, was giving Denise $50,000 because he felt so bad that the job situation had happened to Denise. This really bugged! I'm sure several of the other Survivor contestants could have given sob stories of their own. Maybe this will become a new Survivor tradition - cash awards for the most pathetic life change since filming ended?

Jeff Probst also announced that Denise was voted one of the season's three most popular players. THAT I find truly hard to believe - or maybe I'm just out of the mainstream on this one.

Denise: my advice to you is to use the $50,000 to get some training for a better job. Also, maybe some self-esteem classes and some good support garments.