Idol Speculation: “Survivor 46” Episode Several: Wrapped Up With A Nice Little Bow

Inanimate objects, done properly, can become a character in and of themselves.  On “Survivor” immunity idols are the most common example of this, but sometimes people can create their own.  And we may just have one of those tonight.  That was a MAGNIFICENT Buff Bow on Kenzie’s head!  Even with all the emotion at her Tribal Council, I think it stole the show.  

But I’m getting ahead of myself.  While the tribe was unified against Moriah last episode, there was still the stray Venus vote to consider.  Consider it Venus does, and given how she is, she naturally jumps to the conclusion that it was cast by Soda.  Understandable, given how the pair have been interacting these past few days, but wrong.  Soda of course denies this, but this only convinces Venus further.  Everyone, Tevin in particular, is prepared to sit back and watch the fireworks.  

Charlie, then, is the rain that cancels the fireworks.  He comes clean to Venus that he was the stray vote against her.  I have to ask… WHY?  How does this benefit Charlie in any way?  Venus didn’t even suspect him, and this was tearing Nami, the biggest threat to Siga, apart.  Now she knows you moved against her, and Venus does not strike me as the type to forgive and forget.  Even in a best-case scenario, where she decides she has bigger fish to fry and doesn’t immediately try and get you out, say goodbye to that jury vote.  

So egregious is this error that Coach Q comes out again.  He sits Charlie down on the beach (with Tim also there), and just reads him the riot act about how he screwed up a good position.  Not saying Q is wrong, but unsolicited advice is not going to win hearts and minds.  Charlie defuses the situation by “apologizing”, which at least shuts Q up, but this has turned him against Q.  I don’t agree with his conclusion that “Q is running the show” based on this; at worst Q is being a bit too blunt.  It DOES show, however, that Q doesn’t respect your game, and that alone is a reason to work against him.  Point being, Q may be right about what is and isn’t a smart move, but he’s not winning friends with his style of interaction.  

After our intro, we get another scene at night, though this one a bit less confrontational.  Ben wakes up in the middle of a panic attack, and worried about how he’ll be perceived as a result.  Luckily Kenzie is used to this sort of thing, other members of her family having been through similar experiences, so she is able to assist him and comfort him.  She admits that this is something beyond the game, and she’s doing it out of general, human kindness.  Honestly, it’s a very effective scene.  A nice bit of calm before the strategizing storm, and one that didn’t need to be bolstered by turning it into a sob story.  Oddly, the understatement makes the moment more powerful, and frankly it’s just a highlight of the episode.  Well done, show.  

Because we have to stick with the stupid “Split Tribal” twist, we can’t have any more camp scenes for now.  Instead we have to cut straight to our Immunity Challenge, which is the “Stand on the Triangles” one first seen on “Survivor Caramoan”.  A challenge so boring and predictable I’m more fascinated by them using the buff design along the side of the platform in the water.  Nice touch.  

This is also where we get our first look at the Immunity Idol for this season, at least the individual one.  Solid design, in my opinion.  Reminiscent of the one from “Survivor Cambodia”, with red as a main color and a similar outline.  Being made of beads and adding geckos does help make it unique.  Maybe not an idol for the history books, but a solid entry regardless.  

I will say what this challenge lacks in interest in and of itself, it makes up for in banter.  After Probst notes that the calmer conditions compared to the last time this was run (“Survivor 42”), Q suggests playing the “Alphabet Game” with city names, without actually explaining what the Alphabet Game actually is.  A fact that comes back to bite him in the butt when basically everyone starts violating what Q perceives as the rules.  Hunter starts off with “A for Atlanta”, but then Ben gets knocked out due to not saying that again, despite saying both “Boston” and “Baltimore”.  Liz does get the C in there, but again fails to name the previous names, despite Q saying this must be done.  It’s capped off with Charlie saying he gets it, only to make the same mistake as Liz.  Pretty sure that last one, at least, was intentional.  Seems like too good an opportunity for Charlie to tweak Q’s nose in a joking manner for him not to take it.  

Q, incidentally, is the first one out of this challenge, followed shortly by Ben from his team, leaving Kenzie, Tiffany, Hunter, and Tim up on their side.  Soda falls at about the same time, but she’s on the opposite team, leaving Charlie, Maria, Tevin, Venus, and Liz up for them.  Despite being sidelined, Q still keeps up a good bit of commentary.  He explains to Probst how “Black folks ask what time it is.”, which Probst takes in stride.  When Q goes silent, he explains that he was taught to shut up if he’s not in the game.  Evidently unable to stand the silence, Tim pulls a Gabler (“Survivor 43”), and starts shouting out various people the audience doesn’t know during the challenge.  Q mocks him for this, only for Tim to remind him what his dad taught him about shutting up.  It’s honestly the one thing making this challenge fun, and it helps that it’s clearly just the cast having fun with one another, and no one taking the talk too seriously.  Probst even gets in on the fun a bit, reminding us of Jelinsky’s “Several=7” point from earlier in the season.

Eventually the challenge must get serious, though, and everyone transitions to standing on one foot.  Brenda Lowe and Andrea Boehlke can rest easy knowing their impromptu rule on the first run of this challenge remains an official part of it now.  This leads to several dropouts, but Kenzie, despite winning immunity, drops before either Tevin or Maria.  This means her team will miss out on a reward, and go to Tribal Council first, meaning whoever leaves misses the jury.  As for Tevin and Maria, they have a good battle, with Tevin even having a spectacular comeback from nearly falling over.  IN the end, though, Maria’s lower center of gravity wins the day, and she snags immunity.  

Our teams are sent to separate camps, with the winning six going to the current merge camp.  Here we find out the new tribe is dubbed “Nuinui”.  No real complaints here on that one.  The name is a decent length, and obviously Polynesian in origin (granted Fiji is in MELANESIA, but given they’re part of the same language family, I’ll take it at this point).  That said, all it really makes me want to do is get out my old Bionicle toys again.  

Despite winning, not everyone is happy.  Charlie notes that he’s in an exceptionally precarious spot, being one of only two original Siga on the tribe, and the other having immunity.  He realizes he’s exceptionally vulnerable, a status that Tevin confirms.  Tevin, however, is not content to just let things sit on the obvious target, telling us that he wants to invoke the “First Blindside of the Season”.  Jem might take issue with that characterization, Tevin.  

Over with our losers, Hunter is feeling nervous for similar reasons to Charlie.  He tells us he intents to play his idol tonight, a move I can’t really fault.  True, there is the “Journey 6” alliance he could trust in, but he is the only person without an initial-tribe ally in this group.  Further, he’s a noted physical threat at a rare moment without having immunity, making him a tempting target.  

Certainly Tim thinks so, since he tells Q that Hunter should obviously go.  Q, however, thinks it equally obvious that Ben should go.  After all, Nami is at each other’s throats, and Ben is the only one in this group not part of the “Journey 6”.  Ok, Kenzie technically isn’t either, but she’s immune, and Q is unlikely to go against an original Yanu at this juncture.  A member of the “Journey 6”, however?  He’ll turn on them in a heartbeat, now insisting it has to be Tim for his wishy-washy-ness.  A bit early to be turning on him, but also a bit early to be giving my thoughts on the targeting on these tribes.  

I will say, however, that I don’t buy for one minute that Q intentionally lost that challenge.  It was one that didn’t cover his skill set, and he lied to save face.  Understandable, but either Q’s a far better actor than I credit him, or he’s lying to the camera to save face.  

For now, let’s return to our winners, who have the more intriguing strategy.  Tevin is not the only one who wants to “Make a move”.  Soda is ready to get Venus out, and tries to enlist Charlie and Maria to that end, once everyone is done “napping” on the beach.  Understandable, given their tiff, but also a bad move for Soda.  She’s already kind of screwed since she’s not going to the end with Vcnus, and therefore if she IS in the end, Venus is guaranteed to be on the jury.  Guess who Venus will never vote for in a million years?  Even so, better to have her on the jury later than earlier, lest she poison the whole bunch against you.  

This, however, is not enough of a blindside for Tevin, who marshals Liz, along with a presumed Charlie and Maria, to get out Soda.  He considers her, fairly, to be a social threat.  Can’t deny the logic there.  Not content with this, however, Soda approaches Maria and Charlie individually to blindside Tevin.  Charlie seems on board, at least in part because he prefers ANY plan that doesn’t involve him getting voted out, but Maria is a bit more hesitant.  She wants to keep her options open with the “Journey 6”, and Tevin is a part of that.  Hence, conflict, even if getting out Tevin would be the thing to break Nami apart completely.  

Things get worse for Venus when, having already come on strong with Maria, she pushes her again.  Maria, pretty reasonably, gives Venus advice on how to come at people.  She sympathizes with Venus due to her age, but notes that people don’t like being told what to do.  This advice goes in one ear and out the other, Venus chalking it up to their age disparity.  Way to not work on yourself, Venus.  That said, she does at least tone it back to a vote against Soda, something Charlie and Maria are much more likely to go with.  They confer on the beach, Charlie noting that he’s weirdly safe.  Not sure how much of that is due to his effort as much as Nami being a hot mess, but still, good for him.  

As our targets for this group are now firmly set on either Soda or Venus, time to discuss what the best move is.  Clearly, between these two, it’s Soda.  She’s the more subtle player, and Venus’ presence will continue to make Nami at least seem more fractured (if not actually be more fractured), thus making them seem less threatening.  Further, Venus has so buried herself socially she’s unlikely to win many jury votes, and isn’t much of a challenge threat.  If she gets to the end, well, easier victory for you.  Might as well chop Soda off now.  Not to mention that Venus, if the first juror unanimously, will likely poison the jury against all of you.  Yeah, clearly go for Soda.  

In regards to our other group, there is dissension amongst the ranks.  Kenzie, admittedly, is happy with going for Tim, since her and Ben kind of vibe.  Tiffany less so.  That said, props to Ben for catching that Kenzie was not being 100% up front with him.  I thought Kenzie lied pretty effectively there, but he sussed it right out.  

Tim pitches Hunter to the group, who agree to split votes, but Q turns it on Tim as soon as he leaves.  Tiffany agrees with this, correctly noting that Nami is easy to break up, while Siga is less so.  However, Ben comes across as slightly sketchy when Q talks to him, leading to Q turning it back on Ben.  This makes Tiffany happy, but not Kenzie, especially since Q seems to waffle back and forth, and doesn’t let them get much of a word in edgewise.  

This leads to the promised pair discussing Q “running the show”, and predictably, the preview played this up.  Don’t misunderstand, there is a legit issue between them and Q, but it was built up to go somewhere tonight.  Had Charlie been in this group I might have bought it, but no.  Instead, they just note that Q is a bit inflexible, and also a bit prone to changing his mind.  All fair criticisms.  I might sum it up in that Q is a very binary player.  You’re either fully in agreement with him, or fully disagree with him.  Not much room for nuance in the world of Q.  On the one hand, if you’re truly his ally, this can be a great thing!  After all, as long as you don’t piss him off, you can guarantee he’ll stick with you.  That said, as we saw with Ben, staying on his good side is not so easy.  It’s not clear what exactly Ben did to turn Q against him from their conversation, but it flipped Q’s mind completely.  That can be a problem, so it’s understandable that they would consider moving against him.  But, as they note, it’s probably too early.  

With Hunter not much in contention, the debate is between Tim and Ben, and once again the answer of who should go is clear.  Ben is a social threat no one there apart from Tim has really connected with.  Tim is a much more predictable player, and keeping him around prevents the “Journey 6”, which Q at least is pushing hard, from fracturing.  Ben is the clear better choice here.  

We’re also left with little doubt that Ben will go, since he gets all the emotional content at Tribal.  He goes over his panic attack again, and everyone gives him sympathy, while also noting there are human moments outside the game.  Q, for his part, is also courteous, giving Kenzie major props for winning immunity.  The real star of the show, however, is Kenzie’s giant bow buff.  An hour after the episode aired, and I still love that thing.  

For as much as I hate the “Split Tribal” twist at this juncture, the show got a good draw here.  You can have the emotional climax first with this group, then the strategic one with the next.  Not intentional on their part, obviously, but a good way to balance it out, and not feel like we’re waiting for one group or the other to go.  Going to commercial in the middle before an obvious boot like this is a bit much, but hey, the other group has enough mystery to keep us happy regardless.  

Yet, once again, the show gets me.  Tim goes, which I absolutely DID NOT expect.  Good trick, editors.  The bad decision for basically everyone but Kenzie, but definitely an audience blindside.  That said, from a character standpoint, much the better decision.  Ben may not do it for me as a character, but he’s more interesting than Tim, who basically brought nothing.  Seems like a nice enough guy, but just not good tv, sadly.  I will, however, give Hunter some praise for not playing his idol.  Granted, he probably had a lot of trust in what Q was saying, so it’s not the weirdest decision ever, but still, he had valid reasons to believe he would be targeted.  Good on him for saving his idol.  

As mentioned, our second Tribal Council is the strategic climax of the episode.  Logically, this makes for less exciting banter at Tribal, with it being mostly the stuff you’d expect.  Charlie bringing up his Shot in the Dark.  Venus and Soda bringing up the tribe divisions.  We do get a couple of unusual moments, like Liz catching flak for not bringing her bag.  I do have to deduct points on Maria, however, for using a metaphor where one wasn’t asked for.  Don’t encourage Probst, Maria.  

Oddly, despite this being the more unpredictable vote, it’s also the more underwhelming one.  The group does the smart thing and votes Soda out.  She’s a bit teary about the whole thing, but thankfully she at least gets to sit on the jury.  I’m not the biggest fan of Venus, but I am glad she stayed, if only for the drama she brings.  If Ponderosa videos were still a thing, I’d want her on the jury as early as possible, but as is?  I’m fine with this.  

For the episode as a whole, it weirdly fails kind of in spite of itself.  The humor was on point, the editing top-notch.  We had good mystery, and a lot of good character bits.  Yet I confess myself, underwhelmed.  I don’t hate this episode, but it just kind of came and went with little fanfare for me.  I think it’s just a victim of how much had to be stuffed in.  With this many people, and two Tribal Councils, it just feels bloated.  The superiority of the previous factors helps make up for it, but there’s only so much you can do with this format.  Yet another reason to vary things up, show.  

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.  

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Winners at War” Episode 9: Gotta Be Like Ice

I guess, if we have no one to praise for correctly identifying last week’s quote, we can talk about the new tribe name, since I failed to do so. “Koru” is not a bad name, though a bit on the short side. We’re not doing as bad as back in the day, when it was NOTHING but four-letter names for a while, but this one does manage to not sound similar to any previous tribe name, at least. It does sound similar to the character of Tohru from “Jackie Chan Adventures”, but as I’m probably the only “Survivor” fan who has ever watched that show, it would only bother me.

Getting back from Tribal Council, it’s safe to say that people are not happy. Michele in particular is not happy, and in telling us that she is not happy, we see that the crowdedness of last episode has even spilled over into this one. Michele, you see, references a plot line we DID NOT SEE AT ALL IN THE PAST EPISODE. She talks about how mad she is when she said she was ok with Wendell going, yet was left out anyway. Um, did I miss something? Yeah, Michele talked about not liking Wendell when they first ended up on a tribe together, but the most recent narrative was how she had wasted a fire token on him, and how bonded they were. Where did this come from? Now, you might charitably say that Michele was simply playing that up to the players, to help make her anger come off as righteous indignation, as well as imply her free-agent status. This argument would make sense, were it not for the fact that she was saying this in confessional. You know, when ONLY talking to the camera? Unless she’s pulling a Danni Boatwright, why lie to the camera? And about this of all things?

Michele is not alone in being pissed, however. Nick, of course, is quite upset as well, telling us that there’s a storm brewing. I wouldn’t bring up this line specifically, were it not for a bit of meta it creates for me. You see, there happens to be a tornado advisory in my area, which a crawl started for as soon as Nick started talking about the storm coming. There’s no way that was coordinated, and it’s comedy gold! Sorry to all of you who didn’t have potentially life-threatening weather in your area. To add insult to injury, Nick tells us he was blindsided on his birthday, which I’m sure will in NO WAY come back to become a plot point later in the episode.

To contrast with the anger, we have Adam, who is naturally thrilled to have made it through Tribal Council. Unfortunately for Adam, this is an odd-numbered episode, meaning he has to look like an idiot. However, it seems Adam may be limited to just grammatical and pronunciation matters, as his first big error is misusing the word “literally”. Unless you’re having open-heart surgery, your heart is never “literally” beating out of your chest. That said, Adam does tell Michele of a bit of a good idea of his. I haven’t drawn much attention to it, but Adam has been searching the Tribal Council voting booth for an idol pretty much every time we see him vote, and as someone who’s advocated for that twist for a while, I can’t help but approve. Adam has turned up empty, but noticed a fleur-de-lis on Probst’s pedestal. Remembering that Denise’s idol was a fleur-de-lis, Adam thinks maybe it might be an idol. I think it might just be a recurring symbol, but hey, I’ve heard weirder theories on “Survivor”, and kudos to Adam for thinking outside the box. Adam does lose points for pronunciation, though. The “s” is silent in fleur-de-lis.

Speaking of thinking outside the box, we cut over to the Edge of Extinction. Joy. Yul returns with a tiny pizza… Er, I mean, yet another clue to a fire token earning opportunity. The clue tells the players to take a step back and remember history. Most everyone concludes that they must look in a place where they found fire tokens before, and hikes up the mountain. Why Natalie doesn’t immediately ditch everyone and run for the water well, since only she knows that it’s there, I can’t say. Natalie does have the bright idea of suggesting they split up at the top, so as to keep Yul and Wendell, who don’t know any place the group has been so far, from finding any tokens. Not that it does her much good, of course. It’s Danni and Parvati who have the brainwave to think back to “Survivor Edge of Extinction”, and look in a memorable hiding place there. Thus, they remember Aubry’s find in a hole in the rock, and so look there, finding a “50/50” advantage, basically a coin flip that either grants you immunity or doesn’t. They agree to sell it to Michele, since she has the most fire tokens, and they can also probably guess that she’s on the outs, and in need of something to keep her in the game. But who gets to receive said fire tokens? Parvati found the actual advantage, but Danni was right there, and was the one with the brainwave about finding the clue? The point is moot! Parvati states her intention to use the fire tokens to get food for everyone there, and even tells them about finding the advantage. Parvati, what happened? Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying seeing a different side of you, but this all feels like it really came out of nowhere! What happened to the Parvati of old?

As to this method of hiding it, you might think that I’d hate it. There are several reasons to, after all. Reusing an old hiding place, while clever for an anniversary season, just shows the weakness in staying in Fiji (fans of the show can remember where previous advantages were hidden, and look there). Plus, there was no guarantee that someone would remember this. No winner past “Survivor David vs. Goliath” is on this season, and “Survivor Edge of Extinction” itself is not exactly a memorable season. On top of that, while I get wanting to honor the show’s past, you should not honor “Survivor Edge of Extinction”, due to overall being pointless and, in my opinion, the worst season the show has ever had. If it fades into non-existence (with the exception of Aubry, Rick Devans, and Wendy) I will be content. So yeah, I should hate this. But I don’t. Why? Because Aubry got mentioned in a positive light on the 20th anniversary season of the show, and that’s a high even Edge of Extinction can’t bring me down from.

Continuing on the “tangentially related to Aubry” train, our reward challenge comes from her first season “Survivor Kaoh Rong”. Three members of a team of five must transport a net of heavy wooden fish to shore, hook them to a pole, and transport to a table, where the two remaining players must them put them in a table puzzle. Not a bad challenge at all, and certainly not overused. That said, my usual complaint about team challenges post-merge stands, especially when our sit-out doesn’t even get a chance at reward. What is our reward? Chinese take-out. Nothing special, but I suppose when you’re starving on an island, food is food.

On paper, this should be a lopsided competition. Our red team is Jeremy, Nick, Adam, Tony, and Tyson, while our blue team is Michele, Sophie, Kim, Sarah, and Ben. While these types of challenges usually come down to the puzzle, each time has one puzzle whiz, so you’d think the challenge would come down to strength, which it kind of does, since our early lead team does win. And you’d think the red team would have the edge there, having four challenge beasts compared to one. There’s almost no way they could lose. So, I have to ask: WHY IN GOD’S NAME DID YOU PUT ADAM ON THE STRENGTH PORTION OF THE CHALLENGE? HE’S FAR AND AWAY THE WEAKEST PERSON LEFT PHYSICALLY, AND ALL HIS STRENGTH LIES IN PUZZLES! Either Jeremy or Nick our two puzzle solvers, would have been WAY better served helping on this portion of the challenge.

Sure enough, red struggles, and blue wins reward. Before Probst can send them off, though, Sarah asks if she can give it up. Probst agrees, knowing the drama this can create, and Sarah gives the reward to Nick. It is his birthday after all…

Sorry, I had to check my phone there. Just got a news alert. It seems the city of Boston, MA, has exploded. Experts aren’t sure why, as the only clue is that the epicenter is the home of one Rodney Lavoie Jr., contestant on “Survivor Worlds Apart”. Bizarre.

Anyway, this might seem like a nice gesture, but this is Sarah Lacina we’re talking about here. The criminal of “Survivor Game Changers”. Literally the person most people wanted out pre-game. There’s no way it’s that simple. There must be some ulterior motive.

SARAH: I just wanted to do something nice and emotional. There was no gameplay involved.

Well ok, then. Apparently this is just the episode where all the ruthless women show their softer side. That said, just because there was no gameplay involved doesn’t mean people won’t believe there is. Adam points out how big of a threat this makes her. Jeremy reminds us that this is what got him eliminated on “Survivor San Juan del Sur”. Even TONY talks about how dumb of a move this was, and when TONY is the one telling your your move was stupid, you know you done goofed.

With that, though, I would like to point out how good a job Tony and Sarah are doing at keeping their relationship under wraps. On a season where any pre-existing pairs have been snuffed out as soon as they’re noted, it’s pretty impressive that they’ve managed to stay strong and avoid being targeted, by and large. Those times when they have been targeted, it’s for entirely different reasons. It shows the strategic chops these pair have. And the best part. The show doesn’t hit us over the head with this information, but instead trusts the viewer to pay attention, and lets it sink in without narration. More of this, please!

After a humanizing moment with our reward winners, we must get back to what Probst believes “Survivor” is all about: Idols and Advantages. Our feasters look high and low, even going so far as to bust open their fortune cookies to find a clue. No such luck, though I did appreciate the “look under the bottoms of the cartons” maneuver. With no idols or advantages there, we instead turn to Michele, who now has to decide whether or not to buy the “50/50” advantage. Ok, since we’re here, let’s talk about this advantage. Put simply, it’s dumb. The rules on it aren’t exceptionally clear. “Safe” means you effectively have immunity, but “Not Safe” is not well-explained. Is it like losing a challenge on “Island of the Idols” where you lose your vote? If so, then it’s a TERRIBLE advantage. Very expensive (four fire tokens!) for only a SHOT at payoff, and a big loss if you don’t. Even if it just does nothing, however, it’s still a bad deal. People have paid less for GUARANTEED safety. Even with Michele in this position, why go for this? Because a fortune cookie told her to. Look, Michele. I like you. Even as the head of the “Aubry Lobby”, I like you. You seem like a lot of fun to hang with, and you played a solid game last time. I may prefer Aubry, but no disrespect to you. You are a very worthy winner. That said, THIS IS A HORRIBLE DEAL, AND YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD FOR MAKING IT!

Our immunity challenge today comes courtesy of “Survivor Caramoan”. Basically, everyone has to balance on increasingly small parts of a triangular prism, with the last one standing being the victory. We sadly do not get the positive callback to Andrea and Brenda’s impromptu rule change, though we do get the positive of a few particularly wild players trying to keep their balance. Jeremy’s theatrics and Ben’s “kung-fu” moves in particular need to be praised. Also, I should say that I’m impressed with Ben. I thought he’d be out early, since this sort of challenge does not favor the top-heavy. Jeremy can attest to that. Second place is impressive, though. That said, this challenge does have a couple of bad points. Once again, a fire token is granted to the winner, and we again get rock music with lyrics of the challenge, rather than the more traditional music the show has. I expressed my disdain for these creative choices last episode, and am sad to see they don’t seem to be a one-off thing. However, since I already talked about my hatred for these choices recently, I’ll spare you the rant again, and thus cut to Kim winning immunity. A well-earned victory, but not an impactful one.

At first, the vote seems like it’s going to be simple and straightforward. Nick and Michele are on the outs? Split the vote between Nick and Michele, with Nick being the primary choice for being “untrustworthy”. Adam gets thrown out as the alternate split vote in place of Michele, but that gets dismissed very quickly. But then Nick, sensing that everything is going against him, decides to stir things up. He tells Tyson that his name is getting thrown out. It may be. After all, he is they guy back from the Edge of Extinction, and while I don’t expect most people to remember “Survivor Edge of Extinction”, the fact that the winner came from there is something I would hope they remember, and take to heart when deciding how to treat returnees from the Edge of Extinction. Thus, it wouldn’t surprise me if Tyson had been thrown out as a possible boot, but we haven’t heard about it. This gets Tyson to toss Sarah’s name out, who tosses Adam out again, who tosses out Ben’s name, and then all hell breaks loose. Names being thrown around left and right. Tyson even gets his name thrown out for really real this time. It’s pretty much pure chaos as we head to Tribal Council, meaning my usual “This is who’s being decided between; here’s the right move for the swing votes” format goes out the window.

What I can talk about, however, is one little moment that nearly escaped being seen. You see, for the most part the people we see talking are the groups you’d expect. Jeremy, Tony, and Tyson. Sarah and Sophie. Ben and Adam even get together and do their “odd-couple schtick”, where Ben tries to call Adam on throwing out his name, which Adam does a poor job of denying. But one that almost escapes notice is Kim and Denise. We’d seen them talk on the second iteration of Dakal, but nothing much concrete. Here, however, when everyone else is panicking, they stay calm and debate the pros and cons of going for Sarah (Kim says she’s ok, and we immediately cut to her saying to Ben that Sarah can’t go. This to me says they’re playing smarter than most everyone left. My favorite player still in the game, and the most dominant winner ever teaming up? I love it.

With so much misdirection (though given their airtime earlier in the episode, Adam and Sarah seem to be the main people set up for elimination), all Tribal Council really needs to do is keep the chaos going. That it does, with all pretense thrown out the window, and Tribal Council turns into a whisper-fest, though somewhat more justified than other examples. The producers did nothing to elicit this. This is just everyone being crazy. It’s only Adam and Ben arguing about how they talk to each other once again that gets everyone to pay attention. We’re reminded here that Adam is his own worst enemy. While I don’t doubt that he was targeted before Tribal Council, when he kept being paranoid about straight answers, and continuing to make it an issue when he could just let it die, he really did himself no favors. As such, it’s not a surprise when Adam gets the votes, but the rest of the episode was enough of a mystery, and the reasoning behind his leaving clear, that one can’t help but be satisfied. Adam clearly demonstrated, through his paranoia at Tribal Council, that he had crossed the “Shamar Threshold”, first seen on “Survivor Caramoan”. His chaotic paranoia now made him more a hinderance than a help as an ally.

Did that paranoia pay off, though? Did Adam correctly pick out an at-Tribal Council Immunity Idol? It would seem not, as Adam is unable to wrest it from the podium. Probst takes pity and lets him declare it an idol for himself anyway, before revealing that it is, in fact, just set decoration. To everyone’s credit, apart from a bit of mockery at Adam’s attempts to pull off the fleur-de-lis, no one really thinks it a bad idea. It’s plausible, and as Adam says, worth a try. Even Probst is respectful when snuffing Adam’s torch.

In case it wasn’t obvious, this episode is head and shoulders an improvement over the previous one. There was still some crowding, but we got good emotional moments, three-dimensional characters, even some solid misdirection in there. I still think this season is trying to do too much, but it did that much better this episode than the previous one.

So now, as we await your next episode, I await your next guess. Which US contestant said this quote, and on what season? Adding in episode number is not necessary, but earns your brownie points if you get it! First person to get it correct gets their name at the top of the next blog!

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

“Survivor” What-Ifs: Redemption Island

Well, last time we saw how one small change could turn a top-tier season into one that’s just… ok. This time, let’s see if making one small change to a season that is hated can produce the opposite result. Though given that our subject today is “Survivor Redemption Island”, it would be difficult to make things worse.

Welcome back to “‘Survivor’ What Ifs”, where I go back, change one small moment in “Survivor” history, and see the ripple effect it has throughout the season, as well as future seasons. Since we went over the format in the last blog, I’ll skip over a lot of it today, and just get right into the speculating. A quick reminder, though, that this blog assumes that the reader has already seen the season, and does not pull any punches accordingly. More succinctly, there are SPOILERS ahead, so read at your own risk. That said, let’s rewind space-time, and see if we can’t create a better world…

THE IMPACT: The moment most suited to changing “Survivor Redemption Island” seems to me to be at the merge. The Final 12. Specifically, we’re going to change the impact of one Andrea Boehlke on Matt Elrod. Yes, you may recall that Matt was initially out for revenge, before inexplicably swearing his loyalty to the man who had got him voted out before. Unsurprisingly, this led to his immediate exit, and with Andrea now having few options, led to the downfall of the former Zapatera tribe, and the inevitable march to victory of Boston Rob. This is really the last time in the game he could realistically have been challenged, so let’s give him that challenge. Let’s say that Andrea realized Matt would need a bit of watching, and so stuck to him, continually whispering in his ear about the threat that Boston Rob poses. This, in turn, leads to Matt and Andrea sticking with the Zapateras at the merge.

Now, here’s what I think is interesting about this change to the timeline: On a surface level, it changes almost nothing about the episode. Despite this change, in this timeline Matt still goes here. That part was inevitable. What DOES change is the mechanism by which he goes. You see, Andrea sticking so close to Matt has a bit of a cascade effect. Say what you will about Boston Rob, but he’s no dummy. I don’t doubt that he would have noticed how close Andrea was sticking to Matt, and how close the pair of them were to the Zapateras. Also remember that Rob had an idol at this point. Put these two together, coupled with confirmation for Rob that Matt’s against him, and I don’t doubt Rob plays his idol, and plays it correctly. Thus, Matt still goes home, but now Rob has to burn an idol to do so. That, plus the fracturing of Ometepe, makes all the difference.

THE FALLOUT: This is the section that suffers the most from having the change in the timeline set so far back in the season. With my previous blog, I was basically able to go blow-by-blow of how the season would progress. Here, though? With so many immunity challenges, plus new idols to be found, it’s pretty much an impossible task, both from a statistical standpoint and from a blogging one. Instead, I’ll be giving generalities on how the overall season would have gone from this point forward.

The first thing to bear in mind here is that, unlike our timeline where Andrea tried (poorly) to play both sides, this time she is now firmly in with the Zapateras. This sinks her chances at the game, but also gives the Zapateras an edge. While it’s impossible to say who finds Boston Rob’s re-hidden immunity idol, the numbers alone mean someone in the Zapatera alliance probably finds it. Bear in mind, while Rob had more OVERALL experience with “Survivor”, he had only been on one prior season with hidden immunity idols, and then didn’t really go looking for it. Both Ometepe and Zapatera had found one idol each, so they would have had a roughly equal chance of finding it. Given that they have an extra player now, that gives them the edge.

So, with no real recourse left, Ometepe is pretty much doomed, right? This should just be another Pagonging, but the reverse of what we had in our time, right? Not exactly. Remember that part of what made Zapatera the more interesting tribe overall was that, unlike Ometepe, they were a fractious bunch, more given to infighting than Ometepe. They could unite in the face of a common enemy, but tended to cave when there was no enemy left to fight, thus explaining the difference between Zapatera with Russell Hantz versus Zapatera without Russell Hantz. Come the merge, they now have a new common enemy in Boston Rob, and so their game probably becomes about getting him out, along with the other physically strong members of Ometepe. There’s an argument to be made for Rob going on an immunity run, but given that even in our timeline this didn’t happen, I doubt it happens here. So he gets picked off at some point in the early merge, along with Grant for his strength, and Phillip, mostly because he annoys everyone. But then? Oh, then the Zapateros start turning on each other. David probably plays too hard, too fast, and goes home. Mike is also probably a huge target for his strength, and since that’s what the tribe’s been doing post-merge, the pattern probably just keeps on going. What we end up with, then, is an amalgam of the non-threatening Ometepe and Zapatera members duking it out for supremacy. It’s a tough call to say who comes out on top here, but I’m inclined to say the old Ometepe remain the tightest bunch. Ashley, now free from the “buddy system” probably joins with Andrea when she sees the way the wind is blowing, and drags Natalie along with her following the vote out of Boston Rob.

Who, you might ask, comes back from Redemption Island in this scenario? Despite what I said, I’m inclined to say Boston Rob. I don’t think a full immunity run was in him, but dude’s still a beast a challenges, and since all he really had to do was not be last, at least until the final duel, he probably at least makes it there. Even the final duel being endurance, I feel, is not a major obstacle for him. Recall that Rob was pretty good at the endurance challenges on “Survivor All-Stars”, and given how competitive he is, I think he could come back into the game again. That said, I think he probably leaves right afterward as well. Ashley still being in the game at this point, coupled with Rob not eating as well, means he loses immunity. Since he doesn’t have his cult-like sway over the cast at this point, they rightly vote him out at this point, leaving us with the aforementioned probable Ometepe Final 3. Who wins in this timeline? I’m going with Ashley. Andrea burned too many bridges by flipping too early, and even in this timeline, Natalie is still seen as having done nothing. Ashley, meanwhile, took advantage of the fracturous Zapateras while still remaining true to the old Ometepe, thus earning a majority of the votes, and sparing us from the obvious outcome the season built to in our timeline.

THE LEGACY: Sure enough, “Survivor Redemption Island” is probably much better received in this timeline than it is in ours. The most common criticism, and the thing that cements this season’s reputation for me, is that it was just an obvious march to the finish for Boston Rob, and we really didn’t get a chance to learn much about the new players. Here, we get to see the new players demolish old favorites, and while that can be hard to watch sometimes, it does build a stronger overall cast, and paves the way for new legends, cementing their legacies by literally overthrowing the old guard. People in this timeline probably hotly debate whether Andrea was robbed for not having a better social game. People discuss the downfall of the Zapatera the same way they discuss the downfall of Galu, but with better characters. And while I doubt Ashley is a breakout character, she’s well received, and acknowledged as having played a subtle, but sound, game. Think Danni Boatwright of “Survivor Guatemala”.

That said, despite the season being better received, we probably get less overall returnees from the season. While the public as a whole loves the season a lot more, it’s still not probably seen as “top-tier ‘Survivor’” but rather as “Pretty Good ‘Survivor’”. Couple this with Probst’s best friend not winning and I think production is much less warm towards this season. Andrea and Francesca probably come back for “Survivor Caramoan” (the former due to actually good gameplay, the latter due to production REALLY needing a woman of color on the season), but Phillip? Yeah, at best he’s a one-season wonder. We may get a former Zapateran back for “Survivor Cambodia”, but overall, they’re not showing up as much as we think of them as doing. On the flip side, Boston Rob probably gets a fifth chance, because dammit, Probst just can’t stand that he hasn’t won! My guess is we probably see him on “Survivor Game Changers”, where he probably loses yet again.

What really intrigues me, though, is how Redemption Island is received as a twist as a result of this change to the season. Bear in mind, while the “Redemption Island” twist, was never beloved, it was not the main criticism of the season. Rob’s win was. True, I doubt this twist gains love from the fans, but now rather than be a mark of one of the most hated seasons of “Survivor”, it’s not associated with seasons that are considered, at worst, “ok”. Given that the producers refuse to get rid of a twist they like even when the audience practically BEGS them *cough*final-four-fire-making*cough*, you can bet this means Redemption Island sticks around much longer in this timeline. Rather than go away during “Survivor One World”, it’s probably a feature of that season and future seasons as well, thus changing the outcome of all seasons it affects. I think it would have taken someone losing due to Redemption Island who production REALLY wanted to see win for them to put the kibosh on it. Thus, I’d say “Survivor Caramoan” is probably when there’s a real push from production to put the kibosh on it.

Yes, the continued existence of “Redemption Island” as a twist eliminates Cochran’s win on that season, and not just because someone better at challenges than him comes back either. Look, Cochran was WAY better in challenges his second time around, but he was no master, and Redemption Island favoring the strong doesn’t help matters for him. But what really kills Cochran’s chances is an effect we didn’t really see in our timeline: An increased gutsiness in “Survivor” play. We missed out on this due to Redemption Island being so short-lived as a twist, but if it became a regular thing, people would have started to figure out that there was less risk to making a gutsy move. After all, even if it failed, you could still come back in the game anyway. With less risk available, people take on the power players more often, and given how vulnerable Cochran’s alliance was in multiple parts of “Survivor Caramoan”, this probably means one of them succeeds. And this is a problem for the show. Love Cochran or hate Cochran, he was far and away the biggest character of the season. With “Redemption Island” still in play as a twist, at best we get a Brenda win, and at worst, something like a Reynold or Eddie win. This, in turn, infuriates the producers, and spells the end for “Redemption Island”. It probably still sticks around for “Survivor Blood vs. Water”, but like in our timeline, that’s the last we see of it, and it probably isn’t even considered for “Survivor San Juan del Sur”.

In other words, we get a better season, but potentially at the cost of other good seasons, “Survivor Philippines” in particular. Would it be worth it? I leave it up for the reader to decide, but without Phillip Sheppard becoming a major character, I’m all for it regardless.

Hopefully you’ve enjoyed this little trip through time! I’ve got one more of these planned, but as always, I’m open to suggestions of changes you’d like to see! Feel free to suggest them in the comments! A quick reminder on the guidelines for submissions of changes to this blog:

One Change Only: This can’t be a whole bunch of things or multiple things going another way to alter the course of a season. This must be one singular event that alters the season in some way. Cascade effects, where one change naturally leads to another, are ok, but they have to be natural and logical. As an example, Shii-Ann not flipping and Chuay Gahn losing the final 10 immunity challenge on “Survivor Thailand” would definitely change things, but those are two independent changes that need to happen, and therefore not for this blog. I should also mention that the change has to be an EVENT, not a play style. Yes, “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains” probably goes much differently if Russell Hantz (“Survivor Samoa”) isn’t an asshole to everyone, but apart from that never happening, it’s a change in overall play style, not a single moment. It’s also, as I say, implausible, which leads to my next ground rule…
The Change Must Be Realistic: An unlikely change is ok, but it has to be something that COULD have happened, or it’s not worth writing about. Yes, Fang winning the first challenge on “Survivor Gabon” would drastically change the season. Would it ever happen? No. So there’s no point in talking about it.
The Change Must Have An Impact: By this, I mean the change has to actually alter the season in some significant way. Simply changing up the boot order is not enough. Someone new has to win, the perception of the season has to change, or both. As an example, I originally planned to do a blog on “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains”, with a timeline where Candice didn’t flip at the final 9. I thought this could lead to a Heroes Victory. Then I remembered that Russell Hantz plays his idol for himself in that same episode, meaning the flip doesn’t matter, and apart from a slight boot order change, the season as a whole remains untouched. Uninteresting, and therefore not worth talking about.
And there you have it! I’m glad to be back at this, and look forward to presenting you all with new and interesting timelines in the future (no pun intended)!

-Matt

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Edge of Extinction” Episode 12: Toy Story

I’ve got idols with me/I’ve got idols with me
Advantages/I’ve got ‘em too
‘Cause Production/Likes me more than you.
When I win/You’ll all be feeling blue
‘Cause I’ve got idols with me!

Well, I’ll give the episode this: It at least gave me the chance to make another song parody. That very few people will get, as I doubt the overlap between “Survivor” fans and “Toy Story” fans is particularly large. Still, it’s a positive, and the episode should take what it can get. It won’t be getting very many compliments for this particular one.

We start off back at camp, with everyone discussing the previous vote-out. Gavin gets a bit of character development talking about his conflict in voting out Ron, but steels himself for future votes. He talks about how Rick is now the big threat who needs to go under any circumstances, thereby ensuring that Rick will stay this episode. He also mentions that Rick gets “All the best toys”, thereby at least giving me title fodder for this blog. Rick tells what at first seems like a pointless lie, claiming that his idol came from someone on the Edge of Extinction, rather than just being one he found. As soon as I wonder about the point of it all, though, Rick justifies himself in confessional, stating that this makes people think idols aren’t hidden around camp, thus preventing others from looking for the re-hidden immunity idol. Pretty good justification, but I’d point out that at least Lauren should be aware that this is bull, since she HAS found idols at camp previously. I’m pretty sure Rick isn’t aware of it, though, and Lauren could be justified in keeping quiet due to not wanting to reveal her idol, so not a bad play on his part.

Rick naturally gets up early and starts idol hunting. Not being quick enough, everyone notes his absence. Aurora talks about wanting Rick out, and rejoices in the fact that she finally has an alliance that seems solid. And with that, we know the outcome of the episode with absolute certainty! Good night, everybody!

Look, I know I rail against too little foreshadowing all the time, but too much can be just as bad. By setting up these obvious storylines SO EARLY in the episode, it just took the tension out of it. This could have been rectified by an interesting journey as to how we got to the outcome, or good character moments, but the journey itself just isn’t interesting. They TRY to give us the latter, but for some reason, with so many people left, it just doesn’t work. Huh. It’s almost like THE GAME ISN’T DESIGNED TO HAVE NEARLY EVERYBODY LEFT AT THE END! MAYBE THIS WAS A HORRIBLE IDEA FROM THE START!

Ok, ok, rant over. I evidently didn’t give Lauren enough credit, as she does call Rick out on his bluff, both to him and everyone else left. She frames it as a “gut feeling”, thus keeping her hidden immunity idol, well, hidden, but it’s well-done nonetheless. I’m all ready to praise Lauren for keeping a good tail on Rick thus preventing him from finding his hidden immunity idol… And then she just up and leaves. Loss of smart-person points, Lauren. Sure enough, the dramatic music tells us Rick finds an idol. At least the episode was QUICK to point out how things wouldn’t go as planned. Rick tries to do his news anchor schtick again, but his giddy enthusiasm boils over, and it just comes across as forced this time. Patience, Rick, patience.

It’s saying something when the best aspect of this episode is the challenge, and not just the challenge, but the REWARD CHALLENGE! My God, we actually get something original in it! True, it’s our same generic obstacle course with digging under a pole and tossing balls onto an arch, but the first leg has players throwing a ball into a ramp, which they must run through some ropes to the other end of. If they catch the ball, it’s good. If not, try again. It’s creative, it works well in the challenge, it keeps things individual! By this season’s standards, it’s gold!

After a four-way race between Gavin, Rick, Aurora, and Victoria, Gavin “wins”. I put this in quotation marks because, although technically victorious, he now has to decide who to offend by not taking them on reward. True, it’s not as bad as when the same thing is done on the family challenge, but still decently bad. Gavin first picks Victoria to take on the picnic with him, which is solid. She’s both his ally, and someone shown to hold a grudge over not being picked, at least according to last episode. But then, Gavin fumbles it with his second pick: Lauren. The others are astounded that Aurora wasn’t picked, and frankly so am I. Both are in Gavin’s alliance at the moment, so it’s not the most illogical pick, but let’s consider the choices. Gavin can take Lauren, the person who’s the only non-Rick original Manu left, and therefore has little option BUT to stick with you, or Aurora, who’s been pretty much a free agent this season, and is KNOWN to hold grudges based on her feelings. Who needs to be coddled more?

After the requisite “Ha Ha, screw you!” helicopter fly-by of camp, we cut to our feast, where Gavin broaches the possibility of Rick being immune. He suggests, should this happen, that Julie get the votes, which makes a certain amount of sense. She’s not much of a threat in any regard at this point, but might have a couple of friends on the jury (Eric, Ron), and was the other person left out. Thus, easy consensus vote. I’m not sure she’s the SMARTEST choice at this juncture, but we’ll get to that. Lauren, however, is again one step ahead, saying privately that she has a bond with Julie (that we’ve never seen before this episode), and might want to try and find another plan. Yep. Same amount of subtlety we’ve come to expect from this episode.

Getting back to camp, Rick does what EVERYONE who finds an idol should do: Make like you’re still searching so no one catches on that you’ve found it. Rick again takes childlike glee in giving everyone the slip, and it’s here we learn the TRUE lesson of the episode: Lauren is Satan. Yes, you heard me right, Satan. Only the Lord of Darkness himself could dislike the game of “Hide and Seek”. It’s the best childhood game ever. Shame on you for disliking it, Lauren!

Oh good, the Edge of Extinction. So nice to see you after missing you last episode. It wasn’t long enough.

Ok, ok, I’ll be fair to the Edge of Extinction. It actually had kind of a fun idea this time around. Rather than looking for an advantage, those on the Edge of Extinction get to read notes they wrote to themselves prior to the beginning of the game. This is something we’ve never seen before, but it fits really well here, giving everyone a chance to look back on their journey, reflect on how far they still have to go, and talk about how they’ve grown as people. At least, that’s what SHOULD have happened, but it seems the overcrowding from the Edge of Extinction is now affecting even those on the Edge of Extinction. Rather than hearing excerpts from each person’s note, we get a montage. In some cases, where we get a bit of content from the person in question, it really works. Julia and Reem are prime examples of this. But most everyone else? It goes by too fast to build an emotional connection, and we’re just left wondering why we had to have this at all, if it’s relatively pointless?

Moving on to our immunity challenge, which is that “Slide tiles and carry them over balance things to solve a word puzzle” challenge, first seen on “Survivor Worlds Apart”. Probst claims it’s a common backyard game. I don’t know what backyards are like in Texas, but I’ve never seen a game even CLOSE to this anywhere but “Survivor”. If there’s something I’m missing, please enlighten me. It’s your standard dull, reused challenge, and yes, I realize that statement is redundant. I can at least say that the puzzle solution is good. “Not Living on the Edge tonight”. Fits with the season, but not completely obvious.

Surprising no one with a functioning brain, Rick wins, after Probst gives a fairly subtle hint to get people to the word “Tonight”. Julie, recognizing that she’s probably in trouble, makes a show about going off to talk with Rick. The pair decide to target Aurora, because as mentioned, she’s kind of the default target at this point for any alliance. Speculating on who they can get to help them out, Julie mentions her “bond” with Lauren that, as mentioned previously, was not brought up prior to this episode. Still, Lauren is open to the idea, and discusses with Gavin the possibility. Gavin is less closed off than he was to getting out Ron last episode, indicating that he’ll probably go along with the plan, but he wants Victoria in on it. In case Lauren wasn’t obvious enough, she keeps hinting how she’s willing to go with just Gavin, and they don’t need Victoria. Victoria, not being an idiot, realizes this means Lauren probably wants to go to the end with Julie, and thus getting out Julie might be a better bet. Victoria keeps herself open to the possibilities, though, as she should. As to which one she should go for, the answer right now is clearly Aurora. As mentioned, she’s more of a challenge threat, but also think about the Edge of Extinction. Whoever comes back next episode, they’re likely to have an uphill battle, since almost no one left would want to work with them. Aurora, as a relatively free agent, is a godsend to them. Thus, you get her out, whoever comes back has little foothold, barring another game-breaking advantage. This is only the right move for now, though, as we shall see soon at Tribal Council.

Talk at Tribal Council is pretty much all about how Rick is the one everyone wants out, and it sucks that he won. This leads Rick to try and get back at everyone, pulling out his hidden immunity idol and saying he’ll play it for Julie. I’m not buying it. Unless the idol expires at this Tribal Council (which, admittedly, it might), there’s no reason for Rick to risk it when in all likelihood Julie joins in voting him out should he not win the next immunity. What this DOES do is incentivize others to vote for Julie. Yeah, for all the good points voting for Aurora has, a chance to flush an idol trumps them. Rick, unfortunately, finds himself in the position of the “Three Amigos” on “Survivor Caramoan”, as by unveiling an idol, he now has to play it, or risk losing an ally. It’s too easy a bluff to call.

Evidently calling an easy bluff is too much for this cast. Aurora is predictably sent home, and I’m kind of sorry. Both she and Julie would be losses to this season, but Aurora was the slightly bigger character, and more intriguing, as she rarely had a formal alliance. She goes out with class, though still swearing vengeance against Rick. Vengeance she might get as she, like everyone else, heads to the Edge of Extinction. Ok, while I’m HAPPY no one just gave up on the game, it’s still annoying that we had to see the non-dilemma every time. After Keith, nothing could compare.

In case it wasn’t clear, I am not partial to this episode. It was predictable, and gave us nothing in return. Thus boring, lame, and with little to do but write song parodies about it. Let’s hope this downward trend doesn’t continue into the finale.

Speaking of which, this is normally where I’d talk about those who are left, and their odds of winning the game, should they get to the end. Well, I’m not doing that this season, mainly because we don’t know who all is coming back from the Edge of Extinction. To give you my general thoughts, those coming back from the Edge of Extinction have the best chance of winning in the end, but the hardest time getting there. Then there’s everyone else, who seem like nice enough people, but cluster in their ball of blandness to not stand out at all. Instead, let’s live up to the “Speculation” part of this blog’s name, as I give you:

MATT’S TOP 5 PEOPLE WHO MIGHT COME BACK FROM THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION!

Yes, this will not be a proper “Top 5 and Bottom 5” but will follow the format of one. Now that we’ve finalized who all has a shot to come back, let’s discuss the people I think have the best odds, based both of edit and on challenge performance. We begin with…

5. Chris-Maybe a bit of a stretch, but Chris has been presented as a challenge beast from the beginning, and he nails the editing part of it as well. We’ve seen a fair amount of Chris after his exit, which is partly due to his length of time on the Edge of Extinction, but he’s gotten a lot of confessionals about his “Perfect Game” failure, which seems like a story to be set up for the finale. However, Chris only gets number five, because I would have put him much higher before tonight. The trouble is that I feel like his note scene may have wrapped up his story arc, and may spell doom for the man come the challenge.

4. Joe-Yeah, it wasn’t going to be a list about challenges without Joey Amazing showing up SOMEWHERE. If this list were based purely on challenge ability, he wins hands down. Joe is favored to win most challenges, and things like a ropes course, which we know will be in the challenge, are right up his alley. So, why is he only number four? Well, as I said before, I’m counting edit here as well, and have we heard from Joe at all since his boot episode? That’s what I thought. That severely decreases his odds, though challenge performance alone is enough to keep him on the list.

3. David-Out of all the returnees, David’s is the only one whose exit didn’t feel satisfying. Aubry and Kelley both got done in by their hubris, and Joe just underestimated his opponents. All flaws that we can understand. David? Just bad luck with the numbers, and that just feels unsatisfying for a returnee. Add onto that returnees being favored in most challenges due to greater familiarity, and this challenge favoring the tiny, and I think David’s got a decent shot at returning. If we’d heard from him more after his boot, he’d probably be number one.

2. Aurora-Aurora has what we might call “Andrea Boehlke Upside” from “Survivor Redemption Island”. A tough challenge competitor voted out close enough to the end that she has more energy than most of her opponents, and again, coming into a challenge that plays to her strengths. Her comment about getting Rick out also strikes me as potentially prophetic, so I’d give her pretty good odds of returning overall.

1. Aubry-Perhaps this is just wishful thinking on my part, since I love Aubry as a player and want her to do well on this season, but I keep coming back to a couple of things that make me see her as the returnee from the twist. She has returning player upside, to be sure, but we also saw a decent amount of her well beyond her boot episode. Granted, we’ve seen pretty much nothing of her these last few episodes, but since most of our time is just devoted to the newest person on the island, that’s unsurprising. Two things come back to me that make me favor Aubry. One is the chance to practice the challenge. It not only gives her an edge physically, but an edge psychologically, as she won’t be as shocked as the others by the challenge itself. The other is the “Aubry is out for blood” comment from the first “Back from Edge of Extinction” challenge. While Aubry’s story FELT like it concluded with her exit, this opened it back up again, and I feel it needs to be resolved, which it can only do if Aubry comes back.

Honorable Mention: Reem-Going purely on confessionals, Reem would be the person to re-enter the game. She’s been the most consistent narrator of the Edge of Extinction, and on a certain level, it would be poetic justice for the first boot to re-enter the game. That said, this challenge doesn’t particularly favor Reem, and her confessional count seems more due to her giving a great confessional than hinting at a return. Still would be fun, though.

So, what do you all think? Who’s going to come back from Edge of Extinction? Let me know your GUESS in the comments below. Spoilers will not be approved, and will be afforded a special level of hell, along with those people who talk in the theater.

That said, you’re going to have to wait for your weekly dose of “Idol Speculation” next week. As previously mentioned, I have a new job, meaning I don’t have vacation yet, and can’t call off of work following the finale. This means I can’t stay up to write the blog and still go to work, so it will have to wait for the afternoon after. I swear to not read any blogs or take in any new opinions until I get mine down on data. See you when that happens!

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Game Changers” Finale: Revenge Over Reason

Welcome back, loyal readers, to “Survivor Kaoh Rong” (a season I can spell more accurately than the editors, evidently. Why has the spell check been off this season?) Episode 10… I mean the “Survivor Game Changers” Finale. Though, given the first part of the episode, you could be forgiven for making that mistake. Think about it: A large, cocky jock talks down to Tai, who runs to Aubry for comfort, and using her skills, she gets him to do what she wants done with his hidden immunity idol. Beat for beat, it’s pretty much the same thing.

After Probst brags about the size of the crowd at the finale, we get to his summation of the season, which is mercifully brief. The only things of note are his summation of the contestants (which we’ll get to in a minute), and one little tricky bit right at the beginning. Now, Probst is no stranger to hyperbole, particularly when recapping a season. So, naturally, he started off his narration with “For the first time, ‘Survivor’ stranded 20 game changers…” and I prepare to rant my head off about how “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains” exists, and although I find it to be somewhat overrated, it’s still miles ahead of this particular season. Then, however, Probst saves himself by finishing it off “…in Fiji.” Well played, Probst, well played. Technically a true statement, but you’re REALLY stretching there for a “first”.

Credit where credit is due, though, Probst did do a good job in building up our other player’s chances. A lot of people, myself included, were bemused when both Aubry and Troyzan, people who hadn’t really gotten much screentime, made the finals. How would Probst build them up? Well, I have to say, he actually did a pretty good job of it. He highlighted Troyzan’s idol find and him biding his time, while with Aubry, he highlighted her tenacity. About the best he could do, given the material the editors gave to him.

Onto the episode proper, and we get the fallout from that last Tribal Council where the fine print determined everything. Cirie, naturally, bears the brunt of it. No one period would be pleased with a supposed ally taking their advantage and trying to play it (perceivedly) against them, and let it be said that Sarah is not known for being able to control her temper very well. Naturally, Cirie’s attempts at pointing out that she was trying to do it to protect Sarah fall on deaf ears, and again, who can blame Sarah? Without knowing the information that Cirie knows, she has no proof of what Cirie’s saying, and the scheme was so out there that it’d be ridiculous to believe in any case! The pair do seem to calm down after a bit of talking, but Sarah makes it clear that tensions are still running high. Still, she does try to get all the facts, confronting Tai around the fire about whether he had planned to vote her off. We also find out that the reason Michaela went was due to her being Cirie’s lieutenant. Logical, but it could have been better foreshadowed.

Now, Tai is in a golden spot here. As I said, Cirie’s story is pretty unbelievable, even if it is true in this case. Sarah’s mad at Cirie anyway. All Tai has to do is lie. Just one little lie. Say that he never had any such plans. Cirie takes all the flak, and can’t really do anything about it, since she would NEED Tai for this next vote. But, of course, Tai does the stupid thing, and reveals to Sarah that he did indeed plan to vote for her. Sarah takes it well. And by that, I mean that her rage turns pretty much exclusively on Tai. Way to go, slugger.

In fairness to Tai, he brings up a good point later on about people’s attacking of him. The overarching theme of these vote offs is basically “Tai is a liar who can’t be trusted.” Tai, however, says there’s a double-standard, and that he’s just doing what everybody else has done in this game. And… Yeah. What HAS he done that’s so much more terrible than anyone else? I guess you could make the argument that Tai PRETENDS to be loyal more than some other people, but it’s not like he’s HIDING the fact that he’s talking other strategies with other people. Really, the only factor here is that he’s going after Sarah, the first person to do so in this game, and Sarah isn’t taking it well. That’s not a mark against Tai, though, and I really do feel like the players this episode (not named Aubry and Cirie) unfairly chastise him for just playing the game. Lay off, people.

Much like last episode, our number of players left leaves no time for strategizing, and we hop into our traditional “Maze and Puzzle” challenge, which I like slightly more than others for being colorful, and having a tricky puzzle. It’s a compass rose, but built in a vertical frame, and with pieces that fit multiple places. Not the strongest individual challenge that ever was, but for the standards of this season? I’ll take it. It’s a fairly close-run thing, but Brad Culpepper takes it, making a joke about himself being a brainless jock. Funny, but since he’ll be ACTING like a brainless jock in just a minute, I’m not sure how true that actually is.

The winner also gets an Italian dinner with two other people, so Brad takes Troyzan and Sarah. Now, Troyzan I have no qualms with. The pair are tight, and it would be suspicious of him not to take Troyzan. I can see an argument for leaving a loyal soldier at camp, but again, the suspicion would have been too great. I will, however, dispute the Sarah choice. Granted, both she and Tai serve as swing votes here, but Sarah is mad enough at Cirie that I feel like her vote is a safer guarantee than that of the easily-manipulated Tai. Not the worst choice, but not optimal.

Tai had previously told Brad about his two idols, in an attempt to find safe harbor. Brad, for whom Tai has overall been VERY loyal and a good ally in general, decides not to believe Tai, but does offer him a deal: He’ll take Tai to the end, but only if Tai plays an idol on himself tonight, and gives the other to Brad for safekeeping. Tai, not being an idiot, is wary of this deal. Leaving aside the fact that we KNOW that in this scenario, Brad plans to blindside Tai after this vote, giving up one of your idols for NO REASON is a terrible idea in any scenario.

Oh, but the stupidity here is not limited to Tai. Let’s say that Brad’s plan had worked, and Tai had given Brad an idol, which he then would not have returned, and not had a “non-transferrable” clause to fall back on. Then you have an INCREDIBLY pissed-off juror, with a jury that’s not a guarantee for you in any case. Plus, Brad approaches Tai in COMPLETELY the wrong way, strongarming and ordering him around. Where else does this send him to but the arms of Aubry, that comforting voice that tells him to do what’s best for HIM, which is exactly what he wants to hear. Brad really did need to watch more of “Survivor Kaoh Rong”. History repeating itself.

The only true wrinkle in the plan is Cirie, coming up to apologize to Tai for bungling the last Tribal Council. Normally adding Cirie to any strategy would help equate to its success, but in this case, Aubry is the superior choice, and so Cirie is shooed off. Say what you will about Aubry, she is GOOD at working Tai. I feel like she’s good at working other people, but as I’ll get to during her exit, she just had no shot at it.

Of course, we all know that Aubry’s going. Any pretense of Tai working with her is thrown out when she describes him as a “rat” at our first Tribal Council. These are not the words of someone trying to ensure a swing vote stays on their side. Again, this is probably the most interesting of the Tribal Councils of the night, but all the witty banter is overshadowed by the fan-dubbed “Advantage-Geddon”. Proving once and for all why Aubry is awesome, Tai gets up and plays BOTH of his idols, one for himself and one for Aubry. The one for himself I get. There’s the very real possibility he could be targeted tonight. But why Aubry? She’s not strategically important to him. The most he can hope to do is make a 3-3 Tai. The only logical explanation is that Aubry played him again, and got him to save her. And yet we see next to nothing of her all season. Great choice, editors!

We’re not done yet, though. Sarah plays her legacy advantage, which I’m amazed it took her so long to do (there’s literally no advantage to NOT playing it). This, of course, gets Troyzan skittish, and so he plays HIS idol, leading to a non-hyperbolic “Survivor” first. No votes are read, not because someone was the obvious boot due to their gameplay, but because there was LITERALLY only one choice. With three idols played, and five people immune, Cirie is the ONLY person who can be voted out. Of course, we need ceremony for this. Probst eulogizes her as he has few players. And if a player is deserving of it, it’s Cirie. I’m not the world’s biggest Cirie fan, but I still respect her game, and all she’s accomplished through playing “Survivor”. She’s definitely one of the greats, and probably my vote for “Greatest to Never Win” at this point, so it makes sense. I just wish it didn’t go ON for so long! Look Cirie deserves respect, but this is overkill.

All that said, I am sorry to see her go. She was probably playing the best game out of the lot left (yes, even my beloved Aubry), and added a nice dynamic to our remaining finalists. She is sorely missed, even if she did get the honor of being the one to say “the tribe has spoken”.

Now, I’ll admit, I did PREDICT this scenario, but not how it would come about. This episode was advertised as having a “‘Survivor’ First”, and many correctly predicted that with FIVE immunity advantages left, that this would mean that one person would be left without immunity and go home. I too subscribed to this theory, but after the immunity challenge, I thought not. I underestimated Aubry’s sway over Tai. I figured Aubry (or possibly Cirie) would HAVE to win immunity, leaving Tai to play an idol on himself and Brad, and combined with Troyzan’s idol and the legacy advantage, this would leave one persons left. Thank God it came down the way it did, since otherwise it would have been completely predictable. As it stands, we get fun, organized chaos that came about as a combination of twists and STRATEGIZING rather than just twists, making it infinitely superior to most of the season.

Oh, and yes, Tai DID save Aubry with that move, making Aubry’s manipulation of him all the more important. True, the vote was 3-2-1 in favor of Sarah going home, but that legacy advantage was getting played. I don’t see a scenario in which Tai DOESN’T play an idol on himself, meaning that without Tai, the one vote for Aubry would have been enough.

And another “Survivor” first: Cirie is the first person to be voted off without ever receiving a single vote against them on that season (no, Jonathan Libby and Wanda Shirk from “Survivor Palau” don’t count).

You’d think, with Aubry and Tai now scrambling, that we’d get some intriguing strategy post-Tribal Council. You clearly haven’t noticed production’s need to stick as many people as possible into the finale. Our immunity challenge today comes courtesy of “Survivor San Juan del Sur”, involving passing a ball through obstacles with paddles into an ending tube. First player to nab three balls wins immunity. Again, a very difficult challenge, and intricate, but it loses out to the first one due to scale. Also, while I can understand going back to a “Survivor” staple like a maze, going back to “Survivor San Juan del Sur” is a mistake. Not the worst season, but you can do better.

Brad wins again, with Probst commenting on how Brad is now one win away from tying the record of five immunity wins in a given season. Gee, thanks for spoiling the outcome of the next immunity challenge, Probst!

Aubry, however, is not done just yet. Granted, Sarah has a final three pact with Brad and Troyzan (formulated over their meal earlier), and since all Sarah really needs to do is GET to the end, there’s no incentive to break from that. Especially when you consider that Aubry is the one person left who might beat Sarah in the end. I can understand how it’s appealing for Tai. With the way Brad is treating him, it’s logical to assume that he’s lost that alliance. So, Sarah is the one who needs convincing. Aubry’s pitch is that since Brad and Troyzan won’t budge from each other, this gives Tai and Sarah each only a 50-50 shot at the finals. All things considered, not a bad pitch, given where she’s at. Aubry really has few cards on the table, and this is about her most convincing argument. However, it ultimately reads like Terry Deitz’s “Stress-free weeks” pitch from “Survivor Exile Island”. It’s weak at best, but ultimately could anyone else find a better pitch. You see, the flaw in Aubry’s pitch is that 50-50 ain’t bad odds, especially when Sarah in particular has an inroad with that pair. Again, I can see why TAI would want to go with Aubry. At this point, it would probably be his smartest move. Sarah, though? No chance.

Yet it’s TAI who suggests not going with the plan, citing Aubry as a jury threat. Ok, can’t fault the logic there, but Tai at this point is pretty much out of the running, so he might as well go with the people who WANT to work with him and take him to the final three. Sarah, continuing her theme of flexibility, agrees to do whatever Tai wants. What Tai wants, however, changes quite frequently, especially when Brad doubles down on his assholery to Tai. Again, the correct move for Tai is to vote out Troyzan (the only option, as Brad is immune), but I still don’t quite get Sarah’s stake in this.

It’s a fortunate thing that we have Tai playing with his emotions, as evidenced by that last Tribal Council, since otherwise, there’s no tension here. No witty banter, and as I said, Aubry’s pitch was flimsy at best. Sure enough, she goes home, but she should be damn proud of herself. She made top five, after coming into the season with arguably one of the biggest targets on her back. True, she didn’t win her season, but she was perceived as winner-caliber, and her season was the most recent one seen, and with the most returnees. Plus, she never really seemed to get her footing in the game, so for her to still scheme and plot her way this far? Damn straight it’s impressive! Shame on the editors for not giving us her story. Oh, and there WAS a story there! I don’t normally advocate watching the bonus confessionals for all but the most die-hard fans, but Aubry’s are worth a watch. The woman had good stuff to say; you should have shown it! Not a bad placing, all things considered, though, and I eagerly await a third chance for Aubry.

So, remember how copying an immunity challenge from “Survivor San Juan del Sur” was a bad idea? Yeah, still not the worst of the episode. That honor goes to our Final Immunity Challenge, a beat-for-beat recreation of the one from “Survivor Worlds Apart”, a FAR worse season than “Survivor San Juan del Sur”. Players run through a vertical “maze” retrieving bags of puzzle pieces with keys. They periodically go up a tower and down a water slide for more keys. Once they have the puzzle pieces, they assemble a lighthouse. The only new element is having to undo a combination lock to get the final piece after the rest of it is assembled, because we haven’t seen THAT before! Apart from committing the cardinal sin of not being an endurance challenge, this one is just generic when it isn’t stupid (I will never be ok with water slides on “Survivor”). Really a poor way to end the season, even given everything else that’s already happened.

After Brad’s inevitable win, he of course does the smart thing and targets Sarah, being his only real competition this season… Or he decides to go for Tai because he’s pissed at him. Ok, time to talk about Brad. I’ll admit it: he by and large won me over this season. He played a much better social game this time around, and even had an overall better strategic game. But this episode REALLY soured me on him. As I mentioned in the Debbie blow-up episode, while I think we may have jumped the gun in calling Brad “sexist” during “Survivor Blood vs. Water”, I wasn’t prepared to dismiss the charge entirely, since his manner of speaking could intimidate people, and possibly cause the aforementioned beliefs. And he REALLY showed his bad side this episode. Apart from a loss of strategic thinking, Brad is now treating someone he NEEDS very poorly, and it’s just wrong. Once Aubry and Cirie were gone, in my opinion it came down to a game of Brad vs. Sarah. I went back and forth on who I would want to win in this scenario, since both were very similar to me. Both have personal lives that I wasn’t too big a fan of (Brad for being rich and domineering, Sarah for being a Trump supporter), but that shouldn’t really be a factor. Both had games I wasn’t too fond of on their first outing, but improved this time around. Sarah played the more dominant game strategically, but she also had several advantages. Conversely, Brad was never in quite as dominant a position as Sarah, but also didn’t piss as many people off, and I could admire him playing from the bottom. All that said, coming into this episode, and guessing correctly that Cirie and Aubry were doomed, I was prepared to hope for a Brad Culpepper victory. This episode changed my mind. The arrogance ruined his social game, and a place at the end coming primarily from well-timed immunity wins does not a legend make. Plus, for all that Sarah rubbed some people the wrong way, she played well enough to betray someone yet STILL get the legacy advantage, so it’s not like she was horrible. Really, my only qualm with a Sarah victory is if people start citing this as evidence that her loss in “Survivor Cagayan” was only due to Kass. Look, I’m not going to say Kass wasn’t a factor, but Sarah played pretty awfully there. “President Lacina” is not what you want to be saying tow in friends and influence people.

Still, this Tribal Council DOES give us the best misdirection. The hatchet having evidently been buried, Tai suggests to Sarah that they take their fate into their own hands, rather than letting Brad and Troyzan control everything, and force a tie with Troyzan, leading to fire-making. This… Is actually a good idea for both. It shows that one didn’t just walk behind Brad Culpepper the entire time, and takes at least SOME agency back into their hands. Sure, Brad and Troyzan are probably telling you you’re safe, but of COURSE they’re saying that. Better to go with what you can predict.

This does not happen, however, and Tai is voted out in a boring Tribal Council. He’s another weird one where I’m both sorry and not sorry to see him go. I can’t say Tai brought NOTHING to the table, but I feel like we got enough Tai for a while. That said, I wish he hadn’t gotten such a thrashing this episode. The guy’s a decent-enough player. He really deserved better.

So, our finalists are Sarah, Brad, and… Troyzan? Are you sure there was a Troyzan on this season? I mean, I’m sure he’d give some weak argument about hanging in there and making good social bonds. But, we all know that with this jury, that now leans heavily towards the strategic, there’s no way that would hold water…

So, our finalists are Sarah and Brad. They talk about their strengths over generic shots of the finalist’s breakfast and burning some crates at camp. Sarah does her “cop and criminal” metaphor again, but swears to be honest at Final Tribal Council. Should she temper that honesty with tact, I can applaud this. Brad touts his challenge victories and good relationships as his key to winning. Pre-Tai, I would have agreed with this. Post-Tai, not sure the social game is how you want to go, buddy.

Our Final Tribal Council is noteworthy in that we finally get to find out what that “Jury Twist” Probst was promoting was. It’s… Underwhelming. Basically, rather than ask individual questions, Probst asks the players to have an open forum with the finalists about each aspect of the game, and what their thoughts are in that area. Now, I’m sure this gets a lot of hate, if only because many “Survivor” purists are resistant to change, I have to ask: is it really that big of a change? True, it gets Probst more involved in Final Tribal Council, which does rub me the wrong way, and I wouldn’t blame anyone for hating it for that alone. Still, the jury is the jury, and if there’s something on their minds, they’ll find a way to work it in, regardless of Probst’s categories or not. And those categories? They cover just about every aspect one could possibly vote on: Physical game, survival game, social game, strategic game. My point here is that while it is kind of yucky that Probst is leading a discussion, instead of acting with discretion, we’re really not getting anything that different from a usual jury. Heck, my thought was that, due to the number of unanimous votes of late, Probst would simply have the jury confer and cast one ballot for a consensus winner, which would have undermined “Survivor”. All that being said, this DOES mean we miss out on the hilarity of jury questions, so while I don’t think this is the worst, I’d prefer to go back to the old format after this season. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

That being said, we do get a sense of where the jury’s coming from. Troyzan, as mentioned, is pretty much out of it, though people like Aubry and Andrea do try and get him to argue for a Sandra-type game. He takes it in good grace, and joking aside, the guy is a GREAT sport about the whole thing, and should be commended for that alone. Troyzan aside, Sarah seems to be the frontrunner, with most praising her strategic game but point out that her ease in deception rubbed many of them the wrong way. This would be the point where Brad steps in, but he doesn’t come off so good either, getting lambasted for his treatment of Tai, and doing himself no favors when Michaela (who was very restrained tonight), asks him what he knows about her, and he can only rattle off the most basic facts. In fairness to Brad, he was never really allied with Michaela, but the fact remains that he still didn’t know her in quite as much detail as needed, and comes off looking bad as a result.

And yet, for all that the jury as a whole favored Sarah, the vote was still as close as it’s been since “Survivor One World” five years ago. And by that, I mean Sarah wins 7-3. A deserving winner for her game, and I wouldn’t mind seeing her back, but she’ll never be one of my favorites. I’m just too big a Kass fan, I guess. And Brad knew, as well. For all his cockiness in-game, you could tell by the look on his face at the vote read, he knew he had lost it.

Still, Sarah did bring us the best reunion show I’ve seen in a while. Oh, yes, they actually did it pretty well this time! True, we still didn’t hear from as many people as I’d have liked, but we hit a lot of the highlights at least briefly, got some good stuff from Sarah, and the hilarity of Brad trying to avoid being told that, had he put pride aside and voted out Sarah at the final four, he’d likely have won, was great. It’s fun to see Probst get thrown off of his game, at least when not done by Sia. Plus, we FINALLY get the reveal of what happens in the event of a tie. It’s a question many “Survivor” fans have been wondering since we moved beyond seven person juries and a final two. The answer is pretty much what most of us guessed. The person left out of the tie casts a deciding vote. Underwhelming, but probably the fairest answer I could come up with. What’s interesting to me is that Probst seemed to imply that the vote would have happened the night of the Final Tribal Council, rather than at the reunion show. This makes sense, since otherwise the edit would have had an impact on the vote, but I do wonder how that would have been shown. It would have cut out a lot of the tension from the reunion show, knowing ahead of time that everything came down to one vote. And yet, we STILL don’t know what happens if there’s a tie at only the final two, like what could have happened in “Survivor Micronesia”.

Really, the only minor misstep of the reunion show is the Zeke/Varner stuff. I’m a proponent of the idea that CBS as a whole handled the incident as tactfully as they could at the time, and I was happy to see both Varner and Zeke at the reunion show. That said, it REALLY didn’t need to be brought up. Whereas before it was an integral part of the game that needed to be talked about, now it did feel like ratings bait. And you could tell that Zeke in particular was uncomfortable with the whole thing, eyes darting back and forth pretty much the whole time. Varner did pay homage to Zeke being the real victim, and I don’t want to pile on angst to a guy who’s dealt with enough already, but MAN after that pat note did he focus on himself. The book deal, in particular, was unnecessary. All that said, though, if they were going to talk about it, they still did it ok, making sure to emphasize that what Varner did was wrong and pretty much condemning him for it.

Oh, and there’s the next season. “Survivor Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers”. I hate this title. It’s clunky, and does nothing to hide the fact that this is a rehash of the “Collars” twist from “Survivor Worlds Apart”. They even have the same freaking buff colors! The cast, from what we saw in the preview, didn’t look like anything special, but didn’t look bad either, so I’ll reserve my judgement for a full cast announcement. Still, “Survivor HvHvH”, as I will hereinafter call it, is starting off on thin ice. Oh, and Jeff? I get how “Hero” and “Healer” could be positives, but I don’t think “Hustler” really qualifies.

All that said, it’s time for the traditional…

TOP 5, and… THAT’S IT?

Yes, partly because I am tired, this season only gets a “Top 5” list with no honorable mention on it. However, this is not due solely to laziness, but also to the fact that my subject this time, in honor of the fallen jury questions, is, well, jury questions. They’ve been a staple of “Survivor” since the beginning, and even if they have gotten bland over the years, the best still need acknowledging. Since a “Bottom 5” list would pretty much be “See seasons 31-present”, there’s no real point in doing it. Only other point to note is that the ANSWER to the question will be a factor in the best jury questions. That said, let’s get started with…

5. “The Right Place for the Wrong Reasons” (“Survivor Samoa”): The only double-digit season to make this list, Erik Cardona’s jury speech, decrying Russell Hantz for being an awful human being while praising Natalie White for recognizing this and playing him for a sap falls into the “So bad, it’s good” category for me. It’s SO over the top and SO ridiculous that I can’t help but love it! Plus, it’s bashing Russell Hantz, which I can always get behind.

4. “Day at the Races” (“Survivor Vanuatu”): When I do a list for the best Final Tribal Councils ever, “Survivor Vanuatu” would definitely be near the top. It combines emotion and strategy beautifully, with a fascinating master class in BS courtesy of Chris Daugherty. That said, very few of the individual jury speeches stand out. Combined, they work great. Individually, they’re just ok. Sarge’s speech takes it, though, for successfully fooling me into believing that Chris might NOT have his vote on lockdown. Props, good sir.

3. “Anyone ELSE Deserving” (“Survivor The Amazon”): One of your stock jury questions is “Who on the jury should be sitting there instead of you/your opponent?”, and would therefore escape my notice, were it not for Heidi Strobel’s version of it in “Survivor The Amazon”. You see, Heidi had REALLY wanted to use this question to make finalists Jenna and Matthew pander to her. Instead they pandered to Rob, and Heidi was VERY upset about it, blatantly leading them on until Probst had to shut it down for being too much even for him.

2. “Rats and Snakes” (“Survivor Borneo”): Yeah, you knew this was coming. It’s a classic for a reason. It’s got drama. It’s distinctive. It pretty accurately summarized the game up until that point. Really, the only reason it’s not number one is that it’s just too overplayed at this point. Still, there’s a reason we have the “Order of Sue-Hawk-abies” on this blog. People just can’t resist a metaphor-filled diatribe.

1. “The Hyena and the Mush” (“Survivor Africa”): Sometimes you want a deep jury question that really throws things up in the air. And sometimes you want a curveball question for humor’s sake. Tom Buchanan delivers in that department, giving us a completely random and pointless question about a hyena licking its butt after eating the corn mush at camp, purely because his vote was already decided, and he just wanted to dick around with the finalists. There’s something about the insanity and irreverence that just appeals to me, and makes this the most memorable jury speech in my mind.

Now, on to the other tradition of this blog, noting how WRONG I was in my pre-season predictions!

Jeff Varner-We start off with a partial victory. He did last about as long as I thought, but he was more of a strategic presence than I guessed, and I could not have told you the manner of his exit, since I avoid spoilers.

Sandra-Pretty much right, although I do give her credit for being more of a power-player this time around than I could have predicted.

Cirie-Wrong. While I was right that she would be underestimated on the whole, she DID do a good job lasting after the merge, and staying the powerhouse a lot longer than I guessed.

Ozzy-Wrong about time in the game, right in that he’s still as dull as a sack of hammers.

J.T.-Wrong. Played much worse than I though, and as a consequence went out much earlier.

Andrea-Wrong. While I’m still no fan of hers, she DID prove that she’s got some chops on her, even if this is TECHNICALLY her worst performance in terms of placing.
Troyzan-Wrong again. Man, that’s a pattern tonight. The man lasted much longer than I thought, though I was right about his overall impact on the game.

Malcolm-Wrong, though in my defense, NO ONE could have predicted that stupid twist Tribal Council.

Brad-Wrong. Like I said before, guy really proved what he was capable of this time around.

Ciera-Even though I didn’t say she’d be first out, I’ll still give myself this one. I said she’d go early, and personality and reason for exit went pretty much to the letter of what I said.

Sarah-Wrong. Definitely a contender for Brad for “Most Improved”. Though she didn’t know the real reason behind her exit on “Survivor Cagayan” as I predicted.

Tony-Right, for once this blog.

Hali-She went out a bit earlier than I expected, but I’d say I was right otherwise.

Sierra-Sort of a reverse Hali. She still behaved as I expected, but lasted slightly longer than I thought she would.

Caleb-Wrong in that he went out sooner, but I don’t think I overestimated him too much in terms of strategy.

Debbie-She was pretty crazy (who would have guessed), and I GUESS she qualifies as a mid-merge boot, so yeah, I’ll give myself this one.

Tai-Wrong. Dude went WAY farther than played better than I’d have thought.

Aubry-Yeah, she didn’t win, but again, I think she did exceptionally well considering her start to the season. I’ll give myself this one.

Michaela-While I don’t think I overestimated her strategic capabilities, I did underestimate her time in the game. She got me there.

Zeke-We fortunately got nice Zeke this time around, so he played better and lasted longer than I guessed.

“Survivor Game Changers” as a whole is a mess, plain and simple. It was a poorly-conceived all-stars season, that loses out even to the ACTUAL “Survivor All-Stars” due to the latter at least paying better tribute to seasons pasts. Twists were thrown out left and right such that the status quo never got established, thus neutering such shake-ups. We had a few good episodes here and there, and things definitely picked up towards the end of the season, when the twists stopped coming and we could actually follow what was going on. But then we also have the Zeke outing episode and an underwhelming final three. I’m not saying that developing new characters is bad, or that we’d only have been happy if our favorites were in the end. But look who we lost: Aubry and Cirie, arguably two of the most popular players left in the end. And who’d we end up with? “This is My Island!”, “Fuck You Brad Culpepper”, and “President Lacina”. Not that these people didn’t earn their way to the end, nor did they play bad games, but they’re just not people we’re inclined to root for. All that said, I don’t think this is an AWFUL season. I’d just put it in the realm of below “Survivor South Pacific” and above “Survivor San Juan del Sur”, where it’s still technically GOOD, but there’s much better stuff to offer. Here’s hoping that “Survivor HvHvH” is at least better than its title.

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Game Changers” Episode 11: No, Cirie

Tonight the role of lightning will be played by Erik Reichenbach (“Survivor Micronesia”). Now, as we all know, lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same spot, hence Cirie’s downfall this episode. Granted, Tai was a worthy understudy to the role, but in the end, there can only be one king of stupid “Survivor”. Well, two if we include Brandon Hantz (“Survivor South Pacific”). And I suppose Colton Cumbie (“Survivor One World”) would have to be in there as well. Boy, this is harder than I thought. Look, let’s just all agree that no one can replace Erik, and leave it at that.

Oh, and those user agreements no one ever bothers to read? The ones that could have you selling away your firstborn child and you’d never know it? How much you want to bet that Cirie will be reading EVERY WORD of those from now on?

In the great debate of “Who’s Dumber?”, our contestants were Sierra, for talking about an advantage they will to other people to the person with the power to vote them out, or Sarah, for assuming that she would be able to vote someone out and still have them will her the advantage. The answer, as it turns out, is Sierra, who despite going home 6-3, doesn’t realize in the moment that Sarah pretty much HAD to have voted for her (she couldn’t vote for herself, and the likelihood that TWO people out of the Tai-Brad-Troyzan thing flipped on her is madness), and wills Sarah the legacy advantage. Of course, Sarah gave her a study in overacting, but I’d hardly call that a fair exchange.

Like all good overacting, this exchange did not go unnoticed. Both Andrea and Aubry were aware of it, and don’t like what it portends. Aubry in particular notes that Sarah was trying to pander to Sierra. Of course, she doesn’t pick up on the legacy advantage, but I’ll let it slide as she has no way of knowing about it. This gets both of their hackles up, and Andrea in particular in gung-ho to eliminate Sarah next. They float the idea to Cirie, whom you’d think would be on board with this. After, Cirie is one of those players who doesn’t really need to think about who they can beat in the end. So long as they have a solid path to the end, they’re fine. Granted, I can see how Cirie would value Sarah, particularly since Sarah told Cirie about her vote steal, but with Aubry, Andrea, and Michaela, three OBSCENELY loyal soldiers at her side, Cirie can go along with the plan, get rid of the advantages that Sarah now holds, and thereby clear her path to victory. However, Cirie does not do this, instead asking in confessional whether now is the right time to blindside Sarah.

Wow, this is an interesting dilemma! Surely, we should be spending this time delving deep into the pros and cons of each side, leading to several intense strategy debates that CHALLENGE TIME!

Go-Rammit! This is what I HATE about the current trend of smashing two episodes into one: We basically go one short scene-Immunity Challenge, with no time for nuance or in-depth targeting. We leave all of the time after the immunity challenge to do the heavy lifting, which I suppose is better than nothing, but still, feels like a misuse of time.

We enter this challenge with Aubry attempting her best George Takei “Oh My!” (keep working on that one, Aubs.), and we find, much to my chagrin, that it’s yet another immunity challenge that’s reused from a previous season. A difficult one that we haven’t seen in four years, at least, but reused nonetheless. Each player will try to build a house of cards on a wobbly platform, with the first person to reach a certain marker winning immunity. First seen on “Survivor Gabon”, this version of the challenge was first seen on “Survivor South Pacific”, and is well-remembered for Sophie yelling at Albert to help her win after his stack drops. As I say, it’s also insidiously difficult, with a lot of good back-and-forth to keep us guessing. All that being said, it’s still a reused challenge, and difficult or not, I stand behind my views on it from “Survivor Gabon”: It’s not “challenge” material.

Remember that good back-and-forth I said helped make this challenge at least somewhat entertaining? Yeah, throw that out the window. There’s a few close competitors, but you can tell from the beginning that this challenge is all about Aubry. And no, this is the fanboy in me coming out again, the show focusses on her as well. Even if she hadn’t won, I doubt her fangirling over her “boyfriend” Cochran (“Survivor South Pacific”) wouldn’t have been shown, but with Probst talking about Cochran’s record 17-minute stack, and focussing on how well Aubry is doing, should give people a clue that Aubry wins this challenge. Sure enough, Michaela and Andrea keep losing their stacks, and as they were Aubry’s only real competition, she wins in a record breaking six minutes. Good for her. Nice to see her get SOME glory, given that she’s been all but invisible this ENTIRE SEASON! Seriously, Aubry makes it to the final episode, and you couldn’t give us more of her underdog storyline? I’ve watched the secret scenes; you HAD the material. And yet you didn’t put it in the episode proper? Shame on you.

This win, while nice, continues the overall trend of people winning immunity who don’t seem to need it. Brad was the target, and Aubry intends to keep it that way. Aubry now seems to be realizing that while she’s been playing a better emotional game, certainly pissing fewer people off, she says that winning immunity is enough for now. I’d complain that an immunity win isn’t really much of a resume builder… So I will. Look, Aubry, despite how I’m going to contradict myself later, one immunity isn’t enough. I know that a late-game immunity streak helped Michele to win on “Survivor Kaoh Rong”, and I get taking a leaf out of her book, but that wasn’t ALL she had. You MIGHT be able to argue an underdog story, with how you could never find a solid alliance, but that might backfire. Getting out Sarah, apart from being a strategic move to point to, would get out someone you can’t really trust. The much better move overall. Aubry cools down Andrea’s head, though, and plants the target firmly on Brad, as more of a challenge threat, while Troyzan is more of the likable threat. If you’re going to target one of those two, that’s the way to go, since not only is Brad a greater challenge threat, I’d argue he’s more of a social threat. Troyzan may be likable, but Brad is the glue that brings people together. Hence, more liked at the end. I get that there’s the whole “already a millionaire” angle, but really, I’m starting to wonder how much of a factor that really is. If Brad can make people like him as much as they have, I doubt his money will matter that much.

Had the debate ended there, we might have been in for a boring episode. However, Andrea just can’t resist trying to plant seeds out doubt in Cirie’s mind, bring up Sarah’s duplicity at every available opportunity. Unsurprisingly, this has the opposite effect, with Cirie now being wary of how much power Andrea is seizing for herself, and why she’s so determined to out an ally of Cirie’s. Hence, Cirie considers getting rid of Andrea instead. Now, as I made clear, in the debate of Sarah vs. Brad, the correct answer was Sarah, since she was a swing vote with too much power, and was unneeded by Cirie at this point. However, in the case of Andrea vs. Brad, I feel like the correct answer is still the person who isn’t Brad. Now, this might seem weird, since I was first advocating that Cirie go with what Andrea wanted, but am now saying she should go AGAINST Andrea. Here’s the deal: If you’re not going to eliminate Sarah and her advantages, that means you want her as an ally on your side. This means that she needs to be kept happy, and we know that Sarah has been itching to vote out Andrea for a while now, meaning that you’d have to grant her wish at some point. Add onto that the fact that Andrea has been actively targeting Sarah, and you can see why that move now makes sense for Cirie.

While all this is going on, Michaela shows just how much of a strategic mind she is by suggesting that Brad Culpepper go gather some fish. Um, ok? Clearly SOMEONE’S thinking all the time. In fairness, Michaela does say that she’s doing this so they have a stock of food following Brad’s exit, and what’s unsaid is this keeps him distracted and unable to form a counter-plan/look for the idol. Brad, for some reason, takes this as blackmail. Look, I get that Michaela sounded kind of weird when asking him to go fish, and there may have been a “don’t look for the idol” motive here, but jumping to blackmail that quickly seems a bit extreme. And once again, this means we get a scene from the preview that was built up to extremes that ultimately amounted to NOTHING!

Our first Tribal Council of the night can in many ways be seen as a microcosm of this two part episode. The first half is ok. Nothing super exciting, but some decent strategic talk. But that second half is just GREAT! After the aforementioned strategic talk, we get into a debate about whether emotion, strategy, or some combination therein will win the day. Sarah advocates for strategy, making the argument that on a season called “Game Changers”, however bad that moniker may be, strategy would be reward. Aubry provides the counterpoint, noting that people are people, and voting them out hurts their feelings. This also serves as a bit of a jab at Sarah’s earlier transparent attempt at pandering to Sierra, even if it did work in the short term. Andrea provides us our middle ground, saying that she would hope strategic gameplay is rewarded, but also acknowledging that emotion cannot be taken out of the equation. Which one reigns supreme depends on the jury, and this one’s a bit of a mixed bag. For the makeup it is now, I feel like three of the people (Hali, Zeke, and Sierra) would favor strategic gameplay, but the others (Ozzy, Debbie) would go more based on emotion. Jumping ahead a bit, our next two boots put one in each category, so this is probably going to be one of the harder juries to predict in a while, which will make my ranking at the end of the blog probably the hardest I’ve ever had to do. But what I find particularly interesting is just how much the winner of each of these player’s respective seasons influenced how they view the jury. “Survivor Cagayan” was won by Tony, a player who had some bad blood on his hands, but played a much better strategic game than his counterpart, and thus, Sarah feels that strategy will be favored. Conversely, “Survivor Kaoh Rong” was won by the person who was better liked, rather than the person with the most (overtly) strategic game. “Survivor Caramoan”, being Andrea’s most recent season, was won by the aforementioned John Cochran, who was both better liked socially and had more of a strategic game than his opponents. You could argue that Boston Rob’s win on “Survivor Redemption Island”, also fits into this category. Not sure much of anything will come of it, since each jury is different, but I do find it interesting that we get people arguing all the time that people will play like the person who won their season, yet here we see that it also influences how they view the jury.

We end off with the return of Brad Culpepper Math! Yes, he’s been hiding it well all season, but Brad’s not so hot when it comes to math. Recall that it was basic math that eliminated him on “Survivor Blood vs. Water”. Here, he makes the tried-and-true argument that in a fivesome, someone’s on the bottom, and needs to flip at the seven before it’s too late. A worthy-enough argument, but Brad, you may have noticed that there are EIGHT people left. That means you can be eliminated, and the people on the bottom don’t REALLY need to care.

Sadly, the good part of this Tribal Council ends with the misdirection. As I said, Andrea is the better strategic move, and given her screen time… Yep, there’s her torch getting snuffed. While she did play a good strategic game this time around, I can’t say I’m too sorry to see her go. Good strategy is always appreciated, but Andrea just isn’t that big of a personality to make me like her, and she’s no genius, just slightly above-average. Point being, her performance has not erased my desire to see “Survivor Redemption Island” expunged from history, and until that happens, I’m not sure I’ll ever be fully on board with her. To her credit, though, she did play well, and on this season, that’s a rarity.

Speaking of playing well, Aubry at first seems like she’ll once again pull off a textbook performance for how to handle the people who just blindsided you, congratulating them at Andrea’s blindside. For all that Aubry had some good moments and victories in the first half, though, this is where she falls apart. In case you’ve forgotten, Aubry can get… emotional. Personally, I find this endearing, but Aubry getting teary-eyed here, when she’s shown she can tough through this sort of thing seems a bit off-kilter. A shame to see such a great player drop down here. To her credit, though, it’s only in confessional, and even then not really that much of a cry. It ends with her joking about her allies once again getting the axe, which is a humorous way to transition back into the episode.

Say, you know what storyline has been REALLY going well, but getting no attention? The “Survivor Kaoh Rong” people! All pre-season, everyone was worried for them. They took up a fifth of the cast, and mostly seemed to be pretty close (Debbie and Aubry notwithstanding). And yet, they’ve managed to maintain their distance from one another, and no one’s looking at them as a pre-made alliance. Sure, Sandra made that argument, but she’s SANDRA! Of course she’ll try and put the target on anyone but herself! Sure would be a shame if they screwed it up now!

Yep, Tai goes over to comfort Aubry, which is a nice scene to see. Unfortunately, it’s also seen by Cirie, who’s now on the warpath for Tai. Boy, what another compelling storyline! We should get some real good stuff out of this, assuming the immunity challenge doesn’t…

Our second immunity challenge, another repeat, originally comes from “Survivor Exile Island”, with this version most closely mirroring the final four immunity challenge from “Survivor Cagayan”. Everyone stands on top of a large pole and pulls up buckets of water. They then pour said water into bamboo, raising a key. Once they have the key, they use it to unlock puzzle pieces, with the first person to then solve said puzzle winning immunity. A fairly exciting challenge, but mostly because of my fond memories of Kass McQuillen’s comeback in it on “Survivor Cagayan”. It’s an average, reused challenge. No need to dwell on it beyond that.

Fun Fact: Out of the four times variations on this challenge have been run, Cirie has competed in three of them, and only missed out on the fourth because she wasn’t ON that season. And she does just about as well here, though she does get the courage to jump off this time. We sadly get no Kass-like comeback this time around, and the puzzle is difficult enough that everyone seems in it. Brad ends up winning, which, once again, may actually have an impact. Evidently, the theme of immunity this season is “Whoever wins will have no impact, or is Brad Culpepper.” He gets a little cocky about it, and I’ve got to admit, it rubs me the wrong way.

Back at camp, Troyzan reminds us that he has a hidden immunity idol. Meanwhile, Tai gets the bug of big-move-itis, deciding that it’s time for Sarah to go. Again, for him, a good move! It gets rid of a swing vote, putting him in prime position to take that role, and builds up a resume for the jury. He tells his idea to Aubry, who SHOULD be satisfied that, despite being on the chopping block here, she’s now hearing someone else get targeted. Aubry, however, wants to build her own resume, and decides that doing the stupid thing of voting out one of those few people who’ll strategize with you is the PERFECT way to do it. Look, while people tend to overemphasize the whole “big moves” and “resume building” thing, I can sympathize, and tend not to be AS extreme against them as some. They’re not REQUIRED to win the game, as Probst would have you believe, but they do help, and you do need to do SOMETHING to argue your case at the end, even if that something is “Not an asshole”. Aubry, realizing how well it worked in the first half of the episode, runs to tell Cirie about Tai’s targeting of Sarah. Cirie, in turn, brings this to Sarah, who’s not convinced. Sarah trusts Tai more than Aubry, and despite Aubry being a former ally of Sarah’s, I can agree with that sentiment. Come on, Tai’s one of the most trustworthy people out there, and Aubry’s desperate. Cirie, however, remains convinced, and Sarah agrees to give Cirie her advantage to hold as a trust mechanism. I at first think Sarah is repeating the mistakes of Sierra, and agreeing to will Cirie her legacy advantage, but she actually means the vote steal. Not sure how that builds trust, but it’s good for Cirie.

Now we come to probably Cirie’s biggest failure ever in “Survivor”, and I’m including “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains”. Because we can never forget the epic mind-screw of Erik Reichenbach, Cirie tries to recreate the magic. She wants to Tai to go, but rightly assumes that he has at least one idol. Thus, he needs to be made comfortable. However, with Sarah, Brad, and Troyzan all presumably voting for Aubry, and no guarantee that Tai won’t flip with them, Cirie would probably need to USE that vote steal to ensure that things go as planned. Plus, then the advantage is gone, and can never be used against Cirie. But Tai is a skittish one, and would probably play an idol if Cirie used the advantage, just to be safe. Therefore, Cirie spins a tale of how Sarah now wants Tai gone, but gave Cirie an advantage to use to steal a vote, and how she will steal Sarah’s vote and use it against Sarah. A bit of a convoluted plan, but not quite as weak as the Erik Reichenbach plan I keep referencing. Plus, Cirie is a great salesperson, and Tai is quite gullible. If Cirie were able to pull this off, her legacy would be cemented for SURE.

There’s really no point in discussing the quips of Tribal Council. We all know the craziness at the end is the best part. True to her word, Cirie pulls out the advantage, and attempts to use it. Sarah calls out that it was her advantage, and we wait for it to be rubbed in her face that this is what happens when you give away advantages willy-nilly. But no! Cirie failed to read the instructions, which indicate that the advantage is non-transferrable! Thus, Cirie’s plan is foiled, and thus begins the talking. Cirie, Michaela, and Sarah huddle up, with Cirie insisting, to no avail, that it was all to save Sarah from Tai. Brad, Tai, and particularly Troyzan try to eavesdrop, while Aubry just sits there, head in hands, doubtless thinking “I have to go through this shit AGAIN?”. We get a lot of strategy talk back and forth, with Sarah opting to use her vote steal on Tai.

Another trend I’m not fully on board with is the idea of “Live” Tribal Councils. True, I think people are more willing to change plans last minute than they were in earlier seasons, but I feel like a lot of the “Live” Tribals we’ve seen are more manipulative editing than actually up-in-the-air votes. That being said, this IS one of those rare Tribal Councils where the vote seems up in the air, and I LOVE it. Let me be blunt: THIS is what the Malcolm boot SHOULD have been. There are twists. There are advantages. But the drama comes from interpersonal dynamics that the PLAYERS brought up due to the advantages, not the other way around. Our chatter here feels natural, not forced, and we get fun chaos rather than manufactured chaos. Sadly, Cirie’s chances now seem nil. Her alliance with Sarah, that she so carefully tended, is doubtless done for, and all because of one simple misreading of instructions.

And yet, Michaela goes home. I still do not have an explanation for this. Did they think that Cirie was less of a challenge threat? Maybe, but then why not go for Aubry, who’s actually WON a challenge this season? I know things were crazy, but this vote just seems out of the blue. I’m temped to put it in the Jeremy Collins Column from “Survivor San Juan del Sur” as an unearned exit, but there’s one key difference that stops it. Jeremy’s boot was an average blindside we didn’t see the strategy for. Here, there’s a REASON why we didn’t get much strategizing: it was caused at the last minute by unforeseeable circumstances. I think Michaela has every right to be pissed at this, with perhaps only Malcolm surpassing her righteous indignation, but with the chaos, the boot still feels more earned.

I am somewhat sorry to see Michaela go. While he story arc was very one-note, it was fun, and someone who expressed their emotions so openly can make good tv. Look at her kick her puzzle to no avail when she loses the second challenge this episode. You can’t help but enjoy her personality. She may not be cut out to win “Survivor”, but I would still love to see Michaela back some time in the future, and she added a lot to the season.

In one more bit of strategy, Brad makes a point of noting to Tai that Aubry and Michaela both voted for him, thereby helping to win Tai back to his side, lest Cirie and Aubry pull him in. And that, right there, is why Brad is more dangerous than Troyzan in that alliance.

Ultimately, a very good episode. As I say, the second boot may have been a bit TOO crazy, and the first half was only kind of ok, but we got a lot more Aubry, some really good strategy, and enjoyable chaos. Overall, a very well-done episode. Sadly, I doubt the finale will continue this streak. With Sarah now estranged from Cirie, and Tai probably wary of joining up with Cirie or Aubry, it looks like our two major strategist left will be the next to go. It is the sad fate of the smart that the dumb and strong will band together to wipe them out, but that’s the nature of “Survivor”. Still, edit and ways to GET to the end aside, who would win in the end. It’s my duty to give you my two cents.

CIRIE: As I said, this is going to be one of the trickier ones to judge, since this jury could swing either way on strategy vs. emotion. That being said, while there’s plenty of room to maneuver with the other five, there’s no question that Cirie wins on either spectrum. Everyone loves her, and she’s considered one of the greatest to ever win. If she DOES get to the end, expect the jury to do nothing but berate the other finalists for letting her get this far. Unfortunately, Cirie shot herself in the foot this episode, pretty much cutting off her only way to the end. She could have had it all, and if she gets there she will, but I doubt that will happen.

SARAH: I’m a bit hesitant to put Sarah so high, since she has burned a few bridges. However, while this jury may end up being more emotion-oriented, I doubt that they’ll ENTIRELY discount strategy. Since Sarah now has the most blatant strategic game left, apart for Cirie, she may do well. Plus, she may be able to mend some bridges with a “personal growth” narrative related to the whole “Outing Zeke” thing. She plays her cards right, she’s probably a millionaire.

AUBRY: Remember, I’m discounting edit and ability to get to the end in this part of the blog. For all that we haven’t’ seen much of her game, Aubry DOES have an underdog story she can pull on. True, she’s been on the wrong side of a lot of votes, and up against the more visible games of Cirie and Sarah, she has no shot. Against the others, though, if she can articulate herself well (and point out Brad’s millions), she might just take it yet. Unfortunately, Aubry’s Catch-22 is that her path to the end and the people she can beat in the end are mutually exclusive. I don’t see Brad and Troyzan letting her in, and since she can’t beat either Cirie or Sarah in the finals, probably doomed.

BRAD: Brad is our social player of the season, and I’d like to have ranked him higher. However, momentum matters, and Brad’s major successes were early game. That, and the remote possibility of his financial status being a factor hurt him and put him this low. Brad Culpepper can win this game (boy, THOSE are words I thought I’d never say), but he needs to play his cards right. He’ll have to articulate his social prowess well, and take out the late-game strategic threats.

TROYZAN: This spot really should be a tie between him and Tai. Both are seen as nothing but semi-likable followers who haven’t made their mark, and anything they do now will probably be seen as too little, too late. Plus, neither can articulate their games very well, so I really can’t find a scenario in which either one wins. I put Troyzan up higher only because he got name “likable” this episode, which has yet to be overtly said about Tai.

TAI: See Troyzan.

Well, I’ve been wrong before, so let’s hope I’m wrong this time. See you at the finale!

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Game Changers” Episode 10: ANOTHER F*CKING OBSTACLE COURSE!

Let’s be real here: Coming in, no one expected much of anything from this season. People were upset about a number of the casting choices, and predicted that this season would go down unfortunate avenues with regards to everyone’s favorites. Matters weren’t helped when the season often DID go down those avenues, with only Cirie and Aubry remaining out of those that people really wanted to see again. Plus, then we had unexpected upheavals that left bad tastes in our mouths, notably the bullshit twist that eliminated Malcolm, and the unpleasantness that was Jeff Varner’s exit. Even though the last few episodes post-merge have been alright, they’re definitely not the stuff of “Survivor” legend. I bring this up, not because this episode was spectacular in and of itself, but because this episode did show that even a season that’s as much of a misfire as this one is can still show some skill. This episode did what few can do: It took a boring and predictable plotline that most everyone saw coming, and managed to make it engaging and unpredictable. Before we can get to that, though, it’s time for another…

MATT’S MESS-UP!

I think this might be a record. We have not one, not two, but THREE points from last episode that I neglected to discuss. Two of them are kind of understandable, for reasons I’ll get to shortly, but one of them there’s really no excuse for. During the strategy talk of last episode, there was a brief scene in which Tai and Troyzan agreed to look out for each other. Nothing much would come of this, were it not for the irony that Tai and Troyzan, between them, have THREE idols, meaning that if they were willing to trust one another, they could easily take control. Sadly, the pair do not. I understand why. Without knowing about the other’s idol, and thereby having the potential protection of mutually-assured destruction, it’s a big risk, but as a backseat quarterback, they’d ultimately be more successful, if only they could trust. And THIS is the sort of insight that keeps “Survivor” interesting after all these years.

As to how I justify missing the two other points? Well, I normally stop talking about the episode after the vote happens, and so it would make sense to end my blog there. Barring, of course, that some reaction after the episode merits talking about, and this past episode had just that. Firstly, there was an exchange from the jury wherein Hali referred to those perpetrating the Zeke blindside as “Game Changers”, while Debbie instead preferred to call them “idiots”. There’s much debate as to which interpretation is correct, but only time will tell. Despite Aubry being included in that decision, I’m inclined to go more with Debbie’s interpretation, for the reasons I gave last blog about Zeke’s blindside potentially being a vote too soon. What I find more interesting, though, is the differing philosophies between the twosome that this shows. Hali fully buys into the hype for this season, and probably believes in shouting “BIG MOVES!” as well. She’s looking more at the strategic game. Debbie, on the other hand, takes things more than a little personally, and gets very caught up in that aspect of the game, hence her comments here. I can’t even BEGIN to speculate on how this may play out later in the game, but suffice to say, it provides some fun insight.

Our big story, though, is Michaela, who openly cried after voting off of Zeke. At this point, the reasons behind it have been speculated and analyzed to death, so I feel no inclination to put my oar in the water on this subject. What this DOES do is support my theory that Michaela was MADE to play “Survivor”… in the pre-Rob Cesternino era. I mentioned during “Survivor Millennials vs. Gen-X.” that Michaela represented a return to older character archetypes, when loyalty, wilderness survival, and challenge ability were what mattered most. Wilderness survival may not be exactly her thing, but I defy you to tell me Michaela isn’t focussed on the other two. In a lot of ways, she’s a female Rupert (“Survivor Pearl Islands”), and so would have fit in during the early days. The trouble is Michaela was simply born too late. Almost 15 years have passed since “Survivor The Amazon”, and the game has moved away from favoring people with that character type. Hence, Michaela’s doom, despite what this episode would indicate. Wearing her emotions on her sleeve, and being upset at voting out a friend? Common in the early days of the show, and not unheard of in this era, but much less common.

Now that we can finally discuss the episode proper, we see that talking is NOT the order of the day here. Tai is probably the most shell-shocked, since not only was he on the wrong side of the numbers, but most of his own ALLIANCE voted against him. He quite politely and calmly asks if they can talk about the reasoning behind the vote, a kind and diplomatic gesture that Andrea basically returns with a big “Eff you!” and shuts down. Tai being Tai, he’s not overly upset about this, but it seems like an unnecessary bridge burn from Andrea.

We then see that Andrea is not opposed to talking to people, just Tai. Astutely realizing that Michaela is probably the person most in need of a pick-me-up after the vote, Andrea tries to console her and bring her back into the alliance. Michaela PLAYS like she’s ok with it, but this being Michaela, she’s not ok with it. You can tell by the glare she shoots over Andrea’s shoulder in one of the better shots of the episode. Yeah, maybe should have considered THAT aspect of the Zeke vote, guys!

The next morning, we get Sierra still scrambling, trying to rebuild that bond with Sarah. To this end, Sierra tells Sarah about the legacy advantage, describing it as an immunity idol that can only be used at the final six. Now, I’m not normally one to advocate telling huge whoppers about the power of an advantage, since they’re so easily seen through, but here, I don’t see why Sierra DIDN’T play it up, make it out to be a Super-Idol or something. Zeke, the ONLY person who could contradict your story, is gone, so there’s really no way for anyone left in the game to call your bluff! That being said, how Sierra frames it still makes it powerful, and sharing secrets like this CAN be a good way to build a bond, especially since Sierra implies that she’ll share the benefits of the advantage with Sarah without ever actually PROMISING anything. Had Sierra stopped there, she would have at worst done nothing and at best gained a potentially ally on the inside to help her flip the numbers. This being Sierra, however, she goes and screws it up by also mentioning the “Will” part of the legacy advantage. No, not the part where Will Wahl (“Survivor Millennials vs. Gen-X.”) takes over as host from Probst, but the part where if she’s voted out with the advantage she gets to give it to someone. If there was ever an incentive to blindside you, Sierra, you’ve just given it to Sarah. Of course, Sarah could be a moron and assume that this ALSO builds trust with Sierra, and you see where I’m going with this.

In the course of the conversation, Sierra mentions a willingness to blindside Brad, which leads to Cirie and Andrea talking about eliminating Brad, culminating in Andrea swearing that Brad will be the one to go. For those with the betting still open, you can safely stake the farm on the fact that Brad Culpepper will NOT be the latest evictee.

As promised, we now get to our loved one’s challenge. It’s sweet, it’s sappy, it’s the human element to the show that I have so defended over the years, and this one is saccharine, but no different from most other ones. So, time to break with tradition and be snarky and cynical about this particular loved ones challenge. As I’ve said before, I’m in that section of people who feel that showing emotion on “Survivor” is not a sign of weakness, particularly at the loved one’s challenge. I’m also particularly inclined to forgive it in cases where people really have missed major life events; stuff they can’t get back, like Cirie missing her son’s graduation. All that being said, I feel like Sarah falling to her knees even BEFORE meeting her loved one is a bit much. When you see them, fine, and I do understand that Sarah is also missing out on important stuff, in this case the early years of parenthood, or as it is also known, hell. But that display was so over the top, and so early on, that I can’t help but feel that it IS a bit of a weak spot for her.

To add onto the weirdness, Probst for some reason this time around gets into the habit of asking the contestants who they think came to visit them. Gee, Probst, it’s not like they filled out an application where they LISTED who they wanted to come. There’s NO WAY they’d have any idea who’d be there for them! Actually, having all the loved ones be previous contestants would have been kind of fun, but imagine if someone had guessed wrong. What would Probst have said? “No, sorry, your loved one couldn’t make it, so instead, we decided to bring back Russell Hantz from ‘Survivor Samoa’, because we haven’t pissed off enough of the fans.

Pontificating aside, we get introduced to Sarah’s husband, who assures her that their kid, Knox, is doing fine. Andrea comes next, meeting up with her mom… Scout from “Survivor Vanuatu”! No, no, but I thought it was for a second. Andrea and her mom get a nice little moment reminiscing about the unfortunate loss of Andrea’s sister, which is emotional, but would have been more so if we had heard anything about her BEFORE this. Aubry then reunites with her sister, who I swear is the result of a weird transporter accident involving Aubry and Debbie Wanner. Sierra gets to see her dad again, which amounts to nothing, and then we get to meet Michaela’s mom. Ok, I’m a casual fan of Michaela, but I LOVE her mom! She’s so charming in her demeanor, and yet she’s got some bark to her. Note how she snapped Michaela back into place when she was getting frustrated. Hot damn, why couldn’t SHE have been on the show? This is followed by the uneventful reunion between Troyzan and his brother, and then Tai and his partner, Mark the Chicken! No, actually it’s just Mark, and I’ve got to say, Tai’s done really well for himself. Granted, Mark is no Adonis, but he’s pretty good-looking. Consider yourself lucky, Tai! Then we come to Brad, and honestly, I can’t remember who he brought in. She seemed like a neat lady, though. Last is the aforementioned Cirie reunion with her son, which was probably the most genuinely emotion, save possibly for Sarah’s.

We find out that the contestants are playing for barbecue time with their loved ones. Naturally, with stakes (and steaks) like that, production has pulled out all the stops in creation a no-holds-barred beat-down of a one-of-a-kind individual challenge, ensuring the maximum level of competition and drama. Or, you know, they could do ANOTHER damn team obstacle course. I’m sure THAT would in no way be disappointing.

We don’t even get exciting misdirection as to who’s going to win. One team consists of Brad, Andrea, and Aubry, in terms of physical challenges, arguably the best threesome left in the game. You could argue for Michaela or Sierra in one of those spots, probably over Aubry, but those three are still formidable, and when Cirie is on one other team, and Tai on the third, you know you’re sunk.

Thankfully, the team DOES get to pick two pairs of loved ones to come with them, and here’s where there might be interesting drama. Since Aubry and Andrea appear to be allies, I’ll be analyzing the choices from their perspective. Gotta say, I can’t really fault them. When it comes to choosing people for the family reward challenge, you want to take people who are in your alliance, either as swing votes or as power players, but also people who had the biggest emotional moments, both as an alibi for why you picked them, and so you don’t look like a heartless bastard. Aubry and Andrea choose wisely under these criteria, picking first Cirie, a power player, and Sarah, a potential swing vote, and both of whom had the biggest emotional moments. Some might argue that, given how visibly pissed Michaela was at losing the challenge, she ought to have been taken to keep the other swing vote happy, but I’d argue that Cirie is also a potential defect danger is she isn’t pandered too somewhat. Plus, while I like Michaela’s mom a lot, there wasn’t as much emotion there as there was with Cirie, making Cirie a safe play. If I were to nitpick, I might have picked Sarah first, just in case Probst didn’t say to take the second pair, on the grounds that Sarah and her vote steal most need to be kept happy at this point, but I can’t really complain.

That neat lady that Brad brought with him also notes Michaela’s frustration, and as Brad’s currently out of the numbers, she encourages him to go and make friends with her, to hopefully get back the numbers. Brad may not be necessary, however, as Michaela and Tai find THEIR missing Craigslist connection, much as Aubry and Tai did this time last year. Michaela notes that she and Tai are on the bottom of their respective alliances, the former due to not getting picked, the latter due to getting votes, and agree to stick together. They bring in our other losers, Troyzan and Sierra, with Brad as a presumed proxy. They unsurprisingly agree that Andrea is too much of a threat, and decide to go for her. This is the point in the episode where I start to question if Michaela is quite as old-school as she lets on. True, the past evidence still stands, but this is upper class thinking. Michaela correctly realizes she’s on the bottom of her current alliance, and decides to flip the script, hoping for something better. Tai isn’t flipping the script as much, but at this point, any ally is a good ally for him. Unfortunately, I don’t see either of them faring any better under the Brad-Sierra regime than the Andrea-Cirie-Aubry regime, but with that said, fragmenting as many alliances as possible is good if you’re on the bottom, since it means people may need to take you to the end out of sheer necessity of numbers if you do it enough times.

For all Probst’s protestations that this is an original challenge, I see it as a variation on the final immunity challenge from “Survivor Micronesia”. Basically everyone will use pole to hold up a buoy, with the last person holding their buoy as the winner. It’s scaled up from the “Survivor Micronesia” challenge, though it does lose the “ever-lengthening pole” aspect. Since bigger does not always mean better, I’m inclined to prefer the original.

In a nice twist, someone who was targeted actually wins. Brad pulls out his victory, which is only hampered by the obvious foreshadowing of Andrea targeting him at the top of the episode. The majority quickly regroups and unsurprisingly decides to target Sierra, with the need to break up the Brad-Sierra pairing still tantamount. Michaela busts out her acting chops again, agreeing to go with the alliance to their faces. After conferring with Tai, however, they agree that Andrea must go, which as stated before is a good move. Things seem set in stone, but when Sarah grows brain cells, all bets are off. Sarah, rather than be upset at the possibility of a potentially ally being voted off, realizes that this is a chance to get HER hands on the legacy advantage. You know, that thing that she should have thought of initially? The tricky part, though, is how to do it without pissing off Sierra. Frankly, I don’t see how it can happen. Either Sarah is going to have to use her vote steal, in which case Sierra will KNOW something’s up, or Sarah will have to convince Michaela to flip. True, this might make Sierra more mad at Michaela than Sarah, but Sarah would still be implicated, and unless Sierra is BLIND, she’d know that Sarah probably betrayed her, since the only way for this to work as a blindside is for Sarah to swear that she’s with Sierra. Better to stick with the Andrea vote now, and wait for a more opportune moment. Plus, this is potentially the last chance to break up that threesome.

While I can’t say this is the most memorable Tribal Council overall, I CAN say that it’s probably the best one from this season that doesn’t have some unpleasant connotation attached to it. There’s a lot of sound strategic talk, with Andrea articulating the decision of who to bring on reward, Aubry talking about the buildup of little annoyances versus big annoyances, and both Andrea and Sierra subtly politicking for the other by talking generally about who they talked to, and pleading for loyalty. As per usual, though, Michaela gets the zinger, talking about being loyal to the “we” until it becomes a “me”. Why wasn’t THIS the episode title?

There’s also the unpredictability here, and once again, I’d say the wrong decision is made. Sierra goes home, thereby further solidifying the power of the overall more dangerous Andrea-Cirie-Aubry threesome. Still, can’t say I’m too sorry to see Sierra go. Out of all the people case, she was one of the ones I most considered an insult to actual good returnees, and she seemed like she was getting poised for a potential win, so I’m glad that didn’t come to pass. We got some decent strategy out of her, but she’s not one of the greats, and I don’t think we’re missing much from her absence. Of course, at this point, the only people I WOULD be upset to see go would be Aubry, Michaela, and possibly Cirie.

Not one for the record books and maybe not as good as the other merge episodes, but still a decent one nonetheless. With a double-boot episode looming, we’re in for some chaos, Cirie or no Cirie.

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Game Changers” Episode 8: Yet Another Twist

Seems that we now can’t even have ONE episode to let the status quo be status quo. No, now we have to have a twist EVERY SINGLE EPISODE! And I’m not talking about the blindside, I’m talking about the producer-implemented twist. An extra vote just wasn’t enough for you, huh? You HAD to go and add the vote steal. You’re just bound and determined for someone to play it correctly, right?

Ah, I kid, I kid. True, this episode was not the stuff of “Survivor” legend, but especially compared to the borefest that was the last double-length episode, it did a decent job. Let’s take a look and see what went right, as well as what went wrong.

Gloating is the order of the night back at the new Maku Maku camp, which I’ve since come to realize IS in fact a combination name of “Mana” and “Nuku”, but since the doubling of the term was enough to fool me, I shall spare it the ire of other combination names. Debbie, naturally is a big offender, stating to confessional that the majority six of herself, Tai, Sarah, Troyzan, Brad, and Sierra will stick together, confirming for us that there is not a line in the sand, but, as we get for the episode title, “A Line in the Concrete”. Now, this episode title led many, including myself, to believe that we were in for a predictable episode of the majority alliance sticking together, but of course this was not the case. And the fact that the quote, as it turned out, came from Debbie should have clued everyone into that fact. I’m not saying that Debbie is out of touch with reality, but hyperbole on “Survivor” should be taken with a grain of salt, and in Debbie’s case, it should be taken with an entire saltshaker.

Our past two episodes with someone on the outs (Hali’s vote-off having gotten no after-Tribal breakdown) gave us arguably two of the best handlings of post-Tribal blindsides from Aubry and Varner. Will Andrea continue this trend, or will she ask Zeke to explain himself, only then to interrupt his explanations and get annoyed with him? Given the specificity, you can guess which way it goes. Zeke, understandably, says that while he didn’t vote with the majority himself, he’s ok to go with them to save his own skin, and because he no longer trusts Andrea. A wise move. While it was foolish for him to mistrust Andrea in the first place, now that ship has pretty much sailed, and Zeke has little choice but to jump on the winning train.

Remember Debbie’s concrete line? Yeah, it seems Sarah is an alchemist, and has transmuted that concrete into sand, stating to both herself and Zeke that while now might not be the right time, she’s not bonded to that majority alliance, and will flip if she feels it necessary. I hope you enjoyed that confessional, because you’re going to be hearing about it at regular intervals throughout the episode!

Today’s reward challenge is boring, reused, boring, basic, boring, a team challenge, and did I mention it’s boring? As such, we will not talk about it, but we will talk about several things around it. First and foremost, that location! I’m normally not one to gush at pretty nature shots on “Survivor”, but every once in a while, they hit you with a good one. That arial shot of the challenge, wherein we saw it nestled between bits of coral reef, was breathtaking, at least for me. Coherence be damned, I’d have liked it if the entire challenge had been filmed from that angle. Second, Michaela. With 11 people left, and our contestants divided into teams of five, one person must sit out with no shot at reward, and that person ends up being Michaela. Demonstrating the social poise and grace she is known for, Michaela explains that she understands where people are coming from, and quietly cheers for Cirie. Of course not, she lets everyone within a 50-mile radius know that they did a stupid again. As Michaela says, I’m sure everyone has figured out that the teams were picked based on alliances, rather than challenge ability, but I do have to ask, why HAVEN’T people been commenting on Michaela’s challenge ability? It’s not like she’s been quiet about it. Admittedly, her boasting could be seen as just that, since she hasn’t had those spectacular victories we saw from her on “Survivor Millennials vs. Gen-X”, but she’s had some moments this season as well, and we’ve SEEN Zeke confirming her challenge prowess. Clearly, someone should be recognizing her ability. Oh, and we also see a tube labeled “secret advantage” tied to one of the legs of her bench. In case you didn’t see it, don’t worry, we’ll cut back to it about five or six times before the challenge is over. I’m sure people will give Michaela a hard time for not noticing it, but I would remind you that she’s sitting on the bench itself, and generally disinclined to look at its legs. Maybe if she’d seen it from far away, but even with my HDtv, I could barely make it out in the long shots. If you didn’t KNOW it was there, it would be easy to pass over it by mistake. Prost will also make a big deal out of the fact that Michaela still cheers for some people despite her not getting picked for a team, which he makes out to be a real shock. Gee, I don’t know, Probst, maybe it just means that Michaela is a DECENT HUMAN BEING?! EVER CONSIDER THAT?

It seems this challenge was specifically designed to show how the remaining few who could be described as “fan favorites” such at challenges. Once again, the balance beam is our culprit. Several people have trouble with it, but it’s Zeke and Aubry who most openly suck initially, each losing the lead for their team. Tai also had difficulty, but at least Tai made it across in one go, whereas both Zeke and Aubry take multiple tries. But, of course, our real story is Cirie, who can’t even make it up onto the platform to cross the beam unaided. I’m sure many would be inclined to say that this is a real mark against Cirie, but like with Michaela and the secret advantage, I can’t be too hard on her. This isn’t like some pool lip that’s an inch or two above the water, this was clearly at least a 6-inch jump one had to make, and I doubt Cirie could touch the bottom to give her a lift. Still, while Cirie may have slimmed down and toned up prior to this season, she’s not a challenge force, meaning her side loses. But wait! Probst can make a forced moment out of this, providing unnecessary commentary for Cirie crossing the beam, just to prove she could, with everybody on her team (and even, in the end, some from the other teams) coming to help her up. For all my snark, it is actually a really sweet moment, mainly because you can tell from the look on Cirie’s face that this is something she needed to prove, and would have done without Probst’s gloating. It’s also nice how everyone came together in support of Cirie. In a game that can be really cutthroat, it’s nice to see some genuine tenderness. That being said, there are other moments this season with a similar impact, and the fact that Probst felt the need to narrate the moment, PLUS his seeming goading of Cirie to do so, makes the moment feel at least somewhat manufactured. The good parts of it shine through, but this is one situation where the host with the most should have been the host with the least. At least he has the decency to call in a boat rather than force everyone to swim back.

Evidently Sarah has better eyesight than I do, as she spots the secret advantage, citing her cop observance skills as the basis for this. I’m not one to go for forced confessionals on how one’s occupation relates to the game, but this one actually seems apt. It’s an area where being a cop might actually be an advantage. Point being, it doesn’t surprise me very much at all that Sarah noticed it. What DOES surprise me is no one NOTICING Sarah untying the advantage. I mean, this isn’t even like finding an idol at a challenge, where subtlety is the order of the day, she had to swim out of her way to get there, was obviously doing something for several seconds while on there. And don’t tell me she was helping Michaela. Michaela was CLEARLY off the platform by the time Sarah got there. Maybe this season really IS full of idiots.

After our standard comforting of Cirie, Sarah unwraps her advantage, finding out that it’s a vote steal. As I’ve already discussed both my thoughts on the implementing of this advantage (to recap: it reeks of desperation, but isn’t all that bad all things considered) and of the standard “Sarah is tied to no alliance” confessional, I see no need to dwell on this. Therefore, we head on over to our reward picnic via sea plane, where everyone pigs out on a variety of foods, including the meme-worthy coleslaw for Aubry, as Brad expounds in confessional on what everyone already knew: that he picked his team specifically so as to include part of, but not all of, his alliance, so that he had eyes and ears on both teams. Actually a good strategy, but I must point out the folly of not taking Sarah with you, Brad. It’s obvious from last episode that everyone in your alliance knows that Sarah is on the outs, so you wanted her to be on a team with either yourself or Sierra such that one of the leaders could keep her in the fold. Troyzan and Tai may be loyal to the alliance, but persuasive they ain’t. Can’t fault the concept, though.

Talk turns to the Andrea/Zeke feud, with Andrea once again getting over-the-top angry with Zeke. Look, Andrea, I completely get the emotion, but as someone with more than a basic understanding of strategy, you should know that wearing your heart on your sleeve is a bad idea. Sierra takes this time to mock Andrea in particular, and the minority in general, over their lack of cohesiveness. Fair enough for her to do, if a bit mean spirited. But then Sierra goes on to demonstrate her LACK of knowledge of how “Survivor” works, by stating in confessional that this makes her alliance invincible. Anyone with half a brain should realize that a blindside for them is now planned.

Off to our immunity challenge, which is also reused, but not as bad. Hailing originally from “Survivor Blood vs. Water”, this particular version of the challenge comes courtesy of “Survivor Kaoh Rong”. Players will take letters, spelling “Immunity”, and place them on a wobbly board, while they back away, balancing the board with a rope. First person to spell “Immunity” and get back to the start, wins. As with most reused challenges, it cannot get my seal of approval, but at least it wasn’t an overdone one, and fairly difficult. Sadly, this is also possibly the leas-exciting version of this challenge. A lot of the appeal comes from the back-and-forth this challenge can bring. Do not forget Cydney’s come from behind victory on “Survivor Kaoh Rong”.

We also, sadly, have no Joe Del Campo (“Survivor Kaoh Rong”) to hilariously misspell “Immunity”, though Tai tries valiantly to take his place, being unable to even spell the word on his starting barrel. Actually, I thought Tai was just trying to stack his letters backwards first, making them easier to grab when doing the rest of the challenge, but no, seems he just had difficulty spelling the word. As I said, we have our two frontrunners who rule the challenge, these being Andrea and Troyzan. The former winning would send plans into chaos, making for an exciting pre-Tribal experience. The latter winning would have no impact whatsover. Guess who wins?

Plans are quickly set in place for Andrea’s ouster, with Debbie, Brad, and Sierra coming together to talk about who to vote out. It seems Michaela cannot escape the “annoying” stigma, even with Cirie’s help, as she is once again put up as a target. Debbie suggests her, as she can’t stand her any longer, but Brad correctly points out that Andrea is the biggest threat. I suppose I could see her as being the biggest threat based on a combination of both smarts and challenge performance, but I’d argue that Aubry or Cirie is a bigger threat. Still, I’d imagine peace at camp is also a factor, and I can’t argue with Debbie’s response. Deferring to Brad’s argument, she agrees to go along with what the camp wants. Can’t say I fault that move. It might even lead some to believe that Debbie has actually LEARNED from her experience on “Survivor Kaoh Rong”. As we’ll see in a few scenes, you would be sorely mistaken.

For now, the rest of the alliance convenes to go over the plan. Sarah, however, is miffed that she was the last one to know about all this, and correctly points out that it probably indicates that she’s on the bottom of the alliance. Again, good observation skills and reasoning! After that abysmal performance at the merge on “Survivor Cagayan”, I’m not sure I will ever be fully on board the Sarah-train, but she’s trying her hardest this episode. Of course, she also mistakenly says her error on “Survivor Cagayan” was taking the easy path, when it was actually her being stubborn and unwilling to compromise that did her in, but hey, desire for change is at least something.

Put out by the alliance’s treatment of her, Sarah talks first to Zeke and then Andrea about making a move. Zeke salivates at the thought, and Andrea seems on board as well. Both are wary about working with the other, as one would expect, but say they’re willing to temporarily trust one another for the sake of getting further, which is how it should be. I, however, don’t buy this flip for one moment. They’ve been building it up too much, and it seems like misdirection. On top of that, while the current majority alliance has a clear target in Andrea, we haven’t heard of a target from the other side. We’ve heard whispers of Sierra’s name, but nothing concrete, and if we don’t have that, I don’t buy a flip.

It’s tough to say whether or not Sarah should flip, since there’s no target yet given within the majority, and therefore no obvious upsides or downsides to the targeting. I agree with Sarah’s assessment that she’s on the outs with the majority alliance, and therefore her playing the swing vote would probably be her smartest game. This would imply that flipping, regardless of target, is a good idea, since the numbers say that if she doesn’t do it now, it would be difficult to stop the Pagonging. However, with just over half the people left, plus her steal-a-vote advantage, Sarah can wait at least one more Tribal Council before making her move, and flipping can make you a target. Plus, there’s always the “gather the disgruntled from the majority alliance plus those on the outside” gambit, and so I think Sarah sticking with her side is probably the right move.

After a conversation with Sierra, in which Sierra promises Sarah final three with herself and Debbie, Sarah seems to be reconsidering it as well. The promise seemed kind of half-assed to me, but it is another factor to think about.

Remember all that goodwill about Debbie seeming to learn from her game the last time? Yeah, take that all away. Cockiness has once again gotten the better of Debbie, and she has flown too close to the sun. And by “the sun”, I of course mean our beloved fan-favorite Aubry. Yes, of all the pre-game relationships that seemed the most interesting, and most cringe-worthy, the Debbie/Aubry relationship topped the bunch. This is mostly due to the fact that this was the only relationship that seemed to have open tension, though even then, the tension was mostly one-sided. Debbie was understandably still somewhat upset about Aubry blindsiding her, while Aubry seemed indifferent to Debbie, stating only that she could easily tell when Debbie was lying to her. Debbie, though she said she might try and play nice with Aubry, had no intention of seriously working with her. And for all Debbie’s protestations that she doesn’t trust Aubry, given that she wanted to use Aubry as a number down the road, that doesn’t seem likely to me. I find it more likely that Debbie, having done a good job of manipulating pretty much everyone else, decides to try in on her perceived greatest foe not named Brad Culpepper. To Debbie’s credit, she actually comes up with a pretty good lie. She feeds Aubry the party line of Michaela as the decoy vote, but also feeds her a bit about how Sarah doesn’t trust her. If it works, this last bit is particularly useful, since Sarah is the swing vote here, and getting the alliance to mistrust her would be a stroke of genius.

Of course, this assumes that it works. Given that our next scene is Aubry telling everyone in her alliance about how much of a liar Debbie is, going so far as to flip the bird in double for her (not cool, Aubry!), I think it’s safe to say that Aubry’s claim of being able to easily tell when Debbie’s lying holds more water. Now, had Aubry confined herself to talking to her alliance, Debbie might still have been safe, but Aubry also confides this to Sarah, who is now back to saying she wants to flip. Seriously, this woman changes whichever way the wind blows. One thing makes it seem like she’s on the outs? Flipping on the alliance! One conversation indicating she’s in the final three? Back with the alliance!

Debbie does emerge as a coherent target, though, and up against Andrea, I still say that sticking with the majority is right for Sarah. True, Debbie is fairly smart, and hides it easier than Andrea, but Andrea is overall the bigger threat. Moreover, if you’re going to move against the alliance, you want to take out one of the main power players. Were the target Sierra or Brad, I could get behind a Sarah flip. While Debbie is clearly one of the decision makers, what she doesn’t have that Sierra and Brad do is connections. This alliance runs across a few tribal lines, and it’s clear that what’s holding it together is Sierra and Brad. Debbie helps make the decisions, but no one’s staying in the alliance because of Debbie. Take one of the other two out, and they crumble. Fail to do so, and you’ve still got a strong foursome with three idols between them. Granted, Sarah doesn’t know about that, but on “Survivor” it’s probably safe to assume they have at least one idol. Better to stick with the surefire thing, especially with the steal a vote advantage to help you out.

While I can’t say that tonight’s Tribal Council is bad, I can say that it’s forgettable. Not that every Tribal needs a standout moment, but they help. This one just felt like a lot of grandstanding, with the odd ironic quip from Debbie to lighten the mood.

From my perspective, we don’t even have that great of misdirection. I just can’t see anyone in their right mind keeping Andrea over Debbie.

I always suspected Sarah was crazy. Debbie goes home, and I’m an odd combination of both sorry and not sorry. Debbie is definitely a fun character, but like sugar, too much of it can kill you. In that sense, I’m happy. We got just the right amount of Debbie, both good and bad. That being said, our alternate target was Andrea, and while she’s an ok strategist, she’s just BORING. Compared to who we could have gotten rid of, this is a loss. And, as I hope I’ve articulated, the wrong strategic move.

That being said, I can’t say I didn’t enjoy this episode. Much like the Tribal Council, very little stood out, and at times it reeked of desperation, but it was mostly a fun experience, with some good strategizing to go along with it. “Survivor” bread and butter if ever there was some. Let us hope that next episode can build on this solid foundation.

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Game Changers” Episode 5: Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Hidden Immunity Idol

Ok, for all the criticism thrown at this cast, they aren’t idiots. Second stringers? Perhaps. Unworthy of the mantle of “Game Changers”? You could argue that. But by and large, they aren’t idiots. Oh sure, you had some pockets of idiocy. Caleb. Arguably Debbie. Even J.T. would probably fall into that category after the events of the episode prior. On the whole, though, these people didn’t seem like they were morons, and would probably at least give us halfway decent gameplay.

That said, as Sandra survived Tribal Council after Tribal Council, people began to question even this assertion. On statistics alone, Sandra is the biggest target of the season, even when we have a full 20 players, and about the only metric in which she ISN’T a huge target is challenge ability. So, when she kept on staying, oftentimes not even being an ALTERNATE boot, it just seemed ludicrous. I, however, am willing to forgive a lot of it up to this point. Let us not forget that, for the two votes where Sandra was potentially a target (I’d argue that the combined Tribal Council doesn’t count, even though she was an alternate target, due to the whole “unable to strategize outside of Tribal Council” thing, but that the previous one does count, due to Sandra being the likely target if she doesn’t fuel the beef between Michaela and J.T.), there were adequate reasons for the targets that were hit to be hit. Tony and J.T. are both strong former winners, who are going against Sandra’s alliance. Even with Malcolm, since he’s such an all-around threat, it could be argued that he’s a worthier target. Tonight, though, would have been different. I don’t think Tai is QUITE as bad a strategist as some claim (though he does have the bad habit of putting his foot in his mouth), but when compared to Sandra Diaz-Twine, it’s no contest. And yet Sandra and the editing team are SO GOOD, they even had me convinced that I would have to rescind this “smart” qualification for everyone else.

Thankfully, these people are NOT that stupid, even if they do a good job looking it. And it definitely made for an exciting episode. But before I can tell you THAT story, I have to tell you THIS story. Yes, after a decent length hiatus, it is time once again for…

MATT’S MESS-UP!

There’s actually two this week, but I’ll only address one omission here, since the other once actually comes up in this episode as an important plot point. In all the craziness of that last Tribal Council, I forgot to mention the ending crowner. Sandra comes clean on her sugar-stealing, causing the tribe to “Wow”, which really should only come as a surprise to Aubry and Michaela. A lot of people say this would come back to bite her in the butt, but I’m actually all for it. The only one who might possibly be offended is Michaela, and on a tribe this small, it’s not like she has many other options. On top of this, it helps build Sandra’s resume, should she make it to the end. Sure, it could be argued that Sandra normally plays a game where she doesn’t need to do overt resume building. I say Sandra’s game this time, while containing many elements found in her winning games, is different from before, so why not change things up to have overt resume building? At worst, I say it’s neutral, at best, a positive. Definitely a fun way to end off a crazy Tribal Council.

On this blog, you might notice how often I rail against people handling coming back from Tribal Council on the losing side of the vote. No matter what, it seems like I’m able to find fault with whatever they do. This may lead some to the suspicion that I can never be pleased; that no matter what I will never be satisfied with a return-from-Tribal-Council performance. To them I say:

THIS. THIS is sort of post-Tribal performance I’m looking for. And of course, it came from Aubry. The Aubry Lobby is most pleased.

Yes, Aubry comes back and congratulates them sincerely on their move. She doesn’t make any bones about where her position is, but asks general questions about why J.T. over her. She caps it off talking in confessional about not having a leg to stand on, as those legs keep getting chopped off by Sandra, leading to a slow death. Not exactly on a level with her “Oregon Trail” metaphor from “Survivor Kaoh Rong”, but it’s a close one. She finishes off by saying that she needs to learn from Sandra. Now, as head of the Aubry Lobby, I should be offended that Aubry is saying she needs to learn from ANYONE, but as Aubry rightly points out, Sandra has been cutting off her game time and again, and so, yeah, fair statement from Aubry. It implies determination to do better, but also honestly acknowledges one’s situation, and what more can you ask for in a post-Tribal Council wrap-up?

Oh, Aubry also mentions something about having difficulty forming relationships with the three people still on Nuku. She really needs someone new to play with. Almost like a switch?

Surprisingly, the editors do NOT take the easy bait, and instead continue a storyline I neglected last episode. It seems the pattern of last episode was “Crazy shenanigans obscure actual gameplay”, as the craziness of Debbie over at Mana obscured Tai’s renewed attempts to look for an idol. He does eventually find a clue, his old friends the trees coming to his aid once again. In a new twist, though, Tai must pour water on a board somewhere at camp, and look for a tribe symbol to be revealed. I’ve got to say, this may be my favorite way of hiding the hidden immunity idol EVER! I’m not kidding. It’s not something that would be intuitive, but it fits in with the game show mentality. Plus, as a lover of the “Indiana Jones” movies, I love how this just seems like a pseudo-archaeological adventure.

We join Tai in a renewed night hunt for the idol, having been unsuccessful last episode. Thinking about places where there are a lot of wooden boards around camp, Tai goes and starts pouring water on the water hole. Not a bad plan, but since the clue specifically stated that the idol would be BURIED under the board, I have my doubts. Plus, why is Tai searching at night? Surely a subtle symbol like the one he’s looking for would be easier to see in the daylight. And it’s idiotic thoughts like these that keep you coming back to “Idol Speculation”. Not only DOES Tai find the idol, but he does so in the dark. Hey, good for him. He may not be the best strategist, he may not have the best English, but DAMN if he can’t find those idols!

Now we come to the actual swap, which is done in about as exciting a way as the first one, by which I mean they do it EXACTLY the same way as the first one, save with going from three tribes down to two, with our usual happy reactions shots from those on the bottom of their respective tribes (Aubry and Debbie, though oddly not Troyzan). We do at least get some good banter from Sandra about Probst doing her a solid, and Jeff Varner complaining that he got the one no one wanted.

As it shakes out, the new-new Mana consists of Hali, Aubry, Troyzan, Michaela, Brad, Sierra, and Cirie, and new-new Nuku consists of Zeke, Ozzy, Andrea, Sarah, Tai, Sandra, and Jeff Varner. As Tai points out, this puts all three gay men on the same tribe. Little to no chance of a showmance developing, sadly, because at least two out of the three of them (Tai and Jeff) currently have partners, but it’s nice to see nonetheless. Physically, we’re pretty even overall. Nuku may have gotten the two biggest challenge sinks (Sandra and Jeff), but they also got Ozzy. Apart from Michaela and Brad, no one on new Mana really stands out as a poor challenge performer, but neither does anyone stand out as a challenge sink. I might give the edge to Mana in the challenges, since often challenges come down to a sort of “Only as strong as the weakest link.” factor, in which case even Challenge Jesus himself may not be enough to compensate. Still, it should make for interesting competitions. And if you’re looking for a swap that saved the butts of those on the bottom, this one sure as heck did it. Aubry is obviously the biggest recipient, getting away from her foil Sandra, but also having many new faces (and Michaela) that she can build those necessary bonds with. Troyzan also benefits from now technically being in the majority of his tribe again.

But what of our third bottom-of-the-totem-poller, Mrs. Debbie? Well, as you might have noticed, we have two tribes, but fifteen people left. One person did not get a buff, and that person was Debbie. She’s told that she’ll be going to “Exile”, will sit in on the Tribal Council of the losing tribe, and join them following tonight’s vote. While I’m sad that we’re not getting a full return of “Exile”, since it’s a twist I’m rather fond of, Debbie is a good choice to go there. A fresh breath of life in the game for her, and one of the things that can make “Exile” interesting, even to non-fans of the twist, is someone overdramatic going there. If you don’t think Debbie fits that overdramatic mold, I remind you that she somehow connected “Exile” to riding horses in her youth. She’s upset, naturally, but it should be a fun ride.

We head off to our respective camps with Jeff Varner doing what he does best: Complain. We’re spared that for a bit, though, as we first check in with Mana. Everyone seems pretty happy, and those who had been away from the camp are happy to see the improvements made. Brad, however, brings us back to the realm of strategy. As those on the bottom got a new lease on life, so did those on the top get screwed over. Case in point: Brad. Barring Debbie actually being able to get a rebellion together, Brad was firmly in control. Now, as Brad points out, his only real ally is Sierra. Hali was tenuous at best, he and Cirie were never really aligned on the original Nuku, and he hasn’t had a chance to play with Aubry, Michaela, or Troyzan. Still, he tries. God bless him, he tries. Realizing that there’s a big bit of “girl power” potential, Brad cozies up to Troyzan as the only other guy on his tribe. Yeah Brad, because the whole “Guy Power” thing worked SO WELL the last time. For his part, Troyzan gets on my bad side by comparing this to his stint on “Survivor One World”. While an apt comparison, it reminds me of “Survivor One World”, which I hate. To give credit, though, Brad has evidently been tutored in math, such that he realizes that three is less than four, meaning he needs one more person. We never see him make a move on anyone else, but it makes for an interesting plot thread, and spreads some idea that Mana may actually lose the next immunity challenge. As to who Brad SHOULD go for, it’s kind of a toss-up between Aubry and Michaela. We can pretty much assume that Hali and Cirie are out, since Brad’s indicated that he’s tried that road and it doesn’t work. Of the other two, Aubry would seem to be the obvious choice, since she’s on the outs with the other original Mana. Plus, given how often we saw them hug this past episode, it seems like Aubry and Troyzan may be pretty comfortable with each other, which would further cement her position in that alliance. On the other hand, Brad has been shown to be wary of the “Kaoh Rong Three” as they’re now being called, which would endear him to Michaela. Plus, with Sandra gone, the original Mana should be fragmented anyway. If I had to guess, since Brad doesn’t seem to make his move this episode, I would guess he goes for Michaela ultimately, but I could still see it going either way.

Now we head over to Nuku, where Zeke wastes no time cementing his non-moron status by targeting Sandra with Ozzy. Do I even need to spell out the reasons why? The longer Sandra lasts, the less threatening she becomes, and the more she takes up a spot that you yourself could need. On top of that, for everyone on this tribe but Jeff, she is the leader of the opposition, the uniting force that is the only real threat to the victory of one of you! But of course, a decoy target is needed. Do they agree to say Ozzy, in the vein of “getting out threats”, and thus get someone to AGREE to be a target, rather than simply naming a target and pissing that person off. No, that would be the LOGICAL thing to do!

For all my snark, the alternate plan is a good one: Say the target is on Tai, due to his general wishy-washy-ness. And, presumably, heavy love of the chickens, but this is left unsaid. This is not to say that Tai isn’t proactive. Recognizing that his main skill lies in finding hidden immunity idols, and having found the last one by pouring water on the water well, Tai naturally tries this strategy again. Logical, but of course, we know that this season twisted things around so that idols are hidden differently each time, and so there’d be NO WAY that this plan would work again.

Of course, we forget that the purpose of hiding the idols in different ways was set up pretty much to ensure that the idol ended up in the hands of whomever production wanted. Since Tai is a favorite amongst both hardcore and casual viewers, of course they want it to end up in his hands. This gives Tai a couple of records here. He is now one of a very select group to hold two idols at one time, that group consisting of Tony Vlachos (“Survivor Cagayan”), and Jeremy Collins’ run on “Survivor Cambodia”. Winners all, which would seem to bode well for Tai. Then you remember that this group also includes James Clement (“Survivor China”), and since Tai’s gameplay is closer to James’ than Tony’s or Jeremy’s, I’d say this doesn’t help Tai as much as it might seem. Oh, it helps, but the thing with idols is that you need to know when to play them, and I’m not sure Tai does know that. More impressive, to me, is that Tai is now tied for the record for most hidden immunity idols found in a single season. Again, this record matches Tony Vlachos’, but also puts him in the same boat as Russell Hantz (“Survivor Samoa”).

CRASH!

ME: Oh Christ, not this again! Part of why I moved was to STOP you assholes crashing big holes in my living space.

RUSSELL: Not just ANY asshole, fool! THE asshole! I’m Russell Hantz, and how DARE you say that Tai is in my league?

ME: True, how foolish of me. Tai is MILES better than you.

RUSSELL: But don’t you know who I am? I’m the greatest of all TIIIIIME!

ME: No, you’re a three time loser who can’t seem to learn from his mistakes, and then whines and complains whenever things don’t go his way. Yes, Tai may have mismanaged the jury, but it was more due to negligence on his part than ACTIVELY ANTAGONIZING the jury like you do. Plus, Tai learns from his mistakes. You do not.

RUSSELL: What do you mean? I don’t need to learn from my mistakes. I’m RUSSELL HANTZ!

ME: And now you’re Russell No-Pants (Pants’ Russell. Russell exits in a hurry).

Back to non-annoying contestants, we cut over to Debbie on “Exile”. It’s here that we reveal why I’ve been using quote marks this time around. “Exile” is not an island, but a fully-stocked boat full of goodies, such that Debbie can live in luxury until her return to the game. I’m sure some people will get mad, but I do like how it throws EVERYONE, audience included, for a loop. We expect “Survivor” to be all about suffering, so having a twist NOT royally screw over the odd person out makes for a nice change of pace.

But if you’re someone who watches “Survivor” for actual wilderness “Survival”, then you’re going to hate what comes next. It’s time for our former player to return to the game. Like I and many others predicted, it’s a reward for the Exile. However, the person who actually came back was not Rupert Boneham (“Survivor Pearls Islands”) or Boston Rob (“Survivor Marquesas”), or one of the other survivalists out there. No, we get Probst’s second-favorite contestant to talk up ad nauseum, John Cochran (“Survivor South Pacific”). I’m sure this segment is a turn-off for many people. It goes on for a long time, and many people find both Cochran and Debbie annoying. Personally, though, I’m ok with it. I find Debbie tolerable at her worst (when she isn’t yelling at Brad Culpepper). As to Cochran, he’s my second-favorite player of all time, so damn straight I’m happy to see him back. He’s relatively successful as a “Survivor” player, and is fairly witty. Between him, Rupert, or Boston Rob making a cameo, I’m glad he’s back. Really, the one sour point is Debbie basically saying she’s happier to meet Cochran than she was to meet various Presidents and Prime Ministers. Debbie, stop over inflating Cochran’s ego. That’s Probst’s job.

Frankly, about the only way this scene could have been better is if Aubry had gone to “Exile” instead of Debbie. My two favorite contestants of all time playing together. I would have died! Of course, then you would have been unable to get more “Idol Speculation”, so your lives would have been worse as well.

Apart from one line about burning his clothes post-Debbie hug, Cochran mostly confines himself to strategy talk. He goes all Luke Skywalker on us, point out to Debbie that “Overconfidence is your weakness.”, and gets her to fess up about the beef between her and Brad. To the chagrin of the producers, but the delight of everyone else, Cochran encourages Debbie to mend fences with Brad, which she agrees to do. Cochran also leaves Debbie with a parting gift: To help fend off the “royally screwed”, Debbie can pick one of three advantages. Really, though, it’s only two advantages, since the “Supplies for a fake idol” one pales in comparison to the other two. Basically, Debbie can choose between an extra vote at Tribal Council and an advantage for whichever team she ends up on. It really is a tough call. Ultimately, for me, it boils down to a “short-term gain vs. long-term gain” choice. The vote doubler is better for the long haul, but coming into a tribe that’s had a chance to bond, it may not matter. Conversely, the challenge advantage may help you get through to the merge, but that’s it. I couldn’t really fault either call, but if I had to make a decision, I’d go with the vote doubler. It’s risky, but since no one but Sierra can guess that a merge is coming after next episode, there’s less advantage to the challenge advantage. Debbie, in one of her smart moments, takes the vote doubler, and we move on to strategy.

Simply throwing out a possible target isn’t enough; you have to make the other side buy it. Zeke, in the first real gameplay we’ve seen from him all season, lounges with Jeff on a beach. The talk turns to strategy, and Zeke casually throws out that Tai’s on the outs for the aforementioned wishy-washyness. Jeff is thrilled, and while he seems to take the whole thing with a grain of salt, he still seems on board. He lets Sandra know, giving us that classic “Anyone but me!” confessional from Sandra, but she’s more openly suspicious, as well she should be.

To go with our kick-ass episode, we have a kick-ass challenge. Sure, it’s a combo, but one of rarely-used elements from more than two seasons. After a short swim, tribes cross monkey bars and a balance beam. Then they load a cart with puzzle pieces, which they then drag across a platform and up a sandy hill (using logs on the latter part). Once there, three people solve the puzzle from the first episode of “Survivor San Juan del Sur” to win immunity. Not the biggest challenge, but the cart-dragging part (reminiscent of both “Survivor Guatemala” and “Survivor Caramoan”) was epic enough, and that is a tough puzzle. Add onto that at least a modicum of strategy from both tribes, and you’ve got yourself arguably the best challenge of the season so far.
For all that the challenge is epic, the misdirection, while still good, is less so. Both tribes had SOME strategizing, but Nuku had the bulk of it. Add onto that Mana getting and holding the lead early on (despite Probst’s narration trying to convince us otherwise), and them putting the stellar team of Cirie, Aubry, and Sierra on the puzzle, and yeah, Mana wins hands down, solving the puzzle surprisingly quickly.

Our conflict at Nuku is exactly what you’d expect, with everyone wanting Sandra out, and telling her it’s Tai. Sandra is still suspicious of that story, though, and so doubles down on reminding people why Tai needs to go. She cites the “Kaoh Rong Three” angle, but also brings up a strategy she had talked about a lot prior to the start of the season. She appeals to the big threats like Ozzy that she won’t go against them, and that since they’re such big targets, they NEED someone like her to survive. As I said before, these people have brains, so they’re not buying it, but as they will acknowledge, she’s GOOD! In a Kaa the Python way, Sandra is able to pitch things just right that even though you know she’s tricking you, you’re still kind of buying it anyway. And even if Ozzy and co. don’t buy the whole “Sandra will stick with us” thing, they are at least giving consideration to the “Kaoh Rong Three” angle, which admittedly is something for them to watch out for. Tai doesn’t help himself much when he gets properly paranoid about no one talking much to him pre-Tribal Council. Pretty good misdirection, but like with J.T. last episode, I’m not buying that Tai goes home. He has TWO idols! He has even LESS of a reason to not play one than J.T. did.

If the misdirection at camp was kind of lackluster, though, it was made up for at the Tribal Council, where everything all but literally turned on it head. For the first time, we heard Sandra betray some concern for her position, citing being down in the numbers. Fair enough. But then all Sandra had to do was sit back and wait for Tai. While most everyone else expressed confidence in the way the vote would go, Tai again expressed his concern about not getting talked to, not helped when Sarah chimed in that she HAD been talked to. Tai naturally started getting paranoid, and so this is where Sandra jumped in and did what she does best. She threw out to Tai the option that if he was willing to tell her who to vote for, she would go with him. And that simple strategy, right there, is truly why “The Queen Stays Queen”. It’s not complicated, it’s not even that hard to pull off. But Sandra knows just how much to push to get people to do themselves in. Even with Tai’s nervousness, it should have been clear even to him that between his idols and Sandra’s concern, he should be safe. All he has to do is say “Why would I do that? You’re going home tonight.” and everything is smooth sailing for Tai. Yet Tai, for reasons I’m STILL having difficulty fathoming, starts whispering in her ear, eventually revealing to the group as a whole that he threw out Ozzy’s name, due to the whole “threat” thing. This, of course, gets everybody whispering, giving us chaos equal to (and I would argue surpassing) that of the “combo Tribal Council” we had two episodes ago. It was tighter and more furious in pace, and best of all, it came about ORGANICALLY! Take note, producers: we do not need you to give us awful twists that eliminate Malcolm to make for an exciting Tribal Council. Everyone starts throwing Tai’s name out, culminating in Zeke rightly asking Tai how anyone can trust him when no one knows who Tai trusts, as well as pointing out that his idol hunting is suspicious.

It’s this second point, as well as the whispering behind Tai, that tells me that Tai should play his idol. True, it would confirm people’s suspicions that Tai had been idol hunting, but Tai could also play it off as him getting rid of the idol to show that he had no secrets. He could stop his hunt so as to build trust, yet still KEEP an idol for his own personal use. 

Yet he doesn’t, and given the edit, I’m ready to get out my “MORONS!” megaphone, since trustworthy or not, it’s ALWAYS smarter from a gameplay perspective to keep Tai over Sandra. As I said at the top of this blog, though, these people are not morons, and vote out Sandra. As the icing on the cake, Sandra gets in a good line, asking Probst not to snuff her torch. Everyone, even Probst, is super respectful, with Probst noting her record of days, and everyone giving polite applause. Sandra seems content, probably because she defended her title. I’m both sorry and not sorry to see her go. Sandra is always entertaining, and definitely would have led to a higher caliber of gameplay than Tai if kept in the game, but we got a LOT of Sandra these first five episodes, such that I’m satisfied. She remains the only two time winner, and results aside, I say this may be Sandra’s best showing yet. Even WITH a target on her back (something she never really contended with her first two seasons), she lasted a good long time, and had a showier game than usual. Her place in the “Survivor” Annals of History is well-earned.

Just when you thought last episode was as good as the season would get, this episode blows it out of the water. We had those crazy moments, as well as good strategy, but by and large, they came from the PLAYERS, not the TWISTS, which elevates this one to a whole new level. The exit of Sandra is sad, but really, it was inevitable, and if she did have to go, this is a great way to go out.

Episodes such as this deserve a celebration, meaning it’s time once again for…

TOP 5 AND BOTTOM 5!

In honor of the coolest way to hide the hidden immunity idol, we’ll be talking about, well, ways to hide the hidden immunity idol. I refer both to location and gimmicks for finding it, in this case. Other than that, anything goes!

TOP 5

5. Pictographs: In an attempt to make the idols “Russell Proof” (i.e. unable to be found without a clue), “Survivor Nicaragua”, in one of its rare good moves, changed things up so that instead of a written clue, tribe members had to decipher a picture puzzle to figure out where and how far to walk for the idol. I’m not sure why they never did this again, other than the fact that it led to fewer idols being found. It was creative, and it let people play along at home (the pictures were released on CBS.com for people to try and decipher), so I fail to see what is wrong with it.

4. “Back Across the Ocean”: For the most part, since the introduction of the hidden immunity idol, clues have been fairly straightforward. One or multiple quatrains hinting at where to look for the idol But “Survivor Micronesia” took it to a new level. Rather than one clue leading to an idol, now one clue led to the next, to the next, to the next, and so on. This made the hunt more of an adventure than it had been before, which would have been fun in and of itself, but it was made better by Cirie’s commentary upon it’s trial run. The repeated talk of “Back across the ocean” is one of the few times I really found myself enjoying Cirie on “Survivor”, and this method deserves credit for that, if nothing else.

3. “Stupid Bats”: Idols that are hidden in plain sight were BOUND to come up on the list, so this entry really comes down to all of them. However, if I had to pick the best one, I’d have to go with the original on “Survivor China”. Apart from Todd’s funny “stupid bats on the freaking thing” confessional, this felt more innocuous than the lid of the rice from “Survivor Philippines”. the latter felt more central to camp life, and more easily pegged for an idol (being the tribe symbol and all). The Chinese calligraphy on the archway seemed more innocuous, and thus it takes the position of representative of this entry.

2. Pouring Water: Like I said, looking for the idol should be an adventure, and trying to decipher hidden clues like we saw in this episode is one HELL of an adventure. That being said, it’s less risky than our number one entry, which is why it just BARELY misses the top spot.

1. At Challenges: So help me, this is a great way to hide the idol. It’s harder for people to find randomly, but requires a lot of skill to get, and adds a strategic element to challenges that might not otherwise be there. Kelley Wentworth, Troyzan, pretty much anyone who goes for one of these idols gives us a good scene in some way or another.

Honorable Mention: “Why” You Fell Behind: I’m a sucker for a bad pun, and the clue to the hidden immunity idol on “Survivor Exile Island” gives us a great one. “Why” and it’s buried by a y-shaped tree? Great! Only misses out on the list proper due to the written clue emphasizing the word “Why” with quotes, making it a bit too easy to go on the list proper. Fun, but not exactly difficult.

BOTTOM 5

5. “A”: It was fun on “Survivor Exile Island”, but when “Survivor Cook Islands” used naturally occurring letters in nature, it just felt derivative. Add onto that a clue that’s more on-the-nose and less exciting than its predecessor, and this one, ironically enough, does NOT make the grade.

4. Tree Mail: “Survivor Tocantins”, we did not need an upskirt shot of the Tree Mail Guy. That is all.

3. Picture: Pictographs are one thing, but giving someone a reward that flat out SHOWS them were the idol is, as Malcolm was given on “Survivor Caramoan”? That just ruins the fun. It’s cheap, it’s easy, and it eliminates pretty much all work in finding the idol. Good for the player, I’m sure, but for the audience? Not so much.

2. Mechanism: I’ll give the producers credit for trying to change things up on “Survivor Kaoh Rong”, and ask the players to make a tool to get the key to the idol. And admittedly, it was fun to see these people find workarounds for that problem. But it just felt a little too tricky and fiddly to make us fall in love with the adventure, and made the hunt take up more time in the episode. Probably not the worst (and frankly, with the exception of Number One on this list), none of the methods on the “Bottom 5” are horrible, but compared to others, this one falls flat.

1. No Clue: Like I said earlier, playing along with the clue can be fun. No clue=no fun. I get that this was the super-special “Tyler Perry Idol”, but everyone agrees that was the low point of “Survivor Cagayan”, and everything associated with it is tarnished, including the method for hiding it. You can protest all you want about how you “Didn’t want ANYONE to find it”, but we all know this was just a lazy excuse for jumping the shark, and therefore the worst idol clue of them all.

Honorable Mention: “Definitely on the Ground”: Not technically an actual clue to the idol, but a lie by Judd Sergeant (“Survivor Guatemala”) to everyone but Stephenie. Given that this is Judd we’re talking about, it should come as no surprise that it’s a weak clue, but it’s a HILARIOUSLY weak clue. Plus, since it’s not a proper clue, I can’t put it on the list proper, but that half-assed lie must at least be acknowledged.

PHEW! When “Survivor” gets great, it gets REALLY great. Like I said, best episode of the season so far! Yet I get a sneaking suspicion that the upcoming episode can top it.

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Game Changers” Episode 4: The Complainer is Always Wrong

Very well, “Survivor”. You have produced exquisite tribute in penance for that atrocious episode in which Malcolm Freberg got the axe. I shall consider raising my obsession level back to “Hot Tamale”.

Two episodes in a row now, we get a “Previously On…” segment that just concerns the episode prior, and doesn’t give away what plotlines will be focussed on this episode by pointing out the important elements from many episodes prior. I hope this stays. Now THIS is a twist I can get behind.

Unsurprisingly, we start off with Nuku being PISSED at J.T., due to the whole “We’re voting Sierra” thing. Now, most of new Nuku, Sandra in particular, call out J.T. for giving away their plan. J.T. does the only sensible thing he can do, which is deny, deny, deny. J.T. ultimately swears to take the information to his grave. Or, you know, until it airs on national television. And even he admits that he played that Tribal Council badly. However, I’m going to go to J.T.’s defense here for a couple of reasons. One, it doesn’t seem that far-fetched to me that new Mana would have played the idol on Sierra, with or without J.T.’s input. True, Brad Culpepper is the obvious choice, but given that the strategy of a close Tribal Council is often “Stack votes on the person in the minority NO ONE would vote for since they won’t have an idol played on them.”, it’s possible Brad could have just called their bluff. Second, Hali’s calling out of physical threats could be just as much to blame, since again, this might make them make the call that new Nuku would NOT do what she said. And third, the thing I really don’t get, if J.T. was trying to get new Mana to go for Sandra, then WHY DIDN’T HE VOTE FOR SANDRA? I guess you could argue that J.T. was trying to have plausible deniability to a Sandra exit, but guess what? He voted with new Nuku anyway, and they STILL blame him. So yeah, if it was really that intentional on his part, I don’t see him voting for Sierra.

But this is “Idol Speculation”. Enough with the “Speculation”; on to the “Idol” part. J.T., realizing he doesn’t have much of a hope, looks for the hidden immunity idol. We see a fair number of shots of him walking around, and worrying about snakes in tree holes. My question, J.T., is why does a county boy like yourself NOT KNOW to poke in with a stick first? Lets you know about any snakes with little to no risk for yourself. The triumphant music is playing, though, so J.T. finds a clue. Like with Tai last episode, the clue says to find the intersect between markers, and dig there. Also like Tai, J.T. has no trouble doing this subtly, and comes up with an idol. Kudos, although this drains pretty much any drama from a future Nuku Tribal Council. After all, no WAY J.T. is stupid enough to not play that thing. At a minimum, you know he’s bringing it with him. HINT, HINT!

We cut over to our reward challenge, which, in a sense, is an endurance challenge. No, there will be no time lapse, and yes, it IS technically a race, but if you look at it, a number of the elements are endurance challenge based. Holding balls on bows and disks? That’s pure endurance right there. Kind of an obvious idea in hindsight, but one that I like nonetheless. Which is good, because there’s precious little else to like about this challenge. It’s not horrible, but the puzzle is your standard logo slide puzzle, a lot of the elements just seem like a backyard game rather than an epic competition, and it splits up the tribe when it doesn’t need to. With precious little else to go on, this challenge just kind of falls into the “ok” category.

In another interesting editing twist, we get to see the tribes strategizing. Now, normally when this is done, it’s to set up either a great strategic triumph, or a strategic blunder. Frankly, the latter is far more likely. So the editors do something clever, and show us all three tribes strategizing, setting up possible arcs for all three of them. Tavua has Zeke volunteering on the puzzle, stating that he does them all the time on his phone. Sure Zeke. And Peih-Gee (“Survivor China”) doing Sudoku makes her great at puzzles as well. Frankly, I see this as setting him up for a goat position, particularly as it seemed like Cirie was also angling for that position. Not that Nuku fares much better, as all we get from them is chaos, and a disgruntled Michaela reluctantly agreeing to dig. Serves up a narrative of a chaotic tribe, when teamwork is usually required for these sorts of challenges.

Only Mana comes off as ok, with Debbie volunteering for the balance beam, and Brad readily agreeing to it. Yeah, Debbie could be in the “Zeke” position of being the goat in the “hero or goat” role, but so little emphasis is placed on it that I don’t see it happening.

At first, my insane theories seem to be correct. Tavua gets the early lead because Ozzy, but Sierra’s grappling skills and Hali’s decent balance keep Mana right behind. Nuku, meanwhile, has Jeff Varner on their team, and God bless him, he’s trying. Add onto that them once again INSANELY putting J.T. on a portion of the challenge that involves balance, and yeah, Nuku’s pretty far behind. At least they’ve got Michaela on the digging, who I swear must have been a gopher in a past life, and I mean that in the nicest way possible. I.E., I’m referring to her digging abilities.

However, Debbie struggles on the disk-balancing portion, allowing Tavua to set Zeke up to suck at the puzzle, particularly since he has a really confused look once he got there. It also gives Nuku a change to come back. As a founding member of the “Aubry Lobby”, I would like to point out that, in addition to Michaela’s digging skills, it was AUBRY who got you back in that challenge, thank you very much. Surprisingly, Zeke manages to take on the “Hero” role, and wins milk, cookies, and PB&J for Tavua, while Sandra solves the puzzle for Nuku before Debbie can get across, giving them PB&J. Good job keeping us in the dark, while still giving us a plausible reason for the outcome, “Survivor” editing team. More, please.

Now, those of you who watched “Survivor Kaoh Rong” may remember the gag of Debbie’s ever-changing jobs, which rotated through her confessionals screen. Not going to lie, it was one of the funniest single things I’ve ever seen on the show, and while I was happier to have Debbie back than most, I was sad that we wouldn’t be getting this gag back again. And we don’t. But we do get a spiritual successor that’s pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. Debbie, frustrated over the fact that she and she alone pretty much single-handedly lost the challenge for Mana, tries to pin the blame on Brad in confessional, stating that he always calls the shots. Cut immediately to Debbie volunteering to do the balance beam, and Brad confirming it. Yes, Brad did say “Ok, you’re doing it”, but I’m inclined to give him a pass on this one, since Debbie pretty much up and said she could do the balance beam well. But more on that whole controversy in a bit.

But first, we need to get a bit of harmony, followed by disharmony, at Tavua. Yep, there’s everyone celebrating their win. Hmm, but who can break up this stunning tableau. Ozzy and Cirie are too happy to not be targeted, so they won’t. Zeke and Andrea are both sitting pretty. Troyzan’s an option, but any confessional from him would be repetitive at this point. But who else is stupid enough to break up that good thing?

Ah, of course, Madame President herself, Sarah Lacina. Living up to the “Play like a criminal” claim, Sarah states in confessional that the old Nuku five some can’t last. Um, Sarah… WHY? Ok, I COULD see a scenario where ANY of the other four might want to break it up. Cirie and Zeke seemed they had a loose thing going on the old Nuku against Ozzy and Andrea as a pair, so either of them could want to preemptive strike the other pair, especially if they find out about Troyzan’s idol. But if there’s ANYONE from the old Nuku who could easily flip-flop between alliances, it’s Sarah, and therefore it makes the LEAST sense for her to go with Troyzan. And yet she does. She doesn’t even get a good ally in him, as Troyzan lets her keep hunting for the idol. Oh well, at least it’s more intrigue than we’ve had from Tavua in a while.

No more avoiding the subject, though. On to the promised Debbie freakout. Now, for once, I’m not going to do a blow-by-blow of this. If you want a quick summary, Debbie is mad that she lost the challenge, takes it out on Brad Culpepper for calling the shots, and Hali for getting favorited, and it leads to uncomfortable yelling. Even talking with Tai cannot calm Debbie down, so you know that it’s serious. Debbie eventually chills to the point of being able to joke-yell at Brad instead of actually yell at him, but the damage is done, and that alliance is shaky at best. If this were between Debbie and pretty much any other player, this would be a non-issue, and I could just give the blow-by-blow and general thoughts, mostly about how this is the low point of the episode due to being cringe-worthy. But no, Debbie yells at Brad Culpepper, or as he was known on his first season, “Fuck You” Brad Culpepper. And “Fuck You” Brad Culpepper is no stranger to these sorts of accusations. So for all that the episode presents the situation as “Debbie is crazy and brought this on herself.” (an assessment I’m inclined to agree with”), we have to look at this a bit more seriously.

It’s no secret that Brad’s biggest obstacle coming into this season was his reputation as being controlling and sexist. As such, most people, myself included, gave him few odds to win this game. However, for the first couple of episodes, Brad’s been doing a good job proving everyone wrong, by actually being kind of a nice guy, and not “Fuck You” at all. Between that and some evidence coming to light that Brad might simply have been a victim of circumstance (and Probst not overtly calling out his attitudes), rather than actually sexist, a lot of people were changing their tune. While I’m disinclined to dismiss those accusations entirely, since sexism can be both overt and subtle, I was at least willing to give the guy a fair shake, and cut back on the “Brad Culpepper is sexist” line (The “Brad Culpepper is bad at math” jokes will continue, though. They will never not be funny. Because I said so.) However, this opens the door back up, and it needs to be addressed. For all that Debbie is presented as crazy and in the wrong, let’s see if her argument holds any water at all. And, if you look at it, I CAN see something that might at least SLIGHTLY legitimize Debbie’s claims. Brad is a very authoritative guy. Not sure if it comes from football or what, but the guy, even when he’s just offering a suggestion, can come off as a little forceful. Combine that with people taking it the wrong way, and you’ve got yourself the “Fuck You” part. And frankly, the solution is simple: phrase your suggestions as questions. Let people think THEY came up with the idea, and then they can’t blame you if it goes wrong, or target you if it goes right. Does this make Brad not that great a “Survivor” player? Absolutely. But sexist? Well again, I don’t want to make a definitive call here, since again, it might be a subtle thing, but I don’t think it’s definitive one way or the other. Point being, what this whole uncomfortable segment brings up is that Brad Culpepper’s reputation, while not entirely deserved, may not entirely be UNDESERVED either.

But now, we get to what may be the highlight of the episode, that being Sandra doing Sandra. Seeing that J.T. gets uncharacteristically annoyed at Michaela for taking a lot of sugar in her coffee, Sandra eats the sugar to get J.T. really mad at Michaela. And it works. Like it’s out of a textbook. Not only is this hilarious to watch, but it’s smart for Sandra. While J.T. would definitely be a main target at a Nuku Tribal Council, Sandra, as the weak link, would be the logical other target. By so subtly painting a conflict between J.T. and Michaela, Sandra removes even that remote possibility. This is the sort of scene that makes me dismiss those who call Sandra’s wins “flukes”. This is not a random, desperate act, but a calculated move that creates friction where it best benefits Sandra. And, I can’t emphasize this enough, IT WORKS. Like throwing out the fish on “Survivor Pearl Islands”, or burning Russell’s hat on “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains”, it gets exactly the result, and yet no one suspects Sandra. You’d think everyone would have learned by now. I’ve seen on Twitter some people getting a kick out of her looking directly at the camera after the argument, and it was fun, but guys, it’s not unique. She did EXACTLY the same glance on “Survivor Pearl Islands”. It’s kind of her thing.

Also, J.T.? Why freak out about the sugar? It’s SUGAR! I know food is scarce out there, but it’s SUGAR! I think you’ll live without it.

We’re distracted by the immunity challenge, which is much cooler than our reward challenge. Tribes race over a wall, push a box into place to get down a key to unlock a hundred sandbags. These must then be transported over a balance beam to a slingshot, where five targets wait. First team to knock over all five targets wins Captain Cuttler, second team wins his stand. Thank GOD they’re not doing the stupid “combo Tribal Council” again. But yeah, between rolling a giant crate, and the tough decision of how many sandbags to take at a time (even if you stay on the beam, if you drop a bag, you have to go back), this is a pretty cool challenge. Admittedly, it does combine elements from challenges from “Survivor Gabon” and “Survivor Millennials vs. Gen-X”, but cool nonetheless.

Once again, our editors have done a good job giving all tribes some strategy talk, leaving it open who will go to Tribal Council. That is, until they ONLY show Mana at the strategizing session, where Debbie shows us just how much she’s over Brad’s “controlling” by first insisting that she do a part of the challenge, then insisting that she NOT do it when Brad says she can, then COMPLAINING in said challenge when they fall behind. And she TOTALLY doesn’t care that he broke up with her!

I kid, but Debbie’s insistence on highlighting her accomplishments actually WAS pretty funny. And in a clever twist, the editors got me. Not only DOESN’T Mana lose, but thanks to Brad’s surprising slingshot skills, they come in first. We still get tension between Nuku and Tavua, but since Ozzy is shooting for Tavua, you can guess at the ultimate outcome.

To emphasize once again how smart Sandra’s scheming is, J.T. openly and blatantly guns for Michaela, evidently having Aubry on board, and trying to get Varner involved. Sandra, however, refuses to relinquish her power so easily. Michaela is an obvious ally, and she works her magic on Varner. I’m surprised she has to, given that Varner seems to have been in her corner this entire time, but Varner tells us he’s torn. It’s a funny scene, but as to which way he should go? For Varner, the solution is obviously to vote out J.T. While I’m all for Mana intentionally going into the merge with low-numbers at this point, since trying to get a majority at this point is a pipe dream (and impossible, since we know the merge is at 13), but you want to get rid of those old Mana members with no ties to your alliance. In this case, that means Aubry. Michaela, however, has been a solid ally, and not someone you want to dispose of so easily. Plus, you want to get rid of at least SOME old Nuku members, so J.T. is not a bad choice.

Of course, we know that J.T. has an idol, and confident or not, there’s no way he doesn’t at least bring it to Tribal Council. He’s not a MORON. HINT! HINT!

The word of the day at “Tribal Council” is “attitude”. This is no surprise with Michaela and Sandra there, but everyone else (save possibly Varner) gets in on the action. J.T. and Aubry both get their opinions on Michaela’s attitude around the camp out, and Michaela snarks right back, calling them on their bullshit. It makes for entertaining moment after entertaining moment. I can’t even give a highlight reel, because the whole THING is a highlight! The kicker, though, has to be Michaela’s drinking during the vote reading.

Varner, ultimately, makes the right decision and votes out J.T. But, of course, it doesn’t matter, since J.T. played his idol and sent Michaela home. No? Well, he at least brought his idols to Tribal Council, to show that he wasn’t a complete moron, right? NO? Hmm. Maybe his first win was a fluke after all.

Surprisingly, I’m not all that sorry to see J.T. go. True, I feel like he played probably his worst game this time around, but if he was going to go down in a horrible spiral, I’m glad it was at least a short but memorable one. Especially since the other option was Michaela, whom we haven’t really seen hit her stride yet, since no one seems inclined to put her in a clutch part of a challenge. Granted, they haven’t seen “Survivor Millennials vs. Gen-X”, so I can’t blame them too much, but I also don’t see Michaela being quiet about this, so why not give her a shot? Really, the only bad thing about this vote is that it puts Aubry on the bottom, but since we know there’s another swap coming up, I’m not too worried.

Also, rest easy James Clement (“Survivor China”). You are no longer the dumbest “Survivor” ever. Even if you discount Erik Reichenbach (“Survivor Micronesia”). And Brandon Hantz (“Survivor South Pacific”). And Colton Cumbie (“Survivor One World”). Even without all those people, J.T. is still dumber in his move. James at least brought the idols with him. He ACKNOWLEDGED the possibility that he might leave. J.T., the guy very much in the minority, the guy who the whole tribe was pissed at, didn’t think to do so. He deserved what he got.

More twists are promised in the next episode. While I’m a little skeptical, I find it hard to believe that any twist could be as bad as last episode’s combined Tribal Council. Still, if they do bring back a booted player, it might be. After all, the “Outcast Twist” didn’t work so well. However, as this is a tribute season, my money is on them doing what I said they SHOULD have done for the 500th episode, and bring in someone new entirely as a reward. You know, have a tribe win Rupert to catch fish for them. Man, Rupert and Ozzy on the same season. The area’s fish population would go extinct.

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.