Idol Speculation: “Survivor Kaoh Rong” Finale: Everybody Hates Cydney

Say what you will about the finale of “Survivor Kaoh Rong”, but in my opinion, it was entertaining. Sure, it was pretty bog-standard at times, and sure, where it DID deviate from the norm were areas that would be pretty controversial. But it was still hilarious. And, as the title may indicate, our highlight of the night was once again the result of a fire-making challenge at the final four.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, and start back at the beginning, where Mark the Chicken threatens his own life in the game by waking everybody up at oh-dark-thirty in the morning. Tai, no fan of the snooze button, takes Mark out for a cuddle session by the beach, where he talks about his drive to win the game, and while it’s a confessional we’ve seen a million times before, it’s still kind of sweet. Around this time, we also get more of a “Michele is determined” confessional, which is unsurprising and uninteresting.

Once dawn has actually broken, we get to hear some strategy from Aubry and Tai. The pair agree to stick together (smart for both of them, since Aubry needs a solid ally, and Tai needs the girls not to stick together and get him out), and correctly decide to target Michele. The grounds for this, rather than Michele being the biggest jury threat after Aubry, is that Cydney’s the person most likely to be swayed to their side. Not the only logic I’d expect from this crew, but I can definitely see their point in this matter. Either way, the pair come up with the best option for both of them.

At our reward challenge, we get our first misstep: Copying “Survivor Worlds Apart”. Granted, if you’re going to copy an element from “Survivor Worlds Apart”, this challenge is one to do it on. Each contestant slides tiles with numbers on one side, line patterns on the other, into a hole, hitting a pan. Once all their tiles are slid, they must carry as many as possible on the flat of a machete to a finish table. There, they pair up matching line patterns, using the numbers from the three unique tiles to open a combination lock, winning reward. While I do wish we got an original challenge, as always, this one is a pretty good one to do, bringing in a nice “do it yourself” aesthetic, but having several fun stages to watch. I’ll let it slide this time.

While our challenge comes from “Survivor Worlds Apart”, our reward comes circa “Survivor Exile Island”. It’s a full-course meal with a protein bar added on for somewhat of a comedic effect. A pretty good reward to have (though not the best we’ll see tonight), and it’s not a game-breaker like a challenge advantage, so I’m happy there. I’m also happy that we get a pretty even challenge overall, though Aubry ends up taking the lead to win. While she does lose a lot of it, due to a mistake in the pattern matching, she ends up winning the challenge overall, good for her. And, of course, Probst offers her the chance to bring somebody along for the ride. After a bit of thought, Aubry chooses Cydney, which, contrary to what Michele will say later, I say is the correct decision. She and Tai were talking about needing to bring Michele into the fold, and what better way to do so than by sharing a feast with her? On top of this, if the goal is for Michele not to win immunity, then you want to maximize those chances by bringing someone along, and in terms of challenge ability, Cydney is the clear choice.

The food works its magic, and Cydney hops right on board with Aubry. She admits she’s playing in the middle, which frankly is what she should be doing, but she also says her “ideal” final three would be herself, Aubry, and Tai, so that seems pretty definitive to me. As I said last week, and will continue to say this episode, Cydney has played an excellent game overall, having a very good read on people, and always making sure she has a backup plan to stay in power. But if I WERE to find a flaw in it, apart from perhaps moving away from the old To Tang when she would have been pretty well guaranteed final three against less-likable players, it would be this here. Aubry and Tai should NOT be Cydney’s idea final three. Michele and Aubry should be. At this point, with how many days there are left, we have to assume that there’s going to be a final two at this point. Whether Cydney can win against anybody left, I don’t know, but your primary goal going into a final three should be to have people who will take you to the end on either side of you, thus lowering the pressure on that final immunity challenge. Going with Aubry and Tai means that you’re stuck with at least one person who won’t take you regardless (Tai), and one person who sees you as a threat (Aubry). Going with Aubry and Michele means that you have your biggest competition angling to get each other out, rather than yourself. BOOM! Guaranteed spot at Final Tribal Council. Keep that in mind. The food is working its magic.

Back at the camp, we’re in reruns, as Michele points out to Tai that they’re on the bottom, and that perhaps they ought to work together to oust Aubry. This is also where Michele criticizes Aubry’s taking of Cydney on reward, and again, I have to disagree. You’re pissing off two people regardless, and since there’s no way Aubry is taking you, she’s going to be leaving someone behind to plot with you regardless. Better to leave Tai behind, since he’s more firmly on her side. Just like last episode, Tai talks about it being an individual game, and how he may need to flip on Aubry for his own benefit, but this time I don’t buy it. Once bitten, twice shy, but if Tai wasn’t going to flip on Aubry when he was pissed off and it was in his best interest, no way he does so now.

Not done with our repetition of “Survivor Worlds Apart”, the immunity challenge is ALSO a repeat of a challenge from that season. Running to a platform in the water, contestants take a key back to shore and unlock a ladder, which leads to second key, which unlocks a ball and rope, which they use to pull down a ladder, which leads to a third key, which unlocks a pole with which to push off a bag of puzzle pieces, which then must be used to solve a puzzle to win immunity. An overly complicated challenge, and overall just kind of dull, though I’ll admit that the puzzle is nicely different, and the stairs and ladder unfolding was kind of cool to watch.

As with a lot of boring challenges, it’s saved with a good bit of back-and-forth. Aubry once again takes an early lead, but stumbles on the puzzle, while Tai and Cydney trade places a lot, and Michele oddly slows down on the physical portions of the challenge. That doesn’t matter as much, though, as Michele comes back to win immunity! A nice win on her part, but probably the worst possible outcome for Aubry. Now that her primary target is gone, she herself is likely to become a target, and at the very least, she’ll have to vote out someone who’d likely take her to the final two.

Sure enough, as soon as we get back to camp, the wheels start turning. True to her word about keeping her options open, when Michele broaches the subject of getting rid of Aubry, Cydney jumps right on board. We don’t see her advocate for getting rid of Tai, which at this point would probably be her best move, but since it seems like Michele wouldn’t go for that anyway, it’s probably not that big of a deal. And Aubry is a real threat, so might as well get her out anyway.

Tai, on the other hand, is not so easily swayed. We get some lip service to the fact that he MAY decide to just keep it simple and vote for Aubry, but with the way he and Aubry talk, plus the history they’ve had together, you can tell it’s not going to happen, and a tie (or a Tai, if you will), is going to be forced. If you needed any big evidence for it, look no further than the notable conversation where Cydney asks Michele if she ought to practice making fire, and Michele says no. If that wasn’t epic foreshadowing for a fire-making challenge, as well as for the outcome, I don’t know what is.

That particular Tribal Council, in a rarity for the season, is pretty ho-hum, though to be fair, we all know it’s just window-dressing for the main event. Sure enough, we get our promised tie, and Cydney and Aubry, the two allies, just duke it out in a fire-making challenge. And let me tell you, this is the highlight of the episode. Oh, not because it’s incredibly close like the battle between Bobby Jon and Stephenie on “Survivor”, nor is it hilariously bad like the one on “Survivor Cook Islands”, but for the jury’s reaction. The whole “Jury may not interact with players.” rule has varied in how strictly it’s enforced, and this is by no means the most emotive jury we’ve ever seen, but this was really lopsided in how the jurors wanted it to go. I mean, I know Cydney made some enemies on the jury, but she was just REVILED by most of them. Granted, it was kind of funny that Cydney’s fire never really even got off the ground, but this was really a case of “Burn the witch!” level of ill will towards Cydney.

In the end, the jury gets their wish, and Cydney gets the axe. Especially after that trashing she took from the jury, I have to say it’s a loss. As I said, Cydney’s game may not have been the strongest out of everyone left, but that’s more of a testament to the strength of the others games than to any weakness in Cydney’s game. She played hard, and by and large she played well, and so will be missed. That said, if someone had to go at this time, she was probably the least interesting person left, and the least likely to win, so from that perspective, it’s the least of all evils. As I say, though, no disrespect there for Cydney. She has well earned a good spot in “Survivor” history.

Michele, naturally, is upset back at the camp, given that people are only NOW starting to realize that this season is going to be a final two rather than a final three. The three try and console each other, repeating over and over that there CAN’T be any more votes, and that they’re at the end. Frankly, I’m sick of it! Look, wishful thinking is one thing, but this is just denying the facts! Sometimes the game doesn’t work out the way you want it to, and that can be frustrating, but there’s no sense in denying it!

See? There’s tree-mail right now telling you to go for your final challenge, and now you’ll have to do the hard work of deciding who to go to the end with. Probst is taking off the necklace, once and for all confirming that… they’re the final three and will go on to plead their case at Final Tribal Council?

Please hold for a moment while the blogger goes and puts his brain back in. It fell out due to being improperly secured during that sharp turn.

POP! Ok, so yes, the optimists were right, and this is a final three. Have to admit, I didn’t see that coming. They got me. Good one. Granted, I generally prefer final twos over final threes, and so am a bit frustrated in that regard, but, due to how impressed I am at the producers pulling the wool over our eyes so, I have a hard time being frustrated at it. Plus, what we get instead is also really cool.

Yes, for once Probst’s grandstanding about “A ‘Survivor’ First!” was not, in fact, grandstanding, but the real deal. Rather than play for immunity, our players instead play for the right to kick one member off the jury. They’ll leave Tribal Council, be sequestered so they can’t unduly influence the votes, and get no say at the Final Tribal Council. Now, I know for a fact that this twist has some backlash, and I can’t pretend it’s not without merit. Something just seems unfair about putting some poor schmo on the jury only to have his or her last moment in the sun ripped away on the whim of one player. It goes against what seems to be at the core of normal “Survivor”. I, on the other hand, really like this twist! True, it does seem to fundamentally change “Survivor” from what we knew, but frankly, a good twist will do that. Personally, I see this as merely adding a new layer of jury management, and like it better than, say, a “challenge advantage”, because it’s less of a guarantee, and requires brains to be used smartly. So yeah, I think this is a cool idea! Wouldn’t want to see it used EVERY season, but if they brought it back, I wouldn’t complain.

The challenge itself? Well, in a fitting parallel to the beginning of the season, the past has come back to haunt our contestants. You remember how the first immunity challenge had a choice of a puzzle or a stacking end, and nobody did stacking? Well, not being ones to waste an opportunity, that horrible stacking option is now the final challenge of this season. You could avoid it temporarily, but not entirely, if you made it to the end. Even though it’s not an immunity challenge, and it’s visually boring, this is probably my favorite final challenge in a while. Though not exactly endurance, it’s not a strength challenge, and seems tough enough to be worthy of coming last in a season. Plus, as I said, the parallels to the beginning of the season are a nice touch.

Once again, we get a good back and forth challenge, and once again Michele edges out the competition, leaving her with the decision of who to vote off. Talking with Tai, Michele reveals to no one’s surprise that her primary target is Joe, due to being an unpersuadable Aubry vote, which makes perfect logical sense. Michele also considers taking out Neal, since he’s also a likely Aubry vote, but with more persuasive skills than Joe. Not bad logic, and Tai certainly pushes evicting Neal, but I’m inclined to say that Joe is still the better option. Not that Neal is a BAD option, since he is probably an Aubry vote, but I feel like Neal would be more open to persuasive arguments than Joe would. I hear the argument about Neal being able to persuade others, but, much as the show would have us believe that Final Tribal Council votes can be swayed, I feel like, with maybe a few jurors as exceptions, everyone’s vote is locked in by the time we get to Tribal Council. So, I say go with the least-persuadable sure vote against you.

Aubry being Aubry, of course, does not let one of her jury advocates go so easily. She attempts to switch the vote on to Scot, since he’s deemed “Most likely to give a bitter speech.”, which Michele seems to consider, but I’m not buying it. Michele has played logically pretty much the entire game, and logic dictates that Aubry, being Michele’s biggest threat, needs to have any sure votes for her taken away.

With fewer stakes, and a more predictable outcome, this Tribal Council is also little to write home about, though again, the vocalizations of the jury are a joy to watch, and we do get a bit of a spat near the end. Unsurprisingly, Michele goes for Neal, who was far more of an Aubry advocate than I though, REALLY tearing Michele apart as he leaves, comparing her to a suckling puppy. I get that Neal was an Aubry fan, and that he didn’t really get to see Michele’s game, but that was HARSH, man! For all that I am an Aubry fan, and think that of those remaining, her game was the best, Michele is still not to be disrespected. She played both sides of the fence masterfully from behind the scenes, and was incredibly flexible. She makes an excellent winner for the season. Maybe not the BEST possible winner, but excellent nonetheless.

Since it’s nigh-on impossible to find new things to talk about on Day 39, Tai, Aubry, and Michele pretty much just give us the standard confessionals you’d expect at this point in the game. Michele has the “I’ve played a good game.” confessional, Tai the “I love the game so much.” confessional, and Aubry the “I’ve learned so much!” confessional, mixed with a little bit of “Good game” confessional as well. Hopefully Tribal Council will be more interesting.

Sad to say, but it’s not. While by no means the worst we’ve ever seen, I don’t feel it really merits a blow-by-blow, especially since we’re going to have a lot to cover following the end of the episode itself. So, without further ado, here are some highlights:

-Even though he had perhaps the least to say out of anybody, Nick arrogance still managed to shine through. His “question” basically amounted to a preschooler’s guide to Final Tribal Council, with a little bit of personal advice thrown in for the players. Frankly, I wouldn’t have bothered noting it were it not for the fact that the image of Nick teaching preschoolers about “Survivor” makes me laugh.

-I’ll admit, the show got me one more time tonight. Julia’s question had me fooled. What everyone (including myself) saw as a locked “Michele” vote starts lambasting Michele in her question, talking about her early-game weakness. She turned it around of course, but it was still a well-done fake-out.

-With regards to that, actually, Michele’s answer to that was pretty bad, I thought. She and Aubry both gave pretty good Final Tribal Council performances overall, but while Aubry was maybe less exciting overall, she was more consistent. Rather than try and say that she wasn’t as weak as she seemed early game, Michele owned up to it and used it instead. This lead to the emotionally punctuating moments that Aubry didn’t have that may have clinched Michele’s win, but still, it seemed like Michele was admitting that she was kind of pathetic early on, and not in a good way. Just an odd choice to me.

-So, for all that worry about Scot being a bitter juror who might shake things up, he ends with… a hula dance. Oooh-kayyyy…

-And yeah, sending off Mark the Chicken was a nice farewell to the season. Good for you, show.

As I’ve been hinting at, Michele ends up winning in a 5-2 vote, and I have thoughts on that, believe me, but first, let us talk briefly about the reunion show, which, while not as bad as the reunion show of “Survivor Caramoan”, is still pretty bad. Too much time spent on celebrities, and not enough time with the contestants. So many unanswered questions. Who voted for whom? What do the pre-merge boots think about everything? What would Neal have asked at Final Tribal Council? And what did Cydney have to think about everything? Seriously, I can kind of get the logic in ignoring the pre-merge boots, even if I think it’s a douchey move, but ignoring CYDNEY? The lady who was a MAJOR influence on the course of the game, and even made the final episode, doesn’t even get a QUESTION at the reunion show? I’m so angry at this, I’m going to switch to text-speak. WTF, MAN?

Oh, and of course we also get our preview for next season. It’s going to be called “Survivor Millennials vs. Gen X”.

Ha ha! No seriously, what’s it going to be called! This can’t be the actual title! It sounds like a MAD TV parody?

This isn’t a joke? It’s the actual title and theme of next season Hoo boy, where to begin?

Well, I suppose to start off, THIS IS A STUPID TITLE! We’ve had “versus” titles before, but those have been succinct and roll off the tongue. This title lolls around like it’s on a bunch of painkillers. Secondly, the theme is stupid. Apart from seeming more gimmicky than other tribe divisions, it basically amounts to diving the tribes by age. Which you already did. “Survivor Nicaragua.” Yeah, remember how that went? Granted, I’ve always said the concept could be done better, and maybe this season will give us that, but still, if you were going to reuse an idea, why this one? And, thirdly, THIS IS A STUPID TITLE! Seriously, even “Survivor Worlds Apart” knew not to call itself “Survivor White Collar vs. Blue Collar vs. No Collar”! It’s not even like finding a good title was hard. Here, I’ll give you one right now: “Survivor Generations” Is it lame? Sure. But it’s still better than “Survivor Millennials vs. Gen X”! Hell, from now on, I’m referring to it as “Survivor MGX”. I am NOT typing out that title week after week!

Ah, but that’s a rant to have next season, and a long way off in the future, so for now, we’ll just pretend it doesn’t exist. For now, it’s time to talk about the big issue of this season: the winner. Well, I say “issue”, but really, “controversy” would be a better word, because surprisingly enough, I don’t have much of an issue with Michele winning. As I have said before, and will say again, Michele played a great, if subtle, game. She never gave, up, was able to adequately play the middle without taking flak for it, and took risks. Is she the person I think SHOULD have won? No, of course not. As an avowed Aubry fan, I stand behind the fact that Aubry played the best game of the three. Aubry faced setback after setback, yet still came into positions of power, and was the driving force behind a number of flips and votes in the game. Had she won, she would have earned it. But Michele earned her win as well, I don’t begrudge her that. In my mind, this is not a case of the jury getting anything “wrong”, or of an “undeserving winner”, partly because in the case of the latter, I don’t take “deserving” into account, because I don’t think it’s a thing that should really come into play on “Survivor”. Both Aubry and Michele played great games, and while I think Aubry’s was better, Michele did not “steal” the game from Aubry, as some have claimed. She played a good game as well, and it earned her a win.

Still, the question remains: Why Michele over Aubry? We can only speculate, but there are some reasons being touted that I have to just dismiss. Some argue that Neal’s elimination cost Aubry the win, which I think is absurd. he would have been one more Aubry vote, but that’s still only three for her, so Michele wins either way. Contrary to what the show says, I DON’T buy the indecisiveness on the part of people like Jason, so I don’t think Neal’s presence would have drastically changed the outcome. Nor do I buy the conspiracy that the producers implemented the “remove a juror” twist last-minute to prevent a tie. Maybe I’m naive, but I tend to give the producers the benefit of a doubt on things like this, and attribute it to “Survivor” luck that they tend to work out well. Look at the mutiny twist from “Survivor Thailand” as an example of implementing a twist and having it go wrong. Did Aubry put the wrong people on the jury? Again, I have to say I don’t think so. Recall that even some of the people who voted against Aubry, like Jason and Scot, were complimenting her right before they were voted out. That seems like the sort of person you’d want on the jury, so how was Aubry supposed to have known? Was this a “bitter jury”? What evidence is there for it? There was no ranting about people’s games being ruined, nor any tirades from anyone but Neal, who wasn’t even there. That, to me, says no bitterness, especially since there IS a case for Michele’s game. No, I think it was a combination of two factors that did Aubry in this time, both of which were, to a degree, out of her control. The first was the tightness of Jason, Julia, and Scot. I’ll admit this was a failing on my part, but while I knew that Julia was definitely in Michele’s corner, I counted on Jason and Scot being free agents come Final Tribal Council. I should have realized that tight in-game usually means tight on-jury. I think wherever Julia went, Jason and Scot would follow, so that’s three Michele votes right off the bat. A hard hill to overcome. Had Aubry voted out Michele post-merge, or Julia pre-merge, things might have been different, but in the case of the latter, there’s no telling how things would have unfolded from there, and I can see why Aubry didn’t consider Michele a threat, since her game was so on the down-low. Second, and I think most important, is timing. Both Aubry and Michele had a “rising from underdogdom” narrative to work with, and I’d say both used it to great effect. I would say that Aubry’s story overcame greater odds and had greater successes, but that’s just me. The advantage that did Aubry is is when her story peaked. Aubry showed her true self right around the Scot vote, fairly late in the game, but it made the back half of her game seems somewhat weaker. In comparison, Michele’s big moments mostly came at the end, what with getting Neal off the jury and surviving Tai’s double-vote. This makes Michele’s successes more recent, and therefore more prescient in the minds of the jury. Again, not saying that that’s ALL Michele had going for her, but I think it ultimately tipped the scales.

Even without the ideal outcome, though, this was still a great season! While maybe not as big in terms of characters as its predecessor, “Survivor Cambodia”, it still gave us a lot of likable people with really excellent strategy and fun blindsides! What more could you ask for in a season of “Survivor”? I know some complain that the players weren’t as over the top or as likable this season as others, but I’d counter that you can’t expect every season to top the previous one. It’s just not realistic. As it stands, what we got, while admittedly probably not the stuff of “Survivor” legend, is still upper-echelon “Survivor”, and I look forward to seeing many of these players back in the future!

But, before we leave these players for a while, let us reflect back on my stupidity in my rankings pre-season, and find out where I went wrong.

Peter: I may have given him too much credit, and slightly overestimated his time in the game, but I nailed him otherwise.

Aubry: Her personality I got, but I should have gone with my heart rather than my head on her time in the game. She lived up to, and often surpassed, my greatest expectations.

Joe: Wrong, but in my defense, those biographies and introduction videos make everyone seem more exciting. How was I to know he’d be the new Julia Landauer (“Survivor Caramoan”)?

Neal: Wrong, obviously. I think he had what it takes, but he never really got the chance to show it off, and so went a lot earlier than expected.

Liz: She seemed to have what I thought she would, but was a target much earlier than I guessed.

Debbie: Definitely kookier than I would have thought, but she still acquitted herself very well. Better than I thought, anyway.

Cydney: Dead wrong. There were ASPECTS of her character, particularly early on, that lined up with how I thought she’d play, but she was WAY smarter and made it WAY farther than I would have said. Still, if I’m going to be wrong, this is a good way to be wrong!

Darnell: Wrong. Much less socially aware, and much shorter lived than I thought.

Alecia: She did give me a reason for that “tough” description, but I was still wrong about how long she’d last.

Jason: Wrong. He was dramatic, but in a way that gelled with his tribe, and so made it much farther than I predicted.

Jennifer: I predicted neither her neuroticism nor her early exit. Wrong, but fun.

Scot: He was MAYBE a bit smarter than I predicted, but I’m giving myself this one overall. He left about when I though, and played about how I thought.

Anna: I try and give the “pro poker player” occupation the benefit of a doubt, and look what happens! Wrong!

Nick: Well, he was an arrogant douchebag and left the first time he was vulnerable, so TECHNICALLY, I was right.

Caleb: Right on personality, wrong on time in the game. Then again, how could I have predicted his medevac?

Julia: Wrong. While I can’t say she was any more interesting than I thought, she did make it very far, and was pretty good strategically.

Tai: Wrong. He was far more flexible than I would have thought, and lasted longer for it.

Michele: If there’s one consolation to Michele’s win, it’s that I CALLED IT! NEENER NEENER NEENER!

As I said before, good cast, good season. My feeling overall is that people like this season less than I do, and the success of Aubry probably has something to do with my inflated score, but even taking that into account, I think this season stands on its own. It has a lot of strategy right from the get-go, has generally likable heroes who end up succeeding in the end, and even if it’s not ground-breaking, it’s still solid. This season was under-hyped before it began, and I think now I understand why the medevacs were emphasized over the gameplay. While quite good, the gameplay still wasn’t groundbreaking, whereas the medevacs were something we don’t see every season, and for good reason (though Probst attributing all of them to heat was an error on his part). Thus, you want to emphasize the most unique aspect of your season, to make it stand out. Granted, I think they still could have talked about a season of “heroes and villains, and epic blindsides” along with the medevacs, but I can definitely see from a marketing standpoint why they might not be what you want to emphasize.

If nothing else, this season has given me one thing that I love, and therefore it’s time for another…

TOP 5 AND BOTTOM 5!

Today, we’re talking about my personal favorite contestants of all time. Not the best ones, just the ones I enjoy watching the most and least. Guess who ends up on the list from this season.

TOP 5

5. Rupert Boneham (“Survivor Pearl Islands”): Like I said, this list is for the people I enjoy watching the most, not the people I think played the best games overall. In fact, Rupert is maybe the best exemplar there is of how good gameplay does not automatically equate to entertainment value for me. Despite having next to no strategy, and generally getting carried along for being an easy vote, Rupert is still a fun guy to watch. You can tell that he’s trying to live every minute he can to the best that he can, is over the top and hilarious, and I admire his stick-to-it spirit. He’s one of the guys who got me into “Survivor”, and I owe him for that, plus I can identify with the “fat little picked-on kid” thing. That said, Rupert does fall low on the list because of his overall poor gameplay, and the fact that we’ve seen too much of him overall. Three times was all he needed. Still, he’s so over-the-top and crazy fun that you can understand why he got brought back so often.

4. Stephen Fishbach (“Survivor Tocantins”): Stephen perhaps best exemplifies what I generally like in an entertaining “Survivor” character. He’s smart, but a little neurotic. Witty, but can take jokes and potshots at himself as easily as others. Stephen played a really fascinating game, making alliances with people you wouldn’t expect him to bond with, and showing himself to be tougher than even he thought, making him intensely compelling. His second showing wasn’t as good as I had hoped, but he was still a lot of fun to watch, even if it was at the expense of his misery.

3. Kass McQuillen (“Survivor Cagayan”): Put down the hate sticks, this is my list! What can I say, I think “older” ladies (within the context of the show old, not actually old) who can still be strategic are incredibly compelling. They, in general, are the ultimate contradiction in terms, the supreme underdog. Many like Kass simply for her snarky comments and seemingly no sense of social grace, but for me, I like that she has hidden depths. Look a little deeper and you’ll see a woman who knows a lot more than she lets on, and is able to at times fool even the audience. That means that, no matter what you watch her for, you’ll always get a surprise. Plus, she had that incredible come-from-behind victory on the puzzle. That, in my book, helps make a great character.

2. John Cochran (“Survivor South Pacific”): Pretty much the previous contestant I identify most with. Cochran exemplifies all things that are “nerdy”, at least within the context of “Survivor”. he could reference just as well, if not better, than the rest of the audience, and as seen in his second outing, the guy really did know his way around the game. Granted, his antics did sometimes descend into self-parody, and that keeps him from the top spot of this list, but even keeping that in mind, he’s still a character like no other, and in many ways, a really good one.

1. Aubry Bracco (“Survivor Kaoh Rong”): Yes, she of the numerous “Survivor” comparisons has won me over. It’s fitting that they showed the tweet of her cosplaying as Cochran at the reunion show, since that’s what ultimately won me over. No, I don’t want to have sex with Cochran, but it did bring home to me that Aubry, in many ways, was Cochran, but with more social graces and less of a stereotype. She made references, but didn’t go overboard with them overall. More than that, though, Aubry was once again a good underdog story. Someone who had arguably some of the worst luck “Survivor” could shower upon you, yet kept digging and somehow would up in the end. Sure, she didn’t win, but that’s how the game goes sometimes. For what it’s worth, I really enjoyed her, and look forward to seeing her in the future.

Honorable Mention: Kathy Vavrick-O’Brien (“Survivor Marquesas”): If Aubry is Cochran with more social graces, then in many ways, Kathy is Kass with more social graces. Another “older” lady who didn’t seem to belong out there, yet somehow weaseled her way into the end with some solid gameplay moments along the way. Kathy also has a good underdog story arc, being one of the best examples of people learning to play as they go, and being very likable on top of that. Two things keep her from the list proper. Partly, she’s not as intellectual as someone like Kass, and it’s a personal preference, but I prefer watching intellect to outdoor skills. Second, and more important, she falls outside my “nostalgia zone”. I watched “Survivor Marquesas” many years after it had aired, so I don’t hold much special attachment to the season. If I did, Kathy might have supplanted Rupert on the list, but Rupert has that nostalgia factor, and just edges her out. She’s still awesome, though.

BOTTOM 5

5. Roger Sexton (“Survivor The Amazon”): This is a case where my rage would probably be much higher if I had a nostalgic attachment to this season. As it stands, though, sexism will not be rewarded, except with a spot on the “Bottom 5”. “Battle of the Sexes” seasons seem to bring out the worst tendencies in male “Survivor” contestants, but Roger exemplifies that, in a sense, by being the least extreme about it. Rather than be an affected, over-the-top sexism, Roger just seems casually sexist in general, pretty much ignoring the women come the merge. In some ways, though, this is worse, since it makes it seem as though this is how Roger really is, rather than an exaggerated character. This, in my eyes, makes him an awful human being, and hard to watch as a result.

4. Kat Edorsson (“Survivor One World”): I’ve had many a rant about this young lady, so I’ll be brief here. While there are exceptions to this rule, I generally like my characters intellectually stimulating and witty. Kat is the opposite of this. She, as a character, exemplifies every stereotype associated with the valley girl. She is stupid, vapid, and unfunny, which is perhaps the worst indictment of all. She’s not an awful human being, like some on this list are, but she’s no fun to watch either.

3. “Purple Kelly” (“Survivor Nicaragua”): Technically, she’s a stand in for everyone who gives up on “Survivor”, but still justified in that Kelly Shinn, aka “Purple Kelly”, exemplifies my problem with this type of character. People quitting, at this point in the series, was nothing new, but people who brought nothing, and gave up under the lamest of circumstances, are wasted space. You can’t help but think “that spot could have gone to someone worthy!”, and it’s pretty hard to like someone when you’re thinking that.

2. Phillip Sheppard (“Survivor Redemption Island”): My problem with Phillip may not be his fault, but, to paraphrase the man himself, “He annoys me greatly.” The man took time away from actual interesting people to go off and act crazy, and I don’t mean that in the racist way. Phillip, rather than talk strategy, garbled crazy philosophy, and THOUGHT he was talking strategy. Especially in his first outing, the man did NOTHING to merit being cast on the season, yet the marketing department kept coming back to him as this “hilarious” ball of comedy. Which he wasn’t. I hope I’ve made that clear.

1. Russell Hantz (“Survivor Samoa”): And so, we come to the ultimate delusion of grandeur. Like with Kat, I feel as though I’ve talked about this a number of times, so I’ll be brief. Russell is basically a grown up whiny little kid who grossly overestimates himself, then bitches and moans when things don’t go his way. He has no respect for the game, is misogynistic, simplistic, and a leech on our viewing time. May he be gone from our screens forever.

Honorable Mention: Colton Cumbie (“Survivor One World”): Colton was basically another Russell Hantz, although he focussed more on racism than sexism, and amped the whininess up to a whole new level. I leave him off the list because, after the tragic and unfortunate death of his fiancee, Caleb Bankstown (“Survivor Blood vs. Water”), I feel like the poor guy has had enough hard times, and doesn’t need me putting him down. The least I can do is keep him off the list proper.

PHEW! I’m just about beat. After a satisfactory end to a great season, I’m about ready for a short break! I may be away for a couple weeks, but don’t worry, you’ll still get your off-season content. I’ve got a special blog I’ve been wanting to do since the season began, so keep your eyes peeled. And, of course, “Survivor Retrospectives” will be up and running again before you know it!

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Kaoh Rong” Episode 13: What Could Possibly Kaoh Rong?

Well, after several delays, I can FINALLY blog about this episode! And it was definitely a good one! Not as great as some of the others, but unlike last week, stuff of importance actually HAPPENED! Let’s see what it was.

Unsurprisingly, we start off with Tai being stunned by the blindside of Jason from the previous episode. Somewhat surprisingly, it’s JOE who goes and comforts Tai, pointing out that it was just the will of the group. You’d think, with how hard she was working him, that it’d be Aubry who was trying her damnedest to get Tai back on the good side, but no, we need SOMETHING for Joe to do. Tai, while understanding of the situation, is hurt that he wasn’t let in on the plan. He brings up a good point, actually. If Jason would have gone home either way, why NOT let Tai know what was going on? It saves the trouble of a disgruntled alliance member later, and doesn’t negatively impact your plans in any way.

So, at the moment, Tai is handling himself well. Where he loses me is when he gets back on the “Michele isn’t part of the alliance.” track. Michele mentions being hurt by those comments at the past Tribal Council (understandably so), but Tai could have just apologized and let it drop. Instead, he continues to try and justify himself, in so doing only widening the gap between himself and Michele.

But Michele is not the only person out on Tai at this point! No, since Tai was the most hurt by Aubry not voting for Michele, she’s the one he goes to for comfort. Now, this is a great opportunity for Aubry to mend the bridge with Tai, bring a strong ally back into the fold, and cement her position as the power player of Dara. Naturally, being the excellent strategist she is, she… gets wishy-washy with Tai and just tries to justify herself, which Tai isn’t buying. I get wanting to distance herself from Tai, but doing so so blatantly makes him more likely to move against her. Granted, it may soften the blow if she plans to vote him off, but he’d still be offended anyway. May as well lull him into a false sense of security to keep him from going off on his own and betraying you. He’s not going to be significantly more butthurt anyway.

We head to our one challenge of the episode (which should tell you something about how the episode goes), which is a decent one, all things considered. Everyone runs up a jungle path to a set of ladder rungs with bags of sandbags tied to them. One at a time, you untie said sandbags, and bring them back to the start, where you try and throw them into five separate holes. The first person with a sandbag in each hole wins a massage night and feast. Pretty good reward for this late in the game, and a simple, but effective, challenge. What I particularly like is the possibility that someone may not need to get all the bags to win. It’s just the first person to make the five holes wins. With more sandbags than you need, and no collecting old bags until everyone’s out, it’s very possible for someone to win without getting all their bags. It doesn’t happen that way, but it’s still an interesting idea.

Our early frontrunners seems to be Cydney and Aubry (Michele surprisingly has a pretty poor performance this challenge), with Aubry pulling into a 4-bag lead before running out of sandbags. Since everyone must throw before a reset, though, we have to wait as Joe slowly makes his way back for the remaining bags. The dramatic music tells us we’ve got an underdog victory on our hands, though, and with his last two sandbags, Joe manages to win a reward challenge. For all the hard time I’ve given him, and will continue to give him, this is a pretty cool moment to see, and a high point for Joe. Strategically, he’s still made no impact beyond being a solid Debbie/Aubry number, but still, this is a good moment for him, and fun to watch.

Naturally, Joe gets to take someone along on his reward, and no surprise, he picks Aubry. Joe is then given the option to take a SECOND person on the reward, but his intellectual reserves are exhausted by that Aubry decision, so Aubry chooses Cydney, which is smart. An argument COULD be made for Tai, but it’s pretty clear that Aubry is hitching herself to the Cydney train, so it’s good to strengthen that bond if you can.

But the first order of business on any reward is food, and Joe is certainly living it up. There are steak kebabs, and despite Joe not being a major steak person, he eats about eight of the damn things. Sydney gives us a double dose of “Survivor” references here, giving Dawn’s warning about reward food from “Survivor Caramoan”, combined with Stephen Fishbach’s “gastro-intestinal distress” from “Survivor Cambodia”. If you don’t think this is prophetic, then you don’t know how this show works.

We do eventually get to the alliance building portion of the reward, and it starts off about as typical as you’d expect, with one side (Aubry) talking about wanting to go to the end, and the other (Cydney) assenting to this, with a nice confessional from the latter about liking the idea, but keeping their options open. I roll my eyes a little bit at Cydney saying that she’s a big threat to win this, since out of everyone left at the end of this episode, I’d say she has the LEAST chance of winning at Final Tribal Council. Still, can’t fault her wanting to downplay how big of a threat she is, and her low chances of winning are due more to the players left than herself overall.

Oh, but this is not a standard strategy talk, because Joe actually opens his mouth! And we’re reminded once again of why Joe SHOULDN’T be opening his mouth for the sake of his alliance. For whatever reason, he seems to see Aubry as the major threat to flip against the threesome, and talks about how handily she can beat himself and Cydney in the finals. I’ll give Joe credit, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a more convincing argument… of why CYDNEY should go AGAINST the alliance! Seriously, man, your closest ally and you’re throwing her under the bus like this? Not intentionally, I know, but the effect is the same. If Cydney wasn’t considering flipping, she surely is now.

Aubry, being the subject of this assassination, is quick to comment on this in confessional. Naturally, her conclusion from Joe’s “Aubry will win.” bit is that… Cydney’s a threat. What? Look, I’m not saying Cydney is non-threatening, but compared to Michele or even Tai, she’s low on the totem pole in that regard, particularly given that she seems to be your main strategy buddy. And, more to the point, HOW DOES JOE TALKING ABOUT YOU BEING A THREAT MEAN THAT CYDNEY’S A THREAT? Seriously, did we just miss a confessional here? I have no idea how one of these things follows from the other. A non-sequitur if ever there was one. On the plus side, Aubry’s SOLUTION to the perceived threat of Cydney is to bring Tai back into the fold. The right conclusion for the wrong reasons.

Bringing Tai back into the fold may be tougher than she thinks, though. With how Tai was insulting Michele all through the past two episodes, you’d think things would be really awkward with the two of them back at camp. And it is, at least at first. Eventually, Michele and Tai go out to the water to have a talk, where the insulting of Michele continues with Tai calling her “Closed off” Surely, no strategy can come from this! Michele returns in kind, pointing out that Tai kind of picks who he wants to work with, and ignores the rest, which Tai admits may be true about him. The pair bond a little closer, and it’s sweet to see. Michele even gets a Tai Massage, making Mark the Chicken jealous. It’s a cute scene, but unlike most of last episode, it has some purpose. With the two now on better speaking terms, and each correctly concluding that they’re on the bottom of the totem pole, Tai proposes potentially using his idol to blindside someone, probably Aubry due to feeling betrayed by her.

Day 35 has Tai being a bit emotional, which is quite understandable for that time in the game. Doing pretty much ANYTHING 35 days straight is tough, and “Survivor” is no picnic, to use the cliche. But there is no resting for top strategists like Aubry. Pretty much right away, she gets to work on bringing Tai back to her side, using the same sorts of arguments she used before, mixing the emotion of the game, and asking about what he wants, with a proposed play (final 3 with herself and Joe). This is something she should have started doing EARLIER, but better late than never, I suppose. It certainly seems to work for Tai, who breaks down crying on Aubry’s shoulder, and then agrees to work with the pair. Perhaps it’s the emotions of this time in the game, perhaps Aubry’s really just that good at persuading Tai, but whatever the reason, he comes back REALLY easily.

But, of course, nothing on “Survivor” is quite that easy. Unless this was “Survivor Redemption Island”, but thankfully, this is far away from that season. No, as Aubry and Tai happily walk back from the well, Cydney gets suspicious that they’ve been talking “alliance”, which naturally supplants her. I personally didn’t see anything to indicate it was anything other than a water run, so I’ll chalk that up to Cydney’s observation skills. Whatever else I say about her, I will give her credit that she’s able to read situations with little info with spooky accuracy, and that’s quite an asset on “Survivor”. In this case, Cydney uses that information to reaffirm her bond with Michele. Once again, Cydney is hedging her bets, not being totally firm on who she’s with in her confessionals, but keeping her options open in case Aubry does something screwy. Frankly, that’s how Cydney should be playing, and she’s doing it quite well. Not much else to say.

The pair try to pick a person to target, but that quickly becomes irrelevant. As Cydney predicted, Joe is suffering ill effects from eating all that beef on reward. He’s going the route of Bruce Kanegai (“Survivor Exile Island”), wherein nothing is moving in his bowels. He even goes one step further than Bruce, and has his blockage also extend to the urinary tract. You can tell that the poor guy is toughing it out through a lot of pain, and puts up with it for about as long as he possibly can. Medical does eventually come out, and we get a hope spot when they decide to start him on medication rather than pull him from the game. When they come back later in the evening, though, everyone knows it’s over. The death knell of Jeff Probst coming to camp has sounded. Sure enough, no one, not even Joe, is surprised at the verdict of his needing to leave the game. The guy just says he’s proud of how far he made it at his age, and frankly, it’s hard to get too mad at him. He had a real moment in the sun with that reward challenge, and he’s just so upbeat about the exit that you have to like him at least a little. Still, not too sorry to see him go. Like it’s spiritual ancestor “Survivor Cagayan”, this season has a real strength in that most people came to play, and for good or for ill, they did. Also like “Survivor Cagayan”, though, there were exceptions to this rule, and Joe was one of those. You can’t really dislike the guy, but you can’t say her really contributed to the game. If someone had to go before the final episode, he’s probably the best choice.

And what a final four we’re left with! I would say this is the most universally likable and, for want of a better term, “worthy of winning” final four we’ve had since “Survivor Philippines”, and that’s saying something! With Joe gone, everyone left has at least a couple of likable qualities and reasons why they could logically be crowned the winner! It’s going to be hard to have a “bad” outcome to the season. Plus, with Joe gone, we now ostensibly have two groups of two (Michele and Cydney vs. Tai and Aubry), which is always tough, but there’s play within those groups. The smart money probably says that Tai flips back with Michele and Cydney, given what we saw this episode, leaving Aubry to go at this next Tribal Council. I wouldn’t count Aubry out yet, though. As she noted, this is an exact parallel to how Neal left (minus the idol), and we see how THAT turned out for her. Things aren’t looking good for my favorite player, but I’m not counting her out just yet!

Speaking of counting, though, it’s time to rank the players based on how likely they are to win at Final Tribal Council, a tradition here at “Idol Speculation”.

1. Aubry: Perhaps a controversial call, but I think if Aubry makes the end, she wins. She’s played a really visible game, but a really smart one, having come back from several strategic deficits, and has managed to avoid taking the negative blame for most of her moves. Hell, even her enemies like her! Remember Jason and Scot talking about how worthy a competitor she was? And these are people she was responsible for voting out! You couldn’t wish for better jurors! Also, I have a hard time thinking of people who WOULDN’T vote for Aubry, save perhaps Debbie and Julia, and I only say those because I watch the “Ponderosa” videos. Now, if this list were factoring in likelihood to make it to the Final Tribal Council, Aubry would fall much, much lower than she is. But if you ask me who has the best case at Final Tribal Council, it’d be her.

2. Michele: Were I to factor in likelihood to make it to the end, Michele would top this list hands down. Like Aubry, Michele really has no enemies on the jury, which is a good start. On top of this, Michele has played a very strong game, and as we’ve seen, is quite the debater at Tribal Council, making her a serious contender. I say that she’s more likely to make it to the end, only because her game has been played more behind proverbial closed doors, meaning she’s less likely to be seen as a threat, and thereby eliminated. However, it’s that very lack of visibility that makes it harder for her to beat Aubry in the end. I have no doubt it’s possible, but Aubry’s moves have been more public, and therefore easier to see. Michele could very easily win this game, though.

3. Tai: This was a tough call for me, deciding who to put higher: Tai or Cydney. Both have a number of strategic moves under their belt, and both have had a measure of power, but both has also taken a lot of the negative flak for their moves, which could put them in a bad spot depending on who they go up against. I put Tai slightly above Cydney only because he has more of an underdog story going for him. If he pulls out the “Vietnam refugee” storyline again, and points out how much he doesn’t resemble the prototypical “Survivor” contestant, he might just snag a win.

4. Cydney: As I say, this is a tough call, and Cydney is by no means out of the running. She’s made a number of visible power plays, and her observational abilities alone might be worthy of a win. But, unlike some others, her moves could be seen as detrimental to her, particularly the decision to flip on Nick, Jason, and Scot. She arguably put herself in a worse position, and probably bears the brunt of ill-will from the jury. Again, she’s by no means a goat, and she could very well surprise me, but I feel like out of everyone here, Cydney is the weakest link.

And there you have it! Am I the oracle of Kaoh Rong, or just some guy on the internet talking out of his ass? This Wednesday will tell, and you’ll know well before me! As I mentioned in my last blog, I have a meeting this week that bleeds into the “Survivor” finale (curse it not being on Sunday anymore), so I will have to wait. The gap should not be this long this time, and I thank you for your patience with me. Here’s to a great finale for a great season!

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Kaoh Rong” Episode 12: Cute Cat Video

Remember how I praised last episode for how, despite the fact that the end result was a boring vote along alliance lines, it still managed to be interesting? Yeah, sad to say that streak lasts all of one episode. While this episode as a whole isn’t BAD per se, it is definitely on the weaker end for this season. Ah well, at least this will make this particular blog a fairly short one.

On night 29, things are fairly subdued for once. Neither major complaining nor major gloating, so it’s a bit hard to figure out what to do here. Fortunately, Tai saves us by providing his one good move of the evening. He, like most everyone else watching, has figured out that it’s in his best interest to use his extra vote at the upcoming Tribal Council (since it would make an odd number, helping prevent ties), and then his hidden immunity idol at the Tribal Council after that, thereby effectively guaranteeing him a spot in the final episode, making both the audience and the producers giddy with joy. After all, despite what we see this episode, Tai is still pretty well a fan favorite, so having him in the final episode is pretty much a win-win for all involved. To add to the intelligence of Tai’s move here, he actually doesn’t tell EVERYBODY. He tells Aubry and Joe, which is probably for the best. Were everyone to know, it would probably make him too big of a threat, and thus make him a potential target. By letting just Aubry and Joe know, he strengthens the bond with his current closest ally (Aubry), and makes it more likely that they’ll see HIS advantage as THEIR advantage, and thereby not want to vote Tai out.

Less successful in his ploy to stay in the game is Jason, who thankfully has learned something from his sabotage tactics. Once again, he doesn’t go into a raging storm about the whole situation, though he does waste no time in throwing Tai under the bus. That’s fine, it’s his prerogative, and he doesn’t do it in a malicious way. Nor does his plea fall on deaf ears. Michele is certainly receptive, once again citing Jason being beatable at Final Tribal as a reason to keep him around. The only thing I don’t get here is that Michele also highlights her willingness to build trust with her alliance by getting rid of her closest ally as a positive here. Um, Michele, what’s the point of building trust with your alliance IF YOU’RE PLANNING TO FLIP ON THEM ANYWAY! Plus, as we see in this episode, Michele now has very little leverage within the alliance due to that vote. Not that she could have done much to change it, but let’s be real, it’s only by the grace of Cydney that she’s spared tonight.

Ah, I see it’s time for the traditional “Gross Food Challenge” of the season. We start out with a classic: Giant, live grubs, which… Oh, sorry, Tai just found a random creepy-crawley in camp. Actually, that’s kind of a cool tidbit. Granted, there doesn’t seem to be a gross-food challenge this season (unless they’re saving it for the next episode), but when they do happen, you always hear the phrase “local delicacy” applied to the various food items. However, you never actually SEE said items locally. To have one come and invade the camp adds to the authenticity of the show, and is kind of nice to see. Sadly, this instead seaways into shenanigans with Mark the chicken, as they get him to eat the grub, and he goes berserk. A fun enough scene, but now the “Mark the Chicken” stuff is starting to feel a little forced. Put bluntly, this scene does not mesh well with the episode, and serves no purpose other than slight amusement. It’s like cute cat videos on the internet: Technically they’re harmless and there’s nothing wrong with them, but they can be annoying in large quantities, and there’s probably a better use of your time out there.

Sadly, what we cut to next is not one of them. Lest you think that “Jason is determined.” confessionals were confined to last episode, well, you’d be WRONG on that score! We get another one, and it’s about as generic as they come. Hmm, now what could we possibly add to spice this scene up a little bit? JOE! Of course! Because nothing adds to a reused confessional like the take of a guy who’s screen time tonight equals his total screen time in the first 12 episodes of this season. Joe offers us very little insight into Jason’s situation, beyond telling us that Jason is frustrated and lashing out. A fair enough assessment, but we could already have told you that, thanks Joe. Actually, Jason tries to sell Joe on the “Anti-Tai allegiance” thing, which goes about as well as you’d expect. Apart from Joe not being enough of a player to do anything about his status in the game, Jason really doesn’t sell this one well. For the most part, he’s been good about hiding his anger to the faces of his tribemates (or at least, hiding it better than Scot), but here he lets it leak through in a pretty big way, and that’s not good for him.

Getting on to the actual reward challenge this episode, we find that I should hate it because it’s largely a simple water obstacle course, and a team challenge after the merge. However, I don’t hate it, for one key reason: that maze! Now, mazes on “Survivor” are nothing new. They go all the way back to “Survivor The Australian Outback”. Even tilt mazes are nothing new for “Survivor”, appearing as early as “Survivor Marquesas”. But having one on the water has never really been seen before, and even seeing it as a team challenge is somewhat uncommon. But really, the water’s the big factor here. It’s usually pulleys that move the maze, and that’s all well and good, but this really adds a new teamwork dynamic to the challenge, and makes things more difficult. Now, to be fair, that difficult increase is offset by the decrease of not having holes for the balls to fall through in the maze, which is a change I’m not for. Not that I think the challenge was easy or anything, but having those holes made for come-from-behind victories, or at least near victories. With no real way to LOSE time on that portion of the challenge, it makes the results a lot more predictable, which is never a plus. Still, the awesomeness of a water maze is just too good to resist, so I’ll give this challenge a pass.

What I said about predictability holds true, though, as Jason, Tai, and Michele get an early lead and hold it throughout the challenge. Whoop-de-doo. They get to have themselves another picnic and go see an animal rescue habitat. Again, I refer you to my “cute cat videos” comment to get my opinion on scenes like this. Now, I’m being harsh, in that this one turns out to be more unique, and a bit more touching, but still, it feels a bit like time was spent poorly. Plus, we get Michele trying her best to win the “Amber Brkich Award” from “Survivor The Australian Outback” by uttering the most inane exclamations about her relative enjoyment of the reward.

Ok, ok, perhaps I’m being overly snarky because of my relative lack of enjoyment of this episode, since we DO get some strategy at the reward. Basically, Tai realizes that, due to being something of a challenge threat and a likable person, Michele is more dangerous in the end than Jason, and decides to get her out. Michele, for her part, now says she wants Jason out because… Well, I’m not really sure. Michele, didn’t you WANT to go the end with Jason earlier in this episode? Make up your mind! I get wanting to save your credit with your new alliance, but Jason is the only person left who might give you some POWER in this game. Ah, but don’t worry, this isn’t the ONLY inconsistency we’ll be seeing tonight.

As for Jason? Well, since it’s his death-knell episode, we just get a cute scene of him talking about how his autistic daughter loves animals, and will be so happy to see her dad asking for monkey hugs. And, of course, Michele has to talk about how Jason’s using these stories to wedge his way into people’s hearts. Which he is. But we don’t need it spelled out for us, Michele, and you look like kind of a jerk talking bad about a guy being nice for his autistic daughter.

Well, let’s go back to the camp. Both Tai and the previews for this week foreshadowed that the alliance would crumble from within, so lets get to the crumbling! No, instead we get Joe being a bit bossy and controlling over Cydney and Aubry. Ah, these types of scenes are always hard to blog about. On the one hand, you can’t help but sympathize a bit with the guy who seems to be actually trying to survive out there. On the other hand, that’s not really what this game’s all about, and there’s no contesting the fact that Joe is definitely handling these two people the wrong way. But we’ve seen it so many times before, and it just leads to nothing. Granted, this scene plus Joe’s increased screen time could indicate a boot for him, but since he’s never even brought up as a target outside of this scene, I really don’t count it as such.

Oh, and I take delight in the fact that what Joe’s being anal about is firewood. Evidently he should have been cast on “Survivor The Amazon”. Maybe then he could have taken Rob Cesternino’s place as “Junior Deputy Firewood Bitch”.

Off to our immunity challenge, and even though it’s reused, I still like it a lot. It’s the “Balance the platform of cards” challenge from “Survivor Blood vs. Water”, though it has its roots in the card-stacking challenge from “Survivor Gabon”. While technically a reused challenge, it’s a very difficult one, and since we haven’t seen it in a while, I’ll give it a pass. One nice change is that, instead of stacking generic blocks, the players are now trying to spell “Immunity” backwards one block at a time. It’s a small change, but it helps the challenge stand out somewhat. Plus, it’s hilarious to see Joe keep spelling it wrong.

Cydney takes a lot of flak early on for moving incredibly slowly, but a loud “boom” right after this tells us all we need to know, and sure enough, Cydney wins immunity. This means that no one person has had immunity twice this season. Not that it makes much of a difference overall, since rarely has the actual target of an episode had immunity, but it’s still a pretty uncommon occurrence. Only “Survivor Fiji” can boast the same record, and this season is INFINITELY better than that one! You could argue that “Survivor The Amazon” also had the same record at this point on that season (Final Six/Day 32), but Jenna Morass did technically win two immunities, she just gave one of them to Heidi.

In any case, we move on to our crowning moment of hypocrisy for the episode, as Tai, the guy who flipped on his alliance due to not being given a fair say and not discussing things democratically, marches down to the water, and tells everyone to just vote for Michele. No justification, he’s just going for Michele. Ok, so he does tell Aubry later on why he thinks Michele should go, but why couldn’t he do that earlier And besides that, his manner, while not as callous as Scot and Jason’s, is basically the same here. Ugh, I thought we were DONE with hypocrisy for a while in this game.

If you’ll recall, Cydney does not like to be bossed around, even by Tai. She lets Michele in on what’s going on, which for her is not a bad plan. Don’t get me wrong: Tai is correct when he says Michele is a big threat who needs to go at some point. But Michele is also a strong number for Cydney, in a game where strong numbers for her are rapidly dwindling. With Julia gone, Michele has no one to turn to, and pretty much every chat we’ve seen Michele have privately has been with Cydney. Safe to say, the two are pretty close allies at this point, especially since someone needs to counter the Aubry-Joe dynamic. Naturally, since Tai is their biggest threat, and they need to keep Jason around for numbers, their plan is to… Get rid of Jason? Not sure I follow the logic here. Granted, it’s better than one of the two of them going home, and it’d be harder to pitch getting rid of Tai to Joe and/or Aubry, but that still leaves you down 3-2 at the end of the day. Go for the power play!

Ah, but Tai is not the only passenger on the hypocrisy train today! No, there’s Aubry bringing up the caboose. After a fairly civilized talk between Aubry and Cydney about how the vote should go, Aubry breaks down and cries about how hard the game is. This, from the woman who criticized Jason and Scot for “playing emotionally”. How is this any different?

Man, I must really be grumpy tonight, making something out of very little. Yeah, Aubry does have a bit of a breakdown, and it’s kind of pointless, but it’s subdued as breakdowns go, and on Day 32, I think you’re entitled to be a little emotionally stressed. Though, I still must point out, this decision shouldn’t be that stressful to Aubry. Either way it goes out, the results are basically the same. She and Joe will have one person firmly on their side (either Tai or Cydney), giving them an advantage to ride to the end with, and they’ll have at least one enemy on the jury. Either way, Aubry comes out on top. If I had to favor one over the other, I’d say that getting rid of Jason is probably slightly better than getting rid of Michele. While Michele is a bigger jury threat, getting rid of her pisses off two people (Michele and Cydney), while getting rid of Jason only pisses off Tai. Plus, Tai has nowhere to go, even if he is pissed off. He’ll make it through next episode, sure, but he’d do that in either case. You think he’s going to ally himself with Michele and Cydney? The pair have admitted they don’t want him around! Plus, just explain to Tai how you’re voting before Tribal Council, and hope that he understands. It’s that simple. Again, I’m not sure there’s a “Wrong” decision here, but that one is slightly better.

For all the crap I’ve given this episode, I will say that it has a really good Tribal Council, mostly due to Tai repeatedly putting his foot in his mouth. Michele said she was going to air dirty laundry before Tribal Council, but she couldn’t have predicted as great a lead-in as Tai. Man, when he’s in power, he’s COCKY! And no, that’s not a reference to Mark the Chicken. Put away that hashtag! No, Tai talks about how democratic he’s being, which Michele rightly calls out, which leads to an aggressive back-and-forth between them, culminating in Tai telling Michele that he doesn’t consider her part of the alliance, and that she’s “temporary”. And all without one word said about Jason, the guy who should be the main topic on conversation tonight. Give Probst a lot of credit, he OWNED that moment of transferring over to Jason. And that’s why Jeff Probst is awesome. I give him a hard time, but really, the man’s a good guy (albeit with some favoritism issues) who really knows how to host this show. He deserves all of the awards.

Also in favor for this Tribal Council is that I’m not sure who’s going. As I said, this vote isn’t exactly crucial for Aubry, and both Jason and Michele have decent screentime, so I could see this one going both ways. In the end, though, the predictable result happens, and Jason is sent packing. He goes out with a lot of dignity, and deserves respect as such. That said, I can’t say I’m too sorry. While he seemed not as bad as Scot overall, he was an unpleasant figure a lot of the time, and just such a non-entity that his leaving doesn’t impact too much. Hell, due to how tight he and Aubry are, even JOE’S leaving would have had more of an impact on the game.

Perhaps I was a bit harsh on this episode in my intro. There’s nothing OFFENSIVE about it, and there are a lot of cute, enjoyable scenes. But for how exciting, how dynamic this season has been, this felt like a step backward, particularly with all the annoying hypocrisy from at least half the cast. Now, you have to work with what you’re given, but last episode showed that, even in just a standard “Survivor” episode, you can find good nuggets. Let’s hope that THIS trend isn’t a streak.

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Kaoh Rong” Episode 11: Island-Ception

Please note: the following introduction is meant to be comedically hyperbolic satire. Because it was either that, or a song parody. Seriously, with Jason repeatedly calling himself an “island”, I’m going to have the lyric “I am a rock/I am an island” running through my head for the foreseeable future.

Presenting: “Survivor UN”! Because “Survivor Cook Islands” wasn’t controversial enough, we’re now giving you CULTURAL stereotypes that divide the tribes! Watch the fat, stupid Americans crumble from within! See the Europeans be snooty and high-maintainence! Gaze in wonder as the Latin Americans illegally cross into other tribe camps and produce many babies! And, of course, watch the Australians kick everybody’s ass, because they’re Australians.

Ok, ok, so this was a hard one to introduce. Give me a break; when you’re titling your blog about islands playing “Survivor”, there’s not much choice but to go for representatives of various nations in the game.

There’s no way for me to dig myself out of this one, is there? Let’s just get to the episode.

So, we get back to camp, and as you’d imagine, Aubry and Tai are overjoyed at their blindside, Tai once again reaffirming how he hated being shut out by Scot and Jason. The pair in particular take much time congratulating each other on a blindside well put-together, and frankly, the adorable factor here is just too much to bear. Let’s get a splash of cold water to bring us back to the game, shall we?

Ah yes, Tai is talking about how he’s now worried about being a threat, given his idol and advantage and his likability. This is a perfect segway to Jason, who’s clearly pissed off, but holding it in fairly well. Granted, it’s pretty clear to everyone watching that he’s incredibly pissed off, but he’s mainly congratulating people on a job well done, and NOT sabotaging the camp as I feared he might. No, he instead takes the smart route of highlighting how big a threat Tai is to everyone in the immediate vicinity. In particular, he highlights this to Cydney, who seems open to the idea of getting out Tai. She admits she’ll swing wherever she needs to to make it to the end, nicely setting up our misdirection for the episode.

The next morning, Tai becomes determined to prove how nice of a guy he is. And to make sure that he has as few bitter jurors as possible. In either case, he goes up to Jason, and tries to explain his reasoning for betraying Scot, pointing to how tight he and Jason were as being too big of a threat. Not a terrible apology, but as Jason says, it’s a bit half-assed. To make matters worse, Tai says that there was the possibility that Scot and Jason weren’t going to snake him at some point. We know they were planning on it, but it makes Tai seem like a paranoid player, which is not a good way to come off. Jason, once again, is able to keep his temper, though he still makes vague threats against Tai’s game, noting that “You can make all the right moves and still lose.” That’s one thing I really like about this season: You can tell what everyone’s really saying, but it’s hidden under a lot of politeness. Teeth-clenched politeness, you might say. It makes most of the interactions really fun to watch.

Also, I should point out one negative point for the alliance of Aubry, Cydney, Joe, and Tai: They tend to exclude the other three, particularly Jason. Not to say that they should bring him in on all their conversations or anything, but they really separate themselves a lot early in the episode, almost lording it over everyone else that they’re in the majority. They do get better later on, and I am exaggerating a fair amount, but still, watch it you guys.

After another “Jason is determined” confessional (which there are so many of tonight that I’m not going to go into detail on any of them, and merely mention their existence), we get to our reward challenge, which I am very unenthused about. Divided into two teams of three, players make their way across an obstacle course collecting rings, which they must then throw onto a hook to win a picnic away from camp. As boring and generic as they come, and yet another team reward challenge post-merge, so you can guess that I’m not happy. Add onto that a random division of teams rather than a schoolyard pick, and you can guess why it is that I’m not happy. I mean, come on, after the drama that ensued by the pick two episodes ago, you just drop it here? LAME!

Our teams come out as Joe and Tai, Julia and Aubry, and Michele and Cydney. If there’s one silver lining to this challenge, it’s that Jason sits out, which is just hilarious icing on the cake. To add insult to injury for the guy, not only is he on the bottom with no seeable way out, but now he doesn’t even get to COMPETE in the reward challenge. Man, that’s really harsh.

While the challenge itself is close, one team is clearly the favorites to win it, given that it’s entirely physical ability. Sure enough, Michele and Cydney are the victors, also earning them the right to take along one other person, including Jason. The “twist”, such as it is, is that they have to agree on who to take. Sadly, this amounts to very little, as the pair quickly agree on Aubry to go, stating that she’s the only person left who hasn’t been on reward yet, which makes sense. Michele, however, admits that there’s an ulterior motive here. While she and Julia are tight, she sees the way the wind is blowing, and wants to become tighter with the dominant alliance. Very good play there, Michele.

We get our usual squealing from Aubry, Cydney, and Michele as we head off to the picnic, though oddly interrupted at one point by an impromptu chicken dance. Ok…

Fortunately, the exclaiming over the reward doesn’t overstay its welcome, and Michele breaches the idea of working with Aubry and Cydney down the line. Both admit that they trust her, since she’s never voted any way other than how she said she would, which is about as good evidence as any. Granted, Michele is probably more strategic than either give her credit for, but that’s because Michele actually has a very subtle game going for her. It’s there, but you really have to be seeing her confessionals to see it. If she’s good at Final Tribal Council, she could steal a stealth victory, depending on who she’s with. Once Michele has left, Aubry and Cydney get to talking, agreeing that they want to work with Michele. This, then, leads into the subject of whether or not tai should be voted out. In yet another instance of agreement, both say they don’t want to go up against Tai in the end. There is a slight difference between them, as they debate when to go for Tai. Cydney seems gung-ho on doing it now, but Aubry wants to be sure it’s the right time. Still, good strategizing for all. Isn’t this just a happy season?

As to which philosophy of when to get out Tai is correct, well, that depends on Michele. Basically, the idea here is to replace Tai in the alliance with Michele, thereby keeping the numbers but getting rid of the bigger threat overall. The trouble is that Michele also has ties with Julia, who has ties with Jason, and flipping now might give them the power they need to run to the finals. So, the question then becomes, is Michele loyal? If she is, then Tai is the perfect target tonight. He’ll never see it coming, and it reduces the unknowns of his idol and advantage in the game. Plus, as I’ve said before, major jury threat. However, if Michele is still loyal to Julia, then it’s best to stick with Tai at least one more vote, to ensure your numbers. Therefore, right now it’s in Aubry and Cydney’s best interests to get rid of Tai this episode. Though, just like last episode, remember the “right now” part, since, again like last episode, it changes.

Unsurprisingly, similar discussions are being had back at camp, between Jason and Julia. After another “Jason is determined.” confessional, he and Julia discuss their battle strategy, coming to the conclusion that Tai needs to be targeted. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot for them to do, since there’s no one there to strategize with. Tai’s the person they want to target, so no sense talking to him, and Joe… Well, do you honestly think Joe has had an independent thought yet in this game? In the meantime, Julia and Jason settle for fantasizing about killing Mark the chicken after Tai leaves. BLASPHEMY! NO ONE DISPRESPECTS MARK THE CHICKEN!

So yeah, nothing happens until Cydney gets back, where they once again pitch getting rid of Tai to her, and Cydney admits she’s considering it, blah, blah, blah, heard it before!

For once, going off to our immunity challenge is not a bad thing! While technically a combination repeat, this challenge is really interesting and sadistic! Each contestant runs out into the water, crosses over an obstacle, and then ends up in front of a giant wooden octagon. On said octagon, there are many animal-number pairs with no rhyme or reason. Memorize as many as you can, and head back. Once back you use five specific animals symbols unique to everyone’s board (and they’re presumably not allowed to look at their board before heading out, adding to the difficulty) to figure out how to turn a large wheel with keys on it. When a key is found, see if it’s right. If so, it will open a chest of puzzle letters, which should ultimately spell “Blindsided”. first person to get the correct word wins. This challenge most resembles the memorization challenge seen at the final six of “Survivor Tocantins”, and memorably won by Stephen Fishbach due to his memorizing all the symbols in one go, though it also contains the “spin the wheel to find the right key” element first seen on “Survivor Exile Island”. This challenge is interesting in that it has both a difficulty increase and a difficulty decrease from the “Survivor Tocantins” version. The obstacle in this challenge is relatively simple, just basically an A-Frame with rungs out in the ocean. Conversely, the “Survivor Tocantins” version had a number of difficult obstacles to get through before getting to the memorization part. On the other hand, the memorization aspect on the “Survivor Tocantins” version was much easier. There were only four distinct symbols, and they could easily be memorized like a phone number (which is how Stephen eventually won it). Here, there’s a lot more to memorize, as well as the fact that, by not needing every symbol for your board, you could more easily take in misinformation and make mistakes. It would be pretty difficult to memorize all of them in one go, making it all the more impressive that not one but TWO separate people manage it! Both Michele and Julia manage it all in one go, with Michele edging out Julia on the word puzzle for the win. Still, I give credit to both of them. If I may flatter myself for a moment, I think I’ve got a pretty amazing memory, and even being fully hydrated and fed, I’m not sure I could have memorized everything in one go. I bow in humble awe, you memorization masters!

Oh, and Joe pretty nearly gets lapped this competition, and gives up after one go-around. Not since Scout Cloud Lee (“Survivor Vanuatu”) have we seen this level of competition.

Naturally, we lead out with another “Jason is determined” confessional since he’s the one who really needed immunity. Michele was never a target this episode, and while her victory was impressive, it doesn’t really impact the outcome of the episode in any manner. After the usual congratulations for Michele, she and everyone who’s not Julia or Jason go off and confer about who to vote out. Unsurprisingly, they quickly realize that, while perhaps a challenge threat, voting out Jason, the guy most of the jury can’t stand, is probably not the smartest idea. Naturally, the target then falls on Julia, who’s admittedly also a fair choice. For the safety of the overall alliance, you want either Julia or Jason gone, and while Jason might be a bigger challenge threat, Julia is probably a bit more wily than he is. Plus, although it’s never stated, I feel like there’s incentive for Aubry and Cydney, as the heads of this alliance, to want Julia gone over Jason. As I said earlier, the main concern right now should be how loyal Michele is to their alliance, since that dictates how tonight ought to be played. What’s testing Michele’s loyalty right now is Julia. With her out, Michele pretty much has no choice but your side. Her closest ally is gone, so who would she team up with? In that vein, it DOES make sense to target Julia over Jason.

And, sure enough, Michele’s loyalties are conflicted. She has no loyalty to Jason, but with the vote switch, she’d much rather get out Tai than Julia. And this becomes the point where it’s best for Cydney to get rid of Julia rather than Tai (it’s also the best move for Aubry, but since she’s not the swing vote tonight, I’ll leave her out of this one). While Michele is undeniably a better ally than Tai, since she’s less of a threat in the end and has not idols/advantages, you need her firmly on your side. This shows that, with Julia still there, Michele is not going to be loyal to Cydney. For the sake of argument, let’s say that Cydney did decide to go for Tai with the other three. True, she probably makes the final four in that scenario, since she, Michele, Julia, and Jason all team up and get rid of Aubry and Joe, especially after how the latter get outed as a tight pair at tonights Tribal Council. But then, with Michele and Julia being tight, and Jason being considered cannon fodder, as well as out for revenge, who do you think goes in that scenario? By sticking with her original alliance, Cydney keeps herself in a power position, making it much more likely she’ll get to the final three. Granted, if there’s a final two this season (which I suspect there will be), Cydney’s screwed either way, but just in case there’s a final three, better to get rid of Julia and ensure Michele’s loyalty.

Not to say that Michele and Julia don’t give Cydney a hell of a sales pitch. This episode really is where the pair of them shine. Heck, it even continues into Tribal Council, with Jason getting in on the action. Pretty much every word out of their mouths is encouraging the alliance to turn on itself and make a move to better themselves. There were two arguments I particularly liked here. First, when asked who she thinks is on the bottom, Julia lists off Michele (understandably so), but also lists off Cydney. Now, we as the audience can tell that this isn’t true, but it’s a subtle, brilliant play to try and get Cydney to move. Imply that she’s on the bottom in a casual way like that, and it seems much more likely to be the truth. The other point was a new argument that came out at Tribal Council, when Jason, after Tai’s repeats his stance on the tightness of Scot and Jason, points out that Aubry and Joe are an even tighter twosome, and therefore just as much of a threat. Actually a pretty good argument. Why didn’t you use that one sooner, Jason.

While this Tribal Council lacks in laughs overall, it’s still a really great one to watch. Seriously, if you want a textbook example of how to fight to the bitter end on “Survivor”, watch what Jason and Julia do. I highlighted their best arguments here, but they went pretty much nonstop, and gave us a lot of good material here. If I had a hat, I would doff it to them.

Once again, this episode does a good job of keeping the mystery of the vote alive. We’ve seen evidence for both Tai and Julia going home, and the implied Tai boot edit has been overstated, while Julia’s is perhaps understated, plus the possibility of Tai playing his idol. All is possibility as we get the one funny bit of Tribal Council, when Aubry writes Julia’s name down and comments that she won’t cross it out this time around. And oh, they milk the mystery for all it’s worth. Tai and Aubry have a conversation about whether Tai should use the idol or not. Aubry thinks he’s safe, but still leaves the agency with him, telling him to follow his gut. Frankly, given the Tribal Council I’ve witnessed, I’d have played it if I were Tai.

It looks like he’s going to, it looks like he’s going to… and he doesn’t! Wow, that takes a lot of guts on Tai’s part!

It’s nice to see people making the smart decisions on “Survivor” for a change. Cydney sticks with the Julia vote, and Michele even shows loyalty by tearfully writing down her ally’s name. Excellent work there, Michele! Yes, Julia goes home, and I can’t say I’m too sorry. As a character, she was pretty bland, and we’d kind of seen all she had in the way of unsubtle strategy. To her credit, though, I think I’ve been a bit hard on her these past few blogs. True, her strategy had all the subtlety of Abi-Maria Gomes (“Survivor Philippines”), but she was always playing, always fighting up until the last possible moment. She did everything she could think to do to stay in the game, and that always deserves praise in my book.

Actually, this all wound up being a pretty good episode, which is saying a lot. For an episode where the majority alliance stuck together and voted out one of the minority, there was a lot to like here. The suspense of who would go was really kept alive well, and despite some repetitive scenes, we got a really good look into the inner workings of individual strategies, and still had a lot of fun. Man, if this is how they do potentially boring episodes, it’s no wonder that the interesting episodes are spectacular. Let us hope that this trend doesn’t die out near the end!

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Kaoh Rong” Episode 10: The “Survivor” Holiday Special

Ok, I’m not one to promote “Survivor” conspiracy theories. I won’t go so far as to say that the show is as purely “real” as we’ve been led to believe, but I don’t buy anything about the locations being faked, or the outcome being fixed beyond producer “suggestions”. But I’m putting my foot down here. They knew. THEY KNEW! They had it all figured out, realized this set of challenges would be in a episode that aired April 20th, and made SURE that every challenge involved pots. Well played, “Survivor”.

No, this will not be a blog done in the style of me being “high”. I’ve never been high, nor do I particularly care for this “holiday”. I just can’t resist low-hanging fruit like this. What I DO care about is “Survivor”, so let’s get started!

So we get back to camp, and Joe is rightfully pissed off at being left out, as well as his closest ally Debbie going home, and is therefore thinking about… No, wait, sorry, I was channeling the universe where Joe actually wanted to CONTRIBUTE to the game! No, instead we get Jason, Scot, and Tai gloating over their victory at the previous Tribal Council, which, since they do it by themselves, I really can’t begrudge them that much. What I DO begrudge them, however, is the idea that their “psychological warfare” was their salvation. Guys, the best it did was piss off Debbie, who’s now gone. It was your IDOLS, and the fear thereof, that saved you.

Speaking of idols, Tai takes this time to return Jason’s idol to him, which I’m a bit disappointed about. Not to say that Tai SHOULDN’T have returned that idol to Jason, but in this case, having two idols is very much better than having just one, and unless he asks for it back, you could pull the “There was no need, since it’s the super idol.” gambit.

Oh, and their one disappointment? That it was Debbie, and not Cydney, who went home. Truly, Cydney’s flop on them was a great move! Geez, it really seems to go back and forth whether or not this was a good move for her, doesn’t it? The first week, she was giving up a safe spot. Last week, it seemed like she’d gotten herself in a swing vote position. Now, while she’s still in power, we can see that she’s irredeemably pissed off Scot and Jason, thereby meaning that’s at least two jury votes she’s lost, with the possibility of those two influencing others on the jury. I get that to win “Survivor”, you need to build your resume, but that doesn’t mean that the practice of voting AGAINST the person you don’t like has gone away. It’s still something to consider, and right now, it looks like it may come back for Cydney.

Dawn at Dara, and Tai’s conscience once again rears up. He asks Scot if, now they’ve made it through one Tribal Council they shouldn’t have, if they can ease up on the sabotage. in a surprisingly mature move, Scot agrees, admitting that he doesn’t want to play like Russell Hantz (“Survivor Samoa”). This earns him one iota of respect from me. Scot won’t stop for free, though. Needing a fifth person on his side, he elects to talk to Aubry about wanting her to come with him, couching his tactics as a result of his frustration at providing for the tribe being worth nothing. A very diplomatic play. Aubry returns the diplomacy by being polite back to Scot, but remaining fairly noncommittal. Fortunately, Aubry is a smart cookie, and sees through what’s said on the surface to realize that Scot is effectively engaging in blackmail. Unsurprisingly, this makes Aubry want him and/or Jason gone, but in the short term, all seems well at camp. Certainly there’s no sabotage, so I’d call that a net gain. Some would argue that it would actually be in Aubry’s best interest to KEEP the sabotage going, providing a disincentive to people to join up with them, but I’d argue that, first of all, that damage is already done, and secondly, when the game is more predictable, it’s easier to influence. Eliminating a chaotic element that you yourself are not generating is good in this regard.

On to the reward challenge, which is not interesting in and of itself. It’s the “Balance the Pot on a Log with your Leg” challenge, first seen as a redemption duel on “Survivor Redemption Island”. A decent endurance challenge, but never one of the most exciting. Oh, but THIS time it’s different! Now you have TWO pots stacked instead of ONE! Oh, the humanity! In all seriousness, I’ll admit that this probably does increase the difficulty of the challenge somewhat, but it still doesn’t change the fact that the challenge itself is kind of underwhelming.

Fortunately, what the challenge itself lacks in interest, it gets made up for in the twist with the challenge. Yes, we’ve seen choices of reward on the tribal level before, but, for the first time, we’re getting a reward choice (outside of an auction) in an INDIVIDUAL challenge! What’s more, it’s not a case of “Winner gets their pick.” Oh no, it’s not NEARLY that simple. Before the challenge, every individual picks what they’re playing for (food, letters from home, or an advantage in the game). Then, they compete ONLY to beat the other people who selected the same reward as they did. If I wasn’t being abundantly clear, I LOVE this twist to death. It elevates the game, reveals some Tribal Dynamics, and feels very fitting for “Survivor”. Above all, though, it’s a complex and many-layered twist. Probst himself, in a really good moment tonight, puts it the most clearly, pointing out that in choosing what reward to pick, you have to balance what you need versus what you think other people will want versus who you think you can beat. It’s not an easy decision for anybody, and that’s what’s great.

Well, I say it’s not an easy decision for anybody, but that’s not true. It’s an easy decision for Scot and Jason. Contrary to what they keep insisting on, Scot and Jason are still in trouble, and need to compete for the advantage, so naturally… No, wait, that’s what they’d do if they were SMART! No, instead they opt to compete for the food against Michele. It’s a battle between Julia and Joe for the letter from home, leaving Aubry, Cydney, and Tai to compete for the advantage. Clearly, this shows us who has their head in the game.

Unsurprisingly, since she’s up against Joe, Julia wins her letters from home. The other two are a bit more of a contest, though Michele ends up pulling victory fairly quickly from Scot and Jason. I would say I’m surprised, but history has shown us that endurance challenges tend to favor women, so it’s not too big of a deal. The real war, though, is the fight for the advantage, which unsurprisingly takes the longest. Cydney ends up dropping out first, leading to a sweet duel between Aubry and Tai. Evidently realizing the “Seeing how long I can go” tactic worked for Tai two episodes ago, Aubry tries to utilize it herself. Unfortunately, Buddha favors Tai, and so he summons a gust of wind to undo Aubry, leading Tai to win reward, and for Scot to comment on how good it is for his alliance that that happened, and how they’re now unstoppable.

Goodbye, Scot, we knew too much of ye!

After a bit of well-deserved bragging from Michele about beating the two burly guys, we get to see what Tai’s advantage is. Sadly, unlike the twist at the reward challenge, it’s not innovative and new, but instead the “extra vote” twist won by Dan Foley on “Survivor Worlds Apart”. I feel pretty much the same about it now as I did then: not a terrible idea, but too easy to overcome, so not as exciting. Still, perhaps it’ll actually make a DIFFERENCE this time around.

Oh, and we also get Julia gushing over her letters from home. It’s nice in and of itself, but then she has to use to talk about how badass and tough she is, which, given what we’ve seen, is really not the truth here. Perhaps I’m being harsh here. After all, it’s important to remember that on “Survivor”, everyone is the protagonist of their own story. In Julia’s mind, she really HAS been a major driving force this season. We, as the audience, see something different. As it stands, though, to us it comes across as a little bit flat and forced. The bits that are purely emotional are sweet, though.

Not to say, of course, that Julia doesn’t TRY and earn that badass title she thinks she has. Walking with Michele and Aubry, she admits that she’s worried about idols, and wants them gone. As a result, she comes up with a plan pile all the votes on Tai, figuring that either he’ll go out with an idol in his pocket, or he’ll play it, Cydney will go, and they’ll still be in power. Actually a pretty good plan. It flushes the idol, keeps Julia’s potential flip allies in check, and it has plusses for Michele and Aubry, making them more likely to go along with it. Why would Michele and Aubry be inclined to go for Tai over Jason and Scot? Well, it’s a bit of a stretch, but they don’t know how the super idol works, and they didn’t SEE Tai give Jason back his half, so theoretically he’s the only one they know has an idol, making him an ideal target. Michele buys the whole thing hook, line, and sinker, and even Aubry admits that it’s definitely a good plan on Julia’s part. Aubry isn’t fully on board, though, mostly owing to still being on the Anti-Julia warpath. Watch out Aubry! You’re getting dangerously close to Stephen Fishbach’s “Joe Vote” level of determination from “Survivor Cambodia”!

So, if she’s really Anti-Julia, what’s Aubry to do? Join up with Scot, Jason, and Tai? Of course not! She’d move from a position of much power to a position of no power, and would still have to work with Julia in any case. No, Aubry instead tries to flip the script entirely, by buddying up with Tai. In a smart move, compared to Scot and Jason’s strongarming, Aubry is very low key, philosophizing about the game with Tai, and throwing out the offer that she’s a free agent who’s willing to work with him. What she means is that she wants Tai on her side, but Tai reads it as her volunteering to work with himself, Jason, and Scot. Intrigued, and friendly with Aubry, Tai goes to Jason and Scot, and proposes the idea of Aubry working with them. Scot responds by suggesting they vote Aubry out. What great people skills this pair has!

Actually, like with Julia, this is another area where I can’t actually give these two a hard time. Not to say that the way they phrased things to Tai was a good move, but there was a cut between Tai’s comment and Scot’s response, implying that there might have been other conversation between the two that may have been politer. Unlike, say, Nick’s conversation with Michele in episode 6, which was one clear, solid take of him disrespecting her, this may be a case of manipulative editing. Plus, to be fair, the move makes sense. Targeting Cydney is a pure revenge move, they’ve admitted that. Aubry, however, is emerging more and more as the real brains behind the majority alliance, and, as we’ve seen this episode, a bit of a challenge threat. She’s the smart person to target at this point. Plus, as they’ve noted, they’ve been so vocal about targeting Cydney that the opposition would never see it coming. Good logic, all around! Just maybe don’t be so unilateral about it.

Sure enough, Tai is upset about Scot and Jason not including him in their decisions so much, and debates leaving. While I get that it’s upsetting for Tai, at this point, the smart move is for him to stick with Scot and Jason. He’s pretty much guaranteed a final 3 spot against two guys who don’t look the best in front of a jury, and there’s the benefit of the super idol. Note, however, that I say his best move is to stay with Scot and Jason FOR NOW. That will change.

It’s time for the immunity challenge. They wanted to do the “Hold bars vertically against a plank.” challenge from “Survivor Gabon”, but realizing it wouldn’t fit with the holiday theme, they turned it 90 degrees and made it so that you were holding disks with pots attached to them instead. Not a bad twist, and more original that most of the challenges we’ve been seeing post-merge. Still, I feel like we can do better.

For all the lack of originality, DAMN if this isn’t a fun challenge. Unlike a lot of other endurance challenges we’ve had this season, we get a lot of good reactions and facial expressions this time around. I think there are two stand-outs, though, even amongst this cast. The first is Tai’s look when his left hand starts slipping. His head just SNAPS to the left, as if he’s saying “What are you doing? Stop that!” like some sort of drill sergeant. It’s pretty hilarious. Also, for whatever reason, this is one endurance challenge that Tai doesn’t do well at. Odd. The other great moment has to be when we get down to our final two combatants. Good versus evil. One alliance versus another. Aubry versus Jason. Jason, uncultured as he is, spits. This would be disgusting, but then Aubry decides to return the favor. Not to say that the “disgusting” factor goes away, but it is hilarious to see petit, likable Aubry copy move for move the behavior of a ruffian like Jason.

Sadly, good does not always win on “Survivor”, and despite seeming strong for most of the challenge, Aubry falls, leaving Jason to have his victory. Hearty congratulations are in order for the both of them, though in Aubry’s case they’re tinged with “Oh, sorry, you’re going home!”

With everything seemingly set in place, Julia comes over to inform the guys of the plan to vote for Tai. She encourages them to use the super idol on Tai, thereby transparently showing how what she really wants is the idol gone, but her two new allies still in the game. Ok, I think people have been a little harsh about how un-subtle Julia is, but this is one time where I will agree with the consensus. It’s so clear what Julia’s trying to do here, it’s not even funny. Scot and Jason agree with her plan, and give her assurances that, since they can’t beat Tai in the end, that as long as she complies with them, she’s final three.

And this, my friends, is the moment where it becomes the right move for Tai to flip. Super-idol aside, the main advantage of Tai sticking with Scot and Jason was a guaranteed final three spot, and therefore a likely win. With that option now off the table, even if it’s unlikely that Aubry and Cydney’s alliance will let him near the end either, the odds are still better with them, especially since he’ll have a lot more decision making power there than with Scot and Jason. Granted, having the possibility of a super-idol still makes them a semi-appealing prospect, but between his own idol and his advantage, Tai can probably make it at least a vote or two past when the other alliance would vote for him.

Aubry and Cydney talk it over, and decide Scot and Jason need to be split up. Naturally, this means switching the vote to Scot, since Jason has immunity. Plus, Scot annoys them. The tricky part is getting the votes. Julia can’t be trusted, and right now Michele’s with her, so they’re out. Joe can probably be persuaded to vote for Scot, but that’s still only three. Ergo, Aubry gets to work on Tai, trying to persuade him to vote for Scot. It’s worth noting the stark difference in how Aubry handles Tai to how Scot and Jason handle Tai. Aubry never actually throws a name out, instead simply telling Tai that he can make a move and he has three other people behind him. This gives Tai at least the feeling of agency (given how the vote ultimately goes for Scot, I’m guessing that the pair later came together and agreed on that target), and comes across well socially to him. Compare this to Scot and Jason basically telling him how to vote. It may not be the smart move from Tai’s perspective, since as far as we know he doesn’t know about Julia being promised final three, but it’s easy to see why it’s an appealing prospect for Tai.

Before we leave for Tribal Council, though, let us take a minute to note that, since he’s immune, Jason gives Scot his hidden immunity idol for safekeeping. Remember this. It will be the icing on the cake later.

Even though the editing dictates that Scot will go home, logic dictates that Aubry’s number is up. That’s a large part of why this episode is awesome, and also a large part of why this Tribal Council is awesome! Seriously, this may very well be the best Tribal Council of the season. Everyone is on point with their comments. From Michele talking about how balsy Jason and Scot’s idol move is, to Julia talking about shifting dynamics, to Aubry’s “deranged llama” comment with regards to the immunity challenge, this one was a blast. Oh but don’t think there weren’t good moments of strategy insight either. Aubry, when asked about what she thinks Jason and Scot are doing, says she’s run up against a wall with them, and can’t know what they’re doing. Scot jumps in here, pointing out that they offered her a chance to be in on the plan, and she was noncommittal. Yet another demonstration of the way Scot and Jason play, since Jason then backs him up. they bully and strong-arm people who dare go against them. And it doesn’t sit well with Tai. You can tell by the look on his face during the whole thing.

Ah, but perhaps the most telling comment of the night comes to us courtesy of Jason. Further elaborating on the “Aubry should have gone with us.” tack, he talks about how the momentum of the game has shifted, and you either need to jump on his train or get left behind. Actually, a pretty good metaphor in this case. Narrative and momentum are both important on “Survivor”, and at this point, individual survival is key. You want to win, but at the very least, you want to make it as far as possible. This means going with the flow. However, that flow might lead to someone else’s victory. In this case, Jason is setting up a narrative of “Go with us or perish.”, a narrative that could very easily get him to the end.

So what do you do? You change the narrative. And that’s exactly what Aubry has done tonight. If she hasn’t cemented her place in with the “Survivor” greats by now, this episode should do it. Rather than try to figure out a way around the Jason, Scot, and Tai threesome like everybody else, Aubry decided to flip the script entirely, take a known from their side, and convert him. It’s brilliant, masterful gameplay, and it makes me love Aubry all the more.

And it works! Yes, I haven’t been too subtle about it, but Scot gets voted for by Tai, and then Tai refuses him the super idol. Actually, props to the editing team on that one; they really upped the tension here of whether or not Tai would use his idol for Scot. Incidentally, I’ve been a fair-weather fan of the super idl, but I’d say this episode made it worth it. The drama from that one moment alone was worth the possibility of a super idol getting played at some point. Scot goes home and I am not sorry at all! While he had a few tender moments, Scot was by and large a bully whom I didn’t like watching, and we’d already seen what we needed from his character. Plus, after his treatment of Tai this episode, his eviction felt deserved.

Just to be abundantly clear, this was an EXCELLENT move on all parts. As I said, Tai has more agency with this new alliance, and as Scot and Jason had kicked him out of the finals anyway, most incentives to stay with them are gone. As for Aubry, Cydney, and Joe, they gain another potential ally, save a founding member from elimination, and regain power over the vote. All around, a gain for them, but especially Aubry. And, to top it all off, the hidden immunity idol is now gone! Scot never played it, and had to take it out of the game with him, eliminating another major threat to their alliance. They can’t have planned it that way, but it’s still a plus! It just occurred to me: that means that Jason winning immunity was arguably the BETTER outcome than Aubry winning immunity. Had Aubry won, I doubt Jason would have given his idol to Scot, and unless the vote would have gone for Jason instead, the idol would still be in the game, making things harder for the alliance. So, excellent loss, Aubry!

In case it wasn’t obvious, this was a FANTASTIC episode! Lots of funny character moments, good misdirection, and excellent strategy from all corners! And what better way to end off a fantastic episode than with another…

TOP 5 AND BOTTOM 5

Yes, I think we’re well past due for another one of these. Tonight’s topic is a bit hard to put into words. The best way I can describe it is as a list of “persuasive arguments”. Rarely is flipping by itself just a case of numbers. There needs to be some passionate reason behind it, like tonight with Aubry convincing Tai to vote out Scot. They’re a staple of “Survivor”, and we’re going to be counting down the best and the worst of them. There are two limitations here. One, to make the “Top 5” the argument has to have actually worked, and actually flipped somebody. Anything goes on “Bottom 5”, but something can only really bet “Top 5” material if it works. Two, only one argument per season. With all that said, let’s get started with…

TOP 5

5. Aubry’s Social Prowess (“Survivor Kaoh Rong”): Yes, let’s get the obvious choice for the list out of the way early. As I said earlier, Aubry’s persuasion of Tai was masterfully done, well deserving of a spot on this list. As I also said, though, it deprives us of any really stand-out quote or moment where she really got to Tai. In terms of gameplay, the perfect move, since what Tai seemed to want was autonomy in the alliance. In terms of viewership, however, the lack of one stand-out moment in this persuasion makes it pale in comparison to the other ones on this list. Still, well executed, and hardly a bad move at all.

4. Yul’s Super-Idol (“Survivor Cook Islands”): Ah, the moment that made “Survivor Cook Islands” what it was. If you remember anything from “Survivor Cook Islands”, except for the racial divide and the mutiny, it’s this moment here. The Aitu 4 were down in numbers come the merge, and things looked pretty bad. Fortunately, Yul Kwon was there to save him with his super-idol, as this was back int he day when ALL hidden immunity idols were super idols. Revealing it to Jonathan Penner, Yul effectively threatened Penner with eviction if he didn’t flip back over to join Aitu. Granted, that move was kind of a gimme which didn’t take much effort on Yul’s part, hence why it’s not higher on the list. What it lacks in effort, though, it makes up for in style. This is where Yul’s reputation as a “Survivor” “Godfather” got cemented, and the fact that it remains in the minds of the fans to this day makes it worthy of this list.

3. “If you could get rid of anyone, who would it be?” (“Survivor Cagayan”): Trish Hegarty is not really remembered amongst the players of “Survivor Cagayan”, and not unfairly so. Not to say that Trish was bad, just that she wasn’t as much of a character, and wasn’t really a strategic driving force overall, hence the focus on other characters. Still, she is not to be ignored entirely, and this one vote is her shining moment. With the new Solana alliance having lost Sarah to the new Appari alliance, it looked pretty bad for them as a whole. Then, however, Trish noticed that Sarah and Kass were not getting along very well. This led to her striking up a conversation with Kass in which she got Kass to admit that she’d like to see Sarah go. From there, Trish made a real 11th-hour play to switch the vote to Sarah, a move that ultimately saved her alliance and changed the course of the game, arguably even making Kass act against her own self-interest. It combines the prowess of Aubry’s move the memorableness of Yul’s move. Excellent work, Trish.

2. “Ace wants the idol.” (“Survivor Gabon”): No, I am NOT getting over my love for “Survivor Gabon”! My “Gaboner”, if you will. Granted, I will concede that the season starts out slow, and the first five or six episodes are nothing to write home about. But that back half, though! It’s got some amazing confessionals and strategy, and it all starts here, with Ken Hoang turning Sugar against her closest ally. With his allies turing on him, and Fang continually losing, Ken was in a bit of a spot here, quickly losing power on his tribe. What’s the solution? Why, turn the closest ally of your enemy, of course! Knowing that Sugar had the idol, Ken planted the thought in her head that Ace would ask her for the idol, since he was plotting against her. This was a bold-faced lie, but it was well-executed, and made all the more believable when Ace actually DID ask Sugar for the idol. Frankly, this move is reminiscent of Gollum’s actions in the movie version of “The Return of the King”, and that’s what makes in hilarious. That, and the mastery of this little guy turning the closest ally of his biggest enemy. Bravo, good sir!

1. “What’s your story?” (“Survivor Philippines”): I commented on it then, so it feels only right that I comment on it now. We once again get Jonathan Penner on the list, though this time in his third outing on the show. Penner, as seems to be the case with him, was down in numbers at the merge, and desperately trying to flip someone to his side. Since they both worked in show business, he opted to target Lisa Welchel. Not a bad idea in general, but it’s Penner’s brand of argument that seals the deal here. Rather than come at her from a numbers or a personality perspective, Penner takes the unique perspective of asking her how she wants the narrative of the game to unfold. Ok, maybe it’s a stretch to say that this mode of talking is UNIQUE to him, but at the time, it was the first of that type of argument that we’d seen, and it was fascinating to watch. A new take on strategy that is memorable and plays with the notions of the game? How could that not be number one?

Honorable Mention: “Jon is just, like, a girll!” (“Survivor Pearl Islands”): By my own rules, I can’t put this one on the list, since it didn’t work out as a flip. However, Sandra’s line here to Darrah about the physical prowess of Jonny Fairplay was too hilarious to not give a mention to. A very unique argument, to say the least!

BOTTOM 5

5. “The guys are sexist.” (“Survivor San Juan del Sur”): A bit of a cheat here, since morally speaking this is a perfectly legitimate reason to flip on one’s alliance. However, this list is largely about strategy, and guys being dicks to you is not enough to merit a flip back, Jaclyn. Granted, it could be argued that this was still a good move regardless, but the reasons behind it seem so lackluster on this season, that I can’t help but think badly of it. But oh, compared to what we’re GOING to be seeing on this list, it’s positively Vulcan!

4. Coach Taunts Sierra (“Survivor Tocantins”): If you want a textbook example of how NOT to persuade people to join your side, look no further than how Benjamin “Coach” Wade handles Sierra. After it was made clear that the old Jalapao were sticking together, Coach began to have second thoughts about going with them to the end. Naturally, this meant getting Sierra, someone he’d pretty much openly despised, on board with him. Sierra, a little bitter, asked that Coach admit how he’d treated her. Coach, rather than smartly aquiess to her demand, instead insisted that he’d done no such thing, and taunted her for it. To no one’s surprise, the old Timbira did not stick together for this vote. Yep, nothing more to say here except that this one was pretty bad.

3. “You take care of her, I’ll take care of you.” (“Survivor All-Stars”): Frankly, I’m still baffled this one worked. Sheer stupidity on the part of Lex Van Den Berghe earns this one a spot on this list. Lex had been working so damn hard to get his alliance at least half the tribe come the merge, and now he had a member of the enemy right in his hand. And he didn’t take the shot! Boston Rob’s supposed “favor” never came to pass, and Lex was rewarded as stupidity deserves. It was memorable, but only because of its ludicrousness.

2. Tyson Votes Himself Out (“Survivor Heroes vs. Villains”): Speaking of stupid moves, lets see a guy flip for literally NO REASON! Russell Hantz got into the head of Tyson Apostol that he could curry favor and power by changing his vote to Parvati, thereby undoing the split vote Boston Rob had planned out. Some creative idol play, and Tyson has effectively voted himself out! The manner in which Russell did it is unmemorable, hence why it doesn’t quite land on the top of this list, but stupidity of this caliber deserves at least some acknowledgement.

1. “12 Worry-Free Days” (“Survivor Exile Island”): I don’t really blame Terry Deitz for this one. Guy was trying to make the best of a bad situation, and didn’t have a whole lot of cards to play. But even considering that, this attempt at getting some of the old Casaya to flip was just a pathetic attempt. I can’t put it any better than Cirie did, so I’’ll just let her speak: “What does he have to offer me?”

Honorable Mention: “Please take this risk.” (“Survivor Vanuatu”): Probably one of the most memorable flips of “Survivor”, but also one of the least exciting in terms of argument. After being given the idea to flip Eliza by Twila and Scout, Chris went to go recruit her. No small feat, since Eliza didn’t like either Twila or Scout, and certainly the move is impressive in terms of results. But I don’t know, there’s just something lame about your signature line being “Please, take this risk.” Just doesn’t stand out as much as some others. What it does speak to is Chris’ social prowess, and for that alone, I can’t put this one on the list proper.

Well, there you have it. Great episode, great list, great blog (I hope)! This season has been excellent so far, and it shows no signs of slowing.

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Kaoh Rong” Episode 9: Freberg v. Nale

Ok, editing team, I’ve praised you for a lot this season, and doubtless I’ll praise you in the future, but you’re going off the rails here. It’s not that I DON’T want to see dynamic characters who are neither straight heroes nor villains, but you’re really starting to confuse me here. First, you make out that Jason and Scot are bullies. Then, you have them conquer adversity and find good alliances. THEN, you go out of your way to make us like them with children and mothers, but NOW you go and make them cocky assholes. I’m not saying someone portrayed as an asshole needs to stay that way the entire time, but at least TRY to make it a progression from one to the other, don’t flip-flop back and forth.

But now it’s time for me to flip-flop, specifically back to last episode. Yep, it’s time for another edition of…

MATT’S MESS-UP!

Actually a very brief one this time. I made mention that this past episode’s reward was particularly harsh since it was delivered to camp, thereby really rubbing it in for everyone else. What I NEGLECTED to mention was that the group actually stayed very civil about the whole thing, and that one of the things that caused Michele’s turn was Jason hollering over to them to live it up a little. It was a nice gesture of them to do, and I’m on Michele’s side on this one. Pretty much as simple as that.

Just when you thought the days of getting straight to the point were gone, we get our sabotage scenes nearly right off the bat. Scot gives a token confessional about being blindsided, but to his credit, he’s actually pretty respectful, calling it a good move on their parts. About the worst thing he says is that the old To Tang alliance is dead, which is fair, and also brings up my point again about why this move was bad for Cydney. While it certainly helps build her a resume for the Final Tribal Council, it also most likely puts two people on the jury who now despise her. Because, as we see now and later in the episode, it’s her that Scot and Jason are particularly pissed at, which is never a good thing on “Survivor”.

The niceness is not to last, though. The pair get together with Tai and agree to sabotage the camp for daring to betray them. Stop getting food, hide the tools, things like that. What? You say that Jason feels that Russell Hantz (“Survivor Samoa”) is the guy who really knew how to play the game? I never would have guessed! Yes, the three are blatantly emulation the Russell Hantz game now, though Tai is admittedly reluctant in this regard. Their justification is that they need to create psychological tension in the alliance, so that cracks will form that they can use to save themselves. Now, in terms of pure logic, this strategy does make sense. Deprivation would cause tempers to rise, which would logically lead to the fracturing of alliances. Unfortunately for Scot, Jason, and Tai, this effect is counteracted by the fact that EVERYONE KNOWS IT’S THEM! The other times this strategy has been pulled off successfully, the perpetrator was able to hide their identity well enough to reap the benefits of tension without the cost of everyone blaming the saboteur. In Russell’s case, he did it so early and secretly that no one could guess that it was him. They had nine other people to blame, since no one was clearly on the outs. On “Survivor Pearl Islands”, Sandra was successfully able to push blame for throwing out fish onto her ally Christa, though admittedly this was more of a happy accident than actual skill on Sandra’s part. Still, the point being, when everyone knows it’s you, it makes you a target. No one likes a saboteur, so in reality, all you’re doing is painting targets on yourselves.

The three put their plan into action next morning, Scot and Jason spiriting away a hatchet and a machete while Joe tends the fire. To prove my point about why this is stupid, everybody correctly blames them for this maneuver, with even DEBBIE (who really goes off the rails this episode) correctly blaming them. They have no evidence to support this, but really, who else would it be? Still, our stalwart castaways are not to be deterred, and come up with a new way of opening coconuts, by throwing them in the fire and then hitting them with a saw. Why they don’t just saw through the coconut without doing the fire is beyond me, but it seems to work nicely. Cydney in particular can’t help commenting on their impressive outside-the-box thinking, and it irritates Scot, who thereby graduates from doing something REALLY stupid to something INCREDIBLY stupid. With the hiding of the things, you could argue that they were at least doing their sabotage at night, when no one could firmly blame the act on them. Now, however, Scot just goes and dumps (presumably fresh) water on the fire, in full view of everybody. Now, not only is there CLEAR evidence of who’s committing the sabotage, but it really doesn’t accomplish much in the way of psychological warfare. Unlike the machete and hatchet, a fire can be restarted, and water can be boiled again. All you do is make people hate you for inconveniencing them. Not even an arguable negative for this one. Following this, Scot and Jason talk about how they need to escalate their sabotage, which REALLY gets on Tai’s conscience, even asking the pari why they need to do what they do on that scale. Jason argues that they’re going to be voted out anyway, so why not do it? The answer, Jason, is that until your torch is snuffed, there’s not GUARANTEE that will happen. This episode is evidence enough of that. All you do by openly antagonizing them is making it MORE likely that they’ll vote you off, because now you’re a liability. Well done.

Off to the reward challenge, and for a change of pace, we get a COMBINATION of reused challenges instead of a single reused challenge. Divided into two teams of four, the members will have to untangle themselves from four sets of ropes and race back to start. Once unclipped, they must throw sand bags at bamboo chutes, knocking them off a platform. First team with all chutes knocked off wins Chinese food delivered to camp for them. I’m tired of the damn bamboo chute and sandbags thing! It’s been around, at least in wide concept, since “Survivor Philippines”, and while I get that’s it’s probably easy to make and set up, it’s a lame concept that’s never really worked as a “challenge”. The rope untwisting is pretty cool, though. Reminds me of the first part of the second immunity challenge from “Survivor South Pacific”.

In his pre-challenge banter, Probst brings out the division in the tribe, as evidenced by last Tribal Council, and it comes out that it’s Scot, Jason, and Tai versus the girls (and Joe). With that in mind, Probst offers them the opportunity to forgo the usual schoolyard-pick, and offers to let them divide themselves into even teams naturally. One person has to sit out, and Joe immediately volunteers. Fortunately, “Survivor Nicaragua” rears it’s head, though in a good way this time. After many seasons of being absent, the person left out of the reward challenge now gets to bet on a team to win, and shares in the reward if they bet correctly. I’ve always really liked this twist. It keeps the sit-out involved, albeit in a very tangential way, but it can also reveal where one’s loyalties truly lie. In this case, Joe isn’t an idiot, and sides with the women of his alliance. Good move, Joe.

However, since Scot, Jason, and Tai are only three, someone from the majority alliance has to go with them. After a brief pause, Julia volunteers as tribute. Unlike “The Hunger Games”, however, this doesn’t make her a little hero. Even though it seemed to me that she left plenty of time before volunteering, she still makes both Cydney and Aubry suspicious of her motives. And, sure enough, we hear from Julia that she volunteered on purpose, wanting to be close to Scot, Jason, and Tai to be a potential swing vote. A pretty good strategy for her in theory, but the problem is, everyone knows it. This is the sort of thing that needs to be played out subtly, behind everyone’s back. When people KNOW you’re the swing vote, it often makes you a target. More on that in a second.

You would think, with the first part of the challenge, that bulky people like Jason and Scot would be a detriment to their team. Surprisingly, though, their team gets through that portion with a slight lead over the others, and while a valiant effort is made by the other team on the sandbag portion, that foursome win the Chinese food reward. Once again it’s back at camp, but this time it seems a bit farther away. Far away, at least, for the four to talk strategy. Showing no subtlety whatsoever, Julia flat out admits that she’d like to work with the three, and once again opines that she’s the swing vote. Ok, she is in a private conversation with people she wants to gain trust with, but with how much people are saying that she’s untrustworthy as a swing vote, it feels like she’s doing it wrong. She DOES make a major error I can point to in a bit, but for now, she’s playing ok, but for the fact that everyone knows what she’s doing. It’s basically another Kelly Goldsmith (“Survivor Africa”) type situation. Julia clearly knows what she’s supposed to do, and doesn’t seem to be doing anything suspicious, but since people ARE so suspicious of her, it implies that she must be doing something wrong, even if I can’t pinpoint to exactly what it is.

As a side note, while I gave a hard time for the flip-flopping edits of Scot and Jason, Julia’s edit, such as it is, is an offender as well in this regard. We pretty much hear NOTHING from her until the swap. Then she gets a bit of screen time during episode six when it seems like she might be going, and she comes across as a pretty smart, determined young lady. Then she disappears again, and now we’re supposed to buy that she’s a naive flipper. Once again, editors, MAKE UP YOUR MINDS!

Sure enough, a meeting of the minds between Cydney and Aubry comes to the conclusion that Julia needs to be blindsided, preferably now. While I can see the logic, since she’s not being loyal, I can’t really get behind this move. Even if you can’t count Julia as a number, what’s important is that one of the four reward winners leaves. If you go with Julia rather than Scot, Tai, or Jason, you risk fracturing your alliance beyond repair. At this point, Scot, Jason, and Tai can be counted a solid threesome, and you’ve only had one vote to earn trust. A fracture now could be disastrous later on. Plus, you’ve got a super idol to flush. Stuck to their plan, though, Aubry approaches Debbie about said plan. Debbie, however, is too pissed about the sabotage, and thinks the vote ought to be split. Debbie, what happened? You seemed to have good strategic moments there, but now you’re stongarming people, not listening to sense, and just being rude and unstrategic! Bring back the old Debbie!

Oh, but Aubry, don’t think you’re getting off scott-free (or would that be Scot-free?) in this exchange either! While I do like you, and I sympathize with Debbie being unreasonable, accusing Debbie of “playing emotionally” is a bit hypocritical. Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t you want PETER gone at your first Tribal Council, because he annoyed you more than Liz? What do you call that?

To cement that he’s in with the threesome, Tai overcomes his conscience and pours some water on the fire during the night. It doesn’t cause much of a reaction from anyone, but since Tai was smart enough to wait until everyone was ASLEEP to do it, so it doesn’t reflect negatively on him, and I can’t complain too much. Our challenge, though, is another matter. A relic of “Survivor Gabon”, this challenge has people stacking blocks one at a time along a board, while having to avoid trip pipes that can knock over said blocks. First person to get their blocks to all knock over to the end wins immunity. Now, this is definitely a trick and exciting challenge that’s not TOO overused, so why am I upset? Because every time they do this challenge, they make it easier and easier. In its initial iteration, the trip ups were a net of ropes at odd angles, not a grid you had to step over. On top of that, the board you had to place the blocks on was hilly, not flat, and the blocks had odd-shaped bottoms, making it a puzzle to figure out where they went. Now? It’s basically a game of dominoes with a precision component thrown in. LAME!

At the very least, this challenge gives us a lot of good back and forth, plus a great tracking shot following the ultimate winner’s stack of blocks all the way to the end. Incidentally, Julia wins. Aubry is upset, to say the least.

To make matters worse, when everyone gets back to camp, the women’s alliance (and Joe) convene to decide how to do the votes, since Julia’s immune. Debbie, coming to the conclusion that the sabotage on Jason’s end means he’s trying to attract votes, suggests they split between Scot and Tai, as a move they’ll never see coming. Not a bad plan, all things considered. It even counters the super idol, since it could only make either Scot or Tai immune, leaving it up to the one of them who didn’t get it. However, Debbie spills the beans RIGHT IN FRONT OF JULIA! Understandable, since Debbie’s been the steadfast defender of Julia in the alliance, but bad because Julia’s playing both sides. Accordingly, Julia spills the beans to Scot and Jason, no questions asked. And, here’s where the criticism of Julia comes in. While it’s one thing to play the swing vote, giving up vital information so easily, especially when you’re not sure if anyone else would come with you, is risky. Julia needed to firm up things with her other potential flipper before making this move. True, as Scot says, the split vote means only Julia need flip for this vote, but even then, it’s still a 4-4 tie after tonight, and with the super idol gone, that’s no the best of situations. It’s one thing to play the swing vote, it’s another to do it badly.

With the old To Tang going for Cydney (told you she made herself a target), it looks to be a question of whether or not Julia will flip, meaning either Scot or Cydney is probably going. It seems, however, that the urge to make a move has bitten Aubry. Debbie’s lack of logic is getting to her, so she and Cydney concoct a plan to blindside Debbie. Oddly this is a better move for Cydney, but a horrible move for everyone else. Once again, like with Julia, it fractures an already fragile alliance, and in the case of Aubry and Joe, it loses them a valuable ally which basically guaranteed them final three. It’s good for Cydney because it puts her in the middle of two twosomes come final five, and because she’s a target tonight, so staying the course is not good. Apart form that, though, bad idea.

This might not be happening, though. Aubry is confident that Joe will be on her side, but she forgets that Joe’s goal this season is evidently to not be involved in any strategy whatsoever. He point blank refuses to vote for Debbie. Undeterred, Cydney goes to Julia, the defector, and tries to get her on board with the plan, a further risky maneuver. At least Julia doesn’t go off and tell Scot and Jason about this one, though.

At first, Tribal Council seems like a tense, but relatively cut-and-paste affair. But then, downfield, I do believe we have the Malcolm Freberg-Maneuver! Yes, yes, there are the idols out in the open. Ah, for those who don’t know, the Malcolm Freberg-Maneuver was invented on “Survivor Caramoan”. It works on the logic that, since hidden immunity idols theoretically save you only one vote, it is better to reveal that you have them at Tribal Council, throwing everyone else into chaos, and potentially taking votes off of you without playing said idols. While we’ve seen this done before, this does bring an air of uncertainty to Tribal Council, as well as a lot of whispering in ears. While a bit theatrical, the move is largely played well, except for one bit. With only two immunity idols to split between the three of them, and no individual immunity, Jason and Scot say they’ll do rock-paper-scissors to see who gets the idol. This should be the clue to everyone else that they aren’t actually planning to play said idols. No one would be THAT stupid to decide who gets an idol that way. Still, now it’s all the more reason not to blindside Debbie. The only counter to the Malcolm Freberg-Maneuver is to go with the “Keith Nale Defense” developed on “Survivor San Juan del Sur”, and “Stick to the Plan.” This forces the idols to be played, removing their threat. Worst case scenario, you lose a member, and the idols are out of the game.

If I’ll give the editors credit for anything this episode, they DO do a good job of faking us out with regards to Scot and Jason. They actually do play for the idol, and for one moment, you think they may in fact be that stupid. But no, they give it to Tai as a super idol, to be played for any of them. Well guys, now’s your chance to flush it.

Sadly, as I’ve implied, the Malcolm Freberg-Maneuver is not performed. Debbie ends up going home, and Tai ends up with the super idol. Whether or not he’ll give it back remains to be seen, but that’s for next episode. For now, we mourn Debbie. I can’t say she didn’t EARN her exit. For all that I gave Aubry a hard time this episode for her dismissal of Debbie, and for all that I think it was ultimately the wrong move, I will concede that I understand the thinking. Debbie was being illogical, alienating people, and becoming more trouble than she was worth. She wasn’t playing well, and for that she deserves to go. For all that, I like Debbie, and am sad we don’t get more of her. She was crazy, in a Coach Wade (“Survivor Tocantins”) sort of way, but she didn’t have his hypocrisy, and played better overall. Debbie will be missed, and I look forward to seeing her on the jury/on future seasons.

One thing the move DOES do, though, is make me think better of Cydney’s flip last episode. It’s clear now that she’s the real power of this alliance, being the in with both Michele and Julia, and effectively co-calling the shots with Aubry. Much more power than she had in her old alliance. Plus, my main gripe with the move was that she went from a guaranteed final three to begin fourth at best against the old Chan Loh. With Debbie gone, she’s got more even odds in that alliance, and is therefore much more likely to make it to the final three, possibly against people she can beat. Perhaps this will work out for her after all.

While I am a bit annoyed that we had so much time on the Julia subplot when it amounted to nothing, this was still a pretty good episode. The misdirection wasn’t as good as it has been, but it was still good enough, and while the plotline of this episode was clearly broadcast from the get-go, it was still a roller-coaster ride of entertainment that I thoroughly enjoyed! I don’t want to get off, so you can be sure I’m looking forward to next week!

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Kaoh Rong” Episode 7: The Return of the Knee

Why must the things I love always get stupid knee infections that require being pulled from the game? Yes, just when you’d thought we’d seen the end of the four-peats on “Survivor”, Jonathan Penner (“Survivor Cook Islands”) comes back with a vengeance, and takes it out on poor Neal. Penner at least had the decency to wait until Neal would end up on the jury to wreak havoc, but it’s still not very nice. Shame on you, Penner.

But first, time for another edition of…

MATT’S MESS-UP!

Yes, I’m really on a roll here! Two episodes in a row where I made a mistake in my blog! Rather than a mistake of omission this time, it’s a mistake of misremembering, so at least there’s some variety there. When talking about Debbie’s “Women’s alliance” move with Michele, I say that they agree to go against Nick. Who they actually target is Jason. I wonder how I could possibly have made that mistake, given that Nick’s been getting the “douchbag” portrayal, and apart from some bullying, Jason’s been getting a pretty good edit thus far. Plus, Michele has personal conflict with Nick. Why would I EVER assume that Nick would be targeted before Jason. But now, once again, it’s Penner Time.

Yes, Penner ultimately does a number on the old Chan Loh, but he’s not the only one. Chaos reigns at the new Gondol post-Tribal Council, as you’d expect given how chaotic it was. Scot in particular is unhappy with the outcome, which makes sense given his “No Nonsense” sort of personality. However, he first takes his rage out on Joe for voting against the plan, which is odd, since Joe never seemed to be IN on that plan. These are the sort of things we ought to SEE, producers! Fortunately for Joe, he’s not the only one to be on the receiving end of a Scot rant. No, despite the fact that Aubry ultimately DID WHAT YOU WANTED, Scot thinks her waffling is too much to bear. A bit of an overreaction, but I can at least see his logic. As I said, Scot is not a complicated guy, and wants everything to stay simple. This move of Aubry’s is anything but simple. In her defense, I will say that she might legitimately have been confused, given the chaos of Tribal Council, but I do get Scot’s idea. Still, he’s being harsh, and starts earning that “bully” title that he and Jason have been wearing of late. He’s particularly mean in saying that, come next Tribal Council, he’ll be writing down “Aubry” and “Joe” alternately, and then crossing out all but his actual vote. That’s just harsh. Aubry and Joe both realize the predicament they’re in, lamenting that now they don’t have the numbers. Yep, if we didn’t know the merge was coming, this would be particularly bad!

Just to pile on the “royally screwed” for the old Chan Loh, we see a scene of Neal “fishing” with a saw. This in and of itself is nothing special, but Cydney breaks her silence to have a keen observation. There’s a noticeable bulge in Neal’s pocket, and given that we see that he’s not mad keen on working with the old To Tang, I doubt he’s happy to see you. She and Jason correctly conclude that it’s an idol. Since they plan on working against the old Chan Loh, blindsiding Neal becomes a top priority. While Neal didn’t hide the idol somewhere other than his person will forever remain a mystery.

In a stunning twist, however, the whole of the new Chan Loh is blindsided! A strange boat approaches shore, and a note tells them to gather their things in five minutes, since a merge is nigh! Just as we were told! Remember back in the old days, when the merge would come up in really unexpected and exciting ways, where each one was unique? Well, those days are gone, and the merge is just a ho-hum event now. Granted, the edition of a time limit in gathering things is nice, but we’ve seen it before, and we don’t get any real chaos from this one, so what was the point?

Evidently the two beaches are just a commercial break away, as everyone gathers on the Gondol Beach for the merge, Aubry celebrating her new life in this game. During the usual “How nice! The merge!” confessionals, we learn that the tribe’s name is Dara. Evidently we only get one good name every now and again, because after the triumph of a name that was “Orkun”, we now get something as simple and lame as “Dara”. Wow, that’s REALLY lazy and unmemorable. Come on, make your new tribe name something UNIQUE already! What’s worse, we don’t even get any sort of logic behind this new name! Is it the name of someone’s loved one? An actual word in K’hmer? Nonsense made up because it sounds funny? Was someone just a really big fan of Darrah Johnson from “Survivor Pearl Islands”, and just couldn’t spell her name right? Give me some answers here!

Sigh… Well, at least their flag looks cool when we see it.

As is now the norm with this cast, everything seems cordial at the merge feast. Flirtation abounds, as Debbie confesses her feelings towards Nick, and more humorously, Scot and Jason get in a joking fight over the affections of Tai. Ok, I’m going to be giving this episode a REALLY hard time later, so let me say for the record that this particular scene is great and hilarious. Definitely the highlight of the episode.

Sadly, as it always must, the bliss of the new merge ends. Unsurprisingly, resident douchebag Nick is the one to bring us back to our senses by being a douchebag and talking about how awesome and observant he is. Unlike last episode, at least at first, his observations seem to be a bit off the mark. He talks about the arrogance of the old To Tang, and while we do see a BIT of that later, we initially get that confessional over the comedic “Tai flirtation” scene, which doesn’t really seem arrogant at all.

The next scene doesn’t really give us arrogance either! Stupidity, perhaps, but not arrogance. Up until this point, while perhaps a bit blunt and unforgiving, Scot could be said to be playing a smart game, making the moves he needs to make and keeping everything on the down-low. Here, after being informed by Jason of the “Neal has an idol!” thing, Scot spills the beans to Nick AFTER BARELY KNOWING HIM! Sure, Nick’s made it pretty clear that he wants to go with them, but Scot can’t really know that, and that’s a BIG secret to share with someone who’s loyalty has yet to be tested, guy! Surely, though, Jason is better than this, and won’t be spilling even more beans to to Nick…

Oh wait, scratch that, Jason wants on the stupid train as well! He gets Scot talking about Tai’s idol, and the power they have. So now, you’re giving Nick even more power! Great work there, brain trust! Between that and your asshole-y “Shoving geeks in lockers.” comment later on, you guys are really dropping every ball this evening. First the strategy ball, and now the likability ball.

Sure enough, while he plays everything close to the chest, Nick DOES go and talk to the old Chan Loh, considering the fact that, as Neal points out, the old To Tang members are more likely to win individual challenges, and as Aubry later points out, are a tight threesome, whereas the old Chan Loh has more room to maneuver into. It’s actually a pretty decent dilemma, though it would at first seem odd that it’s the old Gondol that’s being wooed by both sides. Logic dictates that when you have two foursomes and a threesome, that you try and woo the threesome to get a majority. In this case, however, it makes sense that the old Gondol, rather than the old To Tang, would be the swing votes. After all, while the old Gondol is tied for most original tribe members left, they’re a fractious bunch, whereas the old To Tang and the old Chan Loh are both pretty united fronts. Thus, not only do you not need to swing all of them, but they’re overall an easier bunch to swing. It’s pretty standard gameplay, but as I’ve said before, after blogging seasons like “Survivor One World”, it’s nice to see groups of people collectively doing the sensible thing.

But enough with Nick, where does Michele stand on this? After all, she’s the other swing vote. You’d think, especially given how tight they were before the swap, that Michele and Julia would stick as swing votes together, but Julia for this entire episode is counted as a number for To Tang, and we never hear anything to the contrary. I guess one vote buys eternal loyalty now. Jason tries to woo Michele and Julia, and it’s here that we get the aforementioned “Geeks in lockers.” comment. Now Jason’s being somewhat arrogant, but Nick’s confessionals are nowhere to be found. Now, it’s sounding like Jason thinks his side is the obvious one, and he’s got the game all figured out. Not as much arrogance as we’ll be seeing later, but it’s enough to get Michele questioning her loyalties. As she puts it “She’s not married to Brawn and Beauty just yet.”

Meanwhile, back in Nick-land (yes, sadly we spend the majority of our time here this episode. Curse you swing vote!), we actually get some stuff that’s only TANGENTIALLY related to Nick, instead of directly. Basically, Debbie wants to make sure that her group stays in the majority, and this means finding allies wherever she can. Rather than be fully confident in Nick, she tries to gain other allies, which is good. But then she goes about it in a moronic way, which as you might guess, isn’t good at all. She basically ambushes Tai, and effectively tells him “We’re in an alliance now.” Tai, naturally, is put off by this, thereby ruining any chance he had of flipping. Granted, those chances were minimal to begin with, since he and Scot seem to have something going, but still, nice work, Debbie. She calls it “Aggressive Play”. Pretty much everyone else calls it “Horrible Play” And Debbie had been doing so well, too! Look, it’s not that looking for allies is bad, but you want to keep it on the down-low, and have it be by mutual consent. By strong-arming people, you turn them off to working with you. By being blatant about making new allies, you turn your old ones against you. Silent backup plans are one thing, but blatant fraternizing with the enemy only serves to weaken your position.

Oh, but Debbie isn’t done! She must COMPOUND the stupidity by basically doing the same thing to Nick, a guy you were masterfully stringing along one episode ago! WHY?!

Yes folks, after a long hiatus, we’ve returned to genuinely stupid gameplay. I’ve resisted “Coach” (“Survivor Tocantins”) comparisons a lot on this blog, in large part because everyone has already made them, but also because I haven’t felt them appropriate. Yes, they’re both people sort of on the fringe of sanity with some decent gameplay in them, but Debbie doesn’t seem as publicly self-aggrandizing as Coach ever did, and her stories, while still a bit ludicrous, are much more plausible than Coach’s. Here, though, Debbie goes full Coach. There’s no other comparison. Talking about how no one is playing on the level you are? Strong-arming people who don’t need to be strongarmed? Find me a better fit than Coach.

Still, one good thing does come of Debbie’s return to madness: Aubry comes into her own!

Yep, someone needs to do damage control, and that someone is Aubry. Taking her own initiative, she talks to Nick on her own, vainly trying to convince him that Debbie can be controlled, and that he and Michele would be way up in the alliance. Nick’s certainly willing to listen, and even seems to respect the pitch, but isn’t biting overall. Aubry relays this info to her ally Neal, now that the two have reconnected. All seems lost, until Neal reveals his idol to Aubry. At this point, given how much of a mess Debbie’s made, it’s highly unlikely that Nick and Michele can be pulled back into the fold, so while I’m never a fan of “idol play” as the main plan, I can see why it would be attractive and a good idea here.

We could move on to the challenge, but I want to spend another paragraph talking about Aubry. I know, I know, it’s blatant favoritism for my favorite player from this season, but it’s my blog, I get to do that. Plus, I think it merits mentioning. I’ve seen a number of people online saying that Aubry has no chance, that she’s just a wallflower who hasn’t really done anything. And it’s true, we haven’t seen as much of her as some others, because she’s not as big a character, but she’s far from done nothing, and I use this particular interaction with Nick as evidence. While it sadly seems to take a lot to get Aubry moving into more of a “game mode”, when the chips are down, this girl gets stuff done! Give her a tough situation, and she steps up to the plate and does everything in her power to swing things in her favor. In many ways, that’s harder to do than creating a blindside when you’re in power, since you have despair to contend with along with everything else. We haven’t seen as much of it beyond this episode (apart from her performance at the first immunity challenge), but you can tell it’s there, and that’s what makes me like her. She tackles adversity head-on, and won’t give up until she’s won or lost firmly, and that, above all else, is to be admired. And while she did act aloof when in power, and maybe could have handled the Peter boot slightly better, this shows that she can be quite an excellent social player when she wants to be.

Well, if I’m going to have MY indulgence, I’d better give Probst one as well. Hence, before we get to our immunity challenge, we get the “Infection Hour”, where Probst out of pretty much nowhere gets everyone talking about their infections. Tai, Scot, and Aubry all have infections on the inner thigh, while Neal has “Mount St. Neal” on his knee, which looks pretty bleak. Thank you, Probst, for showing us these out-of-the-blue injuries that weren’t built up at all and are pretty horrible to look at.

Oh, and we should also talk about this season’s individual immunity idol. Not as good as the tribal immunity idol, but that was a tough act to follow. This one does a pretty good job, being a circle of woven bands of tribe-colored string, but with some shrunken heads added for effect. A bit out there, and not the most stand-our idol ever, but it gets the job done pretty well. It sort of combines the best elements of the individual immunity idols from “Survivor Africa” and “Survivor Philippines” with the tribal immunity idol from “Survivor Exile Island”.

Ok, ok, so I’m stalling because I don’t want to talk about the immunity challenge! It’s SO BORING! It’s the damn “balance the balls on the disc” challenge that originated on “Survivor Redemption Island”. Already a bad sign, and made worse by the fact that it doesn’t look interesting the slightest, and is overused to the point of nausea. I get that it’s easy to make, challenging, and a nice endurance challenge, but REALLY, come up with something better.

At least we get a nice surprise in this one. With a challenge being about balance, you expect larger, top-heavy men to be first out of this one, and it somewhat holds true with Joe being the first casualty. But the Debbie falls, being outlasted by both Jason and Scot. Granted, they’re not far behind, but I had Debbie as a potential winner of this challenge. Guess those years of waitressing didn’t help out too much after all. And, in the end, Nick wins the whole thing, beating out Tai and Julia in the final round. Whodathunkit? Personally, I’d have picked either of those two over Nick.

Since Nick was a swing vote, his winning immunity doesn’t change anything, so it seems like the old To Tang will take it all this time around. And let me tell you, they REALLY kick it into high gear with the arrogance now, talking about how their plan can’t possibly fail, and they’re going to pick off the old Chan Loh one by one. Yeah, suffice to say that Jason and Scot really don’t look too good this episode, and if I didn’t have a HUGE dislike for them before, I do now.

That’s not to say, of course, that they aren’t somewhat justified in that arrogance. They do seem to be in the dominant position. Nick’s pretty much already declared his loyalty, such as it is, but Debbie and Aubry make another attempt to sway the opinion of Michele. Unfortunately, in a rare misstep for Aubry this episode, she lets Debbie do the talking. While Debbie doesn’t do QUITE as badly as she did with Tai and Nick, and Aubry does bring up a good point about the tightness of the old To Tang, they still come off looking wishy-washy, not helped when they can’t even decide whether to target Scot or Jason. Come on, Aubry, you can do better than this!

In one really good move for Nick, he and Michele discuss their strategy. Last time this happened, you’ll recall that Nick dismissed Michele’s thoughts out of hand, and alienated a potential ally. Neither of these things is really a good idea. Evidently, Nick can travel through time, somehow read this blog in the time between episodes, and took it to heart, because he plays this PERFECTLY! He politely asks Michele what she wants, agrees with her, and makes it like a discussion. And thus, the deal is set to send Aubry home, since the alliance doesn’t yet have the numbers to split the votes, and they’re certain that Aubry won’t have the idol. Pretty good misdirection as to whether or not Aubry will end up with idol, should make for a fun Tribal Council. Sad to see such a definitive answer to where Nick and Michele would go, but I can’t fault them for that decision. The old Chan Loh has not been presenting themselves well this episode, and it’s just smarter to go with the old To Tang. They may be united, but you can outthink them, and if you can unite, you’re four over three, which are pretty good odds. Plus, you’re sticking with your old tribemates, which is generally safer than going into the unknown.

But wait! We see Probst coming in with one Dr. Rupert (yeah, yeah, “He’s Rupert from ‘Survivor Pearl Islands’!”, everyone’s made that joke already), and right away, you can see where this episode is going. We were promised three medical evacuations, and we’ve only had one. Someone’s getting carted away, thus paving the way for a repeat of “Survivor Philippines”, with the returnees being exclusively from “Survivor Kaoh Rong”. And this, my friends, is where the episode dies. It hadn’t been the best before, with a lot of cocky arrogance making it hard to watch. While the dilemma of which side would win was a good one, it’s about to get neutered, making this episode pretty much pointless. On top of that, there was pretty much NO foreshadowing for this! And granted, I don’t like when they telegraph a boot, but I feel like medical evacuations are the place where we NEED some warning. Build up the spectacle through the entire episode. Don’t just mention it before the challenge, and then suddenly have it be the defining factor. This came out of the blue, and I don’t like it one bit. It renders most of the episode pointless, and delays the interesting conflict.

Everyone with an infection gets examined, with differing results. Tai’s look ok, so he’s safe. Scot’s is worse, but not too bad, so he just gets away with close monitoring. Aubry’s is like Scot’s but, bigger, so she gets put on antibiotics. With one medical evacuation still on the way, that’s pretty worrying, but she’s not leaving the game. The problem is Neal. Despite not feeling any pain, the infection is near the joint, which worries Dr. Rupert. To his credit, Neal does pretty much everything he can to avoid being pulled from the game. He protests, insists it’s fine, and only caves in when the doctor insists he has to leave. Thankfully, Probst largely leaves the proceedings alone for everyone, just making a clarifying comment after each examination. That’s the role he really needs to play here, and he does it well.

But yes, this means the loss of Neal, which is a sad one. We sadly didn’t see too much of Neal, and I get the feeling he’ll go down as a poorly-remembered player of the season, but I got the idea that he had more in him than we saw, and I hope we get the chance to develop it later.

Neal has a tearful goodbye with everyone, though he pulls a Colton Cumbie (“Survivor One World”), and opts to keep the idol for himself. I’d say that he did it because giving his alliance the idol would make them targets, but if J.T. can slip an idol into a freaking SHOE on “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains” without it being seen, then surely Neal can find a way to drop it in Aubry’s bag or something. Come on, dude, you know they’re in trouble! Find a way to help them out!

So basically, we had an unforeshadowed exit of a good player by unsatisfying means, thereby delaying all the good stuff for next episode. You see why this one doesn’t really work. Apart from the “good person leaving” part, this is pretty much a carbon-copy of the merge episode of “Survivor San Juan del Sur”, which, need I remind you, is NOT the season to copy! We have someone getting a non-gameplay elimination, thus delaying an interesting conflict in both. Is this one as bad as the one on “Survivor San Juan del Sur”? Thankfully no. There, we had a quit rather than a medevac, which is harder to watch, and the arrogance here wasn’t AS painful, so points there. That does not, however, a good episode make.

Fortunately, there are two good points this time around. First off, the rise of Aubry is fun to watch, and will hopefully continue to be fun to watch! I’d like to think she can find a way out of this, but I don’t see one at the moment. Second, though, the debate of which side to go with can now continue into next episode, and as we saw in “Survivor San Juan del Sur”, that can make all the difference.

But, since it’s merge time, it’s time for another:

TOP 5 AND BOTTOM 5!

Since they’re what the episode SHOULD have been about, let’s talk medevacs. Hardly the most pleasant part of the show, and things that should be avoided at all costs, they can nevertheless make for the occasional spectacle that reminds us of the seriousness of the environment. While I don’t wish harm on anyone, in a perverse way, they can be entertaining. Therefore, I’ll be judging these medevacs based on entertainment value. For me, that comes down to a combination of the spectacle of their injury, plus the person it’s happening to and their reaction to it. Again, it’s perverse, but it’s human nature. Like a car crash, you can’t look away. Also, if this person appeared on multiple seasons, I’ll be listing the one they were on when they got evacuated for them. Let’s get started with…

TOP 5

5. Bruce Kanegai (“Survivor Exile Island”): People tend to forget that medevacs were rare back in the day, let alone seeing medical. When Bruce’s colon became blocked, it was the first time in five years that medical had to come out and look at someone. That alone made it stand out, but the fact that it happened to Bruce made it rougher. Like the guy for his quirkiness or hate him for how entitled and bossy he could be, you had to agree that Bruce was pretty stoic. The man got his lip chopped in half and brushed it off! So, when he was keeling over in pain, you knew it was serious. Not as serious as the other stuff that’ll be on this list, since this one was harder to see for the audience, but still pretty serious. What really lands it on this list, though, is the reaction of everyone else upon Bruce’s leaving. As I said, Bruce was a real love-or-hate character, and he was definitely not universally popular amongst his fellow contestants. In a case of not speaking ill of the proverbially dead, though, everyone gave nice, touching thoughts on Bruce, and even cleaned his rock garden for him. How sweet.

4. Russell Swan (“Survivor Samoa”): A member of my alma mater, and member of the dominant tribe of the season (at least pre-merge), Russell was a hard guy to hate. He was tough, and while he made mistakes, he was generally a good leader. When we heard someone would nearly DIE on the show, no one expected him. But a combination of unending rain and an undying work ethic dehydrated Russell to the point of collapse, and that shocked pretty much everyone, even ultimately ending a reward challenge due to the seriousness of it. We’d never really seen anyone that close to death on the show before, and it therefore becomes seared into one’s brain, earning it this spot on the list. It was creepy enough seeing Russell pass out when medical was there, but seeing it the first time, when you didn’t know what was going on, that was real terror. And, in many ways on this list, that’s actually kind of a good thing.

3. Caleb Reynolds (“Survivor Kaoh Rong”): This one’s pretty simple: Caleb took what happened with Russell and upped the drama immensely. True, Russell in some ways did seem closer to death than Caleb, by being still rather than convulsing, but Caleb still seemed pretty near death, and in this case, misery loves company. Things got serious for Russell, but with Caleb, Cydney, and Debbie all going down, everyone had to be on duty. As I said in my episode 4 blog, this was a great show of professionalism by the production team, and it was neat to see them come together like this. I’m glad Caleb’s ok, and that his spectacle was enough to put him up here on the list.

2. Jonathan Penner (“Survivor Micronesia”): What this one lacks in the seriousness of others, it makes up for in foreshadowing and emotion. Unlike most other medical evacuations, we had pretty much an episode and a half of buildup for this one, so we really got to take in the story. But the real kicker, though, is the emotion. They pull out the sad music, the tearful interviews, the breakdowns from his tribe. For whatever reason, production pulled out all the stops in the tear-jerker that is the exit of Jonathan Penner. And it WORKS! Man, you really feel like this is a huge loss, even though Penner probably would have been voted out sooner rather than later. With the possible exception of the number one spot, Penner being pulled for a hole in his knee is the most emotional of medical evacuations, and earns the right to be on this list.

1. Michael Skupin (“Survivor The Australian Outback”): Sometimes less is more, and the only thing production could do to make Mike’s fall in the fire more dramatic than putting music over it was, oddly enough, to do nothing. Alone on this list, this one just lets the drama play out. All the game is put on hold, all attempts to hide production gone, the seriousness just gets to play out for a good long time. And then, even when Mike gets away safely on a helicopter, we get more tear-jerking scenes of everyone on the Kucha tribe crying/rallying at the loss of Mike. Hell, even the Ogakor tribe, the ENEMY of Mike Skupin, gets in on the action, that’s just how serious and heart-rending it is! It stands out, was extremely serious, and has a lot of heart. There’s good reason this is one of the most-remembered moments in the history of the show, as well as top of this list.

Honorable Mention: Shamar Thomas (“Survivor Caramoan”): Yeah, this one may be hard to remember, but Shamar was taken out, not for being annoying, but for a sore eye that was somehow deathly serious. Low stakes and barely foreshadowed, this one by rights should be on the “Bottom 5” list. However, it’s happening to Shamar, who pretty much everyone universally wanted to see suffer, so I’ll give it an honorable mention for schadenfreude.

BOTTOM 5

5. Joe Dowdle (“Survivor Tocantins”): I’m probably being a bit harsh here, since this one WAS adequately foreshadowed, and was at least as serious as the aforementioned Penner evacuation. In fact, it was EXACTLY as serious, being an infection near the knee. So, what makes this one different? Well, apart from the editing team not giving us as many tear-jerking moments as Penner got, do you honestly remember Joe as a contestant, let alone his manner of leaving? I thought so. This one isn’t bad by any standards, but just so forgettable that it has to go on the list.

4. Neal Gottlieb (“Survivor Kaoh Rong”): It seems that those who follow in the footsteps of Penner are doomed to mediocrity. A lack of foreshadowing puts this knee infection higher than Joe’s, and the loss of a great character really hits me personally. At least we get to see Neal on the jury.

3. Gary “Papa Smurf” Stritesky (“Survivor Fiji”): Up until this point, medevacs were treated with a lot of reverence. They took up a whole episode, and honored the memory of the fallen contestant. This one basically said “Screw it, we’re moving on anyway!” Gary left with very little fanfare, which is a shame, since he was a likable guy, and the only non-recruit in the cast. On top of that, his reason for leaving turned out to be incredibly lame. It was general shortness of breath, which turned out to be caused by an allergic reaction to bug bites. BUG BITES! When you have had people downed by third-degree burns and blocked intestines, this one just seems lame by comparison. The fact that it’s basically an afterthought for the show itself is the icing on this awful cake, and a real sad ending for one of the few likable elements of the season.

2. Dana Lambert (“Survivor Philippines”): Interesting fact: Dana is the only woman to be medevaced in the history of the show. Perhaps they’re not as foolhardy as others. Sad to say, Dana does not do her gender justice. Dana was downed by some sort of jungle illness, already not the most dramatic way to go out of the game. What’s frustrating about this one, though, is the fact that Dana didn’t NEED to go then! Of all the medical evacuations, she was the only one who insisted medical take her when they said she could stay. I try not to be too judgmental of people who dare to do this show, but that’s just an insult! Were it not for the number one spot being so horrible, this show of unemotional weakness would take it!

1. Colton Cumbie (“Survivor One World”): Since the tragic and unfortunate death of Caleb Bankstown (“Survivor Blood vs. Water”), I’ve tried to leave Colton alone, since I feel like the poor guy has suffered enough, and doesn’t need some asshole on the internet tearing him down further. Unfortunately, I just can’t find a reason NOT to put Colton’s “Medical Evacuation” on this list. I use quotation marks since there’s debate about whether or not Colton faked appendicitis to leave the game, thinking he couldn’t win. I tend to discount this, since Colton was in a good position anyway, and didn’t really have a reason to want to leave the game, but I feel the controversy should be acknowledged. This one being the worst really centers around the person it happened to. Essentially, Colton annoyingly tantrummed his way into power, ran the game, and then left in an unsatisfying manner. There’s no emotion there because pretty much no one liked Colton at this point. We wanted him gone, sure, but we wanted him voted off in a satisfying manner, not this! This really was just the final insult in a season full of insults. Colton, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry for the harsh words. I’m trying to be nice to you, since I feel like you’ve had to endure a lot because of this show, but I have to call them like I see them, and your leaving the season was just the worst.

Honorable Mention: James Clement (“Survivor Micronesia”): This one has emotion and some foreshadowing, and really should be on the “Top 5” list. Unfortunately, it has the problem of coming after Penner’s exit on the same season, and without all the bells and whistles that Penner’s exit got, just feels like a second-rate rehash of a better plot. Not so bad that it needs to be on the “Bottom 5” list proper, but must still be acknowledged.

As I say, this wasn’t a good episode for the season, but hopefully, good things will come, and it doesn’t ruin the season by any stretch. Keep your glasses raised for next week!

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Kaoh Rong” Episode 6: Bi-Winning

Hoo baby! Five for six excellent episodes, and you could even argue for a clean sweep! Not quite as good as the record of “Survivor Cambodia”, but given that that season was effectively an “All-Star” season, and therefore more likely to have crazy gameplay, that’s quite a record. Seasons that come after seasons with many returnees tend to be seen as, at best, “Not as good.” by the fanbase. Look at “Survivor Vanuatu”, “Survivor Gabon”, and “Survivor Nicaragua” for examples of this. However, while I would not yet go so far as to say that “Survivor Kaoh Rong” is in that echelon yet (currently I’m putting it around the “Survivor Philippines” level of “above average”), it’s still holding its own very well, and is definitely a good season. Much better than how it was advertised pre-season anyway. As you’d expect, this episode keeps that pattern running, with yet another winner. But before we can delve into the awesomeness that is this episode, we must linger a little longer in the awesomeness that was last episode. Yes, after a long absence, it is time once again for…

MATT’S MESS-UP!

Yes, I neglected to mention two points last episode, both good ones. One was just a small humorous moment I neglected to acknowledge. Upon entering the immunity challenge, Michele attempts to stop on the Gondol mat, since it was her original tribe, and has to be corrected by Nate. A small, but funny moment. Not a huge loss in the grand scheme of things, but still worth pointing out. More importantly, though, I neglected to compliment the editing team on a nice bit of work last episode. You’ll recall that one of the main mysteries was whether or not Tai would play his idol. Naturally, this needed to be built up, and man did they ever at Tribal Council! They held on Tai for so long, played the dramatic music, and really made it seem like he would play it, making the surprise when he did it all the better! It occurs to me that, second only to the quality of the cast, the quality of the editing may be a major determining factor in the quality of a season. After all, you keep the mystery alive, and the show becomes all the more intriguing. This is just one major example of it, but the editing team overall has given us a very unpredictable season, and it only serves to improve things!

But enough dwelling in the past, let’s talk about how great this episode opener is! Rather than engage in the usual boot-bashing upon returning from Tribal Council, everyone hugs Tai and bonds over their liking of each other. Some may see this as a weakness of this season, but I really like the fact that despite how conniving these people can be, very few seem to take it personally, and all seem to get along very well. They aren’t mean, and it makes things a lot easier to watch, as well as to root for this group of people.

Save, perhaps, for arrogant, flip-flop-y Peter. Yes, now that Tribal Council is over, he thinks “Hey, I’m on the bottom of the old Chan Loh. Perhaps I ought to do something about that!” Why he didn’t do this last episode when it would have been much easier for him to get the numbers is beyond me, but hey, better late than never. He pulls Tai aside under the pretext of further congratulations, and slips in his plan to vote out Joe. Ok, Peter, it’s bad enough that you’re thinking of the correct plan for you literally one day late, but now you’re also targeting the wrong person! Don’t get me wrong, as an Aubry fan, I applaud you not targeting her, but she’s the smarter move. Joe is weaker in general, and seems to have the LEAST power out of anyone in the alliance. If you’re trying to weaken the old Chan Loh, Aubry is clearly the correct choice. You even figure this out later! How can you not see it now! Tai seems to go along with it, and we store that bit of insanity away for later.

Meanwhile, over at Chan Loh, we get what is quickly becoming our standard “Nick talks about how well he plays the game.” confessional, though to his credit, this one is less arrogant than most of his. Basically, he talks about how he pitches himself to the level of the person he’s interacting with to get results, which is fair enough strategy. As an example, he talks about Debbie, and how, since she thinks of herself as the greatest thing since sliced bread, all he has to do is play along with that. Not a bad example, since Debbie does seem to have an ego, but careful there, Nick! As the audience found out the hard way, Debbie is not to be underestimated. For all that ego, she may snake you yet.

For her part, though, Debbie isn’t looking at Nick too closely. At least, not in the right way. Debbie thinks Nick is attractive, which personally I don’t see. Maybe it’s because he comes across as obviously a scuzball in person as he does on screen, but I don’t see it. He’s got a strong chin I suppose, but something about him just looks off. But hey, don’t take my word for it! After all, Debbie knows what good looks are, since she did some modeling in the past. And, right on cue, up comes the Debbie caption, now with “part-time model” listed as an occupation. Once again: Editors. You’re doing it right!

Nick plays into Debbie’s attraction to him, and we find our tree-mail, which indicates that the challenge this time will be something basketball-related. Not being idiots, Chan Loh realizes they’re going up against Scot, and this puts them at a bit of a disadvantage. Nick, however, takes the positive view. He’s going to be the basket-shooter for Chan Loh, and by going up against Scot, the pressure’s off for him. If he loses, no big deal. He was against an NBA player, of course he’d lose. If he WINS, though, it’s a big freaking deal. That’s… actually exactly the right attitude to have. Yeah, I’ve been giving Nick a hard time, but he actually plays really well in this particular segment. Credit where credit is due, he actually hits all the right notes this one time. Don’t worry, though, douchebag Nick is not far off!

We get to the challenge, which is an interesting combination of challenges from “Survivor Micronesia” and “Survivor Cagayan”. One tribe member dives to untie a series of knots to release 30 buoys from the ocean floor. They and three other tribe members must then herd the buoys to shore and place them on shelves. Afterwards, the remaining two tribe members try to shoot those buoys into a basket, first tribe to 10 winning a nice picnic. It is a combination challenge, and I admit the basketball part feels lackluster and unfair, due to Scot’s presence. Then again, since when did “fairness” enter “Survivor”? Besides, they did the same thing on “Survivor Cagayan” with Cliff Robinson, and the buoy herding part is pretty neat. Plus, if you’re going to combine challenges from two seasons, it’s hard to find a better combination than “Survivor Micronesia” and “Survivor Cagayan”.

Julia rejoins the game at this juncture, heading back to Gondol. This does become important a bit later, but for now there’s no reaction, so it’s not important. What IS important is that, once again, this is a very close race between the tribes. After many seasons where, post-swap, one tribe utterly dominates the other, it’s nice to see an even competition at this point. Gondol takes an early lead due to Aubry’s diving skills, and keeps it up the beach. However, Scot proves to not be as good as you’d think, as Nick catches and ultimately surpasses him. Scot eventually gets his mojo back, though, and eventually manages to clinch this tense challenge, becoming Charlie Sheen in the process and yelling out “Winning!” at the end. Ugh! As if we needed to be reminded of THAT bit of unpleasantness!

We join the ever-jubilant Gondol on reward, and it’s NOW that we get to hear from Julia. She’s happy to be going back to the familiar, not too surprisingly, but she’s also not an idiot. With Anna gone, she realizes that she’s probably in trouble. Worse, she’s been out of the loop, with no obvious way in. After all, Tai’s her only original tribemate left, and he wasn’t exactly tight with her. Luckily for her, Peter the Uncertain is there to make it all better! He pulls her out into the water, and informs her of his plan to turn against the old Chan Loh. What’s more, he NOW figures out that, despite his personal feelings towards Joe, Aubry might be the smart one to take out. Julia, for her part, seems happy not to be the only target available, and with Scot seemingly in with Tai, things seem set in motion.

Not that Aubry and Joe are blind, of course. After all, they seem socially more adept than Peter. However, in their security, they seem to be making an error. Often, during the first part of this episode, we see them going off and conversing by themselves, separating from the tribe. Even if you’re in power, this is a big no-no. It separates you socially and strategically from where you need to be, and can easily set a coup in motion, like it seems to be doing now. Seeing Peter converse with a whole bunch of people, Aubry and Joe are suspicious, but for now, Aubry thinks that keeping the numbers is more important, and agrees that Julia needs to leave. Things are not looking good for the pair.

As he predicted, Nick is hailed as a hero back at Chan Loh, despite his not winning the challenge. He came close against the pro NBA player, and that’s enough. Unfortunately, he’s not the only one at fault. Michele struggled on the knots, and that crucial bit of time might have been the learning curve Nick needed. On top of that, while Nick was on the bottom of the old Gondol, and thus is relatively unaffected by the loss of Anna, Michele was closely allied with her, so her exit means Michele just lost a lot of stock in the game. Naturally, this combination of events puts Michele in a bit of a funk, and at first it seems like that might be her undoing. She goes out into the water and sulks for a bit. Debbie sees this, and makes a comment about making sure she doesn’t kill herself. WHOA! Dick move there, Debbie! That’s really not the sort of thing you joke about! Fortunately, Michele pulls herself together, and starts playing this game strategically. Seemingly abandoning the whole “Old Gondol” thing, she talks to Debbie about not liking Nick, and wanting to stick together. Debbie agrees, noting that she wants a woman to win this thing. She’s been saying this a lot, and it actually makes sense. Apart from the women overall being much better players than the men this time around, it’s a way of feeling out potential alliance mates, and even setting up a pseudo-alliance, without actually betraying anybody. After all, if she gets caught, she didn’t technically make any promises.

But enough of the interesting stuff! Are you ready for DOUCHEBAG NICK! Yes, introducing Douchebag Nick is the lovely and talented Michele Fitzgerald. She’s going up to him like an equal, offering him the possibility of sticking with the old Chan Loh. Ah, but here’s a trademark move of Douchebag Nick: Being dismissive of others! Yes, Douchebag Nick is not considering her opinion at all! Not even a little! He’s flat-out telling her that they’re going with the old To Tang! Granted, that’s the smart move at this point, since the old Chan Loh is much more united, but that’s not the way you win friends and influence people, Douchebag Nick! Yep, there’s Michele making a face at it. Seems like she’ll go along with it for now, but she doesn’t really need Nick at this point, and might turn on him. Now, THERE’s an interesting storyline developing! After all, while all sides at the new Chan Loh are brokering for each other, Debbie’s really the only one going for both the women and the men on each side. Could that mean the difference down the line? Only time will tell.

You may have noticed that the promised blow-up of Joe at Peter seen the last “Next time on…” preview hasn’t been seen yet. Well, wait not longer! After Peter goes off to obviously talk with yet ANOTHER person outside the old Chan Loh, Joe loses it. We’ve seen that Peter has a problem with Joe, so Joe suspects that Peter is up to something. Thus, Joe goes to have a conversation to try and figure out if Peter’s flipping or not. This is actually a good idea. If Peter’s not going to be loyal, than it’s worth considering getting him out. What’s NOT a good idea is how Joe goes about it. Namely, he gets very angry at Peter, becomes very confrontational, and ultimately forms a pretty big rift between the two. Granted, this method does get the results desired, since it becomes clear from Peter’s waffling on the question that he’s disloyal, but now you’ve lost some social points, and Peter knows you’re on to him. Better to go about these things subtly, Joe.

Anyway, we move on to our challenge, which once again seems set up to favor Scot, this time because of an emphasis on the height department. It’s an interesting take on your standard obstacle course. Tribes run over a spinning log before getting hurled up onto a net ramp. Then, they must untie poles to knock blocks off an overhead net (somewhat similar to “Survivor Blood vs. Water”, before stacking said blocks on a tiny platform, like on “Survivor Samoa”. First tribe to have all blocks stacked and standing free for three seconds wins immunity, which looks much less cool without its base. Not as good as the reward challenge, and combining elements from “Survivor Blood vs. Water” and “Survivor Samoa” is not as good as the aforementioned “Survivor Micronesia” and “Survivor Cagayan”. However, it’s original enough, and is once again very tense. What ultimately makes me pass it, though, is that the shade of blue they used brings back memories of “Survivor Guatemala”, and I really like “Survivor Guatemala”.

Despite having gained a lead on the block-pushing section, Peter’s insane “Put the small blocks on first!” idea ultimately leads to a narrow loss for Gondol. Fortunately, this is a situation where both tribes had good strategizing scenes, so it came as a surprise, and doesn’t feel disappointing. As if Peter’s constant flip-flopping wasn’t bad enough, after an Aubry-incited reconciliation from Joe, Peter now thinks that sticking with the old Chan Loh is a good idea. WHY? Peter, they’re not going to let you get too far in this game! Flip now while you have the chance! Let there be no firm alliances come the merge so you can have the swing vote! Be sensible! But no, Peter tells Scot what the deal is, and so Scot confers with Julia and Tai. Like they should have done LAST episode with Anna, the three try to figure out a way to get Peter off, since he’s annoying everyone, and is therefore likely to be wanted out by the other Chan Loh. Despite their earlier confrontation, Joe is ruled out due to being to loyal. That leaves Aubry. Since Peter targeted Aubry with Julia, they think she might be their swing vote. Accordingly, Tai and Julia take a walk with Aubry, and fill her in. Aubry takes the information to heart, which makes everyone else believe that she won’t go for it, and that Julia’s gone. Privately, Aubry’s considering it, since Peter’s targeting her makes him more of a threat. Joe, however, is having none of it, saying he’s tired of this wishy-washy-ness. Um, Joe? Correct me if I’m wrong, but WHO was it who, not two commercial breaks ago, was wanting Peter out with every fiber of their being? Oh, that’s right, YOU! I really don’t get where he’s coming from. He’s had beef with Peter, but it’s not ok when Aubry does? Seems a bit hypocritical there, buddy.

So of course, heading off to Tribal Council, the question is whether or not Aubry will flip, and whether it’s a smart move. Time will tell on both. While I’d normally give my two cents on what the smart move is here, I’m going to save it for the end of the blog, because it’s a bit complicated.

While some may sing it’s praises, I found Tribal Council tonight to be a pretty standard affair, vote results notwithstanding. Some would argue this, since we got last minute open strategy talk at Tribal Council, but that seems to have become par for the course on “Survivor” at this point. Still, it’s always pretty interesting to watch in and of itself, and it’s not as though this Tribal Council was BAD. Really, it’s more that, save the results, we didn’t really have a lot of stand-out moments.

But oh, those results! Of course, the big question mark here was Aubry, especially since Scot, Julia, and Tai made it clear they were voting for Peter. Thus, it was a bit odd to see that Aubry had written down Julia. Since Joe made it clear he wasn’t flipping, and Peter can’t vote for himself, that means it’s a tie, right? Well no. Peter goes home, good riddance to him, but how do you explain that Aubry vote? Why, she changed her mind in the booth, of course! The last vote read has “Julia” crossed out, and “Peter”, written under it, thus changing the vote. Excellent fake-out engineered by Aubry and the editing team! Like I said, the editing this season has been above-average, and I can’t sing its praises enough. As to Peter’s ouster, I’m not sorry to see him go. The guy was arrogant and not really that smart. Certainly Julia showed herself to be better than him this evening, doing a very good job of keeping her head up and helping herself out of a tough situation. On top of that, we’d really already seen how this story-arc was going, so it was nice to get that concluded and not have it hanging over our heads going into the merge. And Peter, don’t worry. It wasn’t JUST your challenge performance that got you the axe. It was your arrogance and horrible strategic play as well.

But enough chit-chat! I’m sure you want to know whether Aubry’s flip was the right move! That’s a bit of a complicated question for me. You see, the answer is yes… but with a caveat. the answer is yes, KNOWING WHAT WE, AS THE AUDIENCE, KNOW. We know that next episode is the merge, and that changes everything. Once the merge hits, Peter becomes much more of a threat, by showing that you aren’t a united front, and being a swing vote. The old Gondol is already fractured, so getting out one more of them won’t make much of a difference. Plus, in an odd way, by lowering your numbers, you make yourself a more attractive prospect for an alliance come the merge, since your numbers wouldn’t be so dominating. The argument could be made that this pisses off Joe, but given that Aubry evidently gave him some warning, and that Peter was a threat whom Joe didn’t like, I doubt he’ll be too put out over the whole thing. If you know the merge is coming, then Peter is the biggest threat to your alliance, and therefore it is a good idea to get him out. But that’s the thing: Aubry DOESN’T know the merge is coming. She predicted correctly, I’ll grant you, but my philosophy with strategy is always go with what you know. Since the date of the merge is technically unpredictable, it’s smarter to go with what you know, and what you know is that if you vote out Peter, you’re down in numbers on the new Gondol. you might outlast Joe, but since he’s in your alliance, you don’t want him gone either. From Aubry’s perspective, probably would’ve been smarter to stick with voting out Julia. That said, she predicted correctly, and ultimately I think this move works to the benefit of her and her alliance. There’s just no way she could have known it.

Man alive, what an episode! Excellent strategy all around, good misdirection, hilarious editing, and a deserving boot! For once, the merge has its work cut out for it!

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Kaoh Rong” Episode 5: Dr. Peter, Headache Inducer

Ooh, Peter. Peter, Peter, Peter. You’ve got the vestiges of a good “Survivor” player in you. When you’re knocked out of the power position, you clearly know what you’re doing, and go note-for-note in the direction you need to. But give you an ounce of power, give you a glimmer of hope, and you become nigh-on insufferable.

Don’t believe me? We get a prime example of “good player” Peter at the start of the episode. We begin at Chan Loh, since the vote off of Alecia was SO inconsequential that we don’t need to see any of To Tang’s reaction to it. Joe seems to have some trouble with his finger, and so with much fanfare, Dr. Peter is brought over to examine it. The whole thing doesn’t seem severe, but Peter admits in confessional that, while he’s still out to get the rest of his tribe, he needs to keep that on the down-low. He’s the obvious next target, and to get out of that position, he’s going to need to make himself useful. Playing up his “doctor” role might just help endear him to his tribe, especially as evidenced by Debbie asking what they’d do without him. When you’re in the position Peter’s in, the best way to play is to keep your head down, make yourself useful, and hope you don’t go to Tribal Council. It worked out for Ethan Zohn on “Survivor All-Stars”. In other words, in at least this one instance, Peter is playing things exactly as he should.

Neal, however, is playing like a decision-maker in the head alliance should, and not believing a word of whatever Peter says. Debbie may be swayed, but Neal refers to Peter as a cancer, and thankfully not in the zodiac sign way. No, Neal decides that, if Peter is the main threat to the alliance right now, then Peter needs to not have the hidden immunity idol. Neal, therefore, concludes that he should have the idol, and starts looking around significant looking trees. It’s not long before he happens on a not-very-well-hidden clue. Maybe it’s just that the blue wrapping for the clue made it stand out more than red or yellow, but it seemed like, where the other clues were hidden deep in their respective trees, this one was just kind of lightly shoved in there. In any case, the clue leads Neal to digging up the box, which leads to him discovering the need for a key, which leads to him finding said key, which leads to him getting the idol. Pretty much the same story as at the other camps, though this one isn’t dragged out nearly as long. Neal has little to no reaction to the new twist with the idol, other than to say that this means he’ll have to look extra-hard for an idol, or at least someone else who’ll play it with him. Though he does get in some words about how this gives him a certain amount of power, compared to the arrogance often shown on this show, it’s quite mild.

It seems even MILD talking about being in a power position is enough to trigger a switch, however, as that’s exactly what happens. As advertised, everyone drops their buffs. It’s always nice for a switch to happen, since it helps prevent dull Pagongings later on, but at this point the switch methodology itself isn’t very interesting. They’ve at least dispensed with the damn show-offy colored eggs originating from “Survivor Cook Islands”, but now it’s just “Pick a random buff.” every time. Come on, guys, give me a school-yard pick for once! Make things interesting and different! Are you just turned off by “Survivor Gabon” that much?

“But surely,” you say, “this one will have SOME intrigue to it! After all, there’s an uneven number of people, and no Exile Island to send them to. Probst admitted as much to everyone there. No doubt this will lead to an epic twist of awesome proportions!” Well yes, not having an Exile Island, and not wanting to have uneven tribes does make for a lot of creative scenario possibilities. Of the myriad of solutions before production, they go with… Adding in what is basically an Exile Island, and just playing it the same old way. Yes, there is one To Tang buff hidden amongst the Chan Loh and Gondol buffs, and whoever draws that must go the way of Stephenie LaGrossa (“Survivor Palau”), and live at the crappy camp by themselves. Unlike Stephenie, however, the person at To Tang will get to avoid Tribal Council. They will not compete in the immunity challenge, and they’ll instead rejoin the losing tribe from this episode. Basically exactly how it worked on “Survivor Exile Island”, “Survivor Fiji”, and “Survivor Gabon” when they did their switch-ups. How original. I know, in all fairness, that it’s not a bad way of doing things, and the fact that Exile Island wasn’t a part of this season before now means that it comes as a sadistic twist to the players this time, but I was hoping they’d go a different direction. Give us a switch-up like we’ve never seen before! Instead, while such a switch-up has been absent for a while, we still got something repeated. I’m probably alone on this, but it felt like a bit of a letdown.

If the method of switch-up is disappointing, though, the results certainly aren’t! We’ve got a fairly even switch-up this time around, with both tribes being fairly evenly matched in both challenge ability and strategy potential. The new Chan Loh keeps things very even, retaining Neal and Debbie, and gaining Jason and Cydney from To Tang, and Michele and Nick from the old Gondol. Meanwhile, the new Gondol has kept Tai and Anna, while gaining Peter, Aubry, and Joe from the old Chan Loh, leaving Scot as the only old To Tang member on Gondol. As I say, fairly evenly matched all around. Chan Loh may have a SLIGHT strength advantage, but even that’s negligible to a large degree. Still, both tribes are intriguing. There’s a clear 2-2-2 split at Chan Loh, making it impossible to shake out who’s on top, but should make for some interesting politicking. More unbalanced is Gondol, where the old Chan Loh would seem to have an advantage, having the largest single block of any original tribe. However, that block includes Peter, who’s stated in no uncertain terms that he wants to undo his tribe, and could very easily flip away to get rid of Aubry and Joe. Meanwhile, you’ve got Scot, who’s on his own, and while you do still have two original Gondol, Tai and Anna weren’t exactly paired up in any way. So, you’ve got a lot of different dynamics that could happen here. My guess would be that Peter would play the smart game, and use this time to exact his revenge on his former tribe, since he’s at the bottom there regardless, and probably pull in Scot as another swing vote. Tai and Anna would probably stick together, since they don’t want the old Chan Loh to overtake them, and get either Aubry or Joe voted out. As we’ll see, though, that may not necessarily be the case.

Before we continue our intrigue, you may notice that I’ve neglected to mention someone. Or maybe not. She hasn’t had much screen time. Fair Julia is nowhere to be seen on either tribe. by process of elimination, she drew the unlucky To Tang buff. Yep, the youngest person out here is the one who has to live on their own. Tough breaks. It also means, as Michele notes, that the women’s alliance of Gondol, which had seemed poised to run this game, has now been completely split up, making them easy pickings no matter who loses. Will they be good enough to weasel their way back together, or is the luck of the buff against them? Time will tell.

One positive to say about this season is that, apart from some bullying of Alecia on the parts of Jason and Scot, this is a very jovial season. Despite the new Gondol probably being the more fractious of the new tribes, things start out copacetic, with everyone admiring their new camp, and all seem to be bonding well. Tai, having evidently gotten over the loss of Caleb, now sets his sights on Scot as his new boy toy, under the guise of lifting him up to a high tree to get mangoes. Scot initially doesn’t seem too keen on the idea, but since he goes for it later, it all seems pretty good. Speaking of Scot, he once again proves his “Not a brain” thing by thinking that he’s going to be on the bottom of this tribe, just because he has no ally there. Dude, have you watched ANY “Survivor”? In these situations, the person with no ally is ALWAYS the swing vote! Between that and your strength, you’re the safest out of anyone on this tribe!

Dissension begins with Peter, who, now that’s he’s in a position of power, has slipped BACK into “Bad Strategy Mode”. Specifically, he’s the one rallying for the former Chan Loh to stick together and target the old Gondol members, particularly since if they lose, Julia, another old Gondol member will be coming back into the fold. Not a bad concern, but this ISN’T the smartest strategy for you, Peter. By making it a tribe vs. tribe thing, and giving your old tribe an advantage, you pretty much guarantee getting picked off at 5, if not sooner, and give yourself less room to play by not trying to form a multi-tribe coalition. He floats the idea of voting off Anna to Scot, who seems on board, but Aubry is a bit concerned. She sees Peter’s point, and certainly doesn’t want the old Gondol becoming a rival to her and Joe, since the pair would then become targets, but Peter also can’t be trusted. He needs to be gotten rid of at some point. That said, she doesn’t say too much about it, and I think the smart move is to stick with Peter for at least this vote. Peter does need to be gotten rid of at some point, but now might be a bit premature, since Scot could then just go to the old Gondol and pick off you and Joe, should you next lose. NEXT vote, it might be good to consider getting rid of Peter, but better to keep it simple for this first vote. Still, you have to admit, intriguing dynamics! Damn, this switch gave us some exciting new talk!

Things are pretty happy-go-lucky at the new Chan Loh as well, with Debbie showing off all the amenities their camp has, like… a chin-up bar. Ok, not what I’D consider the biggest positive of their camp, but if that’s what you want to focus on, Debbie, far be it from me to judge you. Once again, though, Debbie proves why it’s best not to assume she’s just crazy, by quickly setting out to keep herself and Neal safe. Since it’s likely that the old To Tang and Gondol members will stick to whom they know, she needs to court one side. She chooses To Tang, which makes sense, since they already have fewer options. Debbie starts out by courting Cydney, in a way you wouldn’t expect. Debbie admits that she can tell that Cydney is more than just a pack of muscles, which Cydney ultimately does not deny, despite keeping that side of her under wraps for most of the game so far. After checking in with Jason, Debbie seems to have done her duty in keeping herself and Neal safe. Excellent work.

After a quick scene at Gondol where Tai gets his wish in getting Scot to help him get mangoes, we see that Anna is no slouch in the social department either. Not being an idiot, she realizes that she and Tai are the obvious targets, given that Julia’s eventual return to the game is a big threat should Gondol lose this next immunity challenge. Therefore, Anna commences throwing Tai under the bus, spilling the beans about his idol-hunting first to Aubry and then to Joe. For the time being, it seems to work. Not a bad play on Anna’s part.

For a brief time, we also check in with Julia at To Tang, who’s not doing too well. With no one there to help take care of things, she’s become severely dehydrated, wheezing and trembling under the shelter. Normally, I’d brush this off, but since last episode, it’s clear that dehydration is nothing to sneeze at. Julia does eventually pull herself together, but also says that she feels like she needs the older people in this game to take care of her. For what’s effectively our first real Julia scene, it doesn’t make her look all that good. The woman’s obviously tough, and pulls herself together pretty well, but also come across like she needs someone to take care of her, showing the negatives of her age in this game. It remains to be seen, but I think Julia might just be toast.

Back at Chan Loh, it’s now Nick’s turn to once again egotistically profess how good he is at the social game. This time, tough, he actually backs it up, going to talk to Jason about the pair forming an alliance, bringing along Michele and Cydney to make a majority. Jason certainly entertains the idea, and it’s not a bad plan, just kind of standard. While the dynamics on Chan Loh aren’t QUITE as interesting, given that, as Nick says, it’s a simple 2-2-2 split, there’s still debates to be had about which side is better and who Jason and Cydney will go with. On the one hand, as I’ll discuss at the end of the episode, it seems like To Tang and Gondol teaming up would be the smart move for both of them, but on the other hand, Cydney was basically left out of Nick’s conversation. That personal bond with Debbie might swing things.

After the obvious confessional of Jason talking about how good it is to be in the power position, it’s time for our challenge, which, in a first for this season, isn’t all that exciting. Two members from each tribe swim out to untie a fishing net with 14 wooden fish puzzle pieces in it. Once the net is back to shore, two other tribe members untie the fish from the net, hook them onto a pole, and carry it up the beach, where the remaining two tribe members try to solve a fairly complex puzzle with the fish. First puzzle solved wins immunity. Not to say that this challenge is bad, since that puzzle is really cool, and it is largely original, but it just doesn’t feel all that big or interesting to watch. It does remind me somewhat of the fishing challenge from “Survivor Samoa”, particularly in the puzzle, but I can’t say it really copies any previous challenge, so points there.

Once again, this episode does a fantastic job of giving us evidence for both sides going to Tribal Council. Admittedly, with all this talk of the threat of Julia coming back to Gondol, the smart money is on Gondol losing, but that doesn’t mean that one can’t see Chan Loh losing this one. It helps that this is a very back and forth challenge, keeping one on the edge of their seat the entire time. Ultimately, though, Peter and Anna can’t figure out the puzzle for Gondol, and lose the whole thing, despite the impressive performance of Scot carrying the entire fishing net by himself.
When we return to Gondol, the team as a whole is dejected, but overall keeps a stiff upper lip. Unsurprisingly, Peter, Aubry, and Joe are debating who needs to go. Aubry and Joe seem to be more for getting rid of Tai, having bonded with Anna. Peter, however, sticks in his opinion that Tai is valuable as a provider, and thus Anna should go. Normally I’d say that Peter, being a possible target himself, should just keep his mouth shut and go with what Aubry and Joe want, but he states his opinion in a pretty modest way, doesn’t force the point too much, and Aubry and Joe seem willing to listen, so I guess it was ok. It’s certainly enough to sway Joe and Aubry agrees, making Anna the target.

But of course, the good stuff from Peter can’t last. Sitting by the fire with Tai and Anna, he flat-out ADMITS that the old Chan Loh are sticking together, and that either Anna or Tai is going home. Peter, did you learn NOTHING from your previous Tribal Council? YOU DO NOT LET THE PEOPLE YOU’RE VOTING OUT KNOW YOU’RE AGAINST THEM! Is that REALLY that hard of a lesson to learn?

Sure enough, Peter’s blabbermouth once again comes back to bite him in the butt, as Tai comes to the conclusion that the rest of the audience has: Peter is an arrogant prick. Partly out of wanting Peter gone, partly out of not wanting to leave with the idol in his pocket, Tai pulls it out for Anna and the newly arrived Scot to see after Peter leaves. He says he’ll play it that evening, and that then if the three vote for Peter, he can be gone. Not a bad strategy, all things considered, and I admire Tai’s willingness to play to idol, but I’m not sure it’s Tai’s best move at this point. Like with Peter, it would get his old tribe in the majority, but that means that he’s still on the bottom of their group. Furthermore, you should never play the idol if you don’t need to, and I don’t think he has to this time, and not just because he’s not the target of the alliance. If Tai thought about it a bit longer, he might have realized that this arrogance of Peter’s probably annoyed Aubry and Joe as well, and that the pair might be willing to vote him instead, especially if he and Anna swear to vote out Scot afterward. They don’t necessarily have to keep that promise, but since Peter is a threat to them, Aubry and Joe might be tempted. Then you get the majority, and you keep your idol. All good!

While it seems set that Peter’s going home, Aubry throws another monkey wrench into the equation by telling Scot that Anna is the target. Having bonded with Tai, and knowing the idol rules thanks to Jason, Scot concludes that the idol might be more useful down the road. Hence, he goes to tai and encourages him not to play it, since he’s not the target tonight. This is where the new twist with idols is really fun to see. Now we’re getting new dimensions to strategy that we’ve never seen before, and it’s great to watch. Admittedly, I don’t know how Scot can promise anything, since he himself does not have an idol, but it’s fun to see conversations we haven’t seen before on “Survivor”. That said, because Scot can’t promise anything, it doesn’t help Tai as much as it seems, but the fact that he’s supposedly not the target does make Tai question his decision regarding the idol. Smartly, he decides to bring it to Tribal Council, and see whether or not it seems right to play it. this means that we’ve got a fair bit of mystery on our hands, so this won’t be the most predictable Tribal Council ever, but signs still point to Peter going.

We start off with Aubry making the same mistake as Peter, and revealing that it would be wise for the three old Chan Loh to stick together. She at least says it in a more subtle and not as arrogant way as Peter might have, and no one seems to mind, but watch yourself, Aubry. you’ve been playing a good, subtle game thus far. Don’t screw it up now.

Next, we get Anna and Tai pleading for their lives, Anna taking the more logical, strategic route, while tai plays up to people’s emotions, highlighting his status as provider and even tearing up a little bit at how hard he works. Nothing really spectacular there, just always nice to see dynamics play out in this manner.

Beyond this, it’s usual Tribal Council banter, but the mystery of the vote holds one’s interest. But what comment could Tai possible use to swing his use of the idol? Enter Joe, who’s decided to speak up for the first time in a while. And after hearing him speak, it’s clear that Joe really shouldn’t have. Joe puts forth the theory that, since he hasn’t really seen anyone looking for an idol, perhaps the twist this season is that there are no idols to be found! Joe, please don’t speak up again. Don’t get me wrong, that’s not as crazy an idea as it sounds. Fans have floated the idea of that very twist for years. But, it would never logically happen. Production gets too much drama from idols for them NOT to be in place. This is the “women’s alliance” assumption from “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains” all over again. It’s quite easy to see why one could think that, but it’s completely the wrong conclusion, and that assumption could lead to disastrous results later on. Granted, this isn’t quite as bad, since once Joe gets back together with Neal it will become clear that there ARE idols in the game, but still, it’s just the clue Tai needs. Deciding that this ignorance is an opportunity not be missed, Tai opts to let Anna go, which I think is his smartest move. If you’re not the target, unless NOT playing the idol spells certain doom for your game overall, it’s best to hang onto the idol. Further, since Anna and the women’s alliance wanted Tai gone anyway, it’s not like he was particularly beholden to them. If he can make it to the merge with Scot, Tai’s in great shape. Not sure how Jason will feel about forming the super-idol, but it’s an interesting possibility, and gives everyone some room to play.

That said, as a fan, I am sorry to see Anna gone. We didn’t get a whole lot of her, but what we got seemed to be at least decent at the game. Conversely, Peter is repetitive and annoying on all accounts, and it’s be nice to see him gone. Next episode, it might be the smart move, but for now, we will simply miss Anna.

This, though, brings me back to Chan Loh, and the debate of which side Jason and Cydney should take. This episode makes it clear that they should go with Michele and Nick. The major threat of siding with Michele and Nick was the women’s alliance making it impossible to get a foothold. With founding member Anna gone, though, the old Gondol become fractured, and much less of a threat. Conversely, the old Chan Loh now becomes the major united front, which needs to be gotten rid of. Whether or not Jason and Cydney see this or get a chance to act on it, I don’t know, but if they’re smart, that’s what they’ll do.

Overall, this episode was a pretty good one. Oddly, the least interesting part was Tribal Council. I don’t know, while they did a good job of hiding who was going, it not being Peter felt anticlimactic. Still, there was excellent personal dynamics and good strategy on both sides, so no complaints about that. I look forward to what the next episode brings!

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

Idol Speculation: “Survivor Kaoh Rong” Episode 4: Everything the Light Touches

What? If Tai can quote “The Lion King” in relation to “Survivor”, why can’t I? Figured I might as well jump on the “Tai Trang Train”. The “Tai Traing”, if you will.

Bad puns aside, let us leap into the episode proper, as we’ve got some heavy subject matter to cover. Or rather, let us leap into the “Previously On..” segment, as it deserves commenting on. Now, don’t get me wrong, this one is largely a good recap, as for once it pretty much confines itself to what happened in the IMMEDIATE episode prior, rather than calling out certain plot points from way back in the season, thereby telling us what to look out for. Had it just confined itself to that, I would have no need to mention the recap, save perhaps to praise it for its humility. But no, it just had to give us some hyperbole about how “This is the toughest season of ‘Survivor’ ever.”, and give us contestant testimony to support this. Once again, I must voice my disagreement on this point. Yes, we’ve had some contestant complaints about the environment this time, but by and large they’ve been sort of the standard stuff you get in the first few episodes of a season. The upcoming challenge is tough, I grant you, but the season as a whole? I have yet to be convinced. Perhaps I’m just stubborn, but I feel like you need to save hyperbole like that for the end of the season, when you accumulate more evidence.

You’d think, with the obvious emphasis on the harshness of the environment and medical evacuations, that this episode might be devoid of strategy, but you’d be wrong. Granted, what we see is largely devoid of strategy, but we do get one interesting nugget early on. As you’d expect, it comes from Chan Loh, where Peter is reeling from the past Tribal Council. Debbie is being self-congratulatory about the whole affair, but not overly so. She admits that she played her part well, and Tribal Council went exactly as she planned. This bragging doesn’t bother me, since it pretty accurately captures what happened, and is done in private, rather than to the tribe. To help her go up in my estimation, she plays off the whole thing to Peter very well. She tells him that she wanted to save him, how he’s needed in the tribe, which is exactly the right way to play it. The major danger now is that Peter defects and blows your whole game up. Making him as comfortable as possible limits that dangerous possibility. Peter, while frustrated, also plays the whole thing off well, openly expressing mainly shock that it was Liz and not him. He does keep his true feelings pretty well under wraps, but it’s still somewhat clear that he’s not fully on board the whole “Chan Loh” thing anymore. He makes this quite clear in his confessional, swearing to take his revenge on the tribe when he can. Like I say, he plays this all well, and I can’t fault him for how he’s playing this. Yes, he’s been burned by the tribe, but rather than go off and rant, he simply decides to no longer trust them and bide his time, while giving a fairly convincing outward appearance of loyalty. What I CAN fault him for is saying that this vote “Weakens our tribe physically and mentally.” Technically he’s right, but then again, you could say that about EVERY vote. You see, losing a member never ADDS strength to your team, and therefore every vote loses you strength. If he’s saying that Liz was a big contributor… I just don’t see it. I could see the vote severely weakening the tribe if it was PETER voted out. I could even see Peter’s point if the other target of the night was Debbie or Joe, as it could be argued that Liz was physically and/or mentally stronger than they were. But Peter, your targets were Neal and Aubry, arguably the two people most equivalent to Liz. This vote was the wrong decision only because it hurts you not because it particularly weakens the tribe more than any other option you had last episode. Get over it.

Wow, reward challenge time already. They must be getting it out of the way early so we have plenty of time to deal with the medical emergencies at the immunity challenge. And yet, that challenge looks very much like the one with the promised emergencies. And that’s because… it is. Yep, I’ll be talking about it more at the end of the blog, but this episode has shot its bolt early, getting all the exciting stuff out of the way early. Not much the producers can do about it, since there’s not enough material there to make up a whole episode, but not the most auspicious way of doing things.

But what is this challenge of challenges, so tough that it takes down three of our competitors? An obstacle course. Yep, just a pretty basic, pretty dull obstacle course. The tribes climb over a few hurdles, dig under a log, dig up three bags of balls, and then try and get those balls into holes via Skee-Ball. Yeah, not exactly an exciting challenge, not helped by the presence of Skee-Ball, which I maintain is an incredibly LAME element in a challenge. Yeah, the streak is broken. This one just sucks.

So, if the challenge itself is not that challenging, what takes our competitors down? The environment. Yep, this challenge is being played in 110 degree heat, the temperature at which everything has evidently been operating for the past few days this season. Not to say that challenges haven’t been played in heat like this before. Notably, the “Court-Ball” challenge from “Survivor Guatemala” was played in similar heat. What makes this one different is the continuousness of it. The “Court-Ball” challenge was run in rounds, giving people a chance to recover and drink some water. And even THEN, people were still beat from the challenge. This challenge runs nonstop. It’s a race, not a points game.

Oh, and duration. Duration plays a big role in this challenge. To Tang gets out to an early lead, followed closely by Gondol, with Chan Loh bringing up the rear. Not that it matters. Digging up the balls proves harder than anyone else expects, and while To Tang is up two bags to the other teams one apiece, that doesn’t stop things from going on for 45 minutes. I don’t think anyone anticipated that those balls would be that hard to find, and it’s definitely a contributing factor to how this challenge turns out.

And then… a breakthrough! Due to stick-to-it-iveness, Chan Loh finds bags two and three in oddly rapid succession, and moves on to (shudder) Skee-Ball. Rather than let one person run that portion of the challenge, they divvy it up so that Aubry, Debbie, and Peter all get some balls in holes, netting them an easy victory. Not too long after, Caleb finds bags two and three for Gondol, and starts doing that Skee-Ball thing. Things look bad for To Tang, especially since they’re so worn out that they’re kicking the sand rather than really digging. Scot and Jason seem to have stopped altogether. Not that Alecia gives up, though, as she keeps encouraging the tribe to keep digging. While I’m no Alecia fan, I do admire her tenacity. Regardless of the situation, she doesn’t just lie down and die, which is not always easy to do on a losing tribe. That said, her manner in going about all this is a bit overdone. Not that she shouldn’t be saying what she’s saying, but she just keeps repeating it, and that combined with the heat makes it all very annoying. And I’m not even out there! Scot, who is out there, gets fed up with her, telling her to dig rather than cheerlead. Frankly, this isn’t a clear-cut “One side is right” thing. Keeping morale up is essential, and Scot effectively killing that morale is not a good thing. But I could see how it would get annoying, so yeah, I feel him. Though his “How many bags have you found?” argument holds no water, as finding them is largely luck-based, not effort-based.

Oh, I’m sorry, did I just ignore Debbie collapsing from heat stroke? Yeah, I did. Sorry about that, I don’t mean to take away from the gravity of the situation. Only, compared to what we’re GOING to see, it looks very minor (though no less serious), and the Alecia stuff matters more in the long-run anyway. But yes, despite her protests, Joe calls for medical, who don’t respond as quickly as they usually do. I guess they’re just not used to coming out while a challenge is still running. They get there quickly, though, and get to work. They put an umbrella over Debbie, hook her up to vital reading machines, and pour cool water on her, the usual treatment for heat stroke. Despite that fact that we know three people collapse but only one gets evacuated, and Debbie’s early collapse makes her likely to stay, it does get a big heart-wrenching. I think it’s because you can’t see her eyes. Maybe it just gives me flashbacks to Russell Swan’s collapse on “Survivor Samoa”, but that makes things seem serious.

Of course, we can’t have the doctor come in without Probst buddying over and talking to him. I’ll admit I probably exaggerate how bad this is, but I would point that the medical evacuations of Mike Skupin (“Survivor The Australian Outback”) and Bruce Kanegai (“Survivor Exile Island”) both had gravitas and were easy to understand, and there was NO NEED for Probst in either case. Just seems like he’s bothering the doctor and pandering to the audience unnecessarily. Oh, but this time is particularly egregious, since he needs to be WATCHING THE CHALLENGE! I know, they’ve got other people there to watch the challenge, but we don’t need Probst bothering the doctor. Time would’ve been better spent watching the challenge.

Speaking of which, after it’s revealed that Debbie’s going to be ok, we turn back to said challenge, which has become something of a cliffhanger. Gondol is having trouble getting their last ball in the hole, most likely due to the fact that they worked front-to-back, rather than back-to-front. Meanwhile To Tang has FINALLY found their bags, and sends Jason on to test his Skee-Ball skills. He does manage to get three balls in, but it’s not enough, as Caleb eventually sinks their last balls to win reward.

The drama is not passed, though, as both Caleb and Cydney are down. Cydney basically can’t move, while Caleb wanders over to the shade, and then flops down on the ground. Thankfully, both having caring tribemates to care for them, but medical is quickly called for both. And while I may have given Probst a lot of flak earlier for bothering the doctor, this is where he really shines. He wastes no time, calling in all available personelle to handle the situation. He even gets Cydney looked at, despite the fact that no one had called out specifically for her. Now, when the situation is really serious, he leaves the doctors alone, and even pitches in wherever he can, mainly talking to Caleb, trying to bring him around. I cannot give Probst high enough praise, as well as the whole “Survivor” crew. they handle everything swiftly, professionally, and most likely saved someone’s life. Because this is bad. Russell Swan bad. Yet their grace under fire needs to be commended. If there was one positive to come out of this horrible, horrible situation, it is getting to see these guys perform really well.

It’s a little more unclear between Caleb and Cydney who’s going to get the axe medically. Both seem semi-conscious, and are convulsing pretty badly. In the end, though, when Caleb stops even nodding, it’s clear he’s going to be taken away. I’ve said before, and I’ll say again, that it’s always sad when someone has to be medically pulled from the game. Everyone deserves a respectful exit, and the right to finish their game on their terms. Even if that person is Colton Cumbie (“Survivor One World”). That not happening is very depressing in and of itself, and anyone going that way would be a loss. And don’t get me wrong, I am sorry to see Caleb go, if only for the death of a beautiful bromance. That’s just it, though. That’s all he brought. Of the three people who get heat stroke this challenge, Caleb ultimately brought the least to the table. Debbie and Cydney are both bigger characters and better strategists than him. I wish no one had to go, but if someone had to go of those three, Caleb is the least of all evils.

Whoo-wee, what an emotional roller-coaster! An action-packed first-half of the episode! Other drama cliches! Still, the game continues, with Tai transitioning us back to the game by pointing out that girl power is still a thing on Gondol, and with Caleb gone, they now have full control. Tai swears he won’t go out with an idol in his pocket, which is exactly how you want to play the game.

Some of you may be asking “Well, what was the reward?” Kitchen supplies, and some coffee. that’s it. All that pain, all that loss, for cookwear. Not worth it. Oh, but it gets worse! All this might have been avoided, but for one simple change in the challenge! You see, I watch those “Challenge Previews” on CBS.com. The ones where the Dream Team runs the challenge to see if it works. In that iteration, there were bamboo chutes placed over where the bags of balls were, so that people could find them faster. From a design perspective, I get why they were removed. The challenge becomes less of a straightforward race without them, and gives us potential for come-from-behind victories, like we got. But that also likely added the 45-minute search part to the challenge, which I’m sure was a contributing factor to the evacuations. Was it worth it? Probably not.

It seems the emotional moments are not quite over, as Debbie gets in some words about what she was feeling while being looked at by medical. It’s nice, but it doesn’t really amount to anything, and after that nice transition back into game mode we had with Tai, I think it might have been better served if we’d gone without.

Here, we get a title card letting us know that Caleb is ok, and wants to play again. It feels like a bit of a weird placement, but it’s good to get that info out of the way quickly, and assure the children watching that no, Caleb isn’t dead. While he wasn’t the most exciting character, I wouldn’t mind seeing him back at some point, if only to let him finish the game properly.

Shifting back to gameplay mode, we get Alecia and Scot arguing again. Oh goodie, we haven’t seen this before! Alecia is, understandably, upset at how Scot treated her during the challenge, and Scot and Jason are once again dismissive of Alecia, outright telling her that she’s going next. Again, like with the challenge, the guy’s treatment isn’t cool, but I understand it. Alecia may be in the right, but she won’t shut up, and can’t argue her case very well. It’s like we’re waiting for her to get voted off.

We might have to wait a while, though, because it’s challenge time! Gee, I wonder who’ll lose this time? I mean, we’ve had SO MUCH strategy talk from Gondol and Chan Loh, it could be either one of them! Who would have guessed?

Still, if the result of the challenge is predictable, the challenge itself is semi-cool. It’s a fairly standard “Run through the jungle and dive in the ocean to retrieve puzzle pieces, then solve the puzzle.” challenge. Not directly copying anything, but it does bear a close resemblance to the first immunity challenge from “Survivor Philippines”, which, as this is not the first immunity challenge, I’m ok with. That puzzle, though, is really cool! It’s your basic snake puzzle, but rather than having traditional puzzle pieces the tribes just have different lengths of rope they have to put in a frame. None of the ropes can cross, though. It’s a tricky puzzle to solve, and a really creative concept. For that, I’ll give this challenge a pass.

When To Tan predictably loses, Alecia tries to salvage the situation by saying “I did my best.” Giving her no quarter, To Tang leaps on her not saying “WE did our best”, since Cydney was working on the puzzle as well. Again, I’m in sympathy with Alecia here, since she’s fighting for her life, but her defenses of herself are just SO ANNOYING, that you can sympathize with To Tang. In fact, they’re so fed up with her that they freely admit that she’s the one leaving, and ask to go to Tribal Council then and there. Probst says it’s ok with him, but Alecia has to agree to it as well. Alecia does the smart thing and says no. While the situation certainly seems hopeless, it’s better to go out bargaining and trying to weasel something up than to just roll over and die. Good for you, Alecia. Also, it just feels right to not do Tribal Council immediately. That needs to be saved for special occasions. As I’ll get into shortly, this is kind of the opposite of a special occasion.

Sad fact: The fact that Alecia opted not to go immediately to Tribal Council makes her smarter than the entire Manono Tribe of “Survivor One World”. Weep for that season my friends.

Killing ANY pretext of misdirection, we cut immediately to Tribal Council, which for the first time this season is completely boring. We know Alecia’s going, everyone there knows Alecia’s going, so the whole thing is just an exercise in futility. Much though I have sympathy for her situation, I’m not sorry to see her go. Alecia really didn’t bring anything new to the table, and this has been building for a while. This was not the sort of grand exit that deserved an impromptu Tribal Council, this is one that needed to be shoved at the back of a two-parter, which this effectively was.

As to the episode as a whole, it’s tough to call. I can’t in good conscience say it’s a BAD episode, but definitely the weakest thus far. It’s not really it’s fault, though. The first half, the half with the medical drama, is great! While it’s never good to see people go down like that, it does make for compelling tv, in a perverse sort of way. I may malign medical evacuations as taking away from the strategy of the season, but used sparingly, they can really enhance things. Plus, what I’m realizing is that, every so often, we need one of those real life-threatening situations to remind us of the gravitas of the game. Would I be happier without them? Yes. I don’t like people coming that close to death, but in a game like this, it’s bound to happen. It showcases the professionalism of the show in general, and Probst in particular, and is quite the eye-catcher. Had that been the whole episode, it would have been fantastic. But it wasn’t. We had to tack on an obvious, telegraphed exit to the whole thing, and that really did the episode no favors. I’m happy we got that exit out of the way, plus having an impromptu double-elimination means that we’re more likely to have a final two at the end, which I enjoy, but the second half of the episode just can’t compete, and that REALLY drags things down. You know how little we care about Alecia? She didn’t even get the final words of the episode. Caleb did.

Before we go, though, there are two points that I feel need to be addressed. First off, this season has REALLY copied “Survivor Cagayan”, and I don’t just mean in terms of twists. The tribes this season are shaking out like they did on that season! Think about it: We’ve got a tribe that is a complete disaster, voting out the strong in the first two votes only to lose their weak player in the third vote (Luzon and To Tang), the tribe that largely wins, but loses one immunity challenge, and seems to be more fractured (Solana and Chan Loh), and the tribe that, while it has alliances, never loses and stays relatively unified (Appari and Gondol). The challenge wins and losses even exactly line up! Admittedly, I feel like these tribes are more deeply divided than the ones on “Survivor Cagayan”, but the similarities in how the three tribes shake out are freaky. Why do I bring this up? Well, mainly because it’s an odd coincidence, but also because something weird happens with it: I don’t mind. Seriously, with how blatantly and closely this season is copying “Survivor Cagayan”, one of the best seasons ever you think it’d be nothing but downward comparisons, but it’s not. True, I still think “Survivor Cagayan” is the better of the two, but we’re only four episodes in! “Survivor Kaoh Rong” could very well usurp that position over the course of the season, and is doing a very good job. Why? Well, they copied the element that worked the best from “Survivor Cagayan” as well: getting a great cast. Again, they’re not to “Survivor Cagayan” goodness levels yet, but we’ve got a lot of great characters, some nice strategy, and often found in the same person. That makes the show good, and makes it not matter how much the show is repeating itself. If the cast is good, then the season can stand on this own.

My second note has to do with some actual speculation. I know, speculation on a blog called “Idol Speculation”, who would have guessed? But, as we saw in the preview, a tribe swap is nigh. I’m sure this was planned for the time, as we’d be down to 14 players, making for a nice, even tribe shrinking, but with Caleb’s unfortunate evacuation, we’re down to 13. How will they make up for this uneven distribution. I don’t know, but here’s a thought: make them a reward. Divide up the tribes so you have two teams of six, rather than seven. Schoolyard pick is probably best for this, but random division could work as well. With no Exile Island this season, what do you do with the seventh person? Make them the reward. Go straight to a challenge, and the prize is not a feast or easier camp life, but a number, an extra number to play around with. Perhaps a bit demeaning to the person being used as reward, but wouldn’t that be exciting? Make it happen, producers!

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.