I’d like to point out here that Clarence could not have volunteered to drink more blood even if he had wanted to. It was the other team that got to pick.
I was a bit disappointed in this food challenge. I was hoping for someone to freak or throw up or otherwise declare themselves to anti-hematophage.
…to be… declare themselves to be an anti-hematophage.
Boran was down one person. That meant that one of them had to drink twice. While it’s true that no one could volunteer for the tie-breaker, one could have volunteered to be the first and the last drinker in the challenge proper.
I thought it was smart of the producers to have blood as the challenge. It gives everyone who drinks it some real “food” in a decent amount, unlike just eating one worm or something.
Is it just my perception, or are they showing WAY more stck footage this time than before? Fuck it, I’ve seen Wild Kingdom and PBS. Show me the starving, whiney, pus-oozing, cannibalizing, schemers.
I rally hope Sambuca takes a dive one of these times. They’ve won all 4 challenges so far. Will be more interesting if the Borings don’t wither away too soon.
Don’t care what reassurances Jeff offered - that cow didn’t seem too happy when the guy shot the arrow into her!
I know they have to work really hard to get water, and they have to conserve energy, etc. But I am always a little surprised that the contestants seem to express so little interest in their surroundings. When else are you going to get a chance to be in a place like this (or Australia/Borneo)? But does anyone ever think of going for a stroll?
I would also be interested to hear what they talked about. Surely, they can’t be so petty as to simply bitch and moan and plot and worry 24/7.
Such is life at the mercy of the editors.
Ah, yes. I forgot about Boran being down by one. Clarence could have volunteered, but then again it might have backfired on him. Seeing how no one was really freaking out about drinking the blood, the others might have seen it as a way of his getting even more nutrition, like the cherries and the beans.
Anyone else here get the feeling from the previews of next week’s show that not much is going to happen? I mean, oh boy, shots of people in their undies! Woo hoo! And that this bodes poorly for the next few episodes, that this time around one tribe is going to lose pretty much EVERY challenge? Tune in next week to see Boran have to vote out yet another member (yawn).
I can’t decide either if Tom is smart or dumb. Maybe his vote against Clarence is more than just another petty reminder…maybe he’s guaranteeing that Clarence has a lot of votes against him in case of a tie-breaker.
However boring it may be right now, it looks like things are getting set up for a really fantastic home stretch. They’re not carrying along the weaklings this time. They’re eliminating them. I see the final four as being the four strongest personalities:
Frank, Linda, Silas, and Lex
I think Linda could take it all. I don’t know how to explain it, but there was something in that brief encounter between her and Silas, when she said “How was the water?” Her expression and demeanor was of someone completely confident and in charge. She was the one who didn’t go with the others. She had the confidence to stay behind. I see her revving up at some point, and wrestling the aliance leadership away from Frank. I think she’ll take Silas and Frank to the final three, and then finally cut Silas. (I think she has more balls than Colby.) That will leave her and Frank. Nobody likes Frank. So, I think she’ll win.
I don’t know…if I was Silas, I think I’d side with the younger people. He has a better chance with them. If he sides with the older group, once they get the odds in thier favor, it’s logical that he’ll be the next to go, because he has potential to beat all of them in the physical challanges. Look at Colby last season, he dominated the challanges at the end. Silas has that same potential, so if I were a group of older contestants, I’d get him to side with me, then as soon as I didn’t need him, I’d dump him.
I think you guys are right. Silas’ better move would be to be the leader of the younger crowd. It makes sense, if you consider the history of Burnett and “surprise” twists. I’m thinking of the scene where he’s asking Kim(?) if she trusts him. At first, I’m sure most of us were thinking that he’s screwing the younger crowd over, when it’s more likely the opposite that’s true.
However, it will be very interesting to see how a Silas v. Leslie match-up will turn out. What a great casting decision!
I think Silas’s cultural influences might come into play. Young men from the South can form very strong bonds with mentoring elders. And he’s very sharp. I think he will trust the maturity of the older players. He can see that they are the workers and visionaries (relatively). And he can grasp the 5 strong to 3 weak argument.
Silas’ position is probably the most interesting aspect right now. You realize that he can only play both sides until their tribe’s first vote. Whichever side he votes with will win, and his hand will be played.
I’m surprised that people are thinking he should go with the youngsters. I’d go with the old group, and then if it gets down to the five of them, he’d be a shoe-in for all of the immunity challenges, a la Colby, and boom, he’s all but won.
I always remember something else I wanted to say just as I hit “submit”…
Anyway, someone needs to start collecting Frank quotes. This week’s entry: “She’s so concrete she’s at the bottom of the Hoover Dam.”
“US” magazine reported that Tom returned home in late August some 80 pounds lighter, and “his town was abuzz”. That probably means he survived pretty late into the game. That weight will probably serve him well when everyone starts getting real hungry, and he seems pretty strong. All the early conflict in Boran should make the core that survives the purges much closer than whatever alliance survives in Samburu. Plus, if any of the loser alliance survives from Samburu after the merge, they will definitely join with the Boran core, and pick off the winning Samburu alliance one by one.
I’ll pick Tom, Lex, Ethan and Kelly as the final four, with Ethan winning it all.
I don’t think they return home as they come out. I believe they wait in abeyance at some appointed location (complete with luxuries like water) until the last votes are cast.
I like it when they drop in shots of wild lions or whatever every show, when there really aren’t any of them nearby. Why don’t they show some of the natives? maybe they could show shots of cannibals? that would be so cool.
Did you notice how nice the natives looked? their jewelry was all sparkling new. chuckle.
They do. Diane said she went on a 40 day safari. But of course, once you are voted off, you stop losing weight because the food they give you is better than the beans Clarence stole! 
Then again, Burnett is so tricky, I wouldn’t put it past him to come up with some extra trickery (liposuction would NOT be beneath that man. 
)
Liposuction wouldn’t be beneath Mark Burnett, but I don’t see the point.
I think Tom’s the biggest Survivor yet; isn’t he even fatter than Richard Hatch was? I wouldn’t be surprised to see him lose 80 pounds even before the merge. In fact, I daresay he was already noticeably thinner by the second episode.
So I don’t think the dozens-of-pounds weight loss, if true, necessarily means he made the final four.
Right, but if I was the older people in that group, I’d side with Silas for the first vote, which would put it at 4 older/3 younger people, then I’d get rid of Silas right then and there. I woudln’t wait till he was in a position to win all the immunity challenges. I’d ditch him as soon as the odds were in our favor.
Right, but if I was the older people in that group, I’d side with Silas for the first vote, which would put it at 4 older/3 younger people, then I’d get rid of Silas right then and there. I woudln’t wait till he was in a position to win all the immunity challenges. I’d ditch him as soon as the odds were in our favor.
I definitely wasn’t 100% this week. I was wrong in picking Samburu for losing the immunity. And I picked Kim as the most vulnerable member on Boron; I’ll give myself half a point there, I don’t think anyone foresaw Jessie’s continued weakness and Kim appears to be next on the menu.
By the time the votes were being written, I was picking Jessie as the one to go. Kim may have collapsed on the challenge but Jessie was obviously weaker on an everyday basis. Clarence and Kelly were clearly red herrings; neither is an obviously weak player in comparison. Tom’s voting pattern is an enigma; he argued to Ethan that they needed him, than voted against him. And Jessie’s final words indicate they were close. It remains to be seen whether he’s extremely subtle or just indecisive.
Overall, I think it’s clear Samburu is the dominant tribe. Not only are they trouncing the hapless Borons, but they’re already planning their late-game strategy. Linda and Carl (and maybe Teresa) look to be emerging as the masters of the game; Frank seems to be a one-note nitwit (repeating an already agreed upon plan in the presence of an outsider wasn’t a brilliant move) and Silas is the fifth wheel brought along for his size (but he was smart enough to realize he’s better off being on the right side of a 5-3 split than staying in a 4-4 tie).
But it’s still early and we have no idea what Burnett left on the editing room floor. I’m looking forward to next week (and not just to get another look at Kelly’s ass.)
One final question: Why don’t they reveal all the votes? In previous years ties were decided by old votes and they asked the contestants how many they had. What’s Clarence going to answer “I don’t know, you didn’t tell me”?