My new all-time favorite Survivor is Magilla!!!
Do you think Shi reads Reality News Online? Her parting words were “I made the classic blunder of scheming and plotting too much.”, which could be inserted into any of David’s articles and wouldn’t seem out of place at all. Interesting to think she possibly read RNO, yet didn’t learn from it.
I thought this was a great episode. I was right with the tribes in thinking a merger had happened, and was seriously pissed at yet another instance of Survivor Bait and Switch. Then when Jeff said the tribes were combined but not merged, I was cackling with glee over the look on Shi’s face. What she was planning wasn’t very smart even if the merger had happened. She joins this other tribe, and is immediately made into an outsider. They know she can’t be trusted, since she betrayed her original tribe at the drop of a hat. And does anyone really think Brian was being honest when he was recruiting her? Please, he was seeing a perfect chance to break the standard tribal deadlock after the merge. Switching tribes would, at best, get her to 6th place. If she stayed with her old tribe, she would likely make it to 5th at worst. Dumb move no matter, and obviously was tainted by whatever emnity she feels towards Penny.
No kidding. Maybe someone will punch his ass in the eye when he swipes those bananas.
As for the previews for next week: They piss in the cave? Right where they sleep? That was really nasty.
That was fun. I readily admit that if on the island, I would have assumed merge, but it was so sweet to watch someone get screwed over by an erroneous assumption.
The strange thing is that, after all of these weeks, there aren’t 4 people I can pick and say will be in the final 4. In previous incarnations, you could easily weed a few people out and know they had no chance to make the final 4. In this one, each person seems to have a target and each person seems to have good reasons why they can make it a little longer.
She’s certainly been reading David B and his guide on how to play the game. His second rule is “Don’t scheme and plot too much/Keep your scheming secret/Don’t backstab until you absolutely need to.” Shii Ann threw that advice aside (especially the secrecy part), and that’s Why Shii Ann Lost.
All of which I find just entirely too funny. 
I thought Shii Ann was too obvious with her switch, yes, but I think her tribe deserved to be betrayed. They made her and Stephanie feel like outsiders. It’s no surprise that they acted like outsiders. Since Shii Ann’s tribe lost the immunity challenge, she was going to go, end of story. Her open betrayal just made her other tribe mates feel justified, or even smug (in Penny’s case), doing it. But make no mistake, Shii Ann wasn’t going to save herself, no matter how she acted after the pseudo-merger.
Personally I’d take both Stephanie or Shii Ann over Penny and Erin anyday. Those two are manipulative bitches and won’t even admit it. At least Steph and Shii Ann were honest. All that nonsense about doing “what is best for the tribe” is bullshit. Every person there is thinking only of themselves.
My only consolation is that Shii Ann spilled her guts before getting booted off. I hope her information will prove useful to the Chewing Gum tribe.
P.S. Brian’s KINGDOM? Tell me he has his tongue in his cheek when he’s saying this.
I think Brian is absolutely hilarious.
“I have a very subtle form of leadership.”
“Mi casa es su casa.”
Not to mention, he does serious justice to a pair of skimpy black shorts.
I felt kinda bad for Shii Ann, to be a tribe you disliked and to be so happy to actually make it to the merge and get a bit of a second chance and then to have your hopes cruelly dashed. Well, it made excellent television.
Alas, my beatiful Shii Ann (who is way hotter than Penny, elfie!:p). I’m sad to see you go, but yeah, you did it to yourself. I know why you did it, and what you hoped to accomplish, but it was never going to work. (Nanook summed up my thoughts quite well.) But it’s okay, sweetie. I still love you. Come over here and cuddle up and tell Daddy about all the mean things Penny and Erin did. How about a back rub? sigh
I like the new twist. Makes things very interesting indeed. Bet we see some good camp drama with the two tribes living together and still being in competition.
And Jeff had way too much fun dropping the bomb on them! Just waiting for someone to use the M-word so he could say, “Merge? Who said anything about a merge?” Heh.
No, we haven’t seen it, but Ken agreed with her about Penny. We only get to see a tiny fraction of what goes on there.
You think? It’s hard to tell when he’s joking sometimes. He seemed serious to me. He certainly thinks he’s a player anyway. Man, what an ego! But I just can’t take him seriously with that porn star hair.
Best quote of the week was from Clay: “It was like going to Thanksgiving dinner and someone slapped the shit out of grandma and the family split up again.”
IMO, Shii Ann, got majorly screwed by the producers tricking her into thinking the time had come when every contestant was working for themselves when it was still a time to strategically keep an alliance against the other tribe. Once it was revealed that there was no merger, the strategy of the immunity challenge should be different. I wrote a fantasy dialog of what happens at the start of the IC:
Penny: hey, before we start reaching for keys and digging like crazy, I want to ask you something. Ken?
Ken: yeah?
Penny: I’ve gotten the impression that Shii Ann is going to go over to Chuay Gahn and vote with them, maybe against me, maybe against Erin. If she was really smart, maybe she could get all of them to vote against you… I mean, she was talking like this before we realized we were not going to merge.
Ken: uh huh. So?
Penny: So why do we want to work hard for immunity? Let’s go to tribal council and vote Shii out.
Shii: This is SO like you Penny! I told everyone that you are the most manipulative person on this island.
Erin: It’s not manipulative to stop you from turning on us an voting with the other tribe.
Shii: I can’t believe this…
Jeff: Survivors ready!
Shii: Wait…
Ken: Wait a minute, we’re talking about something here.
Helen (to Brian): Did you hear that? I think there talking about throwing the immunity challenge so they can vote of Shii Ann.
Shii: Penny, listen to me. It’s true I was talking with Chuay Gahn about voting you off. You and Robb and Stephanie were against me from the beginning. You tried to vote me off just because I dont gag when eating chicken necks. I dont like you and I thought I would be able to get rid of you, but now things are changed. If you vote me out, Chuay Gahn will have a 5 to 4 advantage when you do merge.
Penny: maybe we arent going to merge at all.
Jeff : ok, lets go. Survivors ready! Go!
the Chuay Gahn members start working
Sook Jai still arguing…
Jake starts picking up sticks and rope
Shii: you know we will merge eventually. Jeff, will we merge the tribes eventually?
Jeff: I dont want to answer that right now. Sook Jai, get to work!
Helen: Are they doing anything?
Ted: They’re still arguing
Helen: Clay, stopp digging a minute. Let’s think about this. If we lose, you, me and Jan can vote out Ted or Brian who seem to have an alliance. Then we could get who ever of that alliance is next if we have to go to tribal council next time. If instead we merge, we can get Shii to come over with us a form a strong coalition.
Clay: Hellfahhr woman, you got’choself some low down thinkin’. But you right.
Clay stops working. Jan has never started.
Brian: come on Ted, lets get the keys.
Ted but it won’t work. We have to get all the tribe out to get immunity. If Helen, Jan and Clay wont come under the fence or let us get their locks, we can’t win…
both tribes stop working and stare out the bars at Jeff Probst…
hmm… this is pretty bad writing. Maybe I would make my point better without the dialog:
When you know you are going to have to go in to tribal council and take an action that looks traitorous, why not take an action that is traitorous and avoids doing hard work (making long sticks, dragging keys, digging under a bamboo jail)? Instead of digging, Shii Ann could have used her time to talk to Erin and Penny saying: “ok, I got tricked by the producers, but Ken is still a bigger threat to win individual immunity than I, so to increase your chances of winning, you two should vote with me against him”.
IIRC, every merger included a new Buff immediately. Were I on the island and was notified that I’d be living with the other tribe, I still wouldn’t assume we were being merged until we got the new Buff. Big clue they apparently overlooked.
The lack of buffs was a clue as well as the lack of instructions on creating a new name and flag. Still, I admit, I was as surprised as Shii Ann when Jeff said, “Merge, what merge?”
What had me puzzled during the first two thirds of the show was why they were focusing on Shii Ann so much. Past experience indicates that the person with the most air time is getting the boot (or at least, is on the bubble), and the Shii Ann/Chewing Gum love fest would seemingly make her totally safe for a few days. So I kept wondering why she was the star of the episode if she and Chewing Gum were could so easily pick of any of the Soup Guy members. (Why, I wondered, aren’t they featuring a bunch of Penny-speak moments, since she’s going bye-bye?) All became clear when the merge was not a merge, and I instantly knew Shii Ann was toast.
p.s. Been reading the Survivor threads faithfully, though this is my first post on the topic. Each week I debate: look at the spoiler, or not? I usually peek.
Off the subject a bit, but who woulda thunk that the porn star was the funniest one on the island?
Oh, and Ted mangled another word this week - I was going to remember it, but I didn’t.
minty green said:
Heh. Yeah, I was rather surprised by that! As I mentioned in my articles, I have GOT to get an interview with this woman. I’m going to e-mail the CBS folks and see what I can work out.
So now, looking ahead at next week, we have four possibilities:
1 - The tribes do a belated merge: Shii Ann’s (and my) predictions come true. The Guys are in the Soup and the Gums Chew them up. Barring individual immunity wins, they leave in this order: Ken, Penny, Erin, Jake, Jan, Helen. (Although Jan might get moved up if one of the former Soup Guys proves to be less annoying than Granny.)
2 - The tribes stay and Soup Guys win immunity: Goodbye, Jan, and it’s back to 4-4.
3 - The tribes stay and Chewing Gums win immunity: The most interesting case for next week. Ken and Jake would almost certainly vote against Penny. Penny’s strategy will have to be to either target Ken as the biggest threat in the eventual immunity challenges or Jake as the biggest liability in group challenges. In either event, I don’t think Penny will be able to split the Jake-Ken alliance. So the issue will be whether Ken and Jake can convince Erin to join them or if there will be a 2-2 tiebreaker.
4 - Jeff Probst declares them all losers and gives the million dollar check to Magilla for having the most intelligent strategy: “You guys all go off and sweat, I’ll stay here and eat all the food.” Magilla is the Ultimate Survivor.
My prediction? Based on a small number of subtle clues and a large amount of blind guesswork, I’m predicting scenario three from above with Penny losing a 3-1 vote (with her vote going against Ken). I also predict that next week’s reward will be a trip off the island and Chewing Gum will win it.
And now for a completely different issue. We all saw that Shii Ann is willing to play for the other team. Does this carry over from her personal life?
I was reading an online article from a California paper that was talking about how Shii Ann Huang was joining the show. The angle was that she was a hometown favorite because she went to Berkeley. They interviewed some of her teachers and fellow students and outlined her academic career. And they mentioned two student organizations she had been active in: the campus Republican group (which must be huge at Berkeley) and the student gay/lesbian alliance.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s going to break Ferrous’ heart.
And has Ted been shaving his head on the island or is he just bald?
If you do, see if you can get any info on the alleged MB challenge manipulations. My sense is that he can’t do very much of that without risking the wrath of the FCC and more lawsuits from contestants, but you still see people complaining all the time that he’s throwing an easy one to the tribe/individual he wants to see win.
Burnett is careful to call the show a “game drama” rather than a “game show”, precisely to avoid such legal complications.
We’re seeing what he wants us to see. We’re too far removed from the real discussions and real machinations for some people (well, me). I don’t enjoy simple guessing, but that’s all that most predictions are. Sorry.
Granny has to go back to the old drunk’s home, though. Now.
Random thoughts before dinner, in no particular order:
- Shii Ann may have been manipulative, and hard-nosed, and b-word-y (I’m sorry, I’m just not comfortable writing that word…), but hardly more than any number of other Survivor contestants. Frankly, I don’t think she ever got a fair shake…some of the things that were actually held against her were ridiculous (especially eating perfectly good organ meat…guys, there were people who ate rats and maggots on previous installments). But that’s just the nature of the game…like I mentioned earlier, it’s like a lottery; sometimes your number just doesn’t come up.
Come to think of it, has there ever been a Survivor champ who didn’t luck out one way or another? Richard survived one ouster by a single vote, was saved again by a changed vote by Kelly, and just had enough clout on the jury to beat the only other member of the alliance he had a snowball’s chance at. Tina was on the right tribe at the right tribe and worked out the sweetheart deal of a lifetime with a considerably stronger challenger. Ethan, well, at least five other contestatns could’ve won that one, and I can’t even begin to explain how Vecepia pulled it off.
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Ted must be bald, as shaving implements aren’t freely available. Good thing, too, as it’s too easy to used them for a multitude of other tasks.
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With Robb out, Jan has taken the #1 spot as the most friggin’ annoying person on the island. I don’t think she’ll last much longer no matter what.
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I really don’t have an issue with rigging challenges, as, again, it’s the luck of the draw, and anyone who goes in thinking the strongest or smartest is guaranteed victory is unbelievably naieve. Besides, both tribes are competing in the same challenge…where’s the grounds for crying foul, much less a lawsuit?
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“Game drama”. Heh. Ha ha ha. Good one.
Frankly, he can call it an “outdoor adventure with rules” for all I care. I just think it’s pathetic that we need some silly machination like “game drama” just to avoid more dumb lawsuits. (From what I’ve seen in five installments so far, “real people, manufactured setting show” would be more appropriate.)
- If I had to pick a favorite right now…humm…probably Ted, since he seems honest and he really looks like he’s playing to win. Ken’s looking pretty good, too, but I haven’t seen enough of him to root for or against him.
minty green said:
The problem is that even if he was doing something like this, there is no way the contestants would know. Supposedly, he plots out the contests and twists far ahead of time. If he didn’t, the only people who would know differently would be him and the other higher-ups.
Now, does he purposely include a variety of types so a physically weak tribe has a chance at winning? Hell, yes! But does he know ahead of time who that tribe is or who it will benefit? No.
ElvisL1ves said:
Yeah, he does now, after Stacey sued him. But previously he had said (on tape) that it was a game show and the FCC would be after him if he rigged it any way. That reminds me, I should e-mail Stacey and see where things are with the suit…
Sure, but they should still have their own impressions about it. Plus, I was kind of wondering what their contracts said about MB making up the rules as they go along. ISTR there was something along those lines in the S1 contracts that were made public as a result of the Stacey suit, and I was wondering if the players still went into the game with that impression of how it works.
Elvis, it really doesn’t matter too much what Burnet calls his show. Whether it’s a game show or not would be determined by the FCC and any applicable regulations or statutes. They might consider Burnet’s spin, but they are by no means obliged to accept it, particularly in light of the fact that he’s giving out money in a televised contest–the very paradigm of a game show.