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Well that sucked. I knew who it was gonna be from accidentally catching a commercial, but I was still shocked at what happened. It was pretty scary when he just collapsed onto the table.
On the other hand, I loved the group tribal council. There needs to be more interaction between tribes pre-merge. I was hoping right after all that smack talk that Jeff would say “Alright. You are now merged.”
Me too. I think he should have given them both pizzas, too.
I’ve read that the producers like to keep things as routine as possible, right down to the words that Jeff says at the challenges, on the theory that viewers like the familiar. And who am I to argue with that? The show’s in its 19th season. But the drama and changes brought about by Russell’s unfortunate illness made for the most refreshing “Survivor” episode ever. They should vary the formula, though hopefully not at the expense of a player’s health, a little more often.
Watching how quick the medical team got in there and then seeing all those crew people loading Russell out, gave me an appreciation for what a good job the camera people and the editors do. The illusion that it’s just Jeff and the players out there (and in often chaotic shooting situations) is rarely shattered, and yet there are a lot of other people actually present.
Yeah, it is uncanny how well the show keeps the cameras and audio people hidden, and it’s not like they can do-over a challenge (although it is widely known that the show will use staff dressed like contestants to re-create shots they need).
As for the rest (setting aside Russell, poor fellow): this episode was a big nothing. Nothing happened for most of the show, all the strategizing was for nothing. The players sat around and bitched about the rain and cold; I feel sorry for them, but we did that for the whole show last week. The challenge counted for nothing. And thanks, Jeff, for averting any possible drama by announcing that tribal council itself was for nothing. And it started to rain, again.
Re the Russell thing: I felt at some point like a voyeur when Probst was telling him he had to go, and they showed Russell’s emotional reaction. I didn’t feel like I should be privy to this, it was too close and not my business.
I third that the show should have given them all pizzas.
At this point, I think I’m rooting for eeeeeeeeevil Russell, sinply because the guy is a solid competitor and seems to be impervious to the elements. Not a fan of how he tends to target the hot chicks for elimination, but damn I agreed with him 100% when he was bashing his tribe for being a bunch of crybabies.
Speaking of which, I loved the reaction shots of everyone as it started to rain again. They were probably thinking “let’s keep talking so we can stay here all night.”
It wasn’t clear to me if the tribes were getting rained on or not during tonight’s TC. They have had tribal councils in the rain. There was obviously a roof on the TC area, but I’m not certain if it was water tight or decorative.
I can’t help thinking how stupid Russell is for taking himself out of the game. It’s possible that he would have gotten ill anyway, but the show certainly made it seem like he got sick because he pushed himself too hard. I’ll never understand why macho people like that think they’re so noble or hardworking or whatever when what they really are is shortsighted.
I also thought it was funny that that one girl said: *I’d give anything for a tarp *when it was the women who wanted the pillows and blankets as the reward a few weeks ago. Dumbass! Heh.
Eh… right now I don’t like any of them except Probst. Yeah, this ep sucked.
Yes and if you think about it you’ll remember that Russell endorsed that choice, rather than taking the risk of alienating anyone. He could have overruled the girls and picked the tarp. Ultimately he paid for that poor decision.
I must agree with this. Galu has so many extra tribe members at this point, there’d have been no shame at all in Russell taking a turn sitting out a challenge. In fact, I was surprised the other tribe members didn’t insist on it… not necessarily because they could have foreseen what happened, but because Russell was obviously exhausted and somebody else would have given them a better chance to win the challenge.
I’ll also second squeegee’s observation that other than the medical drama, nothing happened. The rest of the hour was pretty much a yawn.
Anybody else think it wasn’t quite fair that when Foa Foa lost a member for medical reasons, they still had to vote someone out, but Galu didn’t? Unless maybe they push the one-from-each-tribe twist to next week, then I guess it’ll even out.
Agreed. He is at least doing something.
As for the rest, I have no sympathy. Why aren’t they fixing the shelter? They’re already wet. Go out and get more fronds, dummies!
Is there any rule against using the tribe banner? Because after 5 days of rain, Id pull that sucker down and lay it on the roof.
It is watertight – they commented on it last week, how the upside of being in TC was being dry for a couple of hours.
The other challenge had been completed, though, and then Old Guy (don’t remember his name) went into distress after.
This time, Jeff made a judgment call in the middle of the chaos and stopped the challenge (no-brainer) and told everyone to come to TC (okay) and be prepared to vote someone out. It was this last point that, I’m sure, got discussed thoroughly with the production team immediately after all this went down, and the decision was made that the fairest thing was for neither team to lose a member, not for both teams to lose a member. Er, tribes.
Because the game of Survivor discourages people from being pushy and painting a target on their back. Someone suggested it but Russell was too proud to heed the advice. His destiny was in his own hands and he made one too many boneheaded decisions.
I like the idea of using the banner for a tarp - that’s genius! It’s probably a porous fabric, though - production is pretty tight on this show. Speaking of whcih, it is impressive to see how many people are actually around at the challenges. As soon as Russell went into Zombie mode, there were all kinds of camera and sound techs in the scene, along with the medical tem - people they go out of their way to keep out of the shots. Too bad, too - I really liked the rolling ball part of the challenge. I agree that it sucked that they didn’t get any pizza. I don’t see the logic in that decision. At least they got a dry hour around the fire at tribal, so they all got a chance to “warm off” - even if they didn’t get any “hot piping pizza”. New catch phrases for all!
Except that last night’s challenge was for pizza, not immunity.
The way it went in week 2 was: Galu wins immunity >> Mike gets pulled from the game >> Foa Foa votes out a member as had been previously determined by rules/events.
So last night, the tribes were told pre-challenge that they’re each going to TC and losing a member. This challenge will be for pizza and the right to sit in on the other tribe’s TC. To be consistent with the previous incident, it would have gone: Nobody wins pizza and eavesdropping priveleges >> Russell gets pulled from the game >> Each tribe votes out a member as had been previously determined by rules/events.
Don’t get me wrong, I get why they made the call they did, but the way it all went down definitely shafted Foa Foa.
I’m sorry, Wheelz, I’m not getting where you see the unfairness.
No one won, but equally no one lost, so the teams were treated the same – neither got pizza, both went to TC, neither lost a member. This is unfair why?
The Survivor web page says Russell had, in essence, severe dehydration. Fuzzabuh-whuh?? It rained for five straight days! How were they not collecting water to drink in the leaves, their clothes, anything so they could drink? Probst says in an interview how they don’t give the Survivors anything, including water to drink, and how these tribes had had no fire for days and such. Still, fresh water is falling from the sky–how is it not being used of the most immediate and elementary of needs?
Am I missing something? Unless Russell had severe vomiting and/or diarrhea, I’m vexed how he could be that dehydrated in that situation.
My wife spotted the dehydration right away. Note that they showed EvilRussell collecting rainwater into a canteen.
As for how they could become dehydrated…it’s easy. Good Russell was out busting his ass all day, and never stopped to drink anything. Toss in a ton of protein his body wasn’t used to, and you have the makings of just what happened.
The pizza don’t enter into it.
At the time Mike went down, Foa Foa already had a date with Jeff at TC. Foa Foa still had to vote somebody out.
At the time Russell went down, Galu already had a date with Jeff at TC. *Galu didn’t have to vote anybody out. *
I do see your point as well, twickster, that Foa Foa was also going to lose someone last night but then they didn’t; that does help even the score a bit. But I still see an inconsistent ruling here.
Plus, IMO a vote would have hurt Galu more than Foa Foa. They’ve hardly lost anybody, and losing 2 in one day would have been a killer for morale.