Survivor 12-11; Winding down

Cafe Society
41

And the little bulb finally lights above Darrah, Lill, and Sandra.

For the last few episodes everyone on the show has apparently been assuming that Burton and Jon were the inevitable final pair and the best anyone else could hope for was the #3 spot. So they were all making deals with B&J to stab each other in the back and avoid being the one voted off that week. Finally, at the last possible moment, they noticed that three against two was a winning majority and they could control the game if they wanted to.

That said, it appears Burton and Jon had fallen into the same myth that they were untouchable. It was an act of sheer stupidity to go sailing off on a victory celebration and leave the three people you planned on screwing over alone to think about their situation.

42

OK excuse me a sec but just who the hell does Burton think he is? Calling Lil a traitor for breaking an allegiance that Burton just broke by voting for Lil. Damn, I’m glad he got voted out - and I hope there are ants in his Envoy.

43

I think the Envoy is punishment enough. It looks like a minivan formed out of chewed gum.

I know the tradition is to give away a more ghastly vehicle every year, but I just can’t imagine they’ll be able to top this one.

44

Hmm, has anyone ever won the vehicle and the million? I don’t think so. So, when Burton won the Envoy, I just knew he was gone.

45

They gave Burton and Jon a car and let them loose in Panama City? I’m surprised they didn’t wind up in La Zona Roja instead of the campsite…

46

Lil! Sandra! D! You guys sooo rock.

I loved Sandra and Lil’s “act”. Jon and Burton saw right through it, so eventually Darrah and Lil “came around” and agreed to vote Sandra off…

…but they lied through their teeth just like the big boys. Bye, bye, Burton.

Gals, I’m proud of ya.

47

And Darrah sooo rocks on the IC wins. Go, girl!

(and that yellow bikini. rrrwr.)

48

I hope to hell Sandra wins. I friggin’ loved it when she said she was going to sabotage the tribe before leaving by getting rid of the machetes, fishing spear, etc and the faces she made when Burton and Jon spoke at Tribal Council were hilarious.

Rupert high fiving Christa and Ryan had me in stitches. I don’t get why people expect him to smile and look happy on the jury bench. He knows he deserves to still be in the game more than anyone, yet Burton and the utterly useless and clueless Lill were still in it despite being voted off already. Rupert is very competitive and this isn’t like pro sports where you lose in the playoffs and then say “Wait till next year!”. Survivor is a one shot deal, so he has every right to be pissed when he sees a dick like Jon still in the game. It’s not like Rupert knew at the time that he would be invited back for the all star edition.

I loved Probst’s ear to ear grin tonight when Burton was voted off. He’s gonna grill Johnny Fairplay HARD at the reunion show, he clearly dislikes the guy.

49

I’d be happiest with a Darrah-Sandra final two, with Darrah taking it all. Even Lil would be acceptable. If John wins, I will be more disgusted with the outcome than any Survivor ever.

The game motto is Outwit, Outplay, Outlast. I think Darrah is very deserving if you use these as the criteria:

Outwit: Clearly John has been the most manipulative, and it has been a successful strategy so far for him. But laying low and taking opportunies as they arise is also a legitimate strategy, and one that has served Darrah well. And the ladies did their share of outwitting tonight. Still, of those left, John gets the nod here, but given how badly he got played by Sandra tonight, not by a huge margin.

Outlast: Everyone currently left has outlasted everyone who isn’t left, so this one is an all equal tie. Well, except for Lil.

Outplay: Darrah has won three immunities in a row, including two physical challenges. Darrah by a long way.

Add in that John is a misogynistic asshole, and the balance tips way into Darrah’s favor for me.

50

Jon has also been outwitted a few times himself. Like, for instance, did you see last night’s episode?

And his “big lie” gets more and more useless. He’s “sworn on his grandma” and then broken those promises, so none of the other contestants buy it anymore (they still think she’s dead, of course). In fact, at this point, the other contestants can practically tell when Jon is lying—it’s when he swears on his grandma.

That’s an interesting juxtaposition. I keep hearing this “ride on coattails” thing, and I’m not sure what that is. Do you mean that Lil doesn’t work around the camp? She certainly appears to, from what we see. Do you mean that she hasn’t planned and schemed? We’ve certainly seen her do that.

It seems to me that Burton hasn’t done much else besides “ride coattails”, either. Hasn’t Jon dictated Burton’s whole life since he returned as an Outcast? “Jon has this great plan…”, “Jon’s going to convince so-and-so to vote for what’s-her-name…”, “Jon told me to pick him if I won immunity…”. Burton rode Jon’s coattails right onto the jury.

51

My vote is for none of the above.

Barring that, Darrah, as every other player has made major tactical blunders. Jon, isn’t a great player. Good, but his blunder regarding keeping Sandra and complete failure at the challenges make him a bit of bag of hot air. He is gone in the first TC.

Sad to say, I may just tape the last episode and watch it later. Unlike last year, I don’t have much interest left at this point. I blame the stupid outcast twist which ruined the game.

Also every time I see Rupert’s sour puss in the Jury, it makes me happy he got the boot.

Oh well, the All-Star Edition should be a hoot.

52

I hope that Mark Burnett will have mercy on us and never, never make us look at granny panties again. Why the hell was Lill still running around in those awful things? She’s got her damn bathing suit now - there is no excuse.

Much as I’d like Sandra to win, I think it’ll be Darrah and Granny Panties on display Sunday. And if Ill gets it, I may damage my television.

53

I thought it was interesting last night how Jon had said to Burton that “we’ve played this game about as well as it can be played.” Ummm…that might have been true, if Burton HADN’T BEEN VOTED OFF ALREADY. There’s really one real reason he was in the game as long he was - luck.

54

No need to repeat much of what has been posted already.

But what an incredibly unpleasant piece of work that Sandra is. Has any previous contestant ever suggested sabotage like she? And then when she might not be voted out, her main regret is that she won’t be able to carry out her nasty plans – yet.

How does she show her face at her job, to her family, or in her community, when she returns to the real world?

55

Agreed about the no need to repeat stuff, but I just have to say: Burton - shut the hell up dumbass. You voted for Lill too, remember?

And regarding Sandra - I don’t think she’ll have a problem. For every person who thinks, “Wow, that wasn’t very nice,” there will be at least one that thinks, “Hahah you show them!” I personally don’t have a problem with her. Yeah the sabotage thing is kind of weak, but hey, it’s screw-or-be-screwed out there. :wink:

Why Sunday anyway?

56

supervenusfreak and I were chuckling evilly when Sandra was planning her little sabotoojie spree. I love the still-cohesiveness of the Rupert Alliance, even though 2/3 of them are currently benched. I still love me some Rupert…when he got that smile and the high-fives as Burton walked out, we cheered. And the look that passed between Christa and Sandra when the votes were read…woohoo!

57

Regarding the whole strategy thing:

I think there’s a mistaken tendency to confuse nonstop, betray-everyone-for-the-sake-of-betraying them alliance flopping with intelligent strategy. People think of Richard Hatch, from way back in the first season, as one of the best strategic players ever on “Survivor” - maybe the single best ever. But if you remember, Richard Hatch hardly ever flopped alliances. He assembled a core gang of four, never really telegraphed it, and never betrayed any of those four people. Also, within that gang of four, he had a second alliance with Rudy; when Richard realized that he needed to “betray” Rudy, he smartly did so by “quitting” the last immunity challenge, knowing that Kelly would take him along. Richard managed to make it to the final two without having outright betrayed anyone, whereas Kelly had. That’s why Richard won and Kelly didn’t.

Brian from Thailand did betray people, occassionally, but he made absolute certain that anyone he lied to was immediately voted out, so there was no one left on the island to be mad at him, and tell everyone else to vote him off.

People like Burton, Jon, Rob Cesternino from last year (who I don’t really think was as good at the game as most people do), they can make it to a certain point, but they don’t win. Because they change sides so often - sometimes just for the sake of changing, without any real concrete reason for doing so - they wind up alienating everyone, including the people who stay on the island with them. Sooner or later, they suffer for it.

All of which is to say that I think Darrah would be a tremendously deserving winner. She formed tight relationships (with Andrew, T, and Ryan-O) and stuck to them, never wavering or giving anyone a reason to doubt her loyalty. Once her primary alliance was in tatters, she agreed to vote with Sandra and Christa, but they screwed her over. Nonetheless, she was smart enough to go along with Sandra a second time this week - but also careful enough that the guys blame Lill, and, secondarily, Sandra for this vote. That’s real strategy - staying loyal to some relationships and breaking trust only when there is significant tangible benefit (and avoiding the consequences of the trust break in the bargain). What Jon does is not particularly intelligent nor difficult, and I’ll bet a crisp new peach-and-green $20 bill that he won’t win.

  • FCF

PS - For similar reasons, I think Richard Hatch might just walk away with the All-Star Survivor title, if he remembers the rules he himself established.

58

I know it’s already been said, but I’m late and I want to give my impressions.

First and foremost, Lil appears to be a total dunce. For example, the compass challenge. She’s a scoutmaster and should know a little something about navigation. The game is simple: Stretch one rope between two compass points, and another rope between two more compass points. “X marks the spot.” It’s not that difficult.

And what’s with all the Sturm und Drang about the girl-alliance? Lil has been shown time and time again how Burton and Jon screw people over. Lil herself has turned on a memeber of her alliance. “But if I follow Burton and Jon, at least I’ll make it to the Final Three!” Maybe. If they don’t screw you as they have others. Sure, Sandra and Darrah may decide to keep Jon over you. But maybe not. There’s no guaranty that Jon and Burton will take you to the Final Three other than their word; and you’ve already seen them break their promises. Buy a clue!

Maybe it’s the Midwestern Morality that keeps her from playing the game. But I’ll tell ya, it’s painful to look at her Twilight Zone: The Masks face and see the sprockets turning so painfully slowly in her head! Those petulant expressions make her look like an imbicile.

Not that Sandra and Darrah are much smarter. They could’ve/should’ve played more intelligently long ago. At least the penny finally dropped and they have finally formed a girl-alliance.

Burton was stupid to take Jon on the reward challenge. They were too confident that the girls were too stupid to form an alliance. They were almost right. But a lab rat will eventually stop pressing the button if it gets shocked everytime.

I don’t like Jon. He is very much like an acquaintance of mine who is even more self-absorbed and manipulative than he is. But in the context of the game he has played it well. If I were on the jury, I’d have to grudgingly vote for him because of how well he manipulated people.

I’d like to see the Final Three be Sandra, Darrah and Lil. I’d like for the Final Two to be Darrah and Sandra. Of those two, I don’t really care who wins. Darrah has proven (through the ICs) to be a good player. Sandra has been a decent competitor as well. Lil? Well, she deserves not to win because of her ineptitude from Day One.

I think Jon will be in the Final Three. I think Sandra will convince Darrah that they stand a better chance against Jon than Lil in the Final Two because he’s such an ass. But I think that if it goes that way, the jury will recognize how well Jon did at screwing people over and vote for him for his audacity.

So who will be against Jon? If I were Jon I’d be thinking like this: “Lil, everyone hates me. You’re a nice lady. They might vote for me because I’ve played well; but they might vote for you because you’re so nice. Darrah is a threat in the IC. We need to get rid of her.” Then, “Sandra, Darrah is a danger. We need to vote her off. You know people will vote for you over me. Lil has already been voted off once. Let’s get rid of Darrah.” Then he will have to win the endurance challenge. If he does, then I think he’ll keep Sandra.

One more thing: I never want to see Lil with her trousers off. I had to look away from the TV. No more, please.

59

Bwa! Ha! Ha! Ha!

I am so happy I was wrong in my predictions and I grudgingly admit this was the Best. Survivor. Episode. Ever! I was on pins and needles through the whole thing. Way to go, Ladies!

The moment Burton chose Jon to go on the reward, I turned to my husband and said, “That’ll be his undoing.” I am so glad it was! I really hated that cocky, arrogant bastard.

And in true asshat form, he actually tried to justify his absurdly hypocritical final words when he appeared on The Early Show this morning. Incredible. Can I say again how much I hated that jerk?

Sandra completely rocks. I want either her or Darrah to win this thing, Sandra being my first choice. I don’t think she can win against anyone but Jon, though. And I’d really hate to see him with the $100,000 2nd place spot. Besides, I don’t think Sandra has the stamina to withstand whatever endurance challenge they set up for the final 3, should she make the first cut on Sunday.

I predict: Darrah wins, Lil 2nd.

60

CBS obviously heard that I’ll be on a plane next Thursday night and took pity on me.