Oh, Hot Amanda, who became Hot Amanda at least partly because you were Smart Amanda, why hast thou forsaken me?
The rest of Ozzy’s tribe blew it in a big way. Tracey was right; this was the optimal time for them to eliminate the biggest threat to all of them. I mean, if they lose again, does Erik think he’s going to suddenly replace Amanda, Ami, or Cirie? Is Amanda looking forward to losing to a guy again in the final vote because she’s perceived as having riddden his coat-tails? Do Ami and Cirie not see the Ozzy-Amanda-James-Parvati-reunion writing on the wall? Do any of them actually think that they will die without Ozzy? Have none of them noticed that they keep losing immunity challenges with Ozzy, so his fearsome challenge prowess is evidently less valuable than they are crediting it with being?
I like Ozzy, but he should have gone home, or at least been forced to burn that idol. Really bad play by the rest of his tribe there.
ETA: All right - Cirie’s speech about Erik falling in love with Ozzie was pretty good too. “When he speaks about Ozzie, stardust comes out of his mouth.”
I thought Amanda *was *playing it smart. Ozzy has shared the fact that he has the immunity idol only with his core four. Amanda is playing the role of the spy. She pretends to be open to flipping in order to gather information. But it is definitely not in her interest to harm her own secret alliance. To flip on Ozzy at this point would be as boneheaded as jabbing a sharp stick into your knee or quitting the game because you can’t “feel” your family on the other side of the planet via the magical ocean water human-linking conduit.
Amanda’s in the cat-bird seat in making the final four right now. The power alliance has all the angles… they’ve convinced Ami and Cirie to cut out all the fans first. I think they could even be throwing the immunity challenges intentionally in order to ensure all the fans are out. Amanda’s eyes and ears can pick up any plots against this plan, and they have the immunity idol to fall back on. Tracy made a noble effort to blindside Ozzy, but despite all of Cirie’s whining about how much of a threat Ozzy is to her, I think Cirie’s nature is lazy enough that she doesn’t want to give up easy street.
After the merge, the power alliance can dominate the immunities, ensuring the fans are vulnerable to the votes. Once the fans are out, Ami / Cirie / Eliza will think they have Amanda’s vote to make a move, because Amanda will continuously assure them that they do. However, the key is the knowledge of the hidden immunity idol. Ami / Cirie / Eliza cannot make a real move because of it, and Amanda cannot betray her alliance, due to the risks and consequences of being found out. (Instant disaster)
There is absolutely no reason to risk not making it to final four at all in order to gain a slight advantage if she does at all. And due to the gradual payouts based on your final standings and the final 3 twists that boosts everyone’s chances at final four, it would be really dumb of her to flip.
What you say is true…I definitely thought there was a vibe with Jeff that Osten was a Big Strong Guy, and therefore it was more shameful that he couldn’t hack it. I’d be willing to bet that the game is mostly mental, and while Jeff makes a big deal out of guys doing well if they’re strong, the fact is that some very out of shape folks do manage to make it quite far and even win. Kathy didn’t leave out of a lack of being able to physically hack it…she wasn’t about to fall over…but she was afraid and uncomfortable, so really, she wussed out for the same reasons Osten did. Although she did last longer, that’s true.
I wonder if they are trying to make a point of some kind, that it’s harder than it looks when you’re sitting on your couch. Which is pretty much exactly what Kathy said. But…duh? Didn’t she ever notice how much weight some people lost? Didn’t she ever see anyone huddled in a leaky shelter, shivering with cold? I don’t have that much sympathy. Season 1, 2, or 3 people, sure…but the thing has been on for, like, 20 seasons…I’d think you could figure it out by now, if you’d really been watching it all this time.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticizing someone who wouldn’t want to go through all that…I wouldn’t do it in a million years. I get cold sitting in my own living room, and if I don’t eat at least every 3 hours I’m a raving bitch. But at least I know my limitations!
This is why the weak should get voted off early. I like this quitting. Not in terms of this season, but rather the next one. Now people will be much more wary of keeping weaker allies over stronger allies, early in the game. How useful is a pawn, if the pawn can’t hack it, and quits the game?
I liked the first season, when the first half of the game was spent getting rid of the weakest only to have a much more competitive second half of the game.
Heh…Ozzy was spinning like crazy to keep the “leader” title off of him, wasn’t he?
One thing I can generally feel guaranteed in believing when it comes to this show…super incredible awesomely cool maneuvers like the Alex/Mookie/Edgardo triple side-step blindside from Yau Man’s original season happen so very rarely that if it LOOKS like a tribe is going to pull something just as close to awesome, it has a 90% chance of never happening…
Well, to be fair to Susan, I don’t know what she made of Richard’s “assault”, and maybe she has a horrid memory of something that had happened to her involving someone else’s junk, and she was reliving something we can’t and won’t know about. She was obviously fairly traumatized, and I don’t understand it any more than that.
As far as duration, Osten quit on day 19, Susan quit on day 17, so they both tuffed it out for quite a bit. Susan was obviously freaked out about something, but I don’t understand what that was. Osten was freaked out about everything involved in primitive camping on an island, and he was frightened to death of a goddamn pelican, so I’m not inclined to cut him any kind of slack. YMMV.
To a degree, I think he was right. He isn’t a political leader like some people have been. Rather, he’s a naturally charismatic alpha male, and the main reason he’s perceived as a leader is because everyone looks to him for guidance about what to do. In other words, they can’t blame him for being a leader, because they’re the ones who gave him that power.
If Tracy had stepped up at any time, gone fishing, and said, “here, let’s eat this now,” there’s no way Ozzy would have objected or interfered.
That said, he hasn’t been afraid to use that power. Like when he turned to Tracy and asked her to take one for the team and go to exile, and she just did it. That’s power.
