Also, if you’ve had nothing but a few scoops of rice, maybe wait to eat some food before you start drinking.
Speaking of Carl, has the “lets pick someone now, hours/days before the tribal and not discuss it any more” move ever worked? It basically makes it so everyone else is going to keep discussing, but you’re just going to get cut out.
Crap. I started reading the recent posts in this thread, forgetting that last night’s episode was two hours long, and I had to go to bed halfway through so I could get up at 0430 for my commuting day.
Every season we see people pigging out on a reward, but I don’t recall ever seeing the participants get so violently ill. I’m surprised it doesn’t happen every time.
When the rice shortage came up, I realized something about this season: we haven’t seen any camp drama at all. All the footage in camp – outside of challenges and TC’s – has been discussions of shifting alliances, and looking for idols (and rain-induced misery). We haven’t seen anyone throwing out the rice, or stealing shoes, or arguing over whether to kill the chicken, people using a rock as a Blackberry…
There was that older guy a few years ago who got so sick after the reward he was evacuated.
There was the time Wes Nale (Keith’s son) ate way too many tacos, and spend the next few days farting everyone else out of camp.
My favorite moment in either episode had to be right after Gabby dropped off the crucifixion challenge. Alec had successfully mind-gamed her off, though she probably wouldn’t have lasted much longer anyway. Once she was down, he tried a similar tactic with Christian, something like “You will drop next” or “I won’t fall.” Christian’s only response was a perfect Cheshire Cat smile.
I was already rooting for Christian, but that smile solidified him as my favorite. I’m also rooting for Nick, Davie, and Kara, but have given up on Mike White as too wishy-washy. (He’s a perfect goat to take with you to final 3.) I usually end up rooting for chicks, so this is kind of a sausage-fest season for me.
Speaking of a sausage-fest, I found the “And now here’s the jury” intro for the second episode hysterical. Jeff might as well have introduced them as “Lyrsa, Elisabeth, buff alpha-male #1, buff alpha-male #2, buff alpha-male #3.” This season has been textbook strategy: Vote out most of the hot chicks and camp annoyances before the merge, keeping the strong guys to help win team challenges early. Once merged, quickly eject those strong guys with extreme prejudice.
Bummer, I already deleted it. Maybe someone will post a screenshot online somewhere.
Pretty good two-fer ep. I admittedly thought Carl was doomed as soon as he got the confessional immediately after Alec helped win the first reward challenge. I’ve watched enough Survivor to see that usually when they give you something like that that they’re setting that person up for the fall. Granted, it did take two episodes, but the storyline was clearly there throughout that Carl was getting too bossy and it was gonna cost him. Epic challenge standoff by Alec and Christian though.
I actually think Angelina did a pretty good job with the negotation. She posted on IG that her initial offer (fishing gear, most of the cooking supplies, chairs, hammock) was basically nothing because they had caught zero fish, didn’t use the supplies, and the chairs were broken. The tribe discussed it and their consensus max offer was going to be the aforementioned items, tarps, blankets, pillows, rafts and three people sitting out immunity. So getting the rice for only one person giving up immunity was actually a good deal. To me it just seems like Angelina is final 3, zero vote goat waiting to happen… everyone else seems to find her annoying. I don’t think she’s a bad person, just rubs people the wrong way and not good at reading the room.
Nick and Kara were my suspected winners early on. Kara’s faded into the background since then but I think Nick is very much alive as a winner. Not flashy but as you said he’s playing a great quiet game.
I’ve been impressed by Nick as well, but doesn’t his being on the outs with this vote augur poorly for him?
Christian beating Alec in the IC was so amazing. Alec is a challenge beast, AND he had everything on the line! Does Christian do yoga or something? He doesn’t look like much physically but has shown a few times that he is wiry-strong.
Yes, that was excellent. You could see Christian thinking “Mind games? I’ll give you mind games” then launching into his “Circumnutating plant robot” story.
It is a double-edged sword for Christian. It is another feather in his cap, which makes him an even more appealing jury vote; however, it makes him an even greater Final Three threat.
I do like Christian’s strategy of trying to keep some other threat around that is just slightly more threatening than him. You see it a lot of seasons of Survivor that a threat slides by because “We can get him/her next vote.” And suddenly they are in the finals. I’ve often said (not here) that if you’re counting on the next vote in Survivor you’re using the wrong strategy. There is no next vote, there is only the current vote. Too much can change between now and then, and almost always does.
Carl was a good vote for Christian as it was’t eliminating a threat, it is eliminating an annoyance, which is kind of like a free shield for him. I think he’s running out of shields though; however, he can certainly win some more immunity challenges. He’s pretty solid at puzzles, and obviously can deal with endurance challenges. So a couple of immunity wins, smart use of his idol, and continued good play and he could make it to the end.
Another good episode.
Christian kind of reminds me of “Gumby”. When he does confessionals, he is usually what I think is in uncomfortable posture. His knees are up to his chest. He slumps when he is at tribal council. I guess that is what made him good at the first challenge
Saw the writing on Mike’s letter. Very funny. “Marshmallow People”
Odd that the 2nd reward challenge, on a school yard pick, that Christian was not picked after winning the previous Immunity Challenge.
Probst in his description for the 2nd IC, said the letters would used “to solve a word puzzle” He doesn’t say one particular word.
Carl should have won IC, IMO, because he spelled a legit 11 letter word: PERCEPTIONS. It might not have been the word that the Producers wanted, but it is an 11 word, and even a tangibly related to Survivor.
Terrible job a vetting the challenge, IMO.
Yeah, there’s tons of anagram calculators on the net to figure out how to add two extra letters without coming up with another 2 letter word. He should’ve won.
My first reaction was that Carl got hosed. But then, if I’m not mistaken, they go over the rules pretty thoroughly before each challenge. For all we know, Jeff (or another producer) said, “There may be more than one possible word, but there’s a specific one we’re looking for.” And there’s often an element of luck at challenges - putting three two-digit numbers in random order, trying multiple keys to open a lock, digging for a bag in a large sand pit, and so forth. A tough loss for Carl, but I think it was fair. (Though, did anyone else notice that Gabby used the word “perceptions” in a confessional about five minutes later? Too funny.)
I’m really enjoying this season, which (after Natalie was gone, anyway) is populated with decent and very smart people. Even Angelina, who I suspect has spent most of her life getting her way and disproportionately attributing it to her own efforts, seems to have a modicum of empathy and self-awareness, and is thoughtful and well-spoken when she wants to be. Departing players have left with class and sportsmanship. Tribal Councils are fascinating conversations full of strategy and game theory, rather than the sniping and name-calling that seems to happen too often. It’s been a refreshing departure.
Good analysis!
It’s still pretty lame to have another word that could be figured out, only because you added those two specific letters. It also was very similar to the wining word, where once people heard it they were able to guess the correct word.
That was beyond ridiculous, however, based on her not so subtle effort to tell us, I guess that’s how it’s done if you’ve gone to Yale.
Yeah, the challenge producers definitely screwed up that one. There are computer programs/websites that will tell you all words spelled by a combination of letters. They fell down on the job on this one.
With that said, in another group someone who has been involved with creating challenges for similar shows said that in situations like this, the producers generally have to submit the “correct answer” to a third party ahead of time to ensure everything is on the straight and narrow, so they potentially couldn’t have said, “Well, we didn’t think of that one but we’ll give it to ya anyway, Carl.” It sucks for him, especially since he got voted out, but the rules are the rules.
Every secret scene I’ve watched so far that has anyone talking about it has been complimentary of her negotiating. Carl also had good things to say about her in his postgame interviews. She also explained a lot of it on Twitter and she really did think it out ahead of time. She went in with a purposely lowball offer but the willingness to negotiate, and she got what she wanted – what they all wanted.
I would have liked to seen an alternate universe where Probst asked Angelina for Natalie’s jacket, had Natalie given up her jacket to Angelina.
I just fail to see how her offer was a lowball offer.