Survivor 4/6 "The Power of the Idol"

Cafe Society
1

Wow…we’re really all pretty discouraged by this season, aren’t we? Three and a half hours since the show aired on the east coast and we still don’t have a thread. There’s really not all that much to get excited about this time, is there?

A few thoughts:

Terry’s an idiot. How they ever allowed him to even touch the controls of a fighter jet I have no idea. He’s going to sit on that hidden idol all the way to Loser Lodge. Too many people know he has it now. La Mina is over.

I want to be upset about Aras arrogance, paranoia and assholishness, but I really can’t, because Terry’s strategic blindness is taking up too much room in my Rant-o-tronic ™.

Eh. That’s all I’ve got. These people all suck.

2

Well, I’m still watching…just to see Terry (founder of the HeMan Woman Haters Club) get tossed.
Something I noticed:

Last time when the Casayas were debating which LaMina to target, Shane was all about Austin, but several of the women seemed to want Nick, and Nick indeed was the target.

This week, same situation, it was Aras all hot for them to go after Sally (as less risky for him), but Courtney was insistent that it should be Austin…and we know who actually went.

Also last time there were efforts made to convince Bruce that he was regarded as the Patriarch of the tribe…but does anyone really consult him?

What I’m saying is, it looks to me like the men in Casaya may talk and walk like leaders, but they don’t seem to be the ones making the decisions.

Pure speculation – but Courtney for one seemed absolutely indifferent to losing Aras. By now, everyone knows that Terry as least HAD the hidden idol, but I think that regardless he will be the target the moment he doesn’t win the individual immunity OR gives it away at TC. Yes, the result would most likely involve his using the HI and then a Casaya leaving, but so far the Laminas seem to regard Aras and Shane as the big targets. If it is indeed the women who are picking the Casaya’s target, then I don’t think it will deter them at all from targeting Terry ASAP.

IOW, Terry had better keep that string of IC wins going. :smiley:

3

I thought a pretty good episode right up until Austin got sent packing. The editors really did a great job in having me believe that Danielle and Bruce were going to flip and that Aras was going home and the LaMinas would rise like the Phoenix. Damn, I really wanted to see that power shift, which for sure won’t happen now. Why Danielle didn’t take the bait is anyone’s guess, hopefully because the women have something cooking. But it probably won’t happen if for no other reason than that’s what I want and Survivor almost ALWAYS leaves me disappointed.

What’s probably going to happen now I think is that Casaya has enough numbers to split the vote between Sally and Terry so when Terry pulls out the HI idol, Sally goes home. And Terry loses the idol.

Poor Danielle: not only did she have to carry all those coconuts, but those melons as well. :eek: (Wow, I was really ogling her tonight.)

4

I had hoped that Shane saw what Terry was trying to do in getting him to reveal “the final four,” and that Shane just named three random people that would be joining him…and then would go tell the rest of his tribe what Terry was doing in case it got back to them (and encourage them to do the same). But I watched the show with Aras and his family tonight…Aras was like “That moron…can’t believe he did that.”

Also…while she may do so later, Danielle never let on to her tribemates (prior to that tribal council) that Terry possessed and had offered her the immunity idol. Interesting…

5

Umm, come again?

So is he a jerk or is he just edited that way? Do you tell him what everyone writes about him here? Is Sally as cute as I think she is?

This could become its own thread:
“Ask Lockseer what Aras is really like”

considering the direction this season’s show is going, it would probably be more interesting than this thread.

6

I love those type of logic puzzles, so I paused it on the directions and did it myself. Pathetically easy; I’ve never seen one of those types of puzzles anywhere near as easy as that one. Otherwise, it was a nicely elaborate immunity challenge. I particularly loved how Jeff kept saying “so and so is falling out of it” considering how the ladies kept falling out of their tops. And poor Cirie; she must have rolled her eyes at the first mention of digging under the sand.

For some reason that I can’t figure out, I never put it together that La Mina was in the exact same situation strategically last week as this week. They needed to convert two people last week, and failed. This week? Same situation. I never put that together, and actually sat there for a couple minutes trying to puzzle it out.

And I stand corrected from last week’s thread. No question that the hidden immunity can only be used by the possessor. No transfering after the vote is read.

7

I cackled out loud when Aras got stuck in his hole.

I know it’s a long shot, but I hope Sally wins. She made Terry work for that immunity.

8

Yeah, I think the hidden plan that Danielle’s working on is that the women are going to vote the men off one by one, now that they have the numbers. At least, the coherent, working-together numbers.

It would have been better for Terry to give Austin the hidden idol before council last night, telling him that the only reason Austin would need it would be if Danielle didn’t flop, in which case she wouldn’t be getting the idol as promised. At least (I hope) Terry was smart enough not to give it to her ahead of time…

The recapper at TWOP was wondering how the heck you hide something like that for so long; where do you keep it so you know nobody who’s going through your stuff will find it? Answer: Tucked into your dirty underwear. Yep, that works.

I think Terry’s actually pretty smart; his problem is that, as a fighter pilot, he might not be as well-trained at long-term plans and tactics and instead he’s been trained for quick reactions and flexibility. His tactics so far seem to have been to form an early alliance, then coast as long as possible, then try to mix things up at the absolute last minute, and now he’s at the mercy of a bunch of people who formed an early alliance and have been struggling non-stop to keep it from completely disintegrating–they’re all working so hard to stay together as a group that they don’t necessarily get the idea that they are going to have to break up sometime, and that’s two weeks away (about four days, for them).

9

I spent most of that challenge thinking that I’d be of no use because my boobs would prevent me from carrying too many coconuts. Austin had the right idea, though–bent over and hanging on for all he was worth.

Oh. That sounded dirty. Ah, well. I was sorry to see him go, but I’m at the point where I no longer care about this season. If Danielle and Bruce had flipped, I may feel differently, but … bah. I don’t care.

Doesn’t mean I’m going to stop watching, of course, because I just suck.

10

Man. One of my favorites gets the boot. No surprise. The outsider Casayas went with the dvil they knew instead of the devil they didn’t. It looks like the only hope for a LaMina victory is Super Terry. He might just do it.

I am glad Jeff signed an extension to his contract. I would have hated for this to be his last season. He would have gone at on a low note.

And now, the less anticipated, highly derivative RICH RANKINGS! (Tribe and previous ranking in parenthesis)

FORGOT TO FILE A 1040- I guess you couldn’t outwit everyone!

Tina,Melinda,Misty,Ruth, Bobby,Dan,Nick- Now that there is a jury, we will no longer comment on these losers.

THE BOBBY JON LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD- The Jury deserves a special distinction from those in loser lodge.

Austin- (Merge/LaMina)- Oddly, his lame scheme last week seemed to totally fool Casaya. Shame to see Austin go. I figured he would be another pretty boy waiter/actor, but he was a nice guy who was a bright spot in a very dull cast. He obviously favors Terry in a jury vote.

EATING BEEF JERKY- You’re still playing, but you’re praying for a tribe scramble!

Sally- (Mohawk/La Mina)- Now that Casaya knows Terry has the idol, Sally is on the block absent an immunity win. Wouldn’t it be fun if she won next week?

WHO SAID ANYTHING ABOUT A MERGE?- Middle of the pack players, the lotta ya!

Danielle- (Mohawk/Casaya)- She must not have believed she was the odd woman out. If you look closely at her back (and stop looking at her front), then you may see Cirie’s footprints on her.

HEY! LOOK AT HIS MOHAWK-You might make the merge, but you’re grimacing from the jury row!

Shane- (Merge/Casya)- He’s playing fairly well since the merge. He is containing his inner weirdo. He has a small chance of winning.
Courtney- (Tom/Casaya)- In order for Shane to win, he has to have Courtney sitting next to him. He only contribution to the alliance, other than a vote, seems to be disagreement.

LOOKING FOR A BIG TOM TO ENGLISH DICTIONARY- Big Tom has spent more combined days on the show than anyone. But he didn’t quite grab the brass ring.

Cirie- (Tom/Casaya)- Hasn’t she moved up? She went from being the next one out to being the safest player in the entire game. She COULD win if everyone else gets too pissed at each other and votes for nice Cirie.
Bruce- (Tom/Casaya)- I think Bruce will make the final four. He will be the swing vote at the last minute that changes the game.

ARE YOU A RAT OR A SNAKE?- Reserved for a MAXIMUM of two players. You have to be in the driver’s seat for this spot.

Aras- (Rat/Casaya)- He’s here only because I don’t know who else to put. The girls clearly aren’t his biggest supporters given their unwillingness to vote off Sally. Incidentally, Aras was spot on in his reasoning.
Terry- (Rat/La Mina)- Think about this: if Terry wins immunity next week and Sally is voted out, then the next week, if Terry loses immunity, he single handedly gets to pick who gets voted off. His one protest vote becomes a choice as to who gets the shaft. If he knocks out Aras, his path to immunity sweeping becomes a LOT clearer.

11

I can’t believe Terry has been such an idiot with the idol. He should have given it to Nick last week, and Aras would be gone. When he let Sally and Austin know he had it, I thought, “finally!”

The best thing for him to do would have been to let Sally win immunity - the other team would probably have tried to vote him out, and Aras would be gone. At worst, they would have still voted out Austin and they would be no worse off than they are now, and no one would still know for sure he had the idol.

Once he won the IC, he should have loaned the idol to Austin. Again, Aras would be out, and they would only need one person to flip next week. If they had voted Sally off, Terry would be no worse off than he is and no one would be sure he had the idol.

Instead he does the worst thing he could do – show someone on the other alliance that he has the idol (idiot!), and then apparently keep it for himself, ensuring that one of his two alliance-mates get voted off. I’m sure he thought Danielle and Bruce would flip, but he should have used the idol for backup.

The only acceptable excuse for such stupidity would be if we find out that he had loaned the idol to Sally, anticipating Aras’ assumption that he would give it to Austin. If that’s what happened, well, he was too smart for his own good.

12

I agree. As I said last week, Terry seems to think tactically instead of strategically and fighter pilots tend to be a very competitive lot. Strategically, he should have let Sally win Immunity. I was surprised he didn’t. I guess his competitive nature wouldn’t allow him to do that.

13

Not necesarily. They have 5 and Terry is one. 3 vote for Terry, 2 vote for one of their own (ie, Bruce). Terry has the most votes, he pulls out immunity idol, the next-highest vote-getter is voted off.

14

It’s a really strange situation…because I’ve been able to get to know him outside the show, I can’t imagine it NOT coloring how I process watching it. Meaning, I don’t see him as a jerk on the show. Really great guy in person, wants to play the game as honestly as possible…

I typically don’t follow the SMDB threads on the show, but he does ask me each week how many points he scores, etc, in the Realiiity.com pool. I guess Sally is a local…wouldn’t mind meeting up with her, too. Definitely a cutie. :slight_smile:

15

Last week would have been the time to make this play, when ownership of the idol was up in the air and they only needed to swing one person. I think when the LaMinas remained tight, Terry abandoned the plan of “find a way to give Casaya numerical advantage” and go with the “win every immunity” plan. I don’t think he had any intention of giving Danielle the idol.

16

Yes, last week was definitely the time. He missed his opportunity. Still, it might have shaken things up if he did it this week.

As for his intentions of giving the idol to Danielle, I thought this was interesting (paraphrased): ‘At the Academy we don’t lie, cheat or steal. I’m looking at you right now and telling you that if you join us I’ll give you the idol.’ Well, they’re not at the Academy. He might have used Danielle and then justified it by saying that lying is perfectly acceptable under the rules of the game, so he did not do anything to disgrace himself.

17

They actually have 6 (Shane, Cirie, Danielle, Aras, Courtney, Bruce).

But, that would require too much teamwork on Casaya’s part.

It is also very dangerous because if ONE person flops, it blows the plan to hell.

For it to work, here is the scenario:

  • Terry votes for Aras
  • Bruce, Danielle, Courtney, Cirie vote for Terry
  • Aras & Shane vote for Bruce

In this scenario it would work.

But what if paranoia sets in. What if Courtney worries that Aras and Shane will write HER name down? Or Danielle, worrying that she is the next boot, flips?

They would really have to keep that scheme away from both Courtney AND Bruce.

Also, it would require the girls to go out of their way to save Aras. They haven’t really seemed too interested.

This group has stayed fairly strong as a unit, but they don’t seem to do it by working together.

It is certainly possible, but there are a lot of variables to it and it requires a lot of cooperation.

I am skeptical they can pull it off.

Either way, the immunity idol has really been the only good thing about this season.

It really has made things interesting.

18

Terry, you are an idiot. Why didnt you play the idol card the first time you had double immunity??? Idiot, idiot, idiot. That’s all I can say. You deserve to lose now.

19

Most boring season of Survivor ever. I don’t care about any of these players.

Bruce is an idiot. He mistakes false flattery for loyalty. He and Cirie should have made a bargain with Terry and his alliance that they’d not receive a vote until the Final Four and then flip. They are utterly unable to win challenges and are too dense to realize that they are 5 and 6 in the pecking order, despite the fact that Aras told Cirie on Day 1 that she was the next to go.

20

Ah, but you are assuming things don’t change. Sure, at the two tribe phase, the weakest players – Bruce and Cirie – aren’t as valuable. But that time is past. At this stage the players have two goals: to stay in the dominant alliance AND to try to arrange things to maximize your own chances to go far and hopefully win.

Say you make it to the last five or four or three. Who do you want to still have to be competing against? Aras and Shane? Or Danielle/Bruce/Cerie? Sure, Shane might be good to be facing in the final two, but he’s likely stronger than anyone except Aras in physical competition.

Me, I’d prefer to be fighting for II against as weak a group as possible. Assume that Terry and Sally are gone and/or immune, and you are one of the women. Are you likely to stay in the game longer if you vote out the weak/slow, or if you boot one of the strong guys? Hmmmm.