Now that we are down to 6, who are the real contenders to win this?
Im not particularly rooting for anybody but I get the feeling that Carson is getting the winner edit…
The Camera (editors) just loooooooves Carolyn and Yamyam, so I am assuming they will be there.
Yeah, since they hardly get any Camera time.
At this point, It’s as likely as any other final three combination, I suppose. I have no idea who would get the votes in that situation, as none of them has really done anything.
That’s really my point. I discuss this show IRL with a few friends, and every time I try to list the remaining non-Tika players, I blank for a bit on at least one of their names. They have been give sooo little screen time and been shown as the mover behind sooo few material moves.
And the players have firmly shifted to the third stage: They’ve gone from their top motivation being ‘gotta keep my team strong, regardless of whether I like them’ to ‘gotta get rid of the challenge threats on the other teams’ to ‘gotta get rid of the people who will likely get more votes than me at the end.’
Which makes me suspect the Tika threesome really ruptures next time. Carolyn is already sick of being overlooked and left out by Carson and Yam Yam, while I think each of Carson and Yam Yam suspects the other to be the biggest competition for final votes. I can see each of them, individually, trying to make a new alliance with the remaining ‘non-entity’ girls.
Are you suggesting that they are showing them because they know they win or that they will ensure they win because of their screen time?
My experience is that, if anything, screen time means your head is on the block. Screen time didn’t help Danny.
I watch every episode. When I read this post I thought, Lauren? Heidi? I felt as if I was reading about a different season.
Give me props for recognizing Jaimie’s name. 
mmm
Yes, and no. If all of a sudden one episode gives a player more screen time, then often they are destined to get snuffed … or their torches anyway.
But if they get a lot of screen time episode after episode, they are getting what Fans call “winners edit”.
Lauren, Heidi, and Jaime are not gonna win, imho.
The counterpoint would be Gabler.
The edit is hard to read. Does anyone remember the very opening of this season? Instead of Jeff standing in a dramatic spot and making an opening speech, it was Carolyn stumbling over some questions. We could even hear the producer interviewing her.
It would be incredible signalling if she wins and she has been shown this much. I think she’ll be one of the final three, but won’t win.
Well so far this season she has been uniquely terrible in challenges. I don’t think there’s any way she wins the final four challenge, nor do I think she can win fire. So the only way she makes it to final three is if the final four winner brings her with them.
Maybe. But I’ve also heard former players talk about screen times or edits on podcasts. You have to actually be entertaining to get screen time. I don’t remember Sandra, for example, getting a lot of screen time her first season win. She was way under the radar until the end of the season. I’m guessing it’s because she was boring compared to other players.
Tika is in a really interesting position. Right now, they are all the biggest threats to each other. But if they turn against each other now, they’ll probably get voted out 1,2,3 unless they win a challenge. SO they need to get rid of one of the other 3 first, then turn against each other.
They definitely head-faked pretty hard by giving Carson such a lengthy “what did you learn by being here” speech at the TC.
Satisfying boot, but I’m already dreading the Jaime/Lauren/Heidi Final 3 possibility. All it takes is one of the Tika 3 throwing in with them and voting out the other two. The problem, as @AlsoNamedBort mentioned is that you’d have to trust that they wouldn’t just vote you out next, which they probably would… so maybe the devil you know is better at least until Final 5 for the Tika crew? But that’s still just 3-3.
Carolyn is extremely good at detecting when she is being lied to. I have to think both her personal past and her current occupation has trained her well for that.
I, too, loved her “is that the real plan or the fake plan” quip.
We’ve definitely had winners with very little screen time, and the editors have been wedging Heidi in to say not much at all from time to time, so it wouldn’t be completely shocking for her to win, IMO. But I’m not sure how she beats any of Carson/Carolyn/YamYam.
I’ve never had a more dramatic flip-flop in my view of a contestant than I am having now with Carolyn. In the very early going I couldn’t stand the sight of her psycho eyes or her herky-jerky personality.
Now? She is one of my all-time favorites and I’m rooting for her to go all the way.
She didn’t change. I guess I must have.
mmm
Is this week the finale?
Next week.
Whew, that might’ve been the most stressful vote read in a long time.
The editing this week was strong…
Just caught up on the last episode.
While I agree the editing played up the suspense, I didn’t buy it for a minute. It was just so obvious that strategically it made no sense for Yam Yam and Carson to jettison Carolyn right now. In what world do they make the Final TC if they are sitting in a Final 5 with Heidi, Jaime, and Lauren?
So once it became obvious that Yam Yam and Carson needed Carolyn for the Final 5 vote, it was pretty clear that everything else (possibly even Carolyn’s eye rolls) was done to stop Jaime from playing an idol. Which, ironically, didn’t work - it just so happens that a different player had the idol instead.
At this point I wouldn’t put it past the producers to say “Yam Yam, we need a speech about voting out Carolyn” and him playing along. Or perhaps some of those clips were from the next TC (when it would probably be a very good idea for him to get rid of Carolyn - then he could be in a final with Heidi and Lauren).
That’s not an insane thought. One of the shots at tribal council when Lauren (I think) was talking showed Danny’s tattooed arm right behind her, meaning it was clearly from a previous tribal council. Editors playing fast and loose with the timeline.