Probst’ latest blog post is a masterpiece… perhaps his shining moment as host…
also, as much as I dislike Russell, he was the one who swayed Tyson to vote for Parvati, and he was the one who got Jerri to come over to his side… he is playing a masterful game with no vision for the end-game… one can only hope that he makes it to the final 2 one more time, and comes up short again…
I thought Coach had given one of his honor-bound pledges to Rob that he’d never write his name down.
Cirie is an awesome social player. She can really read people.
But in the context of the PunditLisa’s post she is not a strong player.
Moving day for me was on the night that Randy’s ouster aired, so my Tivo missed it, and the episodes have been piling up since then. Finally had a chance to seek the missing episode out on cbs.com last night and watched all the others back to back. Man, I love this season.
Watching Rob and Russell for the past few episodes has been like watching two chess grandmasters play. A move here, a feint there, and tonight … Checkmate. Go Russell! I can’t believe I’m a little sad to see Rob go, but it was some great gameplay on both sides.
I don’t think voting out Rob will hurt the Villains much, since the merge must be around the corner, and the Heroes have dwindled so far down. Also, there have been so many intensely physical challenges this season, I can’t imagine they will keep up that pace. (not that Rob is a slouch on puzzles either, but it’s just past the “keep the strong men” time)
ETA: Oh, and I love Tyson’s commentary, but he’s a dumbass. And Coach is such a douche he should spell his name Couche.
He did, which is why he got all angsty when he learned that Jerri planned to vote for Rob.
But what he ended up doing – honoring the letter of his word but not the spirit – actually showed less integrity than if he had out-and-out flipped on Rob. If you’re gonna betray somebody, man up and go all in.
Better still, he had the option to vote for Russell and at least force a tie, and/or try to talk Jerri back. He chose, in essence, to do nothing, which was exceedingly weak of him, and I predict he will pay for that weakness.
Exactly. He was basically voting with Russell, but just abstained from voting so he could claim he didn’t break his word. Which is why Rob told him “You’re a small man” when Coach went in for the goodbye hug. If he had the balls to actually vote against Rob, I don’t think he would have gotten that comment.
Why not? Natalie won the season by teaming up with Russell, playing with him until the end and then got 7/9 votes in the finals. I know a lot of people were upset that she won, but Russell’s lack of social skills lost him the game. Hopefully, the same thing will happen again if Russell makes it to the finals.
Forgot: Coach is a douche
I’m not sure why even the players believe this. They’re still at 12 total, that is two TCs away from a traditional merge, although I suppose Probst and company could throw a curveball. But this season has been fairly traditional so far, so I doubt an early merge is in the works.
Not really. But they voted out Tom and Stephenie because they were more loyal to their alliance than to keeping their tribe the strongest. And that is stupid because it ultimately weakened their own tribe, which caused them to lose again and brought about another vote. Voting out James instead of Colby was one of the few smart moves they’ve made since voting off Cirie.
Both Rob and Russell should have agreed to vote out Courtney because she is, by far, the weakest link in the tribe. Instead, they are targeting the alpha males which will only weaken their tribe. Rob was a fierce competitor, both in athletic competition and in puzzles (last night’s puzzle nonwithstanding). Courtney contributed absolutely nothing to the tribe, in fact she led to them losing a lot of time on the challenges, and she should have been the one to go home.
Targeting alpha males at this point in the game is a stupid way to play the game because it causes the entire team to weaken, which stacks the numbers for the other team post-merge.
I’ll start right out repeating: I despise Russell. I so want to see that disgusting smug wiped off his fat, smarmy face. True, he’s one of the best strategic players ever. But he’s also one of the most arrogant. If you’re really good, you don’t need to keep saying it. That he does keep saying it, despite continuing to show it, just says that he’s an insecure little boy inside.
I never liked Boston Rob before this season. But I’ve really liked him this season. Not sure what changed, but this year he’s the only villain who combines likability as a person, intelligence and strategy in playing Survivor, and some reasonable integrity. Very, very sad to see him go. There is no one on the Villains tribe who I care in the tiniest whit about, except in the sense of wanting to see them gone.
I really didn’t like Coach the first go-around. But this season, especially this episode when he was talking to Jerri, he was growing on me. Quite the opposite of what that amazingly short-sighted and ignorant Jerri said about him, Coach demonstrated that he was far, far less naive than Jerri in that he saw right through Russell. He knew exactly what Russell was doing and what was going on. And yet, in the end, he totally wimped out and just threw away his vote. He obviously was trying to find a way to save his integrity and what he saw as giving his word to both Rob and Russell, but if he believes that he retained the slightest shred of integrity, he’s lying to himself. He knew that by not voting for either Rob or Russell, he was giving Rob the vote majority; his decision had the effect of voting off Rob, whether he wrote down that name or not. I’m back to having no respect for the weasel.
I hope the Heroes can keep winning, and that someone on the villains tribe finally wises up about Russell. I know, however, that no matter what happens, Jerri will eventually come to bitterly regret her decision to swing over to Russell.
I thought that was a pretty “small” comment, actually. You got voted out. Man up and don’t bitch about it. Deception is part of the game.
They merged at 12 last season. As far as I can tell, there’s only been two seasons with 20 Survivors (before HvV) and one merged at 10, one at 20.
Wait. What?
Loved Boston Rob during All-Stars, The Amazing Race, and Hereos vs Villains. He was by far my favorite this season, which is quite a feat since my favorites are almost universally “all the hot chicks” and then whoever is left based on merit. So I was really bummed. But, it was great tv two weeks in a row, so I’ve made my peace with losing Rob.
Russell is so clearly the man it’s not even funny. Two weeks running he was the ultimate master, every bit as impressive as he was last season. He has now firmly taken complete control of the tribe that has the numbers, and his closest ally (Parvati) has strong ties to the other tribe. He couldn’t possibly be in a stronger position.
This game is Russell’s to lose, and these seasoned veterans will be much more likely to vote on merit rather than out of spite like last season. No way if Russell brings, say, Candace to the final two do they give it to her because they’re all butthurt about Russell being a big meanie. They give it to Russell with respect.
On the plus side, in the Russell vs Rob showdown they were both teamed up with two chicks and the guy with the two hots chicks won, meaning their game lives are now greatly extended. Works for me, especially if they bring over Amanda (and JT) after the merge.
My ideal final 4 is Russell, Parvati, Amanda and JT. Amanda gets booted, it goes to final 3 and Russell wins by a combination of being the best player plus Parvati and JT both already won their million. Perfection.
On a final note, I blame Rob for his own ouster because he totally choked on the puzzle. The episode was set up perfectly, with the Heroes getting the meaningless RC win leaving the Villains to win the real challenge. Heroes get a big lead going into the puzzle, then Colby goes home. It was inevitable and ideal, at least for me. Damn you Rob, why’d you choke?
EDIT: Just for clarity, I don’t actually like Russell, but my respect for his game knows no bounds.
has anyone considered that the only reason Russell offered last seasons winner all that cash to proclaim him the greatest player was because he already knew he couldn’t win this season (they had both been filmed before the final show) and could not stand in all his egotistical self not to be proclaimed the greatest
Yep.
But Survivor finales are live, so if Russell made it to the final 2 (3?) he still doesn’t know if he won or not, even now on April 2nd, because it hasn’t happened yet. No matter what he couldn’t know for a fact he’d won this season during last year’s finale. All he could know is that he failed to win last year’s finale when he thought he had it in the bag.
EDIT: Though obviously he’d know if he got voted out before the finale.
Right, I think your edit got it. The point some have made is that he knew he wasn’t going to win his first season because he highly suspected Natalie killed him in the vote, and he probably knew he lost the All-star because he either had been voted out or suspected he lost again in the final.
I think they will vote Russell out before the end, though. I’d like to eat those words. I think he’s very entertaining.
I think he made both finales and expected to win both in a walk-off. Meaning he was totally blindsided when Natalie won, and his visible depression during the broadcast was because he figured if he could lose that one he could lose HvV too, despite deserving the win in both.
Just my personal guess based on the fact that the only threat to him left in the entire game is JT or maybe (doubtfully) Parvati.
Let me get this right:
Russell gives his immunity idol to Parvati the week previous;
Russell tells Jerri and Coach he wants to take them to the final three;
Jerri places her trust in Russell and calls coach gullible.
Words cannot describe, but thankfully…
:dubious::mad::(:smack:
That said, IIRC, the first Survivor All-Stars left me awestruck by how stupid the Ruperts of the world could stand idly by as Boston Rob (and his mannequin Amber) manipulated and picked them off one by one until they were in the Final 2. Rob just got to experience it from the other end.
Russell has the great skill of being able to recognize the idiots and get them to believe him. Rob had it, too, but he just didn’t seem to try very hard in turning Jerri back his way.
One thing about Survivor, it has a way of cutting through your talk and showing your true character. So Coach will have to step up his delusion to even greater heights when he gets bounced because there are mirrors in the world beyond Survivor and he will have to look into them.
In hindsight, I’m wondering if the previous week’s TC when Tyson got himself voted out broke Rob’s spirit.