Hmm, another episode where Spencer’s name gets thrown around but ultimately someone else is voted out. Certainly fanning the fires of those who feel like the edit is shaping up with Spencer as the ultimate winner.
Not sure exactly why they settled on Woo, I suppose they didn’t like him as the other original Ta Keo (not that I can remember who was on what tribe at this point with the third tribal setup). As a watcher I can’t say I’m sad to see him out, he was definitely a follower and it’s a much more interesting game with plenty of schemers.
Shame about Deitz but at least it sounds like everything went right for his son.
I wonder how I would do on that eating challenge… on the other hand, maybe best not to think about it too much.
God, I hope they vote Cass out next. She is an insufferable ass. I’m actually now hoping that Tasha wins it. She’s got a good social game, and she rocked at that challenge!
I still find this cast mostly boring. No leaders emerging and everyone is playing defense, just trying to make it three more days. No strategic or forward thinking going on. I like it when strong players emerge and take the game by the balls. Too many timid people this season.
Survivor by it’s nature is more exciting with a bad cast than other shows. A simple reward task of playing slip-and-slide and ring toss required more skill and dexterity than anything at an equivalent time in a show like Amazing Race, for example. But the good and bad players are more identifiable in TAR than on this season of Survivor.
One guy was bawling his eyes out because nobody would follow his lead. That’s because you are a complete wimp, dude! Do you really think anyone looks at you and says “I need to hitch my wagon to that guy, he’s going far!” Not a chance. I fear this will be another season with an under-the-radar player winning by default, which are always the worst ones.
Tasha was drooling when Joe “Oiled-Up” for the Slip N Slide.
Why was the reward Slip N Slide Ring Toss challenge best 3 out of 5 when there were 7 players on each team?
Never have like the Gross Food Challenges.
IIRC, Joe and Keith have yet to go Tribal Council?
Nice to see that Dietz’ son is doing well. Heart Transplant? He looked so young. I wonder if he was ill before Dietz left or something sudden happen after he left.
I think it’s the reverse, actually… too many leaders/schemers, not enough followers. It’s generally not a good idea to step up and be the ‘leader’ because it puts a target on your back, and only works when you’ve got a bunch of dodos to follow you. That’s why Woo made it to the final vote on Tony’s coattails and got voted out pre-merge in this season.
As a good example here - Savage is clearly stepping into a leadership position, and put out a plan that people agreed to follow. Only Ciera and Kass didn’t like it, and jumped ship. Jeremy is another obvious leader but he’s realizing he needs to stay out of the spotlight.
I don’t really like the ‘gimmick’ casts. I can see bringing someone back – like one person – if that person somehow got an especially raw deal or there was some compelling reason beyond ‘fans like him/her’. IIRC, the first time we had returning players there was one returning player per tribe, and the ideal was that they could impart their wisdom to the newbies. Good idea. Once. Today, everyone has been watching for years and years and don’t really need ‘mentors’ that they will compete against.
Then you have ‘Blood vs. Water’, ‘Second Chance’, and so on. Meh. Putting players in categories is supposed to make for some sort of social commentary. Or something. I think it’s a crutch; either for the viewers so that they immediately have someone to root for, or for the players who often know how to interact to some degree with ‘people like them’.
I’ve heard that people complain about the early seasons, saying things like ‘If people are starving, they’re boring! All they do is sit around!’ Yeah, but they sit around complaining and getting on each other’s nerves. Richard Hatch started the whole ‘alliance’ strategy, and alliances have been the strategy from Season 2 until today. That’s too bad. While alliances are necessary, it was fun watching Season 1 when people were more clueless. In any case, I liked watching people getting on each others nerves and actually being pushed closer to their mental limits. (Lex looked pretty interesting with his machete!)
Let’s get back to teams made up of a bunch of nobodies. No lower-tier celebrities hoping to pass for non-celebrities, no ringers. Just get normal people (there are plenty of nutjobs in that category), don’t give them too much, and plop them down someplace more harsh than a tropical island.
Actually, I forget whose idea this was but it’s been posted to various Survivor threads here on the dope over the years. The solution to the alliance problem is to do tribe shuffles every week.
With just two shuffles this season alliances are already on shaky ground. If they re-shuffled before every immunity challenge it would be virtually impossible to keep your alliances going. (Only if they maintained two camps, though. If everyone stayed at the same camp, reshuffling wouldn’t impact alliances all that much.)
I have to agree that Tasha is certainly a favorite.
But I don’t understand all the hate for Cass. I thought people were usually more forgiving and optimistic when someone admits they were wrong and tries to do better on a second chance.
I thought I’d be happy to see Abi Misery voted off. But somehow, I figure she will just rationalize her getting voted off somehow and won’t even dwell on it.
i came up with that idea (not that it couldn’t have occurred to others independently). I still think it would bring a really interesting new element into the game. People would have to find some other strategy than just 100% alliance if the teams shifted for every tribal council.
I like the tribe swap idea for every Immunity Challenge as well.
Except for at least one thing. Reward Challenges. If a castaway wins reward (like the tarps, comfort items), I don’t think it is fair to make him/her switch tribes to the beach without those items.
Savage, Varner, Woo, Tasha, PeiGei, and AbiMaria really got screwed by picking the yellow buffs a few episodes ago because they had nothing at that beach.
If every reward was a “One-off” reward like a feast, that would make it more palatable.
