# Survivor: December 9th - Down to the Final Four! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 9, 2004, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-december-9th-down-to-the-final-four/279002 "2004-12-09T21:46:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-december-9th-down-to-the-final-four/279002/21 "2004-12-10T13:33:06Z")
Ah hem…is the rumour true that Probst is dating Julie? Anyone know? I think Chris is in a great position with the jury. How he voted for Julie is the only way he could go. The jury is solid with the two men, and if he wins the immunities then Scout/Twila would vote for him over Eliza. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-december-9th-down-to-the-final-four/279002/22 "2004-12-10T13:54:16Z")
The only thing that Chris did wrong last night (other than overlook the puzzle piece), is lead Eliza and Julie to believe that he was considering voting off Twila instead of Julie. He could have just said, “I wish I didn’t have to, but I really have to be loyal to my alliance.” End of story. No hard feelings. Instead he promised them he’d vote off Twila. Why piss off potential jury members when you don’t have to? Once again, Eliza turns on her alliance. Yet she is so smug in her condemnation of Twila for going back on her word. I loved when Twila caught her in a lie by saying, “And you weren’t just talking to Chris about going back on YOUR word?” What a smug, immature brat Eliza is. I hope, hope, hope she doesn’t win. So now we have Scout, Chris, Eliza and Twila. I’m going to predict that Eliza wins the next immunity. She has been very good at reward challenges and in the absence of Ami and Julie, she has a good shot at winning more challenges. Since neither Scout nor Twila will turn on each other, I’m predicting that Eliza will then side with the women and vote off Chris rather than risk a tie. Eliza isn’t stupid. She knows that she has a much better shot of winning the million bucks against either of the older women vs. Chris anyway. On a shallow note, perhaps in the dearth of the other men, Chris is looking much more attractive to me. He’s lost weight and he’s got good bones in his face, which you can finally see now that he’s wearing the bandana around his hair. Honestly, the man has GOT to cut that hair. I’m a big fan of long hair on a man (e.g. Patrick Rafter, Steve Perry, Mel Gibson) but he has to have a certain look to pull it off. Chris doesn’t have it. He’d look 100 times better if he got a really short cut. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-december-9th-down-to-the-final-four/279002/23 "2004-12-10T14:22:26Z")
Did anybody see Chad’s face during Eliza’s performance at TC last night? It was _fantastic_. ---
**Author:** ![rockle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rockle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rockle)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-december-9th-down-to-the-final-four/279002/24 "2004-12-10T14:27:43Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > What about **Scout**? I’ve watched every season except Marquesas, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Survivor contestant who’s done less than Scout. I would like nominate Amber Brkich for this dubious honor, if I may (her All-Stars appearance). All _she_ did was let Boston Rob make goo-goo eyes at her while she rode his coattails all the way to a million-dollar check. She won exactly ONE individual challenge – which, granted, is still more than Scout has won, but Amber did not win her challenge until the last episode of the season. So there is still time for Scout (although it does not look likely). Amber let Rob do everything for her. It does appear that Scout has at least _attempted_ to do some plotting and scheming, even if she wasn’t entirely successful (like when she approached Chad and Chris with her half-cocked plan to get rid of Eliza – didn’t work, but she _tried_). Obviously she must have been able to do some pretty impressive convincing of _someone_ to keep herself around this long, in spite of being absofreakinglutely useless. Still, Scout is pretty awful as a contestant (although I must reserve judgement on her overall game-play until I see the finale). I don’t understand why nobody has been able to get rid of her yet. Is it too much to hope for a critical and potentially fatal failure of the “bionic knee” on Sunday? Or perhaps that the Tribal Council area will suddenly open up, and everyone will be swallowed whole into a vast sea of angry lava? ---
**Author:** ![kka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/54ee81/32.png) [@kka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kka)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-december-9th-down-to-the-final-four/279002/25 "2004-12-10T14:43:48Z")
I’m not an Eliza fan, but I thought Scout and Twila were complete jerks about the bananas. They buried them and wouldn’t tell her where they are??? Jerks! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-december-9th-down-to-the-final-four/279002/26 "2004-12-10T15:56:47Z")
Isn’t the FF IC usually a “how long can you stand on the post” type challenge? For some reaon, it seems that older women win these things. Remember the Boy Scout Lady (I keep wanting to call HER Scout…) won that IC, which kept her in to the end? They did already have a similar IC on this show (which Twila won)… do they ever do this type of IC twice? ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-december-9th-down-to-the-final-four/279002/27 "2004-12-10T16:13:27Z")
John: Every edition of Survivor has had as its last immunity challenge an endurance challenge. They usually involve standing in an uncomfortable position while holding onto a post or holding something aloft, with the first person to let go or step off losing. Yes they do at least two endurance challenges each survivor; one shortly after the merge, usually with seven or eight players left, and the final challenge. There’s also usually a strength endurance challenge during the team portion of play, but they’ve gotten away from that since they started splitting up tribes by sex. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-december-9th-down-to-the-final-four/279002/28 "2004-12-10T16:23:59Z")
> [@rockle](#): > > Still, Scout is pretty awful as a contestant (although I must reserve judgement on her overall game-play until I see the finale). I don’t understand why nobody has been able to get rid of her yet. Why would you want to get rid of her? If you make an audible push to get her out, you lose her vote on the jury. If you keep her around, you gain a pawn to manipulate and to redirect jury votes to you. She’s the perfect F2 opponent. No one but Twila would vote for her. ---
**Author:** ![rockle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rockle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rockle)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-december-9th-down-to-the-final-four/279002/29 "2004-12-10T17:54:19Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Why would you want to get rid of [Scout]? If you make an audible push to get her out, you lose her vote on the jury. If you keep her around, you gain a pawn to manipulate and to redirect jury votes to you. She’s the perfect F2 opponent. No one but Twila would vote for her. Good point. What I think I actually meant was: Why didn’t they get rid of her before her vote on the jury mattered (i.e., before the merge)? ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-december-9th-down-to-the-final-four/279002/30 "2004-12-10T20:40:32Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Isn’t the FF IC usually a “how long can you stand on the post” type challenge? For some reaon, it seems that older women win these things. Remember the Boy Scout Lady (I keep wanting to call HER Scout…) won that IC, which kept her in to the end? It’s the IC for the Final 2 that is an endurance-type challenge, yes, something like “stand on a pole and keep your hand on the Idol” kind of thing. IIRC, in Pearl Islands, it was Sandra, Johnny Fairplay and Lil (the Boy Scout Leader) as the Final 3. They had to stand or crouch on platforms in the water, right at the place where the waves were breaking without falling down. Sandra won it and took Lil with her to the Final 2. Sandra won the game. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-december-9th-down-to-the-final-four/279002/31 "2004-12-10T20:47:30Z")
Also, the final immunity in the Amazon was “stand on this tiny log as long as you can” which moved back and forth, and the competition was over in about 2 minutes. That was between Jenna, Crazy Matt and someone else. Crazy Matt won, took Jenna, Jenna won. ---
**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-december-9th-down-to-the-final-four/279002/32 "2004-12-10T20:50:03Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > IIRC, in Pearl Islands, it was Sandra, Johnny Fairplay and Lil (the Boy Scout Leader) as the Final 3. They had to stand or crouch on platforms in the water, right at the place where the waves were breaking without falling down. Sandra won it and took Lil with her to the Final 2. Sandra won the game. Lil won it and took Sandra to the final 2. ---
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-december-9th-down-to-the-final-four/279002/33 "2004-12-10T21:06:43Z")
> [@Glory](#): > > Lil won it and took Sandra to the final 2. Stupidest choice for Final 2 companion, ever. The jury members even said as much on the post-show wrap-up. To a member, all of them said they’d have awarded Lil the million dollars over Jonny Fairplay. If I’m Chris, here’s how I play it from here on in: Next vote I pull in Eliza and vote out Twila. If Twila wins immunity, then you ditch Scout. Final Three, you take either Twila or Scout to the Final Two. There’s no other way to play it. There is no scenario in which Twila wins this game. The only scenario involving Scout winning is if she goes to the Final 2 versus Twila. Eliza wins if she goes to the Final with anyone. She must be handled as the threat she is. ---
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-december-9th-down-to-the-final-four/279002/34 "2004-12-10T21:13:05Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Also, the final immunity in the Amazon was “stand on this tiny log as long as you can” which moved back and forth, and the competition was over in about 2 minutes. That was between Jenna, Crazy Matt and someone else. Crazy Matt won, took Jenna, Jenna won. C’mon now! The “someone else” is none other than the Survivor Scholar himself, Rob Cesternino. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-december-9th-down-to-the-final-four/279002/35 "2004-12-10T21:21:30Z")
> [@Chastain86](#): > > C’mon now! The “someone else” is none other than the Survivor Scholar himself, Rob Cesternino. Damn! And looking on the website, it looks like it was Jenna who won, who then picked Matt. Which is obvious, because women traditionally do much better in the games of balance. ---
**Author:** ![carterba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85e7bf/32.png) [@carterba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carterba)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-december-9th-down-to-the-final-four/279002/36 "2004-12-10T21:50:02Z")
> [@Chastain86](#): > > There is no scenario in which Twila wins this game. The only scenario involving Scout winning is if she goes to the Final 2 versus Twila. Eliza wins if she goes to the Final with anyone. She must be handled as the threat she is. Really? I think Twila would beat Scout: the way I see it, Twila gets Sarge, Chad, and Chris. Ami and Eliza hate both of them, so could go either way, but Scout has been so condescending towards Eliza all season that it’s hard to see Eliza voting Scout. I think Twila would win 4-3. In fact, I think Scout has no chance of winning. Chris wins no matter who his opponent is (IMO: Chris beats Twila or Scout 6-1, Chris beats Eliza 5-2). Twila probably beats Eliza 4-3 (guys + Scout vs. Ami’s gang). But Chris is not going to get to the F2 unless Eliza loses the F4 immunity challenge and Chris wins the F3 challenge, so I say this one goes to either Twila or Eliza. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-december-9th-down-to-the-final-four/279002/37 "2004-12-10T21:50:52Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Damn! And looking on the website, it looks like it was Jenna who won, who then picked Matt. Which is obvious, because women traditionally do much better in the games of balance. Lower centers of gravity. It’s always struck me as unfair to the men to use these balancing/endurance tests as the final challenge since they favor the female contestants. On the other hand, it would be hard to fashion a final challenge that didn’t give at least a slight edge to one gender or the other. ---
**Author:** ![carterba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85e7bf/32.png) [@carterba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carterba)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-december-9th-down-to-the-final-four/279002/38 "2004-12-10T21:54:08Z")
> [@carterba](#): > > Chris beats Eliza 5-2 Make that 4-3. I had Julie in the Chris column for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-december-9th-down-to-the-final-four/279002/39 "2004-12-10T23:55:51Z")
> [@storyteller0910](#): > > So, in the end, Chris sacrifices a 99% chance at final two for, let’s say, a 33% chance of final two, a 33% chance of finishing third, and a 33% chance of being the first of the final four to hit the skids. > > I. Don’t. Get. It. From the [TWOP](http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/story.cgi?show=47&story=7233) mini-recap: > [@](#): > > Chris unsurprisingly decides that being in F4 with a couple of older ladies is better than being there with the people who won the two challenges in the episode. He’s not going by numbers. He’s going by performance. ---
**Author:** ![Legolamb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4491bb/32.png) [@Legolamb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legolamb)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-december-9th-down-to-the-final-four/279002/40 "2004-12-11T11:36:11Z")
> [@Chastain86](#): > > Stupidest choice for Final 2 companion, ever. > > The jury members even said as much on the post-show wrap-up. To a member, all of them said they’d have awarded Lil the million dollars over Jonny Fairplay. It was 4-3 to Lil over Jon and that was with the benefit of hindsight, knowing that the whole dead Grandma thing was fake, as well as some of the other things he’d said and done without them knowing at the time. I think at least one of those 4 would have voted for Jon at the time because he played a far superior game and, most importantly, wasn’t an outcast. Still, that’s just my opinion. As for this one, if Chris wins the next immunity, he’ll win the whole thing, otherwise it’ll be Eliza. For some reason, even though Twila already won one endurance immunity, I just can’t see Scout or Twila beating either of those two in an endurance final immunity. Again, YMMV. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-december-9th-down-to-the-final-four/279002.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-december-9th-down-to-the-final-four/279002.md?page=3)