Survivor Feb. 25, 2010 [open spoilers]

[AlsoNamedBort]

@amarone

In a probably vain hope that a Power-that-be from CBS visits this board: the show needs two challenges per episode. I got bored and wandered off for a while until they finally got around to the challenge.

I think they did the last thing last season. In an episode or two there should be two challenges.

[BMada]

I think that rule applies when they have reward and immunity challenges separately. Probst didn’t say anything about the Courtney sit down today. I was a little caught off guard on that one too.

[Spud]

So is nobody going to mention the best moment in Survivor history?

Coach believing he beat Rupert… and going through his tribal celebration ritual…

Jeff: “Coach… No”

Coach: continuing to beat his chest and hoot and holler…

Entire group of survivors: "COACH!, NO!..

Coach: Contines Screaming to the Dragon Slayer Gods about how powerful he is.

Luckily Jeff got a well placed shot from the tranquelizer gun right to the left butt cheek before Coach finally does the “Whaaa?” And then promptly gets knocked to the mud bath.

[BMada]

you forgot to add the finger Coach gave Jeff because of the rematch being called.

[BMada]

Machete secret scene from CBS’ youtube account.

- YouTube

they put the blame on Randy, if you can’t see it. Randy was being an ass that they’d blame him. This is most likely the reason he got the vote out.

[squeegee]

Crappy episode points:

• The buildup to Parvarti not getting voted off was ridiculous. A clean sweep for Randy after all that? I’m used to lying by the editors, but there was not even a hint at this during TC. Not one leading Randy question from Probst. Am I wrong?
• The episode was all talk talk talk, little happened except one challenge. Boooring.

Good episode points:

• The challenge was awesome.
• Coach: "Nobody on this tribe has any honor. Except me.

Random:
James has continued to be a douche. I enjoyed seeing him win in the IC, but that attitude is grating.

[EllisDee]

I thought James was much better this episode. His reaction to Candice (who I like) running around trying to figure out who was telling lies about her cracked me the hell up. Speaking of which, even though he keeps targeting the cute chicks I’m loving JT’s turn to the dark side.

Terrible editing. I was left thinking “wtf?” at the end when they showed even Jeri voting for Randy. I get the idea of misdirection, but they totally missed the boat on this one. Besides, hot chicks never get voted out third. The first two weeks is when the lookers have to scramble; after that they settle in and pick off the old and weak.

I went back to check last week’s challenge on the cbs website, and Courtney did indeed sit out both last week and this week, both of which only had one challenge per episode. So the back-to-back thing looks to be out the window.

Randy also sat out last week, as worthless as Courtney in physical challenges. At least Courtney is small, which can be very helpful with some team challenges. Randy is worthless in physical challenges, worthless on puzzles, doesn’t help around camp, has an obnoxious personality, and weighs a ton compared to Courtney. No-brainer getting rid of him now, though Courtney better watch out next TC.

Loved this challenge in that I kept cracking up every time they introduced the matchups. It perfectly illustrated the strength of the Heroes tribe, which is individual physical dominance. They convincingly put the lie to Rob’s week 1 claim of having stronger women, and that was even before Stephenie went home. Solving puzzles and working as a team are definite weakspots for the Heroes; individual strength is not. Week 1 had a complex puzzle, week 2 was all about teamwork, and week 3 was individual strength. Seems about as fair as it gets, IMO.

[interface2x]

@BMada

that immunity/reward challenge was SOOOOO stacked for the heroes. Heroes have pretty much all the really athletic strong guys and girls. Not a single brain cell usage with that challenge, and because of that it was a clean sweep. How can the viewer not see that?

Yeah, I knew the second they started that it would be near a clean sweep for the Heroes. Looking at the previous two episodes, the heroes annihilated the Villains in the physical portions of the challenges and then completely screwed up the mental portion. Since this had no mental portion, it was clear that the Villains couldn’t use their strongest assets. It played to the Heroes strengths.

I don’t think it was necessarily intentional, it’s just played out that way.

[Skammer]

I wish I could be at Loser Lodge when Sugar sees Randy walk in. Awkward! I don’t think Sephanie will be having a good time either.

The villians were dumb, dumb to get rid of Randy. They acknowledged that Pavarti is a good player and manipulative. And then proved it by keeping her around. Meanwhile Randy, who is universally despised, would have been the perfect person to keep around in an alliance.

Also – they really need two challenges. Way too much filler material this week, just like last week.

[amarone]

@Skammer

IThe villians were dumb, dumb to get rid of Randy. They acknowledged that Pavarti is a good player and manipulative. And then proved it by keeping her around. Meanwhile Randy, who is universally despised, would have been the perfect person to keep around in an alliance.

In Probst’s blog last week, I think, he said that he believes that in recent seasons the contestants have lost the plot as to how to play. He believes they are voting out strong contenders far too early - they need to keep strong players together to win challenges and worry about eliminating them after the merge. I agree.

[muldoonthief]

@squeegee

Good episode points:

• The challenge was awesome.
• Coach: "Nobody on this tribe has any honor. Except me.

• Followed by Coach voting the same way as everyone else in his tribe.

Of course, Coach did make an excellent analysis of Parvati earlier in the episode, and why she’s dangerous. I had to rewind to make sure it was actually Coach - he actually sounded rational and strategic for 30 seconds or so. Then he chanted on the beach.

[Glory]

@EllisDee

I went back to check last week’s challenge on the cbs website, and Courtney did indeed sit out both last week and this week, both of which only had one challenge per episode. So the back-to-back thing looks to be out the window.

Per Jeff’s EW blog:

Side note: Some of you may be wondering about the sit-out rule pertaining to back-to-back challenges. That rule only applies within an episode. Each new episode it starts fresh. Typically we have two challenges within an episode, but not always. So Courtney was able to sit out the last challenge (last week’s episode) and sit out again in this week’s challenge (new episode.) Hope that clears up any questions.

---

I’ve seen the secret scene where they thought Randy sabotaged the machete - I still can’t believe Courtney’s name never came up!

[muldoonthief]

@Glory

Per Jeff’s EW blog:

Side note: Some of you may be wondering about the sit-out rule pertaining to back-to-back challenges. That rule only applies within an episode. Each new episode it starts fresh. Typically we have two challenges within an episode, but not always. So Courtney was able to sit out the last challenge (last week’s episode) and sit out again in this week’s challenge (new episode.) Hope that clears up any questions.

Well, that makes a stupid rule even more stupid. It should be - once you’ve sat out a challenge, you cannot sit out another one until everyone else who was on your tribe at the time has either sat out a challenge or been voted off. A tribe swap or mixup resets everything. Make the decision actually strategic, instead of just ping ponging your weakest players.

[twickster]

From Dalton Ross’s EW blog:

The Heroes should have been reveling in their 8-0 sweep of the villains, but it ended on a sour note when James went all roid rage for the second episode in a row. It was obvious to all that he was going to pummel the older, slower, and weaker Randy, and that’s exactly what he did with one push. But that wasn’t enough for the Incredible Bulk. He then had to throw his bag right down on the defeated and dejected Randy. Nice sportsmanship! That’s like me dominating my grandmother in pinochle and then throwing the entire deck of cards in her face. And, not to get all Jonny Fairplay on you, but my grandmother has been dead for 17 years! And, not to get all anyone-under-the-age-of-60 on you, but I* have no idea how to even play pinochle!*

Dude definitely brings the funny.

[jayjay]

It seemed to me that all the men on the Heroes tribe were going all roid-ragey. I thought Colby was going to turn green for a minute. It was kind of scarey.

[Skammer]

@amarone

In Probst’s blog last week, I think, he said that he believes that in recent seasons the contestants have lost the plot as to how to play. He believes they are voting out strong contenders far too early - they need to keep strong players together to win challenges and worry about eliminating them after the merge. I agree.

Implying that Pavarti is physically stronger than Randy? I’m not sure that’s true. She’s smarter, though, no doubt. But if they wanted to keep stronger players they should have kept Stefanie and voted out Courtney.

[Mahaloth]

@silenus

I’ve hated Randy since Gabon. It’s good to finally get some sweet, sweet relief from him.

I didn’t like him then, but I have to give him credit. He seemed to at least be trying to be nicer and think about the game more clearly. I wanted him to last longer.

I always felt bad for Randy. I think he is a very sad, lonely, guy.

[J-P_L]

I have a question if I may, I don’t know if this has ever been talked about before.

Before the tribal council, is Jeff Prost briefed on the recent events within whatever tribe is there, if so, does that influence the direction of his questionning?

[Jas09]

@J-P_L

I have a question if I may, I don’t know if this has ever been talked about before.

Before the tribal council, is Jeff Prost briefed on the recent events within whatever tribe is there, if so, does that influence the direction of his questionning?

I believe this has been discussed here before, and that the conclusion (much to my surprise) was that he does not get briefed. However, the councils are much, much longer than we are shown so there is plenty of opportunity to ask any question that is remotely relevant. Also, sometimes information comes out, he asks a follow-up, and we are only shown the follow-up.

Maybe someone can hunt down the source for this info? I don’t recall where I read about it.

Also, I read somewhere that these contestants at least have some idea of Russell’s game (perhaps seeing some game footage from last season), but probably don’t know exactly how far he went (although if he’s back as a Villain that should be enough information…).

As for my thoughts on the episode: too much filler, unfair challenge, James is a dick (Dalton is exactly right on that), Randy deserved to go, and the boys better wise up about Parvati but probably won’t.

Best moment: the half second pause between “My tribe has no honor” and “Except for me…”.

Second best: Coach bitching about Parvati’s flirting and how it won’t work on him and then trying to cop a feel in the water.

[silenus]

James is going to go far in this game. He is awesome in the physical challenges, and absolutely nobody will vote for him to win. So they will keep him around, knowing that he was the guy who got voted out while holding two HIIs.