Survivor: Fiji - Ep. 11: "Blackmail or Betrayal"

Cafe Society
1

Sorry we’re cutting it so close tonight – I was one of the “Take Our Daughters & Sons To Work Day” volunteers at the office, and the rugrats and ankle biters really wore me out. Sheesh. I needed a nap, and I’m just getting around to the important stuff now.

Quick bits on tonight’s episode – from CBS.com:

· A severe injury leaves one Survivor in excruciating pain. Can they recover or will they be removed from the game?
· Two Survivors discover powerful information which, if revealed, could change the course of the entire game.
· With few options left, tribemates are faced with a decision of blackmail or betrayal if they want to keep their alliance intact.
And from TVGuide.com:

The castaways compete for a seaplane ride and a trip to a spa, but an injury to Boo leaves him struggling in the contest. Also, some players learn that Yau-Man has an immunity idol. At tribal council, another person is voted off of the islands. Jeff Probst is the host.

The de rigueur link to last week’s thread, with links through to the previous threads: << Click here, suckas! >>

See you in a few!

2

What kind of lawyer is Alex supposed to be? Can he be disbarred for brazen stupidity? Please tell me I’m not the only person who thinks he should be.

3

These guys didn’t play much Battleship as a kid, did they?

4

Oooh! I really, really liked Battleship as the Immunity Challenge.

Especially since they had all that dramatic fire as various people’s squares were hit.

5

Okay, I lied: Alex isn’t as stupid as I once thought. But he is kind of a jerk, albeit a jerk with sparkling white teeth. And the longer he sticks around, the more I think he looks like my brother-in-law. But once he talks – grrr. I totally dig smart guys, but not guys who think they’re so smart, if that makes any sense, which it probably doesn’t, because I am kind of an idiot today.

(Quoth the little voice inside my head, whom I call Eloise: “Today? What-evs.”)

This week’s challenges weren’t as exciting as some of the ones we’ve seen this season, but they were still interesting. I used to play that little ball-and-cup game, and I was never very good at it, so the fact that anyone could catch anything in the mud, the heat, the man-to-man coverage, and the sideline snarkentary from Jeff is impressive.

And I found the Battleship game to be fascinating for some reason. I did find it telling that so many people were willing to sacrifice one of their own squares to try to ferret out where anyone else might be – or else nobody can remember squat. I would have found it much more funny if someone had called their own square and nobody else was there.

Normally I find the “talky” episodes like this one to be boring. I like strategy, but sometimes I like to be surprised by it. However, I am always entertained when people end up outwitting themselves. Like, ha-ha, Alex & Mookie – you could have, I don’t know, tried to talk to Cassandra & Stacy instead of running back to camp and tipping your hands, you dolts. Whatever. They’re just making it easier to get themselves voted out (although history does show that one rogue player can do quite a bit of damage before they can get rid of him [see: Caryn, in Palau]).

Said it before, but I’ll say it again: I thought this season was going to suck, but yet is so much doesn’t. Oh, and bonus points to Jeff for appearing genuinely shocked and offended that people would just root through other people’s stuff at camp.

6

Dreamz pickin his own square on the very first play of the game made me cackle.
I liked Jeff’s response of “Oddly enough,Dreamz picks his own square” and then Cassandra does the very same thing on the next play.

Couple things I noticed tonight, Mookie isn’t all that bright,Cassandra looks a bit like Vin Diesel and Dreamz looks really creepy in the night light.

7

I loved the look on Dreamz face, kinda a combo between “Damn” and “I thought that space sounded familiar”.

I missed the first half of the show due to the stupid mayor of a neighboring city being on trial and live coverage of the verdict preempting the show. :mad: Would some kind soul please give some info on the reward challenge and what happened to Boo.

8

FOr some reason my DVR cut out when the Tribal Council vote was:

3 votes Mookie, 3 votes Alex, 1 vote Boo

I think I know the final vote, but please confirm who was voted off and what they said.

9

Mookie was the boot. He said something about wishing he was still there so he could make everyone’s life miserable. Very mature.

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They were broken into two teams of 4 for the reward challenge, in which each team had a “launcher” who used a slingshot-like contraption to shoot a ball towards their teammates and opponents, who then score a point for which ever team caught the ball. It got pretty physical, and at one point Boo collapsed with pain in his knee and feared an MCL injury. However, after being checked out by the medical team, he managed to get up and keep playing.

Unfortunately, his team lost to Earl, Alex, Stacy and Dreamz, so they got to go to a spa and get cleaned up and pampered while they sent poor, beat-up Boo limping off to Exile Island.

11

Am i the only one that thinks that Earl let the “lets vote to a tie so that whomever has the immunity idol will decide it” plan stand among his tribe only to tell alex what was up so that he would cast the deciding vote?

Mookie sure voted like he thought that Alex wasn’t going to vote for him.

If Earl didn’t clue him in then Alex sure was clever with that vote.

12

Oooh, that’s cold-blooded. Glad he wasn’t seriously hurt, I like Boo.

13

I think that was all Alex; Earl wouldn’t tip his hand just yet to anyone outside The Syndicate, I don’t think. My guess is that Alex got lucky and figured out what was going on. Or else he just went with the “I’m going to vote for the most likely person to get other votes who isn’t me” theory.

14

How cool was Yau-man when the two Stooges (I mean, Horesmen) confronted him about the immunity idol? I’ve heard accusations that Yau-man is getting smug, but I actually think he’s just very, very deft at reading interpersonal dynamics. I think he played it the only way he realistically could; take all the wind out of their sails. Unless there was an awful lot we didn’t see due to editing, note that nobody seemed shocked or freaked out about Yau having the immunity idol. They were more upset over Mookie going through Yau’s stuff. Do we know if Yau is some kind of accomplished Tai Chi or Aikido practitioner? He seems awfully good at using other people’s energy and weaknesses to take them down.

The only thing that would have made that whole sequence more fun was if Cassandra and Stacey hadn’t been discovered, and could have filled in the rest of their alliance as to the discovery of the immunity idol. Tribal Council might have been almost as much fun as last week’s.

I like Yau-man a lot, but at this point I have to say that Earl is looking really good too. He’s been playing very, very smart - note his deference to the team on the split vote, recognizing that he’s got to be careful not to be too out front with his leadership of their voting bloc. Maybe one of the smartest Survivors we’ve seen in a long time. Coupled with his physical strength and his seeming geniality, I think he’s going to go a long way.

Alex’s vote was a surprise, but in hindsight was a smart thing to do. I think he knew there was a good chance it was going to be a tie vote between him and Mookie, so he just made sure he lasted one more week. If he’s smarter than he appeared this week, he might be able to split the remaining six votes, by picking a faction and saying, “Look, after I’m gone you’re going to have to start picking each other off anyway, why not use me to have a majority now and make it further than you might otherwise.” Of course, I don’t know if Alex is capable of thinking that far ahead. This vote might have been a purely reflexive move of self-defense. I guess we’ll see.

15

I think Earl wanted Alex gone.Earl had mentioned to Dreamz that Mook was mentally beaten or something like that,so he should be kept.
I liked how Jeff said at the end that "there appears to be a strong alliance of six and Alex.“When Jeff said that, there were a few smug looks(if I remember right) and then Jeff said"That means he is done for… or Alex has become extremely valuable.” Saw a few smiles turn upside down after that statement.
Funs over Syndicate.Time to chose up sides again.
Who is gonna align with who?
Stacey and Dreamz really need to get together.
Earl might out think himself but he has played great so far.Should he break away from Yau?
Everyone should try to align with Dreamz and/or Alex since they have very little chance at winning the million.The jury doesn’t have a single member on it right now that would vote for Dreamz ,does it?

16

I’ve pretty much checked out of this season, and I’m almost regretting it. Switched over during an ad nearing the end, and caught the beginning of TC. Man, those folk look ragged, really through the wringer! And not a whole lot of love lost among them. Just wanted to note that from an “outsider’s” POV, it looks like this season has been pretty intense.

Good job by MB at keeping the show alive. Was disappointing a few series back when things were getting a mite formulaic.

17

Depends on who they’d be up against. That’s half the fun of the “My question is YOU SUCK!” juries. Highly unstable and unpredictable. That’s the sort of jury that voted to give Amber $1mil instead of Rob.

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Based on what I’ve seen from Alex, I have to assume the worst. I think his reasoning went something like this: “Well, if they all vote for Mookie, he’ll be sent home before he knows I voted for him. And if they all vote for me, they might think somebody betrayed them.” And then he just lucked out. I doubt it ever occured to him that they would split the vote. Speaking of which, those were two great tactical moves by that group in two straight episodes. Very impressive.

19

My nightmare final two would be Earl and Yau Man. Who would you vote to give the million to of those two? And yet at this point they both are standing strong. I can see Earl ending up with the re-hidden idol, and then he and Yau Man both coasting into the final.

Silly me, and here I was thinking earlier that this season totally sucked and the series had about outlived itself!

20

A couple thoughts:

  • This has become a really entertaining season. Kudos, Mark.

  • I think Earl was right - they should have taken out Alex. Mookie was either too fatigued or too stupid to do much damage next week, while Alex, dillusional though he may be, will be scheming like a madman.

  • I think Mookie or Alex may have seemed like an obvious choice for the Exile Island trip (well, Alex was ineligible maybe, I forget already), but they couldn’t risk them finding the rehidden idol, so Boo had to go.

  • Anyone else we could magically replace Stacy with Michelle? She was palatable for about half an episode (especially coming up with the Edgardo vote idea - genius), then returned quickly to Bitchy Bitch mode this week.