Sandra’s vote for Aubry was to split the vote in case Tony had a Hidden Immunity Idol. Tony just voted for Aubry because he knew she was getting a vote.
Michaela is a good strategic player and is hyper-competitive. I particularly recall how she drew a diagram in the sand to explain some strategic point to her tribemates during her previous season. Unfortunately she has a bit of a short fuse and can’t hide her emotions. She’s trying to be warmer and more circumspect this time, but it isn’t really working.
The player whose appeal baffles me is Sandra. I still can’t figure out how she won twice, because she doesn’t seem to do anything. I raised this same point on the old Television Without Pity board, and the response was “That’s why she’s so awesome! She doesn’t HAVE to do anything!” Even in this week’s episode she remarked that she didn’t need to put out much effort.
The only things I remember her doing in previous seasons are (1) throwing away the tribe’s fish supply in a fit of pique (for which another player was blamed), and (2) finding an immunity idol, telling nobody about it and doing absolutely nothing with it. And here she is again, repeatedly declaring that she’s the “queen” and still doing nothing.
I don’t get it. 
I think I get what you’re saying for Sandra’s vote. If Tony voted Sandra, and had a HII, Sandra’s vote for Aubry would have made both Sandra and Aubry safe, with everyone else picking rocks. That’s actually pretty clever, but then, I could easily see a consensus being reached to get rid of Sandra since she’s way more dangerous than Aubry. So it could have backfired in her face.
Tony voting for Aubry still makes no sense to me. Why would he care about pooling the two throw-away votes? Why would he want to avoid writing Sandra’s name down?
According to folks on Reddit who are tracking exit interviews, Tony has said that he knew he was in big trouble. Some of his tribemates told him he was going home; several of them said Aubry was going, but he suspected that they were lying. He couldn’t get anyone else to vote for Sandra.
Evidently he threw a desperation vote to Aubry in the faint hope that she might get enough votes to make a difference.
I think 34 is plenty old enough to wonder if someone’s faded, (especially if the last time you saw him was when he was 26), but not old enough to assume that someone has faded.
Dalton Ross had the same questions about Siera and Hali. Really, it gets down to a cast that people will want to watch, whether they fit the narrative or not. And eye candy has always been an important part of Survivor casting.
In terms of Zeke and Michaela, it could simply be they played hard and made for great TV, and were willing and able to stick around and film another season right after the one that they just got voted out of. And since this season was filmed back in June-July of 2016 before the Millenials/Gen-X season aired, none of the other players know anything about either of them.
It is unlikely to work, but the easiest contact is Probst on Twitter. He responds to tweets sometimes and I think there is a reasonable chance he would at least see the tweet.
It’s:
@JeffProbst
Good episode, almost great, but I dont care for rocks.
Okay, that makes sense, thanks much.
Adios Tony. Try some decaf, and slow the fuck down.
I’m baffled by Sandra as well. She’s such a negative person, how does she win?
The only reason that I may miss Tony, was the desire to see him develop his #SpyBunker (aka, a depression in the dirt that allows him to partially cover himself with leaves.) What a maroon.
I think I’ve forgotten everything about prior seasons…they’re all a blur. Why is there an instant beef between Cerie and Ozzy?
An aside: it seems that at some point a few years ago, the producers gave up with scouting new locations, and identifying the season with a recognizable geographic name: Survivor: Australia, China, Africa. The past umpteen seasons have been on interchangeable South Pacific Islands, and have been named with the theme of the season.
Not sure that was a change for the better.
Cerie helped blindside Ozzy during the Survivor Micronesia season.
[QUOTE= wikipedia]
When the castaways returned to camp, Amanda, James, and Ozzy immediately wanted to renege on their promise to Jason and vote for him. Cirie saw this as a good opportunity to blindside Ozzy, the biggest physical threat, and eliminate the danger of the Immunity Idol. She approached Alexis, Jason, Natalie, and Parvati about voting for Ozzy. The four agreed with her, but decided not to tell any of the others and hoped to throw them off by acting like Jason was going home. At Tribal Council, Ozzy stated that he might have had to play the Hidden Immunity Idol, but he did not bring it with him to Tribal Council. Following that, an angry Ozzy was voted out.
[/QUOTE]
I think it helps production a lot. They reuse locations now and have established themselves in certain parts of the world.
Neither do the players, which I think is the point. The “split-the-vote-then-vote-out-x-on-the-revote” strategy, while a great idea the first time, has become far too mundane. The producers are trying to get them to work harder to avoid going to rocks, thus keeping things interesting for the viewers.
I like that they try to answer the game’s evolution with rule changes like this. It doesn’t always work, but it does keep the show from getting too stale.
According to other players, Sandra does have good social skills and is likable—although that doesn’t come across in the edit she’s getting. She’s very, very good at rounding up votes to get rid of people who annoy her. Beyond that, she has no discernible strategy at all.
I’m worried that this season will turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy in which Sandra wins again because duh, of course she will.
That’s possible, I guess. But this bunch of players are already on to each other’s games, and I can’t see them letting Sandra get too far. (If anybody falls for Sandra’s “You should take me to the end because nobody will vote for me to win a third time” line, they don’t deserve to win.
On a season with no obvious goats or doormats, I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of the relative underdogs – Caleb, Malcolm, or Sarah, maybe – let the more aggressive players bump each other off while quietly taking control.
Well, it works with me, and Hali and Siera certainly qualify. My favorite recurring episode is when they ditch the underwear and hand out skimpy bikinis.
I skipped a few seasons a while back, so I don’t know who Tony is. What did he do that was so great on his season, and what is a spy shack?
His gameplay was sort of based on Russell Hantz’s, but he played the social/likability part 1000 times better.
He was very energetic and led several alliances.
He lied a lot - he was a cop, but told everyone he had some other job. He blindsided allies multiple times.
He found two (or three?) immunity idols.
He built two spy shacks - basically a hunting blind that allowed him to spy on other players, overhearing their private conversations. He put them next to the well, since that’s always been a popular spot for strategizing.
After the final Immunity Challenge, which he did not win, he convinced the winner, Woo, to bring him along instead of the universally hated Kass, out of “honor”. Had Woo brought Kass, he probably would have beaten her, but Tony won easily.
JT’s scheme - leaving his tribe out at sea while he searches around camp for an idol - is funny stuff! They don’t buy it for a second, of course. All-Star season, remember?
JT and Malcolm catch a nanny and kid pair. Much soul-searching ensues, they decide they don’t want to kill and eat either goat. They let them go. HUH? What about keeping them and milking the nanny? Nobody even suggested it? Goats are greedy and smart, I bet it would be easy enough to tame them with a bit of corn.
A fairly silly elimination, I do think the tribes should keep their strong fellas before the merge.
True in a vacuum, but from their perspective Caleb’s presence weakens their bond with Tai. So I can see the reasoning.
It does look like smart money is now on them losing again and voting out Hali next week, but they may not see that as a problem. She’s an easy vote, plus who knows if there won’t be another shake-up the week after that.