Blake’s goodbye speech amused the hell out of me. He really appeared to have no idea why he was voted off.
Brian reminds me more and more of Rob C from Amazon. His giving more and more rope to Blake as he hung himself was smart and funny.
On a related note, did you all notice that Gary ended up voting for Blake after all? After he said he wouldn’t? The editors made it seem like it was all up to Danni as the swing vote, but in the end it wasn’t that close. I wonder what that does to Farmer Brandon’s position?
You mean Tommy Jon, I think. Gary was the one TRYING to get people to vote out Blake.
Gary’s secret is starting to remind me of Tobias’s Mrs. Doubtfire routine from Arrested Development. He is the only one who thinks it is fooling anyone. Even simpleton Bobby Jon talks about how Gary is used to leading people. It will be a riot if EVERYONE knows his “secret” and it doesn’t make a difference. A good episode tonight. Actually drama and strategic decisions. Good stuff.
And so, the less anticipated, highly derivative RICH RANKINGS! (N or Y for Tribe (Nakum or Yaxha) and Last Week’s Ranking in Parentheses).
FORGOT TO FILE A 1040- I guess you couldn’t outwit everyone!
Jim,Morgan,Brianna, Brooke- C’mon, Jim. It’s your last chance to score with the fine ladies of the Loser Lodge before the Golden Boy shows up!
Blake- (Y/Tom)- Pretty soon you’ll be telling perfect strangers about this one time you shared a lodge with these three hot chicks.
EATING BEEF JERKY- You’re still playing, but you’re praying for a tribe scramble!
Judd- (N/Mohawk)- Was Margaret even complaining or was Judd just defending himself to the trees? Judd is his own worst enemy.
Margaret- (N/Jerky)- Her only chance to survive is if Judd burns himself.
Cindy-- (N/Jerky)- She will be voted out one episode after Margaret.
WHO SAID ANYTHING ABOUT A MERGE?-
Brandon- (Y/Tom)- You sealed your fate when you said you’d NEVER vote for Blake. That told Danni all she needed to know. You’re good with a rope. I’ll give you that.
Jamie- (N/Mohawk)- Solo blame in the worst challenge defeat I’ve ever seen. But where were his teammates? Shouldn’t they be telling him to use the table edge for leverage? Redemption in the IC helps.
Stephenie- (N/Merge)- Boo-hoo! Eye rolling. Finger pointing. Please vote her off.
Amy- (Y/Jerky)- Still a pain magnet, but she was one notch above Brian in the pecking order.
HEY! LOOK AT HIS MOHAWK-You might make the merge, but you’re grimacing from the jury row!
Bobby Jon- (Y/Tom)- He made the right move to vote for Blake, but he’s still the last man in the alliance. But that’s one better than Brandon. BJ SHOULD be proud that he outsmarted someone.
Brian- (Y/Merge)- I wonder if he was the “weakest” according to the farmers because he is gay? Smart not to rock the Jesus boat. Pulled a coup and gets moved up a peg. Brian has made a miracle happen twice. Put him on the “One to Watch” list.
LOOKING FOR A BIG TOM TO ENGLISH DICTIONARY- Big Tom has spent more combined days on the show than anyone. But he didn’t quite grab the brass ring.
Lydia- (N/Jerky)- Normally, the rah-rah thing is a bad move, but this time it worked. That team needed some silliness to take their minds off that RC whoopin’. Prediction- Lydia will make the final five. No matter what the alliance. Quite possibly, she will sit next to the million dollar winner.
Rafe- (N/Tom)- Unless it is Rafe sitting there.
ARE YOU A RAT OR A SNAKE?- Reserved for a MAXIMUM of two players. You have to be in the driver’s seat for this spot.
Gary- (Y/Merge)- He cut a deal with Danni without a football mea culpa. I like Gary’s chances. He is leading without shining.
Danni- (Y/Rat)- I was worried for a second when she said she was the swing vote. That’s never good. But she took control of the situation and played it exactly the right way. The three-headed farmer was something that had to be dealt with sooner rather than later. She’s in control of this game and I think she can perform in the individual challenges after the merge.
I’m a hardcore Survivor fan, only missing one episode in the entire run of the series(it was the one where Jenna got booted in the first Survivor, but I’m starting to think the show is jumping the shark.
I mean, a swimming pool with a deck? This season started well with the 24 hour hike through the jungle, but when they have made critical errors this season after that:
-
Why are Bobby Jon and Stephanie on this show? Being voted off(no matter how) is final and unless there is an All-Star version, nobody should ever get to play again. A couple years ago, they allowed cast-offs to return and COMPETE to get 2 of them back in and while it was a bad idea, it didn’t sink the show. Bobby Jon and Stephanie
*were part * of the losing tribe last year. They outlasted them, but they were on the worst competing tribe ever. They did nothing to earn the right to be back on.
I originally thought they may be bringing them on as “leaders” of the tribes, who help with the survival without being voted out. But having them on as regular castaways is pointless, uninteresting, and diminishes the impact of losing.
By the way, am I the only one who argues with the premise of “two of the most popular Survivors will return”? Bobby Jon and Stephanie aren’t even in the top 10 of popularity. Rudy and Rupert are easily more popular than either of them. No one should return, but at least choose people who we want to see again.
- **It’s not hard enough. ** Okay, it started out perfectly. The guys are struggling for air, everyone is feeling the pain, but it turned around immediately. Why did we have the “free food” give away so early? Sure, it wasn’t the auction, but they have already had a reward challenge where they voted to give each other free food(and a shower and picnic). Then, we have a reward challenge where they are given…A SWIMMING POOL WITH DECK??? I think the show should make the rewards less great, while still feeling worth it. I think you could see the tribes compete like crazy for one sandwich and one can of soda each. We don’t need to give them so much.
Heck, I’d even like to see them compete not for reward, but just to avoid having something taken away. They should let the tribes start out with rice, fire making tools, fishing equipment, and then make them compete to keep them. That would make each reward challenge mean more and more to the castaways. It would also make for one monster twist for next season.
Does anyone remember Eco Challenge? This was a Mark Burnett “show”(it was a race, actually) where the contestants actually seemed like they are in real danger. It was brilliant. Survivor should follow its example.
I remember reading Jeff Probst’s rankings of Survivor seasons in Entertainment Weekly. He was strongly against bringing back Survivors a few years ago and I can only imagine how much more against it he must be this time. If he leaves, it’s probably because he is noticing the “shark jumping” that is going on around him.
Whew, this is one of my longer posts!
‘To the rest of you the secret is banging the rocke together!’
Jamie should have seen that chopping works better than slicing. His teammates should have been yelling at him ‘COP THE ROPE!!!’ But later he said that the ‘rocks wouldn’t chop’, or something like that. I didn’t see him even trying to chop until near the end, and even then it was a lame, half-hearted attempt. His pleas to continue the challenge after it was lost were pitiful.
Lydia was well-placed as the shooter in the IC. Not as athletic as the others, she can still pull a lever. Did anyone notice if the balls had ropes of different lengths? I thought I did, and that would affect the range of the throw.
His “do you want to finish” was indeed lame. But he had to say something.
Incidentally, his teammates WERE yelling for him to chop. What they didn’t do is tell him to chop with the rope on the edge of the table.
Hell, I don’t understand why Jamie didn’t turn around and LOOK to see what Brandon was doing to be so successful.
I missed that. I guess I was too busy watching…
I also wondered why he didn’t try to copy the technique.
Incidentally, the word in the THHGTTG line is ‘rocks’; not ‘rocke’. Tough posting when I’m still asleep.
Jamie and Bobby Jon’s combined I.Q. isn’t even in triple digits.
Stephanie: Here’s a Survivor I could possibly hate more than Rupert.
Brandon: Are all farmers in Kansas that negative? He’s a “Dudley Downer” for sure and yep his comment about Brian was homophobic.
Lydia: Best hair this season.
Judd: Shut the fudge up!
Danni: Please eat something NOW.
That was the greatest show ever. It made the Amazing Race look as cheesy as Temptation Island.
I watched every episode, and was seriosly bummed when the Discover Channel ditched it and it limped over to USA. The race with the Japanese team was phenomenal…when the Japanese girl twisted her ankle, and her teammates carried (and dragged and pulled and pushed and threw) her over the mountain, that was one of the most moving episodes in “reality tv” I have ever seen.
Also, when the team of Navy SEALs had to call for rescue because their boat was sinking? Funniest goddamn thing I ever saw.
Best quote from the series was the Australian car washer dude who always won, when asked what his team’s strategy was at the beginning of a race: “Our plan is to start off slow and then taper off.”
Or when the guy guy tagged by the poisonous flora that was “very painful…for about ten years”. Words fail me.
Damn I miss that show.
A great — and gutsy — prediction. She has the perfect temperament and mindset to be generally useful to anyone with high aspirations.
Wow. All this hate suddenly for Stephanie… I still think she’s great.
I really liked the catapult challenge. But farm-boy scored big with the hand-ax solution to the rope cutting. I would’ve never thought of that.
Good show. I’m glad Steph won the IC and Blake deserved to get the boot.
I’m liking Lydia more and more. She’s got the makings of a winner: fun to be with, hard worker, not too physically threatening but can hold her own when she needs to.
I’m sick of Stephanie too. I love it every time she whines about being the only strong player on a team of losers. “It’s like a nightmare and I can’t wake up!” Boo, hoo. After this week, I better not hear her bitching about that anymore.
Judging from the scenes for next week, looks like I’ll be able to start hatin’ on Jesus… er, Bobby John.
I have to say though, at least so far this season I’ve agreed with every elimination.
Probst leave the show? What, he thinks he’s talented enough to actually do anything else? I doubt he can act. I heard he writes, but personally if I were him, I wouldn’t quit the day job.
Don’t forget, Burnett plucked him off of Rock & Roll Jeopardy! back in the day. Rock & Roll Jeopardy! I think this man can write his own ticket.
Maybe he’ll become a professional Survivor contestant consultant. His greatest talent seems to be his knowledge of Survivor stategery. My guess is that he’s got his own idea for a new reality-type show and wants to develop it himself.
Next week looks wonderful with Bobby Jon (he’s *still * a waiter??) and …some other guy butting chests like a couple gorillas fighting. I apoligize in advance for being male.
And Judds condescending attitudes have worn thin. (that zookeeper is tooo nice!)
Yes, Danni, eat something. I was wondering if she was going to purge up that 'rita, guac & chips afterwards.
I think that was Bobby Jon and Jamie. I’m sure this week’s immunity challenge has something to do with that so I’m guessing that will happen at the next reward challenge.
Judd is guilty of the greatest Survivor sin: he is antagonizing people with no possible benefits.
I was laughing so hard at that. It reminded me of that Wendy’s(?) commercial with the two women deciding what to have for lunch, while looking like 2 chickens pecking at each other. I can’t wait to see that.
Am I the only one who thought that exchange in the previews looked a little staged, or fake, or something? Like, Bobby Jon and Jamie were just playing at being big ol’ puffed up babboons. I actually think Jamie and Bobby Jon are too much alike in too many ways to be real “rivals.” Although, I have watched this show entirely too much, so maybe I am just assuming what the misleading preview editing is supposed to be telling us.
One thing that may have made it look staged was the chest-bumping. IIRC, anyone who actually throws a punch is kicked off the show.