Yay! I can watch the episodes now with Russell gone! I’d been boycotting seeing Russell ever again on this show. Meanwhile MrsSqueegee and SqueegeeJr have been watching sans me, so I got the good news this evening, and I can watch again. Bye Russell, it’s been… well, it’s sucked having you onscreen. Later.
I think redemption sounds pretty lame, but it does in some sense re-balance the challenges. We used to get exactly 1 reward challenge and 1 immunity challenge. In the last 3 or so seasons, the RC dwindled to maybe-sometimes, so we got one challenge on most episodes. It was getting so it was all politics and scrambling, all the time, and I liked how the 2 challenges used to break things up a bit, and I chafed at one challenge in an episode with double the amount of people sitting around bitching about things. So maybe the producers did well in one sense to get back to two challenges each week to balance things out. We’ll see how well that works in practice.
I completely agree that RI makes the whole tribal vote seem anti-climatic. I also don’t like how precious time is being spent covering the RI challenge instead of the main event.
So when do you think the RI winner gets to re-enter the game? I’m thinking at the merge. Surely they wouldn’t let them in for the final 3…?
I completely disagree with their decision to throw the challenge because you don’t want to empower the other team. They now have a huge advantage – tarps and blankets – not to mention an emotional edge in believing they had won the challenge on their own merits, and it may come back to haunt them.
I love how they split the vote between Stephanie and Resell (:)) and then when the HII wasn’t played, all switched to the latter. That was great strategy. Ralph had no incentive to switch his vote to Russell before the first vote because he knew that his team was united in their quest to get rid of Russell (after all, that was the sole reason they blew the challenge), but as importantly, to the best of my knowledge, he hasn’t told anyone that he has the HII. Pretty good for a farmer who needs a translator whenever he speaks/writes.
While I think Stephanie was right in that it’s a bad strategy to throw challenges, she failed to mention that an angry minority – which is what they were even before the vote because everyone referred to them as Russell and his (concubines, harem, etc) – will almost always turn on their original tribemates after the merge.
I can’t see Russell surviving living alone at RI. He’s a parasite who feeds off others and can’t survive without servants. IF he makes it through all the way through RI and returns, then hell, he deserves to win as he will have worked for it.
I think they should send people out there so they know who is…well, out there. I think it helps people plan strategically if they know who may potentially come back.
I’m very much leaning toward “hating” this Redemption Island thing.
It takes up too much time.
It takes the emotional punch out of the tribal council.
The problem is that “all the way through” has yet to be defined, and Jeff has been deliberately tight-lipped about how many players will return from RI, and when.
I would not be the least bit surprised if the producers were to stack things in Russell’s favor and pronounce that it just happens to be time to bring somebody back into the game, just after Russ wins his first duel.
So… GO MATT!
I remember from an interview after his first season some of the players saying that Russell was much worse than he appeared on TV, hard as that is to believe. Like being locked in a cage with a paranoid psychotic. Any time people talked without him present, he’d corner them individually and demand that they tell him exactly what was said in that private conversation. I can just see it being physically & mentally draining to be around him all the time.
They didn’t say, but given the effort they put into building stands for spectators, I’d say they’re going to have people watching every duel.
I loved that Philip was so clueless (heh) when Rob asked him to change chairs. Well played by Rob, though a sharper contestant than Philip might have realized what was going on. Not that the clue appeared to help Rob find the idol… I’ll bet Kristina tears that beach apart looking for the hidden idol.
I’m glad Russell is gone and that his tribe didn’t waste any time about it. Stephanie is indeed scary in her devotion to him. I hope Matt mops the floor with Russell at the next RI challenge. I wonder if all the RI challenges will be “puzzle-like” and not so much strength-related.
I think it’s too early to make this assumption, we won’t know until next week, what effect it might have.
My prediction is that the next episode is going to be really difficult for Matt.
If I’m going up against you in a duel tomorrow, I’d be burning your socks, eating all the food, and probably pissing in your ear whenever you fall asleep! So… what do you think Russell would do?
I’m still trying to figure out why Russell and Stephanie thought their offer would be attractive to Julie… 4th in a 4-person alliance that is outnumbered 5-4 (if she votes with them this week) is not in any way better than 6th (worst case) in a 6-person alliance with a 4 vote majority (if she sticks with her group).
The only benefit to her is if she truly believed Russell was some amazing player that would carry her to the end - but why would he when he was obviously tighter with the other two? Sticking with the plan, staying off the radar, and avoiding aligning with the most-hated tribe members is the obvious choice.
Just silly playing by Russell this season - he put way too much stock in the HII and not nearly enough in building a strong/deep enough alliance.
I’m betting the best time for the RI survivor to return would be the day of the merge. That person will return with a chip on their shoulder against the tribe that voted them out, and probably try working some deal with the remaining members of the opposite team. This RI thing could really throw the balance off for the tribes at the merge.
I’m betting the RI part ends with the merge.
since the clue was so vague, I think Kristina has an advantage over Rob in finding the HII, since she already found the first one and knows what kind of hiding spots that they are using.
Producers did not know which team would win the IC/RC. They had to hide the new HII in a similar place to where the first one was found so they could use a generic clue (one that was applicable to both tribes )
Disappointed that an audience is going to be part of the Redemption Duels, I had hoped it’d be completely separate from the “main game” until the winner returns.
Unless the producers had two clues ready to go, and knew exactly where to put it. Plus, there is a TON of off-screen producing going on - there could have been any number of ways to delay giving the winners their prize.
Yes. She totally reminds me of a modern day Manson girl!
As far as weaking the tribe, a large, weak alliance will almost always fall to a small, solid one, at least since I’ve been watching. There are always those who realize that they are #s 8-7-6 in an alliance and will make the turn to move up in the opposing alliance, or to simply screw those that were mean to them.
The season with Yul and Ozzy vs the tribe of douchey 20somethings at one point had a (premerge) 8-4 advantage, immediately turned on their own and treated one like crap, going into the merge at 5-4, but a WEAK 5-4 due to the breaking up of their alliance and being mean to the 5th wheel.
The JT/Taj/Steven alliance went into the merge down 3-7, I think, but the 7 weren’t tight, so immediately turned on their own.
Russell did the same in his first season, didn’t he? His second season, he had a small alliance that somehow got through to the merge ahead in tribe #s, but still everyone wanted him out, and he STILL survived til the end.
Anyway, I know there is always the problem of cutting off the fat too soon, or breaking up the alliance too soon, but Russell was playing his same game, and that game almost need him in a minority, preying on the paranoia of the couple of people on the bottom of the majority alliance. I really think you DON’T want to go into a merge with a huge advantage unless you ARE a weaker player.
I think this is very true post-merge, when people are strongly considering how to get to the end. But this early, I think the primary concern is to make sure you’re always a few TCs away from the chopping block.
That’s why it makes no sense for Julie to switch - she goes from, at worst, 3 TCs away from being a target (after Russell, Steph, and the third random girl) to being perhaps the next one targetted (if the now reduced 5-person alliance targets her first for flipping). Why take that chance?
If it were only 5-3, or it was post-merge, then Russell’s argument becomes a lot more persuasive. Hell, it would have been better if he’d let her pick the target instead of commanding her to vote for Ralph - make her feel like a part of the alliance rather than just a tool of it.
In the end I don’t think she ever really considered it, and that whole thing was blown up to add some suspense to an otherwise obvious boot.
