No Survivor thread?
Abi Normal seemed pretty confident she was not being voted out. It would have been a great time for a blindside with her HII in her pocket (or wherever she keeps it).
Pete would have been a good one, too. He totally boned RC.
Artis? He’s been under my radar. He seemed to be an easy choice to balance numbers.
I’m not a huge fan of Penner, but I don’t dislike him either. He knows the game, and is trying to play it well. For that reason, I’d like to see him stick around for a while. But a large reason I wanted him to stay was because voting someone out on the other alliance would totally piss off Abi Normal. She needs a total on-screen meltdown.
Lisa is… Well, she’s one of those people who has a moral problem with a game she intentionally joined, which is designed to make people do unethical things. It looked on the preview as if she tries to justify her actions. She shouldn’t do that. At least, she shouldn’t apologise for them.
I just want to tell Abi-Normal that “Grace is not something that you can pick up at the Market”
Brilliant move by Penner to dig up all the Ball Sacks in the mud in the reward challenge. Probably would have been smarter if Malcolm did it though, but it worked.
I LMAO had Skupin getting hit in the noggin with a rogue coconut. The man is a walking first aid station.
Agreed. (snert You said ‘ball sack’.) Weird, they had so much trouble with that last ball. Maybe they were just creating tension.
The Les Nesman of Survivor. Yeah I laughed too – and backed up to watch it again.
Loved, loved the two scenes with Penner talking to Lisa. Totally playing her, yet totally convincing in everything he was saying. He’s become as interesting a social player as Boston Rob was.
And then the scene with the kids - “In America, my name is normal.” “Hello, Normal!”
I shouted “Yes” when Penner survived once again. Definitely an all-timer even if he doesn’t win the million this time. I’ve been waiting for Abi to go from crazy-eyed to just crazy and I wouldn’t be surprised if next week is it.
I’m convinced all of the remaining players want to sit next to Abi at Final Tribal. Unless she really pisses them off (which I admit is entirely possible), she’s not going anywhere. Not sure why they went with Artis over Pete, unless they see Artis as a bigger immunity threat (or see Pete the same as Abi?).
He is playing well, but hell, I thought he was being completely and obviously manipulative with Lisa. I guess she didn’t notice because she really needed the reassurance.
Yep. Don’t understand that at all, and really don’t get why she didn’t go with Skupin and vote Artis with the rest of them, especially since Abi has done nothing but insult her.
Penner is really “playing his ass off” as he put it; that was indeed a smart move, and something too few contestants do in this game (thinking ahead and giving your team an advantage in a challenge, that is).
Yeah; had to love the reaction, too - "Well, I’m not gonna die . . . "
Another good episode! I’m really happy to have a good season this time.
Abi is great TV because she’s a rude, a bully, self-important, and not self-aware at all. Oh, and she doesn’t know how to play the game either. Yeah, she’s definitely going to the final three to get the zero votes. They should go back to a final two.
Oh, and after Skupin got nailed by the rogue coconut, she pulled his hand away! I’d have swatted the crap out of her to get my hand back on my head.
I have to put in my weekly plug for Denise: the wink at the jury members was awesome!
Artis was a hard one for me to call. He was a jerk about the negotiations on the wicker ball in the mud challenge, but other than being with Pete and Abi, he seemed ok. He went out well though…good exit speech.
Great epi, and I am glad to see Penner survive.
I will remind you that Lisa is a *professional actress *who is using this to restart her career. So, *who was playing who *is a question.
Notes from Ponderosa:
Like his farewell speech, Artis seems like a very nice and reasonable man. But he (with Abi/Pete) made RCs life hell in the first tribe. When he walked in, she walked out. I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to reach out to her (nothing on video yet).
I’m looking forward to seeing how the new tribe shakes out. I guess this gets really interesting next week when the HIIs come into play. Especially if Abi or Pete wins Immunity.
Yes Indeed I did. 
I wonder if it had been easier if Denise (or even Carter) got up on someones shoulders and shoot the baskets. The extra 3’ or 4’ ft could have made a lot easier.
Skupin rocked the Immunity Challenge. No one was even close. I thought a younger person would have had steadier hands.
Exactly my thought. The wife was almost yelling at the tribe to vote her crazy, annoying ass out, but I kept telling her a little annoyance is a small price to pay for $1 million.
Penner is a professional actor as well, with a hell of a lot more recent work than Lisa. She’s got exactly two acting credits since “The Facts of Life” ended, and one of them was a FoL reunion.
So Abi’s alliance basically had a 5-4 advantage. But during TC, she in essence kicked Lisa out of the alliance by saying she’s not trustworthy. So Abi just torpedoed the 3 remaining members of her group; but as noted above, she will be around for the Final.
So the only surprise is that Lisa was revealed to have voted for Penner. Who in the Abi alliance flipped and voted for Artis?
But this worked out well for Lisa anyway: she stayed true, but can now join the Penner group and be up 5-3, with a clear conscience.
Skupin flipped, joining Penner, Malcom, Denise, and Carter in voting for Artis.
Pete, Abi, Artis, and Lisa voted for Penner.
Yep. That’s what I told the SO last night.
And to answer the “why Artis?” question - the Tandang group was worried (unnecessarily IMO) that Abi might give the idol to Pete. But they knew there was no way in hell she’d give it to Artis.
I thought it was a pretty clever bit of misdirection making it seem like Skupin and Lisa were a voting block (at least I bought it). Once there were 4 votes for Jonathan I thought he was sunk - didn’t see the Skupin/Lisa split coming.
I’m not sure what Lisa’s move is now - she went from (probably) 4th in the Yellow group to (possibly) 5th in the Red one. I’m reasonably sure we’ll see more shakeups down the road - the only “solid” alliances I see are Abi/Pete and Malcolm/Denise. Every body else is either peripheral (Carter, Johnathan) or sway-able (Lisa, Skupin).
I’m a bit surprised that “Team Yellow” didn’t target Malcolm again. He already tipped his hand that he wouldn’t play the idol. The ability to get it out might have been enough to keep Skupin on the team. Of course it’s not too surprising given that Pete and (especially) Abi are just horrible at this game.
I am loving the hell out of this season. Lots of people to root for (Denise, Lisa, Malcolm, and, I’m surprised to discover, Penner) plus one of the most clueless players ever, Abi. I’m still trying to figure out why she revealed she had a HII last week. Yelling at Lisa for saving their alliance? Which of you two doesn’t understand how the game is played? But, yes, sigh, she’ll be around till the end. Unless someone snaps, which could happen.
If Abi does make it the finals, I’m 50/50 on whether she’ll just go off on a profanity-laden rant against each jury member who asks her “Why do you think you should get the million dollars” or simply bursts into tears anytime someone talks to her.
Abi wasn’t terribly likely to play her HII, and even less likely to give it to Pete, but Penner & Company couldn’t afford to take either of those chances. Artis was their smartest target.
Besides, I don’t mind Abi sticking around for a while; she was so insufferable when she kept getting her way that I think I’ll rather enjoy watching her twist in the wind with a broken alliance and no strategy. Heh.
I’m of two minds about the possibility of Abi going to the end, though. Others will certainly be more deserving, but she has no chance of winning anyway, and watching her try to make her case at Final TC would be a hoot.
Artis did indeed show some class with his parting comments. I just wish we’d seen more of that from him during the game.