Survivor questions (non-spoilers)

Factual Questions
1

A few questions about procedures on the show.

Every episode a pair of contestants pick up the messages. It’s always two people and there doesn’t seem to be any pattern to who the pair are. Did the show give them a schedule to follow?

Does anyone know how long Jeff Probst’s unedited question period goes on at the tribal councils? Now that contestants are being voted off, these question and answer periods seem to be their only new source of information on what’s going on and how their former rivals are acting. It seems an awful small amount of information to give people who will be deciding who gets a million dollar prize. I also wonder if the show discourages or encourages the contestants who’ve been voted off from trying to influence the votes of the other judges.

If a contestant brought a luxury item that the other contestants were using (say a deck of cards for example) and was voted off, would he or she get to decide whether or not to take or leave their item behind?

Can a contestant just decide to quit? Suppose someone decided the stress wasn’t worth the potential prize. I’m sure no one would be held against their will, but would someone leaving like this count as that week’s vote off? Would that person still have a vote in the final episode?

We see how the contestants all voted at the end of each episode. Do the contestants see this at any point before the episodes air? Did they know who voted against them when they were making their own decisons? Or could a contestant lie and tell two different people he voted against the other one, hoping that both would vote in his favor and neither would know the truth until it was too late?

2

While we’re on the subject, I’d like to ask about the people who get voted off but remain in the Outback for The Jury. Do they just upgrade their accomodations to the CBS crew tents, or how does that work?

3

As for who picks up the tree-mail, I have no idea. It does always seem to be a pair, but I have no idea if they just pick two or if they are following some sort of schedule.

As for quitting, I’m sure if someone decided they’d had enough, they are allowed to quit, but perhaps they would just ask everyone to vote for them instead. With Michael getting hurt and leaving, he was considered “voted out” in a way.

I have always thought that the tribal council goes on for quite a while. There is TONS we don’t see. Remember, they are editing three days worth of stuff into an hour for us to see. He doesn’t seem to ask very many questions (which the jury needs to hear to know what is going on), but again, we only see what they want us to see. I wonder if the “jury” gets to see any footage from the previous few days or if they are strictly going on what they hear at Tribal Council. If it’s strictly what they hear at TC, I would have to think Jeff asks quite a few more questions then what we see.
I’d like to know what Alicia and Jerri know about the food situation…how much the producers told them, etc. “Look, they were out of food, so we offered them rice for the tent”, or if they got to see the footage from it or whatever, or if they just heard about it at TC.

As for the luxury item, I guess that’s up to each person. If it’s a game (I’ve see them playing backgammon, but I don’t know who brought it), I assume they can choose to leave it or take it with them. Like Colby’s flag. Of course, it’s gone now, but it was part of the tent, right? If he had been voted off, he would have left it there (I guess) since he didn’t take it to TC with him each week. Mad Dog’s item was a lipstick. She wouldn’t have left that, obviously, but it would be nice if whoever brought the backgammon game left it for the others to play. Taking it might come off as “sore loser-ish.”

Voting. I don’t think they know exactly who voted for whom, unless they tell each other. Obviously, they can figure it out somewhat.

I think the jury stays in the production camp. Last time they stayed in a hotel (or so I heard) on a nearby island, but this time there’s nothing around, so they have no choice (I guess).

Lotta guessing here, of course, I have no definate answers.

4

How do the women stay so smoothly shaved? The men all have beards, so how come the women don’t have armpit/leg hair? Were only the women allowed to bring shaving implements on the show?

5

Most women’s leg hair doesn’t grow that quickly, or that dark. I doubt it’s dark enough to see on camera. Being a swimmer, I used to watch the girls let their leg hair grow all season, then shave right before Districts or States. Most people, you had to look really close to see it for the first month or so. After 3 months, it was pretty obvious.

The Survivors haven’t been out there much more than a month, so it’s hard to see, and I don’t think the armpit hair would grow all that fast either. I’m sure it’s quite stubbly though, and probably itches like crazy.

Jman

6

As for shaving, someone may have brought a razor as their luxury item.
And they got a case full of soap and shampoo and toothbrushes in a reward challenge once, remember? There may have been a couple of razors in there, too.

My leg hair is pretty fine…I can see the stubble, but I doubt a camera would pick it up. Plus, they seem to be wearing long pants more this time (as compared to Survivor 1).

7

I haven’t noticed any women with pit hair on Survivor II but I recall that both Colleen & Kelly had visible underarm hair by the end of their stays on the original Survivor. I seem to recall that Colleen was especially “bushy”…

8

Leg and arm hair do itch like crazy when it’s growing back out. That’s as nothing next to the itching of pube hair, though.

Isn’t there a resort near Barramundi camp where the crew and jury stay? One of the survivors who was recently ousted commented in an interview that she had several candy bars first thing after she was voted out. If the crew and jury were just in better camps, I’d think she wouldn’t have access to such.

Kinsey, please remember the thread title says “(non-spoilers).” Your first post in this thread refers by name to tribemembers who have and have not been voted out.

[hijack]Kayeby, since you’re reading this thread, I just wanted to note for the record that I’ve been to your website and I think you’re very very pretty.[/hijack]

9

Oh, crap, sorry, sorry, sorry.
I don’t know why I did that. I guess I was thinking anyone asking questions would be someone watching the show.
Sorry!

10

–Possible Spoiler if you’ve been living in a cave and haven’t seen the show at all–

The rule on luxury items seems pretty simple. Whatever is with you when you go to tribal council leaves with you. Some people bring stuff to the tribal council (we always see Elisabeth in her headress. Some don’t (was Jerri really going to be bring her drum with her?

My wife thought Keith was arrogant this last week, as he was the only one who didn’t bring his stuff to council. I thought he was being courteous. That way if he got voted off, all his stuff would be left for the other members to use.

I don’t think so. In the dramatic Kucha vs. Ogakor 5-5 vote, it was said on the show that the reason Ogakor aimed for who they did (I believe Jeff), thus winning on the tiebreaker, was because someone who had been voted off already had blabbed that Jeff had a vote against him. (Odds are vastly in favor of this being Kimmi.) Because they went out of their way to mention this, it seems they would not otherwise have known who voted for who. Also consider that they would probably then vote by filling in a space next to their names or something, not such a deliberately anonymous method.

11

I read in an interview with one of the departed Ogakors (it may have been Jeff himself) that Kimmi let fly with the “Jeff got a vote against him” info while they were waiting for the camera crew to get into positions for the jump off the cliff challenge. Apparently it took awhile and they spent the time introducing themselves to the other tribe, as this was the first time that the two tribes had downtime together. That’s why Colby said on one of his interview snippets on the show that the decision to target Jeff happened very early in the game…

12

Has anyone else noticed that they only show Tina in closeup from the shoulders up now, a la Jennifer Lopez? It’s no secret that she’s been “enhanced”, but she must really look comical now with all the lost weight. I wonder if the others make jokes about her.

13

By the way, they tell the men not to shave their beards because it adds to the survival setting of the show. If you remember, Rudy was able to shave his beard toward the final couple days of the first survivor. They figured he’d been there long enough and Susan shaved his beard with one of her female razors(ouch!).

14

Seeing as neither of us mods watch the show, can anyone tell me just how dated the spoilers in Kinsey’s post (and any other spoilish posts) are? If we’re talking about stuff that aired yesterday, we should probably do something about it, but if this was, say, two weeks ago, I don’t think it really bears worrying about.

15

“Has anyone else noticed that they only show Tina in closeup from the shoulders up now,”

I have heard from Australian sources that the show is aired several hours earlier over there than here in the States, and the version on Aussie television is uncensored. Specifically, what I’ve heard is that there’s a fair amount of female toplessness (is that a word) going on. If this is true:

  1. this might be the reason for the shoulder-up perspectives

and

  1. why haven’t I seen any “topless Survivor” vidcaps on the Web yet? :slight_smile:
16

IMHO, the spoilers are no biggie. First, the OP didn’t say they hadn’t watch the show, they were just courteous enough to add no spoilers to the thread title.

First, The spoilers that are here refer a bit to things that happened last week (1 week ago today), and mostly before that. Second, this information is also up on countless web sites, on the radio, and in the paper. Third, if our hypothetical someone was taping the whole series, the only thing that would have really ruined some enjoyment was my own post, which refered to events from a month ago. Nothing else revealed has affected the outcome.

So between all that, i don’t think the spoilers have been bad at all. Really, it’s tough to spoil something that’s as popular as Survivor.

17

Dr. Sean was there a pretty long time and I think he shaved throughout the series. His luxury item was a razor. In the third or second to last episode everyone received a care package from home and I think that was why Rudy was finally able to shave. I can’t see how they could let someone bring a razor as their luxury item and then refuse to let them shave their beards.

18

I’ve watched all of the episodes so far, so don’t worry about spoiling anything for me. I posted the non-spoilers disclaimer for people who live in countries where the show is broadcast weeks behind the US. But at this point, I guess it’s spoilers from here on.

Colby’s flag/roof was one of the specific items I was thinking of. Obviously the potential of losing their shelter would affect how people voted. Or take Kel’s razors which he distributed in the second week; if I were him, I’d have been sorely tempted to take them back after the outcome of that week’s vote.

As for the jury’s knowledge, I can see why the producers don’t let the contestants who are still in the running know who voted for whom. But do the also keep it a secret from the jury? For example, Jerri must realize that some ex-Ogakors voted against her, but does she know whether or not Amber was one of them? If Amber had made it to the final two, this could have been a major factor. For what it’s worth, I know the earlier people voted off aren’t shown the voting; I read an interview with Maralyn where she said she hadn’t known Tina voted against her until she saw it on TV.

On a sidenote, I was thinking of an interesting variation of the voting scheme. All votes, once cast, would hold over into subsequent weeks. The contestants would still cast new votes at each tribal council, but the old votes would be added in with them. Whoever had the highest total then would be gone. This would make it possible for minorities like the ex-Kuchas to still vote someone off by pooling their votes over several councils.

As for topless episodes with Alicia, Amber, Elisabeth, Jerri, Kimmi, and/or Tina … do any of my dear dear friends in Australia have videotapes?

19

FWIW, I’m in Australia and haven’t seen any topless shots. On the other hand, some of my male counterparts may have been a bit more vigilant.

[spoiler just in case]

Our latest episode has been the one where Nick got booted off, so if any topless action happened after, we could conceivably get our VCRs ready. :wink:

[/spoiler just in case]

And how can you tell Tina’s breasts aren’t real? Admittedly, I can never tell … I was just wondering what the give-away signs were.

20

To expand on my previous post, here’s how things might have gone with a different voting system.

(WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD)

In week one, Kucha has to vote off a member. Deb gets seven votes and Jeff gets one. Deb is gone.

In week two, it’s Ogakor’s turn (the first of many). Kel gets seven votes and Jerri gets one.

In week three, Maralyn is voted off with five votes. Jerri gets another vote bringing her total to two. Mitchell also gets a vote.

In week four, Mitchell and Keith both get three votes. Mitchell’s total is now four and he’s off. Keith now has three votes and Jerri has two.

In week five, the voting retruns to Kucha. Kimmi gets voted off with six votes. Jeff receives a second vote.

In week six, Michael left because of his injuries. No one received any votes.

In week seven, the tribes theoretically combined. But the two former tribes vote along tribal lines. Colby receives five votes. (Although in reality, Colby probably wouldn’t have volunteered to attract Kucha votes under this voting system). Jeff also receives five this week, which combined with his two past votes, take him out.

In week eight, events take a turn. The five ex-Ogakors vote for Alicia; the four ex-Kuchas vote for Jerri. Under the existing system, Alicia was gone. But if Jerri’s previous two votes had been counted as well, she would have been voted off instead.

In week nine, I have to start speculating on what would have happened. I’m assuming the former tribal divisons would have held and each tribe would have voted against the other tribe’s most vulnerable member. Alicia, Elisabeth, Nick, and Rodger would have voted for Colby. Amber, Colby, Keith, and Tina would have voted for Alicia. With both of them having five past votes, they would be tied at nine to nine. I assume the producers have some plan for breaking a tie and I’ll arbitrarily assume Colby won and Alicia was voted off.

In week ten, Colby with nine votes would be extremely vulnerable but he wins the immunity. The three ex-Kuchas know Keith is also vulnerable and vote against him instead. The four ex-Ogakors choose Nick as their target. Nick receives more votes this week, but Keith’s past votes bring his total to six and he’s gone.

In week eleven, Colby again wins the immunity and hangs on despite his high vote count. Tina crosses tribal lines (as she did in reality) and joins Elisabeth, Nick, and Rodger in voting against Amber. Amber and Colby vote for Nick, who with his four past votes has a total of six and is gone.