I think that the difference between a good survivor player and a great player is that the great player doesn’t show that s/he is working so hard. Michaela kept demonstrating her competence and strategic thinking and that puts a big target on your back. Like I said, I bet she comes back as a fan favorite and plays a more subtle game.
How about Boston Rob? Worked twice as hard as anyone else in the season he won. Of course, that was his fourth try…
I really enjoyed Boston Rob’s winning season, but he was teamed up with a bunch of dolts. I think that if he hadn’t been competing against a bunch of Squeaky Fromme wannabes he would have been cut pretty early.
ETA: I remember one website said that basically they had stocked Survivor with morons just so Rob could win.
True, he and Russell Hantz were the only returnees that season, right? And Hantz’s tribe was the one that decided they had to vote him out early. Rob’s tribe was way too starstruck to do anything about him.
I think you’re right, i just remember he had instituted a buddy system where no one was allowed to be by themselves and Phillip being crazy.
I’m trying to figure out the edit the high school kid is getting. Last episode was the most we’ve seen of him since the beginning. Is he going to have a late surge, or a quick ouster?
Also, I feel like this is the greatest amount of physical threats going into the merge. No one is a favorite to run the table on challenges.
The 18 yr old kid has been sitting out of the Immunity Challenges.
He sat out the water challenge where Mikaela made all the baskets
He sat out the Water/Puzzle Maze challenge where Mikaela berated Hannah at the puzzle
He sat out the slingshot challenge.
And yes he is getting an invisible edit.
11/9:
Well, Will certainly got his spot in the sun today, eh? At least challenge-wise.
Those 3 guys are definitely screwed though. Even if they can get people to take out Adam first, and then make use of Jay’s HII, being on the wrong side of a 9-3 split is tough. Only chance is if one of them goes on an immunity tear.
As usual I disagree with Lamar Mundane. I think this is a pretty good cast heading into the merge. The only dead weight players are Sunday and possibly Bret and Jessica. Sure, there are some people like Hannah and Taylor who won’t win, but they’re still turning on people, making moves and playing the game.
I would tend to agree that Jay/Taylor are probably doomed. There should be enough trust in the group of 9 to for a 5/4 split next week and kill one of them. Of course, such a moment is a good time to make a move and take control, so we’ll just have to wait and see. It was awfully nice to see that laugh wiped from Taylor’s face though when he realized that it was once again a close ally of his going home.
Man, it seems that the merge episode is always a snoozer. Too many people to keep track of if nothing else. I nodded off after the immunity challenge and woke up during the TC, and my kids told me not to bother watching what I missed - would you agree?
But that “history-making” steal-a-reward advantage is a total stinker. The only time I’d even consider using it would be if the reward is an advantage in the next immunity challenge - otherwise all you’re going to do is piss everyone else off.
8 castaways have been voted off, 7 of them have been women. There wasn’t a lot of eye candy this season, and now it is all gone.
Wonder if Reward Stealing has been done before, but no one found the clue. And I agree, using it would put a big target on you.
I think it is a good cast too.
Taylor has got the bluest eyes I have ever seen.
I think that if I had found that reward-stealing thing, I would have just put it right back where I got it. No thank you. I cannot think of a situation where playing this card would make sense.
Yeah, pretty dull. They tried to make it exciting when Adam found out the young kids were gunning for him, but he never really seemed that worried about it. They played up the possibility of mix-up at TC and Adam playing his idol, but the fact that he didn’t play it (knowing that he was getting at least a few votes) strongly hints to me that the majority was pretty solid in their vote.
Yup, shitty twist. The advantage in a challenge at the end is the only viable play for this, and even then I’m not sure it’s worth it. And telling Taylor about it was about the dumbest thing Adam could have done - I think Zeke nailed it with his “has to sit at the cool kids table” comment.
It seems like every Tribal but the first one has been a blindside this season. Are they going to set a record?
Was there no RC this time? How often do they do that?
Hey Hey Ho Ho
Taylor the Mimbo has to go!
Taylor is really a BroDudeMoron.
They never do a Reward challenge on the merge episode, since the merge includes a feast, and takes up one or two segments anyway.
Ah, yes. That makes sense.
Let’s all say adios to “The Dumb Surfer”! 
Buh-bye!!
That was a pretty entertaining TC. I think it was the first time the generation gap felt at least somewhat authentic. The kids ratting on each other to Mom and Dad.
Ken is sort of the stealth candidate for me. He’s a little weird, but damn if he isn’t good at challenges and getting food. Adam is so neurotic they should invent a Woody Allen award for him.
Do jury members and non-jury get to fraternize at Ponderosa? If so, we can at least take comfort in the thought that TayFigs is reunited.