Survivor Season 30 (spoilers)

One of the better starts in recent memory.

A good immunity challenge with options for the puzzle at the end. Surprising that the “smart” (White Collar) team chose the easiest puzzle and then crapped all over it. It was basically a spelling challenge! The first puzzle solver must have had a panic attack, although the second one was only marginally better.

One of the few things I like about “smart” tribes is that they don’t always go with the obvious choice about who to vote out - they think ahead a little bit and also take everything that has already happened into account. Of the two who were up for elimination, I think they picked the right one. Everyone knew she couldn’t be trusted, and she isn’t very strong. Undoing knots might have been the only thing she would have been any good at.

If it were her and the dark haired puzzle-crapper, though, I’d have a hard time choosing.

Loved having different options to compete the challenge, they need to keep that in play. No returning players, no stunt casting, no Exile Island, a fresh new twist in challenges? Survivor producers, have you been reading this board?

Not only am I rooting for the blue collar team, I have trouble imagining anyone not rooting for them given the choices: Smarmy douches, hard workers, flighty space cadets.

That said, the douchy mailman has to go, and quickly. I was cracking up at the girls’ reaction to his condescension. To be overly candid, that mailman is the personification of my mental image of most dopers. heh.

The totally chill laid back coconut salesman turns out to be a tightly wound creepy serial killer. Who saw that coming? (Mentally picturing every woman raising her hand.) I can’t fault him too much for falling under Jen’s spell, though; I found myself mesmerized by her boob jiggle during their walk and talk on the beach.

I’ve just recently hopped back into Survivor, thanks to Amazon Prime. I watched the first 4 or 5 seasons religiously and then just dropped it. We decided to watch season 30 live.

Anyway! Mike the oil driller guy has got to go, because every time he opens his mouth and speaks, we dissolve into helpless giggles. Dude sounds exactly like a Muppet. It’s got to be a put on; that can’t be anyone’s natural voice.

Coconut creep set off my alarm bells almost immediately. If this were “real life” I’d tell her to run, and fast. Since it’s not, I just hope he goes quickly.

I don’t have a strong enough opinion of the rest of them to comment, really. Mail dude was an ass, in a pathetic way, and corporate trainer lady was cracking me up with her dead-on insights about white collar behavior. “Look at them, they all knew what to do” when they were doing the introductions. :smiley:

I wonder if Joaquin watched this episode and had some deep introspection about his world-view: scoffing that choosing “Deceit” was the only possible choice, as simultaneously the other two teams chose “Honest”.

Naaah.

(Did it bother anyone else that the choices were DECEIT (noun) and HONEST (adjective)? Should’ve been “HONESTY”. Or is that just me?)

Probst seems to conflate “white collar” with “managerial”. A blue-collar general contractor is a “rule-maker”, while the former admin asst on white-collar undoubtedly is/was (I assume he’s between jobs) a 100% rule-follower.

Nice work, Joaquin and So. Make the dishonest choice, lie about it badly, then form an Alliance of Two on a team of 6. Joaquin is now only being kept around for his muscles. Row well, and live.

I’m impressed that 2 teams made fire.

So the Boston guy tattoos his dead sister’s story on his arm as a way of picking up chicks? Nice.

If they don’t drop the whole “We’re the X collar team, so we’re going to behave in this stereotypical fashion!” schtick soon, I’m out. And what the hell is a barrel racer?

I quite enjoyed it. I am rooting for Dan and the Blue collars, but Carolyn played very well. Kudos.

Vincey Coconuts is Coach, only high.

Dan, Dan the Postal Man has a serious tone problem. WHAT he was saying wasn’t necessarily bad. HOW he was saying it (and the exact wording used) was horrible. Calm the frack DOWN.

Oil-driller guy reminds me way too much of Bahston Rahb. Go away, eye-candy though you are.

Epic Hipster Beard Max! Go find a flannel shirt and a touque and we can search out a quiet, private grove to spend some time together in…

jayjay, I said the same thing: coconut guy is the new coach. Also the guy who built fire on the no collar tribe is shaping up to be the new Ozzy.

Yes! It should have been “Deception” and “Honesty” (nouns) or “Deceitful” and “Honest.”

I was honestly glad to know that there were cameramen and microphones everywhere because otherwise I’d fear for Jen. It’s so ironic that Coconut Man weaves feathers into his hair and feigns being a “free spirit,” when clearly he’s a slave to his own (misplaced, juvenile and grossly inappropriate) emotions.

I was glad to see So go. From her first decision to deceive and then lie so badly about it, to being so obvious about looking for the HII, to slipping and mentioning an alliance of 4, it was obvious that she lacked both the smarts and the social skills to advance far. Her comment that she’d made everyone at her work cry at some point or another, as if that was something to be proud of, is case in point.

So glad that there’s no RI or returning players. Bravo!

I found that comment odd. Has she never worked with a man before?

To me, a good season of Survivor:

  1. Has no exile island or redemption island. Exile is OK, but redemption is stupid and a time killer every week.

  2. Has all new cast-members. Or limits the returnees to 2 or so, both of whom are only returning for their first time.

  3. Finds an interesting group and gets lucky that the interesting people go far. This is by far the most uncontrollable factor for the producers.

So far, so good this year.

All good, but a all returnee cast is good- once in a great while.

I don’t mind returning cast as long as all of the cast are returnees.

Yeah, I almost said this. I should have said, “An All-star season every 4-5 years.” Years, not seasons, mind you.

A very promising start.

And madmonk – definitely the no-collar fire-starter as the new Ozzy. swoon

Well that was pleasantly surprising. Nice blindside.

But I think a bad move. That tribe now has two young women (neither of whom stand out as especially athletic), another women (somewhat older, again not particularly strong looking AND deaf), a black guy (who apparently isn’t good at water type challenges – is that a Natural Law?), and one other guy (with no obvious handicaps so far.) The most likely result will be for them to lose more often than the other tribes, quickly dwindle in numbers, and then the remainder split and added to the other tribes.

At least, I think that’s what they did the last time they did the three tribe start.

I don’t think the black guy had any trouble with the water; he swam fine in the first part. He just ran out of gas. His joke about water being his downfall was just a joke to try and downplay that he will likely be useless in any long challenge, water or not.

I’m not convinced it will end up being a bad move, though it could be. Having three tribes is a nice buffer for not having to win challenges. You just want to avoid last. The last time they did three tribes to start was Brains/Brawn/Beauty, and the Brains lost every challenge. I think no collar can beat white collar.

I’m just happy that the cute girl survived the early chopping block, plus we got rid of a super creepy guy. All around good job from my perspective.