The problem I’ve noticed is that the contestants hold the machete completely wrong. For fire-starting, they need to hold the machete near the wide-part at the end and scrape the flint, not chop at it like a piece of bamboo. That way you can control not only the spark but the direction thereof. They would also do better to use the spine as a striker as opposed to the edge.
I’m pretty sure that Joe said that he’d practiced starting fire beforehand.
I agree that people should put some effort into preparing. Not just survival skills, but if you can’t swim worth a damn, go to the YMCA and learn how to swim better. You might not be an Olympic swimmer but every second counts.
Also, they have the flint way too far from the kindling and they often don’t take time to prepare the larger fuel pieces so they can quickly build their fire. Does anyone remember the season where they ended up giving the contestants matches after they utterly failed at using flints?
Everytime they had a wide shot of the firemaking from behind the firepit, I thought of this.
Next time, I bet they let the jury join at a third station just making fires and putting them out.
Yeah, I have met those kinda dudes. They really arent mean or nasty, they just talk without thinking- Dan is actually kinda smart but his mouth runs off without any control from his brain.
Yep. Not easy, but much easier than friction.
As a Scout from the Inner City, I was able to start a fire with friction, flint and steel (real flint and my Boy Scout knife, not a commercial fire starter) and even the lens of my glasses. I haven’t done it in years, but I am sure with a hour of practice, I could get the job done.
After watching 30 seasons of Survivor, I’m convinced that the producers don’t encourage players to practice rudimentary survival skills. In fact, sometimes I think they discourage it. Every season, we see players struggling to start campfires, bickering about the correct way to do it, etc., and fans pull their hair out and complain about how stupid these people are. I think the producers view this floundering as part of the drama of Survivor and don’t want to lose it. I also wonder if the producers believe that viewers won’t identify with players who are already adept at starting fires and other outdoorsy things.
IIRC, the only on-air advice Jeff Probst has offered to aspiring contestants was to study John Nash’s game theory concepts.
I don’t think Jeff had any choice - Dan has been making the rounds of all the Survivor Interviews and bashing the hell out of the editing with what Jeff proved with that little piece of video are either outright lies or his brain rewriting history.
Mike mentioned in his post show red carpet interview that the reason for that, and part of the reason he didn’t take Rodney to the end was that the one thing he’d told everyone over and over was the he was not going to the end with Rodney. He figured going back on that would definitely cost him votes and possibly the game.
But everything you said 100%. Also Will, for a supposed forgiving man of god weaseled around apologies almost as much as Dan did.
Next season looks like a good one. I don’t mind returning players but I prefer it when it is all returning players.
Jeff did mention Dan’s complaints before rolling the video, but I had to Google “survivor dan” to find out how far out on a limb Dan had gone. In a People interview he proudly describes how he confronted Probst and “ripped him a new one.”
Probst mentioned in an Entertainment Weekly interview that he wouldn’t have shown the video if Dan had retracted his criticisms during the reunion show.
Nobody really talked about why Will went off on her, just that he did it and wouldn’t stop. By my way of thinking, part of a decent apology is an explanation for why you did whatever you did that was wrong. We didn’t hear anything from the other two people who were discussing the food with her; it’s not like she was just sitting in camp pontificating about Will not sharing all the food.
I would have liked to see at least a roll-call at the reunion, asking each person to say a few words about how things have been since they got home, but no. We only heard from about half a dozen Survivors at the reunion show; it’s like Jen’s only reason to be there was to sit there and look pretty (which she’s good at, I have to admit…). I don’t even remember most of their names, so, no big loss, but it would have been nice to see Jeff at least acknowledge their existence.
Wow. Camping in Cambodia in June. That’s gonna be… special.
Max tweeted that he won $7000 for his 14 days on Survivor and he got $10,000 for the reunion show.
I like the idea of voting on returnees, but I would have preferred they just announce who are the winners instead of taking up 10 minutes revealing it slowly.
Yeah, that struck me as a bit mean, particularly considering how dark the rest of the reunion show was.
I think Jeff regretted the producer’s decision on this. He tweeted and commented elsewhere that the looks on the non-chosen folks’ faces was too painful and it was one of the hardest things he’s had to do. Jeff and the show in general are not mean-spirited and I think they won’t do this again.
It felt like a cheezy reality show reveal, something this show avoids.
I haven’t made a fire with a flint since my scouting days (35+ years ago), but am 100% sure I could make one within 5 minutes given the coconut husk, my previous experience, and problem-solving skills.
As stated upthread, you hold the blade close to the flint and scrape… when a spark flies off, you need to be close/fast enough to capitalize and help it ignite the husk. These two seemed clueless throughout the entire process and Rodney simply got lucky that a spark of his self-ignited the husk before Mama C’s… they should both have been booted after 30 minutes!