They could also, right after dropping buffs but before splitting into new teams, do a TC right then and there. They did this one, at the very beginning.
This show has been running for 32 years? Say it ain’t so!
- Two seasons per year.
No, they do two “seasons” a year.
That is an automatic, to me. Any pro athlete or super rich guy/girl does not need the win. I’d take them to the end and hope for the best.
I’m guessing a schoolyard pick, with the last person not picked staying out of the challenge and then joins the losing team, leaving it 6-6 after tribal council.
The [former] professional athletes who have turned up on Survivor haven’t all been raging assholes. Gary Hogeboom (from Season 11) was generally well-liked.
The problem is that they tend to view Survivor as an athletic competition; they neglect the social aspect of the game and push for the elimination of anyone who has difficulty with strenuous physical challenges. That myopic approach may work during the early team-based phase of the game, but it doesn’t hold up post-merge.
Pro jocks don’t have a monopoly on neglecting the social game.
As Peter the ER doctor proves.
Poor Caleb every time I saw him I thought of a really buff Harry Potter.
Listening to RobHasAWebsite podcast with Caleb.
He was in ICU for 5.5 days and not fully recovered until 6 months after the incident!
What blew me away was how he specifically said he’s good with the social game BECAUSE he was an ER doctor. So I’m not even sure he knows what the social game is, let alone be good at it. Hint: when everyone does what you tell them to do in the ER, doc, it’s not because you charmed, tricked them or gained their trust.
I couldn’t tell how deep the bags actually were. We saw people digging deep down, but it looked like everyone ended up finding theirs less than a foot down.
The problem is that if you have no idea how deep the bags are, you don’t know how deep to dig before giving up. And it looked like most people just picked a spot and started digging there, with no thought to the fact they were piling sand on a spot that they might wind up having to dig in later.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the next time they run this challenge, they give the teams a maximum depth that the bags will be found at.
This is just out of Left Field since I just now thought about it: Does anybody else find it amusing that one key ingredient to SURVIVAL (as depicted on this show) is being able to find Easter Eggs? 
Where else is this ability tested in your daily efforts to “Stay Alive”?
The only thing that pops into my mind is being able to backtrack to find something one lost/misplaced. But how often does one’s life depend on that?
Well, that was amazingly… boring. Hopefully better next week.
Agreed. Not the most exciting tribe-switch episode ever. Couple of comments though.
Jason and Scot, the two big bullies of the Brawn tribe, each played things pretty smart and low-key. They seemed like totally different players. They must either bring out the worst in each other, or they just hated Alecia THAT much.
I get Tai wanting to save his idol after he became convinced he wasn’t going home. But he still finds himself on the bottom with the ability to save himself from one vote. If he had played the idol on Anna’s behalf, it would have flipped the entire power dynamic of the tribe, and he could easily cruise to the merge. I’m not saying he was wrong to sit on it, but if he had played it, I wouldn’t be saying he was wrong either. It’ll be interesting to see how his standing in the tribe shakes out.
Scott is a pretty smart player. He might go far in the game, although usually when I say that, the player is out next episode.
Female coach is an odd mix of good player/batshit crazy.
This assumes past alliances still rule the day. If you make that type of assumption and make plans based on an easy cruise to the merge, you usually get blindsided. Exhibit A: Dr. Peter Nobama, everyone’s favorite target.
I think Tai and Scot are actually quite savvy about letting Anna go. The blonde replaces her, so you have the same tribe numbers as before. So they have lost nothing. Moreover, the 3 Girl alliance from the former Beauty tribe is weakened, which is great for Tai and Scot. And they’ve built some trust with each other.
Contrast this with playing the idol. First, they have to guess the target correctly, since the Brains might be feeding Scot false info or change the target at the last minute without telling him. Second, they’d be down an idol. Third, the two beauty girls might blindside them in the future.
Edit to add: Scot also knows Anna was throwing Tai under the bus about searching for an idol. He probably shared that tidbit to Tai, but the show editors decided to omit the footage to maintain the “drama” with the voting.
Yep, it was a pretty solid move all around by Tai and Scott.
But now we’ve lost the two hottest chicks one after the other. Sad panda.