I’ve never been surprised at the overwrought reactions during the family visit episodes. The contestants have been under constant physical and psychological stress for weeks, with no communication with the “outside world” at all. Of course they’re going to fall apart at the sight of a familiar face.
However, I wish the producers wouldn’t do it at all, and I fast-forward past it. I think showing these private moments amounts to emotional pornography. And they definitely should never include children again.
Jeremy had to wait for the other 9 constestants to have their reunion. Edited for TV, that took 20 minutes. How long did he actually wait for Val and his kids. An Hour? Longer?
Based on the survivor reactions, that had to be torture as he waited one by one for Tyson, Kim, Tony, etc get reunited with their partners and children.
So… Yeah. Little kids just don’t belong on this show. That whole sequence was awkward, overwrought, and waaay too long.
I do get how big a deal these visits are to the contestants, but like notfrommensa, I don’t need to see it. This wasted half an episode, and we didn’t even get a challenge out of it.
Apparently they had to throw quite a few bones like this to the players in order to get this many winners to agree to participate. Maybe it’ll be worth it in the end - I’ve mostly enjoyed this season so far - but hopefully it’s a one-off deal. You can’t give the contestants this much leverage to dictate how the game is played (or not played, in the case of this episode).
Huh. I feel just the opposite: this is the 39th season I’ve watched, most of which had family visits. I found all the others eyeroll-inducing, but this one was gold IMO.
Tony fucking cleaned up. Found an HII, managed to convince three people (including one not in his alliance) to give him fire tokens, won immunity, and then engineered a plurality vote to send home someone with an idol in their pocket. He really is playing like the Tony of his first season, constantly on the verge of getting too crazy but instead pulling it off. I’m gonna be disappointed if anyone other than him or Kim win at this point.
One thing I was thinking during the immunity challenge though was since winning included two fire tokens, I was hoping Tony would win so we could see the fallout from being able to only pay two people back. Does the odd man out feel slighted and turn on him? But they didn’t show it and I have no idea if he even paid anyone back.
Was sad to hear Sophie say that she felt like she was a bottom-tier winner. I’ve never seen anyone online say as such. Of the people on this season, it’s usually people like Ben, Wendell, Michelle, maybe Adam or Nick who are bandied about as undeserving or lower-tier winners.
Tony was goddamn gold last night. So, so happy as he read the “Extortion Advantage”, giggling at how he’s going to totally screw over one of the other players, then he reached the last line of the note. I swear, we need a reality show based on nothing but Tony Vlacho.
And I was totally waiting for the “I know I won two fire tokens, but I had to borrow three, so I’m paying the other two people back and I’ll pay you back as soon as I get another one” speech, repeated three times. I’m certain the concept of not paying anyone back ran through his mind.
It definitely looked like the sun was coming up around the time he found it. I would really like to know what it looks like for them when they’re roaming around at night.
I said this a few weeks ago when Tony caught the shark.
It was amazing how he went from Giddy to Horrified as he read the parchment of the extortion advantage, and then re-enacted his range of emotions in the Talking Head confessional.
Last night was one of the best survivor episodes of all time.
Can’t wait to see the fall out of the vote next week.
Great blindside, and nicely edited too; we had an inkling it might be coming, but didn’t know whether they would pull it off. Based on Jeremy’s reactions when Probst was reading the votes, I thought he hadn’t gone along with the Sophie plan and was about to be voted out. I truly had no idea what the last vote was going to be until it was revealed.
With 8 left, it looks like a 4/4 split right now. Of course, things are never that simple. Should be a fun finish.
That was a really solid plan by Tony. And he only revealed the plan to people he needed to, and too late for them to turn on him or rat him out. And he knew he was safe either way (idol + necklace) for at least two votes.
He went from an outsider in a 5-person group with Sarah and Sophie calling the shots (and other strategic players like Kim and Denise in the mix too) to the potential ringleader of a Nick, Jeremy, Michelle 4-some. Much weaker strategic players, IMO, and ones that may feel they owe him a lot more allegiance.
It sucks, because I really like Sophie and thought she was playing pretty well. Clearly she didn’t have a read on the danger she was in, but how could she when the only person that could have tipped her off were Tony (who actually seems to be pretty good at the lying thing), Nick (who wisely realized he would end up on the outside of the Sophie/Sarah/Kim/Denise group), and the two outsiders (Jeremy and Michelle). What’s great about it was that the folks it marginalized (Sarah, Kim, Ben) are the ones he probably wants out next anyways.
It is a bit risky to put yourself in a 4/4 split with some strongly burned bridges, but the idol negates a lot of that danger (potentially - is there still a nullifier out there?) Also Kim and Denise were pretty clearly on team Jeremy not too long ago, so I could see them jumping back on board to vote out Sarah and Ben at least.
Watching Tony flip out over receiving the extortion advantage was a great moment and so well setup by the editors of the show. His reaction when he realized it was *against *him is great stuff.
Much better editing this week! We were not sure what exactly was going to happen at tribal, yet the basic parameters of what might happen were clear. As a Michele stan, I was thrilled that her side win out, despite being down 5-4, thanks to the other side getting overconfident and splitting their votes. Although Sophie is also one of my favorite winners, so it’s too bad it was at her expense.
The “extortion advantage” was a fiendish new twist. I loved it and it was really neat to see how it juiced the Survivor economy, with Tony taking out loans from allies. He said he repaid them after he won the individual immunity and received two tokens, but didn’t he borrow from three different people?
Sarah: “People think I’m just smart, and funny, and pretty, but…”
I have been pretty negative about Kim, having often called her the most overrated winner ever. But fair is fair and she deserves total credit for sussing out that Tony was not being straight with her (although ironically, he did go back to supporting Jeremy after she bailed on Jeremy).
I found the immunity challenge a bit confusing. What was holding the statues up when they were transitioning to the next level?
How did Tony never win immunity on his previous two seasons or earlier this season, when now he is becoming the challenge beast you would expect from someone with his physique?
So basically a rule that was unstated (at least on camera) was that they had to nudge it and knock that bit of wood down? I think Jeff should have explained that explicitly.
You would have to be there in person. To make a scene on TV look like normal indoor lighting on our screens, they have to use a massive amount of light from the perspective of the people being filmed. Although thinking about it a little more, I suppose they could do vision tests under the moonlight and then adjust the image in post to make it match that level of clarity on our screen.
The first IC after the merge. The “Hug a Pole like Sloth 10-12 feet off the ground” Challenge.
How do the survivors get up to their perch? All at the same time? Ladders? (Hope it is not Tony’s Ladder) As someone who has slight acrophobia, climbing a ladder would frighten me. (but oddly not so much once I was hugging the pole). Maybe a scissor lift.
Sadly, this season has been disappointing. They’ve introduced way too many variables and are giving far too much power to players in alliances by allowing them to gift items to their buddies.
Idols are getting too easy to find and too predictable.
Too many players have been milking their 15 minutes of fame for too long. Boston Rob, Sandra, Parvati, I mean, come on. Maybe old Survivors should be cast in a Bachelor in Paradise show so that we don’t have to see them return for the 300th time.
The joy and wonder new players have at meeting Jeff is missing when you have reunion shows and that hurts the show.
The only halfway amusing character was voted off. Twice.
Ethan’s return should have been joyful but I find myself worrying that they’re harming his health.
Sandra’s tweet and Crane’s cat’s post were more entertaining than this season. And we are in the middle of a pandemic. What does that say?
The only good thing is that the challenges are mixing physicality, balance, puzzle solving, etc.
You shouldn’t be able to ask someone who they voted for before deciding to play an idol or not. This season is beginning to feel like a celebrity version of a game show, where they bend the rules and make it easier to win - except there’s no point to doing so since only one player can win in the end, which makes the practice somewhat annoying.
However, I’m still finding it entertaining. Funny that after all the chaos at TC, Tony still somehow had everything under control. And I think voting Kim out was a good play; Jeremy is not as big a threat as some think he is, IMO.
I’m calling Tony the odds-on favorite to win at this point. Not sure who’s up to the task of getting enough votes together to boot him. Maybe Sarah, if she’s finally had enough of his antics.
And it’s unlikely that whoever comes back from EoE will win, but depending on who it is, they could stir things up enough to affect the outcome.