I didn’t see a thread yet.
So far I’m not hopeful. It seems like they go out of their way to pick people that are socially awkward for a game that’s basically a popularity contest.
I know they can’t all be Parvitis or Ozzys but it’s all queen for a day and Island of the misfit dolls now.
I guess drama sells. I just miss the players who have real Survivor skills.
Still, it’s early… there could be someone in there who surprises me. I’ll keep my fingers crossed and I’ll keep watching.
It’s way too early for me to retain any person or tribes names, but…
the tribe that went to TC had three male players. Two of them were skinny little runts. I mean, they actually talked about it, I think one of them said he weighed 118 at weigh in, and that was his personal highest weight ever.
The third guy is a large, strong looking guy.
So they’re doing the pre-TC scramble and one of the women suggests they target the big guy??? Did she really imagine all the others wanted to suicide out of the game as fast as possible?
I watched the first hour, the most interesting thing was watching the guy get his dislocated shoulder popped back in. I’ll try to watch the 2nd half before next week, but I suspect Survivor may have run its course with me.
From what I understand, they are picking players who are (super) fans of the game rather than pretty people (aka Model/Actors). I have seen every season, I don’t remember a lot of players who had much “survival skill”.
I did like the episode, but it did drag on. I didn’t like so much time devoted to back stories like the trans-man who first applied for the show as a female, was estranged from his family, reconnected to his family when his mother needed full time care because of cancer. I guess the show really had to dance around Hipaa privacy issues when they had to remove him from the show.
The Immunity Challenge was really tough. It was probably designed for six players, rather than 5 so that made it even tougher. Seems like they could have lightened the weight of the boxes/boat because of the loss of a player.
I think they should give them some better rations. I understand the “Survival” aspect, but if you really are stranded and in a survival situation, you are not burning hundreds of calories rowing a boat, picking up heavy treasure chests, pushing a boat up into the sand, under a net and solving puzzles. Give them enough rice/beans to replenish those calories.
I didn’t say “survival” skills, I said “Survivor” skills. BIG difference.
I want super fans, and am not a fan of mactors. But you won’t be able to convince me out of the thousands of super-fan applicants there weren’t any that were better suited for this game than the drama-laden selection we ended up with.
Obviously viewers want queen for a day TV in general but I just don’t think it’s a good fit for this venue. Save it for American Ninja Warrior.
Well you mentioned Ozzy, so I assumed Survival Skills. His Survivor skills were suspect. 
Downright naïve. But he wasn’t a complainer and was entertaining to watch.
Best quote from Dalton Ross’s recap:
“To cover your lie, spread mud and fake blood over your body to prove how hard you worked to get your paddles.” I’m sorry, but in what world is smearing blood all over your body a good way to cover your lie? Hai put so much blood on his body it was as if he had walked out of a damn Evil Dead movie. Seriously, it looked like he had slaughtered a young family behind that bend in the beach and then eaten their bloody remains en route back.
I’m assuming the players have to waive at least some of their HIPAA rights, like pro athletes - they have to allow the medical staff to discuss their condition with the producers. And it wouldn’t surprise me if there’s a clause that says they can broadcast anything they learn too.
My wife and I were rather disturbed by the way the person dependent on lithium was handled. My wife works in public mental health (but is not a doctor or other healthcare professional), so she knows a bit about lithium’s effects and challenges. She agrees that the Survivor environment would present serious problems for a lithium user. The person should have disclosed it much sooner than the day before departure.
However, it was sort of presented like a person with mental health issues can’t do stuff like Survivor. It isn’t his mental health that is the issue; it’s the lithium side-effects. I wish they had spent as much time on the mental health and lithium issues as they had on the transgender issues.
I’ll just add that as a layperson, I understood that it was the lithium that took him out - and not the underlying mental issues.
I think they handled it as well as could be expected. It was, after all, the contestant’s fault for lying (by omission) about it.
I liked Ozzy on Survivor, but he wasn’t a top tier Survivor player IMO. Top Tier Survivalist, not Survivor player.
I do think it is premature to say that these players are not good Survivor players. We seen 2 hours of the show with most of the focus on one tribe (the Blue Tribe). I doubt if anyone thought Parvati was a good survivor player based on her first episode. Who would have thought Cerie was a good player on her first episode when she was afraid of leaves.
I listened to a couple preview podcasts and the analysts seem to think that all these contestants are super fans of the show.
Yeah, I thought that was pretty clear. They were talking about doing blood tests and the effects of dehydration and stress. They even had the short little clip before of the lady telling him he needed to drink more water because he had been dizzy for hours.
And tbh, the mental state of the contestants over the past few seasons seem to be pretty good! It’s too bad they took him off the show, but I agree they were much more worried about Lithium withdrawal over the possible mental health aspects.
In the past on these shows (Big Brother, more than Survivor) it seemed they casted people with suspect personalities/mental stability to have the most drama on screen.
I know a lot of people have been complaining about “too much diversity” over the last 2 seasons, but I’m really enjoying it! I’m glad there are way less “models” and “pharmaceutical reps” people and more “normal” people.
Also great to finally see some Canadian contestants!
MtM
I thought it was made very clear that Jackson was being removed due the potential effects of the lithium and not because of any mental health issues. Did anybody here think otherwise?
Even though he definitely should have disclosed his situation sooner than the day before, I thought it was a bad move to go ahead and put him in the game knowing full well they were probably going to have to pull him right out.
You’d think the medical team would have a hard list of “no-go” medications, and shouldn’t have had to think about it for three days. Don’t they have backup players ready to go at a moment’s notice?
If I were more cynical, I’d suggest they knew all along they were going to take him out, but let it play out as it did for maximum dramatic effect.
Apparently he waited until the day after the alternates were sent home to disclose it. So… yeah.
Good god, Mike the fireman really doesn’t have the mental game down. He found the Beware advantage, immediately tells 2 people about it, loses it, then lets himself be convinced to not say the phrase at the challenge. All to a “goofy monkey” soundtrack.
And to Hai - if you think “the Universe” needs to understand why you breaking your own ethical code, you should realize you’re not actually in a real survival situation - you’re just trying to win some money. So “the Universe” may not be quite as understanding as you might hope.
Eh, the universe seems content with the marine biosphere as is. You know, the one where everything eats the hell out of everything else. Plus, crabs are fuckin’ tasty.
There is no way you can be a superfan and blab the living fuck out of the fact you have an advantage or idol. You are not a superfan - you are a goddamned idiot.
They just can’t help themselves, can they?
I feel like it’s going to be a recurring theme this season. In episode 1 Tori mentions that she knows not be the first to hunt for an idol, and then goes to hunt for an idol.
That could be some (not so) creative editing.