The first one was getting long, so I thought a new one would be in order.
Allright, hands up. Who saw Carl getting the boot?
If I had to bet on who Sambuca would toss, I would’ve said a tie between Lindsey and Frank. Lindsey showed weakness and must be culled, and everybody in the brat pack seems to really hate Frank. So why Carl?
Was it 'cause they were both viewed as equally obnoxious, but Frank was seen as more valuable in the challenges? Did CBS skew the editing to take heat away from the dentist?
I love the tie-breaker though. There were two questions that Lindsey and Carl both got wrong, Carl could’ve so easily won by random luck.
And what the hell was Sambuca thinking with that lame distress signal? If the competition was to see who could camoflage their signal the best, well then they might have won. Even without the acrylic paint, I think Boran would’ve kicked butt just by having their signal in a clearing.
And the whole Sisyphus challenge, did Sambuca really think letting the rock roll away on its own was going to come to any good?
My new most-annoying survivor. Edging out “But if I help I might get tired” Brandon is “All things relate to the spirits” Linda. The thing was cute once, but blaming your loss in the immunity challenge on Mother Earth not liking a divided tribe instead of blaming Frank for coming up with the hare-brained ideas is just wrong.
Wonder what those “boulders” were made from? Obviously they weren’t real rocks.
I had picked Lindsey to get voted off last night, just because she’d looked sick in the previews and there have been rumors she’ll be leaving early due to illness or injury. I figured it probably was a red herring but I didn’t have any other likely candidates.
The Samburus’ distress signal did indeed suck, but I can just imagine the thought process: “We’ve already got the O! It’ll be easy!”
And when the challenge was over, I think Jeff should have dropped a second crate for Samburu. One with a note inside that read: “Welcome to Loserville. Population: 8.”
The boulders were probably made the same way they make caves and whatnot on Star Trek. Put chicken wire over a shape (like a big baloon) and then spray it with this latexish/foam stuff. Granted they weren’t light, but they did roll right over a couple of them without apparent harm.
BTW, I love the idea about the 2nd crate.
Can’t wait for next week: Boran vs. Musk-Ox or whatever that was. Must be an action packed episode if they picked that highlight.
Silas - Reserve a spot for Silas in the Final Four. He gambled in sticking with the whiny Gen-X’ers and I think it will pay off for him because they now have the numbers to get rid of his tougher competition (Frank, Linda (based on Tina-ish sneaky smarts). And, when they merge, Silas will be one of the stronger, faster, probably smarter ones left (like Colby). Plus, my wife thinks he’s a hottie (her term, not mine).
Linda - the Mother Africa, Will of the Spirits bullshit will start wearing thin, so I won’t be sorry to not have to listen to her again.
Brandon - could he BE any gayer? Do you think during casting the producers said “we need to be sure we clearly have a gay guy this time, 'cause people weren’t sure about Jeff last time.”
Kelly - the Duke blondie on the other team, have you noticed that she never really pushes the object (the boulder, the cart) but sort of keeps a hand on it and barks orders at people. That’s gotta hurt her if she’s trying to skate through without pulling her weight.
I don’t get the point of whether Brandon could be “more gay”. What a weird thing to say. At any rate, my respect for Silas went from way up here to way down there. “Truth and honor” my ass. And I like Linda. I can’t see where her Mother Africa stuff is any worse than the other caricatures the other people have developed. Finally, I’m left completely empty by the ending. What began as one of the most interesting TCs ever, ended as dice-roll. What a disappointment. Thumbs down on this whole episode.
Linda - is this chick so dumb that she things the immunity knick knack is imbued with spirits such that it doesn’t want to remain in a divide camp?
The previews show her salaaming in front of the youngsters next week - hope that earns her a boot to the teeth. Love the consistency between her “don’t disturb the vibe” BS and her bitchy “Guess she wasn’t so strong” comment.
Will be interesting to see if and how the old folks try to suck up to they young-uns to save their asses.
Carl getting booted - I can see how he would have been viewed as a threat. Somewhat competent, but not as offensive as Frank. The fucker has a mercedes AND a Porshe?! I hate him! He didn’t exactly pull any punches in his commentary on “Gen X.”
In the other camp, that old chick is wearing thong panties? WTF. And the goat farmer is getting a kick out of showing off his buttcrack, commenting on their “black man in his tighty whiteys.”
That water has to give them a big advantage.
Who was the chick doing the pushups. Like life isn’t hard enough out there?
I agree the tie-breaker sucked. But what alternatives do you suggest? Their pitiful performance makes you wonder whether either of them even looked at the damn book.
Libertarian, he just means that Brandon is very “nelly.” Ask Esprix if you don’t know what that means.
I think this is the first time we’ve seen such a sharply-delineated division within one tribe. It’s almost like two tribes within one tribe.
The necklace beads thing was an extremely unwise gamble to take, but now that the “oldster” block has been broken it probably doesn’t matter. The four younger Samburus will now all make it to the merge.
But it was purely arbitrary. If Carl had answered right just one or two questions earlier, it would be the youngsters who are the walking dead. I think that’s a good lesson for all would-be Survivors: strategy, diplomacy and intelligence can only take you so far; flukes of chance can still make you lose.
I’m pretty sure the animal Boran faces next week is a cape buffalo, which is one of the most dangerous animals in the world. I’ve heard they’re so powerful that they can charge Jeeps and destroy them.
I though the ending was pretty classy. In previous Survivor’s, deadlocked ties were decided by previous TC votes, but as this was their first time in the pit, this obviously didn’t apply. Rather that make it a true crap shoot (name out of a hat/dice roll), they left it to how well the doomed had read the freakin survival manual. If you knew your stuff, you lived. Granted, I think it ended being a guessing match, but there was a chance for victory through knowledge.
I have a theory about why Carl got the boot. The more I think about it, Frank comes off as a one trick pony (sorry Esprix, at least I didn’t say he rocked). He’s an arrogant ass (Frank, not Esprix. I saw what happened to warmgun and don’t what to piss off the master ) who likes to take charge, but I get the impression that with him there are two ways to do things, his way and the wrong way. And his way is based upon his first instinct. In other words, not a lot of depth to the pool there. Carl I think is more of the brains type. Whereas Frank is more likely to up and deck someone, Carl would be the one plotting strategy and subterfuge (he was the one who really worked on Silas), and thus potentially more dangerous.
Interesting to note that in hindsight, they did show Carl being set-up with the whole Mercedes/Porsche thing, but I was sure that was just another communist mackerel.
Thank the Spirits! I thought I was the only one. Seems to me, every time she opens her mouth it’s to blather on about them. “I think the immunity totem is angry with us for our divisiveness, that’s why we lost…I really do!” Ummmm, no. You lost 'cause your signal sucked. End of story.
H8_2_W8, I am with you. After last night’s episode, I had the exact same comments on “Mother Africa” (Linda) and especially Brandon. In fact, I think I used slightly different words: “He acts gayer and gayer each week.” This is not a slur of any sort, but his words and actions are simply increasing in their effiminate nature. I don’t think this will hurt his chances in the long run; no one seems to mind in his tribe.
I’m not bashing gayness. All I was really opining was that the producers wanted a diverse cast so they may have picked Brandon because he fits the sterotypical TV-comedy gay mold, so everyone would know how inclusive they are.
Sheesh, it was just a random thought before the caffeine had kicked in anyway.
Any thoughts on when they will merge? Wondering how Boran-Gen X will do with the Sambucas. Will any Boradults be left?
I seem to recall that cape buffalo (yeah, that’s this lawyer’s zoological opinion as well) was one of Africa’s traditional “Big 4” for big game hunters, in addition to lion, elephant, and leopard. And in many ways, the buff was considered the most dangerous.
Merger-wise, it all depends on how they do it. If they stick to merging when they are down to 10, and both tribes come in with five, then I think Boran has an edge as they seem tighter and Samburu could be 4 slackers and a pissed-off geezer looking for revenge. BTW Dinsdale, isn’t it Samburu who’s having the generation gap?
I keep hearing ugly rumors that Burnett and company will wait until they get to nine, then shuffle and split into three new tribes to avoid the mass pickoff like in Dingo Survivor.
However, Jeffy says that 100 gallons of water will leave 1 gallon per day per person until the merge. At that point, Samburu had 8, Boran had 6. So worst case, 8 gallons per day into a hundred gallons gives 12.5 days. Three days between votes means four more evictions before the merge which would bring them down to ten. So the three tribe theory may be wrong.
Am I the only one who for some reason remembers that the TC ending has precedent here? I recall, but vaguely, that SII had a TC end the same way, except that they asked trivia questions of the two tied contestants about their fellow tribemates. Like “who has a younger sister”. And “What is Jerri’s dream job”. Stuff like that.
Anyone else remember that? That’s why I wasn’t surprised at the tiebreaker…
Also - I didn’t see SI, but man talk about a tribe imploding in NO time…Samburu is a mess. Just two weeks ago I posted oh-so-knowledgeably about how Boran was history and how strong Samburu was. Silly me.
My husband, who hasn’t watched any Survivor Africa shows, walked in when Brandon was whining about something and said, “What an flamer.” So Brandon’s “nelliness” was obvious to more than one person.
Linda and Richard Gere would make a good match. They could talk nonsense all night under the guise of having an intelligent conversation. Maybe their karma could mingle.
Trust me. The majority of people watching Survivor are thinking the same thing(s) that you and I are about Brandon: he acts in an incredibly effeminate manner and thus is a walking stereotype. This does not make you (or me) a gay-basher any more than noticing the rather obvious accent of the goat farmer (whose name escapes me at the moment) makes you anti-Goat Farmer.
As I told my friend, even though I tend to root for Boran (so far), I found myself rooting for the older folks in Samburu last night. Carl was mostly right about the Gen X-ers, wasn’t he? And why should his salary have anything to do with his standing in the game? He gets voted off for driving a Porsche? Geez…
Yes, that’s how they handled the earlier ties. IIRC, the “the guy with the most votes loses” tiebreakers came after The Merge.
Oh, and as long as I’m here… That New Age spiritual crap would drive me nutso if I had to be in the bush with Linda. Even just seeing her on teevee I want to slap her and say, “The '80s are over. Get over it.”
Carl and his willingness to stereotype a whole (nebulously defined) generation based on four people’s behavior drove me almost as nuts as Linda’s constant reference to the spirits of Africa.
If the older tribemembers were smart, and actually interested in changing their teammates’ behavior (not necessarily a great strategic move, IMHO), they should’ve just stopped doing all the work. Then they’d at least know if that effort was really appreciated or necessary, or if they’re doing it as much for themselves as for the rest of the tribe.
I don’t see the strategic value in so thoroughly splitting the tribe at this point of the game – Frank, Linda or the other member of the older alliance really need to demonstrate that they can get along with the younger crowd. (The same would’ve been true in reverse had Lindsay been ejected – I’m not blaming one group.)
Samburu’s interesting, because they’re so divided that whoever of the minority alliance is left should have no trouble making a new alliance with Boran outsiders – Clarence and Kim, perhaps? We’ll see what the merge is like.
) who likes to take charge, but I get the impression that with him there are two ways to do things, his way and the wrong way. And his way is based upon his first instinct. In other words, not a lot of depth to the pool there. Carl I think is more of the brains type. Whereas Frank is more likely to up and deck someone, Carl would be the one plotting strategy and subterfuge (he was the one who really worked on Silas), and thus potentially more dangerous.
I thought I was the only one. Seems to me, every time she opens her mouth it’s to blather on about them. “I think the immunity totem is angry with us for our divisiveness, that’s why we lost…I really do!” Ummmm, no. You lost 'cause your signal sucked. End of story.