Saturday, November 29, 2008
Survivor: Gabon - Episode 1711... NOT!
As someone who DVRs these episodes, I was really looking forward to Saturday morning, when I was going to watch Episodes 1710 and 1711 back-to-back.
And then... the preview for Episode 1711 has (perhaps) the shocker of the season: Bob claims Marcus didn't throw the immunity idol into the ocean, and he knows where it is! If true, this is huge. First, Bob suddenly becomes fairly powerful in the game. Second, it might be why Bob let Randy play his fake idol last week. I was pretty confused about why he didn't try to leverage the fake idol, but if has had a real idol in his back pocket the whole time, well, now I kind of understand.
Also, if true, how awesome is Marcus? He really truly was in control of the game until the 2nd tribal shakeup led to Suzie switching sides. Just goes to show...
Anyway, I was stoked (as they say) for Episode 1711. But then, as you already know, Thursday's episode was the hated "Clip Show to try to rope in people who haven't been paying attention all season." I have a horrible memory, so I can't remember if this happens every Thanksgiving, but needless to say, after the excitement of the preview, this letdown only further soured me on the Clip Show, which is never very good to begin with. (Although I did enjoy the leeches! I also enjoyed hearing someone comment on Marcus' cute butt... and that person wasn't Charlie)
Don't let me down next week, Probst.
And then... the preview for Episode 1711 has (perhaps) the shocker of the season: Bob claims Marcus didn't throw the immunity idol into the ocean, and he knows where it is! If true, this is huge. First, Bob suddenly becomes fairly powerful in the game. Second, it might be why Bob let Randy play his fake idol last week. I was pretty confused about why he didn't try to leverage the fake idol, but if has had a real idol in his back pocket the whole time, well, now I kind of understand.
Also, if true, how awesome is Marcus? He really truly was in control of the game until the 2nd tribal shakeup led to Suzie switching sides. Just goes to show...
Anyway, I was stoked (as they say) for Episode 1711. But then, as you already know, Thursday's episode was the hated "Clip Show to try to rope in people who haven't been paying attention all season." I have a horrible memory, so I can't remember if this happens every Thanksgiving, but needless to say, after the excitement of the preview, this letdown only further soured me on the Clip Show, which is never very good to begin with. (Although I did enjoy the leeches! I also enjoyed hearing someone comment on Marcus' cute butt... and that person wasn't Charlie)
Don't let me down next week, Probst.
Labels: Clip Show, Immunity Idol, Survivor
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Survivor: Gabon - 1710
Highlight of this one had to be "Cookiegate". You know how I hate things with -gate tacked on the end but that is the title that naturally came out of it. There was such a big deal made of the issue with the cookies that we need to think why. Of course people get testy when they are out on Survivor with no food for so long. The real reason it had to be made into such a big deal is that it was all part of Randy's master plan to get everyone to vote for him. He was able to latch onto the cookies as a lightning rod to go after everyone and alienate them.
The thing is that Randy is actually probably right about the cookies. I thought that Jeff's instructions that for $20 he bought them for the tribe was very ambiguous. Why couldn't Randy have stomped them all in the dirt? And if he wasn't in charge of the cookies why was he the one deciding who got cookies anyway? It all centered on Sugar, what did she expect when he offers her a cookie twice and she turns it down only to accept Randy's personal cookie and just hand it over to Matty. He was trying to do something really nice (I guess) and she just sort of spit on him for that. And why didn't Randy just get that one back from Matty?
What all of this comes in the way of is Randy's plan from the beginning. To make sure I get this right, my interpretation is that he assumed that Bob had the idol even though Sugar had been at Exile six times and then Bob would give him the idol so they could get rid of someone else. So, if all of this plan came together then they would get rid of Susie who managed to overtake Crystal as Randy's least favorite person giving the ex-Kota members an overwhelming 3-4 disadvantage. Great plan. Can't see how that could go wrong.
Reward Challenge
I really like the Survivor auction. That is always one of my favorite parts of the series. It was not as great this season when there were no real stinkers among the items to be bid on. Kenny's bid to take Bob's money and then send him to Exile was a great play but he didn't really capitalize on that since he didn't proceed to use his leverage and superior buying power to take control of the auction. I don't know why he wouldn't bid more on several of the other options.
Randy won a whole mess of food and all of the booze that was offered. After surviving on so little with 3 beers and a glass of wine, he'll be feeling it really quickly. Do you think that it would be wrong to ask Jeff what kind of beer it was before bidding? Wouldn't you be mad if you'd bit $200 and ended up with 3 Michelob Ultras? If it were 3 Orvals then we could do some business. Or if they had Stone vertical epic beers then $200 would be a deal in real life!
Corinne spending all $500 on the clue was a great plan. That could really help her out and the pot odds on that play are amazing. It's more important for her than for Kenny because she could actually go home. For the dominant tribe they could just pick off one of the other Kota members instead.
Immunity Challenge
I thought that this immunity challenge would be the perfect timing for one of the pecking order type challenges. You'd have Kenny and Crystal take out Sugar or Matty early and then maybe they'd figure it out and flip to the other side. Or maybe they wouldn't, but at 8 people you could really throw a wrench into the works while there still was a chance. Since Matty is certainly 5th place on that totem as he's the only one who's still a physical threat.
Going into this immunity challenge it looked like a pretty lame one and I was not wrong about that. The challenge itself was interesting and seemed tough but just didn't make for good TV. It ended up as exciting as they could hope but still wasn't really riveting for the viewership. Corinne's auction strategy paid off since she was advanced to the finals but couldn't make it stick. I thought that Kenny's strategy of starting at the end was the best way, since that was where you'd have to walk through more of the wires and if you'd toppled your blocks earlier you'd have fewer to replace. In the end it didn't matter, spacing became important and Kenny won a relative yawner.
Strategy Analysis
I already got into Randy's poor strategy above so let's focus on Bob here a little bit. For a guy who seems like he knows a little bit about the game he made so many questionable decisions this week it was amazing.
First, why does he go up to Sugar and show her that he made a fake immunity idol? If you're only going to share that with one person, what makes you choose someone who's not in your alliance. Maybe he was thinking that she would let him know that she had actually found the idol, but that's not so likely.
Even worse than that was Bob's decision to give Randy the fake immunity idol and let him crash and burn at Tribal. Don't get me wrong, I thought that made for great TV but from Bob's perspective what do you gain? He has completely burned bridges with Corinne and Randy, two potential jury members who we know both will harbor grudges to the end of time. And does he really change his place as an outsider among the former Fang members? Even though he went with Sugar's plan she's not going to let him into the alliance at this point. The only thing I can think is that Bob was going with the plan that he's definitely safe tonight, but this seems pretty short-sighted and it was clear that they would vote Randy out anyway, with Operation:Strong-arm going on. Puzzling to say the least.
My prediction:
Randy. This was a gimme.
Season total: 2-6 (.250)
Spell Check:
Right: 7
Wrong: 1 (Suzie)
Other: 0
Season total: 40-10-5 (.727)
Quick hit thoughts
The thing is that Randy is actually probably right about the cookies. I thought that Jeff's instructions that for $20 he bought them for the tribe was very ambiguous. Why couldn't Randy have stomped them all in the dirt? And if he wasn't in charge of the cookies why was he the one deciding who got cookies anyway? It all centered on Sugar, what did she expect when he offers her a cookie twice and she turns it down only to accept Randy's personal cookie and just hand it over to Matty. He was trying to do something really nice (I guess) and she just sort of spit on him for that. And why didn't Randy just get that one back from Matty?
What all of this comes in the way of is Randy's plan from the beginning. To make sure I get this right, my interpretation is that he assumed that Bob had the idol even though Sugar had been at Exile six times and then Bob would give him the idol so they could get rid of someone else. So, if all of this plan came together then they would get rid of Susie who managed to overtake Crystal as Randy's least favorite person giving the ex-Kota members an overwhelming 3-4 disadvantage. Great plan. Can't see how that could go wrong.
Reward Challenge
I really like the Survivor auction. That is always one of my favorite parts of the series. It was not as great this season when there were no real stinkers among the items to be bid on. Kenny's bid to take Bob's money and then send him to Exile was a great play but he didn't really capitalize on that since he didn't proceed to use his leverage and superior buying power to take control of the auction. I don't know why he wouldn't bid more on several of the other options.
Randy won a whole mess of food and all of the booze that was offered. After surviving on so little with 3 beers and a glass of wine, he'll be feeling it really quickly. Do you think that it would be wrong to ask Jeff what kind of beer it was before bidding? Wouldn't you be mad if you'd bit $200 and ended up with 3 Michelob Ultras? If it were 3 Orvals then we could do some business. Or if they had Stone vertical epic beers then $200 would be a deal in real life!
Corinne spending all $500 on the clue was a great plan. That could really help her out and the pot odds on that play are amazing. It's more important for her than for Kenny because she could actually go home. For the dominant tribe they could just pick off one of the other Kota members instead.
Immunity Challenge
I thought that this immunity challenge would be the perfect timing for one of the pecking order type challenges. You'd have Kenny and Crystal take out Sugar or Matty early and then maybe they'd figure it out and flip to the other side. Or maybe they wouldn't, but at 8 people you could really throw a wrench into the works while there still was a chance. Since Matty is certainly 5th place on that totem as he's the only one who's still a physical threat.
Going into this immunity challenge it looked like a pretty lame one and I was not wrong about that. The challenge itself was interesting and seemed tough but just didn't make for good TV. It ended up as exciting as they could hope but still wasn't really riveting for the viewership. Corinne's auction strategy paid off since she was advanced to the finals but couldn't make it stick. I thought that Kenny's strategy of starting at the end was the best way, since that was where you'd have to walk through more of the wires and if you'd toppled your blocks earlier you'd have fewer to replace. In the end it didn't matter, spacing became important and Kenny won a relative yawner.
Strategy Analysis
I already got into Randy's poor strategy above so let's focus on Bob here a little bit. For a guy who seems like he knows a little bit about the game he made so many questionable decisions this week it was amazing.
First, why does he go up to Sugar and show her that he made a fake immunity idol? If you're only going to share that with one person, what makes you choose someone who's not in your alliance. Maybe he was thinking that she would let him know that she had actually found the idol, but that's not so likely.
Even worse than that was Bob's decision to give Randy the fake immunity idol and let him crash and burn at Tribal. Don't get me wrong, I thought that made for great TV but from Bob's perspective what do you gain? He has completely burned bridges with Corinne and Randy, two potential jury members who we know both will harbor grudges to the end of time. And does he really change his place as an outsider among the former Fang members? Even though he went with Sugar's plan she's not going to let him into the alliance at this point. The only thing I can think is that Bob was going with the plan that he's definitely safe tonight, but this seems pretty short-sighted and it was clear that they would vote Randy out anyway, with Operation:Strong-arm going on. Puzzling to say the least.
My prediction:
Randy. This was a gimme.
Season total: 2-6 (.250)
Spell Check:
Right: 7
Wrong: 1 (Suzie)
Other: 0
Season total: 40-10-5 (.727)
Quick hit thoughts
- A problem with Exile Island not actually being an island is that when Bob is there he can go wherever he wants. He could walk to Cameroon if he felt like it.
- Nobag is a terrible tribe name.
- Jeff should not have thrown that fake immunity idol into the fire. That one would have brought in some money for charity if it had been auctioned off.
- When they say that Bob is the second greatest physical threat it makes me wonder if this is the least physical merged tribe ever.
Labels: Survivor
Monday, November 17, 2008
Ponderosa
"We like to think of ourselves as a unit." Priceless.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Episode 1709: My thoughts...
- Charlie is hilarious. "My Marcus," his "saving grace," his "really good friend." Also, watching his eyes, I swear that he checked out Marcus during the walk into Tribal. I'm so glad they can finally consummate their friendship at the camp.
- I think I will be upset if Susie or Crystal wins. Despite the fact that Susie destroyed everyone except for Sugar in the fire-building challenge, they are both completely worthless. Of course, I would have said the same about Kenny only 3 episodes ago, but now Kenny has shown that he could be a worthy winner.
- Is this the first inconclusive vote in the history of Survivor?
- There has been very little swimming in this season. If I finally got on Survivor, only to be on a season with no swimming, I would be totally pissed.
- Don't we have any visual evidence of the girl who was "coming on" to Randy?
- Corinne's true personality is finally coming out. Thought it was interesting that someone from the Kenny alliance (Matty?) said her personality was "horrible." Now, she's had her moments on the show that we've seen, but I generally had the impression that most people liked her (although perhaps her bikini is biasing my personal view of Corinne). Nevertheless, I think this is a good example of the discrepancy between her real personality and her Survivor personality, as edited by the producers.
- If Sugar was a better player, she could have taken charge and voted out Randy. All she had to do was tell the Kenny alliance that if they wanted her vote, they needed to vote Randy. So easy. Besides, did she see a strategic advantage to voting out Charlie? In fact, why did she side with the Kenny alliance over the Charlie alliance? She probably did make the right decision, but I doubt she did it for the right reasons.
- Speaking of strategery, why is Charlie letting Randy dictate who they target? I agree with AH that Matty is clearly a better target. "The brains" - I love it.
- Comment from my roommate who obviously does not watch Survivor: "Doesn't somebody get voted off this show every week? It sure seems to last a long time."
- I think I will be upset if Susie or Crystal wins. Despite the fact that Susie destroyed everyone except for Sugar in the fire-building challenge, they are both completely worthless. Of course, I would have said the same about Kenny only 3 episodes ago, but now Kenny has shown that he could be a worthy winner.
- Is this the first inconclusive vote in the history of Survivor?
- There has been very little swimming in this season. If I finally got on Survivor, only to be on a season with no swimming, I would be totally pissed.
- Don't we have any visual evidence of the girl who was "coming on" to Randy?
- Corinne's true personality is finally coming out. Thought it was interesting that someone from the Kenny alliance (Matty?) said her personality was "horrible." Now, she's had her moments on the show that we've seen, but I generally had the impression that most people liked her (although perhaps her bikini is biasing my personal view of Corinne). Nevertheless, I think this is a good example of the discrepancy between her real personality and her Survivor personality, as edited by the producers.
- If Sugar was a better player, she could have taken charge and voted out Randy. All she had to do was tell the Kenny alliance that if they wanted her vote, they needed to vote Randy. So easy. Besides, did she see a strategic advantage to voting out Charlie? In fact, why did she side with the Kenny alliance over the Charlie alliance? She probably did make the right decision, but I doubt she did it for the right reasons.
- Speaking of strategery, why is Charlie letting Randy dictate who they target? I agree with AH that Matty is clearly a better target. "The brains" - I love it.
- Comment from my roommate who obviously does not watch Survivor: "Doesn't somebody get voted off this show every week? It sure seems to last a long time."
Friday, November 14, 2008
Survivor Skills 101
After last night's terrible display of fire-making it got me thinking again about what are the necessary prerequisites for Survivor. What skills would you go practice if you found out tomorrow that you would be on the show?
Here's my list of top candidates:
Here's my list of top candidates:
- Building fire with a flint and knife
- Swimming
- Untying knots
- Cooking rice
Survivor: Gabon - 1709
The main theme coming out of this week is how Kenny is really coming into his own at this game. He has changed so much since the show began it is amazing. He is really dictating his will and manipulating his own alliance as well as taking out the other tribe. But you can really see it when they came in for the reward challenge this week. The looks on the people's faces were priceless, Corinne was totally shocked and Matty was super-excited. But then when Corinnne started complaining that Marcus didn't deserve it, Kenny went right ahead and called her out. Kenny was right on with that. Marcus was a strong competitor but he got taken out - no one deserves to get taken out, but he put himself in that position with how he treated Susie and by being the biggest threat on the tribe.
Reward Challenge
I thought the concept of water balloon launcher golf was pretty cool. My original thoughts were that the close-in shots would be pretty tough to get the touch right. Little did I know that Randy and Matty would prove me so right.
The challenge was really built for 3 person teams and so would have been better with 3x3 teams. Just another reason to wonder whether the challenges were pre-scripted to have the merge last week but changed at the last minute. Bob did a great job again, launching 200 yd drives one after another. The real highlight had to be Randy and Matty mixing it up on the proper technique for making a 4 inch shot. Matty wanted to actually shoot it and Randy essentially wanting to just drop it in the whole. Randy is really not long for this show. He's really getting on people's nerves, I think that would have cost him even if his alliance were still in charge.
Bob got sent to Exile Island. I was half-expecting the producers to institute an immediate tribe shakeup so that Sugar would get sent one more time. Bob seemed very surprised that he couldn't find the idol, I would think that since it took him about 20 minutes to follow the three clues to their conclusion it would be obvious that Sugar had it. He did go on to make the best fake immunity idol ever (quick flashback to Eliza: "that's not the idol . . . it's a fucking stick!") Bob is going ahead and taking that thing back to camp with him right?
Immunity Challenge
Hooray the merge actually made it into this episode. This is when the game really gets interesting I think. The fire-making challenge I think is actually a good one for Survivor since it does test actual skills they use. That just makes me wonder how these people are so bad at the whole thing. Randy's comment that Crystal couldn't make a fire with matches and gasoline didn't end up being that far off but he didn't perform any better. (2nd gratuituos flashback - remember when Becky and Sundra couldn't build fire to make the final three and then actually ran out of matches? that was classic). In the end Susie and Sugar won the thing, what is this bizzaro Survivor? Maybe they've just been tanking this whole time.
Strategy Analysis
The remaining Kota 4 wanted to get Crystal out and seemed to be banking on Sugar. I was a little surprised that they didn't spend some more effort to try and pick up Matty. He seemed to me like a reasonable target, but then his dialogue with the Fang people did belie that a little bit. Sugar still seems so flaky and her "strategy" was really undercut on the last episode. She gives this look of a fish out of water. Now we'll get to see her make the final two and then try to explain to people how she was playing with strategy the whole time.
Really for Sugar coming down to it, going with the ex-Fang people is the right move. The Kota tribe were clearly tight and you would always be on the outs there. With the Fang tribe I guess that Kenny and Crystal are close but Matty and Susie are total wild cards. Once they take it down to 5 there could be a total free-for-all. Sugar probably made the right choice but I'll wait until we see some more tape before I give her a lot of credit for it.
My prediction:
Crystal. I thought that Sugar would still be mad at Kenny for duping her into voting out Ace - wrong again. And I don't recall ever seeing the vote comeback like that. From 0-4 to 5-4.
Season total: 1-6 (.143) I am very bad at this game. It's like my record of picking winnners on The Bachelor
Spell Check:
Right: 7
Wrong: 1 (Charley)
Other: 1 (C.C.)
Season total: 33-9-5 (.702)
Quick hit thoughts
Reward Challenge
I thought the concept of water balloon launcher golf was pretty cool. My original thoughts were that the close-in shots would be pretty tough to get the touch right. Little did I know that Randy and Matty would prove me so right.
The challenge was really built for 3 person teams and so would have been better with 3x3 teams. Just another reason to wonder whether the challenges were pre-scripted to have the merge last week but changed at the last minute. Bob did a great job again, launching 200 yd drives one after another. The real highlight had to be Randy and Matty mixing it up on the proper technique for making a 4 inch shot. Matty wanted to actually shoot it and Randy essentially wanting to just drop it in the whole. Randy is really not long for this show. He's really getting on people's nerves, I think that would have cost him even if his alliance were still in charge.
Bob got sent to Exile Island. I was half-expecting the producers to institute an immediate tribe shakeup so that Sugar would get sent one more time. Bob seemed very surprised that he couldn't find the idol, I would think that since it took him about 20 minutes to follow the three clues to their conclusion it would be obvious that Sugar had it. He did go on to make the best fake immunity idol ever (quick flashback to Eliza: "that's not the idol . . . it's a fucking stick!") Bob is going ahead and taking that thing back to camp with him right?
Immunity Challenge
Hooray the merge actually made it into this episode. This is when the game really gets interesting I think. The fire-making challenge I think is actually a good one for Survivor since it does test actual skills they use. That just makes me wonder how these people are so bad at the whole thing. Randy's comment that Crystal couldn't make a fire with matches and gasoline didn't end up being that far off but he didn't perform any better. (2nd gratuituos flashback - remember when Becky and Sundra couldn't build fire to make the final three and then actually ran out of matches? that was classic). In the end Susie and Sugar won the thing, what is this bizzaro Survivor? Maybe they've just been tanking this whole time.
Strategy Analysis
The remaining Kota 4 wanted to get Crystal out and seemed to be banking on Sugar. I was a little surprised that they didn't spend some more effort to try and pick up Matty. He seemed to me like a reasonable target, but then his dialogue with the Fang people did belie that a little bit. Sugar still seems so flaky and her "strategy" was really undercut on the last episode. She gives this look of a fish out of water. Now we'll get to see her make the final two and then try to explain to people how she was playing with strategy the whole time.
Really for Sugar coming down to it, going with the ex-Fang people is the right move. The Kota tribe were clearly tight and you would always be on the outs there. With the Fang tribe I guess that Kenny and Crystal are close but Matty and Susie are total wild cards. Once they take it down to 5 there could be a total free-for-all. Sugar probably made the right choice but I'll wait until we see some more tape before I give her a lot of credit for it.
My prediction:
Crystal. I thought that Sugar would still be mad at Kenny for duping her into voting out Ace - wrong again. And I don't recall ever seeing the vote comeback like that. From 0-4 to 5-4.
Season total: 1-6 (.143) I am very bad at this game. It's like my record of picking winnners on The Bachelor
Spell Check:
Right: 7
Wrong: 1 (Charley)
Other: 1 (C.C.)
Season total: 33-9-5 (.702)
Quick hit thoughts
- The new tribe flag that they made is pretty solid. I guess they don't have much else to do
- Clearly Matty didn't blow that inheritance on dance lessons - sweet moves!
- The in-episode ad for The Price is Right Salutes the Troops made me wonder whether they would be paying army prices for everything. One hammer - $500!
- Sugar cried again at tribal, who saw that coming?
- Charlie's parting words "You took out my Marcus" he deserves all the jokes we make
Labels: Survivor
Monday, November 10, 2008
Survivor: Gabon - 1708
Ahh the fake merge. This one was not nearly as good as the one many season's ago where it turned out they were just two tribes living on the same beach. Still pretty good. I love the irony of Marcus tossing the Immunity Idol into the ocean when it turns out that he really needed to keep it for himself.
The drama surrounding the feast with the additional hidden immunity idol was pretty good. You can also see the differences in the players. Ken slyly trying to find a way to read that paper and Charlie butting in with "what's this?! hidden immunity?" Wow, I was amazed that Randy found that immunity idol so quickly. It was like he hid it out there himself and just went to dig it up. You could have had a huge flag on top of it and Dan would still be out there looking for it. It was pretty crazy that they just took the idol and threw it away. I don't get why Randy didn't want to keep it for himself, he could have pulled that off since he found it. No one else really had the option to take it without bringing down the furies on themselves.
A good one they could have used if the ex-Fang members were thinking was to say that Sugar had to use the immunity idol at the last tribal council to take out Ace. How would the Kotas have known? They would think it was out of play and then the Fang's could use that to their advantage, but that's probably too much to ask.
Immunity Challenge
Jeff will tell you that I'm not one for throwing challenges but this is a situation where Charlie, Corinne and Randy should throw it. You know that you are 3 solid against two, the merge has got to be coming soon, certainly within two weeks, and you can be sure to protect your other tribe mates. Of course the Survivor crew make this challenge throw-proof by having it be a individual challenge. Did the producers just push off the merge because this was the classic first post-merge challenge where it's all about how much you want it.
Again, Crystal was amazingly bad at a challenge. I don't even think the echo of Jeff's command to start had dissipated before she was out. Sugar was not far behind either. Matty performed well and certainly saved himself since he would have been going home. Good thing he was practicing his isometrics for that one.
Strategy Analysis
Marcus was really sure that he was running the show and that was a mistake. I personally didn't think that Susie was as tight with the group as he seemed to. When she said that she had a lot of power in the game at the moment she was right on. If she swings to a different team then the whole balance of power shifts and the game is wide open again. I couldn't believe Marcus guaranteeing her final three, she would have to be stupid to believe that - she was clearly on the outside looking in. Of course Marcus should have bit the bullet and lied through his teeth to her.
A couple of comments about Sugar here that don't really seem to fit anywhere else since they're not at tribal. Someone said that there was a "one in a million chance that Sugar has the immunity idol and is a rocket scientist". She's been at exile island 5 times! You don't have to be that smart if you've been there that much. And then the bit about how Sugar was shocked that Kenny duped her into voting out Ace killed me. I thought that was her big power play! Now she thinks she got tricked into that?! All the respect for her that I gained last episode was gone in a flash.
My prediction:
Well now's the time where I make a bad prediction and here goes. Kenny's going home because Susie is too comfortable with her group. Well looks like Marcus couldn't sell her on top 6 being quite an accomplishment.
Season total: 1-5 (.167) At least I'm beating Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria in the WS.
Spell Check:
Right: 4
Wrong: 0
Other: 1 (Marc-ace)
Season total: 26-8-4 (.684) We're in Geoff Jenkins OPS range here.
Quick hit thoughts
The drama surrounding the feast with the additional hidden immunity idol was pretty good. You can also see the differences in the players. Ken slyly trying to find a way to read that paper and Charlie butting in with "what's this?! hidden immunity?" Wow, I was amazed that Randy found that immunity idol so quickly. It was like he hid it out there himself and just went to dig it up. You could have had a huge flag on top of it and Dan would still be out there looking for it. It was pretty crazy that they just took the idol and threw it away. I don't get why Randy didn't want to keep it for himself, he could have pulled that off since he found it. No one else really had the option to take it without bringing down the furies on themselves.
A good one they could have used if the ex-Fang members were thinking was to say that Sugar had to use the immunity idol at the last tribal council to take out Ace. How would the Kotas have known? They would think it was out of play and then the Fang's could use that to their advantage, but that's probably too much to ask.
Immunity Challenge
Jeff will tell you that I'm not one for throwing challenges but this is a situation where Charlie, Corinne and Randy should throw it. You know that you are 3 solid against two, the merge has got to be coming soon, certainly within two weeks, and you can be sure to protect your other tribe mates. Of course the Survivor crew make this challenge throw-proof by having it be a individual challenge. Did the producers just push off the merge because this was the classic first post-merge challenge where it's all about how much you want it.
Again, Crystal was amazingly bad at a challenge. I don't even think the echo of Jeff's command to start had dissipated before she was out. Sugar was not far behind either. Matty performed well and certainly saved himself since he would have been going home. Good thing he was practicing his isometrics for that one.
Strategy Analysis
Marcus was really sure that he was running the show and that was a mistake. I personally didn't think that Susie was as tight with the group as he seemed to. When she said that she had a lot of power in the game at the moment she was right on. If she swings to a different team then the whole balance of power shifts and the game is wide open again. I couldn't believe Marcus guaranteeing her final three, she would have to be stupid to believe that - she was clearly on the outside looking in. Of course Marcus should have bit the bullet and lied through his teeth to her.
A couple of comments about Sugar here that don't really seem to fit anywhere else since they're not at tribal. Someone said that there was a "one in a million chance that Sugar has the immunity idol and is a rocket scientist". She's been at exile island 5 times! You don't have to be that smart if you've been there that much. And then the bit about how Sugar was shocked that Kenny duped her into voting out Ace killed me. I thought that was her big power play! Now she thinks she got tricked into that?! All the respect for her that I gained last episode was gone in a flash.
My prediction:
Well now's the time where I make a bad prediction and here goes. Kenny's going home because Susie is too comfortable with her group. Well looks like Marcus couldn't sell her on top 6 being quite an accomplishment.
Season total: 1-5 (.167) At least I'm beating Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria in the WS.
Spell Check:
Right: 4
Wrong: 0
Other: 1 (Marc-ace)
Season total: 26-8-4 (.684) We're in Geoff Jenkins OPS range here.
Quick hit thoughts
- Before the switch up I thought Susie was done, Corinne might just eat her face.
- Of course Marcus know Crystal's cousin, he's amazing. She should play that one up.
- Crystal at the challenge "it just didn't fit right." That's good another excuse.
- Marcus should have found a way to pocket that immunity idol, I assume that he knows magic.
Labels: Survivor
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Survivor: Gabon - Who writes these things?
Who do you think writes the profiles on the official CBS Survivor page? They do a great job of capturing the essence of each player. I bet they wait until after the season has taped and the producers have decided on the storyline before they publish these bios. Some of my favorite tidbits:
Ace: One of Ace's biggest personality traits is his ability to flirt, almost without realizing it. Described as a natural salesman, Ace can cross the line between arrogant and elegant in whatever country he lives.
Charlie: Through his [marathon] training, Charlie dropped 60 pounds and continues to be at fighting weight.
(Note to Corinne: Does Charlie's personality get viewed through the lens of 'former fatty'?)
Marcus: Recognized as the state of Georgia's hottest bachelor by Cosmopolitan Magazine in 2006, Lehman strives to achieve the highest levels in all areas of life.
Matty: Matty Whitmore knows first-hand what it's like to have a lot and what's it's like to lose it all. At the age of 18, Whitmore inherited a trust fund from his grandparents, allowing him to live a comfortable life in paradise until partying it all away.
Randy: Despite having competed in over 100 triathlons, he claims that he has not been off the couch in years. Instead, he now enjoys his nightly hot tub with a scotch on the rocks.
And the funniest one of all:
Kelly: Kelly Czarnecki describes herself as a leader by nature .... She believes it is those leadership skills she's received from her job and schooling that has prepared her for SURVIVOR.
Ace: One of Ace's biggest personality traits is his ability to flirt, almost without realizing it. Described as a natural salesman, Ace can cross the line between arrogant and elegant in whatever country he lives.
Charlie: Through his [marathon] training, Charlie dropped 60 pounds and continues to be at fighting weight.
(Note to Corinne: Does Charlie's personality get viewed through the lens of 'former fatty'?)
Marcus: Recognized as the state of Georgia's hottest bachelor by Cosmopolitan Magazine in 2006, Lehman strives to achieve the highest levels in all areas of life.
Matty: Matty Whitmore knows first-hand what it's like to have a lot and what's it's like to lose it all. At the age of 18, Whitmore inherited a trust fund from his grandparents, allowing him to live a comfortable life in paradise until partying it all away.
Randy: Despite having competed in over 100 triathlons, he claims that he has not been off the couch in years. Instead, he now enjoys his nightly hot tub with a scotch on the rocks.
And the funniest one of all:
Kelly: Kelly Czarnecki describes herself as a leader by nature .... She believes it is those leadership skills she's received from her job and schooling that has prepared her for SURVIVOR.
Monday, November 03, 2008
Survivor: Gabon - 1707
I don't really like the weeks where they have to get rid of multiple people. Kota won the challenge, why are they forced to vote someone out. If they have to get rid of someone, maybe they should just have Fang vote out two. That seems more fair, but this game's not about fairness.
The biggest thing this week was seeing Sugar sell Ace down the river. Maybe it's because she's a pinup model but I really didn't see this one coming. Good for her. Of course now she doesn't really have any allies. As she put it "Ace may be a snake but he's my snake" Even if he would sell her out you knew he would keep her around for a while.
Dan was really not cut out for this game. He was pretty strong but didn't seem to dominate the physical challenges and was a lawyer and didn't seem to do well mentally. He was just out of his element. The quote from Corinne about his insecurity was a little over the top "I don't know if he was a former fatty". Come on Corinne, he may just naturally be this insecure.
Reward Challenge
The reward challenge was okay but not great this week. Of course the sausages they had for the picnic looked delicious. I liked Kota not sitting out Susie for the reward challenge and planning ahead to be able to sit her out at the Immunity challenge. How many times do we see tribes get stuck with their weaker players at Immunity challenge because they wanted to win reward. Again, Randy came through in the challenge but he is a very poor sport and I'm growing more convinced that he seems like a mean person. So, then even though Susie was competing in the challenge I didn't see her even once. Didn't they have to have everyone in the competition.
Sending to Sugar was the right move to keep their strategy alive. She's barely in the game as part of the Fang tribe. The reward was nice with some good scenery. Bob seemed pretty excited to have a front row seat in the chopper, but didn't he notice that everyone had a front row seat for the chopper ride?
Here's a little idea to make the reward challenge a little more interesting. If one tribe has to sit players out of the reward challenge because of extra numbers how about if the people who sit out don't get to participate in the reward. That could create some more internal tension and potentially tighten up the immunity challenges because the weaker members would be more likely to be in the reward. What do you think of that?
Immunity Challenge
When I saw the log roll I thought "This could be very cool. I was wrong, that challenge stunk". Dan goes in saying "it's important to win not just by a little but by a lot" and then promptly gets taken out in the first round. In the finals Ace seemed to be at a disadvantage vs Marcus since he was facing Sugar. That was probably a mistake in positioning on his part. No surprise that Marcus won again. It was a bad idea for Bob to say he was a log roll champion. Then when you lose everyone is proud to beat you. That's a tidbit you should keep under your hat until you take them all out and then you bust out that piece of prior experience. It did seem only fair to give immunity to Sugar since they send her to Exile every time.
Strategy Analysis
Going into the tribal the big question was would they get Sugar to take out Ace. I really didn't think that Kenny had it in him. I was very impressed with his lying to Sugar about Ace's behavior about manipulating her. Of course then when Ace comes up and says he needs her idol that does suggest that he is just trying to use her for his own purposes and makes her decision easier. And how does Ace plan on "borrowing" the idol. He's either going to play it or not. Kenny was also saying that he trusts Sugar to write down Ace but at this point it really didn't make any difference to him. If Sugar sticks with Ace they'll take out Crystal and he's done anyway. There was no risk for Kenny in trusting Sugar since they were on the outs anyway. Crystal was pretty aggressive at the tribal and they don't get along at all. She is still a woman though, since she made the statement that even though Matty and Ace asked her 3 times to eat rice that if they really cared they would have saved some anyway. That's a woman argument if I ever heard one - there's no way they could have won.
For the Kota tribe it was definitely Dan or Susie. I thought that Susie was done when she told Corinne she was going to vote for her. Corinne seems totally vindictive and as soon as she heard that it was like Susie was her blood enemy, her days are numbered. I think that it's a mistake for Marcus to trust Randy and pull him into their alliance unless he's really on the outside. It seems that Randy is very self-serving and would sell them out anytime he can. Randy's only an option because Bob is on the outs with them. They were talking about how annoying Bob is but I don't see it. Maybe that's because we spend almost no time with Kota since they were dominating. Maybe Bob is annoying.
My prediction: At tribal one I thought that Fang would get rid of Crystal. I did not see Sugar turning on Ace. I saw her just as naive as she was hoping. Congratulations, she really is playing the game. If the merge really is coming then Ace was a great choice to get rid of. Of course now Sugar is at risk because of the idol.
At tribal two I thought that they would get rid of Susie. Man I suck at predicting these votes. Dan was like a deer in the headlights.
Season total: 1-4 (.200)
Spell Check:
Right: 11 (again tough to screw up Dan or Ace)
Wrong: 1 (Suzie)
Other: 1 (The Suze)
Season total: 23-7-3 (.697)
edit: after correcting for Ace last episode we're at 22-8-3 (.667)
Quick hit thoughts
The biggest thing this week was seeing Sugar sell Ace down the river. Maybe it's because she's a pinup model but I really didn't see this one coming. Good for her. Of course now she doesn't really have any allies. As she put it "Ace may be a snake but he's my snake" Even if he would sell her out you knew he would keep her around for a while.
Dan was really not cut out for this game. He was pretty strong but didn't seem to dominate the physical challenges and was a lawyer and didn't seem to do well mentally. He was just out of his element. The quote from Corinne about his insecurity was a little over the top "I don't know if he was a former fatty". Come on Corinne, he may just naturally be this insecure.
Reward Challenge
The reward challenge was okay but not great this week. Of course the sausages they had for the picnic looked delicious. I liked Kota not sitting out Susie for the reward challenge and planning ahead to be able to sit her out at the Immunity challenge. How many times do we see tribes get stuck with their weaker players at Immunity challenge because they wanted to win reward. Again, Randy came through in the challenge but he is a very poor sport and I'm growing more convinced that he seems like a mean person. So, then even though Susie was competing in the challenge I didn't see her even once. Didn't they have to have everyone in the competition.
Sending to Sugar was the right move to keep their strategy alive. She's barely in the game as part of the Fang tribe. The reward was nice with some good scenery. Bob seemed pretty excited to have a front row seat in the chopper, but didn't he notice that everyone had a front row seat for the chopper ride?
Here's a little idea to make the reward challenge a little more interesting. If one tribe has to sit players out of the reward challenge because of extra numbers how about if the people who sit out don't get to participate in the reward. That could create some more internal tension and potentially tighten up the immunity challenges because the weaker members would be more likely to be in the reward. What do you think of that?
Immunity Challenge
When I saw the log roll I thought "This could be very cool. I was wrong, that challenge stunk". Dan goes in saying "it's important to win not just by a little but by a lot" and then promptly gets taken out in the first round. In the finals Ace seemed to be at a disadvantage vs Marcus since he was facing Sugar. That was probably a mistake in positioning on his part. No surprise that Marcus won again. It was a bad idea for Bob to say he was a log roll champion. Then when you lose everyone is proud to beat you. That's a tidbit you should keep under your hat until you take them all out and then you bust out that piece of prior experience. It did seem only fair to give immunity to Sugar since they send her to Exile every time.
Strategy Analysis
Going into the tribal the big question was would they get Sugar to take out Ace. I really didn't think that Kenny had it in him. I was very impressed with his lying to Sugar about Ace's behavior about manipulating her. Of course then when Ace comes up and says he needs her idol that does suggest that he is just trying to use her for his own purposes and makes her decision easier. And how does Ace plan on "borrowing" the idol. He's either going to play it or not. Kenny was also saying that he trusts Sugar to write down Ace but at this point it really didn't make any difference to him. If Sugar sticks with Ace they'll take out Crystal and he's done anyway. There was no risk for Kenny in trusting Sugar since they were on the outs anyway. Crystal was pretty aggressive at the tribal and they don't get along at all. She is still a woman though, since she made the statement that even though Matty and Ace asked her 3 times to eat rice that if they really cared they would have saved some anyway. That's a woman argument if I ever heard one - there's no way they could have won.
For the Kota tribe it was definitely Dan or Susie. I thought that Susie was done when she told Corinne she was going to vote for her. Corinne seems totally vindictive and as soon as she heard that it was like Susie was her blood enemy, her days are numbered. I think that it's a mistake for Marcus to trust Randy and pull him into their alliance unless he's really on the outside. It seems that Randy is very self-serving and would sell them out anytime he can. Randy's only an option because Bob is on the outs with them. They were talking about how annoying Bob is but I don't see it. Maybe that's because we spend almost no time with Kota since they were dominating. Maybe Bob is annoying.
My prediction: At tribal one I thought that Fang would get rid of Crystal. I did not see Sugar turning on Ace. I saw her just as naive as she was hoping. Congratulations, she really is playing the game. If the merge really is coming then Ace was a great choice to get rid of. Of course now Sugar is at risk because of the idol.
At tribal two I thought that they would get rid of Susie. Man I suck at predicting these votes. Dan was like a deer in the headlights.
Season total: 1-4 (.200)
Spell Check:
Right: 11 (again tough to screw up Dan or Ace)
Wrong: 1 (Suzie)
Other: 1 (The Suze)
Season total: 23-7-3 (.697)
edit: after correcting for Ace last episode we're at 22-8-3 (.667)
Quick hit thoughts
- I wonder what Dan is like in the courtroom. "Objection, what??? He's out to get me."
- After talking to Nick and Ben I wish that I had HD. That crater they went to was sweet
- I did like Dan sitting around in his suit all the time. Classy.
- Man, Bob was crying like a little girl after getting those letters from home
- At tribal council when they were having the argument about whether Corinne or Susie has more upper body strength there definitely should have been some impromptu arm wrestling.
- Corinne's shirt wasn't completely dirty on her breasts before we started. Does she spend a lot of time sleeping on her stomach?
Labels: Survivor
Survivor: Gabon - 1706
This one will be very brief. I took the week off. Nick said he might put up some more comments after he watches it. I just wanted to throw out a couple of recurring features.
And I was disappointed that Kelly got sent packing. She was the easiest on the eyes of the Survivors still out there.
My prediction: Sugar. I thought this was going to be the chance to get rid of her and take the idol out of play but the Fang tribe really seems to have no idea what they're doing.
Season total: 1-2 (0.333)
Spell Check:
Right: 6 - pretty amazing that everyone spelled Kelly right.
Wrong: 0
Other: 0
Season: 12-6-2 (.600)
edit: Nick points out Ace spelled it Kelli bringing us to 11-7-2 (.550)
And I was disappointed that Kelly got sent packing. She was the easiest on the eyes of the Survivors still out there.
My prediction: Sugar. I thought this was going to be the chance to get rid of her and take the idol out of play but the Fang tribe really seems to have no idea what they're doing.
Season total: 1-2 (0.333)
Spell Check:
Right: 6 - pretty amazing that everyone spelled Kelly right.
Wrong: 0
Other: 0
Season: 12-6-2 (.600)
edit: Nick points out Ace spelled it Kelli bringing us to 11-7-2 (.550)
Labels: Survivor
