Sunday, December 14, 2008
Survivor: Gabon - 1712
The strategy in this episode was a little muddled but ultimately what came out of it was a breaking of the Crystal/Kenny alliance with Crystal getting voted out. Kenny's really in a tough place now, and he does not have much of a chance at winning this game. His real ally is out, the jury doesn't like him and he hasn't been performing too well at the challenges. So far for the self-proclaimed master to have fallen.
Kenny really shot himself in the foot with the vote for Matty last week when he outsmarted himself and decided to flush out the idol and get rid of Matty at the same time, except for the fact that there was no idol.
Reward Challenge
The reward came up as another combo athleticism/skill challenge. It was not so much physical as skill based. This is where Bob is really shining. The other players talk about him as a physical threat but Bob is really more skilled than they are. In this challenge for example, Matty dusted Bob through the course portion but lost that lead on the free throw shooting.
I know that I'm not the only person who watched this challenge and though to themselves "You've gotta make your free throws or you're not going to get any sugar." Jeff has certainly drilled that into our minds by now. This challenge would have taken Mollner and Jacob out of the game single-handedly.
Oh yeah, and once again Crystal stunk it up.
Immunity Challenge
With Jeff describing it I thought to myself, wow what a tough challenge but again not really a physical thing so much as skill based. Bob won again, which is what he should do but I still don't see him as the physical powerhouse that the contestants do. He just good at doing things and isn't a physical liability.
And do I even need to say that once again Crystal stunk it up. She's up there with one of the worst challenge records of all time.
Strategy Analysis
A few elements of the strategy I want to pull out here. First, Kenny really has no business going off on Bob for screwing up his game. There was nothing that we didn't see on the preview that would have made more sense why he was so upset. It seems that Bob is a really nice guy and just feels bad when he does some of the things that you have to do to try and stay in the game. In a way it's almost easier to play the nice guy when you are definitely in control. When you're going home at the first opportunity you need to pull out all the stops. I was very glad that he didn't give Kenny the immunity necklace at tribal but he really couched his position instead of standing up and just saying "I won this puppy and you can pry it off my neck when I'm dead"
During the reward, Sugar was talking to Matty and was just laying out the whole plan, saying that she was aligned with Kenny and Crystal and tough luck but Matty's going home. It did surprise me that she just would say all of that for no reason and not just play along with him. As the episode goes on though Sugar gets the bright idea that she should turn on Kenny and Crystal because they're not nice people. This is killing me because she's playing the game personally and not strategically. It's just that sometimes the two happen coincide. When Sugar starts saying "Let me do the thinking" it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in the partnership. Another example of playing the game personally - why does Sugar get rid of Crystal before Kenny? You may not like Crystal but Kenny's got the potential to swing something. Would you really mind going to the jury with either of them though? I think Sugar could beat either one but there's no problem beating Crystal. It would not be a hard argument that she was worthless.
I feel like I should say something about Susie. It's so hard to do since she's never on camera and never says anything. If she wins this game I'm going to be very upset, that's one of the signs of a cast with limited strategy when a Survivor can coast into the finals by not upsetting anyone. She made the move by flopping on Marcus and I'll give her credit for that but riding coattails and making one move then sliding by should not get you to a million.
My prediction:
Crystal. I'm making a run at respectability at the end here.
Season total: 4-6 (.400)
Spell Check:
Right: 6
Wrong: 0
Other: 0
Season total: 52-11-5 (.765)
Quick hit thoughts
Kenny really shot himself in the foot with the vote for Matty last week when he outsmarted himself and decided to flush out the idol and get rid of Matty at the same time, except for the fact that there was no idol.
Reward Challenge
The reward came up as another combo athleticism/skill challenge. It was not so much physical as skill based. This is where Bob is really shining. The other players talk about him as a physical threat but Bob is really more skilled than they are. In this challenge for example, Matty dusted Bob through the course portion but lost that lead on the free throw shooting.
I know that I'm not the only person who watched this challenge and though to themselves "You've gotta make your free throws or you're not going to get any sugar." Jeff has certainly drilled that into our minds by now. This challenge would have taken Mollner and Jacob out of the game single-handedly.
Oh yeah, and once again Crystal stunk it up.
Immunity Challenge
With Jeff describing it I thought to myself, wow what a tough challenge but again not really a physical thing so much as skill based. Bob won again, which is what he should do but I still don't see him as the physical powerhouse that the contestants do. He just good at doing things and isn't a physical liability.
And do I even need to say that once again Crystal stunk it up. She's up there with one of the worst challenge records of all time.
Strategy Analysis
A few elements of the strategy I want to pull out here. First, Kenny really has no business going off on Bob for screwing up his game. There was nothing that we didn't see on the preview that would have made more sense why he was so upset. It seems that Bob is a really nice guy and just feels bad when he does some of the things that you have to do to try and stay in the game. In a way it's almost easier to play the nice guy when you are definitely in control. When you're going home at the first opportunity you need to pull out all the stops. I was very glad that he didn't give Kenny the immunity necklace at tribal but he really couched his position instead of standing up and just saying "I won this puppy and you can pry it off my neck when I'm dead"
During the reward, Sugar was talking to Matty and was just laying out the whole plan, saying that she was aligned with Kenny and Crystal and tough luck but Matty's going home. It did surprise me that she just would say all of that for no reason and not just play along with him. As the episode goes on though Sugar gets the bright idea that she should turn on Kenny and Crystal because they're not nice people. This is killing me because she's playing the game personally and not strategically. It's just that sometimes the two happen coincide. When Sugar starts saying "Let me do the thinking" it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in the partnership. Another example of playing the game personally - why does Sugar get rid of Crystal before Kenny? You may not like Crystal but Kenny's got the potential to swing something. Would you really mind going to the jury with either of them though? I think Sugar could beat either one but there's no problem beating Crystal. It would not be a hard argument that she was worthless.
I feel like I should say something about Susie. It's so hard to do since she's never on camera and never says anything. If she wins this game I'm going to be very upset, that's one of the signs of a cast with limited strategy when a Survivor can coast into the finals by not upsetting anyone. She made the move by flopping on Marcus and I'll give her credit for that but riding coattails and making one move then sliding by should not get you to a million.
My prediction:
Crystal. I'm making a run at respectability at the end here.
Season total: 4-6 (.400)
Spell Check:
Right: 6
Wrong: 0
Other: 0
Season total: 52-11-5 (.765)
Quick hit thoughts
- I should try to do more things blindfolded.
- Sugar giving Matty the idol turned out to be unnecessary but was a good move. I wonder if that should be against the rules though.
Labels: Survivor
# posted by Andy Hejl @ 1:45 PM 
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