JCC Survivor 41: Come on in!

Yeah, I was surprise that Tai didn't get one vote. I guess because he faltered at the end and he burned too many people on the jury, three of them being Scott, Jason and Julia. However, in that weird moment of the reunion show, Tai did get $50K from that weird lady, who I have no idea who she is.

The ultimate survivor of this season is Mark the chicken. He has done what no chicken has ever done before and make to the end with his head still on his neck.

 

I kind of expected Tai wouldn't get any votes - his game wasn't as strong as Aubry's by a mile, and he burned more people than Michele had, he just didn't have any reasons to give the jury to vote for him. The woman was Sia, a recording artist who has had a bunch of hits recently.

I don't think Michele was the best player and got there through a lot of luck at the right times, but luck is a big part of this game. I can't believe:
1) Debbie voted for Michele, especially after her speech about Aubry being a geek warrior or whatever. Her whole jury speech seemed to be supporting Aubry.
2) Jason, Scot, and Julia were SO awful to Cydney at Ponderosa. What an immature, petty bunch. Although it kind of proves if Michele hadn't won final immunity, that Aubry would have been the clear winner.

 

Wow, I didn't know there were Survivor fans here! I have a YouTube channel with unreleased Survivor music if anyone's interested.

 

"What!"

Great staredown after Tribal.

Kinda pissed it was Michaela, though. Also, that was a genuinely shocking blindside. I thought Michaela was just the usual last-minute red herring.

 

Yeah, that had to be one of the best exists from Tribal Council in the show's history. She was a great player too and had the makings to go down as one of the best competitors on the show.

I'm definitely rooting for Ken and wanting Taylor to go next.

 

I can't believe she didn't tell them all, "By the way, Jay has a hidden immunity idol." I'm sure she was just too shocked to think of it. Should have told them, though.



The other Millenial blindsides, I agreed with more. This one I don't know about. I get that they saw Michaela as a huge individual immunity threat once they got to the merge. And I'm sure that's true. However, I find it hard to believe she'd win every individual immunity from now to the end of the game.

It would have been smarter for her alliance, IMHO, to keep her around as a shield. That way she draws all the attention away from you, then when she loses a competing alliance will vote her out. Now if Jay considers himself the leader of his alliance, he's put himself in a situation where he'd be the #1 target in that alliance.

 

Nights like tonight are why Survivor is a great ****ing show. 16 years, 33 seasons strong.

 

New season! Last night was a great start. I found it remarkable that Ciera was absolutely piled on by everybody for the first vote, with threats like Tony and Sandra around. Was she just that weak? Or was it for what Malcolm said, that she was being too aggressive and disturbing the zen of the tribe? Or does she have a reputation as a very dangerous player? Did you guys know she voted out her mom?!

As huge of a target Tony had going into this game, he really messed this one up bad. Didn't anyone tell him to tone it down and be more subtle before going out there? This honestly makes me appreciate Trish's game in Cagayan more, since she had to be constantly reeling him in. For one shining moment, we saw a glimpse of what the biggest threats should do in an all-star seasons, which is band together like Tony and Sandra appeared to be doing. But Tony had to go and ruin that by being waaaayy too aggressive and pushy. Seriously, this is Sandra he's dealing with, who has on her resume: dispatched Jonny Fairplay and Russell Hantz, two of the most aggressive players ever.

Speaking of Sandra, I think she's going to cement her reputation as a peerless social and strategic Survivor in this season, and effectively end the "she got lucky twice" argument people throw out all the time, but she's also going to lose for the first time. Her gameplay is unlike her previous two outings. Calling herself the queen in front of everyone, drawing attention to herself, forming majority alliances... this all runs contrary to the "so long as it ain't me" gameplay that won her two seasons of Survivor.

Still, it was amazing to see Sandra playing again, and I enjoyed her appearing to have such a good time of it. Incidentally, last night's two-parter was the 500th episode of Survivor, and Sandra was wearing red the day it aired, Int'l Women's Day. The timing couldn't be better. LLTQ.

 

Sorry for the triple post!

Anybody watch tonight?

I am nauseous.

By god, CBS better have had Zeke's explicit permission to air all that.

People I know who are friends with Varner say that he was pushed by production to reveal that. It makes me nauseous to think CBS aired all that to be culturally relevant or something. Oh, and the word at the challenge just happens to be "metamorphosis?"

Give me a ****ing break.


edit: Varner tweeted this:



edit 2: Zeke wrote about his experience here. Considering how glowingly he speaks about Jeff Probst, I'd have to guess he's okay with CBS. I still wonder if they did have some kind of official discussion, off-camera, about whether he was okay or not discussing this and having it aired on national television.

 

Yeah, I would assume he talked with production about how that was going to be aired. It probably wasn't about permission or consent, he probably knew he had no power to ask them not to air it, but Probst seems to respect Zeke a lot and have his heart in the right place, so I'd hope they had some negotiations and discussions about the best way to tell that story.

Varner's actions were horrifying, I'm so, so skeeved out by it. It was just so many layers of awfulness, first equating being trans with deceptiveness, then saying "no I'm an ally! I'd never hurt anyone!" (always the worst kneejerk reaction), then trying to totally flip the story around and say he thought everyone knew (dude, you literally gave a confessional saying you knew something no one else on the tribe had picked up on). Disgusting and disappointing end to a pathetic Survivor career (only three time player to never make the jury). I totally respect what Zeke wrote about forgiveness and hope, and how he can forgive Varner from a distance. It sounds like a really healthy and positive way of coping with something as unfathomably traumatic as being outed against your will in that way

 

Yes, all the above. The challenge word I hope just a coincidence. Crazy. Also Ozzy just sitting there, as the world spins around him.

 

Well, this was fabulous. Watching finale now, rooting for Ben. Fingers crossed...

 

OK, one of the best Survivor finales ever.

 

Honestly, I liked Ben, but he blew his chance to win immunity and get in fairly. Chrissy's win should have sealed her as the season winner, and instead I feel like her advantage was nothing of the sort. Any other season and Ben would have gotten voted out. Kinda feel like she got ripped off after all her wins.

 

Yeah, she can feel ripped off for sure. Interesting the jury vote didn't take her achievements into account.

 

Sup?

That Donathan sure is weird.

 

He’s like a deep Southern, super gay Gollum.

 

Hey now, Donathan stepped up when that other dude couldn't take the drive to release the balls. Plus, he mentioned he was bullied when he was a young kid, so I imagine he wasn't given much opportunities to socialize with other kids. So, I'm glad he didn't get voted out at the first tribal council but that mean girl.

Too bad the Seth Rogen look a like got voted out after spending some time at Ghost Island and getting that Legacy Idol. But he made the same mistake of talking too much and of course, got too shady and got caught when asked where's the certificate of authenticity regarding the fake idol he made.

 

Does Donathan have a brother named Johnald?

 

Look who's back (Season 5 Australian Survivor)...

 

I can't believe this show is still on. Buddy was probably on over 10 years ago. Time certainly does fly.

 

Is anyone watching Edge of Extinction? I'm really enjoying this season. I like not knowing how the players are going to get back in the game and wondering about the reactions of those who voted them out.

 

Yep, always watch this show. Extinction Island just seems like a secret redemption island.

 

I'm watching this season, but I usually don't get to the latest episode until the weekend. As usual, it's take me awhile to get into a season because it's hard to figure out who will be "heroes" and who will be "villains." I really enjoyed last season's David vs. Goliath because there was so much strategy and game play going on. I mean, that one tribal council where there was, IIRC, a hidden immunity idol and 2 or 3 secret advantages played to turn the vote around was epic. And I don't think tribal lines played a huge part of the game when it was coming down to the wire.

 

I haven't picked a favorite yet, but I'm definitely rooting against Ron and War Dog. And I dislike it when there's a tribe that has superior numbers after the merge, in this season that's Kama, and their plan is to pick off the members of the rival tribe one at a time.