MissEwa

Same. I've been bored before but I've never felt this level of apathy. This season blows.

Agreed. It's really great to see the evolution of the idol, and watching poor stupid Judd screw it up was awesome. Except I would actually recommend all of Guatemala - it's a good solid season with a pleasantly surprising winner and it doesn't get nearly enough love IMO.

I think this is the clincher for me. I hated RI but at least most weeks someone was actually properly permanently cut from the game. With EoE there are no stakes. We're nine episodes in and two people have left the game, both - and I think this is another huge factor - by choice. Being voted out doesn't mean nearly as much, which means everything leading up to the votes doesn't mean nearly as much. It's boring.

Do you mean May 15th? April 15th would mean there are two episodes left and we still have... a lot? of players.

They also did it with Amanda in Fans vs Favourites at - I think - F6? She was the target and had an idol clue, but we didn't actually see her find the idol, just get told she had to by Parv. She looked so defeated all tribal and then pulled it out triumphantly and Alexis went home. YMMV, but it worked from a viewer perspective, I think, because she was somewhat likeable. Ben wasn't, so his was just annoying. But I agree with @Nashville - in both cases, they were the clear targets and didn't have immunity, so it was the only way to get any suspense into the episodes.

It's more for his thread, wherever it is, but I think so. He was so close to winning Phillipines - in the modern, fire-at-4 era, he would have won handily - and JT torpedoed his game in Game Changers. In any case, I give him points for actually caring about all sides of the game and TRYING to play, as opposed to Joe's just-win-immunity "strategy". Plus he's just so much more interesting (which has nothing to do with Survivor gameplay but as a viewer is important to me). I feel like I read somewhere before this mess started that everyone who is in the game - properly or on EoE - at the merge is on the Jury. But technically Wendy and Keith were on EoE at the moment the merge happened, and they're not, so who knows? Yep. And if Jeff is clarifying in interviews he's not doing a very good job. I swear we've been told that idols are still in play if you get voted out with them and then come back, AND that Aubrey's isn't. Honestly, for me it makes it hard to care, because it feels like it's all being decided on the fly.

Only aesthetically. Malcolm actually has a personality and the ability to play Survivor.

Oh, I don't mean that they wouldn't know the expression, but they new exactly how to use it in perfect sentences, right away. A couple of them seemed very rehearsed to me.

Bleh. This season is bad. Count me in as another one who completely missed Keith and Wendy leaving. Jeff brought the jury in and I was so confused that they were gone. I think I left the room for 30 seconds at one point? So weird. A question re EoE/Ponderosa etc - do players who get quit EoE from hereon in (or get voted out of the game and choose not to go there) join the jury? If so, there has to be an actual Ponderosa, but it might end up with only one or two people on it. I hate EoE. I don't necessarily hate watching it, all the time - I like Aubrey. Chris seems fine - but the concept is terrible. And more than hating the idea that the first person voted out of the game is on the jury, I hate the idea that someone in the final 3 could have spend most of the game not playing. I just keep coming back to the fact that what I love most about this game is that to win you have to not only get to the end but you have to do so in a way where the people you helped voted out still like you enough to give you a million dollars. I want to believe that nobody would vote for Reem if she made it back in but I understand human emotions enough to know that for some people if it was a choice between her and two people who wrote your name down, she wins. I HATE that. Everyone in the finals needs some blood on their hands, or it changes the whole dynamic. I did find it hilarious in this episode that the remaining players were referring to the 'edge of extinction' so perfectly in their confessionals. They literally found out about it that day and nobody was accidentally calling it 'extinction island' or referring to outcasts or redemption. It was all very on-brand. They must have done so many takes. And IDK, in a garbage season, I'm looking for positives, so I actually enjoyed the chaos of the planning and the vote. I was surprised it was Joe, just because Kelly got a lot of screentime and he didn't. Ron doesn't bother me too much - I'm sure he will, but he seems just excited to finally be playing. And I like Victoria. Aside from the whole thing with Joe overhearing her a few episodes ago, I think she's playing well. And she's actually PLAYING.

Okay - thanks. I have only really followed it here and not seen the initial tweets. And ITA.

I think that was Jenna? She was blonde. Chelsea is the auburn-haired one who got no screentime. I have no idea why I remember any of this. ETA. I didn't know there was a Julia until this last episode. I read that she thought she wasn't getting screentime because she was black and thought 'Wait, there's a black woman on this season?' - there are others on her tribe whose names I didn 't know (Etsy storeholder, blonde, redhead) but she's the only one I felt like I hadn't seen at all. So IDK - I think she has a point.

The eternal optimist in me wonders if that might also mean the post-merge is chaotic and awesome so they're getting the double-episode out of the way now so they don't have to do one then? Hopefully? Maybe?

Ankles are weird. I've had a bunch of sprains that have basically gone from 'oh F---' to fine and back again a few times over the course of the day they happen, before deciding whether they're actually going to be an issue. The last time I sprained mine, cried with pain for five minutes, then adrenaline kicked in enough for me to drive home, run a couple of errands and go to work, and only after a few hours did it start really swelling and hurting. No real bruising until the third or fourth day, when it went black. The time before it ached, bruised and swelled for a day and then was fine. Unless there's a break or a ligament involved, in which case you KNOW you're screwed, they're unpredictable. Wendy's was definitely swollen, so I can't see how she was making it up. Exaggerating? Maybe? Maybe it was a minor injury that she later aggravated. Who knows? But aside from people who want to be voted out/quit, who on earth makes up injuries on Survivor? It's a surefire way to get targeted at the vote.

Same, but I think she crosses the line when she imposes that position on everyone else in her tribe. It would be fine for her to be like 'now I've met the chicken I don't feel good about eating it, I'm going to stick to rice', or even to argue that they shouldn't kill it - for a bit - but taking the flint so they CAN'T eat it and then (from the previews) goes into another territory for me.

Lol. I feel like this is one of those 'whichever side you're on, you see the opposite side as dominant' thing, because to me it seems like everyone loves Kelley. I don't like her but I think there's no denying she's a threat and a player. If I was on an island with her and David I'd want her out first by a long shot.

Yes? Just because they're both returning players doesn't mean they're equal in terms of how much of a threat they are - or, more importantly, perceived to be. Kelly has a much stronger reputation than David. She's a physical and strategic threat who takes no prisoners and will play her guts out. She is also BELOVED by Survivor fans. If she gets to the end, she's got a good shot at getting respect votes, even if there is a bias against returnees. David isn't really any of those things. Nobody's star-struck about David being there. He doesn't come across as a cut-throat strategist or a challenge beast. And he's doing a really good job of capitalising on that to keep the target off his back.

This was Redemption Island and pretty much the only good thing about it was the hilarity of Ozzy getting voted out three times in one season. And in the modern game, that last time wouldn't have happened because of a stupid fire-making challenge and he would have won the game. Ugh.

This. I know most of them won't get back in but it makes the stakes so much lower if the vote-out isn't final. They start talking strategy and my internal monologue goes to 'Who cares? They can just win their way back in.' Same deal with watching EOI. I watch Survivor for the strategising and the edge-of-your-seatness where you know one wrong move can send someone home. I don't care about the Robinson Crusoe adventure of it. Good to know we're still doing the thing where a woman getting emotional on Survivor makes her a terrible terrible person. And yeah, there are way more important things but this is a thing she's doing and cares about so why not give it her all? By that logic, why are get so worked up about something someone does on a TV show when there's like... climate change to solve 😉 This. I kept getting Stephanie in Guatemala vibes from her. Like how DARE anyone target her, the obvious target. Spoiler about the potential return timing of EOI:

I can't be bothered going back to check but I think Natalie got a confessional in the first ep (or one very early on) basically outlining the strategy that got her the win. ITA on Kelley. Something about her bugs me and she was giving off very strong Stephanie Lagrossa vibes last night. I can't help feeling like she's believing her own hype a little too much. Not a huge fan of Joe either. Cut-rate Malcolm just makes me miss Full-Price Malcolm. I didn't take in much more from this episode. The Reem-Wendy-Keith thing felt quite inevitable and depressing and I get why Keith flipped but he's naive if he thinks that will save him. Why have most of the women gone straight to just wearing underwear? Is 'Etsy Store Owner' a real career? An Advantage Menu? Ugh.

I feel like this is going to be one of those divisive things forever like Aubrey vs Michele and Russell vs Everyone but Carl DID say, in interviews, that Gabby was next after Alison. From what I've seen, even HE acknowledges it was the right move. Also I don't know if I'm just naturally predisosed to paranoia or a huge cynic or what but my mind boggles at all these people who, if they were playing Survivor, would be absolutely fine with finding out that 3/4 of their supposed core alliance was planning to blindside them on a vote and had brought in a member of the supposed opposite alliance in order to do so. Really? Like... you'd just suck it up and play along and lose your best plan B option because... friends?

JoeR used to write for TWoP and I'm pretty sure this site but I've lost track of who went where and who is still here. But yes, he made me chortle. Given the spoilers this season were all so vague I'm surprised we already have so much for next season, but the returnee ones always go this way, don't they?

It's interesting because I agree with a lot of what Angelina said, about how women are depicted on the show as opposed to men, and who gets what sort of credit. I just don't think it applies to her as much as she thinks it does.

Gabby has never not owned being emotional, and I don't think she's even complained about getting edited that way (although I may have missed something). What she's questioned is the criticism she gets for that - and I agree. Also, Natalie owned being bossy at the reunion.

Joe is fine. The mustache is awful but he's always struck me as a decent person who enjoys the experience. If this was a show of watching folks gad about the wilderness for 39 days and climb trees and compete in challenges for food and then eat it and talk about their lives, I'd probably like him. But he's never struck me as having much of a head for - or even interest in - the actual game. To completely contradict myself though - Kelley W is ALL game and I'm also underwhelmed about her coming back. I look forward to being the grinch of the forums next season.

Overall I feel like this season had a mediocre beginning, a stellar middle and then petered out of steam towards the end. Nick winning was the best of a bad bunch by the finale but he's far from a favourite for me. Still, I appreciate that almost everyone played hard and the jury wasn't bitter, and there were some great moments. The finale was... fine, but not really in keeping with the rest of the season. Lots of lights and cameras but not much action, unlike the rest of the season. Angelina's Big Idol Moment stands as one of the more ridiculous things she's ever done, and... telling people about it? Like saying 'I want a correct idol play on my resume for the FTC' to her competitors? Who may have been sitting next to her at that FTC? Really? I know she had to tell people to make it work but it was still utterly ridiculous. I just wish Alison had pretended to be 100% fooled by that idol and then played it on Angelina as a show of solidarity, thus forcing Angelina to have to pipe up and explain her ridiculous plan. I am glad Nick won over Mike or Angelina. It was scary for a little while there.