MissEwa

I always thought the Summer of Deception went on for a lot longer but IMDB says there's only have one Paris episode left, so I guess not - although I'm very glad that means only one episode of Reeek (before he shows up in BevHills). Every time a clip feature's David's "music" I collapse into a puddle of cringe-laughter so I have no idea what you guys are actually saying about those scenes. It's so awful, and his singing? No. No no no. Never noticed Donna's eating before but now I can't look away. Why is she jamming her nose in there like that? I kind of get it with some pastries that there's a piece of fruit or something on the top that you eat first because you don't want it to fall off but you don't shove your face in it like you're bobbing for apples, you pick it off with the fingers on your other hand. Even if she hadn't eaten a pastry before, surely someone in the crew would have and been able to demonstrate? And I feel like the bit where she's eating while being photographed is supposed to be a bit sexy (whipped cream and all) but it's just so weird and gross. And now I really want a pastry. Back in the day I really liked Nikki when she comes back as - spoiler - Brandon's girlfriend. From memory she really liked him but rolled her eyes at him a lot, especially about the not-dancing stuff, which he definitely deserves. I'm sure I'll be disappointed because I have been about absolutely everything else I remember liking about this show but at least it will be amusing. Thank you Sarah and Tara for this podcast, it makes the realisation that my thirteen-year-old self had terrible ideas about everything so much easier to deal with.

Steve's "Let's do it. Let's go for it." sex thing is so so so so uncomfortable. *shudder*

Do you mean FTC - if the jury votes result in a tie? Or in the F4 TC? In the F4 TC if it's a tie the two people with votes go to a fire-making challenge. Going to rocks at F4 would mean that the person who didn't win immunity and didn't get any votes would automatically go home, which is why they don't do it. No-one knows for sure what happens if there's a tie at FTC as it's never happened (in Micronesia (?) Jeff addressed the possibility of a tie before reading the votes by holding up an envelope with what he said was the tie-breaker in it, but it wasn't needed).

They would have gone to rocks but the rock draw is between the people who didn't get any votes, and all of them but Keith were immune due to idols/IC wins, so Keith is the only one drawing rocks. I've never seen the Paschal season but I think this is what happened to him, and it's why it changed to fire-making at F4? This was at F6 but idols meant basically the same outcome. IMO most of Tasha's actual moves were pre-merge - getting Abi to flip and save her and Savage on Angkor. Unless we missed a bit of FTC where she discussed them, only Only Abi and Savage would have known - Abi at least was never going to vote for her and Savage... is Savage. This is why I don't think it was a good FTC performance. She had things to point to but instead she chose to give these vague condescending answers about corporate America or point to her pre-game alliance. I think Tasha cared. I think in a way Tasha and Spencer had similar a similar problem - they both thought they were the smartest people in the room. After the F4 TC they both said the same thing about forming the best relationships to get themselves there and I think they both genuinely thought it was their great gameplay that got them there and would get them votes. I almost wonder if being on the 'brains' tribe in their first season hurt them - they let that go to their heads.

That tribal left a bad taste in my mouth. I know it was all following the various rules about immunity/drawing rocks etc. but it felt really poorly thought through and - dare I say it - unfair. I feel like if we're ever in that situation again it will be resolved differently. It totally explains both Kimmi's invisible edit and Keith's aww-shucks-lovable-dufus edit. IMO it also explains why they crammed all this into the finale. Jeff probably didn't want to spend a week answering questions about it, and at least this way it's just a footnote and not the focus of the episode. It did mean that everything else was super-rushed though - two(plus) hours of challenge-tribal-challenge-tribal-challenge-tribal-final tribal with very very little in between. And you knew that Jeremy was never going to take F4 to fire because there wasn't time. This would have been interesting but Keith wasn't immune so if they wanted him out over Kimmi they would have just voted for him in the first (or second, as it were) plase. Keith might have been a better move but they were so pissed at Kimmi they didn't care. IMO, this episode highlighted just how useless Tasha really ended up being this season. She barely figured in anything, including a tribal council where she was tied for having the most votes. Did she even speak during all of that? I know she didn't have to but to me it just highlighted that she was being dragged to the end. And I loved how her self-described 'subtle move' was having a pre-game alliance with Spencer and being in a game with lots of people from her original season, as though that was actually a move and not the result of producer selection and a public vote. She really started to grate on me this season (although I confess to never having been a fan). Good on Jeremy. He wasn't my favourite but he wasn't awful and he played a decent game. I'm surprised but pleased it was unanimous as Spencer bugged me too. He totally used the pregnancy reveal but so what? It wouldn't be the first time someone's used their circumstances outside the game as a reason for people to vote for them. It doesn't always work, and in this case I don't think it got him the win but it maybe made it unanimous.

Gum. The most amazing thing about the Jackie/Kelly/David scene is Kelly's room. Those medicine-pink walls and weird drawings OF HERSELF are the stuff of nightmares.

I made the original comment about giving the dish to anyone but Padma. And everyone's right - Tom would have been worse, possibly the Animal guys would have been worse. I just watched it happen and my thought was 'No! Don't give it to Padma! She'll be awful!' but it would have been bad whoever it went to. It was more a snap reaction to the way it played out than a considered position. It's not because she's a woman, but more about her overall attitude to the cheftestants sometimes (which I think comes down to insecurity about being the least qualified of all the judges, not gender).

True, and that's as it should be, but Padma's the one who is going to be the most sneery about it (although if I'm remembering the Animal guys right from the Seattle season they might have been pretty snarky too).

They tricked me with the editing - I thought guy-whose-daughter-is-named-Madeline was going to take the win. I kind of loved Padma not getting any fish but wonder if Karen couldn't have asked the servers to give that portion to one of the random votes? Or Blaise? I have a theory that all of us who loved Greyson in Texas did so because compared to pretty much everyone else on that season she was adorable and loveable and human, but when you put her with a bunch of cheftestants who so far mostly seem kind of nice (I loved some of the pairings and the way they helped each other out) she's just annoying.

The end of Cool Kelly and Happy Dylan is really all about setting them up as a couple, isn't it? Two lost souls finding each other is so much more sympathetic than two kids fooling around because they're bored. I know thirteen-year-old me was sucked in.

My theory is a double idol play where all the votes get nullified, then a revote where the 2/3 (depending on whether it happens at F6 or F5) players without idols/immunity are the only ones eligible for votes, and Kimmie goes home. It would be consistent with her edit - I feel like unless they have a compelling story or comeuppance people who get idolled out end to get pretty invisible edits, and this is really the ultimate idol-out.

Her purse was stolen when she met Mr Pony at the Peach Pit. She didn't take anything to Mexico IIRC.

Red outfit >>> Green outfit When these episodes first aired I remember finding it really weird that they dressed Brenda in two outfits that were really distinctive and exactly the same except for the colour (and the thickness of the stripes, maybe?) only a couple of episodes apart, but I actually really appreciate how realistic it was. The look worked for her and so of course she had it in several colours. They did this well, with the green shirt and even (sorry) Dylan's Baha tops and overalls. The characters that would have cared about clothes and had the money to spend on them all the time had TV wardrobes which never repeated, but the rest had their favourites that got worn all the time. (My opinion may or may not be influenced by the fact that the a-line-skirt-and-bodysuit thing was pretty much my uniform as a teen.)

As disappointing as Greyson was, I was happy Sassy Chef went. Between the 'sleep with one eye open' comment in the first episode and dramatically asking Frances if she was 'scared' when ManBun said they were going into an all-white neighbourhood in this one, she was starting to make me a little uncomfortable.

This is me. I was quite excited to see her and then... no. The line about the salad being better with pork fat made me laugh (because what isn't?) but other than that it was awful. I feel like there was a bit of 'I don't care if I'm on Top Chef I'm cooking the food I like' when she was on TC Texas - that time she served the giant slab of meat and potatoes, IIRC - but they seem to have amplified that here at the expense of everything else. I was on the fence about ManBun after the first episode but he can go any time. Very excited to see Antonia in the preview. I just hope she doesn't catch whatever Greyson has.

I agree with this. Everyone - including most of the jury - was so happy that Joe was out, and I don't buy for a minute their Ponderosa 'we were glad it was you because we like you' line. I don't think he would have received FTC votes from anyone but Wigglesworth and Savage and when you've got a jury of ten that's not enough. I actually like Joe a lot (yeah, ok, partly for completely shallow reasons) but there's been nothing to suggest that he was actually a jury threat and not just someone everyone thought was a jury threat despite not planning to vote for him. They liked him fine but I don't think anybody actually wanted him to win. Yep. They all know where the alliances are and how close the numbers are and yet the take out the guy that isn't in any of them because he might win challenges despite the fact that he wasn't close in the RC and passed out in the IC and is clearly still not at full strength? Not smart. I agree also that he didn't play it right. Don't go for the goat who everyone wants to take to the end. Go for Kimmi who is the one agitating for the womens alliance, or Tasha, who is so clearly playing both sides I'm surprised either think they can trust her. Or Jeremy or Spencer. Really, the Abi move was the wrong one and shows that Joe, as nice as he seems, really doesn't have a head for strategy. This too. Which is - to be blunt - the best reason to keep him in. He's only a challenge threat if he's got the strength to actually win challenges. Keep him in and use him as a vote. He's not going to flip on you - he doesn't know how. ...which is all armchair quarterbacking, of course! I feel like this was done to counter the poisoned chalice of winning the family visit reward, where you're screwed no matter who you pick because those you don't will be super-bitter and have numbers to vote you out. Maybe they got sick of people throwing it?

Brandon's face in that first picture is great. It's like you caught him mid-bray at the soda can.

Spencer's hand (not a great shot, but shows the shape of his fingers): http://www.survivorfever.net/vc_s31/vc_s31_web_promo_ep7/vc_s31_web_promo_ep7_0016.jpg Joe's hand: http://www.survivorfever.net/vc_s31/vc_s31_web_promo_ep8/vc_s31_web_promo_ep8_0018.jpg I think, based on that, the hand in the promo is almost certainly Joe's, although I kind of feel like based on the edit of the promo and his edit so far this season he doesn't get medivaced, but who knows.

It absolutely is gameplay, and a perfectly valid way to get to the end, and in some seasons - especially earlier ones - with some juries, it would absolutely get you the win and that would be perfectly valid. But I just don't think in this season, with these players, it would necessarily be enough. This is a group that seems more likely to reward good social/strategic moves and in, say, a FTC where the choices were 'I was nearly always on the bottom, had to scramble through every TC, saved myself with an idol I grabbed in the middle of a challenge while you were all RIGHT THERE and then flipped the game and got here' or 'I won seven immunity challenges and mostly went along with other people's plans', I don't think Joe would win. YMMV and I may well be wrong, of course.

This. I hated Tasha's whole selfish vs selfless thing about the immunity challenge, but if anyone was selfless in this situation it was Keith, who competed despite not needing or really caring about immunity, just so Joe might not win. The people who chose shelter were thinking of themselves as much as Joe was - no-one went white thinking 'hey, it's a game and I don't care but poor Ciera over there is really cold.' They chose to improve their own long-term prospects in the game with comfort. Calling out Joe for being selfish was such BS. That said, have these people forgotten that they get to vote for the winner? They're all so concerned about getting Joe out because he might win immunities to the end and win, but I honestly don't think he would even if he managed to get there. He might have votes from Wigglesworth and Savage (depending on who he's up against and how bitter Savage is) but I get the feeling everyone else will vote on gameplay and unless he's at the end with Abi and Keith, I don't see him getting the votes. He's stopping other people winning immunity, but this whole 'if he gets to the end he'll win' thing is weird if they're all annoyed with him and his lack of gameplay, which they seem to be. Mike won immunities to get himself to the end last season but he also made actual moves and played the game. I'm not out there though so maybe his social/strategic game is better than it looks.

I'm not a psychiatrist or a psychologist or anything, but is it really PTSD if you're still upset about something that is totally reasonable to be upset about *two days later*? Re. TeamGreen - Brenda will wear an exact copy of this outfit but in red in a couple of episodes (I think maybe she wears it to/from Mexico?), so you'll be able to decide then if the problem is the colour or the stripes. Yeah, I can't remember my kids' birthdays sometimes, but I remember the two versions of that outfit. Thanks brain.

I'm Team Ravi all the way, all day, every day, for everything, but Peyton and Blaine have crazy chemistry and (unpopular opinion) I wouldn't mind the show going somewhere with that. Liv/Blaine I would mind - that would feel lazy and while I love their scenes together I don't feel any sexytimes chemistry there. The writing on this show is great, but I just think Rob Thomas got so lucky with this cast - they're all so good and work so well together. In lesser hands I feel like some of the characters could have slipped into one-dimensional and boring but as it is I'm totally invested in all of their storylines.

Oh god. Even the 13-year-old Brandon apologist that I was back then hated this one. I looking forward to your hearing your head explode, Sarah.

That's next season, when Brandon is with Nicki and they end up on her TV show or something, and Donna is considering changing her mind and having sex with David but then she doesn't because AIDS, maybe? It's like they were obligated to do a sex-could-kill-you episode every year. Is it next summer Andrea goes out with that Republican and Brandon gets jealous/weird/brays? It was stupid and awful but it's good to know she'll get a love interest at some point, even if it's for one episode.

This show has so many balls in air at the moment that I'm a bit worried about how they're going to stick the landing, but it is just so utterly charming that I don't even know that I care. I could probably do with less of the Max Rager stuff but that's only because I'd happily just watch 42 minutes of Ravi doing Ravi stuff with everyone. I feel like this episode had more quippy one-liners than usual and I laughed way too much at all of them. I know I'm easily amused, but it's hard to go past a dorky Bon Jovi joke.