rasalas

If Jesse would have won the final immunity challenge (which we know is impossible because he was horrible at every single challenge), he would have never given up that immunity to make fire at the end just to prove himself. So for him, and then the jury afterward, to imply that Cassidy was somehow lesser for not doing that very thing is a crock of crap. Even convincingly winning the final challenge is not enough for a woman to prove herself; she always has to do something more.

I'm glad others saw the judges' same misguided allowances for Juergen. (We'll overlook his dropping baked items on the ground and then serving them with a shrug, because the show apparently did.) It's outlandish that he wasn't even part of the conversation for being on the bottom after failing the baked portion of the signature round and coming in second to last in the technical. But then to talk about him as being under consideration for star baker after serving up a brown, lopsided "celebration" cake was especially galling. Lizzie was robbed. And Paul's contention on Extra Slice that the bakers are judged solely by their performance in each episode is an outright lie.

Exactly. Every episode, there seems to be at least one pitch for a product that seems to exist just to find investors, not to sell to consumers. They're usually the ones with a big ask for a tiny stake, and they always have previous investors. But they don't really have a viable product or profits. This was that pitch for this episode. The skin product Proven was the one a few episodes ago. I think the producers include these segments just for the potential drama and Shark outrage.

Did they turn Dale into a jerk, or was that what he already was and we saw it slowly revealed?

The production had to alert the contestants at some point before filming that all of their immediate family members needed passports for international travel. So it had to at least be a possibility that they suspected something like the full family visit might happen. The families were all flown out free by Fiji Airways, which has a relationship with the show. Survivor apparently has been a big boon to the Fiji economy, thanks to other filming it has attracted, a boost in tourism and training that the show has provided to locals.

Probst in an interview with EW: "To be very clear, we have never hidden an idol or any advantage at Tribal because we don’t want players destroying the set. I don’t see that changing. If there was ever anything to be found at Tribal, it would be very obvious to the players."

Rob: Shhhh. See, I have this secret plan. It's called the Buddy System. Rest of Tribe: Rob is obviously using his Buddy System. 😂

It was way past due for Kim to go home, considering that she had been at or near the bottom so many times. In the follow-up with her, it wasn't really a surprise that she ended up splitting from her husband and -- considering the challenges she faces because of her metabolism at her age -- that she didn't look that different from when she left the show.

Exactly. The writers completely changed Bob's character to justify the plot's machinations. He was so uncharacteristically tone-deaf about the religion situation that the discussion became unbelievable. I also find it hard to believe that a serious discussion about religion hadn't come up before now, especially since it's such a big part of Abishola's family's life. Still, the reactions of Abishola's son to Bob's (ridiculously uncharacteristic) predicament were hilarious. Which brings up: Shouldn't Bob be more involved with her son at this point of their relationship?

And why was she inviting her friend/colleague to someone else's party?

Did anyone else notice that Lauren's ball had what looked to be a crease on it? It was on the side that was against the wooden frame, so it would have slightly flattened the ball -- making it less likely to roll off. Not implying producer shenanigans here, but I just thought that was weird.

The Sharks seemed to lose interest when he noted that there was a cap on how much he could make (and it didn't seem that high) due to the limited amount of product to harvest. He also mentioned that some of the trees were "old growth," which doesn't bode well for expanding the supply -- if mature trees are needed. So scalability was a huge concern.

The parental controls are for the cable box, not the TV. So George could have still watched the TV the way he always had before -- using the existing antenna, not the box. But I'm pretty sure that parental controls were not available on set-top cable boxes during the time period the show is set, even though the producers did a good job of making them look "old school."

Two things I learned in this episode: 1) If a judge likes an ethnic design, it's cultural inspiration. If she doesn't, it's cultural appropriation. 2) The theme doesn't matter, because almost everyone ignores it.

No, you aren't. It was cute at first, but then it got way out of hand. The kids shouldn't have been there for the whole presentation to begin with.

Sorry, but this show felt completely contrived. It was especially convenient for Buddy to stalk off angrily and then argue with the executive producer so that he'd be perfectly framed in the background as Sherry and the host so bravely tried to save face. Oh, please. If this isn't a scripted reality show, I don't know what is. Any takers on whether they end up in a tie after 12 rounds of competition?

This show is just a hot mess. I love the concept -- kind of a mix between British Bake Off (with all of the lingering exterior shots of the tent) and the old Challenge show -- but the bakers simply don't have the resources and time to do their work. And the initial noncake challenge to create a "cake topper" just rings false. Each week's "winner" is basically the team that was the least worst.

Eddie's was the lamest: My wife and I like Cake. They have a love song. I made a dish she likes.

Half of the dishes made weren't canapes. Not following the theme happens way too much on this show.

The flash of realization on her face when she realized that she wasn't going to win as Jeff read the final votes was priceless.

Each contestant does not get a camera crew. There would be crew people in every shot if so. There are several crews, and they follow whatever activity seems relevant for coverage, which led to my original post. This comment from a camera operator in a Reddit forum supports this:

Davie is playing a great game, but I'm always skeptical when players figure things like that out -- mostly because there's a layer to playing Survivor that many viewers don't seem to consider: Davie: "I think Nick might be up to something!" Reality: "There was a lot of camera activity around Nick!" Random Survivor: "I think he's gone down the beach to look for an idol!" Reality: "A camera operator just suddenly followed him down the beach!" Random Survivor: "I found an idol!" Reality: "I looked where the camera operator was pointing!" There are a limited number of cameras and producers for daily activity around the island. Surely, they influence the scope of the game?

Which made it even weirder when Paul chided Manon for using Danish butter, instead of "French" butter, in her Danishes. Wait until Extra Slice, when they surely must have some fun with Manon saying, "I'm so hot" and "I'm so sticky." :-D

While watching Evan and Chelsea in the tap routine, it looked to me that she was getting worse as it went along, that she started to bail on many of the tap steps. She was shown doing steps in rehearsal (or trying to) that she did not do at the same points in the live performance. If she had previously performed those moves in rehearsals and dress rehearsals -- moves that were already simplified -- that would explain better why the judges were so critical of her.

I believe they implied that if their relationship did not survive the race, their planned wedding would just be an awkward party. :-D