RescueMom

I don’t know how I didn’t put this together until now, but Mike White wrote and directed Year of the Dog, which is one of the few movies out there about dog rescue. It is heartbreaking and wonderful. I was souring on him a bit due to the Goliath Strong stuff, but now I am going to get warm fuzzies every time I see him on screen :)

I had a lot of the same thoughts but not nearly enough coffee in me to type them out coherently, and would not have done it as well as you anyway. So “I agree” to your entire post :)

It wasn’t clear to me if the appearance payment was referring to all payments or just the reunion payment. I did not hear that he wouldn’t vote on the jury, and on his ponderosa video he did call himself the fourth member of the jury. But I suppose the social media post happened after all of the filming was done, so they couldn’t really edit him out of the jury shots on the show. Would they pull his vote before reading them off?

Two more great episodes in what has been one of my favorite seasons of Survivor! I love all of the stuff that’s already been discussed - the awesome first immunity challenge, Carl and his beer, etc. But I think my favorite part is that the way this week shook out, I have literally no idea where things are going to go next week. I could honestly see any of the remaining players either getting voted out next or sitting in the final tribal council. I know that is theoretically the case all the time, but in reality we usually have a pretty good idea as to who is safe and who is on the chopping block going into the next week. I want this whole cast to come back and play again. They struck gold with these people.

Since Alec’s social media post controversy is now being discussed in his exit interviews, I assume it is OK to discuss here now as well. According to the exit interview on RHAP, it has been confirmed that Alec won’t be at the finale/reunion show. I assume he has also killed any chance to be invited back, and I think that is a huge loss for the show and the fans. I do understand why - there have to be repercussions when people break the terms of their NDAs or people will be pushing the boundaries with them all the time going forward. But Alec ended up being one of my favorite contestants this season (most seasons he would have been my fave by a long shot, but there are so many great contestants this season). Guess I’ll just enjoy him at Ponderosa while I can.

Nice to meet you, swole sister! I turn 50 next week and same thing - the brochachos are so much like the guys I hang with every day when I’m lifting.

Sorry, I meant Zeke was also a brand new ex-smoker, not a pretend-phone-user :)

And Zeke in the Philippines!

No, I’ve been watching a bit sporadically - I have been buying the seasons on DVD, and some of the older seasons are really cheap and some are not, so I usually buy one of each at a time. Once I’m out of cheap ones I’ll fill the rest in in order. Weird system but it’s working for me. I pretty much know who wins each season and a lot of the highlights from reading the forums all these years and watching the return seasons, but I’m finding I still enjoy them a lot. Which surprised me, because I never read spoilers of a current season. I hope you have as much fun watching the old ones as I am having!

I am watching this season for the first time right now, and came here to post about the Rupert screaming-in-rage incident that was discussed a lot above. I’m appalled that he wasn’t pulled from the game for that. Jon is an ass but Rupert wasn’t going at him for that, but because Jon had the nerve to vote for him. This giant baby bully towering over a slight guy screaming in rage because he did what you do in this game - tried to make a move. Fuck you, Rupert. I was actually liking him a little before that which amazed me because I hated him in subsequent seasons. And I actually have a smidgen of respect for how well Fairplay handled it - didn’t escalate it, but didn’t back down to Rupert’s threatening rage either. I don’t think I would have handled it so well.

I personally love these seasons: 1) Blood vs. Water (the original one) - this one has returning players and their loved ones. If someone made me pick a single favorite season, this one would be mine. 2) Millenials vs GenX - a really good recent all-newbie season 3) Heroes vs Villians - all returning players, incredible season. 4) I really liked Philippines (hope I spelled that right) 5) The first Fans vs Favorites (Micronesia) Clearly this is subjective although I would guess many would agree with at least a few on that list as being really good seasons. I’m actually catching up on seasons I missed as well (I came late to Survivor, started with season 16), and am currently halfway through Pearl Islands. I wasn’t expecting to like it (there are a few people on it that I did not like in subsequent seasons), but I’m liking it a lot so far!!

I assume the kids are from a former relationship. I remember the “Hot Cop” picture and mania, and I remember the police department saying that he was single but the other guys were married.

First, thank you for posting these here - I love not having to search for them! This may also be my favorite Ponderosa so far. Dan seems like a super nice guy and he took his ouster well. Elizabeth and John are also wonderful. Not an ounce of bitterness between them. And that “how to be a Brochacho” clip is hilarious!!! Fabulous season and fabulous Ponderosas.

Philip’s pink undies are kind of a memorable character all on their own!

Thank you, that was a wonderful read!! One of my favorite seasons.

Kat’s cousin in One World. Cousin Robbie. And their unsettlingly close relationship. Maybe not most memorable person, but a memorable interaction for sure. ((Shudder))

This made me think of another: Marissa Peterson from BvsW. Going out so early, she would probably not be considered overly memorable but for one thing: “F*** you, Brad Culpepper!” I bet most people who don’t remember her specifically do remember that line. I also wishJohn would get a second chance, and I would love to see Marissa get one as well. I thought she showed a lot of promise before Gervais torpedoed her game. (Hayden is another one I would like to see again. That season has a great cast.)

I love that you titled it “memorable” instead of “favorite,” because that opens things up in an interesting way. The first person who popped into my mind was Chet from Fans vs. Favorites. One of my favorites? No way in hell. But FvF was the first season of Survivor I ever watched, and I wanted to like him so badly (he was active in animal rescue, which is dear to my heart), but he was just so terrible at the game. And the scene with Joel: “I hit my head back there.” “I don’t care.” “I know.” And then how he so badly screwed his ally Tracy over. So he is very memorable to me.

I did notice he stood out in at least a couple of the team challenges. He smoked Bi in the “build your ladder as you go” portion of one challenge (in her defense, I think her height was a major disagvantage in that challenge), and he really did well in that snake maze puzzle. I noticed him enough that I was expecting him to be a big challenge threat post-merge, but it hasn’t happened yet anyway. I’m liking him more every week, to the point that he’s becoming one of my favorites.

Can someone remind me if Dan made a comment back in Episode 1 that Kara is his Kryptonite? I seem to recall that, and with him blabbing to her about his second idol 3 seconds after the merge, it makes me wonder if she is going to be his downfall in the game somehow. She does seem pretty solid with him though, so maybe not. But it sure feels like he is being edited for a fall with those idols somehow.

I feel like the Davids in the Goliath Insurgency didn’t have a very strong position from which to bargain since the David’s overall are down in numbers. Especially given the rift between Elizabeth and Carl (which seems to have been pretty out in the open), and John/Dan so apparently Goliath-strong again once the merge hit. The 3 Davids push back too hard and the 3 Goliaths can easily say, “OK, we don’t have to work with you and will commence the Pagonging instead.” The Davids could have tried to negotiate booting a Goliath, and maybe they did and we weren’t shown, but the Goliaths have a legitimate, logical argument that they want to do this but don’t want to torpedo other options for themselves when they don’t have to. They have more power in the negotiations, and they know it, and the Davids know it. Sure the Davids could threaten to go to the other Goliaths but it seems to me that trying to work together with a group that appears to really want to work with you is a very reasonable option in their situation.

Regarding the recent conversation about Christian’s “fitting in” talking head: I re-watched the episode tonight, and what I heard Christian say was that he has always worried about being ostracized, and he always wanted to be a person that people want to talk to. Not necessarily that cool people want to talk to, just someone who fits in in general, someone that other people like. But at the very end it changes a little when he talks about how he is turning into a Goliath; that part to me felt off from the rest of what he was saying. Like he was talking really honestly about this deep-rooted insecurity he has worked hard to overcome, but then felt he had to tie it into the theme and it took a different tone. I probably read more into it than I should have, but that piece really hit home because I can really empathize with how that feels, now excuse me while I go call my therapist...

That is what I thought as well.

Pulled this quote from the episode thread. I think there is a good chance that Dan is going to fall victim to the idol nullifier. Alec knows that Dan has an idol, and Alec worked with Davie to get Natalia out. Davie and Carl are close. And we just saw a preview that showed Alec talking about not sticking with the Goliaths. Assuming the preview is not a mis-direction (big assumption, I know), that all could lead to a place where Carl knows to use the nullifier against Dan at some point.

Replying in the speculation thread.