LadyChatts

Julia, Scot, and Jason avoided Cydney when she arrived but other than that I don’t think KR was that bad. GC didn’t seem like a bitter jury house, but Andrea said there was a more depressing atmosphere there compared to her other Ponderosa stays. Everyone seemed over it. I’d say Gabon was the worst jury house ever. When Crystal showed up I don’t think anyone talked to her. I don’t believe Ken got a great reception either.

I actually wasn't as convinced as everyone else that Des was going. I was getting flashbacks to the Morgan boot and thinking something totally unexpected was going to happen. Des seemed too obvious. I mean, way too obvious. It does seem like Michael is going to try and play another idol story next week. Since I like the guy I'm hoping he can do something to save himself, because I don't like his odds.

I'm going to have to go back and watch, too, because I thought it was a super idol that could be used after the votes (once he has the full idol). All these damn idols and their super powers, non super powers, being used in halfs, fulls, fake idols...I can't keep track in a regular season as it is!

The idol he found was the super idol from KR, which could be played after the vote (because Tai beautifully refused to give Scot the other half of the idol to save him after the vote was read). So I was wondering if anyone knew that Donathan's idol held that power.

I caught that look on Michael's face. I totally think he thought Donathan was going to play it for him. I already erased the episode, but are they aware that it can be played after the vote? I don't remember Donathan telling them that part.

They’ve had locations before where they didn’t suffer. I think a lot of it depends on the time of year they film in such locations. Why I’m bored with Fiji are the themes. Ghost Island was different but has been a bust. I cringe to think what’s else they’ll think of or repeat. ETA: sorry, quoted your wrong post.

Cook Islands was probably my favorite season ever when it came to exile island, mainly because Candice continually got tortured being sent there by the Aitu 4. Then Adam, who would come so close to winning the reward challenges, was the next favorite to occupy the island. There was a luxurious spa reward he barely missed out on, so while we saw the winners sitting in a warm hot tub and drinking wine and going to sleep in a nice, soft bed, he was freezing cold and getting drenched on exile island by a rain storm. I think this Ghost Island theme is a sign they need to get the heck out of Fiji, so at least they can just name a season after the location again if they can't think up a good theme. GI itself is so pointless.

I'm guessing it'll be at least one, if not both, of them. We saw Jenna cuddling up to Donathan so my guess is it'll be her. She got way more footage tonight than she's had all season, and considering it totaled maybe 3 minutes, that's saying something. Then she's featured in the promo. I'm going with those two, or Jenna/Seabass. I'd love for Kellyn to get blindsided, however. I think Jenna could say to Donathan that she has Seabass's vote no matter what, he goes back and tells Dom/Wendell, and they decide they need to be split up or both voted off.

https://youtu.be/k-oz-CBUddU Des's ponderosa. She had a good plan, but she needs to work on her acting skills if there is a next time. I'm sure watching back she now disagrees with herself about her acting ability.

I'm also intrigued if Laurel really plans on taking Dom and Wendell to the end. There's been nothing to really indicate that they won't have a decent shot with the jury to win, so unless she doesn't see that, then I'd like to think she has a plan. However, once again, her time might be slipping away. One good thing is she does know that they both have idols. But going forward, who does she have to align with? Unless there's some super secret girls alliance that we haven't been shown yet, and she's really in cahoots with the remaining ladies to target Dom and Wendell just when they don't expect it.

I didn't notice that-wonder if it'll be one male and one female winner? So with 2 possible immunities and 3 idols that could come into play, plus an extra vote, that could stack the deck dramatically against someone (looking namely at Michael/Jenna). I am hoping after this week that maybe something will change for them. I don't see Kellyn giving up on her Naviti strong schtick, and she clearly can't see what's going with Dom and Wendell. They don't even have to try hard around her to not look suspicious. So she may assume that it's back to picking Malolo off next week. Angela I don't think is ever in the loop. Had she had a vote tonight she probably would have voted for Michael. Chelsea is an interesting one to watch. No idea where Seabass's head is, and I don't think he does either. So next week could be either very predictable or very interesting.

I disagree about Des. Horrible liar? Yes, but she got backed into a corner. I don't think she was expecting her plan to blow up in her face, which is a rookie Survivor mistake. I liked the shot of Laurel when Des said "you're on the bottom" with Laurel not even seeming fazed and the sound effect that followed. This is a season where Laurel and Donathan are doing the work for Dom and Wendell by being their eyes and ears, and will get screwed by a likely bitter jury in the end. I think Des's plan was terrific, mainly because it involved getting someone I extremely dislike. No doubt Michael/Jenna would have gone along with it, but they had everything to lose tonight so I don't blame them for throwing Des under the bus. It likely bought Michael 3 more days. Maybe some chaos will erupt at camp and save him. Anyway, Des recognized she was on the bottom of Naviti, for a reason I can't figure out if she believed they were Naviti strong and she was tight with Kellyn and Chelsea. So she decided to make a move and take out someone she thought she couldn't beat in the end and whose already proven to be strong in challenges. It would have worked out for Malolo, who would have gained a numbers advantage, and Des could have spurred the wrath of Kellyn on the jury so that's one vote she wouldn't have gotten. Sadly, Des made the fatal mistake of telling the two people in an alliance with Dom and Wendell that she wanted them gone next. She made moves too late, but it's like Laurel and Donathan. If they have any intention of getting away from Dom/Wendell, their opportunity is slipping away.

Two people voted out next week. Will be interesting if Jenna/Michael (the last of original Malolo not aligned with Dom/Wendell) can survive, if any idols come out of the woodwork, and whether the core alliance of 4 gets exposed. Sooner or later someone's got to catch on. My feeling is Michael/Libby/Jenna would have stuck with Malolo had they had the numbers, but it was the Bradley vote that totally sunk them. Jenna is an interesting one, because I'm curious how close she's been to Seabass out there and whether that would have influenced her decision. Laurel/Donathan have spent more time with Wendell/Dom than they did Michael/Jenna. And they didn't seem particularly close to Libby. Dom and Wendell got lucky with the opportunity presented to them in the first tribe swap-one vote didn't go their way, but NuNaviti went on a winning streak, allowing them to create bonds with old Malolo's bottom feeders. I don't know where exactly Laurel was in the Malolo line up, but Donathan was likely one vote away from getting voted off. Had Brendan managed to survive that vote, I'd be curious where we'd be at now, because I don't think he would have gone along with Dom. It might have exposed the four person alliance of Dom/Wendell/Laurel/Donathan earlier. If Brendan survived the vote, then Stephanie survived the next vote, and James had a high chance of surviving the second tribe swap. So Malolo goes into the merge with numbers, putting Laurel/Donathan in an interesting place. Unfortunately, they just didn't have anyone from Naviti willing to flip to give them the numbers.

Chelsea. With all those votes coming up for Des at first, then the two for Michael, I thought for sure he was going, and the 4 votes were a mis direct. Either way, I would have been disappointed. Schoolyard pick.

And Michael lives! And got a reward win! But why Michael, why did you have to ask Donathan to go idol hunting with you? Not sure I'm digging him anymore either, he looks way too confident for a guy that's getting dragged along (Donathan that is). Of course next week I'll be back to thinking he's playing a decent game lol Yay Chelsea for winning immunity! And did Probst seriously give credit to the ladies this season for winning 3 IC in a row?! I can never not laugh when I hear “Sebastian” and “high” in the same sentence. Especially when he’s the one using it. Thanks for not disappointing me in the end credits with your high-as-a-kite facial expression. This Naviti strong is going to bite Kellyn in the ass. If she was a super fan she might remember one Lex van den Berghe who based his game on his gut. Whenever she is voted off I don’t want to hear her say how she was the only one playing the game, because her game frankly sucks. It’s all about Naviti, and that’s it. Hope she felt like an idiot watching this. Imagine other people trying to play their own game! Same for Dom-imagine people trying to target him and Wendell. He did play Kellyn well there, though. Some people get swap fucked, he got swap lucky winding up with Laurel and Donathan. Overall, the season has been good, but this Ghost Island twist has been stupid. What’s the point if practically all the idols have been hidden at camp? That’s been the bulk of cursed items this season. I assume we are heading to idol-geddon again based on 3 idols in play and probably more out there.

Kind of an exciting episode with a not so exciting outcome. Kudos to the editors, I really was at a loss as to who was going. I don’t like you anymore Laurel. You ruined what would have been the best blindside ever. Enjoy losing to Dom and Wendell. I wish Des had added that to her pitch, and said ‘if you go with them you’re playing for 3rd and don’t deserve to be here.’ Good on Des for trying to make moves and realizing her place in the game. Wish you had done this sooner. Why did no one think to call Laurel out and ask, if she’s on the bottom, why would she run to Dom?

Well, the boot list was off. Disappointed to see Des go, but happy Michael survived. Curious what this means for the rest of the order. Really hope this means Kellyn goes sooner rather than later. ETA: two people being voted out next week will be interesting. Won't be surprised if the boot list goes back on track and it's Jenna and Seabass (or if it's off by a week and Jenna/Michael go).

Unless he has the wrong info, Redmond said the next two seasons are newbies. Jeff did say pre show he’d want Libby’s to return one day. Whether he still thinks that I don’t know. She didn’t make much of a mark. Some of the pre jurors got more screen time than she did.

Is this for sure? I had heard they were toying with the idea of making one of those seasons half newbies/half returning players (either FvsF or BvsW). But last I heard it sounded like they weren't going that route. Truthfully, I could do without a returning player season, especially since S40 will probably be a full returning player season.

I guess the bigger question is, how close are Laurel/Donathan. From editing, it seems Laurel is closer to Wendell, and Donathan to Dom, but I think Wendell/Dom are tighter than they are letting the other two know. So really, for a flip plan to work, they would need to do it together to ensure that they at least have some sort of numbers going forward. But really, it would almost have to be very late in the game for them to flip, and make sure the people on the opposing side can't just get an numbers advantage up by scooping up whoever is left of Dom/Wendell. So final 5/6. Dom/Wendell could get blindsided if no one blabs to Donathan/Laurel. However, twice Wendell has looked to be on the hot seat (from an editing point) and neither time did he play his idol. So even if it came back to him that he was going to be blindsided by the other group, which they will clearly deny if confronted, I'm curious if he would take the risk again. I don't want Michael to go next, but I like Des, so I hope her scheming doesn't backfire. I'd think that if you were a true super fan, you might be observant and say, we are blindsiding Dom/Wendell to maybe one or two people, and see if it gets back to them and they confront you. It looks like whatever Des has cooked up gets around and back to her. I did like how Kellyn looked over dramatically panic stricken in the preview.

The showmances/romances that came out of this season:

That's why I say, it'll have to be exactly the right time. And that's assuming the alliance of 4 stays together and under the radar. With the talk of getting Wendell out, whose to say that's not foreshadowing to something? Especially since we see Des scheming this week. Maybe she finds something out that makes her realize what's going on, or that Wendell/Dom each have an idol, and they decide to make a move. If Laurel/Donathan lose their alliance with Dom/Wendell because one of those two is blindsided out, they are screwed, because no one will want to work with them. They almost have to wait and see if their alliance starts to pick off the other side and that side is desperate. However, that can still backfire, because someone like Kellyn might go to Dom/Wendell and tell them what those two are trying to do. Kellyn would be an idiot for doing that, but since she's so Naviti strong minded, I can see her doing it.

I think he could try, I just don't think he'll be successful. Unfortuantely, Donathan and Laurel might be in a lose/lose situation potentially. Right now there's there alliance of 4 against Jenna/Sebass/Chelsea/Kellyn/Des/Michael/Angela. Michael clearly doesn't seem to be in a certain group, but I'm putting him on the side anyway. If they tried to flip and get either Wendell or Dom out, they could fail and risk the wrath. Regardless, they'd have to face one of them back at camp. And they'd still be on the bottom of numbers. They really have to wait until just the right time if they want to flip. At this point, I haven't seen much of Donathan to think he's playing a strong, strategic game. I think he's got game in him, I just don't know how good it is. He's loyal to his alliance for now, as he's the one who told Dom last week about Chris targeting him. Maybe he'll surprise me. Again, given what's been said about him in exit interviews, I don't have high hopes that this jury would vote for him. Even if he did play the game of his life, I think there'd be the "we can't lose to a gay hillbilly from Kentucky" mentality.

Basically Libby said he double crossed her, and Chris and Bradley (who doesn't really count since he's not on the jury) down played his gaming ability and edit as not being as good as it's being shown. Where Chris and Brad are concerned, they seemed to downplay everyone as not playing the game but them.

Totally agree. It doesn't seem like he's getting much respect in exit interviews from his cast mates, but being aligned with Dom and Wendell will definitely be an uphill battle in terms of winning. I don't know if there's many people he could beat that are left.