LadyChatts

I agree that returning player seasons are trickier, due to past game dynamics and relationships outside the game. I'm in the process of re-watching this season, but I feel now as I did then: I would have given the win to Parvati. The heroes seemed to butt hurt over losing miserably and getting their numbers advantage taken away embarrassingly due to JT's idol blunder. Parvati seemed to find herself in a similar situation like Micronesia, where she was targeted early, but spared, and her alliance got the majority. Russell dug his own grave. Since no one had seen Samoa, he could get away with his previous game play, and he believed he had already won once, so didn't think to modify anything he might have done wrong (of course I don't think he thinks he did anything wrong). The jury did seem bitter, but I think that was more the egos of the heroes being crushed.

I remember during PI, they gave them a sewing machine as a reward. IIRC, that was the first 'only the clothes off their back' season when they got tossed overboard. Savage wasn't happy about having to take a dunk in an Armani suit, the first boot (can't remember her name), knew she was in trouble because of the dress she was wearing. And of course, Lil's uniform. Didn't Osten end up selling the clothes he was wearing for items for his tribe to take back to camp? I remember Rupert stealing the other tribes shoes to barter with.

The thing is, he is hardly the first (or the last) to get an invisible edit. Though in his case, maybe it was hard to just be invisible, and be portrayed as being Brad's little puppy following him around everywhere. I can see where Troy might have taken that harder than some other people. But Sarah won, and we didn't even see her until the merge. Here's an interview with Josh Wigler, and the first part of it he does talk about that. https://parade.com/574150/joshwigler/survivor-game-changers-troyzan-robertson-exit-interview/

I just wish they'd choose clothes that are practical for them. Making Sierra wear jeans in Fiji? I'm going to again echo the comments about the challenges. Puzzles are bad enough, but how many compass puzzles were there this season?!

http://ew.com/tv/2017/05/25/survivor-brad-culpepper-game-changers-finale/ Brad thought his immunity winning streak would be impressive enough to win. He didn't realize the kind of game Sarah was playing and thought Andrea and Cirie were pulling the strings. He knew he had lost as soon as Zeke started saying how much he loved Sarah's cut throat game. He thought that Sarah stabbing so many people in the back was a guaranteed loss for her.

I was thinking the same thing. I know it's been speculated for years that that's how the tie would be broken (though I'd forgotten about, since the votes aren't even close anymore), but get some crazy, big move loving, want to make history super fans out there, and they'll probably figure it out. It's why I wish Probst would keep certain things under wraps until the time comes.

And this is why I hate the 3 tribe format. With 2 tribes of 10 people, there's more options to look at, and more people to make blunders before the vote. I agree that in a 6 person tribe at least, they usually go for whoever is perceived weaker.

Unless Brad himself doesn't want to come back, unfortunately, I think he'll keep coming back and coming back until they rig it for him to win.

Well, we've been saying it, but I guess it's finally official. Survivor has finally turned into Big Brother.

That makes me love her ever more. I saw no signs of bitterness from Michaela last night, and while she clearly doesn't care for Brad, I don't think what she said to him was uncalled for. She asked a question about his social game, and if you play a good social game like you claim, you're going to know stuff about people. Probably more than the basic info. I loved that she was a champion for Sarah and laughed about her stealing the advantage. Someone else would have thrown a fit when they found that out, and accused Sarah of taking something from them or saying she should have shared it and they could have used it together. Michaela was fine being outplayed, and getting voted off by something she should have seen.

Andrea had mentioned in an interview that the Ponderosa vibe was different than her previous two Ponderosa's. She said they were like one big party, but everyone here was just over it. I think that was before Tai showed up. For people like Hali, Ozzy, Debbie, and Zeke, they've been there a long time, so I can see why they'd want to be done. Cirie seemed to be in better spirits than I would be, and I don't think anyone would have blamed her if she had a bit of an attitude over her ouster. You can see how much she loves this game, and wants this so badly. But she's just never going to win. And I guarantee next time she comes back, she probably won't do as well, unless she gets lucky to be on a tribe that never goes to TC until the merge again. She's lucky Nuku didn't lose early on, because she might have been an early ouster otherwise.

So two of the oldest women voted out first (it's weird to say that 35 is one of the oldest, but the rest are in their 20s). And there is one more woman over 40. Redmond confirmed the missing male as football player Alan Ball.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/survivor-season-35-castaways-preview-1007465?utm_source=twitter Here's a look at the 6 contestants featured in the preview. Bellhop Ryan is a super fan who wore a turtleneck out there. He already reminds me of Skinny Ryan from PI.

I was impressed he knew that much. Troy knew he had lost, but I wonder when Brad knew the exact moment that he was screwed.

Making my way though the Ponderosa's. Cirie got a heroes welcome. She said she's glad she took that leap 11 years ago for her first season, and would do it all over again. She lost 19 lbs. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and said she kept waiting for the jury to start pulling out idols (hey, the way this show is going...). She said despite the warm welcome, she still recognized it was Ponderosa and represents being out of the game. Cirie is surprised she had no votes at all. She said even though she's out of the game, she's still in game mode and can't help but notice whose talking to who and walking off together at Ponderosa. She said she's going to be a big sister to Michaela and will always be there for her (we see them baking cookies together), and Michaela is blessed to have had this experience with her. She considers Cirie her mentor. Cirie's all smiles to everyone, but in her one on one TH, she's upset. She thinks this affected her emotionally more this time. Debbie believes she would have won this and had it snatched from her. I don't agree with Debbie much, but I will agree on that. Andrea thinks it was a farce, and Zeke thinks it's just the bad luck that comes with Survivor. *************************************************************************************************************************************************** Aubry lost 15 lbs. She was glad she wasn't blindsided, as she knew she was getting voted off. She was happy to see Cirie. She's very happy, and seems to have a very strong bond with Cirie. She said she's glad she wasn't defined this time as being a Survivor nerd that went to Brown University. She didn't think she'd make the merge this time, and was happy for her accomplishments (winning an immunity, getting an idol played for her, being on the winning tribe for the family visit). She said she's gotten everything she could want out of this. I wish we could have seen more of this side of Aubry during the game. She is so much happier and upbeat. She is a little teary that her experience is over, though. *************************************************************************************************************************************************** Tai wasn't surprised but disappointed. He was proud of standing up to Brad. He lost 12 lbs. He was nervous about seeing everyone, but there was no bitterness. He felt closer to some of the people this season than his last, and thought he played a good game. He got a letter from his partner. There really wasn't a lot to his Ponderosa. That's about it, he just reflected on his game and shared some advice his partner had about having fun. Ozzy said he and Tai share a similar experience for this game, as they love it for the experience as a whole. Aubry said Tai is kind of polarizing, and that everyone was tired and over it by the time he got there. Aubry was proud of his TC performance, and is glad to have shared this experience with him

There was. Probst also sky dived and arrived by motorcycle before. I miss those cheesy entrances.

I know Aubry was quite invisible this season until the end, but was the only thing Probst could ask her at the reunion was about Cochran? I hope she returns again. I think playing so close to her last season did a number on her, but coming back down the road, I hope/expect different.

Cirie is a class act, and she handled her ouster wonderfully. I don't think Cirie is ever going to win this game, because no one in their right mind would go to the end with her. I kind of hope she doesn't come back, because I don't want her to ruin her legacy. She already had one early ouster during HvsV. I'd rather see her go out like this, even if it totally sucked how she went out. She's definitely one of the better players to ever play this game, and though I fell briefly out of love with her after Micronesia, she will go down as one of my all time favorite players.

Well, Probst did say that this was intended to prevent exactly that, so...mission accomplished? Though to be real, Sarah was always going to have Zeke, Cirie, and Michaela's votes. Brad was going to get Debbie and Sierra, though I considered Ozzy a toss up, but clearly he's team challenge beast. So there's 6 votes already decided. The real wildcards were going to be Hali, Andrea, Aubry, and Tai (or so I thought). And I don't believe Hali, Andrea, or Aubry would let themselves get persuaded in anyway. I also give credit to Tai, who seems like he's pretty smart and aware when he wants to be. As I put in the episode thread, however, if this cuts down on sob stories and bitter jury speeches then I'm good. I guess I'll see how it plays out next season with newbies.

The only thing I like about the FTC is not so much the jury questions (because regardless of what they say, I believe all or the majority know exactly who they are voting for), but less soap box speeches, and maybe less likely the castaways can use a sob story to plead their case. Otherwise, eh. As long as Probst doesn't meddle and the jurors let them answer the questions, I guess I'm okay with it.

I had to go all the way to the bottom of the page to find his thread. So....you can beat anyone in the final 3, Troy? I'll be curious what he'll say about his invisible edit this season. Probably what the usual invisible folks say (social games don't make for good TV). He really was Brad's vote, though, and I'm glad he got called out for it. I think he was really surprised he was getting virtually ignored at the FTC, but kudos to him for acknowledging he was out of contention. He was a good sport about it.

I'm just going to +1 this entire post. Again, I get them needing twists and changes to keep the game fresh, keep everyone on their toes. This show would likely not be on if it was 16 people on an island that had to win immunities to survive. But it is just too much. And do they decide this at the start of the season? I remember hearing that they were going to do a tribe swap in Outback after the Maralyn vote, but Colby flipped and saved Keith/Tina, so they didn't. Why no tribe swap when Ulong was horribly (and sometimes hilariously) decimating themselves? And I really wonder what prompted this new jury panel this season. I know Probst says it's because of the KR finale, but why not do it for MvsGX first? Or was this a way to keep the heat off of Brad (I'll take my tinfoil hat off now). And Silas...my first ever Survivor crush, destroyed by the first ever game twist.

You know what's interesting is I don't think anyone had any intention of playing their idols or advantages until Tai did. It seemed like Brad, Sarah, and Troy were confident Aubry was going home. Had nothing came into play, Sarah would have been voted out. As soon as Tai stood up, everyone got worried.

Brad had some interesting wardrobe changes. I'm still wondering about the outfit he wore at the last two TC. And totally not digging the mustache. He reminded me of an evil camp counselor that would have been on a 90s made for TV Disney movie.

Her win was well deserved. I'm still up in the air with the new jury format, but she handled it well, and I think pleaded a very convincing case. She beat Brad and Troy, but not a winner I'm jumping up and down in excitement for. I respect how she played the game, and I'm glad she made moves and owned them, and didn't let herself be a number in an alliance that knew she was getting picked off. She played people beautifully.