LadyChatts

Judging from this promo image, it looks like it is simply blue and red http://survivorfever.net/images30/s30_press_images_ep5/s30_press_images_ep5_0002.jpg But from this one, it looks like there's still yellow/red/blue http://survivorfever.net/images30/s30_press_images_ep5/s30_press_images_ep5_0001.jpg So maybe they have a sep. RC/IC and swap after the RC? I personally would rather lose someone from the blue collar tribe, but I guess white collar isn't a huge loss.

That's exactly what I'm thinking. I don't have a lot of faith when it comes to twists on this show, mainly because they usually do suck and end up screwing over my favorites. It seemed like a twist Jeff actually liked from the interview I had read. Since he said they had toyed with using it for awhile, I didn't know if maybe there was an unused twist out there from another season that someone might remember. I am intrigued, though.

What I find interesting about So is that she seemed onboard with Shirin in the beginning, and said that's why she targeted Carolyn (among other reasons). Now it seems like she's saying the opposite in terms of what she thought of them. In terms of alliance, I don't know who Max is loyal to. He voted along with Shirin/Carolyn/Tyler in the first boot, but I wondered if that was more getting into what he might have perceived as a weaker alliance where he could call the shots. So wasn't a good gamer from the one episode we saw her in, though given a chance she might have been. The fact that she outed their alliance might have also made her seem like a liability to him. If he thinks there's a tighter bond with Tyler and Carolyn, he might flip to Shirin and Joaquin. Max gives me a vibe that he thinks he's a bigger game player than he probably is, but will want control. With a tribe swap on the horizon, that might be what Shirin needs to stay in the game. At any rate, aside from the BC ladies, I'm liking the remaining female contestants. Shirin is fun to watch.

I put this in the spoiler thread, but since it's not spoiler-y, I guess I can put it here-if someone is injured during the first challenge next week (or what I'm assuming is the first challenge), then would they even have a TC? If the person is injured before the winners are declared and they have to stop, that is. Maybe that's the reason for the 2 episodes next week, no one goes home in the first hour, then they do the swap and eliminate someone then. Of course I haven't heard of any double elimination this season or anyone being pulled due to injury, so I may be wrong on that. I would think they'd have to have a double elimination at some point to make up for not booting someone in the first hour, if that were to happen.

From the challenge photos I saw on Survivor Fever, it looks like the yellow tribe is being dismantled, as I only saw red and blue at that challenge set up. I think I saw someone post it here that between Hali and Jenn, only one of them was likely to make the merge, and that they guessed it'd be Hali. While I'd love a final 3 of Jenn/Joe/Hali, I'm inclined to agree that Hali probably outlasts both of them. Joe and Jenn are my two favorites so I'm hoping they do make it far, at least to the jury (I think Jenn might give a good speech or have interesting questions). But I can see Hali's game being more under the radar, whereas I don't think that will be the case with Jenn (still saying she gets blindsided). And Joe will be too much of a threat. But who knows. Tribe swaps and idols and the actual merge can do a lot of alliance and loyalty shifting in this game. I wonder if NC will go into the swap with 3 members or if they'll manage to win the challenge. Actually, if they have to stop the challenge for a medical reason, would they even do a TC if no one was declared the winner yet? So maybe NC goes into the tribe swap intact with their 4 members. If next week is the "best episode of the season", that's like saying the rest of the season will be the same old boring stale Survivor where boots are obvious and no one does any game play. Also, at the start of the season, Jeff had said in an interview that they were doing something this season they had never done before, but had thought about for many seasons, and it would impact the game. Jeff being Jeff he essentially played coy and said he was leaving it at that. Any idea what he might have been talking about? ETA: I checked out Survivor Fever again, and they have more screen shots from the promos next week. In their voiceover transcript they have Sierra saying "my old tribe is dead to me." Not sure who she winds up with, but I guess we know who she's not aligning with when they are reunited at the merge. Also looks like Joaquin, Tyler, Shirin, and Joe make it to that point.

I think that was a no-win for the girls. Don't ask her, they're ignoring her. Ask her, and she probably would have felt they were mocking her in some way. That whole blow up seemed like she was just seeking attention, and she got it. Vince's plan was to get in her head and turn her against the others, and he obviously did a good job of it. Too bad it backfired on him and he aligned with the one person on his tribe that inadvertently got him booted. Aside from saying the girls ignored her, Nina said she heard everything from Vince about what they were saying about her. She doesn't seem to get it that he might have been lying for strategy reasons. If there wasn't a tribe swap or merge on the horizon, I feel like Nina would have just up and quit and found someone to blame for it. Even Jeff didn't seem to think she'd be able to handle it, in his pre-game assessment. I could possibly believe her that she had this conversation with Joe about how well she'd perform in challenges, though I doubt it was as bad as she's making it out to be. And if he was worried she'd perform poorly, he was right. Though her hearing had nothing to do with it, so that's where he would have been wrong if that's what he meant (for now, next week's challenge is probably what they were worried about). I'm glad she was voted off, for various reasons, but seeing her getting carried through this season playing victim would have worn super thin real fast. I think this season has a lot of potential with some good people left who could actually make the effort to play the game. CBS also has every Survivor season up on their website, though I don't know if they had that uploaded before this season started filming. Regardless, between that, DVDs, the various social media, and old fashioned research, there's no reason not to know your Survivor stuff or stay up on top of the seasons. Nina probably could have learned a lot just googling the Amazon season and finding old interviews with Christy and the cast.

I'm believing more and more that Nina didn't do much to adapt to her tribe, and maybe that's why they gave up trying to adapt to her. I also question if maybe she's embellishing just how bad they were to her out there. She's got an audience now, without her tribe to speak up. She has a worse concept on this game than I thought, for someone who said she's watched for many years. Last week I thought she relished in the attention she got from Vince and Will over her outburst to Jenn and Hali (who both seemed somewhat caught off guard by it). Jenn was right: she enjoys having someone coddle her. Different tribe, different season, would have probably still been the same Nina.

The episode was good, up until the challenge and NC falling apart. The only thing that might have made it slightly less predictable is if Nina did survive over Will. But even then, it was obvious the vote was going to be one of them. But even the best seasons of Survivor have episodes here and there that aren't good compared to the rest of the season. I'm also curious if Jeff's pre-season hype comes true or not. Right now it's too early to tell. I like this cast a lot, and am really curious for the tribe swap to happen and to see what ends up aligning with who. I just hope Rodney and Lindsey get the boot soon. I don't care to see them make the merge and be on the jury (or worse, make it to the end and possibly win). I agree with those who say that even if NC loses another IC and goes into the swap with 3 members, they are still in a good position. Numbers don't always matter like they did once upon a time, especially later in the game and with idols, blindsides, and twists happening. The whole numbers thing and tribes sticking together until the other tribe was completely voted off made for some boring early seasons. I liked when contestants actually made a move and shook things up. I enjoyed seeing more of the team dynamics this week, especially over at BC. I felt like up until this week, I only remembered Dan from that tribe (and not for reasons I wanted to). They're another tribe that intrigues me, since this week it was Rodney/Lindsey vs Mike/Dan, and next week Lindsey goes off Rodney. I don't have an impression on Sierra or Kelly yet (has Sierra even had a confessional?) Kelly is barely on the radar. I have a feeling, though, that BC goes into the merge with the most numbers. Shirin, I'm trying to figure out if acting like a crazy person is just her or strategy. Either way, I like her. Her social game isn't that great, but I wonder if calling Joaquin out has more to do with the fact that she feels in a good position on her tribe. I'm assuming she and Carolyn think he's the next to go if they lose a challenge. Could just be her personality, too, which I can admire. Joaquin comes off as a grade-A douche. His first confessional about women and boozing it up makes me think he'll blow his money just like Fabio did after Nicaragua. In a tribe swap, I think Jenn/Joe could be targets from NC though I believe Hali and Will could skate on through the merge. Hard to say with BC, but a tribe swap could be what Mike and Dan need to survive. Much like Will, no one will consider Dan a physical threat. Unlike Will, Dan doesn't seem to have much game and shoots his mouth off. But why not have someone sitting next to you in the end that's managed to offend the entire jury? WC it's hard to say. I wouldn't mind losing Max, as I think he's more about building some everlasting character that Survivor fans will forever reference, especially when they are making comparisons with new players to old ones. Carolyn has the idol and may need to use it during a tribe swap, but I'm sticking with she goes pre-merge and is blindsided. I like Tyler, and he might be being underestimated as a player. No one has really done or said anything yet that's overly offended me or turned me off. At least, the people still in the game. The people I didn't like have already gotten the boot.

They've announced they are filming in Cambodia the next 2 seasons, so I assume we are good until Survivor 33. Not sure if it's been renewed beyond that (in the past it seemed like they re-newed 2 seasons at a time, since that got them through the TV calender year). Survivor is still performing well in the ratings and the demo, so I don't see CBS letting it go just yet. https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/tvs-survivor-to-drop-contestants-on-koh-rong-78675/ ETA: Here's some snippets from the above article. The location is the tropical island resort of Koh Rong: I am very excited about this location. No offense to San Juan Del Sur, but I'm ready for some new scenery. The French version of Survivor was filming there, and there is a trailer for that season out there that makes me very excited for our version. Sadly, that season in France was cancelled during filming due to the death of a contestant. I had remembered hearing about that, but had forgotten about it until it was brought up in the article above.

Probably won't be long before they just supply them with surf boards. They give them everything else. I feel like the house guests on Big Brother are more deprived.

I can only imagine Nina's emotions and rant when she arrived. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that. I've always wished we got footage of the pre-merge boots at Ponderosa, before they're whisked off to wherever they go for the rest of the game. So being so confident her tribe would be weak without her, then getting to see her reaction to Vince and Nina coming in next. She was far from my favorite person this season, and I'm glad she got voted off first (even if she had potential for drama and perhaps clashes with people from the other tribes). But I do feel sorry for her, in that she got an unlucky break twice. Who knows if she'd ever get a 3rd chance, since this game isn't that kind to bringing early boots back for alumni seasons (though if Francesca got another shot I guess anything is possible). I wish those ladies hadn't just accepted that a woman had to go first, but rallied together to vote one of the guys off. Of course Joaquin pretty much let So take the fall for their lie, so there was that issue. And So outing her alliance at the very first TC was as dumb as Nina telling Will that Vince was gunning for him.

I really thought Hali would be one of the girls this season who disappeared after the premiere, only to re-emerge deep into the merge and you wonder where she came from. I'm pretty impressed with her so far. She does seem nice, and while I didn't think "law student" equaled "no collar" (but that's the theme of the season, a lot of these people don't fit their assigned collar), she hit the nail on the head last night in her speech to Nina about adapting and fitting in. I didn't know if she'd have much game in her, but she seems to at least understand the social aspect of the game. She strikes me as someone that'll likely get along with just about everyone left.

They don't even seem to be looking. Considering NC has dwindling numbers, I'm sure we'll see the scramble coming up to look for it (especially Will-he has to know he's next). But yeah, that is surprising that Carolyn was the only one to have found it, and WC is the only tribe shown looking.

Ah, so she's the crazy screaming one. The Lindsey's I can remember being on this show all seem to have the same personality around camp-loud, confrontational, acting like they're the hardest worker and the biggest asset to lose. Except they're just a lot of hot air. She will probably be good for drama down the road, especially mixing with the other tribes if she makes it that far. I can see why she's the only BC girl to have gotten as much screen time as she has. If she makes the jury, she's my pick to give the super bitter speech.

I agree that it's too early too tell, but I'm enjoying it. Jeff has do to do the "best season ever!" hype, I agree. But something about the hype this time seems like he really means it. Of course I don't usually agree with their definition of best, greatest, etc., so I may the one most disappointed at the end. The Survivor era of seasons 20-29 were pretty dull and forgettable for me (with about 3 exceptions in there), so it could also be why I think this season is so good so far. I got the impression Jeff's hype came from the long term game, when alliances shift and personalities mix and clash, and idols and blindsides will be weekly. For now, though, I am enjoying it. We'll see, as some of my favorites look to be the ones in most trouble moving forward.

At least she's having fun. Yet another reason I hate the whole "collar" theme this season. Big wig exec or not, she's far more NC than Nina ever was (and I'd probably argue more NC free spirited than Hali and Will). A little weird, but could be strategy. Or just getting that it's a game and embracing it, before it's over and you go back to corporate America. I still say she outlasts Carolyn to be the last remaining woman from WC standing (just a hunch, she gives me that vibe she could do well). The fact that Tyler made such a big deal about her painting a target on her back and the blow up with Joaquin makes me believe that she's probably safe for the time being. I could see her getting along well with the remaining NC group, and maybe some of the ladies on BC (that I have yet to remember).

I'm still liking Carolyn, but I think her strategy of sitting back last night while everyone looked for the idol is going to make her a target. Even Tyler was towing the line of playing dumb and looking for an idol that was already found. She will probably follow the Survivor tradition of getting blindsided with the idol in her pocket. Should the WC tribe lose another challenge before the tribe swap/merge, she probably assumes Joaquin will be the target since he was on the outs of the alliance. Seemed a little too comfortable last night. I am still glad she's here, though. Wonder if So regrets not trying to team with the two ladies and Joaquin instead of the alliance that ultimately booted her out first now that she sees how well they are doing.

One thing I'll give Will: he puts up a fight to stick around. I worry about his health, and believe that may be what finally does him in. However, guys like Will that look like sure things to get booted next have made it deep into the game. He won't be any sort of physical threat when the challenges turn individual, and may even enjoy watching the others go at each other for awhile to gain an advantage. He seems to have a better social game than Nina, and Joe is probably right not to trust him. Won't win, but could make it far unless NC loses the next challenge. Then I don't know what will save him. Since NC lost tonight, and had Vince still been around over Jenn like the plan was, I wonder if Vince would have taken him out for being weak.

While I'm curious how Nina would have fared on another tribe, somehow I feel like she would have had the exact same issue. Look at the BC tribe and the bubbling drama that's happening over there over 'your mama' jokes and work ethic. I doubt she would have had a prayer there. She might have been okay on the WC tribe, but only as the weakest member of the alliance and being used for the sole purpose of her vote. Once they didn't need her vote anymore, she'd probably be gone. Listening to her Day After video, I just think adapting and understanding the social aspect of the game was going to be her downfall no matter what. It seemed that everything that came at her was due to her hearing (according to her). Maybe some instances were true, but I think that was just her fall back for every bad experience she had out there was to blame it on her disability. Even the people in her tribe who were trying were over it. Jeff seemed over it. Next weeks challenge that relies on listening may have been a disaster for her. I don't think she was as physically strong as she thinks. Stronger than Will, but not by much. When So targeted Carolyn over age and said she was weak, I thought she was crazy. Carolyn didn't have a chance to prove herself and didn't cost them that first challenge. While Nina didn't cost her a tribe a challenge, she still struggled in them. She's had time to prove herself. It probably would have gotten worse, and likely having low tribe morale wouldn't have helped matters. In interviews Vince gave after his boot, he kind of alluded to being responsible to some of the trouble between Nina, Hali, and Jenn. I actually wonder if he filled her head with a bunch of crap about stuff they were allegedly saying about her, thus making her paranoid and unable to trust them or want to adapt to her tribe members that she thought were talking about her every time they turned their backs. Something else: tonight Nina seemed surprised when she learned why Joe was not having her help in the challenge. When Jeff says "I'll give you a minute to strategize", didn't they bring this up among themselves? And if so, was Nina on board with at the time? Or did Joe just decide on a whim to have her run ahead and Nina went with it, since you don't really have a second to think or ask questions during those challenges. None of the other tribes seemed to have trouble with all their people getting up the ladder, so I again wonder why they sent Nina ahead-especially when they were falling behind. At any rate, Nina is someone I won't miss. So far no one has been booted that I care for, though So and Vince likely would have been good drama down the road.

I like Jenn. I get a bit of a Sugar vibe from her. She's my favorite female out there right now, along with Hali and Carolyn (until I can tell the BC ladies apart anyway, then maybe I can decide whether or not to like them). She's 2nd to Joe as being my favorite out there overall. I think she could have the potential to actually make moves and play a great game vs just getting in an alliance and being a sheep. I hope she makes the merge, though I'm worried with NC dwindling numbers, and a tribe swap that will likely happen down the road in the near future, she may get the short end of the stick and get the last pre-merge boot. Along with Sugar, some of her comments remind me of Kat and I think she may be in for a big blindside. It's also why I'm thinking it might go either way for her. I actually thought last week she might just get the boot, with her "I love TC!" comment. She looked surprised at the very first vote Jeff held up with her name on it (but really, Vince and Nina were going to vote for one of those 3, so why was she surprised). She's probably the only no collar person that I would legitimately classify as acting no collar. She seems to get along with Hali and Joe (there's quite a few photos of her and Joe together on instagram so it seems they stayed friends outside the show), but I'm still questioning the dynamic when it comes to voting on that tribe. With it looking so predictable that Nina was getting booted, I thought the girls might end up forcing a tie to get Will out since Jenn seemed on board with him being the weakest. It's like they go into TC with a plan, but then it goes slightly off course for that tribe. At any rate, here's hoping NC wins next week, because even though Will is likely leaving, I don't want their numbers to get any smaller.

I'm really enjoying this season so far. I love the 3 tribe format so much better, though going forward I hope there's no more themes. I want to mute the TV every time someone has to say "she/he aren't blue/white/no collar" or "it's not the white/blue/no collar way". I'm always leery when Jeff especially hypes a season as being the all time best and the cast the absolute greatest, but it's an improvement over last season. We'll see how it progresses, but 3 episodes in and I'm liking it better than all of last season. Tonight's boot was painfully obvious, but the last 2 weeks were blindsides, so I did wonder if we'd get surprised again (especially since it was so painfully obvious). I felt like Jeff seemed to be more or less pushing for Nina to get voted out tonight. I wish Vince would have targeted either Nina or Will last week, because I thought targeting Jenn as being weak was as bad of an idea as targeting him. He would have had a chance to go after Joe/Jenn down the road (and likewise they would have had a chance to target Vince). He was creepy, but I think it was a harmless creepy and would have made for good TV. Nina and Will were/are liabilities, so keeping either one isn't helping tribe strength. I guess it came down to tribe morale, and this tribe sure needs some after 2 losses in a row. Will is at least upbeat and entertaining and a team player. The No Collars are my favorites, but physically appear to the weakest and are a mess. I understood what Joe was trying to do during the challenge, even if it was a bad idea. What I don't understand is that Nina seemed to have no idea that's what his reasoning was. She went along with it, then seemed offended after. I guess in the heat of the challenge yeah, you don't have a lot of time to ask questions and think. But Nina took quite a few falls in the very first challenge, so I could see Joe's logic there. It didn't seem like the other tribes had people running ahead, so maybe he just assumed she'd slow them down, and that Will was stronger to carry the barrel. But when it didn't work the first time she went ahead, she should have stood her ground and participated, or they should have realized their mistake and let her participate. Regardless, the other tribes were stronger and faster so either way I think NC was doomed. Joe is my eye candy and all sorts of adorable, but I worry he'll get a post-merge boot (since I seem to have a habit of jinxing my favorites). He might be outnumbered in a tribe swap. After the merge he'll likely be a target for a variety of reasons. I appreciated him reaching out to Nina to try and make her feel included. I did wonder if he'd throw a pity vote against Will for her, but his face at TC after casting his vote was obvious who he'd voted for. He seemed to really not want to do that. And speaking of obvious, way to give away the loser of the challenge again producers. The description mentioned a strategy at the challenge would backfire, so as soon as I saw what Joe was doing, I knew they were losing. And last week I thought the promos were somewhat telling that NC lost and someone was getting voted off. I don't really see Jenn as being a horrible human being, and I definitely don't see her and Hali as being the next Jenna/Heidi. I'd probably go as far as saying that maybe they are ignorant, and Jenn basically said last week that she's never really associated with people that are deaf so it was a bit of a struggle to adapt on her part as well. I thought they both had some good insight on Nina needing to adapt to them as much as they did for her, and she wasn't making the effort. But I think Nina was to blame as much for the friction between those two. She made every little hiccup that was swung at her about her disability. I'm sure the truth is somewhere in the middle. She should have gone last week, but I'm glad she's gone now. For her own sanity at least, because I think it would have been the same old broken record playing had she survived, she wouldn't have been trust worthy, and all I could think of was her having some break down and quitting. I just don't think she's cut out for a game like Survivor, as she's one of the worst players I can remember playing. I do wonder what it would have been like for her to be on a different tribe and if she would have been more likable to me. NC has me intrigued a little with the way they vote. I felt like Joe/Jenn/Hali were a solid block but I'm wondering if they are really that tight. Were they splitting the vote again in case of an idol? At any rate, I hope those 3 stick around well into the merge. I think Jenn might be a good gamer and be underestimated. Hali seems to sort of go along with the flow, but at least she's interesting and not a boring floater type. Those 3, along with Tyler, are my four top favorites right now. Blue Collar tribe, I don't like anyone on it. Actually, I'm neutral to Mike. Can't stand Rodney, and I honestly can't tell the 3 women apart over there, other than the one girl has a tattoo on her face. I thought for sure they might throw the challenge tonight given that we saw more of them than I felt like we saw in the last 2 weeks (not to mention all the drama over there). I saw another poster comment about combining the RC/IC might make it less tempting to throw the challenge, which is something I never thought about. Makes good sense. That said, if they believe a tribe swap is coming up, why not get rid of someone that is likely to turn on you when they have other people to align with. I was also hoping that they would lose, just so one tribe doesn't get decimated like NC is on the road to being. Dan crossed the line with the mom joke to Rodney, but I think he got caught up in the moment of joking and it went the one step too far. Of course since he was laying in the shelter and acted out of it while he was being called out I half wondered if maybe he was drunk. I also think tattoo girl is classless and hope she and her mouth get booted sooner rather than later, along with Rodney and his attitude. Interesting that next week Rodney and tattoo girl go at it, and this week it's the opposite. Weren't they in some tight foursome alliance? And what is it with Rodney's mom? First Dan makes a joke that backfired, then tattoo girl yelled in the preview about how his mom raised him. White Collar tribe I'm on the fence about. Don't hate them, but don't care for them. Was Max even in this episode? Joaquin is one to watch. I think he's going to potentially be a big threat down the road. I love Tyler and he seems to actually grasp the concept of the social game. One person shared the fact that they have the idol, the other shared the clue with him. There must be something about that guy that they really like and trust out there. Shirin is a nut, and I feel like her and Carolyn are a little too comfortable with their position out there. Betting one of them gets blindsided if WC goes to tribal next week. I wondered if anyone paid any attention to the fact that Carolyn wasn't looking for the idol and had a light bulb moment as to why she might not be. At least Tyler played dumb over it and pretended to look. Maybe Carolyn should take a crash course on the all the Survivors who thought they were safe only to leave the game with the idol in their pocket. The only thing I like about the WC continuing it's winning streak is that So was so confident that they'd be weak without her, and that Carolyn was holding them back because of her age. And the next two boots after her came from 2 different tribes. Next week should be interesting. Wondering who the collision is with, if someone gets taken out for medical purposes, and if NC can finally pull off a win. Joe's expression in the preview didn't look very happy, so I wonder if it's another NC loss. Also, Rodney and Mike didn't look too concerned on the sidelines, so I wonder if the injured person is in fact with their tribe.