PhoneCop

Yeah, the mustache can go whenever. I think the problem is that Callum has such a boyish face that he either needs to go full beard (at least scruff, anyway) or nothing in order for it to work. Apparently he really did grow it out but they had to dye it for on-camera purposes, so that probably contributes to it looking a bit off. But regardless, yay, Tris is finally back! Can't wait to see him and Carmody playing off each other.

I had a feeling going in that this was the end of the road for Whit. She's above average in the kitchen, which is why I suspect Gordon allowed her to stay this long and why he let her keep the jacket, but her complete lack of politesse was bound to do her in eventually. To whatever extent the winner represents the brand, Whit just wouldn't have been capable of playing that game.

Um...well... [raises hand halfway reluctantly] Give us Tristan.

There's a Caroline? I kid! But she is kind of lost in the scrum—not quite a purple edit, but definitely overshadowed by the likes of confessional king Sam, the second coming of Liz (AKA Andy), and All That Is Sue. Which is funny because she was a big mystery prior to the season, the one person who couldn't be found on social media and who was completely unknown to the spoilers crowd until people Zaprudered promos and identified her by process of elimination. She has the lowest confessional count of the people remaining, and ADHD isn't a particularly distinctive hook. But hey, she's got three more episodes to pop, so you never know.

Heh. according to the Stats page on Inside Survivor, "In the last four seasons with an auction, the player that won the margarita was voted out in the same episode." Jefra (Cagayan), Jenn (Worlds Apart), Kellie (45), and now Sierra. Margarita Curse! Don't drink and Survivor, I guess.

She basically bluffed with the SITD. If the others had had big reactions, she would've known she was the target and presumably played the idol. Since everybody's response was more muted, she figured she was likely safe. The other thing—and IDK if she was thinking this far ahead or it's just a corollary benefit—is that by removing herself from the voting pool, she didn't get the blood of a fellow Gata on her hands. Tidy little jury move.

What an odd season. Most of the cast didn't pop as individuals, but we got entertaining chaos anyway, thanks in part to TPTB coming up with a new twist that actually worked. What's the saying? Oh yeah, Expect the Unexpected. Thanks as always to the feed watchers. And now I can happily delete the spellings of Chelsie and (especially) Makensy's names from my hard drive.

I'm surprised they don't, if only for budgetary reasons*. Once they get down to F5, they should really wrap things up within 10 days. I don't see any reason, gaming-wise or feeds-wise, to drag things out longer than that, especially with the F3 finale model. *I understand not wanting to short the crew a week of work, but they could just add a pre-jury buyback or something.

December is usually the moment of sweet relief where I look back and realize I've forgotten at least half the cast, thanks to Survivor overwriting the show in my brain. This year will be interesting, because I'm not sure I'll retain anyone other than chaos monkeys Tucker and Angela; there was nobody for me to crush on, and even someone like Quinn, who was one of the bigger personalities (relatively) and a chronic fuck-up hasn't left that strong an impression as BB players go. In Friends terms, I'll probably just remember this season as The One With All the Vetos.

Let the record show I made it through 75% of the season without pulling this one out.

I've decided I'm okay if Chelsie romps to a win at this point, just because the prospect of a Cam/Makensy F2 is…uninspiring. Certainly not as objectionable as a Paul/Josh F2, but I'd hate for such an entertainingly chaotic season to end with the two blankest slates in the cast. So just out of curiosity, I looked up the page counts for the feed discussion threads of the last several seasons. I think the word "precipitous" applies here: 20: 502 21: 336 22: 247 23: 128 24: 174 25: 111 Doesn't look like we'll be breaking three digits this year, either. At least it's a lot easier to keep up these days? LOL

Well, when there's no risk of hitting brain...

Interesting. The DE is usually at F7, so maybe they've finally figured out that going from seven to five is deadly for the feeds and decided to push it closer to the end. Or they want to maximize this cast's potential for flip-flopping while they have the numbers to do so. Or both. Jerry O'Connell, huh? Kind of hoping he does all the Chenbot-isms so the hamsters think they're being deepfaked on live TV.

Y'all don't know what I look like, so just imagine a middle-aged Asian dude doubled over with laughter at his desk right now. For me the beauty of this cast is that nobody's been likable or impressive enough as a player that I've gotten overinvested in anybody's game fate. Tucker admittedly won my heart with the silly Steve Irwin narration, but he totally earned his exit and, more importantly, the chaos has continued perfectly well without him. Chaos. That's all I want, really. Messy, messy chaos.

I'm trying to think what value Quinn could have for anyone now besides being a less annoying goat than Angela. Comic relief? That's all I got.