Eolivet

I got the feeling Wendell cheated on her. Something she said about "broke my trust." I follow that newschool group pretty closely, but I forgot he's in Philadelphia and she's in New Jersey. Practically kissing cousins, location-wise. I do know Michele dated Jay from mvgx, and if you believe the spoiler person on Vevmo (which I do most of the time, but not about this), she was almost picked to compete on Challenge 33, which aired in spring 2019. I've always maintained CBS had the all-winners season in their back pocket and rescinded their "permission" for Michele to MTV, which the spoiler person vehemently denies. But if Michele was on Challenge 33, she likely couldn't have appeared on this. Wendell also mentioned wanting to compete on The Challenge prior to the all-winners season. If this season is good for anything, it's how much it broke Challenge fans' hearts in terms of Survivor representation (and you're never getting Michaela either, suckers!)

Emphasis mine. Because the image of Adam as a hapless waif is so perfect, I've been chuckling about it for the last hour. He gets lost on the way to the water well! He can't figure out where to put the torch! He makes you nasty coconut soup! He falls down while collecting firewood! Dear Adam, truly this season's damsel in distress.

Beaten to it by seconds! In that case, I'll maintain my joke about the Challenge not having to delay their filming, because that cast has already been exposed to every disease imaginable. (I picture Survivor kicking out Australian Survivor out of Fiji. They always film in the nicest times when Fiji looks idyllic: blue skies, clear water, sunny, and Australian Survivor makes Fiji look like a war zone: cold, overcast, swampy.)

Not days. An hour. It was a very sad story. I just found it a ridiculous contrast to bring up Adam's mother in light of him doing well on a challenge on an episode with Ethan's powerful story.

Boy, the emotional contrast between Ethan recounting his powerful story about going through treatment, getting spinal taps, chemotherapy, being in a room seven years ago and thinking he was going to die, and repeating the mantras he used to get himself through it for that Edge of Extinction challenge ... ... compared with Adam jumping off that ridiculous beam six times, and then after his team wins the challenge, tearfully relating a story his mom told to his eighth grade teacher about how he never gives up when he sets his mind to do something ... Taken together in the same episode, that's a big ol' "yikes." Talk about separating the man from the boy.

To me, the more interesting part of that discussion from Jeremy, Ben and Rob seemed to imply Adam hadn't been helping around camp until then. Maybe part of a strategy to hang back and not be noticed/work on his social game (or "leave the camp work for the big, strong men"). I don't recall seeing him do a lot in mvgx either, but it was never implied he was lazy, just that others were more capable. He's smaller (around 5'7", I think) compared to the other guys, so maybe it was a case of playing to your strengths. But this type of overly enthusiastic "I'm everybody's friend" demeanor was sort of what I thought Adam's game would be at the outset, and a tactic I thought would come across as fake. Sure enough, that's what Jeremy and Rob implied in their confessionals.

I believe this was coming off Jeremy's hero edit and extremely predictable win in Second Chances, and it was widely believed that the next seasons (Kaoh Rong and Millennials vs Gen X, and maybe even Game Changers) hid the winner in plain sight to make for more "exciting" and "unpredictable" winners. Michele, Adam and Sarah were underedited winners with "surprise" winner arcs (where others were more heavily edited), I believe in response to the "predictable" winner arcs. Or that's fan lore, but it always made sense to me. That's why Michele had so little footage: they were trying for a "surprise" win. The "hero" arc returned when Ben won Heroes Healers Hustlers. At least that's how I always saw it.

Who is Michele's ex-boyfriend? Wendell? Nick has a long-time girlfriend/engaged, Ben is married, she and Adam never dated. Those are the only newschool winners it seems like it could be. (Unless she was being metaphorical? And she and either Ben or Adam end up as the only Sele on a swapped tribe. I guess I'll find out.)

I can't believe they've saved the patented "remember me? I played Survivor for my mom" Adam confessional for ... him jumping into the water a bunch of times to retrieve a key in a challenge? Oh, Nick was so charming at tribal council. "Parvati was my high school crush." So glad he was saved.

Adam mispronounced hubris, and used the words "castrate" and "pooped my pants" to describe his performance, and I'm not sure what's the most cringeworthy.

It's official. Jay from Millennials vs Gen X is on next season of MTV's The Challenge (the aptly-named "Total Madness"). Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go pout in the corner, as I wanted him back on a Survivor second chance season. Ugh. https://ew.com/tv/the-challenge-season-35-total-madness-cast/ (There's something funny or sad about it premiering on April Fool's Day. And directly against Survivor. Double ugh.)

Given that the U.S. now has community transmission of coronavirus, it seems unlikely they will start filming without quarantining people (in Los Angeles or asking people to self-quarantine at home). They can't take the chance this will spread on the island. But if they quarantine the cast and the crew going over there (and Fiji has yet to experience local transmission), they should be fine. It might push the filming back a couple weeks, but I'm guessing their lawyers will tell them it's necessary. The three places where Fiji has restricted travelers (other than China) all have high levels of local transmission, which the U.S. does not have yet, and I think the Fijian government could be assuaged if the show can prove these contestants (and crew) are healthy. But given that local transmission is happening in the U.S., if they haven't left yet, I can't see the lawyers letting them without quarantining them first. The last thing they want is to have to stop filming.

Actually, Survivor would seem to be the model of social distancing. They're on an island away from everyone else. Not exactly "search through a crowded marketplace and interact with the locals, a.k.a. community transmission ahoy." I think if the show limits the number of crew interacting with the cast, they have a good chance of being unaffected, unlike Amazing Race, which is designed to spread disease. (sorry, TAR)

A player that ignores all social dynamics reminds me of Spencer and Cochran 1.0, and Adam played a much better game than either of them (he won on his first try, unlike either of them). He's a more social gamebot, better at forming those personal connections. I think Adam has a good grasp on social dynamics until it comes time to make a game move, because I do think in all these cases, Adam was correct in these people liked him personally. Where his thinking fails is not understanding most people are unwilling to set aside personal feelings for game moves. Everything Adam does makes sense in a vacuum, to someone compartmentalizing game and personal relationships. Adam assumes people will drop personal feelings in favor of the game, because that's what Adam himself does. (look no further than what he did to Jay) But a player that ignores all social dynamics wouldn't have gotten the majority of votes in his season. Taylor certainly wouldn't have voted for him (and I don't think Taylor was moved by a sob story). Which is why Adam is much better playing a quiet game hiding behind threats, and working those personal relationships to his advantage. When he's the one who has to pull the trigger on those relationships, he misses -- badly -- and the blowback nearly blows up his game, as we saw here and in mvgx.

Adam has this weird "truth is power" thing that works maybe 50% of the time. He thinks, perhaps correctly, that Rob (and Ethan) would prefer to know a Parvati blindside is coming, rather than be left out of it. Adam also thinks, perhaps correctly, that Rob and Ethan like him as a person (which I do think is true). However, Adam assumes these are common denominators you can add, like "prefer to be kept in the loop + likes you personally = will accept this as being a good game move." It's bizarre how quickly Adam makes personal connections, and how easily he converts them into chess pieces, while thinking he can use his personal connections to smooth over those relationships. It's shockingly similar to what happened with Taylor at the mvgx merge, and I can only assume it happens when Adam has too many options: he starts dramatically overthinking and losing perspective. In looking for a Plan B, he burns Plan A to the ground. I don't think a tribe swap can save him. If anything, I think he's better off as an uneasy number for the Sele newschoolers. The second there's a swap, he may be sacrificed like the chess piece he is, and probably by members of his own tribe.

Well, Adam has done the time-honored "after making a bad game move, I will coincidentally use this moment to unplug from social media, I don't need any of you." So, enjoy this post from his ex-roomie (and still friend, I like to think), Jay from Millennials vs Gen X. (ironically -- to me -- this is the tribal council where Will went home, the only vote on mvgx Adam did successfully dictate)

What on earth has gone so wrong with Adam's game? Why has he abandoned the strategy from his pre-season interviews about playing the oldschoolers against each other versus targeting them outright (as he did last night)? My only explanation continues to be he does not trust the newschoolers and is looking for a Plan B. Ironically, he's now in a position to play the game he knows the best: hiding behind threats. If he decides to take up with Rob and Parvati (and can swing Denise over, as someone in the episode thread said), this is where he's much more comfortable. He'll have threats in front of him and an ally with an idol backing him up, which is where he likes to play. If he sticks with the newschoolers who don't trust him, his days are numbered. They may be numbered anyway, but the oldschoolers need him more now than the new folks do. Never thought Adam, he of the "you never want to be in control" mantra, would contract a serious case of "big move-itis."

Well, Adam on mvgx would be yelling at this Adam that you never want to appear like you're the one in control. Devising a huge blindside plan, then telling everyone about it ... that's control. I'm unclear why Adam doesn't understand the rules change if it's your plan. If it's someone else's plan, you can play all sides. If it's your plan, you can't. You have to leave people out of the plan. That's ... the point of a plan! Coming up with a plan and also telling everyone about the plan means you're my six-year-old. But I think this is playing a huge role: There isn't really a newschooler alliance, it's everyone for themselves. That explains a lot of the sloppy game play, I think. People think much more clearly when they don't have to scramble. Adam's still looking for his solid, trustworthy mvgx alliance. Sorry buddy, but Dave Wright, Hannah and Ken are not walking through that door.

My only explanation for Adam's play is he has basically incepted himself into Survivor. He's taken all his social relationships with these people and assumed they've translated into game relationships. When the game wipes the slate clean. Trust doesn't come gift-wrapped because you played poker or you all went to Rob Cesternino's birthday party together or you have the same manager. Someone who relies as strongly on his relationships as Adam does is handicapped in a season like this, where they all know each other. It's two million dollars. Pre-game alliances are out the window. Put away your All Stars DVDs, Adam. It's 2020. Time to play the game with these people as they are now, not the people you know socially.

Adam is relying waaaaaaaaaaay too much on outside relationships, and not nearly enough on building relationships within the game. Yes, you've played poker with Rob, Adam, but in the game, you've known him for five minutes.

Late to the party, but I always thought Adam mistakes people who like him personally with people who trust him in the game. It was the same mistake he made with Taylor, and he appears to be making it with Ethan.

Thinking out loud about the future of this show, not ratings-wise, but more on a practical level. With coronavirus affecting so many countries worldwide, has Amazing Race become untenable to produce? No Korea, no Italy, no Asian countries of any kind, really. The show itself is a poster child for community transmission ("interact with the locals, search through a crowded marketplace"). Basically, has it hung on all these years only to be killed off by a pandemic?

Wow, Adam has more than Rob?! That's interesting, because I thought the torch mishap was Adam's editing death knell last episode. It made him look ridiculous and there was no reason to show it otherwise (and it apparently happened more than once, according to media reports). I don't know who's winning, but making a contestant look ridiculous through editing is not a good sign (see also: Ben). See also: the caveat that I am absolutely horrible at calling a winner based on editing and continue to do it anyway, because it's fun and it gets me out of the house.

Bingo. That's why I can't get on board with the idea of "Adam was smart to push back." No, he was stupid, and it made him look like he had something to hide. Which he did. Whether he was panicked for Denise or himself, who knows, but at least Denise said nothing. You could interpret that as maybe she was shocked and it took her a while to process. But Adam speaking up: instant target. As you said, Rob was looking for information and Adam offered up a huge piece without being asked. Now if Rob had said directly to Adam, "empty your bag" and Adam was like "this is Survivor, are you actually serious," that could be seen as speaking up for the greater good or whatever. But when everyone else is complying and Adam does his "I'm off to go write my hit song, Alone in my Principles" routine ... it begs the question of why he had a problem with it and nobody else did. Maybe Adam will be like teflon and Rob won't suspect a thing, but I thought that was a bad move especially where Rob is concerned.

Australian Survivor had this advantage at least last year, where it was used as basically a "block a vote." If I recall correctly, they had someone leave who was going to be a number against them/their plan. But I think how they phrased it was (paraphrased) "You can cause any person to leave the tribal council area. That person will not vote and will be immune from the vote." (all I remember is the person who had the advantage didn't use it to send themselves to safety). Not sure if in this case you must play it for yourself. That changes its scope dramatically. If you yourself leave, you're depriving yourself of information. Then it becomes a "this is not an advantage" advantage (and you might as well give it away to someone else). But if you can play it on someone else, that's more interesting. Then you can put plans into play and eliminate numbers against you.