NutMeg

I still think one of his smartest moves was designating Ben as a double agent, which cast a lasting game wedge between Ben and Chrissy which would have gotten either Ben or Chrissy eliminated had Ben not been the idol whisperer and/or Chrissy so good at challenges. I'd be interested to see how he plays with another cast. Indeed, up to the point that I DID like this season, but then again the fact that he was out before the F3, the way it happened and his reaction to it keeps his mystique alive and is even more reason for him to be brought back. At the end of the day, I think being out at 4 will help him much more in the Survivor universe than if he had made the FTC.

And another UO: if you post any link to a video or article without at least a short description of what's it about, I'm not going to bother. Life is busy, if the news you're referring to is as awesome as you say, chances are I'll catch up to it (I read various newspapers, at least an hour a day, international press in diverse colors), but won't look at it (so few videos I have time for... Well, Samantha Bee I make time for, and a few others, but basically I'm either in the mood to read or in the mood to watch, and if the first, I dislike anything that tries to make me do the other, and vice versa. That being said, if a video posted catches my interest, I give it a go, and if the first 20-30 seconds are a go, I leave it in an open browser and come back to it later. And it's thanks to fellow posters that I know and now regularly watch Samantha Bee; or that I added Disturbed's version of the Sound of Silence to my Spotify. (Just two examples among so many others). But yeah don't just post a link to an article or video, tell us at least what the article is about beyond the title or what makes the video worth seeing. @ganesh: in no way is this rant targeted at you. Thank you though for providing me with the impetus for it.

I caught an episode of French Survivor, which is called Koh Lanta but takes place in... Fiji!!! I dont know if the episode I saw is typical or not for the show: because someone had previously been medevaced, the last two voted out, who had been voted off as a pair (???) were to take part in a duel, with the winner getting back in the game. Afterwards, bla bla bla, immunity challenge (pretty good, by the way, with various elimination steps, meaning one person out at each stage, that the two finalist had to redo and win), then a tribal council that was surreal: the person voted out explained how she tried to manoeuvre but failed, thanked everyone, etc. The whole episode - which was loooooooooong, like 120 minutes including adds, was very kumbaya-esqued, all is well, I love you all, and it felt kind of blah to me. Like I saw a future where the game is just the game, and while it could be fun to have this spirit with the current (and some other) cast of Survivor, without a certain drive and will to win it becomes a bad TV show - but still a fun game for the contestants. And writing this makes me wonder: do I want contestants on Survivor to have fun? I always thought I did. But watching this version I realize that while having fun is good, I need more than kumbaya and therefore will be there for the US version until the end. Yes, the challenges have become repetitive, and kinda subpar. BUT the mix of players is still good, at least this season, where with a good or bad strategy, at least everyone is actively playing. For all those who feel this season is bad, I'd say compared to the French version or to seasons like Caramoan or Blue/White/No collar, it's a masterpiece.

Your analysis is interesting, but it assumes that Mike is part of an alliance with Chrissy and Ryan (if that's what you meant), which I'm not sure is the case (abbreviations are confusing, you know!). I think Mike will throw his vote wherever the wind takes him at this point, but maybe it's just me.

Preach it! No way is Lucifer not able to get into the desire of any human, blind or not. I call shenanigans for (silly/bad) plot purposes here.

The thing is that sometimes posters don't even realize they're spoiling because they assume fellow posters watch as they do. Well, dear fellow posters, sometimes I watch a day, or two, or more, later, but it doesn't mean I'm not as invested as you are, so please take it in consideration when you're tempted in show xxx forum to compare it to te most recent episode of show yyy that I may have kept as a reward to watch after I completed x, y and z, because yyy show is so important to me that it can count as a reward. Thank you very much in advance :)

Glad it's not just me! I'm so bad that not only do I forfeit on many a rebate, I also can hardly ever remember the price of anything I buy, unless I make it a point to remember it. Not sure if the family of my ex sees me a a flake or as non committal, my father in law used to ask me about the price of so many things, and in most cases I really had no idea. The weirdest thing is that when I worked very closely with the stock markets, prices changes in % were embedded in my brain but I still had to check my screen for the actual quote, I can remember a price pattern but hardly ever the actual price :(

Sometimes I watch shows that I'm loosely following - and then in a completely unrelated forum, I read something like "after watching this crap, so glad that at lead so and so were eliminated from The Amazing Race/ Survivor, what have you. The hell? that thing has been in my Tivo and I was looking forward to watching it, and you never thought spoiler tags would be needed?

I've always found Devon nice-looking but last episode, when they were all coming in and lining up for the RC, I thought for the first time that he's really gorgeous, whatever the Survivor makeover is, it's a huge success with him.

The thing that puzzles me is that I thought it was cannon that contestants were not allowed to destroy other contestants' immunity idols. So what makes it ok to destroy half an idol? I thought it was forbidden. (Wasn't there a case seasons ago when someone threw someone else's idol in the sea, and the owner of the idol got it back?) I thought all was fair in Survivor within a specific set of rules, but if the rules have become flexible that's a major change. If Mike is such a fan, how could he think it was ok to destroy part of someone's idol? Clearly, he wasn't wrong, but to me that's just weird.

Wow, that's harsh...

In reply to the bolded part (bolding mine), and with the big difference that I do like Chrissy, I'm having flashbacks to China's Amanda, who run the game but didn't get credit because she stayed far away from people she knew she'd have to eliminate. And of course tanked FTC, which is not something I expect of Chrissy should she make it.

Maybe because in Beth he found someone happy to let him be the kid again (I'd love a backstory about Beth and why she chose to parent him so much). And here I disagree. The Rebecca we saw early on in her life wouldn't dress like an old woman, even in her 60s. She'd be more adventurous than that. Like my upstairs neighbour, who's in her 60s, super thin, and rocks leggings with colourful tops/sweaters. Unless her spirit is really broken. Me too. I want Tess to become a main character after this. Because the show missed the boat with Kevin, I want TPTB to make good now with both Tess and Kevin. Also, the Randall character this season is not really working for me.

Thank you - now I know that there must have been a reset of sort (annoying beasts, these resets :( instead of a problem on my side). Thanks again for answering, luckily the thread is not hundreds of page deep, so we should be able to find quickly where we were before the glitch. Good luck to you :)

Are you all getting sent to the first post of the thread or is it just me? (Sorry for the OT post: when I know I have one hour for browsing, and then 20 min are lost navigating posts I've already read, I'm not amused...)

I agree, Randall wants to be the saviour of kids he doesn't know but he's not seeing that by doing so he's adding to the emotional weight on his two little girls. Coming from Randall, who tends to have tunnel vision, it kind of makes sense. But it doesn't fit that Beth is also not seeing her daughters' distress and only sees Randall's. Isn't she supposed to be more rooted in reality than Randall?

She has good game play all right, but she wasn't "older" her first time, was she?

Interesting indeed, because without more background information and without the beginning of their talk we can fill in the blank any way we want :) I guess I just assumed Ryan's thanks were in answer to something before we hadn't seen, which is very me much filling in the blanks! But still, we don't know how the conversation started, and it seems weird that Ryan's first instinct would be to thank Devon rather than to ask him why he turned on his alliance (but not on him, Ryan, whereas Ryan thinks he's the head of the alliance, so in his view he would logically be the first one to eliminate).

Weirdly enough, I'm thinking after reading your post that after bringing the four together she HAD to strike the iron while it was hot, and if she had waited, she might have risked that adrenaline going elsewhere. Ashley and Devon, in particular, had been dying to be back in action, they were so thrilled to be called upon, they had to be part of some game changing move right away.

I can see it with Tom, not with Colby. By alpha male I understand someone who is naturally considered as a leader by his tribe, and maybe your definition is different.

What vote was that? Not challenging you all, just faulty memory about early votes :) Still, as I see it, from Devon's point of view, he was just waiting for the opportunity to rejoin with Ryan. And was delighted when Ryan confirmed that he, Devon, was still his closestest ever. Except that Ben blew that fairytale away. The weird thing is that I think that Ryan was sincere in that Devon is the one he trusted the most, even thought Chrissy was his chosen strategic buddy, and even though he shared his secret idol with Ben (and maybe others). But another of Ryan's mistake was not to treat Devon like a partner to discuss strategy with, while that's what Devon wanted the most. Meanwhile, Ben, then Lauren, and Ashley, were treating him as a strategic partner rather than a vote.

Me too! Ryan has been making mistake after mistake these past two weeks.

Despite the way he looks, I really don't see JP as an alpha male.

You're kidding, right?

Yeah, double episodes! As I was saying earlier (yes, I'm smug), everyone is playing. It's like they're all playing a marathon. Everyone has a strategy beforehand. Some planned a flashy start, and implemented it, but some realized the terrain wasn't the best for that and held on (Ashley). Some knew their strength was in the middle, and held on until they found the right context (Lauren, Devon?). Some are still hoping for the end sprint, when they think they might shine (Mike?). But overall, despite the apparent clumsiness, they are playing, all of them, and that's what is most fascinating for me this season. Dormant players start to play the game hard! Dominant players crumble under unforseen betrayal! Who will arise the most? Who will implode the most? Let's stay tuned... As much as I thought Ryan+idol should have been the optimal first vote, the later convo of Devon and Ryan makes me think that Devon saved Ryan. Didn't he say something like "If it wasn't for me, you'd be gone"? If I heard right, I don't think Devon pushed to keep Ryan for old times' sake, but because once his current alliance is gone, Devon could again be his closest ally. Hell has no fury like an alliance mate scorned, and Devon is going to do his best to get his revenge. Even if he doesn't realize it yet. Ben's "reveal" of Ryan's idol to Devon was a master move and has completely changed the dynamics between D&R. So, Devon saved Ryan, so JP was out. The new alliance could live with that. I like that they're already side-eying Ben, and NOT because he annoys them, but because he is too good at this game. Devon's idea that he plays the double-agent is a double edged sword. Either Ben gets a lot of intel that he decides or not to share with his alliance and stays in the game, and wins in all, or he's exposed as untrustworthy and/or too dangerous and is sent packing soon. Time will tell. Lauren: best ever use of a reward challenge win. Plus I love the bottom of a seven alliance being proactive, for once. And in a masterful way (I know, I know, JP is less satisfactory than Ryan+idol, but hey, you pick your battles, you work on the numbers, and either she wanted to keep Devon happy, or she thought JP as a potential immunity threat was a more direct threat to her potential immunity wins). Also, can I say how much I love that we have Lauren this season, a bad ass, physical powerhouse, because we rarely have these, but also strategic and smart enough to wait for the right moment to strike. I love Lauren. I'm also still liking Chrissy, and am curious to see how she manoeuvres from here on out. I knew that the second IC was hers to win if she made it far enough. She's in a tough situation, if you think about it: get close to people early, and have them be super bitter at you when they're voted out (more so if the "you" is an older female), or keep your distance and have them root against you (aka the Amanda/China situation). I've been thinking it over, and it seems like if you're an older female your best bet is to be one of the last survivors in a decimated tribe (such as Denise). Please tell me there were other times when an older female with a good game pay emerged victorious. Please. Ryan has lost many things over this double episode and the end of the last one. His dominant position. His idol. His special bromance with Devon, which I don't think he realised he was putting in danger by telling Ben about his idol. He's frazzled, famished and now working from the bottom. I'm really curious to see whether he can stil find some game or whether he'll just fold. I suspect Ashley has more game than we see, and that may be reason Lauren felt comfortable reaching out to her. Even if Ashley only has the game we were shown, she's still way better than that women from the blue collar tribe who was brought back, or that women in Palau who refused to see the writing on the wall, or numerous other bottoms of alliances who were convinced that somehow it would all work out for them at some stage. Plus, well, I liked her surfer pose approach to the challenge. But I'm a sucker for people who find original strategies in a challenge. Is there anything interesting in those?