Earlfor1

This has been my favorite episode of season 5 so far, for reasons already mentioned above. I do have a question that I have asked several people since the premiere of season 5. Do you think Nora's future has already changed? I asked this because in season 4, during the wedding episode and a few episodes later, Nora's hair was longer and was styled to look younger than mid 20s. It only became shorter after "The Enlightenment ". Could it be that original future Nora was born in 2024/2025 and Iris became pregnant right before Crisis? However Nora changed the timeline during "The Enlightenment ", and she is now about 7 years older and Iris will get pregnant this season. There has to be a reason for the drastic change in her hairstyle and length. Oh. Ragdoll is what nightmares are made of.

Another red flag. Garrett's family live in Manteca, CA. Lake Tahoe/Reno is a 3 and a half hour drive from Manteca. I live 30 minutes west of Manteca, and I visit Tahoe at least 3 times a year. It wasn't the distance that kept them from visiting once a year. I also picked up a vibe from his mom and dad. I am in an interracial marriage ( I am black and my husband is white). My husband and I are liberal and my in-laws are very conservative. They are very judgmental in regards to our relationship and how we raise our children. They visit us once a year from Virginia for a week. I will be honest that I am on edge when they visit. I won't get political here, but there are times in which I told my father-in-law he had to leave and go to a hotel because of his views. He would tell everyone in his family I was keeping him from his grandchildren and son and make me out to be the bad guy. They think that my husband changed because of me, even though he was more liberal than I was when we met. This is why I can't take what Garrett says about his ex at face value, because it could be a case of perception (Garrett's) vs reality. I don't know if this is a case of the chicken or the egg scenario (Garrett's parents are judgmental because of their son's failed marriage, or his ex wife's behavior is a result of his parents who she tried to keep him from- according to Garrett). All I know that it is in bad taste to thrash the ex when she didn't sign up for the show and can't defend herself. At least Blake's mom was on camera and could have defended herself in regards to her cheating when Blake was in high school. (Even in Rachel's season, Olga, Bryan's mom, was in on the joke about her "closeness" to Bryan). I think it is ironic that Garrett "liked" a post about the Parkland school shooting survivors being child actors when Blake is, you know, a school shooting survivor. I really like Blake and think that he is a genuine person, but with this process and timeline, I don't think he is ready to be where Becca wants him to be. If they decide to date long term, then yes. However, Becca is ready for a proposal. I like Jason the best out of the last three remaining. Becca seemed the most at ease with his family and has great chemistry with Jason. I love seeing his parents and brother and brother-in-law interact with each other. They seem so open and at ease with each other. Jason brings out the best in Becca. Colton. Sigh. I smelled producer manipulation. Tia didn't even do a good job reading her script. All of this was to segue into Paradise (Tia) and maybe The Bachelor (Colton) IMO. Could you imagine what the tag line for a virgin Bachelor would be? I think I am done with the season. I will watch MTA and the last hour of ATFR. Just saw your post after I posted. I thought the same thing.

Head Bitch In Charge

I am sorry that you went through this. I did also. It was a three year relationship with someone who was emotionally abusive. I even went to therapy at the end of the relationship because I thought it was my fault somehow. I wanted to learn from that relationship before I began another. I would not have had the strength to leave him if it were not for therapy. Since I don't know what exactly happened between Garrett and his ex wife, I will say that there were some red flags in regards to his story. Unless there was some major intervention after the wedding, that pattern usually continues well into the marriage and he would have had a hard time ending his marriage because of his "bloodline" and shame for his disillusioned matrimony. Secondly, I really hope that he and Becca attend therapy. If not, there will be baggage in this relationship (social media, failed engagement and marriage). I don't want to project my experiences unto them, but in the end, I want all parties to be happy. There are too many issues between them right now that need to be resolved by a professional.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-5860915/Bachelorette-2018-Garrett-Yrigoyens-ex-wife-Kayla-Cunningham.html I am including this story here as it includes spoilers. Since Garrett mentioned his ex wife last night, and marriage and divorce are public record, it was a matter of time before someone pulled up his ex wife's name. His ex wife wasn't on the show to defend herself and I think it was in poor taste to state (and to air) that she was emotionally abusive. She isn't some random ex, and everyone who watches could figure out who she was. Even if she was emotionally abusive, save that story for the fantasy suite date, and just give the standard PR answer that she wasn't right for him and he found out too late.

I understand that people can learn and grow. I respect everyone's right to apologize as we are not perfect. There have been things I had to apologize for. I also respect people's political beliefs that are different from mine, or basic opinions that are different from mine. However, I draw the line with Garrett. The double tap excuse is just garbage. He was a follower of those sites and knew exactly what memes and information they put out. He is not some 18 year old who is still learning about life. And yes, what one likes on social media is a reflection on them. For example, my sister made an innocuous joke on her instagram about the reason my nieces sat so still and were very well behaved was that she had threatened them with a "whipping" (wink smiley face and all). We don't believe in any sort of physical punishment. For her it was an ironic tongue in cheek because many of our mutual friends say that if you don't physically discipline kids, they turn out to be a problem. While the pictures of my nieces were cute, and I knew it was a joke, didn't "like" it because I didn't wasn't to associate myself with supporting physical punishment because it is not who I am. I also feel that he is dishonest. He knew who Becca was. Obviously, he is knows how to use social media. I looked at her social media and knew what her political leanings (are?) were. I knew about her philosophy. He knew a little bit about her background even if she didn't, before filming. Why agree to be on the show if the lead appears to be different than what he supports politically? Something is not right with him. While last year I 100% supported Bryan because I felt he was there for Rachel and they were a good fit, this year, I feel the opposite. I think Garrett misrepresented himself. He even stated on the show that he might not drive a minivan and so his appearance on night one was just a gimmick. So apology or not, I think he and Becca are doomed. I hope she realizes it sooner or later.

I think Winston9-DT3 was referring to Wendell's blue underwear (tongue in cheek) ;) he wore all season.

Coming from Sea Bass, who seemed perpetually high, would make me question him, also. However, Wendell, who at the end wanted to win the FTC, even told Dom to watch his tone with the jury.

I noticed that the people who spent the least amount of time in the game voted for him to win. The ones who spent more time with him didn't. That wasn't lost on me. I believe Dom was flashier so it was much more noticeable to the people not in the game with him as much. However, the people around him more didn't care about that. Secondly, I also noticed the ages of the people who voted for Dom compared to Wendell. Dom's votes skewed younger while Wendell's skewed older. I remember when Survivor first premiered, I was 24 years old. I used to get really worked up when the one I thought played the best game didn't win. Now, I have a greater appreciation for the social aspect of the game due to age and experience. I remember in my late 20's, I was in consideration for a promotion, and I was the best in terms of assistant producers. I was on time with all of my projects, and my work always had the least editorial changes. I didn't get the promotion and was confused. I later talked to my supervisor, and she stated that I was like a robot, producing, but not making the relationship that would inspire people to work for me. It was eye opening. I had always gotten along with everyone, had great work problem solving conversations, but I was also headstrong and didn't budge when I knew I was right. That was when I realized that relationships, not just working (game) relationships, were also important to succeed in my professional life. This anology reminds me of survivor. If one goes back to season one, Mark Burnett always billed this show as a social experiment, even though we see less and less each season. What people value outside of the game will be what they value in the context of the game. While I am not blaming Dom's voters in any way, I just feel that if they had more life experiences, they would have appreciated Wendell's game a bit more. That is why I believe they were more bitter towards Wendell, than Wendell's voters being more bitter toward's Dom. In my opinion, Wendell played a more well rounded game. Yes Dom appeared to be more strategic (Outwit), but Wendell Outplayed and obviously Outlasted better than Dom. I compare this to a teacher having to nominate a student for a scholarship based on no particular merits or qualifications. She has Dom, who excels academically (4.0 GPA), then she has Wendell (3.4 GPA), but is involved in The student welcoming committee, art club, newspaper, and is a student athlete. She decides to give the scholarship to Wendell, but everyone is complaining because Dom had the better GPA. In this scenario, they were both deserving. It just boils down to who places values on what aspect of the game they plan to reward.

Having watched the finale, I have to say that this season was edited strangely compared to others. It was so obvious that Wendell or Dom was going to win. It was just a matter of figuring out which one. Speculating this season has not been as fun as in the past based on how they decided to edit the season. There were episodes in which Wendell was hardly seen, and Dominic dominated the airwaves. It was all Dominic all the time. Now that the season is over, I wonder if this was to hide the winner or if Dominic was a better story teller than Wendell. I hope next season that the edit is a little more balanced. Many of the players seemed invisible, but they were making so many unaired moves. I am so over Probst and his alpha male fascination.

I agree with this. By the F4, I knew it was Ben, too. By the final 8, Ben had doubt and a huge distraction named Chrissy. I have not seen a season in which the editors would show an obvious winner with so many people left. Obvious winners usually have doubt and/or distractions. If Dom wins, I am sure there were footage of survivors plotting to get rid of Dom they could have used to cast doubt with so many people still left in the game. However, Wendell has doubt (he is perceived as the stronger of the duo and has been targeted as such; Dom has begun to talk about the possibility of cutting Wendell). He has a distraction (Dom). Jury connections have been established (seashell scene), and it appears that he knows how to manage people and votes better than Dom (During the merge, after Chris takes everyone to get water and demands they split their votes for Wendell and Dom, Dom wanted to tell Jenna and Libby the new plan. Donathan specifically tells Dom not to tell them, and Dom is flustered stating he doesn't know who to trust. Wendell, a few scenes later is explaining the vote to the ladies stating that it shouldn't be a dictatorship, but a democracy, allowing them to come to his decision on their own.) They are giving us enough information to show why Wendell could win (IMO), but distracting the casual viewer so it would be a surprise.

These are some great points. This is why I think Wendell could win. I believe right now, Dom has the better chance of winning based on visibility. However, his path seems too easy. Will Kellyn and Angela pull a blindside and get Dom out? Will it be another battle like Dom vs. Chris, but this time Wendell wins? Surely the editors wouldn't make it this obvious. I am not certain if both of them can make the final 3. Perhaps with the women winning immunity, the fire challenge is between Dom and Wendell and Dom loses? In order for me to believe Dom is winning, he is going to need some doubt in his editing (He can win, but x may happen. Or so and so are plotting to cut him).

I tried to find more statistics, but couldn't. I amended my previous post. It was 12 winners, not 11. Confessionals count has not been a good predictor throughout the seasons. However, since Probst became the EP (starting from Redemption Island), that percentage of winners with a higher number of confessionals became higher.

http://survivor.wikia.com/wiki/Confessional According to this, 12 out of 35 winners had the highest confessional count. Earl and Sarah's confessional count, If I can recall correctly, were lower than Yau Man and Brad Culpepper, respectively, going into the finale. Richard, Tony, JT, Mike, Rob (RI), and Ben had an overwhelming number of confessionals the episodes leading up to the finale. Many of the nonwinners with the highest count their seasons dictated the storyline (Tai, Sugar, Rupert, Spencer-2nd Chances, Coach) or were the most strategic (Cirie, Rob- All Stars, Russell).