HurricaneVal

I'm just surprised they didn't go with the typical "seemingly worthless inheritance turns out to be very valuable after it is discarded" trope. Instead they went to the continuation of the sibling rivalry "Malcolm took credit for something Marty did" theme. Which is true to the show. I was also expecting the Rolex to be fake.

I like Kyle, and I'd like him to win, but that's my heart talking. My Survivor strategery brain is screaming "WTH, you idiots!!! This may be your one chance to vote out a comp beast, you should have done it." The folks who went on the journey had it right when they all looked at each other and went "Kyle, right? Obviously..." and nodded. Then for some reason....that was that, and pretty much the end of the Kyle talk. Everyone else lost their minds. I know my Survivor strategery brain is supposed to admire Genevieve for all her fancy villainous machinations, but even though she thinks she's being a cold-blooded behind the scenes killer, she's playing emotionally. She's targeting people she doesn't like, or has grudges against, and not necessarily people who make better sense at this stage of the game. She's also being unnecessarily convoluted about it, and telling too many lies. She needs to be more careful about that, because simple conversations between people she's lied to and lied about will expose her and her lies. That's what happened to Rome. All that to say I don't understand them all turning on Sol. Is there something they're not showing us? Does he have a strong campsite social game? Is he having secret alliance-making sessions with everyone? So far he's stayed fairly middle-of-the-pack, not shining in the challenges, yet not slacking either. He's got a good poker face. Maybe he snores? All we've really been shown is him being harassed by Rome. I also have to say I do not like this Big Brother style of "voting with the house."

Oh the look on Trevor's face when he realized his online work colleagues thought he was an out of touch old coot! He was so crushed...especially because they thought Jay was cooler than him, and he thought of Jay as a dweeb. But that looked of crushed humiliation was nicely bookended by his look of amazed joy when he learned that he was a true legend and celebrated by his peers. I was pretty sure that learning all that, and feeling utter happiness with the fulfillment of acceptance, would cause Trevor to get "sucked off" but no. Which is good....because....more for us!

Sam was really grating on my nerves last night. He thinks he's such a golden boy that nobody would even think of targeting because of his inherent awesomeness that he didn't bother to ask around about the vote? I mean it all comes down to editing, and maybe he spent the pre-TC hours moving from group to group, listening to opinions, and trying to sway things in his direction, but all we saw was him swaying in the hammock without a care in the world. I mean, if nobody is talking to you about the vote, doesn't that make you worry that you are the vote? I actually did like the twist on the auction, where they had to go on a treasure hunt--or for Andy a skygazing stroll through the woods and along the beach--for the funds. I also like that there was a random amount in each tube, so everyone had a fair shot. Except for Andy, who is apparently blind. I mean, maybe he was looking for giant bamboo tubes like they used to build their shelter, but a glance at the table with everyone's filling trays, or seeing what was in their hands when they were running back to fill their tray should have clued him in. Yet...no. They've done the "this auction will end at any time" warning, but I liked how Probst teased it, he was clearly having fun. I also liked that they tied losing your vote to the amount of money you had left. That encouraged an all-in mentality, though the results of who got what was extremely predictable, since it matched whoever has the most money. It also prevented people from saving their money to the end in hopes of a letter from home. That's what made Survivor auctions in the past so boring, because nobody bid on anything. I'm not so bugged by the portion sizes, most everyone was only going to get the one thing (Sol being quick off the block with the chips and soda notwithstanding) because they were going to be all-in, so a big portion was fine by me. I mean, those were even some big ass fish eyes! I got worried at the TC when Carolyn or maybe it was Sue, noted Rachel furtively fussing with her backpack and putting something in her pocket. I was all "Oh noes, girl! I get you being nervous and wanting your idol, but even if you don't use it, you just signaled you have an advantage." You could have knocked me over with a feather when she said she used her SITD. That was some pretty good strategizing, using that SITD as a tool to gauge if she really needed to use the idol. Her tribemates are noticing that she's a threat. I hope her nascent alliance with Sol will be beneficial to both of them, and long lived.

That still bugs me that they saw Sue with all the red paint/supposed blood and......just took it at face value? Didn't stop to think, OMG, that's more blood that would come from a scratch, and if "playing with the machete"resulted in that much supposed blood, then where is the detached limb or bone deep gash? Where are their other tribemates? They just shrugged. Maybe Sue intimated about some deeply private perimenopause issue that caused them to ick out and move on. But still......that red paint was an orange-y bright red, not a deep blood red. Then days later when they're all merged and other folks point out the still freshly red paint they go "OooooOOOOOooooooh!" Sigh. Queen Sandra would have strung her up, made her talk, and use the information to her advantage. No shrugging and walking away for her!

I'm on the fence about Patience. I'm thinking the roster of ghosts is getting pretty full, what with the core house ghosts, the cholera cellar ghosts, the redcoat shed ghosts, Crash, Stephanie, plus Carol and now plus Patience. I think the writers need to do a little housecleaning, but they've kind of written themselves into a corner: the core house ghosts are beloved characters, and nobody wants to see them go, yet the easiest way to write off someone like Carol or Patience would be to have them sucked off, then how is that fair? At least Stephanie only wakes up very occasionally, and Crash is usually just in the background, and with the exception of Nancy and Nigel, the cellar and shed ghosts only make rare appearances. Frankly, I'm glad Nigel has moved back to the shed, and presumably Carol is there as well, in her relationship with the piper. Or drummer? That said, I think it would be funny if Patience is drawn to Jay, or rather Jay's cooking. She's lived in the dirt for so long that the tantalizing kitchen smells are irresistible to her. She has a whole moral dilemma over the sin of gluttony, but can't resist the compelling fragrances of exotic ingredients and preparations. Eventually, she just retreats to the pantry, where she stands there and huffs curry, cardamom, and garam masala all day. She begins to idolize Jay as the creator of her new obsession, and his easy going attitude starts to rub off on her, and loosens her up to the point where she gets sucked off because of her enlightened attitude. I see Flower's influence helping there too, little nudges to self-indulgences. Like Flower did for Hetty.

I know! A mysterious bouy shows up exactly when "tree mail" instructs you to look for a mystery prize and King Sam dismisses it out of hand, causing everyone else to say "It must be in the trees!" and.... Yeah. Then Genevieve rethinks it, realizes, duh, that's got to be it.....then still hems and haws about swimming out to get it. Is this the Instacart, Grubhub, and Amazon Same-Day delivery generation? I'm actually really disappointed that Sol didn't get the satisfaction of voting for Rome. I know he said he'd vote for the decoy, so was that him hedging his bets that Rome survives and he can keep an alliance with him by saying he didn't write Rome's name down? Or was Sol fearing Rome was like a cockroach and would survive the vote, and he was saving himself some grief by honestly being able to tell Rome he voted for Andy? I couldn't imagine what Rome doubling-down on the Sol harassment would look like, but I'll bet Sol could. Or was that Sol desperate to stay in so he acquiesces to the larger anti-Rome alliance and agreed to vote for the decoy?

I must say this "new Survivor" is softer. Or maybe the people they're casting are softer, or less able then those cast in the OG seasons. The bamboo for their shelters is precut for them, they don't have to boil their water to make it safe. If they don't have flint, nobody is bothering to try to make a fire the old fashioned way. There also seems to be little initiative. They won the fishing gear, but waited until they got bored to try it, then desultorily waved the gill net around for a few minutes before they gave up and heaped it into a pile? The tribe with the chickens just kept them caged up and didn't build an enclosure for them and then wondered why they didn't lay eggs? Jeff is soft too. He should have said "no give backs, figure it out." Remember when Sandra was all in on killing the baby goat? Or they all had to drink fresh cow blood? Or eat live grubs? Yeah. Kids these days. Get offa my lawn. 😆 That said, Sam is my #1 target now. It started as Andy, then moved to Gabe, but I'm so done with the entitled male figure who arrogantly runs the tribe, or assumes he runs the tribe, and they all let him. If Sierra had thrown in with the girls alliance, her gameplay would have been respected, and she could have been seen as the leader. Now, regardless of what she does, she'll just be Sam's consort. I'm still cracking up at the outrage--the outrage--from Sam and Sierra when their "secret" partnership was being discussed. I mean they were so careful to keep it all on the down low with special handshakes and coded signals and spycraft like that. When in reality they're constantly hanging together, and looking at each other when in a larger group, and their body language is screaming they're working together. Now, whether or not it is a showmance, I don't care. I hope it isn't. But they are obviously a power couple in the game.

I can understand being wary of the Beware Advantage though. Once you accept it, you are committed to it. How was Andy to know that after he dug up the box, one TC immunity was his for free, no strings attached? Beware Advantages in the past have forced the finder to go on bizarrely complicated quests, with no vote in TC until that quest is fulfilled. That said, I did like the progressive nature of this Beware Advantage. It forces the player to weigh the odds and evaluate their position in the tribe. Are they secure? Is the tribe strong, and likely to not lose challenges? I did not like the size of the box though. How the hell is a player supposed to hide an entire treasure trunk away from the rest of the bored tribemates? Especially the oh-so-not-subtle "We're going to get water!" and coming back completely filthy after digging up, then reburying the huge box. I'd be like "I'm not so sure I want that water...." While I don't think Andy was dumb to leave the Beware Advantage behind, I still find him tiresome. Having someone like that in your group who is so constantly needing validation is exhausting, and folks like that can be so emotional volatile that they're likely to turn on those providing the validation.

Even though numbers-wise or appearance-wise, Jon wasn't all that much older than the rest of the tribe, he was certainly much more mature than they all appear to be. Jon was an outsider, so therefore an easy "other" to get rid of, because it appeared to me all they cared about was their good vibes in their inner circle. "Keeping the tribe strong" was just an excuse to try an explain away the fact that they were making a seriously questionable decision. I am a little disappointed in Jeff for pursuing that "keeping the tribe strong" BS. I find it curious where Jeff chooses to probe and pry, and where he just lets stuff lie there with no follow-up. He tries to pretend he's a neutral third party and doesn't want to influence the vote with his questioning, but he clearly does that when it strikes his fancy. Why not this time? Why not ask "if you're keeping the tribe strong, why take out a strong player? Who really is the weakest on this tribe? Shouldn't you be considering that person?" I'm admittedly just all bittercakes about Jon going, because I thought he was interesting and smart, and was looking forward to his candid talks with production analyzing the game play around him. I hope Andy melts down in every episode and drags the tribe down with him.

#1: What the actual fuck? #2: I love all you people. I know I say this every season, but I really mean it. The snark is strong in this group, and I am so here for it. I had so much business travel this summer that I had to skip Big Brother this season, and I didn't realize how much I missed my snarky Primetimer Forum peeps!

I can't remember his name, but there was a contestant on Survivor who had to go out on a medical because he'd eaten too much red meat at a BBQ reward and got really constipated. The two women who were on the same BBQ reward with him tried to get him to eat some grilled veggies or some salad, but he was all about the steak, steak, steak. With a side of ribs. He acknowledged during his leaving that it was embarrassing to go out that way, but he couldn't help it, and he should have listened to the girls. You see this sort of thing over and over on Alone. Man sources protein, man thumps chest in triumph, man grills protein over an open flame, letting valuable nutrients go up in smoke, and valuable fats drip into the fire. Far more efficient, nutritious, and effective would be to stew the protein, bones and all, drink all the broth, and eat the solids. Bonus points if you find wild onions or garlic or herbs to flavor the soup and give a little fiber and nutrition.

I'm on the west coast, and I got home and went to watch BB a little after 9PM, and CBS is showing The Price is Right? What's up with that?

My prediction for next week is: Liz finds the idol and uses it, and whoever she voted for will go home, and it will be either "Kynsey" or "Been" and the chance at a power move to get out either Q or Maria will be wasted. Because she is that lame. Speaking of misspelled TC votes, as we were up thread, I read an interview a while back that misspellings, little decorative touches like hearts or flowers, or writing the name really big or really small were done so when the vote was obsessively dissected back at camp, you could clearly identify your vote by how you wrote it. Smart players changed it up each time so as to not piss off jury members. Of course, some players are just flat out dumb, so some misspellings could just come from that.

Good lord. Venus couldn't read a room even if she had an audio guide and a cheat sheet. Charlie needs to get out from under Maria's shadow. If she wins final immunity, she's going to cut him like she's The Machete. I don't really see what was wrong with the way Maria chose the pizza eaters. I mean, other than deliberating too long which seemed mean, but was really just her being indecisive over what would be best for her game. When everyone else dropped out but Liz and Q, Rock-Paper-Scissors seemed fair to me. The complaints back at camp were unfounded--other than Liz, they chose to step out. Speaking of Liz, I'm now in favor of her making it to Final Tribal Council. Not because I think she deserves it, but because she's so unhinged that I want to hear her FTC campaign speech, and her whiny, defiant answers to the jury's questions. Unfortunately what I think will happen is that Maria or Q--whichever wins final immunity--will have her make fire with Charlie, and she'll just sit there staring helplessly at her twigs and coconut fluff while Charlie industriously goes about building his fire and popping his flag.