SVNBob

So the last attempt at an issue of ONUSV got sucked into a wormhole by the Mad Scientist. He and the Intern are still busy trying to fix that. While they're doing that, shall we have another round without them involved?

I've got a related answer from TV, but from a show you've probably never heard of: the South Korean variety (read: reality) show "Running Man". The show is about a regular cast of Korean celebrities (and sometimes guests) traveling to different locations within South Korea, and competing in silly games and missions. Most times, they only record once a week. But occasionally, they planned for a second day of recording with a different theme, and put everyone up in a hotel or some other lodging. That's all the set-up you need for this clip from the very start of a second-day recording session.

I'll take this as my cue. For the record, I was not actually upset with the "DL" on me on Day 1. I actually thought it was funny and perfectly within the spirit of a LOL game. But as I was posting that first message, I decided to take on the character of someone who would be annoyed with all the shenanigans going on. After all, every comedy needs someone to play the straight-man.

I know you've already decided on Philippines for your next, so I endorse Guatemala for the next one after that. I've just watched the finales of both those seasons in the last couple weeks, and One World a couple weeks before that. The One World finale was a great microcosm of the winner's game. The Guatemala finale was decidedly not. That's a season that does need to be seen in it's entirety to see the winner's game. Philippines' finale is closer to OW's as to showing how the winner won in a single episode. But it has more of "how the rest lost" as well. And it's also now marred in retrospect because of one of the other finalists.

Well, not all of them. Otherwise the Law & Order franchise wouldn't exist.

Good episode. Loved the format. Wished they'd used it earlier in the show's run so we could have had more. Major nitpick though: that was criminal under-use of Paul F. Tompkins. He's such a good performer. It was great that his plot primarily involved Prentiss, since I've heard and seen the chemistry that he and Paget have when playing off each other. But for that interaction to be limited to a scene and a half, and short scenes at that.... Such a waste.

Rewatched the finale last week as part of prep for S40. Unlike the S24 finale, this one was less a demonstration of why/how Danni won. It was more about how she got a few lucky breaks (which is a valid part of the game, no shade here), and how the dominant alliance made several mistakes along the way, resulting in their losses. I think that in this case, it would have been better to watch the whole season again, and not just the finale. Danni's moves were smaller and peppered throughout the season, and she had less control near the end. But as a side note, I still agreed with Rafe regarding the sacrifice chicken. I wouldn't have eaten it either, but would also have looked the other way if/when the others did. (Besides, it was Day 37. They couldn't have waited 2 more days to get to the end and eat?)

Rewatched the finale of this season as part of preparations for S40. Lots of good thoughts in this thread to respond to as a result. 1: Yeah, that's a thing. Shortly into the episode recap, around some semi-relevant TH, I paused to bring my mother up to date on [redacted]'s legal issue, as she was unaware. After restarting the episode, when he next appeared on screen, she commented that she was already looking at him differently. And that had only been about two minutes. 2: After each of the 3 gave their opening statements at FTC, I asked my mother to just rank the statements, even with us knowing Denise would win. We agreed that Denise had the strongest remarks, and Lisa the weakest. Admitting at FTC that you didn't really start playing the game until about half-way through is never good. [Redacted]'s statements were very middle-of-the-road and old-school Survivor; talking about the Survivor motto, and the target he had to overcome as a returning player. 3: At least RC had the grace and "humility" to turn her lack of "need" for Lisa into saying that she knew Lisa was a smart and sneaky player, and that that was the real reason she wanted to get rid of her. It was also the justification RC had for voting for Lisa in the end. Not really. As I said, [redacted]'s opening statement was about how he came into the game with a target on his back as a returning player (as did the others), so he had to work hard to stay in the game. Penner correctly pointed out that [redacted] never had his name written down even once during the game, as opposed to Penner's name being written 15 times (a near Survivor record at the time). Penner then opined that [redacted] might continue that "perfect game" that night. And if it hadn't been for Carter (the most slack-jawed contestant until the Christy brothers show up in BvW2), that would have been the case. That's one of the things we talked about regarding Penner. He's a storyteller and entertainer. He knows what makes for good TV. Hence his attacks at all of the F3. Each one designed to injure, but not hurt overly much. But none delivered in actual anger. As compared to the "just restrained" anger that Artis had. And to be fair, he did ask permission to reveal Lisa's past, and gave her the opportunity to do it herself if she wanted. She allowed him to have that part of the narrative, instead of controlling it herself. She did have a decent response though, saying it was just a job she had at a certain age, and asked Penner if he'd revealed what he did for a living at the same age in his life. But then again, it's not like he was the one to recognize her first. As far as I remember, it was actually Denise that did, and she was the one that told Penner. In retrospect, he got the "soon-to-be-returning" player edit. Since apparently, TPTB decided they wanted him back for the next season about halfway through this one. And apparently, Peachy went to Malcolm to make the offer on Day 27. And somehow Malcolm knew that's what the conversation was going to be about before Peachy made the offer. So his edit was akin to what they did with Hantz for Samoa. Only Malcolm was actually a decent and likeable person, so they had more "good footage" to work with. Absolutely. And that's why it's going to be interesting to watch her play again. Her strategy is one of the very few that could be implemented exactly as her first game and be just as successful. The problem is that everyone else knows this time that that's her skill set, and how she can use it against them.

I'm glad you all managed to complete an actual DL and somehow managed to get the SK in the process. (And everything about that fits into a theory I had from the start.) Now, if we could avoid the whole "DL-ing someone not playing" toDay, that would be a bonus.

Wait until the culmination of this happens.

There's going to be a special retrospective episode that airs the week before the premiere. From what I've read, it's going to cover highlights from the entire history of Survivor. While you might not be able to catch up, this ought to be of some help to you.

Since I've been invoked (despite not playing), and am facing a DL again (again, despite not actually playing...), I figure I might as well try and help out a little. Only one thing struck me...the second gif of the Top Chef passage. I think that's a literal message. What it means, I'm not going to theorize. Because I'm not playing. Not sure if you're being serious...but she definitely was very attractive in the early days of her career, as seen here.

Another tidbit: A humorous memetic moment happens in episode 5. It's another case of you'll know it when you see it.

Yeah, about that... IIRC, Taylor broke up with his girlfriend shortly before going on Survivor, mainly so he could possibly hook up with someone without a guilty conscience. Enter the -mance with Figgy. Which was apparently more than just for show on both their parts. They had plans to continue the relationship post-Survivor. And did so for a little while after they got back. Until Taylor learned that the girl he broke up with was pregnant, and he was the father. He did do the adult thing and take responsibility for his child, but that also meant the end of the relationship with Figgy. (Now, based on the filming dates and the approximate date of the child's birth, I do believe that Taylor was totally unaware of the pregnancy before he left for the game. The fact that he apparently stepped up immediately upon finding out lends credence to that.)

Just over 2 years later...but two words for you: Reg. Barclay.