Jersey Guy 87

I think Joe's condition was actually very serious and I don't think he quit as much as accepted his fate. He was aware of the danger he was in because of his condition and knew he was being pulled. He wasn't a very good player, he was basically just an extra vote for Aubry but he was also having a serious medical issue. I don't know why Aubry didn't reach out to Michelle about going after Cydney as well as Tai - was she worried Michelle would go to Cydney? Given how erratic Tai plays I wouldn't put all my chips in the "I'll get Tai to go along with my plan" basket. Counting on Tai has proven to be the downfall of several players so far.

I knew what the fish/lion thing was right away, but I've been to Singapore so it was something I've seen. I could have figured out all of the clues pretty quickly, especially with access to a map to clear up any of the ones I was unsure of. I know what a minaret is and I know that the Taj Mahal is a mausoleum. I don't believe either was taught to me in school, they are both things I've picked up along the way. And the pyramids were grain silos according to a prominent brain surgeon. Disappointed Burnie and Ashley went out because the last really competent team is Tyler and Korey and I just don't like them. But I'll root for the competent but annoying team or Sheri/Cole because Sheri has done very well, especially considering she's been saddled with Cole. I know that's her fault, but still...

Not on their own - Mark would need a rooster to make relatives.

Kyle proved his lack of any Survivor skills with his vote in the last tribal. Tai tells him "it's Michelle, vote for Michelle." As far as we know nobody else told him anything. Now, Tai could be lying to him and wasn't planning on voting for Michelle but the one thing Kyle should have known for sure was it wasn't Joe. Joe hasn't gotten a single vote this season, his name has never been brought up as a potential bootee (at least not since the early days of the Brains tribe when the wonder duo of Liz and Peter thought he should go, Kyle has no knowledge of that) and there's no way Joe is getting voted out. If Kyle wanted any chance to stay in the game he can't waste his vote on Joe, but that's exactly what he did. His best option was to either vote Michelle (as Tai told him to) or vote Tai in hopes that everyone is gunning to blindside Tai. And after sitting through that tribal council when Tai made it clear he considers Michelle the bottom of the alliance he absolutely shouldn't be wasting his vote on Joe. Joe himself is more useful than that vote was.

If you're going to have the W-turn then I have no problem with allowing the u-turning of the team that gave out the first u-turn. Either it's a strategic element or it's not, that was good game play by Burnsie ans Ashley even if it eliminated a team I liked.

I think they were all stacking the blocks on the "far side" of the balance point so if the rope starts tilting towards you (because you've pulled too hard on it) you could get it to move back by giving some slack. Keep in mind that even the the ropes were not taut they were still pulling the table in the direction of the player.

They were initially set up in order, the producers aren't that sadistic. But when the others dropped theirs they took the few extra seconds to set them up in the right order, Joe didn't do that. You just want to take the next block in line, not have to search for the right one.

At best Kyle would get votes from Scot and Julia. Nobody else is voting for him and Julia is iffy. I'd keep him around no matter how annoying he is. Plus I liked when someone wins individual reward and has to select people to join him/her. It shows the pecking order. I thought the same thing about Kyle - your daughter loves animals so she's going to be thrilled you're hanging out with an elephant and some monkeys? Great. I thought Tai handled tribal council really poorly. He made it clear there's a pecking order, he made it clear Michelle is at the bottom and he was arrogant. Of course, he still has the hidden immunity idol which probably has to be played next week so he's making final four but he probably cost himself a shot at winning.

So Joe actually shows up for an immunity challenge only to be proven spelling impaired. He completely killed his team's chance in the reward challenge as well.

For Tyler/Korey it was a no-brainer. U-turn Kurt and Brodie and hope that's enough. Bernie and Ashley had to think on their feet.

If Burnsie and Ashley had not burned the second u-turn on Tyler and Corey then Kurt and Brodie would still be in the game. So i don't think the first place team handpicked who they wanted eliminated at all. Hah, that's a better memory of reality show winners than I have. Although I do remember Annie Duke getting robbed by Joan Rivers in the Celebrity Apprentice and stopped watching the show because of it. Joan (and her daughter) were vile, petty people and Annie kicked her butt only to lose because Trump apparently preferred Joan.

Jackie had an obnoxious personality and showed little creativity as a chef during challenges. However, despite that she was usually not a disaster in service - she was nominated time after time because of her personality and lack of cooking creativity, not because she was the worst at service on any particular day. And I can't stand Jackie, she annoyed me to no end but give her a specific set of tasks to perform and she'll do it. I thought Kristin would win before the show but during service she floundered a little more than Ariel. Neither chef really impressed me that much in the finale which surprised me because I thought they were two fairly strong contestants. Danni, what a joke. And Frank still sucks.

It's not like she put out the fire and hid the axe and the machete. As some others have said I thought that was actually good game play by Aubry. She told him he was safe but left that little bit of doubt for him to have to decide on his own whether or not to play the idol. Well, Mark the chicken is playing harder than Joe right now. People have threatened to actually kill Mark, nobody even thinks of bringing up Joe's name to vote out. Mark has to scramble a lot more.

I think he knew he was safe and that made dropping out easier. He has to realize he cannot compete physically with most of the people left.

Despite playing both sides hasn't Julia voted with the girls plan (or at least what she was told was their plan) every TC?

The bad Vegas act was ridiculous - why on earth would the Sharks invest in an act doomed to (at best) play at one of the older, in need of renovations casinos in Vegas? If they're lucky they might get to play every other Tuesday at Circus Circus. The My Drinky thing has been done, Amazon lists a ton of competing products (none of which stop the kid from turning the juice box over and spilling all over the place, btw). The woman's problem is her other product has stalled out and she doesn't have any actual new ideas. I'm not going to get to upset at the kids with the ice cream drip thing for not finding a way to market it on their own - they're barely teenagers, good for them for figuring something out and getting a patent and then getting themselves on Shark Tank. Barbara's offer was clearly a pity offering and she'll probably back out but the kids felt good. The stroller thing looks like it makes the kid sick. Pass. Really, overall, a crappy bunch of pitches.

I think Kristin was much friendlier with Ashley than Ariel (after all, earlier in the season both Ariel and Kristin talked about how they didn't like each other but could put aside their differences and work together) so, when talking with someone about who to get out she sided with Ashley. However, after the dinner service she knew that Ariel was the better chef and Ashley wasn't up to the same level. So, rather than appear to be looking for an easy out in front of Ramsay (who was booting whoever he wanted anyway) she correctly said Ashley was the one who deserved to go home. Leaving us with the strongest possible final two. And, overall, this is probably the strongest final three they've had in a long time. Ashley isn't as good as Kristin or Ariel but she's better than the runner up many seasons in the past. Heck, she could have won some of the past seasons. Despite the obvious cannon fodder that stayed too long like Frank and Jackie this season actually had some stronger than usual competitors as well. I'm leaning towards Kristin but Ariel is a good choice as well, Ramsay will actually have a tough decision unless one of them melts down in the finale.

He's made no moves of his own, he doesn't do well in challenges (and wasn't a strong contributor in the team challenges), he's lasted mainly because his tribe didn't go to tribal before the merges and now he's not a threat. He'll get close to the end (could even make a final three) but that's it.

There's no reason to be surprised Joe is still in the game - he's completely harmless to the tattoo brothers (because he will never win a challenge other than one that involves first one dropping out wins) and he's got no involvement in strategy. Yes, he's a vote for the girls alliance but he's not calling the shots or even trying to give input. The tattoo brothers were absolutely correct to target Cydney and then Aubry - Cydney could be a challenge threat, she seems to be playing the game. Aubry is a stealth challenge threat (she came in second twice this week, after all) and is playing the game as well. She is the one who found the opportunity to break the SI alliance by appealing to Tai. When they had the three reward challenge my first thought was "find out what Joe's doing and go for that reward - there's no way he's winning it, he'll be the first one out." Which is how Julia cruised to winning the letters from home.

He had no problem with the tattoo brothers wrecking the camp the week before, he even joined in. I think he felt that he could win by going to the end with them. However, when he realized he had zero input on strategy (the let's work with Aubry/let's target Aubry conversation) he realized he might not be able to win against the tattoo brothers. They could argue that he was only riding their coattails while they did all the strategy. So he jumped ship. Scot and Kyle screwed up, neither of them treated Tai as an equal partner, they both treated him as an accessory carried along for his vote.

I'm fully willing to believe that Kyle and Scot are that dumb when it comes to game play. Reading Scot's exit interviews he seems to lack any self awareness.

So Scot called Tai selfish for siding with an alliance that will just get rid of him when they don't need him. Unlike Scot and Kyle who were just using Tai and will get rid of him when they don't need him. He also thinks that people are claiming Tai was bullied by Kyle and himself - I haven't seen people making those claims, just claims they were using Tai. Which they were. His comments about Alecia show he has no clue. If he thinks Kyle stared calling her Alecia as a friendly name he's even dumber than he played. Of course it was used in a derogatory way.

Everyone seems to think that but I'm not sure. There would be five people voting if Scot was saved. Michelle and Joe would vote for Tai. Scot and Kyle would vote for Aubry. I have no idea who Julia would vote for, it could go either way. Given that Julia is young the lack of a access to real soap,etc. is probably wreaking havoc with her acne. There's zero she can do about that while playing Survivor. I see no real evidence that her hygiene is any worse than anyone else playing right now. But I'm sure everyone else smells really, really nice.

I agree with you, NutMeg. I don't think Tai is a particularly good player either. About the only thing I like about is game is his ability to separate real life from the game and the fact that he seems to be a serious endurance challenge threat. But I don't think he's a very good strategic player at all.

They weren't blindsided by Debbie going home, they were simply better at psychological warfare than they realized.