GenerationX

I'm as big of a puzzle fan as anyone. I have been a GAMES magazine subscriber for decades, and I once renamed a Survivor episode in a TWoP post (S4:E6): "A Night I/We Divide with Gina". That said, I appreciate social/strategic gameplay much more than challenge/puzzle gameplay. The former is far more difficult. Sam didn't have a pile of challenge wins and advantages to allow him to skate through votes.

I found myself rooting for Sam. He adapted and pivoted well, while being entertaining in interviews. He played a far more active game than Rachel, who didn't have to do anywhere near the scrambling Sam did due to her immunity wins and advantages. She certainly played well and deserved the win; I just had more appreciation for his game.

Agreed. The most useful "long-term" strategy is the reverse-engineered "strategy" someone professes at Final Tribal to have used to get to the finals. The more a finalist can plausibly claim that what actually happened was their strategy all along, the better.

Paths to Victory: Rachel - Win immunity or fire-making challenge. Sam - Someone (likely Sue, the Sultaness of Soot) beats Rachel in fire-making. Sue - Pulls the fiercely loyal, didn't even need the Hidden Immunity Idol card while Rachel and/or Sam somehow offend most of the jury. Teeny - Promises to vote for any of the jury members as the winner of S50. .

Best ep of the season! Well played.

Random thoughts on episode 11 - "120% < 600%": Kyle's vote for Teeny was purposeful foreshadowing of his jury vote The time clock for the journey challenge was ingeniously designed Filling out 90 minutes with a suspenseless Tribal is tough.

Random thoughts on episode 10 - "Gone, Gaby, Gone": Are we forming a new society or creating a community? Which is it, show? This is the most wishy-washy, flip-floppiest cast ever My favorite character this season is Genevieve's Teeth I'm right-handed, but I would've definitely held the tray with my left hand to balance the balls. My left hand is my mitt/catching hand, and my right hand is for throwing.

Sam's confessional about trying to get people to trust him while admitting they shouldn't trust him was about as funny a mini-monologue as I've seen this season.

I disagree with the spoilers above about Strawberry Shortcake. I thought I heard this voice:

We're calling it the Bat Bib at our house.

Tiyana - I know you are distraught at not making the jury. And the consequences are that in a couple of weeks, I won't recognize your name or your face. You can take solace, though, in that after a couple of months I won't recognize the name or face of anyone who made the jury or the goat who gets no votes at the final tribal. I may remember the winner or runner-up for a year or so, then they're gone, too. So, in summary, if you bump into me in 2026 and tell me you won S47, I'll just congratulate you on your win.

I'm new to the show and am trying to figure out why someone would choose to keep playing over going back to the floor if they want to win the entire show. The fewer duels, the better. The smaller your territory is, the fewer other categories you need to study.

The most compelling characters in this first half of the season have been Sam and Genevieve. They have been in control of their respective tribes, and I will be curious to see how they react to the merge dynamics.

They should just read the names from the confessional captions. They'd get more intel about who has advantages that way, too.

Four of the six tribe members got votes. It's either Pagong 2.0 or way too many plans, backup plans, contingency plans, and fake plans for anyone to sort out.