Way Wes Jr

Harley and Jonathan? Perhaps, (N)KotB is a fan. Perhaps one or either of Jelani and Jenny. But forget about the famewhores - I'd definitely apply! Heck, the 24/7 taping factor is one of the reasons I *don't*.

Or likes musicals. The amount of flack I've taken over the years... Unless you're on Team Schadenfreude / Blind Date Train Wreck in which case: keep scraping by! And, as a total aside, I'm one of the folk who believes Laura is a ringer for Amy Adams, so, no trouble remembering which blond is which for me.

You owe me, and probably others, some brain-bleach.

That was unexpected. I’m not complaining, I wasn’t a Vince fan, but that truly seemed like the worst choice of the three Will had to choose from. Given the surprisingly high Survivor acumen we seem to be getting from players this season, I was surprised to see Will choose what I thought was an extraneous red herring thrown into the mix by the editors. Forget the “collar” theme of tribal distribution; the interesting thing so far this season are the intra-tribal age splits. (Okay, not Masaya, with the exception of Carolyn they’re all in the 27-37 range - but if you wanted to argue that Shirin has a more mature outlook, and fits better with the 37 year old Max and Carolyn ... well, I’m not going to argue with your promoting my observation.) Nagarote fell into an old vs. young split, (and I’m sorry Vince, but to Hali, Joe, and Jenn, you are old.,) and Escameca would have also, if not for Kelly being smarter than allowing that to happen. Add the “no collar” attitudes of Shirin and Max, and this could be an interesting merge as long as we don’t end up with the one destroyed tribe being absorbed into the other two model that we’ve had the last two times out. And hopefully this will lead to a reduction in vote-splitting. Personally, I suspect the producers encourage it, by asking, “what if someone has an idol?,” during interview time. Heck, this was probably the result they were hoping for in that encouragement. (Someone going afield in their vote, not specifically losing Vince, whom they were probably hoping to mine for comedy gold all season.) Masaya (Yellow) No changes here, the scenes we had with them, (no post vote? Joaquin must have had an inkling of So’s departure,) were of little help in diagnosing tribal alliances. (And even if Tyler were to ally with Joaquin over nudity-gate, they’d be down 3-2, so that shouldn’t be happening.) 1. Carolyn, 2. Max, 3. Tyler, 4. Joaquin, 5. Shirin If Carolyn is forced to use the idol, she drops to last place. And, as an aside, it occurred to me during the “previously on Survivor,” bit that if I took Max’s course on Survivor, and noticed that he didn’t bother to learn how to make fire before he went on the show, that I’d want my tuition money back Escameca (Blue) Winners of least perceived screen time for the second week in a row, tribal power viewing being limited to Mike trying to take bottom position from Dan by becoming a worker-bee Nazi. Even though I could rank the top four interchangeably, and/or make no changes, I have a bit more to say on these folk. 1. Kelly (5) A huge jump for not doing anything. But, consider: She knew, from the first episode, not to tell the twenty-somethings to get off of her lawn, and while I can’t know if she planned it or not, but her group of four has all three of her tribes women, giving a possibility for the always feared XX-alliance to actually happen. 2. Sierra (1) 3. Lindsey (3) While I think she was overthinking Dan’s “motivations,” (I think he just managed to lose his underwear,) it was an interesting line of reasoning. 4. Rodney (2) 5. Mike (4) Even though he seemed to try to be the most disagreeable person around, and I consider previews to be red herrings, I think he will be perceived as the better “challenge” option of the bottom two. 6. Dan (6) But not for lack of Mike trying. Nagarote (Red) Let us examine Will’s choices. (1) Stick with the young folk,split the vote, and be in the 4-1 majority. Downsides, betraying Nina, whom he felt empathy for, and being the definite #4 of that majority. (2) Use your inside information of the split vote plan to blindside Jenn, be in the 3-2 majority of your tribe - and in a pair within that three. Or (3) use your knowledge to blindside the guy you aren’t 100% on, betraying both the (now) dominant group of three AND your closest ally on the tribe. Yeah. Stick to trying to get acting gigs. Though major props for “the black man’s Kryptonite,” line. 1. Joe (1) 2. Jenn (2) 3. Hali (4) While they didn’t get out their target, they are now the majority block. (A-ha! it’s “Haley,” I was pronouncing it “Holly.”) 4. Nina (6) 5. Will (3) Examine choice (3) in the above paragraph again. BYE Vince (5) But not for the reason(s) I expected. He received a much more favorable edit this episode, and had an excellent elimination attitude. Some of the blame has to go on Nina, for telling Will about Vince’s reservations about Will and challenges, but rational self interest would have had Jenn in this position instead. Survivor contestants: still doing (dumb) things to keep the show interesting after twenty nine seasons!

Am I rooting for anyone? An epoch ending asteroid, maybe? I think it really comes down to who am I rooting AGAINST the least. 1. Jay and Jenna He's pretty invisible, she is as dumb as a stump, they're rookies on a show that deifies veterans. They were lucky enough to be Wes's cannon fodder team for the final - not that he didn't turn on that concept in a heartbeat. (By the way, how does "deifies" rank on the "i before e," exception scale? I'll put it second after weird, because? Irony.) 2. Sarah and Jordan I pity her for the partner catastrophes she has had in the past, and Jordan is at least a self-aware dirtbag. While I think Backpack and Wes overplay aspects of their personalities to be "good TV," I suspect Jordan is just like what we see. 3. Leroy and Nia I am old, and don't watch Real World. (I've seen one season, the first, when they were basically in my peer group... Did I mention, I'm old?) As such, I have minimal pre-reservations about "Hurricane" Nia. That being said, she went over the top in her attack against Nany. 4. Wes and Teresa I kinda like the ginger, (his comment last week about, "THIS is why we come back," really spoke to me,) and I'm ambivalent about Teresa. I almost put them at One, but then I realized that I'd like to a new winner for a change. And for Sarah to pick up a prize check. 5. Backpack and Nany They were eliminated already. (Plus, I know he's the face of the franchise, but I'm tired of him.) Oh, and let me join the other posters with a hearty, (don't) fuck Zach.

This is probably a generational thing. My tween, (ugh, speaking of language related things that cause involuntary eye rolls,) uses "hashtag," all the time. I, unsurprisingly, despise the practice. [Note: I'm old.] A total aside: one of the anchors on ABC's weekend GMA not only tried to use the word "hastag," but she also threw in a two-hand cross-finger gesture. 'Twas so ridiculous I woke up the kids with my laughter.

Thank you for the laugh. Good comparison peach, I think McCrae was in a dangerous position in regards to Amanda. Any chance that folk could move the Vince: Sweet or Stalker? discussion to his thread?

I was wondering if they had to declare their choice, "Share or Chair," before they could open the clue, then travel to the site before they could switch.

Kudos to the editors, I knew that there was no chance Libby&CJ were going to catch up, but a less obsessive viewer may have felt that they had a chance there at the end. I've come to the conclusion that the show is editing out bad taxi luck unless it directly leads to a teams elimination. There have been tons of position switches the last few seasons that are only explainable by a taxi going the wrong way or stopping for gas. But, since that just shows teams whining or being "Ugly Americans," they've elected to not show it anymore. First, the title quote happened at the puzzle box Roadblock. Laura, Jenny, and Jackie were watching their partners, and Jackie said the line first, followed by Laura. Jenny, being appalled at the mangling of the English language opted for, "I do. for sure." And, as an aside, "Who can think outside the box?," sounds like a non-physical challenge; I was surprised that as many men (of the M/F teams,) did the puzzle. As for Libby and CJ, I don't know what they showed in their audition video, but I don't see why they were cast. Hypothesis: Libby applied with a friend, casting came back with, "Are you dating anyone?," and a team was born. (thus explaining why CJ hasn't put a ring on it...) Alternate, or possibly Sub-Hypothesis: CJ does plan on proposing, and they managed to get CBS to spring for a (pre-) Honeymoon. It's been mentioned, but figuring out how to split a trip for a friends/ parent-child/ sibling teams has always been inherently problematic. For teams of strangers who may never want to see each other again? Awk-ward! Besides, this particular first place prize probably has a valuation higher than many of the Travelocity trips in the past.

I think this is one of those questions that probably should be broken down into "era's," but if we are talking the general television audience, rather than fans, I'd guess that forum whipping boy Rob Mariano is probably the most popular winner. As for least favorite, hands down Brian Heidik; his season was unpleasant to watch, he created the goat strategy - making for a despicable final two, and his post-Survivor action(s) just pull him down further. [And please note, this last sentence was written by someone who places Brian H.'s game in Thailand in the top five games ever played.]

This’ll be less “wall o’ text”-y than usual for a first episode; most of you have covered my main thoughts. I think I have mentioned before that ninety minutes is optimal for the Season Opener, (and was wonderful for Amazing Race as well,) which helped generate the “great opener,” comments. [One hour doesn’t give us enough time to learn a large enough chunk of the players, and two hours would just start to drag...] That being said, I still don’t have a good feel for forty percent of our castaways. While I love that the challenge had decision points, and I hope that they continue the concept throughout the tribal phase, I don’t want to see the concept during individual immunity. (Because, someone, somewhere, will complain that the producers are just trying to make things easier for whichever obvious Jiffy Pop “Man-crush” D-Bag is left.) I loathe the attitudes, as seen in this episode, that invariably lead to people of certain ages and gender always being on the chopping block; but I can’t ignore that it always seems to happen. Please (Carolyn, continue to,) prove me wrong! Also, before the merge I rank players on how likely I think they are to make the merge, not how I see their overall position. Onto the Rankings: Nagarote (Red) Three players get the bulk of the screen time, one gets some unavoidably, and two were invisible. I presume production goads them into “collar-speak” during the talking heads, but I really despise them falling into the trap on their own. (And this applies to all three tribes.) 1. Joe. Young, likeable, athletic, his only achilles heel is that he has an enemy he is unaware of. I suspect Joe’ll come out on top of that conflict when it occurs. 2. Jenn. See Joe’s comment above. Verbatim, with appropriate gender pronoun and name switches. 3. Will. Because, penis. 4. Hali. Invisible young person, no penis. 5. Vince. Ugh. I don’t think I’ve turned 180 degrees on a contestant this fast. “Coach”-lite beach dude morphed into scary stalker guy in less than twenty minutes. I’m guessing that if this tribe goes to tribal before he attempts to boil the bunny, they’ll go after the stereotypical first boot first. But if they go a couple of episodes without tribal ... hide the machete like you had a Hantz in your midst. 6. Nina. Older, female, and “other.” Might has well worn a t-shirt that said, “First Boot.” Now it’s possible that she is working the social situation, (like Carolyn and Shirin,) and we didn’t see it, because the episode had to focus on Masaya, but if I can’t see it, I can’t predict it. Escameca (Blue) It feels like this tribe got less screen time than Nagarote, I really ought to rate these folk as a foursome - #5 - #6, but that’d be a cop out. (I reserve the right to cop out in future rankings.) 1. Sierra. Mostly invisible, and either she or Kelly is the smartest one of this tribe. It’s very likely that she was as much to blame for the “mean girls” treatment of Dan as Lindsey was shown to be - but the camera focused on Lindsey. Just because she was wrong about the Honest/ Deceive trap, doesn’t mean she wasn’t thinking smartly about it. (And for being the “big bag,” it was pretty small.) 2. Rodney. Total tool, with a viable strategy of allying with the women. His motives and logic for doing it are reprehensible, but falling back-assward into a good plan still leaves you in a good plan. Plus, they’ll “need him for challenges.” 3. Lindsey. Because this tribe has been shown to be 2-2-1-1, and she’s allied with Rodney. 4. Mike. Box of hammers intellect, but “an asset for challenges.” 5. Kelly. Invisible. Older, but recognizes that she needs to let the 20-somethings have their freak flags fly. I really hope I’m wrong here, and she and Sierra are running the show ala Kim and Chelsea. 6. Dan. Older, with a bad social game. Hopefully he tells Mike to steer clear and avoid his loser-stank. Masaya (Yellow) The “Brain ^H^H^H^H^H” “White Collar” tribe also grabbed their stereotypes with relish. Carolyn, Max, and Shirin all talk like fans, and Tyler played his swing vote position down perfectly. (Now, do Max and Tyler pull in Joaquin, who should be desperate, to blindside Carolyn?) So may have talked at tribal as if there were solid alliances, but I could totally see this tribe being a true chaos-pot each “week.” 1. Carolyn. She has the HII, and everyone knows it. She managed to convince the majority to let her keep it, rather than let them flush it out. She needs to pray that Masaya doesn’t see very many more tribals before a tribal shake-up, or the merge. We saw her work the voting majority intelligently, perhaps with a touch of panic, but without desperation. 2. Max. I suspect hubris will be his downfall, but with Joaquin theoretically on the chopping block, just being male is good pre-merge insurance. Also, in a tribe that was presented as 3-2-1, he is one of the three. 3. Tyler. Played his “deciding vote” position well, but needs to form a bond with Max fast. 4. Joaquin. Caveat - only if they go to tribal within the next two episodes, because they’ll “need him for challenges.” If they win a challenge or two before then, that usefulness will become expendable, like him, (as a television character.) 5. Shirin. Probably worked the social game like a champ, as she wasn’t even discussed as a boot, even though she cost them the challenge. But the narrative demanded Carolyn versus So, so we weren’t shown any footage to let us know anything about her. Probably should be ranked #2, behind Max, but Carolyn’s having found the idol really messes everything up. BYE. So. She and Joaquin were poor liars, and poor idol hunters. Probably had an Alpha fight with Carolyn that we weren’t shown, which meant she never had a chance to throw Joaquin under the bus.

I don't have cable/satellite, (and so, don't care about the non-Real Worlder's,) and I just want to vent about MTV's inane site design. Thanks to the stills and titles of the other assorted clips, including and most especially the ex-isle competition ones, I always know who will be eliminated this episode. Heck, I know who will win the ex-isle competition. On the other hand, I watch the competitions for the insanity of their design, and hate-watch the rest of the show for the insanity of the contestants, so... It's just irritating, that's all.

Oh great, now I'm trying to visualize a 3D Venn diagram. I'm going to obsess over that for a good chunk of the day. Nat's spotlight also expands upon the, "showing the contestant as a more complete human being," winner edit meme.

I don't know if this belongs here, or in the conspiracy thread - there is a Grassy Knoll thread here, right? - but I have two thoughts about the dramatic change in editing this season. First, sorry Keith, is that a woman is the winner; not only that, but the F3, if not the F4, are all women as well. Given the shows rampant misogyny, it's not a surprise that instead of a definable, "look at our strategic hero/ plotting villain," story that we've been force fed, "look at how all these men lost the game," episodes. (And okay, this is pure tin-foil hat territory,) the other is that the editors are deliberately underpresenting the game play of almost the entire cast, in an effort to justify always returning to the returning players trough in future seasons. (Though I think this was said about One World also.)

Green stole most of my points, but I want to chime in regarding the discussion of editing. I, too, prefer fewer threads, rather than more; the Balkanization of subject matter limits discussion rather than expand it. Moreover, not discussing editing on a message board about television is tantamount to belonging to a book club where one isn’t allowed to discuss an author’s use of foreshadowing, parallel plot structure, or irony. The editing of a particular episode may often be the most germane thing about it. For example, my favorite episode this season happens to be the one I felt had the best editing, the obvious boot of Drew. The production team took a potentially “by the book,” episode and turned it into comedy gold. (I understand that others may feel that Jeremy’s blindside was the best job this season, I will not disagree with their opinion.) The editing of prior episodes provides context. When a non-entity gets two confessionals before the immunity challenge, well - that’s an example of bad editing. But, redemption story-arcs, underdog story-arcs, and mastermind stories can only play out looking backwards. Now, I think that the real problem lies with some of us using “edit” as a shorthand term, that can often feel as if we are engaging in speculation, rather than a discussion of an episode at hand. I could write, (prior to this episode,) “Boy, Jon is being presented as a ‘Golden Boy,’ after those first few ‘likeable goof,’ episodes;” but instead I choose to write, “With Jeremy and Josh out, Jon is getting a ‘winners edit.” I’m not speculating that Jon was going to win, I’m using a shorthand vernacular developed after watching, reading, and writing about fourteen years of this program. As a community developed via thoughtful communication, (rather than boob gif’s and coarse insults,) this is a natural occurrence. It may be jarring to a newcomer, but as a group, we are pretty welcoming, and willing to explain our written “tics.” “Winner’s edit, narrator’s edit, first jury member’s edit,” etceteras exist as shorthand terms for, in some cases, sentences upon sentences of supporting text. They’ve become shorthand terms because the Survivor editing team, up until this year, have been very predictable. (and as for my theory on that - I probably should go to the conspiracy thread...)

I just wanted to hear Baylor say, "Do you want Jon, (or Jaclyn,) to win the Million dollars, or do you want it to be me, (or you.)" Blind loyalty to the person who is seen as "running the game," is the least productive thing one can do for ones own game.

The way I'm remembering, (and forgive me for replying before I read the next five pages, but it's late,) is that TAR has had Detours that have had a "cupping" component in at least two previous races - it's just that no teams have ever chosen it before!

I've given up on trying to figure out what the overall "story" the editors are trying to give us this year. I'm not upset, as it is keeping the season 'fresh,' but it makes it virtually impossible to predict. Part of the problem is that, regardless of what the long term editing story is, the individual episodes are incredibly inconsistent. There have been some really good episodes, (Jeremy's blindside, the obvious boot of Drew made entertaining,) and some really ham handed clunkers. This episode - fantastically chaotic tribal saving it as a whole, fell into the latter category. Actually, the voice over during the "previouslies," set the stage to give the result of the episode away. When Probst mentions "no idols being played," he might as well added, "until tonight!" Then, once Reed laid out his three way split, with two of the three having idols ... the only mystery was if Keith would keep his idol or give it to Wes. Part of this is the editing choices the production staff has elected to go with. But part of it is the mix of players. We have fans who accept treachery, and are entertained by it (Josh, Jeremy, Reed, and probably Natalie,) a pair of unapologetic floaters (in the Big Brother, Alison and Jun style,) and a collection of the densest recruits, supplemented by 'loved ones,' who don't have the same enthusiasm as their partners, ever seen on this show. We don't know who is on who's side, because THEY don't know whose side they are on!

Just like the original Gauntlet, the Inferno didn't pay off its "underdog survives," storyline. Add the fact that I really didn't feel like rooting for Katie, and ultimately this wasn't as enjoyable as Gauntlet I. The Inferno eliminations were incredibly lame, but they were constrained by their (as Lantern7 said, convoluted,) save rules - even though the Inferno's were scheduled as male - female - male - female, the fact that an opposite gender match up could happen every time meant that they had to be structured to be gender advantage neutral. CT had an incredible "rookie" season, and Kendal seemed sweet - so she never returned.

I just finished binge watching, and they are so young! I'd never seen Mike on any of the MTV stuff - and as a current WWE watcher, it was really amusing to watch. Coming to the show late (and show forums late,) I never understood why some contestants really brought out the hate in watchers/posters. I'm starting to see how that happened now, (Rachel.) My largest complaint, from a story perspective, is that Adam never received any comeuppance, other than having to share his money with a larger pool of (female) contestants than he would have liked. (And, perhaps, never being invited back? No, according to wikipedia he came back for Gauntlet II. Did karma smack him down there, hopefully? I'd make a snarky punishment comment, but it wouldn't feel appropriate with Diem's passing.)

Or that Jon and Jaclyn are a Fox/Bear combo, and Baylor and Missy are the Goat/Bunny pair. I think it could be argued that Baylor and Missy would be interchangeable depending upon one's perspective. Jaclyn hasn't gotten the screen time to be a fox, but a loyal bear ... you bet. Oh, and I'm pretty sure that if the dynamic splits the other way we'd have: Jeremy - Fox, Natalie - Bear, Baylor - Goat, and Missy - Bunny.

Being a misogynist twit got Drew booted and totally submarined Alec’s alliance? That is just. So. Awesome. While I think BvW is a waste with non-returnee’s, (and thus just a bad idea, as I am anti-returnee,) it does create interesting dynamics. If Jon and Jacyln had been a showmance, or just in a strong alliance, I don’t think he decides to get rid of Josh; he’d think he’d be able to smooth it over. Since that isn’t the nature of the relationship - and I get the feeling she “put her foot down,” - that ‘typical’ Survivor action was changed. (I am also willing to consider that Jon didn’t want to “go against Jeremy,” when he couldn’t vote Jeremy out.) Huyopa (green) 1. Jeremy (11) Million dollar quote, narrator edit, and shown as the leader of the alliance that came out on top. Outside of idol shenanigan's, this season just became much more predictable. 2. Jon (7) Upon reflection, Jacyln’s “million dollar quote,” last week was phrased as being about both her and Jon. (We’ve had MDQ’s uttered about other contestants, rather than by them in the past, most notably Malcom and Russell S. talking about Denise at tribal council.) Given that Jon has an HII and a tertiary narrator role, I’m willing to overlook the danger he is in from being in a strong pair. 3. Baylor (8) Taking the goat position from Alec. While I am not a Baylor “fan,” I cannot state how gleeful I am at the prospect of Alec living out the rest of his stay at the bottom of the tribal pecking order. 4. Jaclyn (3) Not getting the edit I would expect from a F3 member. The final six is looking to be very interesting if it follows the Pagong chalk. 5. Natalie (10) Her edit keeps getting smaller and smaller, not good, as I find myself rooting for her. 6. Missy (9) I don’t need to explain why I think she’s the bottom of the top faction, do I? 7. Reed (5) Unless he blows up back at camp after Josh’s ouster, his being mellow, polite, (and not so misogynistic,) should allow him the best chance of the bottom group to sneak past the top six. With some well timed immunity wins. And some screw ups from the folk above. Or idol shenanigans. 8. Keith (2) I don’t even care that he has the idol anymore. He hasn’t shown the social (graces) gameplay to understand what his best play with it will be on his own, and while I can see him telling Wes, I don’t see him plotting with Reed (his best, last chance,) to figure out the most optimal way to play it. 9. Wes (6) A non-entity on the wrong side of the numbers. 10. Alec (4) Bwa-ha-ha-ha OUT Josh (1) Josh was comfortable with his numbers, and didn't spend the time to make sure that his fellow alliance members were not alienating the most important potential swing vote within his alliance. (Perhaps this is an unshown downside to BvW - was he spending too much time with Reed?) His ouster also explains the heavy dose of Josh TH’s we received so far this season; without a true ‘villain,’ and with very few charismatic narrators, they needed to use all the footage they had of him, while they had him.

The production team had given away that someone would quit in the “coming this season,” preview after the first episode. The editing of Julie was pretty ham-fisted in foreshadowing that it was going to be her, eventually. So, I guess the best that can be said is that she bought Jeremy three more days? As others have said, from an alliance / Pagonging perspective, her quitting just changes the margins - it doesn’t flip power. Huyopa (green) The downside of Julie’s quitting was that we didn’t get to see how the vote went down. And now that Julie isn’t there, perhaps Jon will decide not to flip, (as being in an alliance with a food “thief” he couldn’t trust was what was implied to drive him towards Josh and the “Couples alliance.” [Also amusing? That this is coming from what is being reported as the biggest eater from the tribe that had blasted through their initial bag of rice.]) Without that information, I’ll go with a (modified) version of my conjecture from last week. 1. Josh (1H) I really don’t think he’ll win, but as the edited brains of his faction, I’ll put him in at number one. Someone upthread said that Josh’s gameplay seems frantic, as opposed to Jeremy’s relative level-headedness, and I concur. I think that he’ll end up making one move too many. 2. Keith (1C) The idol. Once he uses it, he’ll drop. 3. Jacyln (4C) Hear me out. She made the quote used as the episode title, a quote that qualifies as only the second “million dollar quote,” of the season. If Josh’s faction makes it to final seven, (or even six if they punt Alec first,) she is not going to be viewed as a threat by these misogynists. At five, if they’ve gotten rid of Jon, all of a sudden in addition to not being a threat, she’s the deciding vote between Josh/Reed and Wes/Keith. (And after that, why wouldn’t the two singles be up for a rock draw against the remaining pair? An “all pairs” alliance is fraught with tactical conundrums.) 4. Alec (4H) Only this high for his goat potential. (The Phillip Shepard position - he can actually go higher.) 5. Reed (3H) To be honest, Reed (and Wes’s,) relative invisibility is the main factor in making me question if I don’t have the winner of next week’s showdown wrong. If Jon and Jaclyn end up causing Josh (or Alec,) to get their torch snuffed next week, I’ll have been wrong, but not surprised. 6. Wes (2H) See Reed's commentary. 7. Jon (2C) The Individual Immunity threat to Josh’s plans. (In Josh’s eyes I’m assuming.) 8. Baylor (3C) She’ll try to glom back onto Josh once she sees which way the wind blows. He won’t trust her, but he’ll have bigger fish to fry. 9. Missy (5C) I can imagine she’s not particularly well liked by the rest - and if it comes down to her versus Baylor, I can imagine Missy throwing her vote away, while Baylor pulls a Cierra. 10. Natalie (5H) Potential immunity challenge wins could keep her alive, but Josh’ll recognize that and target her. 11. Jeremy (7H) Or twelfth, depending upon how you want to view my post last week. The quit gave him three more days to work on Jon, and with the “untrustworthy” Julie gone ... This whole list could be flipped on its head. QUIT Julie (6H) Pretty well covered in this thread already. Nothing to add.

This is always my least favorite ranking to do. If I rank them by tribes, it’s all moot as the previews have revealed that we merge next week. The tribes haven’t merged, so I have no idea which potential alliance is going to take initial control. In addition, this was, once immunity was decided, a totally predictable and boring episode. New Hunahpu (blue) I don’t remember seeing anything that would change the rankings from last week. So, refresher: 1. Josh, 2. Wes, 3. Reed, 4. Alec, 5. Natalie, 6. Julie, and 7. Jeremy New Coyopa (orange) You know what, no changes here either. 1. Keith, 2. Jon, 3. Baylor, 4. Jacyln, 5. Missy BYE Dale (6) But, just for fun, let’s speculate about what will emerge as the power alliance, prepared to Pagong off the smaller one. Here are my main conjectures: Jon has been selling a “Pairs vs Singletons” setup to Baylor, and Josh and Baylor are aligned, (they voted together on the Val and John votes.) So, I’m guessing that half of the twelve contestants will join together (Josh&Reed, Jon&Jacyln, and Baylor&Missy,) and just need to draft either an idiot singleton (Alec,) or the other remaining pair (Keith&Wes.) Eight people is too unwieldy an alliance, but it could form for the first couple of tribal councils after the merge. (Looney theory: Jon told Keith about Dale’s “HII,” and Keith said, “does it look like this?” [Which if they had shown would have made a predictable episode even more so.] Here, the core six blindside Keith, and his HII, after they’ve eliminated Jeremy and Natalie.) So without ranking all twelve, I’ll go ahead and mention that if I had, Natalie would be eleventh and Jeremy twelfth.

For us, as viewers, perhaps. But, I wonder if this isn't a valid race strategy in its way. Obviously lack of food isn't an issue on this show; they are given money to manage, and the pit stops may or may not include a dinner after checking in, and/or a breakfast before leaving. (Back in the Eat/ Sleep/ Mingle days this wasn't a "may or may not" issue. :) ) That being said, folk from the USA tend to believe in the concept of three squares, and psychologically, being able to grab a bite without pausing in the "race," would give me a boost - and perhaps to Kym and Alli as well.