S39.E03: Honesty Would Be Chill

[30 Helens]

When did production start handing out water bottles? Tonight I noticed that Jamal was drinking from a “bamboo” cup with an aluminum insert and his initials branded onto the side.  I know the contestants stopped having to boil their own drinking water years ago, but this is too much.

I’m going to take a closer look the next time we get a shot of a sleeping platform. I bet there’s a box spring tucked underneath.

[eskimo]

Sounds to me like Tom just volunteered to be the new puzzle solver.  He's not wrong but he also hasn't stuck his neck out to give it a try himself.  I expect him to show 'em how it's done next challenge.  And if it turns out he's really great at puzzles, then he's an even bigger ass because he didn't step up after he realized during the first challenge that he could do it better. 

Karishma is probably a nice person, but she is just not cut out for this game.  Also, I've never seen less of a reaction to an injury.  It wasn't major, but they didn't know that.  I did feel bad for her.  Missy is my fave on that tribe. 

[Charlesman]

4 hours ago, Bryce Lynch said:

BTW, what was with Sandra and Boston Angelina hedging about whether or not to "call it a wjn".  Of course it was a wjn, he brought back ashes from the dead fire.  What more could they ask of him?

Just faux drama for the cameras. Of course he succeeded in the mission. They are just being TV fake.

[GaT]

Anybody else hum the theme from "Mission Impossible" when Vince was at the other camp? And who was that with the nightmare?

Interesting that they didn't show what Vince told everyone about the island when he got back, we don't know if he told them about Sandra & Rob, or the made up story.

When he didn't play his idol I knew he was going home.

[Maverick]

Boston Rob's face during Vince's blubbering was priceless.  You could tell he was put off but trying hard (and failing) not to show it.  

[Bryce Lynch]

1 hour ago, GaT said:

Anybody else hum the theme from "Mission Impossible" when Vince was at the other camp? And who was that with the nightmare?

Interesting that they didn't show what Vince told everyone about the island when he got back, we don't know if he told them about Sandra & Rob, or the made up story.

When he didn't play his idol I knew he was going home.

It was really idiotic to not play the idol.  He received votes at the last TC, he knew people suspected he had an idol, he knew there was a women's alliance, he knew Karishma didn't fully trust him and he watched her whisper in all the womens' ears at TC.   

How could he possibly feel secure enough not to play it, especially when it was only good for 2 TCs?

[Ellee]

Awww.. I liked Vince. 

[OutOfTheQuestion]

7 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I also thought it was a major turn off when Elizabeth said "I'm not going to vote out Tom.  I want to vote out Vince, nobody will be angry about that."  Which was really gross.  What about Vince?  It was like she spoke about him like he's not even a person, unlike Precious Tom.  And then they all voted Vince out anyway.  Nasty.  He was actually in your alliance.

It seems like Elizabeth's only real alliance is with the rest of the women.  Vince (and Tom and Dean) was just an extra number used to oust Ronnie in the first episode, so he was expendable.

[Ellee]

Anyone thinking that Vince might not have told his story about IOI very well and Elizabeth didn’t want ‘the truth’ to come out?  She was there too. 

[Bryce Lynch]

Watching again is reinforcing how badly some of these people are playing.  

Jamal, instead of being happy to be back in with the majority (or at least pretending to be) was openly skeptical with Dan.  If you are going to go behind Dan's back, make him feel totally comfortable that you are with him.

All his blather about wanting "agency",  for "my moves to be my moves and wanting to "take back control of the game" was foolish.  You never had control of the game.  If you want agency, go along with moves that the majority wants (like voting out Noura) and then build up agency patiently.

Karishma seemed to be being accepted by the other women, but was putting distance between herself and them. 

When they were playing and bathing in the water and one of the women did a suplex wrestling move on another and everyone was laughing, she snapped, "Inappropriate!".   

When she cut herself, I think the reason her tribe mates didn't come running was that while she was panicking inwardly, she was very calm outwardly, making them think it was no big deal.

She seems like the type who constantly tests people to see if they love her or care about her.  To pass her tests one must sense her unspoken feelings or needs and failure to read her mind makes one "dead" to her.

Dean was dumb to blurt out vote splitting, but at least he immediately recognized how stupid it was.

When Vince was stalking the enemy fire, with what resembled a knife in his hand, I was thinking he was thinking, "OK, I will kill them all in their sleep, and then steal their fire." 😀

[MissEwa]

8 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

The new Purple is Chelsea.  What the hell?  I never saw her before today.

It's early days and I'm hopeless with names but I *think* Chelsea was the one who found the idol last episode? And she did something else too - maybe in the challenge? 

7 hours ago, Melina22 said:

When she cut her hand, my legs felt all wobbly. Yuck. I was shocked at the tribe's non-reaction. If someone slices their hand then almost passes out, why would you totally ignore them? She wasn't screaming or making a scene, just quietly trying not to faint. That was cold. 

Same. I am not good with blood but when it was dribbling through her fingers... ick. She did walk away, but maybe... four feet? And then she's lying there with her head down and her arm out and - as much as they don't like us to remember this - is being filmed in close-up. And the way they all stood around throwing glances at the camera seemed to me like they knew - it was very much that vibe when someone's making a scene in public and everyone's deliberately not noticing. Very weird. 

I am annoyed we didn't get anything between Elizabeth and Vince when he came back. 

57 minutes ago, Ellee said:

Anyone thinking that Vince might not have told his story about IOI very well and Elizabeth didn’t want ‘the truth’ to come out?  She was there too. 

This has occurred to me, and I do wonder if they did talk and he handled it really badly - threatened to tell everyone she lied or blackmailed her for her vote or something. Maybe that's why she was so adamant that he should go. 

The weird little flashforwards we're getting at the beginning of the episode are awful and make the first act feel so disjointed. I keep wondering if it's my streaming playing up. Have we even had opening credits this season, or are we just done with them now? 

Overall... decent episode. I wanted Vince to go over Tom but I was kind of glad Karishma didn't go. I don't love her but for whatever reason it always kind of bums me out when someone's upset about being on the outs and disliked and it turns out they're not just being paranoid. That said, if your idol is only good for two tribals and you get ANY inkling of trouble, just play it. Honestly.

[Ellee]

@MissEwa

I thought that maybe Vince had handled it poorly but wasn’t thinking that he threatened to tell everyone. I was thinking Elizabeth wanted to protect her standing with the group as ‘being honest’ about IOI. 

Itll be interesting to me to see if her target for next TC was also the person that went to IOI. 

[Bryce Lynch]

4 minutes ago, MissEwa said:

It's early days and I'm hopeless with names but I *think* Chelsea was the one who found the idol last episode? And she did something else too - maybe in the challenge? 

Same. I am not good with blood but when it was dribbling through her fingers... ick. She did walk away, but maybe... four feet? And then she's lying there with her head down and her arm out and - as much as they don't like us to remember this - is being filmed in close-up. And the way they all stood around throwing glances at the camera seemed to me like they knew - it was very much that vibe when someone's making a scene in public and everyone's deliberately not noticing. Very weird. 

I am annoyed we didn't get anything between Elizabeth and Vince when he came back. 

This has occurred to me, and I do wonder if they did talk and he handled it really badly - threatened to tell everyone she lied or blackmailed her for her vote or something. Maybe that's why she was so adamant that he should go. 

The weird little flashforwards we're getting at the beginning of the episode are awful and make the first act feel so disjointed. I keep wondering if it's my streaming playing up. Have we even had opening credits this season, or are we just done with them now? 

Overall... decent episode. I wanted Vince to go over Tom but I was kind of glad Karishma didn't go. I don't love her but for whatever reason it always kind of bums me out when someone's upset about being on the outs and disliked and it turns out they're not just being paranoid. That said, if your idol is only good for two tribals and you get ANY inkling of trouble, just play it. Honestly.

But Karishma WAS being paranoid.  All the women voted with her for Vince and Vince thought he was voting with her when he voted for Tom.  Only Dean, Aaron and Tom, who she knew she wasn't in an alliance with, voted for her.

[Haleth]

You all are much nicer than I am.  I saw Karishma's reaction to her cut as a ploy for sympathy.  She felt "different" than her tribemates so here was a chance for her to make them feel kindly toward her.  Except it didn't work.  No one fell for it.  I didn't believe for a minute that she was going to faint.  Since we didn't hear anything about how it was treated, no stitches, no visit from Dr Joe, it appeared to have been a superficial cut.

Did anyone else think Vince's mission possible looked staged?  I'm sure it was just the editing but even after the nightmare incident several of that tribe woke up when they heard noises but no one even sat up to look around?  Kinda fishy.

8 hours ago, North of Eden said:

If you can't  properly edit a show you should probably not be working on one of the crown jewels of CBS...SURVIVOR. I mean really...you set up this whole Island of the Idols thing with Rob and Sandra  and then when finally two people  who are on the same tribe KNOW about it and are at last in the "same room" so to speak...we get nothing...no conversation...zip, zero nada....the editors dropped the ball on that and should be out on their ears.

Yes!  Agree!

33 minutes ago, MissEwa said:

This has occurred to me, and I do wonder if they did talk and he handled it really badly - threatened to tell everyone she lied or blackmailed her for her vote or something. Maybe that's why she was so adamant that he should go. 

If this happened we should have seen it.  Bad editors!

[Fake Jan Brady]

4 hours ago, Maverick said:

Boston Rob's face during Vince's blubbering was priceless.  You could tell he was put off but trying hard (and failing) not to show it.  

"You don't know where you're from?"

[JudyObscure]

45 minutes ago, Bryce Lynch said:

When they were playing and bathing in the water and one of the women did a suplex wrestling move on another and everyone was laughing, she snapped, "Inappropriate!". 

Oh my gosh I missed that. I think  Karishma may only want to be a lawyer as a stepping stone to judge. She really needs to step back and learn to give people the benefit of the doubt. 

Anytime someone goes on Survivor and complains about not fitting in I wonder what in the world they could be talking about.  Everyone is among strangers and they are all focused on ultimately sticking it to each other.

Did Karishma think Vince "fit in" and felt like he was with his soulmates?  She felt old?  What about Tom? Does she think Elaine is as at ease with this group as she is in the factory break room?  How do you suppose Missy feels? And I seriously doubt that Elizabeth and Chelsea would ever have been in the same sorority.  

If she ever watched this show she would have seen all the sobbing that goes on at family visits and heard them explain it's because it's the first time they've felt they weren't alone among enemies.

That's what she should have been prepared for.  That and underwear clothing.

[ByaNose]

The mini preview at the start of the show is throwing me off. If you aren't going to do "previously on" then don't do the mini preview either. I know that Jeff and TPTB like to drop and mix things up but I don't like the changes to this season. While I think dropping the opening credits altogether is dumb I can survive without it but you really need to show the "previously on" for the viewers.

[BusyOctober]

I missed Karishma actually cutting her hand, but heard "I can see bone", and I saw the rest of her tribe just lounging around while she tried to not faint.  I don't doubt she thought the cut was deep and pretty bad, and her team should have mustered up an ounce of compassion between them to at least yell over, "Hey, you OK?". But...if her cut were that deep, and bone was showing, wouldn't that mean she cut through muscle & tendon too??  Wouldn't the camera man or PA or someone behind the scene call in medical help? Wouldn't stitches be in order?  And if she did that much damage, would she be "healed" in time to got TC?  If it were down to the bone, won't it affect her ability to swim, grasp, gather wood, carry water....? I'm befuddled by her injury!  It obviously was a serious cut with all the blood, but we saw no intervention from medical!

I still like Boston Rob & Sandra.  They don't irk me the way they do so many other Survivor fans.  Gotta say, I'm impressed none of the visitors to the Island have spilled the tea about it.  With as much down time these folks have, I'd be driven to distraction trying to keep it secret!  I know it would probably blow up me game, and I'd be booted ASAP.  Which is just one of many reasons why I have never applied to be on this show.  I got no game!

[Eolivet]

Live look-in at CBS producers choosing the episode titles:

Edited October 10, 2019 by Eolivet

[sadiegirl1999]

I think that each person that goes to IOTL is told by production NOT to spill the tea. 

And that’s why it’s not being shown to us 

[Bryce Lynch]

Another irony is that Vince may have inadvertently gotten Karishma to speak up (or whisper up) and get him voted out.  Earlier she was whining that "The only name they want to write down is Karishma." and Vince said something to the effect of "You need to say what you want to happen and it will happen."    If the women really did change their votes after Karishma whispered to them, Vince might have done himself in by trying to encourage Karishma.  

[BonnieD]

Rob and Sandra said to "bring back something" from the camp if unable to get fire. I was sure Vince would grab a bowl or a bag. That would not only be direct proof but also get the other team riled up as they accused each other of theft, right? I sooooo wanted to see that happen

[Bryce Lynch]

1 hour ago, BusyOctober said:

I missed Karishma actually cutting her hand, but heard "I can see bone", and I saw the rest of her tribe just lounging around while she tried to not faint.  I don't doubt she thought the cut was deep and pretty bad, and her team should have mustered up an ounce of compassion between them to at least yell over, "Hey, you OK?". But...if her cut were that deep, and bone was showing, wouldn't that mean she cut through muscle & tendon too??  Wouldn't the camera man or PA or someone behind the scene call in medical help? Wouldn't stitches be in order?  And if she did that much damage, would she be "healed" in time to got TC?  If it were down to the bone, won't it affect her ability to swim, grasp, gather wood, carry water....? I'm befuddled by her injury!  It obviously was a serious cut with all the blood, but we saw no intervention from medical!

I still like Boston Rob & Sandra.  They don't irk me the way they do so many other Survivor fans.  Gotta say, I'm impressed none of the visitors to the Island have spilled the tea about it.  With as much down time these folks have, I'd be driven to distraction trying to keep it secret!  I know it would probably blow up me game, and I'd be booted ASAP.  Which is just one of many reasons why I have never applied to be on this show.  I got no game!

C'mon!  Are you suggesting a personal injury lawyer might have exaggerated an injury?

50/50 chance we see her wearing a neck brace by the end of the season. 

Edited October 10, 2019 by Bryce Lynch

[JudyObscure]

1 hour ago, BusyOctober said:

But...if her cut were that deep, and bone was showing, wouldn't that mean she cut through muscle & tendon too??  Wouldn't the camera man or PA or someone behind the scene call in medical help? Wouldn't stitches be in order?  And if she did that much damage, would she be "healed" in time to got TC?  If it were down to the bone, won't it affect her ability to swim, grasp, gather wood, carry water....? I'm befuddled by her injury!  It obviously was a serious cut with all the blood, but we saw no intervention from medical!

I'm befuddled, too. I cut my thumb pad on a tuna fish can last year. My son ran for a bandage but by the time he got back I had a sink full of blood and told him to drive me to the emergency room while I kept it wrapped in a towel. I never saw bone and I never felt faint, but I did need seven stitches and had to keep it dry for about a week. Since all this makes me an expert 😉 I'm guessing she saw tendons and thought they were bone and that stitches were not required or she couldn't have been swimming.  What I did notice was that she had it wrapped neatly (professionally?) when next we saw her, which was before the challenge, so I bet the camera man had called medical right away and the gang might have seen him coming, which would explain part of their seemingly heartless inertia.

[Ms Blue Jay]

4 hours ago, OutOfTheQuestion said:

It seems like Elizabeth's only real alliance is with the rest of the women.  Vince (and Tom and Dean) was just an extra number used to oust Ronnie in the first episode, so he was expendable.

How is Elizabeth's only real alliance not Tom over Vince who she was desperate to save?  They all claimed he's their father figure.

3 hours ago, MissEwa said:

The weird little flashforwards we're getting at the beginning of the episode are awful and make the first act feel so disjointed.

I hate flashforwards on any show - like the Bachelor franchise.  I have no idea what the point of spoiling the later parts of the episode at the beginning is.  It pisses everyone off.  It's supposed to hook viewers in but I think it just punishes real fans.

[dsteele]

Karishma: "I'm embarrassed that billions of Indians might see me in my underwear."

Girl, have you ever seen Survivor? Or your tribemates? You can literally see the wrinkles in some of the guys' ball sacks through their underpants. Chillax.

[Bryce Lynch]

1 minute ago, dsteele said:

Karishma: "I'm embarrassed that billions of Indians might see me in my underwear."

Girl, have you ever seen Survivor? Or your tribemates? You can literally see the wrinkles in some of the guys' ball sacks through their underpants. Chillax.

I just commented on her player thread that she claimed to be "born to play Survivor", yet her social and challenge skills have been atrocious and she is mortified about being seen in her underwear.  

[Mswldflwr]

12 hours ago, Bryce Lynch said:

Expecting him to start a fire in the other tribe's camp, without getting caught would be ridiculously unfair.  

Taking ashes from the fire proved he could have gotten the fire, if all of Noura's lazy tribe mates hadn't let the fire go out.

Who said he actually had to go into their camp to make fire?  If he had been so inclined, he could have just started his own fire on the beach, lit his torch, and headed back.

[Bryce Lynch]

15 minutes ago, Mswldflwr said:

Who said he actually had to go into their camp to make fire?  If he had been so inclined, he could have just started his own fire on the beach, lit his torch, and headed back.

He had no flint, kindling or firewood and everything was soaked from the storm, so that would seem nearly impossible.   Plus, I am sure the camera crew was reporting back to Rob and Sandra about what happened.  

[Wouldofshouldof]

13 hours ago, dizzyd said:

You may suck at puzzles but you’re great at blindsides. And you may be good at stealth enough to earn a HII, but stupid enough to leave with it in your water bottle.

Speaking of stupid, he puts both ashes/coals and an idol in his water bottle?  That he's supposed to drink from?

[peachmangosteen]

11 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Oh my god , that reminds  me!!!!!  Who was that???????

10 hours ago, jsm1125 said:

I feel like it was either Noura or Kellee but couldn’t see the woman’s face very well.

I thought it was one of the men. But it's virtually impossible to tell who it was based on what we heard/were shown. That was absolutely hilarious though.

4 hours ago, Bryce Lynch said:

She seems like the type who constantly tests people to see if they love her or care about her.  To pass her tests one must sense her unspoken feelings or needs and failure to read her mind makes one "dead" to her.

Yea, she's definitely like that, but that makes the fact that the others didn't even bother to pretend to care even dumber. A good player would recognize that about Karishma quickly, hell a mediocre one should since her hang-ups are super obvious. Just from a game play stand point it's so stupid to not show her any concern.

Quote

Dean was dumb to blurt out vote splitting, but at least he immediately recognized how stupid it was.

He didn't seem to recognize it immediately to me. He said it and then there was awkward silence and then Chelsea mentioned they were all there and then he asked, "What?" like twice as if he had no idea what he did wrong. It was hilarious.

3 hours ago, MissEwa said:

Have we even had opening credits this season, or are we just done with them now? 

There will not be opening credits this season.

There were a lot of funny moments in this ep so I enjoyed that. As many others have said, a lot of these people are really bad at the game but in a way that I find fun to watch. For now, at least.

I miss @KimberStormer.

[Bryce Lynch]

5 minutes ago, Wouldofshouldof said:

Speaking of stupid, he puts both ashes/coals and an idol in his water bottle?  That he's supposed to drink from?

I'm sure he could wash it out with his drinking water.  I'd imagine the germs from all the backwash from 39 days would be a lot more disgusting and dangerous than any ash or idol residue he couldn't wash out.   

[plurie]

1 hour ago, Bryce Lynch said:

Another irony is that Vince may have inadvertently gotten Karishma to speak up (or whisper up) and get him voted out.  Earlier she was whining that "The only name they want to write down is Karishma." and Vince said something to the effect of "You need to say what you want to happen and it will happen."    If the women really did change their votes after Karishma whispered to them, Vince might have done himself in by trying to encourage Karishma.  

Karishma is really lucky to still be there. Her whispering at TC should have tipped off Vince that something was up. If he'd been spooked and played his idol, she'd be gone. Since she knew the men were targeting her in the "split" vote, and suspected that Vince might have an idol, the smarter play was to go after Tom. Plus Vince was kinda allied with her while Tom was going to write down her name.

I can maybe understand the other women preferring to keep Tom so as not to upset the two younger men (who they think they need for challenges, although this may not be true), but getting rid of a potential ally over a member of the "opposition" doesn't make a lot of sense.

[Vikitty]

UGHHHH. Two of my three early favourites are gone. But what a dummy for not playing his idol. 

[bunnyface]

When Vince got to the enemy camp, they had a shot of them all laying down together, face down.  It made me think of Jonestown.  They had the Kool-Aid!

The camera kept showing the pillows stacked up in camp.  I know he probably couldn't see much, but I kept thinking Vince should take pillows, spices, coffee,whatever was stacked up there.  No only would he then have comfort, the other tribe would go crazy trying to figure out what happened to their stuff.

[Bryce Lynch]

Rob on Know it Alls had a great idea for how Vince could have played the idol (if he hadn't been an idiot).   He could have said, "I'm pouring one out for my homie, Karishma, because she's going home." and poured the water and idol out in front of Probst.  

Edited October 10, 2019 by Bryce Lynch

[laurakaye]

13 hours ago, Lamima said:

He could have started his own fire. That's what I was thinking they meant when they said think outside the box or whatever they said. Or stolen their flint.

While I will always tune in for Boston Rob and Sandra, I'm confused about their purpose.  I understand they are giving advice to the newbies, but this time - sending Vince out on a mission where he could get caught by the other tribe - seemed odd, based on what we saw when the other two went to IOTI.  And for all of the "think outside the box" talk - these people are hungry and tired, they've been sent to an island and they don't know why, only to be confronted with two game "idols" who word-salad the contestants to "think outside the box."  My brain would be mush, and I'd probably start to cry, too.  If the point is to give advice about the game, then give it - I think it's being made much more complicated and confusing than it needs to be.

3 hours ago, ByaNose said:

The mini preview at the start of the show is throwing me off. If you aren't going to do "previously on" then don't do the mini preview either. I know that Jeff and TPTB like to drop and mix things up but I don't like the changes to this season. While I think dropping the opening credits altogether is dumb I can survive without it but you really need to show the "previously on" for the viewers.

I miss the opening credits.  I miss the Survivor intro music.  I always liked the cool camera-work and special effects that accompanied the intro, especiallly in the earlier seasons.  It's also a great way to connect names with faces, especially in the early days when there are so many players.  Bring it back, Survivor!

2 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

  What I did notice was that she had it wrapped neatly (professionally?) when next we saw her, which was before the challenge, so I bet the camera man had called medical right away and the gang might have seen him coming, which would explain part of their seemingly heartless inertia.

I think it should've been the opposite - they see medical coming and realize that she's not just being dramatic.  I wonder if they also just sat there and ignored her while she was being tended to?  That's not a good look, IMO.  Kind of heartless.

Any thoughts on what Karishma whispered to her tribemates?

Edited October 10, 2019 by laurakaye

[LadyChatts]

All the talk about Elizabeth wanting Vince out because he might blow her IOTI cover, but she does realize that other people are going there, right?  What’s she doing to do, vote off everyone that comes back because they might have an idol or blow her lie?  

[blackwing]

I wasn't a fan of Vince at all, but it was all the more satisfying that his arrogance sent him home with an idol in his pocket.  Not sure why he was so convinced that he was safe.  I have no idea why the other three men thought that he would vote with them just because he is a man.  He was clearly more comfortable hanging out with the women.  Perhaps a little too comfortable.  Not sure why he felt so safe, he must have really thought that they were all going to vote out Tom.  So awful at reading the room.

13 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

Was Dean even in that challenge?  I felt like he was just standing there.  But of course, the not so thin girl gets the blame and is called a weak link.  And if Karishma isn’t good at puzzles, why do they put her there?  Even though I wanted to see her torch snuffed, I'm glad she spoke up tonight.  Though she might end up talking herself out of this game if she isn’t careful.

Well, what else is she going to do?  She wasn't going to be the solo swimmer.  She could have been weight on the teeter totter but maybe she didn't feel comfortable there?  If she's no good at puzzles she can tell them she isn't good.  But she seems to volunteer and step up to do it and then finds an excuse when she fails.  At tribal she pretty much said "I know you all think I'm fat and useless, but I'm 5'9" and solid and strong".  She hasn't really demonstrated any strength.

13 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

The new Purple is Chelsea.  What the hell?  I never saw her before today.

10 hours ago, Steph Sometimes said:

That line gives me deja vu to the Ghost Island season. I'm pretty sure I've heard this Chelsea talk though.

I was surprised there is a Chelsea as well.  Who?  I vaguely remember the Chelsea from several seasons ago who really never ever spoke, and exited the game pretty much never really speaking much at all.  I remember we kept waiting for her to "do something".  

3 hours ago, Haleth said:

You all are much nicer than I am.  I saw Karishma's reaction to her cut as a ploy for sympathy.  She felt "different" than her tribemates so here was a chance for her to make them feel kindly toward her.  Except it didn't work.  No one fell for it.  I didn't believe for a minute that she was going to faint.  Since we didn't hear anything about how it was treated, no stitches, no visit from Dr Joe, it appeared to have been a superficial cut.

Did anyone else think Vince's mission possible looked staged?  I'm sure it was just the editing but even after the nightmare incident several of that tribe woke up when they heard noises but no one even sat up to look around?  Kinda fishy.

I am the same as you, I found her incredibly irritating and thought she clearly wanted sympathy from her tribemates to make her feel like she was an important part of their team.  In the first place, we don't really even know what happened, the editing could be deceiving.  She cut her hand, then we see her laying down 15 feet away from the group, then we see a confessional of her crying that "nobody loves me".  Did she even cry out for help?  If she had asked her tribe for help I am sure that people would have helped her.  Was the lying down part before or after medical saw her?  If it was before, maybe nobody said anything because they didn't know.  If it was after, clearly she got medical attention so presumably she is ok.

This is Survivor.  It's a tough physical and mental test.  I'm sure a lot more people get minor cuts and scrapes than we see on TV, so maybe going to medical isn't a big deal.  And she obviously got her hand bandaged and treated, so apparently it's all good now.  If it really had been that bad, wouldn't Jeff have taken every opportunity to milk it?  "Karishma, you hurt your hand today, tell me about that."  Then she would have had the opportunity to go all pity party again.

She sucks.  Won't be at all unhappy to lose her.

I too thought there was editing in Vince's mission to the other camp.  There was a girl who kept waking up and looking at him.  I guess he could have been one of the guys at camp so she didn't think anything of it?

[Bryce Lynch]

1 minute ago, blackwing said:

Well, what else is she going to do?  She wasn't going to be the solo swimmer.  She could have been weight on the teeter totter but maybe she didn't feel comfortable there?  If she's no good at puzzles she can tell them she isn't good.  But she seems to volunteer and step up to do it and then finds an excuse when she fails.  At tribal she pretty much said "I know you all think I'm fat and useless, but I'm 5'9" and solid and strong".  She hasn't really demonstrated any strength.

They should have had her throw Chelsea from the starting line of the swimming all the way to the end, giving them a huge lead.  :)

[Bryce Lynch]

Regarding the puzzle.  Karishma and Dean were both totally useless, but I'm not sure it would have mattered.  Jamal is a puzzle master and Lauren looked pretty good as well.  I have a feeling Jamal could probably beat even a pair of competent puzzle solvers.  

The first time they did puzzles, Jamal totally aced it and I could tell from the moment he started that he was in complete control and knew exactly what he was doing.  He has a similar look to him last night.  

[Nashville]

13 hours ago, jsm1125 said:

Dean is purple no longer! Though it's not a great sign when his first moment involves a shot of him tripping over himself. 

I dunno; Dean is all but absent from the edit unless he is saying or doing something silly/foolish/klutzy.  Sounds pretty purple to me....

10 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

Is that BB's Dr. Will in the Carol's Second Act promos?I

I believe the actor you’re referencing is Kyle McLaughlin.

8 hours ago, GaT said:

Anybody else hum the theme from "Mission Impossible" when Vince was at the other camp? And who was that with the nightmare?

Actually, in the back of my head I was hearing the “doing something suspenseful now” accompaniment they always used to do on Gilligan’s Island - but I feel ya.  😄

And I think the night terrorizer was Noura.

3 hours ago, Ellee said:

@MissEwa

I thought that maybe Vince had handled it poorly but wasn’t thinking that he threatened to tell everyone. I was thinking Elizabeth wanted to protect her standing with the group as ‘being honest’ about IOI. 

Itll be interesting to me to see if her target for next TC was also the person that went to IOI. 

Not unless their next TC is 2+ TC cycles off; the other tribe is next in the queue for the IotI treatment.

3 hours ago, Haleth said:

You all are much nicer than I am.  I saw Karishma's reaction to her cut as a ploy for sympathy.  She felt "different" than her tribemates so here was a chance for her to make them feel kindly toward her.  Except it didn't work.  No one fell for it.  I didn't believe for a minute that she was going to faint.  Since we didn't hear anything about how it was treated, no stitches, no visit from Dr Joe, it appeared to have been a superficial cut.

Personally, I was 50/50 on the whole Karishma Katanas Herself subplot:

• On the one hand, the reactions of Karishma’s tribemates seemed (to me, anyway) like the reactions of someone who’s maybe a little tired of putting up with the drama queen’s constant look-at-me shit.  
• On the other hand, though, I don’t think I entirely trust the Production edit for those scenes.  Many of the tribemate reactions shown looked to be more like “Huh?  What happened?” reactions than “Oh, it’s just her” reactions, which makes me wonder just how much of a slice-and-dice Production did in edit to support the Karishma oh-woe-is-me theme.

3 hours ago, Haleth said:

Did anyone else think Vince's mission possible looked staged?  I'm sure it was just the editing but even after the nightmare incident several of that tribe woke up when they heard noises but no one even sat up to look around?  Kinda fishy.

There were several instances of the sleeping campers stirring and looking around - however:

1. The camera crew accompanying Vince on his nocturnal mission* were shooting in infrared, which outside the visual spectrum of normal human vision - so neither Vince nor the crew were putting out any visible light to be seen by.
2. The fire had all but gone out (1 or 2 coals/embers remaining?), so it wasn’t putting out any significant ambient light to speak of.
3. Sandra specifically excused Vince’s lack of fire collection with a comment about rain putting out the campfire - which necessarily implies (a) it was raining, (b) the presence of overcast/rain-cloudy conditions, and (c) the resulting lack of any starlight or moonlight to assist sleepy campers in espying Vince on his intrepid incendiary quest.

This may not be immediately obvious to folks who live with a constant environment of urban light pollution, but an overcast rainy night in the woods with no light source is some of the blackest black you will ever experience - and it is exactly the sort of environment where somebody could wake up, look directly in Vince’s direction, and not see a blessed thing.  Add some breeze and rain into the mix, and they’re likely to not hear Vince as well.

* Yeah, I saw you giggle.

1 hour ago, BonnieD said:

Rob and Sandra said to "bring back something" from the camp if unable to get fire. I was sure Vince would grab a bowl or a bag. That would not only be direct proof but also get the other team riled up as they accused each other of theft, right? I sooooo wanted to see that happen

Considering the camera crew’s shots in the “foreign” camp kept focusing on a stack of what appeared to be gourd-bowls, I fully expected Vince to swipe one of their bowls (proof he had actually gone into the camp) and get a healthy scoop of fire ash with it (proof the fire was out).

9 minutes ago, Bryce Lynch said:

I'm sure he could wash it out with his drinking water.  I'd imagine the germs from all the backwash from 39 days would be a lot more disgusting and dangerous than any ash or idol residue he couldn't wash out.   

Besides, fresh ash is pretty sterile; fire tends to kill off most infectious agents. 😉

[treeofdreams]

This is a bad set-up.  Everyone who is sent to the Idol Island will automatically be a target when they come back because everyone knows they had a chance at getting an idol.  That doesn't seem fair.  (Yeah, I know...Survivor...not fair...still it's a bad set-up.)

[RoxiP]

They didn't show the "Welcome ____ Tribe, with Molly being voted out last week" moment.

[Boilergal]

The impression I had of Karishma's injury - she's a bit of a drama queen/hypochondriac  and the rest of the tribe might be tired of it, and just ignored this one.

[TaraS1]

I know we joke every season about never having seen some of these people before, but I swear I'd never laid eyes on Dean in my life before last night.

[iMonrey]

Quote

If you can't  properly edit a show you should probably not be working on one of the crown jewels of CBS...SURVIVOR. I mean really...you set up this whole Island of the Idols thing with Rob and Sandra  and then when finally two people  who are on the same tribe KNOW about it and are at last in the "same room" so to speak...we get nothing...no conversation...zip, zero nada....the editors dropped the ball on that and should be out on their ears.

This was the very thing I wanted to comment on. Either there was no conversation between Elizabeth and Vince, or there was and they didn't want us to see it. I suspect it's the latter. They are probably trying to drag out this whole "Surprise! It's Boston Rob and Sandra!" gimmick as long as possible, but at some point, everyone is going to know they're there. And for all we know that's already happened. Vince may well have gone back to camp and told everyone Rob and Sandra are on Idol Island. The show wants us to think every last one of these idiots is going to be blindsided the second they lay eyes on them.

[Rachel RSL]

15 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

  But seriously, it scares me to think how many idols we might end up with midway through the game.  I know Jeff said he loved when Cirie was idoled out of the game, so maybe that's what he's aiming for here? 

Ugh! I dislike Probst more and more each season. Maybe he should just start the season by handing everyone an idol.  Why on earth would he be happy about a fan favourite who was playing an almost flawless game getting booted because there were 92 idols in play?  I'm pretty sure everybody, even those viewers who weren't rooting for Cirie, recognized the fact that she got totally screwed.  But I guess maybe those magical people who always stop Jeff on the street told him it was great.

14 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I wonder if Sandra was blinded by liking Vince so much.  She took an early liking to him, and then definitely couldn't mentor him against what happened tonight.  LOL.

I don't think Sandra was blinded by anything.  She mentored him as best she could to sneak into the other tribe's camp and steal fire (ash), which he successfully did.  Her mentoring (and Rob's) did exactly what it was supposed to do - get Vince an idol.   How could either of them possibly know they actually had to tell him to USE the damn thing lol?

14 hours ago, driver18 said:

I find it interesting that a lot of die-hard Survivor fans don't seem to know this--or at least I assume they don't--as I read comments about how the producers just handed the season to him when this information contradicts that. He worked hard for that win--he talked about how he was so exhausted after the season was over because he barely slept because he was always, always playing the game.

We are all very aware of Rob's strategy about creating a special bond with each individual player.  It's been discussed many times here over the years.  When people say the producers basically handed him the win, they're referring to the fact that he got 4 chances to play and, in his 4th chance, they put him on a tribe full of new players who were all starstruck. It was probably one of the easiest wins in Survivor history as he basically had no competition.  (And I say all this as someone who likes BR).

[Lamb18]

I'm watching right now and Vince just got his Idol. If those immunity idols expire they would make good fake idols for later.

[Otherkate]

5 hours ago, Fake Jan Brady said:

"You don't know where you're from?"

It was in that moment that I realized for the first time how similar my personality is to Boston Rob's. 

I see everyone talking about a Chelsea but I still have no idea who this is?