S39.E11: A Very Simple Plan

[LanceM]

10 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

Fucking Dean. Speaking of Fucking Dean, him and his mom doing the Bachelor Handshake™ was so cringe. 

Tommy was sort of non-entity for me for the longest time but yea he's starting to come off borderline creepy to me now.

I think that's really why the plan fell apart. I was surprised he ever even entertained it actually because he has always given off a vibe like he must be part of the cool crowd because, duh, he's handsome (lol) and cool. 

I think Lauren probably has a decent shot at beating him. They're seen as a duo and it seems very possible that some of them see Lauren as the leader of their partnership. But still, I agree with you.

I think so actually. Even though, yes, Dean is desperate to be a 'cool kid,' I think mainly he's just obsessed with Tommy for some reason. I think he probably would have even voted out Lauren, Janet, or Dan easily. At the end of the day he just seems to want to be Tommy's right hand man.

The only writing I saw was the 'will never know best' that Karishma put on her Noura vote.

As soon as I saw her husband I was like, "Now I see why she likes Tommy so much." Also, that fact that her head is easily 3 times the size of her husband's had me rolling.

Is IOI done? Like it was beyond stupid but still it seems an odd choice to name the season after it and then just dispose of it abruptly lol.

This season has just turned into such a shit fest. I'd rather watch Rick eat the show and the third person voted out win after rejoining in the last 3 days again than this shit!

I'm gonna need Dean to make F3 and then just get eviscerated by the jury. It's the only thing left to look forward to! Well, that and hopefully seeing Lauren and Tommy dispose of Dan at some point. But seeing as how this season is going neither of those will happen. The F3 will probably be Lauren/Tommy/Dan and Dan will somehow win. Which actually would be the finale this season deserves.

I forget who it was but one of the players said that Lauren had Tommy "wrapped around her finger". 

[Kenzie]

8 hours ago, fishcakes said:

Because of Elaine's confessional about how she was going to make a big move, all through TC I held out a faint hope that Dean outing Noura and making her go batshit was all an elaborate ruse to make the majority vote for her only to have Elaine save her with the idol and send Tommy home. Like maybe Dean and Elaine had this meeting of the masterminds (ha ha, and I wasn't even drunk) conversation where they decided that they couldn't count on Noura to stick to a plan so they'd have to exploit her unreliability, expose her, save her, and then keep her for a goat. But no. Instead they vote for Karishma, Elaine burns her idol, and Dean finds some more papyrus so he can write Tommy an, "I like you. Do you like me? ⬜ Yes ⬜ No" note.

I'm disappointed in Janet even though I know she doesn't have all the information we have about Dan and she's doing what she has to in order to stay in the game, but DAMN. I wish we could get one confessional from her about Dan like the one Sandra gave about Russell where she says she doesn't want to work with him but she's stuck with it. Just something so my skin doesn't crawl every time I see her being friendly with him.

Now that we've seen more of how on-the-outs Karishma has been all season, I think it's pretty shitty that TPTB aired that bit where she was talking about her husband being basically just a roommate. Whether she meant it at the time or was just trying to get sympathy from the others, it never should have been shown. It didn't affect the game at all, but it could affect her marriage. It's not like fucking Dan the Groper, whose wife should be filing for divorce right this second; his conduct in the game hurt other people in the game and so it was relevant and should have been aired. Karishma's misguided talk affected no one but herself and her husband, who in this situation, is an innocent bystander.

If it turns out Reem has been living at the Edge of Extinction for the last year and they put her in this game on Day 39, then I will root for Reem.

They do a mental health screening, but I think the standards have gotten a lot looser since the early seasons. They want drama, so if someone is delusional like Coach or has an anger management problem like Brandon, then they'll cross their fingers and look away. In any case, I don't think Noura is mentally ill, just hyper and annoying and lacking all social skills.

She was looking particularly rough last night. Tired, sun-damaged and the way her natural eyebrows are sprouting in separate locations from her tattoo'd brows added to her wild-eyed look during her rant.

[Ms Blue Jay]

1 hour ago, simplyme said:

I mean, there are people out there who firmly believe the Earth is flat

Some of them are very high-ranking players in the NBA

[Josh371982]

14 hours ago, himela said:

With your way of thinking Sandra should not have won two times now should she? She played the anyone but me strategy and she was being seen as a goat, but she won TWICE. Being in the final tribal council and taking no votes is better than not being there at all. I don't support Dean but I think he made the best move for his own game. Maybe he has come to terms with the idea that he can't win so he just wants to take the top 3 money and create some drama so he gets called back to another season.

So take away from someone who actuallys trying to win? Fuck him. Hope he has fun looking like an idiot and a slimy little weasel. Bet he thinks he can beat Tommy. I just get so sick of people playing for some else to win and boring ends to seasons 

[Nashville]

1 hour ago, blackwing said:

I unabashedly now love Noura.  

1 hour ago, blackwing said:

Yes she’s a bit unhinged, but I found it incredibly awesome how she stood up and called people out and exposed all the secrets.  

Yup - everybody else’s.

1 hour ago, blackwing said:

She’s probably doomed next round, but really, I hope she sticks around.  She’s entertaining and completely nonthreatening.  

I’m pretty sure Elaine, Janet, Karishma - and yeah, maybe even  Dean - might disagree.

Here’s why I now consider Noura an asshole of the nth degree:

• Driven by her anger at being left out of the Family Love reward, Noura insistently pushes the notion of a bottomfeeder’s alliance to Dean, Janet, and Karishma - who accept.
• The new Noura-proposed alliance worked out a plan (to target Janet, which was torpedoed when Lauren won individual immunity - after which the target shifted to Red Tom).
• At TC, though, Noura catches Dean whispering to Tommy - so in retaliation for what Noura perceived (not incorrectly) as Dean’s betrayal, Noura proceeded to blow the games of... EVERYBODY in the alliance she had fostered...?

Naw, you’re probably right; Noura was upset with Dean, so of course blowing up the games of Janet and especially Elaine was a totally rational and reasonable response.  She must be a TOTAL fucking peach.  😛 

[Maggie Mae]

I really enjoyed Karishma's Ponderosa. That is all.

[Josh371982]

10 hours ago, SuburbanHangSuite said:

I wish I could heart this 1000x. 

I swear, I sprained my eyeballs with the amount of rolling I put then through during the Loved One Visit.  Krishnma's was just the worst.  Not only did she have completely dry eyes thru all her dramatic "sobbing," the others just watched that debacle wuth stone-faced indifference.  Cracked me up.  Usually, the observers are basket cases for everyone.  Karishma?  Not so much.

OK, I didn't even pick up on that but what did bother me is the fact that I don't think any adjustments were made for height differences on that challenge.  Maybe it didn't make a difference in the end since two of the shorter people were the last ones standing but I felt like holding that ball with bent arms would give an advantage over those who had to outstretch their arms further.  Just my two cents.  And I'm still pissed that Lauren and her theatrics outlasted Elaine.  I cannot STAND her and her fucking tears so close to the surface when something doesn't go her way.

And the fact that she was Blindsided by Elaine a few weeks back which is a strategic but she still said Elaine has no strategy. This coming from a woman playing for Tommy

[himela]

2 hours ago, Josh371982 said:

So take away from someone who actuallys trying to win? Fuck him. Hope he has fun looking like an idiot and a slimy little weasel. Bet he thinks he can beat Tommy. I just get so sick of people playing for some else to win and boring ends to seasons 

Players don't play to entertain us but to try and win. Dean's move was a good one; he didn't want to be aligned with crazy Noura, unpredictable Karishma and likeable Elaine so he tried to change his game. Good for him. You disliking him doesn't change the fact that his move was good.

[BK1978]

19 hours ago, plurie said:

Have none of these people ever watched SURVIVOR before? They should NEVER pick their core alliance members for the reward, especially if it's one that everyone wants.

Yeah I was going to say this last night but forgot to.  That was established during season four and these fuckers still don't get it.

[30 Helens]

I was going to make a crack about all the idiots playing this game, but then realized the biggest dummy is me. Because I actually once thought that this was going to be a great season, with a really well cast group of players.

I feel bad for Dan’s son. Watching this season must be very embarrassing for him.

What happened to Big Head Beach? Are the lessons over? I can’t remember the last time we’ve seen Rob and Sandra do anything but cackle and snark in the TC Spy Shack. 

In any event, I’m tired of this season and ready for it to be over. I say they just ditch all the remaining players and hand the win to Sandra and/or Rob. They’re the only ones left who haven’t annoyed me. 

Edited December 6, 2019 by 30 Helens

[Bryce Lynch]

14 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

I don't have the exact words but I thought he said she achieved great things and didn't let being a woman hold her back.

No one said it would have been sexist if he had simply said Janet had done all sorts of amazing things.  Period.  Why should being a woman have "held her back?"  Are women inherently bad swimmers who lack courage?

Women were only held back from those positions like fireman, police officer, combat soldier, because they weren't allowed to try.  Now those fields are opened and we all saw that most women had no trouble doing them.  Being one of the first women ocean front life guards doesn't mean Janet is the greatest lifeguard ever, or that she overcame "the obstacle of being a woman,"  it just means she was in on those first opportunities.

I'm also tired of the mindset that a woman doing a job that was traditionally held by men is somehow  better than a women who is doing a job traditionally held by women.  A lifeguard is not better than a nurse.  It's sexist to think  that traditional men's jobs are better, require more brains or courage, than traditional women's work.

I remember applying for a position as a bank teller  ( your example of the lowest job ever) and told that women couldn't work in banks because men wouldn't trust women to handle their money. Times changed and I started working in banks, not because I overcame the obstacle of being a woman, but because of affirmative action's and changes in hiring laws.

Janet had to overcome the obstacles of men, people in her field, and society in general believing women couldn't be lifeguards and especially in charge of male lifeguards.

Is it "racist" to admire Jackie Robinson for becoming a Hall of Famer in baseball despite the obstacles of being black in the 1940s?

I find it sad that it has become so common for people to misinterpret the words of others in the least favorable way.  Husband Janet was praising her for overcoming sexism, and people call him "sexist".  SMH

[cherrypj]

When Lana first came out, and Noura was so overcome with emotion, it was odd, to me, that Lana was so unaffected. She even looked confused. So when Jeff asked, "You're visually impaired, right?," it clicked. 

Loosing a sense doesn't really make your other senses stronger. Rather, it takes you longer to get the information you need. My reactions are often delayed, and I'm sure I look confused many times.

[Haleth]

16 hours ago, Nashville said:

Goat Army General... hmmm... GAG for short?  😆

You never fail to make me laugh, Nashville.

18 hours ago, CletusMusashi said:

Unlike most, I will not be upset if Lauren or Tommy win. As long as they can keep most of the others from voting them out, then they are using a successful strategy. Kind of like how I didn't fault Boston Rob for his tribe being too stupid to get rid of him. 

Yeah, there's usually a big difference between who I want to see win and who deserves to win.  At this point it seems to me Lauren deserves it most.  Dammit.

18 hours ago, fishcakes said:

If it turns out Reem has been living at the Edge of Extinction for the last year and they put her in this game on Day 39, then I will root for Reem.

Oh, let's not get crazy here.  (I'm still rooting for the chicken that bit Sandra.)

15 hours ago, simplyme said:

Yeah. Dean's high school "trauma" was that he chose to go to a school known for basketball and had to practice, and he cried regularly because he couldn't have a regular teenage life of parties like he saw on TV shows like The OC. Even though it was his choice and no one who isn't rich as hell and spoiled with questionable parenting actually has a life like that. Poor guy.

Oh, the humanity!  (Oh, brother.  Makes me dislike him even more.  Out of curiosity I just read his bio.  He was a HS algebra teacher.  Ok, I'll give him kudos for that.)

[nlkm9]

Funny until this episode i loved noura. Now i feel that she. Uses her quirky personality as an excuse to lie and call people out . I was rooting for her and yes i know lying is pArt of survivor but to me she acted like a petulant child left out and was going to take everyone down with her. Calling out Elaine’s idol was just plain mean. 

[thejuicer]

I hope next week is when people look around and realize if they don't vote out Lauren or Tommy STAT, they're taking home a million dollars. 

[Bryce Lynch]

17 hours ago, simplyme said:

Yeah. Dean's high school "trauma" was that he chose to go to a school known for basketball and had to practice, and he cried regularly because he couldn't have a regular teenage life of parties like he saw on TV shows like The OC. Even though it was his choice and no one who isn't rich as hell and spoiled with questionable parenting actually has a life like that. Poor guy.

I'm not kidding, either. From https://parade.com/922157/mikebloom/survivor-season-39-dean-kowalski/:

I may have finally found a reason I regret quitting those violin lessons I hated in elementary school. Surely Dean needs me to play for him now... *eyeroll* (Somehow the trombone I took up instead just isn't the same...)

edit: To be fair, I'm being overly harsh here. It's not really unusual that a teenager was emotional (thanks, hormones) or wanted a different life portrayed by the media. He's probably to be commended for sticking it out... but honestly, acting like it was soooo hard annoys me. If he was really traumatized, then they should have removed him from the school (and also had him stop watching certain shows).

It's amazing that Dean spent all those hours playing basketball with elite high school players and still has no athletic ability or skill whatsoever.   He might as well have just partied OC style. 

I wonder if there is any video of him trying to guard Kyrie Irving in practice?   

[Bryce Lynch]

Tommy to Dean after his idiotic move at TC.  

[Drogo]

Panicky goat Dean at TC: 

Followed by not-to-be-outdone Noura: 

[Bryce Lynch]

11 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Some of them are very high-ranking players in the NBA

And some of those high-ranking NBA players were teammates of Dean in HS.  

I can only imagine how much sneaker licking Dean did toward Kyrie Irving in high school in a vain attempt to get them to accept him as a "cool kid".  

[Bouffe]

I haven't read the thread yet. All I have to say is, I don't understand how they didn't vote Noura or Dean out. I like Noura's craziness but she got caught in a lie - I guess perhaps the 4 that went on the reward think she's going to be loyal to them now. And Dean? Rat again? Seriously? And it's Karishma who's voted out? I don't get it.

[Eolivet]

I don't think Lauren has a snowball's chance in hell of beating Tommy. The original plan was to vote out Lauren -- she was target 1. Sure, they covered themselves with the "wrapped around her finger," but I think it's as simple as they all (inexplicably, to me) like Tommy better. Elaine was down to vote Tommy out, but she sure barfed up her idol when he asked.

If Lauren and Tommy get to the end, she will be seen as either riding his coattails or the more unlikable of the two. All of their allies seem to be Tommy-first, Lauren-second. She's playing for $100K unless she cuts him, in my mind.

Edited December 6, 2019 by Eolivet

[Rachel RSL]

11 hours ago, himela said:

Players don't play to entertain us but to try and win. Dean's move was a good one; he didn't want to be aligned with crazy Noura, unpredictable Karishma and likeable Elaine so he tried to change his game. Good for him. You disliking him doesn't change the fact that his move was good.

His move was terrible for his game. He went from guaranteeing himself a spot in the final 4 to attaching himself to the very bottom of an already established alliance while showing every single person out there that he can't be trusted.

Also, I feel the need to point this out, Sandra wasn't a goat in either of her winning seasons.  She played hard, did a lot of strategizing, was in on most of the votes and was able to communicate all her game moves during the final TCs in a way that didn't piss off the people she had a hand in voting out. 

[fishcakes]

3 hours ago, Bryce Lynch said:

It's amazing that Dean spent all those hours playing basketball with elite high school players and still has no athletic ability or skill whatsoever.   He might as well have just partied OC style. 

I assume Dean's playing was pretty much just this.

29 minutes ago, Rachel RSL said:

Also, I feel the need to point this out, Sandra wasn't a goat in either of her winning seasons.  She played hard, did a lot of strategizing, was in on most of the votes and was able to communicate all her game moves during the final TCs in a way that didn't piss off the people she had a hand in voting out. 

Completely agree. Sandra calls her strategy "anyone but me," but she was always working to put the target on someone else and insure that it wouldn't be her. She'd lie, eavesdrop, and even sell out her own alliance mates without anyone catching on. People think she's a goat because she's bad at physical challenges and we saw her mostly yelling at people, but according to those who've played with her, her social game is stellar and she's well-liked by everyone. There's no comparison between Dean and Sandra.

[iMonrey]

Quote

I feel bad for Dan’s son. Watching this season must be very embarrassing for him.

I don't know. Dan seems oblivious to the idea he might have done anything wrong. It's a good bet his son feels the same way.

[SweetSable]

On 12/5/2019 at 12:26 PM, SuburbanHangSuite said:

. . . but what did bother me is the fact that I don't think any adjustments were made for height differences on that challenge.  Maybe it didn't make a difference in the end since two of the shorter people were the last ones standing but I felt like holding that ball with bent arms would give an advantage over those who had to outstretch their arms further. 

They did make adjustments - the boxes each of them were standing on were different heights so how they had to hold their arms were equal.

[Mahamid Frauded Me]

Everytime I see Dean on screen, he reminds me of a younger Noah Wyle ( back in the ER days )

[Grrarrggh]

This might have been discussed already (sorry) but I wasn't happy to hear Tommy the Fourth Grade Teacher say his crying and emotions were like a fourth grade GIRL. Are boys in his class not allowed to have emotions? 

4 hours ago, Eolivet said:

I don't think Lauren has a snowball's chance in hell of beating Tommy. 

Especially if the other finalist is a man. Then she'll be lucky to get a vote. 

[JudyObscure]

9 hours ago, Bryce Lynch said:

Janet had to overcome the obstacles of men, people in her field, and society in general believing women couldn't be lifeguards and especially in charge of male lifeguards.

Is it "racist" to admire Jackie Robinson for becoming a Hall of Famer in baseball despite the obstacles of being black in the 1940s?

I find it sad that it has become so common for people to misinterpret the words of others in the least favorable way.  Husband Janet was praising her for overcoming sexism, and people call him "sexist".  SMH

Will this never stop?  Every few minutes someone starts lecturing me about  how women have had obstacles.  I know that, for heaven's sake.  I was a charter member of my local chapter of NOW and I worked many volunteer hours  to help overcome those obstacles.

I did not call Janet's husband sexist.  No one did.    Special K listed some cringe worthy moments and one of them was about Janet's husbands comment that "sounded unintentionally sexist."  and I agreed that I had cringed, too.  If we really thought he was a sexist we wouldn't have cringed for him or called it unintentional.

He came out and said some nice things about Janet and the great things she had done.  So far so good.  Then he finished off his praise by saying, "Every time something comes up, it doesn't matter that she's a woman."  It was that last line that made me cringe because it just didn't sound right to me.  To me it would be like saying, "Jamal did great at Harvard in spite of being black."  In both those sentences the person saying it sounds like they're surprised that a woman or a black person can do as well as a white man as though they have some  physical or mental disadvantage like a lower IQ.  

Obviously it didn't make anyone else cringe, but it did make me cringe and that has nothing at all  to do with knowing that Janet faced obstacles. I don't need anymore lectures about the history of barriers women faced in the past. I lived it.  I just don't think Janet  did the great things she did in spite of having a woman's body, in fact I think a woman's body that can withstand cold water better and endurance that lasts longer than a man's, is better suited for ocean front swimming. and was an advantage for her. 

I'm glad no one else heard his sentence the way I did because he's probably a really nice guy and I'm sure he's not a sexist. 

[Rachel RSL]

For the record, nobody is lecturing you.  You claimed that Janet didn't have to overcome obstacles to break into a male-dominated profession and that's what people are responding to.

[ByaNose]

I do wonder how look Tommy, Lauren, Dan & Janet will stick together?! The previews for next week notwithstanding. I would think they’d want to get Noura and Dean our first. I know that Dean “saved” Tommy but I wonder if Tommy really wants Dean hanging around at Final 6/5? I guess that’s the one thing I’ve been confused about all season. Just how tight are the four? I know Tommy & Lauren have been a pair and to a lesser degree Dan & Janet but the four of them together confuses me. I guess the last 2 episodes will be a surprise to me because I have no idea how this is playing out. 

[amazingracefan]

I was blindsided in the end, with that tribal I expected Noura to go.  She's terrible at the game but people like that make the show more interesting.

[peachmangosteen]

21 hours ago, LanceM said:

I forget who it was but one of the players said that Lauren had Tommy "wrapped around her finger". 

Yea, that was what I was basing my thought that Lauren could beat Tommy on. Tommy was also called Lauren's 'right hand man,' which implies she is seen as the leader of their duo. But here's the thing, I think it was Dean who said these things and Dean is deeply stupid and has literally no idea what is happening in the game so if it was him that said it then I think it's actually proof that Lauren is not any of those things lol.

6 hours ago, fishcakes said:

I assume Dean's playing was pretty much just this.

I literally loled!

3 hours ago, Mahamid Frauded Me said:

Everytime I see Dean on screen, he reminds me of a younger Noah Wyle ( back in the ER days )

Maybe if Noah Wyle had been hit in the face with a frying pan.

56 minutes ago, ByaNose said:

I know that Dean “saved” Tommy but I wonder if Tommy really wants Dean hanging around at Final 6/5?

Definitely! Dean is an idiot, has no chance of winning, is a complete non-threat in challenges, and has proven he will tank his own game to help Tommy. Tommy is gonna do everything he can to drag Dean to the finals with him.

Quote

Personally I thought Dean’s move was moderately smart gameplay for Dean’s personal game.  Way to thin out the competition for goatiest goat, Dean! 

Dean has literally no idea that he's a goat though. Like he is completely oblivious to his position in the game. If he understood how much of a non-threat he is and how little of a chance he has to win then I could maybe see where he made a good move but, again, he has no idea, so it was just an absolutely stupid move.

[amazingracefan]

Goats are good to take to the end if they are predictable, but both Karishma and Noura haven't really had long term allies who felt they could rely on them. 

[Nashville]

11 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

Dean has literally no idea that he's a goat though. Like he is completely oblivious to his position in the game. If he understood how much of a non-threat he is and how little of a chance he has to win then I could maybe see where he made a good move but, again, he has no idea, so it was just an absolutely stupid move.

But isn’t obliviousness the key distinguishing factor between a goat and a bunny? 😉 

[brilliantbreakfast]

On 12/4/2019 at 9:03 PM, truthaboutluv said:

So basically Janet or Elaine has to win, lol.

Btw, anyone totally uncomfortable at Karishma's reunion with her husband, knowing all the shit she talked about him and their marriage, earlier this season?

Actually, no, I wasn't.  I understand perfectly where she was coming from.  Anyone who's been in a long marriage that has had a lot of rough spots knows that there are times when you would give anything to just go away.  IIRC, Karishma's was an arranged marriage.  Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.  By being in an environment where she was basically rejected from the minute it was shown that she was a challenge liability, it gave her some perspective.  I was happy that she had this wake-up call.  I think it gave her some perspective and I think she will go home and be able to build a much better relationship with her husband.

I was in one of those long marriages that had a lot of rough spots.  When my husband got sick, I thought we might be able to have one of those new beginnings.  He died and we didn't.  And I live with that regret EVERY SINGLE DAY OF MY LIFE.  I'm glad she doesn't have to.

[ECE]

Oh, I'm having such a hard time understanding people who are posting on how they like Noura's "quirkiness" Yes, she's quirky, but, oh my, there seems to be more to it... I watched the episode wondering and feeling upset how the medical team for Survivor allowed someone with such obvious mental health  issues remain... #MyTakeOnTheEpisode

[SVNBob]

7 hours ago, Nashville said:

But isn’t obliviousness the key distinguishing factor between a goat and a bunny? 😉 

No, it's likeability vs beat-ability.  Goats can't win (by definition); Bunnies can (and have).

[Grrarrggh]

37 minutes ago, SVNBob said:

No, it's likeability vs beat-ability.  Goats can't win (by definition); Bunnies can (and have).

Sports media have brainwashed me into thinking goats are Greatest Of All Time, so I hate when they use that term. My poor brain gets confused. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

42 minutes ago, Grrarrggh said:

Sports media have brainwashed me into thinking goats are Greatest Of All Time, so I hate when they use that term. My poor brain gets confused. 

I know exactly what you mean!  In every other social media space, GOAT means greatest of all time.  

[Grrarrggh]

11 hours ago, ECE said:

Oh, I'm having such a hard time understanding people who are posting on how they like Noura's "quirkiness" Yes, she's quirky, but, oh my, there seems to be more to it... I watched the episode wondering and feeling upset how the medical team for Survivor allowed someone with such obvious mental health  issues remain... #MyTakeOnTheEpisode

Seriously? They wouldn't allow someone to pass the casting stage who had serious mental health problems. She's fun, loud and (quite like me sometimes) talks too much. What would your armchair diagnosis for that be? What does the DSM-5 say?

[PaperTree]

12 hours ago, ECE said:

Oh, I'm having such a hard time understanding people who are posting on how they like Noura's "quirkiness" Yes, she's quirky, but, oh my, there seems to be more to it... I watched the episode wondering and feeling upset how the medical team for Survivor allowed someone with such obvious mental health  issues remain... #MyTakeOnTheEpisode

Exactly why she was cast.  "quirky" (as well as loud and obnoxious) has become Good TV for clicks and ratings.

If she were wealthy, she would be "eccentric".

[brilliantbreakfast]

On 12/5/2019 at 3:49 PM, Special K said:

I'm guessing he hoped to make the NBA? 

OMG, I just looked him up -- he's from Westfield, NJ.  A rich town we used to play in sports.  Ugh I kind of hate him even more.  Sounds like he opted to go to a Catholic school (since he says they wore uniforms during the school day?). 

Anyway, BFD -- I hated high school in suburban NJ, too.  🙂  

Ha!  I grew up in a far corner of Westfield -- out where the "ethnics" and other people whose ancestors didn't come over on the Mayflower lived.  So there were Italians and Jews and people who owned dry cleaning and shoe repair shops and non-management white collar folks.  And I can tell you that if you weren't part of one of the "cool kids" factions (in my day in the early 1970s it was "hippies" and "jocks"), high school in Westfield could be a pretty miserable place.  I couldn't wait to get out of there.

[ElderPrice]

On 12/5/2019 at 12:40 PM, Bryce Lynch said:

know there are exceptions.  But, in my experience most men who teach elementary school are there because they are too weak and childish to teach middle school or high school.  One of my daughters had a male 2nd grade teacher who did backflips off desks, during class.  My other daughter had a 5th grade teacher who was very immature and injured a classmate of her by throwing a ball at her in class and hitting her in the face. (He thought it was fun to randomly throw a ball in kids faces when they weren't expecting it).  He then tried to punish my daughter for saying "Why did you do that!"   I had a discussion with the principal who made the jackass apologize and grovel   

I taught high school and believe me it was a lot easier than teaching elementary school. Just because your kid had a teacher you didn’t like does not give you the right to make a terrible sexist remark like that. In fact male teachers are rare and in high demand, especially in the early grades. It’s good for the kids to experience a man as a teaching/nurturing influence but a lot of men who have an aptitude for teaching are hesitant to go into the field because of this exact narrow mindedness. 

[simplyme]

On 12/6/2019 at 9:19 AM, Bryce Lynch said:

And some of those high-ranking NBA players were teammates of Dean in HS.  

I can only imagine how much sneaker licking Dean did toward Kyrie Irving in high school in a vain attempt to get them to accept him as a "cool kid".  

I thought you were joking, but I checked. You aren't. Dean and Kyrie Irving both went to St. Patrick's High School in Elizabethtown, NJ.

So I talked about Noura, @Ms Blue Jay reacted with a reference to Kyrie Irving, and @Bryce Lynch mentions Kyrie and Dean being teammates. That was a strange rabbit hole we found. 😂😂

[BarneySays]

Well, they should just pack it in and cancel the show.  We knew the moment would come when they all would overtly decide a plan at tribal council.  What’s the interest in that?  First, it’s boring tv.  More importantly it makes everything else that happened in the episode moot.  Imagine how much more entertaining that would have been if dean were prohibited from speaking to tommy. 

[Lantern7]

1 hour ago, BarneySays said:

Well, they should just pack it in and cancel the show.

From what I understand, Survivor is one of the network's highest-rated shows. Even if the series lurches farther towards irrelevancy and/or controversy on both sides of the camera, it will run as long as the showrunners want. And as a fan of The Amazing Race, that frustrates me to no end.

[Ms Blue Jay]

15 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

From what I understand, Survivor is one of the network's highest-rated shows. 

Thank goodness (sorry guys) I do agree this season (and last season) sucked but I still love it.  Here's hoping next season is good.

[ByaNose]

Even a bad season of Survivor is better show than most. Of course, the whole Dan thing took it to a different level but even after Thailand and Gabon I still came back. I’m sure there are others who loved those seasons but in general Survivor is still a great. There are two episodes left and then we can get some breathing room until Season 40 which will be a entirely different animal. I think most people are just curious how the Finale is going to be handled. 

[ECE]

23 hours ago, PaperTree said:

Exactly why she was cast.  "quirky" (as well as loud and obnoxious) has become Good TV for clicks and ratings.

If she were wealthy, she would be "eccentric".

What I was saying is that it seems to me to be more of an issue than just quirkiness.

On 12/7/2019 at 7:31 PM, Grrarrggh said:

Seriously? They wouldn't allow someone to pass the casting stage who had serious mental health problems. She's fun, loud and (quite like me sometimes) talks too much. What would your armchair diagnosis for that be? What does the DSM-5 say?

I agree; I think that's why she was originally cast...being quirky, loud, etc... For this episode, I said that it was MY TAKE that it's evolved into something more concerning...

[Nashville]

On 12/7/2019 at 8:31 PM, Grrarrggh said:

Seriously? They wouldn't allow someone to pass the casting stage who had serious mental health problems.

Got any evidence to back up that assertion?

So far as evidence to the contrary, two words: Brandon Hantz.