S40.E12: Friendly Fire

[AntFTW]

That hand that Denise threw in Jeremy’s face at TC... that was aggressive.

Thats a clear sign she’s no longer working with him.

Edited April 30, 2020 by AntFTW

[skybolt]

8 minutes ago, blackwing said:

 

She knows she received 5 votes, so only three people didn't vote for her.  We know that those people were herself and her two closest allies, Denise and Michelle.  Of course she would give tokens to those two.  But I am completely baffled at why she would give anything to Sarah, who was clearly one of the leaders of the opposition.  So yeah, I agree that she gave one to Sarah solely because Sarah is a woman.  

And since she thought that Denise, Michelle, and Nick were all with her, clearly one of them flipped and abandoned her.  It could just as easily have been Denise or Michelle as it was Nick.  So why wouldn't she give a token to Nick who was allied with her as far as she knew, as opposed to one of her chief enemies?  The only explanation is that she doesn't really care who wins the game, as long as it is a woman.  Ugh.

It's definitely something to think about come final jury vote. Kim left her tokens to 3 different women. Sophie went with Sarah and Kim, even though Ben was a bigger ally. Hopefully, survivor doesn't break along gender lines in the future.

[Eolivet]

9 hours ago, Hera said:

According to Wikipedia (which is generally accurate), Jeremy got votes from Kim, Michele, and Denise.

Huh, I could've sworn one of the only times we've ever seen Nick vote, it was in cursive (I thought I remembered, because it was distinctive). And Jeremy had one cursive vote. In fact, one player has always written votes in cursive, so I've been attributing them to Nick. Maybe I was wrong. (also Nick was extremely vociferous about not voting out Kim, seems odd he would've changed his mind).

I'd like to know the player who wrote Kim like a three-year old, barely forming the "M." Alas, the editing has deprived me of one of my secret favorite parts of Survivor: learning the players' writing so I can figure out who voted for who.

[himela]

19 minutes ago, blackwing said:

 

She knows she received 5 votes, so only three people didn't vote for her.  We know that those people were herself and her two closest allies, Denise and Michelle.  Of course she would give tokens to those two.  But I am completely baffled at why she would give anything to Sarah, who was clearly one of the leaders of the opposition.  So yeah, I agree that she gave one to Sarah solely because Sarah is a woman.  

And since she thought that Denise, Michelle, and Nick were all with her, clearly one of them flipped and abandoned her.  It could just as easily have been Denise or Michelle as it was Nick.  So why wouldn't she give a token to Nick who was allied with her as far as she knew, as opposed to one of her chief enemies?  The only explanation is that she doesn't really care who wins the game, as long as it is a woman.  Ugh.

I think she said "only three women left in the game" before she gave her tokens.

[SweetSable]

Quote

I guess I’m in the minority for enjoying the Tony-centric edit of the last 2 weeks. (Although I’m afraid it’s signaling an imminent exit.)  I like his joyful energy, I appreciate his ability to laugh at himself, and I think underneath the manic exterior there’s a brilliant mind. Combine all that with kooky Spy Nest antics, and what’s not to love?

I've always liked Tony and think he's hysterical.  And I believe even he knows all that spy stuff is silly and he's just having some fun with it.  They need to spend their endless time out there doing something.

I also think that, just one time, they should have a tribal council vote immediately after the immunity challenge, and I mean immediately as in Probst gives the winner the immunity necklace and says "Let's vote - Nick (or whoever) you're up first."  No plotting or planning, no discussing/whispering at Tribal - just vote.

[peachmangosteen]

13 hours ago, Eolivet said:

I think in addition to a Tribe Tracker, we need an Alliance Tracker. Maybe CBS would put a graphic at the bottom of the screen, like they do for idols: Aligned with, secretly aligned with, thinks they're aligned but not actually aligned with

Everyone is aligned with Tony and does what he wants, that's basically what you need to know lol. I think Denise is the only one left who has never actually been aligned with Tony at some point.

12 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

I did see [Sarah's] name come up once there.

She didn't get any votes. Denise, Michele, and Kim voted for Jeremy and the rest voted for Kim.

23 minutes ago, Eolivet said:

I'd like to know the player who wrote Kim like a three-year old, barely forming the "M." 

It was Ben, obviously lol!

This episode was aggravating as hell. Tony is just so dominate and most of them just allow it and there's no fun in that for me. I can't at them having 2 Immunity winners at F8. I'm sorry but that reeked of them hoping maybe they could help Tony out since they saw he was potentially in trouble. GAH!

I am so disappointed in Nick, Jeremy, and Kim. Especially Kim. The other two have been doing Tony's bidding for a couple rounds but Kim had Tony fucking clocked and she still gave up immunity for some peanut butter. Fucking idiot! 

Rob still getting the coconuts was stupid as hell imo but then I think all of them who push through like that are idiots, even Ethan with the logs. It's just a silly little game show guys, it really isn't worth this much lol.

I continue to enjoy the hell out of Ben. He's such a baby! The Jeremy/Ben rivalry is fantastic. Maybe not as good as the Adam/Ben one, but it's a nice replacement. They're both acting like such children lol.

I kinda hope Tony organizes a blindside on Sarah. Her continuing to do his bidding even after he completely fucked her over is just annoying and I hope he royally screws her lol. 

Denise essentially telling Jeremy to stfu because she was ready to vote cracked me up. She's my only remaining hope.

I was yelling so much at the TV over Probst letting Tony hem and haw and fucking whisper to people before not playing his idol and then he let Jeremy do it with his advantage. Fuck this shit! GAH!

[bankerchick]

Rob during the coconut challenge:  'I don't want to look too strong so I think I'll hang back.'  OK Rob

It's as if the powers that be heard us complain last week about the whispering because even though it still happened, at least we got subtitles for most of the conversations.  Having said that, I am not at all impressed that they were allowed to continue talking about whether or not to play advantages, after the votes were cast.

Nick has the most beautiful eyes.  Somewhat mitigates the vampire teeth.

[Eolivet]

2 hours ago, Kaiju Ballet said:

Not a fan of Adam, but I was surprised he still tried and whined his way through the coconut challenge.

I now hope that's what Tyson's "Adam's going to have a tough time" comment last episode was foreshadowing: Adam running too slow, complaining about being out of shape and falling down in the rocks during the challenge, as opposed to some flag-raising mental breakdown. Oh, Adam. Can't escape that fool edit.

@peachmangosteen thanks for the video clip. No idea how I mixed up Kim and Nick's writing, oops. And I'm not even a little surprised the "writes so big it falls off the page" person is Tony.

 

[peachmangosteen]

Kass and Michele calling out Production helping Tony lol:

Also, with all the other stuff I forgot about the fact that everyone was saying Sophie's idol wouldn't be rehidden since it was a pre-merge idol and yet. So, does anyone have stats on if an unplayed pre-merge idol is usually rehidden after merge?

[meep.meep]

11 hours ago, mythoughtis said:

For the life of me, I don’t understand why they didn’t vote Ben out.   He ruined Kim’s game, treated Jeremy like crap when he didn’t need to, and is just generally annoying.  As another poster said, he’s not even in the majority. 

He's the goat that they all want to sit next to at final Tribal.

[skybolt]

3 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

Kass and Michele calling out Production helping Tony lol:

Also, with all the other stuff I forgot about the fact that everyone was saying Sophie's idol wouldn't be rehidden since it was a pre-merge idol and yet. So, does anyone have stats on if an unplayed pre-merge idol is usually rehidden after merge?

I remember this coming up in previous seasons, and it's left up to the individual how to position their arms (as long as it's over their heads). 

[skybolt]

49 minutes ago, bankerchick said:

It's as if the powers that be heard us complain last week about the whispering because even though it still happened, at least we got subtitles for most of the conversations.  Having said that, I am not at all impressed that they were allowed to continue talking about whether or not to play advantages, after the votes were cast.

 

This isn't new though. Didn't Natalie do the same with Jaclyn when confirming who she voted for? Malcolm also called out another person to give him their idol since he felt threatened.

Edited April 30, 2020 by skybolt

[skybolt]

1 hour ago, peachmangosteen said:

Rob still getting the coconuts was stupid as hell imo but then I think all of them who push through like that are idiots, even Ethan with the logs. It's just a silly little game show guys, it really isn't worth this much lol.

I think the whole problem with the conditions at EoE is that players actually do believe that they're still competing in the real game. When Jeremy talked about being on a treadmill, Ethan threw his arms up in the air and said that's what we had to go through. I actually do believe that some of these players will vote for the returning player just because they went through these non Survivor related harsh conditions with them.

[Lady Calypso]

7 minutes ago, skybolt said:

This isn't new though. Didn't Natalie do the same with Jaclyn when confirming who she voted for? Malcolm also called out another person to give them their idol since he felt threatened.

It's not new, but I think, coupled with the whispering, and it just looks really bad. Plan out the advantage playing WHILE you're whispering, if you're going to still whisper! 

[skybolt]

1 minute ago, Lady Calypso said:

It's not new, but I think, coupled with the whispering, and it just looks really bad. Plan out the advantage playing WHILE you're whispering, if you're going to still whisper! 

No doubt, I hate the whispering as well. I just feel like players will continue to take advantage of whatever is allowed, and it's up to production to set new rules moving forward. Next year seat belts should be implemented at tribal council.

[Lady Calypso]

Just now, skybolt said:

No doubt, I hate the whispering as well. I just feel like players will continue to take advantage of whatever is allowed, and it's up to production to set new rules moving forward. Next year seat belts should be implemented at tribal council.

Oh yeah, this is all on production for enabling it. Jeff seems to like it, so it looks like it'll NEVER go away. It's like, what's the point of them strategizing back at camp? They might as well just wait until Tribal Council and have an open forum! 

[skybolt]

One question I have is how are seating arrangements determined at tribal council? Did Tony sit next to Jeremy on purpose or does production have assigned seats for each episode?

[nutty1]

23 minutes ago, skybolt said:

I remember this coming up in previous seasons, and it's left up to the individual how to position their arms (as long as it's over their heads). 

 

30 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

Kass and Michele calling out Production helping Tony lol:

Also, with all the other stuff I forgot about the fact that everyone was saying Sophie's idol wouldn't be rehidden since it was a pre-merge idol and yet. So, does anyone have stats on if an unplayed pre-merge idol is usually rehidden after merge?

I am not a conspiracy theorist and don't believe production helps players wins or guides them to idols. However, if it were true, I cannot imagine they would do something so blatantly obvious!

[skybolt]

Sophie's secret scene is so sad. I'm glad the rest of the players tried to comfort her.

 

[tvgoddess]

Yeah, I don't feel bad for her at all. She signed up for this. What goes around, comes around.

[Bryce Lynch]

15 hours ago, Daisy said:

how the hell are we at season 40. SEASON FORTY  and you step down for a pile of peanut butter and cookies and you know you're not safe and secure? 

 

But, with the EOE abomination, EVERYONE is totally safe and secure.  Getting voted off means absolutely nothing.  In fact, based upon the other Fake Survivor season that used it, it is a huge advantage.

[Bryce Lynch]

15 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

Hope that PB and cookies tasted like $2 million bucks, because unless Kim gets back in the game, that's what it cost her.

But, that's just it.  It cost her nothing.  Getting voted "out" does nothing to reduce one's chances of winning the $2 million.  It probably increases them, as you get more chance to bond with the jurors and have to cut fewer throats.

[jdunlop]

1 hour ago, skybolt said:

No doubt, I hate the whispering as well. I just feel like players will continue to take advantage of whatever is allowed, and it's up to production to set new rules moving forward. Next year seat belts should be implemented at tribal council.

Enforce Social distancing.

[laurakaye]

4 hours ago, skybolt said:

Tony is obviously making all the big moves, but as far as jury vote is concerned, I have to believe that Michelle is the front runner at this point. She constantly uses the trick of not voting for the person going home to stay on their good side. If the jury is bitter for whatever reason, I can see Parvati, Wendell, Kim, potentially Jeremy & Nick voting for her. Rob likes her (you know Amber is voting with him), and she wasn't part of the group to vote out Natalie. Yul and Sophie certainly don't dislike her. I'm sure Ethan likes her. I can see Tyson definitely not voting for her, but who else? Maybe Adam?

My winner pick - Michele.  If she can bring Nick and Ben with her to the finals and plead her case, then I think she wins.  Next-best case scenario is that Natalie comes back from the Edge and gets all the Edger votes.  That would be cool. too.

I think I'd vote myself off the island if I had to be subjected to Tony's ramblings.  He's probably a phenomenal cop - he douses his suspects in his 100-mph word salad and they confess just to shut him up.  Like with Ben: "You got the idol, Ben?  Why you gotta hide it?  You don't trust me?  Why you don't trust me, Ben?  Wassup with that, Ben?  You don't trust me?  Come on, man, why you did that, Ben?"  Followed by the Ben-in-celebration-overkill-mode carrying Tony on his back down a hill while Tony says, "No, Ben!  No!  Your back, Ben!  Stop!"  What a couple of oddballs.

And while the captions of tonight's whisper session were helpful, Denise was totally me when she held her hand up and said, "ENOUGH."  I adored Jeremy giving her the death-glare of "oh no you did NOT" behind her while she ignored him.  A beautiful, beautiful moment.

Jeremy had better give Michele back her 50/50 too.

Edited April 30, 2020 by laurakaye

[iMonrey]

This feels like a painfully slow and inevitable march to a Tony win, and it's boring as hell. I don't hate Tony or anything but I'm not a fan either, and it's 100% The Tony Show, week after week. Tony finds another idol. Tony wins another immunity. Tony gets another 10 talking head segments. Tony makes all the voting decisions. Tony Tony Tony. Yawn.

And I'm more convinced than ever that the producers are urging the players to do all this whispering crap at tribal. I simply do not believe that they are doing this every single week of their own accord with no prompting. They are all experienced enough players and there are only eight players left. The incessant last minute scrambling might be expected with less experienced players or when there are still a lot of players left, but for it to be happening constantly like this is suspicious as hell. Clearly Jeff loves it, and thus so do the producers. They are convinced it's great TV and we're all enthralled with it.

I also think they know how boring this season is turning out to be and are doing their damnedest to stir up anything to make it look more interesting.

And as far as gimmicks go, Fire Tokens has to be the greatest fail of all time. An entire segment of the losers collecting coconuts for Fire Tokens. Good grief, who cares?

[ellenr33]

I totally hope that Denise wins this season. She pulled a total me move when she shouted "enough"...

[AntFTW]

1 hour ago, skybolt said:

Sophie's secret scene is so sad. I'm glad the rest of the players tried to comfort her.

 

I’m sorry that she felt she was a bottom tier player. I thought she was playing a great game... up until someone else also caught wind that she was playing a great game.

[ellenr33]

Also what is Survivor contestants obsession with peanut butter. It goes all the way back to season 2 with Elisabeth. I think I would crave pizza and a cheeseburger... I would also really want caffeine. 

 

[Hera]

38 minutes ago, skybolt said:

Sophie's secret scene is so sad. I'm glad the rest of the players tried to comfort her.

 

12 minutes ago, tvgoddess said:

Yeah, I don't feel bad for her at all. She signed up for this. What goes around, comes around.

I give players a pass on being sad in the immediate aftermath of being voted out for the same reason I give the last person put on the jury a pass for being bitter at Final Tribal Council. This game takes over the players' lives while they're playing it, and getting voted out is always personal: enough people didn't want you in the game that they wrote your name down, and you either didn't see it coming (as was the case with Sophie) or you did, but weren't able to stop it (as was the case with Kim). Even the nicest possible spin—"I was such a threat they had to get rid of me"— is a tacit admission of failure at certain key aspects of the game. I don't blame anyone who needs a couple of days to get over being voted out. And I say this as someone who didn't root for Sophie in South Pacific and wasn't rooting for her here.

[AntFTW]

4 minutes ago, ellenr33 said:

Also what is Survivor contestants obsession with peanut butter. It goes all the way back to season 2 with Elisabeth. I think I would crave pizza and a cheeseburger... I would also really want caffeine. 

 

I’ve always told myself if I’m on Survivor and there’s a challenge that I can exit for food, I’m only exiting the challenge for REAL food. I wouldn’t exit for candy or chocolate, cookies, cake, none of that. I would exit for a steak, burger and fries, chicken, pizza, stuff like that. I can’t fill up on candy, chocolate, or cookies and feel good about back to plain rice on a leaf and and some coconuts.

[Haleth]

4 hours ago, skybolt said:

Tony is obviously making all the big moves, but as far as jury vote is concerned, I have to believe that Michelle is the front runner at this point. She constantly uses the trick of not voting for the person going home to stay on their good side. 

But will the jury see it as a trick?  Yeah, on the one hand she had no part in voting them out, but is constantly being on the wrong side of the vote something to put on your resume?  

Like him or not, you can’t say Tony isn’t working for the win. 

4 hours ago, tvgoddess said:

She's smart, funny and pretty? Only in your eyes, Sarah. 

That was a joke.

 

[ellenr33]

3 minutes ago, AntFTW said:

I’ve always told myself if I’m on Survivor and there’s a challenge that I can exit for food, I’m only exiting the challenge for REAL food. I wouldn’t exit for candy or chocolate, cookies, cake, none of that. I would exit for a steak, burger and fries, chicken, pizza, stuff like that. I can’t fill up on candy, chocolate, or cookies and feel good about back to plain rice on a leaf and and some coconuts.

Me too. It was always mind boggling to me when they did the auctions how many people would go nuts for like a plate of fries. 

[fishcakes]

Tony's panic as Ben picked him up and ran with him! "You're going to drop me! You're going to step on something!" 🤣

I went into this season not really caring who won, but now I feel like if it's not Tony, I'll be mad. He's earned the win, and the funny thing is that he's playing basically the same game as he played in Cagayan and people are letting him. He's burning people in his own alliance to advance his own interests, and then swearing that he's still with the rest of them, and they're buying it. I can see Ben falling for it since he doesn't seem like a deep thinker, but I'm surprised at Sarah; she's shown herself in the past (for example, her take on Sandra) to be more savvy than this.

As for Tony's bent arm in the challenge, back when Shii Ann won this challenge in All Stars, someone noted that she was the only one who held her arm locked straight and everyone else's was bent and that person said it's easier to hold your arm up straight rather than bent. My totally unscientific opinion (based on holding my arm up bent and then holding it up straight) is that that person was correct. The weight of the arm seems to distribute more evenly when the arm is straight; when it's bent, I can feel the weight in my upper arm. I'm not surprised Kass is fomenting conspiracy theories about it, though. She's such a bitter llama.

12 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

I can’t figure out why Ben is so childish about Jeremy.  Ben has played this game before and knows the deal.  Really bugs me.  OTOH, he didn’t vote for Jeremy tonight so there’s that.

Ben seems to be mad at Jeremy because Ben tried to vote him out last week and was unsuccessful. So he's decided to freeze him out. Which is funny because that's pretty much what happened to Ben in his season. Ben walked up on his alliance as they were talking about voting him out, and as a result they inexplicably got mad at him and treated him like a leper for the rest of the season. I do agree that it's childish. As was Sarah's OTT, "if I get voted out, I'll never speak to you again," to Tony. Sure, get mad in the moment, but don't hang on to a grudge like grim death. It bothers me that Ben and Sarah are so immature, and yet have jobs where they carry guns.

12 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

When did Denise turn on Jeremy?  She voted for him.  I thought they were super tight.

I think they've had an off-and-on alliance of convenience but Denise has always been willing to go against him. She's been playing a pretty smart game up until now, but her little "I'm DONE!" show at TC was a mistake. She was so sure Jeremy was going last night and she was wrong. All the alliances have been so fluid this season that she might end up okay if she and Jeremy need each other going forward, but it's always a mistake to burn your bridges like that.

12 hours ago, ByaNose said:

There must be some (bad) editing going on with Ben & Jeremy. Were they ever friends and then they had a falling out? It doesn’t make any sense other then Ben didn’t like that Jeremy saved himself the Tribal Council before. If not, I don’t understand where when & why they became enemy’s. At least, with Adam & Ben you saw it because they were on the same tribe and “played” together. The Ben & Jeremy hate is so unexplainable. At least, to me it is. 

They were in the Big Threats Plus Ben alliance for a while, but I too am puzzled by why there's so much animosity now. I could see each of them being annoyed with the other, but the outright loathing is weird.

Oh man, Adam continues to hurt my feelings with his awkwardness. When he was trying to carefully pick his way through the rocks, all I could think of was this:

 

 

[BrooklynRat]

4 hours ago, skybolt said:

I honestly believe that a season comprised of runners up would be way more dramatic than this one. Players still hungry for a win would not be as complacent as these guys. 

This is the only returning players concept I could totally get behind. The hunger to win and redeem themselves is exactly what’s missing this season. 

4 hours ago, skybolt said:

I think her plan has always been to stay in the good graces of the people getting voted out. She's received a lot of fire tokens doing that, not to mention not having to deal with a bitter jury.

Michelle knows her game and owns it. 

This is a sound theory but i still hate the idea of the jury picking the least offensive or most likable player. This is Survivor, dammit—I always want the player who has actively worked hardest to outwit and outlast to win, even if they aren’t the player I like most. Case in point: Russel’s first season. Not my favorite person/personality but he was bold and had game-play we hadn’t previously seen on the show. 

3 hours ago, AntFTW said:

That hand that Denise threw in Jeremy’s face at TC... that was aggressive.

Thats a clear sign she’s no longer working with him.

It was unforgivably rude. I was a big fan of her Sandra blindside and have been looking forward to another bold move from her but that was super dismissive and specific. 

3 hours ago, SweetSable said:

I also think that, just one time, they should have a tribal council vote immediately after the immunity challenge, and I mean immediately as in Probst gives the winner the immunity necklace and says "Let's vote - Nick (or whoever) you're up first."  No plotting or planning, no discussing/whispering at Tribal - just vote.

Another great idea I’d like to see happen. It would reveal what people really think without being swayed by overly-influential personalities. One of the things I liked in the early Survivor days—you didn’t always know how TC would turn out, or what people were thinking. I kind of hate when 6 people already know who’s going out and we’re just tuning in to see the vote  outcome. I’d enjoy a season or at least an episode  of players also not knowing how the vote is going to pan out. 

Edited April 30, 2020 by BrooklynRat
Typos

[BrooklynRat]

17 minutes ago, ellenr33 said:

Also what is Survivor contestants obsession with peanut butter. It goes all the way back to season 2 with Elisabeth. I think I would crave pizza and a cheeseburger... I would also really want caffeine. 

 

It’s a super food packed with protein and calories and helps you feel sated for a long period of time. That’s why Tyson bought it inn EoE to give himself a performance advantage. It’s the perfect Survivor food. 

[Growsonwalls]

FWIW I think by the time Denise threw up her hand and said "I'm done" I think she knew that the tide had turned against Kim and she just wanted to get it over with. Certainly Kim did not seem blindsided by her ouster.

[bankerchick]

Quote

I’m sorry that she felt she was a bottom tier player. I thought she was playing a great game... up until someone else also caught wind that she was playing a great game.

Her acting like a high-schooler by calling the others in her alliance into a circle to discuss their options no doubt turned some of the attention on her and I would argue that was not a great move.

[Nashville]

Two observations regarding this episode:

1. I was never a big fan of Boston Rob his first few outings; he always struck me as a somewhat smarmy know-it-all.  Mature Boston Rob, though, I’m pretty ok with.
2. UO: my favorite part of the TC was Jiffy - when he gave up any semblance of his normal TC Q&A, sat his ass down, and started a play-by-play narration of the WhisperFest participants as if they were thoroughbreds coming around the far turn at Pimlico.  Fucking hilarious.

[AntFTW]

23 minutes ago, BrooklynRat said:

It was unforgivably rude. I was a big fan of her Sandra blindside and have been looking forward to another bold move from her but that was super dismissive and specific. 

It absolutely was. I was offended for Jeremy. I made a face; I yelled “Excuse me?” to my TV; I almost called her a name.

[skybolt]

26 minutes ago, Haleth said:

But will the jury see it as a trick?  Yeah, on the one hand she had no part in voting them out, but is constantly being on the wrong side of the vote something to put on your resume?  

Like him or not, you can’t say Tony isn’t working for the win. 

That was a joke.

 

Personally I agree with everything you said, but jury members are usually all over the place. For instance, players like Rob, Parvati and Tyson may not vote for Tony so he doesn't overshadow their legendary status. I also think that Kim, Danni and perhaps Sophie are voting for a women to matter what. Plus, we still have Wendell and potentially Nick and Jeremy as part of the jury.

[scowl]

I loved the chaotic tribal! Season after season I was so tired of everyone in tribal glued to their seats like obedient schoolchildren as if they were completely helpless to what was happening in tribal no matter how badly their plans have fallen apart. Now the show finally has people who have the brains to get up off their asses and try do something with others at the last minute.

[HurricaneVal]

I, too, have Denise in my Survivor pool, so I'm rooting for her to win.

And even though it was probably a stupid move for her future game at Tribal Council, I have to say I was 100% in with her no-more-fucks-to-give-let's-just-vote-already expression of frustration.  Yeah, she was really rude to Jeremy, but I don't think it was specifically targeted at Jeremy.  I think anyone who tried to get her off to the side to whisperize at that point was going to get the same angry "talk to the hand" gesture and harsh words.  She was so very clearly DONE with it all that night.

So am I.  I've gone on record as saying I really, really, hate the whispering at TC.  I'm on board the "Stand up = Lose your vote" train.  The subtitles make it a little more tolerable though, but I think it is detrimental to the jury.  I say mic 'em up and let the viewers, jury, and Jeff hear what's going on.  I violently agree with whomever said upthread that they hope during the finale that one or more of the jury members stands up and says "I have no idea who I should vote for, because I have no idea what was going on during tribal council because of all the damn whispering."  I think that is going to point toward an EoE returnee being favored in the final vote.  The jury will have spent more time with him/her, and know more about their game than anyone who whispered their way through TC.

Why are the producers torturing the EoE players so much?  Geeze, first the up and down and up and down firewood comp and now this scramble over slippery sharp rocks coconut challenge.  I seriously though someone was going to really injure themselves--and I think they did, but just didn't show it.  Rob cracked his elbow pretty hard, and he seemed to be favoring it quite a bit later on.  He also sort of disappeared in the middle of the comp, so I think he was getting looked at by medical.  Then Danni taking that fall and getting her ankle stuck at that awkward angle under the rock?  I saw her limping on it in later footage as well.  And Adam.  Hapless, helpless Adam.  I'm surprised he didn't literally knock himself out of the game.  Even Ethan took that hard fall that very luckily turned into a slide.  That could have been really bad.

I have to say, though, that this standing up and wandering around and whispering is spicing up Tribal Council even though I hate it.  Whenever two players stand there and whisper urgently into each others ears and look deeply and meaningfully into each others eyes, it looks like they're passionately making out like hormonal teenagers drunk at a kegger and really feeling it, if you know what I mean, and I think you do...  If you look at it from that perspective, the whispering becomes less frustrating and more amusing.  I was cracking up through the whole thing once I made that association!

[eel21788]

16 hours ago, SoWindsor said:

Why was Tony going to give Sarah his idol?

Why didn't she tell him to use it for her even if she felt safe just so they could burn the idol and get back to really playing the game?

[skybolt]

18 minutes ago, AntFTW said:

It absolutely was. I was offended for Jeremy. I made a face; I yelled “Excuse me?” to my TV; I almost called her a name.

She could've definitely handled that better. She could've nicely told Jeremy, "I understand your situation, but I've already made up my mind and am ready to vote. Please don't take it the wrong way". Really, anything would've been better than the hand to the face. It was like she took out all her anger of players scrambling again at tribal to not go with the easy vote, on him.

3 minutes ago, eel21788 said:

Why didn't she tell him to use it for her even if she felt safe just so they could burn the idol and get back to really playing the game?

If he was willing to use the idol for her this tribal, he'll likely do it again in the future, if he has the immunity necklace.

[Nashville]

10 minutes ago, HurricaneVal said:

And even though it was probably a stupid move for [Denise’s]  future game at Tribal Council, I have to say I was 100% in with her no-more-fucks-to-give-let's-just-vote-already expression of frustration.  Yeah, she was really rude to Jeremy, but I don't think it was specifically targeted at Jeremy.  I think anyone who tried to get her off to the side to whisperize at that point was going to get the same angry "talk to the hand" gesture and harsh words.  She was so very clearly DONE with it all that night.

This was my take as well - that Denise’s discussion rejection wasn’t directed specifically at Jeremy, but at the whole sophomoric whisperfest.

Zero doubt, though, that Jeremy’s response - “You sure you want to do that?  You know you’re just safe tonight, though, right?” - was a targeted threat aimed directly at Denise, and she handled it much more diplomatically than I would have under such circumstances.

[blackwing]

 

5 hours ago, tvgoddess said:

She's smart, funny and pretty? Only in your eyes, Sarah. 

59 minutes ago, Haleth said:

That was a joke.

Was it?  I didn't think so.  Sarah was monologuing about "who is Sarah Lacina?  People see me as smart.  Or funny.  And pretty."  It sure didn't sound like a joke to me.  Because if it was truly a joke then she would be saying that she is dumb, boring and ugly.  There's no way Sarah really thinks that about herself.  I do feel like she really believes she is smart, funny and pretty.

1 hour ago, Bryce Lynch said:

But, that's just it.  It cost [Kim] nothing.  Getting voted "out" does nothing to reduce one's chances of winning the $2 million.  It probably increases them, as you get more chance to bond with the jurors and have to cut fewer throats.

I don't agree.  Of course her peanut butter cost her.  Getting voted out definitely decreases your chances.  Before, she had a 1 in 8 chance to win the game.  Now, she has a 1 in 11 chance to be the EoE returnee... and that takes a lot of skill and luck as she has to outlast all of the other Edgers to get back in the game.  Then when she comes back in, let's say there are 6 people left, then she has a 1 in 6 chance.  There's a lot of variables of course but if you're looking at the probabilities and assume it that each person has an equal chance of returning / winning, she gave up a 1 in 8 shot (maybe 1 in 9 if you include the returnee) and in return now has a 1 in 66.

[skybolt]

2 minutes ago, Nashville said:

This was my take as well - that Denise’s discussion rejection wasn’t directed specifically at Jeremy, but at the whole sophomoric whisperfest.

Zero doubt, though, that Jeremy’s response - “You sure you want to do that?  You know you’re just safe tonight, though, right?” - was a targeted threat aimed directly at Denise, and she handled it much more diplomatically than I would have under such circumstances.

But Jeremy's statement was game play. What he said was absolutely valid. On the other hand, the hand to the face and the "I'm done" was really demeaning.

[AncientNewbie]

This was another of those episodes where I'm reminded I'm not CBS's core demographic and seeing the alpha male cop dominate a bunch of dingbats isn't really entertaining for me. The "battle of the best" doesn't really fly when most of them get a few seconds and their only commentary is Tony-related.

[Cornhusker12]

14 hours ago, Hera said:

He controls votes, he finds idols, and he runs around acting wacky so he gets lots of screen time just being a character. It doesn't leave a lot of space for the other players to be showcased, and it makes me resent him, even though it's not really his fault—this is clearly who he is and any player would love to be in the plum positions he finds himself in. Plus, it's not like he's in the editing bay, demanding to be featured more.

I think another aspect of this is the fact that the remaining players don't really have very "dynamic" or outgoing personalities in comparison. I'm guessing if people like Rob, Parvati, Natalie, Adam and Yul, etc were still in the game these last couple episodes in place of Kim, Sophie, Denise, Nick and Michelle, for example, there would be some more entertaining and dynamic footage to feature. As it turns out, we have a group of comparatively low-key people along with the whirlwind of Tony haha.

 

13 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

I guess I’m in the minority for enjoying the Tony-centric edit of the last 2 weeks. (Although I’m afraid it’s signaling an imminent exit.)  I like his joyful energy, I appreciate his ability to laugh at himself, and I think underneath the manic exterior there’s a brilliant mind. Combine all that with kooky Spy Nest antics, and what’s not to love?

I absolutely agree!

[skybolt]

I'm trying to remember what Tony has called other players in this game. He has used terms like low key, hyenas, scavengers and rats thus far. Anything else?