S41.E04: They Hate Me 'Cause They Ain't Me

[Whimsy]

Quote

Two castaways strategize a risky move during the immunity challenge. A castaway does what it takes to earn a tribemate’s trust.

Original airdate 10/13/21 

[Guest]

There are fewer things less entertaining on Survivor than watching people throw a challenge, but it's at least somewhat amusing when they fail. Deshawn was losing me when he wanted to throw it, but he got me back a little with his good-natured reaction to Naseer powering through.

The more Sydney talked, the more I could imagine people hating her XD. I'm guessing most of her spiel is tongue-in-cheek, but we'll see.

I have no issue with what Shan and Ricard are doing, but their smugness is not a good look. The villain theme isn't that cute, Shan.

[vb68]

That shot of JD yelling "Money!" at the challenge will live in infamy.

[LadyChatts]

After tonight Ricard, Deshawn, Sydney the wannabe-Parvati, and Shan who can't hum can go anytime.  

I'm sorry to lose J.D.  I really liked him, even if he was terrible at this game.  Not just with giving his vote to Shan, but he really mis-read things with Genie.  I'll miss his big smile and attitude.  I'm glad Genie is still there, however. 

Naseer was awesome tonight.  I loved how Deshawn was doing anything and everything to throw that challenge and the other tribes and his own tribe mates kept screwing it up for him.  Oh, and nice to finally meet you Heather and Erika!  Sorry Heather that we saw you just cry and screw up a challenge.  At least Erika got game play talk in.

 

Edited October 14, 2021 by LadyChatts

[PaperTree]

Oh my!  JD will live in Survivor stupid infamy.  He was a two-fer tonight.

[vb68]

1 minute ago, LadyChatts said:

Naseer was awesome tonight.  I loved how Deshawn was doing anything and everything to throw that challenge and the other tribes and his own tribe mates kept screwing it up for him. 

Throwing a challenge is just a dumb idea. It just never works out like you wanted.

You go Naseer!

[LadyChatts]

2 minutes ago, PaperTree said:

Oh my!  JD will live in Survivor stupid infamy.  He was a two-fer tonight.

Well, at there will always be someone else whose name starts with J and also abbreviates it to two letters that has done way dumber stuff on this show.  Oddly enough, the T in J.T. sounds like the D in J.D.  Maybe if J.D. returns he'll do a name change. 

[vb68]

I can't imagine how JD felt watching this episode. He probably just learned that some on the Blue Tribe were trying to throw the challenge. That has to sting. 

[mojoween]

 

JD in real life.

Shan can take her ridiculous humming and begone now.  She’s a mean girl in disguise.

[ByaNose]

Just think J.D. could have spared if he just let Luvu lose the challenge. How could he be so dumb?! LOL!!!!! Once Shan took the idol  back I pretty much assumed J.D. was a goner. Now, UA is down to only 3 people. I’m curious to see how this plays out next week. 

Edited October 14, 2021 by ByaNose

[Melina22]

Am I the only one who finds Shan's tootling theme of evil bizarre and hilarious? 

Poor JD. At least his hair looked good. 😁

Sydney is horrible. "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful." If people hate her, that won't be why. 

So hilarious to watch the blue team trying to win, oblivious of the sabateur fumbling in their midst. And still winning. 

Yase is so unlikely. They really shouldn't be winning anything and yet they are. Tiffany isn't doing badly, and so far Xander hasn't collapsed from doing all the heavy lifting. Kudos to them. 

Heather was terrible but I teared up when she collapsed after the comp because all through school, I was Heather. I was small and skinny, but had zero stamina or athletic ability, no matter how desperately hard I tried. I remember a high school volleyball game where one of the girls was yelling at me for being so pathetic and another girl said, "At least she came out so we didn't have to lose by default!" That was the highest praise of my athletic career. 😁

[JudyObscure]

I don't mind Shan's little song, but I do mind the unnecessary mean stuff she does like telling Genie that she was never Brad's number one.

Sydney on the other hand is both mean and charmless.  Neither good looking nor savvy she named Ericka last when guessing who might want her out.  

Bye JD.  I don't see anything wrong with yelling "money," while throwing.

[PaperTree]

3 minutes ago, Melina22 said:

because all through school, I was Heather.

I was always picked last in gym glass.  The fat nerd.😎

I honestly didn't feel bad for Heather.  She knows what she signed up for.

[Melina22]

2 minutes ago, JudyObscure said:

Sydney on the other hand is both mean and charmless.  Neither good looking nor savvy she named Ericka last when guessing who might want her out.  

Mean and charmless is a perfect description. And I agree - she is neither good looking or savvy enough to get away with calling herself that. Is anyone? 

[PaperTree]

3 minutes ago, JudyObscure said:

Bye JD.  I don't see anything wrong with yelling "money," while throwing.

I don't either, but it was funny as hell.  One more for his clip reel.

[vb68]

9 minutes ago, JudyObscure said:

Bye JD.  I don't see anything wrong with yelling "money," while throwing.

Well if you fall flat while saying it, it becomes unintentionally hilarious.

And being voted out right after that doesn't help. 

Edited October 14, 2021 by vb68

[LanceM]

"I don't want be that dumb guy on Survivor"

redeems himself by getting his advantage back..... then proceeds to be that dumb guy on Survivor by giving up his advantage and then getting voted out. lol

I am loving Shan and her evil ways including her catchy little tune

Sydney is unintentionally hilarious and yes she is quite attractive.

Also, it is not always a bad idea to throw challnnges, they have worked at times.  See James in Survivor China.

[LadyChatts]

12 minutes ago, vb68 said:

Well if you fall flat while saying it, it becomes unintentionally hilarious.

And being voted out right after that doesn't help. 

I guess Shan was right when she said he should have yelled 'tribal.'

[Straycat80]

Throwing a challenge never ever works out DeShawn. Good on you Naseer.  JD joins the Survivor stupid hall of fame. Never give your idol or advantage to anyone else, you’re a goner. I thought he was Survivor savvy. 
Ricard and Shan and her humming song can go at any time. Hope Genie finds a idol. 

[bankerchick]

Somewhere Erik is laughing his ass off, grateful that he's no longer the only dupe to give away an advantage to a beguiling woman, only to be voted out.

[Valerie]

Where the fuck did this new, confident Tiffany come from? Damn, girl!

My mom and I were laughing out loud during the slow cuts to Deshawn and Danny looking horrified that they couldn't even throw the challenge thanks to Naseer going beast mode.

[GenerationX]

Semi-random thoughts on episode 4 “Struggling Turtles”:

• Good on you, little turtle, for getting out of that sand trap with the big lip!  We’ve all been there, my friend.
• How does DeShawn struggle to slow his team down in the immunity challenge when he has just seen the perfect sabotage template Heather provided in the reward challenge?
• J.D. was a little slow picking up on … well, most everything.

The one character I’d like to hear more from is Sydney’s Ego.  That’s some good TV there.

[knitorpurl]

 

This the first time that I heard Erika speak and I like her. She is smart and insightful and seems that she judged Sydney's character very accurately. Too bad she misjudged Deshawn as the player to trust. He would rather stick with an emotional and erratic player over someone he could strategize and go far with.

Didn't like Sydney when I heard speak for the first time last week and this week just confirmed it. Her attitude is astounding. Hopefully attitudes will have shifted before the blue team does go to tribal so Erika has a chance.

[mertensia]

I would have been happy to watch more baby turtle footage.

JD is a moron.

[treeofdreams]

When will people learn that no matter how much you think you trust someone, you do not give them your immunity necklace/immunity idol/advantage.  If they ask you to, YOU ARE BEING PLAYED.

It was good to have a regular episode rather than one with so much time wasted on the Beware advantage (find the advantage, read the advantage, the boat ride to another island, conferring with the others about the choices, hiking up the hill, making the decision, etc.)  There was more time to see the strategizing in camp, and to have a reward challenge as well as an immunity challenge instead of bundling the two together.  More of this, please!  Thank you.

Edited October 14, 2021 by treeofdreams

[Maya]

Was anyone else terrified at first that the tribe was going to eat the baby turtles? Lol

[PaperTree]

1 minute ago, Maya said:

Was anyone else terrified at first that the tribe was going to eat the baby turtles? Lol

Nah, they're probably protected.  Yet it wouldn't really matter.  I remember a NOVA or Nature or something show from ages ago and something like less than 1% of baby turtles survive to adulthood.  The ocean loves the buffet during hatching time.  The birds too.

[bunnyface]

Well, I do hate Sydney, but not because I ain't her.  It's because she's horrible.

I did like that all the other players supported Heather.  I'm guessing that because they didn't do it, they weren't allowed, but it would have been nice if after a few tries, someone else could have gone and given Heather a minute to rest and get it together before she tried again. 

In a perfect world, all the green players would have put their heads together and realized Shan was playing all of them and voted her out.  But that never happens.  When she lost it and was screaming at Genie about how *she* was Brad's number one, why didn't the others all say "wait a minute, I thought I was Shan's #1..."  But I guess that would be too simple.

[Steph Sometimes]

Best episode this season by far for me. You know why? We heard from players who had been fairly invisible (I told you there was an Erika!), there was humor (NASEER, foiler of plans), there was character stuff (the tribe with the turtles, everyone supporting Heather). there was strategy, a reward challenge and a Malcolm shoutout. You know what wasn't in this episode? New advantages/disadvantages added to keep track of, butterflies or broccoli.

Sorry JD. It's almost like having advantages is a bad thing this season.

Did anyone think that Challenge Beast Tiffany would be a thing?

Five people out and four of them men, right? I really hope a woman takes this season.

[TVFan1]

Shan and her stupid humming can go any time. I really can't stand her and Ricard. The Ua tribe is a mess. 

Hilarious when Deshawn was trying to throw the challenge only to have Nasser power through to pull out the win. Glad they won because Erika looked like the target. Erika has game.

This was a good episode. Not advantage heavy. Nice to see strategy from all of the tribes. So refreshing from the past couple of episodes where the idols and advantages that are so difficult to understand.

Edited October 14, 2021 by TVFan1

[LadyChatts]

1 minute ago, TVFan1 said:

Shan and her stupid humming can go any time. I really can't stand her and Ricard. The Ua tribe is a mess. 

Hilarious when DeShawn was trying to throw the challenge only to have Nasser power through to pull out the win. Glad they won because Erika looked like the target. Erika has game.

This was a good episode. Not advantage heavy. Nice to see strategy from all of the tribes. So refreshing from the past couple of episodes where the idols and advantages that are so difficult to understand.

I feel like Deshawn was mentally kicking his own ass for not having Heather participate in the IC.  If she did anywhere near as bad as she did in the RC, he wouldn't have had to worry about throwing it.  I did think it was funny that he was walking slowly in the water, and still made it to shore before all of Yase.  I think Erika would have been gone if they lost, so I'm glad his plans were foiled.  

I'm not complaining about the advantages, but I'm really confused about the whole island thing with the risk your vote or protect your vote.  Will that be making a come back?  Sometimes it's just weird that they start stuff like that, and then all of a sudden they don't do it for a couple of episodes.  As I said, not complaining.  If everyone managed to get a steal-a-vote, it would be like a high stakes poker game at TC if they all tried using theirs at once.  But I wish they'd be consistant, too.

[millennium]

3 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

After tonight Ricard, Deshawn, Sydney the wannabe-Parvati, and Shan who can't hum can go anytime.

That stupid tuneless ditty!   I moaned "Not again!" when she launched into an encore only minutes after numbing everyone's auditory nerve the first time.   The show apparently thinks it's a thing we're all enjoying.  No, show.  No.

Somebody upthread suggested Sydney's high opinion of herself was a put-on.   I don't think so.

I was happy they didn't eat the turtle hatchlings.   I'm guessing they were strictly prohibited from getting close.

[bunnyface]

Have they stopped the "inside puzzle" thing?  I didn't see one this week and I don't remember seeing one last week.  

[Melina22]

I definitely saw one this week. A very short puzzle. One of these episodes I'll pause the show and take a stab at it, but I haven't so far. 

[candall]

Well, it could have been worse, JD.  I thought that perhaps Genie had unsuccessfully rolled her die, lost her vote, and wily Shan had used JD's advantage to cast two of the three votes that sent JD home.  (Maybe that scenario isn't even a possibility, but I haven't invested a lot of energy learning all the New Coke rules.)

 

Naseer's slo-mo roar was hilarious--good job, production.

 

Baby turtles.   So determined and spunky.  <sniff>

.

[millennium]

Was that a butterfly that flew into J.D.'s confessional or one of his dead relatives stopping by to say hello?

[Primetimer]

Just posted: Primetimer's Joe Reid weighs in on tonight's episode. Here's a taste....

Quote

Ultimately this vote came down to the most simple of Survivor dilemmas: who to trust. Genie was the obvious sore thumb from the previous vote. She'd declared she was over the rest of the tribe. Just get rid of her. But Shan ultimately never got over seeing J.D. with that extra-vote advantage sticking out of his waistband last week. She lost her trust in him, and while he probably was more loyal to her than Genie, Shan coaxed his extra vote out of him and then cut his throat. The wounded look on J.D.'s face after getting blindsided was both heartbreaking and also the perfect end to an episode that was Survivor at its most basic, at last.

More here:
https://www.primetimer.com/features/survivor-comes-back-from-the-brink-with-its-most-human-episode-of-the-season

[BK1978]

2 hours ago, Maya said:

Was anyone else terrified at first that the tribe was going to eat the baby turtles? Lol

I thought a bird was just going to fly down and scoop the one that was really struggling up for a meal, but they would never show something like that.

Well once again kudos to the editors for focusing on JD and him being an early boot.  I am not sure if that means all of the interesting people are going to be voted out early and all of the duds will be there for end game.  I hope that does not happen.

Ricard reminds me so much of Todd, not because they are both gay mind you, but just the smugness.  They both have this really annoying smug smile. I was not a fan of Todd and I am not a fan of Ricard.  But I feel much like Todd, Ricard is going to be around for the long haul.

[Fretful]

2 hours ago, bunnyface said:

Have they stopped the "inside puzzle" thing?  I didn't see one this week and I don't remember seeing one last week.  

It's at the beginning of tribal, while Ricard is speaking

 

[HurricaneVal]

Psssst......if you are going to throw a comp, you need to get the rest of the team on board.  

[OutOfTheQuestion]

I can't believe that a guy whose Survivor heroes were nine-time losers Malcolm, Woo, and Ozzy got voted out!

[millennium]

I expect J.D. will be back in future seasons, perhaps several times.  The show loves superfans who embrace Survivor as their raison d'etre and tends to keep bringing them back until they make it to the finals.  "Redemption" or whatever they have called it in the past.  I always saw it as rewarding people for being lousy players.  I kind of feel bad for J.D. that this is how his lifelong dream ended, but it seems a bit unfair to give losers another bite at the apple at the expense of other people who share the same dream but don't get their shot because previous players keep getting invited back.

Edited October 14, 2021 by millennium

[violet and green]

I kind of thought this season was toast, but this was a better episode. Very surprised that Genie survived that vote. Sad outcome for JD, but man you're only twenty! I always crack up when people on reality tv talk about how this singing/cooking/survivoring show has been my dream my whole life. I don't know if the poor guy did go out with good hair either. I wanted to take a set of shears to that massive lopsided chunk.

The night sky at the start was spectacular. The turtles were so lovely. I was horrified initially imaging they would all chase and impale them. Erika looks promising. And Genie got to stay, thank god.

I really hope they do a tribe shuffle very soon. And give us a proper look at their crappy shelters. It looks as if the blue tribe is the only one with a decent setup? Which might be part of their winning streak, plus having two huge sporty guys and the plucky Naseer.

Here's hoping things continue to improve this season. And that Jeff starts doing his wise words at the end of tribal again.

5 hours ago, Melina22 said:

One of these episodes I'll pause the show and take a stab at it, but I haven't so far. 

You can do the puzzle thing here:

https://survivorgwg.com/#/

[Haleth]

JD seems like a really sweet kid, but oh dear, he is way too naive to play Survivor.  

It was painful watching Heather keep trying.  I would never have been able to run through those ropes fast enough to catch the ball either.

I don't know if I'm getting bored with the whole concept of Survivor, but I'm having trouble connecting to this season.  It's hard to find someone to root for.  I almost turned it off when Sydney was boasting about how beautiful and clever she is.  Likewise Shan isn't nearly as cute as she thinks she is.  However, I am glad I watched the blue team try as hard as they could to lose and failed because green is so inept.  It's always a bad idea to throw a game, Deshawn, and I was surprised Danny went along with it.

6 hours ago, PaperTree said:

Nah, they're probably protected.

Yeah, I can guarantee they were told not to touch the baby turtles.

6 hours ago, Tdoc72 said:

I so want to see everyone saying the secret phrases at a challenge

The editors missed the opportunity to show Xander's reaction to seeing Brad was gone.  At least he got a break from the butterfly talk.

[PhoneCop]

JD had pre-jury boot written on his forehead from jump, but in a weird way I'll kind of miss his Scrappy-Doo energy.

Whoever makes it to the merge, I feel like it's going to be an interesting mix of personalities. You know, now that we've actually gotten to see more than three or four of them in an episode.

[Lantern7]

Just watched the episode. No clue-hunting, no “ship players to either gain advantage or screw themselves.” Pretty refreshing.

Poor JD. Well, Survivor is slowly becoming just another feeder show for The Challenge. Maybe that’ll be his Plan B. Seems like a sweet guy, but you can imagine him concentrating hard enough to listen for ominous music. Not only did he probably never hear it, he didn’t seem to notice Shan’s humming. And I’m good with her little “extra.” Gives the editors something new to work with.

Poor Heather. I don’t think Probst trying to soften the blow was worse than her performance, but it definitely didn’t help.

[RedbirdNelly]

9 hours ago, treeofdreams said:

 

It was good to have a regular episode rather than one with so much time wasted on the Beware advantage (find the advantage, read the advantage, the boat ride to another island, conferring with the others about the choices, hiking up the hill, making the decision, etc.)  There was more time to see the strategizing in camp, and to have a reward challenge as well as an immunity challenge instead of bundling the two together.  More of this, please!  Thank you.

we remarked on the same thing. So nice not to waste time trying to figure out yet another challenge, no shots of people hiking up a hill. . .

Shan seems to be playing overly hard but maybe it will work out for her. The only upside to JD giving her his advantage--nothing we saw indicated he would have used it even if he had it in his pocket. He didn't seem aware at all that he needed to play it--so it was a dumb move but did it really change the outcome? I don't think so. What changed the outcome is him not fully clicking on how unreliable Shan is despite her pretty much giving that away with her speech on "you were not Brad's number 1." At that moment, JD should have clued in.

[peachmangosteen]

Shan is insufferable. I can't stand her. I really hope Genie doesn't stick with her and Ricard because I love Genie and hate the other 2.

Sydney also sucks, but in a funny way. I'd rather she stick around than Shan or Ricard.

I love the yellow tribe. They give Spencer/Tasha/J'Tia vibes. I would actually love to see the 4 of them make F4 tbh.

Fucking hell, Danny is SO hot. Nathan was also hot. Loving the eye candy lol.

[SuburbanHangSuite]

12 hours ago, bankerchick said:

Somewhere Erik is laughing his ass off, grateful that he's no longer the only dupe to give away an advantage to a beguiling woman, only to be voted out.

Yup.  I said that to Mr. HangSuite.  At least Erik had 4 dazzling women manipulating him.  Simp JD had one with her stupid humming who's way too impressed with herself.  Praying for Survivor karma to smack her silly.  

That attempted challenge-throw was some seriously funny shit.  Deshawn walking in the water and re-tying knots.  The yellow girl flopping around 3 feet from shore swimming in the wrong direction!  W.T.F.?!  Blue would've won that challenge by 15 minutes if they really competed. 

And my MVP comment of the night came from Genie talking about the Awesome Nathan:. "He was like Cirque du' Soleil and the best stripper you've ever seen!!!"  When I tell you how I fell out....🤣

[blackwing]

JD had an extra vote.  He was already pissed that Shan made such a big deal about him hiding his advantage from her but then she had a secret of her own and knew about Brad's advantage.  He actually confronts her about it in front of everyone and she says "that's different.  That's your advantage.  This was his advantage, so it wasn't my secret to tell."  Huh?  It was about trust.  She reamed him for not telling her about his advantage and not trusting her.  When it was obvious that she didn't trust him either.  If they were supposed to be allies, why wouldn't she have told him?

But of course JD was too dumb to see this.  He allowed Shan to svengali him.  Everyone knew he had an extra vote.  If he were smart, he would have said to Genie, "look, it's obvious that Shan is hiding something.  I have two votes.  You have one vote.  I like Shan but it's obvious that she hasn't been playing straight with me.  Let's vote her out."

Why wasn't this an option?  Instead, he stupidly gives his extra vote to Shan.  Rickard was very clear in asking if JD gave it to her or if she took it.  He gave it to her, so it's hers I would presume.  I also don't understand why Genie thought she was going home and yet didn't even Roll The Die.  Now Shan has two votes and she has Rickard and Genie is cannon fodder.  I hope Genie either finds an Idol or there is a swap or contraction from three tribes to two.

I can't stand Shan, Rickard, or Sydney.  Sydney reminds me of Lauren, the one who Bachelor hugged her dad.  Sydney can go home any time.

I like Erika and I guess she felt like she was close with Deshawn and yet Deshawn obviously ran right to Sydney and told her.  I hope Erika can survive too.

13 hours ago, PaperTree said:

I honestly didn't feel bad for Heather.  She knows what she signed up for.

I didn't feel bad for her either and I am amazed the show wasted five minutes of time on her and her "moment".  I've said before on an earlier episode thread, but I don't feel bad for people like her and Tiffany who sign up for Survivor knowing it will be physical but then making absolutely no effort to get into better shape.  Watching Heather taking a Sunday stroll through those ropes was painful.  But then to have to spend so much time having her talk about it, have Jeffy talk about it, have others shout stuff, and then get another confessional from her?  I fast forwarded through some of that.