S42.E03: Go for the Gusto

[blackwing]

2 hours ago, goldil said:

I know Jeff did a little well-deserved crushing on Jonathon, but I really don't think he's his type. Jeff likes the douche-bro frat boys.

No.   Jeffy is obsessed with the good looking, usually youngish, usually white, buff guys.  They don’t have to be douche bros.  Jeff’s earliest crush was Colby, and Colby wasn’t a douche bro.  Jeffy was also obsessed with James (who first appeared in the China season) and James was definitely not a douche bro.  

Chris Noble from Ghost Island (the blonde guy who thought he was a great rapper) probably qualifies as a douche bro, and I don’t remember him getting much love from Jeff.

[srhall79]

Going into the challenge, my wife said she'd been spoiled on a development, but I didn't want to hear it. So as the waves crashed, I thought I remembered the previews also suggesting something happens in the challenge. My speculation was that Jeff was going to declare both teams the losers. But no, just keep people from drowning and move to the shore.

I'm not usually a fan of the big strong guys, but like seemingly everyone else, I was impressed with Jonathan (and like Blackwing, he reminded me of the Mayor of Slamtown). I'm sure his social game will fail him, but after this challenge performance, I'd be okay with him winning it. I also felt like being the only tribe to complete the full challenge, his tribe should have gotten something special... I know it wouldn't happen, but "You won immunity so hard we're bringing one of your tribe back." (though that tribe is way too closeknit, with Maryann sharing her extra vote. That's great... until they lose another challenge)

Between last season and this one, when someone stood before the wheel of fate and said it was important for them  to keep their vote, they voted "Safe." Until now. I get Chanelle  maybe have thought Omar would try to keep her safe, and the best way to do that was if he chooses safe, but as someone said upthread, that's treating the other players as though they're only here to back your game.

I haven't picked out anyone to root for yet, so going into tribal I didn't have strong feelings. But, I would have been disappointed if Hai fell for the vote split plan. I ended up loving this tribal, from Hai's reaction to the two votes, to his standing firm (I might have chanted "rocks" during the debate). My wife pointed out that holding firm was Hai's best decision. That he has been left out of the vote, left out of knowing Chanelle didn't have a vote, and had his assumed ally of Daniel vote for his closest ally, it was clear he was #5  on this tribe. If he sent Lydia home, if there's a next vote it's 4-1 with Hai leaving. Now at least it's 3-2, although Daniel could be driven from his alliance, and Mike may still not have a vote. Even if it goes to rocks, there's a 1 in 4 chance Hai goes home, but a 3 in 4 chance someone on the other side goes.

[ljenkins782]

17 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

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Petulance is the reaction when ones believed entitlements are not full filled and instead of taking it like a champ like some players have even when they themselves are blindsided and voted out... this special snowflake was glaringly petulant because the universe wasn't going his way. Sorry but that's my read on the guy. Don't like him and don't want him to last now.

The outcome of who was going home was still very much up in the air, so why should Hai take being blindsided like a champ? He was fighting to make sure his ally Lydia stayed in the game. And "glaringly petulant" is in the eye of the beholder. I just saw someone standing firm to get what he wanted, which he ultimately did. Daniel was also arguing (poorly) to get what he wanted, and Chanelle got irritated and tried to defend herself when Daniel threw everything on her - are they also snowflakes? Hate on the guy all you want, but in my opinion, Hai was just doing what he had to do.

Agreed, I'm not seeing petulance at all nor do I understand what he should have "taken like a champ" (seriously, what could that even mean in this context? the vote wasn't even done yet, there was nothing to take.) 

Saving Lydia was his only path forward, without her, he's on the bottom and out of the loop, at that point, drawing rocks might be a better option for him as it could have knocked out Mike or Chanelle instead. Like the expression "never cross a man who's not afraid to die", Hai didn't have as much to lose as Daniel did (at the time, obviously, Daniel's torpedo of talking sank him straight to the bottom, but going into the TC, Daniel had more allies than Hai did). 

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   ON 3/27/2022 AT 12:46 PM,  BLACKWING SAID: 

I have no idea why a vegan would think it is a good idea to go on Survivor and think it is feasible to stay vegan.

 

Probably because in the past they have always been given rice and beans.  And then there are coconuts, and whatever fruit they could find, like bananas, mangos, etc.  Plenty to eat even if they have to work to find it.  Many times the tribes never managed to fish, and there are meat products only at rewards, but along with other foods that a vegan could eat.

 

Yeah, Hai had a strong reaction to the no rice announcement in the opening episode, then later when he mentioned his vegan-ism, it made sense. 

It didn't take him very long to decide that it wasn't going to be feasible for him to maintain a vegan diet, so I didn't find it that annoying. The people who bug me are the ones who come in with an unwavering commitment to their food choices and expect to be accommodated. 

[Nashville]

On 3/27/2022 at 12:21 PM, ljenkins782 said:

I'm glad they called it a day on that challenge, but I'm a little surprised that they made that choice once Jonathan beast-ed his way through to complete it. It does seem like Jonathan's tribe should have gotten some kind of perk for actually finishing the challenge as intended.

I’d had the same thought - but considering Jonathan was the SOLE reason his tribe succeeded, would it be right for the rest of the tribe to inordinately benefit from the actions of one member? Or, contrariwise, for the other tribes to be (relatively) penalized for not fully completing a challenge which was poorly designed and poorly executed in the first place?

[mythoughtis]

I have no problem with them resetting the challenge for the two remaining teams. It was not unfair to the team that had already won.  The two teams were still competing to be the first or second loser just as they were in the original challenge. 
Daniel would not be my preference for a lawyer.  He’d lose his notes on his way to court. 
Chanelle  needed to play it safe, said so, and then risked her vote. 
I had no problem with Daniel saying he didn’t want to draw rocks -no one does. My problem was that he wanted to rehash who told him to vote, how they told him to vote and he basically showed his alliances, admitting that he’s not a power player along the way. He sounded like a teenager  justifying why he went along with the cool crowd.  He should know better than to expose all that to people he’s competing against.  A lawyer should be able to FOCUS on the task at hand- examining which one of the two choices should be voted out and making his case.   He could have  argued that Lydia wasn’t a help  to the team and Jenny was. 

Edited March 29, 2022 by mythoughtis

[SVNBob]

On 3/27/2022 at 12:21 PM, ljenkins782 said:

I'm glad they called it a day on that challenge, but I'm a little surprised that they made that choice once Jonathan beast-ed his way through to complete it. It does seem like Jonathan's tribe should have gotten some kind of perk for actually finishing the challenge as intended.

They might have, in that they were able to trade the fruit reward from this challenge for the fishing gear reward from the previous challenge.  But that may be a feature for all rewards and not a specific benefit for this time.

[Taeolas]

8 hours ago, mythoughtis said:

I have no problem with them resetting the challenge for the two remaining teams. It was not unfair to the team that had already won.  The two teams were still competing to be the first or second loser just as they were in the original challenge. 
 

 

True, and the first team has the advantage of being able to rest on the beach for the rest of the challenge and NOT be burning calories fighting the waves (and then having to finish the rest of the challenge), secure in the knowledge that they are not going to Tribal so they don't have to do as much internal politicking.

The question to think of, is "What advantage do the other two teams have from the reset that would warrant giving the first tribe a bonus?". Sure they finished the entire challenge as intended. But it's not as if production reset the challenge out of the water for the other two teams but forced the first one to stay in. Their advantage is not spending 20+ minutes fighting the waves and trying not to drown (or get a concussion from being banged against the poles). 

 

Now if Production pulled them all out of the water before the first tribe finished the entire challenge, then them getting a bonus would be more appropriate. (And in that case the bonus would probably be an auto-win at that point, and the other two teams would basically have a "new" challenge for second immunity).

[Chicago Redshirt]

On 3/27/2022 at 11:25 PM, blackwing said:

No.   Jeffy is obsessed with the good looking, usually youngish, usually white, buff guys.  They don’t have to be douche bros.  Jeff’s earliest crush was Colby, and Colby wasn’t a douche bro.  Jeffy was also obsessed with James (who first appeared in the China season) and James was definitely not a douche bro.  

Chris Noble from Ghost Island (the blonde guy who thought he was a great rapper) probably qualifies as a douche bro, and I don’t remember him getting much love from Jeff.

Jeff has love for a couple of other types as well: Ozzy, Boston Rob, Cochran and Penner are among the people he has had man-crushes on IMO, and of them only Ozzy could be said to be at all athletic.

I can't think of any women Survivors he has shown the same level of crush on, but then I don't know if I watched/remember Sandra's winning seasons.

[blackwing]

9 hours ago, SVNBob said:

They might have, in that they were able to trade the fruit reward from this challenge for the fishing gear reward from the previous challenge.  But that may be a feature for all rewards and not a specific benefit for this time.

I was thinking that because they were the only tribe to actually complete the challenge, they should have been given the fruit AND the fishing gear.  Or they should have been given the fruit from the second place team.  "Second place, your reward is that you don't have to go to tribal, but you didn't finish the challenge entirely, so we're going to give your reward to Jonathan."  I don't think they would have complained, avoiding elimination after that grueling challenge was probably reward enough.

27 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Jeff has love for a couple of other types as well: Ozzy, Boston Rob, Cochran and Penner are among the people he has had man-crushes on IMO, and of them only Ozzy could be said to be at all athletic.

I can't think of any women Survivors he has shown the same level of crush on, but then I don't know if I watched/remember Sandra's winning seasons.

Don't forget one of his all time loves... Brad Culpepper.  

I think with the women it's different, I think he appreciates them but he's not obsessed with them like he obsesses over the men.  He seemed to like Sandra, Candice, Monica Culpepper.  Not many women get the "last name" treatment like he gives to his male obsessions.  Sarah Lacina begged for it.

[eel21788]

13 hours ago, mythoughtis said:

Daniel would not be my preference for a lawyer.  He’d lose his notes on his way to court. 

I have my doubts that he could find the correct courtroom.

[eel21788]

30 minutes ago, blackwing said:

   He seemed to like Sandra, Candice, Monica Culpepper. 

Parvati and Amber (only after she became Boston Rob's wife).

[Tsunami1982]

Jenny was my favorite, so I'm a little sick to see her go. How does Chanelle go from, I can't afford to risk my vote, to, doing that very thing moments later? Just an idiotic and stupid decision. Was miffed at Hai's behavior at TC. Not sure what's going on with him, but I'll reserve final judgment until I see how he plays going forward. 

Someone said Jonathan looked like Aquaman. lol I couldn't agree more. He just willed his tribe to the win. 

[jsm1125]

I don’t understand why some people here were turned off by Hai at tribal council. He has one solid ally on the chopping block, so why wouldn’t he do whatever he can to prevent her from going home? I saw nothing malicious or entitled from him. 

Edited March 30, 2022 by jsm1125

[Giesela]

I am sad to see Jenny go as I think she was strategy smart and explained things well in secret scenes as well as explaining to allies.  I need that:)  And I like watching when there are a few smart people playing.  Was she the last one?  
Its sadder because Im not sure who else I like, is Rocksroy the fireman?  I like him so far and of course Jonathan.  But generally finding the cast boring. 

 

Aww someone mentioned Chris Nolan.  That was an interesting transition for me.  He seemed to be fairly obviously the self centered or narcissist or clueless, arrogant full of himself sports guy, however you want to amateur shrink it and I didn't like him.  Then it got sort of interesting.  Because he was also trying to be nice, like it was a decision, and was also really focused on his mother and her MS.  He actually said somewhere that he hadn't been an understanding teen, young man to his mother and was making up for it, or something to that affect.  Then veering back and forth from the standard arrogant guy to the helpful and understanding tribemate.  It was like watching a leopard trying to change their spots.  Some self awareness but he still was fundamentally what he was, it was interesting to watch.  

Then I found the video of him pitching either a college or AAA game - he was no slouch, looked very good.  And somewhere I really started to like him.  

Back to this season, I'm not loving it.  One I think social media has destroyed my attention span.  You guys paid far more attention to tribal than I did because it was just sort of confusing and thus boring to me.  The players aren't particularly interesting (yet?) and low hope they will be.  Ya gotta have a Cirie or Sandra, Coach whoever out there to keep things perked up.  Two, I don't mind idols and twists per se, but these all seem sort of convoluted and hard to think through.  Guess I'm too lazy.  A regular idol, hidden on the leg of the challenge for some tension is good by me.  

[ProfCrash]

9 hours ago, Tsunami1982 said:

Jenny was my favorite, so I'm a little sick to see her go. How does Chanelle go from, I can't afford to risk my vote, to, doing that very thing moments later? Just an idiotic and stupid decision. Was miffed at Hai's behavior at TC. Not sure what's going on with him, but I'll reserve final judgment until I see how he plays going forward. 

Someone said Jonathan looked like Aquaman. lol I couldn't agree more. He just willed his tribe to the win. 

Chanelle talked herself into thinking that Omar wasn't going to risk his vote because he knew that she needed the advantage at Tribal that night. They had agreed to do make sure that neither got screwed but that the person who needed the advantage would get it. All this after Chanelle told Omar that she couldn't afford to lose her vote so she couldn't take a risk. 

Yeah, it was pretty impressive how she managed to convince herself that he would let her get the advantage. At some point in time, god knows when it was actually recorded, she talked about her amazing social game that put her in control of the tribal even if she had lost her vote. 

It was really pretty special. 

Only to be outdone by Daniel being all over the place and giving up the fight before the fight even began. You almost forget that Chanelle completely screwed over her alliance mate.

[SVNBob]

36 minutes ago, ProfCrash said:

You almost forget that Chanelle completely screwed over her alliance mate.

Her alliance mate, herself, and potential future ally Omar.

Because once he learns that he lost his vote thanks to her, he's no longer going to trust Chanelle either, and will turn any allies he has, like Jonathan, against her.

[peachmangosteen]

4 hours ago, Giesela said:

Its sadder because Im not sure who else I like, is Rocksroy the fireman? 

The fireman is Mike. Rocksroy is a stay at home dad.

[violet and green]

5 hours ago, jsm1125 said:

I don’t understand why some people here were turned off by Hai at tribal council.

I didn't like him by the episode before, if that's any help.

[Nashville]

12 hours ago, jsm1125 said:

I don’t understand why some people here were turned off by Hai at tribal council. He has one solid ally on the chopping block, so why wouldn’t he do whatever he can to prevent her from going home? I saw nothing malicious or entitled from him. 

Agreed.  I’m not a big Hai fan by any measure, but the guy was fighting for his one true ally - basically, his Survivor life - at this TC; why should he be faulted for fighting as hard as he can?

 

10 hours ago, ProfCrash said:

Chanelle talked herself into thinking that Omar wasn't going to risk his vote because he knew that she needed the advantage at Tribal that night. They had agreed to do make sure that neither got screwed but that the person who needed the advantage would get it. All this after Chanelle told Omar that she couldn't afford to lose her vote so she couldn't take a risk. 

Yeah, it was pretty impressive how she managed to convince herself that he would let her get the advantage. At some point in time, god knows when it was actually recorded, she talked about her amazing social game that put her in control of the tribal even if she had lost her vote. 

It was really pretty special. 

Yeah - they build short buses specifically for that kind of “special”.  🙄