S43.E06: Mergatory

[eel21788]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Three teams merge, but then they are randomly split into two teams to play for group immunity; one group wins immunity and merge buffs, the other team is eligible for eviction but everyone gets to vote. But the players still strategize along the lines of their original three tribes.

They should have had them go straight from the merge feast to tribal council, so there would have been less collusion among the whole group.

[KittyMom4]

12 hours ago, Jodithgrace said:

Elie’s confessional where she proclaimed herself surprisingly good at Survivor, at least to herself, was the kiss of death. The Survivor gods hear those kind of speeches and laugh and laugh.    

YES!!  

12 hours ago, Jodithgrace said:

Is it Jeannine who scraped her chin so badly? It still looks awful. I hope she isn’t scarred for life. 

She's got young skin, as a young 20 something I had a huge scrape similar to that in the same place, it faded very well, although I had access to neosporin, and left no scar. 

10 hours ago, Skooma said:

She wasn't voted out because she was female.  She was voted out because she was a snake that people realized they couldn't trust.  Why does it always have to be females vs males on these shows?  Gender had nothing to do with this vote and I'm glad she is gone.

I never understand when players have an all male/all female alliance, shouldn't you want to align with people who are useful to you in some way, not just because of their gender? This wasn't the case here, they voted her off because she was a sneaky, conniving, lying bitch and I am not sorry to see she's gone.

1 hour ago, SummerDreams said:

So happy to see unlikeable Ellie go. Thankfully she didn't even make it to jury 😂

Even bigger hit to her ego. You played too hard too fast, see ya Ellie

11 hours ago, Skooma said:

And why should Jeanine have played her idol for another player that everyone wanted out anyway?  She would have stepped into the line of fire for doing that.  She is playing for herself, not to hand the million dollars to Elli.

Agreed, unless you are looking to blindside another player there is no reason to waste your idol on anyone else. Jeanine isn't going to last long without Ellie so she is going to need her idol. 

[Libby]

Ellie alienated too many people. She thought that she could say or do anything that she wanted to people and they would just quietly take whatever she dished out. Then she had the audacity to say how great she was at the social game.

1. Gabler - complicit in going through his bag and also assumed he was too stupid to understand the rules of his idol.

2. Sammie - yelled at him for telling Gabler about the whole bag thing.

3. Cody and by extension all of Vesi - deciding Cody was the decoy vote.

4. James and Cassidy and the entire Coco tribe - broadcast that she wanted to split the votes between James and Cassidy.

She pissed off half of her own tribe, plus BOTH of the other tribes. That's almost everyone there.

Ellie didn't get booted because she played too hard. She was just a very, very bad player.

Edited October 27, 2022 by Libby

[SummerDreams]

13 hours ago, GaT said:

What happened to Jeanine's chin? Somehow I missed it & all of a sudden there were scabs & I never saw anything happen to her.

It was that challenge where she had to dig a hole in the sand and get to the other side. She didn't open a big enough hole so she was stuck in the sand pushing her chin in order to get to the other side.

5 hours ago, Lamb18 said:

Is Surviver Gabler the new Big Brother Frenchie?

That's a blasphemy! Frenchie is his own category! 🤭

[simplyme]

3 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

Speculation on one of the recaps I read (can't remember if it was Joe Reid here or Gordon Holmes at xfinity) was it was an attempt at vote-splitting in case Elie had an idol. My brain doesn't care to do the math on how or if that would have worked, but I can't believe Karla wasn't in the loop with her strongest allies James and Cassidy (both of whom voted for Elie) in the line of fire.

I assumed Karla, James, Cassidy, and possibly Ryan had decided that in case Elie played an idol, they needed to throw a vote on someone else, which ended up being Owen.

I suspect that Cody, Dwight, Noelle, and Jesse had the same worries about Elie having an idol and Cody maybe going home to one vote thrown his way, so they had Noelle throw her vote on Cassidy.

Jesse and Jeanine had both lost their votes on the last risk-it-or-not trip.

So... Owen and Elie voted James. Karla voted Owen. Noelle voted Cassidy. Everyone else (James, Cassidy, Ryan, Cody, Dwight, Gabler, and Sami) voted Elie.

Edited October 27, 2022 by simplyme
Edited for Vesi voting clarity

[meep.meep]

1 hour ago, eel21788 said:

He still had the option of using it for someone else. I was a little surprised that he didn't do that, even just picking someone randomly, because it was the last time his idol could have been used. It could have gained him some loyalty points from players he hasn't had a chance to align with yet.

Gabler could have played it for whoever he thought Ellie was targeting, like James.  It's no good after this tribal.

I did not listen to Peachy's explanation - was surprised when the winning "team" got to vote at tribal.

And good for Karla for completing that challenge with a bleeding useless hand.

Edited October 27, 2022 by meep.meep

[DEL901]

The EW recapper checked with production and they confirmed Gabler’s idol is dead. 

[SummerDreams]

36 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

Gabler could have played it for whoever he thought Ellie was targeting, like James.  It's no good after this tribal.

But if Gabler had played his idol for James, Jeanine would have played hers for Ellie. This blindside worked because Ellie and Jeanine thought the baka tribe were voting all together.

[seacliffsal]

Hmmmmm...what if all 6 of the available targets to be voted out had idols, etc., that meant none of them could be voted out?  I would love to have seen what would have happened...

[simplyme]

1 hour ago, meep.meep said:

Gabler could have played it for whoever he thought Ellie was targeting, like James.  It's no good after this tribal.

Unless someone thinks of using it as a fake idol.

I am not expecting Gabler to think of this, but someone aligned with him could.

(I don't read spoilers, so you're all safe. This is just me saying that an idol is never dead until Jeff throws it in the fire. Even if it's just a stick, apparently.)

Edited October 27, 2022 by simplyme

[LadyChatts]

8 minutes ago, simplyme said:

Unless someone thinks of using it as a fake idol.

I am not expecting Gabler to think of this, but someone aligned with him could.

(I don't read spoilers, so you're all safe. This is just me saying that an idol is never dead until Jeff throws it in the fire. Even if it's just a stick, apparently.)

Sami probably could.  However, Jeanine and Owen know that it was only good for two TC.  Owen might not tell but Jeanine would.

[Skooma]

On 10/27/2022 at 4:22 PM, LadyChatts said:

Sami probably could.  However, Jeanine and Owen know that it was only good for two TC.  Owen might not tell but Jeanine would.

But did they actually "see" the physical idol?  I forget.  Also even if they did but say Sammi gets ahold of it he could secretly show it to someone else that never saw it in person if he (Sammi) felt his back was up against the wall and he needed something to try and fool people with.

Edited October 28, 2022 by Skooma

[Meowwww]

10 hours ago, Carey said:

Elie always had a resemblance (to someone).  The Gilda thing is new (for me).  There was someone else, but I went with Pamela Martinez.  At least most people that are familiar know her better or best as Bayley.  Then there's Amy Ecker, but she's done, so I'll probably end up with more links or comparisons to other celebrities going foreward

Elaine from Seinfeld. 
 

[iMonrey]

Quote

If all the idols had been used last night, there would have only been two people eligible to be voted out from a total of 13 players. That's ridiculous. 

Yeah. With all of the twists, gimmicks, idols and advantages, eventually they are going to reach a point where literally nobody is eligible to vote for. Just wait. It's coming. I want to see what Jeff does then. "Uh, so-and-so played their immunity idols, so-and-so played their shot in the dark, and so-and-so won the immunity challenge. So, I guess go back to camp?"

[KaveDweller]

8 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

Elie may not have been wrong about her not going through the bag (that was all Jeanine), but she was wrong in that she witnessed it happening and encouraged it. But Gabler really doesn't realize Jeanine was a part of it? I guess Sami left that out. Though Gabler did seem to get the idea that Jeanine was involved so Jeanine's time in the game may not be for long.

Sami told Gabler that Elie and Jeanine searched his bag. Which was accurate. They decided together that they should search it, then Elie watched while Jeanine did the deed. It was a joint effort, even though Jeanine technically did it. However, Gabler chose to only blame Elie because he seems to just dislike her more.

I would have had more respect for Elie if she said, "so what if someone searched your bag? We wanted to know how long your idol would last and it's not against the rules. It's Survivor."

Gabler should have been madder at then thinking he was a total idiot that didn't know how long his own idol would last.

[violet and green]

16 minutes ago, KaveDweller said:

Gabler should have been madder at then thinking he was a total idiot that didn't know how long his own idol would last.

I think from memory he was. Elie made a point of cosying up to Gabler, by fake-liking the same music, and pretending to be an ally . I guess that is why he was more upset at Elie than Jeanine, the actual physical searcher. He was angry about being played.

[Kenz]

11 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

I noticed in one of her confessionals that it looked much more healed, which made me wonder if she makes it f

Jeannine still has a bunged up chin, but after seeing her at the tribal council, you would never know it. They really use a lot of makeup on everyone to make them look more attractive every tribal council.

Edited October 28, 2022 by Kenz

[susannot]

Agree.  Elie was dumb by first, denying that she had searched Gabler's bag, and second, by making a huge deal out of it to everyone else.  No one wanted to hear her yap about it endlessly for the rest of the game.

Jeanine is frighteningly skinny.  Karla is a badass, and my favorite.

[SVNBob]

On 10/26/2022 at 8:16 PM, LadyChatts said:

So is Gabler's idol out of play now?  And what do we have left-Cody, Jeanine, and Karla's idol (which no one knows about), Noelle's steal a vote.  I feel like I'm missing something.

As the keeper of the Tracker thread: You're not missing anything.

The only other advantages that have been in play thus far this season are Gabler's now-expired idol, and the KIP that was totally useless since Geo was voted out right after winning it.  So as of now, it is just the 3 idols and the Steal-a-Vote.

On 10/26/2022 at 11:29 PM, PhoneCop said:

I still don't care about most of these people but I am enjoying the fun the editors are having with the chyrons this season. That list of who was holding what advantage was certainly handy.

Matched up perfectly with my list.  Which does make my job easier.

22 hours ago, OutOfTheQuestion said:

They should've introduced that graphic 10 seasons ago, when the advantages and idols really got silly

That's around when I started the Trackers, so yeah.

In non-Tracker (and non-self-promotion) talk: I found it somewhat amusing that both the people that couldn't vote at this TC were on the same side of challenge.

[blackwing]

Thrilled that Elie is gone.  I disliked her from the start from the moment she said that she is a clinical therapist and something about how her job is to get people to do what she wants them to do.  I'm sure in her mind she was 100% correct in saying that she didn't go through Gabler's bag, as in her hands did not root through his bag, but that's just semantics.  Elie and Jeanine together went through his bag.

James freaking out when the first vote against him was read, and then his loud anguish when there was a second vote... has he never watched this show?  People vote against you, it's what happens.  I am waiting for him to go all Stupert at the start of the next ep in an effort to find out who voted for him.

On 10/26/2022 at 8:08 PM, LadyChatts said:

Gabler takes things too personally, and is not as good at this game as he thinks he is.  Really, though, Elie and Jeanine should be mad at Sami and Owen for totally playing them.  They are the ones who revealed all to Gabler, so I'm not sure why they got off the hook so easy.  Also, how does Gabler know they weren't lying to him about the bag search?  He just took their word for it.  And it wasn't even Elie!  

On 10/26/2022 at 8:26 PM, Skooma said:

Gabler is a freaking train wreck and I love him for it.  Thanks for getting Elli the Snake out.  Now throw another monkey wrench into the works and blow something else up please.  He won't win but it is fun seeing him flying in the face of meta Survivor strategy and just going wild and crazy.

I really don't care for him.  He reminds me a lot of Mike from last season.  Legend in his own mind who thinks he is great at every aspect of the game.  Both of them took things way too personally and played emotionally.  You dared vote for me?  You're dead to me.  You're the next target.  Pack your bags.

On 10/27/2022 at 6:21 AM, tracyscott76 said:

I think this is a big misreading of the original comment. They never said Elie was voted out because she was female. They were just expressing disappointment that another woman was voted out, I, for one, am also disappointed - not because I think of the show as a female vs. male contest, but because I like having a mix of both and I enjoy the value, perspective, and vibe that women players often bring. They've reached the merge, and only 1 man has been voted out compared to 5 women - 4 of whom were the first 4 people voted out. So now there are twice as many men still playing the game as women. It's disheartening for some people to see that happen, whatever the reason is that it's happening.

Elie did have a certain amount of hubris that led to her downfall, but I don't think she was some heinous idiot that got what she deserved. She misread Sami and Gabler, and that's to her discredit, but I can't get too excited over her leaving because I find Sami and Gabler insufferable. Chaos of the type that Gabler brings can be fun, but not when it's accompanied by self-righteousness. And I still find Sami to be an aggro wannabe-mastermind. He's got plenty of hubris that puts Elie to shame; he's just been on the correct side of things - so far.

I don't agree with your interpretation of the original comment.  The original comment said "Another woman voted out.  Only one man voted out in the pre-merge phase.  Here's hoping the women can come together and somehow get a man out."  To me, that comment is a "why are all the women getting voted out, why aren't the women working together to get a man out".  It seems very clearly to be a man vs. woman comment.  Why is it hoped for that the women can work together to get a man out?

Also... I think of the previous four women booted, some of the boots were orchestrated by another woman.  Elie and Jeanine were the ones that decided to boot Morriah.  Noelle and Justine would have chosen to boot Nneka, but Nneka's allies turned it on them and booted out Justine instead.  Nneka was booted mostly because of her own incompetence.  Lindsey pretty much booted herself, but Karla had a huge hand in deciding to oust her.  Karla and James could have decided to vote out Geo instead, but did not.

So I'm not sure why there is hope that the women will come together and boot out a man when much of the reason why there are less women is because the women were voting out other women.

[Guest]

37 minutes ago, blackwing said:

I don't agree with your interpretation of the original comment.  The original comment said "Another woman voted out.  Only one man voted out in the pre-merge phase.  Here's hoping the women can come together and somehow get a man out."  To me, that comment is a "why are all the women getting voted out, why aren't the women working together to get a man out".  It seems very clearly to be a man vs. woman comment.  Why is it hoped for that the women can work together to get a man out?

Also... I think of the previous four women booted, some of the boots were orchestrated by another woman.  Elie and Jeanine were the ones that decided to boot Morriah.  Noelle and Justine would have chosen to boot Nneka, but Nneka's allies turned it on them and booted out Justine instead.  Nneka was booted mostly because of her own incompetence.  Lindsey pretty much booted herself, but Karla had a huge hand in deciding to oust her.  Karla and James could have decided to vote out Geo instead, but did not.

So I'm not sure why there is hope that the women will come together and boot out a man when much of the reason why there are less women is because the women were voting out other women.

In response to the original comment you quote here, someone else said:

"She wasn't voted out because she was female.  She was voted out because she was a snake that people realized they couldn't trust.  Why does it always have to be females vs males on these shows?  Gender had nothing to do with this vote and I'm glad she is gone."

The bolded sections are what I said was a misinterpretation of the original comment. The responder was acting as if the original commenter was saying Elie was voted out because she was a woman, which the original commenter very much did not say. Being disappointed that almost all women have been voted out so far (whether or not other women had a hand in that) and hoping for a change in that pattern is not the same thing as saying Elie was voted out because she was a woman. That's what I was saying.

I mean, the original commenter liked my post saying their comment was misinterpreted, so I'm going to take that as a sign that I interpreted the original comment pretty well.

[Skooma]

55 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

In response to the original comment you quote here, someone else said:

"She wasn't voted out because she was female.  She was voted out because she was a snake that people realized they couldn't trust.  Why does it always have to be females vs males on these shows?  Gender had nothing to do with this vote and I'm glad she is gone."

The bolded sections are what I said was a misinterpretation of the original comment. The responder was acting as if the original commenter was saying Elie was voted out because she was a woman, which the original commenter very much did not say. Being disappointed that almost all women have been voted out so far (whether or not other women had a hand in that) and hoping for a change in that pattern is not the same thing as saying Elie was voted out because she was a woman. That's what I was saying.

I mean, the original commenter liked my post saying their comment was misinterpreted, so I'm going to take that as a sign that I interpreted the original comment pretty well.

That "someone" in bold was me and no I wrote what I wrote because the subtext of what I was commenting on was what blackwind discussed above.  And I stand by my post even more so after what they wrote.

[Guest]

Just now, Skooma said:

That "someone" in bold was me and no I wrote what I wrote because the subtext of what I was commenting on was what blackwind discussed above.  And I stand by my post even more so after what they wrote.

Okay 🤷‍♂️

[lawrbk]

On 10/27/2022 at 7:42 AM, Carey said:

Elie always had a resemblance (to someone).  The Gilda thing is new (for me).  There was someone else, but I went with Pamela Martinez.  At least most people that are familiar know her better or best as Bayley.  Then there's Amy Ecker, but she's done, so I'll probably end up with more links or comparisons to other celebrities going foreward

I said to my hubby that she looks like Gilda when we were watching. It took me until this week to figure out who she reminded me of.

Edited October 28, 2022 by lawrbk

[mythoughtis]

I only get upset about women being voted out when I like their play and feel they deserved to stay longer.  Elle failed on both counts.  I hope Jeanine goes next.  I haven’t decided about Cassidy.  I like Noelle and I’d really like Karla to win. 
Sami, Cody, Ryan can leave anytime and I would be happy. There’s a Dwight?  

[TOL]

On 10/26/2022 at 10:28 PM, KeithJ said:

Yeah.  As soon as she started saying how good she was there was no suspense later in the episode as to who was going to go home.

My husband and I call out “there’s the anvil” whenever this happens. 

[Lamima]

On 10/27/2022 at 8:58 AM, Lamb18 said:

Is Surviver Gabler the new Big Brother Frenchie?

Gabler reminds me of Phillip. 

[Lantern7]

Since CBS has banished The Real Love Boat to Paramount+ and moved The Amazing Race to the 9 p.m. slot, I think I'll go back to watching Survivor "live." Maybe I'll wind up caring enough to root for someone . . . .but I doubt it.

Gotta love Owen talking about chyrons, then the editors putting "NO ADVANTAGES" underneath his name.

Once again, I like it when the show learns from prior missteps. Last thing Probst would want is for Danny and Kiki to kick the shit out of him.

Here is Erik's take of the episode:

in

[Maverick]

On 10/27/2022 at 8:58 AM, Lamb18 said:

Is Surviver Gabler the new Big Brother Frenchie?

 I was thinking he's becoming this season's Coach.

 I was hoping Cassidy would be voted out.  I don't think it's fair when they allow new people to enter a competition midway through.   

[DEL901]

4 hours ago, Maverick said:

 I was thinking he's becoming this season's Coach.

 I was hoping Cassidy would be voted out.  I don't think it's fair when they allow new people to enter a competition midway through.   

Except I can’t see him in a cool band like the Dragons.

[Nashville]

4 hours ago, DEL901 said:

Except I can’t see him in a cool band like the Dragons.

Not a chance; Gabler would David Lee it the first chance he got.  😁

[suprfrog]

23 hours ago, TOL said:

My husband and I call out “there’s the anvil” whenever this happens. 

My preferred phrase is "Famous last words." :-)

[Hanahope]

On 10/28/2022 at 2:50 PM, blackwing said:

Also... I think of the previous four women booted, some of the boots were orchestrated by another woman.  Elie and Jeanine were the ones that decided to boot Morriah.  Noelle and Justine would have chosen to boot Nneka, but Nneka's allies turned it on them and booted out Justine instead.  Nneka was booted mostly because of her own incompetence.  Lindsey pretty much booted herself, but Karla had a huge hand in deciding to oust her.  Karla and James could have decided to vote out Geo instead, but did not.

yes, but in most instances, including the first two, there's always the talk of "keeping the tribe strong" which almost always means, "what woman are we booting because we have to keep all the men for 'strength.'"  this is especially the case when there's only 6 people on the tribe.

[Jobiska]

Since I'm currently also watching the Challenge with survivor winner Michele, I will note that that's who Elie reminds me most of.  Their facial structure is the same and something about their expressions while they talk and stuff.  And the tendency to open their eyes wide.  Hair and eye coloration are different, but to me those are secondary to face shape etc.
 
I'm always fascinated by how different observers think two individuals look alike, or not.  I've discovered that if I try to describe someone to my son by saying they "look like" another person, he almost never agrees.  

I too was surprised they didn't call in medical after the challenge for Karla.

Which guy hung upside down by his feet to help Karla up?  I was impressed.  

Has James' voice always been that hoarse?  or what was up with that?

[SummerDreams]

6 hours ago, Jobiska said:

Since I'm currently also watching the Challenge with survivor winner Michele, I will note that that's who Elie reminds me most of.

Ellie has said that her friends told her she looked like Survivor winner Michele and that's why she applied for the show.