S44.E01: I Can't Wait to See Jeff

[Whimsy]

Quote

TBD

Season premiere.  Original airdate 3/1/23

[Grizzly]

So many people who are annoying and I'd like to see off first. Bruce and Maddy were not on my list.

[hendersonrocks]

That ending was fucking wild. Props to Brandon for figuring it out and sending Maddy home with ONE $&#*@! vote. Was everyone else bailing and using shot in the dark/bank a vote because they just didn't want to pick a side and get it wrong? What a cluster.

Carolyn, girl. Pull yourself together. I actually know/know of her dad - he has the single worst hair I think I've ever seen on a man. Unclear if it's a toupee or just died an extremely ill advised color, but suffice it so say I have some overall questions about Wiger family judgment.

[jsm1125]

Is there something in the water on Maddy’s tribe? What in the ever-loving fuck was with half of their decisions at tribal?

I’m here for Claire stirring shit and blowing up the game of someone she hasn’t yet met, even if it will probably bite her in the end. 

I was having a hard time distinguishing Maddy from Sarah, so that’s the one positive of Maddy being voted out. 

[mojoween]

I don’t know why there is a suit of armor and a dragon skull at the Tribal Council set, but if they want to do Survivor: Medieval Times I’m all for it.

”Brandon is playing everyone!” based on what, exactly?

[LadyChatts]

Well, this was an interesting episode.  From the opening shot of a Carolyn confessional to a very confusing TC that probably shouldn't have been that confusing.  Why did Jamie and especially Matt opt for their SITD?  Neither one was on the radar to leave.  I feel like with Matt, maybe strategy, and Jamie...I don't know.  Paranoia?  Not wanting to have to write someone's name down?  Maybe she thought Brandon was leaving and didn't want to be partly responsible.  I'm curious what exactly happened between Maddy and Brandon, because I feel like there was more to it than her finding out he found that key in the woods and was trying to hide it.  It kind of served him right that he got a target put on his back.  I did laugh that Matt thought them splitting up into groups would make it harder for someone to find the key and not tell anyone.  Had Maddy not seen Brandon find it, he likely would have kept it to himself.

I hope Lauren is able to maintain her lie.  Since there were only 3 votes cast, hopefully that helps her credibility.  Matt looked confused so maybe he'll think the girl at the challenge from the green tribe was lying to him.  

Has medical ever been called in so many times in one episode?!  I felt so sorry for Bruce.  You could tell he really wanted to be there, and I was sorry he had to leave the game.  But I hope this makes them re-examine marooning day challenges, because that could have been prevented if the challenge was designed better.  And maybe actually give the guy some medical attention when he's got blood streaming all over his face, rather than wait for him to practically collapse.  As for Matt, his shoulder injury was on him and I wouldn't have cared if he got pulled for his stupidity in wanting to show off.

Not really liking too many people yet.  Lauren, Brandon, Yam Yam, and Helen seem cool so far.  For a two hour episode, I wish we could have gotten to know more people.

[Guest]

It's always a bummer when someone gets medevac'd, but Bruce's "I wanted this so bad" hit different for some reason 😢

Jaime, you're so sweet and I love you, but you've got to get it together! Kinda cool, though, that someone finally got SAFE with their Shot in the Dark, even if she didn't need it.

Some interesting strategies with the people who went on the boat ride. They all chose a different kind of lie. I thought Sarah's was the riskiest since she went with an entirely different scenario than what actually happened. But I wasn't counting on Claire the Mole completely selling Lauren out. No idea why she did that but it was awesome.

I think the subtitle of this season must be Survivor: SLOOOOO-MOOOOO

[DEL901]

So, does this mean Kane voted for Brandon?  And will Brandon figure it out!

[hendersonrocks]

2 minutes ago, DEL901 said:

So, does this mean Kane voted for Brandon?  And will Brandon figure it out!

Yes, Kane and Maddy voted for Brandon. Brandon voted for Maddy. No one else voted.

[LadyChatts]

1 minute ago, DEL901 said:

So, does this mean Kane voted for Brandon?  And will Brandon figure it out!

Yep.  Kane and Maddy voted for Brandon, and Brandon voted for Maddy.

 

[SHD]

At this point I think the medic will outlast everyone.

[dizzyd]

Where to begin, this episode was like whiplash! Or maybe I’m as concussed as Bruce. Will this group make it to the end or at least to the point where I know all their names? Surely Fiji is not as brutal as was the Outback and the Sahara, it’s cushy in comparison. If I was in this group, I’d be so paranoid with all the chaos and would easily be Maddied. 

 

[Tango64]

I think I finally understand why I don’t enjoy Survivor as much as I did in the early years.  There’s so little of the “survivor” aspect left. Now it’s just establish the characters and compete. They don’t even show building shelters, etc. much less any struggle with food, etc.

Might as well do it in on a soundstage like Big Brother. 

[Shermie]

I haven’t watched Survivor for many seasons but decided to give it another go-round. Do they still get a bag of rice? If not, then what do they eat?

That Sweat or Savvy was new to me, as is the Shot in the Dark option. I had no idea what they were doing. I assume they get one chance in the game to use it? While hauling the coconuts in the Sweat challenge, I thought why don’t they take a quick dunk in the water to cool off and refresh themselves?

What is with someone not being able to handle a basic challenge and needed medical for heat exhaustion on the first full day? And this was a big strong guy, supposedly. 

Felt bad for Bruce being out of the game, but they’ll probably give him another chance. Doesn’t that happen sometimes? 

[Jules1]

Kane looks like Spencer in disguise with a beard and curly hair.

[Carey]

4 minutes ago, Shermie said:

Felt bad for Bruce being out of the game, but they’ll probably give him another chance. Doesn’t that happen sometimes? 

It does.  Not a guarantee this early.  Kourtney Moon had to leave the game over a decade ago on her season's premiere.  That was it for her

[Guest]

20 minutes ago, Shermie said:

What is with someone not being able to handle a basic challenge and needed medical for heat exhaustion on the first full day? And this was a big strong guy, supposedly.

This was one of the guys who had not long ago completed the Haul Coconuts challenge. Not the sort of thing you can completely recover from in that short amount of time, I’m guessing.

[Shermie]

3 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

This was one of the guys who had not long ago completed the Haul Coconuts challenge. Not the sort of thing you can completely recover from in that short amount of time, I’m guessing.

Are you saying everything in this episode happened on the same day? The sun was going down as they completed the coconut challenge, so they had one night to rest between that and the immunity challenge.

[TVFan1]

Not a bad premiere. I'm still a little unsure of who everybody is. I wish we got more time to show every player more. 

Felt bad for Bruce as he really wanted to stay. With him hitting his head and then bleeding, I can understand pulling him from the game, but they should have pulled him sooner.

Did not understand Ratu's tribal council. I kind of get why Jaime played her Shot in the Dark, but not why Matt did. Only three votes were cast, so Brandon was smart playing his idol. I feel Maddy played too hard too soon.

Edited March 2, 2023 by TVFan1

[LadyChatts]

https://parade.com/tv/survivor-44-premiere-jeff-probst-podcast

Jeff has personally invited Bruce back to compete in another season.

[Lantern7]

Who was Maddy?

I think that this series is falling into the same pit as The Challenge, in that both strive to be hardcore competitive reality shows, but people wind up getting hurt. Do a search for Olivia Kaiser and you'll see what I mean. In contrast, Bruce, Matthew and Brandon got off lucky. Well, maybe not Bruce. since he had to leave the game . . .  and I'm thinking early evacs and dismissals will never get another shot at glory.

Matthew was begging to get injured. Nice guy, but why risk your neck if you've waited this long to be in the game?

Seriously, who was Maddy? All I know is that Brandon played Immunity, two others sacrificed their votes for Shots In The Dark (and one actually nailed it), and a third took her parchment for a later vote. That brings be to a pet peeve . . . the tribe didn't speak on Maddy getting snuffed. Brandon did.

Probst continues to Probst. With three visits from the Medical Team, I'm sure he got sprung for most of the first three days. Meanwhile, I was thinking of an opening to a particular song . . .

Boat mission was intriguing, and the Inheritance and Save-A-Vote advantages sound like the producers put thought into making them, as well as the Immunity Idol in the birdcage. I can't wait to see how I'm disappointed this season!

1 hour ago, mojoween said:

I don’t know why there is a suit of armor and a dragon skull at the Tribal Council set, but if they want to do Survivor: Medieval Times I’m all for it.

So funny . . . on the Live Thread, I was comparing the game to Yu-Gi-Oh, and then the idols turn out to be a shield and a sword. Since I'm a dork, I thought of this:

Yam Yam and Carolyn look like they're going to be a pain to be around. The opening with Carolyn getting interviewed was weird. Funny, yet weird.

[North of Eden]

Okay, and we're off!. With most everybody still a cipher, some random observations.

First up let's take a moment and absorb...22 years!  Just amazing. What a said say it will be when the show airs its final episode. It needs to have a 60 Minutes run and never be canceled.

Oh, and in the night vision shots where Jeff was consoling Bruce, he looked EVERY ONE of those 22 years.

Did the nerd say he found out he was picked for the show last March?! So the winner has had to sit on their win for an entire year without any leaks getting out? That's phenomenal.

The show is like a mash-up between Game of Thrones and Star Wars with the set design and the BEST immunity idol ever with the word and the shield, and then we have the SW influence in the names Tika (Rose Ticco) and Soka (Ashoka Tano). Production must be a fan.

Spider-Man, who took the fall, was damn lucky....that could have easily turned into a Christopher Reeve situation if he had landed wrong. Oh, and why a guy whose arm is now USELESS was never in the top pool of getting booted defies logic.

So we went from fake blood in the premier a couple of seasons ago to REAL blood for this one. So what exactly happened to Bruce...did he bark his head off the wooden beam or slam it into the ground.

I"ve never understood why medical evac players that instantly recover aren't allowed back into the game. I mean if a player can spend nearly the entire game on exile island and then come back and win the whole shooting match....why can't someone who has stayed one night in the hospital not be allowed to come back?

As soon as Maddy's team lost, I knew she was DOA based on the bird cage/idol incident...Brandon was not going to let that go.

The time to believe in miracles will be if the crazy cakes older blonde is sitting in the final 3. It seems impossible, given she appears to be an outcast of the first order but stranger things have happened (see above about the exiled guy winning the game, for instance)

Anyone named Yam Yam I can't take seriously. I just can't!

This early, the only person I don't like is the ginger, Kane....I'm getting a bad vibe from him.

 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2023 by North of Eden

[30 Helens]

I used to think “Drug Counselor” meant helping people get off drugs, After this episode, I think it might mean counseling people on which drugs are best and where to find them.

[vb68]

I liked the premiere. This crew is such a mess ,but you know what? I think I already like them more than the cast from last season.  I'm getting a fun vibe. And based on that vote tonight, they are definitely here to play even if it's crazy and again, very messy.

Felt horrible for Bruce. I hope they do give him a second chance. They guy who was climbing the rocks and fell got very lucky he didn't have to go, too.

Carolyn looks and sorta acts like Kristin Johnson from 3rd Rock from The Sun.

I don't even know what to say about that vote. Lauren you are so very lucky. It probably should had been her. I will say it turned out to be the perfect opportunity to use that bank a vote advantage.

Sara got a fantastic advantage if she keeps it to herself.  

Nice to have another season with you guys. Cheers everyone!

[iMonrey]

I did the homework and made a list of the tribes and their members so I feel like I have a fairly good read on who is who. That said, I have no strong feelings about any of them, and that was the same reaction I had to the cast last season. I think there may be something wrong with the casting process. I should care about at least one of them.

Interestingly, two of the players were captioned with different occupations than their online bios. Jaime was supposed to be a "marketing consultant" but her caption read "Yogi." WTF? And Frannie was supposed to be a "research coordinator" but she was said she worked at a "mindfulness center." WTF?

There are still way too many gimmicks, twists and advantages for anyone to successfully strategize. The Tribal Council proved to be good evidence of that. Nobody seemed to know what was going on.

And for the love of Pete, the show needs to scale down these brutal physical challenges. This isn't American Ninja Warrior. When your biggest, strongest guys are dropping like files it's time to re-think what's working and what's not. I'm sure these people sign their lives away to be on this show but if I were Bruce I'd be filing a lawsuit for damages.

Quote

Felt bad for Bruce being out of the game, but they’ll probably give him another chance. Doesn’t that happen sometimes? 

Yes but not when they're the first one out. He didn't have time to become a fan favorite.

Edited March 2, 2023 by iMonrey

[30 Helens]

15 minutes ago, North of Eden said:

I"ve never understood why medical evac players that instantly recover aren't allowed back into the game. I mean if a player can spend nearly the entire game on exile island and then come back and win the whole shooting match....why can't someone who has stayed one night in the hospital not be allowed to come back?

I wondered about this myself. Why couldn’t he just come back? He didn’t even miss a challenge! Whereas Dumbass who fell off the rock had to sit out the challenge but still gets to play. Doesn’t seem right to me.

And also, Jeff? Maybe it’s not the best idea to let injured players self-diagnose. I mean, it’s the first challenge. Who’s going to paint a target on themselves by calling for medical? Of course he’s going to try and tough it out. Maybe it’s a better idea for you, the (supposedly) impartial professional, to recognize that a man with blood pouring down his face from a head wound might need to be looked at. Before he collapses. Just saying.

Also, NASA nerd? You work at NASA. If you can’t find a fellow nerd to date somewhere within that workplace, I don’t know what to say.

Edited March 2, 2023 by 30 Helens

[vb68]

Oh, I meant to say congratulations to the woman who was safe from using her Shot in the Dark. But guess what? It's still just the first vote. Hope you don't need it later.

Edited March 2, 2023 by vb68

[princelina]

23 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

Who was Maddy?

Seriously, who was Maddy? All I know is that Brandon played Immunity, two others sacrificed their votes for Shots In The Dark (and one actually nailed it), and a third took her parchment for a later vote. That brings be to a pet peeve . . . the tribe didn't speak on Maddy getting snuffed. Brandon did.

Maddy was the girl who was with Brandon when he found the key and wanted them to keep it secret - but he didn't trust her so he called out to the tribe that it had been found.  IMO the tribe did speak by refusing to go along with her plan - if the three who opted out of the vote had gone with Maddy, Brandon would be gone.    For a first boot I think she played a good game 😃

22 minutes ago, North of Eden said:

So we went from fake blood in the premier a couple of seasons ago to REAL blood for this one. So what exactly happened to Bruce...did he bark his head off the wooden beam or slam it into the ground.

I"ve never understood why medical evac players that instantly recover aren't allowed back into the game. I mean if a player can spend nearly the entire game on exile island and then come back and win the whole shooting match....why can't someone who has stayed one night in the hospital not be allowed to come back?

He dove right into that beam with his head!  I believe there's a rule that if the medical team pulls you from the game you are done.  That's why they typically don't want to call for them - they don't want to take the chance.  If Jeff makes the call then you have to abide by their ruling.  I assume that rule's in place to keep them from calling for medical every time they are uncomfortable or bored 😄

[choclatechip45]

Carson reminds me of Ian Terry from Big Brother. Decent premiere I felt bad for Bruce. I hope they bring him back.

[princelina]

I also wanted to say thus far I like Carter and Helen.  And I think Jaime only chickened out because she was afraid to vote the wrong way!  Which makes her coincidental "lucky pick" less interesting and impressive.  

 

Edited March 2, 2023 by princelina

[Blueberry Snobal]

Why did Jeff say “second person voted out of Survivor 44”?  Wasn’t Maddy the first person voted out?

[LadyChatts]

5 minutes ago, Blueberry Snobal said:

Why did Jeff say “second person voted out of Survivor 44”?  Wasn’t Maddy the first person voted out?

Technically yes, although she was the second one out after Bruce.  I don't know if that was a slip on his part or if he meant to word it like that.  

[GaT]

4 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

I think the subtitle of this season must be Survivor: SLOOOOO-MOOOOO

Yeah, what was with all the slo-mo? Did they just want to make sure we saw Bruce get hurt?

So far this is Survivor, the medical season.

[HurricaneVal]

Carolyn is on my last nerve.  Conversely, I am charmed by Yam Yam.  We'll see how long that lasts.  

I'm sorry about Bruce. That sucks.  It also highlights how these accelerated seasons are really bad for the players.  It used to be three real days per episode, now it is like two or even one per episode.  There is no time to rest and recover, and in the tropical heat, that is a big deal.

I need to research, but I thought the rule on Survivor was if you needed medical intervention beyond first aid--like you'd get at the school nurse--on the order of band-aids, rest, hydration, simple splints and make-shift slings and braces, you'd get pulled.  I saw IVs and oxygen provided on screen.  Maybe there were also prescription meds as well, but we wouldn't know.  Per my, admittedly faulty, memory of the rules, both Bruce and Brandon should have been eliminated for medical reasons.  Maybe even the Matt or Matty or Matthew dumb-ass too.

I was heartened to see the doc immediately right there for Bruce when he went down.  I got the impression from that "johnny-on-thr-spot" appearance that they were closely monitoring him ever since the original injury, ready to step in.  Good.

That poor doc.  All the previous seasons were like "Yeah, it's great, man!  Hang out in Fiji, great scenery, watch idiots do stupid things at comps, do health surveys every couple days...nothing taxing.  Otherwise hang out on the beach, drink mai tais, snorkel, laze in a hammock, no stress--got it made, mate!"

[CoyoteBlue]

4 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

I used to think “Drug Counselor” meant helping people get off drugs, After this episode, I think it might mean counseling people on which drugs are best and where to find them.

She definitely gives the vibes of "drugs fucked me up, but I got clean and now I help other people get off them." That 'my brain will never quite work the same' energy. Carolyn also flails like a muppet.

Edited March 2, 2023 by CoyoteBlue

[violet and green]

6 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

This was one of the guys who had not long ago completed the Haul Coconuts challenge. Not the sort of thing you can completely recover from in that short amount of time, I’m guessing.

Brandon also fell hard chest-first onto the seats of that boat at the very start of the challenge - those boats look to me like they are made of iron!

---

Having Bruce get wounded so early on in the very first minutes of the very first challenge was such a major bummer. Can't believe they weren't talking about concussion risk straight away. Poor guy.

It really was a viscerally hard couple of episodes with Bruce's head injury, Mathew's dislocated shoulder and cut up foot, and then Brandon slamming that boat. I feel quite ill.

Some interesting and fun-seeming people, especially on Soka. Every time Jeff says Ratu I think 'Ratatouille!' which is already driving me mad.

[DEL901]

At tribal, Maddy announced she’d done the shot in the dark and then Matt did too, or am I misremembering.  Then Jeff opened Matt’s scroll first…almost like he knew Maddy had the right one.   Hmmm.

Not my original thought…stole it from the EW recap…but the person who finds the birdcage key should replace the contents with rocks, relock the cage and then throw the key into the ocean. 

[Guest]

7 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Seriously, who was Maddy?

I understand that it can be hard to keep track of everyone in the first episode, but I can't really understand how someone wouldn't know who Maddy was after watching this. She was all over this episode, as princelina mentioned, first during the key search and then after the immunity challenge when they were scrambling to figure out who to vote for. They showed her talking to pretty much everyone trying to rally the vote against Brandon, her name was mentioned a bunch of times...how on earth did you miss her?

[violet and green]

I'm a bit stunned Jeff thought this was a good cast to hand over a sword to. Hope it's not sharp.

[Haleth]

I think the next advantage should be a roll of bubble wrap.  Yikes.

There's someone named Yam Yam?  I guess I wasn't paying attention.

7 hours ago, North of Eden said:

So what exactly happened to Bruce...did he bark his head off the wooden beam or slam it into the ground.

Before he hit his head I noticed that he was launching himself at the structure that he had to crawl under.  It appeared that he misjudged the second one and smacked his head on the edge.

[Lamima]

Not thrilled with this season. I disagree with someone above who said these people came to play. That shot in the dark playing crap is chicken poo and not coming to play. Also, will be a lone voice on Bruce...he hit his head and was bleeding. No stitches, just a bandage. I think he more realized the game was harder than he expected and before sleeping all night in the jungle that first night, he uses the head thing to bale. Peachy said he was fine the next day. No concussion. No big issue. I have seen players get way more jacked up and stay in the game. Like Matthew (dumb ass rock climber)...that ahole red head who was severely sunburned (back on season Michele won)...the guy with the rotted feet (think they showed that in the montage). Even, think last season, the one gal with the road rash on her chin. 

37 minutes ago, DEL901 said:

 

Not my original thought…stole it from the EW recap…but the person who finds the birdcage key should replace the contents with rocks, relock the cage and then throw the key into the ocean. 

I would take the true idol and parchment and leave the pretty orange fake idol in the bag, lock it back up and place the key where someone I hated would find it.

[Taeolas]

21 minutes ago, Lamima said:

I would take the true idol and parchment and leave the pretty orange fake idol in the bag, lock it back up and place the key where someone I hated would find it.

 

If I were the producer/idol designer, I'd design the parchment so the section about the "useless idol" could be torn off while leaving the rest of the message looking intact. Then whoever finds it could tear off the fake description part and leave the message and the fake idol in the cage for someone else to get.  Since I'm pretty sure all the idols and advantages have a parchment message, if someone were to get the cage and not have instructions, it would be suspicious. Or I would leave the message and make a second fake idol and leave both in the cage for someone else to find. Of course it would depend on how much isolated time I could get with the cage to pull off such a trick; since it's in the middle of the camp getting in once unnoticed would be hard, let alone doing it multiple times. 

[GenerationX]

I liked the birdcage scenario.  If you're going to flood the game with idols and advantages, at least be interesting about it, and this was interesting.  I believe there were two separate parchment papers in the bag.  I would take the real idol and the fake parchment, but leave the fake idol and the real parchment.

[LizBug]

Wait for the pretty orange trinket to have some significance later on in the game.

[Maya]

Carolyn is hilarious! Hope she sticks around, but judging from her performance in the first challenge and her general insanity, it’s not looking good for her! 

[Lady Calypso]

What a weird premiere. A lot of bizarre stuff happened, including three medical emergencies (leading to a record breaking Day 1 med evac), weird advantages that seem to be catering toward playing more aggressively, and some really bizarre Tribal Council choices leading to only one vote officially being counted. 

I'm not quite sure who I like yet. I personally have usually gravitated toward the strategists right off the bat, rather than over the top players (the rare exception was Maryanne, who I liked pretty much immediately) so I found myself enjoying Helen (the one who worked with Carson on the circular puzzle), Heidi (who built the fire for her tribe) and Lauren (who didn't play great, but also managed to escape being the target). I did like Matthew before he climbed the rock and injured himself, and I was only so-so with Carolyn (a bit too over the top BUT I also think the editors really screwed her over with giving her the Wacky Facial Expressions edit to emphasize her weirdness). 

Carson came across fine on the surface, but I sense he may have an ego problem. There were some things he was saying, especially about his intelligence, that made me feel like he thinks very highly of himself, and it's not just plain confidence. I think, if and when his game gets questioned, he may not handle it very well. It's similar to how I felt about Jonathan in 42; comes across likeable at first but there's an ego thing brewing beyond the surface. Maybe I'm wrong, so we'll see.

Yam Yam was fun, but too over the top at the start. There was a moment later in the episode where he did seem to calm down, so I do think I could like him down the line...or he'll be Gabler 2.0 for me.

As for the new twists, they're new, but it also forces these players to really play aggressively. The birdcage twist does force these players to have a more difficult time hiding the fact that they have an advantage. I'm sure there's a way to game it, but given that Brandon opened the cage in front of everyone and then played the idol in the same episode? Someone will play this twist better than he did, that's for sure. I know he was in a sticky situation with Maddy being with him, but he really needed to think about what he was doing. I think it was clear he never wanted to work with Maddy, hence why he was so eager to tell everyone instead of working with Maddy. I get why he did that, to an extent, but it clearly still backfired on him. Yes, he stayed and Maddy went. However, whatever went on with that tribe before TC that had three people not vote, I think part of it was due to the birdcage twist. Maybe if he thought about a different way to play that, he wouldn't have been a target at all.

The Inheritance Advantage just seems WAY overpowered, although I THINK that it would need to be played when you go to vote just to make it less powerful. 

Bank a Vote is a great advantage. It's not overpowered and you have to gamble on when to save your vote. Lauren got lucky here with how she COULD bank her vote.

Congrats to Jaime for playing the SITD successfully for the first time in four seasons, I guess?

Poor Bruce; he just had some REALLY bad luck so I hope he's the first the show calls for the next season. He definitely deserves a second chance since he didn't even really get a chance in the first place. He got injured less than a minute into the game.

Overall, it was....I dunno, an ok premiere, but really odd.

I really don't get why Jaime and Matt played their SITD, though. You people are on a tribe of six. You literally do not have the leeway to toss away your vote like that.

[seacliffsal]

So, this may finally be a season in which one survivor does outlast all of the others due to injuries/med evacuations and thus win without a Final Tribal...

I'm surprised that medical was going to allow Bruce to sleep with his tribe as that would not be good if he did have a concussion (which it seemed like it did).  One of his tribemates mentioned how Bruce was becoming a bit disorientated, so I'm glad they pulled him (although I liked him).  I just recently watched the season in which 3 players went down during one challenge and Caleb was SERIOUSLY in danger (I cried rewatching Caleb go down).  I really hope this season doesn't go in that direction.

Oh, and Matthew?  I would support the medical team taking him out as that was totally on him (wanting to climb to the top of whatever that was).  Oh, and then because he told Brandon he would have his back, he took the easy way out by not voting (due to playing SITD) so he could claim he didn't vote against Brandon.  I guess it was a smart move though to take oneself out of voting (so won't be on the wrong side of the vote) but what will they do the next time there's a hard vote?

I really didn't like the season opening with Carolyn-for me it sets the wrong tone of "look how unaware our contestants are" instead of opening with something that reminds us how exciting and fun this show can be (and by having the producer try to help her during the interview it removed the sense of their being all alone [which we know they aren't, but at least let us pretend]).  

And, with all of that, I am so glad the show is back!!!

[storyskip]

Since it keeps coming up.

Jamie and Matt played their SITD because it allowed them to avoid voting.

SITD has historically proven to be useless in its originally designed form because, as Jeff said, in 4 years Jamie's is the first that ever proved to be "Safe".   So Jamie and Matt used the SITD for its unintended benefit: neutrality.

The interviews, while everybody was scrambling around at camp made, it clear that being on the wrong side of this first vote was going to "dig your own grave" right out of the gate.

Neutrality in this first vote was the goal, not the SITD outcome.

Kudos to Brandon who read the wind when Jamie and Matt made it clear they were NOT voting this TC, and so he went ahead and got rid of that albatross of an immunity idol, saved himself and sent Maddy home.

Edited March 2, 2023 by storyskip

[AncientNewbie]

I admit that I was distracted by another show and may have been more interested in what I caught during commercial breaks than during the premiere, which is unusual for me. I can usually watch maroonings as a binge back to back, a decade at a time. So I'm not going to criticize this one too much when I was elsewhere, but for the first time, I really felt like I didn't have a grasp of who was there and what was happening. That tribal was a confusing one, for sure, because I didn't get why SITD was so in play. 

But what I liked is the players adapting and getting right into it. They were ready for risk/not risk and lied accordingly. They look to be halfway skilled geniuses and halfway the second coming of Gabon. In other words, I'm here for it. 

I did feel bad for Bruce. It's such a process to get cast and uproot everything to appear, only to go out from a messy injury. He's the second Bruce to get medically removed, too...and the only other Bruce I can think of since 12. Maybe it's just a very unlucky name. We'll sing a song in the rock garden for him. 

[Lady Calypso]

20 minutes ago, seacliffsal said:

I guess it was a smart move though to take oneself out of voting (so won't be on the wrong side of the vote) but what will they do the next time there's a hard vote?

And that's the issue I have with Matthew, if he DID use SITD to avoid choosing a side. They're on day 3. If he was that torn up about voting a guy he barely knows, it's not gonna get any easier as the season goes on. This was probably the easiest vote because he has no real loyalty to people yet. That will become harder as the season goes on and he forms a tighter bond.