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

[Guest]

10 hours ago, Shermie said:

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.

No, I'm saying that it was close enough that Brandon still might have been feeling the effects. Yes, he had the night to rest, but he was still in somewhat deprived circumstances as far as water and comfort goes, and since dehydration seemed to be the main issue, I understand why he struggled in the immunity challenge.

30 minutes ago, storyskip said:

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.

I totally get this reasoning, but Jaime's reaction to being safe, relieved to the point of tears, made me think there had to be more to her motives than mere neutrality. Possibly just paranoia on her part.

20 minutes ago, AncientNewbie said:

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. 

Please God, no.

Edited March 2, 2023 by tracyscott76
Spelling error

[peachmangosteen]

11 hours ago, mojoween said:

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

Well, Maddy knew he found the key and he lied to her about it and then she wanted to discuss keeping it between them and he went and told the others so I think she had reasons to find him untrustworthy.

19 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

I totally get this reasoning, but Jaime's reaction to being safe, relieved to the point of tears, made me think there had to be more to her motives than mere neutrality. Possibly just paranoia on her part.

Yea, Jamie just seemed super paranoid of being blindsided by the first vote, which I find relatable lol. 

I didn't really get many strong feelings towards anyone yet, except Kane. I get a bad vibe from him. I only noticed him twice but both times he was talking to a woman and he was just giving a 'how dare this woman try to tell me anything' vibe.

[Nashville]

10 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.

You and me both. 😆

 

2 hours ago, DEL901 said:

At tribal, Maddy announced she’d done the shot in the dark

Jamie, not Maddy.

[Cotypubby]

2 hours ago, Lamima said:

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

He hit his head. Very hard. They get back to camp and later that same night he starts stumbling around with a headache. They were absolutely right to pull him. You don’t fuck around with head injuries. He clearly wanted to still be there.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

I didn't really get many strong feelings towards anyone yet, except Kane. I get a bad vibe from him. I only noticed him twice but both times he was talking to a woman and he was just giving a 'how dare this woman try to tell me anything' vibe.

I didn't get that vibe from him, but it's early and anything's possible (I liked Karla for the first part of last season, so who knows where this could go). Mostly I just noticed Kane commenting on the sickness and dopeness of the voting booth 😆 

He did go along with Maddy's plan to oust Brandon, so at least he's not totally opposed to siding with a woman against another fella just on principle, if her plan makes sense to him.

[JudyObscure]

I think one reason so many of them used their advantages and whatnots is that they didn't want to start the game with  targets on their backs.  It's become a huge disadvantage to be taken away to do the risk-your-vote choice and Brandon, rightly knew everyone was after him because he had an idol. Maddie, ultimately, was distrusted and went home because she was present when an idol was found. 

I laugh in the shows general direction!  All those fancy advantages have come full cirle and now people are brushing them off like poison spiders.

Edited March 2, 2023 by JudyObscure

[TVbitch]

I thought maybe this season Probst was going to take a nod from how popular Australian Survivor has become and get more back to basics, but I guess not. At least it doesn't seem like this is going to be a Very Special Season with Probst blathering on about self growth and love constantly.

I wish they would sub in an alternate when a player is pulled or quits before the first immunity challenge.  

[iMonrey]

Quote

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...

Heh. No need to vote, there's only one person left who hasn't been pulled out of the game due to injury.

Quote

Well, Maddy knew he found the key and he lied to her about it and then she wanted to discuss keeping it between them and he went and told the others so I think she had reasons to find him untrustworthy.

It seemed like Brandon just had a grudge against Maddy because she saw him find that key, which forced his hand. He probably would have reacted the same way to anyone else who had been there. He kept saying "I can't trust her, I can't trust her," but he had no way of knowing that after knowing her for less than a day. He just didn't want to trust her and was mad someone saw him find the key so he couldn't keep it secret.

I don't think the fake idol will amount to anything because too many people know about it. 

[driver18]

Maddy kept saying that Brandon was playing so hard and trying to control everything, but based on what we saw, the only one doing that was Maddy.

[SuburbanHangSuite]

8 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

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

I am too!  I mean, I seriously LOL'd when he's trying to reach through the birdcage bars saying, "Maybe it's candy!"  Why would it be candy??!!  😂

Kudos to Brandon for reading the room and correctly playing an idol.   I worried when he and the other guy chose the coconut drag.  That looked TOUGH.  If I had been there, I would've chosen the physical task too.  I don't trust myself with puzzles like "Count the Spheres" especially if you only get one guess.  I used to dream of playing Survivor but the heavy reliance on puzzles would be the death of my game.  A slide puzzle is bad enough without making each piece weigh a ton. 

 

[susannot]

Minority opinion:  I like Carolyn!  She reminds me of Natasha Lyonne in Poker Face.

[JudyObscure]

2 hours ago, susannot said:

Minority opinion:  I like Carolyn!  She reminds me of Natasha Lyonne in Poker Face.

I don't know who Natasha is, but I like Carolyn, too.  After listening to a series of over-confident, bragging comfessionals, Carolyn's general, "I'm a mess," attitude endeared me to her.  I hope she flails her way to the end.

Edited March 2, 2023 by JudyObscure

[mertensia]

Maddie "it was a good run while it lasted".

Me " That would be one whole episode, Maddie".

[patty1h]

Every season I ask myself why I'm watching this show again - it's the same old routine.   At this point I just pay attention when they do the challenges.   All the babbling gets tuned out. 

The thing that always annoys me is that the contestants always use the flimsiest excuses to target someone for elimination... the go-to is the tired "I can't trust them!".  They get outraged to find out that someone is seeking the hidden Immunity Idol early in the show - happens every season in the first episode, someone gets the side-eye if they wander off and someone  else starts the badmouthing that that one is probably out looking for an idol.   How dare they!  Of course you have to look for it ASAP, before someone else finds it.  Like tonight, everyone hopped on Brandon because he found that birdcage in the forest.  The players have so little ammunition to use on a virtual stranger, that trust becomes "something" as a motivation - it's better than nothing.   It irks me every time.  

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, patty1h said:

Every season I ask myself why I'm watching this show again - it's the same old routine.   At this point I just pay attention when they do the challenges.   All the babbling gets tuned out. 

The thing that always annoys me is that the contestants always use the flimsiest excuses to target someone for elimination... the go-to is the tired "I can't trust them!".  They get outraged to find out that someone is seeking the hidden Immunity Idol early in the show - happens every season in the first episode, someone gets the side-eye if they wander off and someone  else starts the badmouthing that that one is probably out looking for an idol.   How dare they!  Of course you have to look for it ASAP, before someone else finds it.  Like tonight, everyone hopped on Brandon because he found that birdcage in the forest.  The players have so little ammunition to use on a virtual stranger, that trust becomes "something" as a motivation - it's better than nothing.   It irks me every time.  

This isn't really what happened, though. The four of them who weren't doing the coconut drag found the birdcage together, and then brought Brandon and Matthew into the loop on it. They all agreed to look for the key at the same time, splitting up into groups. Brandon found it, and initially tried to hide it from Maddy, though she saw him put something in his pocket. Eventually he told her he found it, and when she suggested keeping it from the others, he disagreed and told everyone. Then he opened the cage in front of everyone and it turned out to be an immunity idol, which he rightfully claimed as his own.

So it wasn't just that he found the key that made "everyone" hop on him. Maddy was understandably wigged out by first: his initial subterfuge about finding the key, and second: his clear desire not to work with her by not keeping the key a secret between the two of them. That, combined with the fact that he had the idol, made her want to target him, so she went around making the case to the others. In the end, only Kane joined her in voting for Brandon. Everyone else gave up their right to vote through various means.

So I didn't see a flimsy excuse, or side-eye because someone wandered off, or ganging up on someone, or even outrage, really. No one went on any rants that I recall. Everyone was pretty even-tempered about it all, which I thought was nice.

[LadyChatts]

4 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

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.

I’ve been thinking about this, because I can’t for the life of me understand Matt’s logic (Jamie seemed like she was torn and didn’t want to vote, but I still think it was stupid on her part).  If Matt knew there was a chance Brandon was going home, why didn’t he tell him and have him play his idol-which is what ended up happening anyway.  But was he afraid that if Brandon didn’t play his idol, and Maddy ended up being safe, he’d have to go back to camp and explain why he voted for her?  Or was he trying to show Brandon that he couldn’t trust anyone left?  Trying to see if Lauren voted or not?  Hoping Brandon played his idol so it could go back in circulation?  I don’t know, but it was a stupid move whatever his logic.  I'm sure next week we'll hear his reasoning behind it.  I also agree, the first vote is usually the easiest so why make a move like that?  It may have inadvertently put a target on his back (and Jamie’s).

Edited March 2, 2023 by LadyChatts

[Haleth]

The thing that always annoys me is that the contestants always use the flimsiest excuses to target someone for elimination... the go-to is the tired "I can't trust them!".  They get outraged to find out that someone is seeking the hidden Immunity Idol early in the show - happens every season in the first episode, someone gets the side-eye if they wander off and someone  else starts the badmouthing that that one is probably out looking for an idol.   How dare they!  Of course you have to look for it ASAP, before someone else finds it.  Like tonight, everyone hopped on Brandon because he found that birdcage in the forest.  The players have so little ammunition to use on a virtual stranger, that trust becomes "something" as a motivation - it's better than nothing.   It irks me every time.

Even so, when the point is to take a target off your own back sometimes you only have the flimsiest of excuses to get teammates to focus on someone else. It may be lame but sometimes it’s all you have. 

Edited March 2, 2023 by Haleth

[Lantern7]

6 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

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?

In my defense: seventeen other people, and she wasn’t the most “out there.” Also, she didn’t get hurt, and I don’t take notes.

1 hour ago, mertensia said:

Maddie "it was a good run while it lasted".

Me " That would be one whole episode, Maddie".

One whole two-hour episode!

One good thing about new episodes: Erik Reichenbach draws single-panel comics! He just put this out:

[fishcakes]

4 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

I totally get this reasoning, but Jaime's reaction to being safe, relieved to the point of tears, made me think there had to be more to her motives than mere neutrality. Possibly just paranoia on her part.

Yes, I don't think it was neutrality. She seemed genuinely worried about getting voted out, which is weird because no one was thinking about her. I don't think it was neutrality with Matthew either. Brandon was the target but everyone knew about the immunity idol, so it would have made sense to split the vote and Matthew would have been the natural person to be the backup since he was the last one they approached, plus his injury. He just didn't know that the other four apparently didn't have enough wit to split the vote.

The thing that confused me was they had info that Lauren was lying about losing her vote and really having an advantage. But when Lauren said she would vote against Brandon that night, Maddy, Kane, and Jaime didn't even question that. Either there was some conversation we didn't see or they are all terrible at this game.

Edited March 2, 2023 by fishcakes

[eel21788]

4 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

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). 

That definitely wasn't a concussion. His blood pressure was 156/110. With a concussion, the diastolic BP stays in the normal range while only the systolic BP increases. It's called widening pulse pressure. It's the telltale sign to look for when you suspect a concussion.

It is possible to have your blood pressure go that high just due to the pain itself. It is also possible to have the headache caused by the high blood pressure not the other way around.

I'm guessing when he got to the hospital, he was given something to decrease his blood pressure which is why his symptoms all resolved so quickly.

[Kelda Feegle]

Does the idol go back in the birdcage now? So the hunt will be for the key? 

[eel21788]

11 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

Per my, admittedly faulty, memory of the rules, both Bruce and Brandon should have been eliminated for medical reasons. 

I don't think letting Brandon rest in the shade and drink water while watching the rest of his team lose would have happened if they hadn't already had one medical evacuation. They seemed to bend the rules more than a little.

That being said, why didn't they make the guy who was sitting out the challenge take Brandon's place to keep things even if they were going to continue with it? 

[GaT]

10 hours ago, CoyoteBlue said:

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.

Yup

[LadyChatts]

30 minutes ago, Kelda Feegle said:

Does the idol go back in the birdcage now? So the hunt will be for the key? 

I assume so, but I'm wondering if a fake idol will get planted with it everytime.  Or maybe instead of an idol it'll be an advantage. 

I did wonder if the birdcage idol was a one time thing, and then they'll just go back to "hiding" them in the jungle somewhere.  In reality, if no one sees the idol return to the birdcage, they might assume it's out of play, so someone could get away with finding it hidden around camp and not having to tell anyone.  

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

In my defense: seventeen other people, and she wasn’t the most “out there.” Also, she didn’t get hurt, and I don’t take notes.

Seventeen other people, but only 6 involved in all the post-challenge vote-wrangling, during which Maddy was front and center repeatedly. I don't take notes either, but I really don't think that was necessary to remember who she was, given her key role in events. Don't mean to pick on you because you're not the only one who does this, but the "who is so-and-so?" trope frustrates me, especially when it's directed at someone who was all over the episode. There's often a certain commonality in the type of player this is directed at, too, which is also frustrating.

[eel21788]

14 hours ago, princelina said:

Maddy was the girl who was with Brandon when he found the key and wanted them to keep it secret

Was there something in the rules that said it could only be opened with the key. Couldn't they just decide to break the lock?

[LadyChatts]

13 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

Seventeen other people, but only 6 involved in all the post-challenge vote-wrangling, during which Maddy was front and center repeatedly. I don't take notes either, but I really don't think that was necessary to remember who she was, given her key role in events. Don't mean to pick on you because you're not the only one who does this, but the "who is so-and-so?" trope frustrates me, especially when it's directed at someone who was all over the episode. There's often a certain commonality in the type of player this is directed at, too, which is also frustrating.

After reading some of Maddy's exit interviews, I like her and am sorry she left.  I think she could have been an interesting person to keep around, and might have created some chaos.  I wish we had been able to see more of her last night, especially since she was the first boot.  It kind of frustrates me that they don't give someone whose only appearance is going to be in the premiere episode more screen time, especially in a two hour episode.  Judging from her exit interviews Maddy did a lot post-IC to get the vote turned to Brandon, and it might have ended up costing her.  Unlike last season, when the women were willing to throw each other to the slaughter, she was actually trying to get a man out and spare one of her own!

Edited March 2, 2023 by LadyChatts

[susannot]

I'm puzzled about something.  Where did Matthew get his Shot In The Dark parchment?  He didn't go to the island.

[paul4295]

Brandon's idol was almost a disadvantage for him, because everyone knew he had it.  In light of that, I would have just said, "You all know I have an idol, and I know that puts a target on my back, so I am definitely using it at this tribal council.  If you vote for me, you're wasting a vote."  And then I would have used it, to show that my word can be trusted.

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, susannot said:

I'm puzzled about something.  Where did Matthew get his Shot In The Dark parchment?  He didn't go to the island.

They get the Shot in the Dark parchment when they vote. Each player is given a die at the beginning of the game (we saw Jaime holding hers during Tribal Council when she said she was playing it). If they want to play their Shot in the Dark, they put their die into a smaller urn in the voting booth, then they reach into a bag and pull out the parchment. We saw Jaime reaching into the bag, but I don't think they showed Matthew doing it, because it was a surprise when he said he played it.

[princelina]

42 minutes ago, eel21788 said:

Was there something in the rules that said it could only be opened with the key. Couldn't they just decide to break the lock?

I don't know - I think it just looked unbreakable 😄

[eel21788]

31 minutes ago, susannot said:

 Where did Matthew get his Shot In The Dark parchment? 

More important question: after Jaime pulled out the SAFE parchment, was another SAFE added to the bag so Matthew would have the same odds, or did he completely waste his chance at being safe because that parchment had already been chosen?

[Nashville]

3 hours ago, susannot said:

Minority opinion:  I like Carolyn!  She reminds me of Natasha Lyonne in Poker Face.

Not that I particularly dislike Carolyn, but straight out of the gate she’s been playing with her volume turned up to 11.  I strongly suspect about 10-15 years ago someone told Carolyn she had all the makings of a great MPDG - and they may even have meant it unironically - but the notion kinda got stuck in Carolyn’s brain forevermore….

 

35 minutes ago, eel21788 said:

Was there something in the rules that said it could only be opened with the key. Couldn't they just decide to break the lock?

Probably be on the same par as stealing someone’s HII.

[LadyChatts]

21 minutes ago, eel21788 said:

More important question: after Jaime pulled out the SAFE parchment, was another SAFE added to the bag so Matthew would have the same odds, or did he completely waste his chance at being safe because that parchment had already been chosen?

To my knowledge, there is only one safe in the bag.  The others are all not safe.  I assume this is to prevent that off chance that everyone could decide to play their SITD and, in a weird set of circumstances, all be safe.  I know the odds of the actually happening aren't that great, but stranger things have happened on this show.  

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, eel21788 said:

More important question: after Jaime pulled out the SAFE parchment, was another SAFE added to the bag so Matthew would have the same odds, or did he completely waste his chance at being safe because that parchment had already been chosen?

While it's worded a little oddly, this indicates that no, another SAFE parchment is not added. But the odds are still 1 in 6. Just like when they do the rock draws: they're drawing one at a time, but it's not really any different than if they were all reaching in at the same time. The odds are the same for each person.

[Nashville]

 

3 minutes ago, eel21788 said:

More important question: after Jaime pulled out the SAFE parchment, was another SAFE added to the bag so Matthew would have the same odds

No, IIRC - and technically (although counterintuitively, I know) Jamie’s draw didn’t change Matthew’s odds; although the selection pool immediately before Matthew only allowed him 5 possible choices, the chance of any one of those parchments being a SAFE was still 1 in 6.  The mathematical odds did not change simply because one of the 6 was no longer available to him.  
 

3 minutes ago, eel21788 said:

or did he completely waste his chance at being safe because that parchment had already been chosen?

In terms of omniscient reality, yes - except nobody in this game is omniscient.  Consider it Schrödinger's SITD.  😉

 

7 minutes ago, princelina said:

I don't know - I think it just looked unbreakable 😄

Funny thing about those locks; I recognized the style immediately, and those types of lock are absurdly easy to pick.  
When I was a kid, my father had 4 or 5 locks of that style he’d picked up somewhere; he didn’t have the keys to any of them, though, so when I was about age 6 or thereabouts he taught me how to pick them.  I got to where I could take a small flatblade screwdriver or bit of scrap metal, and pop any of those bad boys in under 10 seconds.

[Valerie]

Early faves: Frannie, Matt B, Carson, Jaimie.

Carolyn is like Nora 2.0. Jesus. I thought her opening confessional was cute but then she started to grate.

Quite a few firsts in this episode, including the new advantages, first successful SOTD, and FOUR medical visits (for three players).

[Guest]

Just now, Valerie said:

Carolyn is like Nora 2.0. Jesus. I thought her opening confessional was cute but then she started to grate.

I saw that similarity, too. Someone earlier commented that Carolyn wasn't likely to last long, and I thought, "Noura made it to the Final 3 😬"

Want to give a quick shout out to Lauren's thumb-on-the-scale move with the rock drawing. That's the kind of low-key rascally behavior I can get behind. Difficult to pin on her, gets her what she wants, and doesn't really hurt anyone else.

[hendersonrocks]

7 hours ago, MissR2424 said:

Very nasty comment about her dad

Maybe, but it might also help to know he's a public (elected) figure who is mentioned in press about her being on the show. He's not a regular civilian. Regardless: Carolyn is cray.

[EllenB]

1 hour ago, Valerie said:

Early faves: Frannie, Matt B, Carson, Jaimie.

Carolyn is like Nora 2.0. Jesus. I thought her opening confessional was cute but then she started to grate.

Quite a few firsts in this episode, including the new advantages, first successful SOTD, and FOUR medical visits (for three players).

In her bio, Carolyn lists Noura as one of her favorites who she wants to emulate in her play. AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!

[Valerie]

26 minutes ago, EllenB said:

In her bio, Carolyn lists Noura as one of her favorites who she wants to emulate in her play. AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!

Oh my god I didn't even see that, GREAT.

[violet and green]

10 hours ago, Lamima said:

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.

By fine, he meant no bleed in the brain, I guess. Bruce makes it clear he was concussed, in his Parade interview. He's a football coach so he knows the signs of concussion. The hospital in Fiji, once it cleared him via a CT scan from having a brain bleed, gave the diagnosis of concussion. He was so not fine in those following days, and he was so not fine in the moments after hitting his head, or later in the challenge, or that night they took him away.

[KaveDweller]

7 minutes ago, violet and green said:

By fine, he meant no bleed in the brain, I guess. Bruce makes it clear he was concussed, in his Parade interview. He's a football coach so he knows the signs of concussion. The hospital in Fiji, once it cleared him via a CT scan from having a brain bleed, gave the diagnosis of concussion. He was so not fine in those following days, and he was so not fine in the moments after hitting his head, or later in the challenge, or that night they took him away.

"Fine" probably meant "he's not going to die or have permanent damage." I would imagine Jeff isn't supposed to give more medical info about contestants out then absolutely necessary to explain what's happened.

[RockShrimp]

Can someone explain to me how at no point was the DUDE IN A SLING discussed as someone to vote off?

[CoyoteBlue]

45 minutes ago, RockShrimp said:

Can someone explain to me how at no point was the DUDE IN A SLING discussed as someone to vote off?

He just had a dislocated shoulder that popped back in. Assuming they verified it was back in, there's no danger to his health thus no reason to make him leave.

[truthaboutluv]

So for some reason, probably because that's what has happened in previous years, I had it in my head that the season was premiering mid-March and completely missed yesterday's premiere. But I did watch it online and I have some thoughts that I'm sure have all been said already. 

Overall thoughts, the cast is interesting so far. I enjoyed Tika the most as a group - Yam Yam, Carson, one who worked with Carson on the puzzle and the other one (yes I'm still learning all the names - sue me) were all pretty cool. And the one who went to the island from the tribe was the smartest with her story by playing on the previous Risk Your Vote option, because it made her story more believable since the players have all seen that in the previous seasons. Caroline is giving nutty Noura vibes and that could either mean she makes it far like Noura did even while being totally kooky or she's eliminated quickly. 

The green tribe - Soka, I think, seem okay but because they did well so far, I didn't really get a good read on most of the players because the focus was elsewhere. That tribal council was hilarious. Wow, can Ratu make it any clearer how little any of them trust each other? There's Matthew and is it Jamie (not sure of her name), playing their shot in the dark at the first tribal council when neither was in any danger of getting any votes.

At that point, I didn't blame Brandon for playing the idol because as we saw, this came down to only three votes since everyone was just happily skipping their vote. And so Maddy's eliminated because in trying to make a big move, she didn't realize she was dealing with a bunch of paranoid players who didn't trust anyone and so most of them would choose to not vote. 

On 3/1/2023 at 10:09 PM, mojoween said:

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

Also hilarious because she was the one who tried to convince him to keep his finding the key a secret between the two of them, and not tell the rest of the tribe. Incidentally I think that's all the reason she really had for going after him because as she said, he made it clear in that moment he didn't trust or want to work with her (which was true) and so she decided he wasn't useful to her game. 

Edited March 3, 2023 by truthaboutluv

[SVNBob]

On 3/2/2023 at 1:23 AM, GaT said:

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

Partially that, so we would have the full context for everything surrounding him for the rest of the episode.  And partially so we could "experience" it with him.  Not only was there slo-mo, the audio was distorted, much like what he was probably hearing at the time.  That moment was to draw us in to Bruce's plight in multiple ways.

16 hours ago, SuburbanHangSuite said:

I am too!  I mean, I seriously LOL'd when he's trying to reach through the birdcage bars saying, "Maybe it's candy!"  Why would it be candy??!!  😂

But why couldn't it be candy?  They've provided "hidden stashes" of supplies on previous seasons, and candy or other sweets were included.  So why not this new thing?

13 hours ago, fishcakes said:

Yes, I don't think it was neutrality. She seemed genuinely worried about getting voted out, which is weird because no one was thinking about her.

According to Maddy's post-boot interview, they actually were considering Jamie.  So she did play her SITD for the possible safety.

12 hours ago, eel21788 said:

More important question: after Jaime pulled out the SAFE parchment, was another SAFE added to the bag so Matthew would have the same odds, or did he completely waste his chance at being safe because that parchment had already been chosen?

AFAIK, a new scroll wasn't added, nor was the bag replaced.  But depending on the actual order they drew, she did change his odds. 

11 hours ago, Nashville said:

No, IIRC - and technically (although counterintuitively, I know) Jamie’s draw didn’t change Matthew’s odds; although the selection pool immediately before Matthew only allowed him 5 possible choices, the chance of any one of those parchments being a SAFE was still 1 in 6.  The mathematical odds did not change simply because one of the 6 was no longer available to him. 

Incorrect.  Assuming Jaime drew first, she absolutely changed Matthew's odds.  Because the odds change with the total number of scrolls in the bag, regardless of what they say.

As we saw, she drew the lone SAFE.  Meaning he had a 0 in 5 chance of drawing it.  But if she drew one of the NOT SAFEs, he'd have had a 1 in 5 chance of getting the SAFE.  Or, a 20% chance instead of the 16.67% she did.

This isn't like the Monty Hall Paradox of Do or Dies.  It's more like Lena's Haybales.

[RockShrimp]

11 hours ago, CoyoteBlue said:

He just had a dislocated shoulder that popped back in. Assuming they verified it was back in, there's no danger to his health thus no reason to make him leave.

I didn’t say medical, I meant how did no one suggest voting him off. It seems like someone would have suggested it. You hope he’ll be back to 100% for the next challenge that he can’t sit out and beyond, but who knows. Plus he’s clearly an f*cking idiot who is going to do it again.  

[kav]

On 3/1/2023 at 11:50 PM, 30 Helens said:

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.

He had a concussion for 3 days.

[RedbirdNelly]

I question whether Jaime has the emotional stamina for this game. She looks like a person who will easily freak out which makes her hard to work with.