S45.E08: Following a Dead Horse to Water

[peachmangosteen]

16 minutes ago, JudyObscure said:

Adoptions seem to be changing the rules all the time, but I have a friend who gave her baby up for adoption long ago, and after that all the files were sealed until the baby was grown and wanted to find her bio-mom. 

But Kendra made it seem like it was her bio mom raising her but her dad was her 'adopted dad.' The whole thing was odd so I just think we didn't get all the info. 

[rr2911]

12 hours ago, Carey said:

  

Which would also be yet another (missed) blast from the past! HAHAHA!

Yeah, I hope we get to watch a great finale with jurors asking hardline questions instead of what we have gotten in the past few seasons.  In fact, I hope Jeff goes back to the format where each juror stands up and has to ask questions to each finalist.

[Lady Calypso]

24 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

But Kendra made it seem like it was her bio mom raising her but her dad was her 'adopted dad.' The whole thing was odd so I just think we didn't get all the info. 

It could be a simple situation where Kendra's biological parents had their relationship end badly and he chose to stay away or Kendra's mom kept him away. We won't ever really know, which is fine, as that wasn't the point of Kendra sharing her backstory. Clearly meeting her biological father was enough for her. It did make me think Kendra was going this episode, though. Giving a backstory like that in a way that made it seem out of place was a choice, for sure. 

1 hour ago, peachmangosteen said:

Emily snitching on the women's alliance immediately. Idiot.

I don't see her being an idiot for that. None of those women have really given Emily the time of day beyond a vote. And, although I really don't like Drew or Drew/Austin, they've manipulated Emily well into thinking she's with them and they're a tight alliance. Obviously she doesn't know that, at least, Drew views her as an easy number until he can toss her aside for Reba, but they've put in the work to make her feel included with them. So, in her mind, as she explained, logically it makes sense to stick with the two people who have brought her into votes and made her feel like she's had a voice while the women have made her feel only like a number to them. 

As much as I want to shake Emily for trusting Drew/Austin, they seem to be putting in the work. 

[gesundheit]

11 hours ago, North of Eden said:

Kendra is just so gross...I didn't like her already but listening to her gush on about her S-Donor put me off. In my book anyway, your father is the man who put food in your mouth for 18 years, wiped your nose when you needed it, and kept a roof over your head.

1 hour ago, peachmangosteen said:

I feel like we're missing some vital info in the Kendra story about her dad. Like, why didn't he ever try to contact her? I don't know but that story was just off.

I had some discomfort around that as well -- it always bugs me when someone says "not my real dad" about the person who adopted and raised them. That's definitely her real dad! I'm glad she has a wonderful relationship with her bio-dad, but it's just a little uncomfortable. Of course we don't know what additional context they edited out, so my thinking "okay so he knew the whole time and obviously had no interest in partial custody or, worse, tried for it and was denied for a very good reason??" is based on the most meager of information. But I admit my immediate instinct is always to get my hackles up a little bit at "not my real dad/not actually my dad" language. But again, who knows. 

 

1 hour ago, seacliffsal said:

Oh, and I meant to add that many seemed concerned for Emily in the Rotu + 1 alliance and I think she is actually in a good position.  As they near the end one pair will target the other (Dee/Julie vs. Austin/Drew) and Emily could be the swing vote.  She may actually get further due to being the potential swing vote.  Or not.

I agree, I think she's probably doing the best thing possible for her game -- if her alliance of 5 does manage to vote out everyone else, then it's two pairs and a tie-breaker left. It's much more likely that the two pairs will then divide up somehow and try to keep Emily in their side of 3 for numbers.

 

[Carey]

17 minutes ago, rr2911 said:

Yeah, I hope we get to watch a great finale with jurors asking hardline questions instead of what we have gotten in the past few seasons.  In fact, I hope Jeff goes back to the format where each juror stands up and has to ask questions to each finalist.

First things first.  I can't wait to see Kellie on the jury.  I doubt she'll be as joyful as Kaleb.  Though Respectively, I don't know if she'll be as livid or uninterested as Candice or Ozzy the first time he hit the jury bench.

It's bad enough, IMO, that they no longer walk into Tribal Council.  The people in place before the active members arrive is unfortunate.

Having someone like Kellie sitting down in her spot to ask questions to the finalists just feels boring.  I do miss the old format where people would stand up to the finalists.  Kellie probably wouldn't ask a question; she'd probably speak her mind without giving anyone a chance to defend themselves.  OTOH, in the past some of the responses from the jurors have been pathetic to where I'm still okay with the current format

[SummerDreams]

1 hour ago, peachmangosteen said:

It just feels like this is an inevitable march to Drew/Austin in the F3 and I honestly don't know if I can watch that.

I think Austin has gotten more of the goofy - cool type of guy edit than a winner edit. I think the two idols he has will eventually turn against him. Lets remember that Emily doesn't know about the first idol. When she finds out, she will feel betrayed and do something about it. Emily is the key here I think, and I won't be surprised if she wins; I have noticed that every episode we get her take about the way the game is going, and not only when she and her tribe were going to the tribal council again and again. This episode we heard nearly nothing strategic from Julie, Dee, Austin, Kendra, Bruce. Katurah and Kellie wanted Bruce out, that's it. Only Drew and Emily seemed to talk about strategy.

[Wildcard]

29 minutes ago, gesundheit said:

I had some discomfort around that as well -- it always bugs me when someone says "not my real dad" about the person who adopted and raised them. That's definitely her real dad! I'm glad she has a wonderful relationship with her bio-dad, but it's just a little uncomfortable. Of course we don't know what additional context they edited out, so my thinking "okay so he knew the whole time and obviously had no interest in partial custody or, worse, tried for it and was denied for a very good reason??" is based on the most meager of information. But I admit my immediate instinct is always to get my hackles up a little bit at "not my real dad/not actually my dad" language. But again, who knows. 

 

I agree, I think she's probably doing the best thing possible for her game -- if her alliance of 5 does manage to vote out everyone else, then it's two pairs and a tie-breaker left. It's much more likely that the two pairs will then divide up somehow and try to keep Emily in their side of 3 for numbers.

 

Being adopted, that kinda bothered me also. I would hope there was some context left on the editing floor - but I was left thinking, so she doesn't care if here adopted father is proud of her?

[iMonrey]

14 hours ago, jsm1125 said:

What is it with Probst and his fixation on having people lose their votes? 

i don't know if it's just Probst, but it's one of the many ways the show keeps trying to pull the rug out from under the players. I don't know whether Bruce was prompted to bring it up at tribal council, or whether he's just an attention hog (I suspect the latter), but bragging about being the first person to win immunity and have no vote is no great achievement. It's only recently this "lose your vote" crap has become so rampant. It's not like it goes all the way back to Season 1. 

I'll give the show credit where it's due, though, because it's rare for editing to fool me. All the promos showed Jake scrambling to find a HII so we already knew he wasn't going to win the Immunity Challenge and was going to be in trouble. I would have put money down on him being voted out, and the brief snippet we got of Drew raising the suggestion of voting out Kellie seemed like an obvious misdirect, because it was too obvious Jake was going home. Color me shocked. Something the show hasn't managed to do in years.

I want to know how production hides all those money tubes while the players are at camp. You know the players wander around all the time looking for idols and advantages, and they can't do it at night, presumably. So they must have to round up the players and confine them to one spot while they go hide all the stuff.

Notice the minute the players see a boat headed their way they immediately assume it's bad. At least they understand what this "game" has turned into. Anything unexpected? Must be bad.

[sara416]

14 hours ago, hendersonrocks said:

 

And am I the only one worried Jake was having an actual seizure or stroke at tribal when he was struggling to find words, given his episodes shown in prior episodes?! Goodness.

Yes! I know dehydration and lack of food can mess with your head, but given his earlier problems I really thought something terrible was going to happen. Can medical step in even if people don't ask for it? I wondered that after the second time he passed out. It seems like they should, because something more serious might be happening than whatever he thinks it is. 

[gesundheit]

9 minutes ago, sara416 said:

Yes! I know dehydration and lack of food can mess with your head, but given his earlier problems I really thought something terrible was going to happen. Can medical step in even if people don't ask for it? I wondered that after the second time he passed out. It seems like they should, because something more serious might be happening than whatever he thinks it is. 

Still wondering/worrying if there's something bigger that just hasn't aired yet, which would explain why they focused on it earlier in the season

[SummerDreams]

6 hours ago, SummerDreams said:

Austin, Drew, Dee, Julie -> Reba

Katurah, Bruce, Kendra, Jake -> Belo

Emily -> Lulu

Sorry to quote my own post but looking at it I realize that if Belo could and would put away their diferences and work together they could do something better. Instead, Katurah hates Bruce, Kendra is in her own world, Kellie wants to get rid of her most loyal ally because she doesn't like him (Bruce), Jake does his thing playing the victim and Bruce can't have a strategy talk. They should have stuck together, even pulled Emily in and go far.

[jsm1125]

36 minutes ago, SummerDreams said:

Sorry to quote my own post but looking at it I realize that if Belo could and would put away their diferences and work together they could do something better. Instead, Katurah hates Bruce, Kendra is in her own world, Kellie wants to get rid of her most loyal ally because she doesn't like him (Bruce), Jake does his thing playing the victim and Bruce can't have a strategy talk. They should have stuck together, even pulled Emily in and go far.

No way Emily would have gone against Austin and Drew at this point in the game. 

[princelina]

8 hours ago, violet and green said:

Kellie banging on this episode about having to get Bruce out now was ridiculous when she was the one who scuppered the plan to get him out at the previous split tribal.

Haha and I said last week that I would laugh and laugh when she went before him!  We'll see how she looks next week - sometimes people who seem for sure like they will be bitter jurors are just surprised and then are fine.

6 hours ago, Brynnjk said:

I love Jake!  I was feeling sad that he was going to be leaving and then whoa!  What a fantastic blindside.  I started out neutral on Jake but he has grown on me every week.  He's such a fun character.  Great episode!

I thought he was weird and annoying at first, but now I find him to be very endearing.  I also feel like he should be called "bruce" - he just looks like a Bruce to me for some reason 😄

1 hour ago, sara416 said:

 Can medical step in even if people don't ask for it? 

I'm pretty sure they can if they think they need to

[willco]

15 hours ago, mertensia said:

Were these people not all barfing later? 

I wonder which was the best to eat not to feel sick later? The fish eyes? The PBJ? The pretzels?

Kellie was definitely blindsided.

I would think either the pretzels ( although they would make you thirsty ) or peanut butter. The fish eyes ?? Worse than no food !

[Arkay]

I think it is telling that Bruce did not offer his immunity necklace to Jake. The votes were in, so nobody would have voted for Bruce and he couldn’t keep the necklace once there’s a new immunity challenge. So he wouldn’t have jeopardized himself at all.

if I were Jake I would definitely be doubting my alliance now with Bruce.

[Nashville]

3 minutes ago, willco said:

The fish eyes ?? Worse than no food !

At least according to Austin they didn’t taste like chicken; he said “sashimi”. 
And I like sashimi - but I don’t think I want to find out how much the flavors resemble. 
All the vitreous humor dripping from Austin’s hand after that first bite was kinda off-putting anyway, to say the least.

[eel2178]

16 hours ago, Valerie said:

The auction was great. The money added a new twist, the advantages omission was an obvious adjustment.

The only thing I didn't think worked great was the "whoever has the most money loses their vote" thing because as soon as that happened, the bidding was forced. We knew who was going to get each item. I do think the idea of whoever has the most money left has a penalty is an interesting twist but I think it could be done better.

It took the auction part out of the auction. Whoever had the most money bought whatever item was up next for not much more rationale than getting rid of the money.

If they did have 2 more items up for auction and Bruce and Emily had used all their money too, would it have just nullified the lose your vote part of it? What if there had been even more items up, but nobody had any money left to buy them? If Jeff hadn't told them there were no advantages, would they have hoarded their money at the risk of losing their votes?

[Heathrowe]

It was a fun episode but I can’t say I like the forward momentum of it.

-Emily outed herself to the “women’s alliance” too soon. She’s my favorite, I hope she can make it onward but unless Dee & Mama J protect her in addition to Austin & Drew - I think she’s very vulnerable. Especially if she keeps sitting out challenges.

-Bruce. Ugh. I’m so mad that last week they didn’t even flush the idol that EVERYONE knows he has - and then winning immunity. Ugh. Call me Katurah but I want him gone ASAP.

-Jake…I hope he blames Bruce for not sharing his idol. If he wanted to take out Austin with rocks I don’t see him being allowed into that alliance, even if they saved his bacon this week.

-Dee/Mama J I think they are still moving as two TOO much. As a 50 something lady, I was really hoping for Mama holding on to that rope. That said, I still don’t know her real name! Were Dee & Mama J in on the Kellie blindside? I saw Drew float it but did they agree to split the votes?

-Drew/Austin also playing in tandem too much but I guess it’s working.

-Katurah’s a bit of a lone wolf. I like her! She  loathes Bruce and so do I! Plus I think she’s kind of funny. I truly, truly hope she is able to stay in the game longer than Bruce.

Oh also - yes to worrying about Jake’s health and I will ratchet it up a notch and say that making him eat the chocolate cake with his hands as a timer ran out made me VERY uncomfortable since he has discussed having disordered eating in his past. I don’t know, it just seemed kind of cruel and out of touch. Maybe I’m projecting but that is probably the kind of behavior he has worked hard to stop. I’m still thinking about it.

 

Edited November 16, 2023 by Heathrowe

[Cotypubby]

45 minutes ago, Arkay said:

I think it is telling that Bruce did not offer his immunity necklace to Jake. The votes were in, so nobody would have voted for Bruce and he couldn’t keep the necklace once there’s a new immunity challenge. So he wouldn’t have jeopardized himself at all.

if I were Jake I would definitely be doubting my alliance now with Bruce.

I don't think you can do that after the votes have been cast. Otherwise everyone who wins Immunity would do that at every Tribal to guarantee two people are safe.

[KeithJ]

47 minutes ago, Arkay said:

I think it is telling that Bruce did not offer his immunity necklace to Jake. The votes were in, so nobody would have voted for Bruce and he couldn’t keep the necklace once there’s a new immunity challenge. So he wouldn’t have jeopardized himself at all.

You can't do that after the votes are cast for exactly the reason you mention.

[Nashville]

1. Bruce certainly knows how to throw a hand grenade in a nest of mixed metaphors, doesn’t he?  Which one was Bruce really trying to get at?  “Quit beating a dead horse”?  “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink“?  Inquiring minds want to know.
2. The moment Jake gets off the island, he needs to book an appointment for a cardiac stress test ASAFP. IANAD, but between the dizzy spells and the aphasia…?  Something ain’t circulating right in that boy.

[HurricaneVal]

Finally an update, or twist, I can get behind!

The reimagining of the classic Survivor auction mostly worked.  I'm not sure the current set of castaways really remembers the classic auctions.  Yes, there was some mention of bat soup from someone, but I saw a lot of blankly eager faces saying "obviously this is a big deal, so I'm going to be enthusiastic, it is my job" rather than true starry eyed eagerness.

For instance, there were only puzzled looks when Jeff said there were no advantages in the auction.  Not one single person asked about letters from home.  Pooling money never occurred to anyone, though Jeff might have had a rule that I missed. 

I think everyone assumed the auction was only going to be food.  However, I also think that was a good thing--non-food or non-luxury items broke the classic auctions.  Later in the glory years, even the hungriest castaways held onto their money, in anticipation of an advantage or contact from home.  Which made for some lackluster bidding.

Jeff was extra mean last night, eh?  First of all making everyone who got something at the auction abandon their plates when the auction abruptly ended.  Only the chocolate cake people got a deadline.  I don't recall Jeff saying at the outset that when the auction was over, they had to leave everything behind.  I'm not sure Kellie even had a bite of sandwich ... she was sipping the margarita and nibbling on chips.  I wonder if they thought they could bring stuff back to camp with them?  Emily might have been thinking she could have the salami for a couple of days, maybe even doling it out for favors.  That was a lot of charcuterie for one person!

Then Jeff stabbed the rice!  Which was awesome, and moved the game right along!  Makes me wonder if the negotiations and discussions in prior seasons might have gone on a little too long for his tastes ...

Man, as a prior poster first stated, I wonder if Bruce thinks he has this thing locked up?  Has production been stroking his ego a bit?  Offering snacks on the sly?  Or does he just have a hyperextended need to project a certain dignity of self?  Leisurely donning his shoes, and tying laces with such excruciating slowness was painful to watch.  At first I thought it might be strategy, waiting to see what the first person brought back so he knew what to look for.  Nope.  He just doesn't have a grasp of the game.  Then when offered an opportunity at a third of a luscious chocolate cake, he just tentatively fingers through it, taking tiny bites?  

I think he's trying to build an image and work on a post-Survivor endgame to keep him pulling in appearance fees for years to come.  I think he got a taste of that when everyone was so sympathetic when he went out on a medical pullout after one day.  The sad thing is, if he stayed pat with that, he might have had that popular Survivor endgame.  Now he's just going to be that annoying slow guy everyone hated so was drug to the end as a sacrificial goat.  No appearance fees for you!

[ljenkins782]

9 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

Well, that was certainly a blindside. Reba+ Emily decided to take Kellie out, I guess. Not a terrible decision, given how rocky Jake's game has been, but damn, did they maybe burn a vote already from the blindside. As much as Kellie tried to be a good sport ("good move, I guess"), you can tell she's EXTREMELY pissed off. She did not look happy at Emily when she confessed to voting her out, but I wonder if Kellie assumes that Emily led that vote against her. That could be very bad for her or very good, depending on Kellie's mindset at the end of the game AND if Emily makes it to F3.

When the 4th vote was read, Kellie turned to Austin first and said "did you do this" and he (kinda savagely, IMO) nodded his head. So I'm not sure she's blaming/crediting Emily wholly with this move. 

Quote

 

Jake's grown on me. He may not be a good player, but I appreciate his reasoning for making the moves he has. Saying he made a mistake with voting for Julie with the hindsight of Kaleb still going, but also recognizing that he doesn't want to follow the herd of votes because that's boring is great insight from him. 

I did like his gameplay as well on pretending to slip up about an idol to cause a little bit of panic. I think, whether or not Reba 4 + Emily were flipping already, it was a good way to sew some doubt. And I love that Jake decided to blatantly idol hunt. Some great material from Jake this week, even if it wasn't all good for him in the game. He did point out to the other bottom players that they're gonna be next after him. I hope it put things into perspective, especially since he's still there.

 

I was with the group who thought he might be having another medical episode when he kept losing his train of thought, but that might have just been a setup for when he pretended to slip up about an idol. 

He certainly played what seemed like his last moments to the hilt, so I guess he was not aware that there was any other target. His Family Guy-esque "WHOA" followed by a muttered "sorry, but woah" cracked me up. He is entertaining, at the very least. 

I loved the auction twist of running through the jungle to find money, that was a rare fun update to an old standard. The other twist of whoever has the most money loses their vote felt a bit pointless, unless the show budget is now so tight that they can't stand the idea of cast members taking their $150 leftover cash home with them, LOL. 

And only ONE dog item in the bunch?? Come on, show. Bruce had perhaps the luckiest day out there since Kaleb nullified 11 votes. He found the least money, didn't get to buy a single thing, but got 1/3 of a chocolate cake anyway, wound up with the most money and lost his vote, but then won immunity so it didn't matter. And he probably got to pocket that $80, to boot.

I'm ready for Kendra and her buggy eyes to go. She seems to be on the very fringes, often on the wrong side of the vote, and just generally irks me.

[peachmangosteen]

7 hours ago, gesundheit said:

I had some discomfort around that as well -- it always bugs me when someone says "not my real dad" about the person who adopted and raised them. That's definitely her real dad! I'm glad she has a wonderful relationship with her bio-dad, but it's just a little uncomfortable. Of course we don't know what additional context they edited out, so my thinking "okay so he knew the whole time and obviously had no interest in partial custody or, worse, tried for it and was denied for a very good reason??" is based on the most meager of information. But I admit my immediate instinct is always to get my hackles up a little bit at "not my real dad/not actually my dad" language. But again, who knows. 

 

6 hours ago, Wildcard said:

Being adopted, that kinda bothered me also. I would hope there was some context left on the editing floor - but I was left thinking, so she doesn't care if here adopted father is proud of her?

Yea, the story was just off to me. I hope it's just because we don't have all the info.

2 hours ago, Heathrowe said:

Were Dee & Mama J in on the Kellie blindside? I saw Drew float it but did they agree to split the votes?

I believe the only people that voted for Jake were the old Belo woman, Kendra/Katurah/Kellie. And Mama J's name is Julie.

[Angeltoes]

8 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

Many years have passed and not a word from the daughter to all our grief.

Has anybody done DNA?  There are Facebook pages dedicated to people doing this with amazing results.  It happened in our family.  My brother's son had been placed for adoption.  We found him when our sister did her DNA.

Edited November 16, 2023 by Angeltoes

[JudyObscure]

16 minutes ago, Angeltoes said:

Has anybody done DNA?  There are Facebook pages dedicated to people doing this with amazing results.  It happened in our family.  My brother's son had been placed for adoption.  We found him when our sister did her DNA.

No I don't think anyone has, but I sure wish someone would.  So happy for your family and your nephew!

[BigRedCheese]

Quote

Byron Allen one of the co-hosts of REAL PEOPLE 40 years ago?! So producing is where he's been this whole time.

He's a big time mogul now, he owns the Weather Channel! Not sure if he's a billionaire yet, but he must be close. He did an interview on Marc Maron's podcast, and he said in the early 90's, he produced his own syndicated show, and went out and sold it himself, and found he had a knack for business. I don't know about Sarah Purcell, but I remember hearing that Skip Stephenson passed away some years ago.

[Guiaoshi]

22 hours ago, jsm1125 said:

What is it with Probst and his fixation on having people lose their votes? 

I wish we heard more from Dee and Julie this episode, especially when it comes to their thoughts on the women’s alliance vs. their ties to Austin and Drew. We only got Emily’s perspective on that end.

Poor Katurah: She hasn’t been eligible to vote out Bruce once this entire season. 

Agree about the losing vote thing. About not hear more from Dee and Julie its because they only have one mindset in the game: vote against whoever vote or call them unless Austin and Drew convince them to go other way. Right now, Austin, Drew and Emily are the brains of the game. Lets see If they will move together ALL the way till the end or one of them will turn against a possible strong player to fight against on a final tribal (my bet is Emilly figuring it out later on)

[KaveDweller]

13 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

I feel like we're missing some vital info in the Kendra story about her dad. Like, why didn't he ever try to contact her? I don't know but that story was just off.

Something did feel off, like she never knew he existed, but her aunt had his contact info? I am guessing she didn't want to get into all the dirty details on national TV. Or that it was badly edited and she talked about loving her adopted dad too.

11 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

As much as I want to shake Emily for trusting Drew/Austin, they seem to be putting in the work. 

They do, they are doing a really good job because Emily thinks she is sold with them and Dee and Julie think they are a solid 4. The question is, if they all make it to final 5, will Drew and Austin really stick with Dee/Julie? Drew seemed to be saying that this episode, but he and Austin could decide they have a better shot with Emily at the end and use her to get rid of Dee/Julie?

With Austin's two idols, and all these alliances and sub-alliances, he seems in the best spot right now.

[Grizzly]

I laughed when Jake handed in his SITD and asked if Kaleb could blow on it or something.

[Guiaoshi]

7 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

Something did feel off, like she never knew he existed, but her aunt had his contact info? I am guessing she didn't want to get into all the dirty details on national TV. Or that it was badly edited and she talked about loving her adopted dad too.

They do, they are doing a really good job because Emily thinks she is sold with them and Dee and Julie think they are a solid 4. The question is, if they all make it to final 5, will Drew and Austin really stick with Dee/Julie? Drew seemed to be saying that this episode, but he and Austin could decide they have a better shot with Emily at the end and use her to get rid of Dee/Julie?

With Austin's two idols, and all these alliances and sub-alliances, he seems in the best spot right now.

I still wonder: If Austin and Drew makes into the final 3 together with Emily If they might cancel each other plus gather more bitter votes from the jury. At least Emily is not making as many enimies since her game play is about survive as a outsider/adapt. A easy ride into the final 3 against someone that was target number 1 day 3 can be risky. Specially If that person present a good speech at the final tribal. If they get rid of Dee and Julie and keep Emily thinking shes weaker, it could be a fatal mistake. 

Edited November 17, 2023 by Guiaoshi

[watch2much]

anyone who ever watched a Survivor auction knows you should bet on the first item because as far as I remember, it's always been something good.

[SVNBob]

Another non-clue clue in the opening this week: the auction gavel hitting the block.

 

On 11/15/2023 at 8:40 PM, LadyChatts said:

I haven't been a big fan of Jake, but I thought he played a good game tonight.  For a minute there at TC, when he was having trouble finding the words, I thought he was going to make Probst quit the game by standing up and saying he was done, and the third quit of S45. 

Peachy said at the end of last week's episode of the podcast that there are no more quitters this season.  However, he didn't say anything about medevacs, so....

 

On 11/15/2023 at 8:48 PM, hendersonrocks said:

And am I the only one worried Jake was having an actual seizure or stroke at tribal when he was struggling to find words, given his episodes shown in prior episodes?! Goodness.

 

17 hours ago, ljenkins782 said:

I was with the group who thought he might be having another medical episode when he kept losing his train of thought, but that might have just been a setup for when he pretended to slip up about an idol.

On the one hand, it's been repeatedly said that the lack of food on Survivor does lead to slower thinking.  There've been other people at TCs past  that have had difficulty answering Peachy's questions, simply because it was hard for them to think without having eaten in a while.

On the other hand, there is speculation that Jake was acting the whole time as the set-up for his "slip of the tongue" (which I think we can all agree that that part was deliberate, and a decent ploy).  If it was acting from the beginning, Jake deserves an award for that one.

But taking into account Jake's two prior fainting spells/seizures... yeah, it's too close to call.  Could be any of the three; normal Survivor brain-fog, another medical moment for Jake, or some Emmy-worthy acting.

On 11/16/2023 at 8:23 AM, peachmangosteen said:

I truly can not stand Austin. And now he has what like 10 idols and 5 other advantages. Fuck me lol.

Just the 2 idols: The Amulet, which is good until F6, and Reba's Beware Idol that he fully empowered to be valid until F5.

Bruce has the only other advantage in the game now; a "normal" idol also good until F5.

Drew's Safety Without Power was only good through F10, IE this TC.  So it has now expired.  (I was afraid that he was going to slip it to Jake to use to take Jake off the table for this vote.)

23 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I want to know how production hides all those money tubes while the players are at camp. You know the players wander around all the time looking for idols and advantages, and they can't do it at night, presumably. So they must have to round up the players and confine them to one spot while they go hide all the stuff.

 

Notice the minute the players see a boat headed their way they immediately assume it's bad. At least they understand what this "game" has turned into. Anything unexpected? Must be bad.

I think these two were related.  As in, I think the reason they sent the collection table by boat was to get all of the players on to the beach, so that other members of the crew could plant the money tubes while the cast was distracted with something unusual happening.

20 hours ago, Arkay said:

I think it is telling that Bruce did not offer his immunity necklace to Jake. The votes were in, so nobody would have voted for Bruce and he couldn’t keep the necklace once there’s a new immunity challenge. So he wouldn’t have jeopardized himself at all.

if I were Jake I would definitely be doubting my alliance now with Bruce.

As has been said, you can't give away the necklace after the votes are cast.  The only time Bruce could have given the necklace to Jake would have been before anyone had voted.  But that would have been Survivor suicide.

What's actually telling is that Bruce didn't play his idol for Jake.  That he could have done, and it was fairly clear that Jake was in trouble.  But Bruce kept it.  Jake now knows where he really stands with Bruce.

20 hours ago, eel2178 said:

If they did have 2 more items up for auction and Bruce and Emily had used all their money too, would it have just nullified the lose your vote part of it? What if there had been even more items up, but nobody had any money left to buy them? If Jeff hadn't told them there were no advantages, would they have hoarded their money at the risk of losing their votes?

These are good questions.  I also thought of those possibilities.  And hoarding the money for advantages is what broke the auction in the first place, so it was smart that they took that off the table from the start.

However, the real big question is, did Peachy really draw that 10 from the bag?  He drew something from the bag, then took it down below the edge of the auction block to look at it.  But that move could also have easily covered a switch.

Given there were 10 of them, 10 would have been a good number to force.  Someone was likely to hedge a bid at some point (Emily, Austin's bid on the eyes) and have some money left over, which would guarantee the consequence happening.

 

[iMonrey]

4 minutes ago, SVNBob said:

I think these two were related.  As in, I think the reason they sent the collection table by boat was to get all of the players on to the beach, so that other members of the crew could plant the money tubes while the cast was distracted with something unusual happening.

Possibly, but I think it would take a lot longer to hide all those tubes than it took for a couple of guys to pull up in a boat and set up a table with some baskets. I accept there are behind-the-scenes stuff we don't get to see and this was probably one of them. I think the players were told to stay in one spot while production people ran into the woods and planted all the money tubes.

[dsteele]

An entire episode without a puzzle or obstacle course? See, Probst? Survivor can still be interesting without the cliche challenges of the “new era”.

[meep.meep]

I'm just happy that there's no whispering conferences at Tribal this season.

[Tango64]

I liked how as Bruce was getting ready to slowly go look for the money, he was wearing a nicely pressed, clean, collared shirt and putting on pure white sneakers that looked like they just came out of the box.

[weaver]

I loved this weeks episode.  I thought I would miss Kaleb more, but I didn't.   The show kept moving along and the variety of the auction was fun.   I was shocked when Bruce won the immunity challenge; I was picking Austin.  

Who masterminded the selection of Kellie out of all the women to be ousted?  Was it Drew or Austin.   I guess I didn't keep  that straight.  Does everyone know that her ousting gives Austin's amulet more power?

 

 

 

[peachmangosteen]

1 minute ago, weaver said:

Was it Drew or Austin.   I guess I didn't keep  that straight.  Does everyone know that her ousting gives Austin's amulet more power?

Drew. I don't think we know for sure if anyone else knows about the amulet.

[weaver]

24 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

Drew. I don't think we know for sure if anyone else knows about the amulet.

Thanks.  Drew's a good player who doesn't get that much screen time.  

[Nashville]

1 hour ago, peachmangosteen said:

Drew. I don't think we know for sure if anyone else knows about the amulet.

Right; the only other player than Drew who even knew of the amulet’s existence just walked down the Path of Shame - and (according to Austin, anyway) it may be questionable how much Drew remembers of the idol’s operational conditions.

[peachmangosteen]

I forgot Austin told Drew. I assume he realized it's now a full idol then.

6 hours ago, weaver said:

Drew's a good player who doesn't get that much screen time.  

I feel like he gets tons of screentime. ETA: Drew has the second most confessionals so far out of the remaining players.

[jsm1125]

I think Austin also told Emily about the amulet. I remember her telling him “oh, I’ve seen this before” when he showed her the note, presumably referring to season 42 (when Drea, Hai and Lindsay found it during the very first reward challenge).

[threebluestars]

On 11/15/2023 at 8:48 PM, MerBearHou said:

1000% I was worried Jake was having a pre-seizure brain freeze moment.  I watched him with my breath held.  

I am hoping that medical has evaluated him after each incident he's had, because it's getting worrisome. At this point I would not be shocked if he reveals he's been diagnosed with some chronic health condition at the reunion or something.

[Diana Berry]

I was really worried about Jake losing his words at TC.  Thought he was having a medical issue or dehydration. I was expecting Jeff to ask if he was ok

Kellie seemed to calm down when walking away and at the ending credits. But when she’s sitting there second person out she may be a bitter juror.

I’m still calling Austin and Dee and their beautiful teeth as a cute couple. 

[weaver]

13 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

I forgot Austin told Drew. I assume he realized it's now a full idol then.

I feel like he gets tons of screentime. ETA: Drew has the second most confessionals so far out of the remaining players.

I'm sure you are correct.   He's not an engaging character so maybe I forget about him.  

[Shermie]

I’m thinking Emily wins this thing, given the edit she’s been given. Which would make me happy.

[PaperTree]

2 hours ago, Shermie said:

I’m thinking Emily wins this thing, given the edit she’s been given. Which would make me happy.

Me too!  Mr. 27 Advantages is getting a good edit too. I just don't feel the Austin love.  Too much smarmy smugness.

Is Bruce getting the goat edit, or does he somehow win?

[SVNBob]

10 hours ago, Shermie said:

I’m thinking Emily wins this thing, given the edit she’s been given. Which would make me happy.

She did have the quote in a TH in the first episode saying that she'd either be the first out or the winner.  (I remember this because I quipped at the time that I then wanted her to be the last out before the jury, as that would probably hurt the most.)  And since she wasn't the first out....

Edited November 20, 2023 by SVNBob

[Shermie]

Maybe it’s an Emily/Bruce final two. I don’t watch much anymore - is it final two or final three now? He seems to be getting a lot of screen time and a lot of commentary about him from others.

Emily vs Bruce, I can see why she wins because she played herself to the end. Bruce just seemed to annoy many of them.