S45.E09: Sword of Damocles

[Whimsy]

Quote

In order to win immunity, castaways compete in a three-part challenge. Then, some castaways take a journey and face another difficult decision

Original airdate 11/22/23

[mojoween]

I started a drinking game retroactive to before Sifu was voted out - every time someone says someone else is a wild card, I take a drink.

I can’t feel my feet.

Edited November 24, 2023 by mojoween

[LadyChatts]

I think I'm in a party of 1 but I liked Kendra.  I wish she had a chance to get suspicious at TC earlier, because maybe she could have gotten Austin's lie outed.  Not that it would have mattered.

I'm glad Emily isn't as dumb as I thought she was by going with Drew/Austin.  She might have been willing to make a move tonight if not for losing her vote (because of course at a pivotal moment we have to make sure that the Reba 4 stay safe).  I'd like to think maybe Julie is waking up that she's not valued as a member of Reba since her idea to get rid of Jake was overruled by Queen Dee, but I doubt it.

I was rooting for Dee and Katurah but not so much after tonight.  Dee is too cocky, but I'll give her credit for playing a decent game.  She seems to have the other Rebas wrapped around her finger.  As for Katurah, I can't root for anyone that is willing to squeal to an alliance and know they are playing for fifth.  And she may not even realize she won't get that with them!

Bruce took what the others told him Kellie said about him way too personally.  And for all he knew they were lying.

I like that Jake recognizes his faults in the game and is willing to adapt, even if I don't think he's being taken seriously by anyone.  But at least he's willing to admit when he's wrong and try to change his gameplay.

Also, can we please stop with taking people's votes away and splitting everyone up?  Can we just have an old fashioned immunity challenge where one person wins, everyone votes?

Edited November 23, 2023 by LadyChatts

[BigRedCheese]

Quote

 

I think I'm in a party of 1 but I liked Kendra.

I like her too, she seems like a sweetheart, I hope she gets another chance to play.

[North of Eden]

I'll be honest-the "core four" is really starting to torpedo the entertainment quotient of this season. It's not really fun watching a handful of people who are never in danger and loaded up with idols and advantages control everything...it just isn't.

Redemption could be in the air if Katura, Emily, Jake, and Bruce buy a  clue and realize it's time to put the quartet out of business before it's too late and it almost is.

Ah yeah, Kellie takes the crown for the sourest juror....ever. I guess she's going to bitch face her way all the way to the finale and it was ridiculous blaming Bruce for her sitting there when he was one of the few people that didn't vote for her.

I'm increasingly worried about Emily's gameplay reverting to bad. It seemed risky to float Dee's name to Drew....very risky. And it really hit home to me tonight how she's truly out there with no one having her back. Not a good position.

Okay, to wrap up...every year on Thanksgiving I feel compelled to mention the now classic CBS promo from the early days  when it was still on Thursday...."As you sit down to Thanksgiving dinner see what the castaways are  having!" Cut to the gross food competition taking place in that episode.  How I miss thee gross food comp...I want to see that over a damn puzzle, dig-in-the-dirt challenge any day.

[dancingdreamer]

WTG Bruce, I'm so glad he won immunity, I'm still not seeing what's so bad about him.

I've never liked Kendra, I think she's a phony, playing to the cameras.

Skinny Drew said Bruce was holding  onto his idol, greedily. Huh? Jealous  much? Eating most of rice, oink! 

I don't  mind Jake or Emily. Austin's in love with Dee, I'm not that keen on her either. Break those two up.
 

[choclatechip45]

Very happy Kendra was voted out!

[iMonrey]

I didn't mind the three group immunity challenge, it all amounts to the same thing. But three people losing their votes when there are only nine left is utterly stupid. There's no way I could have solved that math problem in three minutes. I could have done it eventually but it probably would have taken me a couple of hours.

39 minutes ago, North of Eden said:

I'll be honest-the "core four" is really starting to torpedo the entertainment quotient of this season. It's not really fun watching a handful of people who are never in danger and loaded up with idols and advantages control everything...it just isn't.

Agree. We also don't know how they managed to convince Bruce to vote off Kendra either.

40 minutes ago, North of Eden said:

I'm increasingly worried about Emily's gameplay reverting to bad. It seemed risky to float Dee's name to Drew....very risky. And it really hit home to me tonight how she's truly out there with no one having her back. Not a good position.

From where I'm sitting she's sitting pretty right now. Nobody is talking about voting her off, everyone thinks she's a number for them. She has a shot a making the final three . . . but probably as a goat. I don't see her getting any votes if she makes it there.

[RockShrimp]

When Bruce was like: I treated kellie how I treat my daughter I was like: THAT’S THE PROBLEM. SHE IS NOT YOUR KID SHE WAS A TEAMMATE/COMPETITOR  

bruce making fun of Jeff having another love affair with an smug nerdy white guy was probably my favorite part of the episode tho  

 

 

 

 

[Jodithgrace]

I can feel Emily’s pain. I was a bookkeeper for 30 years, but can’t do math in my head to save my life. I always joke that I will only do math if they pay me. 
I’m sorry to see goofy Kendra go. And somehow Jake survives again. 
It’s amazing how Bruce dominates those endurance challenges. He and Julie are incredible. 

[PaperTree]

1 hour ago, North of Eden said:

Ah yeah, Kellie takes the crown for the sourest juror....ever. I guess she's going to bitch face her way all the way to the finale and it was ridiculous blaming Bruce for her sitting there when he was one of the few people that didn't vote for her.

Those dirty looks of hers really made me laugh.

[TVFan1]

Bruce didn't annoy me this episode. He's the target as soon as he doesn't have immunity. Luckily, for him, he still has his idol. That's 2 immunity wins in a row. I was actually rooting for him to win.

The Reba 4 steamrolling everybody through the game is boring. I hope Katurah, Bruce, Emily, and Jake make a move to take at least one of them out. I say go for Drew or Austin, the two I can't stand the most.

The losing your vote is not interesting. Let the players keep their vote for a change. Enough with this nonsense.

[PaperTree]

I assume Jeffy read all 7 votes so they'll know somebody on that journey was lying.

[Chicago Redshirt]

2 hours ago, North of Eden said:

Ah yeah, Kellie takes the crown for the sourest juror....ever. I guess she's going to bitch face her way all the way to the finale and it was ridiculous blaming Bruce for her sitting there when he was one of the few people that didn't vote for her.

In Kellie's defense, what she said was his winning immunity is  the reason why she is a juror. And that's seemingly true. If there had been the option to vote Bruce out last time around, pretty much everyone but Bruce would have voted for him. She had a sour tone about it, but facts are facts.

2 hours ago, dancingdreamer said:

WTG Bruce, I'm so glad he won immunity, I'm still not seeing what's so bad about him.

Let's see...he's a condescending, patronizing mansplainer who has been acting as though the 12ish hours of playing Survivor more than the other contestants makes him more skilled and more worthy than them and a celebrity in his own mind. He tries to browbeat people about everything in a game where being too bossy is typically the kiss of death. He doesn't seem to have cultivated a single actual ally, and has had little awareness of how the game is progressing around him. Other than winning these two immunities, he seemingly has done nothing to make him worthy of being the Sole Survivor. 

But other than THAT, how did you enjoy the play, Mrs. Lincoln?

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

I didn't mind the three group immunity challenge, it all amounts to the same thing. But three people losing their votes when there are only nine left is utterly stupid. There's no way I could have solved that math problem in three minutes. I could have done it eventually but it probably would have taken me a couple of hours.

I don't claim to think that I would have gotten it in 3 minutes, especially under the same conditions of the Survivors.

But hours seems a little much, given the parameters

It's the numbers 9-1 in sequential descending order and exactly 3 pluses and a single minus must be added. In less than an hour and probably less than 30 minutes, you should be able to come up with most of the relevant permutations of that. For instance,  it seems unlikely that you can go more than two digits without a symbol since it seems like that would either put you way over or way under 100. Starting off 987 means you will never get back down to near 100 with only one minus symbol in the equation 987-654+3+2+1, for instance. And even +321 means that you're not likely to get in the vicinity of 100 with just one minus sign. 9+8+7-654+321 is going to be a negative number.

Once you figure out that you can't go more than two digits without an operation, you should quickly figure out  it can't be 98+X because pretty much anywhere you put the two additional plus signs will not make it work.98+76 is obviously going to be too big a starting point to get to exactly 100 with two more additions to put in the mix. 98+7-65+43+21

Once you realize it starts off 98- and you can't go more than 2 digits without a new sign, it's not that tough. 98-76=22, 22+54=76+3+21=100. 98-76+5+43+21 doesn't get you there (91), nor does 98-76+54+32+1 (109).

48 minutes ago, PaperTree said:

I assume Jeffy read all 7 votes so they'll know somebody on that journey was lying.

I assume the opposite and he only read what was shown. A savvy player might realize that by saying "That's four, that's enough" means that there might be/are additional votes. I do not know if it is customary for him to read off every vote beyond what is necessary to vote someone off.

Edited November 23, 2023 by Chicago Redshirt

[Skooma]

2 hours ago, North of Eden said:

Ah yeah, Kellie takes the crown for the sourest juror....ever.

Or at least in recent years.  Let us see if she reaches Sue level from Season 1 during the jury questions.  But yeah it was so weird to see any juror that bitter.

"If this was that and that was this, I'd still be here," could be said by everybody ever voted out of Survivor.  Get over it.

1 hour ago, PaperTree said:

I assume Jeffy read all 7 votes so they'll know somebody on that journey was lying.

Why?  Nothing in the rules to say he has too.  No way he reads them all off camera.  If someone has enough votes to be voted off that is it.  Let the remaining Survivors go all paranoid trying to figure things out after Tribal Council. That is what you want on the show.

[AntFTW]

I've never related Emily this whole season until she said she wasn't great at "mental math." I felt that in my soul! 😭

Growing up, I was great at math but not mental math. If I had to just rely on doing a problem in my head, I may get to the right answer but not quickly; it'll take a little time. I work in finance as well, and people really do expect you to compute numbers in your head on the spot just because you work in finance.

Edited November 25, 2023 by AntFTW

[Skooma]

Forgot to mention I'm really glad Jake survived.  And that Bruce is still the Road Runner driving Katurah's Wiley Coyote nuts.

[LadyChatts]

3 hours ago, North of Eden said:

I'll be honest-the "core four" is really starting to torpedo the entertainment quotient of this season. It's not really fun watching a handful of people who are never in danger and loaded up with idols and advantages control everything...it just isn't.

I'm increasingly worried about Emily's gameplay reverting to bad. It seemed risky to float Dee's name to Drew....very risky. And it really hit home to me tonight how she's truly out there with no one having her back. Not a good position.

 

I did get Emily's reasoning though, she did that to get a reaction from Austin and Drew.  She's realizing, and maybe has all along, that they have a Reba alliance of 4 and she's not in it.  Now what might hurt her the most is if Austin or Drew tells Dee that her name was being thrown out by Emily, because we see that Dee doesn't handle that well.  Enough people keep throwing Dee's name out Bruce may not have to worry about playing his idol or winning immunity, he may just stick around by not uttering Dee's name.

The sad part about Emily is, she may have waited too long to be able to make a move, but the other issue is the game dynamics seem to be against her.  Perhaps my biggest issue with the challenge tonight is that it is game interference.  You gave the Reba 4 all the power.  There are nine people out there, and yet what should have been the minority number had the majority.  And they had that because there was yet another twist of Austin winning his vote back while the other two girls couldn't.  Yes, I get he won it fair and square and they had the same opportunity.  But it just seems like too much meddling in the game.  Kendra really had no chance.  I'm not sure Emily could have gotten the numbers to do a Reba blindside anyway, not with Katurah and maybe Jake.  But she didn't even have a chance.  

Quote

Why?  Nothing in the rules to say he has too.  No way he reads them all off camera.  If someone has enough votes to be voted off that is it.  Let the remaining Survivors go all paranoid trying to figure things out after Tribal Council. That is what you want on the show.

I don't think Jeff would do it because reading all the votes would expose that Austin lied, which was a game decision by him to do so, and which could end up putting a target on his back.  So I won't say the show doesn't like to meddle in the game, but in this case it could impact Austin with the 4 members not in his alliance. 

I do want to add that I love that we aren't getting the lovey TC vote offs this season.  I like that people are being raw and letting the emotions get to them.  Kendra was no Kellie but she was at least dead silent and just grabbed her torch without showing a reaction or acknowledging anyone really.

Edited November 23, 2023 by LadyChatts

[Lantern7]

I'm ready for the season to end. I can't follow the alliances, and I'm not really caring either way. Probst adding new twists to the game does not help. Neither does a cast where there's no standout like Carolyn. Actually, no. There's Bruce.

47 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Let's see...he's a condescending, patronizing mansplainer who has been acting as though the 12ish hours of playing Survivor more than the other contestants makes him more skilled and more worthy than them and a celebrity in his own mind. He tries to browbeat people about everything in a game where being too bossy is typically the kiss of death. He doesn't seem to have cultivated a single actual ally, and has had little awareness of how the game is progressing around him. Other than winning these two immunities, he seemingly has done nothing to make him worthy of being the Sole Survivor.

I just think "blowhard." He's a guy that is his own hype man. I can't blame Katurah for stewing and making voodoo dolls of hm. Also, I'm still thinking Probst would spin a win by Bruce as one of the greatest comebacks in Survivor history. If Bruce didn't at least resemble an alpha male type that Probst loves, I don't think he would've gotten a second chance to play the game, especially after he got taken off in the first episode. And you know Probst is probably butthurt that two would-be sacrificial goats like Gabler and Yam Yam wound up winning his game.

I have a math degree, and the puzzle probably would have killed me. Did they say how much time the players had to work with?

1 hour ago, PaperTree said:

I assume Jeffy read all 7 votes so they'll know somebody on that journey was lying.

He only reads the votes necessary for a decision. Austin's lie was not in danger of being exposed unless there was a deadlock after six votes and Probst read the seventh and final vote. Then everyone would have known that seven votes were cast.

How about Austin? I've lost track on how many advantages he has. It's perverse that he was the only one of the three players to win his vote back. I need to see an idol flushed out. That's part of why I wanted Bruce to lose immunity. Also, because I do not care for him.

[dancingdreamer]

Quote

Let's see...he's a condescending, patronizing mansplainer who has been acting as though the 12ish hours of playing Survivor more than the other contestants makes him more skilled and more worthy than them and a celebrity in his own mind. He tries to browbeat people about everything in a game where being too bossy is typically the kiss of death. He doesn't seem to have cultivated a single actual ally, and has had little awareness of how the game is progressing around him. Other than winning these two immunities, he seemingly has done nothing to make him worthy of being the Sole Survivor. 

Hmm, not lately.  I'd love him to win now! 

[JH Lipton]

 

3 hours ago, RockShrimp said:

When Bruce was like: I treated kellie how I treat my daughter I was like: THAT’S THE PROBLEM. SHE IS NOT YOUR KID SHE WAS A TEAMMATE/COMPETITOR

If you have to ask if you're being overbearing with your wife and daughter, odds are very high that you are.  And no way you would tell someone that.

2 hours ago, Jodithgrace said:

It’s amazing how Bruce dominates those endurance challenges. He and Julie are incredible. 

Yeah, "amazing".  I'm absolutely s8ure that Probst gad nothing to do with it.  (I don't think that he was quite as stretched as the other two. How would they even measure that?

 

[HurricaneVal]

Yup.  My major was Physics and Math, and I've worked in engineering for over thirty years, and I have never been good at arithmetic.  It wasn't until algebra, and solving for x that made math a game and mystery to solve that I started getting really good.

However, I still need to count on my fingers to add my Yahtzee score.

Enough with the losing vote thing.  I'm OK with advantages--in moderation--but disadvantages without an actual offsetting reward are not fair game play from production.  Though the fast moves that forced Austin into tonight were amusing, but ultimately risky for his game.  He might have been better off refusing to vote.  Can you do that?

Bitter Kellie is giving me life.  Keep it up, girlfriend!  Keep drinking the margaritas at Ponderosa, stay hungover and cranky.  I'm aching for bitter jury speeches and letting the rats and snakes come out to play.

[Fake Jan Brady]

3 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I don't claim to think that I would have gotten it in 3 minutes, especially under the same conditions of the Survivors.

But hours seems a little much, given the parameters.

I'd still be on the island.

[violet and green]

Bruce having a little epiphany that some work and self-reflection may need to be done was nice. I fell for the photo of dear little boy him with his toothy smile. Quite glad he won immunity again. It's also nice to watch Katurah boil silently every time he does and every time he spoke at tribal.

Dee can go next. It would be beyond tedious to have those four control the rest of the game.

I like Austen, but I'd quite like to see Jake, Emily, and Bruce pull some move that overturns everything.

[Lady Calypso]

10 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

I was rooting for Dee and Katurah but not so much after tonight.  Dee is too cocky, but I'll give her credit for playing a decent game.  She seems to have the other Rebas wrapped around her finger.  As for Katurah, I can't root for anyone that is willing to squeal to an alliance and know they are playing for fifth.  And she may not even realize she won't get that with them!

I'm still partially rooting for Dee (not fully, she can annoy me) but I think I need to see her face a situation where she's NOT in control to see how she handles it. Obviously, Dee's cocky and overbearing at times, but I have to say that she's playing such an interesting and unique game for a woman. We don't often see not just dominant women, but dominant women doing well. Now, granted, she's still being placed as the biggest target ahead of Austin/Drew and, of course, Dee/Julie are seen as a threat so no surprise there (again, they're women, of course they're being seen as dangerous vs Drew/Austin). But Dee's in control of her alliance and it's a fascinating thing to watch. If she can somehow get to the end, it'll be interesting to see if she can win or if she's seen as too cocky and she loses. 

But I think I'm always going to partially root for a woman who plays the game like many of the male winners we've had. We've had countless of arrogant cocky men do well and even win and they've been liked, so if Dee can get to the end, she'd be such a fascinating winner. But the real question is if she can get to the end and if she can win. Right now, she's being voiced as the biggest target in the Reba 4. Austin and Drew's names haven't even been mentioned as potential targets so Dee's gonna have to keep her alliance happy so they don't turn on her.

As for Katurah, I was so rooting for her UNTIL this episode, when she actively voiced that she'd rather be at the bottom of Reba and pass them information to get out everyone else. But I think I was missing the further explanation where Katurah should have also said "that way, I can also plant seeds about Reba to Reba and get them to turn on each other so I can slip to the end". Unfortunately, there was none of that, so the edit just made Katurah look like a  Reba minion, handing one of them the game. And, to be honest, with her plan, she really is, since a Reba will then make F3, probably even two of them, and Katurah is going to flat out lose if she doesn't take two of them out, at least. Her plan sucks.

Jake has been such a surprising player for me. I love hearing his thought process on him pivoting his game and why he's now having to act complacent despite wanting to make a big move. He's right; if he acts complacent, maybe they'll keep him. But he needs to make a move against Reba to have a shot at being seen as a good player worthy of a win. It's such a shame, as he's very likeable and he's trying so hard, but he's just been in a shit position and failed at the one move he tried to make. 

Bruce was more toned down this episode, which is great. I'm still not rooting for him but he was ok this time around. Hearing his backstory and also hearing him voice his inner epiphany about potentially being too overbearing (due to Reba 4 telling him Kellie said he was overbearing) worked to add a little layer to him. But why is he readily believing Reba 4 about Kellie? This is such a classic manipulation tactic from players in power, to give information (false or not) about a player that was just voted out, to pin responsibility on someone who isn't in the game anymore and can't defend themselves. It makes Bruce look like a really bad player.

Emily is fantastic, and I hope she can get to the end. Every episode, she just keeps climbing up to my favourites. She'd be such a great winner too. If she can keep Reba 4 happy but also take some of them out at the right time, she can absolutely win.

Jeff needs to stop with the split tribes + losing a vote thing at F9. We don't need to see three votes go in a smaller merged tribe. We already have seen the small tribes with only 6 votes; why does he think 6 votes is some sort of magical number that fans want to see play out? We want to see actual moves being made, and you can't make freaking moves if people keep losing their vote or being split in smaller tribes. Like, give it up. The season was doing so well, too, with less twists, but since merge, it's been nothing but group games.

[JudyObscure]

Darn show, making me like Bruce for a while.  I thought I was fresh out of villains, but then Dee stepped up as the queen of shadenfreude, now I would love to see that giant smile fade during a blindside.

I'm happy Katurah and Jake made it through another vote and Kellie is boiling mad.

[Tango64]

1 hour ago, Lady Calypso said:

Jeff needs to stop with the split tribes + losing a vote thing at F9.

Jeff just needs to stop. 

[Matty]

Drew and Austin are the brains behind who gets voted out at Tribal Council. Their target has been voted out the last few Tribal Councils. Drew is constantly thinking strategy. The camera lingered on Drew during the conversations he was having with the other tribe members convincing them who they should vote for. Austin and Drew are a team of two and they have the loyalty of Julie and Dee. Thy also have Emily and Jake for now. I suspect something will go wrong though because it seems too predictable. We'll see. Austin is a strategic player. Good for him solving that math problem. During tribal council he was staring at Dee with eyes of love - haha - as she spoke. Is there a blossoming romance?  

[SummerDreams]

Such a boring episode. I hate that the way the episodes are edited, we know from early on which player will actually make it far and which player is there only for entertainment. Emily keeps getting many confessionals.

I want to see Drew outside of Survivor. He seems so strict and serious in the game that I can't imagine him just letting go and having fun.

Dee's stubborness will cost her sooner or later and I'll be very pleased to see her smug face being voted out.

[SnapHappy]

If Bruce has to go home and ask his wife & daughter if he's overbearing and controlling, then the answer is most obviously YES BRUCE,YOU ARE.   

His "toned down" demeanor was a typical bid for people to notice how emotionally injured he was feeling.  Passive aggressive to the core.  And no amount of foster-kid-sad-man bullshit is going to make me like him or root for him. 

Boat sailed, one passenger: Bruce

Edited November 23, 2023 by SnapHappy

[storyskip]

I've been thinking about the editing choices in this episode, especially in light of the previews for next week.

Over all I think this episode, if this was scripted television, would fall under the category of 'filler'. It was pretty predictable and played out in a by the numbers fashion, BUT it's real purpose was to set up the next couple of episodes.

In my opinion, the editors (and I may be giving them too much credit) did a good job of show some fractures developing in the Reba core 4. To me, it seemed like Julie was pretty pissed at Dee calling the shot on Kendra and I think the edit may have been designed to expose that Julie is starting to realize that if she goes to final 4 with Reba, unless she wins immunity, she is getting no higher than 4th place.

Emily is also shown, by the edits, to have a clue that if she stays lockstep with Drew/Austin, she is at best number 4, but probably number 5 below Dee and Julie.  

I actually really like Emily. I like that we saw her mess up in the beginning, then course correct and SURVIVE this far. Especially on a train wreck of a team like Lulu.

I think that if she had tried to make a move earlier, she'd have shot herself in the foot, but I think NOW is the time for her to make a move. If she can get to Julie (if she knows enough to get to Julie) and lay out a strategy that takes her and Julie to final two, then she may be able to get Julie to flip on the Reba 4 and knock out Dee

[SummerDreams]

26 minutes ago, storyskip said:

If she can get to Julie (if she knows enough to get to Julie) and lay out a strategy that takes her and Julie to final two, then she may be able to get Julie to flip on the Reba 4 and knock out Dee

It's not good for Julie to get rid of Dee; if she does that, the only thing she achieves is being in the bottom in another group, while having lost all of reba's votes and betrayed them.

The only way forward for Emily is to become the spy, inform Bruce and the rest of the underdogs who the next target is and use Bruce's idol on this target. This would mean that Austin uses his idol as well, but will he use it correctly or will one of reba be voted out?

[iMonrey]

11 hours ago, Skooma said:

Why?  Nothing in the rules to say he has too. 

Rules? This show has rules? Since when?

5 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

Jeff needs to stop with the split tribes + losing a vote thing at F9. We don't need to see three votes go in a smaller merged tribe. We already have seen the small tribes with only 6 votes; why does he think 6 votes is some sort of magical number that fans want to see play out? We want to see actual moves being made, and you can't make freaking moves if people keep losing their vote or being split in smaller tribes. Like, give it up. The season was doing so well, too, with less twists, but since merge, it's been nothing but group games.

I know I keep beating this dead horse, but Jeff/production/the show doesn't trust the cast they chose to make a good enough story. Instead of making the story about the players and what they do, it's about what production wants to do with some of these twists, and how the players navigate what production wants to do.

[susannot]

1 hour ago, SummerDreams said:

It's not good for Julie to get rid of Dee; if she does that, the only thing she achieves is being in the bottom in another group, while having lost all of reba's votes and betrayed them.

The only way forward for Emily is to become the spy, inform Bruce and the rest of the underdogs who the next target is and use Bruce's idol on this target. This would mean that Austin uses his idol as well, but will he use it correctly or will one of reba be voted out?

Don't think this will happen.  Bruce needs his idol as he will become the target the minute he loses immunity.

Kudos to Austin for solving that math problem and to Chicago Redshirt for the clear explanation.

[Arkay]

3 hours ago, Matty said:

Drew and Austin are the brains behind who gets voted out at Tribal Council. Their target has been voted out the last few Tribal Councils. Drew is constantly thinking strategy. The camera lingered on Drew during the conversations he was having with the other tribe members convincing them who they should vote for. Austin and Drew are a team of two and they have the loyalty of Julie and Dee. Thy also have Emily and Jake for now. I suspect something will go wrong though because it seems too predictable. We'll see. Austin is a strategic player. Good for him solving that math problem. During tribal council he was staring at Dee with eyes of love - haha - as she spoke. Is there a blossoming romance?  

I noticed this as well….Austin was physically leaning into Dee from the outset of this episode. Every time he glanced at her, it was with hearts in his eyes. 
Kendra had a throwaway comment that those two are in love, but it is entirely likely that Dee senses he’s smitten and is just taking advantage of that.

Or not.

The most stupefying moment for me personally is that I, a Math dunce, immediately saw the logic solve. I don’t know how. 

[Heathrowe]

Austin & Dee are both beautiful people who look pretty together. I’m not sure about heart eyes as much as like meeting like. 
Not much Emily could do this episode without a vote but now she really does know that Austin & Drew & Dee & Julie are tighter than she is. I hope she makes a big move next episode even if it sends her to the jury.

Bruce getting the redemption edit and the backstory so…I dislike him a little less but I am still so angry they can’t flush his idol/he’s still there.

Not sure who beyond Dee/Austin/Julie would vote for Drew if he makes it to the end. And I assume 2 would be with him?

 

[JudyObscure]

First episode, when Drew and Austin aligned, Drew said something that meant "I have the brains and you have the brawn."  It was very insulting, but Austin's big smile didn't waver.  So last night when he solved that puzzle I was so happy for him and later he said to someone, "I'm a little bit smart." Hah!  Loved it.

[eel2178]

16 hours ago, iMonrey said:

There's no way I could have solved that math problem in three minutes. I could have done it eventually but it probably would have taken me a couple of hours.

Once you came to the realization that the minus sign had to be between 98 and 76, it was really pretty easy from there:

You had 5 digits left and 3 plus signs to make them add up to 78 (98 - 76 = 22; 100 - 22 = 78). The number of choices was pretty limited at that point.

[dancingdreamer]

I like lose a vote, splitting into teams. Because  before all that happens,  they all agree who to vote off( I find that boring)so when this happens, for the most part,  it puts a big hole in their plans and sometimes  their loyalties. I like to see them scramble.

[candall]

I couldn't say whether I liked Kendra.  I became too obsessed by the little hair knob on the top of her head to develop a relationship.

[SVNBob]

Clue in the opening was vague: a shot of one of the hourglasses from the Journey.   All it could imply was that there would be some sort of challenge on a limited time, but no context around it.

 

On 11/22/2023 at 9:14 PM, North of Eden said:

Ah yeah, Kellie takes the crown for the sourest juror....ever. I guess she's going to bitch face her way all the way to the finale and it was ridiculous blaming Bruce for her sitting there when he was one of the few people that didn't vote for her.

It wasn't even that.  It was the fact that she had an opportunity to vote him out (at the F12 split when she had one of the necklaces), and she voted out "Seafou" instead.  That allowed him to get on this immunity run and keep his own ass covered.  If she'd voted him out then, she might still be in the game.  Though she may have been the 2nd juror anyway.

 

On 11/22/2023 at 10:53 PM, PaperTree said:

I assume Jeffy read all 7 votes so they'll know somebody on that journey was lying.

 

On 11/22/2023 at 11:35 PM, Chicago Redshirt said:

I assume the opposite and he only read what was shown. A savvy player might realize that by saying "That's four, that's enough" means that there might be/are additional votes. I do not know if it is customary for him to read off every vote beyond what is necessary to vote someone off.

 

On 11/23/2023 at 12:02 AM, Skooma said:

Why?  Nothing in the rules to say he has too.  No way he reads them all off camera.  If someone has enough votes to be voted off that is it.  Let the remaining Survivors go all paranoid trying to figure things out after Tribal Council. That is what you want on the show.

 

Technically, you're all correct here, from a certain point of view.

Peachy does read all the votes...when he goes up to "tally" them.  He also sorts them by whom they are for, and puts them back in the urn in an order for the drama of the reading.  (There's supposedly "pockets" within the urn for this reason, so in this case all the Kendra votes were in the one pocket, and her vote for Jake was in another.)

But back in front of the castaways and on camera, he only reads the minimum number necessary to mathematically declare a loser, while still reading all the votes in the minority.  In this case, it was 4 -1.  Which works for both the 6 votes that most of the cast thought there would be, and the 7 that there actually were.  Kendra's vote for Jake was the only outlier in a standard "Survivor unanimous" vote, so only 4 votes of the remaining 5 or 6 needed to be read in addition to hers to clinch the vote.  The remaining 1 or 2 weren't necessary to be shown, so they weren't.  (Lucky Austin.)

 

And as I was writing this, a funny thing occurred to me.  Austin has now not voted at a TC where most of them think he did (Kaleb's lucky draw), and did vote at a TC where most of them think he didn't.  Balance.

 

In keeping Track of things: one important change.  Austin no longer has 2 Idols.  (At least, at the moment).  There are now three idol holders: Austin, Bruce, and Julie; each with one idol.  It is unclear whether Julie's idol is good until F6 and Austin's until F5, or vice versa.

 

 

[JH Lipton]

Dee has done what you're supposed to on Survivor: find an alliance and keep it tight.  She may be a little smug but she deserves to be.  "A woman has to work twice as hard to get half as much appreciation."  I think the fact that she is "conventionally attractive" works against her too.

16 hours ago, SnapHappy said:

If Bruce has to go home and ask his wife & daughter if he's overbearing and controlling, then the answer is most obviously YES BRUCE,YOU ARE

I said so too, and added that they almost certainly feel comfortable confronting him.

[iMonrey]

21 hours ago, eel2178 said:

Once you came to the realization that the minus sign had to be between 98 and 76, it was really pretty easy from there:

You say that as if it should be obvious to anyone, but to us right-brained people, it's not. For one thing I wouldn't automatically assume 9 and 8 are 98 or that 7 and 6 are 76. Could be 9 and 87, could be 987, could be 9, 8, 7 and 6. For some people, math comes naturally. These are called left-brained people. They excel at numbers and figures. Right-brained people are more inclined towards language and communication. The catch-22 is that people who are good at math are bad at explaining it to people who aren't.

19 hours ago, dancingdreamer said:

I like lose a vote, splitting into teams. Because  before all that happens,  they all agree who to vote off( I find that boring)so when this happens, for the most part,  it puts a big hole in their plans and sometimes  their loyalties. I like to see them scramble.

We've seen plenty of scrambling without anyone losing a vote. In fact those chaotic tribal councils Jeff loves so much, where everyone suddenly gets up and starts whispering to one another, all took place without anyone losing a vote. And voting plans are often thrown into disarray just by who has won immunity. I reject the notion that the show needs more gimmicks and tricks to cause chaos and scrambling. Or, indeed, that the show itself needs more chaos and scrambling. Unfortunately the show seems to disagree with me because lately that seems to be its sole objective.

Edited November 24, 2023 by iMonrey

[Chicago Redshirt]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

You say that is if it should be obvious to anyone, but to us right-brained people, it's not. For one thing I wouldn't automatically assume 9 and 8 are 98 or that 7 and 6 are 76. Could be 9 and 87, could be 987, could be 9, 8, 7 and 6. For some people, math comes naturally. These are called left-brained people. They excel at numbers and figures. Right-brained people are more inclined towards language and communication. The catch-22 is that people who are good at math are bad at explaining it to people who aren't.

I don't think it's "obvious." Again, I have the luxury of being able to think about the situation while being well-fed, not being televised, and having no stakes. I just think it's not so baffling a puzzle that it should take the average person more than an hour to figure it out. I don't think it's a right-brain, left-brain sort of thing. Heck, even Brandon from earlier this season would be able to beat it, given that sort of time frame.

A mix of trial and error, logic, luck and/or intuitively understanding some of the things that I articulated in my earlier post without coming to the conclusions through logic.

It simply can't be 987+ for the reason that I said earlier: there's no way to reduce the total to 100 starting that high with only one minus sign in the mix and having to put two additional plus signs. 987+6-543+2+1 is obviously way more than 100.

I think trial and error would quickly reveal that you can't have more than one single digit number in the mix: 9+8+(7654321) for instance, shows that only having two more operators, you are going to have at least a triple digit number, which will put you way over 100, or way under if it's a negative.

Just brute forcing it starts you with four categories of possibilities:

9+(87654321)

Starting with 9 as a single digit means there needs to be an operation sign between each of the remaining two digit combos. The only question is which gets the minus. As far as I can see, there are only the following combos starting with 9+:

9+87-65+43+21

9+87+65-43+21

9+87+65+43-21

9-(87654321)

9-87+65+43+21 is the only possibility here that I can see, once you factor in that there can't be any triple-digit numbers and that you have to have all the operational signs you have to have. 

9-87 is -78, then you get to -13, then 30, then 51.

98+(7654321)

98-(7654321)

I think trial and error would/should soon reveal that 98+X is starting too close to 100 to land exactly there.

98-7+65+43+21 is obviously going to be way over 100.

Maybe I am overly optimistic about people's math/logic skills and their intuition, but I think taking 5-10 minutes to think about the problem and then just starting working through the equations in any systematic (or at least non-mathphobic)  way shouldn't take the average person more than an hour. 

[PaperTree]

On 11/23/2023 at 9:26 AM, Matty said:

During tribal council he was staring at Dee with eyes of love - haha - as she spoke. Is there a blossoming romance?  

Ewwwww!

[JudyObscure]

11 hours ago, JH Lipton said:

Dee has done what you're supposed to on Survivor: find an alliance and keep it tight.  She may be a little smug but she deserves to be.  "A woman has to work twice as hard to get half as much appreciation."  I think the fact that she is "conventionally attractive" works against her too.

 

I've heard that all my life and while I'm sure it might be  true in certain fields, I don't think it's ever been true in Survivor.

Erika won her season without doing much of anything except be lucky, with an hour glass to smash making her the challenge winner after others had worked hard to actually win.  Meanwhile  Xander carried his tribe on his back to the merge, collected an idol and an advantage, was never  voted against, and won two immunity challenges, including the very last one.  He didn't get a single vote and Erika won.  If Erika worked twice as hard as he did I missed it.

I also don't think being conventionally attractive hurt, Natalie, Amber, Jenna, Parvati, Dani, etc.

 

[Blissfool]

On 11/22/2023 at 9:18 PM, dancingdreamer said:

I've never liked Kendra, I think she's a phony, playing to the cameras.

 

This is how I feel about Jake. I cannot stand the guy! Imo, he's performing for the cameras with his big "WHOA!....or sorry whoa" last episode, his dramatic shift in his seat as the final Kendra vote was going to be read today, his "oh that's good, that's really good, good is good" as Jeff revealed the prize for the winning team, as well as many other instances that have irked me as I've watched him this season. I cannot wait for him to be voted out and do not look forward to seeing his facial reaction's from the jury bench. Ugh, I cannot stand the guy. 

 

[princelina]

On 11/22/2023 at 10:14 PM, North of Eden said:

Ah yeah, Kellie takes the crown for the sourest juror....ever. I guess she's going to bitch face her way all the way to the finale and it was ridiculous blaming Bruce for her sitting there when he was one of the few people that didn't vote for her.

Haha yep!  Should have voted him out when you had the chance!  Mr. P and I were chuckling that if he goes on an immunity run it will bug her more each week 😄

On 11/22/2023 at 10:57 PM, iMonrey said:

From where I'm sitting she's sitting pretty right now. Nobody is talking about voting her off, everyone thinks she's a number for them. She has a shot a making the final three . . . but probably as a goat. I don't see her getting any votes if she makes it there.

I think she could get some votes - I never thought Gabler would get any so who can tell?

On 11/23/2023 at 6:28 PM, candall said:

I couldn't say whether I liked Kendra.  I became too obsessed by the little hair knob on the top of her head to develop a relationship.

For me it was her oversized tongue 😐

9 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

I also don't think being conventionally attractive hurt, Natalie, Amber, Jenna, Parvati, Dani, etc.

Agreed!  My least favorite winner of all time is Amber - not even because of the whole Boston Rob thing, but because she should never have been on an All Star season in the first place!!!

[Nashville]

Personally, I was relieved to see Kendra get the boot; her overblown playing-it-up-for-the-cameras histrionics were so OTT she would’ve had Eliza saying “Damn - turn it down a notch, why don’t ya?”

[Diana Berry]

On 11/22/2023 at 10:18 PM, dancingdreamer said:

WTG Bruce, I'm so glad he won immunity, I'm still not seeing what's so bad about him.

I've never liked Kendra, I think she's a phony, playing to the cameras.

Skinny Drew said Bruce was holding  onto his idol, greedily. Huh? Jealous  much? Eating most of rice, oink! 

I don't  mind Jake or Emily. Austin's in love with Dee, I'm not that keen on her either. Break those two up.
 

Noooo i want my cute couple and their shiny teeth to make it to F3. Then I want a proposal on the reunion show like Rob and Amber.