S29.E01: Suck It Up And Survive

[ElleryAnne]

There is (1) the pain of having to compete against your loved one, and knowing that your actions did or may have contributed to their ouster.  And, well, I was going to list a second point, but really it all boils down to that.

 

 

The split loyalties - to your loved one vs. your tribe - also means there's always a chance that someone might sabotage their own team if they think it will help their loved one.  It really has the possibility of shaking up strategy, which I like.  

[alegtostandon]

ottoDbusdriver, on 24 Sept 2014 - 3:38 PM, said:

You mean her giant fake boobs -- seriously, try something with a bit more support than a buff in challenges, it's completely impractical in a challenge if she is CONSTANTLY stopping to hike up her buff to keep from falling out.

 

She just about lost it as she was pulled up over the wall - why would you just use the buff as a shirt w/nothing underneath - especially with such huge boobs?!

 

I could not stand the 'Twinsies' on TAR,  still could not stand them on Survivor! I was so glad the one was voted off; you could tell she was not expecting it at all. I am ready for twinsie #2 to go next.  Why in the world would she think that Josh was to be referred to as a 'female' just because he is gay?  IMO, I did not view him as being feminine at all, so she was basing this strictly on the fact that he is gay. That is probably one of the most ignorant comments I have heard in a very long time.

 

RE: The money issue on TAR, another team left their money for the next leg of the race on the counter at the travel agency, the twins saw it & knew who it belonged to but chose to keep it for themselves rather than retrun it to the other team.  They claimed, at the end of the race, that production approved them keeping the money. I guess I am a different type of person,. I was given $20.00 change back once when all that was due to me was $10.00.  I drove back to the store to return the $10.00.  They also made the comment:

 

But what did viewers expect? As one twin observed in the finale, "We've always been evil. We've never been nice."

 

[tobysmom]

The split loyalties - to your loved one vs. your tribe - also means there's always a chance that someone might sabotage their own team if they think it will help their loved one.  It really has the possibility of shaking up strategy, which I like.  

and especially after the merge if both loved ones make it.  While you are different teams, you will probably make alliances and promise to take someone to the end.  What happens after the merge if the vote is between your loved one and someone from your alliance?  It happened, I think on the first B vs W, where there was a tie vote and the tie breaker was the daughter of one of the people up for elimination.  She voted with her alliance and voted her mother out.

[GaT]

The model doesn't need to worry about people recognizing him based on his fabulous good looks.  

 

 

I forgot about him, was it just me or did he seem kind of flabby for a model? When he said he was a model, my first thought was, really???

[Hera]

That's the idea, yes.  There is (1) the pain of having to compete against your loved one, and knowing that your actions did or may have contributed to their ouster.  And, well, I was going to list a second point, but really it all boils down to that.  Which sounds cheesy and manipulative, which it is, but it really did work in the first BvW season, and led to some surprising strategy decisions.  In this case it probably does increase Natalie's chances, because the others are more likely to target someone who still has a partner.

Not only that, but if it goes like the first Blood vs. Water, she might be able to use it to build her alliance, like Tyson did. His basic argument to people was that since neither one of them had a loved one left in the game, they were safer working together, since all the other pairs were going to try to team up again after the merge. You could trust him and his alliance (as much as you can ever trust anyone in Survivor, especially Tyson) precisely because their loyalties weren't divided.

 

I disagreed with Dale's reasoning for voting Nadiya out. He kept talking about how he knew her strategy from seeing her on The Amazing Race. If you know her strategy, then you should keep her around, as opposed to some random stranger whose strategy you know nothing about (provided she's not a danger to morale or your personal belongs like Russell Hantz is). But then again, I also don't think successful strategies for The Amazing Race are applicable to Survivor and vice versa.

 

I assumed that Josh thought Baylor might switch her vote to Nadiya (either because he said he was going to or because she said she wanted to), and then switched his vote to Baylor to keep his hands relatively clean. I mean, if the other women thought that all the women and Josh were going to have an alliance, then both Baylor and Josh are potential traitors for not going along with their plan. But Baylor looks considerably worse since she voted with the men (who, as far as we know, did not agree to an alliance with her) and got Nadiya out, while Josh looks alright because he voted for the person who turned on her supposed alliance. And the men don't get too mad at him because he didn't vote for Dale. I'm not sure if it'll pay off, though. People who are wishy-washy about picking a side often end up at the bottom of whichever side they end up with. On the other hand, it's only the first tribal council, so alliances may not be set in stone yet. For the first vote, pretty much everyone is playing an "as long as it ain't me" strategy.

[Wandering Snark]

Also, what was with their "cut off some of your hair!" approach to fire starting?

[Wings]

Good first episode.  It appears that the IIs are going to have 2 parts/pieces to them.  Love this fresh idea.  So Dale has the symbol for water and there is a symbol or dig.  That is a head scratcher.  

 

Jeremy is going to be a target if he doesn't stop moaning about wanting to protect his wife.  It doesn't take a degree in psychology to see what is at play there!  

[Way Wes Jr]

It’s a new season of Survivor!  Which means that my first couple of rankings will be huge wall-of-texts.  Feel free to TL;DR if you feel like it.  I did no preshow looking around, no casting vids, no questionaires - so it’s blank slate time.

 

Are all the (pre-merge) reward challenges going to be one on one affairs?  Will people be allowed to go twice?  While this initial episode’s was evil in execution, I end up with more questions than theories.  I believe Jeremy did not go all out, in order to give Val a chance - but didn’t hurt his own game by making it obvious.  I also think that his choice of Keith was based on strategy; either Keith or Missy are obvious potential first boots (because: ageism,) and of the two he could fake-justify sending Keith.  [Though his fake justification did result in the great line of, “It was his son’s fault!”]

 

The immunity challenge saw the true and tried example of one team racing out to an early lead, and the losing the puzzle portion of the program.  What was interesting was that none of the ‘puzzle solvers’ took any heat (that we saw,) when the ‘who goes home’ decision started.
(John (Rocker, the other Jon is going without an “h,”) was a beast during this challenge, holding Baylor up for all three bags, and being the ladder for the final wall.  I am predisposed to dislike him, but credit where credit is due.)

 

Before the merge, these rankings reflect who I think will make the merge.

Hunahpu (Blue Tribe)

1. Jeremy  A physical asset for immunity challenges, has early sympathy from having to send his wife to Exile.  (Though that will decrease as his teammates have to do the same.)

 

2.  Jon
3.  Drew  Generic, moderately athletic dudes.  Typical, “we need them for challenges,” saves.

 

4.  Kelley
5.  Natalie We didn’t see a lot of alliance-forming on Hunahpu, but what we did see was Jeremy approaching three of the four women about “getting to five.”

 

6.  Reed  Pretty invisible, male division.
7.  Julie  Pretty invisible, female division.

 

8.  Keith  Oldest male contestant, (on this tribe,) Jeremy might feel too guilty about giving the boot first.
9.  Missy  Oldest female contestant, Jeremy might not feel too guilty about “betraying” her.

 

Coyopa (Yellow Tribe)

It seemed very odd that none of Dale, Josh, Alec, or Jaclyn took any heat for being on the puzzle team that cost Coyopa the challenge.  (Though it could have been used against Dale by the failed womens alliance, but I suspect his age was sufficient.)  [see more about Dale below.]

 

1.  John  Even though he’s older than the 20-something squad, he has all of the “too much of a challenge asset,” vibe to be an early boot.  If he d-bags it up?  It could change.

 

2.  Alec  Since the tribe booted their third most physical challenge asset, number two ought to be sitting pretty.

 

3.  Baylor  She’s betrayed Val and Jaclyn, so she’ll do what she can to append herself to the alpha-male.  Whoever that ends up being.  (And it’ll be interesting to see if she figures out that she was betrayed by Josh.)

 

4.  Wes  If John is able to keep his ‘secret’ as we approach the merge, Wes becomes more and more expendable.

5.  Jaclyn  Invisible this episode.

 

6.  Josh  On the plus side, he realized he was a swing vote, and that swing votes have a history of being disposable once the winning alliance doesn’t need them.  On the down side, he pissed his vote away.  Also - the “winning” alliance?  I didn’t get the feeling that there was much of an alliance there.  Add to that his potential allergy related problems (editing trick -> this was shown to project him as a “weak” male,) potentially foreshadowing an early boot.

 

7.  Dale  MVP of this episode, hands down.  As the oldest person in the game, the oldest on a tribe dominated by 20-somethings, someone who admits to having trouble with the social game, and being one of the four people who blew the puzzle part of the immunity challenge, Dale should have been one of the easiest first boots in the history of first boots.  But instead, he deflects the focus onto Nadiya.  Obviously no one else he talked to on the island watches Amazing Race, ‘cause using a U-Turn in no way equates to betraying someone - but by convincing enough folk that she couldn’t be trusted, he talked his tribe into getting rid of (imo) their second or third physically strongest members.  I don’t think we’re looking at an Ulong situation, but if we are?  This was the cause.

 

8.  Val  Lost valuable plotting time on exile island, and a member of the failed “women’s alliance.”

BYE Nadiya  Wow, what a bad set of circumstances.  The youngest person on your tribe, (who you admittedly made the mistake of thinking was an ally,) decided she was going to vote in lock-step with the “swing vote, (who voted for her!,) and the decision to admit your Amazing Race history gave Dale a chance to sway the folk who had no idea.  Any chance you sign up for Big Brother next summer to see if you can be the first person evicted there too?

Edited September 26, 2014 by Way Wes Jr

[Ms Blue Jay]

Didn't John Rocker say in the introduction of the show, "I've been called a bigot, and them's fighting words"?

Unless I misheard or misunderstood correctly it seems like the complete opposite of "he's owned up to what he said and has changed now."

 

He doesn't sound remorseful at all to me.  He also said that he's loved the anonymity he's had for 15 years and he doesn't want to give that up.  So wtf did he come on this show then?

 

It honestly sounded to me like he understands nothing.

Edited September 25, 2014 by Ms Blue Jay

[Sampson]

I don't remember the details of TAR episode where the Twins stole money from another team.  If only I could go back in time and look it up on TWOP.

 

You can go back and look it up.

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20140330154358/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/

[cooksdelight]

It's also in Nadiya's thread here.

[kassa]

Dale: smart enough to bring reading glasses to make fire; dumb enough to snap them in half instead of getting the kind you could pop the lenses out of.

 

I mean what she said is essentially, you're gay you're not a man.  She doesn;t mean it in a hateful way, I don't think she is even away that's what it comes off as to some, but that's probably how Josh sees it given his comments.

 

The thing is, she IS aware that it comes off that way, because it came off that way on TAR and she and her sister got a lot of flak for it.  Her gay friends on the show gave her a pass, so I saw her harping on it again as an FU to the people who dared to question her gay friendly credentials.  She dug in and double downed to show that she truly does believe it and it’s perfectly FINE to believe it. 

 

Agreed.  She was probably the physically strongest of the women.  Not sure why everyone held her appearance on TAR against her.  Was it a "you've already had your chance" decision? 

 

 

Could also be the voice.  Their voices would drive toothpaste through a brick wall.

[AZChristian]

 

Their voices would drive toothpaste through a brick wall.

 

I am SOOOOOO stealing this line!!!

[Xazeal]

Solid premiere.

 

If I had to predict a winner right now based on the edit, I'd guess it's either Missy or Baylor. Their introduction was great, and they both got moments that didn't need to be included, but could potentially set up future storylines or themes. I'm keeping my eye on those two.

 

I really liked Josh, but I also think they had to portray him positively in this because Nadiya's comments were idiotic and of course we're going to sympathize with him. I won't be too surprised if he gets more obnoxious later on. He's probably going to be a big player, and most big players have been pretty obnoxious these past few seasons.

 

John Rocker is welcome to leave any time.

[Jodithgrace]

 

Wes looks like a troglodyte.  Or a cartoon character from The Croods. Which might be the same thing, I don't know.

I kept expecting to see him creeping around muttering about his "precioussss." On the other hand, I didn't like his father, Keith, saying that Wes had the intelligence of a rock..though it very well may be true. Not a nice thing to say about your son on national TV.

However, one thing I haven't seen mentioned about the "5 letter" scene with John Rocker, was the fact that as they were walking, little, scrunchy Wes was lugging a gigantic pile of fronds almost as big as he was, and big strong John Rocker was just walking along, carrying...nothing. 

 

Can't say that I'm sorry to see Twinnie go. Mostly because it will be interesting to see Natalie manage, or not, on her own. I'm not a Twinnie hater, but I wasn't rooting for them, either. It's too soon for me to have a dog in this race, yet. I don't even know if I prefer Honeypoo or Crayola. Only time will tell. 

Edited September 26, 2014 by Jodithgrace

[cooksdelight]

Dale, saying that Wes had the intelligence of a rock..though it very well may be true. Not a nice thing to say about your son on national TV.

Dale is not Wes' father.

[peachmangosteen]

Now, he isn't, but Wes' father did actually say he had the intelligence of a rock. Which was hilarious, but yea, definitely kinda awful.

[waving feather]

Lol I love Wes' father Keith. He's the funniest thing this episode. Hoping he would last to the end just on his snark alone.

[Kromm]

That is what Exile Island is -  the place they stash people after the reward challenge.  The place where they stash people after they are voted out is Redemption Island

Yeah, somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that I guess. I should have just said "ISLAND" But @HALETH (who I was replying to) used "Exile Island" to ask about Nadiya, and since she was booted it clearly was referring to the place they linger after being booted for a second chance (which clearly isn't happening this season, as I said). Edited September 26, 2014 by Kromm

[cooksdelight]

I'm trying to remember what they call the place the early bootees get sent, since it's not the Ponderosa.

I wonder if Ben, Hoss and Little Joe roll in their graves a little when they see that name used in this show? :)

[cooksdelight]

A levitating shelter, no less. :)

[Insomnia]

I just want the torch snuffer. If that makes me a sick fuck, I don't want to be right.

[needschocolate]

Yeah, somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that I guess. I should have just said "ISLAND" But @HALETH (who I was replying to) used "Exile Island" to ask about Nadiya, and since she was booted it clearly was referring to the place they linger after being booted for a second chance (which clearly isn't happening this season, as I said).

 

I didn't mean to be so persnickety, but this business with Exile vs, Redemption is driving me a bit batty - When I watched last night, I was thinking that Nadiya might be back after the challenge, then I remembered that was Redemption and there isn't a RI this season.  Then my daughter mentioned Nadiya going to Exile to wait for the next bootee and I reminded her that it was Exile this time, not Redemption.  Then today, I had basically the same conversation with my mother.  Then I came on here and it seems everyone is confusing Redemption with Exile. It makes sense since last time it was Blood vs Water it was a redemption island - and seemed to be the most popular use of redemption island they have ever had. Yikes.  I hope they never add a third "island" to the mix (what would it be? - reward island? immunity island? singing monkey island?)

 

I just know that once we all have redemption vs exile figured out, we will start getting confused between the different rules for the hidden immunity idol vs the individual immunity idol (when can you play it? who can you give it too? which one does Jeff ask about?).  I hope they don't bring back the immunity idol with the special privileges (the Tyler Perry idol).   

Edited September 26, 2014 by needschocolate

[Gweilo]

My early favourite for this series is Jon because he entertains me.  I laughed so hard when he was staring wistfully at the monkeys sighing "I wish I had a tail!"  Dream big, Jon.  Dream big.

[Insomnia]

Also, I'm calling it right now; he's probably a hand model.

[Nearly Dead Ed]

[channeling B. Odenkirk] GodDAMNit! I drew Nadiya in my office Survivor pool and as a long-time TAR fan, I knew she'd be among the first to go. My other draw is Dale, and he's already on the envelope. So that's $20 down the tubes. Thanks a lot, fate.

[Lantern7]

Insomnia. . . Probst keeps all the torch-snuffers. I found out on the pre-season special on TV Guide Channel. I can see the appeal.

 

Nearly Dead Ed . . . people still have office pools for Survivor? Sorry to hear about your luck with Nadiya.

[HappyDancex2]

I can still hear the shrill voice screaming "twinniiiiiiiie" every 7 seconds during challenges on the Amazing Race rattling around in my brain. It's my own personal Silence of the Lambs.

She would probably be good in challenges but she would also be playing the game hard with no real reason to trust her..or distrust her...which therein lies the problem. Buh bye.

Levitating is so much cooler than elevating.

[Guest]

Of course it wasn't random tribes.  Even the people knew they were being split on couple lines.  It's not suspect that someone on the yellow team has orange nail polish.  Though how gross is that polish going to look in two weeks?

 

I loved, "I wish I had a tail."  Because that's what I think when I look at monkeys in trees.

 

I thought Rocker replied to "5 letters" with "no, 7", which to me made no sense, either.  

 

Those flies were huge.  Gross.  I would never do this show.  Their skin did look awful.  

 

 I kind of liked Exile Island on Gabon.  It made for some good drama and idol situations.  I don't like it when it's really impossible conditions out there, though.  Who was it (some blond gal) who spent whole nights alone like huddled in the open in the rain, freezing?  

[jbrecken]

If I had to predict a winner right now based on the edit, I'd guess it's either Missy or Baylor. Their introduction was great, and they both got moments that didn't need to be included, but could potentially set up future storylines or themes. I'm keeping my eye on those two.

I think devoting screentime to them was just to remind viewers of one of the best moments in the first Blood v Water, when Ciera voted her mother off.

[Ms Blue Jay]

Who was it (some blond gal) who spent whole nights alone like huddled in the open in the rain, freezing?

 

Candace, Cook Islands.

 

I don't think I've ever felt that any of these islands has contributed something positive to Survivor.

 

Season 28 was an incredible season in my opinion.  No return players, no other islands.

 

There's no solarium. There's no Prickly Pete. There's no other solarium.

Edited September 26, 2014 by Ms Blue Jay

[Nashville]

I thought Rocker replied to "5 letters" with "no, 7", which to me made no sense, either.  

He did. He was referring to the fake cover name he was using (Wetland, or something similar). This was right before Rocker gave up trying to pretend with the kid, and asked him (the kid) to keep Rocker's true name under his hat.

[KimberStormer]

Past my bedtime and I don't have a whole lot to say that hasn't been said.  I boycotted the first BvW because of Colton, but so far it is living up to exactly what I thought it would be when the concept was first explained--a whole lot of bullshit drama.  I'm always defending people who cry on Survivor, but this was just too much emo for even me.  I felt Jeremy was being way condescending about his wife, who could obviously handle herself.  I thought she was a bit too cagey about the clue to Keith (if my husband sent me to Exile with someone, I would feel sure he was trying to work out a long-term alliance between the bunch of us, and that helping Kieth would be helping Jeremy would be helping me) and that she also slightly overplayed the idol threat during tribal but on the other hand I like her not being intimidated by apparently anything.  Though to be honest, so far I have nobody really to root for or to root against.  It will take awhile.

 

I'm apparently the world's only Exile Island fan but I'm very happy to see it back, with the distinct possibility of making good on the promise of an Exile Alliance that Tocantins sold so well and failed so hard to deliver.  You might almost call it...Redemption for Exile Island.  My memory is that it was poor Danielle in Panama who had the worst-ever Exile experience.  (Poor Danielle.  Survivor was not very good to her, despite her being honestly not bad at it at all.)

 

I think the issue may be that the show implied some randomness when Jeff had everyone draw bandanas.  It looked like each team took a packet, and presumably each took a bandana from the packet and then "found out" what team they'd be on - i.e. which twinnie would be blue and which would be orange/yellow, for example.   But if production tells them in advance what outfits to wear, then the randomness is fake.

 

I didn't feel any suggestion of randomness whatsoever; and yet I knew someone would complain about it and probably start a conversation in the conspiracy thread about it. 

 

I'm trying to remember what they call the place the early bootees get sent, since it's not the Ponderosa.

 

I've always heard it called the Loser's Lounge.

[cooksdelight]

I kind of liked Exile Island on Gabon. It made for some good drama and idol situations. I don't like it when it's really impossible conditions out there, though. Who was it (some blond gal) who spent whole nights alone like huddled in the open in the rain, freezing?

Didn't Sugar spend a whole lot of time out there? I seem to remember her always going to Exile, and yet somehow managing to get to the finale.

[Barton88]

Funniest scene of the entire episode....and the grossest.....when John while playing the human ladder, had Val's crotch smashed into his face.

[lilabennet]

Based on the first immunity challenge the tribes seem to be evenly matched, so I don't see the point in complaining about how they were picked.  For what it is worth I suspect that they were separated randomly or through a schoolyard pick off camera.

[cooksdelight]

I thought the whole point of blood vs. water is that loved ones are pitted against each other? So, it was pre-determined that they would be on separate tribes.... right? I sort of thought the choosing of the buffs was more ceremonial than anything.

[RescueMom]

If they were already in their color-coded clothes the tribes had probably already been determined off-camera (I didn't pay attention), but there still could have been a random element even with couples. Each couple has to end up on opposite teams, but they could have had each pair pick between blue and orange at random to determine who is orange and who is blue within each couple. Jeremy ended up blue and Val ended up orange, but if they did it that way they could have just as likely ended up flipped.

Edited September 26, 2014 by RescueMom

[Kromm]

I didn't mean to be so persnickety, but this business with Exile vs, Redemption is driving me a bit batty - When I watched last night, I was thinking that Nadiya might be back after the challenge, then I remembered that was Redemption and there isn't a RI this season.  Then my daughter mentioned Nadiya going to Exile to wait for the next bootee and I reminded her that it was Exile this time, not Redemption.  Then today, I had basically the same conversation with my mother.  Then I came on here and it seems everyone is confusing Redemption with Exile. It makes sense since last time it was Blood vs Water it was a redemption island - and seemed to be the most popular use of redemption island they have ever had. Yikes.  I hope they never add a third "island" to the mix (what would it be? - reward island? immunity island? singing monkey island?)

Yeah, but ultimately it's the same damn island and all that matters is when they go and why.

[Haleth]

I'm glad I wasn't the only one that confused Exile and Redemption Islands.  Thanks for setting me (us) straight, Kromm and everyone else from way back on page 1.

[FineWashables]

I'm puzzled as to why people are calling shennanigans over the tribe division.  Yes, the contestants know that they'll be on a separate tribe from their loved ones.  But that doesn't mean that they know who their tribemates will be.  To my mind, that's where the random comes in.  It looked to me as if one of the twinnies was in fuscia and the other in pink when the tribes were divided, so neither seemed to be already wearing a tribal color to me.  I'm wearing orange nail polish right now because it's a hot color this year and looks good on almost everyone.  Doesn't mean I know what tribe I'd be on if I were dropped into San Juan del Something.

[valandsend]

I'm liking the thrice-divorced mom so far. She reminds me of someone, maybe Peri Gilpen from "Frasier".

 

Also appreciating the explanations about the color-coded clothing and how the loved ones were split into teams. It makes more sense to me, but I still don't understand why if the castaways pack swimsuits, those aren't given to them until later in the season. Not that I'm complaining.

 

It hurt to watch the guy with the red eyes. I wonder if the plants were really the cause, or if there was some other reason. He's very fair and we never see anyone wearing sunglasses in the blaring sun, for example.

[valandsend]

Blame the casting director. The only time they let a non stereotypical gay man on the show was the late Caleb(rest his soul) and that was only because he was with Colton.

I don't think Richard Hatch was stereotypical. Plus there were a couple of guys from several seasons back who I didn't know were gay until after they'd been booted. Sorry, I'm terrible with remembering Survivor names, but I think one may have been named Brad (good-looking Asian) and the other one went by two initials (good-looking, possibly Latino, remembered for making a sexist comment). But yeah, it does seem that they cast more stereotypical gay men than non-.

[cooksdelight]

I'm liking the thrice-divorced mom so far. She reminds me of someone, maybe Peri Gilpen from "Frasier".

YES!! Yes, she is a blonde Roz, thank you!!

Regarding gay men, nothing will ever beat Rudy saying "I like Richard, but not in a homosexual way."

[Wings]

 

It hurt to watch the guy with the red eyes. I wonder if the plants were really the cause, or if there was some other reason.

 

 

I think the medic did some research and determined the plants on their shelter were to blame.  

[Eggman]

I'm really confused.  I thought it looked like an idol, but Dale clearly said it wasn't.

It's unlikely that it's an idol, at least not by itself.  The idol is accompanied by a note.  No note, no idol.   Ask Eric (assuming he's figured it out by now.)

 

Wasn't the idol just a piece on the rice bin once?

Yes, and the note was written on the back of the piece once it was pried off.  Same for the decorative squares that James &tc found in their season.  One square had no note, and they tried to use it as an idol with predictable results.

 

It appears that the IIs are going to have 2 parts/pieces to them.

I don't know where people have seen this, but if that's true it's awesome.  You would have to figure out who has the other half and then switch up your alliances in order to get both halves, and then who owns the idol?  

 

 I have a bit of a block about Exile Island because I think it's silly. 

The absolute worst thing that can happen to a contestant is that they are deprived of the ability to connect with other tribe members.    Going to the island doesn't look like a big deal in terms of screen time, but for them it's huge.   Note that when they came back, Peachy said they had spent two days out there.  There's a significant risk that you come back and are seen as the expendable one and are then voted off just because the others "don't really know you", which is a common voting voice-over early in the game.

 

...the guy, forget his name, who broke his glasses? I would never do that. I can't see crap without them.

Me either.  But those were reading glasses, which are effectively magnifying glasses (a clever pack-along on his part.)  I can't imagine he'll have that much time or material for reading anyway.

 

I disagreed with Dale's reasoning for voting Nadiya out.

 

His unstated reasoning was "her, not me," and it's hard to argue with that.  Also, as far as voting strategies go, those votes were unrevealed.  It's very possible that nobody quite knows who voted for Baylor, or didn't vote for Dale, or whatever. 

 

so far it is living up to exactly what I thought it would be when the concept was first explained--a whole lot of bullshit drama.

Absolutely.

[Ms Blue Jay]

The guy with the eye infection looks kind of like Alan Tudyk?

 

https://www.google.ca/search?q=alan+tudyk&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=643&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=6ZclVKSBNsmKyATirICgCg&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ

 

JP on Cook Islands is gay (and really good-looking) but I don't think it was ever really brought up on the show.

I saw Tocantins recently and there was a kid named Spencer who didn't really want to discuss his personal life.  

Edited September 26, 2014 by Ms Blue Jay

[cooksdelight]

I don't know where people have seen this, but if that's true it's awesome. You would have to figure out who has the other half and then switch up your alliances in order to get both halves, and then who owns the idol?

What if.... they give idol clues on EI, not all at once, but in sequence? And it would depend on if you were back a second time and picked the right urn. OMG... that would be so cool!

[Wings]

 

I don't know where people have seen this, but if that's true it's awesome.  You would have to figure out who has the other half and then switch up your alliances in order to get both halves, and then who owns the idol?

 

 

I posted that and it is a guess.  Dale has the symbol for water as shown in Val's clue and the other part of the clue showed a symbol = dig.  That seems like it might be a 2 part clue.  With Dale having one part, not sure how Val will figure it out.  There may be more symbols for water around camp, too.  Time will tell!  

What if.... they give idol clues on EI, not all at once, but in sequence? And it would depend on if you were back a second time and picked the right urn. OMG... that would be so cool!

 

 

Interesting thought.  

[iMonrey]

 

I'm really confused.  I thought it looked like an idol, but Dale clearly said it wasn't.

 

I certainly hope it isn't the Idol, because that would be pretty damn lame, having the thing just tied to the lid of the water tank, right out in the open. Hidden? I think not.

 

There are some things about this show they just refuse to fix, aren't there? Like the fact that every season the contestants are walking around in their underwear with their crotches blurred out. I get that they want them wearing as little as possible, but for the love of God, give them some show-approved swimsuits already.