S48.E06: Doing the Damn Thing

[SVNBob]

8 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Sai is like the old song about the scorpion/snake who will sting someone who helped her just because that's her nature.

And we'll know it's finally her time to go when we get the usual shot at the TC entrance that features a scorpion crawling on a skull. 

Snakes on a skull typically happen when a backstabbing play (aka  a "snake-like" play) is about to go down.

Survivor loves animal symbolism.

[bankerchick]

6 hours ago, Skooma said:

Why two weeks?  When did Sai find a second idol?

She doesn't have a second idol but we will have to watch her for 2 weeks because if she plays the idol next week, she'll be back in the next episode.

[fishcakes]

Sai played her idol the week Kevin was targeting her and Cedrek tipped her off that she needed to play it, but then didn't tell that he and Justin had changed their votes to Kevin. So she ended up wasting the idol, and that was the first thing that turned her against Cedrek. Basically, every time he saves her, she gets mad at him because, in her opinion, he didn't do it right.

I don't think she found another idol after that, but I can't really keep track of who has what.

[Seelouis]

2 minutes ago, surfgirl said:

I forgot about that. So wait, does anyone have an idol right now at the merge? I ask because when they were all on the same island nobody was looking for an idol, just that advantage thing that Saionara snaked put feom under whatshername.

Eva does. She has the one Star gave her. 

[HurricaneVal]

I am 100% on board with a seething Sai sitting on the loser bench as the first member of the jury for the rest of the show.  Like most of y'all, I'm not a Sai fan, but I do have to give credit where credit is due:  it was pretty awesome when she just swept in and grabbed that advantage out of seeming nowhere.  It was like one of those fast takes from the bloodbath portion of The Hunger Games. 

Eva's puzzled and confused small-voiced comment of "Why does everything look like garlic?" in the voting booth just slayed me.  Because, at that same time, I was wondering why the whole Tribal Council set looked like Saint Basil's church on Red Square in Moscow.  They're not even making an effort to find another Polynesian or South Pacific theme.  I figure next season will be pyramids and hieroglyphics, or castles and tartans. 

I can't figure Star out.  Is it the editing?  Or is it her?  The first few episodes, she seemed very standoffish and hugely awkward as she isolated herself.  Or was it her tribemates avoiding her?  Now she's like the biggest cheerleader and compassionately encouraging life coach you could ever want.  Was she just waiting for the merge to blossom, wasn't feeling well early on, or is just needed to process the situation and now she's got it figured out?  I'm liking the "new" Star, but not trusting that this will last.

[iMonrey]

Star cracked me up in the voting booth when she took the cap off the marker and it flew across the set. But I fear she's not long for this game. She's obviously nice but she doesn't seem to have much game in her. Giving the idol to Eva was a magnanimous gesture but it didn't seem like it was reciprocated by Eva so it didn't win her any points.

As for Eva, I didn't like how she treated Star early on. It felt similar to the way Sai was sort of bullying Mary. 

[Blip]

In the immunity challenge Sai, Star, Mary, Chrissy, and maybe David got away with holding the stick above the line they were supposed to stay below.  There were even several close ups of Mary and Star hold above the line, and Star was above the line most of the time, even though Probst, said "You are good."

[fishcakes]

11 hours ago, Blip said:

In the immunity challenge Sai, Star, Mary, Chrissy, and maybe David got away with holding the stick above the line they were supposed to stay below.  There were even several close ups of Mary and Star hold above the line, and Star was above the line most of the time, even though Probst, said "You are good."

I noticed that too. They weren't in the painted area but they were touching the bottom part of it. Maybe from Jeff's angle, they were completely below it.

[eskimo]

Aside from obscuring who everyone was, I thought that thick mud was going to cause Chrissy (?) to fall straight backwards off the wall.  She already had her feet in the rope, but couldn't get a good grip on anyone’s hands and they couldn't get a good grip on her, because of that stupid-ass mud.  She was sliding down and at that angle it could have been hard to get her feet out of the rope and underneath her if she fell.  It looked like she was going to fall backwards, attached to the rope net by the feet, and either smack the back of her head on the wall, or land on it at the bottom.  As excited as Jeff gets for 'the very first *whatevers* on Survivor', he might want to  be careful of Survivors very first traumatic brain injury, or first quadriplegic.  Next week, players wade through a pit of boiling tar and then find puzzle pieces in a pile of feathers.  

Star might not have what it takes to win this game, but she is the kind of person who anybody would be lucky to have as a friend. 

[Blip]

5 hours ago, fishcakes said:

I noticed that too. They weren't in the painted area but they were touching the bottom part of it. Maybe from Jeff's angle, they were completely below it.

Is Probst the sole judge in making rulings on who was holding the poles properly?  The names I mentioned were pretty clearly above the line when I checked on replay, but it was by a small amount for most of them.  Close up of Mary's hand showed her thumb varied from about half an inch to two inches above the line, but her thumb was behind the pole from Jeff's vantage point. I was glad that winner had not violated the rules.

[meep.meep]

On 4/3/2025 at 8:48 PM, iMonrey said:

Well, sure. But there are lots of other ways to make challenges more difficult. I can think of a dozen ways off the top of my head that don't obscure who the hell everyone is. Apparently, though, the Survivor challenger designers cannot. Or . . . they seem to think it's HIGH- larious. 

Let's be real. The show hasn't come up with anything new for challenges in years. Crawl under a net through mud. Dig through the sand to find a bag of puzzle pieces. Untangle a rope to get a key. Climb up over a board. Walk across a balance beam. Throw balls into a basket. Throw sandbags at a target. Then, do a block puzzle. Obstacle course, puzzle. Obstacle course, puzzle. Obstacle course, puzzle. 

Enough already. It's just not interesting anymore. They seem to have settled on this and they're too lazy to come up with anything else.

At least they seem to have retired the twisted fishing net in the mud.  I would always have to leave because drowning seemed imminent.

They could instead:

Have them dig up a bag of puzzle pieces, but force them to cooperate because each bag contains multiple people's pieces.

Bring back gross food!

Bring back the pecking order reveal challenges

Bring back the local culture challenges - using folk tales, local language, local dances, etc.

Bring back the who knows the most about everybody else challenges

Who can shoot blow darts farthest/most accurately.

 

That's just off the top of my head.

[Diana Berry]

On 4/3/2025 at 1:56 PM, fishcakes said:

"Let's take out an easy target this time," is so stupid. No, you have enough people for numbers and the big players are not worried yet. Take them out now instead of voting out numbers you'll need later.

David thinks he's playing American Gladiators, I guess. Him pointing to his head and saying, "this is a muscle too," was gloriously moronic.

After the season's over, Joe should get together with S46's Kenzie and they can talk about how they're the most selfless people who've ever played Survivor. It will end with a round of, "I am," "No, I AM" and eventually they'll be asked to leave the Starbucks.

My hope for an underdog alliance of Mary, Star, Mitch, Charity, and maybe Cedrek is clearly never going to happen, but I'll settle for Kyle and Kamilla covertly destroying the meathead alliance.

I’d love an underdog alliance. I think it could work.  You left out Chrissy.  Prob not happen but that would be cool.  

[surfgirl]

On 4/4/2025 at 8:05 PM, iMonrey said:

Giving the idol to Eva was a magnanimous gesture but it didn't seem like it was reciprocated by Eva so it didn't win her any points.

As for Eva, I didn't like how she treated Star early on. It felt similar to the way Sai was sort of bullying Mary

^This^ times 1,000!

12 hours ago, eskimo said:

Star might not have what it takes to win this game, but she is the kind of person who anybody would be lucky to have as a friend. 

Well said! xo

10 hours ago, meep.meep said:

Bring back gross food!

Bring back the pecking order reveal challenges

Bring back the local culture challenges - using folk tales, local language, local dances, etc.

Bring back the who knows the most about everybody else challenges

Yes to all the above!

[JudyObscure]

On 4/4/2025 at 5:26 PM, HurricaneVal said:

Like most of y'all, I'm not a Sai fan, but I do have to give credit where credit is due:  it was pretty awesome when she just swept in and grabbed that advantage out of seeming nowhere.  It was like one of those fast takes from the bloodbath portion of The Hunger Games. 

 

16 hours ago, eskimo said:

Star might not have what it takes to win this game, but she is the kind of person who anybody would be lucky to have as a friend. 

Yep, there we have it, such a cool contrast and a good look at what we ask women to be.

  Sai is just the sort of hard playing, ruthless woman who'll break the glass ceiling and be CEO of some pharmaceutical company and Star will be a great, nurturing  friend, wife and mother. I like watching both of them.

I  agree with Eskimo that watching the mud people nearly kill themselves was awful.  Not only dangerous for the ones who were about to fall backward, but the men who were trying to pull up the women (and Cedrek)  were about to go head first off the structure.  

[fishcakes]

18 hours ago, Blip said:

Is Probst the sole judge in making rulings on who was holding the poles properly? 

I don't know if he's the only judge, but he has said that he sometimes has to make rulings on the fly. There must be other production people around watching the challenges, and they probably have some say, but since I would think they need to stay out of view of the cameras, it's hard to know how much they can see.

10 hours ago, Diana Berry said:

I’d love an underdog alliance. I think it could work.  You left out Chrissy.  Prob not happen but that would be cool.  

I don't think of Chrissy as an underdog because she was part of the majority Orange alliance with David, Kyle, and Kamilla, and it seems like once they had their four, they shut out Mitch and Charity. They weren't mean about it like Purple was with Star, but it was still a clear in-group/out-group.

For the same reason, I shouldn't think of Cedrek as an underdog because it was only Mary and Stephanie from Green who got the outcast treatment, but that whole tribe was so hopeless from the beginning and he's been pretty hapless all along himself so, for me, he's become an honorary underdog lol.

[Diana Berry]

3 hours ago, fishcakes said:

I don't know if he's the only judge, but he has said that he sometimes has to make rulings on the fly. There must be other production people around watching the challenges, and they probably have some say, but since I would think they need to stay out of view of the cameras, it's hard to know how much they can see.

I don't think of Chrissy as an underdog because she was part of the majority Orange alliance with David, Kyle, and Kamilla, and it seems like once they had their four, they shut out Mitch and Charity. They weren't mean about it like Purple was with Star, but it was still a clear in-group/out-group.

For the same reason, I shouldn't think of Cedrek as an underdog because it was only Mary and Stephanie from Green who got the outcast treatment, but that whole tribe was so hopeless from the beginning and he's been pretty hapless all along himself so, for me, he's become an honorary underdog lol.

I didn’t realize Chrissy had a four.  I can’t keep up. 

[Blissfool]

On 4/2/2025 at 11:28 PM, 30 Helens said:

However you want to categorize it, ripped alpha males banding together is not a new thing. And please stop with the “honesty and integrity” BS. That is definitely NOT a thing, new or otherwise. It’s just something contestants like to tell themselves so they don’t feel so bad about lying to their friends. Or their “family”. <eye roll>

How about they display their honesty and integrity telling everyone about their alliance. "We are Meathead alliance and if you want to beat us, you gotta do better than us."

On 4/2/2025 at 11:28 PM, 30 Helens said:

I felt bad for Star tonight. Granted, giving away an idol is not the smartest move. But to have that gift recipient (Eva) not even include you in their post-merge alliance plans? So very cold.

I haven't liked Eva since the start. She's doesn't seem to be a girl's girl, all about the boys. Such a "pick-me."

[Scatterbrained]

I loved Star’s sing-song soliloquy on the beach while waiting for the merge-mates to arrive.  She’s like a siren, waiting to welcome to argonauts.  LOL!

[Rodney]

18 hours ago, Blissfool said:

I haven't liked Eva since the start. She's doesn't seem to be a girl's girl, all about the boys. Such a "pick-me."

She explained that.  She only grew up around boys and played sports with the boys.  She rarely formed relationships with other girls because of this.  It's not great or ideal, but it's preferable to the women who are all about the boys strictly because they hate or are jealous of other women.  (Karla Godoy from 43 is a very nice example, as is Nicole Franzel from all three BB seasons that she did.)

[Scatterbrained]

I feel like this is a season of strong women, each one strong in her own way.  It is really interesting to see.  (YOU GO, GIRLS!!!)

Meanwhile, the men this season all seem nice, but NOT masterminds.

i felt like quite a few of last season’s men didn’t really respect women.  I can’t imagine this season’s cast putting up with it.  

[Lantern7]

This week's cartoon from Erik, "We Want a Clean Game":

[BluBarbi98]

On 4/4/2025 at 11:57 AM, fishcakes said:

Sai played her idol the week Kevin was targeting her and Cedrek tipped her off that she needed to play it, but then didn't tell that he and Justin had changed their votes to Kevin. So she ended up wasting the idol, and that was the first thing that turned her against Cedrek. Basically, every time he saves her, she gets mad at him because, in her opinion, he didn't do it right.

I don't think she found another idol after that, but I can't really keep track of who has what.

In fairness to Sai, this is a legitimate reason to be suspicious of someone. Yeah, he saved her but he also asked her to burn her idol unnecessarily too. I don't remember if his convincing Justin was at the last minute or not but if he had time to tell her she didn't need to use it and didn't then he'd be on my list too.