S30.E13: My Word Is My Bond

[Skeeter22]

Mike was pretty paranoid before the conversation to vote Mike out. Remember his whole speech about finding the idol and why he had to have the idol?

It's not paranoia if you're 1,000,000% correct that everyone is out to get you.

[Guest]

So I get the paranoid thing. Sierra played it perfectly. She knew that they were voting for Carolyn and was able to cold sell Carolyn that they were voting for Dan and that Mike was being paranoid. Carolyn was pretty comfortable going into tribal. I said it in my first vote, I don't think Carolyn plays the idol if Dan had not played his advantage.

I tend to agree.  Carolyn looked pissed at tribal or at least annoyed.  I think she only there realized she was in danger and would have to use her idol.  Almost whenever Dan spoke, they switched to Carolyn looking more disturbed afterward.  

 

Jeff read all 4 votes for her so she knows everyone was in on it, too, right?  

[Calamity Jane]

Maybe Probst was right and this is the best season ever. Because his dripping-with-disdain "So, is that just like... entitlement?" to Rodney gave me a man-crush for the evening.

And Mike's "I feel for him, but umm, if he wins it's a guarantee he'll go on the reward" was just the cherry on top.

Khaleesi was loooooooving the Dan ouster. She jumped off the couch when he said he wanted to be remembered and oh-no-she-didn't yelled "Oh, you'll be remembered... for getting HOSED even with the best advantage you could get!"

And Rodney, when he was saying that now because of Carolyn he's going to give the challenges everything he's got, she loved that too. Khaleesi: "Ohhhhhhhh, so until now you've just been losing because you weren't trying? Got it."

We have decided we may want Rodney and Will in the F3 just for the scathing jury questions.

Add me to the throng of Khaleesi's fans.  

[sadiegirl1999]

Best line of the night? Dan, during the IC, "I suck at life". Yes, yes you do.

 

 

Should've been the name of the episode, IMO.

[Calamity Jane]

I'm convinced he was only cast for comic relief.

 

 

Frankly, none of them look like they've lost much weight.  Remember how painfully skinny some past survivors were?  These are being fed.

 

 

Helicopters are expensive and only hold a few people.  Gotta keep those profits in the billions, ya know.  ;)

I think they usually travel by boat.  My husband's cousin worked on a boat/ship that supported an oil rig in the North Sea.  It makes much more sense - large numbers of people and gear can be transported, so they probably save the copter rides for the bigwigs.  

[survivinmt]

Loved this episode. I gotta say that I really want Sierra to win this. I think barring immunity challenge shenanigans she will be the only one left to root for. But she really does play - she was giving her all in both challenges. I don't know how she refrained from beaning Dan in the back of the head when she found out her fixin's idea was right. I feel that while Rodney is a complete tool -- his behavior at Tribal Council was just a play to garner favor with the jury. They don't see his whiney sniveling hangry side - just his delightfully ditzy, "I'm too hungry to think" side. Although Dan has now seen it so hopefully he will think twice about giving him the $.

The person throwing their grappling hook straight into the air was Carolyn. I try to get behind her and wish I could like her but her smugness is just too much. For the reward, Rodney did not even consider winning it. Before it started he was jonesing for someone to give it to him.  What a tool! 

[backformore]

I deleted it too soon.  Both teams had "A reward" and spent an hour coming up with "with all the fixins"?  I need to see what they saw

 

A REWARD

 

N' I W T L H T I F I S X A L H E 

 

Remove "THE" because it's obvious....

 

N' I W L T I F I S X A L H

 

Yeah, I guess there's a lot of words in that.  I would've gotten it, though.  

 

So do the loved ones usually not show up until the finale?  Or are we spared this year?  

 

I think once they spelled "A reward WILL"  they couldn't think to go back and re-consider whether "WILL'  was the only possibility for the phrase.  Once they realized that it didn't have to be WILL, the puzzle was solveable. 

But really, the fact that the "N"  had an apostrophe after it, meant that "N"  had to be followed by either  S or T.  They needed to work on that part of it. 

It's the kind of puzzle that actually would have been easier for someone to solve individually rather than by a group.  

But who's going to Dansplain things now?

I love this!  yeah "Dansplain"  is certainly a word now, meaning a pompous, condescending way of telling people something, using cliches,  that they don't really need explained to them. 

I checked here to see the results before watching it, and LOVED, LOVED, LOVED Dan talking about how much Mike had to go because MIKE is so arrogant and condescending.  It's a lot more fun to hear him say those words once you know he's the one voted off.

 

And I loved watching Dan's face when he realized that he had this 'huge' advantage, and wasted it.  

Edited May 14, 2015 by backformore

[fishcakes]

So I get the paranoid thing. Sierra played it perfectly. She knew that they were voting for Carolyn and was able to cold sell Carolyn that they were voting for Dan and that Mike was being paranoid. Carolyn was pretty comfortable going into tribal. I said it in my first vote, I don't think Carolyn plays the idol if Dan had not played his advantage.

 

We didn't see Sierra sell her on anything though. It's more plausible to me, especially given how passive Sierra has been and how smug Carolyn has been, that Carolyn convinced herself she was safe and Sierra didn't do anything. I do agree, though, that Carolyn didn't clue in until Dan played his advantage.

[himela]

Under normal circumstances I would have liked this episode very much and be like, wow! that was a great episode!. But what ruined it for me was all this talkng and anticipation about a great turning point to the game, jumping sharks, shakespearean ways and so on which only happened on fricking episode 13! It's the most anticipated episode but still I am not in any mood to comment on it cause what happened was still predictable at least by the viewers. We alll knew that if Mike had won the immunity challenge, Dan would be the one going home. We all knew Dan was going to use his advantage. We all knew Carolyn was going to play her idol. Nothing was a jaw dropping moment for us to be honest, and this makes the wow factor smaller.

[Drogo]

In the spirit of his tribemates, Dan has added some new ink to his bangin' bod. 

 

[diggle]

I just watched and it has been a long time since I have been on the edge of my seat (fall ball, fall!) and then screaming at the Tribal not knowing what was going to happen (and sooooooooooooooooo glad this was one of the time I did not read the recap before getting home to watch) and not knowing whether C was going to play the Idol and then when she did and the High Five and the reading of the names! I was wooting all over. Scared my dog. Best episode of Survivor in a looooooooooooooooooooooong time! Wonderful wonderful! (And yes, I am a refugee from the Hatchery.)

[fishcakes]

@Drogo, you know you and I have always been like

 

 

but a photo of shirtless Dan? Think of the children.

[dolphincorn]

 

It's not paranoia if you're 1,000,000% correct that everyone is out to get you.

 

What if you're only 150,000%?

[Eggman]

At this point in the game the rewards are vital, because they include food.  The food often makes the difference when it comes to competing in the following immunity challenge.  What Rodney was asking for wasn't just someone being nice to him, he was asking for a significant advantage near the end of the game.  That's unreasonable.

 

There's only one player left who can plausibly be said to have played hard the whole way through, and that's Mike.  I'm fully expecting to see him win ICs right up to the end.   The other players have done what they had to do when faced with a dominant opponent - they stuck together, regardless of their relative position within the shrinking alliance.  Allying with Mike would mean automatic loss at this point -- he has too many jury votes already, and every person who gets put on the jury has no reason to  blame him for their elimination. 

 

Oh, and Boards on Boards (as it used to be known) -- could the moderators be bothered to lock the thread until the episode is over?  The first page of posts from people who are posting while watching are awful to have to slog through after the fact.   That's what twitter is for.

[jbrecken]

After reading, "Carolyn does ponder it for a moment. Aloud, even," I heard the rest of the recap in the voice of Snagglepuss. Makes this farce more watchable.

[Drogo]

I'm sorry, fishcakes.  I should have fired a warning shot. 

 

Much like any other terrible historical catastrophe, Dan's hairy back and droopy chest are things we need to teach our children about. 

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2015 by Drogo

[Dawn16]

Why wasn't he mad at Will for not giving up his reward? 

Because Carolyn is a mother-aged female, and his mommy would have given up her reward in a heartbeat for her precious baby.  When I mentioned this to my 13-year-old son, he said, "I know you would want the food.  Plus, I wouldn't ask you because you earned it."  But Rodney would ask his mommy.  It was especially painful for him that he was NOT the center of the universe, especially the mom-figure's universe, on his birthday.  I really hope Carolyn asked them to start calling her Mama C in an effort to gain these boy-men's loyalty, because if they made it up on their own because she's a mother-aged woman....ugh. 

 

We cheered that at least one non-horrible human being will be in the final three (assuming there's a final three instead of two), although it was entertaining to consider what the jury could write: "Rodney, because everyone else sucks even more."  My son thought Dan's line, "I suck at life," would have been a perfect episode title, but perhaps it would have been too much of a spoiler. 

 

I truly realized how bad this season is when I found myself cheering madly for someone who named his tribe "Merica" and probably not ironically.   But that puzzle challenge was awkwardly entertaining.  My kids and I have renamed the season, "The Season of the Goats."

[Guest]

Under normal circumstances I would have liked this episode very much and be like, wow! that was a great episode!. But what ruined it for me was all this talkng and anticipation about a great turning point to the game, jumping sharks, shakespearean ways and so on which only happened on fricking episode 13! It's the most anticipated episode but still I am not in any mood to comment on it cause what happened was still predictable at least by the viewers. We alll knew that if Mike had won the immunity challenge, Dan would be the one going home. We all knew Dan was going to use his advantage. We all knew Carolyn was going to play her idol. Nothing was a jaw dropping moment for us to be honest, and this makes the wow factor smaller.

 

I figure it's like a sports game.  Jeff is referring to highlights.  The greatest games ever didn't have every play a highlight.  Dan using his advantage and Carolyn using her idol weren't necessarily going to be highlights, depending on circumstances, but here they were. 

 

 could the moderators be bothered to lock the thread until the episode is over?  The first page of posts from people who are posting while watching are awful to have to slog through after the fact.   That's what twitter is for.

I don't think they care here when people post but the pre-comments and blow-by-blow posts bother me too.  I scan the posting times and scroll past the pre-show banter and blow-by-blow reactions.  

[dolphincorn]

 

I truly realized how bad this season is when I found myself cheering madly for someone who named his tribe "Merica" and probably not ironically.   But that puzzle challenge was awkwardly entertaining.  My kids and I have renamed the season, "The Season of the Goats."

 

In Chinese astrology, it's a Goat year.

[ellie2205]

I agree, it would've been great if Dan's quote were the episode title, but CBS changed it to properly attribute the quote so it was "Survivor Season 30 Episode 13: [Dan] suck at life."

 

I forget which interview it was, but in one of his talking heads Dan was super upset and kind of pounding his chest (I think when he was talking about Mike's "unmitigated gall" about trying to work with him).  It made his moobs really bounce about.  It was not a pleasant shot.  I feel like overweight men should be really conscious about where their moobs are and what they're doing at all times.  (Sorry, moob-owners.  To be fair, as a woman, I also try to be fairly cognizant about my chest, too.)

 

Hm, do I have anything of possible value to say about strategy / actual game play ...?

I think the combination of using Dan's advantage at tribal and Carolyn's idol (particularly because she actually kept it a secret, unlike so many others before her) would've made for compelling TV no matter what season it was.  I had been hoping ever since he got it that Dan would use his advantage and it would end up getting him voted out, which kind of happened here as I agree it was probably the main trigger for Carolyn to use her idol.  I'd hoped for even more epic circumstances (like, for Dan to use it but to vote for the wrong person or people, thus somehow diluting the voting pool and making him have the highest number of votes - a la Tyson), but this was almost as good.

[Way Wes Jr]

Warning:  This is going to be flat-out contradictory.  I’m going to rank Mike and Carolyn at the bottom (for the first hour “episode,” of next week’s finale,) because they both can’t win immunity.  But then I’m going to predict that one of them wins - because I haven’t seen much that convinces me that Rodney, Will, or Sierra will beat either of them at the Final Immunity Challenge.

 

Merica (Purple)

 

First, the first hour, leading to the F5 vote,

 

1. Will  (4)  Dan’s gone, and there is no way Will gets any votes from here on out.  (For elimination, or for victory.)  The player’s can complain about how the editors aren’t showing all of the game play that is really going on, but if Will had done anything worthwhile, anything to not be the goatiest goat, they would have shown us.

 

2. Rodney (1)  I think he is kept over Sierra by the F4 voters.

3. Carolyn (2)  If anybody but Mike wins F5, Mike goes home.  At that point, betting on Carolyn to win F4 seems very reasonable.

4. Sierra (5)  Needs to win the F4 Immunity Challenge to make the final.

5. Mike (6)  Has to win two IC’s to make the final.  Frankly, seems just as likely as any other scenario - maybe even more.  (More below.)

 

OUT Dan (3)  Would have had to have been psychic to play both votes for (Rodney or Sierra, to force a revote he may have had a chance to win.)  BUT, would have been better off keeping the advantage in his pocket, as I believe his playing it convinced Carolyn to play her HII.

 

And who do I think will win?

 

1. (50%) Mike  He has to win two IC’s in a row, which, I wouldn’t necessarily bet against.  I have him over Carolyn because of the edit, and Probst’s likeable/iconic winner quote.

2. (44%) Carolyn  Has to win F4 IC, but can survive if Sierra wins the F5 IC.  (Note that I don’t believe Rodney or Will can win an individual challenge.)

3. (3%/3%) Sierra and Rodney. Rodney has the better game-play argument, but can he articulate it at FTC?  Sierra might be able to win the “They suck,” vote, but she shouldn’t say it out loud.

5. Will  Who will get zero votes, and third place money.

[ProfCrash]

In fairness to Rodney, I don't think Rodney would expect Mike to give him a reward, they are not aligned so there is no reason for Mike to do that. I don't know why Rodney is not whining about Will not giving up his reward. I think Carolyn may have told Rodney that she would take him on a reward or give him a reward at some point in time.

[Dewey Decimate]

S'wonderful! We've avoided a triumvirate of crap at the finale!

 

In his arrivederci video did Dan actually say something like he's proud of playing with dignity and class? Is he for real? I'd like to see him on a season of Survivor: Delusion Island. No joke, I think a season full of the worst players ever would be a hilariously awesome train wreck. I picture each player checking out the competition as Homer and Bart getting on the escape rocket ship only to have their joy turn to horror when they realize Ross Perot, Paulie Shore, Tom Arnold, and Rosie O'Donnell are their co-passengers.

[diggle]

I should not be enjoying all this fat shaming of DAn.

I simply should not.

(But I am. What a pompous ass.)

[iMonrey]

Dan calling Mike condescending is hilarious.

 

Yeah, pot meet kettle. However, as much as it pains me to say it, Dan is probably right about Mike. He says Mike always has to take the credit for everything around camp and be the one who solves everything - which is exactly how Mike was on Blue Collar at the very beginning, when he was Mr. Bossy Pants and annoying all the girls.

 

I still think Mike is kind of an asshole, and even though he's getting an underdog, favorable edit, we still see glimpses of it. He gloats to all the others that they're going to have to vote for one of their own all the time. I can see the temptation but it's not very smart. There's a reason nobody likes him. Yeah, they're all awful people, but I don't really think Mike is less awful, I just think we see less of his awfulness.

 

Hmm, so we're going into the 2-hour finale with a final five? Isn't is usually a final four? And it's not on a Sunday night? That tells me they don't think the finale will be very strong.

[BigRedCheese]

I think the finale was on Wednesday last time as well.

[ellie2205]

Aw, I hope what I said above re: moobs doesn't count as fat-shaming. I didn't mean it that way (although hm, it's not like moobs is a super flattering term). Let it be known that there are a lot of reasons I dislike Dan, but him being fat does not happen to be one of them.

 

Anyway, interesting point about the finale being on Wednesday night instead of Sunday night. I wonder if that programming choice really is because they're not expecting a strong showing?? I don't know enough about TV schedules to say.

 

I think Carolyn is smart to finally team up with Mike. As we've seen, the goats are all goating each other to the goat (I mean, end). Mike and Carolyn are the only ones perceived as "threats" now, so if she keeps him around, that's one person who's a bigger target than her. I think that strongly suggests it was just a tiny bit early for her to take out Tyler.

[blackwing]

Good riddance Dan.  I absolutely loved his pompous confessional that "Mike has the AUDACITY.  The UNMITIGATED GALL to tell me that [jazz hands] I can save you."  If ever there was a display of hubris on this show, that was it.

 

I'm thrilled that he's no longer around.  Can't decide which is worse.  Dan with that stupid beret, or without.

 

Dan's #2 goal according to his post-boot was to "be remembered".  Well, people are going to remember him, but probably not for the reasons he wanted.

 

The Rot is such a whiny baby.  Begging for someone to take him on the reward.  I'm so glad he lost.  

 

Will is in the best position of all.  The way I see it, he's a complete goat who has done absolutely nothing in this game, so either he gets there on his own with the Rot or he gets brought along by Mike or Carolyn.

 

Still trying to figure out how Dan playing his extra vote is "Shakespearean".  Is it just about overconfidence?  There's nothing particularly Shakespearean about simply making a wrong choice.  Shakespearean would have been if he used the extra vote to save the Rot and ended up going home instead.  Some kind of sacrifice or something.

 

Jeff completely misused the phrases "jumping the shark" and "Shakespearean".  Maybe after 30 seasons, HE is the one with the fatigue.

Edited May 14, 2015 by blackwing

[Special K]

Moments I loved:

 

- That the editors showed the Dan TH at the beginning where he said Mike was condescending and complained about Mike's audacity at wanting to win.  What a lovely gift from the editors!  Almost as if it were my birthday.  I knew then that Dan was going home, and my stingy little heart grew three sizes that day.

 

- Rodney during the immunity challenge, throwing that grappling hook!  Especially sweet given his "Game on!!  Mike, I'ma comin' to get you!" TH.

 

- I actually loved that Carolyn considered (or pretended to consider) giving Rodney her reward before being all, "Psych!"  It was sadistic.

 

- Beautiful idol play by Carolyn.  I cheered, and I don't even really like her.  Props to her for showing such restraint in not crowing about her HII all this time.  That's how you play Survivor.

 

- Little armadillo!  Little racoon-thing!

 

Moments of rue:

 

- Bugs crawling on the surf n turf

 

- The unmitigated pretty on the jury is now irrevocably tainted.

[ellie2205]

Oh yeah. How come some people got so mad at Jenn when she played her idol, it saved her, and she was ecstatic about it during the reading of the votes; but nobody seems mad at Carolyn for acting very similarly (in my view at least)?

 

I think it would be difficult to hide your glee when your idol saves your butt, so I think anybody who successfully plays an idol -- especially for themselves -- has the right to let loose a little during the votes.

 

Oh, similar but different, Mike has been doing a great job of not overly celebrating right when he wins his immunities.  I don't know how he can hold it in.  I'd probably be jumping all over the place and screaming my head off, which generally doesn't look that great.

[cooker30]

[quote name="Way Wes Jr" post="1146333"

5. Will Who will get zero votes, and third place money.

I think it's entirely possible that Will gets Dan's vote over anyone but Rodney. And he may have a shot at getting Rodney's vote if he ends up on the jury as well.

[scowl]

Oh, similar but different, Mike has been doing a great job of not overly celebrating right when he wins his immunities.  I don't know how he can hold it in.  I'd probably be jumping all over the place and screaming my head off, which generally doesn't look that great.

 

The rare times I've succeeded at something that took a lot of stress and concentration, I didn't feel like celebrating at first. I just wanted to sit down and relax my brain for a minute. That's how Mike looked to me.

[ghoulina]

In fairness to Rodney, I don't think Rodney would expect Mike to give him a reward, they are not aligned so there is no reason for Mike to do that. I don't know why Rodney is not whining about Will not giving up his reward.

 

I'm sure Rodney probably knows better than to expect Will to give up food for him. 

[blackwing]

I thought it was interesting that when Jeff announced Mike as the winner of the immunity and clasped the immunity necklace on him, that nobody clapped.  Usually everyone claps out of sportsmanship, no matter who wins.  Goes to show what a pissy bunch these are.

[Calamity Jane]

Moments I loved:

 

- That the editors showed the Dan TH at the beginning where he said Mike was condescending and complained about Mike's audacity at wanting to win.  What a lovely gift from the editors!  Almost as if it were my birthday.  I knew then that Dan was going home, and my stingy little heart grew three sizes that day.

 

- Rodney during the immunity challenge, throwing that grappling hook!  Especially sweet given his "Game on!!  Mike, I'ma comin' to get you!" TH.

 

- I actually loved that Carolyn considered (or pretended to consider) giving Rodney her reward before being all, "Psych!"  It was sadistic.

 

- Beautiful idol play by Carolyn.  I cheered, and I don't even really like her.  Props to her for showing such restraint in not crowing about her HII all this time.  That's how you play Survivor.

 

- Little armadillo!  Little racoon-thing!

 

Moments of rue:

 

- Bugs crawling on the surf n turf

 

- The unmitigated pretty on the jury is now irrevocably tainted.

The bugs on the surf 'n' turf gave my stomach some serious turnover moments.  

[LadyChatts]

Under normal circumstances I would have liked this episode very much and be like, wow! that was a great episode!. But what ruined it for me was all this talkng and anticipation about a great turning point to the game, jumping sharks, shakespearean ways and so on which only happened on fricking episode 13! It's the most anticipated episode but still I am not in any mood to comment on it cause what happened was still predictable at least by the viewers. We alll knew that if Mike had won the immunity challenge, Dan would be the one going home. We all knew Dan was going to use his advantage. We all knew Carolyn was going to play her idol. Nothing was a jaw dropping moment for us to be honest, and this makes the wow factor smaller.

 

That's the way I feel.  Great episode, great outcome, loved the moves made, but it took us this long to get good.  And yes, at the end of the day, somewhat predictable.  I think the best part besides Dan getting booted was Rodney losing reward and his brain fart at tribal.

 

Prior to this, the most excited I was for a tribal was Jenn's idol play.  And before that, the reaction of Rodney to Joaquin's blindside, of course Max and Vince's blindsides.  All the good stuff happened pre-jury.  I think calling it 'Shakespearean' was far fetched.  It did work out beautifully, though.  I will give Probst that, though I'm hopeful it's because he equally hates Dan and was glad to see him get bounced after being so gleeful at using his advantage.  For the same person.  That he was 99% sure he had votes secured for.

Edited May 14, 2015 by LadyChatts

[How Bout That]

""Fixin's" is such a stupid Jeff non-word I think reasonable people might have struggled with it.  I'd like to think I would have gotten "Reward with all the" though."

 

I dunno (see what I did there), Roy Rogers restaurants were a pretty big franchise there for awhile and they always had a "fixins" bar so you could dress your burger exactly how you like it.

[Boilergal]

In the spirit of his tribemates, Dan has added some new ink to his bangin' bod. 

 

and still better than Sierra's brows

[scowl]

I thought it was interesting that when Jeff announced Mike as the winner of the immunity and clasped the immunity necklace on him, that nobody clapped.  Usually everyone claps out of sportsmanship, no matter who wins.  Goes to show what a pissy bunch these are.

 

But you know they would have applauded if Mike had lost and been voted out.

[blackwing]

The editors must have forgotten to include a shot of Sierra giving Dan a look, after he so quickly pooh-poohed her suggestion of "fixin' ".  Just think, Sierra could have eaten that food and gotten sustenance.  Mike would have been hungry and grumpy.  Instead, Mike dines on steak and lobster.  He is satiated and calm at the immunity challenge.  Sierra gets 1/4 of a "watermelon" (as I'm sure the Rot ate one on his own because he was STAHVING and Dan probably ate 3/4 of one in one bite) and she is hungry.  Had Dan listened to Sierra, Sierra might have won immunity because she wasn't hungry, and Mike goes home.  Dan is responsible in part for sending himself home.  Beautiful.

[scowl]

And if the editing is to be believed, Sierra nearly beat Mike in the IC. 

[blackwing]

Seems like she almost did.  Jeff was giving a running commentary and he commented when Sierra got into the inner circle not long after he announced that Mike was in the inner circle.  I suppose those sound bytes could have been spliced together, but it seems clear at some point prior to Mike winning, Sierra got into the inner circle.

 

It's not like Amazing Race when they purposely make things look a lot closer than they really are.  Because here we have Jeff constantly running his trap.

[Wings]

Moments I loved:

 

- That the editors showed the Dan TH at the beginning where he said Mike was condescending and complained about Mike's audacity at wanting to win.  What a lovely gift from the editors!  Almost as if it were my birthday.  I knew then that Dan was going home, and my stingy little heart grew three sizes that day.

 

- Rodney during the immunity challenge, throwing that grappling hook!  Especially sweet given his "Game on!!  Mike, I'ma comin' to get you!" TH.

 

- I actually loved that Carolyn considered (or pretended to consider) giving Rodney her reward before being all, "Psych!"  It was sadistic.

 

- Beautiful idol play by Carolyn.  I cheered, and I don't even really like her.  Props to her for showing such restraint in not crowing about her HII all this time.  That's how you play Survivor.

 

- Little armadillo!  Little racoon-thing!

 

Moments of rue:

 

- Bugs crawling on the surf n turf

 

- The unmitigated pretty on the jury is now irrevocably tainted.

 

 

I loved those moments too and needed you to remind me.  

 

I will add one to this list.  Rodney hurling the puzzle pieces,  to the side with such abandon that Jeff had to reel him in!   It was as if he thought the harder I throw these the closer we are to winning.  

 

He is like this little dust storm, spinning out of control in regular intervals all over the place.  I would not be surprised to hear they took turns watching him.  They all treat him like a little, untrained pet.  

[Turtle]

Speaking of Mike, did he just shoot himself in the foot by inadvertently convincing Carolyn to play her idol? I know he was trying to build an alliance with her, but she's his biggest challenge competition left out there.  He's much more likely to get to the end without her around, I think.  Of course, it's good for him that her idol is gone, but it'd be even better if she were gone probably.

 

I think it helps Mike to have Carolyn play her idol. One, she no longer has it, as you said, and so isn't guaranteed F4. Two, she is seen as a threat just like he is, so there is still another potential target in the game. Three, one of the people who desperately wants him out is gone. This could possibly lead to an interesting F4 vote. If neither Mike nor Carolyn win immunity, what will Rodney, Will, and Sierra do? All three vote for one, or try to split the votes in case one has the idol (even though there is no chance of it working if Mike and Carolyn vote together- but they might not)? If one of them wins immunity, and they re-hide Carolyn's idol and the other has that, then it'll be a delicious hot mess!

It will be interesting to see what Mike and Carolyn do next week. Do they stick together and work hard to bring someone else to their side? Or do they reconcile themselves to the fact that whoever doesn't win immunity is gone? Neither choice is ideal.

 

With all due respect, Turtle, I believe your "auto-correct" may have tweaked your post.  Did you mean to write "I bet Rodney gets beaten in a lot of bar fights." ? Or perhaps "I bet Rodney has to run away from a lot of bar fights." ?

Thank you so much- obviously something went horribly awry with my post. :-)

[pricklypear]

Heh. Watching it again because it was so fun the first time. I missed before BOTH Jeff's and Sierra's reactions when Dan asked if a letter was a "W" or an "M." Jeff was all, "Can't help ya, dude," while Sierra practically rolled her eyes right onto the field and grabbed it from him, saying, "It's a 'W.'" For some reason, it struck me as really funny.

[LadyChatts]

But you know they would have applauded if Mike had lost and been voted out.

 

Yeah, the whole issue with Mike was ridiculous.  If I were him, I would gladly have a damn smirk on my face and gloating to people about being in charge, and doing my version of the Elaine from Seinfeld dance.  They want him gone, and once again he ruins their plans.  There seemed to be a lot of resentment.  Like the kids who are bossy and throw a tantrum because they aren't getting their own way.  This group just expects to have a smooth ride and things to either be handed to them or to go according to plan so they don't need to scramble and strategize.  How I've been waiting for at least that much to come back and bite someone.  Maybe it will with Sierra, though I still think there's a reason we aren't seeing as to why she's being kept around.

 

In regards to the finale, didn't they start the Wednesdays again during Cagayan?  Though if it weren't for the S31 reveal, it probably would be either one of the lowest rated reunions ever or people would tune in for the drama.  I don't really care to see the whole Shirin/Will/Dan/Rodney deal re-hashed again.  Of course I want to see their biggest goofs, like Dan screwing up the puzzle in that IC twice, or Rodney's various temper tantrums at not getting reward and having it rubbed in that he was the problem in the equation.  And of course, I want to see my 3 favorite NC that left too soon (especially Joe and his hair).  I'm hoping they get the most applause over everyone left.  But what I really want to see, and what I believe a lot of people will, is the S31 reveal.  The dirty30 crowd can spin whatever ratings bump they want and say people watched because they were awesome, but I guarantee a lot of people will be sticking around for that that might not normally have tuned in.

[phlebas]

I think the finale was on Wednesday last time as well.

I think Survivor wants nothing to do with a head-to-head against Games of Thrones.

[Boilergal]

As Jeff was yammering on during the RC -

 

Rodney:  I think he's giving us hints

Seirra:  I'm not even listening to him

Me:  GAH!!! OPEN YOUR EARS WOMAN!!!!

 

Every time Dan started his ranting and raving about Mike - I would say  Ummm Pot?!?! 

They say:  What You Hate Most in Others, is the Shadow Within Yourself

[Lingo]

Hmm, so we're going into the 2-hour finale with a final five? Isn't is usually a final four? And it's not on a Sunday night? That tells me they don't think the finale will be very strong.

 

It was on Wednesday the last 2 seasons as well (28 & 29), and it's always a final five if the FTC has 3 remaining.

[riverheightsnancy]

I think Survivor wants nothing to do with a head-to-head against Games of Thrones.

Mad Men finale too. I was already thinking of recording Survivor because I don't want to miss a second of Mad Men.