S31.E04: What's The Beef?

[HurricaneVal]

I read in a thread somewhere (quite possibly here, or back at TWoP) that from the middle towards the end of the season, some digital enhancing is necessary because the Survivor's teeth start to look really grody without access to oral hygiene products, and that turns the American public off something fierce.  Some of those pearly whites might be CGI!

[ShadowSixx]

Woo could have easily or possibly taken the target off his back if he had informed Abi that Tasha told him to vote for her at the last TC with Savage and PG right there when she told him. Then again I'm sick of people bending over for Abi because they're afraid of how she'll react. Simple solution is to vote her ass out, blindside her ass. They're all too focused on how to make Abi happy, which makes me think she's running the tribe, but doing it under the radar. Everyone is working around making her happy and we have Terry to thank for that shit. Now Abi is going around all entitled.

[Skeeter22]

I read in a thread somewhere (quite possibly here, or back at TWoP) that from the middle towards the end of the season, some digital enhancing is necessary because the Survivor's teeth start to look really grody without access to oral hygiene products, and that turns the American public off something fierce.  Some of those pearly whites might be CGI!

They aren't getting any processed sugar, or drinks that would stain their teeth. Their dental health is probably better on the island than in real life, even without access to toothpaste.

[KimberStormer]

 Kass yelling something like, "Run, Golden Joey, run!  Embrace the Kaos!  There's no one in your way!"  

 

This made my morning :)

[tpplay]

 

I just love Andrew.  And also Tasha.

 

Me too.  A lot.  Her flower's great with me too.

[ToastnBacon]

I read in a thread somewhere (quite possibly here, or back at TWoP) that from the middle towards the end of the season, some digital enhancing is necessary because the Survivor's teeth start to look really grody without access to oral hygiene products, and that turns the American public off something fierce.  Some of those pearly whites might be CGI!

I seem to remember someone claiming that they use ashes from the campfire to clean their teeth and it whitens them.

I'm skeptical about that claim, but I know I've heard it.

[Guest]

I read in a thread somewhere (quite possibly here, or back at TWoP) that from the middle towards the end of the season, some digital enhancing is necessary because the Survivor's teeth start to look really grody without access to oral hygiene products, and that turns the American public off something fierce.  Some of those pearly whites might be CGI!

I have trouble believing that because CGI is expensive, while toothpaste/brushes aren't.  And the viewers would have no idea they were brushing their teeth, just like we don't see them putting on sunscreen (or condoms).  

 

Toothpaste just makes our mouths feel cleaner, with all the foam and mintiness, but it in and of itself it doesn't do much to clean or whiten teeth.  100 years ago only 1/10 of homes had it, because it wasn't foamy or minty then so no one thought it did anything (which it didn't really and still doesn't, but we like it and it causes us to brush so it's a good thing).  

 

They aren't getting any processed sugar, or drinks that would stain their teeth. Their dental health is probably better on the island than in real life, even without access to toothpaste.

 

Which is another reason tooth brushing is a new phenomenon.  Plus they rub and pick their teeth with sticks, which is great for gum health.  

[Special K]

I agree about toothpaste, etc. It's just the cleaning action that does the work.

 

Didn't someone once aggressively pick their teeth/gums and cause an injury? 

[KaveDweller]

Re: Joe running during the IC:

Maybe he is just reckless.  He probably bumped into plenty of people, but showing the times he stupidly plowed into somebody wouldn't fit the Joey Amazing narrative as much as showing the 2 or 3 times he made it back smoothly.

 

Re: Sitting out challenges 2x in a row:

IIRC the show used to have tribal reward challenges every episode, and there was real strategy involved in the decision to sit someone out in the reward so that they would be available to do the immunity challenge.  Now tribal reward challenges are few and far between and it seems like the same people sit out immunity challenges over and over, so maybe the rules have changed or maybe the count starts over after each tribal council.

 

Dalton Ross at EW once asked Jeff Probst about this, and he said the sitting out in "back to back challenges" really just means within the same episode. After someone gets voted out the count resets.  It's kind of lame, but I guess it would be harder for them to remind the audience who sat out a week ago than who sat out twenty minutes ago.

[Bryce Lynch]

She was grasping at anything she could use at that moment.

Agree again.

I hope she sticks around.

She is a goat, but a goat who very often head-butts the goat herder.

I still think a player like Abi can be manipulated to one's advantage, it just takes a lot of work.

I think Abi is too unstable, unreliable and unpredictable be a good goat. She turns on people for little or no reason.

It is possible she might make it to FTC as a goat, but I doubt it would be with her original goat herder. If you keep her around long enough, she will turn on you.

I think Tasha and Savage are smart enough to know that and they will vote her out next time.

Besides that Woo is better for the team in challenges and not nearly shrewd enough to be a strategic threat down the road.

[azshadowwalker]

Tasha seemed hellbent on getting rid of Varner due to his trying to sneak a message to the other team. She let that blind her to ever thinking of gathering the troops to vote out Abi. Savage would have gone along with that, so would Woo. Slam dunk, Abi is gone and no more having to handle her.

 

I still don't see why keeping Jeff around in any way would benefit Tasha. What does he really offer that Abi doesn't? Abi will flat out tell you who she's going to vote for. Jeff has turned on his alliance--he did it the first vote, in fact. The attempt to keep working alliances across tribes is just the cherry on top. Jeff was loyal to no one but Jeff, and he wasn't as easy to read as Abi.

[wonald]

I seem to remember someone claiming that they use ashes from the campfire to clean their teeth and it whitens them.

I'm skeptical about that claim, but I know I've heard it.

 

There was talk of "ash toothbrushes" in SP E1. Supposedly, there is some lye in the ashes. Technically, you could probably make some soap out there with ash and coconut oil. However, not all seasons use ash. S30 didnt according to Carolyn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Didn't someone once aggressively pick their teeth/gums and cause an injury? 

 

That was Sarina in S22.

[Zuleikha]

I still don't see why keeping Jeff around in any way would benefit Tasha. What does he really offer that Abi doesn't? Abi will flat out tell you who she's going to vote for.

Yeah, Abi and Woo are better choices than Jeff in pretty much every way predictable. Jeff should have wanted to keep PG over Abi because PG is a much better alliance partner and it would have put Ta Keo back in control of Angkor. But Tasha/Savage have no reason to want to keep Jeff. The three of them didn't even like each other, so it's not like there's even the argument that Jeff is more fun to be around at camp. IMHO, Jeff is also more dangerous to bring to merge than Abi because while both are equally willing to flip, Jeff seemed like he'd actively strategize to make a flip work whereas Abi seems like she'll only do it if the opportunity presents itself. Also, people are a lot more likely to refuse to work with Abi just because she's so freaking annoying to deal with. 

 

It may have been nice for us the viewers to see Abi voted out, but it would have been bad play for Savage/Tasha at this point. If they go back to TC before merge, though, they better keep Woo and jettison Abi. 

[Village]

I'm surprised that Tasha's eyes are still in their sockets with the amount of eye-rolling she was doing. That's the "Nice Tasha" I know and love.

 

Why does Tasha have to be "nice" exactly? No one else is expected to be.

[kikaha]

c

 

 

I still don't see why keeping Jeff around in any way would benefit Tasha. What does he really offer that Abi doesn't? Abi will flat out tell you who she's going to vote for. Jeff has turned on his alliance--he did it the first vote, in fact. The attempt to keep working alliances across tribes is just the cherry on top. Jeff was loyal to no one but Jeff, and he wasn't as easy to read as Abi.

 

I agree 100%.  Tasha was right: Jeff IS a rat.  A loveable (for the audience) rat, but one nonetheless who Tasha absolutely could not trust.  She made a much better choice to pick Abi over Jeff. 

[Hera]

I'm surprised no one has been trying to cultivate an alliance with Woo. In Cagayan, Tony pretty much owned Woo's vote. If I were playing Survivor, I would absolutely want an ally who will vote with me every time. Maybe that's coming now that he voted with the majority to get rid of Jeff.

 

I went back and looked at the boot list for Philippines. I'm surprised at how far Abi made it into the game—she was the last Tandang to be put on the jury. I'm hoping that was a function of her injury making her a non-threat in challenges and so the "we have bigger fish to fry," mentality is what kept her around. I would like to see her go sooner rather than later and am hoping that Angkor lose again next week so that Tasha, Andrew, and Woo can get rid of her. I've gotten my boyfriend into Survivor and he was pretty furious this week, since he enjoyed Jeff's narration and hates Abi with a fiery passion.

[KimberStormer]

Abi should have made Final 3 in Philippines...Lisa and Skupin dragged her to the end but lost their nerve thinking Malcolm was a challenge threat (and a lot of people seem to be under the same delusion despite watching him be average at challenges two seasons long!) so they really got the worst of all worlds, spending almost the whole game with Grumpy Abi and not reaping the goat benefit.

[Guest]

If they thought Malcolm was a challenge threat why did they keep him a week longer than Abi?  I don't remember it much so I read Wikipedia and it said Lisa and Skupin voted out Abi because they had an alliance with Denise and Malcolm.  It said Lisa wanted to get Malcolm out because he was a threat but he won a few immunities in a row toward the end.

[Bryce Smith]

If they thought Malcolm was a challenge threat why did they keep him a week longer than Abi?  I don't remember it much so I read Wikipedia and it said Lisa and Skupin voted out Abi because they had an alliance with Denise and Malcolm.  It said Lisa wanted to get Malcolm out because he was a threat but he won a few immunities in a row toward the end.

Because Malcolm won immunity that week.  Lisa wanted Malcolm out, but he was safe.  She and Skupin considered targeting Denise instead, but ultimately went with Abi.

[cooksdelight]

Pete's recap of this episode. Again, spoilers at the end regarding preview talk.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=TLqJnj_2FiI

[wonald]

Why does Tasha have to be "nice" exactly? No one else is expected to be.

 

Then maybe she shouldnt call HERSELF that, it's obviously hurting her eyeballs. And mine.

[Zuleikha]

When did Tasha call herself nice? The only thing I remember from Tasha talking about herself/her game was the opposite: when she said her church community told her to play more manipulatively this time and so she WASN'T going to play nice.

[wonald]

#chaosKass >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> #NiceTasha

[kikaha]

Because Malcolm won immunity that week.  Lisa wanted Malcolm out, but he was safe.  She and Skupin considered targeting Denise instead, but ultimately went with Abi.

 

That is a big problem Abi has.  Skupin and Lisa knew they should dump Denise.  But Abi had pissed them off -- pissed everyone off -- so much, they booted her instead.  They made a poor game decision, even though only a few more days remained, and it turned out that cost them the game. 

 

If Abi goes deep this season, she could face the same problem all over.   

[rozen]

I'm still so mad they put Jeff and Tasha on the same tribe, they were my favs. The minute it happened, I knew one was going to have to take the other out, Highlander-style. Abi and Woo can't strategize their way out of a wet paper sack, ofc Tasha and Savage were going to zero in on Jeff. He was the only one capable of keeping everyone focused on Pangong'ing them. I'm glad to see someone on Survivor finally cut the head off the snake first thing. How many seasons have people settled with voting out a puppetmaster's minions and sit back, not realizing they would simply acquire new ones? Tasha appears to be doing an excellent job of staying on Savage's good side, he seems to respect her despite the fact she's not a 6' glamorous supermodel and the lord intended all women to be. Hope she makes it to merge.

 

I don't know what the point of even trying to retain "challenge threats" on that tribe is. They would have to win every reward challenge to remain even slightly competitive. Savage looked like he was out there for hours and all he found was a flipping snail, that place is a wasteland. Imo, it's more efficient to just annihilate yourself as fast as possible so you can reintegrate into one of the other two tribes. The other tribes are plenty strong, even before this have-not bullshit was brought into play.

[Calamity Jane]

With Probst saying Joe is getting puzzle pieces all by himself.

That makes me wonder if Probst wasn't encouraging the contestants to nudge the inner blindfold out of place just so they could finish the challenge.

Something I noticed about Kass when she was shouting commands was that her voice was aspirated and she was just using her throat to yell.

I'm sure it was impossible to understand. You need a more baritone pitch and to push it from your diaphragm to be heard at distance.

I guess there isn't a chapter in Dale Carnegie's book on using a command voice.

Or, in teacher parlance, "playground voice." 

[pennben]

Oh my god!!  This is brilliant!!

[Nashville]

Oh my god!!  This is brilliant!!

 

I may have just peed myself a little.

[Daisy]

I wish they'd allow Sandra on every season just to provide commentary about how dumb and awful everyone is.

 

can there be a petition or a kickstarter to this? because this needs to happen. 

[Jersey Guy 87]

I'm surprised no one has been trying to cultivate an alliance with Woo. In Cagayan, Tony pretty much owned Woo's vote. If I were playing Survivor, I would absolutely want an ally who will vote with me every time. Maybe that's coming now that he voted with the majority to get rid of Jeff.

 

 

Woo didn't vote for Jeff to go along with the group, he voted for Jeff because he knew the choice was between Jeff and himself.  And even Woo won't vote for himself.  And the majority (i.e., everyone except Woo) was trying to decide between Woo and Jeff so the next vote will likely be for Woo.

 

That said, Woo is a good alliance partner.  He's loyal, he's an asset in the physical part of challenges and he seems like a generally okay person to have around camp.

[Guest]

Looking at this thread title ("What's the Beef?") reminded me that during that discussion between Abi and Tasha, I wish Tasha had reminded Abi that managing the players whether they're in your alliance or not is part of the game.  I don't think Abi actually heard Tasha tell Woo, "You're not going anywhere".   Abi said she just didn't like Tasha talking to Woo in private at all, as if it was disrespectful to Abi or something.  As if Woo should be shunned for daring to have his own alliances up to that point.

[SlackerInc]

Not for me.  I'm a huge fan of body hair on men because I believe that God intended for men to be hairy in certain places as a way of telling me that they've actually finished puberty.  If I wanted to date something hairless, I'd be dating chihuahuas.

 

I agree, sort of.  I don't believe in God, and I think women should be hairy and look post-pubescent as well.  If everyone's getting lasered now so they don't grow any hair even by the end of 39 days, that's unfortunate and disappoining.

[RescueMom]

I finally was able to watch the episode, and add me to the list of people who hate that one of the tribes has nothing.  I get that luck is a major element of Survivor, but forcing 1/3 of the players to live on a beach with no supplies and no resources to find goes way beyond luck of the draw.  I'm honestly surprised none of them have keeled over yet - no food for four days? 

 

Other than that piece, I really loved the episode and the season so far.  Oh, I did also hate the "somone is going to get hurt bad" challenge - you can make them hard without making them dangerous, you know?  I like the new Kass ("I read Dale Carnegie!") and the new Spencer ("I'm going to try to have feelings!").  Loved Varner and am sorry he's out, but from the way it sounds he was in pretty rough shape physically.  I didn't hate Abi as much in this episode as earlier ones - most of the time she really did seem to be trying to figure out her best move, and I do think she really was torn between keeping someone she liked or someone who could help them win.

 

Woo gets prettier and prettier...

[Way Wes Jr]

I usually enjoy the three tribe format, even if one tribe is Matsing-ing it, but this seemed pretty boring.  I like that they threw us a smidgen of social gaming on newTaKeo and newBayon, but the production team had to squeeze out as much Varner as they could.

 

Bayon (Pink/Purple)

 

No changes.  The token segments we received could have moved Stephen ahead of Kimmi, but Savage will return to Skinny-Ryan “the nerd,” at some point.  Monica reinforces my having Spencer sixth.  To recap:

 

1. Jeremy, 2. Monica, 3. Kimmi, 4. Stephen, 5. Kelly, and 6. Spencer

 

Ta Keo (Blue-ish)

 

Still to be known as Purple Ta Keo.  No changes here either.

1. Keith, 2. Cierra, 3. Kass, 4. Joe, 5. Kelley, and 6. Terry

 

Angkor (Yellow)

 

Oh look, no changes here either, and as a bonus, my number five got the boot.

 

1. Tasha (1) Reinforced her position as one of the great Survivor (volatile player)-wranglers.  (J’Tia and Abi-Maria)
2. Andrew (2) I disagree with folk who say he’s letting Tasha do his dirty work.  His “old school,” John Cena style (honor, loyalty, respect,) will do him in later.
3. Abi-Maria (3) I do suspect Tasha will make the mistake of keeping the Abi-Bomb around too long.
4. Woo (4)  At least he’s not likely to make a Woo face if Angkor goes to tribal before the merge.

 

OUT  Jeff (5) You were an obvious strategic target for Tasha and Andrew, and your mucked-up foot made it easy for them to convince Abi-M to forego her anti-Woo pogrom.

[innocuouspuff]

While Angkor was at Tribal Council, Bayon was playing "Celebrity." You find ways to pass the time on Survivor. We would lie in the shelter at night playing word games or sharing our highs and lows. Jeremy and I would greet each other in over-the-top British accents: "Stephen, my good man!" he would say. "Jeremy! Good day to you, sir!" I would respond.

Afterward, we celebrated our team effort. Each of us had carried our weight in the challenge, and we all solved the puzzle together. We laughed about our setbacks and minor challenge kerfuffles – like when I thought Kimmi had gassed out and was resting on the puzzle but actually she was holding up an entire side of the structure. We mimicked Kimmi's constant refrain of "SPENCER! LEFT!!" (best ejaculated at full volume in a strong Kimmi Long Island accent), which for whatever reason was the single most repeated instruction she shouted from the caller's chair. We rolled our eyes a bit when Monica attempted to join in on the war stories by talking about how essential her cheerleading was from the bench

Thought that was fun from Stephen's blog since through this ep we'd only really been seeing Angkor. (Ejaculated at full volume lol. Stephen we already know your vocabulary is excellent, no need to prove it all the time.) Although I keep forgetting to read the blog as it's been going up so late. Guess CBS has to vet it for state secrets?

http://www.people.com/article/survivor-cambodia-second-chance-stephen-fishbach-blog-jeff-varner-eliminated

Edited October 22, 2015 by innocuouspuff