S32: Nick Maiorano

[LanceM]

I don't take anything Nick says on twitter seriously nor do any of his cast mates it would appear based on their tweets back to him.

[Special K]

The thing is, he really isn't funny enough or clever enough to pull off that kind of humor.  At least not on Twitter (maybe in real life, with real inflection?  Eh, I'm gonna  still say no).

[peachmangosteen]

I personally find him fucking hilarious. I'm not sure if that's his intent, but he cracks me up every single time he's on screen.

Edited March 29, 2016 by peachmangosteen

[Ms Blue Jay]

Now I remember that his last name reminds me of Jess Mariano!  (my favourite character on Gilmore Girls.)

[piequinn35]

Is he related to Rob Mariano? ;>

[KimberStormer]

Nick reminds me strongly of an acquaintance of mine, more in voice and manner than in looks, but still, it's powerful.  I saw that acquaintance today and I was like, "wait....that robot on Survivor!"

 

Strong episode for Nick.  When I think about it, he might have the edit to be a winner possibility.  Seems like he's had a confessional in every episode, or most of them anyway?  And I never believe you need a totally positive hero edit to win--that's like, Malcolm in Philippines, Kelley Wentworth in Second Chances, last jury member kind of edit.  Nick could have the Hatch-style, "look at this smart jerk, he's really smart" kind of edit...

[JudyObscure]

I heard "high school". 

 

 

People prefer big heads, at least on their TVs.  

"I (Steven Dubner) asked him (Kelsey Grammer) what is it about certain people that make their faces appealing on the screen while other people, who might be better-looking or more attractive in some other way, just don’t have that appeal? He answered immediately: “Head size. Most successful actors have really big heads.” Physiologically, he meant."

 

I'll give Nick a pass on the sociopath comment.  I assume he meant it hyperbolically.  I think you do often need to turn off that 'community making' part of your mind at some point to win Survivor.  If you don't you can be manipulated by others.

I think the big head thing is much more important on the stage and screen than in real life.  A big face just stands out in the chorus line and is so much more visible on our small TVs, it's the reason Vanna White is the only letter turner whose name we know and the fact that Oprah's head is twice the size of any of her guests can't have  hurt her career.  But  in the real world I don't think it's all that desirable,  Nick being a case in point with his fellow Survivors seeming to think he's very good looking.

 

I sort of liked him last night, his strategy seemed to be pretty well thought out and it was fun to see him playing Debbie while she thought she was playing everyone else. Now, if I could just forget how he handled that chicken...

[laurakaye]

Nick reminds me of Cruella De Ville or some other cartoon villain.  I keep waiting for him to rub his hand together in glee and cackle "hee hee heeeee!" every time he has a confessional.

 

But a million props to Debbie for making him extremely uncomfortable at the merge feast.  That was the best 10 seconds of the entire episode.

[peachmangosteen]

Seems like he's had a confessional in every episode, or most of them anyway? 

 

All but 2 eps. 5 people have had more confessionals overall than him. ETA: Duh I wasn't thinking about this ep and appearently Nick had 11 confessionals (which is such overkill!) so he's probably at #2 for confessionals now.

 

But I agree with you on him being a possible winner. I wouldn't have thought so before because he was practically invisible during the three tribe portion of the game, but he was SO present in this episode. And it felt like it might be a shift more than a coincidence and he might be a driving force going forward. He's certainly the only man that I think has a chance of being the winner.

Edited March 31, 2016 by peachmangosteen

[piequinn35]

I hope he will overthrow the 2 bully idiots.

[laurakaye]

I hope he will overthrow the 2 bully idiots.

And then I kinda hope Julia or Michelle overthrows him.

[ljenkins782]

I heard "high school". 

 

 

People prefer big heads, at least on their TVs.  

"I (Steven Dubner) asked him (Kelsey Grammer) what is it about certain people that make their faces appealing on the screen while other people, who might be better-looking or more attractive in some other way, just don’t have that appeal? He answered immediately: “Head size. Most successful actors have really big heads.” Physiologically, he meant."

Lol, if that's the standard, than Kelsey Grammer's got to be the most appealing actor ever... (remembering the caricature episode from Frasier..."I look like a refugee from Easter Island")

 

As for the decidedly smaller-headed Nick, I'm finding that he's far more palatable when I apply the Debbie lens to him. In other words, I can listen to him bang on about being great looking, super smart, in control, etc, as long as the other tribe members are seeing right through him and his edit makes him look like a buffoon. 

[azshadowwalker]

I personally find him fucking hilarious. I'm not sure if that's his intent, but he cracks me up every single time he's on screen.

I find him both unintentionally hilarious and a pretty decent player. Most people who are swing votes overplay their hands. I am not getting the impression that he and Michele are doing that. I think I am saying that I am starting to root for Nick, but that feels wrong.

[loki567]

It almost feels like they did a complete 180 with Nick during the Merge. He seemed pretty sharp and he almost looked like he had a partnership with Michele, not a "do what I do tell you to do," relationship. I could see myself liking that version of Nick. 

 

And I'm not sure if it's bullshit or not, but there are a couple pictures on Twitter that actually suggest he and Michele might be dating. 

[peachmangosteen]

I went to Nick's twitter to investigate this (lol) and I didn't see any pics but these are Nicks latest tweets:
 

Michele & Nick under a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! 1st comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in a baby carriage.

 

Michele & I's relationship was constantly up & down, slow & fast, uppp & down, slowww & fast. Just more, more, more! You know what I mean?

 

And then I read some more of his tweets and he is simultaneously dickish and hilarious to me.

Edited April 1, 2016 by peachmangosteen

[fishcakes]

Michele & I's relationship ...

 

Anyone who says, "I's" instead of "my" is clearly angling to be the next Bachelor.

[ljenkins782]

Anyone who says, "I's" instead of "my" is clearly angling to be the next Bachelor.

 

Lol, the war on pronouns continues... Anna's also a contender for the Bachelor franchise with her "it's either Tai or I" from her boot episode. Makes me crazy. 

 

I have to agree with people that Nick is playing a decent game right now, but his edit seems too buffoonish for him to be the winner. All of his soundbites in the beginning were negative and all of the footage of other people discussing him was pretty negative as well (save Debbie and her Greek God nonsense.) 

 

I wouldn't mind a scenario where he flips the script on Scott/Jason and then gets taken out by Julia, Michelle and Cydney. 

[violet and green]

Somebody said on an episode thread he looks like a cartoon villain out of Aladdin - and now I can only see him in big balloon pants, brandishing a cutlass, and showing his teeth. He sort of does all that anyway. Strikes me as a very unlikely winner, also.

[KimberStormer]

fishcakes, on 01 Apr 2016 - 07:36 AM, said:

Anyone who says, "I's" instead of "my" is clearly angling to be the next Bachelor.

 

I'm a native English speaker, went to college, read a lot of books, I think I have a pretty firm grasp on this language...but I have no idea how you're supposed to form that clause.  "Michele's and my relationship"?  That would never come out of my mouth in a million years.  That sounds like two different relationships to me, Michele's relationship, and my relationship, not the relationship we share.  When writing, I would just rewrite to "My relationship with Michele" or whatever...but while speaking, I might easily get tripped up, I'm sure, and it would probably come out something awful like "I's".  ("It's either Tai or I" is classic hypercorrection, I wouldn't say that one.  But I can't judge it either, these people are speaking off the cuff.)

 

The more I think of it, the more I think, purely editing-wise, Nick is probably the front-runner for me.  Which I could be 1000% wrong about, but even, for example, the Beauty Gals Alliance could be part of Nick's story, if you see what I mean.  For the record, I hope not: not only do I not like him (I don't hate him or anything, but there's a lot of people I like better) but he would be a super-boring winner, I think.

[Ms Blue Jay]

Somebody said on an episode thread he looks like a cartoon villain out of Aladdin - and now I can only see him in big balloon pants, brandishing a cutlass, and showing his teeth. He sort of does all that anyway. Strikes me as a very unlikely winner, also.

 

Why do you make me act this way?   ; )

 

[violet and green]

^^ That is so funny! How did you do that. I wonder if he's been practicing? 

[phlebas]

The more I think of it, the more I think, purely editing-wise, Nick is probably the front-runner for me.  Which I could be 1000% wrong about, but even, for example, the Beauty Gals Alliance could be part of Nick's story, if you see what I mean.  For the record, I hope not: not only do I not like him (I don't hate him or anything, but there's a lot of people I like better) but he would be a super-boring winner, I think.

That's interesting.  I see your point, and I can see him going far if he survives the next episode.

 

He seems to be enjoying the swing vote thing. If he had been forced to actually choose a side in this last episode, he might be better off. But I can see him relishing that "I have the power" thing a little too much. Thanks to Mount St. Neal, he has three more days of being courted, and three more days to be seen talking to all sides.  It wouldn't take much for the brawns and the brains to both think "this guy isn't trustworthy and knows all our plans." Survivors who lord the swing vote over everyone's head have a pretty brutal record on this show.  (*waves at Sarah Lacina*)

 

And I would restructure that sentence to something like "my relationship with Michele" or "the relationship between Michele and me." :)

[JudyObscure]

Michele & Nick under a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! 1st comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in a baby carriage.

That is so last century.  Today's kids need a new jump-rope rhyme. 

Nick and Michelle sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes hook-ups, then comes bumps, then comes Nick with the baby-daddy slumps.

 

I wonder what happened to Michelle's whole thing of pretending to accept his controlling bossiness while plotting revenge? 

[fishcakes]

I'm a native English speaker, went to college, read a lot of books, I think I have a pretty firm grasp on this language...but I have no idea how you're supposed to form that clause.  "Michele's and my relationship"?  That would never come out of my mouth in a million years.  That sounds like two different relationships to me, Michele's relationship, and my relationship, not the relationship we share. 

 

"Michele's and my relationship" is correct, but it does sound awkward, partly because if the phrase had two nouns instead of a noun and a pronoun, it would be correct to say either, "Michele and Nick's relationship" or "Michele's and Nick's relationship," and most people would say the former. With two nouns, the possessive 's can be distributed among the nouns or applied once to the entire conjoined phrase; with a noun and a pronoun, this isn't possible. There's no logical reason why this is; rules of English are sometimes inconsistent. Through usage, however, what becomes standard (and eventually "correct") changes, which means if The Bachelor franchise goes on much longer, "Michele and I's relationship" will be considered standard. When that happens, us will be so happy for they. Them's really had a connection.

 

I think most people would just say, "our relationship," and listeners would grok the Michele part from context, but maybe in these talking heads where the PAs know everything is going to be edited for soundbites, they're instructed to be more specific.

 

On topic, Jason is a dick. Oh wait, that's not the topic. Nick is playing a decent game right now, but he's so smug and conceited that I can't root for him. I want Debbie to win an overnight reward and choose him to go along.

[Ms Blue Jay]

^^ That is so funny! How did you do that. I wonder if he's been practicing? 

 

I Google Image'd Nick Maiorano and I Google Image'd Aladdin.  Found the pictures that matched up and cut and paste using Photoshop.  I guess the comparisons are more apt than I imagined.  It was surprisingly easy. 

 

The second picture I used of him is very handsome.

 

Someone pointed out something weird - how his teeth at the front of his mouth are smaller than the ones behind it?  Sometimes he DOES kind of look Greek God-like but sometimes he looks really goofy.  Just like Aladdin. 

Edited April 2, 2016 by Ms Blue Jay

[LanceM]

Nick's HUGE spike in airtime this last episode indicates to me that he is being set up for a fall (as our Scot and Jason but that might come later) and it might happen either next episode or an episode or two later.  

[azshadowwalker]

Someone pointed out something weird - how his teeth at the front of his mouth are smaller than the ones behind it? Sometimes he DOES kind of look Greek God-like but sometimes he looks really goofy. Just like Aladdin.

He has the Roger Federer two-face thing going on. The bottom part of his face is kind of sunken, and looks really weird from some angles. Edited April 2, 2016 by azshadowwalker

[fishcakes]

Someone pointed out something weird - how his teeth at the front of his mouth are smaller than the ones behind it? 

 

Probably just bad dental work. When dentists want to be cheap with crowns, they tend to be undersized. When they're cheap with veneers, they're usually horse-sized. His front teeth are pretty short; I think that's why he looks kind of goofy when he smiles. He does sometimes look attractive when he's making a serious face. I will deny saying this later.

 

I want Debbie to win an overnight reward and choose him to go along.

 

I know it's bad form to quote myself, but I wanted to add that I also want Jeff to offer Debbie the opportunity to pick a third person to go on the overnight trip and for her to say, "no thanks, I'm good with just Nick."

[Ms Blue Jay]

Making fun of Debbie is hilarious, but I don't know, I don't like people being uncomfortable around people who are sexually aggro towards them.  Even just that weird fake smile he gave when Debbie drunk-horned in on him at the merge feast gave me chills.  Maybe we found the reason he turned sociopathic.

Edited April 2, 2016 by Ms Blue Jay

[fishcakes]

True. I'd probably not joke about it if it were, say, Coach perving on Sierra or Erinn. Welp, there goes that double standard!

[Wings]

This last episode has softened me to Nick, I like him.  He is an attractive man but not swoon worthy.  I think he does okay with the ladies.

 

 His grammar is sketchy.  I do know that when speaking it is easy to make a mistake you would not normally write. I find myself ending a sentence with a preposition when speaking sometimes.  As long as he doesn't start a sentence with the word me, I can overlook it, for now.  

 

I have not paid much attention to him probably because we have seen so little but he appears to be upbeat and easy.  

 

I can see him going far.  

[marys1000]

I had no idea he was part of the Survivor clique.  At least the outer circle having not actually played before.  He was a blogger for Rob Has a podcast. 

So I don't consider him a "real" person in terms of casting.  I hate insider casting. 

[azshadowwalker]

At least "insider" casting means that the players care about the game. In contrast to the mactor agent casting of past seasons, I am okay with that.

[blackwing]

What is wrong with his chest?  I realise that everyone is losing weight, but right smack in the middle of his chest, there's this little protuberance.  I keep thinking that maybe the Alien is starting to pop out of it.

[peachmangosteen]

It's probably the thing that covers his robotic inner workings.

Edited April 4, 2016 by peachmangosteen

[piequinn35]

He looks better with beard, but I am not attracted to him :P

[LanceM]

Nick at Ponderosa.

 

 

Interesting that Neal apparently went right back to the hospital after TC and didn't come back until morning.

[KimberStormer]

I'm so glad I was wrong!  Survivor editors set me up last ep and I fell for it, hook, line, & sinker.  And I'm just delighted about it.  I don't even mind how obvious they made Nick's downfall because it was so funny.

[KimberStormer]

Also this Ponderosa is fascinating and bizarre

[RescueMom]

Wow, I like Ponderosa Nick!  I also like just-blindsided Nick.  I like players who can get up from being voted out, smile, and say "that's the game."  I wasn't expecting him to be so positive and have so much perspective, and I am really happy that he ended up being the first one at Ponderosa even though Neal was out of the game first, given the fact that Neal wanted to be a jerk to people coming in and Nick immediately put the kibosh on that and said nah, we're going to be nice to everyone.  I wish we had been shown more of this Nick in the game rather than cartoon villain Nick.  After that video, I'd rather see Nick play again than Neal.

 

Nick's looks must not translate well to the TV camera, because everyone who meets him in person just swoons over his appearance.  I know people like that - gorgeous in real life, but pictures/videos don't do them justice.

[Special K]

That Ponderosa is fascinating.  Nick is so much more complex and self-aware than we were shown in the game.

Also, the Nick and Neal Show is hilarious.  What a goofy odd couple!!

[Jolie]

Yeah, that Ponderosa totally made me rethink my opinion of Nick. I wouldn't mind seeing him play again. Maybe he came off the Survivor experience more self-aware.

[Jobiska]

Maybe he came off the Survivor experience more self-aware.

 

That long introspective ramble about how he doesn't show himself vulnerable until other people do really came across as that he was having a true revelation about himself--more so than Spencer's "wow I finally said I love you to my girlfriend" scene (and I didn't find that as disingenuous--just that Nick has been doing this for long and is more entrenched unintentionally).  

And I also think he does a lot of deadpan humor, like how he blasted the "peasants" for revolting against the "king" (how he let them feed him and treat him)--tone of voice sounded serious, but it was pretty clear he was joking.

 

[Wings]

I like Ponderosa Nick, too.  Neal is ass but will make it interesting I suppose.   I do prefer to see everyone get along. 

[peachmangosteen]

Damn, I love Nick. After that Ponderosa I just had to admit it to myself! 

 

Nick and Neal are hilarious together. I'm torn because I really want Jason or Scot gone next, but they'd ruin the awesome Ponderosa possibilities.

[piequinn35]

^yes, the 2 bully idiots should be the last 2 boots /last 2 jury members :D

[Ms Blue Jay]

^yes, the 2 bully idiots should be the last 2 boots /last 2 jury members :D

 

But then they'll get more money than the other contestants!

[piequinn35]

^that's okay as long as not in the finals, if they come to ponderosa early, they will be piggy with the food, they can starve first at the camp :))

[piequinn35]

If Debbie is the next jury member, there should be a 15 minute video for the trio in ponderosa, LOL

[ByaNose]

Nick didn't bother me as much in his exit interviews. I still haven't watched his Ponderosa yet. He seems to get the reality side of tv and was also trying to play the game, too. Unfortunately, he got played in the game by the others.