S32.E01: I'm A Mental Giant

[piequinn35]

I wonder if bug lady tried putting her head in the water and drowning that thing out.

Good thing that maggot came out.....

 

Debbie talks too much

 

I think it's wiser for them to get rid of Alecia than Darnell oh well I guess the dump was his demise

 

It was too premature for Tai to find the idol, you can look but not too obvious?

Like say "hey guys I'm going to take a dump somewhere"

 

Nick and Caleb = don't like them at all

 

I like the Brains Tribe esp. Joe and Neal :)

[Bryce Lynch]

Quick post before work mad right out of the gate! I hope the Brawn tribe gets pagonged one by one no matter how boring it is (except for the black woman) because they are too stupid to play.

You don't punish someone for a mistake if that person can move you forward in the game. Seriously!?!?!!? Send someone much bigger and stronger home to keep a 90 lb lazy can't do anything person?????? She is so clueless, laughed when they were at the puzzle and was just standing there till the other girt yelled at her to get some pieces.

No No Jeff, we send people home as punishement. Screw game strategy. ARGH!

Especially one who did something in cages with tigers which sounds like swimming with dolphins all of which I hate with all my heart so Blondie was my most hated player right out of the gate. I was so psyched she was going home first. Dumb Asses!

I hope they lose every challenge.

And they have given the reins of decidemanship to Mr. I wear plastic furniture coasters in my ears without even speaking up!

I was going to post the same thing. I don't hate the brawns as much as you do (yet). But they were stupid to "punish" Darnell for dropping the mask.

You should go by who is likely to hurt or help you in future challenges, not who hurt you in the last one. Darnell seemed like a more valuable tribe member to me, though I was glad Alecia survived, because I like her better.

Edited February 18, 2016 by Drogo
Duplicate post

[eskimo]

Here's the pic I posted in his thread yesterday.  I definitely see the resemblance, even with the nose and mouth and smile lines.  I think this is Obama's official mugshot from his first term, before his hair really started turning grey.

 

http://prntscr.com/a4nh2e

In this pic, I see an Obama, Jay Leno hybrid.

[LanceM]

This cracked me up, from Darnell:

"We had a designated area, and I went within the designated area. I didn’t go all the way out [into the ocean] because I watched Dan Foley lose his manties on his season, and I didn’t want that situation. I wasn’t going to go anywhere where I’d have an issue losing my underwear. So thank you, Dan Foley."

[FineWashables]

Hey Nick, if you look exactly like the actor who plays Phil Dunphy on "Modern Family," you are NOT irresistibly handsome.

 

 

Is Debbie an actual person or an Andrea Martin character?

Yes!  This!  She reminded Mr Washables and I of that woman from many seasons back who brought a ukelele as her Luxury Item (remember those?) and sang songs she composed herself about "Survivor."  She never made it past first team's tribal and if Debbie doesn't stop talking, neither will she.

 

I don't know Bug Girl's name, probably because I was screaming "ewww" at the screen whenever she was on. I had something similar happen to me in 3rd grade -- the bug died and had to be flushed out, I was laying down on a New York City street screaming, not just because of the pain, but because hearing something walk around in your ear canal is really, really off-putting. When she jumped to her feet after the bug came out, I was truly impressed.  Go Bug Girl FTW!

 

Finally: Blondie gives an impassioned speech at tribal about how she never, ever quits. But Blondie, you never even STARTED to work on the puzzle, so of course you couldn't quit.  Darnell probably wouldn't have made another mistake in the second challenge.  Blondie, on the other hand, won't be any smarter next week.

[Nashville]

You're thinking Bug-In-The-Ear Lady, but Aubry is Dehydration-or-Anxiety-Freakout? Lady, on the Brains tribe, who got all the paddles (and I think did the puzzle too??).  I was glad she managed to pull through it and do well. 

  

Thanks for the correction. I'm horrible with names, so it generally takes me at least 3 episodes or so to attach real human names to the players. I was getting PanicBrain and BugBrawn confused. And yes, I'm happy both posted such strong comebacks as well. :)

Caleb was a stalkerish nutjob on Big Brother, but still fine to look at.  I'm hoping that the fact that he's engaged will tone down the crazy.  

 

Just be sure to keep an eye out. And if he starts going on ad nauseum for hours on end about his fiancée - or any other female for that matter - be sure to (a) send up a warning flare and (b) send HER a note that now would be a good time to move and leave no forwarding address.

There has to be more to the Darnell vote than we saw because otherwise that makes no sense, even by their standards.

 

It was pretty obvious there was; Hulk's and Bounty's questioning of Blondie strongly implied Pooper McGoggles had already been doing some pretty intense (and obvious) idol-searching - as had Blondie as well, to a (possibly) lesser degree. I figured that was the reason for the split vote in the first place - to see if there was an idol to be flushed.

  

Yeah - seriously, I was really bummed out that - the Bug in Question was like a little squiggler. 

I was expecting like... A Bug. 

When something with that many legs starts scratching against your eardrum, it seems big as a house. I had a similar experience once while scuba diving in the Gulf; a little many-legged critter decided my ear canal looked like a nice homey place. VERY shortly thereafter I discovered my Zero-To-Insanity-In-Two-Seconds button was located in my right eardrum, of all places - not a good thing to find out when you're 60+ feet underwater. Learned a lot about personal self-control that day, until he decided to swim back out again. I fault her reaction not a bit.

[Trace]

Darnell makes sense - I don't think this team wanted to deal with a weepy pants.

 

I wanted Darnell to stick around.  I already had his nickname picked out and everything: KANYE

 

Re: Caleb:

I was going to post this in his thread.  I have gathered from this board that he's some kind of stalkery feller, so it was a bit funny that the girls were like "He was on Big Brother, that means we can trust him!"  But mostly I was just thinking, "that is a pretty man."  He's so chiseled though that I feel like he has like no body fat and may suffer out there without food etc.  I guess he did OK at the challenge though, this time.

 

I somewhat root for Caleb because he is from my neck of the woods.  The Beast Mode Cowboy is simply a persona.  He has changed from BB because he is now engaged to a beautiful girl and I doubt there will be any stalkerish behavior from him.  Also, he competes in body building and I was hoping he would put on some body fat.  He was getting very ripped for competitions, and it looks like he hasn't put much weight back on.  Dude - you seriously need some body fat for Survivor!

[KimberStormer]

ghoulina, on 18 Feb 2016 - 05:27 AM, said:

I was also happy to see another option in the challenge, like they did in the first incarnation. Although, it was a bit disappointing since nobody chose it. They kind of let that idea die by the wayside last time, but I hope they don't this time. I think it could be really fascinating if utilized well. 

 

Yeah, I don't know why nobody did the other choice.  Maybe Alecia could have killed the dexterity challenge and won it for their tribe--she said herself she wasn't good at puzzles and they made her do it anyway.  Maybe they were thinking that's a sort of slow-and-steady kind of thing whereas you can get a puzzle in a flash sometimes?  But I've seen so many people in the lead crash on the rocks of a puzzle that I would definitely think twice about doing one if I didn't have to.

 

Drogo, on 18 Feb 2016 - 05:40 AM, said:

Khaleesi is back to Survivor-town this season

 

Yesssss Khaleesi, too bad she missed such a great season last time!

[Bad Example]

This cracked me up, from Darnell:

"We had a designated area, and I went within the designated area. I didn’t go all the way out [into the ocean] because I watched Dan Foley lose his manties on his season, and I didn’t want that situation. I wasn’t going to go anywhere where I’d have an issue losing my underwear. So thank you, Dan Foley."

 

The idea of entering that "designated area" as anything other than the very first one is too horrifyingly gross to contemplate.  

[TattleTeeny]

So the "mental giant" tried to write with the cap still on the pen. lol

She also stood around at the puzzle patting her hair with a thousand-yard stare.

 

He announced to everybody that he needed to take a dump and proceeded into the ocean to do it.  Very high on my list of the grossest things ever shown on Survivor ™.

 

I swear I heard someone say something that made me think they'd all agreed on that spot. I remember thinking, "But why that spot?"

 

I can't figure out why Tai is on Beauty and Alecia is on Brawn. Not the first word that would come to mind looking at either of them.

 

I too am confused by Tai and Alecia's placement, and I don't find any of the men on Beauty to be beautiful. Tai's by no means ugly, IMO, but what? A couple of the girls on Beauty also seem perfectly average in the looks department as well. Also, that lanky guy on Beauty? I don't mean to be mean, but I'm not seeing it!

Edited February 18, 2016 by TattleTeeny

[kraft111]

Pollard may be an asshole, but he played for a number of years on our local NBA team. It was a great team and a lot of fun to watch, and Pollard was one of the reasons why, so I have a bit of a soft spot for him. I hope he doesn't blow it.

We share a local town and I had (who I am kidding, I still have) an unreasonable affection for that team, and Pollard in particular. I completely understand anyone who finds him to be an asshole, but to me, he's an entertaining, quirky guy who was part of a very fun period of my life. I may change my opinion by the end of the season, and I'm not sure I'd want to spend 39 days with him on an island, but I hope he sticks around.

[TattleTeeny]

This question is brought up numerous times on this thread and I'm surprised no one has figured out the answer. Alecia is on Brawns and Tai is on Brawn because there needs to be a male-female balance on the tribes. If they were on the tribes they really belong, the male-female ratio wouldn't be equal. That's all.

 

If this is true, why wouldn't they simply recruit a man and a woman who actually fit the bill? It's not like there's a shortage of people vying for spots on the show.

[Special K]

Am I the only one who thought they re-staged the scene where that bug crawled out of her ear in order to get it on film?  Something seemed off about it. There were a number of seemingly discontinuous shots of the littel bugger crawling around, out of, and back into the ear, while people said things that didn't fit with the action.  "It's coming out!" when it was being shown already on the outer ear.

 

And who would see a bug crawling on the outer ear (Cydney!) where it could easily be brushed off, and just watch as it crawled back in!?

 

Either very poorly edited or faux.  I'm not saying it didn't happen, just maybe not the say they showed.

[slowpoked]

It's nice to see the strategizing make it to live TV. I don't remember seeing that in new school Survivor. I wonder if they'll continue to show it or it was just filler for the first episode? That said, I wonder if we'll see schoolyard picks this season too.

 

Great rebound from Aubry. Hopefully her tribe sees it as just a one-time panic attack and hopefully she settles into Survivor life soon. I get the freak out - I mean, yeah she knew what she signed up for and it's not like the concept of the show is top-secret, but still, you never know until you get there. 

 

"I'm a Mental Giant" - the jokes write themselves. I think there's a lot of stuff that was edited out that made the tribe decide on Darnell over Alecia. Because when the revote was being done, I was sure there was no way in hell Alecia would survive that revote.

 

And yes, Kyle/Jason, Alecia has a name, and it's not Blondie. That didn't sit well with me. It felt like passive-aggressive bullying. I mean, would he appreciate it if Alecia called him Fatty instead of his name?

[Nashville]

Either very poorly edited or faux.  I'm not saying it didn't happen, just maybe not the say they showed.

ITA - I'm pretty certain we were seeing a lot of discontinuous editing there, as well as at least several repeated loops of the critter's in-and-out. I figured the cameraman was posted to capture any dramatic changes, nobody else was around when buggy did its initial in-and-out, and the cameraman was under instructions not to interfere. And later on, Punxsutawney Krill's majestic debut got spliced in multiple times between player shots.

[Trace]

Not to mention she just laid there, like she was asleep.  I would have been tearing that thing out of my ear myself!  No way she didn't feel it crawling on the outside of her ear.

[Big Mother]

If this is true, why wouldn't they simply recruit a man and a woman who actually fit the bill? It's not like there's a shortage of people vying for spots on the show.

I guess they liked Tai too much to put him on the side for a different time. And maybe they were literally unable to find any more interesting brawny women who look good in a bikini...

[TattleTeeny]

Good points. Or maybe the BBB theme was a last-minute change from some other failed gimmick they'd already cast? It's just so silly because, even if she is in good physical shape, that shape does not convey "brawn" at a glance. Now, let me see her lift up something huge right over her head!

Edited February 18, 2016 by TattleTeeny

[violet and green]

Well, I disliked most of them, and some of them quite passionately. Ice-cream Neal, and Peter the ER doc, can go jump, after their smug get rid of the oldies smarm. Vain Nick, after what he did to that chicken, ditto.The ones I liked got swallowed in the ugly attitudes of the more vocal of the ones I disliked, so I ended the episode - especially with Darnell getting booted out over the pretty one (may you pay for that move, oh tattooed ones, may you live long to regret it) - really deflated.

 

Reading here has cheered me up a bit, with a few good jokes and some reminders of who I did like - but boy, they are thin on the ground. Tai, and Anna, the booby pro-poker player, Joe, the ex-FBI, and Debbie the nutty all-jobs former chemist, who would be annoying to live with in close quarters but is kind and has a lot of life experience! Aubry, for having a meltdown, feeling woeful about it, and then pulling it together so well for the challenge. So, all is not lost, now I remember them. But I can't recall a season (bar 'Merica one) where I flat-out loathed so many people on first meeting.

[ghoulina]

According to Kyle the missing part of the narrative was Brawn worrying about letting Darnell get too far? On the first freaking vote. I hope Alecia drags them back to every tribal council.

 

If that was the real reason, they're even dumber than I thought. First vote is NOT the time to vote off a strong player. 

[blackwing]

Question, were the two rope pullers on the boat task also required to be the two puzzle solvers?  I didn't pay enough attention and can't tell some of these people apart, but it seemed to me that all of the teams sent their two weakest women to be the pullers, since it made more sense to reserve the strong guys and one woman to push the boat.  Is that why Alecia ended up on the puzzle team?  

 

As an aside, I hate the "kreativ" spelling of Alicia.  Makes me think "alopecia".  But to me she resembles Erika Eleniak during her Baywatch days (http://prntscr.com/a50tsn) so I guess I give her a pass for now.

 

This cracked me up, from Darnell:

"We had a designated area, and I went within the designated area. I didn’t go all the way out [into the ocean] because I watched Dan Foley lose his manties on his season, and I didn’t want that situation. I wasn’t going to go anywhere where I’d have an issue losing my underwear. So thank you, Dan Foley."

Except Dan Foley admitted that he didn't really "lose" his manties.  He purposely lost them because he wanted to be funny and give everyone something to talk about.  Also, if Darnell was so embarrassed about people seeing him naked, why did he have to drop his shorts while standing up?  Nobody needed to see his butt, and if he hadn't done that, no one would have known what he was doing.  Hundreds of Survivors before him have managed to take a dump in the ocean without losing their underwear, so he wasn't thinking right.  Unfortunately for him, he will now forever be known in Survivor folklore as the "Dump of Death" guy.

 

I would love to see another Second Chance season, but not for people who simply got outplayed and outwitted.  I'd like to see a Second Chance season with people who made some very stupid errors.  Darnell would be at the top of the list.

[ghoulina]

This cracked me up, from Darnell:

"We had a designated area, and I went within the designated area. I didn’t go all the way out [into the ocean] because I watched Dan Foley lose his manties on his season, and I didn’t want that situation. I wasn’t going to go anywhere where I’d have an issue losing my underwear. So thank you, Dan Foley."

 

Surely the only positive contribution Dan has ever made. In his life. Period. 

[marys1000]

Yeah, I don't know why nobody did the other choice.  Maybe Alecia could have killed the dexterity challenge and won it for their tribe--she said herself she wasn't good at puzzles and they made her do it anyway.  Maybe they were thinking that's a sort of slow-and-steady kind of thing whereas you can get a puzzle in a flash sometimes?  But I've seen so many people in the lead crash on the rocks of a puzzle that I would definitely think twice about doing one if I didn't have to.

 

 

Yesssss Khaleesi, too bad she missed such a great season last time!

I think its because she is so tiny she can't do anything else so have her do a puzzle so she is doing something.

[Rick Kitchen]

 

After watching Caleb during his Big Brother season I was expecting him to be more like how he was in the house, but he seems better. May be he's more in his element, or he's grown. I don't know, but I liked him.

 

At the beginning, when the chicken went into the water, Caleb pushed off of Liz's head to jump into the water.  That turned me off of him right away.

[candall]

THAT, right there, was the most telling thing about Alecia - and the most egregious thing she did. It's one thing if you try, but just suck at something. She was just standing there!!! She has zero motivation, zero common sense. I have no use for her. 

 

NO, she wasn't even just standing there!  She was fixing her damn PONYTAIL!!!!  This made me so completely gobsmacked, I barreled through four pages looking for someone else who saw this bit of fuckery.  (Yay, Tiny Tattle!)  This idiot was futzing around with her hair while she waited for her co-puzzlemaker to fish the pieces out of the box and get them all laid out.

 

Ai-yi-yi.  And they decided to keep her instead of the guy who screwed up by inadvertently dropping the goggles? (Plus, I'm giving him a pass on the dump.  There was an outcropping of rock right there which I think they'd agreed to designate as the ocean dumping ground.)

 

There's merit to the thinking that keeping two opponents is smarter than keeping an alliance--if we want to give them credit for that strategy--but it's only the very first challenge.  I see about a 0.00% chance of Alecia advancing the tribe more than Darnell would have.

 

Oof, got that off my chest; better now.  : )

 

 

 

[...] but for the life of me, I cannot figure out what kind of numbskull would sit in the sun on the beach and do their tasks?! Direct sun and solar radiation can raise the temp 10-15 degrees. Common sense dictates that if you feel warm you sit in the shade. Heatstroke is no joking matter.

I've had an extreme sunburn with big weepy blisters and I felt very bad for the guy in the muscle shirt when he said his shoulders were getting roasted.

 

And then five seconds later, he was wearing his long-sleeved shirt for a TH.

 

 

The stupid's pretty strong with this bunch--might make for an entertaining season.

Edited February 18, 2016 by candall

[Nashville]

I've had an extreme sunburn with big weepy blisters and I felt very bad for the guy in the muscle shirt when he said his shoulders were getting roasted.

 

And then five seconds later, he was wearing a long-sleeved shirt in his TH.

Yeah, I noticed that as well. Maybe he swiped the shirt from one of the crew...?

[MissEwa]

It's totally shallow but I snorted when Nick(?) said he was better looking than most people. Because no. For a start, his neck is wider than his head, which is never good. 

 

When the bug first crawled out my first thought was that whatever bug was actually in there had laid eggs and they'd hatched and then I nearly threw up. That whole thing was so upsetting to me, and 'bugs might crawl into your ear' has rocketed to Number One on my personal list of reasons I would never go on this show. Or camping. Or outside, probably. I can't even think about it. 

 

Aubrey's breakdown, on the other hand, was upsetting because I feel like that would so be me, if I ever did ignore that list and make it out there. And whether it was originally dehydration or the heat or whatever, she knew it was mostly that she was getting into her own head and that's kind of the worst. I was so glad she managed to get through it and did so well in the challenge. 

[ghoulina]

NO, she wasn't even just standing there!  She was fixing her damn PONYTAIL!!!!  This made me so completely gobsmacked, I barreled through four pages looking for someone else who saw this bit of fuckery.  (Yay, Tiny Tattle!)  This idiot was futzing around with her hair while she waited for her co-puzzlemaker to fish the pieces out of the box and get them all laid out.

 

Oh Lord, I didn't think it could get worse!!! I truly didn't notice that. There's always so much going on during challenges, but I'm glad you caught that. What a useless waste of flesh. Jennie just got done having a bug crawling through her ear canal for the past 24 hours, but she's raring to go. And you're standing there, twirling your hair, like you're trying to prove all the dumb blonde stereotypes right??? Get out of here with that. 

[Vicky8675309]

Brains Tribe: not impressed with the ageist attitude. Debbie is annoying. I like the former FBI guy (maybe because he didn't get much screen time). The Obama appearing guy seems like a jerk as does the ice cream guy. Why were so many of them just sitting in the sun? I would have been worried about sunburn, dehydration and heat exhaustion. Anxiety/heat-exhaustion woman was annoying but then she redeemed herself by being great in the challenge (I'll like her and the FBI guy)

 

Beauty:  the gardener seems fake---I looked carefully on re-watch and those where living trees he pulled up. In fact he struggled to get one out of the ground and had to use a lot of torque or twisting movement to get it out. So on first watch he was charming but on re-watch he came across as fake imo. How does a gardener function if he can't cut grass, prune plants, edge hedges, weed yards, etc... The tall ugly guy with the small head is the WORST! Walking around holding the chicken by its neck....just kill it first rather than slowly strangle it/stretch it (all that weight pulling on the neck). When I first saw him I thought he was ugly and looked like big bird (big body with small head compared to body). The 3 girls seemed ok. To my surprise I really liked Caleb. He was petting the chicken which was sweet. He also was honest and said he was worried they would recognize him from BB and he worried it would hurt his game. They even put in subtitles so it was clear he said was was worried they WOULD recognize him not WOULDN"T recognize him. 

 

Brawn: I like bug ear and maybe bodybuilder. I'm not thrilled with anyone else. They voted off the wrong person and should have kept strength. Blondie (Alecia) isn't strong or smart imo and I dislike her and Scot. I think I dislike bounty hunter but he did vote Alecia (he wanted to keep Darnell) so I can't fully dislike him. Hmm, bug woman voted against Darnell both times. I can understand them all voting the same on revote but it's bugging me that she acted like she was going to change her mind and keep Darnell the first time around but we saw at the very end that it was bounty hunter who was pro-Darnell. I wonder if they were trying to split the vote.

 

I liked seeing the strategizing about who does what during the competition.

[FineWashables]

And why are they pooping in the ocean anyway?  Dig a hole, people!  There's plenty of sandy ground for them to use away from the camp.  Who wants to see brown trout swimming back up onto the beach?  Who wants to eat shellfish from that part of the shore now?  If you need to dunk into the ocean to clean yourself off, that's one thing, but haven't they ever heard that you don't poop where you eat?

[scowl]

Apparently the Brawn tribe was nowhere near close to finishing that puzzle and it was not the close match with Beauty as it appeared to be in the edit, atleast according to Eliza who I am sure was told this by Liz. 

 

While Beauty is celebrating, for a fraction of a  second you can see Brawn's puzzle in the background. It looked like a bunch of loose pieces were still stacked on it. The "neck and neck" ending they showed seemed a little too miraculous. 

Edited February 19, 2016 by scowl

[Kromm]

Exactly what I was thinking. Salt water is a natural antiseptic (in higher concentrations, very few things can grow in it, hence salt-water pools), and warming it, would have made it easier to enter the ear canal as well. I also thought that it would be MUCH bigger. The build up, was almost a let down when I saw it. Although, I do not doubt that it hurt (as someone who has an ear issue with scarring and blockage on one side).

On one hand, we actually normally have millions of bugs (mites and the like) crawling all over us at any given time anyway. We don't like to think about it, but it's part of the cycle of life with us and our ecosystem.

On the other, while that larva looked small, the inner ear is VERY sensitive. Our sense of balance comes from there too. I've had bugs (flying ones) go in my ear before and it DOES hurt a lot (and they died from that--unlike the larva which was still alive). Or some of us have had Qtips break off the end in our ears before (and yes, if you use them properly that's not supposed to happen--but face it... it does). I once freaked out having that happen--especially since I was alone, not near anyone I trusted to get it out--and had to blindly get it out myself with tweezers and guesswork.

All told I can believe it was both painful and serious. Also, we're only taking the editing's word that this was the only bug in there. I mean it seemed a little suspicious to me that the camera was there RIGHT when it supposedly came out, that the cameraman was able to get in so damn close, and that nobody seemed that concerned about getting that larva out the moment it was in range. I kind of wonder if the unseen medical crew pulled out a few of them and that relatively tiny one was left for the camera to capture.

NO, she wasn't even just standing there!  She was fixing her damn PONYTAIL!!!!  This made me so completely gobsmacked, I barreled through four pages looking for someone else who saw this bit of fuckery.  (Yay, Tiny Tattle!)  This idiot was futzing around with her hair while she waited for her co-puzzlemaker to fish the pieces out of the box and get them all laid out.

 

Ai-yi-yi.  And they decided to keep her instead of the guy who screwed up by inadvertently dropping the goggles? (Plus, I'm giving him a pass on the dump.  There was an outcropping of rock right there which I think they'd agreed to designate as the ocean dumping ground.)

That alliance of Big Guys is playing the numbers (and towards the endgame already). They're anticipating with tribes of six that a merge or reshuffle might be sooner rather than later, and that through whatever rearrangements that the little twit will be a classic endgame "goat" that nobody would ever give a victory to.

[Latverian Diplomat]

Reminds me of the horrific Twilight Zone episode where an earwig burrows into the character's brain..and lays eggs.

 

 

 I would have been screaming for a medic because I saw that episode of Twilight Zone someone mentioned above *shudder*!

 

 

  But this island thing was eating into her head, just like in Twilight Zone's "The Caterpillar."

 

FWIW, that was actually a Night Gallery (the other Rod Serling anthology show). 

 

And I don't know why a medic wouldn't be called in for something like that...without having to leave the game or any such nonsense. 

 

I don't want to want to see someone suffer needlessly for hours just for this. 

[millennium]

FWIW, that was actually a Night Gallery (the other Rod Serling anthology show). 

 

And I don't know why a medic wouldn't be called in for something like that...without having to leave the game or any such nonsense. 

 

I don't want to want to see someone suffer needlessly for hours just for this. 

 

Arrgh, you're right.  I know better than that.   I think I must have picked up on somebody else upthread mentioning the Twilight Zone.  Or maybe something's been slowly gnawing the trivia section of my brain.

 

I think I would have gone for the medic myself, whether or not she wanted medical attention.

Edited February 18, 2016 by millennium

[peachmangosteen]

Still figuring out who's who but.............when they huddled before the challenge they told Alicia she's doing the puzzle and didn't we hear her say it's not a good idea because she's no good at puzzles; then female bodybuilder gave her some line about never say don't.  If it went down that way it's stupid to blame her for how she performed.

 

This. She told them she wasn't good at puzzles so I don't know why they then expected her to be good at puzzles. The Brawns are all dumb imo, not just Alecia. And at least Alecia knows she's dumb, unlike Jason, who clearly thinks he's hot shit. You are not, buddy.

 

I hope Alecia drags them back to every tribal council.

 

I hope this as well. And then I hope they stupidly keep her over and over and then she fucks them all over when merge comes. That would be hilarious.

 

I can't with these names. Aubry, Alecia, Cydney. Spelling a name wrong doesn't make it unique, parents!

Edited February 18, 2016 by peachmangosteen

[Wings]

I watched with a bulging disc pressing on my sciatic nerve and a stiff Scotch.  I missed some things.  HOWEVER sometimes a slightly altered state produces astute observations.  That is my story.  

 

Best moment, Alicia using pen with cap on.   That's all I got.  

 

  

.  

Edited February 18, 2016 by wings707

[HurricaneVal]

I'm settling in for a good run of my favorite show...   Oh, how glad I am that you are back!

 

First impressions:

 

Did Jeff's voice sound, I don't know, off during his voiceover on the intro?  Like he botoxed his voicebox?

 

"Beastmode" should apply to Aubry.  What a comeback, going from heat exhaustion and dehydration causing disorientation and panic attacks to pretty much single-handedly winning that challenge for her team.  I thought she'd be dead weight.

 

Speaking of dead weight...yeah...it was Blondie's time to go.  Yet, somehow she's still there.  From what we've seen--and from what we've heard--she's just useless.  I think Brawn may be playing their end game a little too early, if they think Darnell's sob story meant that they had to dump him fast before he could take advantage of that in final three, then that is an incredibly flawed strategy.  #1, in order to get to the final three, you have to make it to the merge, and you won't make it to the merge without strong players--strong physically and strong mentally, like Darnell.  #2, your fears that he would win the sympathy vote over you only come to fruition if all three of you are in the final three--which is not going to happen, dumbass.  #3, you kept Blondie.

 

I like Ear Bug gal.  Jennifer?  I can't wait for a tribe shake up, or a merge, so she can get away from the dumbasses she's aligned with right now.  I have deep, deep sympathy for her ordeal.  That crawly thing might have looked small, but I'm sure it was excruciating to have it crawling around in her ear.  I do not blame her for her hystrionics one little bit.  And I'm also not surprised that once the bug was gone, she was fine.  She kicked it out pretty well in the challenge too, which after that lack of sleep is actually pretty amazing.

 

I did not hate Caleb.  I expected to, because I grew to hate him on Big Brother, but I suspect that is a much more crazy-making environment than Survivor.  We'll see how it goes.  Right now, he seems to be taking a "sit back and watch and wait" strategy on his game, which coincidentally is what I'm going to do before I decide if I hate him or not.

 

I like FBI guy, Debbie grates, Fauxbama has potential, I haven't figured out the bodybuilder yet, but she is gorgeous, much to my surprise I don't hate sorority girl, I'm on the fence about Tai, and "the most beautiful man in the world" isn't beautiful in any way. 

 

I'm excited.  I can't wait for next week.

[TattleTeeny]

I did not hate Caleb.  I expected to, because I grew to hate him on Big Brother, but I suspect that is a much more crazy-making environment than Survivor.

 

Off topic a little, but really? About Survivor being less crazy-making, I mean; I don't know this Caleb (I quit BB a while ago). I contemplate this often, and being a not-that-outdoorsy person who hates being cold (not that they're worried about that) and is very afraid of snakes, I feel the opposite. On the other hand, I do also hate feeling trapped in a house, especially one crammed to the gills with people...hmmm. If I were on BB, I can guarantee I'd come out of there buff as hell, because all I'd do is work out because, yikes, why not?

Sorry for the rambly musings! Please, everyone, carry on!

[henripootel]

ITA - I'm pretty certain we were seeing a lot of discontinuous editing there, as well as at least several repeated loops of the critter's in-and-out.

I think we saw a whole lotta bullshit with this one.  Don't doubt that something got in there but speaking as someone who has had this happen, no fucking way you just clutch your head in agony and 'ride it out' for hours (apparently) when medical is right there.  Also not convinced that the critter we saw was the one in question.  Not an entomologist, me, but I'm not sure that critter was capable of putting that kinda hurt on you.  I am reasonably sure that the thing we saw crawling on her ear was staged.  It just seemed ... odd, and nobody's reaction seemed genuine.  Touch that part of your ear - you can feel it plenty, so why not grab it?  Would you stand by and just marvel at this happening to somebody else or grab that fucker first thing?  Plus how lucky do you have to be to catch that kinda footage?  I'm gonna say 'too lucky'.  

 

All in all though, there've been worse starts to the season.  Did occur to me wonder how long it took them to do that puzzle - thing looked hard.  

[Callaphera]

Ah, Beast Mode. I missed you. I can't wait for Caleb's Tall Tales to start again. (For those that didn't see his season of Big Brother, among his stalker tendencies and JUDY CHOP!!, he was also a one upper when it came to stories about their lives. You've done something? BMC has done it bigger and better. We've heard about him rolling trucks and escaping without a scratch, being unable to walk when he was young and someone laying hands on him to heal him, and assorted other goodies. The only thing he couldn't one up was a story of another person being lifted by a crow off a beach when they were a toddler. Even he was dumbfounded.) It's one of my favourite things about him. He's one of my favourite BB Houseguests of all time just because of the stories. I hope he sticks around long enough for us to get some good ones.

 

And the other guy on his tribe has a tiny, tiny head on a big body. And don't poop where everyone else can see you. That was about all I got from the premiere. 

[Runningwild]

I guess Darnell took the Dump of Death.

I would have voted him out for taking a dump in the ocean. Doesn't he know it floats? Who doesn't know to hold onto the mask when they jump in? Then don't be the one with the mask.

[princelina]

It's totally shallow but I snorted when Nick(?) said he was better looking than most people. Because no. For a start, his neck is wider than his head, which is never good. 

To be fair - he said he was better looking than most people he knows.  My first thought was, "Man, you must know a lot of ugly people!"  hehe :)

[djlynch]

Considering that Jeff has always said that they cast first, then come up with gimmicks and put people into tribes, I'm wondering if some of the mismatches are because they were only casting for one season this time around because of the Second Chance. If they had been doing the usual thing of back-to-back seasons with new casts, they might have been able to switch Tai and Blondie with people who fit the molds better.

 

On the other hand, putting mismatches in might be the producers trying to encourage some kind of conflict early on. I suspect that if Joe and Tai had been switched, Joe wouldn't have as big of a target on his back due to his age, and Tai's eccentricity wouldn't have set him apart so much.

[Jobiska]

Punxsutawney Krill

 

This is probably the best thing I have read in all of 2016.  

[Eolivet]

I think everyone has covered my reactions -- including that Nick looked like Phil Dunphy from Modern Family.

 

The only thing I will say is that I cannot get over how much more likable Caleb is now than he was on Big Brother, and while it might be a case of him maturing, I also think it's the difference between "real" reality show editing and "Big Brother" editing. In one episode, Survivor humanized him, whereas he was a walking caricature on Big Brother. He was soft-spoken and dare I say it...almost thoughtful (well, for Caleb). I suppose what I'm saying is you can tell which show crafts it soundbytes with (relative) care and which show just shoves words into its contestant's mouths and insists they yell them at the loudest volume imaginable.

 

I think that's it. Except one more thing...

 

SUCK IT, DERRICK!!!!!!!

[blackwing]

And why are they pooping in the ocean anyway? Dig a hole, people! There's plenty of sandy ground for them to use away from the camp. Who wants to see brown trout swimming back up onto the beach? Who wants to eat shellfish from that part of the shore now? If you need to dunk into the ocean to clean yourself off, that's one thing, but haven't they ever heard that you don't poop where you eat?

I thought it was fairly well established by past contestants that everyone poops in the ocean. At least they do in recent seasons. In the early days of Survivor I distinctly remember them pooping in the jungle. I recall Colby making a mad dash for the woods because his body wasn't used to all the rich fatty food he ate at the reward and "diarrhea pbbbbttt pbbbbttt diarrhea pbbbttt pbbbbtttt mama mia papa pia Colby's got diarrhea!"

I also seem to recall that toilet paper was a reward once, and you wouldn't need toilet paper if you were taking a dump in the ocean. Not sure they went from dumping in the woods to dumping in the ocean.

[scowl]

Who doesn't know to hold onto the mask when they jump in? Then don't be the one with the mask.

 

Apparently everyone because no one else held onto their mask either. 

[KimberStormer]

Bad Example, on 18 Feb 2016 - 11:13 AM, said:

The idea of entering that "designated area" as anything other than the very first one is too horrifyingly gross to contemplate.  

 

 

FineWashables, on 18 Feb 2016 - 1:58 PM, said:

And why are they pooping in the ocean anyway?  Dig a hole, people!  There's plenty of sandy ground for them to use away from the camp.  Who wants to see brown trout swimming back up onto the beach?  Who wants to eat shellfish from that part of the shore now?  If you need to dunk into the ocean to clean yourself off, that's one thing, but haven't they ever heard that you don't poop where you eat?

 

This comes up a lot lately, and it's not my favorite topic to discuss, so I'll leave it after this, but: it is THE OCEAN.  There are 321,003,271 cubic miles of water diluting that poop, according to the first result of my DuckDuckGo search.  Every saltwater fish, whale, penguin, seal, jellyfish, shark, and lobster on earth is continually pooping into that vast blue briny deep, and it amounts to nothing compared with the enormous quantity of water, which is also constantly ebbing and flowing and otherwise moving.  The poop means nothing to Poseidon.  The ocean is not befouled.  You do not dip your toe into the same sea twice, or whatever.  Don't worry about it.

[SVNBob]

So the only thing the Beauty team got was a flint, and now Brawn has one too, so the only benefit Beauty got from coming in second was not going to Tribal Council?

Beauty still has all 6 original members, while Brawn is down to 4.5.  That's the other benefit.

[Nashville]

This. She told them she wasn't good at puzzles so I don't know why they then expected her to be good at puzzles.

 

I think that was at least in part a set-up of Felicia* by Muscles; for whatever reason, the bodybuilder seems to have had it in for her since they hit the beach Day 1.

 

 

* Hey, it's better than Blondie - plus I can't wait to get to say, "Bye, Felicia!"  ;>