S32.E06: Play Or Go Home

[blackwing]

What I don't understand is why there wasn't more of an effort from the Brains to get Scott onto their side?  Last round, Tai and Scott joined with them to vote off Anna.  Why not approach Scott?  I don't think it would have automatically been assumed by Scott that he would have been #4 in a 4 person alliance.  Instead, Julia comes back, and it's immediately assumed by all that it's 3 vs. 3.  I think that was a poor assumption.  While Scott and Tai might be tight because of the idol, none of the brains knew that.

 

Regarding the argument that Scott didn't have an advantage in the reward challenge because those things weren't basketballs and the net wasn't at basketball net height, etc.....  Sorry, I don't buy it.  Scott is an athlete.  He presumably spent most of his childhood and adult life playing basketball and other sports.  In order to be good enough to make it into the NBA, he presumably has an above-average level of athletic ability.  Just because he is retired doesn't mean that he instantly loses that athletic ability.  It's just like sitting around in the office lunchroom, crumpling up your soda can and tossing it into the open garbage can.  It's not a basketball, it weighs differently and moves differently through the air because of resistance etc.  But an athlete would be more likely to make the shot than someone like, say, Debbie.

 

My random thought: I spent this whole episode trying to figure out who Scot reminded me of, in both looks and voice.  It finally came to me: Bill Laimbeer of the Pistons.  Bad Boys, anyone?  Most of you weren't born when the Bad Boys played in Detroit, you say?  Moving on..........;)

I'm not seeing the resemblance at all.  Bill Lamebeer was an ass, but I think he resembles Patrick Warburton, from Seinfeld and Rules of Engagement.  I don't think Scott looks or sounds anything like Patrick Warburton or Bill Lamebeer.

[Special K]

One of the most fascinating moments was this exchange between Aubry and Joe:

 

Joe:  Well, we totally have a big fight today [referring to Peter].

Aubry:  Yeah, that was because you completely freaked out.

Joe:  <cowed> Yeah, I guess you're right.

 

I think this says an awful lot about Aubry and about her relationship with Joe.

[Lamima]

It's like watching a season with amateurs tbh. Peter made a good move wanting Joe out. So what if Joe found out? Just go on with your plan and vote him out already! Plus, are you really waiting to be on tribal council to decide who to vote? Really? Didn't you have like 5-6 hours to do that? I think there is something we missed here or these players are really dumb.

 

Merge after 2 tribal councils after the swap? Oh I can't even...

 

Such a shame. Such a bad season. Such a waste.

 

 

I agree. I just watch with my mouth agape as these players are: A- SO very dumb and B- SO very unlikable. It's sheer entertainment at this point. And like watching a train wreck. No gameplay this season. And so tough after last season which was thrilling to watch the gameplay.

Edited March 24, 2016 by Lamima

[Alapaki]

I always have my tin-foil hat on, looking for knollery on this show.  But I don't see anything amiss with the Reward Challenge.

 

First of all, they've had the "basketball-like" element in challenges almost every year recently.

 

Second, as far as benefits go, placing the element in a pre-merge straight-reward challenge where the "reward" was shitty processed food that's more likely give them the shits than give them energy) was about as benign a place to stick that "basketball-like" element as possible.

 

As I said last week, if they do away with the traditional balance, or stand-on-a-narrow-ledge challenge, I'll believe they're stacking the challenges to favor Scot.

 

As far as Scot's advantage in the challenge, I'm not so sure.  We've seen time and again on reality shows that when a contestant feels they have some skill in a particular task they end up doing worse than others.  That's because the task is a little different than what they're used to, but they're too over-confident to take the time to go thru the learning curve.

 

That was precisely the case here.  Being great at sinking shots in basketball is a matter of having devoted the time and energy to develop muscle-memory.  But this task wasn't exactly like any shot that Scot had muscle memory for.  So his pre-existing skills didn't really help him.  Where I think his training would come in handy is that once he got the feel for the optimal arc/speed/etc. he would probably be very good at locking in on that technique and repeating it consistently.  

 

That's why it was important for Chad Lowe Tribe to get a lead heading onto the beach and force Scot to play catch-up.  That might've made him less patient with getting the hang of the shots and really given them a chance to win.  The challenge was lost as soon as Michelle screwed up releasing the bouys.

[nkotb]

I'll admit, I'm not usually on the edge of my seat during tribal, but I kept waiting for someone to say "what's the original plan?", or screw it up & vote for the wrong person. I'm not sorry to see Fauxbama go, so there's that. I've intensely disliked Scot in the past, and I still intensely dislike his tattoos, but this week, I actually sided with him. Unfortunately, the preview for next week showed him back with Jason/Kyle, which is beyond disappointing, so that was a fleeting likeability for me towards him.

 

Every week, I say this  to my husband, as a totally heterosexual, married woman, Cydney has the absolute most banging body I've ever seen on this show. Seriously, this girl is just perfect. I'm so jealous and in total admiration.

[Special K]

To paraphrase Keith:  "Stick to the Original Plan"

[peachmangosteen]

I straight-up loved this episode. I've done a complete 180 on this season and I've now decided I love it. Sure, everyone is unlikable and stupid, but that makes it fun for me! And not having anyone I actually like makes it a lot easier to watch because I'm not worried about my fave getting booted. Plus most of them are kind of a love to hate thing for me anyway.

 

Joe had me rolling. His inexplicable confrontation with Peter was hilarious. Peter's face throughout was just comedy gold. And then Joe's, "Is this because of your neurosis I mean seriously," to Aubry had me literally loling.

 

I give Michele massive props for standing there and taking Nick's bullshit. I would've blasted him. Nick entertains the hell outta me though.

 

My guess is this is going to be a women-dominated post-merge because the editors keep hammering the, "I want a woman to win," and most of the guys are jerks/under-edited. 

 

Taking my reply to the spec thread.

Edited March 24, 2016 by peachmangosteen

[cooksdelight]

I hope they never, ever again do Brawn, Beauty & Brains tribes. I always find the brains to be dumb, beauty not all that, and brawn is downright lazy. The first time they did it I snoozed, too.

I miss the days of two teams, no merge until they're down to 10 players. But this bunch is dropping like flies thus far, so they must be scrambling to fix the game as they go.

[peachmangosteen]

Oh and as for Aubry's move, at first I thought it was stupid. And really it was, but someone mentioned the fact that if she had voted for Julia it would have been a tie so she was probably just trying to bypass that situation.

[Special K]

Also, I think by crossing it out so lamely, Aubry was making a point to Julia that she almost was voted out.  Or making a point to Joe that she wanted to vote with him, and that it wasn't a total betrayal. 

 

It was kind of like she will try to get credit for playing both sides or something?  It will be interesting to see...

[peachmangosteen]

Also, I think by crossing it out so lamely, Aubry was making a point to Julia that she almost was voted out.  Or making a point to Joe that she wanted to vote with him, and that it wasn't a total betrayal. 

 

I think if it was about making a point to Julie it was a very bad move. Really in any case it was really stupid to write Julia and then cross it out. Although I guess she just changed her mind up there so what else could she do. Maybe they won't let you rip up your vote and do another one.

[LanceM]

I guess I am not seeing the bad gameplay that some seeing as it seems to me the gameplay has been no better or worse than any other season including those with returnees.  I am also not seeing how aside from Nick, Scot and Jason that this cast is Unlikeable. Shrugs.  To each their own I guess. As far as tribal last night it was clear to me that Scot, Julia and Tai had two plans going into last night the first one was to vote out Aubry and the original was to vote out Peter.  I think peter clearly hung himself with the answers he was given last night and they definitely made the right choice on voting him out.

[himela]

... They are amateurs ...

They shouldn't be amateurs after 30 seasons of Survivor. These people act like someone made them play a game they have never watched. Such a childish season. I dislike Jason but I feel he is the only one there with his head fully in the game.

[himela]

Scot will reunite wuth Jason and Cydney so Tai will become ... the fourth in a 4 people alliance, exactly what he wanted to avoid when he voted Anna off. So stupid. Plus he has the idol so these people will manipulate him in a way so they use it to their advantage. I would not be surprised to see Tai become the new Erik...

[Lamima]

  I am also not seeing how aside from Nick, Scot and Jason that this cast is Unlikeable. Shrugs.  To each their own I guess.

Peter, Joe, Aubry...not super likable. Nick, Scot and Jason...def not likable. Ice cream guy (is it Neal?)...hmmm, maybe not likable. The brawn girls that got voted out...bug in her ear girl went off the rails at tribal and got voted out...and many folks didn't like Alecia. OMG...Debbie...while very entertaining to watch and I am even rooting for her, she would drive any normal person absolutely batty in just 10 minutes with her. And I don't get the love for Cydney as she is buddy buddy with a total D-bag (Kyle Jason). Tai...he's cute and all but all that tree-hugger stuff is a little over-the top (and he too is buddy buddy with another D-bag). I mean, really, you have to be a 'character' to get on a reality show. So, it's not un-expected. I just wish they had picked some more deep thinkers types.

Edited March 24, 2016 by Lamima

[Superpole2000]

The blocks challenge was a good idea. The cooperation required, the combination of physicality and mental ability, and the spectacle of it was good viewing. Unfortunately, the filming of it and the basketball challenge were poor. When showing someone shoot a basketball, you don't zoom in on the ball! You have to keep the basket and the shooter in the frame so we can see if the shot looks good or not. Similar thing with the blocks. They kept zooming in on the blocks, which was really useless. Zoom out and let us see how the two teams are progressing overall. It's okay if they're not neck and neck...we'll still watch. Not everything has to be edited to look like a photo finish to be dramatic.

 

I can see why some viewers enjoy having Debbie around. She's a wild card and is generally good for a few weird/funny moments. But to me, she exhibits a horrid mixture of annoying, delusional, narcissistic, and abrasive behaviour. Even that little moment last night where she jokingly warned her tribe that someone might drown themselves was tinged with her usual condescending, "I'm in a great position and you're not!" bullshit attitude that makes me want to see her get bounced from the game.

 

And someone needs to hand Tai some proper swimming trunks or a pair of pants. I just don't need to know this much about his anatomy.

[LanceM]

Scot will reunite wuth Jason and Cydney so Tai will become ... the fourth in a 4 people alliance, exactly what he wanted to avoid when he voted Anna off. So stupid. Plus he has the idol so these people will manipulate him in a way so they use it to their advantage. I would not be surprised to see Tai become the new Erik...

 

You are assuming that Tai is going to stick with Scot  at the merge when he could just as easily flip to back to the Beauties where he would probably be third in that alliance.  There is still a lot of maneuvering that can happen and I would not count on the alliances that have been made at the swap to necessarily hold into the merge.

[piequinn35]

RC: Well Nick was in the lead then Scot beat him. They have the reward and they still lost the 

IC: Tai on Scot's shoulders was late that's why they lost the challenge

Both challenges were great!

 

Yay! for Peter for not making to the merge :P I think the 4 brains will be fine in the merge 

Beauty is divided. Brawn? I don't care

Until we see another medevac that will surely change everything..

 

Bounty sleeping all day: good for your social aspect of the game :P :P

[himela]

You are assuming that Tai is going to stick with Scot at the merge when he could just as easily flip to back to the Beauties where he would probably be third in that alliance. There is still a lot of maneuvering that can happen and I would not count on the alliances that have been made at the swap to necessarily hold into the merge.

If he had any hope that the beauty alliance would be still valid after merge he would keep Anna. By voting her off I think it's confirmed by him that the beauty tribe is no more for him and that he has a new alliance with Scot. I have already predicted that trusting Scot will be his downfall. Lets see.

[Dobian]

So did Debbie really say she used to model?  I'm looking forward to finding out what other amazing thing she's done next week.  Maybe we'll learn that there's a character based on her in a Stephen King novel, or she wrote Obama's last state of the union address.  I want to know more about this Renaissance woman!

Edited March 24, 2016 by Dobian

[cooksdelight]

Yes, she said she was a model off and on for years.

I'm betting Debbie has been on the space shuttle, worked a pit crew for Earnhardt at Daytona, and was a private chef for the royal family in England.

[needschocolate]

It's like 50 replies in 20 minutes already.

 

Does that include the 20 posts before the show was over?

 

Scot will reunite wuth Jason and Cydney so Tai will become ... the fourth in a 4 people alliance, exactly what he wanted to avoid when he voted Anna off. So stupid. Plus he has the idol so these people will manipulate him in a way so they use it to their advantage. I would not be surprised to see Tai become the new Erik...

 

Tai knew he was 4th in a 4 person Beauty alliance, however (as far as we know) Tai doesn't know that the 3 Brawn have a tight alliance. He may think that Scot was only kept for his ability in challenges and that Scot would have been the next to go if Brawn lost again.

 

I'm betting Debbie has been on the space shuttle, worked a pit crew for Earnhardt at Daytona, and was a private chef for the royal family in England.

 

She also inverted the internet and was a reporter who was under fire while in a helicopter in Iraq.

[NutMeg]

Debbie for the win! She has the best social game so far, and the beauty of it is that she plays it in a way that's unconventional and non threatening, and I think it's the first time I've seen that approach, which makes it even more interesting for me as a viewer.

 

Re. the basketball challenge: I was rooting for Nick! I really was!! Because, hey, he was the underdog there!!! And he defended himself very well :)

 

Then again, these so-called advantages should be taken with a grain of salt. When the challenges were set, TPTB couldn't be sure that Scot would still be in the game by the time the challenge came. In an alternate reality, we would all be saying "If only Scot was still in the game, he would have KILLED it!". And while he did extremely well, he still didn't KILL it. It's a bit like on TAR, some seasons they had experts in different fields, and also challenges that played into these expertise, and sometimes the experts were still around and did well, and sometimes they were not around any more and I was left thinking "oh, I wish I had seen so and so tackle this, they would have KILLED it".

 

Interesting that at the end of the day Joe was the only one to remain loyal to Peter. Of course, Peter's deer-in-the-headlights answer look to Joe would have been enough proof to me that I could read him like an open book, and I've never been trained by the FBI. I expected more capacity of lying from Peter, guess ER docs are so used to tell it like it is that they have trouble sugarcoating things :)

 

Funny how Aubry lost her bearings once she heard her name was put up for grabs, without thinking of the source of the intel, she right then stopped functioning in any logical way. I would say that up until then her game play had been sound, although obviously her social game was not. It's funny, because when her vote was shown, and she seemed to dither, I wondered out loud if anyone had ever crossed their first choice and written another one - an lo and behold, she did!

 

Cydney's body is indeed amazing, and I'm awed everytime we see her. But is she the best female muscled body we've ever seen on Survivor? I'm still partial to Alicia who, while more lean- and less lethal-looking that Cydney, still was pretty impressive in a powerful but less body-building way. Then again, that was eons ago, and my memory may be faulty :)  

 

Edited to correct 3 typos and probably overlooked many more...    

Edited March 24, 2016 by NutMeg

[blackwing]

I think you are all wrong.  Clearly Debbie is going to reveal that she was once Donald Trump's housekeeper, and that Ivanka is actually hers, and that if he had married her like he had promised, she could be a future first lady.  And that Bill dated her before he met Hillary, so she could already have been first lady.

Edited March 24, 2016 by blackwing

[himela]

Tai knew he was 4th in a 4 person Beauty alliance, however (as far as we know) Tai doesn't know that the 3 Brawn have a tight alliance. He may think that Scot was only kept for his ability in challenges and that Scot would have been the next to go if Brawn lost again.

That's why it was a mistake of Tai to vote out Anna. At least in the beauty tribe had a secure 4th place that could change and become better along the road while now he has to beg to become a member of a new alliance. Plus a good player should be able to get this information before they make such a game changing move.

[Jobiska]

Would liked to see Michelle go home because of the petting tigers thing.

 

If you mean the bio where the player is proud of having walked with tigers, that was Alecia, who is gone.  I don't see anything in Michele's bio about tigers (and have not elsewhere either).

I've always wondered what would happen if they went to a tie, revoted, and everyone changed their votes meaning it was still a tie!  Hopefully they'd get a chance to straighten that out.  I think part of the problem here was even that if players considered something that might be a tie, they didn't know each other well enough to predict if the other side would cave and switch or not, making a possibly tie situation even more fraught.

 

[LanceM]

I think Dos Equis needs to hire Debbie for their new "Most interesting Woman in the World" campaign.

Edited March 24, 2016 by LanceM

[millennium]

Here is a link to Debbie's modeling page:

http://www.modelmayhem.com/2850516

 

Aww c'mon ... how am I supposed to see Debbie as anything but the Vitruvian Man now?

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

 

Survivor's Latest Challenge Commemorates March Sadness
A basketball challenge appeals to the resident former NBA player, a dynamic tribal council appeals to strategy wonks, and the rest appeals to pretty much nobody.

[Ms Blue Jay]

We have 4 beauties (Nick, Tia, Michele, and Julia); 3 Brawns (Cydney, Kyle, and Scott); and 4 brains. (Debbie, Aubry, Joe, and Neal)

 

Sometimes it's hard for me to see the obvious.  When you spell it out like this, this makes Aubry's move look even stupider.  What was she thinking?  Is her name really missing an "E" like that?  Rack up another reason I just don't like this person.  I guess I really have a bias towards people who smile, and it's really making me think more about myself :)

 

I hope Nick becomes the hilarious villain that Peter could have been.  

 

I will really laugh if it turns out Tai has a very bad association with doctors or something.  You can count Peter who was yet another player who was ready to board the TAI BROMANCE TRAIN.  First love: Caleb. Second love: Scot.  Third love (rejected with prejudice): Dr. Peter.   Did Peter actually say "I want Tai around, because I want some Vietnamese chicken"?  Tai was having NONE of that.

 

I hope they never, ever again do Brawn, Beauty & Brains tribes. I always find the brains to be dumb, beauty not all that, and brawn is downright lazy. The first time they did it I snoozed, too.

 

That is why I find it fascinating.  I loved Cagayan (loved, loved loved) and I'm liking this season.  So far so good.  I'm glad all of the previews about human collateral of this season, besides the Heatstroke Challenge, turned out to be mostly fear mongering (so far) and that Joe was okay.  Julia was also okay, Cydney seems okay, and Debbie seems okay (part-time modelling, chin-ups and all.)

Edited March 24, 2016 by Ms Blue Jay

[himela]

At this point I'm so disappointed at this season that I would only be happy if a good strategist would win. I'm afraid though that this won't happen. I predict a win like the one with Natalie and Russel, where the best evil won and nobody thought she deserved the win.

Edited March 24, 2016 by himela

[laurakaye]

I think Dos Equis needs to hire Debbie for their new "Most interesting Woman in the World" campaign.

This wins the internet for today.

[RedheadZombie]

I agree with the poster upthread who noted that Aubry always looks miserable.  She walks around half bent over, and seems utterly joyless.  I wanted to think of her as a Kim, but it's not working.

 

Yes, I believe they are indeed required to not talk until cameras are rolling.  I can't say this strikes me as anything but correct of them.  Supposedly, the rule was set after a game-changing conversation with Tina and somebody on the walk to tribal in Australia, which, since it was not captured by the camera, could not be part of the show, though it was very important somehow, and made subsequent events inexplicable?  I don't really know what I'm talking about since I never watched Australia, but this is what I've heard.  Anyway, the very possibility of missing something important is terrible...would you rather have them keep silent until getting back to the beach, or stiltedly reenacting a scene that happened with cameras off?

 

I think you're referring to the blind side of Jerri.  It was a total shock to the audience, because the decision was made on the walk to tribal.  I didn't mind missing the conversation, because I was so busy jumping up and down and cheering.

 

I was glad to see Peter voted out, because I'm so sick of his smug, superior face. But then I sat there debating whether that was a wise move or not. On the one hand, Peter WAS talking about taking fellow Brains out and he doesn't appear very trustworthy. On the other hand, who hasn't had conversations like that before? Just out of speculation and curiosity? In the end, Peter decided to stay with them. So that's numbers going forward. It may be that no one else trusts Peter either, and that's why they didn't want to go along with him in voting Joe out. If they had kept Peter, Brains would have 5 still in the game, pending a potential merge. Brawn would have 3 and Beauty 4. Of course, it's possible Beauty and Brawn could team up to take down Brain. It's possible that original tribal alliances won't even matter. That's what I love about this game, you might THINK a move is a bad move, but it turns out to be a great move. And vice versa. 

 

The other possible issue, though, is Aubry pissing off Joe. I want to like Joe. I always have a soft spot for the grumpy, older guys. Plus, he's in insane shape for his age! But he might be just too grumpy. He seems very rigid, and that's not going to work in this game. He was getting all pissy because Aubry was contemplating a different move right before voting. Sometimes that's when the best moves are made! He needs to be a little more flexible or he's not going to get much further. 

 

One thing I noticed, and it may have been just the editing, but it seemed like Aubry and Joe were very insular at camp. They were complaining about Peter being all over Julia as soon as she got to camp, but did they even try to court her? I feel like they just assume they're running things, but they're not bothering to establish good relationships with anyone else. Maybe we're just not seeing everything, but that's the impression that I get and it may come back to bite them. Soon. 

 

I did love all the scrambling going on at Tribal. That always makes for good TV. I also really enjoyed that IC. It was very different from anything we've seen before, and really highlighted some strengths and weaknesses on both tribes. It was also interesting how Nick almost beat the basketball player at that reward challenge. I wonder if Scot just assumed he had this, and didn't practice like Nick did? Those comps are never quite the same as basketball, so I don't understand not practicing. The size is totally different, and the buoys are staying IN there, so that totally affects the subsequent shots. 

 

 

On the other tribe, it seems Scot is still laying around camp all day, doing freaking nothing. I'm glad Debbie is already getting sick of him. I hope she pounces soon! Also, she's now a soccer coach, Girl Scout leader, animal rescuer, and PART TIME MODEL???? I can't. I just can't. I am not sure if I'm rooting for her to actually win yet, but I at least want her to stay around for awhile so we can find out all of the many jobs she's had. 

 

Nick was being pretty douchey to Michelle. I hope she lives up to her word and ends up playing HIM in the end. 

 

I think Joe may have been a little peeved that Aubry was absolutely unconcerned when Joe's name was mentioned, but as soon as she was the supposed target, she wants to flip things around.  I think he saw how rattled she was and was trying to make her focus on her own well-thought out plan.   He is a crabby old man, but she smacked him down earlier (which he submissively accepted), so I don't think he's trying to dominate her.

 

Lurch does lay around a lot, which grates since he accused Alecia of doing nothing.  But I think a man his size may have a stronger reaction to the severely restricted calories.  As irritating as it might be, it could be smart strategy to let him laze around doing nothing, to save energy for challenges.  Now if he wasn't strong in challenges, I would send him and his gigantic useless body home ASAP.

 

Regarding Nick and Michelle:  I don't remember much of Beauty's dynamics because the focus was mostly Caleb and Tai.  But the three women seemed to be in charge, and they pulled in Caleb.  Historically, the dominating group tends to be a little arrogant and is not shy about letting the minority know they're at the bottom.  In this type of situation, I enjoy the reversal of fortune that often happens in a tribe switch up.   I have no idea if this is the case with Nick and Michelle, but I at least suspect it's possible.  And I don't like Nick.  In fact, I didn't even know he was named Nick, and there was a Michelle until this episode.

 

Did you all see Peter's final words? He actually seems like a nice guy who is just utterly and completely socially clueless...like he has no idea how to read social clues. He should have stuck with Julia, Scot and Tai (to vote out Joe) but Joe was all apologetic to him so he swung back to their (Joe's and Aubry's) side not grasping that he would ALWAYS be at the bottom of the brains group. And Joe is an idiot and annoying. I wish he had been the one to go. That TC was a hot mess. I had no idea who was voting for who.

 

I didn't like Peter, his personality, or the way he played.  But I always have a little respect for a player who seems able to immediately drop the bitterness, and wave and call "good luck" as they walk away.  I'm not sure I could do it.

[Ms Blue Jay]

LOL, Jerri #blindside, before hashtags existed.  Yeah, one of the best TV moments of all time.

 

Joe had me rolling. His inexplicable confrontation with Peter was hilarious. Peter's face throughout was just comedy gold. And then Joe's, "Is this because of your neurosis I mean seriously," to Aubry had me literally loling.

 

Such an asshole.  While I do not LIKE Aubry and Joe they are a fascinating twosome.  

 

It's like, everyone on this show is weird and I probably don't like any of them, but I DO enjoy watching them.  I can't stop saying the word 'fascinated' because I have no other word for it.  This show just always wins the day for me.  I've never disliked Debbie, Neal, Peter, and Nick, for instance.  Yet a lot of the cast seems to be polarizing.  I do like Tai.

 

I give Michele massive props for standing there and taking Nick's bullshit. I would've blasted him. Nick entertains the hell outta me though.

 

Even though WE know what Michelle's (hilarious) expression meant, because of the voiceover, Nick seemed totally clueless which made things all the funnier.  What's her profession?  She's the one acting like the poker player, not Anna.

Edited March 24, 2016 by Ms Blue Jay

[RedheadZombie]

Re. the basketball challenge: I was rooting for Nick! I really was!! Because, hey, he was the underdog there!!! And he defended himself very well :)

 

Then again, these so-called advantages should be taken with a grain of salt. When the challenges were set, TPTB couldn't be sure that Scot would still be in the game by the time the challenge came. In an alternate reality, we would all be saying "If only Scot was still in the game, he would have KILLED it!". And while he did extremely well, he still didn't KILL it. It's a bit like on TAR, some seasons they had experts in different fields, and also challenges that played into these expertise, and sometimes the experts were still around and did well, and sometimes they were not around any more and I was left thinking "oh, I wish I had seen so and so tackle this, they would have KILLED it".

 

I was a little suspicious when TAR had a surfing challenge in a season that included a professional surfer.  It's hard to believe it's a consequence.  Rather than the show runners setting up an advantage, I think they're attempting to give what they think the audience would want to see.  And that would be basketball players shooting hoops, cowboys riding horses, and professional surfers surfing.

[KimberStormer]

plurie, on 24 Mar 2016 - 07:05 AM, said:

If Aubrey had voted for Julia, it would have been a tie. They would revote, and, if no one changed their vote, Julia and Peter would be safe and the rest of them would draw rocks. So, to avoid a tie, it makes sense to vote out Peter, who is wishy washy, arrogant, and untrustworthy.

 

 

peachmangosteen, on 24 Mar 2016 - 08:12 AM, said:

Oh and as for Aubry's move, at first I thought it was stupid. And really it was, but someone mentioned the fact that if she had voted for Julia it would have been a tie so she was probably just trying to bypass that situation.

 

I feel like if it was a tie there would be no reason for Scot and/or Tai not to flip.  Scot has no loyalty to Julia (as he said explicitly) and Tai just burned Anna last week.  I don't think their "original plan" included playing chicken with the rocks.  If avoiding a tie was the reason for her move, Aubry flinched long before necessary.

 

LanceM, on 24 Mar 2016 - 08:19 AM, said:

. As far as tribal last night it was clear to me that Scot, Julia and Tai had two plans going into last night the first one was to vote out Aubry and the original was to vote out Peter.  I think peter clearly hung himself with the answers he was given last night and they definitely made the right choice on voting him out.

 

Ha, I was thinking, if they had voted for Aubry or Joe, they would have succeeded (because of Aubry's switch) and it might have been better for them, since as I say I think Peter would have been a better ally going forward!  But I think Scot and Tai's "non-original plan" was vote Julia--that's what they had been discussing earlier.

 

Wondering if anyone's going to defend Aubry?  Or explain what makes her move different from Tai's last week, if not?  I'm just curious what people think.

[RedheadZombie]

Even though WE know what Michelle's (hilarious) expression meant, because of the voiceover, Nick seemed totally clueless which made things all the funnier.  What's her profession?  She's the one acting like the poker player, not Anna.

 

She's a bartender, so she's used to spewing BS and hiding her disdain for a good tip. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

Woo from Cagayan surfed as a hobby, and then they did a challenge where they had to balance on a small plank.  I think he may have won that challenge also, with the toe shoes.  People also crowed about those shoes being unfair, LOL.  Meh.  You bring them you use them.

 

I thought Aubry was legitimately confused.  Am I too naive?  How many times did the editors show her asking Joe at Tribal -- "What do we do?  Julia?"  (It might have only happened once, but it was shown twice.)  Her pausing at the urn was so funny.  We have never seen such a vote before.  And the cross-out.  Her furrowed brow always spells confusion to me.  I wonder who thought she'd be good on TV.  I'd like to be a person who is more able to embrace non-telegenic personas such as her.  It's just, you'd think the experience and game would be more fun and exciting out there.  She's tortured.

Edited March 24, 2016 by Ms Blue Jay

[needschocolate]

That's why it was a mistake of Tai to vote out Anna. At least in the beauty tribe had a secure 4th place that could change and become better along the road while now he has to beg to become a member of a new alliance. Plus a good player should be able to get this information before they make such a game changing move.

 

If I were Tai, I wouldn't think my 4th place in the Beauties was very secure.  The three women had a very tight alliancee, one would assume the two remaining still do.  But the rest of the alliance was probably never that tight.  Caleb was only brought in because the women needed a fourth.  Tai was brought in because he was allied with Caleb.  Now Caleb is gone.  The only former Beauty left is Nick and he wasn't part of a Beauty alliance, he was the one they would have gotten rid of had the Beauties had to vote.  There is no reason to assume that Nick would stick with the Beauties after he has spent time on a new tribe (there is no reason to assume he wouldn't either, it is just not certain either way).  Plus, after the shuffle, the Beauty who went home last week pushed for voting off Tai, so she had no loyalty to him.  

[Lamima]

I see some alliance switches coming. I was thinking a girls VS guys thing but Debbie and Aubry weren't on great terms and you have Cydney being attached to Kyle Jason. So after the merge...what is everyone thinking the alliances will be?

[ghoulina]

Oh and as for Aubry's move, at first I thought it was stupid. And really it was, but someone mentioned the fact that if she had voted for Julia it would have been a tie so she was probably just trying to bypass that situation.

 

But that's possibly only because she made ZERO attempts to try and get Scot or Tai on board with a different plan. They worked with her last week to vote off Anna. Why not do the same this week? I mentioned this earlier, but it looked to me like Aubry and Joe don't really talk to anyone else outside of the Brains. If they think they're running the show, why aren't they out there strategizing with everyone?

 

Interesting that at the end of the day Joe was the only one to remain loyal to Peter

 

I didn't take it as loyalty, so much as Joe is a totally stubborn stick-in-the-mud. Once a plan is set, he's going to stick to it no matter what. I bet even if Julia found an idol and showed it to everyone at tribal, he'd still vote for her. Voting Julia out probably would have been better for the Brains tribe anyhow, but I don't think his choice was anything more than stubbornness. 

 

I think Dos Equis needs to hire Debbie for their new "Most interesting Woman in the World" campaign.

 

I don't always encourage people to drink possibly parasite infected water, but when I do, it's because I have the constitution of a horse. 

 

Lurch does lay around a lot, which grates since he accused Alecia of doing nothing.  But I think a man his size may have a stronger reaction to the severely restricted calories.  As irritating as it might be, it could be smart strategy to let him laze around doing nothing, to save energy for challenges.  Now if he wasn't strong in challenges, I would send him and his gigantic useless body home ASAP.

 

I'm sorry, I meant Jason/Kyle in my original post! Not Scot. Scot is freakishly large and I can see him needing to conserve strength. Bounty isn't a small guy, but he's not really all that big either, and I think he just lays around because he's a lazy ass. 

[meep.meep]

Maybe if no one can keep the nicknames straight, we should stop using them?  I don't know who Lurch or Bounty are.

 

No way that Debbie is the most interesting woman in the world.

 

Bye bye Pretty Pretty Peter!  Last guy out before the merge always feels screwed.  They used to have a club.

[piequinn35]

Bounty is Kyle Jason coz he is a bounty hunter

Lurch I think is Scot

[violet and green]

I'm a bit disappointed to see Dr Peter go. Julia is no doubt a lovely young woman, but boring. (He did not disappoint with his childish exit interview, though. Lovely smile, fucked-up man.)

 

I cannot wait to see the interactions between Debbie and Tai - if they don't get on, I will be so upset.

 

Glad irascible old Joe is still around for the merge, also - this is a good season for crusties! And now they've survived this far, I can only hope they will be safe for a few more votes, being old and decrepit and deemed therefore no threat in challenges - and/or go on immunity runs and win the whole damn thing.

[blackwing]

I agree with the poster upthread who noted that Aubry always looks miserable.  She walks around half bent over, and seems utterly joyless.  I wanted to think of her as a Kim, but it's not working.

 

I didn't like Peter, his personality, or the way he played.  But I always have a little respect for a player who seems able to immediately drop the bitterness, and wave and call "good luck" as they walk away.  I'm not sure I could do it.

Regarding Aubry, I would agree.  I would say she has what many people seem to refer to as "resting bitchface".  Somebody from a TV show I watch just said that he had it, to explain why something he said wasn't suspicious.  I think it was Connor from "How to Get Away with Murder".

 

Regarding Peter... are you saying you give him kudos for his exit and the way he waved and said "good luck"?  Because his exit interview seemed to be anything but non-bitter.  He expressed confusion over why he was voted out, said that he was amazed they would vote him out for his block stacking suggestion, and then I believe he basically said that they were dumb to vote him off and now will get picked off one by one.

 

As to the fairness or unfairness of challenges... we will see how things are once the individual immunity challenges start.  For last season, which was filmed after this one, I recall that something like 5 out of the first 6 individual immunity challenges favoured someone who had good balance.  There was a lot of talk about how things were rigged to help Jeffy's Golden Boy Joe who does yoga and has good balance.  And I know blah blah blah FCC blah blah blah Quiz Show.  They could have had all of those challenges planned in advance hoping that he would make it to the merge.

 

If the individual immunity challenges on this season do NOT feature many challenges in a row which favour yoga people, then I will find that interesting that the next season to be filmed had so many.  Since Jeffy's obsession in this edition would have been Caleb had he not evacced, I will raise an eyebrow if many of the challenges feature strength, which is what strong, handsome, beefy, beast Caleb would have done well in.

[RedheadZombie]

I see some alliance switches coming. I was thinking a girls VS guys thing but Debbie and Aubry weren't on great terms and you have Cydney being attached to Kyle Jason. So after the merge...what is everyone thinking the alliances will be?

It will be interesting to see how Debbie and Aubry work together post merge. Since Joe and Debbie seemed close, and Aubry just went behind his back and switched her target, there may be trouble.

[Ms Blue Jay]

Glad irascible old Joe is still around for the merge, also - this is a good season for crusties! And now they've survived this far, I can only hope they will be safe for a few more votes, being old and decrepit and deemed therefore no threat in challenges - and/or go on immunity runs and win the whole damn thing.

 

Very interesting angle to look at this season from.  It started with (Peter and Liz?  Neal?  Please correct me.  I don't want to be inaccurate) saying a bunch of ageist bullshit about the HORRIFYING OLDIES on their tribe, Debbie and Joe.  It was called the fucking Brains tribe, not the Zygotes tribe, and yet Peter and Liz hatched a plan to kick them all to an old folks' home ... and yet, look who survives from Brains!  (Aubry, Ice Cream), Most Interesting Woman, and FBI Joe.

 

Sorry. I  don't think the nicknames are going to stop.  For the life of me, when I look at Nick's face I see a guy named "Peter" and vice versa.  I just think Nick looks like a Peter and Peter KIND OF looks like a Nick, but not a Peter.  I don't know why these things happen in my brain and these impressions are so hard to scratch out. Anyways, the nicknames help.

 

Debbie seems "close" to everyone though.  That's her whole game.  Was she really so close to Joe?

 

(Caption at bottom of screen:)   CLOSE TO JOE

Edited March 24, 2016 by Ms Blue Jay

[peachmangosteen]

If you mean the bio where the player is proud of having walked with tigers, that was Alecia, who is gone.  I don't see anything in Michele's bio about tigers (and have not elsewhere either).

 

There's a picture in her thread, I believe, of her petting a tiger. I think she went to the same tiger thing that Alecia did.

[violet and green]

Very interesting angle to look at this season from.  It started with (Peter and Liz?  Neal?  Please correct me.  I don't want to be inaccurate) saying a bunch of ageist bullshit about the HORRIFYING OLDIES on their tribe, Debbie and Joe.  It was called the fucking Brains tribe, not the Zygotes tribe, and yet Peter and Liz hatched a plan to kick them all to an old folks' home ... and yet, look who survives from Brains!  (Aubry, Ice Cream), Most Interesting Woman, and FBI Joe.

 

Sorry. I  don't think the nicknames are going to stop.  For the life of me, when I look at Nick's face I see a guy named "Peter" and vice versa.  I just think Nick looks like a Peter and Peter KIND OF looks like a Nick, but not a Peter.  I don't know why these things happen in my brain and these impressions are so hard to scratch out. Anyways, the nicknames help.

 

Debbie seems "close" to everyone though.  That's her whole game.  Was she really so close to Joe?

 

(Caption at bottom of screen:)   CLOSE TO JOE

 

Don't make me wrack my brains and come up with false memories! I think it was Dr Peter and Neal, with Liz maybe thrown in at some other point for a bit of gloating about the discardable oldies. 

 

I think Debbie had a level of comfortability and trust with Joe that she didn't have with say Peter and Liz. Not sure if I'd say they were close, just that they could read the writing on the wall and communicate it to each other without a load of baloney or fuss. Who knows how it will pan out, but people like Tai, Debbie, and Joe seem quite able to trust their instincts about people - and that is always a handy quality in life as well as Survivor.

 

PS: I think Nick looks like a Peter, also - a Pete! It does my head in.

Edited March 24, 2016 by violet and green

[peachmangosteen]

Sorry, double post.

Edited March 24, 2016 by peachmangosteen