S28.E07: Mad Treasure Hunt

[ProfCrash]

Jefra is playing a good game the problem is that it is too subtle. She is not making any moves that we can see and is not the person that people approach to make a move. Trish went to LJ because he was from Boston and she was lonely in her tribe. LJ came with Jefra in Trish's mind. Jefra did a fine job of bolstering Trish after she was brought into things but she was secondary to the conversation.

I do think she is playing a great social game and rolling with the punches. She is working around camp so she is not hinking off people. But she has also been targetted as someone who is not strong enough to be saved using an idol. So she is in a weird spot. Based on her answers in tribal council, I would say that she is not going to do well in front of the jury.

Kass will be well spoken and make a solid argument but the reality is she is voting off people she doesn't like and who won't do what she wants. Everyone sees that. I tought I heard Trish say they would vote off who Kass wants this week and Kass tried to reject that idea. Trish said that because everyone knows that Kass lives for control and if she doesn't have it she aims for chaos. So let Kass pick out who to vote for to make sure that Kass stays with them. They are using the vote to placate Kass and keep her from flipping. Great strategy on their part but I am not sure that Kass sees what is happening. She thinks her free agent strategy is working brilliantly because people are approaching her and she is not being voted out. She doesn't see that her approach is being used by both groups to advance their cause and that it is not really helping her.

It might help her get to the end but it is not going to help her win. She has lost 5 votes from the folks she flipped on last week. If it is a final three, that means she has already lost the jury. I don't think anyone in her current non alliance is going to vote for her. They are using her and that is it.

[Eggman]

Morgan seems to have missed the real point: Now she'll never get a boyfriend!

But she made the merge - I thought that was the criteria for if you are boyfriend-worthy or not.

Stop stealing my lines, woman!

[KarateKate]

But she made the merge - I thought that was the criteria for if you are boyfriend-worthy or not.

Well that's just a base threshold. But she's also "cute", and who isn't going to pick "cute"?

The ProductPlaced© reward came just after I turned to MrKate and said "remember when they used to do those reward challenges for, like, Pringles and Mountain Dew? Ha! Old Survivor."  (although if you are going to have a reward at this point of the game, steak is of more value than mountain dew - although either come at a stomach-cramping, jungle-squatting cost, I would imagine)

Tony annoys the poop out of me. Well, not literally. But I can see how he would be... not charming, but persuasive. He's gregarious and loud, with a quick temper but an even quicker laugh. He doesn't make you like him, but he challenges your dislike of him. I think he could be dangerous to face a jury with.

[Gummo]

 

The ProductPlaced™© reward came just after I turned to MrKate and said "remember when they used to do those reward challenges for, like, Pringles and Mountain Dew? Ha! Old Survivor."

Really, I don't mind it either -- it places Survivor on a direct line of game shows going all the way back to radio, when something like Queen for a Day was nothing BUT product placement!

[ali59]

Morgan seems to have missed the real point: Now she'll never get a boyfriend!  Just wait until she discovers what gravity does to a body over time.  She'll be playing hackysack with her boobs in 20 years.

 

More like soccer!  Have you seen the size of those things?

Regarding LJ:  I too, can look at him all day.  I find myself watching for him in every shot!

[RescueMom]

 

But she made the merge - I thought that was the criteria for if you are boyfriend-worthy or not.

 

Well that's just a base threshold. But she's also "cute", and who isn't going to pick "cute"?

 

I think it came out that implants are required as well - oh, never mind...

[Tryangle]

Come on Tony, it's pillows, the plural.

What to make of Jefra's "links on a chain" argument, well yes it's b.s., and surprised that Spencer or Probst didn't jump on it. I'd like to think that Jefra is thinking a bit beyond Final Five, however, and could consider making a big move on their own (e.g. link with Jeremiah?)

[ProfCrash]

Spenser actually did and Tony countered with "Yeah but we mean it. Tribal is normally 2 hours or longer so we only get the juicy bits. It would be cool if they put the entire tribal up on the web, I would totally watch that.

In my free time

I have a toddler at home so what free time?

I would totally read someones recap of that!

[Tara Ariano]

Here's Trip's post on the episode!

[Yeldarbe]

-- both!

Unless Kass is really stupid, she's probably thinking that all she needs to do is to get in front of the jury and her mad lawyer skills will win the game for her.  As she goes along putting people on the jury who are upset with her she will look more and more like a goat, especially with Spencer loudly arguing that she can't win the game now.   My feeling is that she's a supercilious bitch who browbeats people into doing what she wants.  Me?  I'm praying she gets to the end so we can see the jury roast her alive.

She did mention several times that she was banking on the people she betrayed "getting over it" because there would be many more betrayals to come. Maybe she thinks that if she betrayes everyone they will all have to get over it and bow down to her awesome game skillz at FTC. I kind of want to see her face when everything blows up in it.

[Lamb18]

Morgan annoyed me, so I'm glad she's gone, but it would have been smarter to vote out Tony.  I still like Kass a little bit because I'm an older lady, too, but I think she should have voted with her old team.  I like Spenser and his hair - he's like a scruffy Malcolm to me.  Tony I like because he's a super fan and loves playing the game, but I don't want him to win.  I'd like Spenser or Tasha to win.  It would be funny if Trish won.  She might end up being the one people carry to the end.

[Padma]

I usually root for the older contestants, but with Kass I just can't. She's so smug and unpleasant and her "strategy" just seems like "emotional decisions + since I'm causing chaos I'll look like a force to be reckoned with!"  I know she was trying to be humorous (but still truthful) about the way she practices law, but...just. no.

I dislike her so much that I'm eager for her to leave. She doesn't even make it entertaining. (And ITA it would be nice to have a little more LJ on screen instead.)

I like to think Woo stole the clue instead of reading it and returning it because he panicked that he wouldn't have time and was afraid Spencer would fight him for it. I like Woo, but that "throwing the pants in the water" really wasn't his best moment.

[ethalfrida]

Woo made me chuckle when he was talking about getting all Sonic the Hedgehog. I don't think he should have run off with the clue, but I think reading it and then giving it back would have been fair game. I think he is on borrowed time. He is too much of a threat to keep in the game.
 

 

Love that strategy! It makes more sense and wouldn't have been so in the face!

[meep.meep]

I'm sorry but if you're going to call yourself a ninja and sneak around snooping on others, then it's important to retain your ninja skills when you find the product of your snooping.  Read the clue to yourself and don't let the snoopee know that you have done so!  Woo is only a semi-ninja in my book.

Spencer is an idiot.  Put the damn clue back in the pocket of your pants. 

Tasha and Spencer are partners, right?  Why didn't one of them suggest an end to the immunity challenge when it was only the two of them? 

[Miss Scarlet]

Regarding LJ:  I too, can look at him all day.  I find myself watching for him in every shot!

I find myself doing this too or rewinding the scenes he's in. He has some sort of hypnotic quality to him. Some of the posters at twop were saying he looked a bit rough this episode, but I was like, he still looks good to me!

[shallow/]  You could really see L.J.'s receding hairline in one shot -- no wonder he's always wearing a cap.  [/End Shallow]

Awww I think it's sad that he's so self-conscious about this that he wears the hat all the time. He almost never takes it off. Just own it like Tony does!

Edited April 10, 2014 by wudpixie

[Wandering Snark]

Yeah I think Woo's whole thing after he "found" the clue was that Spence was already coming his direction when Woo picked up his pants. So he couldn't read it, retain it and give it back really. No time to do anything but Sonic your way back to camp... and once he got there the only answer to Spencer at any moment clearing the woods running and yelling "He stole my clue!!" was to instantly say "Look I have this clue, check it out!!!"

That way, their wanting to see the clue for themselves negated the "wait, where did you get this and was it gotten fairly" argument quickly. Nobody cared at that point...

Edited April 10, 2014 by Wandering Snark

[Yeldarbe]

I have had my eye on Spencer ever since the first episode because he claimed that he was going to be one of the best players eva!!1 So far he's a bit annoying what with his estrogen comments and his bagging on that girl (I can't remember who now) and telling her how much her strategizing sucked and to "stop. Just stop." but I am still rooting for him to go far. During the mad hunt for the idol, I could tell he was keeping his hand on that one spot for a reason. Smooth move, good thing it was Kass though cause I don't know if anyone else would have let him get away with that so easily.

Next on my list for someone I love to hate is #ChaosK-ASS. For all her flipity flopping she is playing the game for herself and I think Spencer (among others) were just a little butt hurt that she didn't help their games out by voting out who they wanted. As evidenced by their crawling back on their knees when they needed her vote. It is just a game but the comments Kass makes about Trial by ambush and how she likes that stuff in real life were just off-putting and I don't know if I'd like her game enough to want her to win. At this point I think she would make an excellent goat but I'm not sure how much longer she'll last. I think the smarter move would have been to take out Tony but she really hated Morgan on a personal level so she let that rule her decision making.

Spencer was between a rock and hard place because if he didn't go look for the idol it was a wasted clue but if he did there would always be someone trying to follow him. Even the "dude, I just ate a lot of outback and It's coming back to haunt me" excuse would only last so long with a persistant fella like Woo on his trail. I'm not sure what Woo's deal was in stealing the clue. I think he had a chance to make a secret alliance with Spencer right there. They could have looked for and/or found the idol together and then Woo could have went back to camp first saying "he was just taking a gnarly crap, you guys." with Spencer not too far behind shouting "DO NOT go in there!" and waving his hand near his ass. Then again it's easy to be a Couch Castaway with a full belly. ;)

[ethalfrida]

Does anyone wonder why only Spencer had the piece of paper in his napkin?

[Yeldarbe]

I think it was just randomly placed for whoever happened to sit there.

[liqidclark]

Yeah, but they probably chose their own seats at the table, so anyone could have gotten the clue. I can't remember if it looked that way or not, but that's what I assumed.

Edit: What Yeldarbe said.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Liqidclark

[Dominii]

 

...was treated to Spencer shoveling the largest fork-load of salad ever into his gullet. Meh.

Yeah, that was sick!  WTF?  I've never been a big Spencer fan, though.  He's always been a bit too arrogant for my taste.

What's up with all the swooning over LJ, too?  He's boring, and he's not all that great looking either. 

So many of this season's players are either crazy or mean-spirited, so I think one of the nicer and more considerate players should win.  Go Jefra!  Go Jeremiah!

[riley702]

What's up with all the swooning over LJ, too?  He's boring, and he's not all that great looking either.

 

I think it's called different strokes for different folks.

[Joystickenvy]

When Kass referenced Jefra's "links in a chain", I think she was being sarcastic.  I'm fairly sarcastic myself, and it sounds like something I would say.  I am often misunderstood when people take my comments seriously.

  

I'm 100% sure she was being sarcastic and probably not endearing herself to her NotAlliance in the process. It's not like Jefra didn't know it was BS, but it's either make up something lame to answer Jeff's leading, shit stirring questions or risk sending someone like Kass into a last minute Zomg! I'm on the bottom better flip! Moment or go with the infamous "the game is afoot" approach.

I agree that Woo probably would have read the clue and put it back, if he hadn't already called Spencer over before he found the clue, which is also why I don't think he picked up the pants specifically to look for the clue, otherwise why alert Spencer before you had the chance to look? I think the reason he Soniced back to camp was to avoid having Spencer tell the group Woo found the clue and kept it to himself, which could make him an elimination target. If they both stayed out there alone and a Woo found the HII, no chance Spencer doesn't tell his alliance, if not everyone that Woo has the idol.

[Snaporaz]

 

Tasha and Spencer are partners, right?  Why didn't one of them suggest an end to the immunity challenge when it was only the two of them?

They were both targets on a minority alliance, so I guess neither wanted to risk not having immunity.  But stupid Spencer should have thrown it to Tasha without it looking obvious that he was throwing it.  They'd both been there long enough that it wouldn't have looked suspicious if he'd dropped.  More than likely, the target would have been on his back, and he could have played his idol and gotten Tony out.  I don't understand saving an idol when he could have improved his alliance's numbers a bit.  Now they're down 6-3, when he could have made it 5-4 and bought 3 more days to try to win somebody over.  

Trish was very gracious when her team lost the reward challenge.  I don't think she's as bad as she's been portrayed.

[Joystickenvy]

They were both targets on a minority alliance, so I guess neither wanted to risk not having immunity. But stupid Spencer should have thrown it to Tasha without it looking obvious that he was throwing it. They'd both been there long enough that it wouldn't have looked suspicious if he'd dropped. More than likely, the target would have been on his back, and he could have played his idol and gotten Tony out. I don't understand saving an idol when he could have improved his alliance's numbers a bit. Now they're down 6-3, when he could have made it 5-4 and bought 3 more days to try to win somebody over. .

Giving up a HII to end up in a slightly improved minority alliance isn't a no brainer IMO. Plus, they avoided voting Tasha because they were afraid Spencer had a HII that he would play for her. The main reason they voted Morgan was because they didn't think Spencer would give her the idol. I think they would have done the same if Tasha had immunity, because they would be afraid Spencer would play the HII, so he'd just end up risking himself and/or wasting the HII and be no better off.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Joystickenvy

[Hera]

I'm not sure why Spencer thought Kass might flip to their side—especially since it doesn't seem like he told her about his idol. All flipping would have done is force a tie, which doesn't guarantee her anything except pissing off her new alliance—and she is in that alliance, despite her bluster about being a "free agent". Everything they said at tribal council implied that they see her as part of their alliance and she at least appeared to be going along with it. While it's true that Kass is playing emotionally, I can't imagine the emotional state someone would have to be in to want to force a tie at F10.

Now that the split is 6-3, there's no room for her to flip back, though if Tony fractures his alliance next week, who knows? I haven't seen every season, but from the ones I have, I've come away with the feeling that a tight alliance is optimally 2-4 people. Once it becomes bigger than that, it's hard for people not to reveal their pecking order in some way (not that it can't be done; Rob, Kim, and Sophie all managed it) and for the alliance to fracture.

Kass' game reminds me of the distinction between tactics and strategy that I remember someone on TWoP making (Eggman, was it you?). Kass may be able to position herself to survive each vote and maybe even al the way to F3, but she's not actually playing with strategy—or at least not a good one. I was surprised to hear her say in this episode that she was playing to make it to F3. I can't decide if that was a tacit admission that she knows she can't win or if she, like Russell Hantz, thinks that her winning is inevitable once she makes it to Final Tribal Council.

I didn't mind Woo stealing the clue. I thought Spencer was dumb for leaving it unattended like that. Idols explicitly can't be stolen (which is why Lisa couldn't take Malcolm's when she came across it accidentally), but I've never heard that rule applied to clues and it's been pretty well-established that "privacy" and "personal possessions" aren't really part of Survivor, which is why so many people hide their hidden immunity idols. I actually like this way of doing things (at least in Survivor; I wouldn't want to see it applied to the real world, but then again, I wouldn't want to see most of Survivor applied to the real world). It means more intrigue as players to try to conceal clues and idols, or search for them on the sly. I also enjoy watching how they deal with other discovering that they have a clue or idol.

So yes, Woo could have theoretically read it and then handed it back to Spencer, but I would argue that Spencer lost as much as he was going to lose once Woo found the clue and read it. The fact that Woo had possession of the piece of paper didn't really make the situation worse; Spencer already knew what it said and even if he had gotten it back, Woo could have (and probably would have) gone back to camp and told everyone what it said. The important thing is the information—not the piece of paper itself (except maybe as prop you can use to mess with other people, like Tony tried to do to Jeremiah) and even then, knowing the location of where the idol is/was hidden doesn't really give you power in the game. Holding the idol does, which is why it's fair that it cannot be taken from you—after all, no one would bother to look for it if someone could just steal it from them or if they could steal it from someone else.

[Miss Scarlet]

 

I dislike her so much that I'm eager for her to leave. She doesn't even make it entertaining. (And ITA it would be nice to have a little more LJ on screen instead.)

More LJ would be great! I really wanted for him to have a confessional in this episode where he explained why he played the idol for Tony. A lot of people have been tossing around different reasons (emotional play, not wanting Tony to get mad when if LJ didn't play it and then found out later that LJ had an idol, looking over and seeing the other alliance laughing, meaning that the Solana 5 missed the target). It would have been nice to have found out why. He was so quiet the whole episode. After he won the RC he seemed like he was so tired that he could barely move.

[Nutjob]

Morgan's comments had me seriously flashing back to some of the idiotic things Heidi and Jenna said during the Amazon season. ("They don't like us because we're young and cute!" "We're handicapped by our beauty, and will say so right in front of our hearing impaired cast mate!" Yeah, that's paraphrased.) Still, I was rooting for her to stay over Kass, who, at this point, has annoyed me past the point of no return.

Regarding Woo, I thought his ninja comments were totally tongue-in-cheek, and rather adorable. I'd rather have that than sour (Kass), conceited (Morgan), or ultra-spazzy (Tony).

[guerra1942]

i have never seen an immunity idol wrapped in what looked to be lengthy instructions.  is it possible he misread and it is the super power idol?

[Wandering Snark]

True, it did seem to have a ton of writing on it, but he pretty quickly came out with "and this is a regular idol". I think maybe since there was the possibility of the other idol being there it was another horrid rhyming note that just said so?

[KimberStormer]

Noooooooooo my girl Morgan!  I still love her, OTT ridiculous meangirling and all.  I am very sad to see (though I should have known) that the preview was nonsense and she didn't do anything to pick a fight with Kass, and all they did was a bit of mild sniping.  I hate reality TV "drama" but as long as there's an unrepentant jerk out there, I'd have liked to see her give Kass a taste of her own attitude.

But I'm resigned to Kass going to F3 as a goat, convinced that she's running the show the whole time.  I'm growing resigned, indeed, to a real fizzling-out; somehow I knew it before I even saw the episode that it was going to be semi-boring and not promise much better.  I don't know, I love Jefra but of course she's not winning the game, and so with Morgan and Sarah gone I feel like I have no one left to really root for.  I'm afraid it's going to be worse than I imagine and I must also resign myself to Spencer getting to the end and probably winning, with idols falling from the sky this way--isn't the Tyler Perry idol enough?  Do we really need another?

Jeff, Kass, and the editors may try to make it look like Jefra's an idiot for her chain analogy, but like she & Tony even pointed out, nobody on the other side got that treatment for the same sort of statement.  Why?  Because Morgan didn't say it, I imagine--a young pretty girl = automatic moron, right show?  What could she have said that would have been good enough for Jeff?  Kass mocking her is I guess what I must expect from Kass for the rest of the season.

I thought Woo was funny with his Sonic etc.  I completely understand the horror some people feel about going through somoene else's pants (or whatever) but it has always been, and always will be, OK on Survivor.  First of all they can't stop him without breaking the fourth wall, which they really don't want to do--we all remember Stephanie ALL ALONE, A TRIBE OF ONE, not Stephanie, surrounded by fifteen cameramen and crewmembers.  Secondly, it's a reliable source of drama, whether Lisa finding Malcolm's idol or Jamie searching, yes deliberately searching, through James's stuff and finding his idol, in China.  Could I handle this lack of privacy?  Probably not, but that's why I'm not on Survivor.

I did notice Trish being super-nice to everyone; I would love it if she could pull this out.  She'd deserve it.

Edited April 10, 2014 by KimberStormer

[ratgirlagogo]

Stop stealing my lines, woman!

But she can't help it. None of us "gals" can.  it's the estrogen that does the thinking for us.

I was SO impressed by Tasha in the immunity challenge.  I would love it if she goes to the end but I'm afraid she's entirely too impressive.

Kass's thinking is very Russell Hantzesque - very emotional, based on punishing anyone who fails to "respect" her.  As with Russell even if she gets all the way to the end I just don't see any way she can win.

While I can see that the Outback reward meal was on the rich side,  it was an actual meal.  Steak, potatoes, and salad are better than donuts, cookies, ice cream, movie candy, etc.  A much better food reward than empty sugar calories.

[liqidclark]

I was SO impressed by Tasha in the immunity challenge.  I would love it if she goes to the end but I'm afraid she's entirely too impressive.

Kass's thinking is very Russell Hantzesque - very emotional, based on punishing anyone who fails to "respect" her.  As with Russell even if she gets all the way to the end I just don't see any way she can win.

Yup, Tasha kicked ass. You can just see the strength of will she possesses right in that challenge.

Kass does seem to identify and exploit the dynamics amongst the tribes in order to save her own ass. If she was awesome at it, she'd remind me of Sandra -- but I dunno. She also reminds me of Sugar, who also just did shit for the giggles and attention without really having a long term plan to win.

[EC Amber]

I'm sorry but if you're going to call yourself a ninja and sneak around snooping on others, then it's important to retain your ninja skills when you find the product of your snooping.  Read the clue to yourself and don't let the snoopee know that you have done so!  Woo is only a semi-ninja in my book.

Tasha and Spencer are partners, right?  Why didn't one of them suggest an end to the immunity challenge when it was only the two of them? 

Re: Woo... when Spencer doubled back and caught him I thought "Ninja fail!"

 

I wondered that myself. "Give her the win" I kept saying until it dawned on me that some of the craftier contestants might realize that indicates he has the idol. I also noticed that he didn't tell Tasha who so far seems to be his closest ally. I don't think there has been one seriously tight alliance in this entire season which is odd... it seems there is always at least one triad or couple who are extremely tight until it comes to cut a throat at F4. 

 

[ramble]

This seemed to be an episode where the editing monkeys unleashed the catty. Spencer & his little remarks about estrogen & Kass. Morgan & her (continued) remarks about older women & all the cute, wait-on-me garbage. Other than that it was a slightly snoozy episode.

My only truly lasting feeling was an uncomfortably hateful desire to see Morgan as a "older" woman post several pregnancies, too much wine & sun with stretch marks, sagging boobs, leathery skin & botched Botox, watching her sons hot girlfriends sit on their butts while they snicker about her being old.

Edited April 11, 2014 by ramble

[Joystickenvy]

I don't have any ill will towards Morgan, in spite of her dumbassery, I'm just disappointed that her brief early gameplay savvy with the pretending she got her tribe an advantage when she really took the HII clue was apparently just a fluke. I was hoping she'd go against type and have boobs and brains, but.....this is Survivor.....what was I thinking?

[RescueMom]

But she can't help it. None of us "gals" can.  it's the estrogen that does the thinking for us.

It's a whole new day and I'm still laughing at this!

In his blog on this week's show, Stephen Fishbach awarded his "fishy" to the show's casting director for giving us a great cast this season.  I agree!

Edited April 11, 2014 by RescueMom

[ProfCrash]

Unless I hear Spenser make more silly comments like that, I am letting it pass. He is a 21 year old whose game was just blown up by someone who changes her vote in a way that does not appear to be logical to anyone. I hear people referencing men who think with their "head" frequently enough in Reality TV shows and in real life to know that both genders are stereotyped by the presence of estrogen and testosteron to not take offense when someone says something once.

Heck, my office has a man who stopped eating edamame as a snack when someone suggested that the high levels of estrogen might cause him to act like less of a man. I know one dude who insisted that his vegetarian wife check with the doctor to make sure that the suy products she was eating when pregnant wouldn't make his son into a girly-man. OK, so both are pretty stupid, actually laughable until you realize that it really happened and then you want to cry, but they go to show that there is still a sense of estrogen drives women, testosteron drives men.

One statement by an upset, confused, 21 year old is not a big deal. Laughable, eye roll inducing, but not a big deal. He has treated the women with respect, no one has complained about his behavior towards the ladies on the show or in interviews and he appears to have good relationships with all the other women in the game. 

I do think Kass is playing an emotional game and voting out the people who she thinks are mean to her or challenge her and don't klss her ass. I do think the way she has behaved towards Sarah and Morgan is closer to the traditional stereotypical woman crap that we see in high school and I have not seen her treat any of the men that way.

[JustAlison]

I suspect when Kass is sitting at tribal in the finals, people will still say she played a stupid, emotional game and doesn't deserve the win. 

In my opinion, she absolutely deserves to win, and I am very much looking forward to watching her make final 2 with her 'emotional' gameplay, and 'dumb' moves. I do fnd it fascinating how all the Trish hate, and there was so much Trish hate, has now morphed into Kass hate. When Trish was elemental in getting rid of Cliff, I saw folks get so incensed they even called her a racist, not to mention the many, many people making really hurtful comments about the possibility she was born male, based on a lame joke she made. Fast forward a couple of weeks, and no one has any hate for Trish anymore. It's all about Kass. 

Were Trish and Kass male, their game moves would be seen from an entirely different perspective, as would their personalities. As it stands, many folks would rather root for LJ, who has done absolutely nothing of note, than any woman who dared play outside the gender roles. Very obviously, YMMV.

[90PercentGravity]

I don't think it has anything to do with Kass being female. People absolutely hated Cochran when he flipped and he had a fairly valid reason for doing it. If Kass flipped because she was on the bottom, it would have made sense, but she wasn't on the bottom. The brains were running the show and she was pretty much guaranteed a seat at final tribal. She flipped because Sarah pissed her off and admitted as much. It wasn't a strategic play in any way shape or form.

[Miss Scarlet]

 

I was hoping she'd go against type and have boobs and brains, but.....this is Survivor.....what was I thinking?

Why can't there be more women on Survivor who are hot and smart? They do exist!

[FineWashables]

I can see that I'm in the minority on this, but I don't think that Jethra's "links in a chain" response was necessarily what she actually thought.  I saw it as avoiding saying anything controversial that could be construed negatively by other players.  I think she was more concerned with sounding humble and flying under the radar than she was with using this sound byte to step into the spotlight and impress others with her take on strategy.  From this perspective, that dumb answer was actually pretty smart.

[ProfCrash]

I didn't have a problem with Trish's move. She had a good reason to vote Cliff out. I thought that she would have been better off if she hadn't said anything to Lindsey when they returned to camp but that is about it. Trish's problem seemed to be with Cliff and Lindsey, since they left, she has been more mellow and I have not heard anyone complain about her. When the merge happened and Trish's alliance was outnumbered, she handeled it perfectly. She wasn't in anyones face and was able to flip Kass with a quiet conversation. It looks more and more like the Trish issues we saw were a personality conflict between her and Lindsey, maybe a little bit Cliff but he wasn't openly hostile the way Lindsey was.

Kass is making moves based on how she responds to people. She didn't like Sarah and Morgan so she voted them out. She intentionally choose chaos when she voted out Garrett. Those are not good, game based decisions. You suck it up and let Sarah dictate the Tony vote. Once Tony plays the idol you switch to Jefra. Now you are up 6-4. Then you vote out Sarah because she is a tough competitor or you wait until after you take out Woo, Tony, and LJ because they could be a problem in challenges.

I think that we would have seen confessionals from Spenser and Tasha that said that they were thinking of voting out Kass first if they had given them. Those confessionals would have shown that Kass made a great game move by giving herself a chance to join an alliance where she might have been able to move up. We never saw those confessionals. I am not ready to believe Sarah's interviews where she says that she was in a final three with Spenser because Spenser is savy enough to make a promise like that and make it seem sincere to protect himself in the game.

Voting out Morgan made no sense. She was not a threat in competitions and she would have been a great goat to bring to the finals. If Kass is really playing to advance herself in the game, she takes out threats with her chaos. Right now, she is the sixth person in an alliance and is hoping that it fractures and she can move up. That is not controlling your destiny, that is winging it and praying.

[FineWashables]

 

that is winging it and praying.

ProfCrash, you're so right: this behavior is not controlling your destiny.  Kass is voting from wounded ego and spite and believes that those emotions define her "gut."  While I hated Spencer's estrogen comment (stupid choice of words, Mr Smart Guy), I think that he was trying to say that she's not using her head at all when she votes, which I can agree with.  Acting out almost always causes chaos, Kass -- that doesn't necessarily make it a good thing.

Edited April 11, 2014 by FineWashables

[Padma]

I thought Woo was funny with his Sonic etc.  I completely understand the horror some people feel about going through somoene else's pants (or whatever) but it has always been, and always will be, OK on Survivor.

 

I thought he was funny, too, and I enjoy how much he enjoys the fun of the game (Kass? Spencer? That's how it's done). In fairness, he didn't go through Spencer's pants, he was going to toss them to him when the clue fell out. I can't imagine Spencer not doing exactly the same thing if Woo was the one who had the clue.

There aren't really any Hantz-level villains this season, just a couple of people I don't like. That's fine with me! I don't need the "drama" (and hope to never see RI again...)

[KimberStormer]

I'm not totally sure Kass was calling the shots on the Morgan vote, though I'm sure her hating Morgan helped her to go along with it.  It seemed like it was Tony's idea mostly, because he's worried about the idol.  Trish did defer to Kass, which seems to indicate she is aware of Kass's need to be the top dog, but in their group discussion it seemed like Tony was the one leading the charge against Morgan.

[Joystickenvy]

I think Kass was going to vote for whoever they said vote for this time unless she decided to flip. Basically Tony was following the same strategy Kass wanted her original alliance to use in voting for the person they thought was least likely to have or be given a HII instead of targeting a threat that could play a HII and get one of the majority alliance booted.

She could have tried to improve her position or maintained her "chaos Kass" act by trusting Spencer, flipping and voting Tony, but she'd just end up on the bottom of her new old alliance with the added bonus of having pissed off everyone. Fun for viewers perhaps, but not really an improvement. I think she's just hoping that by some miracle she ends up in final 3 with 2 people who will have pissed off enough people to make her a viable option.

[Eggman]

I just rewatched the episode, and in the initial night shots Kass clearly says she was in the bottom of her new alliance, so it must have been more obvious than anything we were shown, especially since revealing that would have made the flip less of a reveal at the end of the last episode.   She also said that Tony's alliance hadn't really reached out to her in any formal way even after the flip.  She certainly doesn't look like a threat at this point, and it might be enough if she can somehow just fade into the background while other sub-groups turn on each other.   She really is "playing her own game" which, you know, might even work for her .

[EC Amber]

She really is "playing her own game" which, you know, might even work for her .

You know, I've been thinking of this and I think this might be the case. She is playing her own game and she's still there so it is working for her... for now. Thing is, I'm not sure I understand what she is playing for. She said she's playing for F3 and there is a good chance she'll get there. But she can't possibly be playing for the win, not unless she is suffering from the delusions that Philip suffered from. This episode and her last episode really underscored that she is playing her own game... but she's not playing for the win. Is she playing for the shot at another season? Perhaps, but I don't know how likely that is as they rarely bring back women in her demographic (not to say they don't, only that they'll bring back Boston Rob and Philip and Russell and Colby...) women just don't get pulled back with the same degree of frequency and not older women. 

 

[ethalfrida]

Not to take attention off Kass but remember Sandra? She won twice without doing any work at all. But she talked her way into the finals and then won both times. Now that is playing your own game AND without really having much of an alliance with ANYONE, lol.