S32.E14: Not Going Down Without A Fight / S32.E15: Reunion

[Daisy]

7 minutes ago, Miss Scarlet said:

I think this too, but it makes me wonder how Natalie A. won San Juan Del Sur. Based on this idea, it seemed like Jaclyn would have won. I remember a post in that finale on the AV club (I think) that talked about how the men wanted to vote for the most dude like woman, which was Natalie, because they thought that voting for a mom (Missy) or an attractive women (Jaclyn) was diminishing to them because it meant they gotten beaten by those "types" of women. I wonder what the difference is between the two juries then.

I wonder if this is almost amplified in these Beauty vs Brawn vs Brain seasons. Of course Survivor casts superficial people and mactors every season, but it seems like with this theme they purposely tried to get a bunch of superficial duds for the Brawn tribe and then the Beauties seem to emphasize a theme of being underestimated and having to overcome that. So it seems like the season it set up to favour a Beauty or Brawn if they make it to the end, maybe more so than in a regular season and definitely more so than if they had a more "Brains" heavy jury.

I am a real strong believer in what happens in FT can really help/sink your case. (which is why it pisses me off that survivor has cut out opening/closing statements for the most part. i think that's crucial). Natalie in that case - kept everything she did in regards to the game. Jaclyn made everything about being stronger and her infertility and that is why she should have won. I think had Jaclyn kept her responses to the game play (and even Jon tossed her a softball thing to make her focus her questions on the game, she could have won. 

but that is an interesting theory that Natalie also got the more "one of the guys" votes. Hm. 

 

5 minutes ago, ChicksDigScars said:

Word. Totally intimidated by the smart girl who didn't cry in front of the jury, and didn't run around in a bikini for 39 days.  I'm so fucking pissed. And then that Sia person barges onto the stage at the reunion, sucks up air time and Cydney doesn't even get to answer a question? And then Sia gives 50 grand the the guy who finished THIRD? I'm okay with the money to the animal charity, but Aubry got screwed by sexist tools on the jury that voted for pretty over actual game play, and then the guy that Aubry DID beat in the finale, gets an extra 50 grand for petting a chicken? 

Speaking of Mark, they domesticated him, made him dependent on humans, and then "set him free." Poor Mark was probably dinner for wildlife shortly thereafter. At least they could have said that they'd give him to a local farmer. 

RIGHT?!
and I pointed that out in the live thread. Mark is toast. they couldn't even put him on a farm? he's completely dependent on humans now and everyone is gone. like seriously, and I say this as a vegan - they should have just ate him day 39. it would have been more humane if Tai was just gonna let him go, or the show not intervene and put him somewhere where he could be cared for. 

[Miss Scarlet]

13 minutes ago, ChicksDigScars said:

I had a feeling Michelle was going to win. When sexist tools on the jury have to vote for someone, and it can't be a dude's dude, I believe they're going to vote for the prettiest, the least offensive and the one who most closely fits their idea of "woman." They will never admit they were outplayed by a gay man and an assertive woman. Scot's argument said it all: the guy betrayed me and the other woman was playing a good game until she went against me. I have no problem with women...as long as they don't go against me.

It's so ironic given that Michele didn't want to be "carried" and had people assuming that she was going to be somewhat of a feminist player.

About Gen X vs. Millennials -- Survivor should have learned not to do age based divisions from the disaster that was pre-swap Nicaragua with the lovely Medallion of Power.

[Primetimer]

One of the final four takes home the $1 million prize, and then things get pretty bonkers. But you wouldn't expect anything less strange from a season whose most memorable character was a chicken.

View the full article

[princelina]

Question:  Who is this "Sia"?  Is it someone we are supposed to know of?

[MissEwa]

4 minutes ago, princelina said:

Question:  Who is this "Sia"?  Is it someone we are supposed to know of?

She's an Australian singer who I think has a bit of an international profile? IIRC one of her songs was used in the Six Feet Under finale.

She's got a thing about her face being shown on TV. 

[Daisy]

5 minutes ago, princelina said:

Question:  Who is this "Sia"?  Is it someone we are supposed to know of?

Sia is this singer from Australia. I only know two songs of hers "Iko iko" (thanks to Jimmy Fallon karaoke) and "Chandelier" her whole thing is that she doesn't want to be recognized or be critiqued or anything so she hides her face with these wigs and stuff and when interviewed she'll face the wall and still have a wig on.  apparently she's popular in USA too - but i dunno. I'm not v. current with most stuff (again I only know her now because of Jimmy Fallon Karaoke) 

[Pepperminty]

I'm so depressed by the outcome. What is wrong with this jury? Aubry was by far the most deserving person, she schemed the entire time and knew what was going on. She overcame losing her allies. They voted for Michele because she's pretty? I really don't get it, I'm trying to follow their thinking and am coming up short. Usually the juries are rational and fair. Even Tai would have been better because you can piece together reasons.

Bottom line -- Aubry was robbed.

Julia is seriously annoying and she shouldn't have been so talkative, demonstrative during tribals. She is also the first person that I think looked better when playing, no bath, etc. than she looked in the jury and at the reunion. Hopefully we will never hear or see her again. (And her game play sucked.)

[Paws]

My Survivor is broken.

I used to have a theory that by definition, the best player is the winner of Survivor.  I no longer have that theory.

To be fair, Michelle is not a terrible person or anything....id rather she have the million than Scot. But...she did absolutely nothing. Natalie white had to live with Russell Hantz and vote with him and be nice to him. MIchelle just road coat tails, and barely even did that! While a perfectly nice, and truly deserving player lost. BLerg.  

 

If if people disliked Aubrey I wish they would have shown some of it. We never saw that, which makes this vote inexplicable.

[millennium]

I've said all along Tai is a POS.   And true to his nature, Tai betrayed his final and most enduring alliance: Mark.  

Sucks that Aubrey had to learn at such a young age that hard work is meaningless in our society because in the end it's the good-looking people who get all the breaks.   

I'm glad that's over.   The only good takeaway was the knowledge that Scot had his ass handed to him in front of a worldwide audience.

[blackwing]

Once Michelle won immunity, it was very obvious she was going to win.  There was a bitter jury that would never vote for Aubrey or Tai.  If Michelle had lost that immunity then Cydney would have won the game and she'd be even less deserving than Michelle.   Aubrey should have been the winner.  She played hard and well and answered questions well.  She just couldn't overcome the bitterness of Scott and Kyle.

I've never seen this Sia person before.  What's up with hat and hair?  Is that her "thing"?  Once Jeff said who she was couldn't she have taken the hat and wig off?  Weird.  Wasted so much time on the reunion show.

Is it terrible that the only person in the back row I remembered was Caleb?  I swear I haven't seen any of the others before.

[LadyChatts]

Finally made it through.  Michele's win makes even less sense.  I feel like even the most WTF winners I could make a case for.  Michele?  I'm lost.  She lucked out with the jury.  

Also, count me in as being upset that Jeff didn't acknowledge Cydney at the reunion.  I know he has ignored people that have made it late in the game before, but there was usually a good reason (typically, they were invisible all season).  Cydney wasn't.  

The reunion was more of a crap fest than normal.  Had they known Mark the Chicken would be as popular as he was, I wonder if he would have had a better fate.

[LanceM]

So Michele only won because she is pretty?  Seriously, people?  

[Alapaki]

I started the night feeling that I'd be happy with any of the F4 winning.  And, I'm going to stick with that.  I can live with Michelle winning.  

I'd contrast Michelle's game with Joe's.  Joe was never targeted (other than potentially for the chance to deprive Aubrey of her unswerving ally).  And several players actively wanted to be sitting next to Joe at FTC.

Michelle might not have been targeted in the first half of the game.  But she wasn't being carried to FTC the way Joe was.  I maintain that when you're not a risk, sometimes the best gameplay is to not do anything.  And sometimes the restraint and confidence that requires can be more difficult than actually trying to make a move.  

And, she won the two most important challenges in the game.

I'm not sure what I think about the vote-off-a-juror twist.  But I don't hate it.

That was, hands down, the worst, most pointless reunion ever.  I think I might owe Bryant Gumbel and Rosie O'Donnell an apology.  Let's ignore Scot's and Jason's rank misogyny and fill time with an ad for The Price is Right and PETA.  

And I wonder if the doctor realized how damning his contrast between how they treat "cuts and bruises" and "life and limb threatening" injuries was?  He admitted that they completely ignore the former, which as we saw this season can lead directly to the latter, at which point the player has no choice but to be pulled.

Finally, Fuck You Burnett with your fucking stereotype-based tribes.  Must every non-returnee season be nothing but walking caricatures?

[MissEwa]

1 minute ago, Alapaki said:

That was, hands down, the worst, most pointless reunion ever.  I think I might owe Bryant Gumbel and Rosie O'Donnell an apology.  Let's ignore Scot's and Jason's rank misogyny and fill time with an ad for The Price is Right and PETA.  

It was terrible and weird and very short. 

That said, the best line of the night was the snide 'water?' that someone stuck in when Debbie was talking about all her jobs and got to 'counterfeit detection of...' Good work, live TV. 

[Rick Kitchen]

I never realized Mark was a rooster, I thought he was a hen.

Was that a drone shot they did before the first TC?

Well, Probst is sure telegraphing that Cydney will be back on the All Star show.

Wow, Neil, bitter much?

Nick's speech was ... interesting.

They used to give them a chance to make a speech, now Probst is trying to make it seem unusual.

I don't understand what Tai's speech was about.

Noooo, Mark! #ByeMark

Was that a jacket Kyle Jason was wearing, or a tablecloth? And what the hell were those ... things ... in his ears?

Damn, Cydney looks good!

Nobody voted for Tai?

Ugh, I detest Sia.  Such a poser.

Gen X vs. Millennials?  Sounds really stupid.

[Squirrely]

Ugh. Sucky ending to a sucky season. Makes me not feel so much pity that they had to wait so long to finally get the results of their season. 

When Peachy got all excited to announce next season's gimmick, for some reason I was expecting him to say it was all military people, or cancer survivors. He made it seem like it was going to be special and touching. But no, we get the battle of generations? FFS, who cares? And this is coming from someone close to the line between the 2, depending where you look, and can't stand to be grouped as a millennial. I'm Gen X, dammit. 

[vb68]

Quote

That said, the best line of the night was the snide 'water?' that someone stuck in when Debbie was talking about all her jobs and got to 'counterfeit detection of...' 

Wasn't that Tai?   It stood out to me because I didn't think he had that level of sarcasm in him.

[MissEwa]

Just now, vb68 said:

Wasn't that Tai?   It stood out to me because I didn't think he had that level of sarcasm in him.

I have no idea. Someone on The AV Club suggested it was Sia but was she still on stage? The visuals made it look like everyone looked at Alicia, and someone else suggested Cydney. Whoever it was gets bonus awesome points though. 

[InfiniteMystery]

Sadly, ever since someone mentioned that Probst said Michelle was like Parvati, I had a feeling she would win or at least for sure be in the finals. Audible sigh.

Going back to the vote when Aubry turned on Tai and didn't let him know that she was voting with Cyd and Michelle and Tai burned his advantage: Aubry had agreed with Tai that Michelle was a bigger threat than idiot Jason. They had Joe. Jason would likely have voted with them if it had been explained by anyone other than Tai. Tai had two votes. Big mistake, Aubry! I saw it then and I see it even more clearly now.

That doesn't guarantee Aubry's victory, but it eliminates the "inoffensive" player which Michelle was. 

I disliked Debbie all around, especially her question about Tai's "multiple personalities" and how she said Scowling Scot was always smiling. What?

Scot and Jason were bitter babies and both looked unhappy to even be at the reunion. Believe me, most of us were unhappy to see you two.

I was surprised Tai didn't even get one vote and I honestly do think there was a language barrier with him. Lots of times I knew what he meant to say, but, he could never get the words out. It was clear much of it was lost in translation.

As for Mark, sitting on Tai's lap, he was like a chicken lie detector. When Tai mentioned being intimidated by the huge trolls, he also went into a flapping frenzy.

I don't think it was Tai's responsibility, but, rather, the freakin' show's to ensure Mark's safety. That was truly cold to leave Mark to the wolves, so to speak.

I may be in the minority but I liked having money donated to an animal charity and didn't mind some going to Tai. I really miss that America's favorite player vote.

Yes, out of the three, Aubry deserved it. Crappy crappy jury!

Not impressed with this cast overall. 

Almost forgot, Caleb was looking healthy and happy to see he found a real relationship!

Edited May 19, 2016 by InfiniteMystery
change Aubry spelling

[Callaphera]

15 minutes ago, Squirrely said:

Ugh. Sucky ending to a sucky season. Makes me not feel so much pity that they had to wait so long to finally get the results of their season. 

When Peachy got all excited to announce next season's gimmick, for some reason I was expecting him to say it was all military people, or cancer survivors. He made it seem like it was going to be special and touching. But no, we get the battle of generations? FFS, who cares? And this is coming from someone close to the line between the 2, depending where you look, and can't stand to be grouped as a millennial. I'm Gen X, dammit. 

I just checked and ugh, technically I fall into the Millennial category. Can I just keep calling myself Gen Y? It at least sounds better than "Millennial".  

[vb68]

Quote

 I really miss that America's favorite player vote.

I miss it too.  They need to find a way to compensate for Sprint not sponsoring it anymore.

I did have to roll my eyes a bit at Jeff telling Tai that it's been several years since people have gotten behind a player like they have for him.  I think Joe from the previous two seasons might have a different recollection. 

[Rick Kitchen]

At least they don't give away cars in the middle of the season.  That was always a kiss of death, anyway.

[LanceM]

I don't really care about themes to be honest. Yeah Jeff will be annoying about for the first couple of episodes and then it will be done and it will just be about the players and whether or not this is a string cast.

[SnarkKitty]

My thinking is, one doesn't need to control THE game to be a deserving winner, they just need to control THEIR game. Michelle did that. She kept herself off the chopping block, she made strategic alliances, she cut them when necessary, won some key immunities and had a bit of luck, too. If some people were bitter on the jury, well that's part of the game too - vote people off in a way that they don't hate or resent you in the end. I really, REALLY don't think this was about "weepy cute girl vs unapologetic smart girl."  That completely discredits Michelle sitting at the final by her own hand, not dragged along as a goat. Like TAR, you don't have to come in first in every leg to win, just the one that counts.

There's no "right" way to win Survivor. Like I always says, sometimes it's a Meryl Streep Oscar season, sometimes it's a Whoopie Goldberg Oscar season. Whattayagonnado. 

[Andromeda]

WTF were these jurors thinking?! Michelle did next to nothing. I was rooting for Aubrey first, then would have been happy with Tai second (just because he's adorable). But Michelle? She's such a nothing -- I still have no handle on her personality. I hope they never invite her back, but bring back both Aubrey and Tai at some point.

I love Aubrey's talking heads -- she really is great at communicating, and that's important on a reality TV show.

Debating turning off the reunion show. What the hell do I care about what's left?

Weirdly, I had no trouble understanding Tai (did not need those subtitles), but sometimes I couldn't make out what Michelle was saying because she kind of mumbled.

Edited May 19, 2016 by Andromeda

[millennium]

1 hour ago, blackwing said:

  If Michelle had lost that immunity then Cydney would have won the game and she'd be even less deserving than Michelle. 

Cydney won immunity challenges and was also actively planning and executing strategy while Michelle simply drifted from alliance to alliance, frequently unaware of what the alliance core members were up to.   Michelle was a languid, peripheral player until the very end.    Cydney outshined Michele in almost every way.

Edited May 19, 2016 by millennium

[Andromeda]

I had to Google Sia (tried a few spellings -- she's not under CIA...). Apparently, hiding her face is her thing, but I found it pretty annoying.

[Superpole2000]

I think it is exaggeration to suggest Aubry controlled the game while Michele did nothing. I also think Aubry's game came across better to TV viewers than to fellow contestants.

The biggest surprise to me was just how negative they were on Tai. They let him have his chicken, and they found some of his emotions endearing, yet they all seemed to think he was a flip-flopping scatterbrain who lacked poise and clarity of thought. At one point in the season, they seemed afraid he would get to the end and be a jury darling, but by this episode they weren't worried at all. Tai was just that bad at tribal councils.

[Lingo]

19 minutes ago, SnarkKitty said:

My thinking is, one doesn't need to control THE game to be a deserving winner, they just need to control THEIR game. Michelle did that. She kept herself off the chopping block, she made strategic alliances, she cut them when necessary, won some key immunities and had a bit of luck, too. If some people were bitter on the jury, well that's part of the game too - vote people off in a way that they don't hate or resent you in the end. I really, REALLY don't think this was about "weepy cute girl vs unapologetic smart girl."  That completely discredits Michelle sitting at the final by her own hand, not dragged along as a goat. Like TAR, you don't have to come in first in every leg to win, just the one that counts.

There's no "right" way to win Survivor. Like I always says, sometimes it's a Meryl Streep Oscar season, sometimes it's a Whoopie Goldberg Oscar season. Whattayagonnado. 

I agree that Michele is not an undeserving winner. It's just that almost everything you said about Michele could equally be said about Aubry, if not more so.

I think the thing that is most confusing for us is that Michele didn't have a clear narrative arc. Aubry had her transformation arc, from s****** nervous nelly to confident leader. Tai had his personality and his apparently inner turmoil, and Cydney was just awesome in body and in spirit. I didn't see a story for Michele other than the "underestimated for being a Beauty" BS they tried to foist on her at the last minute.

[LanceM]

Honestly what hurt Michele's edit the most was the fact that she didn't go to tribal council for what was it 23 days on the show?  The whole Beauty tribe suffered from this early in the game and since they rally couldn't show much strategizing with them they just focused on fan favorite Tai and his antics.  Whereas Aubry was going to tribals and therefore you saw much more of her game throughout all 39 days.

[Artsda]

Wow, baffled by that winner. What a stupid jury. I can't even, I would get it be a toss up between Tai and Aubry. But Michelle winning? WHAT?

The next season seems like reworded Old vs Young.

[calico]

Aubrey should have won for a season's worth of great metaphors if nothing else.  Besides Joe, who else voted for her?  Debbie?  Who sounded exactly like Ann Coulter in her FT speech BTW.   So numbnuts Julia, bitter horndogs Lurch and Bounty, late in the game BFF Cydney, and inconsequential Nick all voted for the coattail rider.  

I thought for sure Mark would show up at the reunion instead we get the creepy weirdness that is Sia.  Fitting end I suppose.

The best part of this mess was the "ruhroh" noises the sound editors dubbed in for Mark.

[azshadowwalker]

Aubry's useless dudes didn't give her the win, and Tai's "energy" method of forming alliances didn't get it done for him, either. If it couldn't be Cydney, I am thrilled it was Michele. 

Looks like Aubry pulled the trick of threatening the others about what she would do on the jury before Spencer did. Glad that shit blew up in her face. 

Thrilled to see asshole Neal kicked from the jury, and getting Michele's win rubbed in his face after his nasty parting words. Fuck you, Neal. I know which brand of ice cream I won't be buying. 

In Julia's interview on RHAP, she said that she and Michele both followed Anna. She said that after Anna left, Michele kept them together and moving forward. She was still slightly jealous on the jury, but had no trouble giving Michele her due once she stepped away from the game. 

No real bitterness on that jury, although I suspected there might have been if Cydney had gotten to the end. The guys were obviously rooting against Cydney. Aubry lost because of a failed social game, since people who voted for Michele actually rooted for Aubry to beat Cydney. There was no bitterness there, but there was obviously no connection, either. That's Aubry's failure. She had her little pair of worthless dudes and a sorta tie with Cydney. But even Cydney had a tighter bond with Michele in the end. Everyone else she treated with indifference. If she had made real connections, the loss of allies wouldn't have hurt her any more than they hurt Michele.  Tai lost because of a failed social game. He glommed onto a series of people--Caleb, Scot, Aubry--but failed to connect with anyone outside that.  Michele won because of a successful social game. Even people she voted off still held her in high regard. If you can't make connections, you don't deserve to win. 

Fuck yeah, Michele! 

Edited May 19, 2016 by azshadowwalker

[riley702]

Bah!

[Lingo]

Honestly I'm just as confused as Daisy. I just don't fathom how most of the jury votes for Michele when Aubry (or even Tai maybe) is sitting there. The "bitter jury" doesn't make sense to me -- it's not like Aubry was aligned with most of the people she voted off. The person who was closest to her and thus most "justified" in being bitter was Debbie -- and she apparently voted for her! Julia was ostensibly in her alliance but she was obviously a double agent. And Cydney, of course, but Cydney was voting Aubrey so she has no room to complain (and she seemed cool with it when it happened). Aubrey wasn't aligned with any of the three guys so I can't see how they would be mad at her for voting them off. If anything, that's a reason for Nick NOT to vote for Michele. Is it that the bullies blamed Aubry for flipping Tai? Did they just see Aubrey and Tai as two sides of the same terrible coin? Did they feel Aubrey had an unfair advantage in Joe's loyalty?

This idea that Aubrey and Tai "faded" while Michele's game "got stronger" doesn't make much sense to me either. Sure Michele won more challenges at the end, but I don't feel like that should get so much weight. TBH neither Aubrey nor Tai nor Cydney had complete control of the game throughout the season like obvious winners often do (like Jeremy or Kim). But Michele never controlled the game.

The only reason I've read that makes sense to me is that the boys have some chauvinistic bias against non-crying "assertive" girls like Aubrey (though I don't remember Aubrey ever getting in their face about it). But that sure is a sucky reason not to vote for her.

I don't have anything against Michele. I'm one of those who felt beforehand that any of the 3 girls would be a better winner than Tai (though even now I think Tai deserves more credit than I gave him). Michele made the strategic decision to cut her ally Nick loose, when she and Julia could have told the boys about the vote-Nick-off plan and stopped it. And she chose to vote off Julia, though that was not much of a choice. And she .. won challenges. She was okay.

[azshadowwalker]

There wasn't a bitter jury. Just people who where there, played with all three of them, and felt Michele deserved to win. Even Neal's vote wouldn't have mattered. Michele had it sewn up. Not one person sounded bitter except Neal, when Michele kicked his sorry ass to the curb. 

[loki567]

I just can't quite get behind Michele's "great social game," now. A big thing for me is Scot's final jury words on Youtube, how he uses the Peter vote as his major reason for not voting Aubry and how he pretty much defines as Aubry wouldn't do what he told her to do and that's his major grudge against her. And since that's pretty much the same argument he had against Alecia, that strikes a negative cord for me.  

And Scot describes as Michele as useless as Joe but uses her last couple comps wins as justification for voting for her. Which okay, she's a female Fabio. But I think a large part of Scot and Jason's votes, they couldn't quite stomach voting for the women that played a part in getting rid of them, Cydney and Aubry, and their votes were about beating them more than anything. 

[Lingo]

9 minutes ago, azshadowwalker said:

There wasn't a bitter jury. Just people who where there, played with all three of them, and felt Michele deserved to win. Even Neal's vote wouldn't have mattered. Michele had it sewn up. Not one person sounded bitter except Neal, when Michele kicked his sorry ass to the curb. 

Scot sounded bitter. Then again he always sounds bitter. I don't even remember what Jason said.

Earlier you said that Michele just "played a better social game", just made the personal connections that Aubrey and Tai couldn't. Which sounds very plausible, considering their 3 personalities. I just wish we saw evidence of that in the game. I don't remember anyone saying they didn't like Aubrey much, and i don't remember any of Michele's interactions with people on the jury besides Cydney, Nick (who she backstabbed) and Julia (ditto, kinda).

You say they felt Michele "deserved to win." That is at once obvious and completely nonspecific. What we're trying to figure out is why.

Edited May 19, 2016 by Lingo

[Sentient Meat]

Normally, I root for players like Aubry and Tai... but after last week I had finally had my fill of both of them.

Aubry was the best/smartest player, but I don't like the way she used Joe and Tai.  Nothing wrong with that from a game play perspective but even though she shed many tears when she was physically uncomfortable, she seemed mostly bothered about the change in her position when both her allies were medevaced.  I certainly wouldn't have been upset had she won, but it kept me from really wanting her to win.

Tai on the other hand, seemed sincere in his emotions, but his gameplay was horrible.  Even at the end when he was left out of the reward challenge... he had no interest in aligning with Michelle, and was oblivious to any jury implications regarding Aubry.  Who knows, maybe the rest of the tribe treated him like a complete outsider while Aubry gave him a little attention... but going by the edit it just made no sense.

So of course, the week I resolve to root for Cydney she performed terribly in the challenges...  Reward, Immunity and Fire challenges...  For a sports fan like myself this is the equivalent of missing three consecutive free throws with the score tied and no time left on the clock.  Can't feel sorry for her... as she totally choked in the end.

So I'm happy with Michelle... sure she wasn't the force that Aubry was, but she wasn't a bad player, seemed like a nice person, and she did do a good job of negotiating the end.

I think if her voice was a little less annoying that people might like her more.

Edited May 19, 2016 by Sentient Meat
typo

[SPLAIN]

A storyline arc is necessary for one to win? 

I had hoped for Aubry to win, but not because she was a nervous Nelly, nerdy girl, whatever adjectives or labels were put on her. The lady played the game well. 

I love Sia's song "Chandelier". I am an old fogey. Go figure. Maybe next season Daft Punk can make an appearance.

I wish more time had been focused on the players such as Cydney. 

[GaT]

That was a pretty lame fire starting tie breaker, Cydney couldn’t even get a tiny flame

That was a great reward for the last challenge, especially if you get to screw over someone you hate

Good choice on the jury elimination Michelle.

And no march of the fallen contestants! Another good choice.

That was a really strange thing with Sia, is this going to become a thing now? Completely unrelated celebrities crashing the reunion to give contestants money?

Millennials vs Gen X? Meh 

[Shimmergloom]

3 hours ago, Eolivet said:

When sexist tools on the jury have to vote for someone, and it can't be a dude's dude, I believe they're going to vote for the prettiest, the least offensive and the one who most closely fits their idea of "woman."

Sexist tools like Cydney and Julia.

[AliShibaz]

On 2016-05-19 at 0:18 AM, MissEwa said:

She's an Australian singer who I think has a bit of an international profile? IIRC one of her songs was used in the Six Feet Under finale.

She's got a thing about her face being shown on TV. 

I thought maybe she could have been acting for almost anyone (including Probst) who wanted to give Tai some "fan favorite" money but didn't want to re-initialize the practice of doing this every year. But there is a more interesting issue here.

When the one-hour "reunion" shows first started. Probst would spend most of the time talking to most all of the players. Now? Seems like he only spoke with a handful and there were so many other things going on. It's as if they are using this one hour show to advertise other aspects of the show and the whole thing is just miserable - awful - terrible - definitely not worth watching.

I get the feeling they stopped giving out this "fan fave" award  because it took 2 or 3 minutes and they now have other things they consider more important they want to do But this is just the SHITS. I mean why waste our time talking to only 4 or 5 players (especially when drivel-mouth Tai just talks endlessly and continuously until someone puts their hand over his mouth. It doesn't take much effort to "prepare" the contestants by telling them that when Probst asks them a question, they have 10 or 15 seconds to answer and if they're not finished, Probst will interrupt them and he won't ask them anything else.

The purpose of the reunion show is to re-unite the players. I wanted to hear from most of them. Not a word from Scott or Jason. Not a word from the two black players. Not a word from most anyone in the back row. Just lots and lots of disgusting and boring promotion.

I hated it. I don't expect to ever waste my time watching another one of these things again. It just pure CRAP!

Edited May 21, 2016 by AliShibaz

[azshadowwalker]

15 minutes ago, Lingo said:

 

You say they felt Michele "deserved to win." That is at once obvious and completely nonspecific. What we're trying to figure out is why.

Is that what "we're" trying to do? A lot of  it looks suspiciously like bitterness that a favored player didn't win, and a lot like the good old fashioned hate-the-pretty-girl stuff that happens so often. There's some terrible misogynistic plot against Aubry...or Aubry just didn't think about how she was actually going to win if she didn't make connections. She thought that if she held tight enough to her goats, there would be no other options for the jury to vote for, so she didn't have to make those ties to a lot of different kinds of people. She failed because she couldn't quite get her goats to the end with her, and she did nothing to help herself in case that came to pass.

Her nastiness when she tried to threaten Cydney, Michele and Tai with what she would do if she was sent to the jury proved how socially tone deaf Aubry is. When she thought she might not get her way, she tried to strong arm the other three. Her talk about controlling Joe was as true as when Brian did it in Thailand, but it was just as gross. He got away with it, because the guy next  to him was just as socially shitty. She didn't have a socially inept opponent. That kind of behavior just might be why the vast majority of the jury sent their votes elsewhere. That's on her, not their "bitterness". 

[millennium]

I felt embarrassed when Scot began dancing at Final Tribal.

[AliShibaz]

3 hours ago, Wandering Snark said:

Overall this was a letdown end to a letdown season.

I can't agree strongly enough.

A POS end to a POS season. I'm surprised people aren't talking about it being time to cancel this POS show. I think it should have been cancelled a few years ago. It's past its prime. I'm saddened to see so many people will still accept this shit as good entertainment. I think it's a symptom there are so few good shows on the air and people sit back and stream good shows into their homes and ignore all the crap from the big networks. It's mostly all just terrible.

[Sentient Meat]

Jeff should have an extended reunion show on a podcast... the CBS show is always ridiculously unbalanced in terms of contestant coverage... this year Tai was over emphasized and was unable to properly articulate himself under the pressure of a live broadcast.  If they had a relaxed format that spent time with each of the contestants in addition to the CBS shows... the hardcore fans would appreciate it and they could really build a solid audience for their podcasts, YouTube channels... and whatever other online presence they may have.

[Shimmergloom]

10 minutes ago, azshadowwalker said:

A lot of  it looks suspiciously like bitterness that a favored player didn't win, and a lot like the good old fashioned hate-the-pretty-girl stuff that happens so often. There's some terrible misogynistic plot against Aubry...or Aubry just didn't think about how she was actually going to win if she didn't make connections.

I agree.  While I think and would agree that Scot and Jason are likely misogynists, that's still only 2 out of her 5 votes.  And what Neil said to Michelle when he was 'voted out' was as mean spirited and demeaning as Scot and Jason were.  Imagine if one of those two had said that to Aubrey if she won the reward and voted them out.  People would have been ballistic.  But a free pass is given because Neil said it to Michelle.

And yes Aubrey overcame a lot and she would have been a deserving winner. But Michelle also overcame a lot of the same things Aubrey did.  Much is made of Aubrey losing key alliance members, but so did Michelle.  Ana was voted out because of a tribal swap twist, Michelle chose to take out Nick when he was trying to switch to the Scot/Jason alliance and then her closest ally Julia basically dug her own grave by trying to play both sides of an alliance and left Michelle on the outs in the alliance because of it.

But even with those losses, Michelle developed a bond with Cydney and tried to make one with Tai, even after he targeted her.  That's playing a social game.  It's nothing against Aubrey's social game, but at the same time there's no need to pretend that Michelle didn't have to overcome a lot or that she didn't play a good social game as well.  And she won multiple challenges, so she has the outplay and outlast part and she managed to overcome losing alliance members, so there's some outwit in there as well.   So I don't see her as undeserving or being dragged along.

It just seems that she has the misfortune of winning when Scot and Jason are on the jury where people ignore that she got 3 other votes and that Neil was just as demeaning to her as Scot and Jason were to others.

[simplyme]

1 hour ago, azshadowwalker said:

Her nastiness when she tried to threaten Cydney, Michele and Tai with what she would do if she was sent to the jury proved how socially tone deaf Aubry is. When she thought she might not get her way, she tried to strong arm the other three.

Huh.  I actually read that situation slightly differently.  To me, it appeared Aubry had figured out she was the one they were most likely voting for from what they were saying, and I thought her comment was aimed almost entirely at Tai.  I think she knew Michelle and Cydney would vote together, and if they were voting her she needed to remind Tai that it would be in his best interests to vote with her rather than send her off as another person he'd backstabbed to spend more time with other people who would be deciding his fate.  I thought it was a fairly astute move, actually.

I'm always fascinated by how different people interpret the same scene in different ways. :)

[jjj]

I only came here to find out what happened to Mark the Chicken/Rooster.  He should have been evac'd, not left to a lonesome end.  I've seen house cats that are less attached to their owners than Mark was to Tai. 

How long was it before the next (that is, previously aired) "season" was filmed on that location?  I thought it was very soon after this one ended.  Please don't tell me they found a chicken and ate it in the first episode or two?  I forget.