Survivor in Other Countries

[SnideAsides]

21 hours ago, Kromm said:

Looking at Australian Survivor... Well we don't know if the Final Tribal is going to be 2 or 3 people, so lets look at both. (24-2) x 3 = 66. (24-3) x 3 = 63. That's either an 11 or 8 day surplus needed over their schedule. You need precisely 18 and one third people (weird number there) with boots every 3 days to make 55 days. So there are still some planned double boots and/or allowances for quits and med evacs there.  Lets go with 3 and assume the larger (3 person) Final Tribal. (24-6) x 3 = 54 (so one day short of the schedule--but that's EASY to fix because then you just give them a bonus rest day ONCE and it fixes everything.

Sheesh. I didn't expect this many numbers when I started thinking on this. In a nutshell it says to me that they figured that with 24 people that they'll be at risk of more than 3 quitters or evacs.  And they figured that the first of these on Day 10 (the Tribal being on Day 11) was too darn soon. 

It's been confirmed in the Australian media that there's a final two this season. And with the season seeming to be split roughly evenly between two-day and three-day episodes (it looks to me like the original plan was to make one 'week' cover five days of game time, though the timeslot change has ruined that pacing), the equation would be (24-2) x 2.5 = ??, which checks out perfectly at 55. Let's say hypothetically that the season lasts for (55/5) x 2 = 22 episodes. If we presume the finale will follow the US format and have two pre-FTC eliminations, that means we have to boot 20 people in 21 episodes to get us to four players at the start of Episode 22. There's no room for any double eliminations, and we've already taken care of the non-elimination, so it should be regular pacing from here on out. The only thing that doesn't add up with this theory is that Jonathan mentioned in an interview that he was shooting 26 episodes, which is absurdly high, to the point I'm 99.999999% sure he's misspeaking.

Also, yay for a tribe shuffle that's more complex than just "draw a buff from this tray I am holding". Last time the US version did it? Nicaragua.

[Save Yourself]

12 minutes ago, SnideAsides said:

It's been confirmed in the Australian media that there's a final two this season. And with the season seeming to be split roughly evenly between two-day and three-day episodes (it looks to me like the original plan was to make one 'week' cover five days of game time, though the timeslot change has ruined that pacing), the equation would be (24-2) x 2.5 = ??, which checks out perfectly at 55. Let's say hypothetically that the season lasts for (55/5) x 2 = 22 episodes. If we presume the finale will follow the US format and have two pre-FTC eliminations, that means we have to boot 20 people in 21 episodes to get us to four players at the start of Episode 22. There's no room for any double eliminations, and we've already taken care of the non-elimination, so it should be regular pacing from here on out. The only thing that doesn't add up with this theory is that Jonathan mentioned in an interview that he was shooting 26 episodes, which is absurdly high, to the point I'm 99.999999% sure he's misspeaking.

Also, yay for a tribe shuffle that's more complex than just "draw a buff from this tray I am holding". Last time the US version did it? Nicaragua.

Maybe he was being literal - it's just him shooting 26 eps, the final tribal is ep 24 and the last 2 eps is JLap showing us how he got so ripped for the show :) 

[Kromm]

They pissed me off with the non-boot in the previous episode, but as someone else said, this latest one was indeed bananacakes. Very entertaining.

Even aside from the swap aspect, we got some interesting shit happening that never normally would simply because others were watching.

And that's a really sneaky consequence of this. That it teaches these tribes things about each other that they otherwise wouldn't have known. So in an odd way they got a reward for being part of this. Sort of.  Red tribe in a way loses out on that extra knowledge.
 

Yellows: So the first we hear from Barry is enough to show us he's a fool, eh? Even if Nick blew it even bigger.

Blue: Now THAT tribe just got interesting.  Just the LOOKS on Yellow Tribes faces during their part of the Tribal was pure solid gold and vindicated the double tribal.

A double swap actually makes sense too with this many players. On US Survivor (3 Tribe Edition) it may not have, but with 7-8 people left on tribes? That was juicy (but also enough into the game that it seemed earned). Because even the reveals of the cracks on the tribes (to each other and us) was entertaining all on it's own, but the rest was gravy. And J. Pags played out the stages of the twist really well. I doubt any of us really expected what was coming.

[Kromm]

2 hours ago, Pollock said:

Yeah, that was awesome. The first "shit hits the fan" tribal and it was glorious. 

I didn't see all original Survivor seasons, the last twist was new or did it already happen in the US? I really liked it but isn't that double council excluding Aganoa, who won, unfair though? There was so much informations that they don't know now despite their win, why would the two losing teams get those and not the winning one?

Maybe. But Aganoa got a break too, last episode, where nobody went home when someone should have. Maybe that prompted them to then give the other two a "nobody goes home" day... but with this interesting twist (of course not knowing Aganoa would win the Immunity, it perhaps was more about just giving everyone else a theoretical chance at that). 

But yes, I do agree that more than not losing people the big advantage was information. So in losing, they kind of won too. As for the two new members per tribe? In theory their next two boots for each tribe, but in practice the idea I guess is that two people is probably enough to shift a minority alliance into a majority on those tribes. We shall see.

Edited August 31, 2016 by Kromm

[Nashville]

8 hours ago, Save Yourself said:

Why did Matt say Kylie wearing the Immunity Idol to the TC was the dumbest thing he'd ever seen? She clearly felt vulnerable so I'm guessing was going to play it, she'd have to reveal it prior to voting anyway so I didn't understand what he was on about?

I can make a couple of guesses:

1. In terms of general strategy: any piece of confirmed information you have that others don't is an advantage for you.  Other players may not have even suspected Kylie had the HII, or may have suspected but not known for sure.  By wearing the HII Kylie confirms her possession of it, and thus provides strategic information to her rivals.
2. In a more specific sense: once other players KNOW a specific player has a HII, flushing that idol out frequently becomes a significant strategic priority.  Kylie may have painted a barn-sized target on herself with players for whom she had previously been totally UTR, strategically speaking.

[Nozycat]

Matt reminds me a bit of Seth Macfarlane.

[Kromm]

21 hours ago, Nashville said:

I can make a couple of guesses:

1. In terms of general strategy: any piece of confirmed information you have that others don't is an advantage for you.  Other players may not have even suspected Kylie had the HII, or may have suspected but not known for sure.  By wearing the HII Kylie confirms her possession of it, and thus provides strategic information to her rivals.
2. In a more specific sense: once other players KNOW a specific player has a HII, flushing that idol out frequently becomes a significant strategic priority.  Kylie may have painted a barn-sized target on herself with players for whom she had previously been totally UTR, strategically speaking.

She was already a universal target. And we all heard them say they assumed she had the HII.  Even if a few had doubts they were voting on the assumption she did no matter what. 

I think she was unsure of that though even though WE knew it from Talking Heads. We had info she didn't. 

[SnideAsides]

I can't decide whether I like that they're being more inventive than Survivor US with how they combine stock challenge elements ("make a pole to grab a key" not being last; "make fire" turning up in an actual challenge for the first time since Gabon), or whether it's annoying me that they know the challenges are repetitive enough that they have to be inventive but aren't actually coming up with anything new. Possibly both.

[elizacat]

I'm surprised i'm really enjoying this season - i must admit that I was worried I would find it a cringe fest but am really enjoying it.

Am heading home to Australia on Friday so will be able to watch it live and in the right time zone!

[SnideAsides]

Americans et al: Hungry Jack's is Burger King. And that phony excitement (source: tone of Matt's tweets last night) was literally the most excited anyone has ever been to even hear the words "Hungry Jack's".

Two really great challenges last night though.

[TVbitch]

I'm enjoying the more leisurely pace. Reminds me of the very first Survivor, Borneo, where a lot of the show was people just standing about and hacking at stuff with machetes and talking. Now it has to be all excitement or drama all the time. 

Why is Kyle an outcast? I know she's got the idol and all, but they make a constant point of saying how she's not very tight with the group, and the tribe wants her out, but I've seen nothing but her being perfectly pleasant and supportive. And the tribe seems to interact with her just fine. 

[azshadowwalker]

I think she's just not part of the core alliance. I don't think these people are the kind of assholes we see on US Survivor, who treat those outside the alliance like shit. 

[loki567]

Can we open a thread or something for Australian Survivor or something? Because damn, it has been good. It has a huge advantage over the American version with so much time getting to know all the various personalities. Nobody feels like a caricature. And we're given more strategy which makes things more suspenseful and open-ended. It's not like American Survivor where most strategy is going through two or three people on each tribe and you can pretty much guess the winner by episode five. I have no idea who's going to win this season and it's great. 

[thehepburn]

Watching AUS makes me appreciate how really tight and well-produced the American show is.

[BK1978]

On ‎9‎/‎7‎/‎2016 at 0:21 PM, thehepburn said:

Watching AUS makes me appreciate how really tight and well-produced the American show is.

I am really enjoying the Australian version thus far.  I would not mind if they brought some of the twists over to the American version.

I guess we all know why Barry was not featured.  I was disappointed in both him and Peter because I sort of cheer on the older players on these shows because they usually have no chance.  Then Barry has to go all Dr. Sean and vote in such a whacky manner.

[Kromm]

On 9/7/2016 at 7:24 AM, loki567 said:

Can we open a thread or something for Australian Survivor or something? Because damn, it has been good. It has a huge advantage over the American version with so much time getting to know all the various personalities. Nobody feels like a caricature. And we're given more strategy which makes things more suspenseful and open-ended. It's not like American Survivor where most strategy is going through two or three people on each tribe and you can pretty much guess the winner by episode five. I have no idea who's going to win this season and it's great. 

There was one, but the mods decided to merge it into this. You have to ask them to appeal that (use the Report button here, or maybe post something in the Site Business area). 

[peachmangosteen]

I decided to watch this because I have been seeing good things about it and Big Brother sucks now. I'm loving it. Three eps a week with some eps being over an hour is maybe a bit of overkill, but I love that it allows them to showcase everyone and give more time to strategy.

I'm pretty disappointed in that advantage allowing the blue tribe to stay together and cherry pick their tribe mates. That took all the fun out of the tribe swap.

[hyukx3]

On 9/1/2016 at 10:16 PM, Kromm said:

She was already a universal target. And we all heard them say they assumed she had the HII.  Even if a few had doubts they were voting on the assumption she did no matter what. 

I think she was unsure of that though even though WE knew it from Talking Heads. We had info she didn't. 

It's Survivor 101 that you dont reveal the HII. Of course there are exceptions, such as Russell Hantz openly wearing it at final 5 or 4, but he wasnt going home. It's a different circumstance. But most of the time, you dont tell others you have it. You ascertain that they are going to vote for you, then after the vote, you pull it out and then you have your pick who to go and weakens them. You also dont tell others just in case there's a slim chance you dont have to use it. Slim chance but you keep all your options, all your plays from your playbook that way.

Again, it's Survivor 101. I dont know how much Survivor you have watched but I digress. Anyway, Rohan is pretty stupid in the last episode. It still wouldnt change the result if there's a tie vote as the majority would just vote Rohan out, but saying that he's keeping his words to vote Kat out is just plain stupid. It's a numbers game. What? Hypothetically, if he make it to the final, is he gonna say he is a man of his words and he voted for Kat this tribal coz he said to himself that he would? After making plans with others to vote Sue?

Bunch of noobs in the first season of Aussie Survivor.

At least it's a better season so far than the boring season Boston Rob won. Nobody had the balls the usurp him.

Edited September 11, 2016 by hyukx3

[Save Yourself]

49 minutes ago, hyukx3 said:

It's Survivor 101 that you dont reveal the HII. Of course there are exceptions, such as Russell Hantz openly wearing it at final 5 or 4, but he wasnt going home. It's a different circumstance. But most of the time, you dont tell others you have it. You ascertain that they are going to vote for you, then after the vote, you pull it out and then you have your pick who to go and weakens them. You also dont tell others just in case there's a slim chance you dont have to use it. Slim chance but you keep all your options, all your plays from your playbook that way.

Again, it's Survivor 101. I dont know how much Survivor you have watched but I digress. Anyway, Rohan is pretty stupid in the last episode. It still wouldnt change the result if there's a tie vote as the majority would just vote Rohan out, but saying that he's keeping his words to vote Kat out is just plain stupid. It's a numbers game. What? Hypothetically, if he make it to the final, is he gonna say he is a man of his words and he voted for Kat this tribal coz he said to himself that he would? After making plans with others to vote Sue?

Bunch of noobs in the first season of Aussie Survivor.

At least it's a better season so far than the boring season Boston Rob won. Nobody had the balls the usurp him.

It was so stupid, just spite that he voted for Kat and not Sue, he didn't use logic at all for that.

[TVbitch]

Rohan, you are not helping reverse the stereotype that models are dim.

Too bad the 4 couldn't put their differences aside and pull off the major blindside, tying things up.  

[hyukx3]

Going back to when Conner was convincing Lee and Matt to vote Flick out, when Flick asked him were they discussing to vote her out (half jokingly), he just said yea. If he would just play it cool, then he would send flick to the other tribe. Noobs.

[Kromm]

Survivor Ocean Basketball is always a fun episode.  It's good to see the Aussies letting go of the nice guy stuff by playing it full bore. 

Tiny little nets without backboards makes it, just as much as all the Wrasslin'.

[Random Noise]

Not sure if it was Samoa or Heroes vs. Villains, but I recognized the mud wall that Kylie found her HII as one of the sites that Russell found one.

Has anyone noticed any similar locations?

[hyukx3]

Andrew definitely is very narcissistic, isnt he? He's the villian of the show for me.

[hyukx3]

I got a problem with Jonathan. His questions during tribal are so direct, it's almost tantamount to asking who you be voting for. Can he be a little more subtle? Also, can he not say that there's a new majority in town when Andrew got voted off? It's like he's encouraging them to stick with it, the new status quo. Survivor can be unpredictable. It's like he's wanting to create a narrative for the show a bit too much. Jeff Probst would have said that the tribe values strength over loyalty. Lets see if it's the right choice.

[Save Yourself]

Is anyone else looking up flights to Samoa and checking out accommodation?! So want to go, it looks beautiful. 

[Kelda Feegle]

well I didn't see Phoebe voting for Kat but the foreshadowing for Andrew was very heavy - not great editing IMO

[Nozycat]

But then I thought they were foreshadowing Andrew going the previous ep so thought they might be having us on this time and didn't believe it until it happened.

[TVbitch]

Dear Australian Survivor, I do want you to get renewed for another season, so please don't blow it. I was quite concerned when you came up with that very special way to make the 2 tribes so uneven. And then Rohan fell on his sword. It will get boring fast if we already know who is going to be losing every challenge. And just in case there is any doubt, your editing makes it super duper obvious. I hope you do something quick to make it more competetive! 

Edited September 14, 2016 by TVbitch

[BK1978]

16 hours ago, hyukx3 said:

Andrew definitely is very narcissistic, isnt he? He's the villian of the show for me.

I don't know if he was though.  To me he came across like Fairplay in that he seemed to be trying too hard to be the villain.  Therefore, I was left wondering if he is truly a villain or if he was just playing one to increase his airtime.  Either way I am glad he is gone.  Granted I am not a fan of Phoebe (I thought her earlier confessionals were very cocky before the tribe switch) but I loved that she helped knock him out of the game. 

I also had a huge smile on my face when she found the HII out of nowhere just by noticing where Craig went all of the time.  Hmm...maybe I am actually a Phoebe fan after all.

[loki567]

Andrew was awful in the same way that Scot or Jason were awful, zero charisma. I didn't even care about seeing them lose, they just make me want to turn the show off. At least Andrew took his blindside like a champ and it was clear to see he was playing a character. A terrible character but a character nonetheless. 

Vavau's probably going to keep losing but no Andrew means the numbers could possibly shift. Craig might have made a big mistake considering Phoebe's HI. 

I really enjoyed the chicken scene. It was a simple, clear way to explain the dynamics on the blue tribe  and survival game and one of those rare instances of Survivor's social game having some real world translation. I think we've all been in that situation where somebody with a forceful or charismatic personality is able to flip a group of people to do something they don't want to do. I give some credit to Nick for picking that up. 

[Kromm]

Okay, that was a GREAT version of the roundabout chase challenge.

They're reusing a lot of US version stuff, but when it works that well (Survivor Ocean Basketball was great too), I'm all in for that.

On 9/14/2016 at 8:42 AM, loki567 said:

I really enjoyed the chicken scene. It was a simple, clear way to explain the dynamics on the blue tribe  and survival game and one of those rare instances of Survivor's social game having some real world translation. I think we've all been in that situation where somebody with a forceful or charismatic personality is able to flip a group of people to do something they don't want to do. I give some credit to Nick for picking that up. 

Nick can be annoying but he was totally right about what that all communicated about the tribe dynamics. 

Edited September 16, 2016 by Kromm

[Kromm]

On 9/13/2016 at 11:43 PM, Nozycat said:

But then I thought they were foreshadowing Andrew going the previous ep so thought they might be having us on this time and didn't believe it until it happened.

Seems to be on this show, the more someone is allowed onscreen to be a braggart/asshole, the more likely they're going soon.  Whereas on the US show, the braggarts/assholes often stay. 

It definitely speaks to how the Aussie public is probably more primed to want heroes. The editors know that, so edit in more of the ass-a-holic stuff as people's boots approach. 

[Vicky8675309]

How is it doing in the ratings in Australia? I heard it wasn't get good ratings. I wonder if using computer magic and watching it through their official website would help the ratings (would that factor in on the decision to renew the show). I am loving Australian Survivor.

[Nozycat]

It's not doing great but it's not tanking either and there is talk of a second season.  Here's hoping.  I am loving it too.

[derriere]

Love, love, love, LOVE this season! It's like old school Survivor where the obvious boot - an asshole or a useless sack of shit - might actually go home early rather than be kept around for the drama. I'm finding the lack of blatant Production meddling very refreshing.

[hyukx3]

Connor is pretty bad at the game for a so called fan. He gave Pheobe confirmation on who the majority will be voting for. In all likelihood, even if he didnt, Pheobe already got a hunch anyway and she'll play the idol for herself even if she doesnt. What he should do is give he fake information and 'play' her instead for insurance. All this 'keeping my word' bs, like their chivalrous or heroes or something in this game of lies and deceit. Of course the women would be advantageous around silly men like these. And remember Rohan's exit confession? He wants to keep his word to himself while breaking the voting agreement to his group. That is the worst.

[hyukx3]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/television/australian-survivor-phoebe-timmins-pushes-her-luck-with-go-hard-or-go-home-gamble/news-story/900159c38fe860a8b48017410661f775

Pheobe said “so far I haven’t seen any amazing strategy from the guys”. So true.

[BK1978]

I did not think they would have gotten rid of Craig with the Idol (I probably would have went Sue and yes that is a sexist way of thinking but challenge wise she does not offer what Craig did).  Honestly I had Craig pegged as the winner from the start of the game.  Obviously now that it is not going to be Craig I guess I  have to revaluate who I think could be the possible winner.  Brooke and Lee are probably the next two that stand out to me as being possible winners.

Anyway, going back to Craig.  I thought for sure he would be around for some time because he got a lot of air time and I never thought they would give someone that amount of air time only to be such an early boot.  That is why I am loving this season thus far because the editing is not clueing us in as to who might be the potential winner.    

[thehepburn]

Sam has been my winner pick since E2. Brooke and Bianca stood out to me in E1 and not much since. Brooke did get a narrator role in the last episode. 

Hoping for a swap next ep.

[peachmangosteen]

I'm bummed by how fast this show is losing me. I was so into it for awhile but the tribe swap has really killed all the excitement for me. It's just painfully boring to watch the same tribe win/the same tribe go to TC every single episode.

I really hope they do another tribe swap this week. There needs to be a shakeup asap.

[thehepburn]

I dont mind an Ulonging. I guess I am just happy that, you know, they actually voted out a person each ep last week. LOL.

[hyukx3]

3 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

I'm bummed by how fast this show is losing me. I was so into it for awhile but the tribe swap has really killed all the excitement for me. It's just painfully boring to watch the same tribe win/the same tribe go to TC every single episode.

I really hope they do another tribe swap this week. There needs to be a shakeup asap.

I'm enjoying it so far. Like BK said, the editing is not clueing who's gonna go. It's a refreshing change from the US editing. And that's how Survivor should be, you know. As for them constantly losing, it's fun for me coz that forces them to 'play' the voting game and it kinda shows what kind of players they are sooner than later. And to see how they adapt when they merge later on. Merge should be coming soon. I dont think it's gonna be top 10, the Vavau tribe would only be left with 3 people then. It must be top 12, but Im just guessing.

[Kelda Feegle]

I was surprised that Craig went, I also thought they would pick out a physically weaker player. Phoebe isn't going to feel much love from the rest now. It will be interesting when Phoebe and Flick come up against each other. I had put Craig on my shortlist to win.

[loki567]

Damn, just as I started to love Craig too. I thought he'd be a late gamer, but again this is one of the unique advantages of Australia's format. You spend so much time with these people now that anybody (except maybe El) is going to feel like a big loss. I thought it was Sue's time. 

It was fun but that's probably Phoebe's Waterloo. 

I don't mind all the losing because I think every tribal has been relatively interesting. I'm starting to root for VV, damn my penchant for the underdogs. I'll be curious what will happen with a merge. VV's a big mess that doesn't even a clear majority alliance at this point. Saanapu also has some pretty big divisions and are now reaching that point in Survivor where they're having TOO MUCH success and clearly want to lose so they can vote somebody off. 

Kylie's either being primed for a vote-off in the next couple episodes or a flip. JL has done a good job integrating with the tribe and Nick's still hanging around somehow. 

[Nozycat]

THAT was awesome and Craig was a good sport about it.  Whereas Sue?  Why shouldn't Phoebe play the game?  Was she just supposed to roll over and let herself be voted out?

And what is their beef with Kylie?  She is creating drama by not always lying on the outside and letting the chosen be comfortable?  They were creating the drama.  I just don't get what they don't like about her.  And Matt? - shut up.

[Pollock]

Phoebe's move was awesome, she really read the game really well: each time at council, she read right, I'm impressed. I was really excited to see her survive the day again. I began to like Craig so I was disappointed he was the victim of it but he was such a good sport about it that now, I regret he won't be part of the jury. I find a bitter jury really tiring. 

Neither my husband or I got the beef at the beginning with the other tribe, can somebody re-explain it to me please? Even reading Nozycat, I still don't... 
Kylie didn't want to go next to Nick (if that's indeed his name, memory sucks) and some dude was outside the mattress because of that? Even writing that I know that it can't be that but I really didn't understand shit about that fight. 

[hyukx3]

I think Nick was making space for Kylie to move over towards the edge. But Kylie said she moved already. She also said something about Matt squeezing into the middle. At the beginning, she said something about finding space for herself. There's gotta be some history and something deeper behind the fight.

I got the feeling that Kylie is feeling she is being mistreated.

Edited September 19, 2016 by hyukx3

[Nozycat]

Looks to me like the others are the mean girls who are ostracizing the nominated outsider Kylie for some reason completely unbeknownst to me.

[Kelda Feegle]

So I am pretty much new to this, not having watched survivor since sea sons one and two of the Us version a gazillion years ago, but why did whatshername pick sue to join Saanapu?