S33: Previews and Speculation

[Daisy]

I didn't see a no spoilers thread (as I never want to know) but i love speculating. (all the grumbles that I am working every wednesday night so i won't be able to watch any of this live). 

[peachmangosteen]

New preview: 

[Guest]

I'd rather watch the usual Survivor than an evacuation.  Hopefully it doesn't take up the whole episode.  

[Daisy]

Survivor is this week! yay!
Please be a good season. please please be a good season. 

[LadyChatts]

The hype has been a lot to deal with.  That alone has turned me off (that, and the fact that Probst says this is his favorite cast in awhile, gives me flashbacks to when he said that about the WA cast-and we saw how that went).  

I didn't care as much for last season as most people.  It got better towards the end, but Michele winning really solidified it as being one of my least favorites.  Hoping this season, and its winner, are a step up.

[thehepburn]

3 hours ago, Daisy said:

Survivor is this week! yay!
Please be a good season. please please be a good season. 

It's been over 10 seasons since I was so disinterested in a new season. AU Survivor is spoiling me. It's a good season. You all should check it out :-)

[peachmangosteen]

2 hours ago, thehepburn said:

It's been over 10 seasons since I was so disinterested in a new season. AU Survivor is spoiling me. It's a good season.

AU Survivor is kinda losing me lately but it has been so good that I'm really worried it's going to cause me to be very meh on this season of US Survivor.

And the fact that Probst is hyping this cast really doesn't fill me with positive thoughts about this season.

Edited September 18, 2016 by peachmangosteen

[thehepburn]

36 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

 

And the fact that Probst is hyping this cast really doesn't fill me with positive thoughts about this season.

 

Yeah, I am sensing Worlds Apart overhyped vibes. Shudder.

[LadyChatts]

1 hour ago, peachmangosteen said:

AU Survivor is kinda losing me lately but it has been so good that I'm really worried it's going to cause me to be very meh on this season of US Survivor.

And the fact that Probst is hyping this cast really doesn't fill me with positive thoughts about this season.

I started watching the AU Survivor because of all the hype (and viewer hype is easier to get behind than over bloated host hype).  It really makes me long for the old days, before it became all about characters, big moments, evolution of the game, strategy, and focusing on a chosen handful.  

Usually Probst hype means the season is going to be a disaster, or close to it.  Which is why part of me hopes it is, because I really want to see his reaction to that.  I'm just looking forward to the swap/merge already so this theme can become a distant memory. 

Edited September 18, 2016 by LadyChatts

[simplyme]

I'm expecting the first ep to be a snoozer and the rest to possibly require booze and cheetos to get through.

[Lamb18]

7 hours ago, simplyme said:

I'm expecting the first ep to be a snoozer and the rest to possibly require booze and cheetos to get through.

Like Paul from Big Brother.

[NutMeg]

Well, on the bright side, if we have very, very low expectations, we can only be positively surprised :)

And, if it's very bad, the snark here will be fun

Edited September 19, 2016 by NutMeg
bad, snark, fun? not as good as good, but still decent

[LadyChatts]

Here's an 8 minute sneak peek at the premiere.  To those who don't care to watch, basically it's the same old "this is the ultimate culture clash," and we get the stereotypical reasons why these generations are so different.

I may end up liking Zeke after all.  

Edited September 19, 2016 by LadyChatts

[LadyChatts]

Double post.

Edited September 19, 2016 by LadyChatts

[LanceM]

Yeah that is just what I figured it would be like.  Jeff getting all giddy about the theme. Jeff prodding the cast to say cringeworthy things about the other tribe. The cast obliging him with those comments. Great reactions shots to these cringeworthy things from atleast one tribe member.  On that note I am liking Michaela already especially after she quipped that "someone is getting their GED" in response to Will (who is going to annoy me this season) saying he was still in high school.

[Daisy]

What is AU Survivor? Alternate Universe? 

[piequinn35]

^ haha! it's Australian version 

[NutMeg]

41 minutes ago, Daisy said:

What is AU Survivor? Alternate Universe? 

I love this idea of Alternate Universe Survivor. I'm going to use it and shape it the way I want if I don't like a season. Well, this happened, BUT, in Alternate Universe Survivor, I say THAT happened. Hopefully I'll keep a sense of what's what and won't verge into Edith's Diary territory (that book was the scariest I ever read, but that's for another topic) 

[Daisy]

45 minutes ago, piequinn35 said:

^ haha! it's Australian version 

(laugh) I thought that afterwards. I'll have to figure out where to find it so i can watch. it sounds cool. 

7 minutes ago, NutMeg said:

I love this idea of Alternate Universe Survivor. I'm going to use it and shape it the way I want if I don't like a season. Well, this happened, BUT, in Alternate Universe Survivor, I say THAT happened. Hopefully I'll keep a sense of what's what and won't verge into Edith's Diary territory (that book was the scariest I ever read, but that's for another topic) 

lol right? AU Survivor would be a huge hit. 

[LadyChatts]

Sneak peek #2 (the evacuation from the GenX camp)

[LanceM]

Another mini-preview. Apparently the kiddies had a little trouble building the shelter. Too bad they didn't have google or youtube to help them out.

https://www.yahoo.com/tv/survivor-millennials-vs-gen-x-150052467.html

Edited September 21, 2016 by LanceM

[LadyChatts]

As soon as I saw that headline "Survivor Host Jeff Probst Previews Culture War..." I thought 'should I or shouldn't I?'  What the hell, if anything, Jeff has become extremely amusing with his hype.  This:

Quote

Season 33, “Millennials vs. Gen X,” pits 20-somethings against their 40-something predecessors. “We’ve never done a season like this, and it will feel very fresh and alive and current and of the time,” host and executive producer Jeff Probst told Yahoo TV.

So if it's fresh, that means no alliances, idols, blindsides, bailing the tribe out because they can't make adequate shelter and threaten to revolt, no scheming, no big moves...I mean what would be so fresh about that?  Also, why have they not done a season like this?  By their logic, I think we could divide these tribes into B/B/B and W/B/NC.  And isn't this just WA anyway, minus the WC tribe?

And this:

Quote

Yahoo TV: How did you come up with the theme of millennials vs. Generation X?
Jeff Probst: We’ve been striving to get more young people on the show, and it’s been tough to do in the past. This year, we just decided to make a concerted effort to find the best young people we could … and all of a sudden it was like a flood of great young people. There were so many good young people that we weren’t going to have room for them all if we did a traditional tribe decision.

Again, is no one going to call Probst out that they don't have any more under-20s than previous seasons?  And did this sudden abundance of youngsters mean they just recruited?  Why can't he just say it?

But this was my favorite:

Quote

And then you hear the Gen X tribe say things like, “Back when I was a kid,” and I found myself thinking, “Oh, shut up.” That just sounds like the old guy.

First, Probst, you are that old guy.  Second, again-is this 'millennials' theme supposed to make you guys young, hip, cool, relevant, and you have to trash the other tribe to make it sound even more young, hip, relevant, and like a high school clique?

Edited September 21, 2016 by LadyChatts

[LanceM]

The only one I have seen who consistently calls out Jeff Probst for his nonsense is Andy Dehnert over at Reality Blurred.Com. It should be noted that Andy used to have access to the players and did post game interview up until season 20.  He then started asking questions CBS didn't like (namely if it was true that Parvati and Russell knew each other prior to the game) and hasn't interviewed any players since.  Here is what he had to say when the tribes were announced.  

https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2016/08/survivor-millennials-vs-gen-x-ca

Edited September 21, 2016 by LanceM

[LadyChatts]

Now that article made me laugh, and not because of how absurd it is (I especially liked the line about GenXers and Millennials trying to talk to each other is the equivalent of a cat trying to talk to a baby).  And, it proves my point.  Dalton Ross, Josh Wigler, Gordon Holmes, don't want to lose their special Survivor privileges.  I'm sure they're thinking what we are, they just aren't going to upset the almighty Probst and the great and powerful PTB.  So they go along with it.

Andy's articles also highlights why I think this season will be a complete laughingstock if they try and force these stupid stereotypes throughout the season.  BB really ruined itself for me by trying to cast a bunch of 20 somethings looking for showmances and to get drunk and further their career ambitions in entertainment.  They forgot it was a game, and cast people who didn't care that it was a game.  I don't want Survivor to go down that path.  Stick with what works.  Or at least admit a tribe of millennials didn't bring in a ton of lower age contestants.

I don't know, maybe this season is going to suck and Probst knows it.  So he over hypes it because he figures people will blame the hype as to it not living up to expectations, not that it would have been a crappy season in general.

Edited September 21, 2016 by LadyChatts

[SVNBob]

13 hours ago, NutMeg said:

I love this idea of Alternate Universe Survivor.

Back on TWoP, we used to have a thread for an AU Survivor "game", where one person would propose a "what if" scenario for a season of Survivor, and (usually) someone else would propose an AU that started from that one change.  Not a lot of posts in that thread, but I enjoyed the thought experiments.

To bring this somewhat on to topic: this might be an interesting line of conversation to have after the end of S33, building an AU that starts at the point of the evacuation (meaning that, in the AU, the weather won't be bad enough to require the evacuation), and pondering what might have been different.

[Nashville]

13 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

But this was my favorite:

Quote

And then you hear the Gen X tribe say things like, “Back when I was a kid,” and I found myself thinking, “Oh, shut up.” That just sounds like the old guy.

First, Probst, you are that old guy.  Second, again-is this 'millennials' theme supposed to make you guys young, hip, cool, relevant, and you have to trash the other tribe to make it sound even more young, hip, relevant, and like a high school clique?

Actually, Probst isn't "that old guy".

 Probst is even OLDER than "that old guy".

Which I guess makes Probst the "GET OFF MY LAWN!!!" guy.

As am I, probably - but at least I'm not too much of a coward to admit it.

Methinks Peachy is/was hoping that with close proximity to the young-and-fresh set, some of the young-and-fresh-ness might rub off on him; if that's the case, then Survivor has already failed its first challenge of the season.  

Jeff sounds like the guy trying to be the "cool parent" amongst his teen kids' friend set, by playing their music when they're in the car and telling all the kids how he did all the same things they do when he was younger.  Jeff is driving the car, though, so he doesn't see all the eye-rolling going on in the back seat in accompaniment to the choruses of, "gee, really, Mister Probst?" - to which he always responds, "Call me Jeff."  The girls think he's creepy, the boys think he's a joke, his kids are embarrassed, and he is delusional.

[Lamb18]

Gee, really, Mr. Nashville? (ha)

[cooksdelight]

I'm going to speculate that David is a plant who was recruited since he's a TV writer. And he hates the outdoors. I know they recruit certain types to round out each team (Abi was recruited as the "fiery Brazilian" to be at odds with RC), so I am guessing David's aware of the show since he's in the business but I can't see him trying to get on Survivor without a lot of prodding.

[LadyChatts]

Here's Jeff teaser for next week (though it doesn't give anything away that wasn't already obvious from the preview at the end of the episode):

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/09/22/survivor-jeff-probst-premiere-millennials-gen-x-cyclone

Quote

Okay, a lot went down this week, and I see Dr. Joe is going to be making a house call next week. What can you say about that and what is coming up? 
Ah, Dr. Joe… who doesn’t love Dr. Joe? Yes, he is in action and … that’s all I can say about that. As for the episode in general, you will start to see more divide within the tribes and that is going to make for great struggles for power.

[NutMeg]

On 9/21/2016 at 2:51 PM, SVNBob said:

Back on TWoP, we used to have a thread for an AU Survivor "game", where one person would propose a "what if" scenario for a season of Survivor, and (usually) someone else would propose an AU that started from that one change.  Not a lot of posts in that thread, but I enjoyed the thought experiments.

Well, in the spirit of Alternate Universe Survivor, I want to think that David has devised a savvy strategy to live off of Survivor. He amplified some of his natural fears and weaknesses, so as to appear as a combination of Cirie, Stephen, Cochran and probably a few others as they were the first time they played (and in some angles he looks a bit like China's Todd). It's not a bad strategy. He's already gotten tons of talking heads and is one of the few I remember easily. IF he lasts for a few episodes, he could be safe for a while - not threatening to anyone, the person you keep because in a pitch you can always vote him out. And then YOU get voted out and he's still there. With luck he might even find his JT and make up half of a memorable unlikely pairing. And if he goes far, he's exactly the type who will get a callback in the future. 

Edited September 24, 2016 by NutMeg
grammar :(

[LanceM]

New promo for the week:

 

 

So two stories here. One, the showmance over on the Kids tribe with Figgy or Taylor likely being voted out.  Over on the Old People tribe it would appear that someone is having a heart attack and will be medavaced.  Of course the Promos do like to give us misdirection so I wouldn't be surprised if neither of these things happened.

[LadyChatts]

They made it obvious that Rachel and David were targets last week, which made me think neither of them was getting voted out (though they made a bigger deal about David and Rachel).  So who knows.  What do we have-Figgy/Taylor/Jay vs Hannah/Mari/Zeke/Michelle possibly Adam/Michaela?  I don't know where exactly Will falls.

Edited September 24, 2016 by LadyChatts

[LanceM]

Sneak peek at the challenge this week.

Jeff "Chris you are RIPPING through the water"

Hannah "Michelle you are RIPPING through the water too".  

 

lol. I love Hannah. I hope she continues to mock Probst in challenges like this all season.

 

Edited September 27, 2016 by LanceM

[LadyChatts]

Another highlight they can use for the Best of Probst reel.

[LadyChatts]

So in terms of the promo, tribe swap already?  Would be an interesting way to do it.  

[peachmangosteen]

At first I was thinking it would be more like 2 people from each tribe going to visit the other tribe for some reason. I feel like they've done something like that before. But based on Will's quote in the promo, "I want to be a part of this twist.  I want to experience what Gen X has to offer," it does kinda sound more like a tribe switch up. It seems so early for that though.

[LadyChatts]

Will's confessional could have been before they opened the packages and realized what they were doing.  However, I did hear 'swap' thrown around, but it sounded like they just got those with a note not really indicating what they were for.  Maybe this will be like a fake merge situation like we saw in Thailand-castaways under the impression they are swapping to the other camp, but are really visitors.

Here's Jeff's teaser (he isn't giving much in terms of teasers this season): http://www.ew.com/article/2016/09/29/survivor-jeff-probst-millennials-vs-gen-x-episode-2-medical-scare

Quote

Looks like you have some sort of twist at play next week. Tease us up for the next episode, sir!
You never know when or where an opportunity will arise, grasshopper. Stay alert.

Next week's episode is titled "Your Job is Recon", and episode 4 is "Who's the Sucker at the Table."

[SVNBob]

14 minutes ago, LadyChatts said:

episode 4 is "Who's the Sucker at the Table."

As in the old poker aphorism: "When you sit down to a game; if you don't know who's the sucker at the table, it's you."

Very fitting for Survivor.

[piequinn35]

3 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

At first I was thinking it would be more like 2 people from each tribe going to visit the other tribe for some reason. 

I guess this will be it.

[KimberStormer]

Hmm, Your Job is Recon sounds like one of those visit-the-other-tribe things.  Maybe like Jonny Fairplay stealing stuff from Savage's tribe, or Jenna and whatisface's date in the forest?  Hopefully not like Aaron getting screwed for no reason in China.

[SVNBob]

12 hours ago, KimberStormer said:

Your Job is Recon sounds like one of those visit-the-other-tribe things. 

Or at least, that's what the person who says the quote is thinking it is.

[KimberStormer]

I was listening to Rob and Stephen and they were speculating it might be a three tribe split a la Second Chances, which sounds quite plausible to me.

[LadyChatts]

New promo

[Whimsy]

Reminder- all preview talk goes in this thread.  NO preview talk in the episode threads.

[PreBabylonia]

So - I've only seen the preview once (at the conclusion of episode 3} but was that really (Invisible) Lucy commanding Ken not to speak to anyone? Or is this taken out of context yet again? I've been finding these previews and some of the Tribal Council talk to be very misleading. Just can't imagine that quiet Lucy is doing a Boston Rob. Think you have to have lots of charisma to make those kinds of stunts work.

[LadyChatts]

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/10/06/survivor-jeff-probst-millennials-vs-gen-x-episode-3

Jeff's teaser for next week:

Quote

What can you tell us about next week, besides you almost wiping out courtesy of a monster wave?  
What do you mean besides that… that was one of the most epic moments of my career! Those waves were insane! It’s a really fun episode with a very emotional idol find. How’s that?

[Wandering Snark]

On 10/6/2016 at 5:38 PM, PreBabylonia said:

Think you have to have lots of charisma to make those kinds of stunts work.

Or a lot of self-delusion regarding your own sway over other people. And yeah it didn't work so well. And I wanted her to go down when she cast the "most guys" disparagement on him at tribal as well. Have fun back home where you can run things and tell people what to do.

I wanted to mention from this week that as they pick buffs I will be saying "Please please please please" for the entire process until the reveal of our young lovers be torn asunder at which point I'll finish with a satisfying YES!! Heh. Oh please let that happen.

[LadyChatts]

The randomness of the tribe swap is no doubt going to screw somebody.  I hope Jessica, Ken, and David don't wind up with Bret and Chris.  Those two I feel will be out for blood against those 3.  CeCe may just keep on skating by.  No doubt one side will end up in a minority, but we'll see who it benefits.  Michelle's been noticeably absent after her move in saving Jessica, so maybe she'll make an appearance to get rid of her or Taylor if she winds up with them, and be able to blame it on the swap effect.  I'm ready for the shake up.  I hope Chris or Bret doesn't get the idol.  And I hope the game finally gets interesting.  

I'm not going to hold out hope Probst won't go on and on about this stupid theme, even post swap/merge.

[LanceM]

Someone is definitely going to get screwed by the swap and unfortunately I think Michelle might be a prime candidate. I hope not as she is one of my favorites on the tribe and she is one of the few people on that tribe that I think is really playing a solid game.  BUt they have not fouced much on her the last two episodes after her big move in episode 2.  Hope I am wrong though.

What to look forward to next week is Probst going how amazing it is that (33 year old) Gen-X'er Ken is getting along so well with (28 year old) Millennial Zeke.

[LadyChatts]

6 minutes ago, LanceM said:

Someone is definitely going to get screwed by the swap and unfortunately I think Michelle might be a prime candidate. I hope not as she is one of my favorites on the tribe and she is one of the few people on that tribe that I think is really playing a solid game.  BUt they have not fouced much on her the last two episodes after her big move in episode 2.  Hope I am wrong though.

What to look forward to next week is Probst going how amazing it is that (33 year old) Gen-X'er Ken is getting along so well with (28 year old) Millennial Zeke.

I think a lot of them could be very vulnerable, depending how they match up.  Jessica, Jessica F, Taylor, Hannah, Ken, Dave, Chris, Bret, Jay, Michaela.  I don't know if Michelle will be a target, unless she draws attention to herself.  Her games been pretty good so far.  Obviously if she's the star of the next episode and is on an ally-less tribe, l'll worry.