S35: Chrissy Hofbeck

[Star Aristille]

Hi.  I'm one of very few people who's traveled to all seven continents.

She's an older woman, so I don't see her lasting long unless she's on a constantly winning tribe, has a good, strong, loyal alliance with which to protect herself, or both.

[Hanahope]

Doesn't like it when people don't use a fork and eat like a caveman?  Boy is she in for a surprise.  

[paul4295]

After 35 seasons, the show has its first actuary!  Her profession is shown as financial analyst, which seems to be what she is doing now, but she is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, and has worked as an actuary in the past.  I worked at the same company as her 20 years ago, and knew her in passing.  She is very smart and very outgoing.  I know she's an "older female," but I think she has potential to go far.

[LadyChatts]

She bored me in her video, but seems nice.  Kind other motherly.

If eating habits are her pet peeve, good thing she didn't go on Big Brother.

[Silver Raven]

How does being a financial analyst make one a Hero?

[Nashville]

Staying awake while wading through chapters of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles definitely qualifies as a heroic effort....  ;)

Edited August 31, 2017 by Nashville

[Silver Raven]

5 hours ago, Nashville said:

Staying awake while wading through chapters of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles definitely qualifies as a heroic effort....  ;)

+1

[LanceM]

Interview with Josh Wigler.  She wants to play down her age since this is a young group. Apparently she is going to tell people she is 39. All the other players see her as the "Mom" of the group.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/survivor-season-35-player-profile-meet-chrissy-hofbeck-1034972

She apprently likes Patrick:

Patrick Bolton (Small Business Owner, Hustlers Tribe): She squeezed my butt when we were in an elevator

Edited September 4, 2017 by LanceM

[Star Aristille]

She was a total moron not to use that Super Idol on Katrina (and even more of one to vote her out!).  As @Bryce Lynch said in the episode thread, she could've bounced Ashley with it and taken control of the tribe with Katrina and either one of Alan or Ben.  Now she'll probably be the next to go if their tribe loses again.

Poor start, Chrissy.  Poor, poor start.

[LadyChatts]

In hindsight, I don't know if Chrissy's move was so terrible.  She would have saved Katrina for possibly only 3 more days, but they still wouldn't have necessarily had the numbers.  If Ashley had gone home, JP/Ben/Alan could have still stuck together.  At least this way, no one can say Chrissy threw a vote their way.  It sounded like Katrina just wasn't meshing with her tribe.  Now she has a useless idol, but she can possibly use it to her advantage.  Alan already doesn't trust JP/Ashley, and his initial alliance may not be so trusting of him.  They don't need him, but Ben could be a swing vote.  Especially if Chrissy pretends she found the idol and they believe she'll use it at the next TC.  They don't know her idol is no good.  So we'll see.  If the Heroes lose again and they still are stuck on the whole 'she's the oldest and a mom so she's gotta go' then she's screwed.  

I'd find it hilarious if Chrissy buried the useless idol and someone else found it.  It'd be the first fake idol that was originally a real idol at one point.  I wonder if she'll know that she can use it like that.

Edited September 28, 2017 by LadyChatts

[Lawgiver]

Wow, LadyChatts, what a diabolical idea! I think Chrissy has a chess player's mind. She's thinking many steps ahead of the others. It wouldn't surprise me if she came up with your exact plan!

[marys1000]

I think blond waspy moms tend to get a pass or be viewed positively in some subconscious way.  Like we have seen so many TV moms like this that we loved we just love anyone who reminds us of them.  I think there have been examples on Survivor but my specific memory is terrible.  This can be used to subtley manipulate by the smart and I think she is smart and manipulative.  I just cant stand that manipulative type.  Katrina said she thought she could win.  Gah

Squeezed someones ass?  If true thats not funny

[Lamb18]

It would be funny if she buried it and Alan found it.

[Guest]

I think it was probably smart not to save Katrina.  We saw a tiny moment or two of those three days.  She must've known how she'd look to the other four, and where she'd be in the pecking order if she'd done so.  I'm not sure I would want it to be me + Katrina against three others, all pissed that I got their gal blindsided on tribal 1.  

They have good odds of not going back to tribal for a week or more.  By then usually someone has emerged as more expendable (or dangerous or annoying) than the 40+ woman.  And having that real but useless idol is powerful in itself.  It's very clearly a show-made idol, with the little statuette on it like the big IIs.  Which look a bit like Oscars to me.  

[peachmangosteen]

17 hours ago, marys1000 said:

This can be used to subtley manipulate by the smart and I think she is smart and manipulative.

Yea, she actually might end up being the best person to get it since I can easily see her using it to manipulate someone.

[Nashville]

On 9/29/2017 at 11:14 AM, peachmangosteen said:

Yea, she actually might end up being the best person to get it since I can easily see her using it to manipulate someone.

Let's not forget - "mom" is actually an acronym for

Masters

Of

Manipulation.

;)

[Wings]

3 hours ago, Nashville said:

Let's not forget - "mom" is actually an acronym for

Masters

Of

Manipulation.

;)

You are so bad, 

[Nashville]

On 9/30/2017 at 8:21 PM, wings707 said:

You are so bad, 

I get that a LOT.  ;>

[LadyChatts]

Chrissy annoys the crap out of me. She’s so arrogant and thinking she’s in’s such control over everything and everyone (which, at this point, she’s got Ryan and JP under her thumb, so I guess).  But I hate the way she’s talks too.  I feel like she’s got a tone that’s she’s better than, and trying to explain things to the simpletons.  

[Star Aristille]

Chrissy proved this week that she's my least favorite kind of Survivor woman: the kind who hates other women and is so eager to get them out, she throws herself at any and all men she can to help her with that.

Hoping she's out soon.

[peachmangosteen]

Yea, Chrissy proved my previously somewhat irrational hate for her was actually perfectly rational. She sucks. Too bad she's most likely going deep. Ugh.

[NutMeg]

I guess I'll have to be the lone Chrissy defender here. I like that she's doing what she can to stay in the game, and doing it in a way that is effective.

I can still side-eye her for staying on the beam at the IC longer than she should have. THAT was bad. The rest? Eh, par for the course, part of the game, etc. :)

One reason I'm glad she's still in is that I really want to see this expired idol used in some way. With her gone, I would have no hope left of seeing that happen.

[Nashville]

(I posted this elsewhere, but still...)

My interpretation of Chrissy's reaction when she found out Ryan was the one who gave her the first-TC Advantage:

Edited October 26, 2017 by Nashville
Awkward wording

[Guest]

On 10/26/2017 at 9:25 AM, NutMeg said:

I guess I'll have to be the lone Chrissy defender here. I like that she's doing what she can to stay in the game, and doing it in a way that is effective.

I can still side-eye her for staying on the beam at the IC longer than she should have. THAT was bad. The rest? Eh, par for the course, part of the game, etc. :)

One reason I'm glad she's still in is that I really want to see this expired idol used in some way. With her gone, I would have no hope left of seeing that happen.

I defend her, too.  She doesn't bug me at all.  I don't see arrogance or woman-hating or throwing herself at men.  

[simplyme]

She's said some arrogant things, but this is Survivor. Offhand I can't think of anyone who hasn't said something that can't be taken wrong unless they barely got any THs. I can't say I'm necessarily cheering for her, but it's really nice to see an "older" woman who embraces the strategic role, avoids the mom stereotype, and is somewhat aggressive in her playstyle. Then again, I liked Kass as a player, too.

Imo, I don't really see Chrissy throwing herself at men, either. I see her as being able to tell who the most influential, useful players are on her tribes. On the healers tribe, that was Ben. On her new tribe it was Ryan. After that she seems to try to work the people she feels are most open to her. That was a toss-up on the healers, so she worked all of them, including Ashley. On her new tribe, she had a pre-existing relationship with JP, so she used that.

[ProfCrash]

I am not fond of how Chrissy is playing the game but I think she figured out that she was going to be targeted because of her age and started on a defensive note. I think she was given the cold shoulder by some of the younger cast members and is upset by that. I think it is not great social play but I see why she is annoyed with Roark and the others in that alliance. Why should Chrissy have to be the one to reach out? Conversation is a two way street. Roark and her alliance assumed that they were in control and choose not to engage with Chrissy. That is always a mistake in a game like this. There is going to be a swap and you are going to need some of the other folks in your tribe. Ignoring a player is poor game play. So why is Chrissy the one to blame when the majority alliance choose to simply not talk to her?

Chrissy's chip on her shoulder is not pretty but I get where she is coming from.

[Guest]

I don't really see a chip on her shoulder, which is not to say she doesn't have it or that seeing it is some wrong perception.  Is it that she feels annoyed that she's targeted for being an older woman?  

To me, she seems very analytical, animated and articulate in her talking heads.  I feel like for her it's probably a huge relief to have that safe opportunity to talk out what's going on in the game and how it affects her.  So her enthusiasm and 'mile-a-minute' analysis comes off as arrogant, maybe?  I think I might be the same out there.  

It's interesting to me that some 'types' bother us more than others.  The older women rarely bother me.   I frequently have trouble with the Michaela 'chip on her shoulder' types, where they get sulky and confrontational and entitled but don't play all that well.  And the Joe/Tony/Russell macho-small-man type.  I guess it'd make sense I'd empathize more with the demographic I'm in.  But so many of us here are women over 40, I guess it surprises me how often the older women on Survivor bug people here.  

[NutMeg]

2 hours ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

I defend her, too.  She doesn't bug me at all.  I don't see arrogance or woman-hating or throwing herself at men.  

If gender were reversed, and if the token "older" guy was allying himself with women, I don't think he would be called man-hating. Incidentally, that was exactly Russell's strategy, and I don't ever recall him being called a man-heater. (My memory may be faulty, please let me know if I forgot something in that regard). So I'm also quite puzzled at these apparent double standards: man can ally with women exclusively and it's all good, woman does the same and it's all bad, wtf!?

[ProfCrash]

Which Russell? If you are talking Hantz, he tried to ally himself with the young women and had nothing polite to say about them. Essentially he thought that the younger women would be easily manipulated. I remember people thinking Russell was an asshole and that his comments about the women he wanted to align with were out of line and jerkish. There are very few people who say nice things about Russell. I think the people who wanted him to win still think he was an asshole.

[Nashville]

1 hour ago, ProfCrash said:

I am not fond of how Chrissy is playing the game but I think she figured out that she was going to be targeted because of her age and started on a defensive note.

Chrissy would be foolish if she didn't start out defensively; she's 46, which on the Survivor age scale places her in the general vicinity of the Paleozoic era.

 

1 hour ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

I don't really see a chip on her shoulder, which is not to say she doesn't have it or that seeing it is some wrong perception.  Is it that she feels annoyed that she's targeted for being an older woman?  

I'd say not so much as Chrissy having a "chip", so much as recognition she is coming out of the starting gates with an immediate handicap.  It's not that Chrissy is angry about it - but she must contend with it..  That part of Chrissy I don't mind at all; in fact I like how well she's dealt with it, in terms of defusing the age issue past the first TC.  

What I don't like about Chrissy is how she appears to have let that initial success go to her head.  Chrissy is now playing as if the age issue is dust in the wind, and letting an apparent degree of mean-girl pettiness override her initial determination.  In reality, the age issue will re-rear its ugly head the moment her Tribe heads to TC due to a challenge loss which may be legitimately ascribed to physical weakness in her part.

[ProfCrash]

4 minutes ago, Nashville said:

I'd say not so much as Chrissy having a "chip", so much as recognition she is coming out of the starting gates with an immediate handicap.  It's not that Chrissy is angry about it - but she must contend with it..  That part of Chrissy I don't mind at all; in fact I like how well she's dealt with it, in terms of defusing the age issue past the first TC.

That is a better way of phrasing it.

[NutMeg]

2 hours ago, ProfCrash said:

Which Russell? If you are talking Hantz, he tried to ally himself with the young women and had nothing polite to say about them. Essentially he thought that the younger women would be easily manipulated. I remember people thinking Russell was an asshole and that his comments about the women he wanted to align with were out of line and jerkish. There are very few people who say nice things about Russell. I think the people who wanted him to win still think he was an asshole.

Indeed. Still, while he was called many things, I don't recall that he was called a man-hater.

2 hours ago, Nashville said:

What I don't like about Chrissy is how she appears to have let that initial success go to her head.  Chrissy is now playing as if the age issue is dust in the wind, and letting an apparent degree of mean-girl pettiness override her initial determination.  In reality, the age issue will re-rear its ugly head the moment her Tribe heads to TC due to a challenge loss which may be legitimately ascribed to physical weakness in her part.

Don't they all? I mean we base our impressions on talking heads, talking heads which might as well be self-pep talk. We saw the same from Boston Rob, Parvati, JT, but also from many people I wouldn't recognize in a line-up. I'm actually quite peeved that "older" female seem to get quite a bad reception (and if it's bad here, we all know how much worse it's out there), despite playing quite similarly to male players. In my opinion.  

[KimberStormer]

The thing with Chrissy is, who wanted Roark gone?  Nobody but her.  JP didn't, Ali didn't, Ryan didn't...but it happened because Chrissy made it happen.  Furthermore she herself was a logical vote here, so she made it happen in very unfavorable circumstances.  Gotta respect the game!  And she seems to be sitting pretty til the merge -- and I doubt anything will happen to Ben in the meantime so I think she'll be good there too, with JP, Ben, Ryan, probably Devon, possibly Ashley...a lot depends on the next votes but it's a pretty strong position.  Though I wonder what her endgame plan is.  She can beat JP at FTC.  Can she beat anybody else?

It seemed to me that she and Roark both rubbed each other the wrong way.  I'd say they share the blame for that.  In a weird way, the fact that Chrissy completely made up the women's alliance story made it much less annoying to me.  Lying on Survivor is no problem to me; but tattling/snitching, even on Survivor, freaks me out and makes my skin crawl.  It's why I don't like Rob's buddy system, etc.  Not sure what the psychological rationale is for this but there it is.

[peachmangosteen]

7 hours ago, simplyme said:

Then again, I liked Kass as a player, too.

I did, too. They're not much alike to me. I guess they are in that they're both more strategic players than social players, but Kass owned her personality in a way I don't feel Chrissy does. She seems to be trying to present herself as (and sees herself as) some amazingly awesome hero when she comes off more like a OTTly full of herself, kinda malicious person.

7 hours ago, ProfCrash said:

 I think she was given the cold shoulder by some of the younger cast members and is upset by that.

Do we have much evidence to support this though? Didn't Kristina say that was not actually the case? I don't really think Chrissy was actually getting the cold shoulder from them. She might tell herself she was though. She seems like the type to act like everyone was ignoring her when that wasn't the case at all.

2 hours ago, NutMeg said:

Still, while [Russell] was called many things, I don't recall that he was called a man-hater.

Because he didn't hate men. He thought they were better/smarter than women and that is precisely why he aligned with women. Russell was about as women-hating as they come on this show.

Edited October 30, 2017 by peachmangosteen

[NutMeg]

Quote

Because he didn't hate men. He thought they were better/smarter than woman and that is precisely why he aligned with women.

Chrissy doesn't hate women. She though Roark was better/smarter than men, and that is precisely why she aligned with men.

Sorry, couldn't resist :)

[peachmangosteen]

Too simplistic imo.

But for sure there's no concrete evidence to support some's view that Chrissy has a bit of an internalized misogyny problem. It won't surprise me in the least if some presents itself as the game goes on though. She just has the vibes.

My bigger problem with her though is the, as @RedheadZombie put it, "smugness about her [that she] masks in a grinning adorableness."

[fishcakes]

27 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

My bigger problem with her though is the, as @RedheadZombie put it, "smugness about her [that she] masks in a grinning adorableness."

She reminds me of the way Lily Tomlin described one of her own characters: "I'm smiling, but I'm a bitch."

[peachmangosteen]

53 minutes ago, NutMeg said:

She though Roark was better/smarter than men, and that is precisely why she aligned with men.

Also, about this, I didn't get the sense that Chrissy targeted Roark because she thought Roark was smart. To me it came off like she targeted Roark because she was put off by the fact that she believed Roark thought of herself as smart. Which is certainly a factor in the 'doesn't want to work with women' vibe I get from her. And is interesting/hilarious since Chrissy quite obviously sees herself as smart.

I will say though, hating/rooting against someone is almost as much fun for me, actually maybe even more fun, than liking/rooting for someone, so maybe it's not such a bad thing for me that Chrissy is obviously going to go far.

Edited October 30, 2017 by peachmangosteen

[LadyChatts]

28 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

Also, about this, I didn't get the sense that Chrissy targeted Roark because she thought Roark was smart. To me it came off like she targeted Roark because she was put off by the fact that she believed Roark thought of herself as smart. Which is certainly a factor in the 'doesn't want to work with women' vibe I get from her. And is interesting/hilarious since Chrissy quite obviously sees herself as smart.

I will say though, hating/rooting against someone is almost as much fun for me, actually maybe even more fun, than liking/rooting for someone, so maybe it's not such a bad thing for me that Chrissy is obviously going to go far.

As long as she doesn't win and loses in epic fashion (or gets blindsided after bragging at TC) I'll be happy.  

Edited October 30, 2017 by LadyChatts

[ProfCrash]

15 hours ago, NutMeg said:

Indeed. Still, while he was called many things, I don't recall that he was called a man-hater.

No he was called a misogynist. Is that better? He is called an asshole, bully, jerk and all around troll. But he has not been called a man-hater.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, ProfCrash said:

No he was called a misogynist. Is that better? He is called an asshole, bully, jerk and all around troll. But he has not been called a man-hater.

But I think the point was not that Russell was liked, just that when a man teams with women, he isn't usually accused of it being due to hating his own gender.   Then it's just a valid game choice, not a character flaw or something traitorous.  

[ProfCrash]

16 minutes ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

But I think the point was not that Russell was liked, just that when a man teams with women, he isn't usually accused of it being due to hating his own gender.   Then it's just a valid game choice, not a character flaw or something traitorous.  

In Russell's case. When Colton wanted to work with the women and not the men there was a big up roar over that. Russell was not called a man-hater because it was clear that his reason for working with the women had nothing to do with his love of all things women or his dislike of men. Colton was very clear that he wanted nothing to do with working with the men and he wanted to be with the women and people called him out for that. It is rare that we see men want to work with all women. Normally the all male alliances are the Alpha's who are worried about being picked off because of their strength or because they value strength over all else and it makes a certain amount of sense to people watching but there is a lot of eye rolling. Over all, most folks do not like the single gender alliances because they play into stereotypes and that is annoying.

[peachmangosteen]

11 hours ago, simplyme said:

Well, probably not. Ryan told her he sent it to her because he just felt an affinity for her, and Chrissy acted all touched and they strengthened tentative alliance bonds.

This is such a perception thing because to me Chrissy came off totally sincere in her, "Well gee golly Ryan really likes me because I'm just so awesome and that's why he gave me the idol" thing. 

And I also interrupt her hero talk differently. I do agree that Production is goading everyone into playing that stuff up, but Chrissy seems to just eat it all up. She doesn't come off like she's just giving Production what they want for me. I think she's bought into them putting her into the hero tribe.

[ProfCrash]

And that is why I hate the themes, because some people buy into the stupid theme. I guess that is on them.

[Guest]

49 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

This is such a perception thing because to me Chrissy came off totally sincere in her, "Well gee golly Ryan really likes me because I'm just so awesome and that's why he gave me the idol" thing. 

And I also interrupt her hero talk differently. I do agree that Production is goading everyone into playing that stuff up, but Chrissy seems to just eat it all up. She doesn't come off like she's just giving Production what they want for me. I think she's bought into them putting her into the hero tribe.

I thought it was just that she was touched that Ryan 'saw something in her he liked' or something.  I might be touched if a stranger bestowed a game advantage on me.   It's got to be lonely and stressful out there so any sign of an unknown ally probably feels amazing.

She just seems gung ho to me.  Gung ho to adopt 'hero' on cue, to think Ryan was sincere, to view the gesture as something lovely, to play Survivor.  I like that she's there to play and not afraid to go all out. 

But I totally get her pushing others' buttons, too.  Polarizing is good with me.  It beats dull.

[peachmangosteen]

5 hours ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

I thought it was just that she was touched that Ryan 'saw something in her he liked' or something. 

That's possible, too. That was what I initially thought and it's why I was like, 'damn she is very stupid' at first because Ryan was super transparently fake in the convo imo.

[simplyme]

6 hours ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

But I totally get her pushing others' buttons, too.  Polarizing is good with me.  It beats dull.

Exactly. We've had lots of comments and conversations about Chrissy, and they've been interesting. JP? I just keep saying the same things. Boring, dumb, and I wish they'd cast his dog.

[peachmangosteen]

23 minutes ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

But is it a mistake if the player you lied to isn't on the jury?  I mean, then it has no bearing on the game either way, right? 

Yea, game-wise, it's not necessarily a mistake to do it pre-jury. You just gotta remember to stop doing it once jury starts and I don't think most players who are the type to tell needless lies are able or willing to stop then. Although Chrissy is a strategic thinker, so if she really is playing that kind of Dawn type game where you make ott personal bonds with someone only to backstab them then I imagine she would realize that's stupid once you hit the jury. But realizing it's not a good idea and actually not doing it anymore are two different things. Probably especially for someone like Chrissy who is imo an arrogant player.

This could all be completely pointless though because we don't actually know if Chrissy is really playing that kind of game. The thing with Ali could have been a one-off thing.

Edited November 5, 2017 by peachmangosteen

[Guest]

I wish we'd seen the scene, too, and its timing.  For all we know Ali saw it as some personal bonding moment but it was more of just an offhand remark by Chrissy.  

I don't know if talking about the loved one visit is really all that personal.  I would imagine they all talk to each other about upcoming game moments as if they're all going to be there, but at the same time all knowing that's not guaranteed. 

[Special K]

On 11/5/2017 at 11:17 AM, Winston9-DT3 said:

I wish we'd seen the scene, too, and its timing.  For all we know Ali saw it as some personal bonding moment but it was more of just an offhand remark by Chrissy.  

I don't know if talking about the loved one visit is really all that personal.  I would imagine they all talk to each other about upcoming game moments as if they're all going to be there, but at the same time all knowing that's not guaranteed. 

Yeah, I think it could be totally innocent -- like I'm sure they all talk about who they each had listed as their "loved one" and about how cool it will be to see/meet them.