S35.E05: The Past Will Eat You Alive

[mojoween]

Because I’m super fun at parties, I used to try to name all of the Survivors in a season in order of booting.  I have not been able to do that for many moons.

Now someone mentioned Simone and I’m like who?  Was she on this year?

Fantasy elves are quite tall and slender.  I stand by my statement.

[Star Aristille]

7 minutes ago, mojoween said:

Now someone mentioned Simone and I’m like who?  Was she on this year?

Second person voted out.  Only Asian person in the game, and was booted from Yawa, the original tribe of the Hustlers.

[Knuckles]

Crissy has all the arrogance and dishonesty that I would expect from a "financial analyst"...and floating an all girl alliance to get the weak males on her side was standard game play. Roark did herself no favors at Tribal though...her best shot was to expose the lie the Crissy sold about Team Girl...but then, she may not even have heard of it.  Would Ali have clued her in?  In any event, I doubt Team Yellow has much more time...this is not a strong team.

Love Ashley though, and Devon and agreed...Desi is astonishingly beautiful, even with sand all over her face.

[TVFan1]

Well, I was rooting for Roark, and now she is gone. It was quite clear she was going when she got multiple confessionals.

I really can't stand Chrissy. So arrogant and smug. I will love it when she gets her torch snuffed. Ryan is also to blame, because he could have sided with Ali and gotten rid of Chrissy. I guess it is better for his game, though.

Rooting for Jessica, Ben, Ali, Desi, and Ashley.

Lauren is still in the game! Make it to the merge!

[Star Aristille]

Not as exciting of a season as past ones, but I'm still finding a lot to enjoy about it.  For one thing, NO BIG CHARACTERS EATING THE SCREENTIME.  So far, it's been almost evenly distributed.  We've seen nearly every castaway get a confessional in this episode save for Cole and J.P.  We've gotten a decent look at where everyone's heads have been (again, save for J.P.), and we're actually hearing from every castaway (again, save for J.P.).  I like this more even editing that's been missed over the seasons.  I think the last evenly-edited season we had was Philippines.

Both of the challenges were very fun to watch, and it exposed who'll be the true assets for the tribal stage, as well as the true threats when the merge hits -- Devon, Desi, Ashley, Ali, J.P., Jessica, Cole, and Ben.  It also exposed the weakest links who might slip by when the merge hits -- Ryan, Chrissy, and Mike.  The former two, in particular, look like they'll be big zeroes at challenges going forward.

While I really wanted Roark to stay, it sounded like Chrissy was right.  She at least talked to people and bonded with them, while it sounds like Roark really only worked on Ali and then expected her original numbers with Desi, Jessica, Cole, and Mike to carry the day.  Too bad she didn't realize she had to survive long enough to get back to them first.  And to do that, she needed more numbers to last on her new tribe.  Chrissy got that.  Roark did not.

Not that I'm happy about it.  Chrissy really is delusional, smug, arrogant, and self-important, and she represents my least favorite kind of Survivor female castaway: the kind that clearly hates other women so much, she throws herself at men to get them voted out.  This week only proved it to me.

Nonetheless, the boot aside, it was an enjoyable enough episode to me.

Edited October 26, 2017 by Star Aristille

[Brookside]

I'm not sure if this is the right place for this question, but -

Does anyone know how it's decided what they can bring with them?  Specifically their underwear.  The women all look as if they were sent a small selection of bras to choose from.  Except for Roark who had the kind of grubby looking, ill-fitting things I hide at the back of my drawer.  And why the hell can't they wear sports bras/bikinis?  And all the men seem to be wearing one style of underwear.  I just don't get it, unless the producers pretty much insist on a ce3rtain style for sex appeal.  Those bras are totally ill-suited for a lot of the challenges, particularly when they're snaking through the sand.

[LadyChatts]

1 minute ago, Brookside said:

I'm not sure if this is the right place for this question, but -

Does anyone know how it's decided what they can bring with them?  Specifically their underwear.  The women all look as if they were sent a small selection of bras to choose from.  Except for Roark who had the kind of grubby looking, ill-fitting things I hide at the back of my drawer.  And why the hell can't they wear sports bras/bikinis?  And all the men seem to be wearing one style of underwear.  I just don't get it, unless the producers pretty much insist on a ce3rtain style for sex appeal.  Those bras are totally ill-suited for a lot of the challenges, particularly when they're snaking through the sand.

The producers pick everything for them.  They bring clothing, and TPTB choose what they wear out there (that goes for bathing suits and underwear). 

[NeverLate]

I really like Ben, we haven't seen a lot of him. But he's already my favourite. Especially tonight. Chrissy, she's a bit too full of herself, but whatever it took to stay, she did it.

Desi was a comp beast tonight, wtg ! Ryan otoh, not so much. 

Dr Mike finally found his idol, that Joe said he had..LOL. Lets hope he uses it to take Joe out. Karma baby, karma

Nobody really bothered me tonight. Just as I got to know we had a Roark, she is gone, just like that!!

[lilabennet]

I appreciate players who play hard, so for that reason alone I'm glad that Chrissy stayed over Roark.  Chrissy knew she would be an easy boot and she hustled to save herself.  She targeted the only person on the tribe that she had a good chance of getting out and that she had no relationship with at all.  Even if manipulating JP was a bit like shooting fish in a barrel, it was still good play and I would like to see how she does going forward.  I don't understand why she felt the need to make it so personal, though.  I'm sure Roark was shocked tonight to see Chrissy's comments about her.  It was just really weird and I think editing must have left out a lot.  

[Brookside]

38 minutes ago, LadyChatts said:

The producers pick everything for them.  They bring clothing, and TPTB choose what they wear out there (that goes for bathing suits and underwear). 

Thanks.

[GaT]

Pretty boring episode IMO

[Star Aristille]

1 hour ago, blackwing said:

I said last week that Yellow was going to suffer because they only had one strong man.  Some suggest that Desi and Roark are strong, but I beg to differ, there's a reason why JP carried all three bags and that played a large part in putting them behind.

That was Ali, not Desi.  Desi is on Levu, the blue tribe.

[millennium]

Separated at birth?

 

[PhoneCop]

4 hours ago, dizzyd said:

Damn, I liked Ro! Her name sounds like a  combo of Rose and Mark, wonder if that may be her parents names.

Or maybe she just has some Irish in her. It's funny—traditionally it's a male first name, but IRL it's only been women I've encountered with it.

Since the producers select contestants' island wardrobe, I wish they'd allowed Ali to have more bras/tops that contrast with her skin tone. Every time they cut to her during the reward challenge, I thought I should be seeing chest blurs.

[piequinn35]

4 hours ago, Rachel RSL said:

 

I must be pure evil because I laughed my ass off every time Ryan's ball rolled down the hill. Then J.P. picked him up and plunked him down and I completely lost it. I don't dislike Ryan but that was hilarious. 

Me too! ? 

I can't stand Chrissy argh I don't like her at all! Poor Roark, first time in tc and got booted. ?

JP is hot but he is bland and doesn't talk much. ?

Cole, from being an idiot to gross lol! And then next week.. ?

And also Ali is pretty. ?

[Wings]

3 hours ago, Maverick said:

 I'm in the minority.   I didn't care for Roark at all.  She just instantly rubbed me wrong when she joined the show last week and my dislike of her was confirmed when she started going after Chrissy with that admonishing corporate speak.   I'm no fan of Chrissy, but I'll live with her another week to be rid of Roark  

I agree, never liked her either. 

3 hours ago, RedheadZombie said:

I've noticed this too, and I've started to question myself over the years.  I'm always disappointed by their appearance at the reunion.  Why do I find emaciated men with facial hair and sunburn, so much more attractive than the alternative well-nourished, clean shaven version?

Yes.  They all look like they have been injected with fluid and buffed to a shine. 

I also agree with you on the reward. The up side is they probably got the best sleep they have had out there! 

[KimberStormer]

Frustrating episode for me.  I knew I should have kept my mouth shut, I curse them every time.  I was hoping this would be Roark's coming-out party episode, her Survivor debutante ball; they keep winners under a bushel for a few episodes sometimes, the better to build a towering momentum.  Kim Spradlin the gold standard in this regard.  But instead it was the tired apparatus of 'oh we have to let you know who this...(sniff of disdain)...girl is, who's getting voted out tonight.'  Fuckin' lame.

Also fuckin' lame: many of these bozos.  I still think Dr. Mike is as aggressively unpleasant a man as y'all think Russell Hantz is.  Dressed up in the suit of some cartoon rat lawyer or something, whereas if he looked different I feel like everyone would think him the douchebag that I think he is.  It is funny how they've decided to edit Cole as The Worst, I feel like it must have been quite unexpected given his sort of golden boy aura, but they are doing a good job of it -- he is indeed the worst!

I do like Ben-- while I am not looking forward to the immense jingoism which will inevitably ensue if he wins, like Mike's Worlds Apart edit times 1000, he plays a human, social game, and I can appreciate it.

The fact is that I cannot fault Chrissy for her game, she hustled, came up with something.  Not a fan of her at all, but there it is, she's playing, right.  I even think that, while the edit was clearly against Chrissy here, Roark should have been much more proactive/forceful in taking the reins at the challenge; Chrissy says "do you want to try?" and Roark says "do you want me to try????" hesitantly and then Jeff is like "CHRISSY, REFUSING TO LET GO!"  I don't want to hang out with Chrissy but I get her game and she is doing fine at it, if a little clumsy and obvious.

What I do not understand is Ryan.

16 hours ago, simplyme said:

Yeah. I'm not 100% sure what Ryan's thought process here for not telling Ali ahead if time was unless he was afraid of an idol. The only thing I can think is that he's hoping he can talk Ali back into trusting him. I can see why he chose Chrissy over Roark. He's allied with Chrissy, he has a stronger social game than her, and she's not a big physical threat either. Roark, on the other hand, had no prior connections to Ryan but still has five former tribemates in the game she might favor over him, and Roark appeared closer to Ali than to Ryan and was seemingly slightly better at physical challenges than him. So if Ryan could convince himself he could cut Roark and manage to talk Ali back into his clutches (who else does she have?), it's a logical decision.

Even if I whimpered at it. Blah.

I can't see this as a logical decision at all.  Actually, going in to tribal, I realized it was probably Roark going home because it was up to Ryan and voting out Roark was so catastrophically stupid only someone who reminds me of Adam Klein could be capable of making that decision.  Roark was nothing in this vote, really.  Just a gamepiece.  What Ryan needed to do was to choose between his two allies who, as he himself said, will never work together.  Now going against Ali is going against his older ally, who has no other very close allies since Patrick is gone.  And no dummy who would do something stupid like flip flop for no reason at the merge.  She was a reliable number.  Chrissy on the other hand has a whole 'nother tribe of allies, with a stronger connection to her than Ryan has.  I honestly think he chose Chrissy to some degree because of a super Survivor Nerd reason -- that he wants his "move" with the first-episode advantage to have been brilliant.  He's just lying there in the shelter staring up at the stars and dreaming about that finale moment when Jeff asks him about his win and he can point to DAY ONE when he GOT THAT ADVANTAGE which CHANGED THE WHOLE GAME because he got Obnoxious Goat Chrissy to be the Dawn to his Cochran.  But anyway, OK, he wants to go with Chrissy and not Ali.  So why not vote out Ali?  Why try to have his cake and eat it too?  Maybe he thinks he can bring Ali back to the fold, but it's super duper stupid not to just tell her before tribal, if that's what he wants to do, so that a) he will not have Ali mad at him and b) he would have prevented Ali from totally alienating Chrissy and ruining any chance at all of intra-tribe harmony.  When he gets to the merge Ali may be able to get her revenge and she will never trust him again.

Maybe he's planning on throwing the next challenge, or something, to ensure that Ali doesn't get that chance.  But either way going against Ali signals he's going against the Hustlers.  Will Devon go along with this?  Will Lauren?  Meanwhile voting out Chrissy harms nothing.  It doesn't alienate the Heroes, who have no reason to imagine he would have any loyalty to her.  Even JP will surely just accept it as a tribal thing.  He has every opportunity to work with Heroes down the line, whereas he might be hurting his chances of working effectively with Hustlers now.  And finally, I agree completely with this:

15 hours ago, ByaNose said:

I’ve often wonder why people worry about people being upset when they vote them out. First off, you won’t have to see them. Especially, if it’s pre-jury. I think Ryan should have stayed with Ali (and, her trust) & vote out Chrissy. He already saved Chrissy once. He didn’t have to do it again. Dude! She’s pre-jury! You won’t see her until the game is over. Now, if this was post merge & jury it would be an entirely different story. 

Let Chrissy go be salty in the Loser's Lounge.  Or let Ali for that matter.  Don't let either of them get to the jury, if you're going to betray them.  The more people you bring within jury range who may hate you the worse.  Get your hurtful personal votes in early.

Now Roark was, it turns out, no Michelle Schubert, let alone a Kim Spradlin.  She never really did anything and her game was not impressive this time -- really, letting Chrissy get to you that way is pretty amateur hour.  I'm not devastated to see her go, especially as the edit never showed us the snarky side she brought to pre-game interviews.  But to have the only person I'm rooting for be Jeff Probst's All-American wet dream sits uncomfortably on me, especially as the fact that Jeff isn't calling this the Greatest Season In the History of the Universe probably points to Ben not winning.

Edited October 26, 2017 by KimberStormer
for some reason this entire season I have been mixing up the names Alan and Ryan

[mertensia]

I have misophonia. I would have hurt Cole severely when he started eating noisily.

[Eolivet]

4 hours ago, KimberStormer said:

I realized it was probably Roark going home because it was up to Ryan and voting out Roark was so catastrophically stupid only someone who reminds me of Adam Klein could be capable of making that decision. 

This cracked me up. Well, Chrissy did say that maybe she reminded Ryan of his mother. ;)

[SuburbanHangSuite]

6 hours ago, Brookside said:

Does anyone know how it's decided what they can bring with them?  Specifically their underwear.  The women all look as if they were sent a small selection of bras to choose from.  Except for Roark who had the kind of grubby looking, ill-fitting things I hide at the back of my drawer.  And why the hell can't they wear sports bras/bikinis?  And all the men seem to be wearing one style of underwear.  I just don't get it, unless the producers pretty much insist on a ce3rtain style for sex appeal.  Those bras are totally ill-suited for a lot of the challenges, particularly when they're snaking through the sand.

Thank you!  I've never noticed the women's bras before this season and now they're standing out for all the wrong reasons.  

I'm still completely bored.  A couple of very cool insect/wildlife shots caught my attention but other than that, I got nothing.  

[Haleth]

I don't know why Mike didn't wait to look for the idol when Jessica wasn't around.  Once again a player feels the need to share his idol information.  At least Jessica knows from previous experience that it's best to keep that information private.  She won't be blabbing to the whole tribe, at least not yet.  (Looking at you, Cole.)

Does anyone else look at Mike and see Peter Jacobson?

[himela]

I don't know whether it's because I've watched much Survivor but I'm annoyed with the edit this season. First of all Roark having next to zero confessionals in 4 episodes and suddenly she gets a storyline, if it's between Chrissy (who has had like 20 confessionals) and her, Roark is going, no mystery there. Second of all, a preview fail was the following: Last week on the preview we saw Chrissy telling JP that Roark wants a girl alliance. That scene was not shown until the immunity challenge so we immediately knew yellow was gonna lose. I mean, could they take care of the preview and the editing more????

Chrissy's teeth are annoyingly white. Other than that, do arrogant people realize they are arrogant? How can she not see how unlikeable she is saying that Roark is not smart and that she is outsmarting the smarty pants? I mean, come on, you are 45 years old, grow up! Mean girl detected!

I had said that Ryan is weak in challenges and I'm stunned that he is not yet considered to be voted out. He must have said 10 times tonight the phrase "social game" so I'm predicting he wins and his whole game will be based on social game. Nothing is repeated on Survivor without a purpose. I guess he will be in the final three with strong people and he will repeat "social game" over and over and over.

Ali seems to follow on Ryan's shadow.

[jay741982]

8 hours ago, LanceM said:

Bye Roark, we hardly knew ya.  But it was pretty obvious she was the one to go and not Chrissy.  It just seems to me that chrissy is being set up for the long haul while Roark had no storyline at all.

Ugh I already cant stand her I don't want Chrissy there all season 

[ghoulina]

Well, that was disappointing. We had barely seen any Roark until this episode, but she really grew on me fast. There was something about her demeanor that just resonated with me. I loved when Jeff asked if her comfort level at TC had gone up OR down, and she asked, "Can I say same comfortable?" I was really hoping to see her and Ali work together going forward. 

And to see the back end of Chrissy. And Chrissy hadn't even bothered me until this episode! But wow, she went downhill fast. The arrogance was just dripping off of her. She really fancies herself to be super smart, doesn't she?I guess I can't hate, because she did get her way. 

Once again, I feel like we weren't given enough background before the vote. Obviously Chrissy and JP are voting together because of their previous tribe, and 'cause she convinced JP Roark wanted to take out all the dudes. I guess it was pretty clever of Chrissy to bring up a girls alliance, then blame it on the outsider. But I was surprised Ryan shifted over to voting with Chrissy. I thought he and Ali were strong together. I'm not sure what it is about Chrissy that makes him think she'd be better to work with going forward, but this move is definitely going to cause him to lose trust with Ali. 

 

I appreciated Ben's candid talk about PTSD and depression. He's my favorite so far. 

I had to laugh - Lauren got rid of obnoxious Patrick, and now she's annoyed by Cole's eating habits. Do these guys really suck this much? Or is she too tightly wound? 

Interesting that Jessica is trying to strengthen bonds with her other alliance member, after Cole has proven to be a big mouth idiot. 

[TaraS1]

I can't stand Chrissy and definitely wanted her out, but I can't say I'm sorry to see Roark gone.  If for no other reason than the pronunciation of her name drove my family crazy.  We have a lot of people in our area with Roark as a last name, and they pronounce it with two syllables - ROEark.  So farewell, Rourke lol.  At this point, I'm rooting for Devon, Desi, Ali and Ryan.

Every time Cole stuck his nasty fingers in that jar of peanut butter, I got Puck from the Real World flashbacks.  

[Bryce Lynch]

11 hours ago, Eolivet said:

Chrissy thinks she's Denise from Philippines, when I think she's Dawn from Caramoan.

Great comparison. Hopefully she gets totally humiliated by someone she backstabs the way Dawn did at the hands of Brenda.  

[ProfCrash]

11 hours ago, Lamima said:

I like Chrissy (cause my hubby is an actuary and because she's a gamer player) and was glad to see her stay. And I found Roark to be pretty arrogent and contrary herself. Plus when would Chrissy have had to seek her out to talk strategy? They were on different tribes until recently and since they have been together their tribe didn't have to go to TC until this week. Actually, Chrissy and Roark are very similar in personality which is why, maybe, they were at each other.

So why the heck weren't Ashley and Devin (who, yes, is fine....reminds me of Joe) looking their behinds off for the idol? Ashley even said they'd have to go to rocks if they went to TC. NOT if you have the idol, you don't. Ugggh.

I wouldn't say that I like Chrissy but I sympathize with her. She is probably aware that she is seen as the older woman who is not an asset or a threat. I thought her response to Roark was perfect, talk is a two way street. Chrissy did not approach Roark and Roark did not approach Chrissy. Roark did not want Chrissy in her original group and ignored Chrissy. Chrissy returned the favor. For Roark to put it on Chrissy was arrogant. The way Roark spoke to Chrissy at tribal was condescending. It is clear that Roark did not see Chrissy as worthy of her time or even making an attempt to work with her.

Chrissy knew when the game started that she was in a hard place as an "older woman". She knows that she was on the chopping block at that first tribal. Ryan gave her a lifeline, showing that he knew she was vulnerable, probably for the same reason that Chrissy was defensive, and that something about her made him think she was worth saving.

I don't think she sees herself as Denise and she sure as hell is not Dawn. She knows that she has been written off by most of the younger players and that irks her. I am not thrilled with her attitude but I get where it is coming from. I think she is not playing a great social game, she should have talked with Roark and the others who have ignored her, but I can understand why she is acting the way she is. I don't think she is a bitch, I think she is defensive and annoyed because of how her cast mates wrote her off on day one.

[Pondlass1]

They always used to wear bikinis or swimsuits or swim trunks.  What is the reasoning behind the underwear?  Is it to spice things up?  Because let's be honest... it's all the same season after season now.  The show needs a shake up and change of format.

[ghoulina]

8 hours ago, TVFan1 said:

Well, I was rooting for Roark, and now she is gone. It was quite clear she was going when she got multiple confessionals.

I really can't stand Chrissy. So arrogant and smug. I will love it when she gets her torch snuffed. Ryan is also to blame, because he could have sided with Ali and gotten rid of Chrissy. I guess it is better for his game, though.

Rooting for Jessica, Ben, Ali, Desi, and Ashley.

Lauren is still in the game! Make it to the merge!

I agree with everything in this post. Well, except I'm not a huge Ashley fan. Not against her either. But I like the other 4. Desi really impressed at the challenges this week! 

[ProfCrash]

On a totally different note. I was impressed with Ben and his tribe. The bamboo popped and Ben reacted. No one seemed to be freaked out that Ben reacted. Someone asked if he was ok. The bamboo popped a bunch more times and Ben walked away. He told the tribe were he was going. There was a calm discussion at camp about what happened and Lauren went to check on Ben. She asked him if he was ok and then if he wanted to be alone and respected his answer.

Obviously there had been some discussion about his having PTSD because someone at camp said that it was probably PTSD. His tribe calmly checked in on him to make sure he was ok but respected his need to be alone. I suspect that Lauren or someone else hung around slightly farther away to make sure that Ben was ok. It was nice to see that the tribe was not judgmental and checked up on Ben. It was nice to see that Ben had away to deal with what he was hearing and understood how he was responding. Overall, I think it was a nice demonstration of how to help someone cope with something like PTSD.

I am glad that they showed this. Only a small percentage of Americans will serve in the military and an even smaller number will serve in a combat zone. Most of the American Public has been shielded from the reality of the war and how it effects the men and women who are fighting it. We hear about the war and the fighting only when things go really wrong or really right but we don't connect with the long term results. It seems like Ben has received some help and understands his responses, which is great, but I hope that this serves as a gentle reminder to people who don't know the folks fighting that many fo the men and women who return from war are forever changed even when they are not physically scarred.

[mishap]

I just watched the episode, and I'm sure I'm not going to say anything new, but I feel the need to vent and don't have time to read everyone else's replies. 

Ugh to Chrissy.  Why Ryan?  I don't get his thinking.  If he breaks his bond with Chrissy, she is gone.  Not on the jury.  But now he still has to try and work with Ally, who he let down.  And I know there is a lot more to it than just keeping the tribe strong, but to keep Chrissy and Ryan is not going to help them.  I suppose they think they can hang on till the merge.  And after a merge, Ryan and Chrissy's weakness works in their favor.  They are not threats to win any individual immunity challenges. 

I don't remember Chrissy asking if anyone else wanted to take over for her, in the immunity challenge.  I do remember seeing Roark offer and Chrissy refusing.    I realize I could have missed the former, but Chrissy denied the latter, and I know I saw that.  So she is so icky to me.    She is a financial advisor?    I am not sure, but if that is true, no way would I ever trust her with my money, or ever take her advice.  I hope we see her go soon, and before jury, so we don't have to see her or listen to her anymore.  I do not understand, for one second, why she was originally a hero. 

The hero, healers, and hustler thing really falls flat for me, in general.  Even before the mixed them, it was hard to figure why a lot of them were on their tribes. 

Well, this episode irritated me because I thought it so obvious Chrissy should go.  I know they edit and we don't see everything that goes on, and i also know they edit to make us think it's going a certain way.  I just disliked Chrissy so much this episode, I was disappointed we didn't get to see her torch snuffed. 

[peachmangosteen]

13 hours ago, ElleryAnne said:

Devon is starting to look like someone who's not Barbarino, but I can't figure out who he does remind me of now. 

Devon reminds me so much of someone but I can't figure out who. It's been driving me crazy!

Chrissy is the worst. I would love to be able to root for her because she's an older woman and also because she is playing the game hard as hell, but she is heinous and I just can't bring myself to like or root for people who have such odious personalities. I fucking hate that her and Ryan, my two most loathed players, are obviously going very deep. I feel like that alone will ruin this entire season for me.

Speaking of Ryan, I see where he's coming from with voting out Roark over Chrissy, but by not telling Ali he made it one of the dumbest moves I've ever seen. Just it makes literally no sense. If he wasn't going to tell Ali, which essentially means he picked Chrissy over her, then he should have just voted her out, as @KimberStormer said.

Unfortunately, I think Ali is going to have really no choice but to just stick with Ryan. She has no other allies. I mean maybe Lauren, but even that I'm not sure about. I don't really see how Ali is anything but screwed now since obviously Ryan doesn't give a fuck about her as an alliance mate and would cut her in a second but she really has no other options. But I'm still sorta with @UGAmp that Ali might be getting a winner's edit. I have thought that since ep 1. I don't know though I really don't see how that can happen now.

I want to like Ben and I kinda do, but at the same time there's something that irks me about him. Something about his "No one can understand my pain!" thing was a little off-putting. As someone else pointed out, lots of people who aren't soldiers have PTSD. But still I'd rather see him win than Ryan or Chrissy.

Desi continues to be stunning and I loved seeing her do so well in the challenges. I think she's a potential dark horse. I'm interested to see what she'd do if Blue loses, but also I hope they don't because I don't wanna lose her, Devon, or Ashley.

I found the Jessica/Mike scenes interesting. I'm glad Jessica seems to have realized Cole is a shit ally and is working on other options. I'm not sure Mike is going to be a good choice, but for now it's smart of her to try to keep him close. I'm kinda puzzled though as to why she let him be the one to find the idol. I assume she told him about where it would be and then she obviously let him be the one to find it. I feel like it might've been better if she had found it herself and then let Mike in on the fact that she had one. But I feel like she's trying to play more on an UTR game and might've thought having the idol herself wasn't good for her.

Edited October 26, 2017 by peachmangosteen

[LizBug]

Ryan has had a bond with Chrissy (at least in his mind) ever since the beginning.  He gave her the secret advantage and then later was able to share that he's the one who sent it to her.  I think her reaction (oh ... that was you!!) cemented in his mind that (a) she owed him something and (b) they were allies.  Watch out Ryan.  Chrissy won't bat an eye when it comes time to write your name down.

EWWWWWW ... Cole is worse than disgusting.  Dirty hands, licking spoons, putting fingers in jars, sneaking around to get more food.  

Glad that Mike found the idol.  Now, hope he's smart enough to decide when to play/not play it.  

I think Chrissy did ask who wanted to take over for her BUT she never let go of the ropes.  So far, she's been playing a smart game ... she outwitted and outplayed Roark.

What ever happened to the chickens that were the reward a week or so ago?  Have we seen them in the camp?

[himela]

I will be unpopular here but I don't like Ben. I feel they are giving him the best edit they can given that he has done almost nothing and they are trying to force him to us as this likeable kind-hearted guy with an emotional story. I'm tired of this type of people in reality games who have nothing else to give than a story. At least Chrissy (who used to be in an alliance with Ben) is entertaining for being arrogant and smug and, lets admit it, strategic. Ben has had two alliances drop on his laps and other than being good in challenges he has done nothing more in the game. I'm tired by players who want to be role models to the outside world. No, you are there to play the game, forget about your image! That's why I like Russell Hantz. He never cared not to destroy his image outside the game.

[blackwing]

1 hour ago, Pondlass1 said:

They always used to wear bikinis or swimsuits or swim trunks.  What is the reasoning behind the underwear?  Is it to spice things up?  Because let's be honest... it's all the same season after season now.  The show needs a shake up and change of format.

Some seasons seem to be Swimsuit Seasons and some seem to be Underwear Seasons.   Sometimes in the underwear seasons they seem to get swimsuits midway through.  I recall Caleb (on the season he fainted) consistently wearing his jeans into the water, and my conclusion was that maybe he doesn't wear underwear.  Later on I remember him having orange swim trunks.  

[himela]

7 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

Ali might be getting a winner's edit. I have thought that since ep 1.

In my eyes I see that all the good editing Ali got was because she was in a team with Ryan and Ryan is getting the winner's edit. Repeating Ryan has a great social game and this is gonna "save" him over and over I feel is leading to something in the future.

[peachmangosteen]

13 minutes ago, DallasGypsy said:

I think Chrissy did ask who wanted to take over for her BUT she never let go of the ropes.

What we were shown (which might not be an accurate representation of the comp as a while but it's all we have to go on) was Chrissy asking if anyone else wanted to try and then no one really saying anything except Roark. To me it kinda looked like everyone but Roark didn't really wanna try because they didn't wanna be blamed for the loss and that Chrissy wanted anyone but Roark to take over. Chrissy obviously had a real problem with Roark so I think she just didn't want to let her have a chance and was hoping one of the others would take over for her (Chrissy) and when no one was willing to do that she just kept on going and failing just so Roark wouldn't get a chance. I might be way off, but it kinda makes sense and I don't really see another explanation for that whole thing. Especially since it seems like no one countered Chrissy's "I tried to get other to help but they wouldn't" argument at TC.

5 minutes ago, himela said:

In my eyes I see that all the good editing Ali got was because she was in a team with Ryan and Ryan is getting the winner's edit. Repeating Ryan has a great social game and this is gonna "save" him over and over I feel is leading to something in the future.

It's funny that Ryan's social game is being played up so much and yet last night he made a huge social blunder by not telling Ali he was voting out Chrissy. Hopefully that means that move screws him, but more than likely it doesn't and he's going to be F3. Sigh.

Oh and I forgot to mention how tired I am of them wearing underwear. Please give these people swimsuits! I can't take seeing dirty, ill-fitting bras and penises anymore!

Edited October 26, 2017 by peachmangosteen

[ghoulina]

33 minutes ago, mishap said:

don't remember Chrissy asking if anyone else wanted to take over for her, in the immunity challenge.  I do remember seeing Roark offer and Chrissy refusing

She did ask someone to while she took off her shoes. Ali took over and did get a ball in. Then Chrissy, for unknown reasons, came back. I would have let Ali keep going if she wanted to. Being that she already got one ball in, she was past the learning curve portion and may have worked faster. 

Later, as they were falling farther and farther behind, Chrissy did turn and offer a half-hearted, "anyone else want to try?" But then when Roark basically said, "yes", Chrissy turned and kept going. She wanted to keep the control, but act like she was asking for help. It was weird. 

17 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

I want to like Ben and I kinda do, but at the same time there's something that irks me about him. Something about his "No one can understand my pain!" thing was a little off-putting. As someone else pointed out, lots of people who aren't soldiers have PTSD.

While this is true, I still think a soldier's experience is one that few can understand, and I think THAT'S what he was getting at. I also think that's part of the depression - they feel so alone and isolated. In the military, there's this real sense of brotherhood, kinship. They're going through this together. They're fighting and dying together. Then they come back and they're on their own. It's hard. I think it's very common for people with ANY kind of PTSD to feel that no one understands what they're going through. I don't think it's a selfish or arrogant thing, but part of the disorder itself. 

I was glad he talked about it. More people need to. I hate war and everything it does to these young men and women. 

Edited October 26, 2017 by ghoulina

[ByaNose]

BTW! Am I the only who thought that Roark looks totally different with her hair pulled back? In checking all of the pre game interviews and pictures Roark had her hair down. She sorta reminded me of Sierra. When Roark hit the beach she pulls the hair back and looked like a totally different person. It's so weird. I can't recall that ever happening to anyone before. Was she asked to this? Is it just me who thinks/thought this? I am?! Nevermind.

[peachmangosteen]

4 minutes ago, ghoulina said:

I think it's very common for people with ANY kind of PTSD to feel that no one understands what they're going through.

Good point.

There's still just something that keeps me from fully liking and rooting for Ben. I feel like he just comes off a tad too perfect for me. It feels false.

Edited October 26, 2017 by peachmangosteen

[Bouffe]

51 minutes ago, ProfCrash said:

On a totally different note. I was impressed with Ben and his tribe. The bamboo popped and Ben reacted. No one seemed to be freaked out that Ben reacted. Someone asked if he was ok. The bamboo popped a bunch more times and Ben walked away. He told the tribe were he was going. There was a calm discussion at camp about what happened and Lauren went to check on Ben. She asked him if he was ok and then if he wanted to be alone and respected his answer.

Obviously there had been some discussion about his having PTSD because someone at camp said that it was probably PTSD. His tribe calmly checked in on him to make sure he was ok but respected his need to be alone. I suspect that Lauren or someone else hung around slightly farther away to make sure that Ben was ok. It was nice to see that the tribe was not judgmental and checked up on Ben. It was nice to see that Ben had away to deal with what he was hearing and understood how he was responding. Overall, I think it was a nice demonstration of how to help someone cope with something like PTSD.

I am glad that they showed this. Only a small percentage of Americans will serve in the military and an even smaller number will serve in a combat zone. Most of the American Public has been shielded from the reality of the war and how it effects the men and women who are fighting it. We hear about the war and the fighting only when things go really wrong or really right but we don't connect with the long term results. It seems like Ben has received some help and understands his responses, which is great, but I hope that this serves as a gentle reminder to people who don't know the folks fighting that many fo the men and women who return from war are forever changed even when they are not physically scarred.

100% agree with you. It was a really nice thing to show on TV. Mental illness and mental problems are extremely tough to deal with, and I think there is still so much stigma about it all, especially when it comes to men. I was so glad to see Ben understand what was happening and to see him take the appropriate steps to deal with it. And to see his tribe concerned but respectful and non judgemental was just fantastic. Hate that Ben is dealing with this, but loved every second of those scenes for the reasons mentioned above.

[candall]

11 hours ago, RandomWatcher said:

I can barely name a handful of people who have been on Survivor. How people can remember people and how they played is amazing.

I was gobsmacked by that level of recall, too--and then that 20+ people had agreed!  My memory must be for shit--I never really knew that.

 

I didn't mind losing Roark.   Last week was the first time we'd ever heard of her, and that may have been specifically so people didn't say "WHO??" when we lost her.  She didn't seem very interesting, in either a good or a bad way--maybe she should have arranged to spread her spit through the community food. 

 

The remarkable scene, to me, was the tribe perched on their little wooden box stools, sipping iced coffee from china teacups, munching palmiers.  The Season One roasted rat-eaters wouldn't even recognize this show.

[Bouffe]

50 minutes ago, mishap said:

Ugh to Chrissy.  Why Ryan?  I don't get his thinking.  If he breaks his bond with Chrissy, she is gone.  Not on the jury.  But now he still has to try and work with Ally, who he let down.  And I know there is a lot more to it than just keeping the tribe strong, but to keep Chrissy and Ryan is not going to help them.  I suppose they think they can hang on till the merge.  And after a merge, Ryan and Chrissy's weakness works in their favor.  They are not threats to win any individual immunity challenges. 

I usually try not to worry too much about people's strategy because I am not in their head and we are not shown everything that happens while the contestants are out there. But this move by Ryan is really baffling. As you said, he still has to work with Ally now, and she is not happy with him. Ally and Chrissy will not work together, so what was the point of him keeping both of them around? If he voted to send Chrissy home, he makes Ally happy an Roark happy. And those two will work together. Now he may be able to convince Ally to still trust him, who knows. But it's a very risqué move on his part to keep Chrissy.

And why NO ONE (that we were shown) said anything about a girl alliance? I was shocked Roark didn't say anything when Chrissy was going on and on about it.

[NaughtyKitty]

All I could think of when they won the coffee and pastries is how many of them puked afterwards?

[Nashville]

15 hours ago, Rachel RSL said:

I don't understand people walking around with sand on their face after the RC. Wouldn't you want to wash that stuff off right away?

Not if it's helping to keep the bugs off.  :)

 

14 hours ago, vb68 said:

When [Ryan] said his primary concern was keeping his social game strong, I just assumed he was going to vote Chrissy out.  That would have been the cleaner way to do it. He'll have to explain it now.

Why on earth would Ryan scrap Chrissy?   She's been Saran-wrapped around his little finger ever since he revealed he was the one to give her the Secret Advantage.  But even if Chrissy totally misinterpreted Ryan's motives (Ryan gave it to Chrissy because he wanted to promote maximum chaos and saw Chrissy as her Tribe's weakest link, but Chrissy took it another way totally), and even if Chrissy is simply playing along with Ryan's perceived loyalty for strategic purposes - each can still depend upon the other to have their back, regardless of whether or not that dependability is based on selfish reasons.  For the short term, at least. 

 

4 hours ago, Haleth said:

Does anyone else look at Mike and see Peter Jacobson?

I never look at Mike and NOT see Peter Jacobson.  

Well... a combination of Peter Jacobson and the humanoid alien in MIB who kept getting his head blown off by K.  

But the alien thing is mainly the ears, I think.

[Rachel RSL]

1 minute ago, Nashville said:

Not if it's helping to keep the bugs off.  :)

But there are bugs in the sand. Just ewwwwwww!

[Nashville]

7 minutes ago, Rachel RSL said:

But there are bugs in the sand. Just ewwwwwww!

If you're looking for any kind of natural setting where there aren't bugs, then I'm afraid you're on the wrong planet.  :D

[ByaNose]

I don't drink coffee (52 and never had it) and, I wouldn't know what do. LOL!! I guess I would fake like I'm drinking it and wolf down all the food. LOL!!!

[Catronia]

1 hour ago, candall said:

The remarkable scene, to me, was the tribe perched on their little wooden box stools, sipping iced coffee from china teacups, munching palmiers.  The Season One roasted rat-eaters wouldn't even recognize this show.

Yes! And remember when rewards used to be like a case of Mountain Dew and a couple of bags of Doritos? Or when, in Season 2, they lost their rice in a flood and that was quite literally all they had to eat? It's gotten comparatively much more luxurious these days. Survivors who made it near the end used to lose 30-40 pounds, now, often, it's less than 10. Now they're gorging themselves on pastries, and they aren't even to the merge yet. I don't necessarily want to see people starve, but they should have to work for it. It's taken a whole strategic layer out of the game -- playing the "provider" role. Now the show provides.

[ProfCrash]

1 hour ago, peachmangosteen said:

Good point.

There's still just something that keeps me from fully liking and rooting for Ben. I feel like he just comes off a tad too perfect for me. It feels false.

I am not rooting for Ben but I thought that the clip was nicely done. And I do think that there are different responses based on what caused your PTSD. I think of Meghan from Big Brother this summer. She suffers from PTSD because of sexual assaults that happened when she was in the military. We didn't see her freak out but it is clear that she lost it in the diary room and left the game because it was too much for her. She was triggered by the aggressive approach from Josh and Cody. Her triggers, and response, would be totally different then Ben's. And I suspect that how you approach Ben is totally different then how you approach Meghan.

I am glad they showed what they did because they put one face on a problem many people have only read about. There was a contestant on Alone a few seasons back who went on a hike on day 22 because that was the number of Veterans who commit suicide on a given day. The exertion might have cost him the game, but it was the desire to make it to day 22 to complete the hike to honor his fellow Veterans and raise some awareness to the problem of suicide in the military.

I never served but I work with a ton of people who did. There are some who you had better make sure you don't them from behind. You make damn sure that people know that you are there. I fear an active shooter scenario because I don't want to know how the people around me will respond. Heck, they don't actually run full drills because they are worried about the safety of the person/people playing the role of active shooter.

So I am glad they showed it. I think they did a fine job of depicting what happened in a non-judgmental way.  Not a real spoiler below but speculation but I don't want to upset folks.

Spoiler

I kind of think that it is a sign that Ben goes home soon or wins it all because I can't see them showing that in the way that they did and then have Ben depicted a s a total back stabbing dick for rest of the show. It would be too much of a contrast.