S35.E09: Fear of the Unknown

[cooksdelight]

10 hours ago, SourK said:

On a normal vote, I'd agree that it would probably be easy to let it slip by but, in this case, the first vote came back as a tie, which means that people should have been counting a lot more closely to figure out how that happened. I'm seriously confused that no one brought it up.

These people aren’t very bright. Which is why the show is boring me to tears this season.

[Lamb18]

Saw the episode on my phone, which works much more smoothly than my laptop for live streaming.

I am so glad mucky peanut butter hands Cole is gone and the "Me first who gives a crap about you" personality under that pretty exterior.

I thought Mike (in his mind) was making one of those strategic valiant Survivor moves to put on his resume - setting himself up as decoy with that long weird speech and drawing the votes to himself, then playing the idol and getting his threat out. Well it failed. The thing is, if you're going to do that type of play you have to begin it in camp well before tribal council.  You also have to make sure the votes are going you way. And in order to at least have a fighting chance at your ploy, you NEED TO VOTE FOR THE PERSON YOU REALLY WANT OUT!!! That's the part I don't understand in Mike's play. Why do all that just to vote for Cole? Could have voted for Cole without playing the idol and be perfectly safe.  Instead of a bold daring noble move, it ended up being lame.

I'm still stealth cheering for Chrissy but Lauren's closing in as my #1.

[Wings]

26 minutes ago, cooksdelight said:

These people aren’t very bright. Which is why the show is boring me to tears this season.

I hear ya. I don't think IQ is the problem though.  This show has has morphed into something very different.  Now,   getting on a reality show is the goal, any show.  I think it was Chrissy who said she had been trying to get on for 15 years and it shows.  Love her or hate her she is playing well.  I like her a lot. That is rare these days where recruiting is the norm.  

Chase illustrates this perfectly.  He had no idea that holding information is necessary.  Ryan would have benefited by doing some research too.  

I have a morbid curiosity about how and where they found Cole.  

[fishcakes]

7 hours ago, Nashville said:

Because Joe has a nasty habit of picking extremely personally sensitive, non-game-related buttons to push - and when confronted about it, keeps pushing all the harder.

Except for the "I heard you swore on your Marines" conversation with Ben, I don't remember him doing this with anyone else. The thing with Mike in episode one was about looking for the HII, the argument with Alan after the tribe swap was because Joe asked if they were going to talk about who to vote out and Alan completely lost his shit and started screaming (sidenote: I miss crazy Alan), and the argument with Ashley this episode was because she and Chrissy were sniping at him and he correctly pointed out to Ashley that she was being a goat. Those are the only major scenes I can remember Joe having and except for with Ben, I don't think he overstepped any game bounds in any of those; he was a jerk with Mike, but he wasn't being personal. And he didn't even start the other kerfuffles. Alan, Chrissy, and Ashley were all itching to fight with him because they don't like him and, instead of fighting, he stayed completely calm and said things that were both game-related and accurate (earlier, that Desi was stronger than Ashley and, this episode, that Ashley was at the bottom of the alliance of 7, but she could get to the end as a goat), which infuriated them because he was right and because they couldn't rattle him.

[Brookside]

The octopus for the win.  It has as many brains as these morons, and uses them much more wisely.

[AZChristian]

8 hours ago, Nashville said:

In truth, I assumed Cole was going to lose precisely when the edit started concentrating on Lauren's movements.  :)

I wondered if he was going to lose while he was stuffing his face and saying he needed all the energy to continue to win immunity.  

So now he can stuff his face all he wants, without the pressure!!!

[amazingracefan]

5 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

Yes, if this is all game play on Joe's part, I don't see the advantage.  If his competitors have watched the show at all, they know that the jury definitely will vote for annoying people to win over quiet ones whom they think "weren't playing hard."  So Joe's plan to be carried to the end because "no one will vote for him," won't work.  If they all suddenly had to vote between Joe and Ashley I'll bet Joe would win.

No, I think Joe is kidding himself when he says it' strategy, his real truth is when he says, "That's just me, I can't help myself."  Half of the time, when he's being annoying, I don't think he's even aware of it. Did he know he was causing me to scream in my recliner, during episode one,  while he was taking tiny bites out of the potatoes before tossing them into the woods?  I don't think so, I think that's just Joe.  He gets my Obliviously Obnoxious Award.   His wife deserves the million dollars.

Joe has annoyed some there from the start it seems, but that doesn't annoy me, why should it?  I want someone to stir things up and that's why he was cast (much like Alan).  I do think he is playing it up now, not to win the show but just to survive a bit longer, and it worked in that Desi and now Cole have gone before him.. 

[ProfCrash]

Late to posting, blame it on Thanksgiving and a boring episode.

Joe continues to annoy me. He runs his mouth to piss people off. That is it. Russell at least was trying to play a strategic game, with a good deal of success, while being a bullying asshole with no social game making him the perfect goat. Sorry, nothing about Joe endears him to me.

Oh look, a man was voted out. Chrissy could have targeted Lauren or Ashley but she didn't, because they were in her alliance. And they voted out Cole because he was a challenge threat. Granted, Cole would have been gone had he not won immunity after Jessica was voted out. Or if they had not thought that Cole might have been saved by an idol so they voted out his closest ally who happened to be a woman. Oh, and most of the alliance of 7 is annoyed with Ben for being too over bearing. Suggesting that Ben might be the person strongly guiding out who is voted out. To include that string of women that so many people are blaming on Chrissy.  And how did Ben deal with? He told Chrissy she was wrong.

I do not understand what Mike was doing. He should have played it for Cole or Joe. It might have changed much, but at least he would have played it on someone who got votes. Playing it on himself was kind of egotistical. Did he really think he annoyed people so much that they were going to vote for him over challenge beast Cole or super annoying Joe? Maybe he used it to make him less of a target because they know he burned his idol. But I don't think they knew Mike had an idol to burn so that wouldn't make sense. That was just a stupid use of an idol.

Ryan over played his hand big time. He told far too many people about the idol and it should bite him in the ass. I would kind of love for the group of 6 to vote for Ryan to make him burn his idol and then have him not use it because he didn't believe them when they told him they were going to split the votes for him and have him sent home. That would be assume.

Please tell me Joe goes this coming episode.

[piequinn35]

Lol, Redditors are making fun of JP and things like that. :>

[Wings]

@ProfCrash, I agree with your entire post.  Thumbs up. 

[ghoulina]

21 hours ago, himela said:

Then why do viewers hate him that much?

I don't hate him. But I don't enjoy watching him or get a kick out of him or anything. He has rubbed me wrong from the beginning. All viewers have different tastes, as far as what strategies they respect and like to see on this show. "Be an asshole so people keep me around" is just, personally, not one that *I* respect. Not to mention, I tend to think Joe just really IS an asshole. He can't help himself. But he's going to try and spin it as his "strategy". JMO. 

[piequinn35]

1 hour ago, ProfCrash said:

I do not understand what Mike was doing. He should have played it for Cole or Joe. It might have changed much, but at least he would have played it on someone who got votes. Playing it on himself was kind of egotistical. Did he really think he annoyed people so much that they were going to vote for him over challenge beast Cole or super annoying Joe? Maybe he used it to make him less of a target because they know he burned his idol. But I don't think they knew Mike had an idol to burn so that wouldn't make sense. That was just a stupid use of an idol.

The reason was to save himself, Ben told him they were voting for Cole, he thought he could be lying after what happened on Jessica/Desi boots, he thought they would split the votes between him and Joe. If Mike4/Joe3 then he's done.

And also I don't mind Joe staying around to annoy them. lol

[NeverLate]

3 minutes ago, piequinn35 said:

The reason was to save himself, Ben told him they were voting for Cole, he thought he could be lying after what happened on Jessica/Desi boots, he thought they would split the votes between him and Joe. If Mike4/Joe3 then he's done.

And also I don't mind Joe staying around to annoy them. lol

Mike had an idol, he could have simply played it, without a whole bunch of nonsense that nobody knew why. I like Dr Mike, but last TC had me wondering, why? LOL

[Wandering Snark]

I think Mike did it for Amurcia (dammit). Or something...

[piequinn35]

30 minutes ago, NeverLate said:

Mike had an idol, he could have simply played it, without a whole bunch of nonsense that nobody knew why. I like Dr Mike, but last TC had me wondering, why? LOL

Because of big moves... and things like that.

[NutMeg]

5 hours ago, Lamb18 said:

Saw the episode on my phone, which works much more smoothly than my laptop for live streaming.

I am so glad mucky peanut butter hands Cole is gone and the "Me first who gives a crap about you" personality under that pretty exterior.

I thought Mike (in his mind) was making one of those strategic valiant Survivor moves to put on his resume - setting himself up as decoy with that long weird speech and drawing the votes to himself, then playing the idol and getting his threat out. Well it failed. The thing is, if you're going to do that type of play you have to begin it in camp well before tribal council.  You also have to make sure the votes are going you way. And in order to at least have a fighting chance at your ploy, you NEED TO VOTE FOR THE PERSON YOU REALLY WANT OUT!!! That's the part I don't understand in Mike's play. Why do all that just to vote for Cole? Could have voted for Cole without playing the idol and be perfectly safe.  Instead of a bold daring noble move, it ended up being lame.

I'm still stealth cheering for Chrissy but Lauren's closing in as my #1.

Indeed. You said it better than I could ever have.

[NeverLate]

44 minutes ago, piequinn35 said:

Because of big moves... and things like that.

He left everyone every confused, I didn't think ooh, BIG MOVE

[ProfCrash]

Probst is already talking about Cole on a Second Chance season. I am scared. Apparently Cole learned a lot while on the Jury.

Yeah.

[piequinn35]

1 minute ago, NeverLate said:

He left everyone every confused, I didn't think ooh, BIG MOVE

Who knows what happened off camera. :)

[Wings]

3 minutes ago, ProfCrash said:

Probst is already talking about Cole on a Second Chance season. I am scared. Apparently Cole learned a lot while on the Jury.

Yeah.

Really?  What the hell is he thinking?  Very uninteresting castaway.  Makes no sense.  He didn't even give good Ponderosa.  

[ProfCrash]

10 minutes ago, wings707 said:

Really?  What the hell is he thinking?  Very uninteresting castaway.  Makes no sense.  He didn't even give good Ponderosa.  

"So Cole came in and clearly was a strong challenge performer, but he also alienated a lot of people with his personal behavior. What is his Survivor legacy now that he’s been voted out?
Unfortunately for Cole, he came in as a big-time favorite based on his physique and his profession of helping troubled youth. Big home run. His love affair with Jessica cost him a few points because fans know that is a bad idea. Then his inability to keep a secret cost him more points — not because he shared the secret, but because of who he shared the secret with. There didn’t seem to be a thoughtful plan in place.

Eating extra food didn’t help. Nobody cares you need 8,000 calories a day. That’s your problem, not mine. So he leaves the game downgraded from when he started. But I will say, watching him on the jury, I think Cole started to figure out his mistakes and I felt like I was watching someone learn from the bench. Not saying he’s a “Second Chance” candidate but I am saying he could be."

[Bronzedog]

I was looking for something to watch and found this.  I had no idea this season had started.  I guess I don't watch much CBS.

[Wings]

1 hour ago, ProfCrash said:

"So Cole came in and clearly was a strong challenge performer, but he also alienated a lot of people with his personal behavior. What is his Survivor legacy now that he’s been voted out?
Unfortunately for Cole, he came in as a big-time favorite based on his physique and his profession of helping troubled youth. Big home run. His love affair with Jessica cost him a few points because fans know that is a bad idea. Then his inability to keep a secret cost him more points — not because he shared the secret, but because of who he shared the secret with. There didn’t seem to be a thoughtful plan in place.

Eating extra food didn’t help. Nobody cares you need 8,000 calories a day. That’s your problem, not mine. So he leaves the game downgraded from when he started. But I will say, watching him on the jury, I think Cole started to figure out his mistakes and I felt like I was watching someone learn from the bench. Not saying he’s a “Second Chance” candidate but I am saying he could be."

Oh good god. 

[NutMeg]

3 hours ago, ProfCrash said:

"So Cole came in and clearly was a strong challenge performer, but he also alienated a lot of people with his personal behavior. What is his Survivor legacy now that he’s been voted out?
Unfortunately for Cole, he came in as a big-time favorite based on his physique and his profession of helping troubled youth. Big home run. His love affair with Jessica cost him a few points because fans know that is a bad idea. Then his inability to keep a secret cost him more points — not because he shared the secret, but because of who he shared the secret with. There didn’t seem to be a thoughtful plan in place.

Eating extra food didn’t help. Nobody cares you need 8,000 calories a day. That’s your problem, not mine. So he leaves the game downgraded from when he started. But I will say, watching him on the jury, I think Cole started to figure out his mistakes and I felt like I was watching someone learn from the bench. Not saying he’s a “Second Chance” candidate but I am saying he could be."

 

1 hour ago, wings707 said:

Oh good god. 

Wait! You mean ProfCrash was NOT joking? I thought your post was a spoof, and such a perfect spoof...

[violet and green]

I think of Dr Mike a little the way I used to think of Keith, who I adore ("stick with the plan"), in his first season; he has come in with no idea, has some vague factoids absorbed form his ten year old on how to 'play the game' and is incredibly naive in his gameplay, but he's enjoying himself, is quite observant of character, makes some good-humored and witty comments, and seems like a genuine and decent guy. I'm sad he burned his idol like that, but then there's been a lot of idols burned off this season.

I am starting to really appreciate Joe for providing some drama and color in this beige mess, even if how he is playing makes no sense to me - at least he is stirring the seven up  and eliciting some emotional reactions. He's someone I have been looking forward to leaving since the first episode, and now I find myself kind of glad each time he stays. But no more idols, for freak's sake!

I also like Lauren, still, and I like Devon, still. So that's good. Something to live for!

The thought that I am probably going to have to watch Chrissy and that little dweeb in the final is very galling, though.

[peachmangosteen]

1 hour ago, violet and green said:

[Mike] has come in with no idea, has some vague factoids absorbed form his ten year old on how to 'play the game' and is incredibly naive in his gameplay....

I've seen this mentioned a few times but I also saw someone say that Mike was such a super fan that he actually named his kid after a former Survivor, so which is it? Does anyone know for sure?

[violet and green]

15 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

I've seen this mentioned a few times but I also saw someone say that Mike was such a super fan that he actually named his kid after a former Survivor, so which is it? Does anyone know for sure?

Ah! I didn't know that. I assumed when he said on a very early if not the first ep that his ten-year old son had told him to look for an idol that he was fairly game-naive. He has referenced his son re gameplay a few times. I've no idea!

Edit to add: have read his thread and see that's mentioned, but no linkage. Really?  Eh! I don't care. He's a cheery presence and a lousy player; if he's a superfan, then he's playing badly, which is pretty well the general way it goes! I like the bumbling fish out of water thing he's got going and his cheeky grin. Some of them are so dour. At least he's having fun.

Edited November 25, 2017 by violet and green

[green]

11 hours ago, Lamb18 said:

Saw the episode on my phone, which works much more smoothly than my laptop for live streaming.

I am so glad mucky peanut butter hands Cole is gone and the "Me first who gives a crap about you" personality under that pretty exterior.

I thought Mike (in his mind) was making one of those strategic valiant Survivor moves to put on his resume - setting himself up as decoy with that long weird speech and drawing the votes to himself, then playing the idol and getting his threat out. Well it failed. The thing is, if you're going to do that type of play you have to begin it in camp well before tribal council.  You also have to make sure the votes are going you way. And in order to at least have a fighting chance at your ploy, you NEED TO VOTE FOR THE PERSON YOU REALLY WANT OUT!!! That's the part I don't understand in Mike's play. Why do all that just to vote for Cole? Could have voted for Cole without playing the idol and be perfectly safe.  Instead of a bold daring noble move, it ended up being lame.

I'm still stealth cheering for Chrissy but Lauren's closing in as my #1.

That would not have worked.  The healers didn't have the votes.  A healer was going home no matter what.  He felt he could only help to control which one.

8 hours ago, ProfCrash said:

Late to posting, blame it on Thanksgiving and a boring episode.

Joe continues to annoy me. He runs his mouth to piss people off. That is it. Russell at least was trying to play a strategic game, with a good deal of success, while being a bullying asshole with no social game making him the perfect goat. Sorry, nothing about Joe endears him to me.

Oh look, a man was voted out. Chrissy could have targeted Lauren or Ashley but she didn't, because they were in her alliance. And they voted out Cole because he was a challenge threat. Granted, Cole would have been gone had he not won immunity after Jessica was voted out. Or if they had not thought that Cole might have been saved by an idol so they voted out his closest ally who happened to be a woman. Oh, and most of the alliance of 7 is annoyed with Ben for being too over bearing. Suggesting that Ben might be the person strongly guiding out who is voted out. To include that string of women that so many people are blaming on Chrissy.  And how did Ben deal with? He told Chrissy she was wrong.

I do not understand what Mike was doing. He should have played it for Cole or Joe. It might have changed much, but at least he would have played it on someone who got votes. Playing it on himself was kind of egotistical. Did he really think he annoyed people so much that they were going to vote for him over challenge beast Cole or super annoying Joe? Maybe he used it to make him less of a target because they know he burned his idol. But I don't think they knew Mike had an idol to burn so that wouldn't make sense. That was just a stupid use of an idol.

 

If Mike played it for Cole or Joe and he, Mike, was the real target he would be out.  To be safe he couldn't play it for anyone but himself.   And had he played it for the person slated to get 4 votes in the split vote then then both him and the remaining Healer would be in play immediately in the re-vote.

Mike had no GOOD options.  He went with the best he could do of bad options.  Try and draw all the votes he could to him away from Joe and send Cole home because Mike thought Joe would be the target.  Especially since Ben told him Cole was the target.  Ben lied to him the last vote so he was assuming he was being lied to again.  And, of course, he knew he had no chance at all to get out one of The Seven.  How was he to even guess the alliance would screw up their own split vote.

He wanted to keep Joe so he remained the focus target and buy Mike more time to worm into the alliance.  It was a half-baked plan but there was no fully baked plan available.  In retrospect it looks silly and he could have kept his idol but that is just Monday morning quarterbacking.

Yeah he could have let Joe be voted out (he thought Joe was the real target) and Cole wins the next immunity challenge and he, Mike, plays his idol then.  But that's easy for us to say from our couches.  And who knows what the editors left about about the decision he did make.

Edited November 25, 2017 by green

[GenerationX]

Another good new immunity challenge.  I had been getting so used to the recycle-o-rama that it's noticeable when they create new forms of torture.  I could tell right away you wouldn't want to get into a real squatting position (unless you've spent a long time playing Catcher), and clearly the final four picked a better position.

Hopefully, the preview is not lying to us, and the Pagonging is over.

Seriously, Ben, granny shots?

[ratgirlagogo]

1 hour ago, peachmangosteen said:

I've seen this mentioned a few times but I also saw someone say that Mike was such a super fan that he actually named his kid after a former Survivor, so which is it? Does anyone know for sure?

Oh, yes, he certainly is and he certainly did:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/survivor-season-35-player-profile-mike-zahalsky-1039487

From the article:

Quote

Mike and his wife have been Survivor fans since almost the very beginning. Their first episode was the very last episode of the initial season, the same finale in which Richard Hatch became the first person to claim the title of Sole Survivor. Since then? "I've never missed an episode," says Mike. In the early days of his marriage, Mike and his wife allowed each other "hall passes," for any … ahem … encounters outside of their marriage. Mike's choice: Sarah Michelle Gellar. ("I was a little bit obsessed with Buffy," he says. "Who wasn't?") His wife's choice: Ethan Zohn, winner of the third season of Survivor. It just so happened that the Zahalskys were living in the same New York City neighborhood as Ethan at the time. Awkward!

"Fast-forward a few years, and we've named our son Ethan," says Mike. "And when we moved to Florida, we met another couple who had named their son Ethan after Ethan from Survivor, and when you then look at how often since Ethan won, Ethan has been one of the most popular names in America — like, top five. It's eight out of the last 13 years or something, because of Ethan, I'm sure. I bet he's never realized that, which is a cool thing. He's awesome. He won Survivor, he's a cancer survivor — he seems like everything good in America."

For god's sake he actually thinks everyone else in America who named their kid Ethan since 2001 was naming their kid after the guy who won Survivor.  I don't know.  Clearly Dr Mike is a very smart guy - but there are certain kinds of rock-solid dumb that only very smart people can be.

[backformore]

On 11/22/2017 at 8:06 PM, Straycat80 said:

So my TV provider has dumped CBS and I wasn’t able to watch, thank God for this forum.

 

You can watch online for free.

[Wings]

7 hours ago, backformore said:

On 11/22/2017 at 7:06 PM, Straycat80 said:

So my TV provider has dumped CBS and I wasn’t able to watch, thank God for this forum.

 

You can watch online for free.

What provider dumps one of the 4 major networks?!  

[green]

15 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

Oh, yes, he certainly is and he certainly did:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/survivor-season-35-player-profile-mike-zahalsky-1039487

From the article:

For god's sake he actually thinks everyone else in America who named their kid Ethan since 2001 was naming their kid after the guy who won Survivor.  I don't know.  Clearly Dr Mike is a very smart guy - but there are certain kinds of rock-solid dumb that only very smart people can be.

Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys were sad when he became a furniture store now he finds someone else is suppose to be the reason anyone names their kid Ethan.

4 hours ago, wings707 said:

What provider dumps one of the 4 major networks?!  

They always do the contract stuff this way.  Local stations run streamers at the bottom of the screen that this or that provider won't carry them or their network after a certain date wanting viewers to take their side and flood the provider with angry calls.  All they do is clutter the screen with that crap and I look for another affiliate who leaves their screen alone in the meantime.  Usually they don't disconnect because a new contract is worked out hours before the disconnect.  This time your provider and/or CBS is just playing a little hardball.  It will be back on soon.  But who cares in this internet era.

Edited November 25, 2017 by green

[Silver Raven]

6 hours ago, wings707 said:

What provider dumps one of the 4 major networks?!  

Dish, but its back now.

[legaleagle53]

18 hours ago, green said:

That would not have worked.  The healers didn't have the votes.  A healer was going home no matter what.  He felt he could only help to control which one.

If Mike played it for Cole or Joe and he, Mike, was the real target he would be out.  To be safe he couldn't play it for anyone but himself.   And had he played it for the person slated to get 4 votes in the split vote then then both him and the remaining Healer would be in play immediately in the re-vote.

Mike had no GOOD options.  He went with the best he could do of bad options.  Try and draw all the votes he could to him away from Joe and send Cole home because Mike thought Joe would be the target.  Especially since Ben told him Cole was the target.  Ben lied to him the last vote so he was assuming he was being lied to again.  And, of course, he knew he had no chance at all to get out one of The Seven.  How was he to even guess the alliance would screw up their own split vote.

He wanted to keep Joe so he remained the focus target and buy Mike more time to worm into the alliance.  It was a half-baked plan but there was no fully baked plan available.  In retrospect it looks silly and he could have kept his idol but that is just Monday morning quarterbacking.

Yeah he could have let Joe be voted out (he thought Joe was the real target) and Cole wins the next immunity challenge and he, Mike, plays his idol then.  But that's easy for us to say from our couches.  And who knows what the editors left about about the decision he did make.

I myself wondered why Mike played the idol for himself when he had been expressly told that Cole was the target, but what you say makes perfect sense.  Of course he'd assume that Ben was lying to him about that -- after all, "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."

[violet and green]

18 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

Mike and his wife have been Survivor fans since almost the very beginning. Their first episode was the very last episode of the initial season, the same finale in which Richard Hatch became the first person to claim the title of Sole Survivor. Since then? "I've never missed an episode," says Mike.

Well, if that's the definition of a Super Fan, then I'm a Super Fan! I did miss a season when my TV was on the blink once, though. My definition of a Super Fan is more than someone who has watched a load of Survivor; it implies to me someone who has studied the game and can make boring detailed points about memorized gameplay from X seasons back and will argue  about minor points of strategy of non-interest to me. Maybe that's a Survivor Savant.

[Meatball]

On 11/23/2017 at 0:48 PM, NutMeg said:

JP. Does he keep singing songs that Survivor has not bought the rights too? Is he swearing non stop under his breath? Has he recently broken up with one of the producers who decided he would therefore be seen as little as possible?

This is hilarious!

[backformore]

11 hours ago, wings707 said:

What provider dumps one of the 4 major networks?!  

Dish and CBS had a dispute, dish users got no CBS for 4 or 5 days this past week.

[eel2178]

On ‎11‎/‎24‎/‎2017 at 7:37 PM, ratgirlagogo said:

For god's sake he actually thinks everyone else in America who named their kid Ethan since 2001 was naming their kid after the guy who won Survivor.  I don't know.  Clearly Dr Mike is a very smart guy - but there are certain kinds of rock-solid dumb that only very smart people can be.

Both Ethan and Brittany became common names after Thirtysomething became a popular TV show.

[ratgirlagogo]

7 minutes ago, eel2178 said:

Both Ethan and Brittany became common names after Thirtysomething became a popular TV show.

Wow, you totally lost me there.  Aside from Ethan being a bible name, a lot of American people (and places and things, like battleships) were named after Ethan Allen as mentioned by green above.

I used to hatewatch thirtysomething with  my friends but had to actually look it up on the IMDB to figure out who Ethan and Brittany were.  Two of the kids it turns out.  I suppose the show was popular so I suppose you may be right  but still, seems a bit much to say that's why people chose the name.  Unlike things like Krystle  and Destiny which clearly have era-specific  pop culture origins.

[MissEwa]

I feel like Ethan would have gotten another boost in the mid-late 90's and onward from the popularity of Ethan Hawke (which as a non-American late GenXer was be the first time I heard the name). 

[Guest]

Based on something on his Twitter, I think Mike was joking about Ethan Zohn being a major cause of the popularity of the name. I mean, he chose it for that reason but the rest seems tongue in cheek.  

[Brookside]

I'm going to name my next child "Survivor". Wait, how about "Ponderosa"?  Do parents not think about the burden they're giving their children?

[green]

4 hours ago, Brookside said:

I'm going to name my next child "Survivor". Wait, how about "Ponderosa"?  Do parents not think about the burden they're giving their children?

If he was named Ponderosa and told people he was named after the jury place in "Survivor" then the people who still hold the rights to "Bonanza" would probably sue him for stealing the name from their show instead.

[MissEwa]

I know it's Thanksgiving over there and everything but it says something about this season that there are only 145 comments and a good 20 or so of them are about the popularity of the name Ethan and satellite dish issues. 

[ProfCrash]

On ‎11‎/‎24‎/‎2017 at 7:00 PM, NutMeg said:

Wait! You mean ProfCrash was NOT joking? I thought your post was a spoof, and such a perfect spoof...

I only wish it was a spoof. I am not that clever.

[Charlesman]

Cole claims there were some interesting twists at tribal that didn't make the cut:

 

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“It wasn’t shown, but Mike pulled out his idol before the votes happened and put it around his neck,” reveals Cole. “And he also had a fake idol at Tribal Council that he put around Joe’s neck.” That’s right, it seems the Sex Doctor also has a flair for the dramatic and had continued to collect materials for his fake idol, including a real idol note.

“He had been collecting tassels off the tribe flags and had created a fake idol and kept the write-up for Joe’s past idol that he had played and wrapped it up in that to make it look like a legit idol,” says Cole. “It looked real. It definitely convinced everyone, I think. Once they put those two idols around their necks, that’s when everyone went, ‘Okay, guys. The plan is still the same: vote out Cole.”

 

 

Dunno if true, with the editing who knows.

 

Also:

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That’s not the only Tribal Council-related drama that did not make it to air. Cole also shares that there was massive confusion back at camp after Lauren played her advantage when Desi went home — leading to one less vote being read by Jeff Probst. That confusion ended up costing Cole.

“When we got back from Tribal Council — and I’m really surprised they didn’t show this on the show — there was a massive discussion and argument when we got back from Tribal Council because of Lauren’s advantage that she did not vote,” he says. “So I had decided to finally flip on that vote — not that it really made a difference — but I had decided to vote for Joe first and then Desi second. But then that first vote for Joe that I put out there, no one believed me that I flipped or voted for Joe, because the rest of them were in the same boat. Only Ben and Lauren knew about that advantage. So they all thought that my vote for Joe was Lauren’s vote for Joe, and so they all said, ‘Oh, Cole’s just lying. Nothing new. He’s just trying to weasel his way in here.’ It just made me look worse on the other side of it.”

It seems everybody assumed that there was an extra vote that Probst simply did not read — even though all votes are always read in a tie and the host even said “One vote left” before reading the last one. “It’s really odd that people didn’t read into that a little more,” says Cole now. “Maybe we were just all tired and starving but everyone just assumed he didn’t read all the votes and that the last vote was for someone other than Desi or Joe. So there were a few people who were skeptical that somebody inside that seven flipped and voted for one of their own.”

 

[Guest]

Huh.  I would be annoyed if I was Mike and I had made a convincing fake idol and it just didn't make the edit and my out-of-context comments left me looking idiotic.  

[ProfCrash]

I have trouble believing the fake idol or the early idol play.

On Mike pulling out the idol early: Not only did we not see Mike pull it out early, we saw Mike pull it out after the votes were cast. If what Cole is saying is true, then someone told Mike to take it off and put it away and then he pulled it out at the vote.

On Joe with a fake idol: Did anyone see any scene that indicated that Joe was wearing a necklace of some sort at tribal? So they told Joe to take off the fake idol and it was not played at the vote for some reason? If they told Mike to put away his idol and use it later and they did the same thing with the fake, why didn't Mike play the fake when he played his real idol?

There is editing, hey let's hide certain talking heads because we want to hide comments that people will have a problem with vs hey let's totally white wash important game play at tribal council that we totally know people will discuss after the game ends. 

I'll be interested to hear what other folks say.

[kikaha]

1 hour ago, Charlesman said:

“It wasn’t shown, but Mike pulled out his idol before the votes happened and put it around his neck,” reveals Cole. “And he also had a fake idol at Tribal Council that he put around Joe’s neck.” That’s right, it seems the Sex Doctor also has a flair for the dramatic and had continued to collect materials for his fake idol, including a real idol note.

“He had been collecting tassels off the tribe flags and had created a fake idol and kept the write-up for Joe’s past idol that he had played and wrapped it up in that to make it look like a legit idol,” says Cole. “It looked real. It definitely convinced everyone, I think. Once they put those two idols around their necks, that’s when everyone went, ‘Okay, guys. The plan is still the same: vote out Cole.”

If so, that suggests to me that Mike does not win this season.  Otherwise the editors would include that scene as an example of Mike's crafty play.