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S36: Donathan Hurley


Whimsy
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Donathan Hurley (Malolo Tribe)

Age: 26
Hometown: Phelps, Kentucky
Current residence: Kimper, Kentucky
Occupation: Caretaker 

Three words to describe you: Determined, whimsical, and rare.

Why do you think you'll "survive" Survivor?
Living in Eastern Kentucky has its perks. We are outdoors people. We love the lakes, we love to roam trails and mountains, and I have learned a lot about nature and survival. And while I have never been in a dire situation to use these skills, I truly believe when the survivalist in me kicks in, I would have a lot to offer.

Now darlin', I ain't no lumberjack. But I can offer common sense solutions in order to help make my tribe grow. I already plan on breaking my glasses to help with fire and prove that this little gay hillbilly nerd isn't afraid of what nature can bring! I really think I will surprise a lot of people.

Donathan Hurley's Full Bio

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From the bio:

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Which Survivor contestant are you most like?
While there are tons of castaways that I have related to, especially those from the LGBTQ community (Colton, Todd, Tia), and my hillbillies (Keith, Sandy, JT), I always find the most relatable to be Cirie.

Who is "Tia"?  

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I was thinking of J'Tia, too.  Tai didn't even cross my mind, but that makes sense.

I do like this guy so far.  Seriously though when I saw his name as Donathan, I thought that was a typo.  Judging from one of the questions in his bio, I guess he gets that a lot.

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I've been sort of randomely listening to and reading  fragments of interviews.

In one with Probst the interviewer brought up Donathan saying something like and wasn't his trip to LA for casting about his first time away 

from his home town?  And Probst said almost yea, and the first time for sure he's ever needed a passport.  And then something about and this is why Survivor is still so engaging because of the people that this is really a big experiece that can change their life  yada yads (so why all the big city macotrs hm?) and Donathan is so likeable.....something he didnt even share in his his casting interviews is how low self esteem and low self confidence he has from like,... people in his family being hard on him.

Just something about his tone didn't make it sound like Donathan comes out a winner or anything.  He goes on to say being likeable can take you far in the game or it can get you voted out because your a threat at final. 

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Oh my goodness. He's a dead ringer for Kate McKinnon's Jeff Sessions impression.  I keep expecting his little opossum tail to make an appearance.

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Wasn't he on the winning tribe? Or do you mean the tribal where everyone was whispering in each other's ears but no one spoke to Donathan.

What I noticed last night is that Laurel didn't say anything at tribal.

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1 hour ago, Lamb18 said:

Wasn't he on the winning tribe? Or do you mean the tribal where everyone was whispering in each other's ears but no one spoke to Donathan.

What I noticed last night is that Laurel didn't say anything at tribal.

His tribe did lose (he swapped with Laurel, James and Libby to join Domenick, Wendell, Morgan, Angela and Chris), but he was very quiet from what we saw.

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Yeah, he was barely there at TC! 

I'm beginning to think that the knee-jerk judgment of him being a fish-out-of-water weakling was horribly misplaced. Sure, he's slight and gay, but I can't imagine that you don't end up with some outdoors skills growing up in the sticks of Kentucky. His bio says he's a dancer, which, way to not be a stereotype,  but dancers are hella fit. 

I was sure last week that he would go far, and I'm even more sure after last night's near-invisibility. He was only shown rocking the challenge, along with Probst's comment: "Donathan having NO trouble with the platforms!" I'm gonna call him in final 5.

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Yeah, Donathan is no slouch physically or in the outdoorsy area.  He just couldn't dive down (or maybe had an unexpected drowning-related panic -- which is seems maybe James also did).

I also think Donathan goes far -- for one thing, everyone is discounting him after the diving episode while also, in a way, rooting for him.  All he has to do is sit back and let them target each other, and keep everyone thinking he's some kind of lovable kid that they are fond of and not threatened.

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2 hours ago, Special K said:

Yeah, Donathan is no slouch physically or in the outdoorsy area.  He just couldn't dive down (or maybe had an unexpected drowning-related panic -- which is seems maybe James also did).

He actually could dive down though. He did it very well. He just didn't want to try because he said he didn't think he could do it.

I think he'll go far too, but I think it'll be like entirely because people will just drag him along because he's not much of a player. I'd love it if he emerges as a player though. But I'm also OK with him just getting through because he's not one. I just really like him.

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On ‎3‎/‎8‎/‎2018 at 2:03 PM, jsm1125 said:

His tribe did lose (he swapped with Laurel, James and Libby to join Domenick, Wendell, Morgan, Angela and Chris), but he was very quiet from what we saw.

I rewatched the episode a few days ago and saw he was on the losing tribe (I was wrong above).

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I don’t know that I have ever wanted someone to win Survivor as much as I want Donathan to win. I know it is a game and I usually root for the players with the best gameplay, but this kid is just so damn likable and has such a tough situation in real life. Again, I know this is Supposed to be Outwit, Outplay, Outlast and not “who could use the money most” but I don’t care. This one season, I want the super likable kid with the tough home life to win a life-changing amount of money. 

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2 hours ago, RescueMom said:

I don’t know that I have ever wanted someone to win Survivor as much as I want Donathan to win. I know it is a game and I usually root for the players with the best gameplay, but this kid is just so damn likable and has such a tough situation in real life. Again, I know this is Supposed to be Outwit, Outplay, Outlast and not “who could use the money most” but I don’t care. This one season, I want the super likable kid with the tough home life to win a life-changing amount of money. 

AND not just that, he's got game.  If he got to the end, he'd have plenty to stand on besides his life situation.

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2 hours ago, RescueMom said:

I don’t know that I have ever wanted someone to win Survivor as much as I want Donathan to win. I know it is a game and I usually root for the players with the best gameplay, but this kid is just so damn likable and has such a tough situation in real life. Again, I know this is Supposed to be Outwit, Outplay, Outlast and not “who could use the money most” but I don’t care. This one season, I want the super likable kid with the tough home life to win a life-changing amount of money. 

I listened to Hannah on Rob Has a Podcast this week and I think she does a good job of laying out why Donathon will not win. Hannah's argument is that there are people who develop bonds with folks that people take as authentic and that they expect that those bonds will not be betrayed in the game and those who are able to bond with folks but it feels less personal. Hannah argued that she, Dawn and probably Donathon end up developing more personal feeling bonds which makes any betrayal feel more personal. Hannah thinks that Donathon being  a bit more open about his tough situation at home made folks take him under their win and feel like they are protecting him. When Donathon votes against them it will be taken as more of a personal slight then a game move.

I think that Hannah did the best in explaining this phenomena. She said that she heard from others that she was seen as the little sister by most folks and when she voted against them, or moved against them, it felt like a personal attack and not a game move. Someone like Stephanie was able to make personal connections but some how it never felt so personal that people held her game moves against them. While it is not fair, Survivor is played by humans with human emotions and it impacts things.

Chris's comment about Donathon make me think that Donathn would have huge issues if he makes it to the finals. People are going to see him as the person they shielded or comforted or helped and not as someone who made moves that helped him get to the finals.

Which is a shame because I think that Donathon is playing a good game. He is in the minority tribe and has survived a bunch of votes. He has formed a solid alliance with Lauren, Dominick, and Wendell that does not seem to be based on Donathon needing support. Donathon not only ratted out the Dom plan but also made sure that Dom knew not to talk to Jenna and Libby. Dom seems to trust Donathon enough that he does not appear to have talked to either woman. But the Chris's of the game are not going to accept the idea that they were voted out by Donathon with any real grace. We have seen a few exit interviews were people have been sour on Donathon, Chris and Brad come to mind.

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1 hour ago, Special K said:

AND not just that, he's got game.  If he got to the end, he'd have plenty to stand on besides his life situation.

I think his life situation being so well known could stop players from taking him to the end.  I think he could've been upfront about being poor but maybe held the caretaker role back, to be revealed if he makes it to final tribal. 

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I think that's a really good insight, @ProfCrash.  When people feel like they're helping you, doing you a favor, taking pity on you, whatever it may be, they're going to be extra mad about it if you vote them out, whereas if you seemed more like a partner or rival (or if they were obviously higher on the alliance totem pole), they don't mind it so much.  I would guess it's not really that it's more personal, and therefore more of a betrayal.  I wish it was that, because that's nicer, but I think it's probably more like they feel a cognitive dissonance kind of thing, where they felt superior to you, and by exposing that this was not true, you've upended their whole mental hierarchy.  Not only are they not top dog, but they're below even you, who seemed so lowly!  How dare you go above your station that way!  Chris wouldn't feel bad about Dom -- he's an athlete and knows that you sometimes lose when you go up against other good players, and there's no shame in that.  But he would feel bad about Donathan, who has now made him feel like he was beaten by the water boy, and that confuses everything -- there is shame in that -- and the reaction to that confusion and shame is anger.

Unfortunately I think the psychology behind this is applicable to many things in real life, going on in the world today.  What a drag.

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1 hour ago, KimberStormer said:

Chris wouldn't feel bad about Dom -- he's an athlete and knows that you sometimes lose when you go up against other good players, and there's no shame in that.  But he would feel bad about Donathan, who has now made him feel like he was beaten by the water boy, and that confuses everything

I'm not one to call racism or sexism much but you could also wonder if that's partly why Wendell is drawing Chris' wrath, too.  Chris was crossed and beaten by the water boy and the token black guy, lowly right-hand man to Dom, the one worthy adversary?  Dom is the only one Chris addressed his 'well played' to, and I think the only hug he gave out, wasn't it?  

Though in reality I think it's probably just the rap commentary that hurt Chris' feelings, re. Wendell.  

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So we now have two more people complaining about Donathon.  I wonder what really happened on that island. I'll chalk it up to jealousy but one has to wonder

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Michael didn't have good things to say about Laurel or Donathan.  I'm still leaning towards jealousy with Donathan, considering whose been giving the interviews.  If someone like Chelsea or Angela says something negative about him, then I might wonder.  I did laugh at this bit from his Gordon Holmes interview:

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Holmes: What was the reaction from your Malolo buddies when they learned your real age?
Yerger: It didn’t change a thing with me and Jenna. Same with Libby, that was in our Ponderosa. But, I didn’t make it a priority to tell anybody else. I didn’t want it to be a factor in our relationships. When the game was over, people started finding out through the grapevine and the reactions were pretty damn funny. Dom and Brendan and Kellyn especially. They were baffled.
Holmes: Were they like, “I was wondering why Michael kept asking me to buy him beer.”
Yerger: (Laughs) Not quite. But, they had some red flags. But I felt the worst about Kellyn. We got really close out there and we had some big talks and I didn’t like lying on a deep, personal level like that.

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(edited)

To be fair, I haven't really spent hardly any time watching this season. I just can't maintain much interest in this show after 36 seasons. I find Probst to be far beyond boring.  It's as if his entire life is now all about Survivor and he has some nutty need to preach the greatness of this TV show to the entire world. Survivor is the single greatest TV show that has ever been made. People can learn how best to live their lives by watching Survivor and learning how people win. We can all learn how to live our lives by studying how people who  play this game live their lives.

Wow! What an incredible bunch of Hooey and by "Hooey", I mean "Horse Shit". Jiffy boy is certainly full of Horse shit. I'm guessing he will never stop preaching this B.S. until the show is finally cancelled and dies.

Whenever Probst speaks, I must admit that I almost always mute the volume. It's as if Jiffy Boy has been presented with some great Holy Revelation that the TV show "Survivor" is the single greatest event in the history of this world and the meaning of life and the purpose of life can all be found by examining and discussing this one greatest Holy of Holies.  At this point, all of that does nothing for me except maybe it just makes me ill.

I could care less who wins or who loses this season. I've felt this way for the past ten seasons or so. Many people will disagree with me. But I think Jiffy Boy has just ruined the entire franchise. What a Dork! I can't remember who these people are that play this game or what they are about.

But in the brief time that I have watched a few of this season's episodes, I am left wondering, What kind of name is Donathon? Is it possibly the single most stupid name I've ever heard?

I can't believe how - ever since Game of Thrones - people have been naming their childrens by combining two ordinary names into a single crazy name - like how Jennifer and Gloria combine to make Gloriffer or Jennia.

Isn't that precious? How's about Elizabeth and Claudia? They combine to make Elaudia or Clazabeth.  How adorable is that?

It just makes me want to Hurl. Bleeehhhhh!

Edited by MissBluxom
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1 hour ago, MissBluxom said:

But in the brief time that I have watched a few of this season's episodes, I am left wondering, What kind of name is Donathon? Is it possibly the single most stupid name I've ever heard?

I can't believe how - ever since Game of Thrones - people have been naming their childrens by combining two ordinary names into a single crazy name - like how Jennifer and Gloria combine to make Gloriffer or Jennia.

Isn't that precious? How's about Elizabeth and Claudia? They combine to make Elaudia or Clazabeth.  How adorable is that?

It just makes me want to Hurl. Bleeehhhhh!

Pretty sure you can't accuse Donathan's parents of jumping on a GoT bandwagon given he was born five years before the first book came out. 

It was discussed in the first episode thread and the theory seemed to be that it might have been a combination of two family names. 

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(edited)
4 hours ago, MissEwa said:

Pretty sure you can't accuse Donathan's parents of jumping on a GoT bandwagon given he was born five years before the first book came out. 

It was discussed in the first episode thread and the theory seemed to be that it might have been a combination of two family names. 

Fair enough MissEwa. I guess I just got carried away with how tired I am of this show. I know the easy answer is to just not watch it. But for some reason, I feel a need to take a swipe at Probst and his show. It really bothers me when he talks about this show in such glowing terms - as if it is the Third Coming or something like that. I just find that so bizarre.

But, I will try to rein it in.

Edited by MissBluxom
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22 minutes ago, MissBluxom said:

Fair enough MissEwa. I guess I just got carried away with how tired I am of this show. I know the easy answer is to just not watch it. But for some reason, I feel a need to take a swipe at Probst and his show. It really bothers me when he talks about this show in such glowing terms - as if it is the Third Coming or something like that. I just find that so bizarre.

But, I will try to rein it in.

Probst having so much control has really ruined this show.  And anytime someone tries to give him a contrary opinion, he acts as if they’re in the wrong.  Because he’s never wrong.  He loves Fiji as a location so how could it ever get boring?  He can’t let go of Michele winning KR so everyone must still be letting that interfere in their daily lives.  What makes it worse is that some of the outlets that cover the show are so far up his ass just for the perks they get that they won’t dare call him out or cross him.  Because god forbid they don’t get to go spend time with the tribes during filming or give their input on challenge ideas.  

I can’t imagine Survivor without Probst, but I think he’s lost touch with reality and what made this show so great in the first place.  I get it needing to evolve to stay fresh, but it’s gone way beyond that.

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6 hours ago, MissBluxom said:

people have been naming their childrens by combining two ordinary names into a single crazy name - like how Jennifer and Gloria combine to make Gloriffer or Jennia.

Isn't that precious? How's about Elizabeth and Claudia? They combine to make Elaudia or Clazabeth. 

Or Kellyn. 

If you guys think Survivor is grasping at straws check out the latest Dancing With The Stars.  Talk about an awful evolution and ratings grab for a tired old show. 

But I never mind the Survivor tweaks or non-tweaks, really.  And I think Jeff does a good job.  I prefer his enthusiasm to the bored apathy of Phil K. or the phony ME-ME-ME hijinks of singing reality show judges.   

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You know, I think this was the Donathan discussion thread, but clearly I was wrong.

This guy interests me with his mix of ambition, frustration, eagerness and self-defeat.  

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(edited)
59 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

I find him the most interesting person this season, especially after his antics in the last ep.

All of them still in now are interesting, but in the I-want-to-understand them-better I'd have him second to Sebastian, who we know even less about but who seems to be more interesting that's shown so far without being shown. But Donathan is definitely intriguing. I suspect (most obvious interpretation) he's playing very badly, and if I'm generous I'd say maybe he is aiming for the goat spot? although I don't think that's what he's going for, but there is still a (smaller, diminishing by the day), chance that his "big move" will be rewarded by the goat spot.         

[Does my post make sense? I know what I meant to write, but not sure I managed... I'll blame jet lag and would happily rephrase if needed.]     

Edited by NutMeg
Typos and added one word - the rest is still as it was...
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24 minutes ago, NutMeg said:

All of them still in now are interesting, but in the I-want-to-understand them-better I'd have him second to Sebastian, who we know even less about but who seems to be more interesting that's shown so far without being shown. But Donathan is definitely intriguing. I suspect (most obvious interpretation) he's playing very badly, and if I'm generous I'd say maybe he is aiming for the goat spot? although I don't this that's not what he's going for, but there is still a (smaller, diminishing by the day), that his "big move" will be rewarded by the goat spot.         

[Does my post make sense? I know what I meant to write, but not sure I managed... I'll blame jet lag and would happily rephrase if needed.]     

I think so? I was wondering the same thing - if his pitch to Wendell was partly to cause disunity between Wendell and Dom and partly a pitch to get Wendell to take him to F3. I didn't like him to start with, then started to like him a lot and after this week I think he's playing terribly, but he is interesting. 

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I adore him.

Last ep's antics were confusing and worrying, but at least he decided to unpin the hand grendade and throw a bomb into the works, as clearly Laurel is never going to snap out of it and vote with him against Wendell, or Dom. That episode needed a blindside of an idoled hero, stat.

He's tried riling up Wendell first, telling him if you and Dom go head to head in the finals, I'll vote for Dom. Now he's riling up Dom, who's always liked the kid. I am hoping Dom makes good on his oftmentioned need to off Wendell at some point, and takes Donathan with him to finals. He's got to get to the final tribal somehow...

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I think Donathan is a fairly common name in his home area. Aha, here's some statistics:

Summary

DONATHAN is ranked as the 21058th most popular given name in the United States with an estimated population of 255.

This name is in the 92nd percentile, this means that nearly 8% of all the first names are more popular.

There are 0.08 people named DONATHAN for every 100,000 Americans.

This name is most often used as a last name, 85% of the time.

Based on the analysis of 100 years worth of data from the Social Security Administration's (SSA) Baby Names database, the estimated population of people named DONATHAN is 435.

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(edited)
13 hours ago, violet and green said:

Now he's riling up Dom, who's always liked the kid. 

I keep seeing people say that Dom likes Donathan and that Dom is the one that brought Donathan into the alliance, but I swear I can't for the life of me remember any of this. I can't remember any confessionals from Dom about liking Donathan and I don't remember him bringing Donathan into the alliance. Though to be fair I don't remember how the alliance formed at all. I swear these eps just go right out of my brain when I'm done watching them lol.

Edited by peachmangosteen
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(edited)

From what I remember Laurel brought Donathan into the Alliance.  Chris was targeting Dom, but suspected Dom had the idol.  So Wendell would be going home.  Both Laurel and Donathan liked Wendell better than Chris so they sided with Dom.

Edited by Coco88
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(edited)

Yea, I remember that, too. So it seems Laurel and Donathan had more to do with the alliance forming than just 'Dom and Wendell brought them in.' Did they actually kinda save Dom/Wendell and therefore if it wasn't for them then Dom/Wendell wouldn't have been able to run the game as they are now? Hmmm. 

Edited by peachmangosteen
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I like him personally, and feel he played a real good social game from the get-go, but also think he seriously miscalculated the last few episodes. 

He's right IMO to try and break up Wendell and Dom.  But he's going about it ass backwards.  He lets his targets know ahead of time he doesn't trust them and may upset the apple cart.  Result: last episode he went from 100% safe to nearly booted. 

I think Donathan needs a filter, that stops him from blurting out his fears and hints at flipping.  Otherwise his flips fail and his fears materialize as reality. 

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(edited)
10 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

I keep seeing people say that Dom likes Donathan and that Dom is the one that brought Donathan into the alliance, but I swear I can't for the life of me remember any of this. I can't remember any confessionals from Dom about liking Donathan and I don't remember him bringing Donathan into the alliance. Though to be fair I don't remember how the alliance formed at all. I swear these eps just go right out of my brain when I'm done watching them lol.

 

I can't remember the circumstances, but I can remember the look on Dom's face as Donathan was talking and my relief - he's going to be safe over in Purple, after all! etc. So not exactly proof. Donathan went over with Laurel and then he stayed there and it was on Green(ffs!), that I witnessed Laurel bond with Wendell and a growing appreciation for each other's intelligence - especially in the face of Chris being pompous and ridiculous - being born. That's just stuff I saw, and I guess the actual people involved would tell it differently, but I've always viewed Laurel as Wendell's ally, and Donathan as Dom's puppy. Puppy bites back!

Edited by violet and green
typo
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I did take note of the different reactions from Dom and Wendell to Donathan's actions in the last ep. Wendell was super butthurt imo. Very annoyed and bordering on angry over it. Dom was less angry and more just kinda like 'well lol' over it. Even when Donathan was like 'no' to Dom's 'can I talk,' Dom took it quite well and better than Wendell took Donathan's "I'm gonna vote for Dom over you."

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5 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

I did take note of the different reactions from Dom and Wendell to Donathan's actions in the last ep. Wendell was super butthurt imo. Very annoyed and bordering on angry over it. Dom was less angry and more just kinda like 'well lol' over it. Even when Donathan was like 'no' to Dom's 'can I talk,' Dom took it quite well and better than Wendell took Donathan's "I'm gonna vote for Dom over you."

IMHO Donathan’s "I'm gonna vote for Dom over you” ploy was the most transparent form of blackmail - and my impression was Wendell was not so much butthurt at Donathan’s hamfisted tactics, as SERIOUSLY pissed off.

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He certainly is more appealing with an island look. The facial hair makes him look more mature and I think naturally shaggy hair is a good look for him. I hope he doesn't look like a 12-year-old again at the reunion.

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Glad I don't have to see creepy Donathan or his serial killer smile again.  He looked like an insane clown in the last few tribal councils.  

Just my gut reaction to him.  If I was ever on an elevator alone, and he got on, I would immediately get off.

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I liked Donathan.  I was back and forth on him early on, but I grew to really like him in the last few episodes.  I am happy he caught the attention of Sia and was given $10,000 as a result of her fandom (even more happy she didn't crash the stage to do it).  He seemed to really come out of his shell, and I'll give him credit for trying to stir stuff up.  If only Angela hadn't opened her big mouth, that final 5 vote might have been what he needed in the game.  If he ever comes back he obviously needs to not be such a loose cannon, but I understand his frustration.   

And I was stunned to see he was a vote for Wendell.  I would have bet money he was voting Dom after being his champion in the jury.  

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9 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

And I was stunned to see he was a vote for Wendell.  I would have bet money he was voting Dom after being his champion in the jury.  

Yeah, and after flat out telling Wendell he'd vote for Dom over him.  Little did he know that that kind of extortion wouldn't work with Mr. Cool-as-a-Cucumber.

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(edited)

Donathan voting for Wendell was strange and further fuels my thought that the jury all knew it was a tie and in fact set it up to be that way.

Apparently Sia is actually going to give him 14K and it's tax free. I'm happy he got some money out of this if only because he was the only person in the F6 who chose not to live inside Dom/Wendell's ass all the way to the end.

Edited by peachmangosteen
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