S36.E01: Can You Reverse the Curse?

[Guest]

I think Michael is the real estate agent?  Is he also a model?

One thing that bugs me about Chris' chyron is the term 'male model'.  They wouldn't call someone a 'female doctor'.  

[HurricaneVal]

Donathon's bio says that his occupation is "caregiver." That's a remarkably low paid job even in a burgeoning economy.  He's growing on me, I think he really is quite poor and therefore unable to see much of the world other than what comes in on the TV antenna.  I've driven the back roads of Kentucky...it's a very different world there, quite isolated in fact.  I'd like him to play long into the game, but a part of me wants him to go out early so he can enjoy a long, luxurious South Pacific vacation on CBS's dime.

 

On another, more amusing note, the editor in my Silk Browser on my Kindle autocorrects "Donathon" to "Einstein."  I literally LOL'd.

[Wings]

2 hours ago, Nashville said:

Now, this point of mine may have been totally affected by how the comp scene was put together in the editing room - but judging from the particular way it appeared to me some puzzle piece edge pairs were repetitively NOT matching up, it looked for all the world like Desiree had effectively returned her puzzle to its starting position right up to about 10-15 seconds before the sand ran out.  I’d even commented on it to my wife several seconds before Chris busted his team’s puzzle, because Desiree didn’t appear to have made ANY progress.

Editing is my guess because I was watching carefully because 3D puzzles are difficult when the pieces are small and I was interested to watch them pull this off.  

18 minutes ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

I think Michael is the real estate agent?  Is he also a model?

One thing that bugs me about Chris' chyron is the term 'male model'.  They wouldn't call someone a 'female doctor'.  

And they don't say 'female model' either!  

[FrauBlucher]

8 hours ago, Nashville said:

I was thinking Bob Ross myself.  So much for happy trees.

My teenager and I were amusing ourselves with this resemblance... then when he lost his shoes his name became "Shoeless Bob Ross."

I also asked her if the male model dude would be doing model poses during his interviews, then I threw her a Blue Steel... alas she hasn't seen the movie so she didn't get it.

[ljenkins782]

On 2/28/2018 at 10:03 PM, Rachel RSL said:

Man, it's gonna take me weeks to learn who all these people are. If I were Chris, I never would have forfeited that first challenge. You know you'd be pissing off at least one person and possibly more. It didn't seem to hurt him though so what do I know? But I already like them all so much more than anybody from last season. Plus, there's a lot of potential for eye candy this season. I mean, seriously, male and female, it's like Survivor: Ghost Island of Models. 

That's funny, I had the opposite reaction to the female cast. There are quite a few very attractive men, but I was surprised at the relative plainness of the women. 

Regarding Chris' choice to forfeit, I didn't understand the rules (don't always pay enough attention to Jeff's droning instructions). What was going to happen if the sand ran out and neither had finished their puzzle? They keep going and whoever wins gets stuff and the others go empty-handed? He was probably right to do it, the girl who got chosen for the puzzle expressed her lack of puzzle skills in an interview, so it's certainly possible she wouldn't have won. 

I did like that new feature to the opening challenge, that had potential to be an early pot-stirring moment. They got Domenick to take the bait of voicing his disappointment and that sowed early seeds of discontent. 

Quote

THANK YOU: I had the reverse. I (think it was buffless ... back at camp. Maybe it’s the opposite, but, yeah, he looked like two different people. Or four(2x2..) he almost looked like a Big Brother Face Game mashup to me, and my first thought was, damn, dude looks just like Mark Cuban mixed with ... someone younger I can’t think of. And Michael Costello nails it. So, in his one look, he’s like Cuban and Costello has a baby or  BB remix.

I don't know who Michael Costello is, but I also saw the Mark Cuban resemblance. I'm a little torn on this guy. From the moment he spoke up on the beach and then called himself a truth-teller, I had a hate vibe, but as he talked a little more, he bugged me less. I'm still leaning toward "obnoxious" so of course he would find an idol. 

Quote

This bullshit with getting up and whispering at Tribal needs to be banned. It's getting ridiculous. Not sad to see Gonzalez go just for that reason alone. The Seth Rogan-esque dude (Jacob?) was annoying af and possibly the worst liar ever. 

The whispering "live tribal" is clearly Probst's new favorite thing, so he's going to beat it into the ground. I did feel terrible for Donathan when no one was even bothering to speak to him. It looked like James was going to attempt to lean over, but Donathan leaned away. Glad to see Gonzalez go, she had serious annoying potential. 

I was wavering a bit on whether or not I wanted Jacob (who's also rather annoying) survive this tribal despite being not only the worst liar ever, but the worst secret keeper ever as well, but I'm not really that sorry to see him go. 

He had such a fantastic opportunity to create idol fears after being the first one to visit the new island, but he completely blew it with that ultra transparent lie. 

I think my early favorite is model Chris. I liked how he approached Sebastian and forged that easy bond and also appreciated his skepticism of the BS Domenick was feeding him. I thought that was a silly way to approach the idol reveal, I was sure Domenick was going to make the fake idol, plant it somewhere relatively hidden and then find a way to lure Chris to the spot to find it himself, kinda like David did to Jay in Millenials vs Gen X. 

I was happy for Donathan that he was able to come through in the challenge, but it was remarkably stupid to flat out refuse to try for however long. Trying and failing will always look better than sitting on the side doing nothing and he ended up succeeding, just too late for it to matter. 

Watching the teams in that challenge though, it seems like the other team is a bit unfairly stacked while the Donathan/Jacob team has a few more obvious liabilities. 

Donathan is such a distractingly dead ringer for Kate McKinnon's SNL impression of Jeff Sessions that I can't think of anything else while he's onscreen. Too bad Survivor is so far along in popular culture/off the watercooler talk radar because I'd love to see Kate impersonate him. 

[AUJulia]

23 minutes ago, ljenkins782 said:

That's funny, I had the opposite reaction to the female cast. There are quite a few very attractive men, but I was surprised at the relative plainness of the women. 

Regarding Chris' choice to forfeit, I didn't understand the rules (don't always pay enough attention to Jeff's droning instructions). What was going to happen if the sand ran out and neither had finished their puzzle? They keep going and whoever wins gets stuff and the others go empty-handed? He was probably right to do it, the girl who got chosen for the puzzle expressed her lack of puzzle skills in an interview, so it's certainly possible she wouldn't have won. 

I did like that new feature to the opening challenge, that had potential to be an early pot-stirring moment. They got Domenick to take the bait of voicing his disappointment and that sowed early seeds of discontent. 

I don't know who Michael Costello is, but I also saw the Mark Cuban resemblance. I'm a little torn on this guy. From the moment he spoke up on the beach and then called himself a truth-teller, I had a hate vibe, but as he talked a little more, he bugged me less. I'm still leaning toward "obnoxious" so of course he would find an idol. 

The whispering "live tribal" is clearly Probst's new favorite thing, so he's going to beat it into the ground. I did feel terrible for Donathan when no one was even bothering to speak to him. It looked like James was going to attempt to lean over, but Donathan leaned away. Glad to see Gonzalez go, she had serious annoying potential. 

I was wavering a bit on whether or not I wanted Jacob (who's also rather annoying) survive this tribal despite being not only the worst liar ever, but the worst secret keeper ever as well, but I'm not really that sorry to see him go. 

He had such a fantastic opportunity to create idol fears after being the first one to visit the new island, but he completely blew it with that ultra transparent lie. 

I think my early favorite is model Chris. I liked how he approached Sebastian and forged that easy bond and also appreciated his skepticism of the BS Domenick was feeding him. I thought that was a silly way to approach the idol reveal, I was sure Domenick was going to make the fake idol, plant it somewhere relatively hidden and then find a way to lure Chris to the spot to find it himself, kinda like David did to Jay in Millenials vs Gen X. 

I was happy for Donathan that he was able to come through in the challenge, but it was remarkably stupid to flat out refuse to try for however long. Trying and failing will always look better than sitting on the side doing nothing and he ended up succeeding, just too late for it to matter. 

Watching the teams in that challenge though, it seems like the other team is a bit unfairly stacked while the Donathan/Jacob team has a few more obvious liabilities. 

Donathan is such a distractingly dead ringer for Kate McKinnon's SNL impression of Jeff Sessions that I can't think of anything else while he's onscreen. Too bad Survivor is so far along in popular culture/off the watercooler talk radar because I'd love to see Kate impersonate him. 

Jeff Sessions talks nothing like Donathan so her impression must suck. I'm an Alabamian and realize most people don't know that accents are slightly different even county to county, and Kentucky isn't even close to anything in Sessions's Alabama. Sadly, people outside the South think there's one Southern accent a la The Help (which had the worst imitations since Sally Field tried to pretend she was from Opelika in Norma Rae). 

This is Michael Costello. He was on Project Runway and designs for Beyoncé, among others. 

 

[ljenkins782]

Quote

Jeff Sessions talks nothing like Donathan so her impression must suck. I'm an Alabamian and realize most people don't know that accents are slightly different even county to county, and Kentucky isn't even close to anything in Sessions's Alabama. Sadly, people outside the South think there's one Southern accent a la The Help (which had the worst imitations since Sally Field tried to pretend she was from Opelika in Norma Rae).

I'm aware of regional dialect differences. :) It's irrelevant to the topic, which is a guy who looks eerily similar to Kate McKinnon anyway speaking in a Southern accent of some sort. The details of the accent really don't affect the overall perception unless you're personally from the area and sensitive to the topic, IMO. 

[peachmangosteen]

5 hours ago, marys1000 said:

Why is Donathan getting so much screen time?

Because he's precisely the kind of character the editors love/think the audience loves.

Quote

As for the question how Ghost Island will play after the merge - I wonder if you can figure out whether it will change up some by the number of urn thingies left.  I didn't count the urns  nor do I know how many total challenges are left?  18 people left - 4 at the final I guess = 14.  So 14 more challenges.  I don't think there were that many urn thingies left?  I didn't DVR so I can't count.  Merge is usually at 11-13 people so say 6 more challenges? I think there were more urns than that.  Ok so that didn't work.  

I paused a shot of the urns before Jacob smashed the first one and I counted 14. But the shot wasn't straight-on, so it wasn't super clear.

[marys1000]

I wonder if Donathan has dentures?  

 

So 14 total.  How many Immunity challenges are there if there are 20 people and a final 4?  16?  

Edited March 2, 2018 by marys1000

[CletusMusashi]

I still wish there hadn't been such a speedy Gonzales boot. She was beautiful, she had an easy name to remember, and she was visually distinct. Honestly, I think the only white girl whose name I remember is Other Stephanie. I know, studying the online character profiles helps with this problem, and I tried, but after this many seasons I just don't have it in me any more. As I get older and crankier, I become more and more set in my belief that if a movie or TV show requires external supplements in order to be accessible then that is its failing, not mine. I would have appreciated much shorter challenges and way, way more time spent on camp, politics, and character development. Either that, or make sure everyone has some sort of visual hook. "You! We're a little heavy on blondes, how do you feel about getting a Mohawk? You guys! I can not for the life of me tell which is which. Could one of you maybe start out with a mustache or something?"Actually, that's another thing I liked about Jacob. Not a whole lot of Bob Ross looking guys on the island. Especially not with those pants.

Edited March 3, 2018 by CletusMusashi

[KimberStormer]

Here's my read on the Donathan Hero Moment:  it seems the plan was that James would dive, because buff.  The whole tribe decided that Donathan can't swim (they seem to think he can't do much of anything) so he should swim in to the dock and let James do his thing.  This is a reasonable strategy, if James can dive; it saves time.  Now Donathan seems like a very timid fellow and easily cowed, as with Gonzalez at the first challenge and the whispering at TC and nervousness at Ghost Island.  So he does what the tribe says although it seems he can indeed swim.

Then James can't do it.  Why can't he?  I don't even know and I could see the underwater cameras.  Donathan just sees him go under, come back out...what is going on?  Why can't James do it?  He's way more fit than Donathan is...what could it be?  Something terrifying, perhaps.  If he can't do it, how could I?  The mysterious situation and the pressure seem to me to be a very intimidating and scary scenario for someone easily frightened.  I imagine that might be why he took so long to get out there; but once out, of course, there was nothing at all to be scared of.

I forgot to say earlier that I liked Wendell the furniture guy a lot.  Hope he sticks around, and gets to build more stuff with his hands -- very sexy.  (I must agree that on the whole this is not an attractive cast...but I suppose that's fine.)

 

21 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

My favorite moment for this was during Caramoan, when Malcolm pulled out his two idols, making his 3 Amigos alliance completely safe.  Then openly saying they were voting Phillip, but everyone panicking and talking out loud and over each other.  Those are TC chaotic moments I like.  Who started the whispering thing in GC, JT?

Sort of, but as your example proves, that was hardly the first whispering at tribal.  It has always happened.  Michelle and Hannah for another example, or Russell telling Jerri to vote for Danielle in HvV.  What JT did that was new (and which is apparently beyond the pale of decency for most of the posters here) was get out of his seat and walk over to the person he wanted to whisper to, instead of just sitting there because of the (producer-dictated?) seating arrangements.  I haven't seen if there are any answers to my question about why the getting up and whispering is so terrible to people yet (that thread is my next stop), but it's definitely not the whispering, which nobody ever complained about before, it's the getting up.  And that was certainly a JT innovation, like it or loathe it.

[Wings]

1 hour ago, ljenkins782 said:

Regarding Chris' choice to forfeit, I didn't understand the rules (don't always pay enough attention to Jeff's droning instructions). What was going to happen if the sand ran out and neither had finished their puzzle?

They would have lost the fishing gear that they won in the first challenge.  Chris was watching both puzzles and made the call that she did not look like she would win, so saved the fishing gear.  

[blackwing]

3 hours ago, planet17 said:

I hope to god that the amount of Idols and advantages don't ruin the game. I hated what happened to Cirie in Game Changers.

I'm not holding out much hope after seeing what happened last season with Ben the Producers Darling magically pulling idol after idol out of his leprechaun gold producing ass.  I'm still suspicious.  

Plus, to top it off, I think they changed the rules with this whole "build fire to get into the final three to give the strong player that no one likes a chance" thing.  (Cue somebody coming in and blah blah blah Quiz Show FCC they can't do that.... I don't care, I firmly believe that they will always find ways to get around these rules and I am convinced this was done to save Ben.)

It seems to me that Ghost Island is going to provide lots of "cursed" advantages and idols. I wouldn't be surprised if the "f*cking stick" non-idol actually gains idol powers this time around.

[blackwing]

2 hours ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

I think Michael is the real estate agent?  Is he also a model?

One thing that bugs me about Chris' chyron is the term 'male model'.  They wouldn't call someone a 'female doctor'.  

Other Survivor articles on the internets say that Michael is an underwear model.  It's not too hard to get a real estate license, so I am assuming that since he is 18 and it seems like he doesn't go to college that he is a model, and maybe does real estate work in between gigs.

There have been several (male) models in the past but I'm hard pressed to name any females whose sole occupation was listed as "model". Anyone?  For the men its weird, I thought Ken from the Adam Klein season was listed simply as "Model".  But Jeremiah from the Brains Brawn Beauty season I'm pretty sure was "Male Model".   Not sure how they decide who has to get the Zoolander-like "Male" attached.

[blackwing]

17 minutes ago, Wings said:

They would have lost the fishing gear that they won in the first challenge.  Chris was watching both puzzles and made the call that she did not look like she would win, so saved the fishing gear.  

Now I'm even more confused.  Wasn't there only one challenge? The show started with the tribes not even knowing each other, having to pick a captain, and then the captain assigning various people to each stage of the challenge.  I know that the winner of the challenge would have won 24 eggs and something.   I too think I must have tuned Jeff out.  Is it that if you were first to the puzzle you won the fishing gear?  But then first to finish the puzzle wins the fishing gear and the eggs?

So if Chris' tribe was first to the puzzle, they win fishing gear, but would have lost it if Brendan's tribe finished the puzzle first?  Whereby Brendan wins fishing gear and eggs and then Chris wins nothing?   Chris gave up the challenge so kept the fishing gear?  Brendan didn't finish the puzzle so gets nothing?

If neither finished the puzzle and neither gave up, then both get nothing?  I had been wondering why Brendan wasn't considering giving up and had thought it was a game of chicken, first to gives up keeps the fishing gear and was wondering who would flinch first.

[LadyChatts]

1 hour ago, KimberStormer said:

 

Sort of, but as your example proves, that was hardly the first whispering at tribal.  It has always happened.  Michelle and Hannah for another example, or Russell telling Jerri to vote for Danielle in HvV.  What JT did that was new (and which is apparently beyond the pale of decency for most of the posters here) was get out of his seat and walk over to the person he wanted to whisper to, instead of just sitting there because of the (producer-dictated?) seating arrangements.  I haven't seen if there are any answers to my question about why the getting up and whispering is so terrible to people yet (that thread is my next stop), but it's definitely not the whispering, which nobody ever complained about before, it's the getting up.  And that was certainly a JT innovation, like it or loathe it.

For me it’s the the whispering in the ear and not being able to hear what’s going on. Staying in their seat and whispering among themselves?  Fine, because we at least have some idea of what’s going on.  And other castaways can pick up on it.  My biggest issue is more that it seems to be for show now, and contestants will do it to create a moment.  But I want to be able to hear what’s going on ultimately.

Edited March 2, 2018 by LadyChatts

[Guest]

I think the winner of that challenge also got a pile of building supplies. I didn’t watch that closely but I think the losers got fishing gear with the other stuff in their losers pile if they lost by forfeiting in time. If they went for the win instead of forfeiting, and lost, they just got like rice and a few other basics.   Or something.  

[marys1000]

22 minutes ago, blackwing said:

Now I'm even more confused.  Wasn't there only one challenge? The show started with the tribes not even knowing each other, having to pick a captain, and then the captain assigning various people to each stage of the challenge.  I know that the winner of the challenge would have won 24 eggs and something.   I too think I must have tuned Jeff out.  Is it that if you were first to the puzzle you won the fishing gear?  But then first to finish the puzzle wins the fishing gear and the eggs?

So if Chris' tribe was first to the puzzle, they win fishing gear, but would have lost it if Brendan's tribe finished the puzzle first?  Whereby Brendan wins fishing gear and eggs and then Chris wins nothing?   Chris gave up the challenge so kept the fishing gear?  Brendan didn't finish the puzzle so gets nothing?

If neither finished the puzzle and neither gave up, then both get nothing?  I had been wondering why Brendan wasn't considering giving up and had thought it was a game of chicken, first to gives up keeps the fishing gear and was wondering who would flinch first.

If they lost (whoever) they got nothing.  If the defaulted they got fishing gear.  If they won they got fishing gear, flint and 20 eggs. 

So if Gonzalez knew she was going home (which she says she did) why whisper to get people to change their vote?  Normally that is done just outloud.   She says she was told by two different guys that everyone was voting for...two differrent people.  So she knew they were lying to her.  So she jumps up and starts trying to get people to change their votes by whispering to the them?  

Warning this is hard to listen to, she rambles and honestly doesnt sound very smart. Said she would like Jenna to go next if she had to choose. shrug

http://www.goldderby.com/article/2018/stephanie-gonzalez-survivor-ghost-island-exit-interview-podcast-news/

Edited March 2, 2018 by marys1000

[Lamb18]

16 minutes ago, blackwing said:

Now I'm even more confused.  Wasn't there only one challenge? The show started with the tribes not even knowing each other, having to pick a captain, and then the captain assigning various people to each stage of the challenge.  I know that the winner of the challenge would have won 24 eggs and something.   I too think I must have tuned Jeff out.  Is it that if you were first to the puzzle you won the fishing gear?  But then first to finish the puzzle wins the fishing gear and the eggs?

So if Chris' tribe was first to the puzzle, they win fishing gear, but would have lost it if Brendan's tribe finished the puzzle first?  Whereby Brendan wins fishing gear and eggs and then Chris wins nothing?   Chris gave up the challenge so kept the fishing gear?  Brendan didn't finish the puzzle so gets nothing?

If neither finished the puzzle and neither gave up, then both get nothing?  I had been wondering why Brendan wasn't considering giving up and had thought it was a game of chicken, first to gives up keeps the fishing gear and was wondering who would flinch first.

It was a reward challenge for fishing gear. The team that finished first, including completing the puzzle, won the fishing gear. The losing team gets nothing.

However:

There was the big hour glass attached to each puzzle. If a team captain thought it looked like the puzzle solver was going to tank the puzzle, he could pull a lever and stop the challenge. But he had to do this before the sands ran out of the hour glass. If he pulled the lever before the sands ran out, his team would lose but they would get fishing gear.  The other team would win, so they would get fishing gear, but they also got the building supplies and flint.

And 20 eggs.

Edited March 2, 2018 by Lamb18

[Wings]

19 minutes ago, blackwing said:

Now I'm even more confused.  Wasn't there only one challenge?

Second part of the challenge.  There was no need to even say that!  lol

[ghoulina]

14 minutes ago, LadyChatts said:

For me it’s the the whispering in the ear and not being able to hear what’s going on. Staying in their seat and whispering among themselves?  Fine, because we at least have some idea of what’s going on.  And other castaways can pick up on it.  My biggest issue is more that it seems to be for show now, and contestants will do it to create a moment.  But I want to be able to hear what’s going on ultimately.

Perfectly said. When Gonzales did it, it did not (IMO) have any urgency to it. She was just doing it to do it. Because Survivor. That's all. I don't mind some seated whispering to the person next to you. But don't cut the viewers/fans off by playing a damn game of telephone at Tribal. It's obnoxious. 

[fishcakes]

The fishing gear wasn't a reward; it was given to both teams along with a pot, a machete, and a bottle of rice. However, a tribe could lose the fishing gear during the first challenge.

Each team picked a leader, who would pick one person to run the obstacle course collecting keys to unlock a puzzle and one person to solve the puzzle. First team to solve the puzzle wins a big building kit with ropes and axes and whatnot, and the losing team loses their fishing gear. However, as soon as the first person started the puzzle, Peachy turned over a bottle of sand; as long as there was still sand in the bottle, the team leaders, who were watching both puzzles being solved, could drop their own team's puzzle and forfeit the challenge. If a team forfeited, then they could keep their fishing gear, but the winning team, in addition to the building kit, also wins 20 eggs and a flint. If neither team forfeits, then the winning team doesn't get the eggs and flint and the losing team loses the fishing gear.

It was overly complicated, to say the least.

Edited March 2, 2018 by fishcakes

[Nashville]

53 minutes ago, marys1000 said:

So if Gonzalez knew she was going home (which she says she did) why whisper to get people to change their vote?  Normally that is done just outloud.   

This is the part where Gonzo lost me; she gets up and starts whispering to a couple of people, they start whispering to some others, pretty soon everybody is whispering to someone else... except nobody is whispering to Donathan.  

It struck me that part of Gonzo’s “public whispering” campaign was to emphasize to everybody - including Donathan - just how isolated and excluded Donathan was.  

More than a little Mean Girl-ish, to say the least.

[Guest]

In another thread there's an exit interview where Gonzales said once she got a whispered "Donathan" from Brendan then some other name from Michael, she knew she was gone, since those two hadn't coordinated a lie.  And her whispering prevented them from giving matching answers. 

Though what difference did it make at that point except to possibly be seen as going down fighting?  

I don't detest the whispering because I agree with Jeff that it's funny when they do unexpected things but it's getting a little expected.  And I do get annoyed that there is gaming in front of me and I can't hear it.  I watch Big Brother often but one of the things I hate about it is people curl up in corners of the house and whisper when they strategize.  I want to hear, dammit, and not by straining.  Audio levels on tv should be constant.  

[blackwing]

I don't mind the whispering, in fact I love when they all get paranoid and try to change things at the last minute.  It leads to things like Keith Nale's "stick to the plan".   But I want to know what is being said.  Surely the microphones can pick it up in the studio and then they can subtitle it for us?  It's not that interesting when I don't know what is being changed or discussed.

I think when JT gave up information to the other side, it was subtitled and thus much easier to follow what was happening?

[marys1000]

I just was reminded that to destroy an urn on GI you give up your next vote at tribal.  So Donathan won't get to vote next tribal?

 

 

I posted this in Donathan's thread but its just too sweet. 

The grandmother is the one he talks about in casting interviews, the one who raised a bunch of kids after the husband left with no electricity or plumbing or food. 

Looks like the whole town is there (tongue in cheek, there is maybe 40 people in a school auditorium)

Edited March 3, 2018 by marys1000

[amazingracefan]

44 minutes ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

In another thread there's an exit interview where Gonzales said once she got a whispered "Donathan" from Brendan then some other name from Michael, she knew she was gone, since those two hadn't coordinated a lie.  And her whispering prevented them from giving matching answers. 

Though what difference did it make at that point except to possibly be seen as going down fighting? 

Makes sense I guess, though she was also speaking to her alliance who had turned on her (not sure we were given any details of that alliance beforehand).  Obviously those who she wasn't really with anyway weren't involved as they had been the target before (Donathan I think had probably been the target)

[Nashville]

13 minutes ago, marys1000 said:

I just was reminded that to destroy an urn on GI you give up your next vote at tribal.  So Donathan won't get to vote next tribal?

The vote forfeit was specific to Jacob’s urn choice at GI.  If Jacob chose to play for an advantage, he had to pick one of two bamboo thingies - call them “vaults” - positioned around a third locked vault.  If Jacob chose the correct vault, he’d get a key which would unlock the third vault containing the advantage; choose wrong, and he’d forfeit his vote at his next TC.

Jacob chose correctly, so the vote forfeit wasn’t an issue.  

Donathan never made it that far; his urn choice got him nothing but a “better luck next time” note, which he burned.

Edited March 2, 2018 by Nashville
Typo

[marys1000]

More tidbits, 

One journalist who was out there said he thought Navati's shelter was better despite not having tools and that Chris kept talking about getting a lobster andthat Sea Bass actually did get one so Navati had a lobster

 

Behind-the-Scenes Tidbit: Here are the votes…

• Gonzalez votes for Donathan, saying they have to keep the tribe strong.
• Donathan votes for Gonzalez, saying he’s tired of his voice not being heard.
• Libby votes for Gonzalez, saying “I guess you’re not part of the ‘we’.”
• James votes for Gonzalez, saying “It’s not you, it’s the game.”
• Steph votes for Gonzalez, saying there’s only room for one Steph. Also, Steph forgot to remove the pen cap when voting.
• Brendan votes for Gonzalez, saying he’s trying to keep order in the tribe.
• Jenna votes for Gonzalez, saying this is what she gets for trying to plot against her.
• Michael votes for Gonzalez, simply saying he’s sorry to see her go.
• Laurel votes for Gonzalez, saying she’s playing too hard, too fast.

Behind-the-Scenes Tidbit: As Gonzalez was leaving she said, “One lion, seven sheep. Sad.” I’m pretty sure she was referring to Brendan as the lion.

Edited March 2, 2018 by marys1000

[Lunula]

I just have to say to The Powers That Be at Survivor - where the hell are the older people? There are two guys, one on each tribe, that might be over 30...and that’s it. Seriously? Diversity doesn’t just mean a couple people that aren’t white. Really disappointing. 

[uoflfan]

How can you not swim down 4 feet?  Just empty your lungs and sink 4 feet.  I've seen some bad swimming/diving attempts on this show but that was the worst. 

I'm glad Jacob left.  He was truly annoying.  Had he returned and said Ghost Island was scary and a horrible experience he might've lasted longer.

At least the pretty guys are still around for the eye candy.

[Rachel RSL]

On 3/1/2018 at 12:51 PM, blackwing said:

What if someone doesn't know the item at all? Like the stick with a smiley face on it?

If someone on Survivor doesn't know what that is, they should be immediately removed from the game and publicly shamed because "It's a fucking stick!" is a classic that will never stop being funny to me.

7 hours ago, KimberStormer said:

 I haven't seen if there are any answers to my question about why the getting up and whispering is so terrible to people yet (that thread is my next stop), but it's definitely not the whispering, which nobody ever complained about before, it's the getting up.  And that was certainly a JT innovation, like it or loathe it.

I can't speak for others but, for me, it's terrible as a viewer. The act itself isn't offensive but the fact that we can't hear most of what's going on irritates the crap out of me. I like "live" Tribals as well, it's entertaining when a last-minute switch happens, but I found it much more entertaining when these conversations happened out loud at TC, when someone had to plead their case and persuade others in front of everyone - that's what TC is, or at least used to be, an open discussion. This huddling up and whispering stuff during TC isn't entertaining to me as a viewer, it's aggravating.

6 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

For me it’s the the whispering in the ear and not being able to hear what’s going on. Staying in their seat and whispering among themselves?  Fine, because we at least have some idea of what’s going on.  And other castaways can pick up on it.  My biggest issue is more that it seems to be for show now, and contestants will do it to create a moment.  But I want to be able to hear what’s going on ultimately.

Exactly.

[ratgirlagogo]

On 2/28/2018 at 10:04 PM, Wings said:

Stephanie says Donathan is small if we need to stuff someone into anything! 

 I think the actual phrase was, "if we need a little person to shove in something."  ???!!!**?(?@#?$%??????????   This really should have been the episode title.  We replayed it over and over ........and I've gotta say I still don't understand what the hell she meant.  I've watched all 35 seasons of this goddamned show and I really can't think of any reason challenge-based or otherwise  you'd EVER need a "little person to shove in something"  to win anything on  Survivor.

[alegtostandon]

On 2/28/2018 at 8:02 PM, DakotaLavender said:

Is Jacob really Seth Rogan? 

I knew he reminded me of someone!

On 2/28/2018 at 8:04 PM, Wings said:

Funny.  Deciding who to vote out Donathan or Gonzales Stephanie says Donathan is small if we need to stuff someone into anything! 

This line made me laugh more than my puppy packing her own suitcase for a weekend getaway!

On 2/28/2018 at 8:21 PM, Mrsmom said:

Well I'm as happy as a clam that Gonzalez is gone,gone,gone.  1st...you prefer to be called by your last name?  Oooooooo you must be tough. 2nd you call someone "special"  with that smug look on your face.  Grow up little girl!  3rd you draw rainbows on your vote?!  Take your prejudicial ass home.

So glad to see her go. My first thought when she wanted to be, called only by her last name was Penelope on Criminal Minds...she was asked her name & she said 'Penelope but just call me Garcia.'.

On 2/28/2018 at 9:09 PM, PaperTree said:

I've read that production dictates the castaways' clothing.

I have always wondered why the guys wear underwear & the girls wear bras instead of bathing suits.

[EllipticalAddicted]

I'm pretty sure that I've read that they get their bathing suits once they merge.    At that point, challenges are designed in a way that both genders have equal chances to win according to their own strengths, i.e., balance challenges, puzzles, weird endurance challenges, etc.

[princelina]

1 hour ago, ratgirlagogo said:

 I think the actual phrase was, "if we need a little person to shove in something."  ???!!!**?(?@#?$%??????????   This really should have been the episode title.  We replayed it over and over ........and I've gotta say I still don't understand what the hell she meant.  I've watched all 35 seasons of this goddamned show and I really can't think of any reason challenge-based or otherwise  you'd EVER need a "little person to shove in something"  to win anything on  Survivor.

I can't remember but there have been times when they had to wheel someone around in a wheelbarrow or barrel or something and the small people went in.  I know for a fact there are people on her with better memories for details than me so that should get them started :)

[Guest]

I think it was the first ep of a very recent season when they had to lift someone up high to grab something in a challenge.  I laughed because the girl that one tribe chose saying, “you’re smallest” had a weird reaction, like she was deflecting a compliment.  

I think there have been challenges where the tribe has to basically carry someone through a course over water, too?  Oh, and all those where they all have to balance on some small structure at the end.  

I thought it was a good idea for her to mention having a tiny person can help, actually.  

Edited March 3, 2018 by Guest

[ImpinAintEasy]

It’s too early to judge the attractiveness of the cast just from watching the show. Libby seems to be cute. Yoga Steph has a nice body, though her chest was clearly purchased. Jenna has a big booty.  If Morgan looks like Smashley from ‘The Challenge’ then she must be fairly attractive. 

 

As for the men, the two models are handsome. Sebastian has a face that does not match the body. I wouldn’t exactly call him a butterface, but it is sort of goofy looking. James and the furniture designer are good looking dudes too. 

 

Not that any of this matters, but I didn’t really think the cast wasn’t attractive enough while watching. 

[AUJulia]

12 hours ago, ljenkins782 said:

I'm aware of regional dialect differences. :) It's irrelevant to the topic, which is a guy who looks eerily similar to Kate McKinnon anyway speaking in a Southern accent of some sort. The details of the accent really don't affect the overall perception unless you're personally from the area and sensitive to the topic, IMO. 

Actually, you said: "Donathan is such a distractingly dead ringer for Kate McKinnon's SNL impression of Jeff Sessions that I can't think of anything else while he's onscreen." Now you've gone from "dead ringer" to saying two different accents are close enough because they're both Southern. Not irrelevant at all, since Sessions and Donathan sound as much alike as a South African and an Australian. ?

[amazingracefan]

9 hours ago, Nashville said:

This is the part where Gonzo lost me; she gets up and starts whispering to a couple of people, they start whispering to some others, pretty soon everybody is whispering to someone else... except nobody is whispering to Donathan.  

It struck me that part of Gonzo’s “public whispering” campaign was to emphasize to everybody - including Donathan - just how isolated and excluded Donathan was.  

More than a little Mean Girl-ish, to say the least.

Not really, it's a game.  Donathan is a pretty obvious boot.  And she didn't go around to everyone at tribal what I saw.  To use a cliche on someone because they are trying to survive doesn't really work.

 

7 hours ago, marys1000 said:

More tidbits, 

One journalist who was out there said he thought Navati's shelter was better despite not having tools and that Chris kept talking about getting a lobster andthat Sea Bass actually did get one so Navati had a lobster

 

Behind-the-Scenes Tidbit: Here are the votes…

• Gonzalez votes for Donathan, saying they have to keep the tribe strong.
• Donathan votes for Gonzalez, saying he’s tired of his voice not being heard.
• Libby votes for Gonzalez, saying “I guess you’re not part of the ‘we’.”
• James votes for Gonzalez, saying “It’s not you, it’s the game.”
• Steph votes for Gonzalez, saying there’s only room for one Steph. Also, Steph forgot to remove the pen cap when voting.
• Brendan votes for Gonzalez, saying he’s trying to keep order in the tribe.
• Jenna votes for Gonzalez, saying this is what she gets for trying to plot against her.
• Michael votes for Gonzalez, simply saying he’s sorry to see her go.
• Laurel votes for Gonzalez, saying she’s playing too hard, too fast.

Behind-the-Scenes Tidbit: As Gonzalez was leaving she said, “One lion, seven sheep. Sad.” I’m pretty sure she was referring to Brendan as the lion.

This is what annoys me, not getting the full story.  So she was rivals with Jenna?  I don't even know who Jenna is.  It was just the standard boring first elimination storyline of someone supposedly being an easy boot because we are never given a storyline leading up to it.  They were concentrating more on Chris and Domenick.

[Nashville]

10 hours ago, Nashville said:

This is the part where Gonzo lost me; she gets up and starts whispering to a couple of people, they start whispering to some others, pretty soon everybody is whispering to someone else... except nobody is whispering to Donathan.  

 

20 minutes ago, amazingracefan said:

And she didn't go around to everyone at tribal what I saw. 

Er... I'm pretty sure "a couple of people" doesn't translate to "everyone" unless it's F3, and that's still quite a ways off.  :)

Edited March 3, 2018 by Nashville

[CletusMusashi]

4 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

 I think the actual phrase was, "if we need a little person to shove in something."  ???!!!**?(?@#?$%??????????   This really should have been the episode title.  We replayed it over and over ........and I've gotta say I still don't understand what the hell she meant.  I've watched all 35 seasons of this goddamned show and I really can't think of any reason challenge-based or otherwise  you'd EVER need a "little person to shove in something"  to win anything on  Survivor.

I would quite like to see a Survivor hide-and-seek challenge. Kick the coconut, maybe?

You couldn't possibly have a fair game of it, though, without cramming a ball gag onto Jeff Probst.

[green]

3 hours ago, amazingracefan said:

This is what annoys me, not getting the full story.  So she was rivals with Jenna?  I don't even know who Jenna is.  It was just the standard boring first elimination storyline of someone supposedly being an easy boot because we are never given a storyline leading up to it.  They were concentrating more on Chris and Domenick.

Exactly.  See this is what us viewers really miss.  The stuff that is edited out of the tribal situation back in camp.  As well as the endless tampering of the time line showing things in reverse order at times too to build up a artificial storyline usually based in thee short term on trying to make people guess who actually will be voted out in an episode.

That's one of the reasons I LOVE when people go bananas at tribal council running around and talking like crazy.  That is hard to distort and mis-edit.  You learn more from that then you do the whole rest of the hour combined. 

And they usually get enough of the whispering to follow along with what is going on even if they have to do it with audio software enhancement in post-production to pull out some of the whispered convos enough so they can transcribe them then turn them into subtitles for us.  You find out what is going on so much more in this situation.

[marys1000]

9 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

 I think the actual phrase was, "if we need a little person to shove in something."  ???!!!**?(?@#?$%??????????   This really should have been the episode title.  We replayed it over and over ........and I've gotta say I still don't understand what the hell she meant.  I've watched all 35 seasons of this goddamned show and I really can't think of any reason challenge-based or otherwise  you'd EVER need a "little person to shove in something"  to win anything on  Survivor.

I was on Donathan's twitter and she posted  a picture from a challenge where they were rolling a teammate in a barrel.  

Edited March 3, 2018 by marys1000

[JudyObscure]

5 hours ago, AUJulia said:

Actually, you said: "Donathan is such a distractingly dead ringer for Kate McKinnon's SNL impression of Jeff Sessions that I can't think of anything else while he's onscreen." Now you've gone from "dead ringer" to saying two different accents are close enough because they're both Southern. Not irrelevant at all, since Sessions and Donathan sound as much alike as a South African and an Australian. ?

Well now, let's not forget that she didn't compare Donathan to Sessions, but to Mckinnon's impression of Sessions, which was exactly what I thought of when I heard Donathan speak. As a West Virginian, I too marvel at people who think the hillbilly twang is the same as a southern accent, but, again, not all hillbilly twangs are the same either.  Donathan doesn't sound like a Kentucky truck driver.  He sounds like a sweet, gay Kentucky man, who affects a bit of  Scarlet O'Hara in his speech for it's charm potential.  So, to some ears, hillbilly twang plus Scarlet O'Hara might equal Jeff Sessions plus Kate McKInnon. ;)

[NutMeg]

I only watched this yesterday, and so far I'm rather lukewarm on this season.

While I'm fine with a concept of an exile island, the rehash of past blunders doesn't add much, except time fillers and the continued multiplication of advantages/idols and other twists. I don't want to see, again, the footage of Sierra, the stick, James' idols, and all. Clips of past seasons break the flow of this one, and it feels like TPTB decided that this would be a clever way to insert past contestants into the mix because people might be bored with an all new cast season, which to me is rather unfair to the newbies.

There were a few seconds when I was truly impressed with Jacob's knowledge of the game, when he seemed to know so much about Sierra and her legacy advantage - until we were shown he was reading from a piece of paper - sorry, parchment...

It felt more like some version of Survivor board game, somehow, or Survivor role-playing game: the contestants I remember a day later have chosen a character that they are playing to the best of their ability and it doesn't feel organic. Granted, it's not the first season it's happened, but I remember it as being only the case for a couple of people at the most per season. And the roles that casting tried to assemble didn't always behave in the way they were predicted to, which made it more interesting.

But we'll see how the season pans out, I hope I'll be pleasantly surprised. And in any case, I'm looking forward to this board becoming active again!  

[Guest]

What I do like about the Ghost Island theme is it reminds me of Spooky Island in the Scooby Doo movie.   And this cast skewing so young is a bit Scooby gang-like.   

[CletusMusashi]

Now I want to hear somebody get sent to Ghost Island and say "Ruh roh!"

[Jobiska]

I thought Domenick looked like Hank Azaria; even though he's only a few years older than Michael Costello (and therefore almost 20 years younger than Azaria), he's closer to craggy-face Azaria than sweet-baby-cheeks Michael.  But if we're going just by sad, puppydog, dark, dark eyes with similarly framing brows, then sure, all three.

But none of them are as craggy as Brendan who looks to me a lot older than he is.  

What was with the crab grabbing the other crab of its own size?  

I actually liked Jacob, because I have a soft spot for a teacher and especially for a music teacher, considering my son's a musician; that said, yeah, his game play was terrible.  Oh well!  

[Hera]

I missed last season (I'll watch it eventually) and just watched the first episode. While the Ghost Island twist is contrived, I don't find it too offensive. I got a mad Andrew Savage vibe from Brendan on the Malolo tribe, but then he told Jeff that he figured the days of keeping the tribe [physically] strong were over on Survivor during Tribal Council, which makes me think I'll like him far better than I do Savage. Speaking of Malolo, it's clear that Stephanie came to play, as well. I'm looking forward to seeing what she does—I hope there's a pay-off to seeing her find out about the legacy advantage.

I like that players are getting savvier about hidden immunity idols—people are now demanding to see the note that comes with the idol, as well as the idol itself. I think Domenick's plan to wrap a fake idol in a real note is ingenious, even if his execution was ultimately ham-fisted, and gave Chris a the sense that something was off. I'm interested to see how far Chris gets using his intuition. He's the sort of player I don't usually have a lot of time for, and I'm not sure I'm rooting for him, exactly, but I'm curious to see what he does. I didn't blame him for forfeiting the first challenge. I couldn't really tell who was ahead with the puzzle, but if I were him, and I thought my teammate was behind in the puzzle, I probably would have tried to save the fishing gear, as well.

Edited March 4, 2018 by Hera