S36.E10: It's Like the Perfect Crime

[millennium]

I think I would get myself voted off so I could spend days hanging out at Ponderosa with Libby.

[LadyChatts]

15 minutes ago, ByaNose said:

Wow!!  Ghost Island is still a dud. Even though Angela got to play the outcome sucked.  It’s amazing how their main twist (and, title) has so little impact. Remember when Exile Island was considered a punishment? There was no food and no shelter. The weather conditions would be horrible. Now, the weather isn’t a factor. Some people would come back and were practically dying and then had to comepete in a challenge. TPTB can’t control the weather but they could control the amenities. Also, back in the winning tribe would relish punishing someone and sending them to Exile. Now, they chicken house and have them pull rocks. Lame!

Cook Islands was probably my favorite season ever when it came to exile island, mainly because Candice continually got tortured being sent there by the Aitu 4.  Then Adam, who would come so close to winning the reward challenges, was the next favorite to occupy the island.  There was a luxurious spa reward he barely missed out on, so while we saw the winners sitting in a warm hot tub and drinking wine and going to sleep in a nice, soft bed, he was freezing cold and getting drenched on exile island by a rain storm.

I think this Ghost Island theme is a sign they need to get the heck out of Fiji, so at least they can just name a season after the location again if they can't think up a good theme.  GI itself is so pointless.  

Edited April 26, 2018 by LadyChatts

[30 Helens]

I like Donathan, so I was glad to see him get the idol.  But I wish Michael somehow could have found the other half.  That would be a fun alliance.

 

Generally speaking, I think this is one of the most likable casts ever.  Right now, I would be happy with any of the following winning: Michael, Dom, Laurel, Wendell, Donathan. Neutral on Sebastian, Jenna and Chelsea because they are almost invisible, so nothing really to go by.  I used to like Angela but now she kinda scares me.  The only one I actually dislike is Kellyn, and she’s really just a minor irritant.  Usually there are so many more people to hate/ root against!

[Wandering Snark]

48 minutes ago, ByaNose said:

back in the day the winning tribe would relish punishing someone and sending them to Exile. Now, they chicken out and have them pull rocks. Lame!

The only thing lamer than Ghost Island itself is this almost instant 'Yup, let's pick rocks.' process of who should go. I agree with the previously stated that everyone should 'win' something. Sorry, no game for you, but here's a cookie! I guess it wouldn't live up to it's badass billing/motif then but it's just so lame as it's played out. They really needed to add to/change it on the fly because as-is it's terrible.

Also, if there are odds against winning why not let everyone play? That 'No Game For You!!' result has really killed things. So everyone gets a 1 in 3 chance of winning (and maybe then if you chose wrong you get the cookie?) I think that is still enough 'risk' to be worth it.

[GaT]

It always amazes me when someone starts out the episode not being in any major danger of being voted out, & end up getting themselves eliminated because they can't keep their big mouth shut.

[loki567]

Seriously Michael, you hear a HI is under the shelter and at that time you're the number one target, nicety and discretion be damned, go for it! 

I think this episode showed pretty clearly that Laurel doesn't have it in her to win this game. There are some people who are just utterly paralyzed by indecision if they don't have the backing of a stronger personality and that's Laurel to a T. By the same token, I give a lot of credit to Donathan that's he ready to make a move even if Dom or Wendell weren't involved with it. 

Edited April 26, 2018 by loki567

[Oscirus]

After all my complaints about watching players accept their fate and play till they're gone, Im not mad at this episode.

Dez- Almost a good move, but you failed on two things. One never plan a major move until after the IC when the idol winner is locked in, two,  don't tell a whole group tell one person and send out feelers.

Donathon- Are you kidding me? You weren't in danger and nobody else knew about the idol, why not wait until after the camp was cleared as opposed to letting four people in on your secret?

Chelsea- Good job on that IC. Quite the warrior

Angie- Even though I know this won't do you any good now. For some reason, they always put the no vote in the right most vessel. Don't choose that one

Laurel- I'm not hating your commitment to dom Wendell. It's better to be third in a strong three then fifth/sixth in a weak six.

Kellyn- Good job letting Dez go, now the question is how do you recover from the loss of one of your closest allies?

Micheal- I really hope that you're not one of those skin of their teeth winners. You need to hurry up and go so the real game can begin.

Sebastian- nice showing in the comp

Jenna- Easily the most forgettable juror this year.

Dom- Congrats on finding a new rival. Props for steamrolling kellyn. Might want to dial it back a bit.

Wendell- I see you working your social game.  Let those other fools cause drama, you'll just stay in the background, when you should be getting targeted.

[KimberStormer]

Well that was fun.  It's always a treat when people are running around trying to figure out what is going on.  And it wasn't even the boringest possible vote (Michael) for once!  I suppose I too, like Laurel, would not want to go along with Des's plan.  Although taking out three power players when you've got another option -- the Malolo 4 -- where only Michael is a threat is tempting, the fact is that if you come for Kellyn then Dom and Wendell will play idols next time, and will both be upset at you on the jury, whereas the Malolos won't be.  And Des gave her and Donathan a gift where they didn't have to choose between alliances this time at all -- by protecting Dom and Wendell they also were serving the Malolos' interests.

I doubt Kellyn will be any less NAVITI STRONG after this, as it was a solo operation by Des.  So I expect next week to be like nothing ever happened, and Michael on the chopping block again.  But at least for this episode, it was fun to see them turning on each other.  Although Kellyn was as annoying as ever with that sentiment and her post-reward smug, I didn't personally mind the scene where she was trying to strongarm Dom, though it did seem like "a lot", as the kids say.  Perhaps that's the real Kellyn, behind the "wow, everything is going my way!  Golly gee!" facade; I like the pushy Kellyn better at any rate.  It was a bad episode for her, as I'm sure she had Des as a 100% lock for her Final 3 plan, and now she's down a number.  I'm sure she never planned to go to the end with Dom and Wendell, but she just lost a number.

The other thing I'd like to say is that it's always lame when Jeff has the title quote.

6 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

I wish Des had added that to her pitch, and said ‘if you go with them you’re playing for 3rd and don’t deserve to be here.’ 

 

Dangerous words around here!  Whether accurate or not, you are instantly Public Enemy #1 if you suggest such a thing.

6 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

Yay Chelsea for winning immunity!  And did Probst seriously give credit to the ladies this season for winning 3 IC in a row?!

 

I think he did because the women swept the board last season and are keeping the streak running!  I wouldn't be surprised if the women of this season (who I think did not see HHH before they came out) were like "lol that's a random thing to say, it's only 3 challenges" but to Probst it's been a million years since a dude won.

Edited April 26, 2018 by KimberStormer

[blackwing]

Laurel sucks.  If it hadn't been for her, we could have lost Kellyn.  

Dominick sucks.  "OMG these WOMEN aren't content to just sit there and do what they are told.  They're actually trying to take control of their own game, we can't let that happen."

What I don't understand is that all of them are openly talking about Dominick, Wendell and Kellyn as "the strong players" and yet nobody is doing anything about it.  

Sorry to see Des go but I'm glad Michael stayed.  Not sure why Michael took Donathan idol hunting without making sure they're still on the same team.  

Nobody knows about the Laurel/Donathan alliance with Dominick/Wendell, right?  As a plan it's pretty smart.  Just wish it wasn't Dominick and Wendell.

[amazingracefan]

6 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

I like Donathan, so I was glad to see him get the idol.  But I wish Michael somehow could have found the other half.  That would be a fun alliance.

Donathan told a load of people (including Laurel) that he was looking for the other part of the idol instead of having more patience. 

And they calmly vote Des out when they could have gone after those with power.  I was wondering if it was a ruse to get votes on her, use the idol and then get a player out.

Edited April 26, 2018 by amazingracefan

[sigmaforce86]

Desiree broke one of the basic rules of playing Survivor - never draw attention to yourself.  When backed into a corner deny quietly, play it cool, act offended or upset, even stir shit by causing others to argue (who did that in Africa when he managed to get two others to argue about eating the chicken and while they're fighting you see him scurrying away in the background?  That was funny!)  But don't try to deflect by being the one to argue and getting loud and defensive with all the teammates.  That pretty much guarantees you the vote.

Too bad Donathan had to tell the others about the idol.  I think he would have told them anyway and wish he'd have kept it a secret but he sort of got stuck telling them when he needed a shield or two so he could dig.  I didn't realize until last night but why doesn't the shelter have at least one wall?  And no roof either?  I don't think I've seen just a platform in years, maybe I"m forgetting but usually they have something substantial built by now.

At this point I don't think there's a female player left that I'd want to win.  Not unless they start playing a little harder because except for Des who had it all come apart on her I don't see them playing much.  (of course there's editing so there could be scheming we don't see).  Kellyn is the exception but there's something about her I don't like.  As obvious as it seems and as unsatisfying as it might be I think I have to go with Dom and Wendell with Michael as the underdog, if he can keep himself in the game when every tribal seems to be his last.   That said can you imagine if there was a shakeup and the final three were Donathan, Chelsea and Laurel?  Now that would be interesting. Speaking of Kellyn this is who she's reminded me of, since day one.  Sarah Torgov when she played Candace in the 80's movie Meatballs.  

 

 

[JudyObscure]

I actually thought Des's acting skills were awesome.  I was amazed at her ability to keep a self-righteous tone and a straight face while lying in front of four people who she knew, knew she was lying!  At the same time, I thought her ability to do that was a little bit frightening.  Not as frightening as Angela's resting face but pretty scary, nevertheless.

 Kellyn facing down Dom was  kind of  impressive, too, although I don't like her and her gut feelings, and don't understand her overwhelming need to vote out Michael while there are much bigger threats around.  Did you notice who you're losing challenges to, Kellyn?  This is about the fourth year in a row where the after-merge challenges are  primarily endurance and balance related.  Jeff should be done acting surprised that the women are winning them.

Laurel almost cried after being chewed out by Des and it reminded me of just how young she is to be out there dealing with it all, day after sleep deprived day. I think the lack of sleep and food is much harder on the young ones. 

 Laurel and Wendell are my favorites this year but I kind of like them all.  I don't want Angela off my screen until she's done completing her transformation into chiseled jungle robot woman.

[ProfCrash]

10 hours ago, Haleth said:

Who else voted for Michael?  I missed the end reveal. 

 

8 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

I disagree about Des.  Horrible liar?  Yes, but she got backed into a corner.  I don't think she was expecting her plan to blow up in her face, which is a rookie Survivor mistake.  I liked the shot of Laurel when Des said "you're on the bottom" with Laurel not even seeming fazed and the sound effect that followed.  This is a season where Laurel and Donathan are doing the work for Dom and Wendell by being their eyes and ears, and will get screwed by a likely bitter jury in the end.  I think Des's plan was terrific, mainly because it involved getting someone I extremely dislike.  No doubt Michael/Jenna would have gone along with it, but they had everything to lose tonight so I don't blame them for throwing Des under the bus.  It likely bought Michael 3 more days.  Maybe some chaos will erupt at camp and save him.  

Anyway, Des recognized she was on the bottom of Naviti, for a reason I can't figure out if she believed they were Naviti strong and she was tight with Kellyn and Chelsea.  So she decided to make a move and take out someone she thought she couldn't beat in the end and whose already proven to be strong in challenges.  It would have worked out for Malolo, who would have gained a numbers advantage, and Des could have spurred the wrath of Kellyn on the jury so that's one vote she wouldn't have gotten.  Sadly, Des made the fatal mistake of telling the two people in an alliance with Dom and Wendell that she wanted them gone next.  She made moves too late, but it's like Laurel and Donathan.  If they have any intention of getting away from Dom/Wendell, their opportunity is slipping away.

Des handled that poorly. A better tactic would have been to pull Dom aside and say "Kellyn is a threat because she has won challenges, she has a good social game and she has a strong resume. We need to take her out and now is a good time because she is not expecting it. I was lying to the Malolo to get them to work with me to take out Kellyn. Then I was going to take out Michael." She might have been voted out but by continually lying about what happened she made herself look that much worse. There were four people telling the exact same story. Laurel went to tell Dom after it happened. Des was caught with her whole body in the cookie jar.

I think it was a good move on Des's part. No one has a clue that Laurel and Donathon are tight with Dom and Wendall. That is playing perfectly for the alliance of four. Donathon and Laurel are still talking about if it makes sense to stay with Wendell and Dom which is smart. Interestingly enough, Dom and Wendall do not appear to be looking outside their alliance. That surprises me. It probably shouldn't since we got the "family" reference this episode from Dom.

I do wonder if Laurel's move will make people question who she is working with. If they do she has an easy cover. "I figured that telling Dom would lead to Des going home instead of a Malolo. That is better for me." and for the first time in forever the Malolo all voted together.

So much for Kellyn's "We have voted the way you wanted to, tonight Michael goes home." line in the sand. I do wonder how the Des vote will effect Kellyn's alliance with Dom.

Des was the right person to go but I think it might cause some serious trouble in camp. Wendell, Dom, Laurel and Donathon can use that to help their alliance.

I suspect Michael finally goes next week. Dom and Wendell are not going to want to leave a challenge threat in the game for too long and will want to remove a Malolo. Also it will placate Kellyn.

[amazingracefan]

6 minutes ago, JudyObscure said:

Laurel almost cried after being chewed out by Des and it reminded me of just how young she is to be out there dealing with it all, day after sleep deprived day. I think the lack of sleep and food is much harder on the young ones.

Well Laurel was the one who told all about what the plan was against Domenick/Wendell, so she brought it on herself.

[ghoulina]

Can it be? Another week and another satisfying boot? I just don't know what to think any more. 

I haven't liked Desiree since she took it upon herself to rifle through other people's bags. And her completely ignorant blow-up last night just solidified why she doesn't deserve to win. Survivor is a chess game, not a school yard fight. You have to read people, and consider possibilities. You have to reassess, problem solve, and make subtle moves. You don't just go stomping around yelling at people. 

She could have taken a totally different approach and sent Kellyn home. Keep playing dumb, along with Chelsea. Then go back to everyone and let them know that Kellyn knows and that she's too strategic and we really need to double down and get her out. If she had attempted that in a cool and calm manner, I think there's a good chance she could have saved herself. But she went way too aggressive and it all blew up in her face. 

I guess Kellyn saw the light in the end, but I was laughing at her arrogance earlier. She was SO convinced her girls wouldn't turn on her. I know I shouldn't, but I got a lot of joy out of that. The way she was DEMANDING Michael be voted out just made me dislike her even more. 

And I'm relived my boy is still there. Laurel and Don are playing a good game as well. Good on Donathan for finding an Idol. Or, half of a super Idol. Now quite a few people know about it, which I normally hate. But for some reason, I think it might be okay in Donathan's case. Time will tell. 

[Haleth]

5 hours ago, Oscirus said:

Dez- Almost a good move, but you failed on two things. One never plan a major move until after the IC when the idol winner is locked in, two,  don't tell a whole group tell one person and send out feelers.

Chris agrees with you.

I certainly hope Laurel has a plan but she is not going to win without making a move.  Although she seems like a lovely person who gets along with everyone she was outed as Dom and Wendell's spy.  She and Donathan are competing for 3rd place right now.  Time and potential allies are running out for getting rid of Dom and Wendell, and she knows they both have idols.

1 hour ago, blackwing said:

Nobody knows about the Laurel/Donathan alliance with Dominick/Wendell, right?  

I think they do now.  Maybe not Donathan but they know Laurel ran right to the guys.

[ProfCrash]

22 minutes ago, Haleth said:

Chris agrees with you.

I certainly hope Laurel has a plan but she is not going to win without making a move.  Although she seems like a lovely person who gets along with everyone she was outed as Dom and Wendell's spy.  She and Donathan are competing for 3rd place right now.  Time and potential allies are running out for getting rid of Dom and Wendell, and she knows they both have idols.

I think they do now.  Maybe not Donathan but they know Laurel ran right to the guys.

I think it is easy enough to play off her actions as an attempt to get rid of a Naviti and keep Malolo strong. Laurel outed an attempt to get rid of Kellyn, not Wendell or Dom. She placed a target on Des and removed the target from Michael. She also accomplished the near impossible, she got the Malolo four to vote as a block and work together. If anything, her actions can easily be framed to have been protecting her original tribe and take out a Naviti.

[amazingracefan]

They should call it Random Island.  It's a random pick who goes there, and they still have to make a correct random choice to get an advantage there too

[Guest]

2 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

I actually thought Des's acting skills were awesome.  I was amazed at her ability to keep a self-righteous tone and a straight face while lying in front of four people who she knew, knew she was lying!  At the same time, I thought her ability to do that was a little bit frightening.  Not as frightening as Angela's resting face but pretty scary, nevertheless.

LOL at Angela's scary RBF.  

I was kind of grossed out by Des' lying.  I think there are people that can pretty easily ignore the truth and adopt that indignant "I am right, I am the victim here" stance whenever they want.  I don't really see any reason to maintain the charade when it's so many against one.  To me, it was pretty unlikely those Naviti would conjure up this plan to frame Des like that.  But I missed the first 15 minutes so maybe there's something else.  And I guess good for her for sticking to her lie until the end.  But unless it's one person's word against one other's, it seemed like an exercise in futility.  

[peachmangosteen]

11 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

If [Donathan/Laurel] have any intention of getting away from Dom/Wendell, their opportunity is slipping away.

I don't think Laurel has any intentions of getting rid of Dom/Wendell. And if she ever did, I think now that she knows they both have idols she'll be too scared to ever do anything.

10 hours ago, SuburbanHangSuite said:

I refuse to believe that Laurel will be content playing for 3rd.  She has a plan--she just hasn't shared it with us yet.

I think her plan is get to the end with Dom/Wendell/Donathan and then hope Dom/Wendell choose her over Donathan and then she somehow wins because people maybe will like her over Dom/Wendell. I don't see much else happening there with her. She is running out of chances to break up Don/Wendell and if she ever realizes she has to it'll be too late.

2 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

Jeff should be done acting surprised that the women are winning them.

Jeff will never be done being surprised that women can actually do better than men at something.

I'm over Laurel. She's playing scared imo. I mean for her to go straight to Dom with Des' pitch was just sad. You don't have to go along with it, but maybe keep the info to yourself while you think about it geez! At least Donathan appears to realize he's gonna be fucked if he stays in the foursome. But he always deflects to Laurel anyway so it doesn't really matter.

I'm not sure how Dom sees Michael as one of the 'power players.' I like Michael a lot, but so far he's lost almost every tribal IC, lost every individual IC, found 2 idols but played 1 of them incorrectly, and not developed enough bonds to save himself, so he's hardly a 'power player.'

I'm over Dom mostly, too. I still kinda like him, but he's an asshole and it's rather annoying that everyone is just playing his game for him.

I become more of a Kellyn fan with each ep. I mean her personality is awful, I nearly lost it when Des said she had a good one, but the hate she gets online makes me like her lol. And really I just don't want Dom to win and I feel like she's probably the only one who might challenge him. Plus, she's on my fantasy team so!

I wish we heard more from Chelsea. I feel like there's so much more going on with her than we are getting to see. 

Edited April 26, 2018 by peachmangosteen

[truthaboutluv]

47 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

. I mean for her to go straight to Dom with Des' pitch was just sad.

It didn't seem like she went straight to him. She discussed it with Donathan and it seemed like they came to the conclusion that they trusted Dom and Wendell more than they do Des. And to be honest, I saw no indication that Laurel would be any higher on a totem pole in an alliance with Des. At that point, I think her plan was to tell Dom about Des' plan to shift focus on Des so they didn't go for the aforementioned plan to get rid of Michael, which would continue the path of Naviti getting rid of all old Malolo.

I may be giving her too much credit but based on the conversations at tribal, I do think that for many of the players, they do seem to believe there is still this mindset of old Naviti sticking together and coming for all old Malolo. This way, with Des gone, if Laurel does decide she wants to shift things, Michael is still there and that makes the numbers now 6 old Naviti and 4 old Malolo. Not terrible odds, especially now that Donathan has an idol. Again, I'm not saying that is what will happen as I've been saying that I think the one true alliance this season is probably Dom/Wendell/Donathan/Laurel. But I also don't think her targeting and shifting focus onto Des was such a bad move. 

Edited April 26, 2018 by truthaboutluv

[fishcakes]

Laurel did the right thing. If Des's plan had played out the way she wanted and Kellyn, Michael, Dom, and Wendell are gone, that leaves Laurel and Donathan with Des, Chelsea, Sebastian, Angela (all original Naviti) and Jenna (original Malolo). Des and Chelsea have been allied since the beginning, Chelsea and Sebastian were allied at the first tribe swap and are probably more loyal to each other than they'd be to Laurel, Angela probably still thinks Naviti Strong is a thing, and Jenna is basically a floating vote at that point and likely to go with the majority. If Laurel sticks with Dom and Wendell, yeah, she might be third, but if she goes with Des's plan, then she's fifth or sixth.

It would have been nice if Kellyn had been booted, but her having to realize that she got played by dumbass Des was pretty good too. Her little tirade with Dom was ridiculous too with the "we've voted the way you want, now you'll do what we want." She'd only been at TC with Dom twice before that. If she's talking about the Chris vote, while Dom was pushing for it, there seemed to be a consensus by both original tribes that Chris needed to go. And the second time, Michael was the target; he only survived because he had an idol. So she can put away that aggrieved YOU OWE ME THIS nonsense.

[diana]

3 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

Laurel almost cried after being chewed out by Des and it reminded me of just how young she is to be out there dealing with it all, day after sleep deprived day. I think the lack of sleep and food is much harder on the young ones. 

Interestingly enough, Laurel is older at 29 and Desi is just 21. Laurel did seem a bit close to tears when attacked. I thought Desi's plan was pretty bad, but I give her props for not backing down with her lie.

[peachmangosteen]

To me Laurel comes off very meek in every coversation and confessional, so I see her moves more as scared/passive moves. I don't thinks she's gonna do anything but ride with Dom/Wendell until end and then lose to one of them. I think Donathan is more willing to try to do something to improve his chances of winning, but he seems to want to let Laurel run his game so he probably won't do anything either.

Edited April 26, 2018 by peachmangosteen

[ghoulina]

32 minutes ago, truthaboutluv said:

It didn't seem like she went straight to him. She discussed it with Donathan and it seemed like they came to the conclusion that they trusted Dom and Wendell more than they do Des. And to be honest, I saw no indication that Laurel would be any higher on a totem pole in an alliance with Des. At that point, I think her plan was to tell Dom about Des' plan to shift focus on Des so they didn't go for the aforementioned plan to get rid of Michael, which would continue the path of Naviti getting rid of all old Malolo.

I may be giving her too much credit but based on the conversations at tribal, I do think that for many of the players they do seem to believe there is still this mindset of old Naviti sticking together and coming for all old Malolo. This way, with Des gone, if Laurel does decide she wants to shift things, Michael is still there and that makes the numbers now 6 old Naviti and 4 old Malolo. Not terrible odds, especially now that Donathan has an idol. Again, I'm not saying that is what will happen as I've been saying that I think the one true alliance this season is probably Dom/Wendell/Donathan/Laurel. But I also don't think her targeting and shifting focus onto Des was such a bad move. 

I agree with this assessment. I think it gives her options. Yes, she and Donathan are working with Dom/Wendell. But there are still some strong Naviti-Malolo ties going on here. Why would she want Dom/Wendell to keep voting out orange? That gives THEM more of an advantage if they ever want to drop Laurel and Donathan. 

[Dominii]

13 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

I can never not laugh when I hear “Sebastian” and “high” in the same sentence

LOL! I keep expecting him to pull a blunt out of his shorts and fire it up right there on camera.

Just a few observations: if Des hadn't lied in such a big way, she might have been okay. She lied about her lies (if that makes any sense) during tribal EVEN THOUGH several people said that they were privy to what she had said. She needed to go. I don't like liars, and I like damn liars even less.

This is strange, but I kind of want Dom to win. Yeah he's paranoid and arrogant, but there's some kind of "every man" thing about him too. He be fun to hang out with after work.

Michael is boring. He never really shows emotion or laughs or acts silly. He's just deadpan. My girlfriend makes jokes about what having sex with him would be like, which I can't repeat here, but you get the picture.

Please, please, please vote Kellyn out ASAP!

[blackwing]

I was hoping for more things from Angela last night.  Despite her assertion that she's going to start playing, she did nothing.  But because she went to Ghost Island she got more screen time than usual.  The truly useless ones are Sebastian, Chelsea and that other blonde that looks like Libby but isn't Libby.  I think that's Jenna?  I don't think she even spoke.  

I didn't see it until this episode, but I think Michael looks a lot like the Chicago Cubs' Kris Bryant. 

[truthaboutluv]

1 hour ago, fishcakes said:

She'd only been at TC with Dom twice before that. If she's talking about the Chris vote, while Dom was pushing for it, there seemed to be a consensus by both original tribes that Chris needed to go. And the second time, Michael was the target; he only survived because he had an idol. So she can put away that aggrieved YOU OWE ME THIS nonsense.

Yeah I was really thrown by all that dramatic attitude she was giving Dom in that conversation. I did laugh at how quietly and calmly Dom just looked at her, while she was being all overly dramatic, complete with neck twirling. All she was missing was an Alicia finger waving in his face to complete the picture. And when it was all said and done, she too voted for Des. Honestly, when that conversation was happening, I almost for a second thought that Dom would be so irritated with her that the vote would shift to her. 

Edited April 26, 2018 by truthaboutluv

[Oscirus]

23 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

To me Laurel comes off very meek in every concesation and confessional, so I see her moves more as scared moves or passive moves. I don't thinks she's gonna do anything but ride with Dom/Wendell until end and then lose to one of them. I think Donathan is more willing to try to do something to improve his chances of winning, but he seems to want to let Laurel run his game so he probably won't do anything either.

I don't think Laurel is scared as much as I think that she likes power. Right now she has two alliances depending on her so she has all the power in the world. By getting rid of a naviti and keeping malolo strong she can keep her situation more fluid. Only real problem she has is now she has the spotlight on her a bit, which eh, it's final 10, got to get your hands dirty eventually.

Edited April 26, 2018 by Oscirus

[amazingracefan]

1 hour ago, Dominii said:

LOL! I keep expecting him to pull a blunt out of his shorts and fire it up right there on camera.

Just a few observations: if Des hadn't lied in such a big way, she might have been okay. She lied about her lies (if that makes any sense) during tribal EVEN THOUGH several people said that they were privy to what she had said. She needed to go. I don't like liars, and I like damn liars even less.

This is strange, but I kind of want Dom to win. Yeah he's paranoid and arrogant, but there's some kind of "every man" thing about him too. He be fun to hang out with after work.

Michael is boring. He never really shows emotion or laughs or acts silly. He's just deadpan. My girlfriend makes jokes about what having sex with him would be like, which I can't repeat here, but you get the picture.

Please, please, please vote Kellyn out ASAP!

Did Laurel admit she had heard the initial conversation and then blurted it all out to Domineck to blow up the plans?

[Ms Blue Jay]

15 hours ago, ElleryAnne said:

I love Dom's attitude sometimes.  "Hey, how ya doing?"

Oh, 100%, me too.  I can't help but love him.  Even though I think it's unfair that Dom and Wendell always are edited to look perfectly calm and the women aren't.  LOL.  I mean, it might be real and it might not, but Dom and Wendell so far seem soooooooo calm.  And I love it.  They have the best poker faces. The only time Wendell somewhat "lost" his "temper" was his legendary poem about Rapper "Suavay" Chris.  (Laurel and Donathan are pretty calm too, but in a totally different way.  So far, I really like this foursome.  I have no issue with whatever Laurel did I think because I don't care too much about the outcome of the rest of the game either way. I really really like that Laurel can watch something crazy happen and/or somebody verbally attacking her and she just totally listens before calmly thinking about how to deal with it.  This is a life skill that I desperately want.)

15 hours ago, Lamb18 said:

Donathan should have found the other half of the idol by himself or only tell Laurel. Too many people know about his idol now. I keep forgetting that Laurel and Donathan's alliance with Dom and Wendell is not known to the rest of the castaways and then get surprised when I see Michael and Jenna hanging with Laurel and Donathan.

Why couldn't he have simply waited until everyone was asleep?!  Why was he panicking so hardcore?!  The entire thing made no sense to me.  But then again I have no idea why he has no problem letting Michael or Jenna see what he's doing because I have zero clue of their alliances.    I guess that four are from the original (Malolo?) and then Don and Laurel are secretly pairing up with Wendell and Dom.

Edited April 26, 2018 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

15 hours ago, mishap said:

Well, I am not really disappointed with the vote.    But I'd rather is was Kellyn and her ugly swimming suit top.    I'm not sure I would dislike it on everyone, but I do not like it on her.  

Because it looks like her own skin colour and I was confused for a moment at first, thinking I was looking at a skeleton/xylophone type chest.

Des made it REALLY OBVIOUS that she was lying to Kellyn when she said "And where did Dom hear that from, Laurel, or Donathan?" basically saying straight up that she revealed the plan to Laurel and Donathan.  She was totally admitting guilt.  I guess Kellyn is not savvy enough to see that.  (or SUAVAY)

Edited April 26, 2018 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

14 hours ago, Maya said:

Kellyn makes my skin crawl. 

I’m glad Donathan found an idol. Seems like he might need it. 

Asking Donathan if she should put her hair up or down?!  Christ!  I do not like people like that.  What is he, your fucking peasant?   You think your hair is so important to him it's there for his consumption or something?  

Edited April 26, 2018 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

12 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

I think this Ghost Island theme is a sign they need to get the heck out of Fiji, so at least they can just name a season after the location again if they can't think up a good theme.  GI itself is so pointless.  

Disagree.  They can stay in Fiji forever for all I care.  I don't find people suffering in bad weather interesting at all.  That isn't why I watch this show.

[truthaboutluv]

13 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

  I mean, it might be real and it might not, but Dom and Wendell so far seem soooooooo calm.  And I love it.  They have the best poker faces. The only time Wendell somewhat "lost" his "temper" was his legendary poem about Rapper "Suavay" Chris. 

This is why I'm surprised by the many comments of Dominick being paranoid. Because I don't think he is. He seems fairly composed to me. YMMV but paranoid would be his thinking every person was out to get him all the time (not that that's a crazy thought in the game of Survivor but still...). Instead, people come to him about somebody supposedly coming after him, he listens and then considers what the best move for him would be, which is just smart in my opinion. Dom would be stupid to immediately dismiss the idea of anyone coming after him, like Kellyn seemingly did when she was first told about Des' plan. So he listened to Laurel's story, listened to Des and ultimately realized that Des probably was lying and was looking to stir things up and come after him. So they got her first. Makes sense to me. 

As for Wendell, I wouldn't say he lost his temper in that confessional, so much as he was just ragging on Chris. I think that's what they'd call good old fashioned ribbing. Not that I don't think he was completely serious about Chris needing to not rap ever, because I mean yeah, that's a given but I don't think he was actually mad. YMMV.

[Ms Blue Jay]

2 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

To me Laurel comes off very meek in every coversation and confessional, so I see her moves more as scared/passive moves. I don't thinks she's gonna do anything but ride with Dom/Wendell until end and then lose to one of them. I think Donathan is more willing to try to do something to improve his chances of winning, but he seems to want to let Laurel run his game so he probably won't do anything either.

 

I don't see it that way at all.  I think she's calmly thinking.  She thought long and hard about her next move, discussed it with Donathan, and said she'd rather be aligned with Dom & Wendell than not.  I think if somebody's quiet and calm it doesn't necessarily make them meek and passive.  It's just a demeanor.

Yeah.  I put the words "lost" and "temper" in quotes because I was joking.

Edited April 26, 2018 by Ms Blue Jay

[LadyChatts]

17 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Asking Donathan if she should put her hair up or down?!  Christ!  I do not like people like that.  What is he, your fucking peasant?   You think your hair is so important to him it's there for his consumption or something?  

 

They’ve had locations before where they didn’t suffer.  I think a lot of it depends on the time of year they film in such locations.  Why I’m bored with Fiji are the themes.  Ghost Island was different but has been a bust.  I cringe to think what’s else they’ll think of or repeat. 

ETA: sorry, quoted your wrong post.

Edited April 26, 2018 by LadyChatts

[Oscirus]

30 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Des made it REALLY OBVIOUS that she was lying to Kellyn when she said "And where did Dom hear that from, Laurel, or Donathan?" basically saying straight up that she revealed the plan to Laurel and Donathan.  She was totally admitting guilt.  I guess Kellyn is not savvy enough to see that.  (or SUAVAY)

He just outted the fact that he has a secret alliance to Laurel in neon letters and Kellyn pretty much ignored it. Kellyn had her boot Michael blinders on though so pretty much anything would've gotten past her at that point.

Edited April 26, 2018 by Oscirus

[ProfCrash]

Dom is paranoid. He has said he is paranoid. Wendell has calmed him down a couple of times. Donathon stopped Dom from going to talk to Jenna and Libby as soon as Dom learned about the water hole conversation. I suspect we are not seeing as much of Dom's paranoia for some reason. Dom is different then Tony and some of the other highly paranoid players in that Dom understands that he is paranoid and good about talking to the folks in his group before going off. Outside of the Chris silliness, Dom has done a good job of not confronting the people he is worried about. Kellyn brought in Des, not Dom. There are a whole lot of shots of Dom drinking from his coffee cup, watching what is happening and thinking and plotting.

[Nashville]

13 hours ago, mythoughtis said:

I don’t know why they are all still talking up the ‘ tribe strong’ mantra. Teams don’t win survivor. Teams don’t even win immunity at this point.  

That’s just Survivor 101: REPEATEDLY bring up EVERY reason in the world why EVERYONE should maintain loyalty to you, while you decide the chosen few who’ll get YOUR loyalty.  ;)

 

10 hours ago, loki567 said:

Seriously Michael, you hear a HI is under the shelter and at that time you're the number one target, nicety and discretion be damned, go for it! 

One thing, though.  We saw Donathan find the first half of the HII, and we saw his TH on it - but we didn’t see Donathan immediately show the half-a-HII to Michael.  Did they get separated while searching, and - more importantly - how quickly did Donathan reveal his find to Michael?  

• Immediately?  
• Later, but before going back to the shelter?  
• After trying but being unable to recover the second HII half on his own?

 It could simply be the edit, but I found the omission somewhat telling.  Makes me wonder: if Donathan had been able to recover the second half of the HII stealthily on his own, would Michael have even known Donathan had found it...?

 

5 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

I actually thought Des's acting skills were awesome.

So did Des.  Whoops.  ;>

 

4 hours ago, Haleth said:

I think they do now.  Maybe not Donathan but they know Laurel ran right to the guys.

IMHO Laurel’s dash to Donathan would (at present) be more likely construed as an attempt to garner favor with the cool kids than as evidence of an alliance - at least, that’s the way I’d spin it.  :)

[HurricaneVal]

15 hours ago, North of Eden said:

Please fire the SURVIVOR editors who 99% of the time telegraph the boot in the first two minutes of the show. It was a huge neon sign over Des the minute we got this hitherto unknown backstory about her being homeless. Nothing says a boot like the sudden revelation of backstory.

OMG!  Right!?!  I knew it was going to be Des last night as soon as the camera focused on her waking up in the "shelter" and her voiceover about being homeless in the past.  Then they showed her playing hard, and doubling down on the lying, and it was probably the most obviously telegraphed to the viewers vote ever.  You can't go from completely ignoring someone to outright featuring them and not expect us to pick up that there's a reason for that.  If they ever spend an episode focusing on Jenna or Chelsea, it is a lock they're a goner at the end. 

Probst and Burnett need to change that "managing the narrative" editing method they're using and go back to documenting the day to day happenings at the tribes and let the story unfold naturally.  Right now it is so very predictable it is getting boring.

What the hell was Angie eating at Ghost Island?  Usually there's that container of rice for them--enough to absolutely gorge on--but it looked last night like she was cooking up some foraged beach snails.  Maybe she's acquired a taste for them?  Maybe she's trying to get more protein?  Or was that all she was given to eat?  I just thought it was strange.  Ghost Island is beautiful though, I'd want to spend my time on that lovely beach.  Maybe she did and hit a snail bonanza...

Why do people reveal their Hidden Immunity Idols?  "Hidden" is right in the name.  It is a clue...take it as an instruction.  Keep it HIDDEN, fer dawg's sake!  There is a time and a place to reveal it.  It can be used strategically.  But y'all ain't Yul, who used his HII to the best strategic advantage. 

Donathan is such an eager little puppy that he can't help himself.  I'm rooting for him to win.

[Mahamid Frauded Me]

Sorry, can't switch my dislike off of Kellyn - for a minute when she was barking orders, I thought she won immunity - took me a while to remember who did, it was whats her face ( lifesize Pez - love it )  I really hope Lauren hatches a good plan or something, otherwise she should just kiss winning goodbye.  

[Kaiju Ballet]

2 hours ago, Dominii said:

LOL! I keep expecting him to pull a blunt out of his shorts and fire it up right there on camera.

Thanks, this made me LOL. At this point whenever Sebastian’s onscreen, it’s like another closeup on native wildlife doing their own thang and part of the scenery.

5 hours ago, ProfCrash said:

Des handled that poorly. A better tactic would have been to pull Dom aside and say "Kellyn is a threat because she has won challenges, she has a good social game and she has a strong resume. We need to take her out and now is a good time because she is not expecting it. I was lying to the Malolo to get them to work with me to take out Kellyn. Then I was going to take out Michael." She might have been voted out but by continually lying about what happened she made herself look that much worse. There were four people telling the exact same story. Laurel went to tell Dom after it happened. Des was caught with her whole body in the cookie jar.

ITA I’m happy with Desiree’s ouster—I too have wanted her to go ever since she rifled through Spandex’s bag. Didn’t quite understand what she said on the way out, but kind of expected her to give everyone the finger.

As @fishcakes said, Kellyn’s smugness taking a hit is a good substitute for her getting booted out, for now.  And no, Angela, your no-vote didn’t make a difference. So she actually did make the right choice to play. But other than that, GI is boring (although I was happy that she "lost")

Donathan—yeah, I feel like we’re really missing something in why he chose to tell others as @Nashville said.  Just to have people act as a shield seems pointless when you’re now at the mercy of those people to keep it a secret. There had to have been other creative ways of digging there—it’s not like anyone else knew to look in that spot. What led to that decision? He's been otherwise pretty smart.

Dom, he does seem to have upped his social game since Chris got booted. His paranoia is keeping him in the power position right now. It’s interesting that he’s seen that way by others as a way to manipulate him (unsuccessfully). I didn’t like him at the beginning, but now I’ve got to respect his play.

[greyflannel]

4 minutes ago, Kaiju Ballet said:

Thanks, this made me LOL. At this point whenever Sebastian’s onscreen, it’s like another closeup on native wildlife doing their own thang and part of the scenery.

ITA I’m happy with Desiree’s ouster—I too have wanted her to go ever since she rifled through Spandex’s bag. Didn’t quite understand what she said on the way out, but kind of expected her to give everyone the finger.

As @fishcakes said, Kellyn’s smugness taking a hit is a good substitute for her getting booted out, for now.  And no, Angela, your no-vote didn’t make a difference. So she actually did make the right choice to play. But other than that, GI is boring (although I was happy that she "lost")

Donathan—yeah, I feel like we’re really missing something in why he chose to tell others as @Nashville said.  Just to have people act as a shield seems pointless when you’re now at the mercy of those people to keep it a secret. There had to have been other creative ways of digging there—it’s not like anyone else knew to look in that spot. What led to that decision? He's been otherwise pretty smart.

Dom, he does seem to have upped his social game since Chris got booted. His paranoia is keeping him in the power position right now. It’s interesting that he’s seen that way by others as a way to manipulate him (unsuccessfully). I didn’t like him at the beginning, but now I’ve got to respect his play.

I think she said that the ladies had better keep winning.

[iMonrey]

There's a Chelsea? And a Jenna? Did anyone else know this?

Quote

This season's fatal flaw.  The terms Malolo and Naviti still have no meaning to me.

The failing of this season is that "Naviti strong" turned out to be a major thing, despite the fact that the tribes were mixed up after the first two weeks. With 20 people that's not nearly enough time for the viewers to get a grasp on who is Malolo and who is Naviti. They probably did not expect any such alliance to stay that strong after such a short time.

That being the case, what the show needed to do is caption all the players as "former Naviti" and "former Malolo" so we know who's where. 

I finally caved, went to the CBS site, and looked up who the hell the remaining Malolo are (FYI: Donathan, Laurel, Michael, and someone named Jenna.)

Further confusing matters is the well-covered alliance of Donathan, Laurel, Dom and Wendell. That's two Malolo and two Naviti, so it makes it even harder to grasp the idea of Naviti having a strong 7-person advantage. 

Seemingly, Dom and Wendell are in the best position. They have the numbers in their favor as well as a side deal with two Malolo tribe members. 

Idols aside, Donathan and Laurel don't profit from this alliance nearly as much. Dom and Wendell can ditch them any time, and even if they go to the final four with them they fare poorly with a jury that perceives them as goats. They probably wouldn't have fared much better going along with Desi's plan, though, so I'm not sure what their best move is at this point.

[Nashville]

2 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

To me Laurel comes off very meek in every coversation and confessional, so I see her moves more as scared/passive moves. I don't thinks she's gonna do anything but ride with Dom/Wendell until end and then lose to one of them. I think Donathan is more willing to try to do something to improve his chances of winning, but he seems to want to let Laurel run his game so he probably won't do anything either.

I see Laurel as more passive/aggressive than scared/passive - and, unlike every Southern woman in my family, I don’t mean that in a bad way. :)  In this context I mean Laurel presents a passive public personality, which at times requires feigning fright or timidity; under the placid exterior, however, she is simultaneously pursuing an aggressive strategic agenda.  

IMHO Laurel’s only mistake in the episode was an error in overestimating Dom’s regard for the Dom-Don-Laurel-Wendell quad vs. his regard for the “strong player” side of the game with which he is also aligned.  If Laurel’s estimation had been correct:

• Dom would have never blown things up by blabbing Laurel’s intel to Kellyn.
• Depending upon how Dom chose to (quietly) lean his weight, either Des or Kellyn would have had their torch snuffed.
• All of us would be applauding Laurel for a significant addition to her resume.

As it is, (a) Laurel still got a Naviti evicted over a Malolo, and (b) probably garnered some additional trust in the process.  Kellyn may not be immediately happy with the dust-up, but there’s little doubt she’d be enjoying a Ponderosa burger right now if Laurel hadn’t outed Des’s plan.

And for the record:

1. I’m glad Des is gone; she was never as good at this game as she thought she was.
2. After Hurricane Des has finished blasting Laurel and Dom, Des has stomped off, and both Laurel and Dom stand there for a moment silently - then Dom turns to Laurel and delivers his “Hey, how ya doing?” line..?  True gold.  I’m not often all that fond of Dom on a personal level, but in that moment I loved him.  :D

[SuburbanHangSuite]

Something else that I just remembered:

You'd think that after all these seasons of Survivor, I would stop attempting to guess who will prevail in challenges.  If I were keeping track, I would have an abysmal percentage of correct guesses.  Last week, I would've bet everything that Wendell's team would lose that Reward Challenge.  But then he kind of single-handedly took over winning those tacos.  Last night, I swore Wendell and Dom would win Reward in a walk--that team looked unbeatable.  But rowing a boat in ocean currents proved to be one thing at which Wendell does not excel.  

And I'm sorry; those brownies required a big container of ice-cold milk and I don't believe I saw any.

[meep.meep]

16 hours ago, vb68 said:

Ghost Island continues to be a flop. They don't even need it for all the other hidden idols.

Ghost Island seems to be saving the viewers from idol clues being hidden on rewards.  I don't ever again want to see people eating spaghetti with their bare hands to find the clue written on the tablecloth below.  I do not understand why they are letting people draw rocks to go to GI - at this point they know there's a probability that who ever goes will pick up an idol there.  And, there's food!

Is this the worst group of food scavengers, hunters, and fishers ever on Survivor?  I don't remember anyone catching a fish, or hauling back coconuts, or even getting clams or snails.

[Guest]

50 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Disagree.  They can stay in Fiji forever for all I care.  I don't find people suffering in bad weather interesting at all.  That isn't why I watch this show.

I agree.  And I think that is their plan... to stay there forever.  

I don't think Don could've looked for the idol half while people were sleeping because wasn't it under the thing they sleep ON? 

I guess it had wide slats he could reach through and also he could see the idol down there, because it didn't seem to take much to retrieve.  

57 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Asking Donathan if she should put her hair up or down?!  Christ!  I do not like people like that.  What is he, your fucking peasant?   You think your hair is so important to him it's there for his consumption or something?  

What I liked about that is it was a glimpse of real camp life, and it was dull as hell.  She did sound like a twit but I can understand her asking.  You are on tv and have no mirrors.  I might be asking whoever's around if I'm looking ridiculous. 

I felt kind of bad for Chelsea in the challenge because it looked like she had a white line from sea salt on her bikini bottoms' crotch that was kind of gross looking.

33 minutes ago, Nashville said:

One thing, though.  We saw Donathan find the first half of the HII, and we saw his TH on it - but we didn’t see Donathan immediately show the half-a-HII to Michael.  Did they get separated while searching, and - more importantly - how quickly did Donathan reveal his find to Michael?  

I figure Michael must not have known until then because if he had he could've been helping Don find it sooner?  

2 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

There's a Chelsea? And a Jenna? Did anyone else know this?

Maybe I'm the only one but yes, I've known about Jenna and Chelsea since maybe the 2nd or 3rd ep.  They haven't gotten a ton of screen time but they haven't exactly been Brett from Samoa, either?

[Nashville]

1 minute ago, SuburbanHangSuite said:

Last night, I swore Wendell and Dom would win Reward in a walk--that team looked unbeatable.  But rowing a boat in ocean currents proved to be one thing at which Wendell does not excel.  

Good GOD, but that demonstration of How NOT To Paddle A Boat drove me up the frikkin’ wall.  

News flash for anybody who didn’t know: if everybody in the SAME DAMN BOAT paddles on the SAME DAMN SIDE, that SAME DAMN BOAT is going to do NOTHING but go around in the SAME DAMN CIRCLES, dammit.

How the hell do you get on this show without knowing how to paddle a damn boat?