S36.E14: It is Game Time Kids

[peachmangosteen]

52 minutes ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

So keep your dick in your pants, like Wendell did.  ; ) 

Oh, Wendell most definitely did not, but 6 of the jury members were less offended by him/liked him more, so it doesn't really matter.

There have always been 'bitter' jurors. Sue may be the bitterest juror of all time and that was season one! If enough people are bitter with you that you don't get enough votes to win then you fucked up and that's on you, not the jurors.

Edited May 28, 2018 by peachmangosteen

[Earlfor1]

9 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

Oh, Wendell most definitely did not, 

I think Winston9-DT3 was referring to Wendell's blue underwear (tongue in cheek) ;) he wore all season. 

[peachmangosteen]

8 minutes ago, Earlfor1 said:

I think Winston9-DT3 was referring to Wendell's blue underwear (tongue in cheek) ;) he wore all season. 

Well then, I definitely disagree, because that thing was on full display at all times!

[Guest]

You thought Wendell showed a dickish personality out there?  I don’t recall that.  That’s what I meant.  Don’t lord your position over others, mainly.  Be nice. 

[Rachel RSL]

4 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

There have always been 'bitter' jurors. Sue may be the bitterest juror of all time and that was season one! If enough people are bitter with you that you don't get enough votes to win then you fucked up and that's on you, not the jurors.

It's so true. I can't think of a Survivor example but I distinctly remember way back in season 10 of Big Brother, Jerry - the token oldie of the house - said that his vote was based on kindness. In interviews after, he said that Dan, the winner, always made a point of saying goodnight to him every night before he went to bed. So, even though Dan is arguably one of the best Big Brother players of all time, one of his winning votes had absolutely nothing to do with his gameplay and was pretty much based solely on being a nice guy. And that's really what every show like this comes down to: You have to know what each potential jury member needs from you in order to secure their vote at the end, whether it be winning comps or working hard at camp or even the tiniest thing like saying goodnight. It can be annoying at times for viewers but, in the end, jury management is all that really matters.

[ProfCrash]

On 5/25/2018 at 2:13 PM, iMonrey said:

Unfortunately, DVRs do not. They need to program it that way if people are recording it. Imagine how furious you would be to sit through the whole first two hours only to discover most of the final tribal council and the announcement of the winner was cut out of your recording? I'm sure most people who watch this show also watch the reunion special but a lot of people will assume their DVRs will just automatically record the reunion special and most do not.

My DVR is set to record Survivor and it always records the show and the reunion. I donot set a special recording for the reunion. It has always been that way and I have had Comcast, FIOS, and Direct TV. At this point in time, we all know that there is a reunion show and the winner is announced on the reunion show. It has been ages since the winner was not announced on the reunion show. There were all the cheesy "Jeff bringing the votes from final tribal to NY" clips back in the early days so I am thinking it might only have been the first season that the winner was announced on the regular show. 

On 5/25/2018 at 3:48 PM, Quilty said:

I've watched since season one. Remember when the contestants actually did something besides lay around and talk? They had to catch fish and make fire etc. The human element is completely gone. I keep watching because I hope it will get better and someone might be a little interesting. Nothing but puzzles and food rewards now. And talk talk talk.....

Season finale and I still don't know who these people are. Boring. 

Many folks discssed Sea Bass fishing and bringing in food. I suspect that we see it when the provider is close to winning or is voted out because they are a threat, think Ozzy. Otherwise, TPTB probably see the gathering of food as boring. THey tend to show the camp activities only when they are 100% game related. So trips for fire wood or water that lead to strategizing or idol finds. Food gathering only when it leads to idol finding or explaining a "big" vote. 

16 hours ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

I just read an EW exit interview with Sebastian where he said he had nightmares about Dom out there for about a month, because he was so overbearing or something, which surprised me.  

http://ew.com/tv/2018/05/24/survivor-finale-sebastian-noel-ghost-island-drunk/
 

It also said he'd had drinks before FTC.  LOL

Dom was very over bearing at the begining of the game. Sea Bass was alligned with Chris in the first episode. At that point, Dom was being a loud, over bearing dude. Bradely and Wendell commented in their exit interviews or talking heads that they pulled Dom aside and told him to chill out. Dom seemed to chill out after Chris was voted out but it might have been too late. I suspect that Dom was potentially abrassive in trying to get Chris out. It might very well be that people thought it better to vote out Chris because he was a challenge threat and because he was more chill at camp. Dom might have been seen as more loud and brash and easy to beat because he had annoyed enough of Naviti at the begining of the game. Donathon might have felt the same way because he was working more closely with Dom then Michael and got the same vibe.

[peachmangosteen]

15 hours ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

You thought Wendell showed a dickish personality out there?  I don’t recall that.  That’s what I meant.  Don’t lord your position over others, mainly.  Be nice. 

Oh yea, I definitely do. He was a dick about not winning that one IC because he fucked up and his thing with the two idols wasn't dissimilar to Dom's, from what we saw. I wasn't trying to be not nice so I'm sorry. I was simply saying Wendell didn't really keep his dick in his pants from my perspective. He was just quieter about it than Dom because Dom is loud and aggressive and Wendell just isn't. And more of the jurors didn't see Wendell as a dick or saw him as less of a dick, so he won.

As for the underwear thing, I think we can all agree his dick was out all the time in that sense!

Edited May 29, 2018 by peachmangosteen

[Guest]

1 hour ago, peachmangosteen said:

I wasn't trying to be not nice so I'm sorry. 

I wasn't tell you to be nice, lol.  I was further illustrating what I meant by keeping your dick in your pants in the game.  Sorry, should've made that clear.  You're always nice.  

I didn't think Wendell was a dick about messing up that challenge, just kind of disappointed with himself.  

I think they showed people fishing when it affected the game AND when they got cool footage of it, like underwater film of a hot dude adeptly spearing fish.  Maybe the conditions out there don't favor that or however Seb caught fish was less sexy-- like with a net?  Plus it didn't seem to help him much, game-wise.  

[Jeanne222]

Speaking of Wendall's dick how did they allow him to run around flipping and flopping in those underpants.  Honestly I never even looked at his face most of the season!

[peachmangosteen]

11 minutes ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

I wasn't tell you to be nice, lol.  I was further illustrating what I meant by keeping your dick in your pants in the game.  Sorry, should've made that clear.  You're always nice.   

LMAO clearly my reading comprehension is terrible!

I think you're right that Wendell was just disappointed in himself, but imo he came off whiny and blame-y. But that was probably just because of the sleep deprivation/hunger/stress. 

[Guest]

4 hours ago, ProfCrash said:

It has been ages since the winner was not announced on the reunion show.

For what it's worth, on CBS All Access , the winner was revealed in the last few minutes of the pre-reunion ep, called "It Is Game Time Kids".  Jeff revealed it at 1:51:40 of the 1:54:28 long show.  The very first scene in the reunion ep is Wendell's 2012 audition clip, then the little girl revealing her Wendell pick.  The reunion ep is only 16 minutes long.  So I think they just slice it up however they feel like?  I checked the prior three seasons there and same thing-- the winner is revealed before the start of the reunion show.  

[PaperTree]

Wendell is getting a musical congratulations from xpn.org in Philly right now.

"If I had a million dollars"

"Is there a ghost"

"Furniture"

"Spent the day in bed"

Very nice!

 

ETA:  Here's the whole thing

12:49 pm Cheap Trick - On Top Of The World

12:46 pm Cheap Trick - The Summer Looks Good On You

12:40 pm Bill Conti - Gonna Fly Now (Theme From "Rocky")

12:35 pm Jackson Browne - Lawyers In Love

12:32 pm Morrissey - Spent The Day In Bed

12:27 pm John Gorka - Furniture

12:22 pm Survivor - Eye of the Tiger

12:19 pm Band Of Horses - Is There A Ghost

12:14 pm Barenaked Ladies - If I Had $1,000,000

12:08 pm The National Reserve - New Love

12:04 pm Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Better Days

12:00 pm The Black Keys - Gold On The Ceiling

Edited May 29, 2018 by PaperTree

[ByaNose]

2 hours ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

I wasn't tell you to be nice, lol.  I was further illustrating what I meant by keeping your dick in your pants in the game.  Sorry, should've made that clear.  You're always nice.  

I didn't think Wendell was a dick about messing up that challenge, just kind of disappointed with himself.  

I think they showed people fishing when it affected the game AND when they got cool footage of it, like underwater film of a hot dude adeptly spearing fish.  Maybe the conditions out there don't favor that or however Seb caught fish was less sexy-- like with a net?  Plus it didn't seem to help him much, game-wise.  

It is interesting to see the wide shot of that challenge. Wendell really did win and you can see it since he was on the end. Usually, with the editing another shot is being shown at the same time when it really happened before/after. I actually had to rewatch it because I thought they were just showing Wendell standing there moving his arms. The wide shot above really shows he won. That said, I'm guessing he was in a little shock and knew he won but didn't convey it to Probst. Then he sort of gave Laurel a hard time when he was in the wrong.

Edited May 29, 2018 by ByaNose

[Nashville]

2 hours ago, ByaNose said:

It is interesting to see the wide shot of that challenge. Wendell really did win and you can see it since he was on the end. Usually, with the editing another shot is being shown at the same time when it really happened before/after. I actually had to rewatch it because I thought they were just showing Wendell standing there moving his arms. The wide shot above really shows he won. That said, I'm guessing he was in a little shock and knew he won but didn't convey it to Probst. Then he sort of gave Laurel a hard time when he was in the wrong.

Frankly, I thought a lot of Wendell’s reaction in that challenge was confusion born of deprivation; W was so out of it, I half-suspect it took him a minute to realize he hadn’t said “Jeff!” - or anything else - out loud.

[MissEwa]

28 minutes ago, Nashville said:

Frankly, I thought a lot of Wendell’s reaction in that challenge was confusion born of deprivation; W was so out of it, I half-suspect it took him a minute to realize he hadn’t said “Jeff!” - or anything else - out loud.

That's how I read it too. Yeah, he was whiny but mostly just upset with himself, which I think anyone would be in that scenario. TBH I felt like he handled it really well given the stakes. He could have just not said anything, but IMO drawing attention to it and his subsequent reaction was instrumental in his eventual win. It's unlikely Laurel was *actually* going to flip at that point, but it allowed her to feel better about her decision, and Wendell's not making a bigger deal of it may have made her feel a little indebted to him, like he had somehow given her the win.

(OF COURSE, Wendell had no recourse to challenge the win, and there was no logical reason for Laurel *not* to flip on him when that happened, but I'm speculating more about the emotional impact of what happened and Wendell's reaction, and how Laurel felt about it. He could have been a bigger boob about it at the IC, then bitched and moaned back at camp, making her feel like crap, bringing other people into it and overtly demanding that she owed him something - many lesser social players would have - but he didn't, and I think that helped him win.)

[BarneySays]

I thought this was a suitably shitty end to a shitty season.  Apparently, they're running this show on a dime (plus Probst's botox bills) because there was nothing to engage the viewer.  They apparently have adopted the boston rob strategy- pick a "star" and surround him (usually him) with a supporting cast of drooling morons and losers who are susceptible to doing what the star wants.  Film the star preening and twirling a mustache.  Since there's no inherent drama in this formula, we'll fabricate it by piecing together random comments of players about "a big move" or strategy, only to see it obviously deflate because the cast was chosen for its cowardice to act.  The apotheosis of this was the minutes wasted on dom's hollow ruminations on battling Wendell over fire.  Oh, no, the audience shrieks.  He can't be that dumb.  While the rest shout, yes, do it, I want to see you lose. 

What is lost is any actual engagement with the cast or a simple getting to know them experience.  Most of them remained enigmas up to the end, especially the military woman (whose name I have already forgotten).  No discussion of real strategy, no actual surviving (hell, they're sitting around sipping coffee every fucking day it seems).  The only dialogue we hear is about how important a game show is to them (thereby telegraphing their shallowness).  Enough with that nonsense.  The show should stop jerking itself off all of the time.  It makes me less inclined to watch because it seems to cater to a group of losers who have imbued a silly tv show with great import in their lives. 

This season was reduced to six characters:  the final three (who simply can't be ignored), Kellyn (the melodramatic camera hog), Donathon (playing the bathetic minority who discovers his humanity by playing survivor- wretch), and Michael (fodder for the female audience and probst, the brilliant survivor strategist[sic]- how?  why?  No reason, just because).   The blonde guy was hilarious to watch, but he got booted early.  The rest of the cast remain nameless faces.  What's the point if this is the formula?

On 5/28/2018 at 5:32 PM, peachmangosteen said:

There have always been 'bitter' jurors. Sue may be the bitterest juror of all time and that was season one! If enough people are bitter with you that you don't get enough votes to win then you fucked up and that's on you, not the jurors.

I agree, except I don't think one person can be responsible for the bitterness of another, unless that bitterness was generated by the other person.  When a player acts out of spite and insecurity, it can't be another's fault.  It's an expression of the puerility of the bitter juror.     

Finally, I can't help but think the jury purposely decided to split the votes and see how it would be resolved.  Or, if they knew Laurel would have to decide, they thought that would be a fitting end to the season.  They didn't seem a terribly engaged group.  In fact, most of the nameless faces seemed annoyed to even have to go through the motions and wanted to get back to the pool. 

Edited May 30, 2018 by BarneySays

[NutMeg]

I too think the editing was extremely bad. We never got to know how the not chosen (for broadcast) ones interacted. Come to think of if, we also saw very little interactions between the people highlighted this season and the rest of the cast.

This season was boring, no doubt, because idols reduced any suspense to X or Y!!!!?, when really at it would have made more fun if we still had viable options A, B, C and Z, at a minimum. 

I too would like to know the rest of the cast more and not seem them reduced to stereotypes (Sebastian this season, even the Judd who was called Fabio, but at least he could laugh at the stereotype all the way to the bank).

While I'm happy with the ending, I find that this season has not ben exciting, and that may be mostly because we got to know so little about some contestants, but also because of these HII that work too late in the game (the winner is X or Y, as highlighted by editing; both have II that can bring them to 4; then, in the worst scenario for them, they'll have to build a fire. And as their opponent hasn't been portrayed as a desirable winner, there is a high probability that contestant X or Y, as the case may be, will win the fire challenge, which means tremendous odds on winning the game.  

Yeah, riveting indeed. 

[Daisy]

On 5/26/2018 at 7:35 PM, cleo said:

It is Survivor, not kindergarten,

 

As true as it is (and goodness knows i'm a heartless wench when it comes to "It's time to play for luuuuuuvvvvv". managing people's emotions is a big part of the game (in fact I'd argue it's the biggest part. more than winning challenges and Making! Big! Moves!) because you don't know how people will react to you, you don't know if something totally innocent blows off in their head. 

On 5/28/2018 at 10:30 AM, Nashville said:

Agree x1000.  The show’s been running for 18 years now, but my personal impression is that the whole “bitter Jury” thing has really ramped up from speculative theory to reality the past half-dozen years or so.  Used to be it took something like a Russell Hantz-sized crowbar to pry Jurors away from a vote based on who played the better strategic game; now all it takes, apparently, is some harsh words at a TC or two.

I don't think i ever really understood why Sue hated Kelly by the end. Kelly never really got into it, Sue would just go she betrayed me she was playing the other side, but it was enough to make her go all Rats and Snakes on Kelly. (and that speech impacted two votes in Gervase and Colleen. so if Greg didn't go all "pick a number" (i know he was going to vote Rich but still), she wins based off a Bitter Juror (in reverse). and this show is completely different and not 18 yrs old lmao. 

But basically. you're always gonna have butt hurt. you have to know how to manage it. 

 

On 5/28/2018 at 11:01 AM, Winston9-DT3 said:

To me, feelings have always mattered.  Like I said earlier, social game. 

 

exactly.

 

On 5/28/2018 at 5:32 PM, peachmangosteen said:

Oh, Wendell most definitely did not, but 6 of the jury members were less offended by him/liked him more, so it doesn't really matter.

There have always been 'bitter' jurors. Sue may be the bitterest juror of all time and that was season one! If enough people are bitter with you that you don't get enough votes to win then you fucked up and that's on you, not the jurors.

that's how i've always seen it. 

[cleo]

I've thought about this further, and ultimately, my reaction isn't really about winning, or how to win, though I was annoyed about Dominick losing. And yes, given that he lost, he obviously should have done something different to win. 

But regardless of that, regardless of whether Dominick or Wendell won,  to me a lot of people this season overreacted to very little. I still haven't seen or read anything that convinced me otherwise, but it's definitely up for debate as none of us were there. But for me, I didn't really respect most of the others this season, how they played their individual games, including how they managed their task on the jury.

It's also funny- it seems like a season of newbies should be good, but more often than not it ends up a dud, or that may be the show overall at this point.

Edited June 8, 2018 by cleo