S37.E13: Finale

[eel2178]

17 hours ago, SuburbanHangSuite said:

Angelina---stop with the "I'm representing strong women.  Yada, yada, yada."  You don't represent me.  And she's already pitching to be a return player.  You'd think she slink away in embarassment but, nope.  She's consistent, that one.

She played every card she had: woman-card, Hispanic-card, military wife-card, rice-card, hard worker-card, I found an idol-card, I almost died finding an idol-card, etc. She may think she is brilliant at negotiating, but she just came across as whiney and manipulative.

[Ms Blue Jay]

2 hours ago, ljenkins782 said:

His tone of voice and body language were super unfortunate. I get the feeling that he's the kind of guy that's great in one on one or small subsets of a group, where he can bond with people over talking shit about the other members of the group, so maybe it was difficult for him to have the entire group together and address them all at once.

Mike actually claimed that's his strength, though, as a director.  Addressing a huge group of people at once.  He said that at the Reunion.

I don't think Carl leaving Gabby out of 1 or 2 votes is the crime others seem to think.  I agree with Bryce Lynch on that.  It's annoying, but it's not the worst sin of all in this game.  Carl never said he was going to vote out Gabby.  He was always DAVIDS FIRST, everyone else after.  That actually implies Gabby would have been safe for awhile.  But she took it extremely personally.

Contrast that to Davie who outright said he didn't take (what was it?  The vote to get out Carl) personally and continued on to work with the same people who did it (Christian).

I get that Alison was willing to work with Gabby but that's just dumb ol' Alison.  Who knows where that would lead?  Mike was the head of the Goliaths in my opinion and he made it clear that every David but Nick was to be voted out of there ASAP.  And I think he felt the same about Nick, but Nick kept winning immunity.  Gabby didn't KNOW this, but in hindsight, demolishing the Davids because of as light by Carl looks really ridiculous.

Somebody said "Davie's just likeable" implying no chance of winning.  I really disagree!  I personally thought Davie had the best chance of winning out of the top 5.  The person to give him major competition was Christian, who I believe was #6.  Nick and Davie really fell asleep at Top 5 and that was a fatal flaw.  Nick still pulling out the win was a miracle.

Edited December 20, 2018 by Ms Blue Jay

[mikewho]

10 hours ago, DallasGypsy said:

I lost a lot of respect for Christian after he was voted out.   At his Ponderosa, he was pontificating about the game ... he sat in the jury box making faces as if he was the only one astute enough to understand what was going on ... and, finally, he voted for Mike.  

If he's never invited back, fine with me.

Thank You! I never liked Christian from the beginning. I thought that whenever he was shown on the jury, he looked smug as hell. And then at the reunion, he actually said some shit like, "I don't speak like others do. I use words like 'Algorithm' ". Really, Einstein? You're better than others because of your vocabulary? Fuck off.

And you're ugly (just had to put that in there).

If he's invited back for a future season, I'll feel like it's Hantz or Rupert all over again. I'll watch, because I've seen all seasons, but I'll hope his pompous ass is voted out first.

[Ms Blue Jay]

2 hours ago, ljenkins782 said:

Besides the fact that Angelina was unlikely to get any votes, she WAS the most likely to hold a grudge against Nick for not taking her. Had she lost the fire challenge and gotten sent to the jury, she probably would not have voted for him and very possibly would have made it her mission to poison the waters against him at Ponderosa. We saw how determined she was to get revenge on Alison for small crimes, Nick ending her shot at a million dollars would have really set her off.

Kara was completely zen about her exit from the game and we don't know how Mike would have reacted had he lost, but I'm pretty sure we can all envision what Angelina's would have been. 

But I think Kara voted for Mike though.  So either way, that's a vote for Mike.  I personally can't get behind this idea, though, because the more insulting thing was that Nick wanted to take Angelina with him, not put her to the fire challenge.  But then again I'm sure in Angelina's brain she could pretend either way was a major compliment to how she overcomes everything and climbs every mountain.

1 hour ago, eel2178 said:

If she felt the need to check her pulse at every tribal council, she probably wasn't in the right physical shape to be playing the game to begin with.

And she was whining about how she should get a food reward because she's a bag of bones?  Please, Alison.  That ass was bony before she came on the show.  However, when Jeff said she lost 30+ lbs, I was shocked.

Edited December 20, 2018 by Ms Blue Jay

[MissEwa]

4 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I don't think Carl leaving Gabby out of 1 or 2 votes is the crime others seem to think.  I agree with Bryce Lynch on that.  It's annoying, but it's not the worst sin of all in this game.  Carl never said he was going to vote out Gabby.  He was always DAVIDS FIRST, everyone else after.  That actually implies Gabby would have been safe for awhile.  But she took it extremely personally.

I feel like this is going to be one of those divisive things forever like Aubrey vs Michele and Russell vs Everyone but Carl DID say, in interviews, that Gabby was next after Alison. From what I've seen, even HE acknowledges it was the right move.

Also I don't know if I'm just naturally predisosed to paranoia or a huge cynic or what but my mind boggles at all these people who, if they were playing Survivor, would be absolutely fine with finding out that 3/4 of their supposed core alliance was planning to blindside them on a vote and had brought in a member of the supposed opposite alliance in order to do so. Really? Like... you'd just suck it up and play along and lose your best plan B option because... friends? 

[Ms Blue Jay]

58 minutes ago, eel2178 said:

She played every card she had: woman-card, Hispanic-card, military wife-card, rice-card, hard worker-card, I found an idol-card, I almost died finding an idol-card, etc. She may think she is brilliant at negotiating, but she just came across as whiney and manipulative.

Yup ladder-card, 100 feet of wall card, women of colour card, strong woman card, selfless move card, etc.  I agree.  That's why it made me uncomfortable.  She also kept talking about her epic battle with Miss Alison, which...... I mean that escaped my notice until like Final 5 when she kept mentioning it for the jury's benefit.

16 minutes ago, MissEwa said:

I feel like this is going to be one of those divisive things forever like Aubrey vs Michele and Russell vs Everyone but Carl DID say, in interviews, that Gabby was next after Alison. From what I've seen, even HE acknowledges it was the right move.

That actually makes sense, because I'm an Aubrey fan and a Russell fan too :)

16 minutes ago, MissEwa said:

Really? Like... you'd just suck it up and play along and lose your best plan B option because... friends? 

Nah, not friends.  Not friends at all just "alliance mates".  There's no way I'd like every member of the Davids, though they all seem likeable to me, but I'd stick with them regardless in the hopes of Pagonging the others.  Isn't it kind of akin to when Kass left her alliance and Spencer said out loud "You have zero chance of winning this game?"

Edited December 20, 2018 by Ms Blue Jay

[violet and green]

Geez, it's still going on. I thought that people would finally see the light:that that was a really really bad decision by Gabby, driven by fury and hurt pride, and taking not-so-smart-in-the-strategy-department big-brained Christian along with her to his demise - and also ruining the chances of Carl, Davie and Nick getting anywhere near a sniff of the final three, when prior to that they had if not a lock a good chance of some of them getting there - I mean, spoil you own game, fine, but don't crash everyone else you are roughly aligned with's chances, ffs.

Was Carl the boss of the entire group? On that vote, apparently. Could they not have discussed future votes and not followed his ideas? I think they could have.

Gabby behaved like an entitled brat over that vote - and the fact Nick survived as long as he did and then won those three challenges in a row and went on to win is even further testimony of how focused and persevering and enduring he is, but it bothers me still that both Davie and Carl's chances were skewered by her overreaction. Christian's less so, as he is the idiot who went along with it, and has since been a bit of a prat.

People can have emotions and sit on them - novel concept! Revenge is a dish best served cold, etc.

The plan B group was a shaky, unreliable option. It included the remnants of the Strike Force Six, droopy Alison and Mike - who had expressed to Christian some time back that he was concerned about Gabby's emotional lability and inability to stay cool in tribal council, ergo he didn't trust her and would rather not rely on her going forward. For Christian, it included two members of the former Strike Force who continually dropped out of voting the way they said to him they would and instead targeted him, ffs. It would have been feasible if Christian hadn't outlasted Alec on that challenge and let him get immunity as Alec was more willing to work with them than the other Goliaths...

Anyway, presenting it as a normal reaction, and a good and reasonable move, is just rewriting history to have some sort of valiant heroine in Gabby - and there do seem to be people who feel that need, every season... I almost had my head knocked off for saying cheerfully that Cierra was a whiny adolescent or somesuch, back when she'd been appointed that weird Survivor super-heroine role. Er, she was!

And Gabby is emotionally incontinent and manipulative with it. She has lots of good attributes, also, but that was a really bad move and a spiteful one that ruined not only her chances of turning the game around and surviving until the end, but her closest ally's - and three other good players who were playing hard and deserved to be in the final five or six, or the final three, far more than floaters like Angelina and Kara and Alison, or sly dogs like Mike. Play like a fool, but don't ruin Davie's game, or Nick's game - out of petulant spite! Not my kind of Survivor heroine.

[Rachel RSL]

5 hours ago, pwdrpuff said:

I only work with white men, so maybe that's why I've not heard of this.  Their usual topic of discussion is video games, surfing, and the gym.  It's much more evolved than when I was on a ship with mostly men who talked all kinds of nasty things I didn't want to hear.

Yeah, I suppose it really depends on who you chat with, what sites you visit, etc. I learn a lot about stuff from fellow posters here. 

[Lantern7]

16 hours ago, Bryce Lynch said:

I think the poster meant Natalie Anderson, who won Survivor San Juan del Sur.  She and her twin sister Nadiya were on TAR twice and her sister was the first person voted out in San Juan del Sur.

But, Mike and his father Mel ran TAR in 2 different seasons than the Anderson "Twinnies".  Nobody named Natalie ran in TAR in either season 14 or 18, when Mike and Mel ran.  

Fuck. Today has not been my day. I totally whiffed on that, and I am sorry. It is funny that out of the three players that originally appeared on TAR, two of them made it to Day 39. Meanwhile,  folks from Big Brother and Survivor have been on TAR quite often since 2004, and I think a lot of them were "recommended" by CBS to race.

It's also due to TAR that I didn't lay the hammer upon Mike. Also, he was the oldest male playing, he wasn't a physical threat, and he looked like he'd burst into flame with too much exposure to the sun. To me, that went over more than his actions, being a buddy of Probst, and writing the screenplay for The Emoji Movie. That last bit was dishearteningly to discover. Seriously, Jonathan Penner wrote The Bye Bye Man, and that wasn't as hated.

Edited December 21, 2018 by Lantern7

[eel2178]

8 hours ago, penbrat said:

Angelina was annoying and a bit of a mean girl but she never bothered me.  I just kind of laughed at her and her lack of self awareness.   (Her asking Natalie for her jacket was one of the funniest survivor moments ever).   Angelina’s making the fake idol and wanting to put on a big show at the tribal of playing her idol was just dumb and I don’t think Angelina is dumb, but she is not nearly as smart as she thinks she is either.

She reminded me a lot of Debbie, totally delusional but thought she had everyone fooled.

[LanceM]

So Angelina has quit her job to start a non-profit.

https://parade.com/726389/mikebloom/survivor-david-vs-golaith-angelina-keeley-and-kara-kay-on-alpha-males-and-idol-fails/

 

"The second thing is from a risk perspective. I made a really big risk in my life last week. I told my job as a management consultant that I will be resigning in January and making a move to start my own nonprofit full-time. It’s called Ready to Run and focuses on getting girls prepared to run for student government so they will have a higher likelihood of running for office later on in life. If it weren’t for Survivor and what it taught me, I wouldn’t be doing that."

 

She is Tracey Flick on steroids.

Edited December 21, 2018 by LanceM

[eel2178]

7 hours ago, RandomWatcher said:

When two survivor geniuses meet

Maybe if Christian had his new friend Jeff call him by his last name, he would have won.

[Brookside]

22 minutes ago, LanceM said:

So Angelina has quit her job to start a non-profit.

https://parade.com/726389/mikebloom/survivor-david-vs-golaith-angelina-keeley-and-kara-kay-on-alpha-males-and-idol-fails/

 

"The second thing is from a risk perspective. I made a really big risk in my life last week. I told my job as a management consultant that I will be resigning in January and making a move to start my own nonprofit full-time. It’s called Ready to Run and focuses on getting girls prepared to run for student government so they will have a higher likelihood of running for office later on in life. If it weren’t for Survivor and what it taught me, I wouldn’t be doing that."

 

She is Tracey Flick on steroids.

Why is it a bad thing to start a nonprofit?  (No idea who Tracey Flick is.)

[Neveragain]

12 hours ago, Ellee said:

IMO Angelina just got in her own head too much and ‘wrote’ her storyline of how things were going to go and what would make her the great storyline.  Forgetting the most important thing ... the other players and that they would actually live in the moment thereby creating the storyline.  

Does that make sense?  I’m a horrible poster. 

It does make sense, I get what you’re saying.  I was feeling the same way.  It’s like she’s playing chess and has all the moves planned in her mind, but completely forgets that her opponents get a turn too, and minds of their own.  

[Maximona]

Bor-r-r-ring finale.

Big letdown. The middle part of this season was really good.

Alison was basically starving to death. She was very thin to begin with, and at a certain point, she stopped thinking aggressively. In fact, she seemed to stop thinking at all. That made her the perfect goat.

Angelina never forgave Alison for that "prepping the jury" remark.  That's why she went after Alison. And Nick's comment about "dignity" was just incredibly cruel, I thought. 

I like Survivor, but I can never quite get over that Lord of the Flies vibe. If the producers and camera crew had suddenly packed up and disappeared leaving the contestants on their own, Mike, Angelina and Nick would all have banded together and beaten Alison to death.  Kara is the only one who would have sat that one out.

Angelina never bothered me that much. She learned early on that if she keeps pushing, sooner or later everyone is gonna get tired of refusing and she'll get her own way. They may not like her, but at that point, who cares?  She'll get what she wants. It's an effective strategy.

Mike's game was transformative because he was like the Mission Control center. From what I can see, he played a perfect social game.

I was happy with Nick's win. But would have been happier if at the beginning of the finale, Jeff Probst had just announced the Final Three and used the remaining 1 hour and 50 minutes to talk about why he and Julie Berry broke up. The finale was that borning.

[LanceM]

54 minutes ago, Brookside said:

Why is it a bad thing to start a nonprofit?  (No idea who Tracey Flick is.)

Nothing wrong with it at all. Tracy Flick was a character in the movie Election that MIke White compared her to. Great move and the comparison is pretty spot on. Even Angelina admits it.

[Bryce Lynch]

Another great exchange at spaghetti reward:

Angelina: "I freaking love you boys.  You guys are my brothers and we're marching into war!"

Mike: "Can we have cake first?"

Edited December 21, 2018 by Bryce Lynch

[Subrookie]

I'm a little late to the party here with an unpopular opinion. 

I actually thought Mike played a really good game. I can't think of anyone who was any sort of celebrity going into the game that went as far as Mike did. And, in order for him to do that he managed to play a solid social game where his name almost never came up as someone to vote out. 

Don't get me wrong, Christian was and still is one of my favorite all time players but I don't get all the Mike hate or that at Christian because he appreciated it. It was quite clear he was working the vote every tribal so that his biggest threats were voted out. Even after he kept Nick in the dark at least twice on a blindside Nick didn't target him. 

So what if he was catty when Alison mentioned him in tribal? What player doesn't get defensive that deep in the game when someone targets them? He'd got that far and nobody ever targeted him. Anyway, I still think his game play was amazing, since he already was a known celebrity. Pollard, Jimmy Johnson, Colepepper, and all the others were voted out earlier than he was. That took work and good play. 

I was a big Davie fan too but I don't see anyone giving him a hard time when he said whoever orchestrated his blindside would get his vote. He voted for Nick who was completely in the dark that vote and the whole thing was set up by Mike. Who took credit for it. 

Parting shot: I don't ever want to see Angelina cast on another season. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

1 hour ago, Maximona said:

Mike's game was transformative because he was like the Mission Control center. From what I can see, he played a perfect social game.

But other people have done that too.  And even better, they won the whole game.  Is Christian a fan of this show?

[Kenzie]

1 hour ago, Neveragain said:

It does make sense, I get what you’re saying.  I was feeling the same way.  It’s like she’s playing chess and has all the moves planned in her mind, but completely forgets that her opponents get a turn too, and minds of their own.  

Angelina in a nutshell!

[Nashville]

I don't think Mike's FTC was necessarily horrible per se, but I do think at a certain point Mike actually had a moment of objective clarity.  

Mike saw himself / Nick / Angelina as the Jury was seeing them, and realized there was no way he was going to beat Nick - and on a certain level Mike was kinda ok with that, because the reasons were all pretty much pro-Nick and not anti-Mike.

That, and the fact the money was a less significant driving factor for Mike than it was Nick.

[Nashville]

18 hours ago, marys1000 said:

I've always wondered if breeze currents, or lack there of made a difference in the fire making challenge.  I don't hate it but I don't like it either.  

Windage definitely appeared to be a factor in the S35 firemaking challenge, when Ben and Devon went head-to-head; look at the directionality of the breeze as indicated by the flames, and it appears Devon was actually serving to a degree as a windblock for Ben.  Personally I more than half-suspect Ben had noticed the direction of the breeze before the firemaking competition started, which is why Ben asked Devon to switch firemaking stations with him prior to the start of the challenge.  Ben was supposed to be in the Orange Seat, but Devon agreed to the switch - and the rest is history.

[MisterBluxom]

On 12/19/2018 at 10:38 PM, Ms Blue Jay said:

For a doctor Alison is a fucking idiot.  The most useless person on this show.  More than Natalie.  More than anyone.  (This is me watching challenge after challenge of her being terrible at them. Puzzles.  Physical.  It doesn't matter.)

 

I really get the way you feel. She was definitely terrible at all the "nuts and bolts" types of activities required to play the game.

One of the things I think most people learned about this game very early on can be summarized in the old saying, "There are 3 types of people in this world: 1) Those who make things happen.  2) Those who watch things happen.  3) those who wonder, "what happened?".

The moral is that if you want to win the game, you can't just sit around and smile at people and be nice to them in the hope they will not vote you off. You actually have to do things. That usually involves using some strategy and some tactics. It involves talking with other  people to share info and make alliances.  IMO, that is the most important thing you must do in order to win Survivor. You can't just sit around and wait to be voted off. Alison, never seemed to get that.

After 37 seasons, there are fewer and fewer people who make that mistake because most have learned the importance of "doing something" as opposed to "doing nothing".

Another thing that people seem to have learned from this game is that qualities that make people "capable" in one field do not necessarily make them "capable" in all fields. Some of the best players can easily appear to complete idiots in other fields. So, it's no surprise that someone like Alison may be highly accomplished in some areas of her life but a complete dolt when it comes to Survivor.  Remember what she said when Jeff snuffed her torch? It was something like, "Oh gee. I was hoping to avoid this from happening."  Alison? It takes more than just wishing and hoping.

You are so right. It takes a real idiot to view this game that way after 37 seasons.  But it's also understandable that Alison can be a real dummy at Survivor while also being a good doctor and also being higly capable in many other areas.

What am I trying to say? I guess I feel sorry for Alison. How can someone who is smart enough to be a doctor (which requires a huge level of smarts) not understand the most simple thing about this game?

I wonder if the casting people realized this about Alison and cast her because they thought her defect would be entertaining? If they did, I sure wish they wouldn't have done that. There are so many people who would give anything to play this game. They  would work their guts out just for the opportunity to play. 

Some people find Angelina "interesting" or "laughable" and they enjoy watching her because they figure she is entertaining in her own horrible, terrible and aggravating kind of way. I just don't get that at all.  I think casting people like Alison is just cruel when there are so many other people who would give anything to play and would make the most of it - providing the audience with some real entertainment. Alison never brought one drop of entertainment to this show - except in the way she would never let Angelina sneak one single drop of her bullshit past Jeff. I really admired her for that.

Edited December 21, 2018 by MisterBluxom

[KimberStormer]

9 hours ago, violet and green said:

ruining the chances of Carl, Davie and Nick getting anywhere near a sniff of the final three, when prior to that they had if not a lock a good chance of some of them getting there - I mean, spoil you own game, fine, but don't crash everyone else you are roughly aligned with's chances, ffs.

I am entirely sympathetic to the idea that the Carl vote was a bad move.  I think she was entirely right to think that leaving her out of the vote was an extremely bad sign and that voting out Alison, her lone Goliath ally, would have been the end of her game; but I feel like she had better options -- she could have taken a page from Alec's book and subtly re-directed the vote, she could have put together the same coalition to vote out Angelina and cut off Carl's Goliath ally and cut him off at the knees while keeping David numbers, etc.  BUT, all that said, Gabby absolutely positively does not owe those guys anything.  It's not a team game.  Crash them all for your chance to win!  It's only a game, go for it!

And I am always ready and willing to go back into the trenches for Ciera!  It's months til next season, we'll have nothing to do, so it would keep me in fighting trim.

6 hours ago, Subrookie said:

I actually thought Mike played a really good game. I can't think of anyone who was any sort of celebrity going into the game that went as far as Mike did.

Lisa Welchel did, and alas, so did Brad Culpepper.  And Natalie Anderson, if that counts.  I don't think Mike played a bad game at all, just a boring, lame one and coupled with what was for me a pretty unlikeable character, from the very beginning when he was weirdly standing around like some kind of automaton while Jeremy monologued.  I'll reiterate what I said before: I think Mike would have been much more interesting, possibly fascinating, had he been deeply down in numbers and forced to scramble at any point.  (Kara too.)  Like, I think Alison would be all "gawrsh, I should make a move one of these days" no matter how terrible her position, but I bet Mike would have been a tenacious cockroach indeed, with all the weird competitive Hollywood grasping that was always just under the surface of him.

I regret the Carl move mostly because I think Nick and Davie would have been more interesting as masterminds than they were as underdogs and Mike and Kara more interesting as underdogs than as floaters.  Especially because we would therefore have got to see them all in both roles, as the game seesawed, instead of them being kind of in the same position the whole game long.  I like Nick the Underdog, but 39 days of it is a bit boring.

14 minutes ago, MisterBluxom said:

The moral of that saying is that if you want to win the game, you can't just sit around and smile at people and be nice to them and hope that they will vote off other people who give them some reason to want them gone. You actually have to do something. That usually involves some strategy and some tactics.

Careful, Bluxom, you're talking resumes!  We hate that now for some reason!

[ProfCrash]

1 hour ago, MisterBluxom said:

 

Another thing that people seem to have learned from this game is that qualities that make people "capable" in one field do not necessarily make them "capable" in all fields. Some of the best players can easily appear to complete idiots in other fields. So, it's no surprise that someone like Alison may be highly accomplished in some areas of her life but a complete dolt when it comes to Survivor.  Remember what she said when Jeff snuffed her torch? It was something like, "Oh gee. I was hoping to avoid this from happening."  Alison? It takes more than just wishing and hoping.

 

I think that Alison and Kara did more in the game then we saw because there were a ton of good characters and good game play this season. That said, this is 100% accurate. Totally different skill sets with a different level of success. Alison is working in a field where you have to collaborate with others in order to make accurate diagnoses, prescribe the right medicine and provide the necessary care. No matter what the TV shows say, the Doctor is not a lone voice able to jump in to action and take charge. There is a lot of consulting and developing a plan with others. 

That said, she played the game 9,000 times better then Sean in the first season. There was no alphabet voting this season. (Grins)

We only hate resumes when they are the sole focus of the game and people are only making moves, like making a fake idol and over thinking an easy vote in order to get “Played idol correctly, got someone to play a fake idol” on your resume. That type of crapp bugs.

[Ellee]

10 hours ago, Neveragain said:

It does make sense, I get what you’re saying.  I was feeling the same way.  It’s like she’s playing chess and has all the moves planned in her mind, but completely forgets that her opponents get a turn too, and minds of their own.  

Exactly!  

 

ETA:  Lol should have said:  BING!

Edited December 21, 2018 by Ellee

[plurie]

15 hours ago, Kenzie said:

Nick was probably only looking for the biggest goat when he chose Angelina but you make an excellent point about her becoming vindictive if he didn't choose her. 

Most importantly, Nick wanted to get rid of the only real threat, Mike, and knew that Kara was better at fire making than Angelina. I'm pretty sure he knew he could beat Angelina or Kara, but wasn't so sure about Mike.

[ProfCrash]

https://es.xfinity.com/sdmy/blogs/tv/category/survivor/

Gordon Holmes interviews. I think he asks better questions then most and does a great job. I liked how Angelina and Kara answered his questions about female portrayal on the show. Angelina's exit press has been very good.

[marys1000]

20 hours ago, himela said:

Plus Mike did not even TRY to win. He only said he was happy to be there. Never once did he mention it was important for him to win or he wanted to be the sole Survivor and he deserved to win etc. In the contrary I was under the impression he could care less about the money.

I read Mike's early exit interview from the link posted on page 3 or 4.  Real mixed feelings.  On the one hand I like Mike and while his game wasn't visible I'll concede he must have had some sort of game.  I like Nick, he was so focused, it really went deep with him.  I think Mike is probably a nice guy.  
But his answer to the same question that has been asked here - how did he screw up at tribal so badly.....he credits Nick as being a worthy winner, the one to win, the right person to win.........then he sort of takes that away with "well I was there to win and I wanted to win but honestly the money wasn't going to be as transformative for me so maybe I would have tried harder if it was just for the title of sole survivor.  (Paraphrased).  So basically he seems to be saying I was so conflicted about winning I......couldn't express myself very well........or he threw it.  
I mean, part of me is glad he is answering completely honestly and part of me wishes he would just say the best man won. 

 

18 hours ago, plurie said:

Mike's final tribal council was terrible! I was surprised, since he's a writer and actor. He didn't make a single argument for himself. Up until then, he had a fairly decent shot at winning, despite being rich. He played a good game, arguably better than Nick, but it seemed like he gave up at the last minute.

See above.  

18 hours ago, amazingracefan said:

The whole Angelina idol play didn't upset me as much as some, I'd be surprised if Allison was that upset, she guessed it was fake after all.  The problem between those two wasn't maybe fully outlined this season, but fake idols are part of the game now and people do try and make a show of doing things at tribal.  The main point was that Angelina seemed desperate for some kind of move, which she did need, and that was quite transparent both in her attempts to persuade and the pointless nature of it anyway. 

We likely only see a small part of the tribal, maybe someone brought up how rich he was or he just said more, I don't know. 

Yea Angelina mentioned more than once that she had heartburn with Allison but I couldn't think why

15 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

But I think Kara voted for Mike though.  So either way, that's a vote for Mike.  I personally can't get behind this idea, though, because the more insulting thing was that Nick wanted to take Angelina with him, not put her to the fire challenge.  But then again I'm sure in Angelina's brain she could pretend either way was a major compliment to how she overcomes everything and climbs every mountain.

 

She said in interview that Mike played the game she wanted/was playing so I guess she felt he played the social game better than her and went with that. 

12 hours ago, Maximona said:

Angelina never forgave Alison for that "prepping the jury" remark.  That's why she went after Alison. And Nick's comment about "dignity" was just incredibly cruel, I thought. 

I like Survivor, but I can never quite get over that Lord of the Flies vibe. If the producers and camera crew had suddenly packed up and disappeared leaving the contestants on their own, Mike, Angelina and Nick would all have banded together and beaten Alison to death.  Kara is the only one who would have sat that one out.

Angelina never bothered me that much. She learned early on that if she keeps pushing, sooner or later everyone is gonna get tired of refusing and she'll get her own way. They may not like her, but at that point, who cares?  She'll get what she wants. It's an effective strategy.

Mike's game was transformative because he was like the Mission Control center. From what I can see, he played a perfect social game.

I was happy with Nick's win. 

Thank you.  I could not remember what had pissed off Angelina, probably because in retrospect it doesn't seem that big a deal but I guess she can carry a grudge.  Maybe that is what put Allison off her game?  
I don't think Mike would join in on Allison, he said in interview that he was close to her.  

True, anything that keeps you moving forward is an effective strategy, till you don't win because of it.  But you get more money so that's still good, plud final 3 fame and probably and invite back.

Putting two comments together from Christian and Mike....in some interview Mike said he went in playing a character.  Christian has talked about spending hours on the beach late at night talking to Mike.  So I think Mike's social game was benefited by his being an actor.  He could really give every player the character they wanted and make them believe it, people were really sucked in by him.   I don't think being famous hurt either. I think its very hard to ignore that kind of Hollywood success on your beach.  Everyone wants to be friends with a famous Hollywood type after the game is over and Mike isn't like say...Weinstein.  Anyway, a great social game,  I'm not sure that is going to transform the game in some way that suddenly everyone starts playing intense social games?  It just can't work for everyone.  I feel like something is missing and I wish Christian would elaborate. 

Me too

Meanwhile.....I do wish Jeremy had gone farther in the game.  I liked his sense of humor and ability to narrate.  

I liked Joe but 3 times?  Although Coach could be on every season and I wouldn't mind:)  Not a fan of Aubry and barely remember Kelley and David.  

[Maximona]

10 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

12 hours ago, Maximona said:

Mike's game was transformative because he was like the Mission Control center. From what I can see, he played a perfect social game.

But other people have done that too.  And even better, they won the whole game. 

I don't watch every season of Survivor.

Once Burnett and crew went after the fabulous tax breaks Fiji offered, a lot of my reason for watching Survivor went away.  One of the reasons I was a fan early on was because I love/love/loved the various locales they filmed at. But also since contestants could predict the physical environment they'd be up against more-or-less, the survival parts of the game became less important, and the social game became the paramount feature.

I don't like watching the social game. It completely freaks me out. It's like Lord of the Flies.  Really!  I'm surprised Jeff Probst hasn't come up with an immunity challenge featuring a rotting pig's head on a stake.  

Anyway, I stopped watching the show because of that, and only tuned in this season because I was really, really, really bored one night. And what struck me was that this particular group of contestants actually seemed to—gasp!—like and respect each other.  There was a minimum of bullying! So, I felt comfortable watching.

Longwinded way of saying it's completely irrelevant to me that other people on other seasons outplayed Mike in the social department.  I probably don't know who those people are, and I didn't see them on screen this season.

Mike doesn't strike me as a particularly affable guy.  He's got a real edge. So, the fact that he was able to maintain friendly relationships with practically every other player was a real accomplishment in my eyes.  He sat on the snark!  For the most part.  It started coming out in that last tribal council.

And like I said, I think Alison's lack of game in the final days really represented the extent of her physical deterioration. She obviously did not bulk up before coming to play—a real mistake in my eyes.  Semi-starvation causes significant declines in concentration, comprehension, and judgment. Yeah, yeah, other players lost comparable amounts of weight and went right on being able to focus. I guess Alison's metabolism wasn't up to the task.

[ByaNose]

I thought it was odd that they only showed 2 (Joe & Aubry) out of the 4 returneees. Isn’t the whole point of the show the (for good or bad) the 4 returnees? Maybe, they were balancing it out by showing 2 newbies and 2 returnees? Although, I still think they showed David Wight & Kelly Wenthworth. Anyway, the exit press interviews were all well done. Allison lost it on RHAP because she was still upset that Mike trashed during Tribal Council and that was 7 months ago. The struggle is real. Also, Mike White gave Rob Cesternino grief for all the crap he talked about him pre game and during the show. Too funny!!!

[All That Jazz]

14 hours ago, Brookside said:

Why is it a bad thing to start a nonprofit?  (No idea who Tracey Flick is.)

It's not a "bad" thing. It's a great way for the right person to become very wealthy. Be the founder, campaign for huge corporate grants, run ads to get individual donations, pay yourself "wages" as the CEO, then spend a minimal amount of $$ on your "mission", drink champagne and travel first class. Happens all the time.

[Neveragain]

24 minutes ago, All That Jazz said:

It's not a "bad" thing. It's a great way for the right person to become very wealthy. Be the founder, campaign for huge corporate grants, run ads to get individual donations, pay yourself "wages" as the CEO, then spend a minimal amount of $$ on your "mission", drink champagne and travel first class. Happens all the time.

Or you can go one better and do like Kris Jenner and open up your own church.  Not only does she reap all the above benefits, but the entire family tithes money to this “church”, calls it a charitable donation, and gets the tax break.  All the while keeping it in the family!   And for all their constant self-promotion, you don’t hear about this,because it’s so scandalous (it’s brilliant, though)  But google it, it’s very true 

[ProfCrash]

45 minutes ago, All That Jazz said:

It's not a "bad" thing. It's a great way for the right person to become very wealthy. Be the founder, campaign for huge corporate grants, run ads to get individual donations, pay yourself "wages" as the CEO, then spend a minimal amount of $$ on your "mission", drink champagne and travel first class. Happens all the time.

Or you could be someone who takes it seriously and builds something great that helps people. I'll give Angelina the benefit of the doubt and say that she is attempting this for the right reasons and not to fleece people.

[Bryce Lynch]

36 minutes ago, ProfCrash said:

Or you could be someone who takes it seriously and builds something great that helps people. I'll give Angelina the benefit of the doubt and say that she is attempting this for the right reasons and not to fleece people.

Given that her not for profit is focused on  getting girls prepared to run for student government, I am NOT giving her the benefit of the doubt.   That sounds like one of the most idiotic "causes" to create a non-profit around.    On the bright side, I highly doubt she will be able to con enough people into giving to this trite cause.   

Classic Angelina. Bad motives, but so inept at implementing them, that she become a harmless, and comical villain.   

If she wasn't so clueless, she could do real damage.  Say, she started of fake (or fakish) charity to feed  the hungry, to tutor girls, or fight human trafficking, etc.  She might really get enough donations and taxpayer grants to make a nice income for herself and maybe a couple of family members, while doing little or no actual charitable work.  

[Bryce Lynch]

2 hours ago, ByaNose said:

I thought it was odd that they only showed 2 (Joe & Aubry) out of the 4 returneees. Isn’t the whole point of the show the (for good or bad) the 4 returnees? Maybe, they were balancing it out by showing 2 newbies and 2 returnees? Although, I still think they showed David Wight & Kelly Wenthworth. Anyway, the exit press interviews were all well done. Allison lost it on RHAP because she was still upset that Mike trashed during Tribal Council and that was 7 months ago. The struggle is real. Also, Mike White gave Rob Cesternino grief for all the crap he talked about him pre game and during the show. Too funny!!!

The more I watch and hear Mike White, the more he seems like a mean spirited ahole.  

His comment about Alison was totally uncalled for.  A celebrity being THAT thin skinned about a podcaster poking fun at his horrible movie is pretty pathetic.  I always loved how when Halle Berry was awarded a Razzie for Worst Actress, she showed up to accept the award and gave a hilarious, self-deprecating acceptance speech.   Mike could learn something from her.  

19 hours ago, CloudySky said:

 I came really close to not hating anyone this season (and I still don't, not really) but man Mike came close. I don't want to hear his whiny voice or see his face again for a long long time. The longer the game went on, the harder it appeared to be for him to hide his true personality. Angelina wants to be a villain so bad, but she never appeared truly mean spirited to me in heart. Whereas Mike more and more seems like the type of "funny guy" who's always putting people down and thinks he's better than everyone and so above it all.

Christian's "transformative player" bullshit made me want to barf. Did he just not want to vote for Nick because he voted him out? I was so glad Nick pointed out that Mike was able to ride coattails till the end which made it easy to "make moves" from the background in a majority alliance. Mike and Alison's whole thing has been 'our big move is not making a move'. This whole game these two are talking about switching it up but in reality keeping it safe with the Goliath numbers. And how pathetic is Alison that she accepted that bullshit reason for Mike's attitude towards her and still voted for him.

Angelina's only shot at winning was if she had gotten over her pettiness and played her immunity idol for Alison and voted Mike out. She might have won Davie's vote with that one! That would have been a truly epic tribal. She handled herself better than I expected though during final tribal and was even likeable at the reunion.

I totally agree.  Mike is really a jerk.

I thought the same thing about Angelina.  If she had played the idol to save Alison, and get Mike voted out, that would be truly a big and bold move, that might have given her a shot with the jury.  I still doubt she would have won, but it would have eliminated Mike and marginalized Alison, making her sort of Angelina's "pet" who she rescued and brought to FTC.   

[MisterBluxom]

8 hours ago, KimberStormer said:

Careful, Bluxom, you're talking resumes!  We hate that now for some reason!

Hey there KIMBERSTORMER. I guess I don't know why we hate talking resumes. But I would like to say something personal to you.

I want you to know that I have enjoyed your posts very much throughout this season. You have always been one of my favorite posters on this forum.

There are a great many people who post on this forum who I enjoy reading. Far too many for me to name them all. But I think I'd be doing something wrong if I didn't take the opportunity to tell someone how much I have enjoyed their contributions here.

See you next season and looking forward to that.

[Bryce Lynch]

17 hours ago, Brookside said:

Why is it a bad thing to start a nonprofit?  (No idea who Tracey Flick is.)

Tracey Flick is a fictional character from the 1999 movie, "Election", played by Reese Witherspoon.   She was an overachieving, unlikable, high school student, obsessed with being elected student government president.    Angelina apparently wants to create a generation of Tracey Flick's with her new "charitable organization".  

[ljenkins782]

6 hours ago, plurie said:

Most importantly, Nick wanted to get rid of the only real threat, Mike, and knew that Kara was better at fire making than Angelina. I'm pretty sure he knew he could beat Angelina or Kara, but wasn't so sure about Mike.

But Nick could have gotten Mike out at the Alison vote and it would have been Mike's own fault. There was no reason for Mike to tell Kara about Angelina's idol play plan, he was just annoyed and want to gossip. Kara, Alison and Nick could have taken that info and pulled off a killer move against Mike. I honestly doubt Alison is any better at fire-making than Kara, so Nick was still good to take Angelina as a goat and the 3rd person in FTC would be one of 2 minor players who wouldn't have had a ton to say about their games. (They did both have good relationships with the jury, but would that have been enough?) 

Quote

 

I actually thought Mike played a really good game. I can't think of anyone who was any sort of celebrity going into the game that went as far as Mike did. And, in order for him to do that he managed to play a solid social game where his name almost never came up as someone to vote out. 

So what if he was catty when Alison mentioned him in tribal? What player doesn't get defensive that deep in the game when someone targets them? He'd got that far and nobody ever targeted him. Anyway, I still think his game play was amazing, since he already was a known celebrity. Pollard, Jimmy Johnson, Colepepper, and all the others were voted out earlier than he was. That took work and good play. 

 

As mentioned, Culpepper got to the final 3 in his 2nd season and Lisa Whelchel also got to F3 in her solo outing. 

As for Mike's celebrity, is there a chance that he could have hidden that? I have heard of the things he's written, but I never thought about who wrote them and I didn't know him by name or sight. He's certainly less recognizable to me than Lisa Whelchel was (I was born the same year Facts of Life debuted, so I certainly didn't watch it in real time, but it was rerun enough over the years that I've seen the whole series and she hasn't changed much). 

I can't remember how the tribe came to know who he was, was he recognized or did Jeff call it out, or what? 

[kikaha]

3 hours ago, ByaNose said:

Mike White gave Rob Cesternino grief for all the crap he talked about him pre game and during the show.

I listened to part of that interview (as much as I could stomach).  Mike was a dick.  A stumbling dick, too, who couldn't string his thoughts or even words together. 

For the most part he kept his ego under wraps during the season.  Good thing, or he would have met the same early fate as Natalie, who had zero filter in front of the others.   

[Bryce Lynch]

26 minutes ago, kikaha said:

I listened to part of that interview (as much as I could stomach).  Mike was a dick.  A stumbling dick, too, who couldn't string his thoughts or even words together. 

For the most part he kept his ego under wraps during the season.  Good thing, or he would have met the same early fate as Natalie, who had zero filter in front of the others.   

It was really bad.  Rob kept apologizing to him, when he owed him no apology.  I was never 100% sure if Mike was doing all the whining about Rob bringing up the Emoji Movie as some sort of bit, or if he was serious.   Or maybe he was seriously upset about it, but was trying to make it seem like a bit, so he wouldn't seem so petty.  

[Jextella]

22 hours ago, Wouldofshouldof said:

The best part was when he ran into a branch and muttered "bitch" at it.

Ditto to both!

[Ms Blue Jay]

When Carl left, Mike took over as alcohol lover on the island.  He was never going to put down that wine glass.

1 hour ago, MisterBluxom said:

See you next season and looking forward to that.

[BK1978]

21 hours ago, eel2178 said:

She played every card she had: woman-card, Hispanic-card, military wife-card, rice-card, hard worker-card, I found an idol-card, I almost died finding an idol-card, etc.

The woman-card was the one that really had me rolling my eyes because that seems to be the new go to for women to be jerks on reality shows.  Now I actually do agree had she been a man she would probably have been more celebrated.  She went on and on about how what she did was just being a strong empowering woman and it was the exact same thing Ashely said on the Challenge to justify her win.  I would say much like Ashely, she was trying to justify being a jerk and using current day buzzwords to cover this fact.

The whole Idol thing with Alison was just her being an asshole, plain and simple.  Now with all of what I just said, I actually enjoyed Angelina and I thought she played a good game and would love to see her come back. 

In fact, based on gameplay alone I think she should have gotten Mike's votes.  Though being crappy to the jury was why she did not get those votes.

[green]

17 hours ago, Subrookie said:

I actually thought Mike played a really good game. I can't think of anyone who was any sort of celebrity going into the game that went as far as Mike did.

The ultimate celebrity on a Survivor season is a very well known and popular former Survivor and Boston Rob went all the way and won third time through when he should have been voted out first.

[Kenzie]

6 hours ago, ProfCrash said:

Or you could be someone who takes it seriously and builds something great that helps people. I'll give Angelina the benefit of the doubt and say that she is attempting this for the right reasons and not to fleece people.

She may have lost or quit her job to be on Survivor and all this free press to promote her non profit would be right up Angelina's alley. I don't think she's out to fleece people either but the rush she would receive by single-handedly saving the world would appeal to her inner need for back pats and medal polishing. 

Edited December 21, 2018 by Kenzie

[Arkay]

4 hours ago, Neveragain said:

Or you can go one better and do like Kris Jenner and open up your own church.  Not only does she reap all the above benefits, but the entire family tithes money to this “church”, calls it a charitable donation, and gets the tax break.  All the while keeping it in the family!   And for all their constant self-promotion, you don’t hear about this,because it’s so scandalous (it’s brilliant, though)  But google it, it’s very true 

Wow! I hadn't heard about this. She really is an evil genius. Hope it doesn't give Angelina any ideas!

[violet and green]

12 hours ago, KimberStormer said:

And I am always ready and willing to go back into the trenches for Ciera!  It's months til next season, we'll have nothing to do, so it would keep me in fighting trim.

Save your strength. It's going to happen again anyway in a couple of months. Never seems to happen with an older woman or a more gnarly-looking woman, I notice... 

Edited December 21, 2018 by violet and green
wrong place!

[KimberStormer]

That is extremely news to me!

[violet and green]

O-oh, wrong place to mention that? Probably...