Survivor 33.10 “Million Dollar Gamble”

Hi y’all!

Well, first off, I apologize for the late update.  Today was not only Thanksgiving but it was also my sister Erin’s birthday!  It’s a double holiday!  Depending on what this day may mean to you, I hope that everyone reading this had a great Thanksgiving, birthday, or Thursday!

As for the latest episode of Survivor, it was an action-packed, two-hour extravaganza.  In the past, I’ve actually been disappointed with the double-long episodes of Survivor but not this season!  While the first hour was pretty much a typical hour of Survivor, the 2nd hour is destined to be remembered as a classic.  Not only did it feature two strong alliances competing against each other but it all concluded with a tribal council that it destined to go down in Survivor history!

Unfortunately, that tribal council did not end in a good way.  But we’ll get to that in a minute.

The first half of this double-sized episode ended with Chris being sent to the jury.  I wasn’t surprised to see Chris voted out.  Chris is a self-styled alpha male and he often came on way too strong.  He got cocky.  He occasionally got bossy.  That said, I never disliked Chris and I don’t think the rest of the tribe did either.  It didn’t feel like a personal vote.  Instead, it just made strategic sense to vote out Chris.  We all knew it was going to happen eventually.

For the record, the vote broke down as follows:

Bret, Jay, Sunday, and Chris voted for Jessica.  (I have yet to figure out why Jessica has inspired so much animosity from Bret, Chris, and especially Sunday.)

The rest of the tribe — Adam, David, Hannah, Zeke, Ken, Will, and Jessica — voted for Chris.

Chris was sent to jury by a vote of 7 to 4.

The second half hour was a lot more exciting.  After joining forces to take out Chris, David and Zeke both suddenly got paranoid and started targeting each other.  During a reward, Zeke and Bret bonded over being gay and discussed how times had changed.  It was actually a nice moment between the two of them but it doesn’t change the fact that Bret is a bit of a jerk and Zeke is starting to get awfully full of himself.  Following the reward, a new alliance formed as Zeke joined up with Bret, Sunday, Jay, and Will.

Meanwhile, David formed an alliance with his fellow neurotics: Hannah, Adam, Jessica, and Ken.  David decided to target Zeke but Zeke, at the same time, decided to target David.  Or, at least he did until he realized that Hannah was more interested in working with David than with him.  Zeke then decided to target Hannah.

However, at tribal council, Zeke dramatically whispered to Bret that they were going to vote for Ken.  Tricked, David used his immunity idol to keep Ken safe.  The vote was then tallied and it turned out that no one was voting for Ken.

Instead, Hannah received 5 votes.  Zeke received 5.

As everyone revoted, Hannah begged Jessica not to change her vote.  “But we’ll got to rocks,” Jessica replied, fully aware that a tie would lead to a random rock draw.

However, Jessica didn’t change her vote.  The revote was another tie.

Jeff told the tribe that they must now unanimously decide whether to evict Zeke or Hannah.  David pointed out that Zeke was unbeatable but Bret and the others refused to vote for him.  Since the tribe could not come to a unanimous decision, the rocks were brought out.

Here’s how this worked:

Because the tie could not be broken, Hannah and Zeke now had immunity and would not have to pull rocks.  Because Jay won immunity, he would not have to pick a rock.  Because David played the immunity idol for him, Ken would not have to pick a rock.

Everyone else had to pull a rock out of a bag and whoever got the black vote would be sent to the jury.

And, of course, Jessica go the black rock.

I FELT SO BAD FOR HER!  Alone among the castaways, Jessica seemed to understand the risk associated with pulling rocks at tribal.  And after being targeted so many times, Jessica was finally kicked out of the game by a random stroke of luck.  Jessica started sobbing and I don’t blame her.

What made it even worse was that Bret yelled out, “I’m sorry, Jessica — David wanted to pull rocks!”

Seriously, Bret?  SHUT UP!

Anyway, Jessica earlier won the legacy advantage, which means that she was due to get a mysterious advantage in just a few days.  Since she got voted out, she had to give the advantage to someone else.  She gave it to Ken.

So, after that double episode, here’s what I think of the remaining castaways:

Adam — Adam seemed strong during the first half of the season but now I think he might be one of the dumbest people to ever play Survivor.  He still has his immunity idol but I can imagine him easily being voted out with it in his pocket.

Bret — Bret’s an alcoholic jerk and I can do without him and his commentary.

David — I know that David drives some people crazy but he’s one of my favorites.  I’m just sad that he wasted his immunity idol.

Hannah — Somehow, Hannah has yet to be voted out.  At this point, she’s such a basketcase that she might be taken to the end just because everyone figures they can easily beat her.

Jay — After being a huge target, Jay has somehow managed to achieve a position of safety.  He’s still got his idol.  Probably the smartest thing Jay can do is keep quiet and lay low.

Ken — I love Ken and I hope he wins it all!  That said, the Ken/Hannah showmance needs to end before it begins.

Sunday — Who are you, Sunday!?  Deep into the season, Sunday remains a cipher.

Will — Wow!  Will is aging fast!  He looks like he’s 20 now!

Zeke — Zeke is a definite contender to win but he’s getting way too cocky and full of himself.  He’s got a big target on his back and it gets bigger with each episode.

So, I guess I hope Ken wins!

How about you?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Lisa Marie

Survivor 33.9 “Still Throwin’ Punches”

Hi everyone!

I’m sitting here thinking about last night’s episode of Survivor and one word comes to mind:

Wow!

Seriously, that was a great tribal council.  You can say what you want about some of the people in this group of survivors or the weakness of this whole Gen X vs. Millennials theme.  (I’m not a huge fan of the theme and I think that Jeff Probst has been going overboard into trying to convince us that every little thing that happens is somehow emblematic of an entire generation.)  But this season has given us some wonderful tribal councils!

Last night, from the minute that Ken won the immunity necklace, I think it was pretty obvious that either Jay or Taylor would be going home.  The show tried to create some suspense by showing us that Sunday wants to get rid of Jessica and that the Gen X alliance isn’t quite as tight as it initially appeared to be.  But, going into the tribal, it seemed obvious that it would either be Taylor or Jay.

But then Taylor and Jay both turned on Adam.  Taylor admitted to stealing and stashing food but he then also revealed that Adam has an “advantage.”  Considering that almost everyone in the tribe dislikes Adam, this was not a bad move.  Adam’s sputtering response didn’t help.

But then Taylor and Jay both made a huge mistake.

They accused Adam of helping Taylor steal the food.  There was no reason to lie about it and try to make Adam look bad.  When Adam replied that he hadn’t helped Taylor steal any food, it was obvious that he was telling the truth.  And it just reminded everyone that Taylor cannot be trusted.

Jay then started to claim that Adam should have told everyone about Taylor’s stash and Jay ended up going so far overboard in his indignation that he pretty much sacrificed whatever credibility he once had.

In the end, 7 votes were cast for Taylor, 4 for Jay, and 1 for Adam.  Nobody played their immunity idol.  Taylor was sent to the jury, where he can now hang out with Michelle.  One thing that surprised me about the vote is that only Taylor voted for Adam.  Jay still voted for Taylor, indicating that he realizes that his scheme hadn’t worked.  Even more surprisingly, Will voted for Jay.  Up until this point, Will has basically been Jay’s right hand man.

Personally, I think that Taylor and Jay’s scheme would have worked if they had revealed Adam’s secret before tribal council and given people time to think about it.  By taking everyone by surprise, they may have caused a little damage to Adam’s game but, for the most part. everyone voted the way that they were originally planning to.

Still, it was great Tribal and I can’t wait to see what happens next week!

Lisa Marie

Survivor 33.8 “I’m The Kingpin”

Hi, everyone!

Sorry for the late update!  Yesterday was my birthday so I was out celebrating and I’ve spent most of today recovering! 🙂  However, I finally got a chance to watch last night’s episode of Survivor and here’s a few thoughts on I’m The Kingpin.

So, this was the merge episode.  The new tribe started out with 13 castways: 7 millennials and 6 Gen Xers.  In theory, the Millennials should have been able to come together and pick off the Gen Xers one-by-one but it didn’t work out that way.  It didn’t take long for it to become obvious that the Millennials were actually far more divided than the Gen Xers.

Essentially, the merge started with two Millennial Alliances.

There were the cool kids alliance: Jay, Taylor, Michelle, and Will.  Jay is the unquestioned leader of that alliance, with Will as a his main henchman.  Taylor, meanwhile, is still obsessed with getting revenge for Figgy and also stealing all of the tribe’s food.  And finally, there’s Michelle who … well, Michelle was just kind of there.

And then there was the nerdy alliance: Zeke, Hannah, and Adam.  All three of these Millennials realized that they were on the bottom of the Millennial Tribe and they sought to even things out by teaming up with the Gen Xers.  Though they originally targeted Will, plans changed when Will won immunity.  So, instead, they voted out Michelle and, by a vote of 9-4, Michelle became the first member of the jury.

To be honest, it wasn’t really a surprising result.  Jay and Taylor are both so cocky and so full-of-themselves that it never occurred to them that they needed to any sort of damage control after blind-siding Michaela.

What’s funny is that, even if Michelle hadn’t been voted out, the Millennials would have lost a player.  Jay and Taylor were targeting Adam.  Why?  Mostly, it came down to the fact that nether of them cared for Adam personally.  Taylor wanted revenge for Figgy.  Jay saw Adam as a threat.  Instead of trying to stick with Adam just long enough to take out the remaining Gen Xers, Jay and Taylor let their personal feelings get the better of them,  And now, they’re on the bottom of the new tribe.

That said, it’s apparent that Adam is not as strong of a player as I thought he was.  Last night, he was totally erratic and nervous.  Foolishly, he attempted to bond with Taylor and ended up sharing way too much information with him.  Though he was ultimately saved at tribal council, Adam came close to alienating even his allies.  Adam is fortunate to have an immunity idol but he needs to start playing smarter or he might end up going to the jury with that idol still in his pocket.

The great thing about Survivor is that the entire game can change in just a day!  So, I can’t wait to see what happens in the next episode!

Lisa Marie

 

Survivor 33.7 “I Will Destroy You”

Nooooooooooooo!  Not Michaela!

Seriously, Michaela’s been one of my favorite players since this season started.  She was a strong competitor.  She spoke her mind.  She was often very funny and, more often that not, I found myself agreeing with her thoughts on the other castaways.

But, I have to be honest — there’s a part of me that knew she’d eventually be blindsided,  You can’t be too strong in Survivor.  This is a game that rewards those who fly under the radar.  Michaela was emerging as a threat to win the game so I knew that she would probably eventually be blind-sided.

At the same time, Jay may have made a huge mistake by blind-siding her pre-merge.  With Figgy having been voted out last week and the merge coming up next week, the Millennials now only have a one-vote advantage.  There will be 7 Millennials and 6 Gen Xers on the tribe.  Jay and Will not only blindsided Michaela but they also blind-sided Hannah by not letting her know what was going to happen.  Considering how flaky Hannah appears to be, it’s not difficult to imagine her flipping sides.  For that matter, Adam has shown a willingness to flip.  Zeke is close to David.  Taylor is so angry with Adam that he was willing to work with Ken and Jessica to get him out.

The Millennials will be going into the merge with more players but their tribe appears to be a lot more fractured than Generation X’s.

With the merge approaching and the game nearly halfway over, here’s my thoughts on the remaining castaways:

Generation X:

Sunday — Sunday still seems kind of lost but, at the same time, I don’t think anyone views her as a threat.  Sunday could get a lot further in this game than anyone’s expecting,

Chris — Chris is a really strong competitor, which is going to put a huge target on him after the merge.  If the Millennials don’t fall apart and concentrate on picking off the remaining Gen X players, Chris will probably be one of the first voted out.

Bret — I will never understand why, exactly, Bret is pretending to be a funeral director.  He’s the most obvious cop that I’ve ever seen.  Bret is hard to read as a player.  He seems like he should be strong in challenges but he’s really not.  He seems like he would be a hard worker around camp but he really isn’t.  He’s certainly not a strategic genius but he’s made it to the merge without making any serious enemies.

Jessica — When this season started, I thought jessica would be a power player but she’s kinda faded into the background.  That may be strategy on her part.  Jessica’s not dumb and she might understand the importance of not standing out.  Let’s not forget that Jessica still has that advantage that will be revealed later in the game.  I still think Jessica is a dark horse to win.

Ken — I like Ken but he’s too strong a competitor.  Everyone’s going to be coming after him after the merge.

David — DAVID!  Somehow, the bizarre and unpredictable saga of David continues.  By all logic, Dave should have been voted out a long time ago but he’s survived.  And he’s got an immunity idol!  I won’t even try to guess what’s going to happen with Dave.

Millennials

Adam — Adam has an immunity idol and he might need it because he’s basically managed to tick off Taylor, Jay, and Michelle by voting off Figgy.  Adam has to decide whether to try to repair things with the Millennials or to go over to the Gen X side.  Adam’s problem right now is that he’s shown himself willing to betray his alliance so nobody has any reason to trust him.

Michelle — Poor Michelle!  I felt for her yesterday, when she was having to deal with the grossness of being the only girl on the Vanua Tribe.  I imagine Michelle will stay loyal to Taylor and Jay after the merge, despite the fact that every other member of the Millennial Tribe seems to be on the verge of turning against them.   If the Millennials stay united, Michelle will be okay.  If the Millennials fall apart, she could find herself isolated.

Hannah — Hannah sure was shocked when Michaela was voted out!  Will Hannah seek revenge on Jay or will she just accept it as gameplay?  To be honest, Hannah will probably do whatever the last person she talks to suggests.

Zeke — Zeke remains a big question mark.  He’s said that he’s not comfortable with the other Millennials.  He’s also bonded with both Chris and Dave.  If a Millennial is going to flip, I think it’ll be Zeke.

Jay — Jay made a big move by getting out Michaela and his smirk at Tribal Council will go down in history as a great Survivor moment.  However, if you follow the clues of how each show is edited, it appears that Jay is being set up for a big fall.  Jay’s arrogant and he’s managed to alienate both Millennials and Gen X’ers.  Jay has an immunity idol but I can easily imagine him being sent to the Ponderosa with that idol still in his pocket.

Taylor — Amazingly, once Figgy was gone, Taylor suddenly became a lot more tolerable.  Last night, I actually found myself liking Taylor.  That said, I still have my doubts about whether or not he’s smart enough to make it to the end.  If he wins, it’ll be like that season when Fabio somehow won.

Will — They desperately need to do a reward challenge where the winner gets to take a shower because Will’s hair is looking seriously filthy.  As much attention as Will got for being the first high school student to appear on Survivor, he really hasn’t made much of an impression.  He pretty much does whatever he’s told to do and I imagine that’s what he will continue to do.

The merge is next week!  We’ll see what happens!

Lisa Marie