Survivor 35 Episode 5 “The Past Will Eat You Alive”

Hi y’all!

Just a few thoughts on last night’s episode of Survivor:

On the whole, I thought it was a good episode.  The challenges were fun to watch.  We learned more about Ben and Ryan.  Despite all expectations, Chrissy is apparently emerging as a power player.

Soko went to tribal council and Roark was voted out by a vote of 3-2.  It was a blindside, in that Roark was convinced that she had the votes to get rid of Chrissy.  But Ryan decided that he’d rather be allied with Chrissy than Roark and he voted with JP to send Roark out of the game.

It’s always nice to see a blindside but it would have been more powerful if I actually felt like I knew anything about Roark.  All I know is that Chrissy didn’t have much respect for her and Roark didn’t know how to read Ryan’s intentions.

As for the other tribes, over on Yawa, Cole has suddenly turned out to be not just stupid but annoying as well.  Lauren, who doesn’t seem to have much patience for anyone, is clearly getting sick of him.  Even Jessica seems to be over him.  Judging from the previews for next week’s episode, it appears that there’s a good chance that Cole’s going to be medically evacuated.

With the help of Jessica, Dr. Mike found an immunity idol.  Mike made a point of saying that the idol is his but I’ll be curious to see if Jessica feels the same way.

However, in the end, this episode was dominated by Ben.  Up until last night, Ben had been a quiet presence.  I tended to think of him as just being this season’s cowboy.  But last night, he spoke movingly about his PTSD and it brought tears to my eyes.  On a game level, I assume that the attention given to Ben is an indication that he’s going to go far in this game.

Right now, I guess my three favorites are:

Ryan/Chrissy, because they’ve both been underdogs since this seasons started

Dr. Mike, because I thought it was cute that he went searching for an idol specifically because his daughter told him to

Ben, because of last night’s episode.

So, as early as it is, my current preferred final three would be: Ben, Mike, and then either Ryan or Chrissy.

What did everyone think of last night’s episode?  Were you as moved by Ben as I was or do you think I’m going overboard?  As always, I look forward to any and all comments!

Lisa Marie

Our latest discarded castaway, Roark!

Survivor 35 Episode 4 “I Don’t Like Having Snakes Around”

Hi y’all!

So, I finally got to watch last night’s episode of Survivor.  I still feel like we’re kind of waiting for this season to really kick into high gear but last night’s episode was still more exciting than the one that came before it.

Things started with a tribal shake-up and not a minute too soon because the Hustlers were getting close to extinction.  Before the reward challenge, Jeff had everyone randomly draw new buffs and split into three new tribes.

(I have to admit that I was hoping the reshuffle would result in two big tribes instead of three little tribes.  Tribal council is always more fun when it’s a big group of people, instead of when its only five.)

Here the new tribes:

Levu Tribe (Formerly The Heroes Tribe)

1. Alan (Former Hero)
2. Ashley (Former Hero)
3. Devon (Former Hustler)
4. Joe (Former Healer)
5. Desi (Former Healer)

Yawa (Formerly The Hustlers Tribe)

1. Ben (Former Hero)
2. Jessica (Former Healer)
3. Cole (Former Healer)
4. Mike (Former Healer)
5. Lauren (Former Hustler)

Soko (Formerly The Healers Tribe)

1. Ali (Former Hustler)
2. Ryan (Former Hustler)
3. JP (Former Hero)
4. Chrissy (Former Hero)
5. Roark (Former Healer)

The majority of the show deal with the new tribes getting to know each other.

On the Soko Tribe, Ryan let Chrissy know that he was the one who gave her the secret advantage and they had a bonding moment.  Seeing as how both of them seem to be underestimated by the rest of their tribemates, I actually like the idea of a Ryan/Chrissy alliance.

On the Yawa Tribe, we were provided with yet more evidence that Cole and Jessica are possibly the stupidest people to ever appear on Survivor.  As a result of winning the reward challenge, each member of the tribe won a peanut butter sandwich and a bag of potato chips.  Inside her bag, Jessica discovered a new secret advantage.  The advantage gave Jessica the ability to take away a person’s vote at tribal council.  Like the previous advantage, it was only good for the upcoming tribal and, if the Yawa Tribe won immunity, Jessica would be required to use the advantage on someone else on the tribe that didn’t.

Of course, Jessica told her fellow Healers, Cole and Mike.  Cole, being an idiot, decided that the best way to win over Lauren and Ben would be to tell them about the advantage, even though there was no strategic reason to do so.  Lauren then mentioned to Mike that she knew about the advantage and Mike got paranoid about whether Cole and Jessica were planning on blindsiding him.

This all led to Jessica telling Cole to stop being an idiot.  If Jessica was smart, she’d realize that Cole is an unreliable ally.  But, because she’s crushing on him, she just kind of laughed it off.  “Oh, Cole…”

However, both the Yawa Tribe and the Soko Tribe won immunity so Jessica was spared any more drama.  Instead, the new Levu Tribe was sent to tribal and we got our season’s first blindside.

On the new Levu Tribe, it was two heroes and two healers with Hustler Devon as the deciding vote.  However, in order to help out her former tribemates, Jessica canceled out Devon’s vote.  Joe, having gone out of his way to be obnoxious so that the he would be targeted at tribal, played his immunity idol.  This turned out to be a smart move because both Ashley and Alan voted for Joe.  Meanwhile, Joe and Desi voted for Alan.  By a vote of 2-0, Alan was voted out of the game.

I thought this was a pretty good episode,  The tribal was fun and it was nice to see someone finally use an immunity idol correctly for once.  I’m not a huge Joe fan but he has every right to be proud of himself after that vote.

What did everyone else think?

Lisa Marie

Fourth to be voted out of Survivor Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers, Alan Ball

 

Survivor 35 Episode 3 “My Kisses Are Private”

Hi, y’all!

I’m on vacation right now but I still made sure to catch the latest episode of Survivor.  I was hoping for some drama tonight, maybe a few betrayals, maybe a blindside or two…

And, it must be said, Patrick was certainly blindsided when he got voted out of the Hustler Tribe tonight.  Patrick looked really shocked as Jeff read the votes.  He gave all of his tribemates a truly chilling death stare as he realized that they had decided to keep Lauren after him.  When he stood up to leave, he muttered something under his breath.  When his torch was snuffed, he looked over his shoulder at the tribe.  Then, in his final interview, he said that he was still in a state of shock.

So, Patrick was definitely taken by surprise.  But really, that had less to do with the rest of his tribes being great strategists and more to do with Patrick being an idiot.  Patrick was on thin ice through the entire episode.  Even before the immunity challenge, his obnoxious personality was already turning everyone off.  The only reason they had for keeping him was because he was supposedly good at challenges.  Then, almost single-handed, he managed to lose the challenge for the Hustler Tribe.  Back at camp, he was too quick to assume that the tribe would automatically vote out Lauren.  In many ways, this episode was all about Patrick digging his own grave.

That said, Lauren shouldn’t get too confident.  Her social game is almost as bad as Patrick’s.  Personally, I lost all sympathy for her as soon as she started talking about how she never trusts anyone with red hair.  I mean, seriously, what was going on with that?  Lauren not only said it to Patrick but then repeated it at tribal council.  Apparently, she thought she was saying something really clever.  Speaking as a redhead, I can’t wait for Lauren to be voted out.

Other than the Patrick vs. Lauren conflict, this was a fairly boring episode.  The Hustler Tribe is pretty much helpless and it really wasn’t that much of a shock to see them once again at tribal council.  As for what happened on the other tribes:

On the Hero Tribe, Alan is paranoid.  Ben says that he and Chrissy are in charge of the tribe.  Ashley and JP are scared of being seen together because they’re worried people will see them as being a power couple.

On the Healer Tribe, Joe is being arrogant and unlikable.  Joe is apparently obsessed with voting out Dr. Mike but the rest of the tribe is getting sick of Joe.  Cole and Jessica have a showmance developing, one that would probably be cuter if Cole and Jessica actually had personalities.  Cole told Jessica that Joe has the idol and then proceeded to tell everyone else on the tribe as well.  Cole wants to target joe.

Next week, Jeff will be ordering everyone to drop their buffs!  It’s time for tribal shakeup!  It may seem early in the season but, then again, the Hustlers are such a weak tribe that the producers probably didn’t have much choice but to go ahead and change things up.  Personally, I don’t mind.  It’s time for some of the Healers to experience tribal council.

What did everyone think of tonight’s episode?

Lisa Marie

The third castaway voted out, Patrick.

 

Survivor 35 Episode 2 “I’m a Wild Banshee”

Hi y’all!

How is everyone doing tonight?  I was just thinking about how, after spending three months writing on a daily basis about Big Brother, it’s always a little bit strange to transition to writing about a weekly show like Survivor.  On Big Brother, there’s something new to talk about every day whereas, with Survivor, we talk about what happened each week and then we wait for the next episode.

Myself, I enjoy writing about both shows but the experience of writing about Survivor is definitely different from writing about Big Brother.  That said, I love Survivor and I hope I can do justice to this season.  Thank you everyone for reading and giving me the chance to try!

As for tonight’s episode … well, there’s not really a lot to say.  I feel bad for SImone.  Tonight, the Hustlers lost the immunity challenge.  Not only did they have to go to tribal but they were also the only tribe not to win any type of fishing equipment.  Simone was pretty much the obvious target during the entire episode.  An attempt was made to create some suspense by showing how obnoxious Patrick can be around the Hustler camp but, for the most part, he only seemed to really be annoying Lauren.

Simone was voted out because she hadn’t really bonded with anyone on her tribe and her weak performance at the immunity challenge was a huge contributing factor to the Hustlers having to go to tribal council in the first place.  That’s the way it goes, especially in the early days of the season.

That said, I felt bad for Simone.  I think she could have developed into a stronger player if she had been given the opportunity.  But, again, that’s the way things go on Survivor.

As for the other tribes, everyone still appears to be feeling each other out.  On the Hero Tribe, Alan still seems to be intent on digging his own grave by being paranoid.  Ashley is trying to convince everyone that she and JP are not a power couple.  Chrissy did not use her superidol, which now has no use.  However, Chrissy says that she’s going to hold onto the idol so that she can use it to fool people in the future.  I don’t know if Chrissy’s really thought this through.  If she lets everyone believe that she has an immunity idol, chances are that her tribe will try to force her to play it.

On the Healer Tribe, Joe found a clue to the immunity idol but he had to recruit Cole to help him figure it out.  They found the idol buried near the well.  Joe grabbed it for himself and made Cole promise not to tell anyone that Joe had the idol.  However, as we know from watching the previews for next week’s episode, Cole is not going to keep that promise.

Personally, I groaned a little when Joe found that idol.  It’s early in the season but Joe has emerged as my least favorite survivor.  As we saw last week, he’s a bully and no one likes a bully.   As of now, the Healers are the only tribe to have not gone to tribal council.  Hopefully, a blindside of Joe is in the future!

Anyway to recap, poor Simone was voted out tonight.  At least she took it well and she still has pretty hair.

Lisa Marie

P.S. It’s early in the season but right now, my favorites are nervous Ryan and Dr. Mike.  Hopefully, they’ll go far!

The 2nd person voted out of Survivor 35, Simone Nguyen