Survivor 39.10 “Bring on the Bacon”

Over the past two episodes of Survivor, Karma has just been on a rampage.

Two weeks ago, both Aaron and Missy — both of whom had defended Dan and tried to sell out Janet at the previous tribal council — were sent to the jury.  Then, last night, their ally Elizabeth joined them!

Really, it’s no surprise that Elizabeth went to the jury.  She’s an athlete, so there was always a good chance that she could win immunity.  Add to that, she was a part of the group that controlled the early part of the game and, if she had stuck around, she probably could have worked her way into a new alliance.  Getting rid of Elizabeth at the nearest opportunity made sense.

Instead, what’s surprising is that the initial plan was to get rid of Karishma.  Almost the entire tribe had decided that it was time for Karishma to go, despite the fact that Karishma is not good at challenges, doesn’t have much of a social game to speak of, and is basically not a threat to beat anyone in a final three situation.  Karishma’s been targeted since nearly day one, largely because I think she’s gets on people’s nerves.  However, what her tribemates did not realize is that Karishma had an immunity idol.  When she played it at tribal, that meant that none of the 7 votes that were cast for her counted.  Dan had voted for Janet and Karishma had voted for Elizabeth, which led to a 1-1 tie.  For the revote, Janet and and Elizabeth could not vote and the rest of the tribe had to choose between the two of them.  By a unanimous 7-0 vote, Elizabeth was then sent to the jury.

It was an entertaining tribal.  Along with Karishma using her idol at exactly the right moment, Dean attempted to play the fake legacy advantage that Jamal had earlier given to him.  Lauren then played her own immunity idol, which she had gone to such trouble to get and which would have still been good next week.  I’m not sure what Lauren was thinking because absolutely nobody was targeting her.

Up until she wasted her idol, Lauren was actually pretty impressive last night.  We discovered that she has a very strong alliance with Tommy.  When she went to the Island of the Idols, she was told that she would win an immunity idol that would be good for two weeks if she could correctly predict who won the immunity challenge.  Fortunately, for her, immunity was an endurance challenge that came with a counter offer.  Anyone who wanted to eat breakfast could sit out the challenge and do so.  After predicting that either Noura or Elizabeth would win immunity, Lauren and Tommy then managed to manipulate everyone else into taking the food instead of playing for immunity.  In the end, only Karishma, Elizabeth, and Noura competed for immunity and Karishma on lasted for a few minutes.  Lauren won her idol But then she used it when she didn’t have to, which could be costly mistake if she gets targeted next week.

All in all, this was a good episode.  Seeing Elizabeth voted out was satisfying and with all of the big challenge threats (except for Noura) now on the jury, it’ll be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Lisa Marie

Survivor 39.9 “Two For The Price Of One”

Last night’s episode of Survivor saw not one but two people leaving the game and joining the jury.  Those two people were Aaron and Missy and, quite frankly, it couldn’t have happened to two more deserving people.  After the debacle of last week’s episode, there was something very satisfying about watching both of these arrogant bullies get blindsided.

We jumped straight into the immunity challenge last night.  The tribe was randomly divided into two teams.  One person from each team won immunity and then each team went to a tribal council.  Because it was an endurance challenge (the survivors had to balance on a beam while spinning a ball), the last person standing would not only win one of the two immunities but would also win peanut butter sandwiches for their team.

The Purple team consisted of Aaron, Dan, Dean, Janet, Lauren, and Noura.  Noura won the immunity but also jumped off the beam as soon as she won, which led to the Purple Team losing the reward portion of the challenge.  Aaron snapped at Noura about that, which was probably a mistake on his part, considering how Noura later voted at tribal council.

The orange team consisted of Elaine, Elizabeth, Karishma, Missy, and Tommy.  On that team, Elaine won immunity.  Missy seemed pretty upset about that but she was nowhere near as upset as she would be by the end of the day.

At the Purple Team’s tribal, there was nothing shocking.  Aaron tried to convince everyone to vote out Janet but everyone instead of voted for Aaron because Aaron was viewed as being a physical threat and just kind of a jerk in general.  At trial, Aaron cast his vote for Janet.  5 other votes were cast for Aaron.  Aaron was sent to tribal and it was very satisfying.

(Less satisfying was Janet and Dan apparently forming an alliance but oh well.)

The orange team was a bit more complicated.  Missy was determined to get out Tommy and basically just ordered everyone to vote for him.  Elizabeth, of course, was okay with this but Elaine and Tommy thought Missy was a bigger threat.  Missy made a huge mistake of trying to boss around Karishma.  Karishma didn’t appreciate that and she cast the deciding vote.  By a vote of 3-2, Missy joined the jury.

It was satisfying to see.  After spending a whole season watching Aaron and Missy barking orders at people, last night felt like karma.

In other news, Karishma found the hidden immunity idol.  We’ll have to see if she’s smarter with it than some of her tribemates have been.

Lisa Marie

Survivor 39.8 “We Made It To The Merge”

Hi, everyone!

Last night’s two-hour episode was a frustrating one.  Yes, we’ve made it to the merge.  It’s now an individual game and this is the time when, traditionally, we start to really get to know the players.  It’s after the merge that we usually pick our favorites and decide who we want to see win the game.  Traditionally, the shows right after the merge are some of the best.

This year, however….

It was frustrating to watch and, to be honest, it’s frustrating to write about.  It’s not just that we lost two of the strongest players in the game last night.  I love Kellee and I hate the way she got voted out but, to be honest, it’s hard for me to sympathize too much with anyone who gets voted out with two immunity idols in her pocket.  By that same token, I’m even more uspet about what happened at Jamal’s tribal council but again, Jamal didn’t have to try to fool Dean with the fake Legacy advantage and, for that matter, Jamal didn’t have to waste his idol on Noura last week,  What’s frustrating is what went on while those two were being voted out.

Did I say frustrating?  Maybe I should say enraging, instead.  I nearly threw a shoe at the TV last night and it wasn’t just because my favorite players were getting voted out.

Last night’s episode was dominated by Dan.  Dan’s creepiness has been evident since the season began.  During the first episode, all of the women on the original Vokai Tribe talked about how uncomfortable Dan made them.  In fact, if Vokai hadn’t won that first immunity challenge, Dan probably would have been voted out because he made everyone so uncomfortable.  At the time, I think Dan was told that he was being too “touchy-feely” and he apologized, saying that he didn’t mean to upset anyone.

Dan didn’t change his behavior.  As we saw last night, he was still the same creepster that he’s been since the season started.  Despite what Elizabeth and Missy claimed during the second hour of last night’s show, both of them did state that Dan made them feel uncomfortable.  He made me uncomfortable while I was watching the show and reading that “producers continued to monitor the situation” didn’t make me feel any better about it.  When you’re not feeling safe, being told that people will continue to watch you feeling unsafe doesn’t do much to help.

After the merge, Kellee tried to target Dan.  She was able to get Janet, Karishma, Noura, and Jamal to vote with her.  Unfortunately, everyone else voted for Kellee.  Even Missy, who started this game talking about how she was all about girl power, voted for Kellee.  (Of course, that could be because Lauren lied and said that Kellee was targeting Missy.)  If Kellee had played one of her two immunity idols, Dan would have been voted out.  Instead, she held onto both of her idols and she was sent to the jury.  And, as much as I love Kellee, that was foolish on her part.  She should have realized that she was viewed as being the biggest threat on the beach and she should have played at least one of her idols.

After Kellee was voted out, Janet was angry.  Janet voted for Dan specifically because she was told that Missy, Elizabeth, Elaine, and Lauren would all be voting for Dan.  Janet saw the vote as being a “moral vote,” one that was being cast not for strategic reasons but because of Dan’s behavior.  Instead, back at camp, Missy, Elizabeth, and Lauren all lied and claimed that they had never approached Janet about how uncomfortable Dan was making them feel.

“It’s the most absurd accusation in the history of mankind!” Dan exclaimed, even though people have been telling him that they made him feel uncomfortable since the game began.

Ostracized by the rest of the tribe, Janet went off on her own and …. found an idol!  Good for Janet!

Meanwhile, the Island of the Idols came back into play and basically totally screwed Jamal over.  Jamal found the invite to the Island.  Upon arrival, he was informed by Boston Rob and Sandra that he had lost his vote in the tribal council.  However, Boston Rob handed Jamal a pencil and a parchment and told him to do something with it.  Jamal created a fake legacy advantage, which he handed to Dean in front of the entire tribe.  Jamal claimed that he was doing it to “make peace” with Dean but he didn’t do a very good job selling his story and, as a result, Jamal just put a bigger target on his back.

At Tribal that night, Jamal was the obvious target but most of the discussion centered around Dan.  Perhaps realizing that “monitoring the situation” was not enough, Jeff Probst called out Dan’s behavior and, at certain points, seemed to almost be begging the tribe to vote Dan out.  Dan argued that he can’t be a creepster because he’s married and has a daughter.  He also said he was a part of the film industry and that “#MeToo started in my industry!”  Meanwhile, Elizabeth and Missy continued to lie about what they had said about Dan making them feel uncomfortable.  Jamal said that times have changed and that men have to take responsibility for how their behavior makes other people feel.  Janet, at one point, seemed like she was on the verge of quitting but she didn’t.

As I watched that tribal, I found myself probably getting more ticked off than I’ve ever gotten while watching a Survivor tribal council.  Dan’s rambling and defensive monologue was bad enough.  (Instead of apologizing, he argued that everyone else was wrong for feeling uncomfortable around him.)  But then Elizabeth, Missy, and Lauren flat out lied about what they had said about Dan.  It was upsetting to watch.  Oddly enough, all of the discussion had very little to do with how the actual vote went.

Janet did play her idol.  She received two votes, from Missy and Karishma.  Missy, I’m going to assume, was angry at Janet for calling her out.  I’m not sure why Karishma voted the way that she did.

Lauren, Elaine, and Elizabeth all voted for Karishma.  The rest of the tribe voted for Jamal and, by a vote of 6-3, Jamal joined Jack and Kellee on the jury.

So, two of the strongest players are now on the jury and some of the least likable people to ever appear on the show remain in the game.  I guess I’m rooting for Janet now, though I don’t think she’s a strong enough player to make it to the end.

We’ll see what happens!

Lisa Marie

P.S. For the record, Aaron won two immunities last night and Missy won one.  (The 2nd immunity challenge featured two winners.)  Both the of the immunity challenges were intense but, in the end, neither one of them played a huge role in who went home.  That said, I can’t help but think that Aaron will be targeted the minute that he no longer has immunity.

The newest members of the Jury, Kellee and Jamal

Survivor 39.7 “I Was Born At Night But I Wasn’t Born Last Night”

Jack, the first member of the jury

I have to admit that I found myself getting really annoyed with Survivor last night.  It took me a while to figure out just why exactly I was so annoyed and finally, I narrowed it down to two things:

First off, I don’t feel like I know any of these people.  I’m still not sure who is who or how they all feel about each other.  Trying to keep track of who has an idol and who doesn’t has become nearly impossible.  So far, the show has been dominated by Boston Rob and Sandra, hanging out on their island and being snarky at tribal council.  Seven episodes in and I still don’t have any sort of emotional attachment to anyone on the show.  (I had totally forgotten Janet was even on the show until she got sent to the Island of Idols tonight.)  I don’t care about these people and, as such, I really don’t care who wins or who goes home.

Secondly, this episode featured one of those moments where Jeff Probst tried to make the argument that Survivor is a microcosm of the world at large.  This happened during tribal council, when Kellee said it was sexist for Jamal to fear an all-women’s alliance and then Noura said that there was definitely an all-women’s alliance.  Instead of asking Kellee how she felt about Noura directly contradicting her claim that there was no all-women’s alliance, Jeff went on a tangent about how Survivor really is a social experiment and how everything in the game reflect society as a whole and blah blah blah.  No offense to Jeff, who I normally adore as host, but Survivor‘s worst moments are always when it pretend to be about anything more than a group of people competing for a million dollars.  Survivor has not been a social experiment for a very long time.  It’s a reality competition show.

As for tribal, it was weird.  Kellee didn’t want her idol to go to waste so she can gave it to Dean.  (I had totally forgotten that Kellee even had an idol and I’m probably not alone in that.)  Dean was the target but, since he played his idol, none of the votes against him counted.  As a part of the deal with Kellee made with Dean, Dean then proceeded to join with Kellee in voting out Jack.  Kellee felt that Jack had too many friends and that he was a threat to make it to the end.  Kellee was probably right but it was still a shame to see him go.  Of course, Jack really isn’t gone.  He’s the first member of the jury so he’ll be around for the rest of the season.

For reasons that I still don’t get, Jamal used his idol to keep Noura safe.  No one voted for Noura.  No one was planning on voting for Noura.  Noura said she wanted an all-women’s alliance.  Jamal’s main fear is that an all-women’s alliance with take him out.  I’m not sure what was going through Jamal’s head.  Maybe he thinks Noura and the all-women’s alliance will want to work with him now.  Who knows?

Anyway, next week — it’s time for the merge!  Hopefully, after the merge, we’ll get to know these people.  Because, so far, I’m still fairly indifferent to the majority of them.

We’ll see what happens next week!

Lisa Marie