Special Late Edition Blog Post:
Hey there Survivor fans. If you're anything like me, the holidays may have messed up your schedule enough to cause you to fall a little behind. Now this is very atypical of me, but stuff happens. So I am finally getting around to posting a summary and thoughts about the episode from 11/19. You should be made aware that the Wednesday before Thanksgiving was likely a new episode as well. Check your DVR and don't forget to watch that after you read this and remind yourself of what was going on last time you were watching.
Previously On...Survivor:
Recall that in the previous episode, Jon and Jaclyn had to decide to either work with the Jeremy/Natalie/Missy/Baylor alliance or side with the Josh/Reed/Wes/Keith/Alec alliance. Thanks to Alec/Wes/Keith treating the Huyopa camp like a frat house while some were away at a reward, and simultaneously treating Jaclyn like she's either a slave or non-existent, Jaclyn felt ostracized and convinced Jon to side with Jeremy's alliance, voting out Josh.
Tribal Council Fallout:
When they get back to camp, Jon asks a few people how he should talk to the people he just blindsided because he "really, really led them on". Missy says don't worry about it because they all know that's the game. There's obviously some bad blood, with Keith feeling rather betrayed, but life moved on.
Reward Challenge:
They are split up into 2 teams of 5. Jeremy/Natalie/Alec/Baylor/Reed vs. Missy/Keith/Wes/Jon/Jaclyn. They do a series of head-to-head battles, standing on a wobbly bridge while trying to knock over their opponent into the mud before they fall in. First team to 5 victories gets reward. Thankfully for us fans, it goes all the way to 4-4. I don't remember all the match-ups, but I do remember that Jaclyn lost twice, Missy lost twice against Baylor, Jon won twice, and ultimately Jeremy/Natalie/Alec/Baylor/Reed won reward. Reward is sandwiches, champagne, cocktails, and soft drinks on a yacht.
Unscripted Twist:
Natalie suddenly asks if she can give up her reward to someone on the losing team. Jeff allows it, and Natalie gives up reward to Jon in order to thank him for siding with her at the last tribal council. Jeremy immediately gives up his reward for Jaclyn with the same idea. The new 'winning team' then decides to send Jeremy to Exile Island so he can search for the hidden immunity idol that everyone assumes is there.
Exile Island:
Jeremy searches and searches using an even more specific clue to the idol. He knows it is on the rocky island, up above sea level. He looks around the exact place it should be, but can't find it because Jon already claimed it last time without telling anyone other than Jaclyn. Jeremy suspects Jon must have it and wishes Jon would have said something so they could have sent one of their foes to get weaker.
Immunity Challenge:
Jeremy returns for the challenge and he looks weak and dejected. Today's challenge is to untie a rope that is holding up puzzle pieces, then use the pieces to build a 3-tiered circular tower. Once the tower is constructed, a flag must be placed in the bottom center. It doesn't look too tough, but Jeff then reveals the true challenge. For the first time ever, the contestants must complete a challenge using only their feet.
Fairly quickly it becomes a race between Reed, Baylor, Jeremy, and Wes. All the others are struggling too much. If a piece falls to the ground, you can pick it up with your hands and put it back into the starting basket, but all placements must be done with your feet. Reed and Baylor end up the likely potential winners. Reed keeps accidentally tipping a few blocks over. Baylor finishes her tower, grabs the flag, and carefully lowers it down the center and into its hole. Baylor wins immunity!
Back To Camp, Back To Scheming:
Jeremy wants to find out if Jon found the idol. He shows his clue and asks where Jon would have looked. They agree it must be on the rocky island. Jeremy says he looked for hours and didn't find it so thinks Jon must have it. Jon denies it. Jeremy still suspects, but knows his best move is to trust Jon. Jon, meanwhile, had already figured out that Jeremy was going to look for the idol, not find it, and assume Jon had it. He felt that sending Jeremy to Exile was the best move, but nearly instantly realized this problem would develop. Jon starts thinking he may need to get rid of Jeremy. Jon decides to share news of the idol to Missy while explaining to her that Jeremy is suspecting him and they may need to vote him out. Missy seems open to the idea, but needs to assess what course of action will be best for her and Baylor.
Idol Threats:
Adding to the drama, Reed has decided he needs to do whatever he can to advance in the game now that Josh is gone. He starts snooping through Keith's bag and discovers the instructions for what to do with a hidden immunity idol. He tells Missy and Jaclyn what he found and pledges his allegiance to work with them. To prove the story, he stole the instruction sheet to show to them. Keith naturally realizes that this item was taken and knows that everyone must suspect he has the idol. He isn't very happy about this as he figures nobody should be looking through other people's belongings. Sadly, he forgot he was playing Survivor, where just about everything is within the rules.
Tribal Council:
Keith and Wes are accused of having an idol since they haven't been talking to Jaclyn so must feel comfortable. A bit of a verbal fight ensues between Keith and Jon over how things have gone for the past 3 days. Plenty of talk about trust and alliances. But let's get to the vote. After the first 5 votes there are 3 for Reed and 2 for Keith, and nobody seems overly surprised because there was talk about splitting the votes between Keith and Reed in case Keith plays an idol. But...the next vote is for Jeremy. Did the minority alliance target him? The next 2 votes are for Jeremy and now he seems concerned. Did someone in his alliance change the plan? As the final votes are read, we find out that the 2nd member of the jury will be Jeremy.
As they show the votes being written while Jeremy gets his 30-second farewell time, we see that Jon, Jaclyn, Missy, Baylor, and Reed were the 5 votes for Jeremy. It was Keith, Alec, and Wes who voted for Reed. Jeremy and Natalie were the 2 votes for Keith.
Next Week (actually a few days ago, but on the next episode):
With the most powerful power players removed, suddenly it is Jon who may be getting targeted. We see Jon trying to find out if Alec is on board for some sort of plan, which would be a departure from Jaclyn and Jon's previous 2 alliances. My guess is that anything could happen in the next episode.
Musings:
What has been bugging me is that the original plan that Jeremy was part of was to split the vote between Keith and Reed. This makes sense since he voted for Keith and he was not surprised by the votes placed against Reed. But how do you split the votes to ensure your safety in case Keith plays an idol? You have 6 people plus Reed, making 7 total. So you could vote 4-3 against Keith and Reed so that if Keith plays an idol then it will be a tie between Reed and whoever the other side voted for. But Reed can't vote for himself so he must need to vote for Keith. But wouldn't Reed know the plan would be the split vote since they are outwardly suspecting Keith has an idol? In this case, Reed would be voted out in a revote, so he would have incentive to vote with the minority and ensure he stays in the game. Alternately, it could be a 3-3 split vote with Reed being told to vote for the wrong person and not in on the plan to split the vote. The problem here is that Reed isn't stupid so he would likely figure out that being told all the votes are for Keith is too dangerous. Based on this, Jeremy should have known something was wrong. If the plan has this much chance of failure, you need to change the plan. Perhaps he and Natalie needed to talk to Wes, Keith, and Alec to set up a counter-alliance. Hindsight.
Separately, I'd like to congratulate myself for coming up with Jon and Jaclyn's best move to get rid of Jeremy. I would also like to say that they did it all wrong. The safer way of doing this would have been to switch back and side with Keith, Wes, Alec, and Reed to remove Jeremy and then Missy and maybe even Natalie before altering course again. Instead, the way they did it just results in a majority of people remaining who can realize that Jon and Jaclyn are the power players and are the best new target in the game. Certainly the previews make it seem that this is the case. At least it looks like Jon is attempting to adapt.
Now I need to get around to watching the 11/26 episode so I can recap that. Hope it's a good one.
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Monday, November 17, 2014
Keys to Survivor San Juan del Sur Episode 8
I'd like to start by saying this entry was written over two evenings, in bed, after midnight. The original draft was mostly typed with my eyes closed. As such, who knows what sort of errors, mispellings (did you get that one?), unsound logic, or genius may be represented below.
Some of the time I would have spent on this normally over the weekend was lost to watching the movie: Interstellar. It's pretty good science fiction. I don't generally follow other people's movie recommendations, but if you're the sort of person who does, I'd recommend it as a good story. Just know going into it that you're looking at a 3 hour commitment.
Back to my recap and thoughts. Read at your own risk ... and entertainment.
Reward Challenge:
The divide into 2 teams by school-yard pick. We don't see the pick happen, but here is the result.
Wes, Keith, Reed, Jeremy, Natalie vs. Josh, Jaclyn, Baylor, Jon, Alec. Missy is not selected for a team so can't win reward. The challenge is to put heavy puzzle pieces onto a platform, slide it along a track, unload, repeat until all 11 pieces are moved, then use the pieces to solve a pyramid puzzle. Once solved, have someone climb the pyramid to release a lever to allow the team to hoist something to the top and release a flag. This should just be a race to assemble the pyramid since the last step could only affect the outcome if it were neck and neck.
Wes, Keith, Reed, Jeremy, Natalie vs. Josh, Jaclyn, Baylor, Jon, Alec. Missy is not selected for a team so can't win reward. The challenge is to put heavy puzzle pieces onto a platform, slide it along a track, unload, repeat until all 11 pieces are moved, then use the pieces to solve a pyramid puzzle. Once solved, have someone climb the pyramid to release a lever to allow the team to hoist something to the top and release a flag. This should just be a race to assemble the pyramid since the last step could only affect the outcome if it were neck and neck.
The team with a little more brawn, Wes/Keith/Reed/Jeremy/Natalie, are the winners. They have to select someone to go to exile and choose Jon, giving the reason that he is strong and will survive there just fine.
Reward:
The prize for winning was to go to an all-you-care-to-eat taco bar with beer, iced tea and margaritas. Wes eats too much too fast and feels a little ill. A few people ask if they should be talking strategy as is often done on reward challenges, but nobody seems in the mood. Jeremy and Natalie don't really want to work with Wes, Keith, and Reed, and the feeling is mutual.
While Jon is at Exile and others are at reward, nobody talks to Jaclyn at all and she feels lie nobody actually wants her, they just want Jon. This is made worse once the reward winners return. Wes, Keith, and Alec act like Survivor is a bachelor pad. They emit odors, spit, and talk down to the girls quite often. Alec leads the way, saying to their faces that he doesn't think Baylor or Jaclyn will keep the fire going - only Natalie (or was it Missy? I can't remember) probably can. Keith adds to it by pushing Baylor to help collect firewood because she's too lazy laying around otherwise. Missy isn't a fan of his behavior, but she's more level-headed in this game than her daughter. Alec continues by making Baylor throw away his fix scraps.
As for strategy, Josh tries to pull Baylor back to his side by telling her again that he pulled her along, saved her once for sure, and that she owes him. She doesn't appreciate this line of reasoning, comparing it to blackmail. Josh should probably focus more on Jaclyn, the perpetual swing vote.
Immunity Challenge:
This week's challenge is to memorize symbols that Jeff holds up, then repeat them back to him. Round "1" is 4 symbols and we lose a few
people. Round "2" is 7, and this one settles it. It comes down to Josh and
Jeremy, the two current biggest targets by the opposing sides. Jeremy wins! Josh is in trouble if he either doesn't have the numbers or can't swing them.
Note that I put the round numbers in quotes. I don't believe this was the actual 1st and 2nd round. As has happened in the past, somebody dropped out during this alleged first round by showing a symbol that Jeff had not shown anybody yet. It seems way too unlikely for someone to make that sort of mistake. It also results in them ramping up too fast, in my opinion. How many rounds were there? Who knows, but I bet it was at least 4.
Swinging Around:
Jon is back from Exile. He had found a new idol while there. The clues led him to the rocks by the water during low tide. He climbed the big rock and found the idol under a small rock up on a wide ledge on the ocean side. He is back to camp for only seconds before he whispers to Jaclyn that he found the idol. Maybe nobody heard him, but you can bet if it were me, I would have waited until later when that info could have been passed in full privacy.
Jon
wants to go with Josh to vote out Jeremy. Jaclyn doesn't like how Alec,
Wes, and Keith are acting. They are disgusting men and they don't show
any respect for her. They seem split. It's 5 vs 4 with Jon & Jaclyn in the middle once again.
Tribal Council:
Jon & Jaclyn are outwardly the swing votes. Jeff asks them about this. On one hand they don't like it, but on the other they get to decide their own fate in the game recently. Will they side with Jeremy and get rid of Josh, or side with Josh and get rid of one of Jeremy's gang (remember that Jeremy has immunity, so they would have to vote for someone else in that alliance). The ended up deciding to get rid of Josh in a 6-5 vote. Josh is also named the 1st person on the jury.
Next Time On ... Survivor:
Previews
for next week show Reed looking through people's bags and finding a
clue to a hidden idol in Keith's bag, then he tells people on the other
side about it to divert attention away from himself.
What If:
My 2-cents is that Jon and Jaclyn should get rid
of Jeremy next, while teaming with Alec, Keith, and Wes, who will be more than happy to gain the numbers again. Here's where it gets fun. They will plan to take Alec to the end because he is annoying
and nobody will vote for him. It's not a guarantee, but he's the best candidate for that sort of plan. The genius part is that even if Alec scores immunity near the end, who cares - they have a 2-person voting block, and they would want him in the finals anyway. After the next few votes against Jeremy's alliance, they could turn against the annoying guys under the true premise that they are annoying. There are arguably better Survivor strategists in the Jeremy alliance, making them even more valuable targets. This would put Jon & Jaclyn in control of the game rather than always being in
the middle. I consider it a much better winning strategy. Will it happen? We'll start finding out
this Wednesday.
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Keys to Survivor San Juan del Sur Episode 7
Merge:
The big news on this episode is the merge. Each team received tree-mail instructing them to pack up all their stuff and follow a map to meet at a hilltop location. Everyone assumed merge. Everyone is quick to forget Thailand, where the tribes moved in together, but had not actually merged. Everyone is lucky, because this is a real merge, complete with merge feast, new green buffs, and a note specifically telling them they have merged.
They decide on a new tribe name. #Huyopa. I'm not just inserting the hashtag (#) to be clever or try to get my blog trending. They actually painted the # on the new flag. Twitter sure has become important in the television world.
The job begins. How do you make sure you're in the majority in this new tribe? The edit shows this as a battle between Jeremy and Josh. Jeremy is rallying his troops together: Jeremy, Julie, Natalie, Jon, Jaclyn, Missy, Baylor. His premise is that Josh and Reed are good at this game and need to be taken out. Josh works on his troops: Josh, Reed, Alec, Wes, Keith. Note this makes it 7-5. Josh needs more people, and decides that his best bet is to encourage a couple to join him. His logic is that couples should stick together (which conveniently excludes is new arch-rival Jeremy). He talks to Baylor, his old ally, and she seems on-board. Baylor talks to her mom, Missy, who tells Baylor that they're already in an alliance with Jeremy, they have the numbers, and that Josh is just running scared. Baylor is told to just smile, agree with people, but go with the current numbers.
Josh isn't dumb. He sees Missy and Baylor interacting and can tell that Missy is running the show. This is a key reason why discussions like this need to happen in private. Josh didn't need to hear what was being said to know that things weren't good. So Josh starts lobbying Jon to join them. Same pitch - couples are the way to go, and if Jeremy gets his way you'll be the next couple split up. Jon is keeping his options open and tells Jaclyn of this possibility. Which way will they go? We'll find out a little later, because I've gone way out of chronological order here.
Trail Mix-up:
After the merge feast, the teams are instructed to head to the old Coyopa camp. This is only because Hunahpu gave up everything they had for more rice, otherwise they would have likely gone back to Hunahpu. They grabbed any left over feast food they could, along with bowls, the grill, and probably a few kitchen sinks. Julie saved some of the trail-mix, while others were saving various other extra food. Wait 1-2 days. Julie is rationing her trail-mix, wisely. Julie isn't sharing it with anyone, or letting anyone know she still has some, unwisely. As the remaining food is consumed, people start wondering where all that trail-mix ended up since they remember more of it existing than what has been consumed so far. While Julie is off sunbathing, they search her bags and find her stash. They are grumpy about it. They take it and eat it themselves. I'm not even sure if they're technically allowed to do this. Supposedly players can't take personal items from other player (this includes clothing and hidden immunity idols). Maybe this doesn't count because the food wasn't intended to be a personal item - it just happened to be in her possession in her bag. Julie returns and can feel the tension immediately. She's pretty sure she knows why, but nobody confronts her about it directly. After the immunity challenge, Alec is the first to bring it up by loudly asking, to nobody in particular, where all the trail mix is. Alec prides himself in doing what nobody else will, just like his brother Drew. We all remember how well that worked for Drew.
Immunity:
Rewind again. Immunity challenge. Balance a ball on a round disk. The disk is held up by 2 ropes. The players hold the ropes for about 3 feet away. After 10 minutes, everyone left has to move back and hold the ropes from about 6 feel away - much harder to control. At the 25 minute mark, all who remain will have to add a second ball. That's the last phase of the challenge. To add difficulty, it's a windy day and the wind plays a huge role (or in this case, maybe it's a roll?).
Jeremy figured he'd do great at challenges. He's upset that he's the first one out. Most make it to round 2. Round 2 knocks out most of the competitors. We're left with Jon, Wes, Keith, and Josh for the final round. Josh drops out as Jeremy grins. Jon drops out next. Wind is gusty. Wes and Keith battling for the win. Wes drops next and Keith wins immunity.
Pre-Tribal Drama, Guest Starring Jeff Probst:
Missy is encouraging Julie to hang in there. Julie isn't happy right now. She feels like she is on the outside of all social groups. Missy says they need her vote, so she needs to stick around a little while longer. Maybe not the best pep-talk in the history of pep-talks. Certainly, where Survivor is concerned and lies are fair play, Missy could have done better.
Julie is missing. They saw her pack her personal bag and wander off into the woods. Next thing we see is Jeff Probst walking in to have a conversation with Julie. Julie is obviously not happy, and thinking of quitting. Her reasons? She feels alone. People are always judging her on her appearance, her boobs, etc. She's on a tribe where so many people have their loved ones, but John was voted out days ago. I always love Jeff in these situations. He has a way of putting things into perspective, like this time, or of putting the fear of shame into the person, like some other times (Purple Kelly, Naonka, Colton the 2nd time). His perspective this time: Children go off to summer camp for longer than a season of Survivor. Their parents let their children go to summer camp. They all survive just fine, so why can't Julie tough it out and get past this? Her answer ...
Winners Never Quit:
Julie is quitting. Jeff confirms it. Jeff goes to tell the rest of the cast the news. The bad news is that they have a quitter and he notes this is especially bad for anyone who had an alliance with Julie. The good news is twofold. 1) Everyone there is now 1 step closer to winning $1 million. 2) There is no tribal council tonight. This is likely due to the couple that couldn't start the season. If they had 2 extra people available, they would have made them go to tribal council anyway.
Fallout:
Jeremy is upset - what else is new. Julie was part of his alliance. I think he forgets that 1 person is just that - 1 person. He had a 7-5 advantage which is now 6-5, so no damage has been done.
Josh is relieved. That's 1 less person opposed to him and now he gets a few days to figure out where to go from here.
Keith had immunity. This really sucks for him since he didn't really get the benefit from it. Will they allow him to keep immunity for the next vote? I can't remember any precedent for this situation - Immunity challenge already held but a quitter before they arrive at tribal council. My guess is that he will have to give it up. My hope is that in this instance they will allow him to keep it. They could set this up to be allowable under this circumstance when there are 10+ people after the quit so there will still be plenty of people eligible for the vote after a 2nd person wins immunity at the next challenge. And they could add that if Keith wins immunity again, it just means that nobody else is immune, so he still has incentive to compete to prevent an opponent from being immune.
The previews give us some excitement too. There is a possible battle of the sexes, meaning we may have very different alliances about to form. Jon and Jaclyn are arguing over which group to side with. Jaclyn says she doesn't like the boys anymore. The previews are often meant to be deceiving, and this one is no different. If it's men vs. women, that would be 7-4, so not liking the boys wouldn't matter as Jon switching sides would still leave it 6-5. We'll have to wait to see what happens.
Excuses:
Julie says she doesn't want people to judge her. We don't know what this was like for her to live through. Only she knows how tough this was on her. She was the one missing her loved one for 3 weeks without any communication.
Wow. Where do I start. First, she's right when she said she'll be dealing with a lot of backlash about this. I'm here to help pile-on. There's no way I'm leaving this untouched.
Her excuses:
Hunger: From all accounts, Hunahpu (her original and mix-ed up tribe) ate way more than the other tribe did. Recently they even won a food reward. They also just had the merge feast 2 days ago and she saved energy-dense food from that to eat over the next few days. She's also the smallest person out there this season, maybe rivaled by Baylor, so should need less food than the rest of them.
Heat: First, everyone else has dealt with the same heat she did. Second, SHE'S A TANNING SALON OWNER. Ok, having never gone to a tanning salon, maybe heat isn't involved, but when you think of tanning you think of sun and summer and heat.
Near dehydration: Again, everyone else has dealt with this like she has. Again, she's the smallest person out there so likely would need less water. Not to mention that they have fire, they have a water supply, and nobody else has been complaining of a lack of water.
Missing loved one: Every season of Survivor, sans this one and the original Blood vs Water, have showcased people living for up to 39 days without their loved one. Natalie, arguably, has a far better case here than Julie does. Natalie lost her loved on on day 3 but has spent her whole life with Nadiya. Julie complains that she has spent 3 weeks with no communication. I'm a nit-picker. Julie quit on day 18 (less than 3 weeks) and saw John at Reward challenges #1,2,3 and Immunity challenges #1,2,3.
Quitting Survivor is a slap in the face to thousands of people who would love to take your place. Out of respect for the game and for all those fans, anyone pondering quitting should suck it up and figure out how to make the best of their situation.
Shamless Plug:
If the Survivor produces needed to have someone named Julie on this season, maybe they should have thought about casting my sister Julie and I. Odds are damn good that we wouldn't have quit. I probably wouldn't have generated quite the amount of buzz and headlines that John Rocker did, but I also would have lasted longer than John Rocker.
When casting for future seasons, save someone like John Rocker for a season without loved ones. We don't need another tag-along diva who's used to the high life and doesn't need the money. Actually, how about some equality. Why not recruit (although I hate recruiting for this - it just lowers my chances) a female celebrity and/or athlete? You've tried it before (Ashley Massaro, Taj George), but you've done it far more with men (John Rocker, Jeff Kent, Cliff Robinson, Jimmy J, Gary Hogenboom). I know - you could cast me on the same season as Alicia Keys. Just a thought.
The big news on this episode is the merge. Each team received tree-mail instructing them to pack up all their stuff and follow a map to meet at a hilltop location. Everyone assumed merge. Everyone is quick to forget Thailand, where the tribes moved in together, but had not actually merged. Everyone is lucky, because this is a real merge, complete with merge feast, new green buffs, and a note specifically telling them they have merged.
They decide on a new tribe name. #Huyopa. I'm not just inserting the hashtag (#) to be clever or try to get my blog trending. They actually painted the # on the new flag. Twitter sure has become important in the television world.
The job begins. How do you make sure you're in the majority in this new tribe? The edit shows this as a battle between Jeremy and Josh. Jeremy is rallying his troops together: Jeremy, Julie, Natalie, Jon, Jaclyn, Missy, Baylor. His premise is that Josh and Reed are good at this game and need to be taken out. Josh works on his troops: Josh, Reed, Alec, Wes, Keith. Note this makes it 7-5. Josh needs more people, and decides that his best bet is to encourage a couple to join him. His logic is that couples should stick together (which conveniently excludes is new arch-rival Jeremy). He talks to Baylor, his old ally, and she seems on-board. Baylor talks to her mom, Missy, who tells Baylor that they're already in an alliance with Jeremy, they have the numbers, and that Josh is just running scared. Baylor is told to just smile, agree with people, but go with the current numbers.
Josh isn't dumb. He sees Missy and Baylor interacting and can tell that Missy is running the show. This is a key reason why discussions like this need to happen in private. Josh didn't need to hear what was being said to know that things weren't good. So Josh starts lobbying Jon to join them. Same pitch - couples are the way to go, and if Jeremy gets his way you'll be the next couple split up. Jon is keeping his options open and tells Jaclyn of this possibility. Which way will they go? We'll find out a little later, because I've gone way out of chronological order here.
Trail Mix-up:
After the merge feast, the teams are instructed to head to the old Coyopa camp. This is only because Hunahpu gave up everything they had for more rice, otherwise they would have likely gone back to Hunahpu. They grabbed any left over feast food they could, along with bowls, the grill, and probably a few kitchen sinks. Julie saved some of the trail-mix, while others were saving various other extra food. Wait 1-2 days. Julie is rationing her trail-mix, wisely. Julie isn't sharing it with anyone, or letting anyone know she still has some, unwisely. As the remaining food is consumed, people start wondering where all that trail-mix ended up since they remember more of it existing than what has been consumed so far. While Julie is off sunbathing, they search her bags and find her stash. They are grumpy about it. They take it and eat it themselves. I'm not even sure if they're technically allowed to do this. Supposedly players can't take personal items from other player (this includes clothing and hidden immunity idols). Maybe this doesn't count because the food wasn't intended to be a personal item - it just happened to be in her possession in her bag. Julie returns and can feel the tension immediately. She's pretty sure she knows why, but nobody confronts her about it directly. After the immunity challenge, Alec is the first to bring it up by loudly asking, to nobody in particular, where all the trail mix is. Alec prides himself in doing what nobody else will, just like his brother Drew. We all remember how well that worked for Drew.
Immunity:
Rewind again. Immunity challenge. Balance a ball on a round disk. The disk is held up by 2 ropes. The players hold the ropes for about 3 feet away. After 10 minutes, everyone left has to move back and hold the ropes from about 6 feel away - much harder to control. At the 25 minute mark, all who remain will have to add a second ball. That's the last phase of the challenge. To add difficulty, it's a windy day and the wind plays a huge role (or in this case, maybe it's a roll?).
Jeremy figured he'd do great at challenges. He's upset that he's the first one out. Most make it to round 2. Round 2 knocks out most of the competitors. We're left with Jon, Wes, Keith, and Josh for the final round. Josh drops out as Jeremy grins. Jon drops out next. Wind is gusty. Wes and Keith battling for the win. Wes drops next and Keith wins immunity.
Pre-Tribal Drama, Guest Starring Jeff Probst:
Missy is encouraging Julie to hang in there. Julie isn't happy right now. She feels like she is on the outside of all social groups. Missy says they need her vote, so she needs to stick around a little while longer. Maybe not the best pep-talk in the history of pep-talks. Certainly, where Survivor is concerned and lies are fair play, Missy could have done better.
Julie is missing. They saw her pack her personal bag and wander off into the woods. Next thing we see is Jeff Probst walking in to have a conversation with Julie. Julie is obviously not happy, and thinking of quitting. Her reasons? She feels alone. People are always judging her on her appearance, her boobs, etc. She's on a tribe where so many people have their loved ones, but John was voted out days ago. I always love Jeff in these situations. He has a way of putting things into perspective, like this time, or of putting the fear of shame into the person, like some other times (Purple Kelly, Naonka, Colton the 2nd time). His perspective this time: Children go off to summer camp for longer than a season of Survivor. Their parents let their children go to summer camp. They all survive just fine, so why can't Julie tough it out and get past this? Her answer ...
Winners Never Quit:
Julie is quitting. Jeff confirms it. Jeff goes to tell the rest of the cast the news. The bad news is that they have a quitter and he notes this is especially bad for anyone who had an alliance with Julie. The good news is twofold. 1) Everyone there is now 1 step closer to winning $1 million. 2) There is no tribal council tonight. This is likely due to the couple that couldn't start the season. If they had 2 extra people available, they would have made them go to tribal council anyway.
Fallout:
Jeremy is upset - what else is new. Julie was part of his alliance. I think he forgets that 1 person is just that - 1 person. He had a 7-5 advantage which is now 6-5, so no damage has been done.
Josh is relieved. That's 1 less person opposed to him and now he gets a few days to figure out where to go from here.
Keith had immunity. This really sucks for him since he didn't really get the benefit from it. Will they allow him to keep immunity for the next vote? I can't remember any precedent for this situation - Immunity challenge already held but a quitter before they arrive at tribal council. My guess is that he will have to give it up. My hope is that in this instance they will allow him to keep it. They could set this up to be allowable under this circumstance when there are 10+ people after the quit so there will still be plenty of people eligible for the vote after a 2nd person wins immunity at the next challenge. And they could add that if Keith wins immunity again, it just means that nobody else is immune, so he still has incentive to compete to prevent an opponent from being immune.
The previews give us some excitement too. There is a possible battle of the sexes, meaning we may have very different alliances about to form. Jon and Jaclyn are arguing over which group to side with. Jaclyn says she doesn't like the boys anymore. The previews are often meant to be deceiving, and this one is no different. If it's men vs. women, that would be 7-4, so not liking the boys wouldn't matter as Jon switching sides would still leave it 6-5. We'll have to wait to see what happens.
Excuses:
Julie says she doesn't want people to judge her. We don't know what this was like for her to live through. Only she knows how tough this was on her. She was the one missing her loved one for 3 weeks without any communication.
Wow. Where do I start. First, she's right when she said she'll be dealing with a lot of backlash about this. I'm here to help pile-on. There's no way I'm leaving this untouched.
Her excuses:
Hunger: From all accounts, Hunahpu (her original and mix-ed up tribe) ate way more than the other tribe did. Recently they even won a food reward. They also just had the merge feast 2 days ago and she saved energy-dense food from that to eat over the next few days. She's also the smallest person out there this season, maybe rivaled by Baylor, so should need less food than the rest of them.
Heat: First, everyone else has dealt with the same heat she did. Second, SHE'S A TANNING SALON OWNER. Ok, having never gone to a tanning salon, maybe heat isn't involved, but when you think of tanning you think of sun and summer and heat.
Near dehydration: Again, everyone else has dealt with this like she has. Again, she's the smallest person out there so likely would need less water. Not to mention that they have fire, they have a water supply, and nobody else has been complaining of a lack of water.
Missing loved one: Every season of Survivor, sans this one and the original Blood vs Water, have showcased people living for up to 39 days without their loved one. Natalie, arguably, has a far better case here than Julie does. Natalie lost her loved on on day 3 but has spent her whole life with Nadiya. Julie complains that she has spent 3 weeks with no communication. I'm a nit-picker. Julie quit on day 18 (less than 3 weeks) and saw John at Reward challenges #1,2,3 and Immunity challenges #1,2,3.
Quitting Survivor is a slap in the face to thousands of people who would love to take your place. Out of respect for the game and for all those fans, anyone pondering quitting should suck it up and figure out how to make the best of their situation.
Shamless Plug:
If the Survivor produces needed to have someone named Julie on this season, maybe they should have thought about casting my sister Julie and I. Odds are damn good that we wouldn't have quit. I probably wouldn't have generated quite the amount of buzz and headlines that John Rocker did, but I also would have lasted longer than John Rocker.
When casting for future seasons, save someone like John Rocker for a season without loved ones. We don't need another tag-along diva who's used to the high life and doesn't need the money. Actually, how about some equality. Why not recruit (although I hate recruiting for this - it just lowers my chances) a female celebrity and/or athlete? You've tried it before (Ashley Massaro, Taj George), but you've done it far more with men (John Rocker, Jeff Kent, Cliff Robinson, Jimmy J, Gary Hogenboom). I know - you could cast me on the same season as Alicia Keys. Just a thought.
Monday, November 3, 2014
Keys to Survivor San Juan del Sur Episode 6
Foreshadowing:
Coming off the loss of Kelley, Coyopa isn't looking that strong for this episode. But this is Survivor, so expect odd things to happen.
No Rice, New Rice, Jeff Nice?, Not Nice:
Hunahpu start us off this week, with Jeff showing up with a bag of rice and plans to destroy the tribe's moral. He tells them that a tribe has never needed as much help as this one. He cites the last noteworthy time a tribe needed an influx of rice - the Australian Outback in season 2 - and they didn't need it due to poor rationing, but rather due to a flash flood washing it away from the formerly dry stream bed. Jeff says this will cost them. Their pillows, blankets, tarp, hatchet, hammer, 1 of their 2 pots, and their extra flint. This would leave them with 1 pot, flint, and a machete ... or in other words, nearly square one.
Jeremy hates the idea, but won't tell anyone on his tribe because he doesn't want to cause ripples. He thinks they should wait and see if they can win some food at the next challenge. I respect his silence, but doubt I could do the same if in his place. I'd have to tell someone my thoughts in case I'm not the only one.
Reward, Exile, Bitterness:
The tribes meet at what I call Exile Arena. Hunahpu is surprised to see that Kelley was voted out. I fully understand. With no 'fresh' blood battles remaining to fight for reward after the tribe mix-up (only Keith vs Wes is available, and we already saw that one), Jeff tells each tribe to put up their best competitor. This challenge will be to travel through a small obstacle course - tunnel-like - while blindfolded. They must go through it, both ways, 3 times, each time untying a bag of puzzle pieces at the far end and bringing it back to the start. On any or all these trips they must take time to feel a mask and memorize it purely by feel, then use their puzzle pieces to recreate it back at the start. There are plenty of wrong puzzle pieces, and only the 7 correct ones. Their tribes can see it all, but can't say anything to help them - only words of encouragement.
Coyopa puts up Baylor and Hunahpu puts up Reed. Reed travels the course faster. I suppose Baylor was chosen due to being smaller so the obstacles might be easier (lots of ducking) and she's probably good at puzzles. Reed chooses to examine the mask during each trip. Baylor only feels it on the last trip. Reed, due to faster movements, starts the puzzle first. Baylor is close behind though. The incorrect puzzle pieces are colored red so it is easy for us, and Jeff, to tell if they are right. Reed has 1 red piece early. Baylor has 2 red pieces. Reed has his puzzle almost finished and Baylor is still working on it. Reed puts the last piece in, but stops to check all of the pieces one last time. He feels the red piece and decides it isn't right, so takes it out, and puts a new one in its place. It's the right one. He calls on Jeff, who verifies that Reed is the winner. Baylor wasn't even close.
Baylor is going to Exile. Reed would like to send Julie, but Natalie wants to volunteer. Reed wisely (wisely? we'll see) agrees to send Natalie. Natalie wants to help out Baylor because she was friends with Missy and figures this will help her game to go to Exile with Missy's daughter. They share the idol clue. It's very specific that the symbols on the well are the key. It translates 4 of them. Who cares which ones though, since both have been found.
Oh, and the prize was giant kabobs with lots of meat. Poor Jeremy actually looked upset when they won. Never have I seen someone sulking after winning a fantastic food prize. Would he rather have lost, thus making their rough rice trade seem more worth it? Should have spoken up.
Aces Are Low, or Are They?:
Dale decides to work with his only card - the fake immunity idol he found in episode 1, tied to the lid to the well. He shows it to Jon and says he won't be going home if they lose immunity. Jon is pretty convinced it is real. I can't blame him. It looks legit, it doesn't seem like Dale could have made it, so what else could it be? Jon tells his alliance, who agree that maybe they need to throw some votes at Keith, just in case.
Immunity and Foreshadowing Concluded:
For immunity the tribes will tumble large wooden framed cubes to get them under 3 bags of puzzle pieces. Someone climbs up and spins the bags off of 3 separate metal spirals. Jeremy does the climbing, but one of his bags gets caught and Hunahpu falls behind. Jon's bag swinging technique works much better. Coyopa is actually in the lead. The puzzle is 7 horizontal flags, each one-sided, that need to be placed vertically to form an image. Looks like the first team to start this will win, because you really can't go wrong once you start, so if you start with the lead, you'll finish first. Remember up top where I said to expect odd things to happen? This is that odd thing. Not Coyopa winning - we really expected that. No, the odd thing was Coyopa flubbing such a huge lead and losing. Again.
Overplaying:
Dale decides to raise the stakes, now that they are going to tribal council. Dale tells Jon that he wants to make the merge and will do anything to get there. So if Jon will make sure someone else goes home tonight, anyone other than Dale, Dale will GIVE the idol to Jon. Kudos to Dale here. He has this worthless little trinket which is only good for a souvenir necklace, albeit a fantastically cool one. Jon and Jaclyn talk it over and seriously consider his offer. If they do it, it will probably be Missy who gets blindsided. So again, Jon & Jaclyn are in the driver's seat. Do they choose loyalty, or do they choose power? For now, as a reader, disregard that this idol has very little actual power. Its power is more than nothing though, as Dale is proving right now. My opinion is that Dale overplayed this. If his goal was to make the merge, why trade away his idol? Why not play it last week to give his group 50/50 odds of advancing? Why not play it this week to ensure his safety? Why would he entertain giving it up? I'm playing from my couch, so the answer is obvious to me, but I'd like to think that if I were Jon, I'd see through this ruse and dump all the votes on Dale.
Tribal Jockeying:
At tribal, plenty is discussed, including that they are thinking about a potential merge coming up soon. Technically this could happen since they'll be down to 12 people - a final 3 and a jury of 9, which has happened before. Dale keeps laying it on thick. He says it's tough because someone's loved one is going home tonight, which can only happen if he stays in the game since everyone else left on this team has their loved one in the game either here or on the other tribe (Keith). The voting goes down: Dale votes for Missy, Missy and Baylor vote for Keith, and everyone else votes for Dale. The fake idol has been removed from the game. Watching the season at home, Jon & Jaclyn must be thrilled they didn't fall for that. Or are they?
Next Time On ... Survivor:
In the previews, Missy is seen saying something like "Thanks for keeping me around. Now I'm going to vote you off." This is along with the revelation that we are, indeed, merging. It seems early. We're only 6 episodes in. But they did start with 2 fewer players than they originally intended, so that probably messed with things.
Coming off the loss of Kelley, Coyopa isn't looking that strong for this episode. But this is Survivor, so expect odd things to happen.
No Rice, New Rice, Jeff Nice?, Not Nice:
Hunahpu start us off this week, with Jeff showing up with a bag of rice and plans to destroy the tribe's moral. He tells them that a tribe has never needed as much help as this one. He cites the last noteworthy time a tribe needed an influx of rice - the Australian Outback in season 2 - and they didn't need it due to poor rationing, but rather due to a flash flood washing it away from the formerly dry stream bed. Jeff says this will cost them. Their pillows, blankets, tarp, hatchet, hammer, 1 of their 2 pots, and their extra flint. This would leave them with 1 pot, flint, and a machete ... or in other words, nearly square one.
Jeremy hates the idea, but won't tell anyone on his tribe because he doesn't want to cause ripples. He thinks they should wait and see if they can win some food at the next challenge. I respect his silence, but doubt I could do the same if in his place. I'd have to tell someone my thoughts in case I'm not the only one.
Reward, Exile, Bitterness:
The tribes meet at what I call Exile Arena. Hunahpu is surprised to see that Kelley was voted out. I fully understand. With no 'fresh' blood battles remaining to fight for reward after the tribe mix-up (only Keith vs Wes is available, and we already saw that one), Jeff tells each tribe to put up their best competitor. This challenge will be to travel through a small obstacle course - tunnel-like - while blindfolded. They must go through it, both ways, 3 times, each time untying a bag of puzzle pieces at the far end and bringing it back to the start. On any or all these trips they must take time to feel a mask and memorize it purely by feel, then use their puzzle pieces to recreate it back at the start. There are plenty of wrong puzzle pieces, and only the 7 correct ones. Their tribes can see it all, but can't say anything to help them - only words of encouragement.
Coyopa puts up Baylor and Hunahpu puts up Reed. Reed travels the course faster. I suppose Baylor was chosen due to being smaller so the obstacles might be easier (lots of ducking) and she's probably good at puzzles. Reed chooses to examine the mask during each trip. Baylor only feels it on the last trip. Reed, due to faster movements, starts the puzzle first. Baylor is close behind though. The incorrect puzzle pieces are colored red so it is easy for us, and Jeff, to tell if they are right. Reed has 1 red piece early. Baylor has 2 red pieces. Reed has his puzzle almost finished and Baylor is still working on it. Reed puts the last piece in, but stops to check all of the pieces one last time. He feels the red piece and decides it isn't right, so takes it out, and puts a new one in its place. It's the right one. He calls on Jeff, who verifies that Reed is the winner. Baylor wasn't even close.
Baylor is going to Exile. Reed would like to send Julie, but Natalie wants to volunteer. Reed wisely (wisely? we'll see) agrees to send Natalie. Natalie wants to help out Baylor because she was friends with Missy and figures this will help her game to go to Exile with Missy's daughter. They share the idol clue. It's very specific that the symbols on the well are the key. It translates 4 of them. Who cares which ones though, since both have been found.
Oh, and the prize was giant kabobs with lots of meat. Poor Jeremy actually looked upset when they won. Never have I seen someone sulking after winning a fantastic food prize. Would he rather have lost, thus making their rough rice trade seem more worth it? Should have spoken up.
Aces Are Low, or Are They?:
Dale decides to work with his only card - the fake immunity idol he found in episode 1, tied to the lid to the well. He shows it to Jon and says he won't be going home if they lose immunity. Jon is pretty convinced it is real. I can't blame him. It looks legit, it doesn't seem like Dale could have made it, so what else could it be? Jon tells his alliance, who agree that maybe they need to throw some votes at Keith, just in case.
Immunity and Foreshadowing Concluded:
For immunity the tribes will tumble large wooden framed cubes to get them under 3 bags of puzzle pieces. Someone climbs up and spins the bags off of 3 separate metal spirals. Jeremy does the climbing, but one of his bags gets caught and Hunahpu falls behind. Jon's bag swinging technique works much better. Coyopa is actually in the lead. The puzzle is 7 horizontal flags, each one-sided, that need to be placed vertically to form an image. Looks like the first team to start this will win, because you really can't go wrong once you start, so if you start with the lead, you'll finish first. Remember up top where I said to expect odd things to happen? This is that odd thing. Not Coyopa winning - we really expected that. No, the odd thing was Coyopa flubbing such a huge lead and losing. Again.
Overplaying:
Dale decides to raise the stakes, now that they are going to tribal council. Dale tells Jon that he wants to make the merge and will do anything to get there. So if Jon will make sure someone else goes home tonight, anyone other than Dale, Dale will GIVE the idol to Jon. Kudos to Dale here. He has this worthless little trinket which is only good for a souvenir necklace, albeit a fantastically cool one. Jon and Jaclyn talk it over and seriously consider his offer. If they do it, it will probably be Missy who gets blindsided. So again, Jon & Jaclyn are in the driver's seat. Do they choose loyalty, or do they choose power? For now, as a reader, disregard that this idol has very little actual power. Its power is more than nothing though, as Dale is proving right now. My opinion is that Dale overplayed this. If his goal was to make the merge, why trade away his idol? Why not play it last week to give his group 50/50 odds of advancing? Why not play it this week to ensure his safety? Why would he entertain giving it up? I'm playing from my couch, so the answer is obvious to me, but I'd like to think that if I were Jon, I'd see through this ruse and dump all the votes on Dale.
Tribal Jockeying:
At tribal, plenty is discussed, including that they are thinking about a potential merge coming up soon. Technically this could happen since they'll be down to 12 people - a final 3 and a jury of 9, which has happened before. Dale keeps laying it on thick. He says it's tough because someone's loved one is going home tonight, which can only happen if he stays in the game since everyone else left on this team has their loved one in the game either here or on the other tribe (Keith). The voting goes down: Dale votes for Missy, Missy and Baylor vote for Keith, and everyone else votes for Dale. The fake idol has been removed from the game. Watching the season at home, Jon & Jaclyn must be thrilled they didn't fall for that. Or are they?
Next Time On ... Survivor:
In the previews, Missy is seen saying something like "Thanks for keeping me around. Now I'm going to vote you off." This is along with the revelation that we are, indeed, merging. It seems early. We're only 6 episodes in. But they did start with 2 fewer players than they originally intended, so that probably messed with things.
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