From Final 5 to Final 3 - Here's How It Happened:
Below is my quick recap of the major points in the Survivor Finale. It's safe to say that pretty much everything I would have predicted would happen did NOT. I guess that's part of why I enjoy watching so much. When you think you know everything, the castaways keep surprising you.
Reward Challenge:
Loved ones are present. Winner gets their loved one for a day and an advantage at the immunity challenge. Untie knots to release bags of tiles. Untie the bags of tiles and slide them across a table through a goal (sort of like air hockey). Once all the tiles are through, take them to the final table by balancing them in groups of your choosing and crossing a few see-saws. Once they are all there, match up symbols printed on the back of the tiles in pairs. 3 tiles don't have a match. Flip those over and use them as the 3 numbers for a combination lock (could be in any order). Will starts this challenge strong, but ends up falling behind as usual. In the end it was a race between Sierra and Mike. Both are trying combinations. On the 3rd number combo, Mike wins. Everyone who loves cheering for the underdog rejoices since Mike is now the huge underdog with everyone wanting to vote him out.
Reward:
Mike's mom gets to join them at camp for a day and night. Everyone seems to like her. She and Mike go off to talk alone. They find out later that the advantage is that they will go to the immunity challenge early and practice. The challenge is to navigate a maze blindfolded to find medallions in each corner (West, South, East, North). Once you have them all, you can find the immunity necklace in another part of the maze. Mike gets to try it out, still blindfolded, but with the guidance of his mom who can see it all. They get to do this for 30 minutes, and they make some progress, but it isn't as easy as they were hoping - they don't complete it even with mom's help. They worry this won't have helped.
Immunity Challenge #1:
See the previous section for a description of the challenge. Will Mike's practice help him out? He finds a medallion first, but others are finding one soon after. When he finds the 2nd one, Rodney was nearby and on Rodney's way back, he tells everyone else how to get to that one. Mike is being ganged up on - and for good reason. He slowly pulls into a lead and is looking for the necklace while the others are still collecting their medallions. Moments later, Mike wins immunity.
Tribal #1:
Mike has to try playing both sides. Rodney and Will seem to be a team. Carolyn and Sierra seem to be a team. Mike tries convincing the girls that the guys are going to vote one of them out. Rondey swears on his dead sister that he'll vote with Mike to get Sierra out. Let's see how things went down. Sierra is voted out 4-1 and becomes the 7th member of the jury.
Immunity Challenge #2:
This is a big one. Untie 20 knots, race up about 4 flights of stairs, grab a key, go down a water slide, work through a multi-level obstacle course, use the key to unlock a back of puzzle pieces. Repeat the stages of climbing, key, slide, unlock, for 2 more keys. Once you have all the puzzle pieces, untie the bags and start constructing a vertical lighthouse puzzle where each piece is a cylinder with a pattern of pegs and hols in each side. Mike and Carolyn are first up the tower. Rodney is last, but makes up some time climbing the stairs. Eventually Carolyn and Will slow down the most and it turns into a race between Mike and Rodney. Rodney has trouble untying his bags of puzzle pieces, then has trouble making any sense of the puzzle. Meanwhile Carolyn has made it to the puzzle stage and is trying to solve it faster than Mike. Sadly for her alliance, she is unsuccessful. Mike wins immunity again. Again, fans of the underdog rejoice.
Tribal #2:
Leading up to this tribal council, Rodney and Will want to vote out Carolyn. Carolyn wants to vote out Rodney. Mike only has to decide if he wants to remove Carolyn or force a tie vote. He claims he wants the tie because all of the Blue Collars turned their back on him. He tells Carolyn this plan and advises her to go into the woods to practice making fire. She does this, for 2 hours, but can't get one started. Welcome to tribal council. Mike follows through. Rodney isn't happy. We go to the fire making challenge. Remember Cook Islands where Becky & Sundra had to make fire to be in the final 3 with Yul & Ozzy? This was kinda like that. We get some elapsed time a few times. 15 minutes. 30 minutes. Each of them breaks their flint at least once and is given a replacement. Finally about 55 minutes in, Carolyn gets a small flame. Moments later Rodney does too. Now it's a race to see who can burn through their string. Rodney uses all of his coconut husk and tries tossing sticks in with no plan. Carolyn immediately builds a pyramid structure to help the flames catch on and climb higher. Carolyn's strategy works out - she wins and is going into the finals.
Final Tribal Council:
We don't see the finalists give opening statements. Not sure if it happened and that part was cut for time, or if they're doing it differently now. Not too many bitter jury members this year. Most of them seem to be counting Will out, except Rodney. Shirin is glad that Mike came to her rescue a few weeks ago, but still needs him to fight for the win. Jenn tells everyone to not be stupid and just vote for the person who obviously deserves it the most - Mike in her opinion. Dan is still mad at Mike for what he did at the auction. Ultimately Mike apologizes, and Dan sees it as sincere. We're left with just enough doubt about who will get the most votes. We are shown a single vote for each of the finalists (Rodney for Will, Jenn for Mike, and Sierra for Carolyn), then we skip ahead to the live reunion portion of the show to read the votes.
Here's the order they were read: Mike. Will. Carolyn. Mike. Mike. Mike. No need to read any more. Your winner of Survivor Worlds Apart is Mike (6-1-1).
Best Moves:
1)
Mike wins all 3 challenges this episode. He needed each of these wins more than anyone else did, and that motivation worked for him.
2) Carolyn practices making fire. Sure she was told to do it, but she actually did go practice and that may have been the difference.
3) The jury members give a good performance and let themselves be open to a change of heart based on how things go down at the final tribal council.
Worst Moves:
1) Sierra is targeted first, instead of Rodney or Will. She may have been a bigger threat to win immunity, but Rodney and Will sure seemed to be a voting block. Plus, she was probably the best bet to beat Mike in the next immunity challenge.
2) Sierra makes the case that she should be kept because she is a good competitor. Always should ask yourself if everyone else really thinks that the best should be at the end, or if they'll go for the more obvious choice of someone who can be easily beaten. Her argument only works if she specifically points out that she is their hope to beat Mike at immunity.
3) Mike forces a tie to potentially bring Carolyn to the finals instead of Rodney. This was dumb. It worked out in the end, but you just brought a better competitor and gave her a chance to shine in the fire making challenge.
4) Speaking of making fire. Carolyn and Rodney both stink for apparently having never worked at making fire. You'd think being out there for 39 days would be enough time to learn. Heck, I haven't ever been called back about my auditions, but I have flint and I've learned how to make a fire - in less than 55 minutes at that.
5) Carolyn makes for yet another poor performance in the final tribal council. We have these more than I would like. Maybe she did better but the editing made her look worse than she was. She had a really good story for why she should win. I can't help but think if I were to be lucky enough to be selected and made it to the finals, I would have a killer argument for why I should win. Survivor is a game that should only be won by players who play through to the bitter end. The game isn't over until Jeff says "I'll go get the votes."
6) Will flat out says he is glad to have made the final 3 because now the game is over and he can relax. Man, that was your problem throughout this season. You were always too busy relaxing and not busy enough trying to win this game. The game is not over until the final vote has been cast.
Top player:
Last week, the top 2 were Will and Sierra, figuring that they would both make the finals. This week the top place is obvious. It has to go to the winner.
1) Mike.
He won. Enough said.
Bottom player:
Last
week, my bottom 2 were Mike and Rodney, figuring that Mike would get voted out and Rodney would get blindsided in a twist. Well I was half right. Rodney did get the axe in a surprising way.
5) Will.
That's right. He made the finals, but not because he was better than Sierra or Rodney. Specifically because he was worse than them actually. I hate to have to hand out a bottom spot, but there usually is one person deserving of it and this time it's Will.
Any final comments for this season?
What do you think. Did you enjoy Survivor Worlds Apart, or are you glad it's over? Enjoy my blog posts? Think I should write more, or less, or take a completely different approach next time? (In the past I have done recap poems, and detailed recaps with answers to potential questions people might have had while watching.) Maybe next season you'll be stuck with whatever I decide on anyway, but this is your chance to provide input. Speaking of next season, we'll have a cast of returning players that fans were allowed to vote on (picking 20 out of 32 nominees). I'll have a post about this sometime before the season premier in September, so don't forget at me. Until then, this is Denny Keyes signing off. Oh, and plotting my next audition video. Season 33 or 34, here I come!
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Keys to Survivor Worlds Apart Ep13
Penultimate Episode of the Season:
This is almost the end. As the episode starts there are 6 castaways left. By the end, we'll vote one out and be left with a final five. These five will duke it out on Wednesday May 20th until a final three face off in the final tribal council. But before all that, here are the highlights of last episode.
Reward Challenge:
Randomly chosen teams of 3 compete in a multi-part challenge. There are two or three initial parts that each team gets through without trouble. The final step is to take many wooden blocks, decide which ones have a letter on them and bring them along to use in a puzzle where the team must spell out a 6-word phrase. Team A is Dan, Rodney, and Sierra. Team B is Carolyn, Mike, and Will. Both teams are working on the puzzle, trying to make words out of what they have for letters. "Reward" "WITH" "WILL" "FIX". Both teams realize that they should stand up their puzzle pieces and face them away from the other team to prevent cheating. Time elapses. 30 minutes in and neither team has solved it yet. Jeff starts subtly giving clues. More time elapses. 60 minutes in, Jeff is hinting more. Sierra isn't listening to Jeff, but Mike was paying attention. Suddenly, Team B thinks they have it. "A REWARD WITH ALL THE FIXIN'S". They win!
Rodney puts another guilt trip on Carolyn. Jeff plays out the pros and cons. Carolyn decides to keep reward for herself instead of switching places with Rodney.
Reward:
Mike, Carolyn, and Will enjoy a helicopter ride that ends with a delicious feast. Mike proposes that this be the final 3 in the game. In Will's confessional, he indicates that Mike is still public enemy number one, so that probably won't be happening. Carolyn seems to think that working with Mike might be something to consider.
Meanwhile, back at camp, Rodney is so upset at still not going on reward that he proposes the final 3 be himself, Dan, and Sierra. Dan also finds some unknown fruit that looks like a melon. The three of them enjoy their own little reward.
Immunity Challenge:
Use a grappling hook to retrieve 3 bags at different distances in the sand ahead of you. Once you have all 3 bags, open up one and use the ball inside to navigate a hanging labrynth style game using two ropes with handles (this one has been used before). Sierra, Dan, and Mike are the only players to get to the puzzle with time to work on it. Dan tries to catch up to Mike, but makes too many fast dangerous moves. Sierra does catch up to Mike and they're both at the final part of the puzzle, just trying to land their ball in the center recession. In a close finish, Mike gets immunity.
Tribal:
The story going in to tribal is that Dan and Carolyn are both being brought up as possibilities. Dan thinks that Carolyn is going home. Carolyn thinks that Dan is going home. Mike is trying to insert his own commentary since he is safe. He's trying to get Dan thinking that his team is voting him out. He's trying to convince Sierra and Carolyn that the other 3 guys are planning to vote one of them out - using the fact that Dan & Rodney are sleeping in the shelter as "proof" that they feel too safe. Plus several people are thinking about Dan's advantage and if that will affect their decisions.
On to the voting. We aren't shown anyone's votes since this one is so up in the air. The votes are in. Jeff says "I'll go tally the votes." Dan decides to play his extra vote, saying he'd rather go down swinging. Dan goes in and makes an additional vote. Jeff then actually goes to tally the votes. When he comes back, Carolyn decides that maybe she shouldn't hold onto her advantage, so she plays her hidden immunity idol, saying "I don't want to go home tonight." The votes come in - 5 for Carolyn, none of which count, and 2 for Dan. Dan is the 13th person voted out and the 6th member of the jury.
Best Moves:
1) Carolyn plays her hidden immunity idol and stays in the game. Excellent timing.
2) Mike plants seeds of doubt in Carolyn and Dan, telling them their alliance is against them. He might be right in both cases.
3) Sierra sides with Rodney and Will, possibly setting herself up for an upset win next week.
Worst Moves:
1) Dan plays his advantage. My opinion is that this play actually caused him to be voted out by inciting Carolyn to play her idol. From all the discussions I've had about this episode, there's only one scenario where this would have made sense, and that's if Carolyn & Sierra had voted with Mike and were expecting to intentionally cause a tie vote. But seeing as how ties are extraordinarily rare these days, that wasn't likely. If 3 or 4 people were voting with Mike, then an extra vote wouldn't help. If he wanted to go down swinging, he needed to save it for one of the next 2 votes where it could either force a tie or maybe save him if he'd been willing to vote with Mike.
2) Some might say that Carolyn not giving up reward to Rodney was a bad move, but I can't get behind that. Sure, it resulted in him getting mad enough to be willing to vote her out, but switching with him could have just put that much more of a target on her back from the other contestants as she'd look like a nicer player trying to sway jury votes. The reward was the right move. Get some food, make possible connections, maybe even get a clue to another advantage or idol.
Top 2 players:
Last week, the top 2 were Carolyn and Will. This week I'm trying to choose 2 of the people in the final 3.
1) Will. Nobody is voting out Will. In challenges he performs worse than the stand-in challenge runners who test it out ahead of time. Socially he started out likable, but with 3 former No Collar tribe mates and the personally attacked Shirin on the jury, he is no threat to beat anyone. Obviously I'm not endorsing him for the win, but I'm sure we'll get the chance to see how Shirin will handle him in the final tribal council and it may be the most interesting jury interation.
2) Sierra. My guess is that once it is down to 4 players, we could see a tie vote where Rodney & Will vote together against Sierra and either Mike or Carolyn. If it comes down to a fire-making challenge, we've seen Rodney fail over and over again in challenges, so I give the tie-breaker to Sierra.
Bottom 2 players:
Last week, my bottom 2 were Dan and Mike. Dan was voted out. This week, I'm trying to choose the 2 people who won't be in the finals.
5) Mike. I'd actually really like to see Mike make it to the end because at this point he seems like he's the biggest fan favorite left, so him winning would be good for the franchise. But Will said it best last week - Mike is public enemy number one. The only person left who might consider voting with Mike is Carolyn, but that's not enough to save him. His only chance at the finals is to win both immunity challenges. It's possible, just improbable.
4) Rodney. He's my best guess at who gets taken out in a surprise twist or if "the alliance" has to turn on themselves again. If Mike goes first, but then Carolyn wins immunity, someone has to go and my money would be on Rodney.
Predicted Winner:
Here it is. Based on everything up through now, who do I think walks away with $1 Million this Wednesday at about 10:05 EDT?
CAROLYN
I've had her in my top list of players every week other than this last week. The only reason she's not part of my top 2 is because I'm going for the most likely finalists. Carolyn is a slight underdog due to numbers right now. I'm sticking with her because in the game of Survivor, even though you shouldn't trust anyone, you have to trust someone. I'm trusting Carolyn to win the big one on Wednesday.
Let Me Have It - Comment:
What do you think of my final 2 and my predicted winner? Can Carolyn make it through to argue her case? Am I way off and will Sierra pull off an unlikely victory? Am I really way off and somehow Rodney or Will argue their way to a million dollars?
Who do you think will win? Who do you WANT to win?
This is almost the end. As the episode starts there are 6 castaways left. By the end, we'll vote one out and be left with a final five. These five will duke it out on Wednesday May 20th until a final three face off in the final tribal council. But before all that, here are the highlights of last episode.
Reward Challenge:
Randomly chosen teams of 3 compete in a multi-part challenge. There are two or three initial parts that each team gets through without trouble. The final step is to take many wooden blocks, decide which ones have a letter on them and bring them along to use in a puzzle where the team must spell out a 6-word phrase. Team A is Dan, Rodney, and Sierra. Team B is Carolyn, Mike, and Will. Both teams are working on the puzzle, trying to make words out of what they have for letters. "Reward" "WITH" "WILL" "FIX". Both teams realize that they should stand up their puzzle pieces and face them away from the other team to prevent cheating. Time elapses. 30 minutes in and neither team has solved it yet. Jeff starts subtly giving clues. More time elapses. 60 minutes in, Jeff is hinting more. Sierra isn't listening to Jeff, but Mike was paying attention. Suddenly, Team B thinks they have it. "A REWARD WITH ALL THE FIXIN'S". They win!
Rodney puts another guilt trip on Carolyn. Jeff plays out the pros and cons. Carolyn decides to keep reward for herself instead of switching places with Rodney.
Reward:
Mike, Carolyn, and Will enjoy a helicopter ride that ends with a delicious feast. Mike proposes that this be the final 3 in the game. In Will's confessional, he indicates that Mike is still public enemy number one, so that probably won't be happening. Carolyn seems to think that working with Mike might be something to consider.
Meanwhile, back at camp, Rodney is so upset at still not going on reward that he proposes the final 3 be himself, Dan, and Sierra. Dan also finds some unknown fruit that looks like a melon. The three of them enjoy their own little reward.
Immunity Challenge:
Use a grappling hook to retrieve 3 bags at different distances in the sand ahead of you. Once you have all 3 bags, open up one and use the ball inside to navigate a hanging labrynth style game using two ropes with handles (this one has been used before). Sierra, Dan, and Mike are the only players to get to the puzzle with time to work on it. Dan tries to catch up to Mike, but makes too many fast dangerous moves. Sierra does catch up to Mike and they're both at the final part of the puzzle, just trying to land their ball in the center recession. In a close finish, Mike gets immunity.
Tribal:
The story going in to tribal is that Dan and Carolyn are both being brought up as possibilities. Dan thinks that Carolyn is going home. Carolyn thinks that Dan is going home. Mike is trying to insert his own commentary since he is safe. He's trying to get Dan thinking that his team is voting him out. He's trying to convince Sierra and Carolyn that the other 3 guys are planning to vote one of them out - using the fact that Dan & Rodney are sleeping in the shelter as "proof" that they feel too safe. Plus several people are thinking about Dan's advantage and if that will affect their decisions.
On to the voting. We aren't shown anyone's votes since this one is so up in the air. The votes are in. Jeff says "I'll go tally the votes." Dan decides to play his extra vote, saying he'd rather go down swinging. Dan goes in and makes an additional vote. Jeff then actually goes to tally the votes. When he comes back, Carolyn decides that maybe she shouldn't hold onto her advantage, so she plays her hidden immunity idol, saying "I don't want to go home tonight." The votes come in - 5 for Carolyn, none of which count, and 2 for Dan. Dan is the 13th person voted out and the 6th member of the jury.
Best Moves:
1) Carolyn plays her hidden immunity idol and stays in the game. Excellent timing.
2) Mike plants seeds of doubt in Carolyn and Dan, telling them their alliance is against them. He might be right in both cases.
3) Sierra sides with Rodney and Will, possibly setting herself up for an upset win next week.
Worst Moves:
1) Dan plays his advantage. My opinion is that this play actually caused him to be voted out by inciting Carolyn to play her idol. From all the discussions I've had about this episode, there's only one scenario where this would have made sense, and that's if Carolyn & Sierra had voted with Mike and were expecting to intentionally cause a tie vote. But seeing as how ties are extraordinarily rare these days, that wasn't likely. If 3 or 4 people were voting with Mike, then an extra vote wouldn't help. If he wanted to go down swinging, he needed to save it for one of the next 2 votes where it could either force a tie or maybe save him if he'd been willing to vote with Mike.
2) Some might say that Carolyn not giving up reward to Rodney was a bad move, but I can't get behind that. Sure, it resulted in him getting mad enough to be willing to vote her out, but switching with him could have just put that much more of a target on her back from the other contestants as she'd look like a nicer player trying to sway jury votes. The reward was the right move. Get some food, make possible connections, maybe even get a clue to another advantage or idol.
Top 2 players:
Last week, the top 2 were Carolyn and Will. This week I'm trying to choose 2 of the people in the final 3.
1) Will. Nobody is voting out Will. In challenges he performs worse than the stand-in challenge runners who test it out ahead of time. Socially he started out likable, but with 3 former No Collar tribe mates and the personally attacked Shirin on the jury, he is no threat to beat anyone. Obviously I'm not endorsing him for the win, but I'm sure we'll get the chance to see how Shirin will handle him in the final tribal council and it may be the most interesting jury interation.
2) Sierra. My guess is that once it is down to 4 players, we could see a tie vote where Rodney & Will vote together against Sierra and either Mike or Carolyn. If it comes down to a fire-making challenge, we've seen Rodney fail over and over again in challenges, so I give the tie-breaker to Sierra.
Bottom 2 players:
Last week, my bottom 2 were Dan and Mike. Dan was voted out. This week, I'm trying to choose the 2 people who won't be in the finals.
5) Mike. I'd actually really like to see Mike make it to the end because at this point he seems like he's the biggest fan favorite left, so him winning would be good for the franchise. But Will said it best last week - Mike is public enemy number one. The only person left who might consider voting with Mike is Carolyn, but that's not enough to save him. His only chance at the finals is to win both immunity challenges. It's possible, just improbable.
4) Rodney. He's my best guess at who gets taken out in a surprise twist or if "the alliance" has to turn on themselves again. If Mike goes first, but then Carolyn wins immunity, someone has to go and my money would be on Rodney.
Predicted Winner:
Here it is. Based on everything up through now, who do I think walks away with $1 Million this Wednesday at about 10:05 EDT?
CAROLYN
I've had her in my top list of players every week other than this last week. The only reason she's not part of my top 2 is because I'm going for the most likely finalists. Carolyn is a slight underdog due to numbers right now. I'm sticking with her because in the game of Survivor, even though you shouldn't trust anyone, you have to trust someone. I'm trusting Carolyn to win the big one on Wednesday.
Let Me Have It - Comment:
What do you think of my final 2 and my predicted winner? Can Carolyn make it through to argue her case? Am I way off and will Sierra pull off an unlikely victory? Am I really way off and somehow Rodney or Will argue their way to a million dollars?
Who do you think will win? Who do you WANT to win?
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Keys to Survivor Worlds Apart Ep12
As the show opens up:
The majority alliance goes into damage control mode to get Dan back into the mix after 2 of them voted for him during tribal council. Dan seems to make amends with Will. He's more skeptical of Tyler, even though Tyler had the better reason for voting for someone else.
Reward Challenge:
Split into teams of 3 by schoolyard pick, each team must unwind long ribbons from around a post that they are connected to. This releases a key that is used to open a box containing boards to build a crooked ladder. At the top of the ladder is a bag of balls. Everyone on the team has to go over the ladder. The team then must make their way through a narrow all-net bridge. The 5 balls then need to make it into 5 goals by being aimed and catapulted into them.
It's Rodney's birthday and he wants nothing more than to win reward for the first time. Others had agreed to bring him along with them, but this is a team reward, not individual. Will told him he would even switch with him, but with 7 people left, Will was not chosen on either team. Team 1 was Mike, Sierra, and Carolyn. Team 2 was Rodney, Tyler, and Dan. Team 1 gets their key first. Team 2 just about catches up through the net bridge, but Rodney forgot the bag of balls so has to go back to get them and go through the net bridge again. Mike starts launching balls towards the targets. Dan finally starts in on it. Dan gets his first 2 and the challenge is tied quickly. Dan then pulls ahead 4-2. A few unlucky rolls later and Mike ties it at 4, then manages to win reward.
Rodney makes a plea to be brought on reward. One of the winners would need to switch places. Mike is obviously unwilling since Mike knows he needs food. Carolyn and Sierra are also unwilling to switch. Rodney is upset, saying "They just turned me into the psychotic person I am."
Reward:
Mike, Carolyn, and Sierra bring toys and school supplies to a local orphanage as ambassadors of goodwill from Survivor. They feast on local cuisine and discuss how camp life will be with Rodney when they get back.
Immunity Challenge:
Lean back while holding onto a rope with knots at regular intervals. At certain points in time anyone who has not fallen into the water will drop down to the next knot. The last time this challenge was used was in Survivor Caramoan (Fans vs Favorites 2) and John Cochran won by using an advantage of moving up a knot whenever he wanted. This time nobody had an advantage. It came down to Mike, Carolyn, and Tyler when they had to move down a knot for the first time. Mike couldn't make the transition and soon after that Tyler dropped out. Carolyn wins immunity.
Pre-tribal, then Tribal:
Rodney had been plotting to trick Mike into not playing the idol by claiming he was so mad about not going on reward that he wanted everyone to vote for him. Mike never bought it though. The majority alliance needed to come up with a game plan for who was voting for whom. Tyler's name and Dan's name came up as options. Some figured this was the time to cut Dan loose. Others thought that this would be the best time to get rid of Tyler. Carolyn could play her hidden idol on Tyler and save him, and he asked if she would. Carolyn, however, is one of the people tossing Tyler's name around. Dan is being talked about due to the advantage that he has and only Carolyn & Tyler know about.
Let's get to the voting. Before the votes are read, Mike plays his idol. The first 4 votes are for Mike, but do not count. The next vote is Tyler (presumably from Mike), but the next one is also for Tyler. The votes that count are 3-0 making Tyler the 12th person voted out and the 5th member of the jury.
Best Moves:
1) Mike plays his hidden immunity idol for real. He was quite wise not to believe that everyone would vote for Rodney. He lives to play another 2-3 days.
2) Carolyn starts making big moves, plotting against Tyler. This does several things. She removes a threat. She removes the chance that others see her and Tyler as a duo, which creates the risk that she is voted out especially if Tyler wins immunity. She removes the only person who knows she has a hidden immunity idol. She removes the only other person who knows what Dan's advantage (2-votes at a tribal council of his choice) is.
3) Everyone who won reward refuses to give it up for Rodney. How would that help any of you? It wouldn't. It would keep Rodney from complaining a little bit more than he usually does.
Worst Moves:
For the first time this season, I don't have any worst moves to report. Did people say and do stupid things? Sure, but none of them were game altering. But for those of you who want to read something here, I'll stretch and give you this.
1) Tyler trusts Carolyn too much. Sure, he has every reason to trust her since they've been together since the start of the game, but you should always pay attention to who knows what information. If you are the only person who knows that someone else has an idol, and the only person that knows that another person has 2 votes at tribal, the person with the idol might see that has you having too much power - even though you don't hold any of those cards. Knowing what cards people are holding is a card in and of itself.
Top 3 players:
Last week, the top 3 were Carolyn, Mike, and Sierra. This week I will only choose 2.
1) Carolyn. Way up at the top this time. She now not only has an immunity idol, but now nobody left in the game knows about it. She is likely the only person in the game that knows the power of the advantage that Dan bought at the auction. And she just orchestrated the removal of one of the biggest remaining threats - notably the one with the story closest to her own.
2) Will. Here's my controversial call this week. Will isn't that good at Survivor, but he's still here. I believe that nobody thinks of him as a threat, and that Rodney and Carolyn are both trying to get to the end with him so they can beat him. It's a junky reason to be in the top 2, but that's how it's going down in my view.
Bottom 3 players:
Last week, my bottom 3 were Dan, Rodney, and Tyler. Tyler was voted out. I only have 2 this week.
6) Dan. This one is tough for me. I don't think Dan deserves the bottom spot, but given the way things have unfolded to the audience at home, I think he's being played. It really wouldn't surprise me if Dan is blindsided by Carolyn to take out his power before he can use it against her.
5) Mike. Top 3 last week because he had immunity, but his immunity is gone this week and he's the biggest perceived immunity threat left. He's going to try to sway someone, but it might be too late. I think his (and Dan's) only chance is if he can get a plan working with Dan and Sierra. If that doesn't happen, look for a final 3 of Carolyn, Rodney, and Will - with Carolyn flying home with a nearly guaranteed $1 million.
Let Me Have It - Comment:
Ok folks. I've made a few bold and controversial statements about this last episode. What do you agree with? What do you disagree with? What are you glad I mentioned because you were thinking it too, or because you hadn't thought of it and are glad I enlightened you? What did you think I missed?
The majority alliance goes into damage control mode to get Dan back into the mix after 2 of them voted for him during tribal council. Dan seems to make amends with Will. He's more skeptical of Tyler, even though Tyler had the better reason for voting for someone else.
Reward Challenge:
Split into teams of 3 by schoolyard pick, each team must unwind long ribbons from around a post that they are connected to. This releases a key that is used to open a box containing boards to build a crooked ladder. At the top of the ladder is a bag of balls. Everyone on the team has to go over the ladder. The team then must make their way through a narrow all-net bridge. The 5 balls then need to make it into 5 goals by being aimed and catapulted into them.
It's Rodney's birthday and he wants nothing more than to win reward for the first time. Others had agreed to bring him along with them, but this is a team reward, not individual. Will told him he would even switch with him, but with 7 people left, Will was not chosen on either team. Team 1 was Mike, Sierra, and Carolyn. Team 2 was Rodney, Tyler, and Dan. Team 1 gets their key first. Team 2 just about catches up through the net bridge, but Rodney forgot the bag of balls so has to go back to get them and go through the net bridge again. Mike starts launching balls towards the targets. Dan finally starts in on it. Dan gets his first 2 and the challenge is tied quickly. Dan then pulls ahead 4-2. A few unlucky rolls later and Mike ties it at 4, then manages to win reward.
Rodney makes a plea to be brought on reward. One of the winners would need to switch places. Mike is obviously unwilling since Mike knows he needs food. Carolyn and Sierra are also unwilling to switch. Rodney is upset, saying "They just turned me into the psychotic person I am."
Reward:
Mike, Carolyn, and Sierra bring toys and school supplies to a local orphanage as ambassadors of goodwill from Survivor. They feast on local cuisine and discuss how camp life will be with Rodney when they get back.
Immunity Challenge:
Lean back while holding onto a rope with knots at regular intervals. At certain points in time anyone who has not fallen into the water will drop down to the next knot. The last time this challenge was used was in Survivor Caramoan (Fans vs Favorites 2) and John Cochran won by using an advantage of moving up a knot whenever he wanted. This time nobody had an advantage. It came down to Mike, Carolyn, and Tyler when they had to move down a knot for the first time. Mike couldn't make the transition and soon after that Tyler dropped out. Carolyn wins immunity.
Pre-tribal, then Tribal:
Rodney had been plotting to trick Mike into not playing the idol by claiming he was so mad about not going on reward that he wanted everyone to vote for him. Mike never bought it though. The majority alliance needed to come up with a game plan for who was voting for whom. Tyler's name and Dan's name came up as options. Some figured this was the time to cut Dan loose. Others thought that this would be the best time to get rid of Tyler. Carolyn could play her hidden idol on Tyler and save him, and he asked if she would. Carolyn, however, is one of the people tossing Tyler's name around. Dan is being talked about due to the advantage that he has and only Carolyn & Tyler know about.
Let's get to the voting. Before the votes are read, Mike plays his idol. The first 4 votes are for Mike, but do not count. The next vote is Tyler (presumably from Mike), but the next one is also for Tyler. The votes that count are 3-0 making Tyler the 12th person voted out and the 5th member of the jury.
Best Moves:
1) Mike plays his hidden immunity idol for real. He was quite wise not to believe that everyone would vote for Rodney. He lives to play another 2-3 days.
2) Carolyn starts making big moves, plotting against Tyler. This does several things. She removes a threat. She removes the chance that others see her and Tyler as a duo, which creates the risk that she is voted out especially if Tyler wins immunity. She removes the only person who knows she has a hidden immunity idol. She removes the only other person who knows what Dan's advantage (2-votes at a tribal council of his choice) is.
3) Everyone who won reward refuses to give it up for Rodney. How would that help any of you? It wouldn't. It would keep Rodney from complaining a little bit more than he usually does.
Worst Moves:
For the first time this season, I don't have any worst moves to report. Did people say and do stupid things? Sure, but none of them were game altering. But for those of you who want to read something here, I'll stretch and give you this.
1) Tyler trusts Carolyn too much. Sure, he has every reason to trust her since they've been together since the start of the game, but you should always pay attention to who knows what information. If you are the only person who knows that someone else has an idol, and the only person that knows that another person has 2 votes at tribal, the person with the idol might see that has you having too much power - even though you don't hold any of those cards. Knowing what cards people are holding is a card in and of itself.
Top 3 players:
Last week, the top 3 were Carolyn, Mike, and Sierra. This week I will only choose 2.
1) Carolyn. Way up at the top this time. She now not only has an immunity idol, but now nobody left in the game knows about it. She is likely the only person in the game that knows the power of the advantage that Dan bought at the auction. And she just orchestrated the removal of one of the biggest remaining threats - notably the one with the story closest to her own.
2) Will. Here's my controversial call this week. Will isn't that good at Survivor, but he's still here. I believe that nobody thinks of him as a threat, and that Rodney and Carolyn are both trying to get to the end with him so they can beat him. It's a junky reason to be in the top 2, but that's how it's going down in my view.
Bottom 3 players:
Last week, my bottom 3 were Dan, Rodney, and Tyler. Tyler was voted out. I only have 2 this week.
6) Dan. This one is tough for me. I don't think Dan deserves the bottom spot, but given the way things have unfolded to the audience at home, I think he's being played. It really wouldn't surprise me if Dan is blindsided by Carolyn to take out his power before he can use it against her.
5) Mike. Top 3 last week because he had immunity, but his immunity is gone this week and he's the biggest perceived immunity threat left. He's going to try to sway someone, but it might be too late. I think his (and Dan's) only chance is if he can get a plan working with Dan and Sierra. If that doesn't happen, look for a final 3 of Carolyn, Rodney, and Will - with Carolyn flying home with a nearly guaranteed $1 million.
Let Me Have It - Comment:
Ok folks. I've made a few bold and controversial statements about this last episode. What do you agree with? What do you disagree with? What are you glad I mentioned because you were thinking it too, or because you hadn't thought of it and are glad I enlightened you? What did you think I missed?
Monday, May 4, 2015
Keys to Survivor Worlds Apart Ep11
Recap:
The most recent Survivor was a fantastic episode. Drama, suspense, creativity, and great moves. Here's the important details.
Reward Challenge:
Split into teams of 4 by schoolyard pick, each team must cross a court using barrels and boards in a classic team-building-style exercise. If a person or a board touches the ground, the whole team has to return to the previously completed segment (the court is divided into 3 sections).
Mike, Shirin, Sierra, and Rodney (I'll call this Team Mike) take on Carolyn, Dan, Will, and Tyler (I'll call this Team Carolyn). Team Mike rolls their barrels out on their sides. Three of them stand on one upright barrel while Mike moves the other 3 barrels into position while trying not to roll off. This technique amazingly seems to be working, but Mike is doing most of the work and is tiring. Team Carolyn take the typical approach of using all barrels upright. Dan is the last across, getting pulled the final bit while having his trailing foot drag behind to tip the last barrel toward them so they can roll it ahead. Eventually Team Carolyn take the lead as Mike tires too much. Mike finally loses his mental control and sets a board down, causing his team to start over at the 2/3 mark. In a last ditch effort, Team Mike each stand on a tipped barrel (a few of them carrying boards) and tries to roll them individually while standing on them in order to get to the finishing line. This is amazing, but very risky. A few of them fall and they start over again as Team Carolyn win reward.
Reward:
Rodney, again, misses out on a reward and he's not happy about it. The winning team gets a lunch cruise. They enjoy it and use the time to plot against Mike and Shirin.
Immunity Challenge:
Mike knows he's in trouble this week. The twist at this challenge is that there will be one male winner and one female winner, for a total of 2 people winning immunity. Each contestant must grip a rod with a rope looped around it connected to a bag with 25% of their initial starting weight. This is another classic Survivor challenge which guarantees to rip some skin off of some hands. The first outcome is that Carolyn wins immunity, outlasting Sierra, then Shirin. Then we watch a showdown between Rodney and Mike. Rodney wants this one bad because he wants to get rid of Mike. Rodney's physique makes it look like he should handle this well, especially since he's smaller than Mike so is holding less weight. Mike, on the other hand, has two things on his side - his immense need for the protection (which tends to win out over standard desire), and his faith is God to get him through tough circumstances. Mike wins and is immune at the vote tonight.
Tribal:
Since voting for Mike is not an option, Shirin is the only odd person out. But both Shirin and Mike have had chances to plead to others that keeping Shirin is a no brainer because nobody left likes her, she's unlikely to win even if she somehow made it to the end, and she's no good at challenges, so you can vote her out later. The thought is that they could take out a bigger threat now while they have 2 extra votes to work with them. All they need is someone to feel as though they're in the bottom 2 of the 6-person alliance. The problem is, nobody seems to think they're at the bottom.
But Mike has a grand plan. He reveals his hidden immunity idol. He tells everyone that he plans to play the idol for Shirin, making her immune and causing one of the 6 others to be voted out. He tells Shirin to vote for Tyler - the biggest threat of the 6. Mike says he will choose one random person from the others. If the others want to guarantee that they'll stay in the game, they would need to switch their vote from Shirin to Tyler or risk being voted out themselves due to Mike's random vote.
Genius!
The voting commences. Jeff tallies the votes. Mike stands up, but only tells Shirin that he likes her and keeps the idol for himself for a future tribal council. The votes are read. Shirin, Tyler, Dan, Shirin, Tyler, Dan, Shirin, Shirin. With that, Shirin is voted out 4-2-2. But the take home message, of course, is that Dan received 2 votes. Dan looks shocked and relieved. Mike looks like the cat who caught the canary. Shirin, despite being voted out, looks happy too. I believe she loved the play that just happened even if it did mean her demise.
Best Moves:
1) Mike "plays" his hidden immunity idol. I usually advocate for keeping those things a secret, but in this instance, Mike made better use of the hidden idol than I think anyone ever has before - be it by playing it, sharing it, keeping it, or leveraging it. Mike exposed exactly where a crack exists in the larger alliance, and is now guaranteed to stick around through their initial turning on each other since he still has his idol.
2) Shirin attempts to convince everyone that she's not a threat so they should vote out someone else and save her for later. It didn't work, but it was honestly the best move. Whether you thought you're on the bottom of that group or not, turning on your people now made sense since it would be a big move and would leave Shirin as an easy target for later, as she argued.
3) Carolyn doesn't get fooled by Mike, keeps her vote on Shirin, and doesn't play her idol to save Tyler, thus having it as a weapon to combat a potential move by Mike next week.
Worst Moves:
1) Will votes for Dan. What the hell? Tyler was the one in trouble. Your only reason for voting for Dan would be if you truly believed that Shirin was going to be immune and that your alliance was going to turn on you instead of Tyler. But if that were the case, you would get at least 3 votes and would be toast, so a vote for Dan would not have helped. Maybe you didn't have much time to think about this vote, but I have to say that Phillip Sheppard (Redemption Island, Caramoan) was wise enough to stay the course and vote for the original intended target. Dan, the person you voted for, said it earlier - flippers never win. Although I don't agree 100% with Dan, he may be right about it with respect to Will's move here.
2) Tyler votes for Dan. Again, if your tribe was going to turn on you, your one vote for Dan wouldn't save you anyway. It would have been smarter to send the vote towards someone who wholly trusts you (although Carolyn was immune), or to someone who would flip out and make themselves the next easy target. A vote towards Rodney was the safe bet for Tyler if he felt he needed to have a vote to displace the one already coming to him.
3) Mike does all the work in the barrel reward challenge. It was a risk that would have paid off nicely if it worked, but the strategy should have changed for the 3rd segment when he was already tired.
Top 3 players:
Last week, Carolyn was my top pick. I only chose one since I was short on time.
1) Carolyn. Still at the top. Still has an immunity idol. Kept her cool at the last tribal. Unlikely to be the biggest target going forward even if things get messy on Wednesday.
2) Mike. What can I say. The man was pure genius last week. Plus he's got an idol that everyone knows he has and will expect him to play so we're stuck with him at least another week.
3) Sierra. Almost put her in the middle, but I suspect she'll be a key vote in this next tribal council. It is all too likely that her final 3 would have involved Dan, so if Dan was targeted then that means she would be next, so she'll probably side with Dan & Mike, and either way, she won't be the target.
Bottom 3 players:
Last week, Dan was my bottom pick. Not bad, considering 2 of his alliance members turned on him when the going got tough. I only chose one since I was short on time. Shirin was voted out (believe me, she would have been in my bottom 3-4 if I had done a full post).
7) Dan. His alliance targeted him, and despite what went down, they still have the numbers unless Sierra was alienated. As long as Sierra thinks she's got a final 3 with the others, Dan is doomed. Of course, there is the problem of that extra vote he has. It seems highly likely that it gets played this week, but will it be enough?
6) Rodney. I almost put Will here, but Will is probably the best bet left for a goat to bring to the finals. Rodney is way more volatile and it may bite him. Look out for votes heading his way to guard against an idol ruining someone else's plans.
5) Tyler. Used to be near my top. After his vote for Dan and because of his potential to win a late immunity, he's going to be a target again. Maybe his gig will be up sooner than I originally thought. His best hope may be to get saved by Carolyn's idol, but she might be wise to keep it for herself, unless using it could result in Mike being voted out.
The most recent Survivor was a fantastic episode. Drama, suspense, creativity, and great moves. Here's the important details.
Reward Challenge:
Split into teams of 4 by schoolyard pick, each team must cross a court using barrels and boards in a classic team-building-style exercise. If a person or a board touches the ground, the whole team has to return to the previously completed segment (the court is divided into 3 sections).
Mike, Shirin, Sierra, and Rodney (I'll call this Team Mike) take on Carolyn, Dan, Will, and Tyler (I'll call this Team Carolyn). Team Mike rolls their barrels out on their sides. Three of them stand on one upright barrel while Mike moves the other 3 barrels into position while trying not to roll off. This technique amazingly seems to be working, but Mike is doing most of the work and is tiring. Team Carolyn take the typical approach of using all barrels upright. Dan is the last across, getting pulled the final bit while having his trailing foot drag behind to tip the last barrel toward them so they can roll it ahead. Eventually Team Carolyn take the lead as Mike tires too much. Mike finally loses his mental control and sets a board down, causing his team to start over at the 2/3 mark. In a last ditch effort, Team Mike each stand on a tipped barrel (a few of them carrying boards) and tries to roll them individually while standing on them in order to get to the finishing line. This is amazing, but very risky. A few of them fall and they start over again as Team Carolyn win reward.
Reward:
Rodney, again, misses out on a reward and he's not happy about it. The winning team gets a lunch cruise. They enjoy it and use the time to plot against Mike and Shirin.
Immunity Challenge:
Mike knows he's in trouble this week. The twist at this challenge is that there will be one male winner and one female winner, for a total of 2 people winning immunity. Each contestant must grip a rod with a rope looped around it connected to a bag with 25% of their initial starting weight. This is another classic Survivor challenge which guarantees to rip some skin off of some hands. The first outcome is that Carolyn wins immunity, outlasting Sierra, then Shirin. Then we watch a showdown between Rodney and Mike. Rodney wants this one bad because he wants to get rid of Mike. Rodney's physique makes it look like he should handle this well, especially since he's smaller than Mike so is holding less weight. Mike, on the other hand, has two things on his side - his immense need for the protection (which tends to win out over standard desire), and his faith is God to get him through tough circumstances. Mike wins and is immune at the vote tonight.
Tribal:
Since voting for Mike is not an option, Shirin is the only odd person out. But both Shirin and Mike have had chances to plead to others that keeping Shirin is a no brainer because nobody left likes her, she's unlikely to win even if she somehow made it to the end, and she's no good at challenges, so you can vote her out later. The thought is that they could take out a bigger threat now while they have 2 extra votes to work with them. All they need is someone to feel as though they're in the bottom 2 of the 6-person alliance. The problem is, nobody seems to think they're at the bottom.
But Mike has a grand plan. He reveals his hidden immunity idol. He tells everyone that he plans to play the idol for Shirin, making her immune and causing one of the 6 others to be voted out. He tells Shirin to vote for Tyler - the biggest threat of the 6. Mike says he will choose one random person from the others. If the others want to guarantee that they'll stay in the game, they would need to switch their vote from Shirin to Tyler or risk being voted out themselves due to Mike's random vote.
Genius!
The voting commences. Jeff tallies the votes. Mike stands up, but only tells Shirin that he likes her and keeps the idol for himself for a future tribal council. The votes are read. Shirin, Tyler, Dan, Shirin, Tyler, Dan, Shirin, Shirin. With that, Shirin is voted out 4-2-2. But the take home message, of course, is that Dan received 2 votes. Dan looks shocked and relieved. Mike looks like the cat who caught the canary. Shirin, despite being voted out, looks happy too. I believe she loved the play that just happened even if it did mean her demise.
Best Moves:
1) Mike "plays" his hidden immunity idol. I usually advocate for keeping those things a secret, but in this instance, Mike made better use of the hidden idol than I think anyone ever has before - be it by playing it, sharing it, keeping it, or leveraging it. Mike exposed exactly where a crack exists in the larger alliance, and is now guaranteed to stick around through their initial turning on each other since he still has his idol.
2) Shirin attempts to convince everyone that she's not a threat so they should vote out someone else and save her for later. It didn't work, but it was honestly the best move. Whether you thought you're on the bottom of that group or not, turning on your people now made sense since it would be a big move and would leave Shirin as an easy target for later, as she argued.
3) Carolyn doesn't get fooled by Mike, keeps her vote on Shirin, and doesn't play her idol to save Tyler, thus having it as a weapon to combat a potential move by Mike next week.
Worst Moves:
1) Will votes for Dan. What the hell? Tyler was the one in trouble. Your only reason for voting for Dan would be if you truly believed that Shirin was going to be immune and that your alliance was going to turn on you instead of Tyler. But if that were the case, you would get at least 3 votes and would be toast, so a vote for Dan would not have helped. Maybe you didn't have much time to think about this vote, but I have to say that Phillip Sheppard (Redemption Island, Caramoan) was wise enough to stay the course and vote for the original intended target. Dan, the person you voted for, said it earlier - flippers never win. Although I don't agree 100% with Dan, he may be right about it with respect to Will's move here.
2) Tyler votes for Dan. Again, if your tribe was going to turn on you, your one vote for Dan wouldn't save you anyway. It would have been smarter to send the vote towards someone who wholly trusts you (although Carolyn was immune), or to someone who would flip out and make themselves the next easy target. A vote towards Rodney was the safe bet for Tyler if he felt he needed to have a vote to displace the one already coming to him.
3) Mike does all the work in the barrel reward challenge. It was a risk that would have paid off nicely if it worked, but the strategy should have changed for the 3rd segment when he was already tired.
Top 3 players:
Last week, Carolyn was my top pick. I only chose one since I was short on time.
1) Carolyn. Still at the top. Still has an immunity idol. Kept her cool at the last tribal. Unlikely to be the biggest target going forward even if things get messy on Wednesday.
2) Mike. What can I say. The man was pure genius last week. Plus he's got an idol that everyone knows he has and will expect him to play so we're stuck with him at least another week.
3) Sierra. Almost put her in the middle, but I suspect she'll be a key vote in this next tribal council. It is all too likely that her final 3 would have involved Dan, so if Dan was targeted then that means she would be next, so she'll probably side with Dan & Mike, and either way, she won't be the target.
Bottom 3 players:
Last week, Dan was my bottom pick. Not bad, considering 2 of his alliance members turned on him when the going got tough. I only chose one since I was short on time. Shirin was voted out (believe me, she would have been in my bottom 3-4 if I had done a full post).
7) Dan. His alliance targeted him, and despite what went down, they still have the numbers unless Sierra was alienated. As long as Sierra thinks she's got a final 3 with the others, Dan is doomed. Of course, there is the problem of that extra vote he has. It seems highly likely that it gets played this week, but will it be enough?
6) Rodney. I almost put Will here, but Will is probably the best bet left for a goat to bring to the finals. Rodney is way more volatile and it may bite him. Look out for votes heading his way to guard against an idol ruining someone else's plans.
5) Tyler. Used to be near my top. After his vote for Dan and because of his potential to win a late immunity, he's going to be a target again. Maybe his gig will be up sooner than I originally thought. His best hope may be to get saved by Carolyn's idol, but she might be wise to keep it for herself, unless using it could result in Mike being voted out.
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