Survivor: Fiji (spoilers inside)
 

Random thoughts. The FHM model quit before they even reached the island? I really hope something happens to the 'nice' camp to even them up. Why was Yau Man not on the puzzle solving team?

Currently rooting for Yau Man as I don't have a feel for many of the castaways yet. Except for Dreamz (WTF?), he annoys me.

I said the same thing about Yao not being on the puzzle team. Not a good move. Dreamz and Rocky won't be around long unless they get in a strong alliance. Interesting twist on the Idol - your team has to lose the challenge so you can search for it.

I figure they'll do something like winning the reward challenge gets you to the nice camp; they'll be switching beaches up pretty regularly most likely. Especially given that one immunity idol is at the bad beach.

I read that they recruited all but one player this season. I'm not sure how I feel about that, since it probably makes for better gameplay, but seems a little less geniuine.

Seems like they are doing this more often. They are trying to keep the show fresh, but I think they are going to end up killing it.

Can we remove the spoiler tag from the subject? I know it's intended to cover people on the west coast or who tivo'd an episode for later, but I have a bad feeling someone will come in halfway through the season and post an actual spoiler thinking it's OK.

They've said that recruiting is necessary to cast large numbers of minorities. I dunno. Personally I had trouble getting into last year's derby of whether the chick who guested on Sex and the City could beat out the guy who guested on Seinfeld and Arrested Development, and how their strategy might work against the former porn actor.

As for this season, the first boot is

* a former University of New Orleans student (go Privateers!), and

* the hottest chick on the show.

Way to go, Fiji cast.

How do we know this? Why not the good beach? The note said back from where you came, but the architect never made it to the bad beach to come back from. She got sent to exile island before the immunity challenge, no?

Apparently there's one at each beach.

Hmm, I must have missed it in the clue where it said there were two idols.

jeff probst said there were two idols, when he had everyone gathered on the beach.

what do you guys mean by "recruiting"?

I was glad Rocky stood up to that moron and I think alot of other castaways were also. I am always amazed that people go on this show and act in a moronic way that annoys everyone. IT's like they never watched a prior season

I don't believe he did. I thought it was said during the introductions in a voice over but he has not said anything to the group about it yet.

That would make sense because I missed the first 5 minutes of the show and during the rest of the show (including on the beach), I swear I never heard him mention there were two idols.

yes, that's possible. i just remember hearing him say it.

It said back at your home or somesuch. Since that's where she is headed back, I figured it would be the bad beach.

Of course, if there is one at each beach, it won't matter at all.

Way to kick the hottest chick out of the show on the first vote. :(

Basically the casting people go around looking for people rather than taking applications from people all over the country. This results in a disproportionate number of Californians and/or wanna-be actors in Survivor casts.

Yau Man needs to get off that loser team.

Seems like he might be the smartest guy on the island...though that may not get him very far.

Pretty tame episode last night. I don't like the one tribe living in luxury. I think it's too much of an advantage in the physical challenges. Last night the other tribe was competitive, but after a while I'd guess that it won't even be close if it comes to a physical challenge.

The guy who hurt himself, Boo, was pretty funny. I can't believe someone is that clumsy/stupid/stubborn.

great editing/timing when they showed him falling in the hammock

and it's even better when you can add "unlucky" to the list. The hammock falling apart bit was very, very funny. :D

FM

I can not believe a tribe would purposfully go to tribal council and I think it will be their undoing.

I think Lisi has to go. She felt threatened by Lilliana, so forced the rest of the 5 to vote in that direction. I also didn't like what she was saying about Papa Smurf when he was sick. I'm suprised the other 4 include her in their exclusive club.

Yeah I was liking Lisi until tonight and her comments about Gary and Lilliana. Hope Gary is ok. And it was incredibly stupid to vote someone out so they could stay at the luxury camp. They were winning all the challenges, why break the momentum by evening the odds with your competitors?

Looks like its going to cause a lot of bad feelings too by the preview for next week. Wouldn't surprise me if they lose challenges now because they kept Cassandra.

I hope that happens. I really don't like the luxury tribe.

Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

First you purposely go to tribal council and even up the numbers instead of being up 8-6. But, then you vote out the strongest woman on your team so you are weak and vulnerable in the next challenges because the ugly girl is jealous.

All for what? So you can sleep on a bed and use forks??

I am totally cheering for the other tribe now; even though that whole team is a bunch of losers.

How in the world that alliance of 5 has the useless frumpy-dump instead of the smokin' hot, uber-athletic latina makes no sense to me.

That being said, I don't really have much problem with going to tribal. Having that beach, imo, has been a HUGE advantage - even to the point that I'm almost not liking Survivor for the first time because it's just so unbalanced.

QFT

agree with all that's in here. To me, going to tribal council wasn't all that dumb, it was dumbing the athletic and strong girl instead of the smiley and happy black lady.

I don't see the number advantage as being that important, they have to play on equal terms in challenges anyway (sitting one person per).

What would you want on your team, 8 people who are weakened because they don't eat well, then start losing and get depressed and all, or 7 people who eat like kings and sleep well and are ready to kick the ass of the 7 people on the other side who are still not eating much and losing weight by the minute? Granted, the 7 people they decided to keep on their team is not the 7 that I would have picked, but that's another story...

FM

The more I think of this the dumber it gets. If they happen to lose the next challenge and then there is a merger, they're done for. Or even if the numbers stay even until a merge, they could be done for. What a bunch of morons.

Yep. Yep. Yep. Agree with all of the above. Did anyone else notice that despite all his words after the IC, Dreamz voted with the crew to get the Latina chick out?

They probably made the right call... they're winning all the challenges because they're well-fed and rested. Especially with the other team so beaten down, why take your foot off their throat.

And for those who says they're rooting for the "poor" tribe... well, no kidding, the entire show has been designed to get you to do that.

I think this was the typical alliance ego kicking in. The group of 5 decide they want to keep the comfort, and they are in charge, so losing one won't matter, and they get to keep the camp. Every time an alliance decides to wield their power in anything but a tribal council, they fall apart. Looks like the same will happen here, especially given the gall to vote out the strong woman.

And doubly especially when the 2 girls in the alliance manage to overrule the 3 guys...

Disagree. They've been well-fed and rested long enough to be good for awhile and certainly to win the next challenge or two on skill alone. Number superiority before a merge is critical, it must trump every other decision.

As for rooting for the poor tribe, I was actually rooting against them until now because they are simply terrible (both player and personality wise). But that dumb decision is what has changed my view.

I don't think you could be more wrong on this. We're long from a merge imo, I'm not sure that they've ever merged earlier than like 10 or 11... and the strength is FAR more important.. they're not winning because they are some way inherently superior, it's the setup they have... I'd rather be at 7-7 and win the next 3 than at 8-6 and go on a losing streak as the other tribe gets stronger. Before they made a decision, I said to my fiance that I'd go to tribal.

The only problem I have is who they voted out.

I don't remember the initial rules, but does the imunity-winning tribe get the good camp, or was the last episode the only time where they could have traded camps?

Choosing to vote someone off and retain the good camp was a good idea, but only if you are going to use the chance to drop a weak link. Lisi and Cassandra would have been good choices, and an argument could have been made to vote out Dreamz. A move like this only works if you can prevent your team from getting weaker...which didn't happen.

This was key. If they had given up the good camp, how long would it have taken for them to get back there? Until the merge? I think they made a good choice in going to tribal council. Like the others above, my problem would be the person they voted out.

Then again, we haven't seen all of the stuff that's been going on in that tribe. The only stuff we knew about was that Boo is an accident waiting to happen, Papa Smurf was hurting, and the Latina chick was a flirt. We know far more about the other tribe and their dynamics.

The alliance pretty much said that the only reason she was being voted out was because they thought she could cause problems with their alliance. If that is really the worry, then the alliance is not that strong to begin with. The best way to keep the alliance together is to keep winning challenges. By voting out a strong member, they won't be able to do that as well.

I also think it was bad for the whole alliance to vote together. This basically announces the alliance and let's other people know about their position in the tribe. It sounds like Dreamz voted with the alliance, so he may not know his position, but everyone else must. They should have secured the vote the way they wanted and then thrown out some other random votes. Hide the alliance a bit and keep the outsiders from knowing that they have to break the alliance up. In games like this having the strength is much better than showing the strength.

I guess that answers how bad someone would have to act to get me to feel sorry for Dreamz. Interesting idea to form an alliance to find the immunity idol. The poor tribe is jinxed.

Treating the two members of your own tribe that are not in your "5 person alliance" like crap this early in the game has got to be one of the dumbest moves ever. It's not like they are the final 7 and those two have no power. If they merge before 10 remaining, they are out of luck once those two flip to the other side.

This has been one of the least intersting seasons yet. There are not any players that I am wanting to see win at this point. Maybe that guy from the winning team who seems to understand that they should not be acting like asses or maybe Yao Man.

dola: oh, and what was the deal with the choice for the final pair in the reward challenge. The introduction sounded as if once all 7 member sent they could chose anyone to go and they went with the woman who got thrown off within seconds the first time against the same person who did that to her?

I was so happy when Lisi fell face first during the immunity challenge. Too bad Alex is stuck with the two evil step sisters in his alliance.

I'm not sure I can remember anyone looking more pathetic/obnoxious than Lisi so far. I don't know whether it's an editing hatchet job or whether it's just her, but damn.

Interesting thing about this season -- I caught a youtube video made by someone in the cast of Survivor 13 (Cook Islands) and they were all taking a picture with Probst at the reunion, and Probst makes a comment kind of under his breath -- "I wish we'd had all you guys in Fiji.... that's all I'll say." Sounds like he wasn't a big fan of this season either.

I actually hate Stacy much more than Lisi. I'm not sure that there's been a big bitch/asshole - I'll love it to see her shocked face whenever she is voted off.


I wish I hadn't seen scenes from the next as it totally ruins what's going to happen. Of course, I'm sure the commercials will be plastered all over the NCAA tournament anyways, so there was no avoiding it.

Yeah, me and my wife were also discussing that she is the biggest bitch on survivvor in along, long time.

In a way, the players aren't too much different from other seasons. What makes this season horrible is how lopsided the game is. Their twist of luxury vs. nothing stinks as much here as it does The Apprentice. In physical challenges, there's no way a tribe that has nothing and has eaten nothing can compete with a tribe that is well-fed and well-rested. Even in the mental challenges, their mind is going because of lack of food and good sleep. The producers have no one to blame but themselves.

I think this was the biggest disaster of a decision ever. They'd better nto do it again.

My wife feels the same way. She actually feels so bad for the starving tribe that she's not enjoying the show.

I'm on the other side... after 14 seasons, I'm so tired of the contrived "let's rig the challenges to keep the sides even" approach.If the stronger tribe is getting an advantage, they go to a puzzle challenge. If the men are beating the women, break out the balance beam. Nothing interesting ever happens prior to the merge. At least this year we have a couple of group dynamics (starving and disintegrating vs. fat and cocky) that we haven't seen much of before.