The Official Survivor: China discussion thread (spoilers possible)

[Raiders Army]

Originally Posted by thealmighty

Is James from a small town or something? Around here, they dig graves with a backhoe, at least thefew I have seen.

All this talk of god and see who shows up?

Anyhow yeah, I'm surprised he manually digs graves. I thought even small towns used a backhoe. The cemetery I worked in used the backhoe and shovels for small parts of it.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by Raiders Army

All this talk of god and see who shows up?

Anyhow yeah, I'm surprised he manually digs graves. I thought even small towns used a backhoe. The cemetery I worked in used the backhoe and shovels for small parts of it.

Grave digger for the mafia?

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

Dola

FWIW, the editors do a very deliberate job of framing the contestants that are going to be among the final few. Someone on another site (TV w/o pity?) analyzed the first episodes for several past seasons and discovered that the players that last the longest in the game are portrayed in the first episode or two as very even-handed, insightful, intelligent, and savvy. On the other hand, contestants that get air time being arrogant, bitchy, whiny, and complainers are voted out early.

Using this data, they've predicted the winner of the last 3 Survivors based on the first episode only, and usually get all of the top 2 or 3.

I pretty much knew Chicken was going based on how much of his comments they showed during the game. It really is becoming more and more predictable who's going in these games based on how much coverage they give people during an episode. I wasn't surprised he was voted out-he was pretty "crotchety" after his ideas for the shelter were rejected. If he had just smiled and pitched in when the Asian woman whose name I can't spell asked him for advice he likely would still be there.

So shall we predict who will win this season? Should be fun to see how it turns out the end. I have four that I really like right now to win, but I think I'm going to go with Miss Montana (and Miss Earth), Amanda.

[Maple Leafs]

One of those odd things that occurred to me... virtually every year, there's at least one episode where the remaining players take part in some sort of ceremony from the local culture. I realized that Jeff has probably had to give the same "this is not a worship ceremony, we respect your beliefs" disclaimer every time, and this is just the first time they've had to show it because it became relevant to the game.

[Lathum]

I just finished the first episode.

I agree James is a beast. The christian woman is going to get annoying and I commented to the Mrs. how there will probably be a blow up between her and the gay guy.

Jean-Robert should be fun, he is very colorfull at the tables and I hope he lasts a long time.

I am not surprised Chicken got voted out but it always amazes me how someone like PG plays like that. Has she never even seen an episode of survivor.

I also love the mulleted lunch lady.

[saldana]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I also love the mulleted lunch lady.

mrs saldana is not surprised by this statement at all.

[Mota]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I agree James is a beast. The christian woman is going to get annoying and I commented to the Mrs. how there will probably be a blow up between her and the gay guy.

The fact that they introduced him as a gay mormon flight attendant probably also tips this one off, no coincidence that the producers put them in the same group, I'm sure.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Mota

The fact that they introduced him as a gay mormon flight attendant probably also tips this one off, no coincidence that the producers put them in the same group, I'm sure.

none what so ever

[TazFTW]

Wow, I didn't think the vote would be that one-sided.

[saldana]

Originally Posted by Lathum

none what so ever

interesting though that she chose him as the person to tell about the clue

i was also very surprised that the vote was so lopsided...but what the hell was with the black woman bawling about it when she helped vote her off.

[Sublime 2]

I know it gets said every year, but James has the chance to be the all-time challenge king.

[Maple Leafs]

My wife and I joked that, when asked who they were sitting out before the wrestling challenge, that tribe should have said "James! No, just kidding, it's the little girly guy." Just to see the reaction.

[dervack]

Originally Posted by Mota

The fact that they introduced him as a gay mormon flight attendant probably also tips this one off, no coincidence that the producers put them in the same group, I'm sure.

Well, there goes that idea.

[korme]

Someone needs to feed that poor New Yorker Courtney

[Thomkal]

Courtney might be the worst ever Survivor contestant. I can't believe they didn't vote her out after that performance in the immunity competition

[ArlingtonColt]

The guys for some reason wanted to keep her around as a "snuggle" partner (my own personal opinion)... If she was smart she would try to start a showmance with Jean-Robert... of course stricly for strategic purposes.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by ArlingtonColt

The guys for some reason wanted to keep her around as a "snuggle" partner (my own personal opinion)... If she was smart she would try to start a showmance with Jean-Robert... of course stricly for strategic purposes.

thing is, there's nothing to snuggle with!!!! More chances of getting bruised by bumping into some bones or something...

FM

[gstelmack]

I can't believe that after all the whining the four girls didn't turn to the guys and go "we're voting Jean-Robert out. You're either with us or against us". Sigh.

[Kodos]

Spoiler

Originally Posted by Kodos

Yep. Churchy girl and wrestler girl need to go.

Woot!

[Maple Leafs]

Courtney's challenge performance reminded me of Mr. Burns -- "I'm giving you the thrashing of your life!"

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Courtney's challenge performance reminded me of Mr. Burns -- "I'm giving you the thrashing of your life!"

It was truly pathetic. Watch, she probably wins the million.

[LloydLungs]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Courtney might be the worst ever Survivor contestant. I can't believe they didn't vote her out after that performance in the immunity competition

Oh, how quickly we forget Guatemala Jamie and Thailand Ghandia....

Anyway, what can I say? I like Courtney. She's a colossal pain in the ass but I'd get along with her.

[ArlingtonColt]

She (Courtney) is worthless around camp and in challenges... She would be my first target because she does NOTHING for you whatsoever. Well atleast she doesn't eat much of the rice.... hmm maybe she does have some reason to stay then... :P

[gstelmack]

To be fair, every challenge has been VERY physical. We'll see how she does when a more puzzle-oriented challenge comes along.

[Kodos]

She should be good in the inevitable balance-based challenge.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by Kodos

She should be good in the inevitable balance-based challenge.

Unless there's a slight breeze, in which case she'll wind up in a tree.

[hhiipp]

What annoyed me is the skinny rail, we'll call her Courtney, after the immunity challenge she held her hands straight and out in front of her like she displaying her wounds. She is worthless in every meaning of the word but to keep her around was probably the wise thing to do. Also did anyone see the bandaids on her fingers? I thought these people were supposed to be "roughing it".

[Easy Mac]

Originally Posted by Kodos

She should be good in the inevitable balance-based challenge.

I think she'll do best in the "crush everything into a powder, cut it into a line and snort it" challenge.

Also, I went to college with Erik and yes, pretty much every guy looks like him.

[Galaril]

Firstoff- Jaime is a total hottie and pretty smart player (pardon the pun).
Also, what happened to selecting former amateur triathletes and grandmas that ran the Kilamanjaro Marathon as contestants? The standards for selecting people to participate has dropped off quite a bit don't ya think? In factv I think that is an understatement this season. Outside of James and maybe Amanda or Aaron who in this group is in shape even remotely? Christ we had a 77 year old ex-navy seal on few seasons ago, that would've killed all 16 of the contestants, well...... except for James, while they slept.

[TazFTW]

What was up with the 'Previously on Survivor'? Sharea(sp?) led that team to victory twice?

Another episode, another James The Barbarian sighting.

[Lathum]

I dunno

I think voting Dave out was stupid on so many levels. For one he helped more then everyone else combined at camp. He also spent time at the other camp which means he had information.

I thought Sherea was a worthless piece of crap and that camp is really gonna suffer.

[Maple Leafs]

Obviously the Sherea stuff in the promo was to set up the storyline of the episode (i.e. whether it was OK to slack off at camp if it let you do better at challenges). I guess they didn't have much else to work with this time, so they dressed it up a bit for us.

[Alan T]

Its tough to tell sometimes what is actually going on as it depends on what their producers actually choose to show us. They basically made Dave out to be over the top annoying and made Sherea out to be the laziest person in the world. I have a hard time believing that Sherea would have said that she was helping out more around camp if she had actually just done what the cameras showed us (Not getting up once and sleeping the entire time).. so I have to guess there was at least some effort involved behind the scenes.. otherwise who was she lying to try to deceive?

The vote basically just told me that everyone there found Dave so annoying and figured no matter if they voted off Sherea or not, he would just start on someone else. I have to guess that Sherea is next out for that tribe, as the other four seem to be much closer right now. I'm also not sure what good saving yourself for the challenges does when you keep losing them all.

[saldana]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Obviously the Sherea stuff in the promo was to set up the storyline of the episode (i.e. whether it was OK to slack off at camp if it let you do better at challenges). I guess they didn't have much else to work with this time, so they dressed it up a bit for us.

obviously, they spent a ton of time on the CGI for the immunity challenge...the anime of the bolo flying through the air was the worst thing i have eve seen.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by saldana

obviously, they spent a ton of time on the CGI for the immunity challenge...the anime of the bolo flying through the air was the worst thing i have eve seen.

I agree with her.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Kodos

I agree with her.

+1

[saldana]

that has to be the stupidest mechanic that Survivor has ever used....i am genuinely angry with the show right now, and am contemplating not watching the rest of the season.

[LloydLungs]

Originally Posted by saldana

that has to be the stupidest mechanic that Survivor has ever used....i am genuinely angry with the show right now, and am contemplating not watching the rest of the season.

Yep. Screw the successful tribe, screw the strong players, reward failure. Thereby encouraging people to try to fail. Ridiculous. Who thought this up?

The girls were just playing the system, so more power to em, though they might have avoided laughing DURING the challenge.

[Racer]

Originally Posted by saldana

that has to be the stupidest mechanic that Survivor has ever used....i am genuinely angry with the show right now, and am contemplating not watching the rest of the season.

Agreed. If they were going to switch tribes like that, they should have given the four players who switched tribes individual immunity at tribal council for a round. The player who got voted out tonight got screwed.

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by saldana

that has to be the stupidest mechanic that Survivor has ever used....i am genuinely angry with the show right now, and am contemplating not watching the rest of the season.

Originally Posted by LloydLungs

Yep. Screw the successful tribe, screw the strong players, reward failure. Thereby encouraging people to try to fail. Ridiculous. Who thought this up?
The girls were just playing the system, so more power to em, though they might have avoided laughing DURING the challenge.

Two things - shame on you for not noticing

(1) Throwing the immunity challenge has NEVER worked. Never as in never ever. Tribes talk about it every year, some are foolish enough to try, and it backfires every single time.

(2) Don't you think the producers know what's going on? They've been one step ahead of the contestants every single season. Assumptions NEVER work out in this game, and you could tell by Jeff's reaction at T.C. that he knows this is gonna sink that tribe tonight.

[LloydLungs]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

(1) Throwing the immunity challenge has NEVER worked. Never as in never ever. Tribes talk about it every year, some are foolish enough to try, and it backfires every single time.

True, kind of. I mean, Ozzy did throw a challenge in his season and eventually came within one vote of winning the game -- although I don't recall the challenge throw having anything to do with that. It certainly didn't hurt him, though.

Nevertheless, it's true, this usually doesn't work. And it may not work here. However, on paper, it is the correct strategic play for those girls. I don't like the producers arranging the game so that the correct strategic play for many of the players is to try to lose. Essentially, we just spent the first four weeks of the season watching a few strong players win their way into oblivion.

[saldana]

Originally Posted by Racer

Agreed. If they were going to switch tribes like that, they should have given the four players who switched tribes individual immunity at tribal council for a round. The player who got voted out tonight got screwed.

that is exactly what i said to my wife...it would have been great if they didnt tell them about it until after the challenge too...instead we got the crap they shovelled tonight.

[saldana]

Originally Posted by LloydLungs

True, kind of. I mean, Ozzy did throw a challenge in his season and eventually came within one vote of winning the game -- although I don't recall the challenge throw having anything to do with that. It certainly didn't hurt him, though.

Nevertheless, it's true, this usually doesn't work. And it may not work here. However, on paper, it is the correct strategic play for those girls. I don't like the producers arranging the game so that the correct strategic play for many of the players is to try to lose. Essentially, we just spent the first four weeks of the season watching a few strong players win their way into oblivion.

i am not faulting the girls...they made a solid play...i just dont like the fact that it was set up to be a good idea.

[Raiders Army]

Originally Posted by saldana

i am not faulting the girls...they made a solid play...i just dont like the fact that it was set up to be a good idea.

The logic in me says this is right. The emotional side of my brain says screw those three. If James had been voted out tonight, I would've seriously stopped watching. Since he isn't...

Anyhow, I think at that point the producers had to have known they made a mistake. I think next week James will go back to his tribe and Frosti and Juggs will go back to theirs.

Blondie seriously aggravated me tonight. From her giggling during the challenge to her attitude afterwards. I can't wait to see them get pwned when they merge. She was acting like she was in control of the game. She was in control of the game for that tribal council, but things can change radically...like they did this episode.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

(2) Don't you think the producers know what's going on? They've been one step ahead of the contestants every single season. Assumptions NEVER work out in this game, and you could tell by Jeff's reaction at T.C. that he knows this is gonna sink that tribe tonight.

Of course, there's no chance that the producers actually change the rules midstream to punish those types of moves and make it more dramatic. I mean, they always set the rules in advance and stick to them, they wouldn't pull twists and specific challenges out of the air just to make it more interesting.

Here's what I found interesting tonight. There was an obvious subplot with Eric, since he was out of the loop on throwing the challenge, had to bust his ass in the first part for no reason, and is a competitive male just like James and Aaron. You had to think there was at least a strong chance that he'd flip and side with the guys just on principle. Yet they never mentioned it at all, and they didn't even show Jeff asking him about it and tribal.

There's only one conclusion you can draw from that: Eric is one of the most boring players they've ever had, and the producers found that drawing an interesting subplot out of him was like getting blood from a stone and just gave up. That's really saying something -- these producers made Sherea look like she was kicking ass in challenges, but they couldn't wring one ounce of drama out of Eric. Wow.

[LloydLungs]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Here's what I found interesting tonight. There was an obvious subplot with Eric, since he was out of the loop on throwing the challenge, had to bust his ass in the first part for no reason, and is a competitive male just like James and Aaron. You had to think there was at least a strong chance that he'd flip and side with the guys just on principle. Yet they never mentioned it at all, and they didn't even show Jeff asking him about it and tribal.

I thought that it was pretty much a given that Erik wasn't going to go against his new girlfriend. Without that aspect, he would have been a fascinating swing vote. With it, there was not much drama there.

[EagleFan]

I didn't see the beginning when they switched the players up so I don;t know what was said. I was hoping that once the immunity challenge was over that Jeff was going to say that the players were now going to return to their tribe for tribal.

What was stupid of the girls was to make it so damn obvious and then brag about it. You know James is going to get that information to the other tribe at the next challenge and if there is no merge it will be the worst challenge ever with both sides trying to lose.

Justice would be a merger next and those two girls will be the next two to get voted out.

[Thomkal]

I thought it was a good play on the girls part, a risk worth taking. I think the other team would have gotten rid of Frosti or Shirea had they lost the immunity challenge. On the other hand, I thought this was a horrible idea by the producers. It really screwed Aaron and James (and would have screwed Frosti and Shirea), giving them no chance really which isn't fair.

Now it will be interesting to see if there's no merge if they throw the next challenge to get rid of James. He isn't going to be pleasant to live with otherwise and for good reason. Wouldn't surprise me if there is a merge though since they have to know James is going to be an audience favorite.

[PilotMan]

On the other hand, I thought this was a horrible idea by the producers. It really screwed Aaron and James (and would have screwed Frosti and Shirea), giving them no chance really which isn't fair.

This is exactly what I was saying last night. I didn't like it at all.

[Maple Leafs]

Aaron and James had a chance to figure out what was going to happen and stop it. They should have really emphasized to their new tribe how unpopular Jean-Robert was and how he would definitely be voted out at the first opportunity. Who cares if it was true or not, they needed to convince the others that Frosti and Sherea were safe.

They even showed what seemed like an out-of-place scene where Aaron was asked if Jean-Robert would be first one out at the merge, and he sort of hemmed and hawed and didn't give a real answer. Game, set, match, right there.