Survivor 41

[Cadiewampus]

Watching the episode tonight and can I just say Evvie’s rainbow pants are quite possibly the ugliest article of clothing ever seen on survivor (including some awful bras, undies and boxers)

Yep I would even take Phillips purple ones over Evvies.

 

[leeniewdw]

I will say that dynamic of 1 half of the tribe is immune and the other is not is interesting. In the "prior merged tribe" dynamic, the person who wins individual immunity has oversized influence for that vote, this time there will be half the tribe that is immune.

Just thought of something. Does Liana's "tell me if you have an idol (or advantage) and give it to me" mean she could steal from the person that actually wins individual immunity? Surely not. I tried to look for a list of rules/advantages/idols currently in play, but couldn't find it.

 

[starvenger]

I think it's for hidden Idols and advantages.

As for Evvie... remember that the entire tribe votes, but only 5 people will be at risk. I think she'll be ok

 

[starvenger]

Soooo much stupidity in this episode.

But first - Erika did the smart thing. A no brainer that I presume she was not allowed to execute until the last moment. Because how many people would've smashed that hourglass within seconds of Probst spelling out all the consequences?

Immunity Challenge had some terrible editing. All the focus on two people and ignored the the actual winner until they won.

Tiffany negating Liana's advantage by telling EVERYONE was a smart defensive play. But it probably blows up any chance of people trusting her with any information in the future.

Apparently there's someone named "Heather" playing this season. News to me.

Why didn't Liana just steal Naseer's Idol?

Also, why not vote out Xander after he pulled that move?

 

[FigmentSpark]

I was wondering why Xander's name didn't come up, too. As much as I wanted Evvie to go home, I was rooting for Xander's and her ruse and false idol play to work. I'm so glad they got one over on Lian and ultimately Shan.

think Xander, Tiff and Evvie will be tight... trial by fire solidifies bonds, even if Xander was really the tribe's number 4 up until the merge. Of course, the downside is they aren't with the numbers. We'll see if they others break in to subgroups that vie for power or if it will just be a game of picking off each of these guys.

I like Xander. I hope he goes a lot farther and is accepted in to another alliance.

 

[starvenger]

Yeah I have zero issues with Xander - he's doing about as fine as one can on a season that has had so many stupid twists that M. Night Shyamalan is probably screaming "No more twists!". I just get annoyed that the others didn't recognize that the guy is slowly building a resume and vote him out at a point where he was vulnerable. Instead they voted for the easy elimination, but took the long and winding road to get there.

 

[Boopuff]

I am so frustrated after watching tonight. The whole lets-get-up-chat-stop-tribal is growing old. Kudos to Xander for pulling the wool over everyones eyes. And how dumb was Liliana to use the advantage on Xander after she flat out told him!! This bunch makes me nuts. Don’t tell everyone you have a secret! Cardinall Rule. Doofuses. still hate Evvies god-awful rainbow ugly pants. Possibly the single worst garment ever. Where does one buy such ugly stuff?

 

[CynBeth]

I wondered as well why they didn’t target Nasser or try to get his idol.

 

[leeniewdw]

Why didn't Liana just steal Naseer's Idol?

Also, why not vote out Xander after he pulled that move?

Xander was safe after Ericka smashed the hourglass and flipped who was immune. Her goal was to get Evvie so getting Nasseer's idol wouldn't have done anything in that regard.

Liana was at a major crossroads and chose to stick with her new alliance. She did seem to initially hesitate on Evvie, but Shan just plowed right over any of her concerns. I think Liana and Shan missed an opportunity to ask Deshawn and Danny to offer up one of their own since their original blue tribe was still completely intact. In the end it was Syd anyway, but still.

I HATE the "live tribals" and this was one of the things they should have changed among the many this season. Xander's move was great and certainly great entertainment, but it was diminished because they could strategize after he tricked Liana.

 

[rajak73]

I HATE the "live tribals" and this was one of the things they should have changed among the many this season. Xander's move was great and certainly great entertainment, but it was diminished because they could strategize after he tricked Liana.

I don't like the live tribals either where they get up and talk to everyone, just go back to the old tribals. I actually thought Xander should have waited until everyone had voted and Jeff asked if anyone had a idol or advantage they wanted to play, Liana would probably have played her advantage on Xander to try and steal his Idol and then they could have played it for Evvies and voted out who they wanted. They all say how many episodes they've watched or how they follow the game, really, someone finds a idol or advantage and the first thing they do is go back to camp and dance around telling EVERYONE they found a idol or advantage and tell them what it is.

 

[leeniewdw]

I agree that if they'd just held the idol, avoided the theatrics and let Evvie use it, then they'd may have been able to get their choice out. However, I'm not sure they had the votes. Also they didn't show if the majority alliance had intended to split the votes anyway before the tribal council theatrics. But I think the reason Xander did it this way was an effort to NOT use the idol. The only way to do that was to create chaos.

I liked Liana, but I think she cooked her own goose this episode. She turned on her core alliance and not only threw a vote towards them, but used an advantage against them, hoping to hurt both Xander AND Evvie. People flip all the time, but it's one thing to go back to camp and try to explain why they did it to the remaining (former) alliance people when the remaining are relieved it wasn't them. It's another thing to miss so badly and expose how you were trying not only to hurt the target but another player too...and fail at both. Liana trusts Shan TOO much and Shan is almost bullying her own alliance mates.

 

[footballmouse]

Hate how they are able to get up and talk during TC. Go back to the old way, you want to change your vote, then figure out a way to signal people to move on to choice "B". Glad Xander was able to pull that off with his idol, he's now my favorite. Wasn't able to find someone to cheer for this season, but I have now. And Heather...omg girl, you don't realize you are on the bottom on your new alliance?! She's the only non-POC in that alliance, she will be voted off first for sure. She's worthless anyway, can't help in any of the challenges so they may keep her b/c she definitely won't win.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I liked Xander's play last night. It's good he didn't give it to Evvie she probably would have just played it. Evvie was real close to being voted out so her concerns weren't unfounded at least.

I think the thing I've noticed most about this season is the focus on just a few players. I feel like it was more balanced in the past.

Glad to see that Erika did use the advantage she had by reversing who was immune and who wasn't. Gotta say though I was hoping for a little bit more reaction from the players. I mean this was a huge turn of events, I'm guessing editing maybe??

I'd like to see Shan's confidence knocked down a few pegs, she's been doing well in gameplay but it's all too easy to get too confident in how well you're playing.

I'm trying to figure out where Ricard is now these days. For a long while it was shown with him and Shan and I know that alliance seems fizzled out at least from the edits.

 

[starvenger]

Xander was safe after Ericka smashed the hourglass and flipped who was immune. Her goal was to get Evvie so getting Nasseer's idol wouldn't have done anything in that regard.

Crap I forgot about that. So this makes me think two new things:
- Liana's play was another stupid thing
- The whole "58.3% of the not-a-tribe is immune" thing was really confusing for me.

And not to pile on, but I've also said in the past that I don't like the "live" Tribals. I get that it is good for the drama, but it's another nail in the coffin for under-the-radar players and true strategic players. You don't actually need to strategize anymore - you just need to have an alliance and the ability to scramble at the last second.

 

[leeniewdw]

I liked Xander's play last night. It's good he didn't give it to Evvie she probably would have just played it. Evvie was real close to being voted out so her concerns weren't unfounded at least.

I think the thing I've noticed most about this season is the focus on just a few players. I feel like it was more balanced in the past.

Glad to see that Erika did use the advantage she had by reversing who was immune and who wasn't. Gotta say though I was hoping for a little bit more reaction from the players. I mean this was a huge turn of events, I'm guessing editing maybe??

I'd like to see Shan's confidence knocked down a few pegs, she's been doing well in gameplay but it's all too easy to get too confident in how well you're playing.

I'm trying to figure out where Ricard is now these days. For a long while it was shown with him and Shan and I know that alliance seems fizzled out at least from the edits.

I just looked up how the votes went down and Ricard voted for Evvie, so he's appearing to support the large alliance. Essentially it's everyone else against Evvie/Tiff/Xander at this point. The preview looks like things might get shaken up a bit. I guess I was a little surprised that Ericka didn't consider flipping to the other side given her "I'm no longer a lamb", but I guess we'll see. But I'm still annoyed that THAT many people can just stand-up in a circle at Tribal council and designate voting strategy. It literally negates the game play that just took place.

So that tribal got rid of 2 advantages: Liana's "knowledge is power" and Deshawn's extra vote.

 

[leeniewdw]

And not to pile on, but I've also said in the past that I don't like the "live" Tribals. I get that it is good for the drama, but it's another nail in the coffin for under-the-radar players and true strategic players. You don't actually need to strategize anymore - you just need to have an alliance and the ability to scramble at the last second.

Right, you don't have to come up with a Plan B ahead of time, you just react as things unfold. I can't believe with all the stuff they've done to change things, that they didn't address this or at least say you can't get up from your seats.

 

[Minnesota!]

Good episode, but I LOATHE live tribals. Just **** and vote.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

at least say you can't get up from your seats.

I don't think they would. It was never prohibited in the first place from way way way back when. It's just no one ever thought of doing that until well they did because how the game was back then was things were more secretive because that's how the game started. As much as it annoys me to see it happen and now it's just predictable I don't think it would be Survivor if they put too much restrictions on most things like this. I think the thing we most hope for is players to evolve again and change it up since the whole out in the open tribal has been done over and over and over at this point.

 

[leeniewdw]

They literally just created a new twist that negated everything Probst said before the last episode's reward/immunity challenge. He said that the team that won was safe. 2 days later he said "nope, you aren't". That is BY FAR more drastic a change from prior Survivor seasons then just saying "you can't get up from your seat" at tribal.

My issue is that allowing teams to convene in that manner basically makes good strategy worthless or at least less impactful. Xander schemed all day, prepared the fake idol, pretended to be working with Liana (who was so nervous she made Shan read the rules of her idol), sold the whole thing to Liana at tribal and the majority alliance can just re-configure votes to work around it? If they at least had to stay in their seats, they'd have to come to tribal with more creative ways to scramble. As I said above, Xander's goal was to save Evvie AND keep his idol. He had to do all that acting at camp and at tribal in order to have people freaking out about if Evvie had it. It worked. In fact, it made Deshawn so nervous he burned his advantage and voted both his votes for Syd, even though no one on the majority alliance flipped to vote with Xander's group.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

They literally just created a new twist that negated everything Probst said before the last episode's reward/immunity challenge. He said that the team that won was safe. 2 days later he said "nope, you aren't". That is BY FAR more drastic a change from prior Survivor seasons then just saying "you can't get up from your seat" at tribal.

My issue is that allowing teams to convene in that manner basically makes good strategy worthless or at least less impactful. Xander schemed all day, prepared the fake idol, pretended to be working with Liana (who was so nervous she made Shan read the rules of her idol), sold the whole thing to Liana at tribal and the majority alliance can just re-configure votes to work around it? If they at least had to stay in their seats, they'd have to come to tribal with more creative ways to scramble. As I said above, Xander's goal was to save Evvie AND keep his idol. He had to do all that acting at camp and at tribal in order to have people freaking out about if Evvie had it. It worked. In fact, it made Deshawn so nervous he burned his advantage and voted both his votes for Syd, even though no one on the majority alliance flipped to vote with Xander's group.

I don't think you understood what I was saying. I'm not saying they couldn't do it I'm saying it's not something they likely would at least IMO. A large part of Survivor over the years is letting things evolve on their own. They do a lot of prodding a lot of herding to certain things but then other things are just things that the players did to change the game. The getting up out of your seat is just that. The players are the ones that did that, the production team to my knowledge never had a rule that said you couldn't do it but no one didn't think to do it but then suddenly someone did. We may be frustrated with it but that aspect of the game is something that naturally occurred, it IMO just needs to naturally un-occur; basically it needs to naturally change to something else.

The "twist" with the "you're safe but not safe" that's not at all the type of thing I'm talking about. That is just really a run of the mill production addition just with large ramifications. That's not akin to creating a rule that you cannot get up out of your seat at tribal.