Anyone else watching Survivor?

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Will John Rocker be able to redeem himself for his shameful MLB career? Will Val find the immunity idol before her ass gets bounced for being on the wrong side of the numbers? Why the hell did that gay guy vote for Baylor? How did OH MY GOD THERE IS SAP IN MY EYES YOU GUYS

Anyone else watching this season?

[Chilltown]

Josh thinks he is in good with both the men and the women, so he figures he doesn't have to pick a side. Being too non-committal is dangerous though, I wouldn't be surprised if he is voted off soon.

I was glad one of the twins was voted off the first episode.

Are you rooting for anybody?

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Of course. Survivor's my favourite.

And damn, is Josh ever a cutie. It's going to get awful when the homophobia comes out though. Usually it's not an issue, but I see it brewing this season.

[Knives]

Yes.

I live for Survivor, last season was brilliant - Kass vs Trish is one of my favourite Survivor fights of all time because Kass was so delusional. And also, when J'Tia burnt all the rice and they still kept her. Survivor is like the greatest show.

[Chilltown]

Josh is good. He picked up on the trick Val was trying to pull with Rocker.

Not a fan of Baylor though.

[Deus Naturae]

Spoiler alert: LOL at Val thinking she was a genius for bluffing an idol, and then getting voted off immediately afterward (in large part because Rocker believed her bluff). Reminds me of the first episode of Philippines where a kid named Zane made a bunch of alliances, declared himself "the best Survivor ever" in confessional and then got voted off in the same episode.

[Chilltown]

Spoiler alert: LOL at Val thinking she was a genius for bluffing an idol, and then getting voted off immediately afterward (in large part because Rocker believed her bluff). Reminds me of the first episode of Philippines where a kid named Zane made a bunch of alliances, declared himself "the best Survivor ever" in confessional and then got voted off in the same episode.

The hilarious part is that Val practically spelled out that she was voting Baylor out at tribal council, even though she knew the men were planning to split the vote. Even if Josh hadn't picked up on it before hand, she basically outed herself.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

I won't watch Survivor.  Now if they made one where they dump a dozen people on an island and the last guy/girl alive gets a million, then I'd watch.  That's a true Survivor.

[Cobbler]

lol at Rocker being a sore loser after having his girlfriend beat him. I hope he stays around a long time.

[muon2]

I've enjoyed the show since watching season 1. The best seasons are classic with intrigue and strategy like a game of Diplomacy mixed with the trials of an endurance sport. Not every season works well for the audience. Like solopop I think last season was one of the best, however I'm not impressed yet this season. It seems like the first Blood vs Water (Fall '13) worked well when the pairs were anchored with former players, but I think the chemistry of knowing the game was part of what made it work. That's missing this season.

[Cobbler]

I've enjoyed the show since watching season 1. The best seasons are classic with intrigue and strategy like a game of Diplomacy mixed with the trials of an endurance sport. Not every season works well for the audience. Like solopop I think last season was one of the best, however I'm not impressed yet this season. It seems like the first Blood vs Water (Fall '13) worked well when the pairs were anchored with former players, but I think the chemistry of knowing the game was part of what made it work. That's missing this season.

I think it is more that BvW 1 had more interesting players. All of the returnees for the most part had been vetted, and then players like Brad/Vytas/Hayden/Cierra were all great too. This season, with a few exceptions, seems to have a pretty bland set of personalities in comparison. At least so far.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

ORANGE TRIBE

Well, after last night, it appears that ol' Josh is in the drivers seat. He saw a shot and he took it. I think it was a smart move -- Rocker had the idol, and he proved a couple times that he didn't have the best interests of his tribe in mind. Plus he was a really bad sport, and that's a huge negative in a Blood vs. Water season.

Wes did pretty well for himself too. He won the reward challenge, which was huge. And he seems to be really well bonded with Josh. He was close to the bottom of the guys' alliance, and now he's closer to top without being at the top. It's a good place to be.

Baylor's a big winner too. She went from the bottom to darn close to the top of the new everyone-but-Dale alliance. The only catch here: Though Josh considers Baylor a top confidant, Baylor doesn't trust Josh at all. And she shouldn't trust Josh. You don't put votes on someone like that without telling them first. She'll slit his throat one day, and he'll never see it coming.

Jaclyn almost blew it at tribal council hinting at the ploy to off Rocker. Rocker was dumb enough to think she was talking about the guys voting out Dale, I guess. What a "big move" getting rid of the 50-year-old.

Speaking of: Dale is still 50. No one needs his glasses to make fire. Dude is in trouble.

Alec is not a real player in this game. Stupid though he seems, though, I think he's actually the smart twin. For whatever that's worth.

BLUE TRIBE

It's a lot harder to get a read on the other tribe, since they've never been to tribal. Still, here goes.

Julie is in a bad position, but slightly less bad now that Rocker's been voted off. She'd have gone home guaranteed had Team Blue went to tribal. But now, the need for revenge is lessened.

No one seems to like Drew, because he's dumb, lazy and not very engaging socially. My guess is that he's the first to go. Which is too bad, I really like the "bumbling idiot" edit he's getting.

Jon lost the flint, but that's old news by now -- no one will vote him out for that 7 days after the fact. He's not in any kind of power position with the tribe, but he does seem very useful in challenges.

I'm starting to like Natalie. She's got a huge mouth that will eventually be her undoing -- or get her to the final three as a goat. Having her sister voted out probably helped her game.

Smart play by Keith in getting Josh to agree to share the clue before the reveal. I hope he finds the immunity idol. He's clearly not fond of Josh as Josh was of him, though. (This seems to be Josh's blindside: He's pretty good at reading peoples' interactions with each other, but pretty terrible at handling and analyzing interactions directly.)

Jeremy's in a good position for now. He's taking the alpha male leadership role, which is dangerous. But so long as his team keeps winning, he should be fine. Not sure why he can't find the idol, though.

[IceSpear]

Wow, I thought I was the only person who still watched this show that wasn't a bored housewife...lol

Does anyone else see some eerily similar parallels between this season and the last Blood vs. Water? It seems like they casted mainly the same archetypes which is kind of lame (the athlete and his trophy wife, the gay couple, the brothers in a pseudo rivalry, the All American "perfect couple", etc.). And of course last tribal made the similarities even deeper...

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

There are total parallels, yes. But there really can't help but be. It's like the Amazing Race -- there are different teams all the time, but at the same time, there are only so many types of close relationships two people can have and still be athletic enough to handle what contains key elements of a sports competition.

By the way, who'd have thought Jon would wind up being the smart guy over on team blue? He had a decent enough plan -- take out Julie based on who had loved ones left. But the other guys (save for Reed) were too busy shooting their pistols in the air to come together and the female minority ruled. Drew was spectacularly idiotic.

[Chilltown]

I'm interested to see if Jeremy is going to be able to pull this off. He has been a fantastic player in my eyes so far. But if Dale is the next boot, and the merge is next, there are going to be 4 pairs with no bad blood between them and just 4 - Jeremy, Natalie, Alec and Julie - singles. The singles have all been given more complex and interesting edits than the pairs, which makes me think that the singles are somehow going to turn the tables, or at least put up a good fight.

[Platypus]

I'm a big survivor fan, but I don't really have any strong feelings about this season. Was great to see the challenge thrower get booted, but it was also obvious from the way they edited the episode that it was going to happen :/

In January, I hosted an online game with strong Survivor elements, and I'll be hosting another one in a couple of months. I'll pop more details up in a couple of weeks, but it'd be nice to have a few of you guys playing

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I'm interested to see if Jeremy is going to be able to pull this off. He has been a fantastic player in my eyes so far. But if Dale is the next boot, and the merge is next, there are going to be 4 pairs with no bad blood between them and just 4 - Jeremy, Natalie, Alec and Julie - singles. The singles have all been given more complex and interesting edits than the pairs, which makes me think that the singles are somehow going to turn the tables, or at least put up a good fight.

Right now, the real power seems to continue to lay with the old Coyopa, since they have majorities on both sides. There are 3 in the core Coyopa alliance: Josh, Alec and Wes. Baylor and Jacq make 4 and 5. Jon, Missy and Reed are currently roped in as a marriage-of-convenience 6 through 8, Keith is a marriage-of-convenience number 9 so long as he makes it to the merge.

Jeremy, Natalie and Julie are in a really tough spot. They already burned their bridge with Jon in that disastrous 5-4 tribal split, who's now found a new alliance (with his girlfriend, her ally, and her ally's mother, but whatever). Reed wasn't with them to begin with, so he's not going to be with them now with a better option on the table. They might be able to pull in Dale, but his vote wouldn't matter against a block of 9. And he's likely to get bounced before the merge anyway.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

With yet another tribal under our belt:

It looks like Missy is in control of the Missy/Baylor couple, and I wouldn't be surprised if they continued to work with Jon and Jacq after the merge. I also think Natalie scored some major points with Missy by going with Baylor to Exile. They could very much work together as a 7. In fact, it's in Jon and Jacq's and Missy and Baylor's best interest -- their 4 powers the 7, and their 7 powers the 12.

Josh and Reed are huge targets after winning again twice (when it'd have probably been best to lose, but that's none of my business). I think Reed may get bounced first at the merge.

[Chilltown]

I hope everyone enjoyed the 'real' merge episode, now we have to endure 3-4 weeks of Pagonging the frat-bro alliance before some excitement can happen.

Jeremy is almost too obvious a winner, but I guess Tony was too.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I hope everyone enjoyed the 'real' merge episode, now we have to endure 3-4 weeks of Pagonging the frat-bro alliance before some excitement can happen.

Jeremy is almost too obvious a winner, but I guess Tony was too.

I think Jacqueline could win this season. She's likable and not the primary target of her pair.

Missy and Bay are good choices to make it all the way to the end. Neither have a shot to win, so everyone will want to take them. They're obvious goats.

Jeremy is still a pretty major target for the remaining players. I could see Missy and Bay voting him out after splitting up John and Jacqueline. He does have a good shot to win, sure, but it's not a lock. He needs to worry when they get down to the 9 and 7.

[Cobbler]

Bummed that Jeremy had to go, he was my last real horse in the race. I'm surprised people are letting Jon and Jacqueline run things so transparently.

[King]

This thread title keeps reminding me of the MST3K episode Blood Waters of Dr. Z

[muon2]

Bummed that Jeremy had to go, he was my last real horse in the race. I'm surprised people are letting Jon and Jacqueline run things so transparently.

This was a surprising blindside in that the editors had almost no foreshadowing during the episode. Great play by J&J to link with M&B as the other "trusted" couple to pull it off. Because of the editing I can't tell what role Reed played in any of this. Going forward, does this throw Natalie in with K&W?

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Bummed that Jeremy had to go, he was my last real horse in the race. I'm surprised people are letting Jon and Jacqueline run things so transparently.

This was a surprising blindside in that the editors had almost no foreshadowing during the episode. Great play by J&J to link with M&B as the other "trusted" couple to pull it off. Because of the editing I can't tell what role Reed played in any of this. Going forward, does this throw Natalie in with K&W?

It was a huge move, but not really a good one this early. Jeremy seemed to be incredibly trustworthy at this point, especially considering he had no where else to go. There are now nine people, and the "majority" alliance is down to just 4. Natalie is clearly on the warpath ("What the ____ Missy?" -- interesting that Missy took the blame) and was shown in the promos to be digging around for Jon's idol. Are they really going to replace her with Alec? (It's not a bad idea, Alec is dumb as dirt.)

I now think Jacqueline is the most likely person to win the season. Reed is now a possibility too, so long as he knows that the 4 must be broken up now, before they get back into the majority. He'd get Josh and Jeremy's vote for the $1,000,000 for sure.

Edit: Just noticed that Reed sided with the "majority" with his vote, so apparently his throwing Keith under the bus opened up a door. If he's truly "in," then he's going to be the swing vote between Missy & Bay and J&J. Also, apparently Natalie isn't looking for Jon's idol, she's looking for her own idol based off of an Exile Isle clue that Jeremy shared with her.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Not to mention that in getting rid of Jeremy as the number one biggest target in the game, Jon now becomes the number one biggest target in the game in his place.