Sorry for the late post. It's quite difficult during the Christmas season to be all caught up on everything & yes, there was a Christmas party on Sunday night. Thank heavens for the PVR and for friends who did not spoil the ending for me! All caught up now - thanks for waiting!
Well... yeah. Denise! What do you guys think? Are we happy? We all knew it would be her or Malcolm and Malcolm looked like the bigger threat. AND he didn't win immunity, even with an advantage that he'd won in an earlier reward challenge. The final immunity challenge was a balancing one and it turns out that Malcolm has shaky hands when he gets nervous. As he said in the reunion show, he could have had 100 free tries and he still would have lost that one. Skupin won it, by the way, so he and Lisa by extension were safely in the final three.
Denise tried to talk Malcolm into voting with her instead of against her. Both of them vote for Lisa, and then it becomes a tie and a fire challenge. But Malcolm wouldn't commit ("took a page out of Penner's 'how to lose a million dollars' handbook," he said at the reunion.) and figured his best bet was to vote with Lisa and Skupin against Denise. Remember, he had a bit of an alliance with them from when they went out to pet the whale sharks?
It turned out that Skupin & Lisa were more afraid of sitting next to Malcolm than Denise. And truly, I think Malcolm would have won it if he was sitting there... I don't think Lisa & Skupin were going to win either way. They made too many people mad from their old yellow team. It's delightful to remember that they were the outcasts - the ones that none of the kids from the yellow team liked, the ones that were bullied. And here they are sitting at the end... But, all those guys were pretty bitter about it - Artis, Pete, Abi.... all except RC, who was pretty happy for Lisa and in the end was the only person to vote for her. (Carter was the only person to vote for Skupin, FYI, everyone else voted for Denise.)
The final Tribal Council was surprisingly bitter. I mean, there's always, always one or two people who are bitter and holding onto whatever happened to blindside them or vote them off... Always. But this was a particularly mean-spirited group. The ones I thought would be jerks - Abi and RC - were actually not that bad. RC asked some questions (and that laugh...after every single thing she says... oh my.... are you not glad you were not subjected to more of that? Yikes.) and Abi just played up the "poor me, I was told I am unlikeable, I am so heartbroken," thing. I think Denise actually got her vote by simply apologizing and saying you know what, I stand by a lot of what I said to you, but maybe I could have gone about it in a different way and I really didn't mean to hurt you if you are truly hurt by it."
Then... there were the ones you'd expect. Carter was nice. Pete and Artis weren't super nice, but we knew that was coming. Jeff Kent was quite reasonable. But then.... Malcolm and Penner. These two were hardcore jerks. Was I the only one weirded out by this? I mean, maybe I sort of understand Malcolm because it was all so recent for him & he hadn't a lot of time to process. But getting all mad at Denise for 'nodding'. "Don't you dare sit there and nod at me!" Whaaaaat? I'm pretty sure he knew how this worked. They both on a number of occasions said that they had an alliance down to final four and then it was everyone for themselves. She was true to that alliance. Also, ummmm... Malcolm, you were trying to do the exact same thing to Denise, only she was able to better convince Skupin & Lisa. That's all. Honestly, how these people let either one of Malcolm or Densie make it to the end is beyond me.
Then there was Penner. My former favourite. He was a class-A jerk. Told Denise that she was a bitch, told Skupin that he was never in trouble, he never got his name written down (while Penner holds a bit of a record for it) and then outed Lisa as a TV actor. Denise again had the "Whaaaaat?" facial expression. Skupin didn't say a whole lot (though, it was funny that he didn't realise his name hadn't been written down... though shouldn't that be a PLUS for Skupin? Shouldn't you congratulate the dude who people on his tribe did not like, who was the only returning player to make it to the end WITHOUT having his name written down once? Seems like a bit of an accomplishment.) And Lisa just stayed calm and said yes, it's true I was an actor. Shall we talk about what kinds of jobs you did in your youth, or would you rather talk about what kind of person you are today? I thought it was a good response. But Penner made it all about him and came off like a whiny, whiny baby. Tragic.
At the end of the day, I'm pretty glad Denise won. I'd have been happy for Malcolm too. Or for Lisa, or even Skupin... though a little less so. Denise made a pretty good case for herself. She had been to EVERY single Tribal Council and survived. She had forged relationships in all three tribes. She had to constantly reinvent strategy whenever she got moved around. She had to compete hard and work hard at camp to make herself seen as a useful commodity. She listened well and observed relationships and used what she could to her advantage. Overall, smart play. I have to say, it was interesting to see all three in the final three were the 'old' people in the cast. (Old in Survivor is over 40. It's like dog years....) Brains count for a lot in this show.
Not a lot to tell about the reunion show. It was kind of the Lisa Welchel hour. She talked at LENGTH about God and how he loves all the Survivors, blah, blah, blah. She took up a lot of the time so they couldn't really ask a lot of the questions I think would have been interesting. The usual quick question to the first people off... and surprisingly not much at all directed at Russell. I know he was 4th out, but he was a pretty big part of this season, non? Dawson ran down and kissed Jeff Probst on the lips. Uh, girl is a crazy stalker. Jeff: Thankfully that kiss was not as good as my wife's. Ha! Sorry, honey, the security officers will be seeing you out now. Dana is feeling much better, thanks. Penner looks weird with hair and no scruffy beard.... and does he dye his hair now? Weird. Abi came across pretty well - she said that she knows now after watching the show that she "has a lot of work to do." Artis thought it was funny how he was perceived as "the angry black man"... and RC went on AGAIN about how Pete and Abi screwed her over. To which Pete responded, "Uh, I think someone's still a little bitter." Ha! Generally, there was not a lot of love. It seems like the first people out - the non-jury folks - get along pretty well. And the final three seemed to still have a lot of love. Malcolm for sure has calmed down about losing, as has Jeff Kent. But if you're Denise, you don't really care at the end of the day if any of these people like you once you walk out the door with that cheque. You did your job. You won the money. You will take it back to your family in Iowa. The chances of having to see Penner or Abi or RC on the street are slim. Life is good.
Unfortunately, the PR wizards at CBS have seen fit to make the next season, Fans vs. Favourites again. Bleh. We've talked about this before. Is the talent pool in America drying up so badly that they can only find 9 people for the show? They have to recycle people who've played before. Boring! We've seen this now a bunch of times. Fans vs. Favourites, All-Stars, Redemption Island... they are all just different names for the same thing: Boring. I liked this season because the folks who were playing again DESERVED another shot. They left the show medically - not getting voted out (with the exception of Penner, who had been voted out in another season, then med-evaced.) But come on now, Mark Burnett. Enough already. And who are we going to have to endure again? Will it be interesting Survivors who we might actually want to see play some more? Dudes like Malcolm might fall into this category. Or, will it be Russell Hantz (or any Hantz for that matter)... or frickin' Rupert? Good lord, if Rupert is on the air, I'm quitting the blog.
OK - so I've just checked into it - don't read further if you like to be surprised.
It looks like we will see Malcolm again. And....are you sitting down? Baby Hantz. Ugh. Gross. Also Dawn from South Pacific, who I liked a lot.... and John Cochran... and Phillip Sheppard? Really? I mean, he was good TV, sure, but really? One time was enough. Also a bunch of people I'm going to have to look up because they're such "Favourites" I can't even remember who they are: Andrea, Brenda, Corinne, Erik, Francesca? Ugh... ok, just googled them. Blech. These people were all voted out for a reason. WHOSE FAVOURITES ARE THESE??? Who out there is like, Andrea... yeah, she was my favourite player EVER!!! You'll remember them when you see them. Erik was that long haired young dude who pulled one of the dumbest moves ever when he let those girls talk him into giving them his idol? Remember? When I google image searched Corinne, one picture showed up with the words: "Miserable Human Being".... Right. Fan-frickin'-tastic. You know I'll watch anyway, but I'm going to have words with Jeff Probst.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Thursday, December 13, 2012
It Was All PMS. And Now It's Gone.
Can you even imagine the relief at camp once Abi was voted out? I would think that there was a brief period of dancing and celebration, followed by complete silence for about 8 straight hours. Ahead of myself as usual....
It all started with Skupin winning a reward challenge. He got to choose 2 people to go along with him in a helicopter that would take them to a boat, where they would swim with some giant (non-man-eating) sharks. Cool! Skupin chose well. He picked Malcolm first (to pay back for Malcolm choosing Skupin to spend the day with his son a while back) and then picked his long-time ally, Lisa. That left Abi and poor, poor Denise alone together at camp for the day.
From Abi's perspective: "Ugh. I have to spend the day with Denise. Denise is a horrible person."
From Denise's perspective: "Ugh. I want to gouge my eyes out and then put giant needles into my ears to help me get through this."
Something tells me they don't get along. Ha! It was pretty funny listening to Abi go on and on and on (and that was like, a minute-long clip. Denise had to endure this for a whole day!) about how she has her idol and how people should be paying her more respect, etc.... Yes, the millions watching also wanted to stick giant needles in our ears.
As an aside... the Jeff Probst show this week (Jeff's daytime talk show. Do you watch?) had the final five from Survivor. I only watched the clips. Lisa was good. They all answered some fun questions from the audience (and some dreadfully unimaginative ones too... "What was the first thing you ate when you got home?" Really?) And then there was an interview with Abi on her own. Basically Abi tries to blame the "one time" she was really bitchy (????) on PMS. For real. Check it out:
http://www.jeffprobst.com/posts/2488_survivor_finalist_abi_speaks_out/index.html
She tries to do it again in the clip where they're all chatting and Malcolm calls her out, saying something like, "You were PMSing for 33 days straight?" Haha!
http://www.jeffprobst.com/posts/2484_survivor_finalists_answer_burning_questions/index.html
Where were we?
Right, so while they're away, Malcolm, Lisa & Skupin make a final three 'deal'...everyone with the idea that they can't beat Denise in the final. All depends though on who will win the next immunity challenge.
Speaking of immunity challenges, this one was amazing. Malcolm totally fell behind everyone, and still managed to win it! He's the new Ozzy, non? So with Malcolm having immunity AND an idol, it looks like it'll either be Abi or Denise going home. Lisa & Skupin discuss keeping Abi in their final 3, and Abi does her best to sell them on it. It's definitely a strategy, and the odd thing is that Lisa keeps going on about how she's not ashamed to want to sit next to someone she can beat.... YET, in the end, she voted for Abi. I think Lisa is smart to play the loyalty card here. Now none of the final 4 can say they went back on their word - which was to make the final four together. However, is it impossible to beat Malcolm and Denise? Remember that none of those former yellow team guys really loved either Lisa or Skupin (which also makes it super awesome that they are the ones sitting in the final four!!). RC, Artis, Pete and Abi.... I think will all give their vote to Malcolm. RC perhaps could go over to Denise....
Getting ahead of myself again.
The loveliest part of Tribal Council was when Abi continued to berate Skupin for what seemed like no reason at all. Let's remember that she was desperately trying to court Skupin and Lisa to keep her over Denise. Yet, she - pretty much out of the blue - declares to Skupin, "You are an idiot." Followed by, "You are a complete moron." And then in case we didn't hear it the first time, "You are such a moron." Yup. Not a cultural thing at all. So yeah, they voted Abi out and then literally danced their way out of the Tribal Council area. Abi of course thinks that no one can handle her "honesty"... she just "tells it like it is..." and deserves to be in that final five spot... ha!
Which brings me to Ponderosa... Do you guys watch? Go to YouTube right now and search Survivor Philippines Ponderosa. Give yourself some time to go through each one. It's great. (Each person has a part 1 and part 2... except RC, who for some inexplicable reason gets 4 parts.) You can see the crazy, crazy drama that goes on after everyone gets voted off. Let me just say that RC ends up looking crazier than Abi. Jeff also is apparently not into being pals with everyone and is a bit of a whiny baby... I think Carter is flirting with Abi.... and Penner is still awesome. And though she's not acting as crazy as RC, Abi still will not shut the hell up and those poor people are forced to deal with it. "I did not know so many people hated me." Snort.
Anyway.... do NOT forget that the finale is this SUNDAY night. We all think it will be Malcolm or Denise, right?
It all started with Skupin winning a reward challenge. He got to choose 2 people to go along with him in a helicopter that would take them to a boat, where they would swim with some giant (non-man-eating) sharks. Cool! Skupin chose well. He picked Malcolm first (to pay back for Malcolm choosing Skupin to spend the day with his son a while back) and then picked his long-time ally, Lisa. That left Abi and poor, poor Denise alone together at camp for the day.
From Abi's perspective: "Ugh. I have to spend the day with Denise. Denise is a horrible person."
From Denise's perspective: "Ugh. I want to gouge my eyes out and then put giant needles into my ears to help me get through this."
Something tells me they don't get along. Ha! It was pretty funny listening to Abi go on and on and on (and that was like, a minute-long clip. Denise had to endure this for a whole day!) about how she has her idol and how people should be paying her more respect, etc.... Yes, the millions watching also wanted to stick giant needles in our ears.
As an aside... the Jeff Probst show this week (Jeff's daytime talk show. Do you watch?) had the final five from Survivor. I only watched the clips. Lisa was good. They all answered some fun questions from the audience (and some dreadfully unimaginative ones too... "What was the first thing you ate when you got home?" Really?) And then there was an interview with Abi on her own. Basically Abi tries to blame the "one time" she was really bitchy (????) on PMS. For real. Check it out:
http://www.jeffprobst.com/posts/2488_survivor_finalist_abi_speaks_out/index.html
She tries to do it again in the clip where they're all chatting and Malcolm calls her out, saying something like, "You were PMSing for 33 days straight?" Haha!
http://www.jeffprobst.com/posts/2484_survivor_finalists_answer_burning_questions/index.html
Where were we?
Right, so while they're away, Malcolm, Lisa & Skupin make a final three 'deal'...everyone with the idea that they can't beat Denise in the final. All depends though on who will win the next immunity challenge.
Speaking of immunity challenges, this one was amazing. Malcolm totally fell behind everyone, and still managed to win it! He's the new Ozzy, non? So with Malcolm having immunity AND an idol, it looks like it'll either be Abi or Denise going home. Lisa & Skupin discuss keeping Abi in their final 3, and Abi does her best to sell them on it. It's definitely a strategy, and the odd thing is that Lisa keeps going on about how she's not ashamed to want to sit next to someone she can beat.... YET, in the end, she voted for Abi. I think Lisa is smart to play the loyalty card here. Now none of the final 4 can say they went back on their word - which was to make the final four together. However, is it impossible to beat Malcolm and Denise? Remember that none of those former yellow team guys really loved either Lisa or Skupin (which also makes it super awesome that they are the ones sitting in the final four!!). RC, Artis, Pete and Abi.... I think will all give their vote to Malcolm. RC perhaps could go over to Denise....
Getting ahead of myself again.
The loveliest part of Tribal Council was when Abi continued to berate Skupin for what seemed like no reason at all. Let's remember that she was desperately trying to court Skupin and Lisa to keep her over Denise. Yet, she - pretty much out of the blue - declares to Skupin, "You are an idiot." Followed by, "You are a complete moron." And then in case we didn't hear it the first time, "You are such a moron." Yup. Not a cultural thing at all. So yeah, they voted Abi out and then literally danced their way out of the Tribal Council area. Abi of course thinks that no one can handle her "honesty"... she just "tells it like it is..." and deserves to be in that final five spot... ha!
Which brings me to Ponderosa... Do you guys watch? Go to YouTube right now and search Survivor Philippines Ponderosa. Give yourself some time to go through each one. It's great. (Each person has a part 1 and part 2... except RC, who for some inexplicable reason gets 4 parts.) You can see the crazy, crazy drama that goes on after everyone gets voted off. Let me just say that RC ends up looking crazier than Abi. Jeff also is apparently not into being pals with everyone and is a bit of a whiny baby... I think Carter is flirting with Abi.... and Penner is still awesome. And though she's not acting as crazy as RC, Abi still will not shut the hell up and those poor people are forced to deal with it. "I did not know so many people hated me." Snort.
Anyway.... do NOT forget that the finale is this SUNDAY night. We all think it will be Malcolm or Denise, right?
Thursday, December 6, 2012
On Bad Hair and Why the Chicken Boy Had to Go Before the Evil Brazilian
Oh those sneaky Survivor editors. They made us think Malcolm's goofy brother was going to do something bad.... We should all know better by now. The only bad thing Malcolm's brother did was that hairdo. Ugh. More on that later.
I love, love, love the family visit episode. I love how emotional they all get (ummm, yeah, I might have gotten a little teary too.) and I love how it humanizes them. Even Abi. You realize even she has a mother who loves her - hard to believe, but true. Now, it was a short lived humanization of Abi. More on that later.
Skupin was pretty great with his eldest son (and uh, I'd hate to be one of the other SIX children who now know (or maybe they knew already) that they're not the favourite.) Lisa completely ugly-cried over her brother. Like sobbed with the ugly-face and the shaking shoulders. We've all been there, right? You just hope not to have to ever ugly-cry on national television. See? Humanizing. Denise was super cute with her hubby and Carter with his mom, who's about 4 feet shorter than him.
Malcolm and his goofy brother won the challenge, even with their bad hair. Seriously. For all men out there... this is a bad haircut.
Yeah, that's Malcolm and his bro. Bro Miles is in the headband, which Malcolm also often sports. Dudes, headbands are not for you. They're for girls 12 and under. Stop it. I'm not denying Malcolm's a bit of a looker, but would he be better with a haircut? Yes. I've wandered off topic, non?
Right, where were we? The headband brothers won the challenge and got to pick 2 other Survivors that could keep their families at camp over night. He chose Lisa + baby brother, and Skupin + favourite son. He wanted to 'reward' Lisa & Skupin for sticking with him & Denise. How did Lisa & Skupin reward Malcolm back? By plotting to vote his headband out of there! Yup. Lisa's bro talked her up on playing the game to win it - with her head not her heart. Now, I'm not sure that switching strategies at the very end is necessarily a good move... but that's another discussion.
However, in another great, close challenge, Malcolm won immunity. I liked hearing from him that he had a sense that Lisa & Skupin were plotting against him. He has very good Survivor instincts, our Malcolm. He knew that Lisa's brother was busy talking her into hard strategy. Also, it was interesting to see how Lisa, Skupin & families "bonded over Jesus" as Denise put it. They sat on their own, away from the group & chatted & laughed & prayed. Lisa's prayer went something like, "Lord, we'd like you to bless our plan to get rid of Malcolm, but if that isn't your plan, we're ok with whatever." And, "Bless everyone, even Abi." Snort. Even Abi. Haha. So when Malcolm won immunity, Lisa and Skupin were seriously, "Oh, well, I guess it wasn't God's plan." It's an interesting way to live, that. And again, that's a conversation for another day.
Meanwhile, Abi was yapping on and on about how she has a hidden immunity idol and no one believed her. I laughed too when she said something about how the rest of the Survivors couldn't "take her honesty" so now she has to resort to lying. Hee. All that good will she built up by having her mom there.... evaporated. Everyone went on about how they just can't stand her any more. Lisa said she's just done with Abi, that she's tried being nice and kind and nothing works. Malcolm said that she's going to be voted out eventually just "because she's a bitch." And I get the feeling that's not a word Malcolm throws around that much.
But here's the thing. Everyone saw Carter just about beat Malcolm at that super close immunity challenge I was talking about earlier. Carter has won immunity before. He's super young & fit. And he's nice. And he's got a bunch of pals on the jury like Penner and Jeff. You can't not like Carter. (He's grown on us all, non? I mean, he's still only said about 25 words all season, but I still kind of like him. What's with that?) He tried to appeal to the others' sense of fair play, that he 'deserves' to be there way more than Abi and that he has lots of respect for all of them and how they play, etc. etc. Old Lisa, I think, would have been swayed by this argument. Lisa-since-her-brother-visited, however, put it this way, "You could keep someone around because they deserve it, but why make it harder on yourself?" Good point.
Here's the flaw in the logic, though. You're in a 'final four' pact with 3 other people who are 'deserving'. You have made a point of being loyal and playing with the heart. Again, it's just not necessarily a good thing to all of a sudden change your game. You know who hasn't changed their games since day one? Malcolm and Denise. Even Denise last night said something about voting for someone who deserves to stay vs Abi and she said she wouldn't keep Abi because it would go against the way she's been playing all this time. Huh, you say? But she voted for Carter.... Well, because she can make the following arguments:
1. I was going along with my 4-person alliance.
2. I had never ever made a pact with Carter.
3. My strategy was to get to final 4 with Malcolm, Skupin and Lisa, so it doesn't really matter whether Carter or Abi goes first. What matters is that one of them goes.
4. If Carter goes first, we've gotten rid of a huge threat to our final 4 alliance. Abi is less of a threat.
5. Hopefully, we only have to endure Abi for another 3 days.
Right? Denise's (and for that matter, Malcolm's) alibi on this vote is air-tight. Skupin and Lisa are less so, just slightly.
Let's assume Abi goes next, which she should unless hell freezes over once more and she pulls off an immunity win. That gives us 7 jury members: Abi and RC are the only women. Then there's Artis, Jeff, Pete, Penner and now Carter. 4 of them are former team yellow. What's your take on who these people will vote for? Of course it'll depend a bit on how they perform at the final Tribal and on the 8th jury member (which will itself depend wholly on who wins immunity.) My feeling is that Abi, Pete and Artis would probably all give their vote to Malcolm. They never really liked Skupin or Lisa and they got to know Malcolm more than Denise. Carter and RC are hard to peg. Carter because we don't really know him and RC because she didn't get to interact much with these guys who are left. Would Carter give his vote to his former tribemate Denise? Or fellow "young dude" Malcolm? Or to Skupin, who's like a dad to him (except for that whole voting him off thing... and the fact that he's already got a favourite son.) No, then. Not Skupin. I like to think that Jeff & Penner would stick with Denise... but Jeff is a bit of a guy's guy, so hard to guess. Then there's Lisa. Lisa's a dark horse for the win if she makes it to final three. Not everyone loved Lisa, but some did (Penner) and she's smart and a good speaker. She could sway votes her way if she plays her cards right and sells her story. Because she's got a great story. Lisa really IS the story of this season, right? The former child star, the divorce, 'finding herself', etc. And it's hard to stay mad at the church mom. So, if all goes as it should, it should be Malcolm, Denise and Lisa in the final. But we all know that on Survivor, things don't always go as they should. Will someone (Lisa) try to bring Abi to the final to discount at least one vote? Would Abi get any votes from Artis & Pete? So many questions!!
Finally, we finally have another Survivor character who could be a muppet.
I love, love, love the family visit episode. I love how emotional they all get (ummm, yeah, I might have gotten a little teary too.) and I love how it humanizes them. Even Abi. You realize even she has a mother who loves her - hard to believe, but true. Now, it was a short lived humanization of Abi. More on that later.
Skupin was pretty great with his eldest son (and uh, I'd hate to be one of the other SIX children who now know (or maybe they knew already) that they're not the favourite.) Lisa completely ugly-cried over her brother. Like sobbed with the ugly-face and the shaking shoulders. We've all been there, right? You just hope not to have to ever ugly-cry on national television. See? Humanizing. Denise was super cute with her hubby and Carter with his mom, who's about 4 feet shorter than him.
Malcolm and his goofy brother won the challenge, even with their bad hair. Seriously. For all men out there... this is a bad haircut.
Yeah, that's Malcolm and his bro. Bro Miles is in the headband, which Malcolm also often sports. Dudes, headbands are not for you. They're for girls 12 and under. Stop it. I'm not denying Malcolm's a bit of a looker, but would he be better with a haircut? Yes. I've wandered off topic, non?
Right, where were we? The headband brothers won the challenge and got to pick 2 other Survivors that could keep their families at camp over night. He chose Lisa + baby brother, and Skupin + favourite son. He wanted to 'reward' Lisa & Skupin for sticking with him & Denise. How did Lisa & Skupin reward Malcolm back? By plotting to vote his headband out of there! Yup. Lisa's bro talked her up on playing the game to win it - with her head not her heart. Now, I'm not sure that switching strategies at the very end is necessarily a good move... but that's another discussion.
However, in another great, close challenge, Malcolm won immunity. I liked hearing from him that he had a sense that Lisa & Skupin were plotting against him. He has very good Survivor instincts, our Malcolm. He knew that Lisa's brother was busy talking her into hard strategy. Also, it was interesting to see how Lisa, Skupin & families "bonded over Jesus" as Denise put it. They sat on their own, away from the group & chatted & laughed & prayed. Lisa's prayer went something like, "Lord, we'd like you to bless our plan to get rid of Malcolm, but if that isn't your plan, we're ok with whatever." And, "Bless everyone, even Abi." Snort. Even Abi. Haha. So when Malcolm won immunity, Lisa and Skupin were seriously, "Oh, well, I guess it wasn't God's plan." It's an interesting way to live, that. And again, that's a conversation for another day.
Meanwhile, Abi was yapping on and on about how she has a hidden immunity idol and no one believed her. I laughed too when she said something about how the rest of the Survivors couldn't "take her honesty" so now she has to resort to lying. Hee. All that good will she built up by having her mom there.... evaporated. Everyone went on about how they just can't stand her any more. Lisa said she's just done with Abi, that she's tried being nice and kind and nothing works. Malcolm said that she's going to be voted out eventually just "because she's a bitch." And I get the feeling that's not a word Malcolm throws around that much.
But here's the thing. Everyone saw Carter just about beat Malcolm at that super close immunity challenge I was talking about earlier. Carter has won immunity before. He's super young & fit. And he's nice. And he's got a bunch of pals on the jury like Penner and Jeff. You can't not like Carter. (He's grown on us all, non? I mean, he's still only said about 25 words all season, but I still kind of like him. What's with that?) He tried to appeal to the others' sense of fair play, that he 'deserves' to be there way more than Abi and that he has lots of respect for all of them and how they play, etc. etc. Old Lisa, I think, would have been swayed by this argument. Lisa-since-her-brother-visited, however, put it this way, "You could keep someone around because they deserve it, but why make it harder on yourself?" Good point.
Here's the flaw in the logic, though. You're in a 'final four' pact with 3 other people who are 'deserving'. You have made a point of being loyal and playing with the heart. Again, it's just not necessarily a good thing to all of a sudden change your game. You know who hasn't changed their games since day one? Malcolm and Denise. Even Denise last night said something about voting for someone who deserves to stay vs Abi and she said she wouldn't keep Abi because it would go against the way she's been playing all this time. Huh, you say? But she voted for Carter.... Well, because she can make the following arguments:
1. I was going along with my 4-person alliance.
2. I had never ever made a pact with Carter.
3. My strategy was to get to final 4 with Malcolm, Skupin and Lisa, so it doesn't really matter whether Carter or Abi goes first. What matters is that one of them goes.
4. If Carter goes first, we've gotten rid of a huge threat to our final 4 alliance. Abi is less of a threat.
5. Hopefully, we only have to endure Abi for another 3 days.
Right? Denise's (and for that matter, Malcolm's) alibi on this vote is air-tight. Skupin and Lisa are less so, just slightly.
Let's assume Abi goes next, which she should unless hell freezes over once more and she pulls off an immunity win. That gives us 7 jury members: Abi and RC are the only women. Then there's Artis, Jeff, Pete, Penner and now Carter. 4 of them are former team yellow. What's your take on who these people will vote for? Of course it'll depend a bit on how they perform at the final Tribal and on the 8th jury member (which will itself depend wholly on who wins immunity.) My feeling is that Abi, Pete and Artis would probably all give their vote to Malcolm. They never really liked Skupin or Lisa and they got to know Malcolm more than Denise. Carter and RC are hard to peg. Carter because we don't really know him and RC because she didn't get to interact much with these guys who are left. Would Carter give his vote to his former tribemate Denise? Or fellow "young dude" Malcolm? Or to Skupin, who's like a dad to him (except for that whole voting him off thing... and the fact that he's already got a favourite son.) No, then. Not Skupin. I like to think that Jeff & Penner would stick with Denise... but Jeff is a bit of a guy's guy, so hard to guess. Then there's Lisa. Lisa's a dark horse for the win if she makes it to final three. Not everyone loved Lisa, but some did (Penner) and she's smart and a good speaker. She could sway votes her way if she plays her cards right and sells her story. Because she's got a great story. Lisa really IS the story of this season, right? The former child star, the divorce, 'finding herself', etc. And it's hard to stay mad at the church mom. So, if all goes as it should, it should be Malcolm, Denise and Lisa in the final. But we all know that on Survivor, things don't always go as they should. Will someone (Lisa) try to bring Abi to the final to discount at least one vote? Would Abi get any votes from Artis & Pete? So many questions!!
Finally, we finally have another Survivor character who could be a muppet.
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