The tribe shake-up! Always fun. This one ended up with three pairs on one team (Dale & Kelley, Jaclyn & Jon, and Baylor & Missy) plus ol' Keith. That's the new orange. The new blue team features only one pair (Josh & Reed) plus a bunch of singletons: Jeremy, Natalie, Wes, Julie & Alec.
ORANGE is the new... ORANGE.
Kelley's not super pleased to be on the same team as her dad, who she's found out doesn't get along with Missy & Baylor. (Which makes me like Dale a bit more, actually. I think I'd have a pretty tough time getting along with Missy & Baylor.) Missy's going through rice like no one's business, which means the blue team has almost none while the orange team is still good... until Missy joins them and starts cooking double the amount... making Dale mad, understandably. Meanwhile, Jaclyn and Jon need to get a room. Lots of kissing & hugging, which seems to horrify Baylor until she's asked about it - when all of a sudden it's "super cute!"
So you'd think Keith would be in trouble - and he still might be down the road - but mainly the couples are looking to weaken another couple. Jon & Jaclyn find themselves in the middle of the two pairs who don't like each other and Keith will go with the majority.
BLUE and Brawny.
The blue team is definitely the fitter of the two teams. More dudes, all younger people. Jeremy off the bat sees Josh & Reed as a threat (did he read my blog?) because potentially Reed could now flip and work with Josh, Wes and Alec, leaving Jeremy, Natalie and Julie in the smaller set of numbers. Likely the blue team will just keep winning, but if not, expect Jeremy to try to make a move. I love that he and Natalie have decided that they will try to work Alec by appealing to his ego - telling him stuff like how he's so much stronger than Drew, etc. Heh. Jeremy calls it the "Surround and Drown" maneuver (from firefighting, when the firefighters can no longer go into a building to fight a big fire, so they just surround the building and try to drown it out with water.) Natalie and Jeremy are going to just keep surrounding Alec and drowning him with seeds of doubt about any of the pairs, and especially Josh & Reed. Love it.
Of course the blue team won immunity, so the orange guys had to go to Tribal. I was surprised a bit that J & J chose team Missy/Baylor over team Dale/Kelley, but overall it's probably a smarter move. Dale and Kelley are generally well-liked and smarter. They are bigger threats in the game than Missy and Baylor (aside: I keep typing "Baby" instead of "Baylor" making me want to just call her Baby. Is that OK? I feel the keyboard is trying to tell me something.) So, they got rid of Kelley. Sad for her, because she'd have been fine and probably would have gotten far in the game had the tribes not switched up. However, that's how it goes. I did find it a bit off-putting to hear her say how she wishes she hadn't had to play on the same team as her dad, though. I mean, I get that it was a detriment in this game, but at the end of the day, isn't it cool to get to play Survivor with your dad? Isn't that how you got on the show in the first place? Bah.
The only other thing to note is that the blue team once again is trying to negotiate with my boyfriend, Jeff, because they're now so low on food. Jeff is going to bring them some food next episode, but "the price will be high!" (Cue suspenseful music). What's it going to be? I think they'll have to go to Tribal in exchange, or at least get a huge disadvantage in the challenge given their relative strength.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Thursday, October 16, 2014
What Happens When You're (Not) a Good Thrower
OH, so good. Our resident #1 mimbo, Drew, got voted out after making a series of crucial Survivor mistakes.
1) Referring to oneself using any of the following words/phrases: Kingpin, Boss, Without Me These People Would Be Nothing, The Best, Running This Show, etc. If anyone has ever watched Survivor EVER, they'd know that the minute someone thinks they are running the show, they are the ones to get voted out. See Sarah the cop from last season, and many others. The one notable exception being Boston Rob, but it took him four tries to ACTUALLY be able to run the show.
2) Throwing a challenge. This is never ever a good idea. For one, it shows that you are super cocky and too comfortable. (See point #1). Having your own tribe go to Tribal Council is never good. You can always, always be the one to go home. If the other tribe goes, not only do you automatically get three more days, but the other guys are a smaller group come the merge (which, incidentally is going to happen next episode. The blue guys will still be the bigger group, but now with loved ones in the mix, you never know how that'll shake out.)
3) Not being willing to negotiate. Drew was dead set on Kelley going home over anyone else. Wouldn't listen to anyone else in his alliance. Jeremy wanted Keith out because Keith announced to everyone that Jeremy must have an immunity idol because he couldn't find it. This was dumb. First of all, he later did find the idol. Second, he made a huge enemy out of one of his biggest allies. There was that whole firefighter bond. He should have gone to Jeremy first to ask him if he had an idol, but couldn't quite figure that out. Anyway, back to Drew. Wouldn't listen to Jeremy. Wouldn't listen to his buddy Jon, who said that Julie should go. Nope. Had to be Kelley. His way or the highway.
4) Seeing threats where there are none. Drew was so against Kelley that he tried to tell the dudes that there was a girl alliance...which there was not. There are only 4 girls and what... 5 guys? So, they did not have the numbers to vote as a block. Then again, the more you talk about it, and the more you notice that none of the men can agree on anything, the more a girl alliance looks like a great idea. Thanks for the idea, Drew! Basically, he gave the girls the idea on how to vote himself out.
5) Talking about who you're going to vote off right in front of them. At one point, Drew stands there talking about how much he wants to vote off Kelley, while Kelley is standing about 10 feet away. And yet, no one notices this fact, making Drew a lovely target for the girls.
6) Basically being a useless schlub. Aside from being physically strong, Drew had no redeeming qualities. Possible exception is if you're another kinda dumb dude like Jon (who, for the record, is not as dumb as Drew, and how could you not like Jon last night when he beat his girlfriend Jaclyn in a challenge (barely) and then said how he's not worried about her at Exile because she's so strong?) Anyway, aside from Jon who kinda thinks Drew is cool, Drew does nothing for anyone else. He doesn't pull his weight at camp, he isn't nice really to the gals, and he's a bit of a whiny baby about not having enough food. (At one point, they found the first "lost" flint and then Drew tried to negotiate again with Jeff, who basically laughed at him. Drew tells everyone that at least he "had the balls" to ask. Should that be another point: Telling your teammates you have balls and they don't?) So with no redeeming qualities except winning challenges, you'd better ummm... win a challenge. Drew threw the challenge, so now all he's accomplished is making his teammates think, oh well, now he's got nothin' to offer.
So, Drew pretty much dug his own Survivor grave. Over on the other tribe, his brother Alec isn't doing much for himself either. He bosses Baylor around telling her to "not half-ass it" when she does stuff like clean a pot. Oy. New respect for Baylor for biting her tongue and not telling him to shove it. Not sure I could do it.
With the merge coming up, the pairs will be targets first, and the clever pairs will ally themselves with other pairs, forming a voting block. Romance pairs are more dangerous than blood pairs, so they should (in theory) be picked off first. Jon & Jaclyn, Reed & Josh. If it was me, I'd get rid of either Reed or Josh first because they're stronger and people like them. Other pairs still in are Wes & Keith, Dale & Kelley, Missy & Baylor. Singles are Jeremy, Julie, Natalie & Alec. Makes sense for Jeremy, Julie & Natalie to stick together. Alec could be in trouble or if he's smart (doubtful), he makes himself a bit of a swing vote somewhere. Also interesting will be that Dale doesn't have much allegiance to his original tribe so will likely join an alliance with Kelley and some original blue members. So exciting. Much can happen.
1) Referring to oneself using any of the following words/phrases: Kingpin, Boss, Without Me These People Would Be Nothing, The Best, Running This Show, etc. If anyone has ever watched Survivor EVER, they'd know that the minute someone thinks they are running the show, they are the ones to get voted out. See Sarah the cop from last season, and many others. The one notable exception being Boston Rob, but it took him four tries to ACTUALLY be able to run the show.
2) Throwing a challenge. This is never ever a good idea. For one, it shows that you are super cocky and too comfortable. (See point #1). Having your own tribe go to Tribal Council is never good. You can always, always be the one to go home. If the other tribe goes, not only do you automatically get three more days, but the other guys are a smaller group come the merge (which, incidentally is going to happen next episode. The blue guys will still be the bigger group, but now with loved ones in the mix, you never know how that'll shake out.)
3) Not being willing to negotiate. Drew was dead set on Kelley going home over anyone else. Wouldn't listen to anyone else in his alliance. Jeremy wanted Keith out because Keith announced to everyone that Jeremy must have an immunity idol because he couldn't find it. This was dumb. First of all, he later did find the idol. Second, he made a huge enemy out of one of his biggest allies. There was that whole firefighter bond. He should have gone to Jeremy first to ask him if he had an idol, but couldn't quite figure that out. Anyway, back to Drew. Wouldn't listen to Jeremy. Wouldn't listen to his buddy Jon, who said that Julie should go. Nope. Had to be Kelley. His way or the highway.
4) Seeing threats where there are none. Drew was so against Kelley that he tried to tell the dudes that there was a girl alliance...which there was not. There are only 4 girls and what... 5 guys? So, they did not have the numbers to vote as a block. Then again, the more you talk about it, and the more you notice that none of the men can agree on anything, the more a girl alliance looks like a great idea. Thanks for the idea, Drew! Basically, he gave the girls the idea on how to vote himself out.
5) Talking about who you're going to vote off right in front of them. At one point, Drew stands there talking about how much he wants to vote off Kelley, while Kelley is standing about 10 feet away. And yet, no one notices this fact, making Drew a lovely target for the girls.
6) Basically being a useless schlub. Aside from being physically strong, Drew had no redeeming qualities. Possible exception is if you're another kinda dumb dude like Jon (who, for the record, is not as dumb as Drew, and how could you not like Jon last night when he beat his girlfriend Jaclyn in a challenge (barely) and then said how he's not worried about her at Exile because she's so strong?) Anyway, aside from Jon who kinda thinks Drew is cool, Drew does nothing for anyone else. He doesn't pull his weight at camp, he isn't nice really to the gals, and he's a bit of a whiny baby about not having enough food. (At one point, they found the first "lost" flint and then Drew tried to negotiate again with Jeff, who basically laughed at him. Drew tells everyone that at least he "had the balls" to ask. Should that be another point: Telling your teammates you have balls and they don't?) So with no redeeming qualities except winning challenges, you'd better ummm... win a challenge. Drew threw the challenge, so now all he's accomplished is making his teammates think, oh well, now he's got nothin' to offer.
So, Drew pretty much dug his own Survivor grave. Over on the other tribe, his brother Alec isn't doing much for himself either. He bosses Baylor around telling her to "not half-ass it" when she does stuff like clean a pot. Oy. New respect for Baylor for biting her tongue and not telling him to shove it. Not sure I could do it.
With the merge coming up, the pairs will be targets first, and the clever pairs will ally themselves with other pairs, forming a voting block. Romance pairs are more dangerous than blood pairs, so they should (in theory) be picked off first. Jon & Jaclyn, Reed & Josh. If it was me, I'd get rid of either Reed or Josh first because they're stronger and people like them. Other pairs still in are Wes & Keith, Dale & Kelley, Missy & Baylor. Singles are Jeremy, Julie, Natalie & Alec. Makes sense for Jeremy, Julie & Natalie to stick together. Alec could be in trouble or if he's smart (doubtful), he makes himself a bit of a swing vote somewhere. Also interesting will be that Dale doesn't have much allegiance to his original tribe so will likely join an alliance with Kelley and some original blue members. So exciting. Much can happen.
Thursday, October 9, 2014
If You Were a Man, I'd Vote You Out! Let's Fight!
Episode 3 and the focus is still on a handful of characters: Jeremy, Baseball John, Josh, Baylor, Natalie. We don't get to hear a lot from folks like Dale, or Missy, or Alec. Kelly and Jaclyn are essentially this season's mute blondes that we don't hear anything from at all.
Drew continues his quest to be the most awesome mimbo ever. He gets a big idea in his head that the rains are coming and his tribe should get to work fixing up the roof of their shelter... which actually is a good idea. But then he gives up weaving palm fronds after about a minute and lies down for a nap, while everyone else works. Seems Drew is in for a career in politics? Perhaps. And scenes from next week look like Drew continues on his rampage... cannot wait! I hope he stays around for a while, just for the comedy factor.
The other best part of the night was that Keith had to go to Exile after Wes beat him in a challenge. After the loss, Keith got all emotional and said how proud he was of Wes, causing Wes to then tear up when Jeff asked him if this kind of emotion was normal back home. Nope. Such good TV, right? That's why this Blood vs. Water thing works. Then, Wes sent Josh to Exile with his dad because, "I click with Josh, so I think my dad will too." And they did. Duck Dynasty and the gay Broadway performer got along great, though Keith noted, "There won't be any spooning going on tonight." Ha! Again - why Survivor is great, right? Two people, so different, but finding common ground.
The big story, though, was that huge drama happened around Baseball John. Baseball John has trouble finding common ground with anyone. First, he pissed off Jeremy (as predicted) when Jeremy found out about Val getting voted off. John hadn't bothered telling anyone on his team about his deal with Jeremy, but then goes ahead and announces it in front of everyone at the reward challenge. That kind of stuff doesn't sit very well with your teammates. On the blue team, Jeremy went ahead and told everyone about John's past indiscretions. The racist stuff especially got to Natalie. Poor Julie, who you can't help feeling a bit sorry for - just left and went off and cried by herself. Now, I haven't heard Julie actually defending her boyfriend to her teammates. That's the weird thing. Remember when everyone hated Brad Colpepper and his wife Monica was taking heat for what her hubby was up to? Monica stood up for Brad and told her teammates that he's just playing the game - here's what he's really like... I wonder if Julie's doing any of this and we're just not seeing it? Or is she not bothering to defend him because she knows he's kind of, well... a dick? Discuss. I felt a little less sorry for her when she said something about how surprised she was that Survivor was this difficult and that she didn't think her bf would get her in so much trouble! Seriously?
At the immunity challenge, things got heated right up. The blue tribe won (again) and Natalie started beaking off at the orange team that they should vote off John because he's a horrible racist. The team stands up for John and tells John to just ignore her. Instead, he opens his mouth. Says that if Natalie was a man, he'd knock her (his?) teeth out. Then says, clear everything away and let's fight! Seriously. John Rocker has anger issues. Possibly women issues. Violence issues? Check. I'm not saying Natalie was particularly awesome for opening her mouth either, but she would have ended up looking like the crazy one if he would have just not taken the bait. But, he did. And you have to wonder how he deals with people in real life if he loses his temper at a girl that quickly on national TV. What happens when Julie pisses him off? If I'm Julie, I'm getting a bit concerned. Hopfully Julie is getting a bit concerned. Right?
So John's plan is to tell the girls to vote for Dale, but then vote for Baylor with the all-dude alliance. Everyone goes along and John thinks his plan is solid. Josh, however, decides that John is too much of a wild card, given his secret plans with Val/Jeremy, and together with Baylor, Jaclyn, Wes and I think Alec vote off John instead. They kept it so hush-hush that John did not even consider playing his immunity idol. Jaclyn almost blew it by saying that she thought that different plans were going down (she speaks!) but why would he believe a girl? Pffft. Oddly, no one thought to tell Dale, which makes me wonder why the dudes think they can't trust him? Dale should be worried and should hope he makes it to the merge.
In other news, here's a fun article from 2008 that I have only just stumbled across about the behind-the-scenes stuff that goes on filming the show. It's pretty interesting - you likely know lots of it already, but it's a fun read:
http://www.today.com/id/26726792/ns/today-today_entertainment/t/last-secrets-survivor-revealed/
Drew continues his quest to be the most awesome mimbo ever. He gets a big idea in his head that the rains are coming and his tribe should get to work fixing up the roof of their shelter... which actually is a good idea. But then he gives up weaving palm fronds after about a minute and lies down for a nap, while everyone else works. Seems Drew is in for a career in politics? Perhaps. And scenes from next week look like Drew continues on his rampage... cannot wait! I hope he stays around for a while, just for the comedy factor.
The other best part of the night was that Keith had to go to Exile after Wes beat him in a challenge. After the loss, Keith got all emotional and said how proud he was of Wes, causing Wes to then tear up when Jeff asked him if this kind of emotion was normal back home. Nope. Such good TV, right? That's why this Blood vs. Water thing works. Then, Wes sent Josh to Exile with his dad because, "I click with Josh, so I think my dad will too." And they did. Duck Dynasty and the gay Broadway performer got along great, though Keith noted, "There won't be any spooning going on tonight." Ha! Again - why Survivor is great, right? Two people, so different, but finding common ground.
The big story, though, was that huge drama happened around Baseball John. Baseball John has trouble finding common ground with anyone. First, he pissed off Jeremy (as predicted) when Jeremy found out about Val getting voted off. John hadn't bothered telling anyone on his team about his deal with Jeremy, but then goes ahead and announces it in front of everyone at the reward challenge. That kind of stuff doesn't sit very well with your teammates. On the blue team, Jeremy went ahead and told everyone about John's past indiscretions. The racist stuff especially got to Natalie. Poor Julie, who you can't help feeling a bit sorry for - just left and went off and cried by herself. Now, I haven't heard Julie actually defending her boyfriend to her teammates. That's the weird thing. Remember when everyone hated Brad Colpepper and his wife Monica was taking heat for what her hubby was up to? Monica stood up for Brad and told her teammates that he's just playing the game - here's what he's really like... I wonder if Julie's doing any of this and we're just not seeing it? Or is she not bothering to defend him because she knows he's kind of, well... a dick? Discuss. I felt a little less sorry for her when she said something about how surprised she was that Survivor was this difficult and that she didn't think her bf would get her in so much trouble! Seriously?
At the immunity challenge, things got heated right up. The blue tribe won (again) and Natalie started beaking off at the orange team that they should vote off John because he's a horrible racist. The team stands up for John and tells John to just ignore her. Instead, he opens his mouth. Says that if Natalie was a man, he'd knock her (his?) teeth out. Then says, clear everything away and let's fight! Seriously. John Rocker has anger issues. Possibly women issues. Violence issues? Check. I'm not saying Natalie was particularly awesome for opening her mouth either, but she would have ended up looking like the crazy one if he would have just not taken the bait. But, he did. And you have to wonder how he deals with people in real life if he loses his temper at a girl that quickly on national TV. What happens when Julie pisses him off? If I'm Julie, I'm getting a bit concerned. Hopfully Julie is getting a bit concerned. Right?
So John's plan is to tell the girls to vote for Dale, but then vote for Baylor with the all-dude alliance. Everyone goes along and John thinks his plan is solid. Josh, however, decides that John is too much of a wild card, given his secret plans with Val/Jeremy, and together with Baylor, Jaclyn, Wes and I think Alec vote off John instead. They kept it so hush-hush that John did not even consider playing his immunity idol. Jaclyn almost blew it by saying that she thought that different plans were going down (she speaks!) but why would he believe a girl? Pffft. Oddly, no one thought to tell Dale, which makes me wonder why the dudes think they can't trust him? Dale should be worried and should hope he makes it to the merge.
In other news, here's a fun article from 2008 that I have only just stumbled across about the behind-the-scenes stuff that goes on filming the show. It's pretty interesting - you likely know lots of it already, but it's a fun read:
http://www.today.com/id/26726792/ns/today-today_entertainment/t/last-secrets-survivor-revealed/
Monday, October 6, 2014
Beat By a Girl!
Sorry for the late blog post. I'll do better this week, promise! In the meantime, I'll keep this one short. Here's what you need to know if you're following along:
1) Jon & Drew from the blue tribe are Mimbos. Yup. They do push-ups and say 'Dude!' a lot. Jon lost his team's flint, admitted it and apologized, but people are pissed! Later, when they won a reward (thanks to Julie, who beat her hubby Baseball John) of fishing gear, they had to trade it for a flint... making people even more pissed that they now won a reward of something they already had. In addition, the absolute best part of the show was when - during the immunity challenge - couple Josh and Reid were fighting each other (it was that one where they have to push each other off a platform into the water using a... what do you call it? Like a pillow, but not soft?) and then Drew yells out, "Go Josh!" prompting one of his teammates to say, "Reed is the one who's on our team!" Heh. Possibly Reed needs to join in and do more push-ups for Drew to notice him. How do guys like this live? Watch... he'll probably win. These guys are great to keep around because they'll generally not think for themselves.
2) Baseball John seems to be a bit of a schmuck. He's got that whole reputation of saying racist/bigoted things in the media when he was a player, and these Survivors are now spreading that around. No hiding for Baseball John now. Oh, then there's when his wife beat him in the reward challenge and instead of kind of being proud of her, he grumps, "The worst part is that I got beat by a girl." Ugh. Thank god she didn't have to go home with him and endure the pouting.
3) Baseball John ends up going to Exile Island with Jeremy, who's well aware of Baseball John's past. He doesn't say anything about it and tries to work with him, telling him that he'll protect Julie if John will protect Val. Seems like a good plan (though, why do wives need saving, exactly? Discuss.). To prove his point, Jeremy shares the hidden immunity idol clue. Baseball John goes back to camp and finds it. Doesn't tell Val, who's bluffing to everyone that she has one already, and stretches it to two once John is back.
4) Baylor. I find her super annoying. Anyone else? Her mom split her lip in the fighting challenge and Baylor ugly-cried about it - causing her mom to lose the challenge. At best, she's a baby - at worst, she's super conniving and played her mom. Either way. Annoying.
5) Dale. I like Dale. It was touching to watch Dale not be able to watch his daughter in the challenge because it was her birthday and he wanted to cheer for her, but she was on the other team.
6) The bluffing doesn't work, and the tribe splits the vote between Baylor and Val. When it goes to a re-vote, Val gets voted out. Even Baseball John votes for her because he's mad at her that she didn't play her idol like he told her to. Obviously, Val didn't really trust John with the information that she didn't have an idol, and John didn't fully try very hard to help her. Now he's worried that Jeremy's going to think that he didn't try to help her.. uh, which would be correct.
7) Next time it looks like there's going to be lots and lots of Baseball John drama in which he tries to throw down with someone. Hopefully he gets beaten by a girl again.
1) Jon & Drew from the blue tribe are Mimbos. Yup. They do push-ups and say 'Dude!' a lot. Jon lost his team's flint, admitted it and apologized, but people are pissed! Later, when they won a reward (thanks to Julie, who beat her hubby Baseball John) of fishing gear, they had to trade it for a flint... making people even more pissed that they now won a reward of something they already had. In addition, the absolute best part of the show was when - during the immunity challenge - couple Josh and Reid were fighting each other (it was that one where they have to push each other off a platform into the water using a... what do you call it? Like a pillow, but not soft?) and then Drew yells out, "Go Josh!" prompting one of his teammates to say, "Reed is the one who's on our team!" Heh. Possibly Reed needs to join in and do more push-ups for Drew to notice him. How do guys like this live? Watch... he'll probably win. These guys are great to keep around because they'll generally not think for themselves.
2) Baseball John seems to be a bit of a schmuck. He's got that whole reputation of saying racist/bigoted things in the media when he was a player, and these Survivors are now spreading that around. No hiding for Baseball John now. Oh, then there's when his wife beat him in the reward challenge and instead of kind of being proud of her, he grumps, "The worst part is that I got beat by a girl." Ugh. Thank god she didn't have to go home with him and endure the pouting.
3) Baseball John ends up going to Exile Island with Jeremy, who's well aware of Baseball John's past. He doesn't say anything about it and tries to work with him, telling him that he'll protect Julie if John will protect Val. Seems like a good plan (though, why do wives need saving, exactly? Discuss.). To prove his point, Jeremy shares the hidden immunity idol clue. Baseball John goes back to camp and finds it. Doesn't tell Val, who's bluffing to everyone that she has one already, and stretches it to two once John is back.
4) Baylor. I find her super annoying. Anyone else? Her mom split her lip in the fighting challenge and Baylor ugly-cried about it - causing her mom to lose the challenge. At best, she's a baby - at worst, she's super conniving and played her mom. Either way. Annoying.
5) Dale. I like Dale. It was touching to watch Dale not be able to watch his daughter in the challenge because it was her birthday and he wanted to cheer for her, but she was on the other team.
6) The bluffing doesn't work, and the tribe splits the vote between Baylor and Val. When it goes to a re-vote, Val gets voted out. Even Baseball John votes for her because he's mad at her that she didn't play her idol like he told her to. Obviously, Val didn't really trust John with the information that she didn't have an idol, and John didn't fully try very hard to help her. Now he's worried that Jeremy's going to think that he didn't try to help her.. uh, which would be correct.
7) Next time it looks like there's going to be lots and lots of Baseball John drama in which he tries to throw down with someone. Hopefully he gets beaten by a girl again.
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