Oh i totally get the frustration, I'd be right there with them if it were me. But at the same time games have twists and they're still playing it to their advantage no matter how much they complain.

Yes they've villainized themselves (yes that's not an actual word) but they've also been playing the twist fairly smart. They're taking out singles in the event of additional TTB rounds, they're throwing to make sure they have the right people at the TTB tribals. I get both sides of it. And I think that the pairs are playing it the best they can.

Jacob Harpel @ 9/8/2016 19:39

I understand the whole point of trying to tempt people to take out their partner, but that doesn't really factor into it at all since they're never on the same tribe as their loved ones. So there is no real temptation. No one is going to utilize cross tribal to take out someone who signed up WITH them just so they could have immunity for an unknown amount of rounds. I don't think anyone would make a gamble that reckless. I just think it's silly to so often punish people that have kept themselves intact for so long. It reminds me of BB13 golden key twist.

My (obviously biased) view is that it's an extra round that the pairs are playing the game, with all the risks and rewards that entails. If you're a strong player in a good spot, it strengthens your position in the game; if you're not in a good spot comparatively, you could very well be twisted out of the game. We've seen the four pairs remaining, particularly the Vicarios and SKate, use the twist to their advantage in multiple ways, both to choose who they want to eliminate and to galvanize the rest of the pairs into protecting their best interests in non-TTB rounds. Conversely, the singletons spend that round NOT playing the game, and while that means they get short term safety, they also lose all agency in the game for the duration of the round. While it's obviously an asymmetrical situation, I think it's far from unbalanced and might actually favor the pairs that DO make it through those rounds unscathed.

I liken it a lot to season two where Malaita went to TC all the time and Gwale sat in relative inactivity with immunity. Yeah, in a more balanced situation, people like Amber and Feji might have made the merge while people like Kim or Sean wouldn't have, but in the end the Malaita four actually benefitted from their seemingly bad position while Sean simultaneously benefitted from the breaks that he got as a result of being a part of a powerhouse tribe. I think the people that feel slighted are being a bit reactionary without considering the full scope of the situation, especially as we see them benefitting directly from the Ties That Bind rounds as they come.

Notes:
1) Obviously Anthony and Tyler have legitimate gripes with the Ties That Bind twist. No getting around that, but them's the breaks.
2) Giving the singletons idol access in addition to the TTB immunity might be overkilling it in their favor, but even then it's clearly not overwhelming enough to give them a ton of power, unless you're meme-ing hard and are gonna start yelling at me that Nick is running this game back to front.

RJ Sobczak @ 9/8/2016 22:26

2) Giving the singletons idol access in addition to the TTB immunity might be overkilling it in their favor, but even then it's clearly not overwhelming enough to give them a ton of power, unless you're meme-ing hard and are gonna start yelling at me that Nick is running this game back to front.

He is though