I still think Borneo is the best season I have seen. Tbh starting with FvF2s shouldn't really ruin it too much. I enjoyed HvV without any context beyond what I knew from playing ORGs. An old season might help but its not really necessary for enjoying the show.

Amazon rules

Thanks entirely to Rob C

Yeah, thanks for letting that guy beat me, BTW.

That's the only white I would have let beat me

I miss talking with him already

If you remember last season one of the previews says Malcolm's brother says something that could ruin his game.

Malcolm's brother didn't say anything. I feel like this Brandon thing will be like that.

I'm kinda hoping that that's the case. I still like Brandon. He's a bit of a nutbar, but the random bromance between him and Erik is absolutely amazing, and I'd love to see the two of them go the distance, before one of them inevitably gives Immunity to the other and dies as a result.

"Malcolm could win it right here!"

Rob, how hard did you laugh when you saw that Malcolm was in the anchor position again. I think it's hilarious that Phillip got the final ring over him

Idol hunting montage = person will find the idol. Nearly every single time

Curtis @ 21/2/2013 1:30

"Malcolm could win it right here!" Rob, how hard did you laugh when you saw that Malcolm was in the anchor position again. I think it's hilarious that Phillip got the final ring over him

Yeah, I loved that. I can just imagine how that discussion went during the challenge strategy session.

Malcolm: Guys, obviously I need to do the most important part of this challenge: throwing lightweight rings at a stick. Cochran, that means that you and those stringly bits of dental floss that you call arms are going to have to pull three people a mile through the ocean.
Cochran: But -
Malcolm: And we'll need Phillip doing that too, because screw it, those rings will probably be heavy.
Cochran: But won't I be pulling them? AND three people?
Malcolm: DARNIT, Cochran! This is a TEAM effort!

I also imagine that Probst was screaming, "MALCOLM COULD WIN IT RIGHT HERE!" after literally every single toss the guy made. His voice definitely got a bit sour when he had to announce that Phillip won it for the team.

You'd think the favorites would eventually clue in to the fact that Malcolm's victorious in physical challenges only slightly more often than Stephen Hawking, and start altering their strategy a bit.

I was pretty surprised by the boot. The editors have done a fairly good job so far.

Episode 1 I thought the whole time that Fran would go home, but as the votes were being read I suddenly thought it could be Andrea.

Episode 2 I thought the whole time that Shamar would go home, but as the the votes were being read I suddenly thought it would be Allie

Here's my overall thoughts on the episode, cross-pasted from FGC:

Ambivalent on Laura. I feel like she thinks she's a better strategist than she is - case in point, her incredibly obvious attempt to tell everybody that Reynold had the idol without getting any of the blame. I'd laugh really hard if he wound up idoling her out for revenge.

I think the Favorites are probably destined for a few more wins if this keeps up. Allie was a bit of a liability in challenges, but I don't see their brilliant strategy of keeping Shamar around being useful. This episode was almost a direct retread of the second episode of Micro. Fans lose a challenge, a hideous woman who clearly demonstrates why botox is a bad idea (Tracy / Sherri) decides that keeping around the useless moron that's weighing down the tribe (Chet / Shamar) is definitely the best plan, which requires completely overlooking the many many immunity challenges that will occur between now and the merge. Meanwhile the team strategist (Mikey B / Reynold) tries in vain to convince them to make a decision that should be obvious to anything with an IQ above 5, but the tribe say "Screw it! We're Team Mactors Superfans, and we know how to play this game better than anyone!" and vote off the chick that the strategist is boning (Whatserface / Allie). Lay you ten to one the retreading continues like this. My official prediction is that next week the Favorites lose, and boot the Asian fan favorite who everybody hoped would win - Brenda.

Brandon's mood swings were kind of interesting. I did love that he made Dawn cry, if only because just about everything he said to her was right. Dawn did screw Francesca over after making an alliance with her on day one, voting Francesca off first was a pretty awful thing to do, she did lie to Brandon about what she was doing, and Dawn and Cochran probably did put themselves fifth and sixth (at best) as a result. Yes, he was probably a bit meaner than he had to be about it, but the fact of the matter is, he's not really wrong.

Meanwhile, Phillip legitimately has no idea what the hell he's doing, as thoroughly evidenced by the re-emergence of the Stealth R Us alliance. Part of me really wants to believe that Phillip is smart enough to realize that naming your alliance Stealth immediately after everybody on the entire tribe has already found out who's in it and what their position is only makes sense if you're being self-effacing, but my guess is that that man thinks irony is something you do when pressing a shirt. Admittedly, it's not quite as stupid as RI, when Phillip blatantly announced exactly who was in the alliance, and what their position was in front of literally the entire remaining cast, but it's certainly close.

Allie was my pre game favorite and she turned into this seasons Mary :(