Agreed^

Not to mention they have been hammering Aras' downfall down our throats for 5 episodes straight. Tonight's "blindside" was about as suspenseful as to whether Kim was winning One World

I AM STILL SO UPSET LET ME DIE IN A HOLE

Yeah I agree. Setting the groundwork a few episodes in advanced is obviously good sometimes, but in this instance I think it would've been wayyy better if they never even showed a hint of Tyson wanting Aras gone until tonight. Would've made this blindside infinitely better. It wasn't surprising in the least bit. It was established that if Aras' tribe lost that he would be the one to leave, so this comes to no surprise at all

The first merge vote excites me every season, but this one was lacking for me. The past few seasons' merge votes were actually pretty good IMO. This one had a ton of dynamics that were all mentioned at TC and could've gone so many different ways, but they only gave us two options which were Laura or Aras. It's so much more fun when there's mass confusion and scrambling before TC. I think I remember Philippines nailing that

BUT, maybe that material just wasn't there. Maybe people never seriously considered and talkeda bout other options for the vote

Curtis @ 6/11/2013 21:30

Yeah I agree. Setting the groundwork a few episodes in advanced is obviously good sometimes, but in this instance I think it would've been wayyy better if they never even showed a hint of Tyson wanting Aras gone until tonight. Would've made this blindside infinitely better. It wasn't surprising in the least bit. It was established that if Aras' tribe lost that he would be the one to leave, so this comes to no surprise at all The first merge vote excites me every season, but this one was lacking for me. The past few seasons' merge votes were actually pretty good IMO. This one had a ton of dynamics that were all mentioned at TC and could've gone so many different ways, but they only gave us two options which were Laura or Aras. It's so much more fun when there's mass confusion and scrambling before TC. I think I remember Philippines nailing that BUT, maybe that material just wasn't there. Maybe people never seriously considered and talkeda bout other options for the vote

The thing is though, the swapped tribes alliance really did come to fruition with the concept of taking down Aras/Vytas. The Ciera/Gervase/Tyson/Caleb/Hayden alliance was really ultimately surrounded by the decision and idea, it would have been left rather unexplained without it. Though I do agree, it would have been a lot more suspenseful.

Even going into tonight's TC they made it clear Aras was going. Laura wasn't even an option because the people Aras believed were voting with him were the ones orchestrating his elimination. If Gervase's "IDK what's going to happen!" was their best decoy confessional they either had no material or didn't spend enough time misleading.

It looked like Tyson found the idol earlier and that scene was re shot. Aras vote was super anti climatic.

I was super hoping Redemption was done when L.M. came back.

I am also enjoying how annoyed Cierra looks with his mom. Her facial expressions had the look of the teenage daughter whose mom showed up to the homecoming dance. It was great.

I actually thought the episode was good last night. I know it may have been pretty predictable what was going to happen, but the fact that it happened still made it good IMO. Aras and Vytas had no idea and their mislead confidence was pretty entertaining. I liked that CBS made it a point to show both of them basically bragging that they had the game in the bag, only to have Aras be totally blindsided the same episode.

I agree about the whole idol thing. Honestly, its getting to a point where the whole concept of the idol is just so stupid anymore. I love the effect that is has on the game, but its not even taking any skill for someone to get it anymore. They need to mix it up somehow and not just make it "oh here's one clue now its obvious where the idol is." I don't know, maybe instead of having to find the idol, people earn it by doing things? Something needs to be changed.

I also can't stand redemption island anymore. I love that Laura M came back because Laura B and John are just so boring, but I don't like how much of each episode redemption island takes up. For example, we will never have reward challenges in seasons with RI. And I personally love reward challenges because some of them are really fun, like the auction for example. And we'll never get to see them go on a big yacht for a reward or have a picnic by a waterfall or anything like that. I personally enjoy that part of the show and it will never happen with RI taking up 15-20 minutes of each episode.

Curtis @ 6/11/2013 19:44

HII hunt scenes are laughably bad now. Why do they even bother showing it anymore (: Person heads off into the jungle to look for the HII, epic jungle trek music starts playing, the person digs around the roots of a tree aaaaand......THEY FOUND IT !!! VICTORIOUS MUSIC PLAYS! HiddenImmunityIdol hashtag appears on screen and the person says they're not gonna tell anyone yada yada They gotta change things up with that somehow. How great would it be if the audience was never told who found the idol? If they showed multiple people going out to find it before a TC, but not revealing who got it, if anyone. TC would be far more intense and it would keep us guessing. That'd be way better IMO

I agree with this so much. I loved in Guatemala when Gary found the idol and they didn't show it, only to have him pull it out at TC and shock all of the folks who were planning on voting him off that night.

If I ever get on the show and find the idol, I'll just pocket the thing and give absolutely no confessionals about it.

I liked the idols in Gabon or Micronesia where Ozzy had to like swim halfway across the ocean just to get a clue and led all over the place just to find out it was pretty close to where they started. Or in Fiji when the idols were hidden in the actual camp making it really hard for anyone to get it without a diversion. They did it in Philippines as well and I think it made it interesting.

Also, I agree with Sam. I think without the initial explanation or thought of the alliance and where it came from, this vote would have left us all very dumbfounded. Surprised, yes, but I don't think in the way we'd want because we would have no idea why so many people voted the way they did. I thought it was good.

But the real suspense for me was after he was voted out. I was sitting there like "please no. please no." Jeff Probst: "YOU WILL HAVE A CHANCE TO GET BACK IN THE GAME!!!" NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I like RI and what it brings, but after merge, if you're out, you suck. Sorry, beat it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcHIIyqSr5E

not BVW relevant but it's Survivor relevant

Oh gawd

reading the stuff people post in here, hurts my soul.

We're all terribly sorry Henry

oh you better be! srsly though...season TWENTY NINE?...come on guys.....ugh whatever ;D

I love Gervase but it was pretty funny he blew it again on the grubs.