This is one of those seasons I've come to terms with enjoying for the "car wreck" effect of it. I genuinely enjoy seeing the "fans" (I say that generously because I doubt a good majority of them know what Survivor is or how it's played) implode themselves. Shamar is terrible but I'm finding myself rooting for him very heavily for that reason. I don't want this man off my television anytime soon, no matter how horribly it affects everyone else's games.

The editing is very strange this time around. Usually when a player is featured prominently out of nowhere, they're the next to go. This is similar to how it is in a television show where people are killed off on a consistent basis (Walking Dead for instance you'll notice this pattern). Guess that's the main reason why I found these last two TC's in particular so surprising. It seems this time around they're content with... not featuring them at all! Oh well.

Editing last season was fantastic with just about everyone sans half of Penner's tribe and Artis getting a good amount of air time and character development. Hope it picks up here. I love Phillip but did we really need two "fluff" segments of him sharing a basketball story and his silly methods of keeping cool in the heat?

Gotta admit, I am warming up to Reynold/Eddie a bit. I usually always root against the alpha dog types so that's saying a lot. Still think he's a douchenozzle but he's a lot more tolerable than that stuipd "majority" alliance. Hope Matt & Michael are the only ones who go far out of that shit show.

Also RIP in peace Shamar ;_; Why do the people like him always have such anti-climatic demises?

LOL at that preview.

Yeah the whole "aimlessly search the jungle for the idol" bullshit is annoying. I think it takes a lot away from the game not having clues or an Exile anymore. That sort of thing should be a luxury in my opinion. The idol is the most powerful object you can possess in the game, so I think it should be truly exotic and rare.

That episode was a mess. Thought the ending was lame too with them just having a Tribal then and there. I know some of them probably felt unsafe but tough shit. Also if it was me, I would have just made the bitches do the challenge anyway after Brendan left and have a proper TC.

Disappointed that Matt left over Julia. I'm pretty sure she sealed herself as next to go by stupidly voting Dawn though. I could see Corinne giving Phil the boot and replacing him with Michael or something after she goes. Something tells me Michael will go far and probably be the last fan standing.

Preview seems to be hinting at a Malcolm/Reynold union. I bet that makes Probst moist.

Gotta love episodes where the two people who are actually up on the chopping block get a total of five minutes screen time. Golly. I like Phillip, I do. But he's comedy relief for me. There's no reason this guy should be the center of a tribe, let alone the fuggin entire show.

Can't say I'm a huge fan of the merge coming up already, think we had a few opportunities for drama on both sides before we got to that point.

Awesome episode. Sadly the blindside was a little predictable what with Sherri getting absolutely no screentime outside of someone else going "I think Sherri *dramatic music, shot of Sherri walking around the beach* should go home!" or "But if we take out Sherri *dramatic music, shot of Sherri's hair flowing in the wind*, it may fuck us over!". But still, I can't complain too much about a Corinne blindside.

Corinne sucks. I like strategical players but I hate it when they have this attitude that if you don't follow with their orders of strengthening their game, you're a selfish bastard who deserves to go home. Obviously keeping Michael helped nobody but her but anybody that didn't agree were ignorant assholes. If she actually acknowledged that she was making people sign their death warrant by keeping an ally that would protect her and only her, I probably would have respected her a bit more. But alas, it was the same story as Gabon where she acted like anyone who didn't do what the "Onion" alliance wanted was a terrible player. I always kind of wished the fake idol joke was played on her instead of Randy that season, but this may have made up for it.

Oh and I think I've decided I want Cochran to win.

The amount of fans being used by Corinne/Malcolm would have raised a giant red flag for me too. I think Erik ultimately felt like he was being used. I mean he hasn't been getting much screentime so whether or not he was in a good position in that alliance, we'll never know for sure. But if I was in his shoes, I'd feel weary.

Plus, there's a ton of big threats in the game that I think Erik can afford to play both sides a little bit. Reynold/Eddie are going to be constantly targeted until they're both gone. Phillip's always going to be on the radar. Andrea already has a wishy washy reputation even more than Erik.

God dammit.

I think One World pretty much killed any chance of having an all new cast ever again.

I dunno what's funnier... Phillip calling him "Reynolds" or it showing up in the captions like that.

Also I'll echo the Cochran confessional. The whole machismo bit during the reward was cringe worthy.

The hell was that about with Malcolm being absolutely baffled over the random Reynold vote that HE wrote?

I lol'd so hard at that Tribal though. Malcolm puffing out chest like GIVE ME THE IDOL BRO, WE ABOUT TO MAKE HISTORY and it goes absolutely nowhere.

;______;

I was puzzled that they showed Erik's vote during the voting, made me think that maybe the Three Amigo's swerved them and voted Dawn or something. I had a strange feeling Dawn would leave, this episode was foreshadowing it. Oh well. I was hoping they'd just kick Camel Joe to the curb instead of going with the plan.

I think they would have hinted that there was a new idol for the merge if that was the case. They pretty much said right away "Oh yeah, there's a new idol hidden now" as soon as Tribal was over.

I completely agree though. The Idol bullshit is killing this fucking show. And it has nothing to do with it costing people I like, but just the complete abuse of a tool that is so powerful and game changing is bullshit. I've said it before - something like the idol should be truly exotic and rare. Remember when Russell found the idol without a clue and it was considered a big deal? I think it's happened every season since then now. May as well cast a Professional Treasure Hunter next season so he can find the idol every single round, play it, and do absolutely nothing else in the game all the way to the end.

Survivor: Caramoan - "...well, we could split the votes!"

KC @ 5/5/2013 17:44

Survivor: Caramoan - "...well, we could split the votes!"

Survivor: Caramoan - "AHHHBLOOBLOOBLOOBLOOBLOOBLOO"

People are such pussies. It's only been 30 days since you've seen your goofy husband or your douchebag brother. Shaddup. I haven't seen my family in about 2 years, you shitheads.

Although I will say that was pretty fucking harsh putting that floating island literally feet away from Dawn and Brendan. Sheesh.

Knew Brenda was a goner since she got more airtime this episode than she has all season combined.

Dylan @ 8/5/2013 19:41

Preview Speculation

I'm gonna call someone quitting. Probably Dawn.

First finale I couldn't catch live, gotta love Graves. Just finished the vote reveal, haven't watched the Reunion yet. No pre-jury is really dumb though. Didn't Jerri leave the All-Stars reunion in the middle of it? So why not just do it without him and say "Hey, this guy is a fucking psychopath so he's not here. Here's a video to remind everyone what happened! Say Phillip, why not give us some incredibly zany explanation of just how nuts Brandon is!" Problem solved.

Very happy Cochran won all in all. So weird. Ian wins Big Brother and Cochran wins Survivor. Truly the year of the nerds, which is pretty awesome. Had a really, really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that Eddie was going to win.

Erik leaving the way he did was a bummer but I will say this - it's interesting how the survival element of Survivor was really underlined this season what with the complete lack of food. The whole element of "surviving" has really been diminished entirely in recent years and it feels like they hold their hand a little too much. So it was refreshing this season to see people literally dying of hunger in front of my eyes.

LIstening to the reunion in the background as I type this, Dawn is being treated like she's a motherfucking devil in disguise from Probst. Eh? That's right, if you ever find someone's teeth - they are your bitch for life. Think I'm gonna go hide my dad's dentures and then miraculously find them so I can make him pay for my trip to Orem tomorrow.