I really want Courtney to go soon.. just so she has to spend more time with Jean Robert..lol.

I was disappointed too, but I'd rather see Frosti go than Eric. I wish PG (I can't spell it right) hadn't won immunity, because I'd much rather see her go home than Frosti.

You and me both!! I expect she'll make it pretty far simply because she's NO THREAT AT ALL.

Yeah, there should be a rule against that kind of thing. They did the same thing with The Biggest Loser earlier this week. :rolleyes:

Random question, since I haven't actually watched Survivor since Africa - are they still doing the thing where one week they show a recap of all the episodes? I remember that being annoying because it just delayed the inevitable by a week. Also, how long have they been allowing people to sit out of challenges and eat?? I know they started first season tempting people on long wait-it-out challenges with food, but when did they start letting them opt out altogether??

I do like the fact that they now reformat the titles after the merge and get rid of people who were voted out, and separate those remaining from the jury.

Yeah, they still do that recap though it hasn't happened just yet for China. I think they do it to time the ending with Sweeps Week or whatever. The "You can drop out and eat" or "You can play and not eat, but potentially win immunity" has been around for a while...can't remember when it started.

I think Todd might finangle his way to the finish because he is a master schemer and seems to be pulling the strings without people realizing it that he's doing so.

I agree that it's looking like Todd's got a good shot to get in front of the Jury, but I'm pretty sure everyone realizes that he's the one behind everything.

^^^ I know JR realizes Todd is the one pulling the strings. He actually told Todd that if he (JR) was voted off he'd hold Todd responsible and not Amanda. I think it must be pretty obvious who's calling the shots. In which case, I'm not surprised that James hasn't offered to give one of the immunity idols back to Todd.

I'd like to see James, Eric and Denise in the final three, but I don't see it happening. In fact, just because I have crappy luck when it comes to these things, they'll probably be the next three voted out.

You would think that after 13 seasons of SURVIVOR, that people would stop making the assumption that someone who is big and brawny is a threat to win all the challenges. Many of them require an agile mind and agility in general (i.e. that walking race, while bouncing the ball on the drum).

Ozzie was pretty scrawny, but he was a good swimmer and he could hold his breath for a long time, which helped for the underwater challenges.

Yep, and usually near the end, there are more and more that require brain power (puzzles, memory games) and balance rather than physical strength.

If I remember correctly, it started with the season in Guatemala (with Stephenie & Bobby Jon).

IIRC-This week is re-cap show.

So, two weeks ago, they give us the "More business to attend to" teaser...last week they end with it...and then this week is re-cap so we don't get to see it again??? WTF? WTF?

Alright, guys, tonight we finally get to find out after THREE WEEKS what the "thing" is.


They showed a preview of Amanda possibly flipping her alliance to Peih Gee and Eric. Do you think she would really be that stupid, or maybe it's part of the plan to get them to vote for who her and Todd want them to vote for?? As it is, even if her alliance starts to fail, she can throw Todd to the lions first while she comes up with a new plan.

Who do you think is going tonight?

My guess would be PG, unless she wins immunity again. In which case, I'm afraid Eric'll be the next to go.

My guess is that the "thing" will be another vote tonight where they have no time to discuss and plot. They will vote immediately before they can return to camp.

DaffyKD

Do you think that there would not be a vote at the end of the episode then? I can't see them cutting the season an episode short...

Wow - "the powers that be" finally made a SMART move. Although I can't believe Todd put his neck on the line like that. One small comment from the penut gallery during Tribal and he would have been history. I'm just glad he said in his final words that it was his fault for rolling the dice too many times...


And I can't believe we waited THREE WEEKS to find out it was a stupid reward challenge...although it was a VERY cool reward.

As much as I like James, he deserves to go for not playing ONE of his TWO immunity idols.

Agree; he seemed to have realized that just after the first vote was counted.
Just a bit too late.

AH this show sucks............

What really sucks is that the spoilers I read weeks back are coming true. With that said, I REALLY dislike the final 3...

I don't know if I could dislike any of these guys in the final 3...

Todd & Amanda have played a stellar game. They know what Survivor is all about, and they're not afraid to do what it takes to win.

PeihGee & Erik have also played a very good game, especially with the cards they were dealt. They are still there, while 80% of their original tribe is not.

Courtney, well, she hasn't been as whiney lately (except about the cave thing) and she's put herself in a good position for people to want to take her with them to the jury. I don't think Courtney has the mental capacity to strategize, but if she did, that would have actually been a good plan. I know we've all said that no one would vote for Courtney at the end...but if it came down to her and someone like Todd who repeatedly stabbed people in the jury in the back, and lied to their face, people MIGHT vote for her. As much as it IS a game, I'm sure it's VERY hard NOT to take that kind of stuff personal.

And last, but not least, Denise. She's sort of been the "fly under the radar" person this season....but she sure shined last episode. If she'd loose the mullet, and that god-awful accent, I could actually like her. She mentioned something in the teaser about her being the "swing vote"...which means Todd/Amanda/Courtney probably want to vote off Erik/PeihGee, and if Denise goes with E/PG, they could vote for Todd, and it would be a 3/3 tie, which would go back to previous votes. This is where immunity will be important. If Erik wins immunity, and they go for PeihGee, her and Todd both have two previous votes - therefore it goes to sudden death. If PeihGee wins, then they vote for Erik. Erik has no previous votes, and a tie would get Todd kicked off. Todd needs to be VERY careful this next vote, as he's the only one in that alliance with previous votes, therefore he's the obvious choice.


So, yeah, I think they've all played pretty good games, whether accidental/lucky/great strategy was part of it or not.

ETA: I just looked at a total vote count, and I was wrong above. I thought that Erik voted for Todd, but he didn't. Also, Ashley voted for PeihGee first vote, and Frosti voted for Erik the week he was voted out, and James voted for PeihGee when he was over on ZahnHu. Therefore previous votes is Todd:1, Erik:1, PeihGee:4. Todd really needs for Erik (or, actually, just someone other than PeihGee) to win immunity.

As much as I like James, I totally understand why it was his time to go. He should've played the II... and he knows it. I always enjoy watching the clips at the end where the person voted off says their little thing. I was happy to see that James is not at all a sore loser.

So, my hope for the final three is dashed. I'd still like to see Denise or Eric make it... but given my track record, I'll be surprised if either of them do. (Maybe I should predict that Todd, Amanda and PG will make it to the end, just so they'll be the next to go.)

I'm sort of surprised that someone didn't try to pull a fast one on Todd at Tribal and make some sort of indication that James should play an idol. I think it would have had to have been Erik though, because I think PeihGee would have put a target on her back by doing it herself. Although I guess if they REALLY wanted to be dirty about it, she could have done something (stare James down and then give him a "pity" face) AFTER the vote so that Todd wouldn't have a chance to realign his votes. It would have been in Eric and PeihGee's best interest to see Todd go, rather than James, and James would be down 1 Idol.

Very cool indeed, Grasshopper!

Really, James seemed like a great person, but a strategic master he is not. He was an idiot for not playing an idol.

I'll agree about Amanda, but Todd has been a little more iffy it seems to me. Todd came in looking like he would be a strategic genius, but I can't tell if he's overconfident, overthinking too much, second-guessing too much, or what. I think he has made a few fairly major blunders.

I saw that too. I wonder why he didn't go with PG. I wonder if he'd had some conversations otherwise, or if he was already thinking about trying to align with Todd.

I thought that, too. But nobody wants to be in the final 3 with James -- he'd win. They'd have a better chance against Todd in the final 3, I think.

This has always been my biggest gripe with Survivor: The most deserving people get voted out.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate all the strategy that goes into winning. But ultimately, the people who are usually around at the end are either good strategists, poor players who won't get any votes for the money, or people who completely fly under the radar.

I'd like to see another Survivor All-Stars that's comprised of nothing but one type of player (like all Courtneys or all Johnny Fair-plays). That'd be interesting.

Yes, but that goes back to this:


No doubt that James would have won if he had made it in front of the Jury, but without Todd there, I don't know if he's got the strategical prowess to get that far himself. The immunity idols only work until final 4 or 5 (yet another reason he should have played it last night). Just speculating that if Todd did get the boot, and they then went after the ZhanHuers as planned, that would leave Amanda, Courtney, Denise, and James. The girls would be the biggest morons in Survivor history to NOT get rid of James at that point. He would have had to win every challenge from Final 5 on to stay in the game.

ETA: Even if the ZhanHuers we able to swing Denise their way, and Amanda/Courtney/James were too stupid to vote for PeihGee or Erik who have previous votes and they voted out Courtney, then Amanda (or viceversa) James is next that way too. I can't think of a single outcome where James makes it to the Final 3 without winning every challenge/playing his immunity idols.

Yeah, but even James would have realized by next tribal council that he had two immunity idols and two chances left to play them (by my count) -- no reason not to use them, especially if Todd, who he thought he was in with and who he thought was looking out for him, was gone. If James had made it past last night, he'd be in the final 4 and quite possibly in the final 3.

If Todd was gone, James would only have ONE idol. He would have used the other one last night.;):p

I am slow on a Friday morning. :o

And the Pagonging continues...

I just have one question: Denise, what were you thinking???

You should be thinking Endgame strategy. Taking Todd and Amanda is NOT Endgame strategy (even if they are "in charge", you need to start worrying about jury votes, on the chance that you DO make it that far). Voting for Erik is NOT Endgame strategy.

What Denise should have done (in my opinion - and assuming that the immunity challenges allow it to happen).... Vote for Todd. After he's gone, take PeihGee and Erik and vote for Amanda. Then, get Courtney to vote with you against PeihGee. Then, as long as Erik doesn't win the final challenge, you're sitting in front of the Jury next to Courtney. Game Over. You win. Even if you listened to PeihGee and Erik, and somehow won the last challenge, you don't really want to be sitting next to either of them at the Jury, because the Jury is full of a lot of bitter ZhanHuers.



As for the previews for next week: Amanda, what are YOU thinking?
Whoever said that Amanda/Todd/Courtney have about equal shot in front of the Jury right now, because they've all pissed about the same amount of people off, was dead on. Amanda may have SLIGHT advantage, because there were a few people who left before they saw her pulling the strings. In my opinion, Amanda taking Denise and PeihGee to the Final 3 is pretty stupid. Denise would beat Amanda, because she's just more likeable, and she didn't really piss anyone off (I think Erik realizes that she did what she thought she had to do). PeihGee has pissed people off, but still, as I said before, you're sitting in front of a Jury of bitter ZhanHuers (and JR, who I bet is pretty pissed at FeiLong as well).

She's not thinking. That's her whole problem.

Who's going home tonight??

realitynewslonline seems to think that the previews are bluffing, and PeihGee is going home.

And they were right.

But I just realized something while reading an article there...I had been under the assumption that it was still only 2 in front of the Jury (like I said previously, I hadn't watched since Africa), because that changes my opinion now that I know 3 go in front of the Jury. Well, actually, it doesn't change a whole lot, except now I think Denise has NO chance of winning. Denise v. Courtney I thought she might have won, but that's about it.

Yeah, at this point, I think the only way Denise will make it to the final three is if she wins immunity. They usually have some kind of balance/patience/pain type test for the final immunity challenge, and I can see any of the other three performing better than Denise in that type of challenge. So, I see the final three as Todd, Amanda and Courtney. Sunday should be interesting.

My preferred outcome:
Courtney doesn't make the final three.
Todd gets zero votes from the jury, Amanda gets one or two, but Denise wins it all.

My predicted outcome:
Denise doesn't make the final three.
Amanda gets zero votes from the jury, Courtney gets one or two, and Todd wins it all.

Denise continues to NOT play a smart game.. she is gone next week

Yeah - I guess I made a mistake again by not reading ALL the articles (and missing the previews for next week). From realitynewslonline:

So it does look like final two!

If Courtney can convince Denise to go with her (fat chance), since Todd's the only one with previous votes, there's a good chance those two could end up in front of the jury. Particularly if the final challenge involves being stagnant for any length of time, which Courtney's already proven she can do.

And FINALE is THIS SUNDAY!

Thing is, they usually have to be stagnant while holding up some object or bearing some weight, so that part could be the demise of Courtney.

This is the first season ever where I didn't really have a favorite that I wanted to win, but still think it will be an interesting finale show.

Part of me asks how did Courtney stay around so long.
Part of me thinks that because she did, she will somehow win.

I just saw on my onscreen guide that Survivior's going to be from 8pm-11pm tomorrow night. That's past my bedtime, I'm going to have to take a nap.;):D

Halfway through, and it does look like it's going to be final 3.

I guess that makes sense, because when it's final 2, it gives the person who wins the final challenge WAY too much power.

On a side note, does anyone else find it funny that a LUNCHLADY, WAITRESS, and FLIGHT ATTENDANT lost a challenge of balancing plates to a hiking guide??