Survivor Nicaragua
 

Here we go! It starts September 15.

I think the young vs. old theme is lame.

Anyways, an amputee med student on Survivor. Wow.

Didn't one of the seasons unofficially sort itself into older vs. younger tribes anyway?

Who knows. But This will be interesting because the more seasoned survivors are always the more fun to watch then the young sluts. Oh btw, any Greeks in the group? XD

Jimmy Johnson, former coach of the Dallas Cowboys, is on Team Geezer.

I think a number have done it informally, but I thought there was one season where it was done intentionally. Maybe not.

Well, they didn't go overboard that way. One of the young 'uns -- Ben Henry (the "club promoter") -- was Holly Montag's boyfriend a year or two ago. Another -- Jud Bizra -- is an Abercrombie model.

Meanwhile, Chase Rice played football at UNC and has an album at iTunes.

I haven't watched Survivor since about season 5, but I will absolutely make this season a no-miss due to the presence of Jimmy Johnson.

First, I would love to see what he has to say about people, the situation and the game in general. He is always full of opinions and typically can be quite funny.

In addition, I just want to see him with his hair messed up.

Looking forward to this season and hoping that his fame doesn't due him in too early. Sometimes those contestants think that if you "don't need" the money that you shouldn't be playing. I wholeheartedly disagree and hope that he gets a fair shot.

Wow, already? Crazy. But cool. Thanks for the heads up, MC. Love the Nicaragua locale... The non-island seasons tend to be some of the more interesting to me. Not sure whether they'll be on the mainland or off the coast, but still makes me happy.

Ditto to previous comments about seing less 22 year old bartenders, actors, models, etc... Bored, bored, bored. Real people please! A few is fine but don't overdo it.

To Peppy's question, they did do age-based tribes in Survivor Panama. They had four tribes there- older men, younger men, older women, younger women.

Bumping for tonight's episode! :D

I KNOW they picked a former Dolphins cheerleader on purpose. Now, if they can both get far enough to do something about it...


Not sure that I'm liking the "Medallion of Power" thing (seems kind of hokey - especially CALLING it the Medallion of Power)...we'll see how it plays out. I wonder if that will carry over to individual challenges??

The name is almost as hokey as it looks. On the other hand, I love the look of the immunity idol and the tribal council set.

Meanwhile: LOL @ "Fabio." Brenda seems to be playing the part of Parvati this season. Chase seems to be falling for it. Shannon, who listed his pet peeve at CBS.com as "dumb people" and who described himself as "Russell but prettier" needs to watch the ego; somehow I doubt he will. And "Sash" needs to drop that nickname.

Some people need to learn not to talk so much at tribal council. Yes, Wendy I'm talking to you, but you're not the only one.

Holly sounds like Sarah Palin. (And I could so see Francis McDormand playing Wendy.)

Question: Do we believe that JJ is sincere in saying that he's only there for the adventure and that he's willing to do whatever the "team" needs? He seems like he's honest enough, but I really am not familiar with him as a coach/public persona.

No, he's not sincere. He said as much last night -- in the intro speeches, he said he'd already won two Superbowls and winning Survivor would top off his career. Besides, he's above all a competitor. Not playing to win isn't in the DNA of a successful coach.

He's telling them what he thinks will reassure them.

:( I missed it. I missed the fact that it is on Wednesday's now too. I hope it's on the DVR.

Thank goodness for On Demand. I am caught up now.

While I hate the Medallion of Power name, I like the idea. It's an interesting added twist to the game which requires them to really think.. do we go for the easy win this time but risk giving them the easy win the next time?

I must admit, there is more eye candy for the women this year than usual. Much more.

Bump.

Don't forget that Survivor moved to Wednesday! Any early speculations? I think Los Abuelos (the old farts) will wise up and use their advantage this week.

Thanks for the reminder. I'd forgotten again already! Ugh, I don't like watching TV on Wednesdays. Wednesdays is why I had to stop watching Lost. :(

So, I want to strangle the entire young person team. STOP.BEING.STUPID. I hope getting rid of Shannon pulls them together, because if not, Espada's got an easy time ahead of them.

I had a thought last night: I wonder if part of the producer's purpose in the Medallion is to prevent what's been happening the past few seasons, where one team completely dominates challenges. This way, they're almost guaranteed to send people home evenly from each team, and you're not going to get a team that gets down to 2 or 3 vs. 8 or 9 on the other.

Quite possible.

I'll admit, I was really glad to see Shannon voted off. What an arrogant moron. I had a sense he wouldn't make it as far as he thought he would, but I didn't see him out this quickly. Brenda was smart to try and save herself by getting him out, but he sealed the deal for himself.

I think I'm seeing Jud/Fabio go further than I thought he would. Sure, he's a surfer dude, but he seems to be making it work for him. He's willing to let everyone think he's dumb (maybe he really is) -- “I don’t care what my nickname is. I’m going to win the million dollars. So I guess my name’s Fabio.” Is that the "Million Dollar Quote"? (Almost every season, there is a quote tucked into the first or second episode that foreshadows the winner.) He seems to have an attitude of get-along to go-along. Other than NaOnka, people seem to like him. (And her dislike of him seems to be making her look foolish to everyone else.) Most importantly, others don't seem to see him as a threat; I think they probably see him as someone easily used. If he's smarter than he appears, he can make that work for him.

One thing I've started paying attention to is the editors' use of animals with regard to certain castaways. (I didn't notice this on my own; writers at Reality News Online have been talking about it, but I've started really paying attention and thinking about what the animals might mean.) Sometimes, these associations just highlight what's going on at the moment; other times they are more significant foreshadowing. For example, Brenda was associated editing-wise with a snake quite a few times last night, especially when the plotting was going on. The snake reappared as the team went to Tribal Council -- a hint that Brenda would be the one to survive?

In both episodes now, Jud has been associated with a monkey. That seems to fit -- monkeys are playful and kind of goofy. They stay up in the trees (think Jeff's comments at Tribal Council). But they can also be smarter and more tenacious than they appear at first glance. (And they can see what's going on around them from the trees.) They don't seem threatening in the same was as, say, a snake. They have a way of outwitting, or at least frustrating the plans of, those who are supposed to be smarter (i.e., humans). Maybe I'm way off, but I'm keeping an eye on him.

Good points! (Didn't really mean to quote the whole thing...oh well - takes too long to fix on the phone)

Ahh.... NaOkna...why must every season have "that woman" who picks fights with people, takes offense to everything, and sees slights where OBVIOUSLY none were meant. In fact, SHE started it with Jud when she stole his socks, then flipped out on him. WTF? Oh, and just :rolleyes: at the idea of taking minorities to the finals as your alliance.

I have wondered the same thing. Tiresome, isn't it?

Meanwhile, some of the insider clips are worth watching. Shannon's The-Day-After is more of the same, with him saying he had nothing to lose by laying it all out there at TC. (Except Benry's and maybe Kelly B's votes, which would have forced a tie. Benry specifically says when he votes that Shannon's behavior at TC changed his mind.) He says most of the La Flors are children that he felt like he was babysitting.

He also says he'd never eaten rice or seafood before. Seriously? He's from Lafayette, Louisiana and he's never eaten rice or seafood in 30 years?! (Make that 41. :rolleyes:)

Jud/Fabio has an insider from before the challenge where he talks about how people are acting like they're in high school and about how sometimes you just have to bite your tongue so that you don't say something that might turn people against you. Like I said -- maybe smarter than he seems.

I can't see that tribe being any more unified just because Shannon is gone. After that Tribal Council? You have NaOkna with her attitude, the couple people who wanted Brenda out... they are a hot mess. It's hard to win challenges when there is so much in-fighting.

It's a slow day, giving me way to much time to think about Survivor.

It'll be hard to get to unity, no doubt. The previews make it look like NaOnka continues to endear people to her.

But I'm not sure the two who voted for Brenda will be in that bad of a spot at this point. You had Jud, who says "I don't know if this is still the plan." Like I mentioned, he hasn't really made enemies except NaOnka, and even she said he's not a threat -- she just doesn't like him.

Then you have Alina, who strikes me as being somewhat in the same vein as Jud -- at least tries to get along and not make enemies. She doesn't seem to have given anyone any reason not to trust her or to be threatened by her. She has at least some connection to Kelly B, Benry and Jud. (And she, along with Kelly B, has the clue to the hidden immunity idol.) I see both Alina and Jud trying to leave the vote for Brenda at Tribal Council -- they can easily tell people they voted with Shannon because they told him they would, but that they're glad he's gone.

The editors/producers may well be misleading us in the preview (they probably are), but I won't be surprised if the La Flor fault line moves to between NaOnka and the rest of the tribe. That probably depends on how badly Brenda (mainly) and Sash want to keep her around.

I don't really see Brenda as being in much trouble right now. I think Shannon "I've been married since y'all were in diapers" was really the one to target het, because he saw her as a threat to his Bromance with Chase. I also don't think Brenda's set at all about keeping Nay (saw them call her that - better than the ghetto aspiration that her name is) around. Especially since it seems like Nay's about as strategicly sound as a colander that's gone through a wood chipper.

Did anyone else notice that Jud is actually listed in the opening credits as Fabio? It's really w dumb nickname...ok, so he has longish hair...so what? I do wish one of the Kellys would go by something different. I can keep the Jimmys straight, but I couldn't tell you which Kelly had the prosthetic.

That's Kelly B. She's a brunette. The other (Kelly S) is blonde and is the one they were calling "Purple Kelly" (or "Kelly Purple").

I work with a girl who's friend dated Shannon for a while. Guess he is divorced. She says he is an a**. Always has to have last work etc. The way he acted last night was exactly how he is in real life.

Not according to his interview on Reality News Online. He's pretty clear there that he's still married.

The a** part (and the cluelessness) comes through loud and clear, though.

well, don't know about that. If she is the same age as the girl I work with don't think she would have dated him before marriage as he did say he had ben married for 11 years and she would not be old enough. Maybe seperated at one time???? Don't know and the truth is this was just teachers lounge convo, so didn't get to many details.

Bump.

Wednesday reminder....



You know, I really think I liked Survivor better on Thursday - it wasn't competing with ANTM (although maybe that's a good thing, since I'm not watching this season, and I don't feel like I'm missing anything), and it made me look forward to Thursday because of Survivor. And then when Survivor was over, it was almost Friday.:D

I liked it on Thursday for this reason. I don't mind it on Wednesday (except that I'd rather have Big Bang back on Monday).

According to Jeff Propst's blog, the ratings for the first episode were higher this year than last year.

Do you have ondemand? I know for me most CBS and NBC shows are available the next day so if there something on all 3 I catch one on ondemand.

I don't like it on Wednesday. I don't like watching TV on Wednesday. Yes, I can watch it on On Demand on Thursday, but people always talk about it the next day, at work, on the radio, etc. so I hear stuff on Thursday morning whether I've watched it or not. Wednesday is a busy night at my house. :(

"don't think I'm gonna be nice to you because you got one leg." c/o NaOnka

Is Naonka nice to anyone, for any reason? I'm not seeing it. And yes, I'm familar with the whole "I'm not here to be nice" philosophy.

Has anyone like that ever won? Actually, has any one of "those women" even made it to the merge? Clearly, it's not a sound strategy, so I have no idea why people do it. If you don't get along well with others, you should not apply to be on a TV show where you will be trapped with others 24/7.

And, according to the previews, it gets WORSE next week.:rolleyes::eek:

And obviously re: Medallion of Power causing the tribes to go out more evenly...that doesn't take into account one team that doesn't NEED the Medallion to clean up at challenges. I kinda forgot to factor that in. I sort of figured people would have decided it was a good idea to use it whenever you have it. Which, leads me to another question...

Barring the fact that they did actually win the challenge, who thinks they did the right thing (strategically) by NOT using the Medallion? If you were them and more physical challenges kept coming up, would you continue to not use it, and wait for a challenge that relies more on luck/brain power where the teams would be more evenly matched?

She seems to be nice to Brenda and Sash. That's it, I think.

I think it was a risky but smart strategic move for La Flor. And yes, I think I'd lean toward holding on to it for the less physical challenges.

I'm with AlphaFrog - I'd much rather Survivor be on Thursdays instead of Wednesdays simply because Survivor, for the past 10 years, has served as a prelude to the weekend.

I was sad to see Coach JJ go home. I never expected him to win, but I would rather see him progress than Marty.

La Flor needs to say nay to Nay. She's got to go.

Here's the Survivor-Is-on-Wednesdays-Now reminder.

I wish I thought Fool (to paraphrase her: "my name's not NoOnka, it's fool") was going home tonight, but I don't think she is -- partially because I think la Flor will win immunity again. I get the sense we're in for a few weeks of Hurricane Fool.

You were right. However, they made it seem like we'd be getting half an episode with nothing but her tirades, but we didn't hardly see any of her - NOT THAT I'M COMPLAINING. And once again, she's the feature on the previews.

I like how Espada was trying to say that the Medallion of Power was the reason they lost - even though they were WAAAAY more than two items behind. I wonder if La Flor was practicing the way Espada was, because they seemed to have a system in place as well (and their members actually LISTENED to Brenda).

By the way, I remember in the episode that they were talking about the Minorities alliance, that Nay and Sash called Brenda "Asian". Her profile says she won a Hispanic Beauty pageant, but her last name is Lowe. This all confuses me. I'm thinking that she's half Hispanic, half caucasian (dad, obviously by the name), because I don't think she's married. Not that this has anything to do with anything.

Next week: Drop your buffs...apparently the pecking order has become to obvious. That's usually when the team switches occur. It kind of defeats the whole theme of the season, though, if you mix them up. So, the question here is: Do we believe that it's an actual team swap, or are the producers bluffing?

:D And you'll have to take my word for this, but about 5 minutes into last night's episode, I thought "If I'm right and Espada loses again, I bet they mix the tribes up."

I know. I laughed. Meanwhile, I think Marty may be the one having delusions of grandeur. I just don't get the sense from him that he's as savvy as he thinks he is. I know he talks too much and shows his hand too much.

Well, from what I said above, I think thet are mixing the tribes up some, though it could be a bluff. As I thought about it, it seems like often when they have had what I think of as these "gimmick" tribal make-ups (older/younger, men/women, but not Heroes/Villains) they don't let it go too far into the season before they mix things up. We'll see I guess.