Survivor: Cook Island

[foleyfanforever88 0]

I'm watching.

[naiwf 0]

This season is not at all interesting. I predicted that the Asians would quickly align with the Whites (even though it would have been in their best interest to go the other way), that the Blacks would suck at the challenges (based on the fact that they had 3 women and a fat guy on their team of 5), and that the Latinos would implode just based on my own experiences in dealing with cliques of each racial group represented.

 

Of course, I didn't think the Latinos would be down to 2 people left with 15 on the island after seeing the first episode, but I also didn't think I'd hate everyone left playing this season either. Aside from Yul, Cao Boi & Ozzy no one even seems like the type of person who should be on the show, and it looks like alliances made on day 6 or so will carry at least 6 weak people to the final 10. Bleh.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Yul, Cao Boi and Ozzy are the only three I give a shit about at this point.

[foleyfanforever88 0]

Yul is definitely my favorite. Cao Boi is..interesting. I like watching Jessica, she seems so out of it..we call her the burn out.

[starvenger 0]

Cao Boi's gone, and unless they've got some serious physical challenges like Thursday's show, I'm gonna lose interest real quick.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

I'm on the fence right now. I wanna keep watching once the merge happens to see the Ozzy vs Yul vs Blond-haired white guy feud kick into high gear as I see those three emerging as the biggest threats. But now that Cao Boi is gone it sucks.

[nl5xsk1 0]

The "Race Warz!" concept which Survivor thought would boost ratings because the controversy has instead crippled the season due to bland, boring competitors and competitions.

 

Last night finally started to pick up the season for me, as people seem to finally be playing the game. The gamesmanship & debates around eliminating Jonathan or Ozzy was the first time all season I've seen people really play the game, at least the way it's historically been played.

 

And to continue my tradition of rooting for someone purely for aesthetic reasons, go Candace.

[starvenger 0]

The "Race Warz!" concept which Survivor thought would boost ratings because the controversy has instead crippled the season due to bland, boring competitors and competitions.

 

Last night finally started to pick up the season for me, as people seem to finally be playing the game. The gamesmanship & debates around eliminating Jonathan or Ozzy was the first time all season I've seen people really play the game, at least the way it's historically been played.

 

And to continue my tradition of rooting for someone purely for aesthetic reasons, go Candace.

The thing is, this is generally the point where it's mostly the "players" that are left, but the bloating of the competitors to 20 gave us 4 more people that weren't really into it. The final 12 look to be gamers, and it should be interesting to see who goes next. On Raro, I think that only Parvati and Nate are safe, and on Aitu, I think that only Ozzy and Jonathan are in danger.

[starvenger 0]

OK, all I can say is either Jonathan's next to go or he's in the Final 2. No in between.

[naiwf 0]

Nate, Jenny and Rebecca (?) are fucking idiots. That is all.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

AWESOME.

 

Instead of being put up against each other Ozzy and Yul are forced into forming the greatest superteam in Survivor history. Coming back from the 2-0 deficit and then proceeding to whoop the other teams ass was fuckin sweet.

[foleyfanforever88 0]

AWESOME.

 

Instead of being put up against each other Ozzy and Yul are forced into forming the greatest superteam in Survivor history. Coming back from the 2-0 deficit and then proceeding to whoop the other teams ass was fuckin sweet.

 

I loved it too. Go Yul.

[nl5xsk1 0]

So, I finally saw last week's episode over the weekend, and have a few quick thoughts:

 

Why would Candace & Jonathan switch teams so late in the game? Candace especially, since she was - in my opinion - a front-runner to win it all. She's now a newbie on one team and an enemy of the other. Her relationship with that one white guy will help her, as will the fact that there is a strong caucasian alliance ... but she went from a very advantageous position to being on a relative hot-seat.

 

And Jonathan might as well made a sign that said, "vote me out soon!" with a move like that. Speaking of stupid moves that basically asked to be voted out, wtf was Brad thinking? He had the chance to ride out the last few vote-offs (e.g. the guaranteed elimination of Jonathan and the potential for either Candace going or the other tribe losing the next IC) and then trying to reunite with Yul, a player with lots of power.

 

Unless I'm missing it, this season has had the worst "alliance" builders ever. Normally by now there is one dominant alliance that has the final 4 (or so) wrapped up. This year is still pretty wide-open.

 

Well, I guess those thoughts weren't that quick.

[starvenger 0]

Unless I'm missing it, this season has had the worst "alliance" builders ever. Normally by now there is one dominant alliance that has the final 4 (or so) wrapped up. This year is still pretty wide-open.

I think you're right in that regard. There are a few alliances of two (Yul-Becky, Candice-Adam, Parvati might have one) but no dominating alliance. Which is good, because this season really hasn't been that great, and the lack of a super-alliance allows for more volatility, which is sorely needed.

[starvenger 0]

RE: the twist

 

Daaaaaaaaaaaamn. That was rather contrived, but like I said, volatility is good.

[nl5xsk1 0]

Is there any chance that there was actually two bottles in Probts's pockets, and if Aitu had won, he'd have given them the one that didn't say "vote out another member"? I just can't see the producers stacking the deck so much, against the two surviving tribe members, by having them get outnumbered by such a huge margin.

 

Having said that, pretty good episode. Watching Yul & Ozzy dominate in the competitions makes me further scratch my head over Candice & Jonathan's decisions to jump ship. Why go to the weaker tribe? Candice, obviously, just wanted to be with her boyfriend ... but still, is having an island hook-up more important than potentially winning a million dollars?

 

And the fact that Raro is now 4 caucasians and 1 "other" makes me laugh. The fact that 4 of the final 9 all came from the original white alliance is hilarious. When there's a merge, though, will Nate stick with Raro or will he allign against them?

[foleyfanforever88 0]

Is there any chance that there was actually two bottles in Probts's pockets, and if Aitu had won, he'd have given them the one that didn't say "vote out another member"? I just can't see the producers stacking the deck so much, against the two surviving tribe members, by having them get outnumbered by such a huge margin.

 

Having said that, pretty good episode. Watching Yul & Ozzy dominate in the competitions makes me further scratch my head over Candice & Jonathan's decisions to jump ship. Why go to the weaker tribe? Candice, obviously, just wanted to be with her boyfriend ... but still, is having an island hook-up more important than potentially winning a million dollars?

 

And the fact that Raro is now 4 caucasians and 1 "other" makes me laugh. The fact that 4 of the final 9 all came from the original white alliance is hilarious. When there's a merge, though, will Nate stick with Raro or will he allign against them?

 

I think Aitu would have had the same message in the bottle had they gone to TC. It's not like we haven't seen a huge outnumbering before..Palau got down to 2 vs. 8. This was a good episode. I love the Yul/Ozzy alliance..I hated Ozzy the first few episodes for throwing the challenge to get rid of Billy but then I realized it was a good move..and I've liked Yul since day 1. I loved seeing Candace get sent to Exile Island two weeks in a row as payback for her mutiny. I really don't like Jonathan and I thought for sure he'd be the second to go but I'm certainly ok with Jenny going instead. Two useless women gone in one week? Nice. I too noticed the Raro tribe being four whites and Nate and I thought it was funny. If the merge comes next episode, which I assume it will, we may see Nate switch over to the Aitu alliance in fear of an all-white alliance. If the final four are all white though...wow that's gonna be hilarious. If I could pick my final four, it would be Yul, Ozzy, Nate, and Parvati..coincidentally one from each race.

[naiwf 0]

If Nate doesn't realize by now that Adam and Parvati have both been playing him for weeks, he never will. Yul, Ozzy, Sundra and Becky will be dying to vote Candice out of the game ASAP though, so even if Nate goes next, life won't be easy for the white people getting past the cut at 8. At best Candice has to build a fire against someone else, at worst she goes home on a 5-3 vote and then the Pagonging begins.

[starvenger 0]

If Nate doesn't realize by now that Adam and Parvati have both been playing him for weeks, he never will. Yul, Ozzy, Sundra and Becky will be dying to vote Candice out of the game ASAP though, so even if Nate goes next, life won't be easy for the white people getting past the cut at 8. At best Candice has to build a fire against someone else, at worst she goes home on a 5-3 vote and then the Pagonging begins.

From the previews, it seems like Yul and Ozzy have a plan. It's probably nothing more than "Yul wins Immunity, gives Ozzy either the Idol or Necklace, one Raro gets screwed". Of course, "brilliant" plans have a way of blowing up in your face.

[foleyfanforever88 0]

If Nate doesn't realize by now that Adam and Parvati have both been playing him for weeks, he never will. Yul, Ozzy, Sundra and Becky will be dying to vote Candice out of the game ASAP though, so even if Nate goes next, life won't be easy for the white people getting past the cut at 8. At best Candice has to build a fire against someone else, at worst she goes home on a 5-3 vote and then the Pagonging begins.

From the previews, it seems like Yul and Ozzy have a plan. It's probably nothing more than "Yul wins Immunity, gives Ozzy either the Idol or Necklace, one Raro gets screwed". Of course, "brilliant" plans have a way of blowing up in your face.

 

like...Plan Voodoo?

[starvenger 0]

Exactly.

[naiwf 0]

The problem with that is that Cao Boi didn't realize he would have outed Yul, so Yul had to squash the plan and vote him out. At this point Yul has nothing to lose by trusting Ozzy since they need each other, and Yul should realize that Jonathan is scum. They also have to expect that the white person alliance is not going to implode, so if they can break one of them off the rest will follow.

[starvenger 0]

I really should plug this more, but Bob Mason from Survivor: Panama - Exile Island has been writing weekly columns for Inside Pulse and you may or may not agree with the guy, but it's always an entertaining read in my mind.

 

The latest column is right here, and it's a long one.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Poor Nate. He was a good guy and solid player but the fact that he (nor any other members of his tribe) considered the ramifications of Yul holding the immunity idol showed that they were not nearly as ready for the merger as Yul, Becky, Ozzy and Sundra. It was simple math, really. Jonathan, Candance, Adam and Yul were the only people to spend time on Exile Island and none of them ever thought that Yul could've found it. Morons.

 

Jonathan is fucked. Ozzy, Sundra, Yul or Becky would love to take him to the final two because it's a guaranteed win and he'd be stupid to turn down a chance at a million dollars but he knows in his heart that there's no way he can win it.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Jonathan appears to realize he is playing for second place right now, and he went with his best chance of getting there.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

I felt bad for Nate but the way I look at it is that if Ozzy was the one with the immunity idol and had went to Nate with the same proposition Nate would've flipped in a heartbeat.

[starvenger 0]

Fact is, Nate should've flipped, but he had too much faith in his alliance despite having been left in the dark by them twice before. Now Jonathan figures to be $100K richer when all this is done.

[naiwf 0]

Nate's stupidity got him exactly what he deserved. His fate was sealed the minute Adam convinced him, with little effort mind you, to vote out Brad. Then Adam convinced him to vote out Rebecca, and by the time Nate tried to do something smart for his own benefit (ie: vote Jonathan during part 2 of the double vote), the white alliance put the boots to Jenny and he had no hope left. It still boggles my mind how Brad, Jenny, Nate AND Rebecca all let Candice and Jonathan flip tribes and send them home one at a time with no resistance.

 

I nominate that quartet as the dumbest foursome to ever play Survivor. Had they just gotten Jonathan first, like anyone with half a brain would have done, it would have been Adam, Candice, Jonathan and Parvati on the jury instead of them. This season has been one huge blunder after another.

[nl5xsk1 0]

This season has been one huge blunder after another.

Truer words have never been spoken, naiwf. This season has been a never-ending string of WTF? moments.

 

Really, do any of the remaining survivors really think that they're going to win with the way that they're playing? Only Ozzy really deserves to win at this point ... Yul, I think, played himself out of the money last night.

 

While it was ass-backwards and childish for the YWT (young white trio) to try to blackmail Yul to vote out Jonathan in order to get their vote at the Final 2, voting Jonathan out then really did make the most sense for Yul & company. They would still have the numbers, and could just vote Adam - the only real competitoin among the YWT - off next Tribal Council.

 

Instead, Yul now has to deal with the fact that he's pissed off 3 members of the jury ... and you just know that they're going to convince Nate to vote like they do, regardless of how childish their reasoning is.

 

Speaking of Nate: I really get the impression that he thought that he'd win, or at least stay in the game, based on his personality alone ... and his personality sucked ass. The guy did NOTHING to earn the right to stay in the game, even though he had the perfect opportunity to join with Yul/Ozzy before Jonathan did.

 

And back to Yul for a minute: Why tell everyone that he has the Idol? Why be so honest with the people he's about to vote off? No matter how little he likes Jonathan, or how much he feels he can predict what he's going to do, it makes NO SENSE to tell Candice, Parvati & the meathead that!

[foleyfanforever88 0]

Yul was an idiot to show everyone the idol. If he wanted to tell everybody that he had it, fine. Let them choose to believe him or not. But you don't physically show the idol until you have to use it. That's stupid. Yul gained nothing from keeping Jonathan instead of Candace. The "YWT" said straight out, "we're fine if you vote us out one by one, as long as you take out Jonathan first." Yet they still voted Candace. I would have much rather seen Jonathan go, as I can't stand him, and see Candace go back to Exile one more time before leaving next week or the week after.

 

On a side note, even though I can't stand Jonathan, I loved how he played the auction. Jacked up Parvati's price for the bath and ended up with a hotdog, beer, and pizza for himself.

 

And after last night, my money's on Becky to win it.