SURVIVOR

[Jackalope]

Tai's stock just went way the fuck up.

It was funny, as the votes were being read I turned to kitty and said "wouldn't it be awesome if Tai kept the idol in his pocket?"

[pocaracas]

Alliances coming and going...
Weren't the girls wanting to vote for Tai, at some point? How did the votes swing back to Scot? maybe I missed that part...

Is it me, or Joe is still out of the loop? That guy may make it to the end, just by not being in everyone else's way!
Tai and Jason have idols.... but I don't see those ever becoming a super idol, now.... so... with Jason having been in on the sabotage, I wonder if he's on the way out, just to flush out his idol...
Or Tai... so he doesn't show up in the final, where he would have a decent shot at winning.... wasn't this the girls' original plan for this episode?

(hey, I'm a noob at this.... but I'm starting to get the names! )

[Clueless Morgan]

Alliances coming and going...
Weren't the girls wanting to vote for Tai, at some point? How did the votes swing back to Scot? maybe I missed that part...

Hmm... me too :p

Is it me, or Joe is still out of the loop? That guy may make it to the end, just by not being in everyone else's way!

He's a bump on a log for sure.  Not doing anything.  If he makes it to the end with Scot and Julia, I think he'd win, but with Aubrey or Cydney in a finals mix I think one of the girls would take it.

Tai and Jason have idols.... but I don't see those ever becoming a super idol, now.... so... with Jason having been in on the sabotage, I wonder if he's on the way out, just to flush out his idol...

I thought Scot has Jason's idol so it left the game with him...    since Jason had immunity from the challenge, he would have given his idol to Scot so he and Tai were also both protected and then could play the super idol after the vote - but Tai kept his and sacrificed Scot

Or Tai... so he doesn't show up in the final, where he would have a decent shot at winning.... wasn't this the girls' original plan for this episode?

I need to rewatch methinks...

(hey, I'm a noob at this.... but I'm starting to get the names! )

The names are the hardest part - I don't get most of them until the merge and it starts mattering

[c172]

Yeah, I'm not the greatest with names (just like in real life), so I called up the cast page (here: http://www.cbs.com/shows/survivor/cast/ ). There seems to be a guy with the last name Jason (Kyle. The guy with the weird hair. Reminds me of many college peers in Vermont), but not the first name Jason. Do my eyes keep skipping over somebody?

[Clueless Morgan]

Yeah, I'm not the greatest with names (just like in real life), so I called up the cast page (here: http://www.cbs.com/shows/survivor/cast/ ). There seems to be a guy with the last name Jason (Kyle. The guy with the weird hair. Reminds me of many college peers in Vermont), but not the first name Jason. Do my eyes keep skipping over somebody?

No, for some reason he goes by Jason on the show.

[Jackalope]

Tai pretty much had to throw Scott under the bus whether he wanted to or not.

If they played the super idol, thta meant that Tai and Aubrey would be tied and there would be a revote with only those two being eligible to be voted.

Only an idiot - or someone really really bad at Survivor - would give up an idol to save someone else while simultaneously putting themselves on the chopping block.

As it is, Tai flushed the second idol and got rid of someone who certainly was going to blindside him later.

The downside is is he has no allies left but he can rally, and he's got both the idol and an extra vote to rally around.

I like his chances a lot more than I did last week.

[Clueless Morgan]

Tai pretty much had to throw Scott under the bus whether he wanted to or not.

If they played the super idol, thta meant that Tai and Aubrey would be tied and there would be a revote with only those two being eligible to be voted.

Only an idiot - or someone really really bad at Survivor - would give up an idol to save someone else while simultaneously putting themselves on the chopping block.

As it is, Tai flushed the second idol and got rid of someone who certainly was going to blindside him later.

The downside is is he has no allies left but he can rally, and he's got both the idol and an extra vote to rally around.

I like his chances a lot more than I did last week.

I agree with your assessment of his move, but I think he's got an in with Aubrey. She wanted him as an ally and I think they'd be on relatively equal footing in terms of a finals situation if they both made it...

[pocaracas]

Is it me, or Joe is still out of the loop? That guy may make it to the end, just by not being in everyone else's way!

He's a bump on a log for sure.  Not doing anything.  If he makes it to the end with Scot and Julia, I think he'd win, but with Aubrey or Cydney in a finals mix I think one of the girls would take it.

I'm only now getting some names.... but... wasn't Scot banned?
(Oh, you mean Jason! yeah, agreed! )

I see you're thinking that Tai is not making it to the final...?

Tai and Jason have idols.... but I don't see those ever becoming a super idol, now.... so... with Jason having been in on the sabotage, I wonder if he's on the way out, just to flush out his idol...

I thought Scot has Jason's idol so it left the game with him...    since Jason had immunity from the challenge, he would have given his idol to Scot so he and Tai were also both protected and then could play the super idol after the vote - but Tai kept his and sacrificed Scot

Scot had Jason's idol? I don't remember that... that changes it...
Immunity will now be more precious to a few players!

Or Tai... so he doesn't show up in the final, where he would have a decent shot at winning.... wasn't this the girls' original plan for this episode?

I need to rewatch methinks...

LOL... rewatch?...

(hey, I'm a noob at this.... but I'm starting to get the names! )

The names are the hardest part - I don't get most of them until the merge and it starts mattering

I noticed

[pocaracas]

So...

---

Julia's out, huh?
Time to take out the nice guys, I guess....

And Tai almost regretted not playing the idol.
He should be on the chopping board, next time... because they're now thinking on the final 3, huh? Better take him out while his extra vote doesn't count too much (they don't know he has an extra vote, right? just some advantage... hmmm...).
But he's almost certain to use the idol, no?

Unless.... something very weird happens in the next few days...

Is it me, or this week's immunity challenge was a tad too difficult for most people?

---

[Clueless Morgan]

So...

---

Julia's out, huh?
Time to take out the nice guys, I guess....

---

She had been playing both sides so in the game she wasn't necessarily a "nice guy" to the other players.  She was putting herself in a position to make a commitment to an alliance at the last second, which is a valid strategy, but also makes one untrustworthy to allies.

And Tai almost regretted not playing the idol.

That was surprising to me.  Usually when they play clips of people making huge statements like "I'm not going to be voted out with an idol" that means they're.... probably going to be voted out with an idol

He should be on the chopping board, next time... because they're now thinking on the final 3, huh? Better take him out while his extra vote doesn't count too much (they don't know he has an extra vote, right? just some advantage... hmmm...).
But he's almost certain to use the idol, no?

The idol can only be played up to the final 4 vote I think, so he has two more opportunities to play it before it becomes a souvenir he gets to take home with him

As for the advantage, I would guess it has a similar expiration date, and I don't know whether other people know what the advantage is.  This season was filmed before last season, Second Chances, but after World's Apart, so for these players they've only seen one advantage in play in the game like this, and it was basically the same advantage Tai got - an extra vote.  So they might be able to guess what it is.  Don't know.

The extra vote is a really powerful thing to have in a tie situation or a split-vote situation if it's played right.

Is it me, or this week's immunity challenge was a tad too difficult for most people?

Memory challenges like that are a very typical post-merge challenge, and they've done something very close to this in past seasons (I think they did something very like this in the previous Brains-Brawn-Beauty season).  Michelle didn't seem to have trouble completing it.