SURVIVOR 35: HHH

[Whateverist]

I think you've finally figured out how Survivor works.

More like: how the show, the part we can watch on tv, is broken and providing a false view of how things are on the ground.... thus providing every season with a batch of players that aren't really understanding what they're getting themselves into.

In the same way, I have no doubt that the reading of the votes is never done from the top of the stack in the reverse order as they were cast.  But without editing it would no doubt get super dull.

[Clueless Morgan]

I think you've finally figured out how Survivor works.

More like: how the show, the part we can watch on tv, is broken and providing a false view of how things are on the ground.... thus providing every season with a batch of players that aren't really understanding what they're getting themselves into.

It's like you're just now learning that reality TV shows are edited to be as dramatic for the viewer as possible, not to give prospective players an accurate idea of what it's like to play... If they edited the show for prospective players it would show a helluva lot most laying around doing nothing and no one would still be watching the show.

More like: how the show, the part we can watch on tv, is broken and providing a false view of how things are on the ground.... thus providing every season with a batch of players that aren't really understanding what they're getting themselves into.

In the same way, I have no doubt that the reading of the votes is never done from the top of the stack in the reverse order as they were cast.  But without editing it would no doubt get super dull.

I have heard that from the time of the last vote cast to the actual time of the reading of the votes is quite a while. Presumably, they rearrange the votes for a dramatic A-B-A-B-A-A style reveal**, and they probably need to talk about how to shoot the votes to capture the appropriate reaction shots and whatnot.

** Notice that when they show someone revealing their vote in the voting booth that their vote is almost always the first one counted toward that person in the final tally because you can recognize their handwriting. For example, Ali votes for Chrissy, and Chrissy votes for Ali, both are shown to the camera prior to them being read to the tribe and the final total revealed, but in the final counting, Chrissy's vote for Ali and Ali's vote for Chrissy will respectively be the first ones revealed against the other. Sometimes it's slid to the second reveal when the tribes are larger and there are more votes to hide among. /ThoughtsOfAnAvidFan

[Clueless Morgan]

Good episode. Totally fell asleep right as tribal started and woke up right as Jessica was leaving so I'm rewatching that part right now.

Joe sounds schizo, just running his mouth. Stupid dude for revealing his idol in a moment of hotheadedness. Joe really is a Tiny Tony. The look on his face after he played it and it was revealed that the votes were between Chrissy and Jessica was great. What a moron. It really does reveal what a huge ego he has that he's so cavalier as to reveal the idol, then arrogantly play it on himself like he's always going to be the only target the opposition ever goes after.

Jessica really gets on my nerves, too, so I'm glad she's gone. In her outro she says "I experienced the biggest blindside of my life; my heart is broken. Who knew a game could crush you, I thought only guys could do that." She comes off so naive it hurts, like she's playing the victim in her own life. Over it. Glad she's gone.

Cole is a big idiot and I kind of hope he doesn't last long without Jessica there to apologize for him and right his wrongs and tell him how to behave.

Chrissy is making it just impossible for me to get in her camp. She has moments when I really like her game play and her ability to recognize situations, and then she goes off tooting her own horn, talking about how great she is and how she's running the game....

I like Lauren, Dr. Mike, and Ryan most. Ryan because he looks like he's playing the sort of game Chrissy is playing but isn't out there talking about how awesome he is, he's just getting on with it and playing. Dr. Mike is funny and seems strategic but is currently on the wrong side of numbers. He's the kind of personality, though, that seems like he could make things work out for himself if he really tries; I have high hopes for him. Lauren still reminds me of my best friend and it's hard to separate the two of them in my mind, but I also think she's playing a decent, low-key game and has made good alliances with some good players and she has found herself on the right side of numbers.

That's all I can remember to talk about.

[pocaracas]

The merge! The feast! The steaks after near-starvation!!

And.... awww.... pretty girl is out...
I knew she'd get kicked out eventually.... but didn't expect it so soon.
On the plus side, I get to see her on the bench, all cleaned up and wearing normal clothes! [/creepy mode]

LOL @Joe for playing the idol after showing it to everyone and.... not getting a single vote cast for him!

Chrissy almost went home... and I wonder when will these guys throw out the bellhop guy... he's almost as annoying as Chrissy.

And Cole made it once more... that guy is gonna get more lives than a cat!

[Whateverist]

Can't think of who Lauren is but I'll see if I can find her online.  Okay she's the hustler, fisher lady who helped get rid of Patrick.

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http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/09/25/survivor-meet-the-heroes-healers-and-hustlers-of-season-35/

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I get the impression she rubs people the wrong way some, but maybe I'm just noticing the way the younger women treat her?  I've avoided getting too invested in her, expecting her to get the gaff.  Hopefully she'll surprise me and Morgan's friend, I mean, Lauren will actually go deep?

Bell hop guy, seriously?  Ryan is so nerdy and knowledgable about the game that he could win it.  He certainly isn't someone you feel pressured to vote off because you fear he'll win every challenge.

Desi and Devon seem pretty successful but we don't see much of what is going on on the inside of those two.  As a surfer dude he could grok challenges and go far, but I doubt his social game is up to the task.  Desi won an individual immunity, the first one I think, so she can do more than look good (which she is quite good at).

Mike surprised me by staying loyal to the heelers (yeah, I know it's "healers" but apart from Mike, not a very likable group).  Fire fighter guy seems to think through stereotypes, kind of clunky.  An old fashioned, 'thank you mam' kind of guy.  Clue challenged.

Chrissy's self-infatuation really is grating, isn't it? Says on that site that she is an actuary. How that makes her a hero is beyond me. Maybe because she's a hero in her own mind?

Anyone else on anyone's radar?

[pocaracas]

Anyone else on anyone's radar?

There are clearly two parties there... and the party with Chrissy just got rid of one member of the other party and flushed out an idol.
Will Joe go on the hunt for more idols, now?
Will he build a bunker to listen in on conversations?

[Whateverist]

I'm predicting he will keep hunting but just as soon as he comes up empty, he is toast. Sooner the better.

[Clueless Morgan]

I think Desi and Mike should flip on Joe to ensure that they stay in the game.  If they flip they could ensure at least two more rounds at tribal to worm their way into cracks in the hero/hustler alliance since they could target Joe and Cole.  They could work on turning everyone against Chrissy and Ryan who at least most visibly (from the viewer's perspective) seem to be running things.  After that I think Ben is an easy target - veteran, good story, strategic in a less obvious way.

And I agree that Desi is very good at looking good.  I'd take Desi over Jessica every single day.

People who are sliding around under the radar to me right now are
- Ashley (hero girl)
- Desi
- Devon
- Lauren
- JP

Potential power players who don't know it are
- Dr Mike
- Lauren

Easiest targets
- Chrissy
- Ryan
- Ben
- Cole
- Joe

[Clueless Morgan]

o0o0o0o0o, I like Lauren's secret advantage!  I thought that was pretty good, and made tribal a little more dramatic.  As far as I understood things, if she wanted to take advantage of the secret advantage she HAD to play it and not vote at this tribal, right?  She couldn't save it and not vote at the next one - that was my reading of it anyway.  I also really loved that they showed her fake-voting and pushing the paper off the edge of the voting table

That was also a really cool way to run the reward where everyone gets to eat, but they all eat individually and away from the prying eyes of everyone else.  I really liked that the more you ate the more uncovered the clue to the idol became so that it was actually something of a disadvantage to eat first.  Cole was smart to try and cover it up, but Ryan was even smarter to get rid of the plate all together, but I can't imagine being Joe and thinking it was perfectly normal to be eating spaghetti off a towel.  I thought it was strange that Cole didn't think anyone would think it was strange to eat off a towel covering a plate.  In any case, very slick.

I also liked that finding the idol became a big scene at camp and that Ryan skated by with no repercussions from actually finding it!  And everyone assumed that Cole found it and was hiding it!  Bonkers!  I thought it was funny the way Ryan just walked away from the flag and said "Cover that up" or something to Chrissy and she did without even asking.  We never saw Chrissy confront Ryan about having it so I can only assume that she knows he found it.

Joe is still as annoying as ever.  He does look exactly like the sort of person who goes around pushing people's buttons just because he enjoys it.  It might just be me but deliberately picking fights on survivor always seems to be a risky move - you risk looking unhinged and making everyone lose trust in you.  You want other people to be fighting, you don't want to be apart of the fight yourself.  The only thing I can say is that Ben came off almost as bad as Joe in that fight except Ben seems to have allies that have an equally low opinion of Joe because they stuck with him.

I'm confused as to why on the revote they didn't get rid of Joe.  Maybe they thought Desi was a bigger threat?  I don't know, I would have gotten rid of Joe for the annoyance factor alone - it just puts the cherry on top that he's sneaky and strategic and hustling more than the hustlers right now.

Overall, fun episode.  Didn't fall asleep once.

[Whateverist]

o0o0o0o0o, I like Lauren's secret advantage!  I thought that was pretty good, and made tribal a little more dramatic.  As far as I understood things, if she wanted to take advantage of the secret advantage she HAD to play it and not vote at this tribal, right?  She couldn't save it and not vote at the next one - that was my reading of it anyway.  I also really loved that they showed her fake-voting and pushing the paper off the edge of the voting table

Yep.  Always nice to get a new twist in this ever evolving game.  

That was also a really cool way to run the reward where everyone gets to eat, but they all eat individually and away from the prying eyes of everyone else.  I really liked that the more you ate the more uncovered the clue to the idol became so that it was actually something of a disadvantage to eat first.  Cole was smart to try and cover it up, but Ryan was even smarter to get rid of the plate all together, but I can't imagine being Joe and thinking it was perfectly normal to be eating spaghetti off a towel.  I thought it was strange that Cole didn't think anyone would think it was strange to eat off a towel covering a plate.  In any case, very slick.

I also liked that finding the idol became a big scene at camp and that Ryan skated by with no repercussions from actually finding it!  And everyone assumed that Cole found it and was hiding it!  Bonkers!  I thought it was funny the way Ryan just walked away from the flag and said "Cover that up" or something to Chrissy and she did without even asking.  We never saw Chrissy confront Ryan about having it so I can only assume that she knows he found it.

The biggest take away from all this was just how clueless Cole really is.  He probably won't make it to the end unless the others who go that far with a real chance to win choose to take him to improve their chances.

Joe is still as annoying as ever.  He does look exactly like the sort of person who goes around pushing people's buttons just because he enjoys it.  It might just be me but deliberately picking fights on survivor always seems to be a risky move - you risk looking unhinged and making everyone lose trust in you.  You want other people to be fighting, you don't want to be apart of the fight yourself.  The only thing I can say is that Ben came off almost as bad as Joe in that fight except Ben seems to have allies that have an equally low opinion of Joe because they stuck with him.

I'm not sure that Ben came off as bad as Joe, but he is starting to look as clueless as Cole.  Unlike Cole, I doubt if he'd be someone those with a real chance of winning would want to bring a long.  He doesn't seem particularly likely to win many challenges.  Strategically he doesn't look very far down the road and that makes him pretty easily manipulated.

I'm confused as to why on the revote they didn't get rid of Joe.  Maybe they thought Desi was a bigger threat?  I don't know, I would have gotten rid of Joe for the annoyance factor alone - it just puts the cherry on top that he's sneaky and strategic and hustling more than the hustlers right now.

I was very surprised that Joe wasn't voted off in the revote too.  On the other hand, Desi has proven herself to be a bigger threat to win a challenge while pissing fewer people off.  So I can see if from that angle.

Overall, fun episode.  Didn't fall asleep once.

Yep.  I will be interesting to see who moves to throw the other under the bus first between Ryan and Chrissy.  Lauren could win but I am not sure she is in the same strategic class as those two.  

Looking forward to next week.