Survivor: Second Chances ***SPOILERS***

[RPS]

Huh. Cool? I think.

[GoGo Yubari]

I'm pretty excited about it, especially for this group of players. It basically seems like they're countering the preseason alliances and the general metagaming that will be going on with stuff like this.

ALSO, the initial tribe divisions have been announced:

Bayon: Stephen Fishbach, Tasha Fox, Jeremy Collins, Joe Anglim, Ciera Eastin, Kimmi Kappenberg, Kass McQuillen, Keith Nale, Monica Padilla, Andrew Savage

Takeo: Vytas Baskauskas, Spencer Bledsoe, Woo Hwang, Abi-Maria Gomes, Jeff Varner, Terry Deitz, Peih-Gee Law, Shirin Oskooi, Kelley Wentworth, Kelly Wiglesworth

[db07]

Fucking Kass....

[Alex.]

#TeamSpence

[RPS]

The first episode is teasing tension between old school and new school Survivor players on one tribe. Given that Terry and Shane are close and Shane and Vytas are close, I'm going to read between the lines and assume that probably there is some tension in the first episode between the old school players like Varner, Terry and Vytas and the new school players. That Takeo tribe looks like it may implode. So many wildcards amongst the bunch. Woo, Abi, Shirin, Wigglesworth. Maybe Terry is going to step up and fulfill the leader position?

The Bayon Tribe looks weaker on paper (Kass, Keith, Ciera), but they've got Savage/Jeremy/Tasha/Joe, so I'm predicting that they do well in challenges. It is interesting that of the four big male targets that I sort of thought existed going in - Jeremy, Joe, Spencer and Stephen - three ended up on the same tribe. Stephen, Joe, and Jeremy... and also with Tasha, who is another bigger threat. Stephen, Joe, Jeremy and Tasha or a combination of that group would be insane not to bond together and try to bring in somebody like Keith to keep themselves safe.

[GoGo Yubari]

For anyone who might still be wondering who the Shane Powers 5 consisted of, it got revealed in an official video talking about the pre-game alliances a little bit. It's not a spoiler per se because I think the show is being pretty open about the pregaming for a reason, but just in case:

 

Shane Powers, Kelly Wiglesworth, Vytas Baskauskas, Terry Deitz, and Jeff Varner. Varner also has an alliance with Spencer, Shirin, Wentworth, and Peih-Gee because this season is already hilarious.

 

Edited August 26, 2015 by GoGo Yubari

[RPS]

Yeah, after posting I saw an Entertainment Weekly that confirmed that Varner was indeed aligned with Shane. I don't think it is a spoiler to really put out there that Varner was aligned with Shane (since it's in the pre-season information being released) and it is fairly obvious that going into the season Vytas and Terry would align with Shane (and therefore Varner). Shane was talking before the season began that he and Vytas were super tight and Terry was the only one he still really spoke with after Panama.

All of these pre-game alliances are bound to be thrown for a loop, because what will be most important is social bonds. If Varner doesn't feel close with Vytas and Terry, he's going to find somebody else he does. If Shane was on the island, for sure Vytas, Terry and him would align. but he isn't. Taking Shane out of the equation and I don't know if even Vytas and Terry are close enough to really be called a 100% solid pre-game alliance.

[GhostMachine]

I hope Kass is the first or second person voted off, and that Vytas, Joe, Shirin and Keith are all still around by the merge.

[RPS]

Me and GoGo were messaging each other before the Survivors returned back and we both predicted who would win and my pick was Tasha and his was Vytas. Looking at the tribe breakdown, I have less faith in my pick now. I wonder if her and Kass will end up aligning?

[RPS]

Tonight! This is going to be a really interesting season. There doesn't seem to be any major spoilers floating around (the full boot list for every returnee season was basically known a month after they returned and it was impossible to avoid for a lot of fans), so it is going to be great to watch it. I've been enjoying the press that has come out this week, particularly Gordon Holmes interviews. I'm interested in seeing how a lot of people turn out. Tasha seems super confident in the pre-game interviews and definitely seems like she is ready to play. Varner is super fascinating, because I know the guy is going to play super hard the second he hits the beach.  I want to see how Keith does when surrounded by all of these super strategic players. And I'm really interested to see how some of the less exposed characters will do. Monica, Peih Gee, Kelley, Terry Deitz, Andrew Savage will be interesting to watch, because they've had a lot of time to grow or didn't get a chance to show their full game the first time they played and I think they'll be the ones to watch.

I'm still banking on a Tasha victory here, but I'm super interested to see if maybe Monica or Ciera comes out with a stronger game.

[GoGo Yubari]

So I'm pretty glad I backed off my Vytas pick...

I started to realize it maybe wasn't going to be a thing the moment I started reading all the pre-game interviews. Way too many people found him smarmy/shady. Varner is every bit as fun as I was hoping; love that he seems to be forming a strong two with Peih-Gee. Also oh jeez, Stephen's edit.

Edited September 24, 2015 by GoGo Yubari

[GhostMachine]

Well, I didn't get my wish of Kass being the first to get the boot, and despite what I said in my previous post, I have no problem with Vytas being gone.

Kass have moved down to #2 on my `Want Gone' list. Abi has slid up to #1, and that was even before they showed the clip from next week's episode. I'm not fond of Peih Gee or Fish, either.

 

[RPS]

Crash and burn for Vytas. Damn. 

Abi has not changed. Shirin is hilarious. Stephen is proving why he lost the first time around. Savage is the alpha male leader. Jeff Varner is on crack. 

I loved the premiere. Stand outs were Shirin mocking Vytas and Varner getting bitten on the ass. 

[RPS]

I loved Shirin, but that was a great episode. 

Abi and Varner were amazing. Terry is starting to impress me. Woo drove a fucking bus over Spencer and then took a giant shit on him. Amazing. 

[GoGo Yubari]

I just wish it had been Spencer.

To me, Abi is honestly just exhausting to even watch, but Varner weaponizing her is pretty much brilliant.

[RPS]

I love Abi. She is terrible at Survivor and certainly should have been the first boot, but she wasn't and it totally came back to bite Spencer and Shirin in the ass. That is the problem with gaming too hard out the gate. You make huge mistakes and align with the wrong people.

A lot of focus on Jeremy in the first few episodes. He made the right move out the gate by aligning with Savage. Lets see if he can survive the tribal shuffle.

[GoGo Yubari]

According to Shirin, the actual reason why it was her over Spencer is that Varner was really deadset on going after Spencer, she realized he was playing both alliances and tried to do the Christy Smith-from-Amazon "he's not with either of our alliances, let's get him out instead" move with Terry, and the end result was Varner deciding to go after her instead. Whoops.

[RPS]

Kelley played that situation right. Once you see the waves changing direction, you say "I'm 100% with you, lets do that".

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

Kelley has really impressed me so far this season. Obviously it's only been two episodes and she was pretty hampered by having her dad around last time, but she really seems like she has a good head on her shoulders. Seems like a great personality to boot.

[Alex.]

Jeff Varner has made this season already better than the previous season