Survivor - Blood vs. Water (SPOILERS)

[The Quasi Juice]

I'm sure it is.....right? So glad Rupert's gone and Candice is semi-bearable in this role.

Gervase made up for his shitty performance last week. Vytas and Aras continue to rule their tribes as predicted. Colton continues to be a crybaby.

You guys think Tyson will take Rachel's spot? I remember Tyson telling Rob C that he would have loved it if one of his seasons had Redemption Island 'cause he'd smoke the competition, clean up, and then get back into the game later. It would be a bold move if he took Rachel's spot and just whooped everyone's asses like a boss. However, the preview makes me think he's going to say No and then threatens the other tribe that he could easily beat all of them. Tyson has a good thing going right now, swapping with Rachel wouldn't do his game good. I mean what's stopping the veterans to vote out Rachel the next time then?

[EddieG]

Colton is making me not want to watch anymore, just like he did first time around.

[The Quasi Juice]

I have a feeling he'll be gone next episode anyway.

[RPS]

Snooze. Boring episode. There is foreshadowing of the boys crumbling apart on the family members tribe. John and Brad have proved themselves inept and Caleb / Vytas / Hayden are clearly not going to want to keep the liabilities around. The returning tribe sucks ... the pre-show alliance is boring. Aras, Gervase and Tina came into the game with an alliance and they are sticking true to it and they've brought along Monica and Tyson. Colton sucks, but at the very least he's trying to give us something. This is a strange season where the more entertaining players aren't the returning players. The returning players are actually quite boring.

[GoGo Yubari]

You guys think Tyson will take Rachel's spot?

I do not think Tyson would do a selfless, altruistic thing if it inconvenienced him basically ever.

[RPS]

Yeah, Tyson realizes his chances of winning the show are infinitely better than Rachel. He'd be dumb to take himself out. The problem with the swapping on Redemption Island twist:

1) the loved one voted out clearly was incapable of succeeding in the game, whereas the other pair is more capable of playing the game - therefore it'd be dumb for you to switch places with somebody who is likely a worse player.

2) if you are stupid enough to voluntarily go to RI, you probably aren't smart enough to win the game in the first place.

3) it makes more sense to do what John was stating - targeting weaker players who you know your loved one can beat in Duels- rather than sacrificing yourself, especially when you are in a power position in the game. You have far more control in a power position on your tribe to influence who your partner will duel than to assume your tribe will work with your loved one and not send them to Redemption Island after you leave.

4) you (potentially) sour every alliance you had on your tribe by removing yourself from the tribe.

5) Even if you are a smart player who could potentially win, you'd totally crap on your jury votes by doing something so dumb by electing to go to RI. Ozzy was hyped up as somebody who could potentially win South Pacific because Redemption Island, but I think that he'd have a tough time selling himself to the jury considering he openly allowed himself to be voted out and because he never had to make any strategic moves on RI. You put yourself into a horrible spot where you are always in danger of leaving the game while also removing yourself from the strategic part of the game, a part of the game that is very important. You are basically hoping the jury will applaud the fact that you did well in a handful of challenges and didn't have to make a single strategic move while there.

[GoGo Yubari]

I think Ozzy could have won an Ozzy/Coach/Albert final three but if he did it would have likely been a 5/4 win. If Sophie or Rick were there it'd probably be tougher.

The nice thing for Ozzy in that situation would have been that the Savaii block except Cochran would have almost certainly voted for him, and Brandon would have probably voted for whoever wasn't in the core Coach alliance if there were one present.

[RPS]

Agreed. I find the whole Redemption Island twist so useless, because I just find it hard to believe that any player who was removed from the game could come back and win. Obviously Ozzy did, but that was a best case scenario for him where he was a returning player so people looked up to him, he managed to last a long time on Redemption Island and the people he returned to face were unlikable. In almost every other situation, the fact you got voted out twice (and one time it was your choice!) would sink your game completely.

[GoGo Yubari]

Yeah, Redemption Island is a poor twist mostly designed to keep fan favorites on the show for at least one episode longer than they might have otherwise. I guess what happened in All-Stars and HvV affected the producers' line of thinking.

I actually think the "play in your place" thing would have worked great in a season where one of the tribes weren't 100% returning players. Instead, only a total gloryhog like Rupert would do something like that.

[GoGo Yubari]

I wonder whose spot Colton took. What an embarrassment.

[The Quasi Juice]

Maybe a Hantz duo? Russell and his brother? There were rumors Sandra was going to be on this season but that wouldn't make sense considering Colton/Caleb is a male duo.

Anyway, fuck Colton. Someone asked Rob C a week ago if he thought Colton quit the first time and he said no, because Colton was in a very good position to go far, he was running the show so why would he give up? Well, turns out he did quit, what a dick. I loved Jeff's harsh treatment of Colton and I love how calm Caleb dealt with the situation. Dude has a good chance of getting very far.

Brad's entertaining, I'll give him that. I'm not sure if voting out John already is the best move though. Ciera was PATHETIC in the challenge, she deserves to go. Now you still have the two worst girls in the game on your tribe and you let a great competitor go. The only benefit of this move is that now he needs to compete against Candice, only one of them can go on but imagine John coming back at the merge and Brad's alliance is in the minority, John's actually in a decent spot all of a sudden. Voting John out because of the idol is lame too, they could have used the idol to their advantage, now Brad vaguely knows one clue. I have to admit John didn't play this smart though, he should have shared the clue with his alliance and NEVER walk away from your five person alliance while they are talking strategy.

Who does John give the clue to when he wins? I think Aras, or perhaps Rupert's wife. Will be interesting to see.

Edited October 3, 2013 by The Quasi Juice

[RPS]

I watched until Colton quit and turned it off. The incident, Redemption Island, Jeff Probst huge speech... it's so irritating. I think I'm done with this season. To me, it's reached a point where it's hate-watching as opposed to me actually enjoying it. The show has just slipped considerably recently and I think the uber twists, the poor casting choices, Jeff Probst in general have just killed my interest in the show. I don't think it's any coincidence that in recent years we've had these outrageous incidents early on in the season. Casting sucks these days and the twists are terrible.

[GoGo Yubari]

Well, fuck, that was actually good.

[The Quasi Juice]

Shit, did not expect that. Well played Caleb. I somewhat understand why Brad thought voting out Caleb was a good idea but they had a solid thing going with those 4 guys and Caleb has no allegiance to anyone so you can trust the guy. Stupid move and way too obvious.

Brad, Candace and John on redemption island should be fun.

[The Quasi Juice]

Troyzan was Colton's alternate.

Jerri was asked too but she couldn't make it happen.

[million$$man]

For what it's worth, Brad Culpepper leveraged his celebrity in Tampa into a successful ambulance chasing lawyer business. Yes. Brad Culpepper is a practicing attorney. Let that sink in.

Edited October 11, 2013 by million$$man

[GoGo Yubari]

Troyzan was Colton's alternate.

Oh. Nevermind. I'm glad Colton played.

Jerri instead of Laura Morrett would have been cool with me.

[RPS]

Caught up because my friend told me the season was turning out to be pretty decent.

*The moves are harder to analyze this season as to whether they are bad or good because of the loved one twist. A lot of people said Caleb's move to take out Brad was the wrong one because Brad would be a merge target and it would make Vytas and Hayden distrust him. I actually think taking out Brad was a good move for Caleb because he set himself up as the swing vote on his tribe, took out a player who was gunning for him and he took out somebody who has an intense relationship with somebody on the other tribe. Caleb's game is a lot different than the other players left standing - he's much better in a tight alliance of 3 with Ciera and Katie than he is in a loose alliance of 4 with the guys because merge time, he may now be in an alliance of 5 + whoever Katie and Ciera's loved ones are aligned with.

*Laura B sucks. Monica too. Get them off my screen. She's clearly an idiot if she's lived with Brad for how long and is totally unaware of what an obnoxious person he is.;

*I still stand by my opinion that the four people who can win the game at this point at Tyson, Tina, Vytas, and Caleb. Tina's been playing great so far and definitely showing why she won before - cool, calm and calculated. Tyson's desire to take out Aras is wise - Vytas is still around and if they come together, they could be powerful and Aras has proven he can win the game before. And Caleb is smart too. I think the flack around his move wasn't warranted. It was the right time to pull the move off. Brad showed his cards and it was really Caleb's last chance to vote Brad off as a sure thing.

[GoGo Yubari]

I was so disappointed when Brad didn't let Monica take his spot. I would have much sooner seen him try to find a spot in the veteran tribe than Monica's bullshit. Laura B. might stick around longer than I'd like too because she's so completely clueless and ineffective.

I'm looking forward to the merge because I think the way all the alliances will probably shift around will be interesting.

[RPS]

I think trying to map out who's in the best or worst position is so futile this season. In normal seasons, it's much easier to look at moves and think about how they are impacted. This time around it's completely different. I've got a suspicion that those sitting with allies post-merge might team up and take down the pairs. For as stupid as Brad C is, with the loved one twist, it's actually a really smart move to knock somebody off who doesn't have a loved one. He should have rallied harder to get Caleb out.