Survivor: Kaoh Rong ***SPOILERS***

[Alex.]

Julia gone and next weeks preview looking like Tai getting backstabbed leaving me like:

 

[GhostMachine]

At this point, if Tai goes, I'm done caring. NO ONE left I'd root for to win it. I just know I want Aubry gone, and Cydney to make it to the finals. (Because no way Cydney is beating anyone left....except maybe Joe.)

[Alex.]

Cydney will win I think. Aubry is god awful, Michelle has done nothing, Joe is a waste of time and space, and Jason has made too many enemies on the jury. Tai is her biggest competition and based on that preview, not sure if I like where it is heading for Tai. 

I had a feeling Tai screwing over Scott was gonna do him in. I am beginning to think that move sealed the deal for Cydney. Will wait and see what happens, but I think at this point, its her game to lose.

[Alex.]

Tai dug himself even deeper. 

[Beeker00Zero]

I agree that Tai torpedoed any chance he had of winning with his performance at Tribal. He went from odds on favourite to he'll make it through next week thanks to his idol, but he will be lucky to get any votes from the jury now.

I disagree about Cydney, she plays very selfishly and doesn't compromise. I think she might find it hard to win votes due to the fact she turned her back on Brawn (not that I blame her) and then Tai. She does what she wants, and how she likes. She isn't overly endearing to the rest of the group.

Aubry's game is the best right now. She might not agree with anyone but she finds ways to work with them, and gauge the group mood and goes with it. If she had been 100% behind Tai, she wouldn't have heeded Cydney's desire to oust Jason. (Which was poor game play as he was beardy-gruff goat I'd have taken to the end.)

I only know Joe and Michelle exist because somehow they keep popping up now and again, despite doing nothing on the show.

[GoGo Yubari]

I think Aubry's in a borderline-Kim Spradlin position where she can genuinely beat anyone, so it doesn't matter who she goes with. Her top priority should be figuring out who'd want to go with her the least, and so leaving Jason around would probably do her no good. The only thing she probably has to worry about is Cydney and Michele trying to push her out;

I hope Tai takes lessons from this for the next time he plays. Being put in a position of power has fucked his game, probably.

[RPS]

Honestly, I don't think Tai was terrible at tribal on his own accord. I think Cydney and Michelle just drove a huge bus over him in front of the jury and wanted to make him seem unlikable. At no point did we get any scenes of him bossing anybody and the conversation we saw was abrupt because Michelle came up. My rule of thumb on Survivor is if you didn't see it and somebody just says it, it probably isn't true. I think Cyd just knows if she says something over and over again, it becomes true (especially if you are on the jury) and Michelle just wanted to shit on Tai in front of the jury because he (rightfully) wanted to get Michelle out. 

I think Tai was always in a bad position no matter what happened in the game. If he had stuck with Jason and Scot, they were already talking about betraying him to Julia and Michelle, so he is probably out at five if he had stuck with them. If Tai never betrays anyone and sticks with Scot and Jason, he is still Mr. Likeable and everyone is gunning for him. 

People thought going with Cyd, Aubry and Joe was a bad move, but I'd rather be in a 4 person alliance with blood on my hands and try to make something happen and muscle my way to the finals versus being fifth in a five person alliance where I am by far the most likable person of the five. 

[GhostMachine]

If Cydney and Joe are in the final 3, whoever the 3rd person is wins. 

And GoGo, you may be right about Aubry.....unless its Tai. I do not see her beating Tai if they're both in the final 3. 

[Alex.]

I see her beating Tai in the Final 3. But I don't think Tai will make it to the Final 3. As for Joe, I recall reading pre-season that there were 3 medevacs for this season. I also recall in the pre season trailer that Jeff came to visit the camp at night to talk to Joe. That hasn't happened yet, so perhaps there is a medevac in the finale? 

[GhostMachine]

I don't think Tai will make it to the final 3, either.

I cannot pull for Aubry to win, though. She lost me when Neal was removed from the game and she seemed to be more worried about whether or not he'd give her his idol than the fact he was being pulled from the game due to health reasons. For that reason alone, I'm glad he took the idol with him as a souvenir. 

This is shaping up to be the first season in while where the person (or a person) I liked doesn't win. I don't like Aubry or Cydney at all, Michelle is just there, Tai likely won't make it to the finale, and Joe has zero chance of winning if he's one of the final 3. Out of the final 5, I only like Tai and Michelle.

[Benjamin]

Can someone tell me if next week is the finale? If not, when is it? Does the finale comprise of the final five, four or three?

[GhostMachine]

The finale is on the 18th. The next episode is the last chance Tai has to use his idol, so we know he'll be one of the final 4. The finale is two hours, and they usually get down to the final three before picking a winner. (I believe they do go to final two occasionally, but I could be mistaken; I missed several seasons)

[GoGo Yubari]

Huh. I guess I get why they weren't super-hyping the season, even though it was really great, now.

[RPS]

I think it is hard to explain why Aubry lost on the show. Michelle had four friends on the jury - Jason, Scot, Julia and Nick. At the end of the day, it was going to take a lot to lose those votes. Survivor is about "who does the jury want to see win the money". I think Aubry (and to a much lesser extent, Tai) really got fucked when Joe was removed from the game. When he was removed, Tai and Aubry were basically in the final 4 with two people who were going to beat them. 

Really great season. The twist for the next season sounds dreadful. 

[GhostMachine]

I'm not surprised Michelle won, but she didn't deserve to. Aubry should have been the winner. 

Next season looks like its going to be crap.

 

 

[GoGo Yubari]

oh. I just saw that twist for next season. That does not sound good.

I feel for the editors this season, because I don't think you can rightly say Michele didn't deserve to win (if you got to the end and got the most votes you deserved it) but they had to be salivating at literally every other jury member except for Nick and maybe Scot's possible winner's arcs and instead it was probably the least-dynamic character of the postmerge possibilities (give or take Joe). It feels a bit like Guatemala, another season with a great supporting cast and a winner they probably didn't really want. Though unlike Guatemala I doubt they're going to basically act like Kaoh Rong never happened; if anything the editing felt like it was designed to get you ready for a lot of this cast coming back instead of on the actual winner.

[Alex.]

I think the producers hated this jury for not picking Aubry. Oh well, congrats to Michelle! I didn't watch the reunion because The Challenge was on, so what is this twist?

[RPS]

1 hour ago, GoGo Yubari said:

oh. I just saw that twist for next season. That does not sound good.

I just saw this. Oh my lord:

 

[GoGo Yubari]

He's the one who thinks Twitter is the worst thing ever invented and is also on Twitter, right? Yeah. This season is going to be rough.

[Pleatherface]

So, I'm beginning to think the seasonal lumping people together theme is getting more and more arbitrary as we go.

I'm hoping for some strong characters to come out of it at least, but truthfully the number of missionaries scares me slightly.