Going Down in Flames

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Well, this episode was quite interesting as well. It might be interesting to see where this might go in the future. The Villains did not take their camp with them this time, but they did have a merge. I think they might have had time to get their stuff later, if they could get it, but anyway… I went into this episode thinking that I would know what would happen. I thought for sure that Russell would be able to somehow convince the Heroes that he was on their side and be ready to start attacking Parvati’s “girl’s alliance” starting with Sandra, who was with Courtney. Actually, by the way, I think that the Villains just went to the Heroes tribe and they went to the challenge later. That was when they decided on the name of “Yin Yang,” which could be disagreed upon to a degree. Anyway, on with the one-sided discussion, it probably shouldn’t have the “di-” prefix, but anyway… I was a bit surprised about how easily they bought into it, trust is a good thing, but not to that degree, especially with someone who hasn’t been the most trustworthy before, especially in Survivor. Well, J.T. thought that Russell did try and use the hidden immunity idol against Parvati, but she had a hidden immunity idol herself, which got rid of both of the hidden immunity idols. Well, Russell had one and Parvati also kept one for herself, but kept it secret from Russell, in case she would ever have to use it. J.T. was right in that they both had Hidden Immunity Idols, but neither of them had used them, yet. The challenge was interesting in that multiple people gave up the challenge near the end. Parvati gave it up when Danielle reminded Parvati that she had the hidden immunity idol, I know that could have been a bit ambiguous, but I’m hoping you remember what you read a few words previously. So, the Heroes weren’t sure if they could trust Russell, so they would vote for one person and say that they were voting for another, but it wouldn’t be Russell, if they could trust him. It would have been better when the numbers were more even, but yeah. Russell gave his idol to Parvati because he didn’t know about her idol that she had kept secret from him. The Heroes had decided to try and vote out Jerri because she was the least likely to have an idol, but Parvati, in a shocking move gave idols to both Sandra and Jerri, who were previously were on the outside of the tribe. This ended up sending J.T. to the jury. Russell didn’t like this because he was angry about losing the feeling of control. Is Parvati forming a girl’s alliance or not? I have no idea!

Survivor History

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This post is titled “Survivor History” because J.T. felt that he was making Survivor History when he made an unprecedented move. He had a hidden immunity idol but was going to give it to Russell so that he would join them when they had a merge. However, things did not go as planned. Most, if not all, of the Heroes tribe believed that Parvati was running the tribe with a girl’s alliance, what she did last time. Because Russell was the only guy left, J. T. expected him to go next. So, instead of keeping his hidden immunity idol for himself, he decided to give it away to Russell. His reasoning is that Russell would be an invaluable team member and Parvati’s alliance would be easier to take down because it would be 6 to 4 rather than 5 to 5. In addition, Russell’s “seed” would also be helpful. This is a great plan and would work. However, things over on the other camp were different than the Heroes thought. Russell was not on the outside, like most people thought. He wasn’t “in with the girls” like at least one of the Heroes worried, he and Parvati were leading the tribe. After Russell overthrew Rob, most of the people who were voted out were guys, which aroused the Heroes’ suspicions. In fact, the only reason Coach was voted out was because Russell was convinced that Coach would try and vote him out. This ended up being good for him because it strengthened the grounds of the illusion. It was funny what Russell did when he heard what was going on. All of a sudden Colby told Russell that J.T. had something for him and he should get it when the challenge was over. He told Russell what they thought was going on and he played along with it, saying that it was a girl’s alliance and that he was the next on the chopping block. The Villains lost that challenge and J.T. gave the idol to Russell. When they got back, Russell opened it up and showed the note to Parvati and read it out aloud to Parvati. He said as well that “You do not give a villain a Hidden Immunity Idol, especially not Russell Hantz. Courtney was voted out this time, which will further increase the deception of the Heroes, they will think that Russell used the idol and voted her out. By the way, it looks like the merge is next episode.

Expectations

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Well, Rob was voted out last time and we were wondering what would happen to the Villains tribe as a result, well, I was, anyway. My answer came, the merge should be coming soon, but they will flounder until then. I think they will have it during the next episode, if it comes at all because they are divided into Heroes and Villains. The Villains, thinking that there was a merge coming, brought their camp with them because they weren’t sure which camp they would be living in if there was a merge. So, they brought it and, as stated earlier, there was no merge, so they had to set their camp up again when they got back. On top of it, they lost the challenge, with Coach being the only one that scored any points. Now, both of the tribes seem to be acting a bit more like might have been expected, to try and defeat the Villains, all of the Heroes have banded together, to a degree at least, while the Villains are fighting among themselves. Rob was able to hold the tribe together temporarily, but it’s fallen apart. Anyway, something that seems to be really interesting was with Russell. Courtney and Sandra felt like they were the next targets in the game, so they tried to divert it to someone else. That someone was Coach. Sandra was convinced that if she told Russell that Coach said that he wanted to vote him out, Russell would forget all about voting for Sandra or Courtney and tell everyone that they needed to vote for Coach. I didn’t think that their idea would work, but apparently I was wrong, and it does make a lot of sense that it would work. But, anyway, Russell became hyper-focused on voting out Coach. Danielle and Parvati didn’t seem as eager and were somewhat confused and possibly irritated about the sudden change, but went along with it, I think. Anyway, Coach ended up being voted out and is the first member of the jury. I am not sure about whether this means there will be no merge and they will just go against each other until all of one tribe is eliminated or not, I doubt this, but it always could happen.

I'm not a Good Villain

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Sorry to not say this in my last post, but James was eventually voted out unanimously, or unanimous in Survivor terms, because you can’t vote for yourself. Anyway, this episode held another surprise. The Heroes finally won another challenge. In fact, they won both the reward and the immunity challenge. Colby got in gear and was able to dominate the challenges. I think he was the one who scored all of the baskets in the reward challenge. Actually, he couldn’t have, but I think he made 2 of the baskets. They were also able to win the immunity challenge even though there was a puzzle at the end. The Heroes actually seemed to be blazing through the puzzle this time. The Villains were delayed slightly because of when Courtney had to make a recovery and when they got to the puzzle, it seemed like Rob, who was normally good with puzzles, was struggling with his. He seemed really rattled and might have given up when the Heroes were down to a few pieces. The reason why he would be rattled would be kind of obvious, Russell’s plan had worked and he knew that he was the next target. When the Villains were back they were originally thinking about getting rid of Courtney because she would (or had) snapped (like a twig), or something along those lines. In the end, though, only one person voted for Courtney, Coach. He did this because he was caught between promises and voted for Courtney; by the way I’m not as sure how Courtney got on the Villains tribe, but anyway.... Russell was also trying to get someone else in the alliance besides Coach. That person was Jerri. Russell was able to get Jerri do join his side, but Coach did not join, even though he might next time. Coach said that Russell was taking advantage of Jerri’s “Naïveté” and would not join his side. But, regardless, Rob was voted out. This could go in multiple directions, now that there is not as much squabble, the Villains might do better or Rob’s absence might drive them into the dust. Then, we don’t know whether the Heroes will stay energetic or not and whether they will beat the Villains again or not. However, if a merge happens, that will be a different story, but I would guess that the different alliances will stay away, if the smaller ones don’t band together.

Banana Etiquette

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Well, there was a big upset on the Villains tribe vote this year, but the Heroes still did not win against the Villains. The only reason that the Villains went to tribal council was that tonight, both members had to vote someone out. In the challenge the Heroes and Villains each competed against their own numbers for individual immunity, then the winners competed in a more complex challenge to win the reward for the rest of the tribe. The reward was getting to eat food while watching the other tribe’s Tribal Council. There wasn’t as much going on for Heroes because Colby specifically said that he’s not going to “scramble” and neither is James, so they’ll just let them decide who to vote for without any influence. As you could guess, the vote was between Colby and James. Colby had become apathetic while James had a leg injury and he was apparently “a drain on resources” because he eats a bunch of bananas. Apparently, whenever he wants to take a banana, he is supposed to ask everyone else if they want one as well. This is a little ridiculous and James brought it up during Tribal Council while the Villains were listening in and they laughed as a result. By the way, only one person said this, not a group of people and James was the one who was eventually voted out. Anyway, while there was no scrambling with the Heroes, there was scrambling for the villains. Russell wanted to vote out Rob, and would have had the chance to vote him out, had Rob not won the challenge. But he did, so they decided to try and vote out Tyson instead. Rob had some clever planning and did try and split up the vote between Russell and Parvati, so one would go home regardless. But, when this happened, Russell was able to use it against them. Russell convinced people, Tyson, at least, to vote for Parvati, so Russell would only have two votes for himself. Then, it looked like he was going to play the idol for himself, but he handed it to Parvati and got Tyson voted out. I can’t comment about what I think will happen next because I already know what will happen next…

Knights of the Round Table

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Well, this episode was very interesting. Once again, the Villains won a puzzle challenge, despite the lead the Heroes had, and, once again, someone from the Heroes tribe was sent home, Tom. Well, while this does show that the Heroes aren’t as good at puzzles, there is definitely a reason for this. There are two potential reasons for this that I can think of, and I think it may be a combination of these. The first: The individual members of the Heroes are bad at puzzles. This could be true, but I don’t think this is true because some definitely seem to know what they are doing. The other idea is that they are bad at working together. Whenever the Villains do puzzles, Rob takes the central role and starts telling everyone where to put the pieces. This has helped to maintain their win. The Heroes tribe is divided into two groups of alliances and no one steps up as the leader in these challenges. As we know with the Articles of Confederation, if a country has too weak of a central government, it can not function. The Heroes have troubles winning these challenges because they don’t have a leader, so people keep getting voted off. The more they lose challenges, the further they will be pushed apart, preventing them from finding a leader, creating a vicious cycle. Now, according to this theory, Rob is what keeps the Villains united and winning challenges. Well, Russell is on the outside of the tribe because he found the hidden immunity idol. It’s likely that he’ll be voted out next time to eliminate this. Now, something could turn this around. Russell is planning on voting out Rob because he feels that Rob is a threat. In addition, he already has Parvati on his side and he recently recruited Coach as well. Now, because they have the idol, it is likely that they will split the vote if they try and take Russell out, probably between him and Parvati. If they give more votes toward one of them and the person who got more votes uses the idol, Rob will be voted out. If it is split, they will go into a tie no matter what, and one of the people with a split vote on Russell’s side will be voted out, if the person with more votes in the split doesn’t get the idol, they are voted out. It would be pretty risky for them to do it now, but it could be a good idea. If they do this, though, it could cripple the Villains tribe according to my theory.

Previously on Survivor...

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Okay, Survivor has started up again, this time they are back to Samoa with Heroes vs. Villains. One team is made up of people who played with integrity, the Heroes, and the schemers, the Villains. Most people weren’t surprised if they were on the Heroes tribe, but some were surprised that they were on the Villains tribe, Coach and Parvati to be specific. However, as a whole, the beginning of the season did not go as might have been expected, the Heroes are losing. Most of the challenges they lost are puzzles, the heroes don’t seem to do very well on puzzles, they do better in physical challenges, yet the Villains often win these challenges too. One thing that seems to drive this is that the Heroes don’t have a “leader” while the Villains do. Rob, or Boston Rob as everyone seems to call him, always takes the lead position when doing the puzzle and shows where every piece should go, the Heroes argue about where they think a piece should go, which cuts down on time. This seems to mean that the Heroes don’t work as well together as the Villains do, which could kill them in later challenges. However, since they work better alone, this could mean that the remaining Heroes could be trouble after the merge. Up to this point, 3 Heroes and 1 Villain have been voted out: Sugar, Randy, Stephanie, and Cirie, in that order, I’m pretty sure. Because the Villains have not been to Tribal Council as often, they have not needed to scheme and have stayed mostly unified. Russell was the only one who went for the hidden immunity idol, while in the Heroes tribe, everyone was searching for it. Now, the Heroes tribe has been going to Tribal Council more, so they are trying to think more about strategy. Because of this, two distinct groups have formed, with one floater, J.T. He personally decided to play more strategically this time and flip between alliances, so you never know where his vote will seem to go. While his voting is erratic, people want to keep him because the two groups are similarly matched, with one dwindling. If the dwindling group could get J.T. on their side, it could change the balance of power, and if the larger group gets J.T. on their side, they could remove the potential threat more easily. This seems to be why they don’t just get rid of J.T. In the end, it seems that the Heroes are playing more like villains. As for the Villains, there haven’t been as many issues, so it’s harder to tell.

Survivor Finale (I forgot the name)

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Now, after much procrastination, it is time to write about the Survivor Finale. The first reason is that we went on a trip and had to wait until the 29th to watch it, second, I am having problems thinking of ideas in the first place, which I, unfortunately, seem to be alone in, and, third, I procrastinated. So, I won’t remember everything, but I’ll try my best with what I do remember.

First off, in case you forgot, the finale begun with Brett, Jaison, Mick, Natalie, and Russell, in alphabetical order, of course. The first thing that I remember was a puzzle challenge, the 5 survivors were supposed to run to one end, run back, then assemble a puzzle, it seemed a lot like one of the Foa Foa was going to win, but Brett, once again, came out from the middle of nowhere and won the challenge, which meant one of the Foa Foa Four was finally going, of course, Russell mad the decision as to who it was. He told Mick that they should vote of Jaison and told Jaison that they should vote off Mick. At Tribal Council they both talked about voting in ways that would save them and get the other voted out. Eventually, they voted out Jaison because Mick had a better chance of beating Brett.

Before the next challenge, Russell did something surprising; he made a promise to Brett that he wouldn’t vote him out if something happened, and it did happen. However, what is not surprising is how Russell dealt with it. Apparently, a promise isn’t as binding to Russell as it is to others, like his promise to John, he broke it. Actually, it could just have something to do with them being Galu because he kept his promise to Natalie by keeping her in the game for this long. Anyway, the final challenge was the obligatory endurance challenge. Russell won that challenge and, as expected, voted out Brett. I was kind of glad that Brett was voted out because this way, it’s harder to guess which way the vote would go.

On the final day, Russell was so confident that he was going to win. He was just being lazy, sitting around, and saying that if Mick/Natalie does well enough s/he could get 2nd place. Russell’s hubris shows itself again. On a side note, people kept on calling Dave “Dave Ball,” no offense to Dave, but we thought it was a nickname, partially because no one really uses last names in Survivor, but anyway… Russell’s main argument was that he played the game well, and the other two didn’t really play it. However, someone, I think Dave, brought up that Natalie’s strategy worked just as well as Russell’s. Two funny things happened with the questions. First, Shambo said that she described Mick’s playing style as “feckless.” I looked it up, but I forgot what it meant, so sorry. The other was Brett asking Mick about a “Bro Day,” he started off by calling it a date between guys, but said it was just friendly, but the way it came off, and Mick doesn’t really know Brett that much…

Finally, the votes were counted, Russell was so keen on winning, and when he didn’t, while everybody was talking, we could see him on camera skulking. There are three more things to say. First, apparently Jaison found out about his socks, so Russell brought a pair of socks and asked Jaison if he wanted them and then threw them in the fire. They then took a commercial break, probably to fish the socks out. Second, Russell is apparently only like this in the game. However, his reputation will precede him for those he doesn’t know, he may have more problems getting trust. Third, there is the 20th season coming up on February 22nd called Heroes and Villains. You’ll get to see this 3rd term.

Two Brains are Better than One

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You may be getting tired of my Survivor posts, but luckily for you, the season is almost over, when that happens I will start focusing a bit more on other topics, other ones which I repeat so much you will get tired of them, but regardless, this is the last episode before the finale. Unfortunately, I will not be watching the finale this week, so the post won't come up until after break, so don't tell me who wins or who gets voted out or the various intricacies of the episode, I don't want it SPOILED!

Anyway, this episode was interesting. The unthinkable happened, one of the Foa Foa 4 became friends with Brett, it's Natalie. The friendship started when Brett quoted Ecclesiastes 3:16-19 (I remember random things, okay?) They discovered they had similar interests and a bond began to form. Anyway, this bond became apparent to the rest of Foa Foa when Natalie picked Brett first as a teammate for a reward challenge. The challenge was to remove ropes from the net holding up coconuts without causing any coconuts to fall. Originally, Natalie's team went through and only 4 coconuts fell, while Russell's team hit about 50 coconuts, half the amount they needed to lose. All of a sudden, however Natalie accidentally caused about 40 coconuts to fall. Eventually, Russell's team won the reward that usually comes near the end, a visit to a settlement in the area, this was fortunate for Shambo because she wanted this part of the reward the whole time, and for Jaison, who had never won reward before.

Natalie, Brett, and Mick didn't win the reward, so they decided to do something else, make their own reward. All six people had a day of relaxation that day and were ready to pick it up again the next day.

When Russell got back, as expected, he questioned Natalie about Brett, she said that they were friends, but she was still loyal to the alliance. I believe her now, but in a day or two, that could change...

The challenge was interesting, they were supposed to memorize how many of each kind of things were in each group, but it was different for each group, I'm assuming it was the order because they were all looking at the same thing, they had to memorize this while Jeff was goading them and talking about how this would alter what would happen at Tribal Council. Brett won, again, but it didn't seem like he would, he was going very slowly at first, but then picked it up and eventually won.

After the challenge, Russell's snakelike nature was revealed, when Shambo asked if they were going for her, he said no, they were going for Mick, and when he was talking to Mick, he started talking about how Shambo was irritating and her breath was bad, it was odd. He said that he was undecided, but he eventually went with Shambo, who was voted out.

I can't say much else, except that I'm not sure I care who wins anymore, as long as it's not Russell.

Damage Control

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This episode was different than I expected, there were two tribal councils in this one, no reward challenges and two immunity challenges. It seems like a lot of things have gone by in Survivor so far, and I'll be looking forward to seeing who wins. I think that it may reach the point where Russell wins. If he does, I will not be as sad as I thought I would have at the beginning, I still don't like Russell that much, but I do think he has a nice strategy, it seems to have worked so far. However, if he's not careful, he could get voted out soon.

Anyway, I don't remember much about the immunity challenge, but I do remember that it was a bowling tournament, and Jaison won it, so he got immunity.

I had forgotten quite a few of the details so I refreshed my memory in order to tell everything that needed to be told. Apparently, when Shambo questioned Russell when John was voted out, and he told her that John was going after her and that this time they would vote out Dave. John was never going after Shambo, but Monica was considering it at this Tribal Council, but they eventually decided to vote out Dave.

Normally, when people come back for the jury, there is a visible difference. They are able to have a change in clothes, are able to wash up, and are able to get a haircut if they want to. However, a negative change in hairstyle can change all this...

Anyway, on with the post.

I don't really remember the immunity challenge, because it wasn't very memorable. I just know that they had troubles getting the bags in the boxes.

Now, at this point there is little competition from the three remaining Galu members, Shambo is effectively a Foa Foa, so the only votes would be for Brett or Monica, if they don't vote for Foa Foa. Monica's the biggr threat, so they're going to try to vote her out. Monica, however, won't go out without a fight.

She said something that could really bring Russell down, his income. Russell said that the reason he played this game was to show people how easy it was to win it. Now, if he wins, he says that that will prove his point. If they find out that he makes more money than the prize money annually, it might decrease the amount of jury votes for him. In addition, she became crazed and said a bunch of things that may affect votes and possibly changed some votes. Russell got his way and Monica was voted out.

Some thing about this that could work against Russell is that Monica will now have access to the rest of the jury a lot more than he will. She could tell them then, because she didn't tall them in tribal council.

Amazing how this has played out, Foa Foa came into the merge with only 4 people and they don't get anyone voted out until the final episode, unless they have the jury vote at final 4, they have to have a Foa Foa on the jury. The only Galu that are left are someone who sided with the Foa Foa and someone who didn't stir up much trouble.

I do know one thing, Brett is probably going next. With a jury almost entirely composed of Galu, and Brett not doing much to help the Foa Foa or anger the Galu, so most of the Galu would probably vote for him.

Off with their Heads

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I know this post is almost two weeks late, but I choose to blame this on having a hard week and the modem failing. In addition, this post won't be the best because I was working on an extra credit assignment and only got parts of it, but I did watch Tribal Council.

By the way, a correction from last time. My memory failed me and I thought Dave was voted out, it was actually Eric.

Anyway, one thing I do know is that they had a usual challenge, the auction. I don't remember much of what was done, but I do know that Jaison bid all of his money on a benefit in the immunity challenge. Everyone else spent their money on food, if there was anything else of importance. Eventually, Jaison won the challenge, thanks to his advantage.

The main events that I do know about were the events leading up to tribal. I know that they decided to cook the chickens that Galu had a while ago, which made Shambo sad, and when Dave critiqued her cooking, it made hr angry, so she wanted to vote him out next. Russell said that they would, but as you'll find out, that did not happen the way Shambo planned. One other thing I didn't see, I heard that Shambo claimed that she had a dream about Tribal Council. She said everyone voted out Dave. She thought it was clairvoyance and that was another reason she talked to Russell.

In addition, another plan was unfolding, Russell made a promise to John that if he voted for Laura, then they would vote out an old Foa Foa member. However, Russell did not want an old Foa Foa member to be votead d out. This problem would be easily alleviated by eliminating the only one who agreed, John. In addition, John found out that Russell had the hidden immunity idol, so he had to go. It was easy for Russell to guarantee votes from the old Foa Foa tribe. If you thought it was hard to get Galu votes, you would be wrong. Russell was not only able to use the fact that John voted out Laura against him, he was also able to use something that happened in the auction against him. When John won something, he had the option to give up his food for 4 other people to have that food, not including himself. John declined, he said that he hoped that the others would understand, apparently they didn't.

So, everybody was voting for John, except for Shambo, who still didn't know and voted for Dave, and John, who voted for Mick. Shambo seemed awfully smug, thinking that Dave was going home and thought it would be no surprise to anyone that he was. She was surprised when this ended up not being true.

So, this brings an end to this post, I'll try and do better on the final episode.

Survivor Posts are back up

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It is time once again for me to start blogging about Survivor. In this post, I will talk about the three episodes I did not post when they came up. I will not talk about this weeks' episode yet because I was engrossed in the Oregon Trail. I will save this for next week as well as the episode that will be next week. These posts will not come until the weekend, for reasons I will not tell. Anyway, on to the episodes.

The merge finally happened with Galu having twice as many people as Foa Foa. It ended with 3 blindsides removing people from Galu.

First episode of the merge, Russell started to plant his seeds, his "Russell Seeds" if you remember. He did not win over many of the Foa Foa, but he did get Shambo, who you could say was already on their side, and John to some degree. I noticed something just then, Shambo has a grudge on Laura for some reason. In addition, it turned out that none of my family members liked Laura either. I didn't really know much about her and didn't think that she was that bad. Anyway, Shambo really wanted her to be voted out and tried to get Russell to vote her out, because he didn't like her either. So when Laura got the immunity idol, Shambo became sad and possibly angry. Okay, normally you would expect them to try and vote out a Foa Foa, right? Wrong. Well, you saw that I said all the people were Galu, so... yeah. Laura convinced everyone, or almost everyone, to vote for Dave, saying that he was bad. Russell and Dave both had hidden immunity idols. Russell played his, Dave didn't. Dave became sad when he was voted out because he thought that he was perfectly safe. In addition, when Dave came in as the first member of the jury, one of the Galu members said, "We don't want another Dave" right in front of him.

Next episode. Russell has used his hidden immunity, so they thought it was a good idea to take him out this time. However, when Russell didn't win the reward challenge, it gave him an oppurtunity to search for the idol. He found it, as some people would expect. In addition, like last time, Laura got the immunity idol, which, like last time, changed who they were going to vote for. Foa Foa decided that they were going to vote for Kelly this time because her anonymity could be dangerous. I didn't really understand how this could be true, but then I thought of Suzie from either one season before or two seasons before. She remained relatively anonymous and made it to the final three. Anyway, I think you know how it went, every Galu member voted for Russell, he pulled out the idol, jaws dropped, and Kelly went home. However, you know something that was really bad about this, they were saying that maybe they should distribute their votes in case Russell had somehow gotten the idol. They had the chance, but they underestimated him.

Now, the third episode. One really funny thing that happened in this episode was the reward challenge. For the challenge, they broke up into two groups. One person was on this piece of wood in the shape of a rectangular prism suspended over 18 small flags. They were supossed to get the flags in order and place them in another spot. They had to get to the flags by the rest of the team mates helping to manuever the piece of wood to get at them. The group with Natalie, which included Russell, won. The funny part was the way they were positioned. John was just on it. He had to get in closer to reach. Natalie, on the other hand, was much further off the edge and, eventually, if her legs weren't holding her, she would have fallen off. I did not take a picture of this, so I made a very hasty illustration, as shown below.

The illustration is deplorable and John's head is not that large but you get the picture. The other funny thing is when they were searching for the idol. Russell had the clue, so he immediately went off with Jaison to go look for it. As soon as they left, Laura and Eric, I think, went after them to try and find it as well. At one point, Russell starts running and Eric starts chasing him. After he loses him and Laura follows Eric looking for him Russell loops back and finds the idol. At this point, my view of Russell changed somewhat. I still don't like him, but I do respect him. One thing for sure, he is great at finding hidden immunity idols. This time, they knew Russell had the idol, so they were going to try and get rid of Natalie. They originally planned to have Monica say that they were voting for John because Shambo was going to vote for Laura no matter what. John wasn't briefed on this, so he struck up a deal that if he votes for Laura, they vote out a Foa Foa member next time. They planned on making a tie, so it was a random decision who was voted out. John wasn't risking it, so he changed his vote after the tie. That probably won't be the best for him next time.

"Houdini Magic"

It's time for another Survivor post. I am still in shock that no one has realized Russell's true nature. Then again, somehow people like him always seem to get on the jury. However, it looks like the merge is happening next episode. By the way, Russell was so quotable that all odd episodes, and the one that is coming up, all come from quotes by Russell. When that happens they need to vote him out ASAP. I hope they find out his secrets and break free of his control unless he fools them into taking him to the final 2 (or 3, I'm not sure). Once his seeds take root, it may be hard to break free.

Anyway, the challenge was a game of concentration. They could choose to take the point or the item they just matched. Everyone took the points except for one thing. Galu took the fire starting kit. This may not seem like a good idea, but it was. It came with a tarp; this could help if there is ever rain again. However, they could have done well with some of the matched items. You don't absolutely need eating utensils, but it would be a good idea to think about taking the spear-fishing kit. Their original one doesn't work anymore due to Shambo's folly. An even better idea would have been the mosquito net. It just rained a lot. Mosquitoes lay their eggs in water. These eggs will hatch into hungry babies. Mother mosquitoes feed their babies with blood. Mosquitoes could have malaria, and bug bites are annoying regardless. It makes sense, one of them better not be taken out due to malaria. I also really doubt that they will be able to convince them to feed their young nectar instead of blood.

This episode, I began to dislike the male members of Galu. They have formed an alliance and are planning on manipulating Shambo by making her leader and hoping that she’ll be so caught up in power that she won’t realize their true intentions. I knew Dave was bad and I think I didn’t like Eric. As for Brett and John, I don’t know much about Brett. But, I do know John somewhat, he didn’t seem this manipulative. I just hope that this is all Dave’s doing.

In Tribal Council, it was a choice between Liz and Jaison. I don’t know why they chose those two; they are both really good members. Anyway, wouldn’t they be thinking about the merge? Wouldn’t it be best to get rid of physically strong, manipulative player, who lies a lot and speaks with a slight accent? Apparently, Russell still has hold of the tribe and struck down Liz. Don’t get me wrong, I like Jaison, it’s that venomous Russell that I don’t like. I hope he forgets his hidden immunity idol when they go for the merge. Better yet, he should just give it to Ben, so he won’t have to lie anymore about having it.

As it is clear, my festering dislike for Russell still persists. I really hope he gets voted out soon.

P.S. Yes, I know I talk about Russell too much.

This is the Man Test

I would never have thought that it could be possible. Russell’s heart failed him during a challenge and he was removed. This is not Bad Russell, this is Good Russell. If this happened to Bad Russell, it would be bittersweet. Sweet because he would be out of the game, but I still wouldn’t want anything really bad to befall him. With Good Russell, it is all sour.

I still can not believe that Russell’s heart failed, his blood pressure was even lower than Mike’s. In case you need a refresher, Mike also had heart problems and needed to be taken from the game to go to the hospital. Russell tried his best and gave his all, but his body couldn’t take it. After he was done pushing the ball, he staggered over in the wrong direction and had to be guided over to the pinball maze. When he got there, he seemed to slump down, his head was on the board and people were telling him to get his head off. Eventually, he fell down and would have completely fell flat had his shirt not snagged on the game board. Immediately, Jeff yelled for everyone to stop and brought in Medical. Russell insisted that he was fine and that he should get back in the challenge. However, Jeff eventually said that the challenge was over, no one won the reward and that, as stated before, both teams were going to Tribal Council. When they were at Tribal people discussed like they were going to vote someone out, but Jeff said that because the challenge wasn’t completed, no one would be voted out. But, in a way, with Russell being removed for medical reasons, it kind of was like Galu lost someone. The preview I saw last week showed that someone had heart problems, but I did not know who. I said, “What if it’s Russell?” with Bad Russell in mind. It turns out my guess was correct, but not in the way I meant it.

The scariest thing by far that I saw happen with Russell was when they had given him some time and they tried to get him to sit up. He sat up and they measured a 99 heart rate. Suddenly, the life flashed away from his eyes, he fell down with a stare, eyes blank, staring directly in the center, and dilated. I was actually worried that Russell had died. However, his eyes changed direction, I was relieved and his heart rate was a 68. At that point, if he can’t even sit up, he has to be taken to medical. I saw him let out a tear when he heard this.

There is nothing more to say. I do not want to divert from this because nothing else really important happened. I will say goodbye until the next post.

"Walking on Thin Ice"

Not much happened during this episode, but people are starting to suspect Russell, the bad one. A side note, I discovered that the person who voted for each other person is known, so people change their votes so they won't be labeled as the outcast.

Russell's strategy didn't work this time because of a torrential downpour. No one would leave the shelter. When everyone is in the shelter, they hear you strategizing. It was a wild vote, either Ashley or Liz. Ashley was thought to be the physically weakest, so she was voted out. This has a lot to do with the food challenge. She was picked to eat the grossest thing of all, sea slug guts. On top of it, this was blended with water so yyou could see it, was quite chunky. When Galu's member was done, her team mates were cheering her on, the other team was sying she was going to throw up, it tasted horrible, it looked disgusting, she had drunk almost all of it, but then gave up, said she couldn't drink it, and threw up in a nearby bush. After all that pressure, they blame her for not doing it and she even thinks that it's her own fault. Do you really think that you could do that if all that pressure was placed on you? If you think yes, I'd like to see you try it.

I am confident that people are starting to discover "Bad Russell"'s true badness. Shambo pointed out where she knew the other immunity idol was, looked for it, and determined that someone in the tribe had it, because the only other person was Yasmin, she was voted out, and she only had one clue. Russell said that he didn't have it, Liz said that she knew he had it to him. He responded by saying that Liz was "walking on thin ice" and that she was a "mind player" as well. She just said that she didn't completely trust him, what does that have to do with anything?

One final comment, during the rainstorm, the Galu Tribe wished that they had chosen function over comfort on a reward challenge either 2 or 3 weeks before, episode time not real time.

Hungry for a Win

Well, Foa Foa finally won an immunity challenge, breaking their losing streak. Strangely afterwards, it started raining on the Galu tribe right after Foa Foa left. That's enough talk about ironic coincedences. In this entry, I do not have much to talk about, I will talk about Yasmin and chickens, galliformes, not cowards.

Yasmin was voted out. I originally went from liking her to not liking her very much. Now, I think I like her again. The main thing that made me not like her at first was when she said that she would help Foa Foa so it didn't seem too easy. From then, we have realized that we like her. We usually bond more with Survivor characters we relate to and mom relates to Yasmin. The reason Yasmin was voted out was because she didn't participate much around camp. While this is true, she did a great job of defending herself. She said that she did well in challenges because she was competitive, which was the reason some people wanted to get rid of Monica. About one random comment Yasmin made which she did have a point with. Yasmin said she didn't do anything around camp because she was afraid she would do something wrong. She does have a point, if you do something wrong on Survivor, you not only get harped upon by the other tribe members, because Survivor is on national television, you get harped upon by random blogs, too. Speaking of doing something wrong, Shambo did something again.

I like Shambo. She knows when to be practical, helped that one guy find a hidden immunity idol, I don't know his name, she does mess up sometimes, but it adds to her character somewhat. Anyway, Galu got three chickens for winning a challenge. Shambo took it upon herself to try and bond with the chickens in an attempt to increase the amount of eggs produced. The strange thing is, when she thought she was just supposed to grab the chickens, she was holding one by the neck. Anyway, she found an egg at one point, but when she went to get it, one of the chickens escaped. People started chasing after the chicken and someone tripped over something. When Shambo thought she had caught the chicken but it flew away, she said that she didn't think that the chicken would fly away and someone complained. In her defense, chickens are genetically similar to turkeys and pheasants, they mostly just fly to escape. Shambo tried to imitate chicken sounds to coax the chicken out of the tree. Eventually, she gave up and said that a chicken was gone, but she produced an egg. Someone said in response, "You didn't produce an egg! The chicken produced the egg!"

Anyway, that's all I can say, but it was a good episode.

It's Called a Russell Seed

As you know from the title, "Bad Russell" was at it again. After his handywork got Marisa and Betsy voted out, he wants to keep Ben in the game for physical challenges. Why would he want to keep that lizard-eating bartender who is a general nuisance around camp and says that the women shouldn't use the iPhone-like flint because he's afraid they'll waste it. Both of those statments are completely true by the way, he has caught 2 small lizards and roasted them like marshmallows, and yes, the flint did look like the side of an iPhone the way it was angled. He does do some things in the challenges, but how are you going to participate if you're kicked out? (That didn't happen to him this time, by the way.) We'll get back to him later, on to Shambo.
Shambo is very practical, so she was complaining when "the 90201 clique," 4 members of the Galu tribe, was doing yoga first thing in the morning when there was work to be done. While she does have a point, she could be less crabby about it, but it is early morning, some people just may not be morning people. Shambo was chosen to observe Foa Foa this time and found that she liked them more because they were closer to her age and did not do yoga first thing in the morning. Shambo was looking for the hidden immunity idol which Russell took. She was looking in the right spot and was really searching. Imagine someone halfway in the hole of a tree, nothing showing above this person's hip , and everyone else pays that person no mind, just like they weren't there.

Now that Shambo's story has been told, back to Russell. I will start referring to "Bad Russell" as Russell because Russell was not brought up as much, but he went into another rant about how he's so great, how it's so easy to win the game, and how it's so easy to manipulate everyone. Have you ever heard of character flaws, well here's Russell's:

Hubris (hu⋅bris) 
–noun
excessive pride or self-confidence; arrogance.

There's someone else who had hubris, Odysseus. Well, Russell, you are not like Odysseus. You may be strong, and you may have sheep to hide under when the cyclops comes to eat you, the hidden immunity idol, but you don't have Circe to tell you what awaits on your journey. Oh, when the time comes, you will be swallowed up by Scylla. You may have your immunity, but you have to know when to play it. You will be so overconfident you won't know when the votes are coming.
Russell tried to get Ashley voted out, but Ben got himself voted out. WOOHOO!!! Anyway, something Ben said earlier came back to bite him. Jaison took offense at Ben's comment about Yasmin and wanted to vote him out. Jaison even said that if Ben wouldn't be going home that night, he, Jaison, would. Jaison and Ben bickered a few times during tribal council and that eventually swayed the others. They were too busy focusing on Ben to think about Ashley. Everyone voted for Ben, even Russell. Ben said that he wished that everyone would have a bad night except for Russell, he thought that Russell wouldn't have been one of the people to vote for him, but he did.

Taking Candy from a Baby

Can you imagine the scent of your own socks burning over the campfire while you sleep? Such is the malady that befell protagonist Jaison when antagonist and general annoyance "Bad Russell" spewed his venom around the camp. Ironically, during this episode, Jaison chose to form an alliance with the sock burner. Jaison is trusting him, but "Bad Russell"is just using him and is not planning to share the immunity idol he foud without any clues! Grrrrr.... He thinks he can just control everyone by gaining sympathy with Katrina stories and stirring trouble by burning canteens. I think he's venomous and full of himself. No one has tried this strategy before though, it seems to work, but I am certain he will get voted off when they discover his treachery.
Now, on to another issue, there is a girl named Yasmin in the Galu tribe. When she woke up she was saying "Oh, I can't believe this!" "I can't believe people like this!" I am never taking my kids camping!" I liked this about her because it reminded me of my own mother, she even said it was like her. However, our opinon of her decreased when she started slandering the other team. When she went to their camp to observe after Galu won the challenge, she said that she would help them "So it wouldn't be too easy." She also complained at Ben, he will be brought up later, about him tackling her. At this, Ben said something I will not repeat, but it is not a swear word. Yasmin is okay, but she shouldn't have insulted the other tribe.
On one smaller note, Shambo of the Galu Tribe said she was good at spear fishing, so she was sent to fish. She lost the mouthpiece of the snorkel and didn't catch anything. She told her tribe members that along with "There are a lot of the fish in the reef." I bet you can guess their reaction.
Now, the main issue: Betsy vs. Ben. Betsy is a police officer who is around 47 years old. Ben is 28 years old, but is a troublemaker. In this episode, there is a lot of tension between these two. The tribe feels that Betsy is weaker than Ben and should be voted out next. However, Betsy is saying that Ben will cause trouble around camp. They eventually decided to vote Betsy out, everyone voted for Betsy except for Betsy. I think that they should have voted Ben out. The thing that really matters is how strong your teamwork is, not having strong people. People like Ben just bring trouble, they tear the team apart. If a bunch of strong people need to work together to lift something, but their teamwork is poor, the job will be less effective if it even gets done. Anyway, Betsy may be older, but I haven't seen her do poorly in challenges much. Get rid of Ben, PEOPLE!
P.S. When Betsy was writing down Ben's name, she sang "Bad Boy, Bad Boy, Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?" This was classic.

The Puppet Master

This will be the start of me talking about the newest Survivor which takes place on Samoa. If you do not know the rules of Survivor, check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivor_(TV_series). This time there are 20 people and I Survivor, they say “1 Survivor” in the intro, but 1 looks like “I”. Anyway, it seems that every season, there is some person who is mean, rude, or has a bad attitude in general. Somehow this person survives until the merge, and then they have slight control over the outcome. I am convinced that the person this time is Russell, there are two Russells by the way, I will refer to the Russell in Galu Tribe as Good Russell and the other, on Foa Foa, as Bad Russell. Early on, they had to decide who would be leader based on first impressions, without talking. Good Russell was chosen for Galu and Mick was chosen for Foa Foa. Immediately afterwards, the leaders had to choose who they thought was the best swimmer, the strongest, the most agile, and the most intelligent. First, the best swimmer had to get a key from a buoy somewhat off shore. Next, the strongest had to carry two large bundles of wood in front of a balance beam to act like steps. The most agile then had to climb on it and, while laying on it, had to inch along and maneuver the key through a rope on it. This key would be given to the smartest, who would unlock a set of puzzle pieces and assemble a man. Foa Foa won this and received flint as a reward. In this, I noticed that Good Russell said that everyone did their best, which makes me think he’s a motivational leader. Bad Russell was being rude, scheming, and venomous. My mother called him “Evil Incarnate.” He went out and formed alliances with 3 girls whom he viewed as not very intelligent and easy to manipulate. He also got another girl named Betsy, whom he viewed as more intelligent. She formed an alliance, but she did not trust him. This is well founded, because he tried to tell a story about how he was in the flood when the levee in New Orleans broke due to Hurricane Katrina, he used an axe he had as a fireman to get out and was on the roof for two days. He also said that his German shepherd, Rocky, drowned. For those of you who think this story is a lie, you are correct. It was all a ploy to get sympathy. You could just tell in the way he said it that he was lying. Also, that same night, while everyone was sleeping, he snuck out, drained the water from everyone’s canteens, and burned Jaison’s socks. He said that he would just sit back and watch them tear themselves apart. He said, I quote “I’m not in this for the money, I just want to show everyone how easy it is to win this game.” Before I talk about the immunity challenge, I will bring up something funny that happened in Galu. Something was being built, I don’t know what , and a Rocket Scientist named John, yes he actually is a Rocket Scientist, suggested that the tribe place things like the wind into factor while building it. At least some of the others thought he was being too technical and just building it now was the best way to do it. As for me, I think at least some planning and risk assessment is necessary. For the immunity challenge, six people had to run across 3 A-frames, like large wooden triangles, and at the end, use them to pull a crate. This crate would be taken apart and its pieces would be assembled to say “Without Victory there is no Survival.” One semi-notable thing that happened was that Yasmin of the Galu tribe could not climb up one of the A-frames, so the group had to go back and pull her up. In the end, Galu won, received Immunity, which looks like an ungulate skull in front of a wooden square on a staff, and some flint. After the immunity challenge, Marisa said she was a bit worried about Bad Russell because she saw him with the other girls. She was starting to suspect his true treachery. He viewed this as a confrontation, called himself “The Puppet Master,” and pulled some strings to get her voted out and cover his tracks. It always seems like the first ones to get voted off either are viewed as weak, or are going against the strategist who has made connections with many people in the tribe.
P.S. For some reason, whenever Marisa got a vote, it looked like she had an inquisitive look on her face.
P.P.S. For those of you who wonder why I am using different colored words, I am doing it FOR EMPHASIS.