I just wanna interject one thing. I’ve noticed that as I’ve gotten older, the importance of birthdays does wane considerably. I don’t know if that’s the same for everyone, but it just seems to me that Rodney’s revealing himself to be quite the baby in wanting to suck a bottle on a reward. Dude, grow up and stop having such high expectations. It’s a birthday… You’ll have more…
The reward is just as awesome as you’d think. Giving all those presents to a group of orphans is always the best reward on Survivor, and it always seems to be the one most appreciated by the winners. Sure, you get to eat too, you get to relax, you get some time away from the game, but most importantly, you get to provide some happiness to kids who may not have very much of it. Regardless of how cutthroat you may be about winning one millions dollars, you have to appreciate how wonderful giving back to the local community is.
However, that solid food must taste REALLY GOOD after 30 days of malnourishment…
At the orphanage, Mike, Sierra and Carolyn discuss how shi**y it is that Rodney didn’t get to go, but as Carolyn says, “STFU, you’re on Survivor! How bad can it be?” And she’s got a point there. It’s funny how some people bring so much “baggage” with them when they play the game.
Mike is getting the “warm & fuzzies” about being here with these two, which may be gameplay or not, and they all agree they’re happy to be together. Carolyn knows Mike is going to be a powerhouse in challenges, so maybe it’ll behoove her to do some flipping. And with one of them (or both) going home tonight (I guess…), it’ll be interesting to see how the rest of the episode plays out.
Back at Camp Chuck E. Cheese, Rodney is celebrating his birthday by doing the dishes by the shore. He’s bent about a few things: the dishes, that there are no fruits or coconuts growing here, and that none of the “scumbags” took him on the reward. Hell, he didn’t even get a picture with Mr. Charles Cheese himself… He’s starting to sound like a petulant little boy who didn’t get the present he wanted. It’s almost funny and ridiculous. He’s now of the mind that the only person he’s taking to the final…is him. And screw the rest of ‘em. I think I’m seeing the beginning of a mental breakdown, and I can’t wait to see how this plays out. I know he’s going to flip his lid later, so let’s lay down some bets on how many laws he’s going to break. I’m putting the over/under at 3.
When he returns to camp, he’s still huffing and puffing about not being taken, and is especially upset with Carolyn for the choice she made. He informs the others his anger can either screw him over, or set him free, so he’s going to try the latter. He tells the guys he’s plotting to flip out on the tribe later and say he wants to go home. And hopefully, that’ll make Mike comfortable enough to not play his idol and then Operation: Blindside is on – Mike will get everyone’s votes. If it works – not a chance on any other season – it would be awesome, but with the average IQ on S30 hovering somewhere near 84 (Sorry, Tyler) Rodney’s plan actually has a chance to work. And I can’t believe I just typed that…
Tyler – exasperated that one of his closest allies wants to try this crazy plan – is a bit unsure of his security now, because if it fails, he’ll probably go home. He confesses he’s starting to wonder where his game is headed, but I guess he’ll have to find out with the rest of us.
And instead of getting some “Rodney Time,” we’re getting some “Crazy Time” as Rodney begins Operation – we’ll now call it, Operation: Crybaby. He announces to the group he wants to be voted out next because he’s so unhappy, and then lays into Carolyn about “you’re supposed to be, like, my mom here. It’s like if you went to party back home and you left your son alone on his birthday.” But that doesn’t seem to get a reaction out of anyone. He keeps at it with Sierra and Mike, but whatever he says fails to accomplish anything as Mike simply uses a little reverse psychology and calmly tells him it makes more sense to keep Rodney around now than before. POS confesses to us that Rodney’s plan isn’t working, which Mike confirms by saying, “I may talk slow but I don’t think slow…”
Later, Tyler and Carolyn schedule a White Collar executive board meeting at which they discuss who Mike is going to vote for (Tyler), hence, Tyler needs to win Immunity. Tyler makes a motion to discuss options, which Carolyn seconds and it’s debated that Carolyn’s idol would be used, “when they need it.” Tyler confesses she’s his biggest ally, and in this game, you simply need to trust some people some time, but he asks her to start bringing her idol to Tribal Council (what? She hasn’t been doing that?!) just in case they need it. All this talk of “playing the game,” (nice time to start, Carolyn, on DAY 30!) has her mistakenly thinking she’s running the game. And when she admits,
“I actually do feel like I’m the one in charge right now…”
We may be getting ready to see a CEO’s ouster…
Day 32 is a gorgeous one and we’re on a platform in the ocean for the Immunity Challenge. It’s very simple and we’ve seen it before: hold onto a rope while standing on a log. Every 5 minutes you grab a knot a bit farther down the rope. I think this will be a physical challenge, so Dan, POS, Sierra, please take your seats now…
With a bit of banter from Jeff to liven things up, the challenge is a cruel mistress as it appears so easy, but dispenses immediate pain. POS is the first to go as the spirit of Shirin tickles his armpits forcing him into the water. Dan falls quickly behind him, as “the fat guy” curse takes a couple quick victims. With Rodney about to fall – seriously, dude, with that yoked physique? – he’s joined by Sierra, who drops out seconds before him. We’re down to Mike, Tyler and Carolyn…
Of all of them, sine the very beginning, Tyler seems to be struggling – and looking – the most uncomfortable. Don’t know if he’s really struggling this much, but he is holding up a lot of upper body weight, even though his arms look pretty big. Mike and Carolyn both seem fine, just holding onto a rope…attached to a kite…in a park…in the countryside…
As Jeff instructs them to transition to the next knot, Mike suddenly falters and drops into the water, seemingly not able to get the same comfortable grip he had before. This gives Tyler an opportunity to glance over at Carolyn and sees how strong she looks. Rather than fight it out with her, he just decides to drop in, not wanting to damage his hands any more. So as we head to commercial, Dan reminds us of Mike’s idol, Carolyn’s immunity, and the fact he got two votes last time, AND all the discussion of his “advantage.” We haven’t really seen much of that, but we know it’s there. So with all that’s been revealed today, and with all the immunities floating around, who the hell is going home tonight? Seriously, it could be Dan, Mike, Rodney, or Tyler…
Once they return to Camp Merica, people get right down to business as Sierra asks, “What are we doing tonight?” with Carolyn, Rodney, and Dan present. Carolyn looks around and quietly says, “Girls vote Tyler, and guys vote Mike.” And, if Mike plays his idol, Tyler goes home.
But…this appears to be a ruse that Carolyn’s playing on Dan, because she’s more interested in voting Dan out, so they can eliminate his advantage. I don’t wanna say that “Dan sees right through it,” but he does voice some concern that POS had written his name down, as well as Tyler, so he’s a bit unsure if he’s down with Carolyn’s plan.
Tyler and POS are over at the water tower and discussing who to vote for. Both say they’re voting for Dan, so that was easy… We’re then with Mike and Carolyn swinging on the hammocks, where Mike whispers he’s voting for Tyler, in a way that seems to be inviting her to vote with him. She tells us she’s considering flipping to Mike’s side, but who knows what anyone’s really thinking. And how come no one’s talking about voting out Rodney?
Tyler and Mama C finally get a chance to convene late in the day and they confirm they’re all looking to take out Dan. “That advantage will come back to haunt us,” is how Tyler phrases it, with which Carolyn agrees. And as everyone grabs their torches and head to Tribal, Carolyn tells us she could go for either Dan or Tyler, and she’s “here to play the game.” So let’s see where that takes her.
My wife and I were pretty pissed ourselves when we went to the second chance site to vote and saw Mike and Carolyn. Incredibly unimpressed.
To be brutally honest, unless one or both of them make it to the end, I don’t buy Probst’s “Well maybe there’s a Survivor twist and one of these two actually aren’t eligible, lololololol” If one of them does make it to the end and even wins, then I’ll also be the first to tip my hat to Survivor producers/CBS for pulling off a #BlindSide on the audience. Brutally honest, I’d actually find that to be terribly cool. “Hey guys! Mike placed 7th in the poll, but guess what, he played his hidden immunity idol worth a million dollars so all votes cast for Mike don’t count!” I’d appreciate that. That’d be cool. I don’t expect it to happen and for now truly think that CBS and the producers messed up.
Onto the show!
Firmly understand Tyler’s explanation about voting for Dan. He had to vote someone just in case Mike gave Shirin his idol. POS and his bs story though? I agree with you. It was two idiots (don’t ask me to pick the bigger idiot, I don’t know if I could) trying to explain why one of them had their hand on a knife in the other’s back.
Then you lost me. Red team has the intellectual advantage? Mike’s voice may be annoying, but he’s easily smarter than Dan. Sierra is easily smarter than Rod. Tyler vs Carolyn may be a tough call, but that’s it. Intellectual advantage… You’re just being silly now 😉
I can’t tell you how thrilled I was to see Rod not go on the challenge. Then the pleasure of seeing yet again how big of an idiot he is. “I spent mah birfday washing dishes and cussing and kicking stuff. #WorstBirfdayEVER #HateMommaC #WomenzSuck #NoWomanInFinal3WithMe #WAAAAAAAAH” Just to keep it close to home, I’m sure there are plenty of kids at that orphanage who wished their birthday included going to a beautiful, exotic setting, taking a potentially month and a half long vacation, playing a game for a shot at a million dollars, etc. etc. etc. Yes. Such an awful birthday Rodney… Idiot.
As for Dan’s advantage and it coming back to haunt people… That would imply that Dan’t smart to do so. Dan doesn’t realize he’s being played. Dan doesn’t realize he is on the lower end, if not the lowest end of the IQ range of the remaining Survivors. Dan’s advantage can be used by someone else who simply has to direct Dan and convince Dan that it would be a “big move”. You could convince Dan to blow his advantage or you could let Dan blow his advantage… OR, the smart thing to do is to use Dan’s advantage for yourself.
I wish I knew how long the tribal councils actually took. I know there’s a ton of footage we never see. I’m sure Jeff probably asks each person there one question. It’s in the editing later that they decide who’s Q&A are worth showing. POS is crap… He’s unfortunately going to the very end because there’s no way he wins. No way. He’s made no moves except for flipping to whatever group had the numbers, he’s an idiot, and he showed his true colors a while back with Shirin. Best to accept it now, of all the people left who you’d want to take with you to the finals… Will is an easy choice.
Enjoyed the recap. Would definitely be interested in hearing about who you’d vote for to have a second chance.
Dan is a strange guy. I actually though he was going to kiss Will during their pow-wow. His face kept, getting closer and closer to Will’s and their moobs were touching. It had me squirming with unease.
Not sure if I should post or not, since I think I will parrot what Fish has already posted.
Jeff, please shut-up! Stop trying to get people to give up their rewards. Stop trying to influence people at tribal, and that influence will spill over to the final vote.
Speaking of the reward challenge, I thought a few of the orphans looked to be about 30 years old. Why was everyone speaking to the kids in English? Were there translators nearby, or do the kids speak English? I was surprised by Mike’s soccer skills, not too bad.
Rodney, Rodney Rodney, who the F cares if it is your birthday? Does any male over 21 really care about birthdays? Yes maybe to guilt a GF/Wife into BD sex, but that is about it.
Plus, Rodney, if you were not such a F-ing idiot (forgetting bag of balls), you guys would have probably won the challenge.
Survivor spoiling Mike/Mama C.
1) Idiots
2) If faking us out, FU. I disagree with a previous comment that it would be a great blindside to viewers. Viewers should not be blind-sided. I really hate the deception given in previews. (e.g. Rodney’s wanting to leave the game, that was completely out of context as to what really went on)
Yes, let players blindside each other, but we should see what is going on. We should not be at the mercy of selective editing, that is a Bachelor staple.
I was so disappointed that Tyler got voted out – not surprised, but disappointed. Who’s even left to root for??? Mike made some dumb moves in the beginning but gosh, at least he wins challenges and seems to have a clue what’s going on! Not sure his chances are very good though, considering everyone’s gunning to get him out. Dan doesn’t have a clue, Rodney’s mouth and attitude will be his demise, Cierra is a floater, POS has no clue, and Carolyn, well, I just don’t care for her! I can’t wait for this season to just be over so we can all start looking forward to the next season!
Thanks for the recaps by the way. I thoroughly enjoy them and your perspective! 🙂
Darn, I bored myself to sleep last night and did not finish my comments. Let’s ignore just how crappy this season is and argue about this week’s strategy. Isn’t that what Survivor is about.
I say Mama C blew it in voting out Tyler. Too early to vote out your alliance of two. Eventually you need to get rid of Mike. You may need Tyler around to do that. I think she got a bit over confident with her two immunity wins. Should have gone for Dan or Rodney. Then gone after Mike and then Tyler.
Mike did everything correct.
Tyler needed to work it a bit more to drum up votes against Dan. His downfall was trusting Mama C.
The rest of the losers, I understand, you need to get rid of Tyler and Mike to have any chance (wow, that those two are the power players, shows how pathetic this season is)
Can we hope that a tropical storm wipes out the remaining players and the season gets cut short?
I know what you mean about the new strategy every season to take the weakest player to the end. But then, you have people like Woo who took a strong player to the end and where did that get him? I do agree though that its very tiresome to see the blobs going so far. As for the voting for the upcoming favorites season, I have a block of seasons I didn’t ever watch, from about Season 4-Season 18. So about 1/2 the people I had no clue who they were so I ended up voting for all the older people just to force Fishy to watch saggy boobs and gray chest hairs. My 10 year old son was thrilled to see Woo and Jason (I think that was his name), the firefighter from last season, again, I think? My 4 year old only wants Jon to come back. Some odd crush…Every fit guy with dark hair she says, Is that Jon? Oddly, her pick this season is Rodney. I still think Tyler is odd. Kind of reminds me of the “it rubs the lotion on its skin” guy from Silence of the Lambs? I wasn’t that sorry to see him go. Just to mess with all the viewers, I think it would be hysterical if Dan’s wife was some supermodel type. Oh, BTW, I’m watching the China Season on Amazon Prime right now. Any thoughts about that season w/out giving away the ending?
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Once again, folks, thank you for all your comments. It’s so much better when this is a give-and-take and not just me yelling at a wall… That said,
thatguy: the Mike/Carolyn thing still bugs me and when I saw Mike’s video for S31, you can tell he didn’t win S30. Carolyn’s is a little less obvious, but I don’t think she won S30 either. We’ll see. In the interview I did with Coach yesterday, I asked him about the Mike/Carolyn situation and even he agreed that the show screwed up. Check back on Thursday for his whole interview.
-I totally screwed up the colors on the reward challenge. I don’t know how I did that. Funny, because this is the first column (probably ever) that I didn’t have a drink. Maybe I need to have a stiff one (oh, behave!) to write right… But, yeah, there’s no way I’d call any team Dan and POS are on “intellectually superior,” unless they’re going against a baby, an empty bag of rice, and a grape…
-Rodney = so self-unaware it’s painful
-I can’t wait to see how Dan’s advantage will be used. We know Carolyn will be safe tomorrow (assuming she’s not an idiot) so I think that means either Sierra goes home, or every gangs up on Dan for having the advantage and vote his moobs out… I’m surprised no one ever talks about Rodney going home. Don’t they realize you don’t need SO MANY “non-winners” at the end?
-I asked Coach about how long do tribal councils last. Find out Thursday…
-Yes, unfortunately, I think it’s a foregone conclusion that POS will be at Final Tribal. I think the only saving grace about this is the crucifixion (appropriate?) he’ll get from the jury as well as the reception he’ll receive by the live studio audience at the Finale. Something tells me he’s not the kinda guy who’s used to being hated, so the boos and jeers the crowd gives him will affect him deeply. Watch that f**ker cry like a baby when he’s laughed off the stage. Plus, Probst promised to address it at the Finale, so it’ll be a hot topic, for sure…
susie: thanks for that imagery. I just thought of a script idea for a BBM interracial porn, “Dan and POS Hunt for Hidden Idols.”
doc: I think Jeff realized during the season this group was not the “best cast ever” and felt he needed to help “trim the fat,” as it were. Maybe that’s why he’s helping to target the runts?
-Re: Reward, the show probably just told the 3 winners to speak English, because “we won’t show any kids talking, anyways…”
-You got Rodney down pat. And yeah, it’s funny how he didn’t own that (forgetting the balls) at all.
-You’re right about selective editing. Perhaps this bunch didn’t offer a lot of “memorable moments” so the show had to manufacture a lot of drama (like The Bachelor). I don’t know what kind of turnover the editorial dept. has on Survivor, but it could be that the reality show behind-the-camera “community,” is very closed to newcomers, so people who worked on shows like The Bachelor, are now on Survivor. It’s just a theory, but in my own experience (having worked in Hollywood for 25 yrs) there were many times that I was completely overlooked for a position, because I didn’t have any reality show experience. And what’s funny is, when reality shows started 15 years ago, they were the bastard stepchildren of Hollywood. Nobody wanted to work on them unless you were desperate. Now, they’re so prevalent that you NEED to have reality show experience to be considered for other jobs. Stupid…
-(part 2) I’m super with you about voting out Tyler. She NEEDED him. She just lost his jury vote, as well as possibly guaranteeing her own trip to the jury. Dumb…
-I’m just frustrated that I have to pick between so many undeserving people. It’s like Marquesas and Vanuatu all over again…
bonnie: Thanks, chica! I’m glad you like them. I agree with all your comments. I seem to be in the minority about liking Sierra, and maybe it’s because she’s the only cute girl left, but I think she’ll surprise us the last 2 episodes. As I’ve said before, the jury has some relatively young, free spirited people, so they may not care about “who played the best game.” They may just vote for who isn’t a huge prick…
-And yeah, S31 could seriously be the best ever!
kinb: I think there’s a “pocket” where players need to stay in to make it to final tribal and win. Not too good, not too bad. And you definitely don’t want to take somebody “better” than you. That was Woo’s mistake. He can claim all he wants about sticking to his creed and facing off against “the best,” but then don’t give us this crap about wanting to win. Just say you knew Tony was going to win and you didn’t want to reward Kass. His video for S31 is trying to tell us that this time he’s playing to win, but I think he had his chance. You shouldn’t get to play twice if you don’t take it seriously the first time… Just like quitters.
-I’ve modded my DVR so it blurs out saggy boobs, so I’m not worried. Although, Kimmi from season 2, being an “old-timer” looks to be packing a lot upstairs, so I’ll be looking out for her in S31. Boobs don’t need to be fake for the Fish, they just need to be big.
-I know what you mean about Tyler. He reminds me of Bob Geldof’s character in Pink Floyd’s: The Wall after he shaved his eyebrows. Tyler definitely needs to keep those glasses on.
-Funny, any time I think who Dan’s wife should be, I just picture Laura Boneham, but heavier…
-I remember China pretty well. My thoughts were that religion became an issue on that season (a bit). It was a pretty memorable cast, too. I just looked and can see 11 who made a lasting impression on me. There are some big moves, odd twists, and a few things that’ll surprise you. It wasn’t the ending I expected, but that rarely happens. The pervert in me mostly remembers one particular challenge with Amanda, and praying that Ashley would get naked like her Playboy photos. Oh, and Jaime and Erik were so cute…
That’s it for this week! I look forward to all your comments and can’t wait to release this week’s column with Coach’s interview (maybe Skupin too!), plus my picks for S31 (with commentary), and, oh yeah, a recap!
Love you guys (and gals)!
Fish