Survivor: China

[EricBess]

I think you may be right about Frosti and I think Courtney will probably stay solid anyway because it's better than the alternative, but John Robert has no loyalty and will do anything he feels will better his chances.

I noticed that also about Sherea. Her whole final words were a bit self-indulgent.

Did you notice they haven't started the jury yet? I'm trying to remember the last few seasons, but I seem to recall that they started the jury just before the merge to end up with 8 or 9 jury members and a final 3. It makes me wonder if they are going back to a final 2 for this season.

 

[Spiderman]

They've varied the jury for the past few seasons.

At first they used to merge at 10 and have a jury of 7 and two finalists. Then they had finalists of 3 and so the jury may have gotten larger or they merged earlier. So who knows what they'll do this time.

 

[Spiderman]

Sherea's Interview

 

[EricBess]

"So, I have this empty coconut half with a crude "I" painted in the same white paint we all were given and I think it might keep me safe tonight..." Wow, Jaime, the only thing that might make that funnier is if you approached Todd and offered to tell him who had BOTH of the immunity idols if he were to just keep you around one more time...

Was it just me, or was the entire first 40 minutes without much substance this week. Glad we at least had Jaime for comic relief this week.

Based on the previews for next week though, I think Todd might be over playing things a bit. Why not keep James around? You gave him the idol so if you are ever threatened, he's likely to give it back...Just play it slow and safe. Don't get ahead of yourself. Guess we'll see what happens next week.

And John Robert and the comments about Courtney. I think he was actually trying to be nice, but she managed to turn it around on him. Guess he doesn't have enough experience to actually be convincing nice. BTW - I wonder if he suggested Pee Gee just because he wanted to make it clear that he wasn't the one calling the shots...That's the type of thing I could imagine him doing.

 

[Spiderman]

I agree, this entire episode was pretty boring. Denise especially, but with a little Amanda was hardly mentioned. All of the "intrigue" was on James and Jaime and PG's and Todd's manuvering.

I dislike Todd... I think he's too confident and "smarmy". I hope he doesn't win/gets voted off. Also from the previews, Amanda and the others think he's getting ahead of himself by thinking about voting James off, so we'll see. It could just be that it was a mere thought and not for actual consideration and Survivor is trying to make it like it's a big deal

I thought the same thing about JR and Courtney. I think she IS flying under the radar since there's more visible players out there. But yeah, she doesn't seem like a "New Yorker".... I get the impression she's Goth or something...

And how about her and Frosti

 

[EricBess]

I like Todd, but I think he's getting too wrapped up in the "game". In other words, he gets so involved in his "great stratigical play" that he forgets that there is a lot of diplomacy involved as well. If it continues, then I agree that he doesn't deserve to win.

 

[Spiderman]

It just seems he's becoming too confident to the point of arrogance, which is an immediate turn-off.

 

[Spiderman]

Jaime's Interview

 

[Spiderman]

Well, my memory's hazy now, but although I'm glad they got off Jean-Robert, I'm kinda surprised James didn't go. Blindsiding him when he has two idols would have been a BIG play. You can see his face get all worried when his name is read multiple times...

Jean-Robert Interview

 

[EricBess]

Yeah, lets see...did anything memorable happen this week?

I'm not sure about the situation with Todd and Amanda. Clearly they are the two calling the shots, but it's hard to say who's more in control. I'm thinking Todd just because he seems to be more social with everyone, but that could be just television. Also, it's not always good to be perceived as being the one in control. At some point, they have to start thinking that if Todd makes it to the finals (2 or 3?) that he has a good shot at winning it all.

Ironically, I think that Jean Robert's comments last week about Courtney may have helped her. She's the one person that I think it a shoo-in for the finals, not because she's the best player, but because I think she's a relatively safe person to have there. After all, they all seem to agree that she's been just riding the waves and not actually playing the game herself.

I'm not sure about James. I think he has a stronger chance than Courtney of getting votes. He would definitely get the "I don't want to vote for the other guy" votes and I don't think Courtney would. Still, he could be a good ally later on as well. I could see James winning the final challenge and taking Todd with him to the vote just because Todd helped him out with the idols previously. Of course, nothing is certain in Survivor, so...

I am surprised they didn't tell Denise about voting for Jean Robert, though. It did show that Frosti is clearly with the "alliance" at this point, but if he had stuck with his original tribe, things would have been different. They didn't really show if she reacted to blind-siding James, but either they didn't tell her or she refused. Its going to be interesting to see how she reacts after voting alone.

 

[Spiderman]

I think Todd is the public "face" of the alliance, but Amanda is the "behind-the-scenes" person, especially trying to tone his weird decisions down.

I think Courtney will eventually get eliminated, just because she's weak overall and won't win immunity and will eventually get voted out. But yeah, because she's weak, she won't be the first choice in the next couple of rounds.

I think Denise will go if she doesn't do something - that poor team-choosing kinda said it all. I thought she should have been allowed to go on the challenge; that was dumb having a team pick when there's an odd number of players.

 

[EricBess]

Yeah, I had forgotten about that team pick. I think they do that sort of thing to try to get people wondering and thinking.

After all, if there are two alliances, one large and one small, someone on the "in control" side is going to find out where they stand in the pecking order.

I remember the first time they did the "last man standing" challenges where the individual immunity went to the person who didn't have their 3 pots smashed by everyone else. It completely demonstrated a pecking order and was enough for the entire alliance to end up overthrown.

I don't think Denise will think of it that way, though. The other team should be watching and trying to get her on their side, though. Not sure that even that is enough numbers at this point, though, unless they can get Frosti back.

 

[Spiderman]

Yeah, she doesn't seem like a "thinker" about the game so far... or at least they're not showing it.

I think Frosti is in a good position, being wanted by both tribes... but I don't think he's going back unless something drastic happens.

 

[EricBess]

So much for good positions

So, it appears that the original tribal lines were stronger than we realized. And there is plenty of paranoia within the tribe anyway. After all, if Courtney is going to get tighter with Frosti, better get him out sooner...

Personally, once Pee Gee is gone, I'm reasonably happy with however it turns out. Too bad she won immunity because I didn't have a problem with Frosti, either.

What do you say about Todd???

James chose to eat instead of compete. Clearly, everyone knows he has 2 immunity idols at this point, except possibly Jeff, who still seems in the dark, though that could be an act. He may just not realize that everyone knows about the idols at this point. Courtney and Denise both ate and who could blame them. They are kind of "on the fence" as far as any control in the game goes. They probably aren't contenders to win the challenge and really aren't threats, so what incentive do they have to play?

But Todd should have played. I think he's finally crossed that line for me that he crossed for you a while back. A lot of what he's done in the past could be arrogance, but there was strategy as well. This simply was a bad choice and shows arrogance. After all, why did Amanda play? Did she feel like she might be going home? No, she played because she realized that it was important to keep Pee Gee from getting immunity and the more people involved in doing that, the better.

I don't think losing Frosti is going to come back and haunt them too much, but I do think that the impression given when he chose to eat may hurt him if he does end up making it to the finals. Sort of like the car curse...

 

[Spiderman]

Oh yeah, I was surprised Frosti got voted out before Erik.

Pee Gee definitely should be going. She admits that she's taking it out on James because she hasn't won but also she says she can't keep her mouth shut. Well, get some self-control! I think Erik will have another couple days reprieve if she doesn't win immunity the next time, so he's lucking out.

Yeah, you already know my thoughts about Todd. I could see why he ate since he didn't go on the reward challenge and was extremely hungry, but he should have played to keep Pee Gee from winning it.

I think Jeff knows James has two immunity idols - I think he watches the footage and stuff.

 

[Spiderman]

Frosti's Interview

 

[EricBess]

I don't get it. Are people just stupid? I mean, sure, watching from the outside is not the same as actually being there. We have the advantage of being able to know what is going through people's heads when they talk just for the camera. But still...

Denise practically told James to play the idol. Sitting at tribal council, here's what should have been going through his head..."Denise says that four people have talked about betraying their fifth. I don't remember that happening, I wonder if they are about to betray Todd..." huh? Clearly James, you are the target, pull out that idol.

Erik and Pee Gee, desperate as they are, might have tried to warn James also, in an attempt to make sure he played the idol. But having talked with James, Erik probably realized that doing so would have backfired. James would have told his tribe that he knew they were planning on backstabbing him and they would have switched back to Pee Gee, just to be safe. So you really can't blame them, but I'm not sure why Erik voted for James.

After all, if they do turn on James, it all comes down to one question - does James pull out an immunity or not?

Which brings me to the biggest idiot - Todd. What was he thinking??? He KNOWS that Pee Gee (and Erik, though he ended up not) are going to vote for him. That's two votes against him. At the VERY least, he should have voted with James for Pee Gee. How does that play out? 3 votes for James, he's still out. But if he pulls the idol, at least now you have a tie-breaker chance of kicking Pee Gee out instead of just conceding defeat for yourself.

The way it played out, he would have had the tie-breaker anyway, but had he voted for Pee Gee as an insurance policy, it wouldn't have mattered.

In fact, if Todd even suspects that Erik might vote for James, he should go to James, tell him to play the idol. After all, James was never really the threat. Sure, he's strong, but he hasn't really been winning immunity. The threat was the two idols. If you can convince him to play one, you have eliminated one of the two idols and when he sees that you were right, you have solidified your position with him and made him upset at a lot of other people. How can that be a bad thing? Still, relying on Erik at that point would have been risky. All the more reason to vote with James, Todd...

Clearly, Amanda is a huge snake. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. If she pulls it off, she deserves to win, but I personally hope they out her and see her for what she is before it's too late.

 

[Spiderman]

I never thought of that scenario with Todd voting for PG. Yeah, that would have been the best choice for him.

I think James was either incredibly trusting, naive, or dopey for not playing an idol at the council. He was already a target once! He should have been playing it for the "sure shot at being 1 in 6 for $1 million" and later a sure thing for 1 in 5. Man, that's too bad... and the jury was cracking up when the results were read

I think Erik is the most likable to win, although I think unless he wins immunity or makes some deal, he's not gonna...

 

[Spiderman]

Well, so much for Erik. He did all he could but it was too strong to crack...

PG comes through with immunity again... Todd blows it on his last key.

I hope the alliance does break apart and Amanda gets them to go against Todd...

 

[EricBess]

Yeah, we were surprized that Todd blew that last key. It was hard to see what the questions were for sure, but I thought his last question was between gun powder and chinese checkers. I'm not sure how you could have gotten that one wrong.

The scenes they showed last week were Amanda talking with Pee Gee about turning on Todd. Those scenes clearly weren't from this episode, so I think they are trying to raise the excitement level. I'm a bit disappointed that they would do that.