Survivor: Gabon

[Spiderman]

Well, I think Kenny and Matty have an alliance, since when Ace asked Matty who he'd want to keep with him, Matty said Kenny.

I think the old Fang was supposed to have an alliance when they did that merge, but with GC voted off and I guess Matty saying that there wasn't a plan (And I guess he didn't want to step up and be a target), he just went with Ace once he saw Ace "had a plan".

 

[Spiderman]

Kelly's Interview

 

[Spiderman]

An interesting (and slightly funny) take on 10/23's episode

 

[Melkor]

I don't see how voting Ace off helps Sugar at all. Isn't she the obvious next on the chopping block? If she'd kept Ace then the two of them plus Matt control the tribe and she can hold onto the immunity idol until the merge. Now it looks like something is going to happen next week that is merge like but I still don't see how voting out your closest ally at this point helps you because now she has no alliance at all.

 

[EricBess]

I'm not sure that is true. From what I can tell, there is no current alliance on Fang. And everyone knew that Ace would stab anyone in the back if it would help him go further. Everyone knows she has the idol, so unless they figure out a way to convince her not to use it, I think they may be better off just letting her coast for a while.

It will be interesting to see what happens next week, though. Normally, this is where the merge would happen, but the commercials seem to imply that there is going to be a new twist.

 

[Melkor]

But as long as Ace was around he was always a bigger target than Sugar and provided her with cover. If they just went as usual next week she would be a definite target, if she had kept Ace she would have been completely safe within Fang. We'll have to see what the twist is and if things work out.

 

[Spiderman]

Man, I finally watched the show. Managed to convince my wife to skip over House and Without a Trace (the next shows in rotation on the DVR) just so I could see what you guys were talking about

Like EricBess said, I don't think there's any alliances in Fang. There might have been one between Matty and Ace, but obviously that's done with. Matty probably thinks Kenny is with him but isn't, and Ace thought Sugar was with him but wasn't. If anything, Sugar-Kenny-Crystal hold the power now, but it remains to be seen if that holds true or they just got together this one time to get rid of Ace. Matty and Ace were obviously blindsided though - Matty's face at tribal was just crestfallen that his ally went

On the Kota side, no one is more annoying than Randy, who is being portrayed as a sore winner and the previews are showing his cockiness. Corinne seems to have some issues to, blowing up a conversation with Susie into what seems to be a mountain out of a molehill. Unless more was going on that wasn't shown... Poor Dan was made out to be a doof, by his own self-admission and from his teammates observations.

But the tribal vote had me all confused. I thought Susie was gone, especially when they showed Marcus's vote for her. But the alliance split their votes with Dan going, so that was weird. The only thing I can think of right now is that they really didn't care who was going between Dan and Susie and so just split their votes to not put their alliance out in public yet.

Poor Bob though, getting replaced in the alliance by Randy. I think he's my favorite so far, despite not getting a lot of airtime (or maybe because of that, I don't have any negatives towards him ). From what's shown so far, he just seems a decent guy - more decent than the others so far, although since not a lot of Kota has been shown, a good lot of them seem okay (Marcus, Charlie).

 

[EricBess]

Well, as of last night, none of that matters anymore. It seems to me that at this point, Kenny and Crystal have the best chance ironically because they seems like such long shots. Sure, there is a 6-man alliance, but the problem with a 6-man alliance is that half of them are not going to make the final 3. And just like that, there is a 4-man alliance.

I'm not surprised at all that Susie did what she did. Historically, turncoats get the axe, but I'm not sure she's going to be seen as a turncoat. In fact, if she makes the final 3, it's unclear historically if people will vote for her because she was once part of the alliance or against her because she turned on them.

This is an odd season and at this point, I honestly think it's anyone's game.

BTW, my guess is that there will be a merge next week. If that happens, Susie made a mistake because like I said, a 4-man alliance is far more likely to be stong than a 6-man alliance. The only question is whether Kenny, Crystal, and Susie stick together and can get Sugar and Matty to realize they need to break up what's left of the alliance.

Speaking of Matty, he really saved himself this week. Bob continues to impress and I hope he does well, but I don't really like the rest of the alliance much.

 

[Spiderman]

Yeah, I don't know if Sugar will go for it since Matty talked to her and got her to see that listening to Kenny and voting off Ace was a mistake. However, she also seems very malleable so if Kenny can explain what he did, maybe he can fix it...

Matty might go with the (now) 5 man alliance simply to save his skin and that they have the numbers right now...

I think Susie did make a good move for last week but if there's a merge, yeah, the Kota alliance won't trust her (especially Corinne).

 

[Spiderman]

Interviews:

Marcus's Interview

Dan and Ace's Interviews

 

[EricBess]

Interesting episode. I have to say that both Matty and Bob sure were relieved at the merge. Kenny is emerging as a real player in all of this. It will be interesting to see if any of his "lies" eventually catch up with him. So far, though, he hasn't been very far from the truth even when he has been "making it up", so it may not even matter.

I think it's great what Bob did with the idol. Given the merge, I doubt it will ever play a part, but if he could convince someone, he could make that person feel safe if he were willing to "part with it".

I can't believe Randy and how upset he got about the reward challenge. Honestly, how long can you argue about the best way to "fling" the ball right in front of you. In the end, I think Matty had the right idea, pointing the ball down at an angle and flinging it. If he hadn't put any tension on it at all, I would have laughed had it just fallen right back where it was. But Randy was so upset that "Matty didn't listen to him".

Clearly he's rubbing a few people wrong, but other than Candy, more people seemed bothered by Corrinne than by Randy.

I'm surprised that Bob actually thought that the idol might still be out there. I was also a bit confused by his "quest". From what I saw, it looked as if there was a map marking the location of 4 different clues and he trudged through all of them instead of going straight for clue 4. Makes me wonder if he thought that the clues built upon each other instead of being leading to each other. And by the time he found clue 2, he probably didn't even think about it. It was just a glimpse at the map, though, so I don't really know.

Given how little Candy trusts Kenny, I'm 1) surprised that he was the one that approached her, and 2) surprised that she still voted with them. But I think that as much as she doesn't trust Kenny, I think that the one person she does trust would be Matty. Corrinne thinking that Candy was gullible should have been her first warning.

If I were Candy, I would actually try to blindside Kenny next elimination. If she can keep the other sides equal, she has a better chance herself of remaining the swing vote. Ultimately, Candy and Matty could control this game if approached Susie and Bob, both of whom are a bit disenfranchised at the moment.

 

[Mooseman]

I have to tell you guys that I have only ever watched one episode of this show, but reading your recaps and analysis is very interesting.
Keep up the good posts....

 

[EricBess]

So...you don't actually watch the show on a regular basis, but you do read our recaps? Cool

 

[Mooseman]

The only episode I ever saw was the one that the guy fell in the fire and got burned real bad.... also the very end of the first? season, where everyone ripped the one girl up and down.

 

[Spiderman]

Not sure how I missed the 11/14 post but oh well...

Man, that was like way back in 2001 or 2002 (the one with the fire). I think it was the one with Elizabeth Hasselbeck on it (now of The View).

Anyway, since Thursday's episode was just a recap of the season so far, I'm not sure I remember too much from 11/20. I know I'm glad Randy is gone and that pulling the wool over his eyes and giving him the fake idol was hilarious. The faces of each side as it went down during Tribal Council was priceless... especially Corinne's face.

I don't think Susie is disfranchised; she's obviously cast her lot with Kenny/Crystal/Matty and what appears to be Sugar. Looks like Bob has done it too, with him giving the fake to Randy and from the upcoming preview, looks like he's trying to do the same to Corinne (because I don't think Marcus kept the idol in secret before throwing it in the ocean).

That's about all I can remember for now, until you jog my memory

 

[Spiderman]

Well, I guess Bob really was trying to keep with Corinne but their plan backfired (kind of) and she got voted off. Good riddance. Kenny fell for their plot though so after all of his talk about "us five have to stick together", it'll be shown that he broke with the alliance to vote out Matty and I bet it'll bite him in the rear. And he's blaming Bob for lying to him and messing up his game? Oh boo hoo...

Corinne's Interview

 

[EricBess]

I'm surprized that there are only 2 more episodes. Doesn't that seem early? We still have 6 people. Do they usually have the finale starting with 5 or with 4?

I liked Bob's plan, but it had one fatal flaw - people don't really fear the idol now days because it can only be used once and you can play around it. In other words, even if you believe the bluff, you still vote for them (even more so) and make sure that the second person is your best alternative. It might have worked better had Bob not had immunity. Or better yet, tell Kenny that you and Corrinne will be voting for him and that his only chance is to convince everyone else to vote for Matty...?

I am a bit surprized that Kenny still voted for Matty. After all, 5-2 still accomplishes the same as 4-3, but he gave Crystal the ability to simply flip and change everything. That was risky and unnecessary and puts him at odds with Matty if Matty realizes it was him.

 

[Spiderman]

I didn't even know there were two episodes left. Maybe there's a double elimination in one of them (they've done that before - done a tribal then turned around and said to stay seated 'cause they're gonna vote off another right away).

The game might be getting to Kenny... I agree, he should have stayed true to his alliance. And I bet Matty finds out so Kenny's days could be numbered...

 

[EricBess]

So...Sugar really has an issue with being very trusting, but once she starts to see what is really going on...watch out, that girl has a devious side for righteous indignation. Well played. I was hoping something like that would happen, but I didn't know what the rules were about it. That's as close to a two-fer as it gets

Personally, I think they should have either gone for the head or gotten Bob out of his deal. I would have loved to have seen the same thing go down, but with Bob instead of Matty (intentionally being vague here in case you haven't seen it yet). But I can see why Bob might not have been trusting enough for that to have worked. It would have solidified his trust to see that Sugar was telling him the truth, though.

 

[Spiderman]

Well, I think the episode went down like I would have liked. I'm starting to dislike Kenny and Crystal - Kenny is just getting too arrogant and "smarmy". I hope he's the next to go. I'm rooting for Bob and actually then Sugar, as I think she's playing the game pretty honestly (despite her tendency to get emotional at every important decision now). And then Matty, he's kinda a blank slate for me still but he hasn't really irked me (at least, consistently ).