Survivor: Samoa

[Spiderman]

Well, saw the 12/10 show and I agree with you, it feels very rushed since they went to two immunity challenges and tribal councils back to back.

Dave just "assumed" too much, like that Russell couldn't have possibly gotten a second immunity idol (at the time) and the look on his face was priceless when Russell played it at tribal and saved himself. He had a lot of those moments; the camera loved showing his reaction to various stuff.

Since I know who won but not who was at the final two or three with the winner, it's interesting finding out how things go down in between.

Brett has become "more alive" but yeah, I think it's because there were just more interesting people and plotlines going on before that didn't really involve him.

As a side-note, it's interesting that Russell got on Jaison's case about spilling the beans about how much Russell makes, but as far as I know, the show just showed Russell talking to Mick about it. So either Russell told Jaison also "off-camera" or Mick told Jaison... and since Russell didn't go to Mick about spilling the beans, I'm guessing it's the former (or if it was the latter, it must have happened pretty soon when Russell didn't fell threatened knowing that Jaison or Natalie knew).

 

[EricBess]

Yeah, I think the editors at Survivor could do a much better job. Perhaps they just don't have footage of certain things, so they are doing the best they can, but I agree that Russell must have told Jaison sometime that we didn't see. It's like they needed to put Russell talking to Mick because later they have footage of Mick telling Galu people and that wouldn't make sense unless we already knew that Russell had told Mick. But as you pointed out, Russell never went to Mick to ask why he spilled the beans (again, at least not that we saw), but instead to Nat and Jaison.

So either they didn't have footage of Russell telling Nat and Jaison, or the editors didn't feel it was necessary to show that. If the former, then I guess there isn't much you can do about it, but if they had footage and simply didn't feel it was necessary to show, then they didn't think it through very well IMO.

 

[Spiderman]

Slowly catching up, saw the 12.17 show.

Looks like Brett is holding out as long as he can, winning back to back immunity challenges. Kind of obvious Shambo had to go, but it seems she understood and really was in it to stick it to Galu who treated her so poorly in the beginning.

 

[train]

With you on the Shambo part... now just holding back for the "spidey's catching up part"...

But - I can't say too much when there's a year+ between my appearances at times... sheesh...

 

[Spiderman]

All righty, almost there... saw the final episode and the winner, just not the rest of the reunion show...

Too bad for Brett that he lost the final immunity challenge; my wife was really cheering him on

Not sure why Russell was even considering taking Brett to the final three as he would most likely win since 7/9 of the jury would be his Galu tribemates.

Amusing and slightly exasperating that in the final day, Russell was continually talking as if his winning was a forgone conclusion and he did it all - "I" this and that. Mick was pretty silent during it while Natalie kept agreeing with him - "You're gonna win".

Clearly some members of the jury favored one or a couple of the top 3 as their questions were directed towards those not in favor (usually). Didn't expect Shambo to attack Mick and Natalie as she did. Erik had the best speech, I thought, and clearly as the first member of the jury, he had a lot of time to observe everything and see how it played out (I think he spent as much time on the jury as he did in the game, if not more) and I thought it was pretty true - why is "riding the coattails" a Bad Thing? Although I don't think Natalie really did ride the coattails; she hung low and didn't challenge Russell 'cause she saw the ones who did got booted, and she seemed to be instrumental in starting the ball rolling to get Erik voted out once the tribes merged.

So even though I knew who the winner was, it was interesting to see who the top 3 were and the jury statements and questions and answers and while I think Russell did play a good game, his attitude while doing so wasn't "game-worthy", as some noted. Between Mick and Natalie, I think Natalie was more deserving, although that may be because I'm not really sure what Mick actually did in the game besides being "the nice guy". Specifically as a leader of his tribe, I thought he could have been a bit more assertive, but maybe he also saw how everyone who faced Russell got targeted and so also wanted to keep in the background.

 

[train]

Yeah - I think Mick backed his way in... Natalie did more to keep herself moving along than Mick did...

As for Russel - he kind of reminded me of Hatch from season 1... maybe more pompous than Hatch - but it all seemed to be there...

Even the facial hair...

 

[Spiderman]

Russel was definitely more aggressive than Hatch, from what little I still remember of the first season, unless the camera didn't show Hatch as much as focused on Russell a lot more. But it was also the first season and no one really knew what to expect, while Russell obviously knew what was going on from previous seasons.

 

[train]

I think that is one of the things that has changed the game the most - knowing how outcomes have occurred previously...

the first season was more about the competitive edge, and it is now really about the scheming that can get you by...

 

[Melkor]

Yeah, Mick really didn't do anything all season to justify a win and I got the feeling that he wasn't that well liked either. Natalie had played just enough not to be a complete loss and was well liked enough to get votes when people couldn't stomach voting for Russell.

 

[EricBess]

I actually got the impression that Russell was respected in that everyone felt like allying themselves with him was the correct play. I think people saw through him as a bully more than they really let on, but I don't think that they saw him as a bully as much as we did. I don't think he was disliked so much, but when everyone knows that you are the one pulling the strings, then when they get eliminated, you are going to get blamed as well...

 

[Spiderman]

Saw the reunion show...

Man, did Russell look... unhappy. He just couldn't get a smile on his face.

I think it would have been interesting to know exactly why each jury member voted to whom, but I guess there isn't enough time on the reunion show for that. Is it on the CBS website? Obviously Brett would have won if he had made it to the final three, the camera didn't even bother to go to the jury for a raise of hands

Russell offering what appeared to be $10,000 which appeared to get raised to $100,000 at some point off-camera for just the title of "Sole Survivor" was pretty funny.

Jeff didn't get to every player for a brief update this time, that was too bad.

I thought Mick was liked well enough, but just didn't do enough in the eyes of the jury to get the win over the other two.

We'll probably see Russell again in the next Survivor: Heros vs Villains show, but I gotta say, from a viewer standpoint, giving what seems to be some people a third chance to win seems kinda "blah" at this point. I mean, you probably gotta assume Jonny Fairplay, Russell, and Richard Hatch will be on the Villain side (and maybe Rob and Amber), they just seem to stand out. I'm sure some of the same people from the Survivor: Most Popular show will be on the Heros and Villains side. Meanwhile, you have thousands of "regular" people who would still love to be on the show. So I think doing a show like this is pretty self-serving (well, obviously for the ratings, but I think they could have done a better schtick if they wanted to bring back people. Something like I mentioned before, like a show with everyone who had been voted off first in previous shows and giving them another chance).

 

[EricBess]

I don't know about fairplay. After what happened in the last reunion show, I'm not sure if you can really consider him a villian anymore. Not that he didn't play that way, but it's clear that he just wasn't up to it again.

Think Rupert will be back again?

 

[Melkor]

I think that most of the sabotage stuff that Russell pulled was known about or became known during the show. Basically, when you live on a tiny beach with only 5 to 10 other people, there aren't a lot of secrets. Anyway, with another group of people Russell might have gotten the respect of the jury but when you play it as close to the bone as he did, you've got to expect the possibility of a backlash.

It is a little weird to think of people coming back for the third time but without some of those people already mentioned, it seems like it would be hard to fill up the teams without stretching it. Of the top of my head it seems a little tougher to fill up the Villain team than the Hero team which is kind of interesting given the general stereotype of Survivor being filled with backstabbers. We'll see how it all turns out.

 

[Spiderman]

I think that most of the sabotage stuff that Russell pulled was known about or became known during the show. Basically, when you live on a tiny beach with only 5 to 10 other people, there aren't a lot of secrets.

I don't know, it seemed Jaison was still surprised that Russell was the one who had burned his socks. I would have said that if anyone had found out during the show that Russell had poured out the water or burned socks, etc., the show would have shown the confrontation as that seems it would be good TV, but the "filler" show during Thanksgiving seemed to show Russell letting loose the chickens and there didn't seem to be a reaction to that. So I don't know if people found out or not...

I guess I'm just tired of seeing old faces or "vets" on the show again; they had their shot, let's see a new a group of people.

 

[EricBess]

I agree with Spidey. I think it is very easy to keep secrets. I remember the first season when no one could stand Richard Hatch and thought he was very manipulative and unethical. Then he wins and when they bring this up in the reunion show, everyone says that he was very well liked around the beach.

I think it is very easy to assume that everyone knows what kind of a person they each are just because we've seen all of that. I think they realized that Russell was a power player and that they didn't want to cross him, but I really don't think they realize how much he did to try to stir up emotions.