Survivor 34:Game Changers

[chesslover]

2x winner Sandra has survived 2 episodes. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

 

[Matt]

2x winner Sandra has survived 2 episodes. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Nah. The edit last night was very misleading. More so than usual. It was designed to make it seem as if the Sandra/Tony conflict was what was driving the tribe. In reality, Tony was a deadman walking. His five person alliance of him, Aubrey, Caleb, Sandra, and Malcolm never actually existed. This is evidenced by the nearly unanimous vote against Tony. It wasn't some brilliant strategic coalition designed by Sandra as the edit would have you believe. It was a foregone conclusion.

And Sandra is probably next. They took Tony first because of his proclivity for finding idols. He was the bigger threat. But Sandra will be next. And if she wasn't, she certainly will be by proclaiming herself to be the queen in front of her tribe at tribal council, when in reality she has no control. It is like when Dennis Reynolds declares himself the "golden god" on Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia. It is pure self-agrandizing delusion.

Sadly, both her and Tony's egos have already destroyed their games, which is disappointing. Hopefully this season doesn't turn out like All-Stars, where the true game changers are all eliminated pre-merge and we get stuck with scrubs that production picked to fill character types like Hali, Sierra, Culpepper, Caleb, and Troyzan. And yes, I am implying that Boston Rob is mediocre. He dominated All-Stars on the merits of rallying the other scrubs and he dominated Redemption Island because he had a teammate in the form of production trying to help him win. His other two performances were pathetic.

 

[BestGirl]

I thought the episode was way better than last season's premiere. Thank God Ciera and especially Tony are gone. A little of Tony goes a long way. I feel a little bad for Cirie since everyone's writing her off without giving her a chance.

Did Sierra get her lips done?

My only complaints are how few of these people are game changers, and how some of these people are frigging threepeaters. Shouldn't be allowed.

 

[Matt]

I thought the episode was way better than last season's premiere. Thank God Ciera and especially Tony are gone. A little of Tony goes a long way. I feel a little bad for Cirie since everyone's writing her off without giving her a chance.

Did Sierra get her lips done?

My only complaints are how few of these people are game changers, and how some of these people are frigging threepeaters. Shouldn't be allowed.

It was definitely an entertaining premiere. But if this season turns out half as good as Millennials vs Gen X, I'll be a happy camper.

Say what you will about Tony, he is helluva entertaining. Same with Ciera (if you can get past her cockiness). I would take them over Sierra Dawn Thomas or Hali or virtually any of this cast any day.

I will say, this is right up there with Fans vs Favorites 2 in terms of the worst returnee seasons. And I think people would be more forgiving if not for the Game Changers title. But apparently the season was cast and then the theme was come up with. So its not like production set out to find true game changers (otherwise you would have to have some combination of Richard Hatch, Rob Cesternino, Boston Rob, Russell Hantz, Yul Kwon, Amanda Kimmell, Parvati, Kim Spradlin, etc). They found people they like and then came up with the theme.

Personally though, if the producers were so high on Game Changers, I think they should've done something much more original and daring: Game Changers vs Duds. Imagine a tribe consisting of Cirie, Sandra, JT, Aubry, Ozzy, Malcolm, Tony, Zeke, Andrea, and Ciera, who I'd say are the real game changers in this cast (although Ciera is arguable, and Andrea's biggest accomplishment is being a production plant to give Probst's buddy Boston Rob a million dollars) vs the rest, who are early to middle game boots who have done nothing of value in Survivor, aside from endearing themselves to production. Now that would be an interesting twist on the season. Game Changers vs Goats.

Finally, as to your point regarding Cirie, she is making the exact same mistake she made in Heroes vs Villains in fixating on a single player and obsessing over them. That never ends well on Survivor. Its what destroyed Zeke and David last season. Hell, it is what has effectively already ended both Tony and Sandra's games.

In fairness, Ozzy is equally fixated on Cirie and still holding a grudge over something that happened 8 years ago. But Ozzy doesn't have the strategic or social chops to do anything about it. Therefore, Cirie should've just kicked back, gone with the flow and tried desperately to get off the radar. By running around and acting as paranoid as she did, even calling Ozzy out in front of everyone, she seems to have put a huge target on herself and got everyone thinking "this woman with a reputation for manipulation is trying to manipulate all of us." Stupid on her part.

Her play in both Heroes vs Villains and so far this season kind of validates her detractors who claim she isn't that good of a player (at least not as good as the hype). She was able to pull what she did in Panama because no one saw her as a threat, and to her credit, she made that work and used it to her advantage. But the greatness of Cirie, IMO, ends there. She was able to go deep in Fans vs Favorites because she let Parv and Amanda do the heavy lifting and then simply took credit for it in confessionals. Then in Heroes vs Villains, once she actually has her game exposed and a bit of reputation, while playing with real veterans and with no starstruck fans to hide behind either, she is not nearly as effective as her supporters would have you think. She is no Brian Heidick, Parv or Rob Cesternino. She is not one of the game's great manipulators or strategists who is capable of talking her way out of anything. She did well when circumstance favored her and not much since.

 

[Wyrminarrd]

I was disappointed that Tony was voted out and not Sandra. I've never been fond of Sandra's play style, while Tony is at least very entertaining to watch. But I guess Tony really did shot himself in the foot way to much by acting so erratic. When you have a particular bad rep you should try downplay it instead of playing it up like he did.

I was actually hoping that the other team would lose so that Cirie would go home. Her ego is way to big and it would have been fun to see her go out first on her tribe.

I hope that this season won't have too many switch ups. If the players figure out that there will be regular swaps then its open hunting season on the physically strong players since you don't need to keep any particular tribe strong for next immunity challenge cause the tribe is probably going to change anyway.

Personally I think a great change to the game would be to merge everyone into one tribe, but split everyone into two teams during immunity challenges randomly and only the losers go to tribal. Make it clear from the start that there won't be individual immunity challenges except maybe at the very end. This would force players to adapt after each challenge since you never know ahead of time who you will be going to tribal with.

 

[BestGirl]

^That is such an interesting idea.

And, Matt, we'll see about Cirie. The editors could be trying to surprise us and set up Cirie to outlast Ozzy.

 

[Wyrminarrd]

I was really hoping that Hali would be the one to go as she seemed like more of a non entity in the game but I guess that Culpepper made the right choice in the situation.

The tribe switch up really managed to be unbalanced this time around. Two tribes of 5+1 and one with 4+2. It really boggles my mind that in both of the 5+1 tribes the +1 was allowed to be unsupervised for anything longer than a minute or two. Its like both the 5's were just asking to be hit by an immunity idol.

 

[PemLam]

I didn't come into this season with high expectations, and so far the first 3 episodes haven't disappointed that feeling. I'm sure there was some editing, but the last episode made it seem like Hali and Caleb didn't even attempt to save themselves other than the few sentences they spoke at tribal. No obvious attempts to talk to people on the beach, no last second scrambling before heading to tribal, etc.

On a side note, I didn't think I could despise Sandra any more than I already did. Not only are her previous wins a joke, winning only because of her "anyone but me" philosophy and going to tribal with incredibly bitter juries, she's now added outright arrogance and extreme cockiness. On some other players, I would probably enjoy it because it would bring some energy to a lackluster season (so far), but with her, it's just infuriating.

I hope this season picks up because it would be a shame to follow such a good season in M vs G-X with this mess.

 

[Quasar]

I half expected Sandra to just start tearing into those goats!

 

[BestGirl]

I didn't come into this season with high expectations, and so far the first 3 episodes haven't disappointed that feeling. I'm sure there was some editing, but the last episode made it seem like Hali and Caleb didn't even attempt to save themselves other than the few sentences they spoke at tribal. No obvious attempts to talk to people on the beach, no last second scrambling before heading to tribal, etc..

I've heard that Sierra approached Caleb and asked him to make his case to her and he refused to do it, so I don't believe it was just editing. It's just as well that he's gone.

 

[PemLam]

I half expected Sandra to just start tearing into those goats!

And the pathetic thing is once she realized no one else wanted to do it and she was looking like an idiot, she instantly turns it to everyone else calls for a vote; all in an attempt to look like a "team player".

I hate that woman.

 

[Wyrminarrd]

Sandra is definitely the one I want to see go next.

On the other two tribes my first votes out would be Tai and Cirie.

 

[psylockolussus]

The Queen should be voted out next!

Sad to see Tony and Caleb go. And was glad who got voted out first.

I really don't want the no name/undeserving people (meaning boring people from the previous seasons) like Hali, Jeff, Zeke to be voted out soon. I'd include Troyzan and Sierra into that mix though I'd like to see Sirie, Ozziebe voted out first. They had so much chances.

 

[BestGirl]

And the pathetic thing is once she realized no one else wanted to do it and she was looking like an idiot, she instantly turns it to everyone else calls for a vote; all in an attempt to look like a "team player".

I hate that woman.

That's smart gameplay on her part.

 

[kvz5]

Is that the craziest TC or what???

 

[Wyrminarrd]

That was a crazy tribal, no doubt about it.

Man, I´m really pissed off at how it went. Losing Malcolm from the game really sucks imo, especially when I thought it was going to be Sandra going home.

JT really screwed things up. If he had just kept his mouth shut and voted Sandra then his main alliance member on Nuku would still be there and he wouldn't be in an extremely poor position.

Sill, despite the result I really enjoyed this twist to the game. It really introduced a whole new dynamic into the mix.

 

[BestGirl]

Yeah, it was fun. It's the kind of twist you can only pull during an all-stars season, in which everyone knows everyone else. I'm indifferent to Malcolm so I didn't mind losing him. They should've waited until the teams had equal numbers, though. This potentially could've been a boring 6-5 vote.

 

[PemLam]

Seeing the looks on the Nuku faces when all the Sierra votes were nullified was absolute gold. What's even better is now they're at an even number for the tribes so if Nuku goes back to tribal (with another two tribe scenario), they won't be able to count on any kind of majority because they know JT won't necessarily have their back.

Speaking of JT, while telling Brad about Sierra ended up having the unintended result of costing him his main alliance member in Malcolm, I can understand his reasoning behind telling him. JT was on the outs so I think he was trying to solidify some kind of relationship with the other tribe for when the next mixup happens (or the merge). Unfortunately, Brad screwed him over by getting rid of Malcolm instead of Sandra.

I think life in Nuku is going to suck for JT for the next couple days because of Sandra and a couple others...but ultimately he's going to have some say in the next tribal if they do the two tribe thing again.

All I want to see is Sandra exiting the game. At this point I don't care if she's voted out, medically discharged or the goats rise up and snatch her arrogant butt off into the jungle.

 

[Wyrminarrd]

Yeah, it was fun. It's the kind of twist you can only pull during an all-stars season, in which everyone knows everyone else. I'm indifferent to Malcolm so I didn't mind losing him. They should've waited until the teams had equal numbers, though. This potentially could've been a boring 6-5 vote.

The saving grace of this twist was that it happened almost right after a shake up when the new tribes weren't solid and a lot could happen to change things up. Plus at this point the players must be thinking that anything could happen before next tribal.

Though I almost wished that as an added twist they had made the player(s) who sat out the challenge be immune and not have a vote at tribal. That would have even things out and given added pressure to break ranks since a tie means going straight to rocks.

 

[psylockolussus]

It was cuhrazy! Enjoying this season so far. I expected Malcolm to go far.

 

[Matt]

So, at this point, between giving Russell the idol I. Heroes vs Villains and now this game, is it safe to safe JT should've never won Tocancins, only made it through on the merit of Stephen Fishbach and only won because of a bitter jury?

 

[PemLam]

Yeah, probably safe to say that. Of course getting to the end and winning because of other peoples' efforts and bitter juries could be said for at least half the overall winners on the show.

My hatred for Sandra is still there, but I will begrudgingly admit her game play this season has been a 100% turn around from previous seasons where she just huddled in the background. I don't think she'll win because her arrogance and condescending attitude towards others will bite her.

 

[psylockolussus]

Jt should have played it safe and played his idol. IDG why some of these returnees keep making mistakes by not using their idol the moment their name is being written at tribal. Better be sure than sorry.

And as much as I appreciate the personality of Mikayla and the Queen - I want them gone. Mikayla doesn't even deserve to return for a second season. While Sandra needs to be humbled up. The Queen will not stay the queen for long and I cannot wait to see her get voted out for the first time.

Looking forward to the next twist!

 

[kvz5]

Well that was dumb... Sandra being SO obvious at the TC that Mikaela is going should've tipped JT off.

 

[psylockolussus]

The fact that he left the idol at camp makes him look more stupider.

I like JT, and as for a winner - he can be entertaining to watch which is always good for the season but these things are the reasons why the bigger stars usually went out first than the nobodies.

So far, this season is pretty good. But a part of Me won't enjoy if the final six consist of Sierra, Hali, Zeke, Troyzan, Brad and Sarah. Don't get me wrong some of those were good characters in their original season. But I feel like they should cast the true stars of their respective seasons. Sierra won't even be here if Natalie of the Amazing Race didn't back out.