After last week's tribal counsil, it was clear that something was going to give in the Rob vs. Russell war. Despite being outnumbered 6-3 at the last tribal, Russell managed to oust Tyson via an Immunity Idol. Now down 5-3, he immediately takes the work to Jerri, who still harbours negative energy from the All-Star season 6-years ago towards Rob.
With the votes now 4-4, Jerri tells Coach this is the direction they're taking; targetting Rob. Coach has absolutely no interest in that what-so-ever, wanting to keep the tribe strong, and his word to Rob good. So instead, he throws a vote at Courtney, and lets Jerri decide on her own, rather than force a tie between Rob and Russell. The king is dead, and a new emperor has emerged. Russell Hantz is taking over Survivor. This guy has dodged so many tribal counsils it's getting downright laughable.
The highlight of the show, for me, was Russell telling Courtney and Sandra "one of you going home". This guy has balls the size of boulders, telling a majority alliance what's what. I go back and forth on Russell, sometimes being irritated because of the overkill, and sometimes just being mesmerized by the fact we're watching the most dominant back-to-back strategic performance in the history of this game.
Meanwhile, on the Hero side, Colby pretty much had "Eye Of The Tiger" playing during every scene tonight. He dominated every minute of the challenges he played, and is now working to keep the tribe united at 5. Beautiful comeback on his part after being kicked around by James (and the rest of the tribe) over the last couple of weeks. At the beginning of the season I wanted to see the three people who got screwed the hardest (who are playing this game) in their respective Final Tribal Counsil votes make it to the end. Rob, Russell, and Colby. We still have two. Go Colby!
There's other people still around, but the editors don't care, so neither do I. (Except JT who is awesome, but non-existant this week.)
I read the reports and the Jeff Probst blog on the Entertainment Weekly site, and a few people there raise an interesting point. Russell has a slight advantage over any of these folks in that they never saw him play the game. Apparently this season was taped before the previous one was shown, so they have no idea how he acted in the game previously.
And if the reward challenge was any indication, Russell vs. Rupert could shape up to be just as epicly epic once a merge happens. Great season so far.
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Originally posted by HokienauticI read the reports and the Jeff Probst blog on the Entertainment Weekly site, and a few people there raise an interesting point. Russell has a slight advantage over any of these folks in that they never saw him play the game. Apparently this season was taped before the previous one was shown, so they have no idea how he acted in the game previously.
Yeah, I'm a huge Russell fan, and even I think it's unfair. Question is, would it matter? Maybe they'd be a little more prepared to hold onto their hats when shit hits the fan, but Russell plays a very open strategy for the most part. He'll tell you he's gunning for you to your face and then, even if you have the odds stacked, he finds a way to make it happen. He's also usually very loyal to his followers, even if he is just using them as a means to an end. The battle lines were drawn very clearly, and Russell was on the "wrong" side, and he still prevailed.
I know that most of the viewers on this board tend to dislike Russell, but I still love the guy and he's the main reason for my renewed interest in the past two Survivors. It's a shame Rob and Russell butted heads the way they did, I used to root for Boston Rob hardcore back in his season and in the first All Stars.
Originally posted by HokienauticI read the reports and the Jeff Probst blog on the Entertainment Weekly site, and a few people there raise an interesting point. Russell has a slight advantage over any of these folks in that they never saw him play the game. Apparently this season was taped before the previous one was shown, so they have no idea how he acted in the game previously.
Yeah, but it shouldn't be shocking that someone who was so good on his season that he immediately was put on another one would be, you know, good. Particularly when it was clear he wasn't there for his physical skills (like when Rupert went back-to-back) but rather for his mental. He should have had a target on his back in a similar fashion to how during the original All-Stars season all the previous winners were targeted.
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Boston Rob's biggest problem was that he didn't adapt to the changes in the game. He tried to get the Villians to ignore the immunity idol because they didn't have it back when he played. So of course the immunity idol comes back to bite him in the ass and leads to his ultimate ouster.
Coach was indeed a "little man" (loved Boston Rob's comment) when he played to his sense of loyalty & duty and wrote down Courtney's name instead of Boston Rob. he might as well have voted for Boston Rob as much as his integrity was worth. he sent Rob packing and inside he knows it. He could have played to his own ethos by voting for Russell and made the 2 of them face off mano a mano in a tiebreaker but he didn't.
and yes, advantage Russell for having not been seen by the Heroes & Villians prior to playing but shouldn't a little warning flag have gone off in their collective heads when a player from the very last season is named to All-Stars and placed on the Villian side ? They deserve what Russell gives them.
Originally posted by dunkndollazand yes, advantage Russell for having not been seen by the Heroes & Villians prior to playing but shouldn't a little warning flag have gone off in their collective heads when a player from the very last season is named to All-Stars and placed on the Villian side ? They deserve what Russell gives them.
Some of the CBS online footage from the Randy-boot episode showed that Randy was accused of hiding the machete since he trashed his own camp back in Gabon. Randy angrily told everyone to f-off, which pretty much sealed his fate. Had the other villains seen Russell's season and known about his propensity for sabotage, they likely would've pointed the finger at him instead. That was a MAJOR turning point in the game and I can't believe the editors didn't show that footage in the show proper. So yeah, the villains can guess that Russell was up to no good, but they don't know his specific tactics. Plus, several of them didn't consider themselves to be villains anyway, so they might already have a low opinion of Survivor's classification system.
Originally posted by dunkndollaz(Coach) could have played to his own ethos by voting for Russell and made the 2 of them face off mano a mano in a tiebreaker but he didn't.
IIRC, until you get down to a final four, the tiebreaker is the people who tied in the vote (in this case Rob and Russell) are then safe, and the others on the tribe have to draw rocks to see which one is eliminated. What Rob was asking Coach to do was force the tie, and take his chances on drawing a rock.
Other than that, I don't get everyone knocking Rob - he accounted for Russell having the idol, accounted that Russell might give it to someone else - Rob designed a foolproof plan.
The only thing you can really criticize Rob for is not reckoning on Tyson being an extra special SuperFool.
I'll bump this thread up to encapsulate tonight's episode. For all of the dick-measuring between Russell and Rob about who was the best Survivor ever, let's not forget that Sandra (unlike those two) actually has a title to her name. She played Russell like a harp this week and saved Courtney for at least one more week. It's also great that Russell is all, "Heh heh, we'll make them think it's a women's alliance!" when he is walking straight into an actual women's alliance. What a tool.
Then again, that preview....if JT actually does that....good lord.
Wasn't JT the one who came up with "we'll all look for the hidden idol together"? Then he goes off to poach it for himself, and is immediately BUSTED.
Originally posted by Big BadThen again, that preview....if JT actually does that....good lord.
As if the back half of this season could stink any worse.. I won't speak for anyone else, but didn't we just sit through an entire season of Russell paranoia? Sure, I give him his due for the badass play a couple of weeks ago - but enough of this Richard III crap.
At least I'm comforted that last week's preview 'showed' the villain tribe in total, chaotic dysfunction - and instead we got meh, incompetence instead. (And it's hard to rank the teased mistake up there with Ian giving away his spot in the final two - when the rest of the cast doesn't really know about Russell and hidden idols yet.)
Bottom line, this episode didn't do much to find me someone new to root for, I get the feeling that before Sandra can get too far playing Russell, Parvati is going to claim her pawn back.
I must say though Sandra had a point, she was not a villian in her season. The most villianous thing she did was hide Ruperts fish after he was voted off as 'revenge'.
But that was defentley the a nice manipulation of Russell to get him to vote for Coach, making them 'think' it's a women's alliance.
I had to laugh when the whole Villians tribe brought thier camp thinking it was a merge. They really are lost without Rob.
As far as JT possibly giving Russell the hidden immunity idol being th edumbest move ever, I'd have to see how it plays out. And I'm not happy about the jury members starting already, that means we're going to have anohter crap-ass final 3. I much prefer the final 2 format. I also prefer the jury coming out of the merged tribe rather than one or the other tribe pre-merge.
I think we have to come to accept a Final 3 scenario. It's not out of the realm of possibility we're looking at a Final 2, as Micronesia saw an absolutely bizarre 8 person jury. 10-person Jury isn't impossible, but unlikely.
5 of the last 7 seasons have seen a Final 3, and unfortunately it seems to be the producers preferred choice of scenario.
JT giving Russell the hidden immunity idol wouldn't be the DUMBEST move ever, seeing as how he'd be using it as leverage towards an anti-women's alliance. That title still belongs to, and will never be removed from Erik. However judging from the previews, I suspect it will lead to JT's demise.
Sandra's this week's all-star, and congratulations to her on being the first person to play Russell at his own game.
You would think with three episodes in there would be a lot to discuss, but not really. The show time jumped ahead to when the guys get out of prison. Jax apparently got fucked by the Russians even though we don't see it, just his scars.