Survivor 41 Discussion Thread

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I felt like episode two was pretty average. As much as this is a "new game", tonight I felt it go back to what it was in the late 30s. Lots of twists and advantages.

I like the concept of the Beware Advantage, but the catchphrases are the stupidest thing ever. Like really dumb. It also seems extremely harsh that Xander can't have his vote until the other two idols are found and activated. What if they're never found? Does it reset at a swap or merge?

I'm also over the trip to Mountain Climb Island. Once you've seen it, you've seen it. I don't need or want it every episode.

The best part is the players. I like Evvie and Liana. I like Xander. Voce was pretty good, too. Tiffany is a little wacky, but she's a fun character. We didn't see much of her tonight, but I liked Shan again tonight. Brad's scene at the top of the episode was pretty funny. It gave me a little bit of Tony vibes, but Brad doesn't know how to play the game.

I felt like Evvie was the MVP tonight. She seems to have the strongest grasp on her tribe, much like Shan did last week. Also, Ricard says Shan is his closest ally? Last week we were led to believe that Ricard and Sara were a tight two. Thing like that rub me the wrong way with editing. It kind of feels like an intentional lie by production just to surprise us as Tribal Council.

So overall, average episode. Looking forward to see where we go next week.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

I felt like episode two was pretty average. As much as this is a "new game", tonight I felt it go back to what it was in the late 30s. Lots of twists and advantages.

I like the concept of the Beware Advantage, but the catchphrases are the stupidest thing ever. Like really dumb. It also seems extremely harsh that Xander can't have his vote until the other two idols are found and activated. What if they're never found? Does it reset at a swap or merge?

I'm also over the trip to Mountain Climb Island. Once you've seen it, you've seen it. I don't need or want it every episode.

The best part is the players. I like Evvie and Liana. I like Xander. Voce was pretty good, too. Tiffany is a little wacky, but she's a fun character. We didn't see much of her tonight, but I liked Shan again tonight. Brad's scene at the top of the episode was pretty funny. It gave me a little bit of Tony vibes, but Brad doesn't know how to play the game.

I felt like Evvie was the MVP tonight. She seems to have the strongest grasp on her tribe, much like Shan did last week. Also, Ricard says Shan is his closest ally? Last week we were led to believe that Ricard and Sara were a tight two. Thing like that rub me the wrong way with editing. It kind of feels like an intentional lie by production just to surprise us as Tribal Council.

So overall, average episode. Looking forward to see where we go next week.

That catchphrase thing is too much. I was expecting it to be a normal-ish phrase someone could reasonably be expected to say at a challenge, like "I'm tired and hungry but I'm ready to give 1000%".

It will now be obvious it's a "thing" and is another case of the show influencing things, rather than letting the players play.

The editing is interesting. People have pointed out that Xander seemed to be aware of the vote, so more was being discussed potentially than we see. The show is too focused on the blindside sometimes.

How many extra votes are there going to be?

The tribes that win immunity are going to be overpowered. They get a reward, can sit out their weakest player, and the losing tribe doesn't have fire. It puts the losers into too deep a hole.

 

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That catchphrase thing is too much. I was expecting it to be a normal-ish phrase someone could reasonably be expected to say at a challenge, like "I'm tired and hungry but I'm ready to give 1000%".

It will now be obvious it's a "thing" and is another case of the show influencing things, rather than letting the players play.

The editing is interesting. People have pointed out that Xander seemed to be aware of the vote, so more was being discussed potentially than we see. The show is too focused on the blindside sometimes.

How many extra votes are there going to be?

The tribes that win immunity are going to be overpowered. They get a reward, can sit out their weakest player, and the losing tribe doesn't have fire. It puts the losers into too deep a hole.

It will be interesting to see the long term gameplay this season.

 

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Sandra is going to be on Australian Survivor.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

Sandra is going to be on Australian Survivor.

Presumed to be their Blood vs. Water season. With one of her kids perhaps?

Following in the footsteps of Russell. The Australian players outright hated him from the start. Wonder if she can fare better, or will she be seen as an outsider?

 

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This season is so confusing. I can't keep track of all the advantages and votes. I really do not like it. Aside from the premiere, we haven't gotten to know the players hardly at all. We don't know their relationships, which makes it even more difficult to follow. Outside of that, I don't really feel like there's much to dissect tonight. We literally watched players talk about advantages the entire night. It's not fun or entertaining when we can't follow along.

I guess one thing you can talk about is JD versus Brad. I feel like Brad was the obvious vote for Shan and Ricard. Brad wanted Shan out in episode one, alongside Sara. He doesn't want Ricard there. Shan has JD. JD doesn't have anywhere else to turn. Plus if you vote out Brad, you get rid of pretty much half the advantages in the game. There's something to be said for knowing where they all are, but he had way too much power once he got his vote back.

And at what point do players start to notice that everyone is aware of where every idol and advantage is when they do it this way? At what point do the players start to not want to put that massive target on their backs? I feel like if I was playing, I wouldn't want to stand out this early. I want to play in the background, which is impossible with the beware advantages. Of course it's all about the circumstance, but that's my theory in general.

And apparently all advantages are beware advantages now? They aren't all the same? And production just puts them right out in the open when they have a deadline for someone to find them by? Seems like too much interference from production.

 

[Centauri Space Station]

I’m not a fan of all these twists either, they seem a detriment to the game.

 

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I’m not a fan of all these twists either, they seem a detriment to the game.

In the premiere they did a great job of making it mostly about the players. But since then nothing has been about them. It's all been about advantages. And none of them have even been played. Imagine what it will be like once they get played.

 

[Centauri Space Station]

In the premiere they did a great job of making it mostly about the players. But since then nothing has been about them. It's all been about advantages. And none of them have even been played. Imagine what it will be like once they get played.

Agreed, it’s not making for compelling episodes

 

[dmw]

Why do the players feel they have to reveal an advantage or idol? Has that strategy ever worked? And to give your advantage away? Not a good move.

Oh, and I really dislike the shared idol concept, with having to say a stupid phrase and all three have to be spoken, and loss of vote until all idols are found.

How long do we have to wait to see an advantage actually be used? Right now they are all just disadvantages. Boring...

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

There really are no advantages in the game right now. Everything with "beware" attached is a disadvantage.

I heard that the "steal a vote" advantage has never made a difference in the game, for whatever that's worth. It might have an impact with smaller tribes though.

 

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There really are no advantages in the game right now. Everything with "beware" attached is a disadvantage.

I heard that the "steal a vote" advantage has never made a difference in the game, for whatever that's worth. It might have an impact with smaller tribes though.

It may also have an impact if multiple people have steal a votes. If I'm remembering right, there's never been the possibility for more than one to be played at a time.

For me, it's just so confusing with who has what, and who doesn't have what. Not only do I have to remember who found something on a scavenger hunt, but I have to remember who chose not to risk their vote. It's all too much for my liking.

I saw a tweet that said they were going to go back to Game Changers so they can remember what old school Survivor is like.

 

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What and episode! Lots of strategy, excellent character development, we spent time with the players, we had some survival stuff, great blindside, little talk of advantages... I'm going to say this was a PERFECT episode!

I liked seeing more of the blue tribe. We haven't gotten to see anything about them. I really like Erika. The throwing the challenge thing was fun.

We also got to see a little of the yellow tribe, even though they didn't lose. It's always good when we get some of each tribe in an episode.

I really enjoyed the easy-to-follow strategy that still left us wondering what would happen. In hindsight, it probably wasn't that big of a decision. Shan and Ricard really didn't have another option. Either you vote off JD like they did, or you vote off Genie and have to give JD's extra vote back after Tribal Council (or he'll be super angry and you'll have to throw a challenge to vote him off before the merge). And if JD has the extra vote, he gets to automatically decide who goes home if they lose again. Not an option, really. So I think they played it wisely.

I also made this comparison on Twitter a couple times tonight... JD was thinking he was Ozzy or Malcolm... but he's really Jason Siska.

Loved the episode! Love Shan! Shan is my strongest rooting interest I've had in a long time. At least for a new player.

 

[dmw]

With so much emphasis being put on "trust" this season, Shan is definitely using that to her advantage. There is something in her personality that turns me off so she is not my favorite, but she is playing a very good game.

IMHO, JD made some huge mistakes in revealing what advantage he had and giving his advantage away to show trust...

 

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With so much emphasis being put on "trust" this season, Shan is definitely using that to her advantage. There is something in her personality that turns me off so she is not my favorite, but she is playing a very good game.

IMHO, JD made some huge mistakes in revealing what advantage he had and giving his advantage away to show trust...

Rob and Stephen made a good point in the Know-It-Alls. This is the second straight week people have questioned Shan voting off her #1 ally. But really everyone on that tribe thinks (or has thought at some point) they're her #1 ally. So they're really the only choice she has is to vote off a #1 ally. I'm not sure what she is doing to garner this attention, but it's impressive.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

Baby turtles!

Oh JD, giving someone an incentive to vote you out (keeping the advantage) was a choice. Credit to Shan for selling it though. She made him think she was doing it out of paranoia, so he missed her true intentions.

The episode blindsided me a bit. With so much time spent on Blue and the plan to throw a challenge, it had me convinced it would happen.

They're not wrong to want to do so either. There's a few issues with winning all the time:

They never go to tribal, so they don't know for sure where their relationships stand. It has happened in the past where a tribe comes into a merge with a strong majority, but they've been itching to vote people out and couldn't, so they cannibalize themselves and implode.

If the three tribes merged right now, the two smaller tribes could easily band together to go after them. A group of 3 or 4 doesn't want to join a group of 6. There's long term risk. Forming a 3/4 alliance to take out the 6 makes sense, because you're not going to be outgunned a few votes down the line. Kudos to the tribe for seeing this.

I'm surprised we're not seeing a swap yet.

 

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Baby turtles!

Oh JD, giving someone an incentive to vote you out (keeping the advantage) was a choice. Credit to Shan for selling it though. She made him think she was doing it out of paranoia, so he missed her true intentions.

The episode blindsided me a bit. With so much time spent on Blue and the plan to throw a challenge, it had me convinced it would happen.

They're not wrong to want to do so either. There's a few issues with winning all the time:

They never go to tribal, so they don't know for sure where their relationships stand. It has happened in the past where a tribe comes into a merge with a strong majority, but they've been itching to vote people out and couldn't, so they cannibalize themselves and implode.

If the three tribes merged right now, the two smaller tribes could easily band together to go after them. A group of 3 or 4 doesn't want to join a group of 6. There's long term risk. Forming a 3/4 alliance to take out the 6 makes sense, because you're not going to be outgunned a few votes down the line. Kudos to the tribe for seeing this.

I'm surprised we're not seeing a swap yet.

I am thinking there won't be a swap, and I'm kind of down for it. We've had so many swaps in recent Survivor, and it's gotten to the point where nobody can form strong relationships. I'm enjoying seeing how the tribes pan out this season. If Ua loses next week, it will be interesting to see if the remaining two get absorbed into the other tribes like in the Philippines.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

I am thinking there won't be a swap, and I'm kind of down for it. We've had so many swaps in recent Survivor, and it's gotten to the point where nobody can form strong relationships. I'm enjoying seeing how the tribes pan out this season. If Ua loses next week, it will be interesting to see if the remaining two get absorbed into the other tribes like in the Philippines.

One of the foreign Survivors tried to shake things up, it seemed, with frequent swaps and everyone mostly just stuck with their original tribemates.

I agree they aren't that interesting. It's another case of the show manipulating things, instead of letting the players play.

A lot of people praised this last episode for just that reason, there was no mention of advantages or twists.

 

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One of the foreign Survivors tried to shake things up, it seemed, with frequent swaps and everyone mostly just stuck with their original tribemates.

I agree they aren't that interesting. It's another case of the show manipulating things, instead of letting the players play.

A lot of people praised this last episode for just that reason, there was no mention of advantages or twists.

I am not against advantages. I do like idols. But the excessive number is what's annoying. In last week's episode, there was only one advantage at play. And while that advantage was a piece of the strategy and gameplay, it was just that... a piece. It wasn't the whole story. That's what happens when there are so many advantages, idols, and twists. They become the story. And they do such an excellent job of casting these days, that the story really should be the players. They are what make each season unique. That's why people loved DvG. The story was about the players. In GC, HHH, GI, EoE, IoI, the story was about the advantages and twists. And it becomes redundant and less entertaining when the story every episode is, "will X play X?" or "what will X get today?"

 

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Survivor Micronesia is coming to Netflix on November 15! It will join Heroes vs Villains and Cagayan.