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"The Last 5 Tribal Councils Have Been Among the Best Ever"
Posted by vivor on 11-27-08 at 09:04 PM
I mean goin back to when Dan got voted out from Kota as a shocker to Ace getting voted out after being betrayed by Sugar to Marcus getting dooped, to Charlie getting baboozled and to Randy getting tricked into using a fake idol, it's been among the best stretch of Tribal Councils in the history of Survivor.

I've never seen so much trickery in consecutive episodes like I've seen in this season.

I especially liked seeing Ace and Marcus getting tricked cause those 2 thought they had it all planned out. Marcus got way too cocky, thinking Crystal would just fall into his lap like a little lap-dog or something. Brilliance on the parts of Kenny, Crystal, Matty, and Sugar, and Susie as well.

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"RE: The Last 5 Tribal Councils Have Been Among the Best Ever"
Posted by iltarion on 11-27-08 at 10:29 PM
I disagree wholeheartedly.
You knew either Dan or Suzie were going home. Dan was the bigger challenge threat once merge arrived, so it was completely predictable that he would be the one sent home.
I do give Kenny some credit for getting in Sugar's head to force the Ace boot. I wouldn't call his lying "brilliance", but it was good game play. You knew Ace was going home once he didn't have the idol to play. The votes didn't need to be read. If Sugar wasn't going to vote for him, she would have given him the idol.
Suzie flipping to boot Marcus was completely predictable. Marcus was "way too cocky, thinking Crystal would just fall into his lap"? No, Crystal and Marcus both made a promise to each other to not write each other's name down. Crystal never planned on keeping her promise. Marcus was wrong to trust her. That's all. There is nothing brilliant about making a promise you never plan on keeping. Again, predictable boot.
Charlie's boot was the ultimate predictable boot. Once Corinne's confessional calling Sugar a moron was shown, you knew Sugar was going to vote against her. With Sugar shedding tears throughout the TC, you knew Charlie was gone.
Last episode didn't even make an attempt to be unpredictable. You knew Randy was going from the start. Randy was going anyway. There was no need to dupe him into taking the fake idol. It was merely Sugar being vindictive. No brilliance or surprised involved there either.


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"RE: The Last 5 Tribal Councils Have Been Among the Best Ever"
Posted by Aruba on 11-28-08 at 06:44 PM
Yeah...I agree. It's been commonplace in your more recent seasons to let the viewers in on the blindsides which has been a disappointing concept IMHO. Yes I know it enhances the soap opera-ish storylines that CBS seems to be fixated on, but it does cheapen the TC from a fan involvement standpoint.

One TC that comes to mind is when Brian in Guatemala was blindsided. If there ever was a player who was a legend in his own mind it was Brian. Yes he was a student of the game but got schooled early on in the season. When one player in his tribe was dubbed "Golden Boy", he self-proclaimed himself as "Platinum". Players praised him during TC and Brian had a smile on his face wide enough to swallow his ears. Then when the votes were revealed booting Brian, not only he, but the viewers didn't see it coming either. Would like to see more TCs like that.

But my all-time favorite TC was during the Vanuatu season. For reasons I still haven't completely understood, the alliance of Ami, Leanne, Julie, Twila, and Scout decided to temporarily abort their plan to finish off Chris and target Eliza. Twila and Scout knowing they were 4th and 5th on the food chain were able to turn the tide on the quintessential male-basher Ami. As the first votes were read for Eliza, Ami gives a nod to Eliza as if to say, "AWWWW...sorry little girl. I say it's your time to go." Bu when the remaining votes indicated an apparent Leanne blindside, Eliza quickly returned the look to Ami as if to say, "OH YEAH?!" Priceless!

"RE: The Last 5 Tribal Councils Have Been Among the Best Ever"
Posted by suzzee on 11-28-08 at 10:26 AM
Go dig up Fans vs. Favorites from Micronesia. Mary, Joel, Ozzy, Jason, Alexis, and my favorite Erik. You can watch most of the episodes on:

http://www.fancast.com/tv/Survivor%3A-Micronesia---Fans-vs.-Favorites/96260/738506181/Survivor%3A-Fans-Vs-Favorites---Episode-14/videos?autoPlay=false

And welcome to the boards


Certifiable Guest at Tribe’s Lodge

"RE: The Last 5 Tribal Councils Have Been Among the Best Ever"
Posted by michel on 11-28-08 at 01:48 PM
Hello Vivor and welcome to the boards.

I agree that these Tribal councils have been entertaining and have kept us guessing. One just needs to look at the voting thread in spoilers to know how much we were tricked by the previews. Once we saw the first few minutes of the episodes however, some boots weren't really surprises as Iltarion said.

Like Suzzee pointed out, Micronesia delivered many fun Tribals. Even Fiji had its share of surprises after the merge.

I still consider that the best stretch of TCs came in Marquesas. From episode #3 to episode #8, we had some memorable votes. Hunter, Sarah, Gina, Rob and John leaving made very strong impressions on the viewers. The Gabe boot is underestimated because few in Survivor history had as much impact. It told Kathy and Neleh what to expect from their former allies.

"RE: The Last 5 Tribal Councils Have Been Among the Best Ever"
Posted by garcor on 11-28-08 at 01:59 PM
Agree that none of these 5 tribal councils have been very surprising, except perhaps to the bootee. Ace might have been the closest to being a surprise as it involved one voter voting against her closest ally, and perhaps her own self-interest.
"RE: The Last 5 Tribal Councils Have Been Among the Best Ever"
Posted by Aruba on 11-28-08 at 06:51 PM
I wholeheartedly agree, gracor. Even with all the blindsides last season, I saw everyone coming and I'm sure most every viewer did too. Such is the case this season. I also agree that the Ace boot was the closest we had in a long while of the viewers being surprised, but when Sugar took the HII back that was pretty convincing to me that Ace was a goner.
"RE: The Last 5 Tribal Councils Have Been Among the Best Ever"
Posted by michel on 11-28-08 at 08:09 PM
I'm wondering how many boot choices you guys had BEFORE each episode started. You wouldn't be backing up into a prediction now, would you?
"RE: The Last 5 Tribal Councils Have Been Among the Best Ever"
Posted by Aruba on 11-29-08 at 06:57 AM
With all due respect we're not talking about episodes; we're talking about Tribal Councils. If it weren't for challanges and TCs I wouldn't be watching a single minute of any Survivor episode. The point being made here is in recent seasons the TCs (although entertaining at times) have been anti-climatic from a viewer's shock factor standpoint.

In my opinion it just takes something away from the show when the castaways are walking to TC and the outcomes can be easily predicted during what should be the high point of the episode.

"RE: The Last 5 Tribal Councils Have Been Among the Best Ever"
Posted by iltarion on 11-29-08 at 01:42 AM
The Gabe boot has never been underestimated by me. That boot ultimately spelled the end of the Rotu tribe, which up until that point, had been the strongest tribe ever on Survivor. It also is a landmark boot because it is one of the 1st examples of the oft-violated rule of Survivor- Don't play a post-merge game pre-merge. Of course, the first such example happened in that same season when Hunter was booted. That however is not as good of an example since one of the orchestrators of that boot ended up winning the season. Or you could say Gabe's boot illustrated the rule- Don't ever get overconfident in the game. Another oft-violated rule in the game.

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"RE: The Last 5 Tribal Councils Have Been Among the Best Ever"
Posted by michel on 11-29-08 at 03:21 AM
I knew I wasn't alone in considering the importance of the Gabe boot!

Iltarion, can I suggest that your problem with the rule is that you don't quite state it right. It's not exactly about avoiding to play a post-merge game before the merge: Tina proved it had to be done when she stripped Jerri of her power by voting out Mitchell, Chris did it also when he voted out the strong men of his tribe, Danni did it when she realized that Gary's trust was more valuable than Blake's loyalty.

The rule should be: Don't make big moves unless you have to.

Tina had to take over for Jerri or else Ogabore was doomed. Chris had to save his life. Danni needed Gary to get in with Rafe and Steph. You can add Cirie to the list of players who made big moves before the merge out of necessity. She did it more times than anyone else. I count 5 times.