Never thought that Parvati would give both idols away; especially not to Geri and Sandra. Don't know if it will keep Sandra voting with them; I believe it when she says she hates Russell. But Parvati (or Parvati and ??) sure outsmarted the Heroes, and did it while keeping Russell in the dark.

Immunity Idols certainly change Survivor some. But they've provided some of the best moments on the show in recent years. This was another one.

• RE: latest best use of immunity idols,Chez, 06:36 AM, 04-23-10
  • RE: latest best use of immunity idols,PepeLePew13, 07:25 AM, 04-23-10
    • RE: latest best use of immunity idols,michel, 07:55 AM, 04-23-10
      • RE: latest best use of immunity idols,mindy23, 10:22 AM, 04-23-10
        • RE: latest best use of immunity idols,michel, 05:44 PM, 04-23-10
        • RE: latest best use of immunity idols,garcor, 09:41 PM, 04-23-10
          • RE: latest best use of immunity idols,Belle Book, 12:02 PM, 04-24-10
            • RE: latest best use of immunity idols,garcor, 06:05 PM, 04-24-10
              • RE: latest best use of immunity idols,Belle Book, 06:33 PM, 04-24-10
  • RE: latest best use of immunity idols,NedraSue, 12:53 PM, 04-23-10
  • RE: latest best use of immunity idols,Estee, 05:54 PM, 04-23-10
• RE: latest best use of immunity idols,iltarion, 00:56 AM, 04-25-10
  • RE: latest best use of immunity idols,michel, 02:54 AM, 04-25-10
    • RE: latest best use of immunity idols,garcor, 08:37 AM, 04-25-10
      • RE: latest best use of immunity idols,Belle Book, 12:20 PM, 04-25-10

That was incredibly gutsy of Parvati, to give away both idols and leave herself essentially unprotected. However, it also showed two other things: First, she is very good at spotting a lie, namely Amanda when she advised Parvati she should play the idol, and of course it also showed that Amanda can't tell a lie to save her life.

LAST EDITED ON 04-23-10 AT 07:27 AM (EST)

Yup, and it was a great strategy to step down to give Danielle the immunity - it gave Danielle security and it made the Heroes think that Parv had a HII herself (they must have been thinking, why does she feel so safe if she probably knows we are all gunning for her). She also knows that JT and the Heroes gave Russhole the HII and if they had any doubts after Sandra insisting he was lying, they had to hedge their bets by not voting for Russhole.

So, in effect, Parvati made four people immune with her actions and the entire Villains tribe was safe from being booted this episode. Brilliant! I have never liked her all that much, but gotta give her major props here.

Yes, brilliant except she's got some 'splaining to do. RussHole GAVE her 2 idols and she doesn't tell him anything? I'd feel a little used. An angry troll is a bad troll.

On the other hand, it was fun to hear RussHole think he had the only idol in play.

And that is exactly how she'll try to explain her way out of this mess. BUT, once RussHell is tricked, run over, or otherwise debunked, he does not forgive easily-or at all!

I think Parvati made the best and the worst move at the same time. She saved the Villian tribe for one more day, but made herself and the Villian tribe more vulnerable for the rest of their stay on...where the heck are they, anyway??

Not only are they back in Samoa but they are using the same beaches as last season. The Villains were on Galu beach and the Heroes were on Foa Foa's.

To be fair to Russell, he was loyal to his core alliance during Samoa (Jaison was only voted out because one of them had to go) and Russell's been loyal to and shared information with Parvati and Danielle. Might be part of the reason for that is he's so full of himself, he can't conceive of anyone beating him (unless its a resentment based vote as he likely thinks Samoa was), but its entirely possible Russell's view of how to play survivor is to be part of a tight alliance of three or four and to stay loyal to it; keep it strong, and appearing strong, trusting that rival alliances will crack first. You can lie to anyone else but you stay honest, and forthcoming, with your alliance partners. Not sharing information creates mistrust, which could lead to player's flipping or freelancing, the way Tyson did in getting himself voted out. Russell might be just as angry at Parvati because he disagrees with the way she played the game by not telling him about the idol as angry at realizing he's no longer in control.

You might have a point there. If RussHell thinks the best way to play Survivor is to be part of a tight alliance of three or four, to stay loyal to it and keep it strong, then that's not too far from what I might do if I ever got on Survivor would play the game -- form a tight alliance with two (or in a ten-person tribe, three) other people and stay true to it. But I'd also form a side alliance with two more people and convince them I'm being true to them, just to be on the safe side.

Getting back to RussHell, he might disagree with the way Parvati is playing the game but he clearly has control issues as well.

Your game sounds more like Parvati's; more flexible. She might abandon her primary alliance if a second alliance appears to offer better opportunities.

No argument about Russell having control issues.

Yeah, I'd try to be more flexible in the game than RussHell may be. Perhaps he'd be more flexible if he didn't have all those control issues.

Honestly, I was shocked she didn't think that Amanda was telling the truth...but she played her big-time. I think she also did very well, at putting the Troll in his place. Girls alliance, looks stronger than ever...to me.

I felt really bad that Colby thought he was it...you could tell on his face. JT, I love him, but he brought that one on himself. He will be fun to watch at Ponderosa!

Also, mentioned in another discussion, Danielle didn't win any season, Danni B, did.

I think this is definately a surprising season...granted, if we didn't read all this good stuff, it would be! I love it anyway!

LAST EDITED ON 04-23-10 AT 05:56 PM (EST)

I wonder if this latest alert on your posts will finally convince your employers to start paying for banner ads.

Frankly suspicious move by Parvati, who we are supposed to believe gave her idols to two people not even in her core alliance just on a hunch that Amanda was lying to her? The exact two people the Heroes were considering voting for? Come on. Where else is she getting information from? How did she know "Russell is a force in this game" on the first day she met him when no one else knew anything about the guy? Has Parvati's flirting even worked on the crew? Maybe.

Regardless, the whole move might not be possible if not for Danielle winning immunity. The Heroes practically giving the IC up also played a key role.

Lastly, even if assuming it is a completely clean bold move, was it such a bad result for the Heroes? The Villians voted 5 strong for JT. Therefore, the best result for the Heroes would have only been a tie. Danielle was immune regardless; so in a tie, the odds are 5/4 that a Hero goes home. Really, the Heroes didn't want Sandra going home; so in that sense, it is 2/1 that the result of a tie is a negative result. Yeah, a Hero went home, but it was the Hero that neither Candice nor Amanda seemed to trust. So, he's gone, both idols are out of play for the Villians, and if Sandra flips on Russell's alliance, the Heroes get control right back.

>

Wow! What a circumvoluted way of avoiding giving Parvati any credit! Amanda told her clear as day what was going to happen when she said: "Play the idol just to be safe. If we don’t talk again, play it... For you.”

Now, Parvati would have had to think that the Heroes were completely undecided about what they would do for Amanda to be so cautious. Maybe it would have had more weight if Amanda had tried to talk to Parvati earlier. That "For you" at the end was a dead give-away that Amanda wanted the idol out of there but they weren't stupid enough to vote for Parvati.

Even more pathetic was Amanda's earlier: "I have no power here" when Parvati saw James stay over Tom and after observing a Heroes' TC where Colby was completely out of the loop.

Who would you prefer to bet against in a poker game?
This face:

or this one:

I'm NOT talking strip poker here!

More than anything this episode showed what I've been saying all along: Amanda cannot read and manipulate people. We also saw, once more, that Parvati can.

"if Sandra flips on Russell's alliance"

Didn't Sandra say she was stuck with Russell? Won't the Heroes be suspicious of Sandra since she received that gift? More likely, someone from the Heroes' side will be looking for protection.

PS: Parvati gave immunity to Danielle. Look at their faces throughout and you'll see that Danielle was struggling a lot more. Candice almost bested Ozzy in this challenge once before but it wasn't a contest this time. Pre-season, Candice admitted she wasn't in as good a shape as during CI but I think Parvati has done some serious training.

LAST EDITED ON 04-25-10 AT 08:45 AM (EST)

Candice didn't exactly look like she was struggling. Danielle seemed to be working the hardest of the three. And of course Jeff appeared mystified when Candice dropped out. Did make me wonder if Amanda/Candice either have or were hoping for an alliance with Parvati. As noted above, both Amanda and Candice claimed they did not trust JT.

Still doesn't mean Parvati didn't figure out what was going on on her own. Personally I think both Amanda and Candice were conflicted about their best course of action and it showed. I think Parvati read between the lines after her conversations with Amanda and took a risk that she wasn't a target. Parvati did say after one of her conversations with Amanda that she didn't think Amanda was being completely truthful.

Not positive how much Parvati would have cared if Russell had been the target.

I'm not sure how much Parvati would've cared if RussHell was the target -- at least on a personal level. On a game-play level, I think she would've cared more than on a personal one. Enough to give him the Idol? Perhaps.