I have a bit of a rant with the mixup that caused Cindy/Russell to get knocked out of the game and kept Steve/Dave in longer. I'm going to play devil's advocate here... was it conspired by the producers to throw Cindy/Russell off the track to create some drama?

Let's face it... watching Steve/Dave amble all the way to the finish line well behind everyone else would have been deathly dull. Booooorrrriiiiiiiing.

What if the producers paid off the ticket agent to purposely send off Russell and Cindy onto the wrong path? I can see how Russell could have gotten the wrong place with Gmund/Gmunden but didn't he say "GmundEN" in the subtitle that showed up on the screen? Surely the ticket agent would have known to ask to clarify which one he meant! I live in a place called Hamilton and there's a town called Milton nearby, it's old habit for me to clarify with people when they ask where the "institute" is as it's in Milton, not in Hamilton.

Anyhoo... I think the producers know that people would be cheering for Steve/Dave and not so enamoured with Russell/Cindy. Am I completely off my rocker with this theory?

Click here to rank all 96 Survivors!

Heidi: My biggest assets to the tribe are my athletic skills and my intelligence. I've lost one of them.
Jiffy: Which one?

• Well, not completely...,realitybites, 09:46 AM, 06-13-03
  • RE: Well, not completely...,AMAI, 10:38 AM, 06-13-03
• RE: Was Steve/Dave saved by the producers?,SurvivorBlows, 01:26 PM, 06-13-03
• RE: Was Steve/Dave saved by the producers?,mrbluesky, 01:41 PM, 06-13-03
• A more benevolent conspiracy theory,mikey, 03:03 PM, 06-13-03
  • RE: A more benevolent conspiracy theory,TARJUNKIE999, 04:18 PM, 06-13-03

The problem with Russell & Cindy is that they went to the wrong station. The Vienna East Station apparently offered tickets to GMUND and not GMUNDEN. Only the Vienna West Station had tickets to Gmunden. Understandable mistake on all sides, perhaps. I don't think the producers had anything to do with their demise.

I agree, realitybites. Those two have such a terrible relationship that more energy on her part seems to go into figuring out whether his last comment was a diss or a compliment, and how to make him agree that maybe one day they'll have sex, while he in turn is too busy admiring himself in every reflective surface to even notice the Race-related mistakes.

I think you're really stretching it to allege the producers paid the ticket guy. First of all, it might be another country, but he's still a government employee, and we all know how big government employees are on customer satisfaction

Secondly, if they paid the ticket guy, where do you stop? Do you allege that they pay cab drivers to drive slow too? Or another car to cut off a team so that they get stuck in traffic? Maybe they are rigging the red lights on the roads as well? Or secretly behind the "kidnapping" from last season?

-SB

The idea of a conspiracy seems far fetched, especially since the conspiracy would have imploded if Russell and/or Cindy would have checked their tickets.

I have an alternative theory. Like last year, when the producers set up a potential disaster with the leaded/unleaded gas situation -- some fell for it, others did not, and some recovered from the mistake better than others. Here, they had two nearly identical city names, two different major train stations (probably leaving in a different station than they arrived in). Sometimes when the city name is in another language you may not be able to tell just by looking at your tickets, or you may think "Gmund" is just an abbreviation for "Gmunden." Here, Steve/Dave also went to the wrong train station (I can't remember if anyone else did), but realized their mistake earlier than Russell/Cindy. Would have made better TV even if the train to Gmund were leaving earlier, Russell/Cindy had rushed for it and not realized their mistake until they got to the wrong city. If the producers set up the potential for a mistake and waited to see who, if anyone, would fall for it, bravo for them. That is what the game is all about.

LAST EDITED ON 07-01-03 AT 04:08 PM (EST)

Mikey says:
I have an alternative theory....
Here, they had two nearly identical city names, two different major train stations (probably leaving in a different station than they arrived in).... or you may think "Gmund" is just an abbreviation for "Gmunden."... That is what the game is
all about.

Right on...I agree...looks like the producers lucked out with two similarly sounding cities reachable from two different train stations...genius!!!!!